After Ang Lee returned to the capital, he had a good rest for a few days. During these days, he did nothing but stay in the courtyard to accompany his wife and children. During the day, he played with his children and kissed them. At night, he pampered his wife and had sex. His life was quite comfortable.
After a few days, Ang Lee officially clocked in and began to work in the R&D Center. Because the expedition to Tibet took up too much time, many of the R&D Center's research projects fell into a state of stagnation due to the lack of Ang Lee's guidance. Some of them were even canceled directly.
Now, Ang Lee had returned to the R&D Center to clock in and work. These R&D projects were picked up again and carried out again. Of course, for some of the less difficult research projects, the R&D Center's craftsmen had already developed them without Ang Lee's guidance. This made Ang Lee quite satisfied.
Ang Lee's current R&D focus was on the people's livelihood and economic fields. He only took care of the military and national defense slightly. After all, with the current military and technological strength of the Tang dynasty, they could already beat the whole world. There was no need to rush to develop more advanced weapons.
In the people's livelihood and economic fields, the most important things were logistics and transportation. Therefore, the development of more advanced transportation tools became the focus of the moment.
Trade stimulated wealth, and the bottleneck that restricted the development of trade was transportation conditions. Only when transportation and logistics became more convenient, could trade become more prosperous.
If the Tang dynasty wanted to be rich, it must encourage trade. Not only did it have to prosper domestic trade, but it also had to do more foreign trade. Most of the countries were in the west of the Tang dynasty. Therefore, the Tang dynasty must pay attention to trade with the western countries.
On land, trade with the western countries had to rely on trains. This was the best and most convenient way. Only the transportation capacity and efficiency of trains could meet the growing demand of trade.
In addition to land trade, a sea passage could also be opened to go through the Strait of Malacca to the west and pass through the countries along the way, thus promoting the prosperity of sea trade.
The prosperity of the land had to rely on the railway system. Therefore, the research of the railway system must be the most important. In addition to speeding up the laying of the railway, more advanced locomotives must be developed to improve the speed and efficiency of train transportation.
As for ocean transportation, they had to rely on steam-powered ships to increase efficiency. This was also the focus of Ang Lee's current research.
In addition, both land and sea transportation were inseparable from the support of the countries along the way. Railways had to be connected to foreign countries so that a large number of goods could be transported to these countries. Although there was no need to lay a line on the sea, there must be a port for replenishment when the ships were drifting on the sea for a long time. The countries along the way must provide reliable large ports to provide fresh water and food supplies for the fleet of the Tang dynasty.
All the high-tech transportation equipment would be developed by Ang Lee. As for laying the railway outside the country and finding reliable supply points on the sea, it would be up to the imperial court of the Tang dynasty to deal with it.
Researching and developing equipment was very boring, but when he thought about the huge impact it could have after it was put to use, Ang Lee did not feel bored anymore. Moreover, most of the work was done by the people in the research and development center. He was only responsible for guiding and preventing these people from going astray. In fact, it was not very tiring, just a little cumbersome.
The research and development would definitely yield results. As long as they persevered, they would eventually be able to develop more and more advanced and high-end transportation tools.
The results were revealed step by step. With the deepening of the research and development, more advanced locomotives and steam turbines came out one after another. They gradually began to replace the old models to improve the efficiency of transportation.
Soon, the fifth year of Tianbao came to an end. When the sixth year of Tianbao came to spring, amazing news came from the east. The fleet sent to explore America had returned successfully and brought back a large number of American specialties. These specialties were exactly the same as what Ang Lee had described before.
Because the weather in early spring was very cold, in order to prevent these precious plants from freezing to death, Ang Lee immediately took the train to Lai Zhou after learning that the fleet had returned. With so many varieties of plants and seeds, he had to deal with them as soon as possible.
Three days later, Ang Lee arrived in Lai Zhou and boarded the ten ships that had returned from the sea.
