Every autumn is not only a time for horseback riding and hunting, but also a time for Zhao Han to communicate with scholars from Qintianyuan.
In the past two years, it gradually became a routine: in spring outings, the emperor, civil servants, and scholars from the Hanlin Academy would enjoy the scenery, recite poems, and sing dialogues. In autumn, in the outings, the emperor, military generals, and scholars from the Qintian Academy would ride horses, hunt, and talk about science.
Of course, everyone can participate, regardless of spring outing or autumn hunting, and there are no strict requirements.
Ji Bike has already met all the concubines. Compared with previous emperors, Zhao Han's harem is very small. Don't talk about the infatuation between Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty, and don't say that a certain emperor favored only one person. How many should they have?
The concubines still want to accept it.
Although Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was afraid of his wife, the favorite concubines recorded in history books include Concubine Zhang, Concubine Cao Ling, Concubine Han Yi, Concubine Wang, Concubine Wei, etc. There are countless concubines that are not recorded in history books.
Therefore, although Zhao Han had eleven concubines, all the officials agreed that the emperor was not a womanizer.
Ji Beike drove behind the North Korean concubine, who was now at the bottom. But everyone knew that the emperor loved her very much, after all, she was young and beautiful. Queen Fei Rulan was already over fifty, although the emperor
I often go to Kunning Palace, but my time to stay overnight becomes less and less.
Later, the princes and princesses were driving. The prince and princess had already consecrated eight people. Except for the King of Jin who was in India and the King of Han who was serving in the navy, the other princes and their princesses came to participate in the autumn hunting.
At the back of the military generals' team, a group of Cong Longxungui were riding horses, chatting and laughing. However, there were also a few people who were sick and bedridden. After all, they were old. They were still fighting everywhere when they were young. It is estimated that two or three people would die of illness in a few years.
.
There were also some civil servants who liked to ride horses and hunt, hanging out with the generals.
At the end are the scholars from Qintian Academy, dozens of people with bachelor degrees or above, and many graduate students who came to join in the fun.
The imperial guards walked at the front and rear of the team, waiting for the official autumn tour team to pass by, and the wealthy people in the capital quickly followed. They were not qualified to enter the royal horse farm and hunting grounds, but they could play in Xuanwu Lake, where they could not only enjoy the beautiful autumn scenery, but also enjoy the close distance.
Not far from the emperor.
Of course, several scholars from the Hanlin Academy's Painting and Calligraphy Hall also came today to paint pictures of the emperor's autumn hunt.
Everyone went to the racecourse to play first, and the royal family sat alone. After watching a polo match, it was almost lunch time.
In addition to the normal meals, I saw the palace maids and guards bringing many wide-mouthed porcelain bottles, the mouths of which were also blocked with corks.
Zhao Han said with a smile: "This thing is called canned food. I asked the military grain factory to develop it. The navy and maritime merchants can take it on board. It can prevent and treat scurvy. Come and have a taste."
Everyone found it strange, but not surprised, because the emperor always came up with new things.
I saw the guards first remove the sealing wax, then pull out the cork, pour the food inside into the cauldron, and then put it into bowls and plates.
Fei Ruhe took a bite of spinach. The taste was really not good, far inferior to fresh spinach.
When I tasted the pork again, it still looked the same.
But the ministers must give face to the new gadgets invented by the emperor, and they all praised the canned food for being particularly delicious.
Fubo General Gu Jianshan couldn't help but laugh and said: "It tastes so good! The canned food is specially for the navy to eat when going to sea. With this thing, no matter how far the voyage is, you will not get scurvy. Moreover,
, it can also be put in porcelain bottles. After the voyage is over, half of the empty porcelain bottles will be sold on the spot, and the other half will be canned again for the return voyage."
"Wonderful," Fei Ruhe said, "but the porcelain bottle is too heavy and not suitable for land marches. If it can be made from iron boxes, a lot of canned army rations can be made in the future."
Zhang Tieniu said: "Yes, yes, yes, he can pack tens of thousands of kilograms of cans for the march, and there is no need to make a pot to cook on the way. Biscuits like rice cakes are quite delicious if you eat them one or two. If you eat them for a few days, you will feel sick.
.”
Yang Shuang, a master of Qintian Academy, said: "I have been fortunate enough to participate in the research and development of this can. Your Majesty's original intention was to use an iron box to pack it, but after trying many methods, it could not be completely sealed. Iron boxes and cans are time.
The longest one will go bad in less than a month, and most will go bad in less than ten days."
Zhao Han also tried glass cans, but they still had to use cork stoppers. Small glass can caps actually contain high technology. At present, steam engines can also be made manually with the help of labor, but the cost is high and the efficiency is low.
Not as practical as cork.
In the end, the cans were still made in porcelain bottles, sealed with cork, and then topped with a layer of wax to seal again.
Firstly, porcelain bottles are resistant to high temperatures and are not as easily broken as glass when canned food is cooked.
Secondly, the current role of cans is to provide them to ocean-going ships. Ocean-going fleets must engage in trade, and porcelain is a must-have commodity. It is completely possible to make a porcelain bottle and can, eat the contents halfway, and use the leftovers when docking.
The porcelain vase below was sold.
Porcelain needs to be packed in layers to prevent it from breaking during the rough seas.
