Ang Lee had no choice but to use the thick bamboo pole in the middle to make the pipes for pumping and draining water. In the future, the water pumps used steel pipes, and the smaller ones used plastic pipes. Of these two materials, one could not be made, and the other was too difficult to make and cost too much.
Ang Lee did not have the ability to make plastic pipes, nor did he have the equipment to make plastic pipes. As for the long iron pipe that was more than thirty to fifty feet long, Ang Lee had a headache just thinking about it, let alone making it.
Therefore, after thinking about it, no matter from which angle, using the thick bamboo pole in the middle was always the best choice. As for the problem of the bamboo pole being easily damaged, it was too simple. He just needed to change to a better one. Moreover, the thick bamboo pole that had been processed through various processes would not be so easily damaged. It should not be a problem to use it for three to five years.
The news of the successful development of the water pump was quickly presented to Li Longji. Knowing that Ang Lee had once again obtained a scientific success, and that it was an extremely important result for the spring plowing, Li Longji was very happy. He immediately ordered the mass production of the water pump to make up for the insufficient application of the water wheel.
After Ang Lee received the decree, he immediately set up the production line for the core components of the water pump in the R&D Center. As for the pipes for pumping and draining water, they were drawn on the drawings and sent to Jiangnan. In Jiangnan, they would find the largest diameter bamboo and process it on the spot. Then, the finished products would be placed on wooden boats and transported from the Grand Canal to Luoyang City. Then, from Luoyang City, they would be loaded onto trains and transported to Chang 'an City. Finally, they would be assembled into a qualified water pump.
In order to not waste time, the steam ships would be put into use and the wooden boats loaded with bamboo poles would be pulled quickly to Luoyang City.
Similar to the farming machinery, the water pumping machinery also had a unique advantage. Because of this, many nobles also had the intention to order the water pumping machinery after seeing its ability.
Of course, water pumping machines were different from farming machines. They could not all be sold to the nobles, and the imperial court had to keep a portion of them. Otherwise, there would be a situation where the nobles' fields would never lack water, but the commoners' fields would have a hard time getting water. Only after the imperial court had a large number of water pumps could they draw water on a large scale, so that the commoners' fields on higher ground could be watered in time, thus ensuring their production.
Ang Lee was very excited that the farming machinery and the pumping machinery had been successfully developed and entered the stage of mass production. Next, Ang Lee could continue to develop new machinery.
In order to increase the speed and quality of the machinery, Ang Lee set his sights on machine tools. With the steam engine as the power source, he could produce machine tools.
At this moment, Ang Lee was processing many products using hand-operated machines. For example, the polishing of the inner surface of the solar stove was done using hand-operated polishing machines. It was very tiring and inefficient.
If the steam engine was added to the hand-operated polishing machines, the efficiency of the polishing would be greatly increased. The polishing effect would also be much stronger. This was inevitable.
In addition to the polishing machines for the solar stove, the other hand-operated machines for the production of various parts could also be added to the steam engine, greatly increasing the efficiency.
With this idea, Ang Lee immediately transferred a large number of outstanding talents to research and develop these machines. The manufacturing work was left to the less skilled craftsmen.
In fact, after more than half a year of development, there were more and more technical talents and coolies near the R&D center. Now, the total number of people had exceeded thirty thousand. The daily consumption of food was very considerable.
Fortunately, the value they created far exceeded the consumption. Otherwise, even the financial resources of the national treasury would be dragged down by these people. This was also why Ang Lee was always so black-hearted. He would sell products at two or three times the price. Wasn't it to increase the national treasury's income to relieve the pressure of continuing to develop black technology in the future?
Because Ang Lee had been developing various hand-operated machines and the steam engine technology was relatively mature, it was really not difficult to install various hand-operated machines into the steam engine. For this reason, a series of breakthroughs were quickly made. A large number of steam-powered machine tools were manufactured and put into production, greatly increasing the production speed of various products. Of course, this also made Ang Lee very happy.
