In the ancient feudal dynasties, agriculture occupied the most important position, but agriculture was also an industry that depended on the weather. If God did not cooperate and there was a drought or a flood, there would basically be no harvest.
Therefore, since ancient times, the feudal dynasties had attached great importance to good weather and offered sacrifices to God every year, praying for good weather.
Of course, in addition to sacrifices and prayers, the feudal dynasties also attached great importance to the construction of water conservancy to resist disasters and reduce the losses caused by disasters.
In the pre-Qin period, there was a saying that Yu the Great controlled the floods in order to control the flood of the Yellow River. For the development of agriculture, the Qin State built the Zhengguo Canal, the Central Sichuan built the Dujiangyan Dam, and the Tang Dynasty also established a government department, the Metropolitan Water Administration, to be responsible for the construction of water conservancy and other matters. It could be seen that they attached great importance to agriculture.
At this moment, the pumping machine that Ang Lee envisioned was really attractive. As long as it was invented, it would make a great contribution to the drought and harvest of the Tang Empire. It could also facilitate the daily irrigation of the common people. Moreover, many fields with high terrain in the south of the Yangtze River could be planted with crops such as rice, thereby increasing the total output.
Under such circumstances, how could Li Longji not be excited?
"Farming machines and pumping machines are extremely important to the Tang Dynasty. Assistant Minister Li only needs to focus on the research and development. I will ask the Metropolitan Water Administration to transfer people to assist Assistant Minister Li."
Li Longji thought for a moment and made the decision to let the Metropolitan Water Administration assist Ang Lee.
"Your Majesty, there are more and more talents in the R&D Center now. Excellent craftsmen from all over the country are gathered here. But in the future, the Tang Dynasty will need more and more talents. There is a huge shortage of talents. Therefore, I think it is necessary to expand the number of apprentices and let more people learn mechanical skills."
Ang Lee proposed.
"These are all trivial matters. As long as they can survive, there will naturally be many people willing to learn how to make machinery. Assistant Minister Li is fully in charge. I support you."
"Thank you for your help, Your Majesty. I will do my best to create more useful things for the Tang Empire."
Ang Lee replied happily.
Along the way, in addition to the scenes of plowing, there were lofty mountains and lofty ridges and yellow leaves. The scenery was absolutely first-class. Looking at it, Li Longji was bursting with joy. The accompanying ministers and others were also in a happy mood.
To be able to sit in the middle of a moving train and watch the moving scenery outside the window was of course a very refreshing feeling.
After arriving at Weinan County, Li Longji was a little tired, so he returned to the third carriage and lay down to rest. Yang Yuhuan waited on him by the side.
At noon, the train arrived at Tongguan. The dining cars of each train delivered the dishes to each carriage so that everyone could have lunch.
With different statuses, the standard of food was naturally different. Li Longji's food was similar to that of the palace, eight vegetables and eight meat dishes, while ordinary eunuchs and palace maids only had one meat dish and one vegetable dish.
Sitting in the bright train carriage and eating while looking at the surging Yellow River outside the window, everyone was in a very heroic mood. They all enjoyed the scenery outside the window while eating.
The train never stopped. It kept running along the tracks towards Luoyang City. After passing through Shanzhou, Xia Shi, and Xin 'an, it finally arrived at Luoyang City Railway Station in the evening.
A few days ago, when Ang Lee came to inspect, there was no great fanfare. Only the staff of the railway station had made preparations. But this time, the Emperor came in person, so the situation was naturally different.
The moment the train steadily stopped, Ang Lee opened the curtain and saw that outside the train, all the officials of Luoyang City were standing respectfully to welcome him.
The freight train carrying the imperial items was one step ahead. Therefore, when Li Longji's imperial train arrived at Luoyang City Railway Station, the carriage and the imperial carriage were already prepared.
After some formalities, Li Longji led the ministers into Luoyang City and went straight to Shangyang Palace.
Different from the three palaces in Chang 'an, Luoyang City only had one Shangyang Palace. It was built by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to move the capital to Luoyang.
In addition, the scale of Luoyang City was smaller than Chang 'an City. In terms of scale, Luoyang City always seemed to be suppressed by Chang' an City.
However, Luoyang City had some advantages that Chang 'an City couldn't compare with. After the opening of the Grand Canal, the convenience of transportation made Luoyang City more prosperous. All kinds of resources were more abundant than Chang' an City.