Each of the ten ships was loaded with a large number of plant seeds and vines, as well as the rubber trees that Ang Lee had specially asked for. In addition, there were some animals that did not exist in the Tang dynasty. Even pumas and jaguars were caught.
Looking at the pumas and jaguars trapped in the iron cages, Ang Lee sighed at the strength of human beings. Even if the beasts had sharp claws, so what? They were still subdued by human beings.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are the plants and plants that were found according to the drawings you gave. Some of them were brought back by this humble official on my own initiative."
Ang Lee nodded and praised, "Good, good, very good. You have all made a great contribution to the exploration of America this time. This official will personally report to His Majesty. You can wait to receive your rewards! However, this is not the end. There are so many good things in America. Right now, our Tang dynasty has made more and better ships. In the future, you must continue to go to America and bring back these good things so that they can be popularized in the Tang dynasty as soon as possible. Let these good crops blossom everywhere in the Tang dynasty as soon as possible. "
Hearing this, everyone was very happy, especially the fishermen who had rich experience in sailing. The Imperial Court was going to send people to America, and this way, they would be able to make a living. They would be able to earn much more than fishing.
Next, Ang Lee began to distribute these crops from America. After all, not all crops could be transported to the capital. For example, the rubber trees could only survive in the tropics.
Although there were greenhouses in Chang 'an and they could be built higher, using greenhouses to cultivate rubber trees was too expensive and not cost-effective in economic terms. In addition, the effect of the greenhouses could not be compared with the natural rubber trees. There was no doubt about this. Therefore, Ang Lee immediately arranged a group of people and ordered them to immediately transport these saplings to Jiao Zhou and Yazhou and find a suitable land to plant them.
In addition, because this batch of rubber saplings was extremely important to the industrialization of the Tang dynasty in the future, the local officials must be informed to send people to take care and protect them. If anything happened to these saplings, the officials of the state and county would all be punished. If these saplings grew well, the officials of the state and county would record their achievements and even reward them.
In the era of the Tang dynasty, under normal circumstances, only officials who had no way out and had been demoted would appear in remote states and counties, especially Jiao Zhou and Yazhou. Since ancient times, they had been the best places to exile and demote officials.
Therefore, Ang Lee believed that as long as he released these words, the officials of Jiao Zhou and Yazhou would not dare to be careless. They would definitely take care of the rubber trees and would not let anything happen to them. Otherwise, they would not be able to live with their own futures.
Of course, the local officials could send people to protect these saplings, but to take care of the rubber saplings, they must have the corresponding professional knowledge. For this reason, Ang Lee wrote down all the requirements for taking care of the rubber saplings on paper and asked his subordinates to make many copies. At the same time, he personally knew a few people going south and told them what to do. They must take good care of these rubber saplings and personally sent these people to the ship. After they arrived at Jiao Zhou and Yazhou, they immediately began to transplant and take good care of them.
After dealing with the most important rubber trees, Ang Lee began to guide a large group of people to move the important materials from the ship onto land and onto the train to be transported to the capital.
These important materials included sweet potatoes, potatoes, peppers, corn, and other important American products. In addition to the finished products of sweet potatoes, there were also seedlings. The potatoes were only finished products, and the peppers and corn were only seeds. The rest of the materials were mainly seeds. Of course, this was because they could bring more seeds if they carried seeds. If they carried seedlings, it would take up too much space, and it would be very difficult to take care of them.
Other than the rubber saplings that needed to be transported to Jiao Zhou and Yazhou, the rest of the materials were all loaded onto the train and immediately transported to Chang 'an City. In order to prevent frostbite, all the sweet potatoes and potatoes were wrapped in cotton cloth, and some seedlings that were afraid of freezing were also wrapped in cotton cloth.
As for sending an even larger fleet to America to transport urgently needed materials, it needed to be discussed with Li Longji after returning to the capital. For such a big matter, Ang Lee really couldn't make a decision casually. Otherwise, if the Emperor investigated, it would be difficult to explain.
