Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Without waiting for Wei Wu to speak, Old Zhu asked directly:

"Xiao Wu, we heard that the steam engine has been built. How is it? Is it the same as you imagined?"

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was so concerned about the steam engine, Wei Wu immediately began to explain.

"It's pretty good. Although it's just the first one, it has all the necessary functions. In my opinion, it's perfect."

"The next step is to work on the structure and design different mechanical structures for different application scenarios."

Hearing Wei Wu's answer, Zhu Yuanzhang also showed a satisfied smile on his face.

"In that case, you should quickly build that car that can move on its own. We're going to give them a good slap in the face."

Hearing this, Wei Wu couldn't help but frowned.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not say it explicitly, Wei Wu probably guessed that the "they" must be those officials.

However, the Ming Royal Academy of Science and Technology was funded by Zhu Yuanzhang’s private treasury.

The Ministry of Revenue only provided a piece of land, and the Ministry of Works provided some personnel.

Is it possible that someone would file a petition to find fault with such a situation? Are those officials simply too bored to do anything?

Just when Wei Wu was puzzled, Zhu Biao took out several memorials and handed them over.

Wei Wu took the memorial and took a look at it, and immediately understood why Zhu Yuanzhang said those words.

Although these memorials did not name Wei Wu, they all blamed the Academy of Science and Technology without exception.

It is said that the Institute of Science and Technology asks the ironworks for help with smelting every day, disrupting the normal operation of the iron foundry.

It seriously affected iron production, and finally escalated to the point of causing harm to the country and the people.

When Wei Wu saw this memorial, he wanted to find this guy directly and start scolding him.

It is true that the Institute of Science and Technology asked the iron foundry for help, but they always made the molds and materials themselves.

The iron output of a furnace at the iron foundry is enough to meet the needs of the Institute of Science and Technology, and it can even be said to be more than enough.

The entire iron foundry has a total of eighteen iron smelting furnaces, six steel frying furnaces, and several casting furnaces.

Among the eighteen iron-smelting furnaces, only twelve furnaces are in rotation for iron-smelting all year round.

All the furnaces would only be put into operation when a war broke out or the court was in urgent need of iron.

Moreover, when the furnace was opened for iron smelting, the Institute of Science and Technology did not use people from the iron foundry. It was Sun Chang who led the operation.

So the question is, using the idle furnaces to smelt iron does not require any manpower from the iron foundry.

How did it rise to the level of bringing disaster to the country and the people? What kind of country is it bringing disaster to, and what kind of people are it bringing harm to?

In addition, there were even more outrageous officials who made outrageous remarks in their memorials.

It is said that people in the Academy of Science and Technology are busy researching strange and gimmicky techniques all day long, promoting unhealthy tendencies and evil ideas that are of no benefit to the country.

If everyone does this, it will inevitably lead to disastrous consequences in the long run. I hope the emperor will ban it and shut it down to serve as a warning to others.

The key point is that this official’s memorial neither explained how the incident occurred nor made clear what the consequences were.

Anyway, the meaning is that the Institute of Science and Technology is not right and something will definitely go wrong, so it should be closed down as soon as possible to avoid harming the country.

To be honest, Wei Wu had long thought that there would be resistance to technological development, but at least he should be reasonable!

These crappy officials don't even listen to reason. They oppose just for the sake of opposing. Are they human beings or pests?

Just as Wei Wu was looking at the memorial in silence, Old Zhu beside him spoke again.

"Xiao Wu, in fact, there are similar memorials every day, but we have always suppressed them and not taken them seriously."

"These people can't cause any trouble. If they really piss me off, I can just order them to be beheaded."

"But I want to speak with facts. Rather than just attacking people, I want to give those short-sighted people a good slap in the face!"

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's voice, Wei Wu finally came to his senses.

After a moment's silence and some thought in his mind, he spoke:

"Uncle Zhu, actually..."

"Wait, what did you call me? How come you married my daughter and didn't even call me father-in-law?"

"Um... well, Father-in-law, I'm used to calling you son-in-law! And calling you Uncle Zhu is more intimate!"

As he spoke, Wei Wu quickly turned his head to look at Zhu Biao beside him.

"Brother, don't you think this makes sense? Calling him Uncle Zhu at least means he hasn't forgotten his original intention!"

Zhu Biao smiled secretly when he heard this. Wei Wu used to call him "Brother Zhu", which was a little less intimate.

But now Wei Wu has dropped his surname and calls him "big brother" directly, which shows that their relationship has taken a step further.

Anyway, my father wouldn't care about a name, so I just nodded and said:

"That's right, that's the truth. It doesn't matter what we're called. We're all family anyway."

When Zhu Biao finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he blew his beard and glared!

"Alright, alright, you two brats are in cahoots. Call me whatever you want! Let's get down to business first."

Zhu Yuanzhang's answer made Wei Wu and Zhu Biao laugh.

But after laughing, Wei Wu got down to business.

"Uncle Zhu, there are actually many ways to use a steam engine to silence these people. It doesn't necessarily have to be a self-propelled car."

"It takes time to build that kind of car, and it also requires rails to go with it, so it's difficult to do it in a short period of time."

"In contrast, using a steam engine on a ship is more effective. It only requires a slight modification to demonstrate the magic of the steam engine."

What Wei Wu said may sound nonsense, but it is actually simpler than making a locomotive.

All the ships of the Ming Dynasty were made of wood, which made them easy to modify, at least easier than manufacturing.

Steam engines were now built and worked perfectly.

You just need to find a small boat, such as the pleasure boat moored on the bank of Qinhuai River.

Modify the stern of the ship, make a propeller connected to a long pole, and connect it to the steam engine.

At that time, the steam engine starts to work, driving the propeller to rotate and generate thrust, and the ship will naturally move.

Anyway, it's just to show the powerful effect of the steam engine, and it doesn't need to be too sophisticated.

Of course, if it was just a slap in the face like this, Wei Wu would feel that it was not satisfying enough, or that the slap was not painful enough.

Aren’t these people saying that their own Institute of Science and Technology is bringing harm to the country and the people?

Then he was going to show other things as well, to let these people see how they were bringing disaster to the country and the people.

Thinking of this, Wei Wu immediately looked up at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Uncle Zhu, since you want to demonstrate it, why not take this opportunity to show everyone the power of technology?"

"In addition to the steam engine, I'm also going to come up with some other things to show them how technology changes life!"