***
Qin Mu sent back an order, asking the Military Equipment Inspectorate to trial-produce rifled guns and Minié bullets. These two technologies are not very difficult, and with the capabilities of the Qin Military Equipment Inspectorate, it should not be difficult to produce them.
In fact, this was not Qin Mu's goal. His goal was the breech-loading striker gun;
He had seen a breech-loading striker rifle and could draw a clear blueprint of it; he had long ago asked the Ordnance Administration to develop fulminate of mercury and spark plugs. If these two things could be developed, the breech-loading striker rifle would not be out of reach.
Now, before fulminate of mercury and fire are developed, the muzzle-loading rifle and Minié bullet are a good transitional product.
Seeing that Qin Mu was in a good mood, Li Shi came up to him and said mysteriously, "King Qin, I have asked someone to check it out..."
"Hmm? What did you find out?"
"King Qin, that is the Yi woman that King Qin saw when he returned to the city that day. I have already found out that she lives in Fanfang. Since the 21st year of Jiajing in the former Ming Dynasty, Portuguese merchants have been allowed to settle in Ningbo. Over the past hundred years, many Yi people have settled in Ningbo Fanfang. King Qin..."
"Go, go, my king... well, there's no need to mention this matter anymore. Do you know what my goal is?"
"I don't know, King Qin, what is your goal? I will do it for you right away."
"Haha, you can't do it. My goal is to get England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and France to send a princess each to marry me within five years. Well, France needs two, two at a time. Can you achieve this goal?"
Li Shi counted on his fingers, and when Qin Mu asked him the last question, he was dumbfounded, "King Qin, this... so many princesses..."
"A lot? Then you can help me choose. If the princess is not good-looking, let them hold a beauty pageant across the country, and then send her over as a princess after she is chosen."
"Let me go... to a Western talent show?" Li Shi was tongue-tied.
"Why? You don't dare to go? Look at how little you can do. Have you become timid after staying with me for too long?"
"No, no, no, don't worry, King Qin. I will go when the time comes. I will definitely go."
“Hahaha… … ..” Qin Mu laughed loudly. If he could make a breech-loading striker gun, not to mention going to Europe to get a few princesses, even moving all the Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Versailles would be no problem.
Qin Mu laughed and returned to the back garden. The peach and plum trees in the garden were in full bloom, and the banana trees half-hid the archway. The leaning pines were like twisted dragons coiling around the rockery.
Li Xiangjun was wearing a floor-length white skirt with plum blossom patterns, a moon-colored satin gown embroidered with magnolia and flying butterflies, and a light pink brocade chest wrap with delicate gold butterflies embroidered on the cuffs. She was sitting at a stone table under a spring curtain, reading a book, with two maids standing beside her.
Hearing Qin Mu's voice, she turned around as if she were a fairy, making the spring scenery in the garden suddenly come alive.
"King Qin, what are you so happy about? Can you tell me?"
"The spring scenery is so beautiful, and the beauty is like jade. This king is happy just looking at her."
"Hmph!" Li Xiangjun sneered. Since Qin Mu didn't say anything, she couldn't ask him about it.
Qin Mu put his arm around her shoulders and said with a smile, "What book are you reading? Eh, isn't it Jin Ping Mei?"
Li Xiangjun spat at him again and turned the cover over for him to see. On the cover, she saw the words "Imperial Poems" printed. Qin Mu took it and flipped through it. The whole book was a collection of all the poems he had passed down.
"Xiangjun, who printed this?"
"I have sorted it out. I asked Han Zanzhou to take it to the printing workshop and have it printed. King Qin, I heard from Han Zanzhou that the book is in short supply after it was printed. Now it is sold for three taels of silver per copy."
"What? My collection of poems is only sold for three taels of silver? This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. Where do you want me to put this?"
You know what, books are very expensive these days, and rare editions are hard to come by even if you have money. A book worth three taels of silver is not really that precious, but this is an imperial poem.
"King Qin, Han Zanzhou had 10,000 copies printed, and they were all snapped up."
"All 10,000 copies have been snapped up? Doesn't that mean we've made tens of thousands of taels?" Qin Mu's eyes lit up. Back then, it took him a long time to get a few hundred taels in the brothel by the Qinhuai River. Now he's made tens of thousands of taels in one go. This is not a small amount...
Li Xiangjun chuckled, her pretty face was as beautiful as a flower, and she fell limply into his arms. "King Qin, look at you, you are like a profiteer."
