Ang Lee had expected that Li Longji would bring up the rubber trees. He knew that the Emperor must have come to him to ask about the rubber trees. After all, the huge role of the rubber trees had caused a stir in the court. Everyone recognized the importance of the rubber trees to the Tang Empire. Naturally, Li Longji attached more importance to the rubber trees.
Since Emperor Li Longji, all the ministers were worried about the lack of rubber trees. They felt that the lack of resources seriously limited the development of the Tang Empire. It was a bottleneck that restricted the development of the Tang Empire, and this bottleneck must be solved.
After careful consideration, Li Longji decided to build a rubber workshop in the distant Americas to provide a steady stream of urgently needed resources for the developing Tang Empire. However, Li Longji was not clear about the feasibility of building a workshop in the Americas and the difficulties that might be encountered. Therefore, he had to ask for Ang Lee's opinion.
"Yes, Your Majesty. The rubber trees have to grow for at least five or six years before they can produce rubber. Otherwise, it will seriously affect the amount of rubber produced. It's like draining the pond to catch all the fish. It's very undesirable."
Ang Lee explained.
Ang Lee knew a lot about the exploitation of rubber trees. After all, he was a knowledgeable person in his previous life. Of course, he was a poor man who was knowledgeable. It was quite sad that he was a knowledgeable loser.
Li Longji sighed slightly and said, "The wheels made of rubber by Assistant Minister Li are very good. When I sat in the carriage, I hardly felt any bumps. The bicycle is also very good. I rode it myself. It's really light. If it can be popularized in the future, it will be much more convenient for the people to travel."
"Your Majesty can also ride a bicycle? It's too dangerous. Your Majesty, you'd better not ride a bicycle in the future. It's easy to lose balance. "
Ang Lee did not expect that Li Longji could ride a bicycle at such an old age. However, when he thought that the old men in the future could also ride bicycles, he soon felt relieved.
"We can ride a tall horse, so why can't we ride a bicycle? Riding a bicycle is very easy. We can even take the imperial concubine for a ride in the back garden."
Li Longji seemed to be much younger, his face full of confidence.
"By the way, Assistant Minister Li, the rain boots and rubber shoes you made are also very good. The ministers all praised them after using them. However, whether it is the tires of the vehicles or the shoes, they all need a lot of rubber juice. With the current supply of 100 jin per day, it is really too little. Assistant Minister Li should be very clear about this problem. Therefore, I was thinking whether I could send a troop to America to directly collect rubber resources there and ship them back to the Tang dynasty by steam ships. In this way, the problem of rubber shortage will be solved, won't it?"
Li Longji asked for Ang Lee's opinion.
"Your Majesty, do you really plan to build a rubber workshop in America?"
Ang Lee felt that Li Longji was too concerned about rubber.
But transporting rubber trees from America is far too troublesome. Moreover, large rubber trees aren't easy to transplant. Physician Li, who went to America, said that the large rubber trees in America are extremely tall and can't be moved by human hands. We feel that such tall rubber trees can definitely produce even more rubber juice. If we can harvest rubber trees from America, we can obtain even more rubber than the Great Tang. In addition, if we send more people to America, we can better develop America. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone? "
Li Longji said seriously.
"So, Your Majesty has made up your mind?"
Ang Lee said lightly.
"I have thought about it carefully. However, Assistant Minister Li is the only one who knows the situation in America and the rubber trees. Therefore, I want to hear Assistant Minister Li's opinion."
Li Longji said.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty's idea is completely feasible. As long as we invest enough manpower and financial resources, we can build a rubber workshop in America and transport the processed rubber products back to the Tang dynasty to meet the needs of the Tang dynasty. However, we can only build the most basic processing workshops in America. We must not build workshops with too advanced technology. The core technology should always be kept in the Tang dynasty. The core technology should be placed near the capital so that it is easier to control the world."
"Why can't we build a better processing workshop in America? Is Assistant Minister Li worried about something?"
Li Longji asked curiously.
"Your Majesty, America is, after all, isolated overseas. If we master advanced processing and production technology, we will have the capital to stand on our own. In this way, it will be easy for us to break away from the Tang dynasty. Therefore, in order for the Tang dynasty to better control America, the most advanced technology must not be brought to America, let alone build advanced processing workshops in America. We can only keep the most basic processing workshops."
Ang Lee explained.
Li An's worries were not groundless. The experience of later generations had proven that as long as the American colonists had a certain amount of material and technology, they would start a war of independence. The most powerful countries in later generations were independent countries in the Americas. This was a point that they had to be wary of.
Li Longji deeply agreed. As an emperor, he was the most knowledgeable about controlling the country. Naturally, he could think of various possibilities for America's independence.
"Given the current demand for rubber in the Tang dynasty, how many people do you think it is appropriate to send to America to build a rubber workshop, Assistant Minister Li?"
When Li Longji heard that they could build a rubber workshop, he asked how many people should be sent.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and suggested, "Your Majesty, there are indigenous people in America, and they have a large population. Since they have now submitted to the Tang dynasty, they should be in charge of harvesting rubber. We only need to provide them with the technology and let them work. The indigenous people in America don't know how useful the sap of the rubber tree is, so we only need to pay them a little. As for the rubber workshop for primary processing, thousands of people should be enough."
"Well, Assistant Minister Li's idea is basically the same as mine. I also plan to let the indigenous people in America be in charge of harvesting and collecting rubber, but I still need to send more people from the Tang dynasty. Only when the people of the Tang dynasty are large enough can they better control America and expand the production of rubber. I plan to send another 20,000 people to South America to enrich the population there and let most of them engage in rubber production."
Li Longji finally made the decision to send 20,000 people to enrich the strongholds in South America and let them be mainly responsible for the production of rubber raw materials.