Ang Lee had said that he would develop harvesters and dredging machines, but these were not urgent. Ang Lee was not in a hurry to develop these two things. After all, Ang Lee still had to develop and manufacture various steam machine tools. Even with thirty thousand people as a foundation, Ang Lee was still somewhat powerless. He could not spare the energy to develop harvesters and dredging machines for the time being.
Winter soon arrived. The heavy snow came without warning, causing the entire Guanzhong to enter a snow-white fairytale world. It also made Ang Lee's mood very happy. This kind of snow-white world was Ang Lee's favorite.
Of course, it was not only Ang Lee who was in a good mood. Li Longji was also in high spirits and made the decision to tour Luoyang City.
However, this time, he only planned to stay in Luoyang City for three days and return after three days. The purpose of going to Luoyang City was mainly to enjoy the intoxicating scenery along the way. Of course, there was also the snowy scenery of Luoyang City.
As a core subject, Ang Lee naturally had to accompany him. In order to ensure the safety of the Emperor, the operation of the railway from Chang 'an to Luoyang was once again temporarily suspended.
However, this time, under Li Longji's request, everything was simplified. There was no need to bring too many things. The personnel also had to be simplified to ensure the speed of travel.
When the royal train started, Ang Lee lay in a private room in the sixth carriage, looking at the beautiful snowy scenery outside the window. He was in a good mood!
At this moment, the temperature outside the train was below freezing. The soft sleeper carriage Ang Lee was sitting in was equipped with an ultra-thin fireplace, so the temperature was still relatively warm. Although it could not compare to the air-conditioning costs of the future, at least he did not feel cold. Moreover, there were blankets in the private room. If there were ministers with weak constitutions and felt cold, they could hug the blankets to keep warm. They definitely would not freeze.
"Dalang, are you looking at the scenery?"
Li Shizhi walked in without knocking on the door.
"Liu Aweng, please take a seat. Look at how beautiful the snowy scenery outside is!"
Ang Lee did not treat Li Shizhi as an outsider. He did not get up and directly let Li Shizhi lie down beside him.
"Haha! It's all thanks to you that I can lie in the warm carriage and calmly look at the scenery outside the window! "
Li Shizhi was already used to it. He smiled and lay down on the soft bed beside Ang Lee, calmly looking at the snowy scenery outside.
In the past six months, because he was not put in an important position by the Emperor, Li Longji, he had been idle a lot and was about to become a person who did not do anything. Fortunately, Li Linfu would always find some trivial things for him to do, making him feel that he was still a little useful in the imperial court and was not a good-for-nothing.
"It doesn't matter whether the credit is due or not. However, it's enough to be able to lie in the train and look at the beautiful snowy scenery outside the window. Life is not as you wish. Just take things lightly and don't worry too much."
Ang Lee comforted Li Shizhi.
Li Shizhi looked at Ang Lee in confusion. "Dalang, you are now His Majesty's favorite person. I'm afraid your position in His Majesty's heart is no lower than that of the Right Chief Minister. How can you be so emotional when you are in the prime of your life?"
Of course, Li Shizhi would never know that Ang Lee had lived two lives and had seen many things. That was why he was so open-minded.
"Liu Aweng, let's look at the snow. It's a pity that we don't appreciate such a beautiful scenery."
Ang Lee smiled and began to change the topic.
Li Shizhi did not delve into it. He smiled and said, "The scenery outside the window is indeed very beautiful. These are the beautiful rivers and mountains of the Tang dynasty. When the railway to Anxi is built in the future, I must see the thousands of miles of yellow sand there with my own eyes."
"Liu Aweng, don't worry. In two or three years at most, the railway to Anxi will be built. With the powerful national strength of the Tang dynasty, it is completely possible to do this."
Li An confidently said. After the spring plowing of the coming year, the two railways leading to Jade Gate Pass and the surrendered city would begin to be laid down. And with Li Longji's personality of rejoicing in grandiose achievements, he would definitely recruit the common people along the way on a large scale. In addition, he would also recruit laborers from the Guanzhong and Luoyang regions. With the support of powerful manpower, the laying of the railways would definitely be completed quickly, even faster than the laying of railways in the future.