With a large number of materials, Ang Lee took the train back to the capital. Of course, this batch of materials was all loaded onto the freight train, and Ang Lee took a high-end passenger train. The important materials in the train were naturally taken care of by his subordinates. After all, the weather was so cold, it was more comfortable to live in a soft sleeper carriage with a fireplace. Even when it was time to eat, it was brought in by his subordinates. After all, the temperature in the dining car was lower, far lower than the temperature in the soft sleeper carriage.
A few days later, the train arrived at the Changan City Railway Station. Many officials and nobles who had already known the news all came to watch the fun. After all, a few days ago, news came from the east, telling the officials about a large number of magical products in America, which made them curious. Moreover, such a big matter, how could they not come to watch the fun?
"Assistant Minister Li, you've had a hard journey."
As soon as Ang Lee got off the train, he was greeted by a smiling Yang Zhao. All the officials were waiting in the distance. Only he saw the train enter the station and ran to the front of the train, almost colliding with Ang Lee who was getting off the train.
"Adjunct Yang, you also came to watch the fun?"
Ang Lee replied with a smile.
"His Majesty asked me to manage the five workshops. I heard that many interesting animals were brought back from America this time, so I naturally had to come."
Yang Zhao laughed, as if showing off that he was valued by the Emperor. Although the reputation of the five workshops of the Tang Dynasty wasn't very good, and people called them the children of the five workshops, it was a lucrative job, and a position that was highly valued by the Emperor.
The five workshops referred to the organization that reared five types of animals, namely the carving workshop, the falcon workshop, the hawk workshop, the eagle workshop, and the dog workshop. The first four types could be classified as eagles, and the last type was dogs. Noble men always liked eagles and dogs, and the Emperor was no exception. It seemed that only eagles and dogs could reflect their wealth.
The five workshops were just a name. In the beginning, there were only these five types of animals that were valued the most. Later, the organization expanded, and in addition to eagles and dogs, other animals were raised to provide various entertainment for the royal family.
In fact, it was equivalent to a zoo in the future. When the Emperor was tired, he could accompany his concubines to the zoo to see all kinds of magical animals to pass the time. The five workshops were actually synonymous with the zoo of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, in order to satisfy the Emperor's growing curiosity, the officials in charge of the five workshops had to constantly collect all kinds of rare animals from the people to offer to the palace. In the process, it was inevitable that they would disturb the people, so the people had a very bad impression of the staff of the five workshops, and they called them the children of the five workshops. This showed how much the people disliked them.
Now that Yang Zhao had been appointed as the highest-ranking official of the five workshops, the responsibility of collecting all sorts of rare animals had fallen on his shoulders. In order to maintain the Emperor's favor, he naturally had to work very hard. And the rare animals that had been shipped from America were all things that no one in the Great Tang had ever seen before. Of course, they were the rarest. If he didn't come and take a look, how could he be worthy of such a lucrative position?
"There are a lot of rare animals, but the train behind us hasn't arrived yet. Colonel Yang will probably have to wait a little longer. "
Ang Lee said. In fact, he also had to wait here. After all, there were so many important products, and he had to personally arrange them so that he could rest assured. He was worried that they would be damaged if they were handed over to others.
After chatting with the officials and the royal family for a while, Ang Lee stood quietly at the railway station, waiting for the freight train to arrive.
Half an hour later, the freight train arrived at the railway station on time and stopped steadily.
Ang Lee personally arranged for a group of people to unload the goods on the train and transport them to different locations. All the animals were handed over to Yang Zhao. Yang Zhao didn't come alone anyway. He brought a large group of people with him, so it was more than enough to transport all the rare animals.
Chili, corn, and other seeds were not afraid of the cold, so they didn't need special care. They just needed to be transported to the designated location. However, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and many other seedlings were different. If they were damaged by the cold, they would suffer heavy losses. These were all rare plants transported from America. They were extremely important to the future agricultural development of the Tang Empire, so they couldn't be lost.
"Assistant Minister Li, this red thing is a sweet potato, right? I heard that it can produce up to ten thousand catties per mu. Is it really that much? "
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