Of course, Ang Lee would not object. This was the emperor's decision. How could he dare to object? He immediately expressed his full support. Moreover, he had long thought about building a rubber workshop in America. However, he was worried that America would develop too fast in the future and become independent step by step, so he did not bring up this idea.
Sending 20,000 people to South America to be mainly responsible for the production of rubber resources was a big deal. It had to be carefully prepared. Ang Lee knew the situation of rubber the best. Therefore, the officials in charge of the organization would come to ask for Ang Lee's opinion before making any decision. Only then could they make the final decision.
The busy days were fulfilling, but at the same time, they were also very tiring. The officials in charge of developing the rubber industry in America came to bother Li An all day long, causing him to have a headache whenever he saw them. However, no matter how much of a headache he had, he had to endure it. After all, he knew America and rubber the best. Even if it was a trivial matter, the relevant officials of the imperial court did not dare to make a decision casually. They had to ask for instructions from Ang Lee, which annoyed Ang Lee very much.
After nearly a month of comprehensive preparation, the relevant materials and personnel were all ready. Although only 20,000 people were going to South America this time, the imperial court had sent another 5,000 soldiers to better control the land in South America and prevent any incidents that would endanger the people of the Tang dynasty. After all, there were many indigenous people in America. If these indigenous people knew the great role of rubber and asked for higher rewards from the Tang dynasty, and then rebelled when their demands were not met, it would be troublesome. Sending more soldiers could deter the indigenous people in America. They would not dare to rebel and thus avoid a crisis.
Of course, in addition to the ordinary people, the relevant officials and the technical craftsmen who had been personally trained by Ang Lee would definitely go to America. The mining and rough processing of rubber products required their guidance. Otherwise, everything would not proceed in an orderly manner.
At this time, after many rounds of technical improvements, the tonnage and speed of large steam ships had been greatly improved. It only took more than a month to go to America, which was very convenient.
Before the invention of the train, many local officials of the Tang dynasty had to walk for several months to get to Chang 'an, the capital. Now, it only took one or two months to get to America. In fact, it was not far.
As an important material, natural rubber could be preserved for at least three months under normal circumstances. If it was processed well, it could be preserved for more than half a year. Therefore, as long as the processed rubber raw materials were transported back to the Tang dynasty in time, they would not go bad. They could also provide a steady stream of reliable rubber resources for the Tang dynasty.
Because the imperial court attached great importance to the rubber industry, the first batch of rubber raw materials was transported back only three months after this group of people went to South America.
In this batch of 30 large seagoing ships, 10 of them were filled with rubber raw materials. Each ship was filled with 1,000 tons of raw materials, so the 10 ships were filled with 10,000 tons of rubber raw materials. The weight of the containers was even heavier.
When they arrived at the port of Lai Zhou, the local imperial court temporarily recruited a large number of laborers nearby to be responsible for loading and unloading the rubber materials. They were all transported to the Lai Zhou railway station and loaded to the capital, Chang 'an.
According to the loading plan of the train, a carriage could only carry 10 tons, and a freight train could only hold 500 tons. At least 20 freight trains were needed to transport all the rubber raw materials back to the capital.
Because it took a certain amount of time to load the goods, the trains left for the capital one by one. The interval between the trains was more than six to ten hours. It took seven to eight days for the 20 freight trains to be completed.
When the first freight train of rubber raw materials arrived at the Changan City railway station, the relevant officials of the imperial court, who had received the news earlier, immediately led a large number of laborers to begin unloading the goods. They used various vehicles to transport these important rubber raw materials to the R&D Center and handed them to Ang Lee.
Ang Lee was very excited to suddenly have such a large amount of rubber raw materials. These were all strategic resources, which were urgently needed by the Tang dynasty. The arrival of these raw materials allowed Ang Lee to officially start the production line that he had carefully prepared for several months.
After all, in the past few months, in addition to using a small amount of rubber raw materials for scientific research, Ang Lee had also manufactured a large number of related equipment based on his own research results. As soon as the rubber raw materials arrived in the capital, they could immediately start large-scale production.
Ang Lee had personally trained the core technical craftsmen, who were fully qualified for this job. The newly recruited craftsmen could also be handed over to these core craftsmen for training. In short, large-scale production could start soon.
In addition to daily necessities such as rain boots and rubber sneakers, industrial products such as tires and mechanical conveyor belts, there were also many other products that had begun to be produced.
Of course, industrial products were the top priority. After all, there were too many vehicles in the Tang dynasty, and these vehicles all needed to be fitted with tires. Some of them could not be fitted, so the corresponding wheel hubs were produced, which promoted the development of another industry.
In terms of daily necessities, the most practical products were mainly produced, such as rain boots and rubber soles. Rain boots could save people from the pain of mud, while rubber soles could make people more comfortable, lighter, and durable.
In addition, there were some other equipment that also needed rubber materials, such as sofa cushions made of foamed natural rubber, which were very soft and comfortable to sit on, much softer than sitting on a quilt.
There were also foamed natural rubber pillows, which were not only soft and comfortable under the head, but also had a health care function, which was very good for people's health.
When Ang Lee used the foamed rubber technology to make soft cushions, everyone was very surprised. The soft feeling was really unusual.
Of course, this was not the end. Ang Lee had even more amazing technology that he had not shown.
"Assistant Minister Li, what's the use of this square thing that you made out of springs? It feels so strange!"
A craftsman stood up, wiped his sweat, and asked.
They were very familiar with Ang Lee, so they naturally said whatever they wanted to say, and never felt restrained.
"Don't worry, you will know what it is soon."
Ang Lee smiled gently and let the craftsmen continue to work.
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