In order to dig the Grand Canal, the Sui Dynasty used millions of manpower and the wealth of the country. Even if the Grand Canal was built in the future, it would never use so much manpower. At most, it would use thousands of people and advanced machinery to carry out the construction. In this way, the progress might not be faster than in the ancient times.
After all, the various major projects in the future required relatively less manpower. The machinery could increase the efficiency by a hundred times, but the manpower was reduced by a hundred times. In this way, the speed was about the same, but the consumption of the national strength was too small. In the ancient times, major projects often required the national strength.
"Dalang, the plowing machines and water pumps have begun to be built in batches. I heard that the harvester will be developed soon. In this way, the Tang dynasty won't need so many people to farm. Have you thought about how to settle these people?"
Li Shizhi asked worriedly.
"Liu Aweng, I'm short of manpower now! There are 30,000 craftsmen in the R&D Center, but it's far from enough. Moreover, every time the railway is laid, a large number of people need to be temporarily recruited. If there are fewer people to farm, we can set up a special railway craftsmen in the future. In this way, not only can we lay the railway during the slack time, but we can also lay it at any time. In addition, I have many practical things to invent, which all require a lot of manpower. Therefore, the fewer people there are to farm, the better it will be for the Tang Empire. If one farmer can feed ten people, isn't it great? "
Ang Lee explained.
He knew that Li Shizhi's thinking was still in an agricultural society and did not quite approve of the industrialization of the empire. However, the trend of the times could not be changed. The fewer people there were to farm, the stronger an empire would be.
"Oh, you're right. If one farmer can feed ten people, the Tang Empire will never suffer from famine again. It's a good thing. It's a good thing!"
Li Shizhi thought about it according to Ang Lee's idea and felt that it was indeed a good thing. But soon, he asked, "Once a large number of people lose their farming jobs, how can you guarantee that they will find something to do? If more than half of the people don't need to farm, can you really take in all of them by building machines and building railways? If there are still many people who can't find a way to make a living, won't the world be in chaos? "
Li Shizhi's concern was indeed reasonable. However, he had overestimated the ability of machines such as the plowing machines. According to the current production capacity, these machines could only alleviate the need for agricultural workers in the Tang Empire, causing a small number of people to lose their agricultural jobs and shift to the industrial sector. The industrial scale of the Tang Empire would gradually expand and improve.
Thus, a virtuous cycle of reducing the agricultural population and increasing the industrial demand would be realized. In this way, it would naturally not lead to a large number of idle people in the Tang Empire.
And a small number of idle people was not a big deal. As long as it was properly controlled and the social security system was perfect, chaos could be completely avoided.
Ang Lee explained his countermeasures in detail and assured Li Shizhi that the reduction of the agricultural population and the increase of the industrial population would definitely form a virtuous cycle and would never cause chaos in the Tang Empire. In addition, he also explained some knowledge of the social security system. In layman's terms, it was to let the people who did not have food to eat and provide them with the minimum living guarantee so that they would not take risks. Of course, in the process, he would also find ways to find them jobs.
Li Shizhi understood half of it. He still did not quite understand the problem of the social security system. It was tantamount to letting some people who could not make a living eat and drink for free. It was the loss of the imperial court's wealth. Moreover, it was not during a disaster. Such a normal disaster relief could easily breed lazy people.
After Ang Lee carefully explained the many benefits of the social security system, Li Shizhi fully understood and agreed with Ang Lee's point of view.
The scenery outside the window was constantly changing. Although it was always snow-white, the shapes were not the same. There were white trees, white flatlands, and white tall mountains.
After talking with Li Shizhi about the relevant knowledge of industrialization, Ang Lee had been quietly enjoying the snow-white scenery outside the window. He was in a very good mood.
In the third carriage, Li Longji was also very comfortable. He was lying on the wide soft bed, hugging the delicate Yang Yuhuan, and enjoying the fairytale-like scenery outside the window with her.
Different from Ang Lee's carriage, Li Longji's carriages were installed with more ultra-thin fireplaces. In addition, the insulation measures were better.
Because of this, although it was snowy outside and the temperature was below freezing, Li Longji's carriage was as warm as a spring day. Using a phrase from later generations, this was the best temperature for the human body.
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