"What's wrong with being a profiteer? I didn't steal or rob, and I didn't increase the wages of the people. I have to support your whole family. Is it easy for me?"
"Yes, the King of Qin is a wise ruler throughout history."
"I'm not bragging, my poems are all masterpieces, selling them for three taels of silver is too cheap. No, ask Han Zanzhou to print more and raise the price to at least five taels of silver per copy."
“Hehe… . . . ” Seeing that Qin Mu took it seriously, Li Xiangjun laughed so hard that she could hardly stand.
Qin Mu picked her up and went back to the flower hall. He asked the servants to bring dinner up. The two of them had dinner together in the gentle evening breeze.
During the meal, Li Xiangjun kept smiling. As far as she knew, the people had donated nearly 10 million taels of silver. After deducting 4 million taels for building the imperial palace, most of the rest went into the inner treasury.
Qin Mu and Yang Zhi usually lived frugally. The palace had less than a hundred maids, not as many as those of the rich families, so the expenses were not large. The inner treasury was not short of money, but the way the King of Qin's eyes lit up when he saw money... ..... made her want to laugh when she thought of it.
Qin Mu helped her pick up some food and sighed, "Xiangjun, you don't understand. Loving money is not a bad thing. Only when you love money will you think about how to make money. Those modest gentlemen may have good self-cultivation, but in fact they often do not benefit the country or the people. They think that they can make the people of the world well fed and clothed and live and work in peace and contentment by talking about benevolence and morality. In fact, this is just a beautiful wish that will never come true."
"I know that the King of Qin loves money, but he never lives a life of luxury. He saves money himself, but he never hesitates to spend money on the people."
"As the saying goes, take from the people and give back to the people. This king has enough food to eat three times a day, so there is no need to keep so much money. This king has set up an inner treasury to save some money, but it is just as an emergency fund for the country. As the saying goes, it is better to be prepared, so it is never a bad thing to save more money."
"King Qin, I'm sorry. King Qin was very sincere and I shouldn't have made fun of him."
"Ha ha... ... "
After dinner, the two sat in the living room drinking tea. When Qin Mu saw the lid of the kettle lifted up by the steam when the maid boiled water to make tea, he suddenly thought of the steam engine.
It was only in the past two or three decades that Europeans invented the steam engine.
Europeans can make it, so with China's technology and knowing the working principle of the steam engine, why can't they make it too
When Qin Mu was studying in his previous life, he learned the working principle of Watt's steam engine. In fact, the working principle of Watt's steam engine is not complicated. The steam inlet, exhaust, cylinder, piston, crank and crank are nothing more than these key things.
Watt's improvement was mainly to separate the condenser from the cylinder, so that the cylinder temperature could be continuously maintained at the temperature of the injected steam, thereby improving the utilization rate of the steam. Almost everyone who has read a little bit of education knows this in later generations.
Thinking of this, Qin Mu couldn't stop and went to the study to draw the blueprint of the steam engine. While he was drawing, he asked Li Shi to find some skilled craftsmen.
It was getting dark when several craftsmen were brought into Qiulu Garden. They knelt on the ground in fear and trepidation and dared not get up.
Qin Mu said in a gentle voice: "What are your names?"
"My name is Li Yi."
"My name is Hu San."
"My name is Qian Yi."
The three of them answered one by one, not even daring to raise their heads. Qin Mu tried to soften his tone and said, "You guys get up. I have a blueprint here. I want you to make the thing. If you make it, I will reward you handsomely."
The three of them were still nervous. After Qin Mu urged them again and again, they stood up and looked at the drawings. After looking at them, they were confused.
Qin Mu explained to them: "I call this a steam engine. You have seen people making tea, right? When the water boils, the steam can lift up the lid of the pot. This steam engine of mine uses this principle. You see, this is the cylinder, and inside the cylinder is the piston, which is connected to the cylinder. This is the steam inlet. A boiler is burned outside to allow steam to enter the cylinder from the steam inlet. The steam will push the piston. When the piston is pushed in, the exhaust port opens, and the steam will be discharged from the exhaust hole. The pressure in the cylinder decreases, and then the steam inlet on the other side enters again, pushing the piston back..."
Qin Mu explained it in detail, but the three craftsmen still seemed to understand it vaguely.
He did not give up and explained the working principle of the steam engine over and over again until the three craftsmen basically understood it.
************************
ps: I am asking for monthly tickets, urgently. These two days have been so bleak, I am anxious, please support me with monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
...