During the reign of Wu Zetian, Luoyang City was renamed Shendu City to show the status of Luoyang City. Wu Zetian decided to build the capital in Luoyang City for many reasons.
First, the Tang Dynasty was built with the help of the Guanlong Military Group. However, after the founding of the country, the Guanlong nobles had been controlling the court and posed a great threat to the imperial power of the Emperor. In order to weaken the influence of the Guanlong nobles, the most effective way was to move the capital away from Chang 'an City and to Luoyang City.
Second, the convenience of transportation that was just mentioned. The Sui Dynasty had opened up the Grand Canal, allowing a large amount of resources from the northeast and Jiangnan to be easily transported to Luoyang City. This made Luoyang City a transit base for the exchange of resources between the north and the south. This way, it was bound to lead to the prosperity of commerce. Of course, the capital had to be built in the most prosperous city.
Third, to rule the world from the center. Based on the territory of the Tang Dynasty at that time, Luoyang City could be considered as the center of the entire empire. However, Chang 'an City was located a little to the west, which was not conducive to controlling the east.
Fourth, the need for national defense. At that time, the east of Luoyang City was already stable. From the east of Luoyang City to the sea was the territory of the Tang Dynasty. There were no strong hostile forces, so the capital would not be attacked. However, there was the powerful Tubo Empire west of Chang 'an City. Once the Tubo Empire attacked the east, the capital of Chang' an City would soon be threatened.
Fifth, the food crisis. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the agriculture in Guanzhong was very developed. However, after the destruction of several wars, the agriculture was greatly damaged, especially during the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the end of the Sui Dynasty. The soil and water were seriously damaged, and the yellow soil was turned into sand. The amount of sand in the Jing and Wei Rivers greatly increased, and the irrigation function was reduced day by day. The irrigation capacity of the Zhengguo Canal in the Tang Dynasty was less than a quarter of that in the Qin and Han Dynasties. However, the population in Guanzhong gradually recovered, and it became the most densely populated northern hinterland. Although Guanzhong was still called a fertile land in the Tang Dynasty, the food it could produce was no longer enough to satisfy the needs of the capital of Chang 'an City.
Sixth, to avoid the ghosts. This was a legend. It was said that after Wu Zetian cruelly tortured Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao to death, she was very uneasy. She often dreamed of Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao's disheveled hair, bloody faces, and claws. This made her very frightened. In order to avoid the ghosts of these two, Wu Zetian had to leave Chang 'an City.
Of course, legends were not confirmed. However, as an old woman who had lived in the palace for decades, she must have experienced a lot of cruelty. The palace in Chang 'an City not only gave her good rain, but also bitter water. Leaving Chang' an City, this sad place, to Luoyang City, which was 800 miles away, would naturally make Wu Zetian feel peaceful and comfortable. In addition, considering all the circumstances, it was more advantageous to move the capital to Luoyang City.
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, decided to move back to Chang 'an City because in the 22nd year of the Kaiyuan Era, Prime Minister Pei Yaoqing proposed to transport grain by sections. This method was to build warehouses at the intersection of the Yellow River, the Canal, and the Wei River, as well as the east and west sides of the Sanmen Gorge. The grain would first be sent to the east warehouse, then be transported eighty miles by mountain road, to the west warehouse by land, and finally be transported to Guanzhong.
In this way, the transportation time would be greatly shortened, and the transportation efficiency would be improved. The cost of transporting grain to Guanzhong would be greatly reduced. This laid the foundation for Li Longji's return to Chang 'an City.
Of course, at this moment, the railway had been built, and transportation had become faster. In the future, Guanzhong would not lack grain.
Based on the current situation of the Tang Dynasty, Ang Li believed that Chang 'an City was the best capital. Although Luoyang City was the geographical center of the empire, this was only the current situation. The Tang Dynasty had the railway, and in the future, they could continue to expand their living space to the west. However, the east was already close to the sea, and it was difficult to continue expanding their living space.
Li Longji's tour of Luoyang City this time, initially decided to stay for half a month. After that, he would return to Chang 'an City. In this half a month, the railway would be opened to facilitate the lives of the people.
