The main part of the improvement is that the wheel hub, axle, and spokes are all made of iron. For a four-wheeled carriage, the front wheel has a suspension device and a movable turntable mounted on the axle, which is a bit like a stone mill. There is a left and right wheel in the driver's position.

The rotating lever and a front and rear wheel "brake" the lever at the same time. When pulled, the front and rear wheel hubs are

They are locked by friction between two iron bumps, which have the effect of decelerating and stopping. This device is a bit like the brake of a train wheel, because the wheel hub is made of iron and the contact piece of the brake is made of pig iron. When used, the pig iron is worn

Just replace the wheel. Of course, the most amazing thing is the big bulge in the middle of the wheel.

A one-time sand casting mud film was formed, and after the inner wall was processed with an "earth lathe", a "Ming Dynasty version cylindrical iron bearing" was installed, so it looked a bit large, but the effect was obvious, the wheel friction coefficient was doubled, all of which

Under the production of Jiang Blacksmith, crude benzene is made in many places, which will be gradually improved in future manufacturing.

Further improvements can be made, such as the axle and hub, how much iron should be used, and how much weight can be carried. If it is just a two-wheeled carriage for people, in addition to reducing the size of the wheel, the thickness of the axle can also be reduced, or the wheel can be installed directly without the axle.

On the two beams at the front and rear of the carriage, the carriage is lighter.

The top part of the box is simple to install. It is all made of wood. The loading part is just a flat surface with a circle of railings around it. The front steering wheel of the four-wheeled carriage is smaller than the rear wheel, so it is under the bottom of the car.

The rear wheel is very large and is divided into semicircular shapes with wooden boards. This way, when it is dusty or rainy, water stains on the ground will not be turned up and it will act as a fender.

There are also steps for getting on and off the carriage. Currently, you have to move a small stool to get on and off the carriage, because the opening is from behind the horse's butt, and you climb into the carriage. Now this new carriage is on the edge of the front wheel, because

The front wheel is under the frame, driven from the side

An upper door and a reversible wooden step make it easy to get in and out of the car. The biggest advantage of this is that it forms a glass window facing the front, which will not affect the interior of the car in windy or rainy days. Traditional car trunks

, the front can only be blocked with a piece of cloth.

After solving the problem of the transmission device and putting a lot of effort into the wheels, the large wheels that came out of the sanded mud blanks only used a large amount of iron and had no elasticity, so the wheels were made into two pieces, and the wood was roasted in the middle and then built.

It is made of arc-shaped splicing, with wheels made of cast iron on both sides.

Especially the spokes that are formed in one piece, it looks like there is wood sandwiched between the two iron sheets and iron nails are used to penetrate them together. This has the advantage that it is easier to make the wheel. In the past, the fire-roasted wood was then shaped into an arc, but now there is no need to do so.

To make an arc shape, just use wood chips to form an outer circle.

In any case, road hardening is the direction for the development of horse-drawn carriages. However, in the Ming Dynasty, all official roads were dirt roads, with some gravel roads in better places. Only in some cities were there stone pavements and blue brick roads, but through some rivers

At that time, the bridge built was not suitable for horse-drawn carriages.

However, there are steps that hinder the movement of the carriage. It can be said that in the Ming Dynasty, 99% of the official roads were dirt roads, and they were all donkey and horse roads. In the north, carriages could still pass, but in the south they could only be used for short trips.

, most of them cannot get out of the county town, and they have a long way to go.

The emergence of cement has become a condition for horse-drawn carriages to travel. The reason why Zhang Zijun wants to promote the production of cement is that if you want to be rich, you must first build roads. It was not proposed five hundred years later. In fact, it was even more urgent in the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Juan from the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing said in his memorial to the court: "Due to successive years of natural disasters, the court deployed troops at the border and the treasury was depleted. However, the governance method of the Luzhou prefect created a good way to prosper trade and increase farmers' income.

Utilizing real estate to develop industry and commerce and increase agricultural and mulberry production, we hope to promote it."

Hu Jing, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was more direct. After returning to Beijing, he directly presented a barrel of cement and a piece of flat glass to the court, and asked people from the Ministry of Works to add river sand and gravel to the cement and pour a piece of cement in the courtyard of the Ministry of Works.

Five feet square and three inches thick "concrete". Three days later, the onlookers became more and more excited.