However, the royal train and the two noble trains were not within the scope of operation. The royal train was the Emperor's personal train, and it would not be put into commercial operation at any time. The two noble trains would resume operation after Li Longji returned to Luoyang City.
During this half a month, Ang Li's life in Luoyang City was quite comfortable. When he was free, he would go out of the city for sightseeing. Of course, he had to go out in the name of inspecting the roads. Otherwise, Li Longji would blame him if he could not find him. As long as he showed the name of inspecting the roads, Li Longji would think that Ang Li was looking for a route for the construction of the railway in the future. Naturally, he would not be angry in his heart.
Through this half a month of inspection, Ang Li found that Luoyang City's material reserves were indeed much richer than Chang 'an City's. Moreover, the bulk commodities from Jiangnan and the northeast would stop in Luoyang City for exchange and transportation. Its economic strength was not inferior to Chang' an City's at all. It was only because Chang 'an was the capital that it could suppress Luoyang City in terms of status.
Luoyang City was a good place, very suitable to be the capital. Unfortunately, it was further away from Anxi, which was not conducive to the expansion of the Tang Empire to the west in the future. Otherwise, Ang Li would really persuade the Emperor to move the capital.
After the half a month of inspection, Li Longji got on the train with satisfaction and returned to Chang 'an City. He immediately decided to come to Luoyang City again in winter to enjoy the unique beauty of Luoyang City in winter. Of course, the scenery along the way was also very good.
With the railway system, patrolling Luoyang City became extremely convenient. Moreover, sitting on the train was not bumpy, and the facilities in the train were extremely luxurious and comfortable. The speed was also very fast, and they arrived at their destination in half a day. As such, the frequency of Li Longji leaving the capital for patrolling would definitely increase greatly.
The transportation conditions of the later generations were greatly improved, which led to the popularity of tourism. Regardless of age, people liked to use the holidays to travel and see the scenery outside to adjust their mood.
In the Tang Empire era, due to the inconvenience of transportation, most people did not have the means to travel far away. Only those aristocrats with good conditions would ride their horses for excursions to see the outside world.
However, now that the railway system had been successful, it would be easier for the common people to travel in the future. The popularity of tourism might gradually develop, provided that the common people's lives were getting better and better and they had enough spare money to travel.
The scenery on the way back was quite different from when they came. After all, half a month had passed. Many deciduous trees had become even more bald. There were also more fallen leaves piled up on the ground. It looked even more desolate and had the taste of autumn.
Along the way, they could occasionally see passersby. These passersby were all looking at the high-speed train with curious eyes, as if they were looking at a very strange monster.
After the Emperor returned to Luoyang City, other than the royal train that was perfectly preserved in Chang 'an City's railway station, the rest of the trains were put into operation to facilitate the daily lives of the common people.
Ang Lee rushed to the R&D center and began to organize the relevant technical personnel to conduct detailed research on the farming and water-pumping machines.
Ang Lee was very familiar with the tractors and water-pumping machines used in the later generations. When he was young in his previous life, there were many water-pumping machines in the countryside where he lived. They moved the water from the lake level by level to a higher position to irrigate the farmland that needed to be watered.
There were even more tractors for farming. When the spring ploughing and autumn harvest season came, tractors were busy everywhere in the paddy fields.
After a long period of contact, Ang Lee had a deep impression of these two things. When he was in university, he learned a lot of mechanical knowledge, so he was even more clear about the principles of these machines. Thus, it was easy for him to draw the most basic blueprints.
Of course, because there was no electricity or diesel now, only steam engines, the manufacturing of these two things still needed to be greatly improved. The size of the final product might be much larger than the two things in the later generations.
When he thought that the ploughing machine he could develop would be larger than the combined harvesters of the later generations, Ang Lee felt that it was funny. However, as long as he could build it, it didn't matter if it was a little bigger.
After the weather turned cold, the vegetables in the open were gradually unable to survive. It was time for the vegetable greenhouses to show their prowess. For this reason, while developing the ploughing machine and the water-pumping machine, Ang Lee also paid attention to the improvement of the 500 mu vegetable greenhouses near the courtyard.
In order to better adapt to the growth of vegetables, Li An's 100 mu vegetable greenhouse had been modernized. The main thing was that the silk, which was not very good at heat preservation and light transmission, was replaced with the newly invented tempered glass. In this way, the vegetables in the greenhouse could grow better.
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