The more they gather, Hu Jing is like a victorious general at this time, so uncomfortable. This is the method of Lucheng. Gather sand to turn into stone, which is extremely hard. If you use this method to pave the road, you will say goodbye to being covered with soil in sunny days and covered in rainy days.

Mud, if you use this method to build a house...

“Please see, there is this piece of glass that can be mounted on doors and windows, transmitting light and airtight, and can replace the current window paper. You will no longer have to worry about moisture and damage...

There is no need to explain the two physical objects that Hu Jing brought. They are all talented people who can stand in the court. They are all the smartest people in the Ming Dynasty. They all see the benefits of these objects.

For this reason, Lord Zhang's contribution is unparalleled and he should be commended, restored to Count Ping'an, and transferred back to the capital for appointment.

Some people like Zhang Zijun's practical style, while some people are just out of camp and it's fine. More people are waiting and watching. If such things can gain the emperor's trust and attention, then officials like Zhang Zijun will

You will get "favor", but now it's Zhu Jianshen, who only wants stability, and wants to be a good person, a harmonious person, who puts all his thoughts on the harem and doesn't care about anything, so that's a different matter.

Now Zhang Zijun is having a hard time with the court's fishery taxation. Luzhou has rich water systems and is adjacent to Chaohu Lake in the south. Since Hongwu, the court has set up many rivers and lakes, and has delimited the jurisdiction of each river and formulated

The amount of taxation is divided into three levels: those with an annual tax rate of 5,000 shi to more than 10,000 shi, and three officials (and several subordinate staff); those with an annual tax rate of more than 1,000 shi.

, there are two officials; those with more than 300 shi per year, one official. The Ming Dynasty sent to the chief secretaries and prefecture and county hebo offices "all with the word river as the name", "each record"

A certain amount of rice banknotes for the fish collected shall be paid at the end of the year. This means that each river bank set up by the imperial court has set a tax quota as an assessment task for the officials of the river bank station. If the tax quota cannot be met, the tax amount of the river bank station will be determined.

Officials will be punished.

The problem is: when fishing for fish and shrimp in rivers, lakes and seas, the uncertainty of the harvest is much higher than when planting rice and wheat on land. Cultivated land can be graded according to visible fertility and barrenness, and then taxed according to the number of acres. This is generally possible.

things to control.

This is not the case when levying a fish tax on rivers, lakes and seas. A wide water surface does not mean there are many fish, but it is the main basis for the government to set the tax amount. In addition, there are many elements of luck - a good harvest today does not mean that there will be the same harvest tomorrow. This year's lake

Just because there are more fish in the river does not mean there will be more next year; floods will affect fishing harvests, damming and overfishing will

etc. will also affect the fishing harvest. The harvest is full of uncertainty, but the tax amount is fixed. In order to complete the task, the officials of the Hebo Station can only rely on expanding the coverage of taxation (increasing the coverage of the small water tax that was not levied before).

All ditches and small ponds are included in the scope of taxation) and the intensity of taxation is increased (forcing people to pay taxes by snatching their fishing nets and baskets).

What's more, when the imperial court sent people to collect tax arrears, Hebo knew that there was no more money to be squeezed out of the fishermen, so they colluded with local officials and distributed the tax arrears to other people.

The imperial court has a unified summer tax. Tea peppers still have to pay grain, and fruit shreds still have to pay taxes. The tax has been paid once at the place of origin, and it has to be paid again at each pass through which it is transported. The plundering of the people is so intensive. Because of the disease Due to reasons such as death or desertion, poor families are often forced to abandon their land when the labor force is insufficient. As a result, the output of the land is no longer what it used to be, but the collected taxes are still the same as in the past. The local chiefs and subordinates do not report , the state and county governments did not care. The people had no choice but to sell their land to make up for the tax arrears, and had to use money to make up for the labor. As the land decreased, the annual tax amount remained unchanged, the population decreased, and the annual labor service remained unchanged. In a vicious circle, the people became more and more miserable.

The "commercial tax" in the Ming Dynasty was not only levied on merchants, but "taxes are imposed on all people who live and work in the market,...but farm tools, books and other people who do not sell them in the market will not be counted." - Take it out when you go out All goods sold at home are subject to tax when passing through the checkpoints and staying in towns, with the exception of agricultural tools, books and items that have never appeared in the market. In fact, it is a consumption tax for the entire population.

Since the Hongwu era, the commercial tax rate has been levied at one-thirtieth of the value of the goods. In actual operation, regardless of the amount of output and price, a fixed amount is allocated to the tax points.
Chapter completed!