If you use glass bottles for cans, you have to pack them in layers, which takes up too much space in the cabin. Changing to porcelain bottles that can be traded can save a lot of space, allowing the cargo hold to hold goods and food at the same time.
It's like the crew ate the canned goods and then sold the canned goods and bottles to foreigners.
Of course, if the voyage is too long, half of the porcelain bottle is usually left to cook the food into cans and bring it back when returning.
The American route is the most suitable. You can't replenish your food on the way there, so you rely on canned food to supplement your vitamins. You can replenish your food in Hawaii on your way back, so you don't need canned food. You can maximize your profits by selling all the porcelain bottles.
Zhao Han smiled and said: "I remember your surname is Yang. Since you have participated in the development of cans, I can tell you what the principle is."
Yang Shuang stood up and said: "Through a microscope, you can observe many organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. We have observed the decay process of fruits, rice, broth, and vegetables. Maybe the microscope is not powerful enough, and we can only see many tiny dots."
We speculate that those dot-like objects are also some kind of organisms, which cause the spoilage of food."
The military generals have become accustomed to it. During the past two or three years during the autumn hunting, the emperor always likes to take Qin Tianyuan with him, and always makes some strange remarks.
Due to the magnification limit of the microscope, although Qintianyuan can observe bacteria, they can only see many small black dots. They regard bacteria and tardigrades as the same kind, thinking that they are both small bugs. Zhao Han cannot forcefully explain, but
Those black spots are so tiny that they may not be the same species as tardigrades.
When doctors use a microscope to observe germs, they can only see small black dots. Then based on the macroscopic differences of these black dots, they are completely confused about what kind of germs they are, and often confuse several germs together.
The magnification of the microscope needs to be improved urgently!
As for how to improve, Zhao Han has no idea. It may take another hundred or two hundred years to develop.
Yang Shuang continued: "We call this kind of microorganisms microorganisms. There are microorganisms everywhere in the air and clear water. They can be killed by cooking and heating. So put the food into the porcelain bottle and stop it with a cork.
, boil it over high fire to kill insects, and then pour wax to completely isolate the air, so that food can be preserved for a long time.”
"Okay!" Zhao Han smiled and clapped.
The royal family, maids, guards, generals, civil servants, and scholars who were having a meal all applauded along with the emperor. Since there were so many people present, those who were far away had no idea what they were talking about, but seeing everyone applauding, they also followed.
Clapping like crazy.
Zhao Han asked everyone to continue eating and asked casually: "How did the rubber experiment go?"
Li Quan not only brought back rubber saplings and seeds, but also some solidified natural latex.
Huangfu Jun, who was in charge of researching rubber, was eating at the next table at this time. He quickly put down his kuaizi and stood up: "Reporting to your majesty, the latex shipped from America to Nanjing has long solidified. I have never seen liquid rubber latex. Therefore, I can only
Conduct research on solid rubber. If the temperature is high, the rubber will become softer. If the temperature is low, the rubber will become hard. If the rubber is heated to high temperatures repeatedly, the rubber will age completely and even lose its elasticity."
"That's all?" Zhao Han was a little dissatisfied.
Huangfu Jun said helplessly: "Your Majesty, I hope to study the rubber that has not yet solidified. If it has solidified, we can only do hot and cold experiments."
Zhao Han understood this and said: "The rubber trees in Luzon and Yecheng should be able to tap rubber in two or three years. You can sign up and build a research institute in Luzon to specialize in the preparation and use of rubber. Let's go.
In Luzon, the salary remains unchanged, but there are additional allowances."
"Yes, I would like to go to Luzon." Huangfu Jun actually didn't want to go, but he had to give Emperor Zhao face. He was the person in charge of the rubber project, so he had to go even if he didn't go, otherwise he would definitely disappoint the emperor.
Natural rubber has serious flaws. Let's say it is applied on cloth to make a waterproof cloth. If the temperature drops suddenly, the elasticity of that layer of rubber will weaken, and it may even become brittle and brittle. And after being exposed to the sun, it will seriously age, and many
It will become useless after being exposed to the sun a few times.
It is also not resistant to friction and cannot be made into tires.
The scholars in charge of the rubber project have already formulated an experimental plan.
The method is very crude, that is, mix various items into the latex, stir it, and then record the results of each experiment. There are always one or two things that can react with the latex. If you try more and more, you can try out the right formula.
.
Zhao Han suddenly asked again: "Where's the electricity?"
A scholar named Peng Renhu stood up and said, "Your Majesty, we killed a chick with electricity."
"Oh, tell me quickly." Zhao Han suddenly became interested.
Peng Renhu said: "In the past, tortoise, amber and the like were used to generate electricity, which was expensive and very inconvenient. Five years ago, the mayor of Magdeburg in Germany invented the electrostatic generator..."
"Wait a minute," Zhao Han asked, "Mayor Magdeburg? What does he have to do with the Magdeburg Hemisphere Experiment?"
Peng Renhu said in surprise: "Your Majesty, who is busy with everything, actually knows about the Magdeburg Hemisphere Experiment. This experiment was done by the mayor 11 years ago."
Qintianyuan has a fund specifically used for ordering European academic papers.
Businessmen from the Netherlands, France, Britain and other countries would collect the latest European academic papers. When they went to Yecheng for trade, they would sell them to the governor at a high price, and the governor of Yecheng would then send the papers to Nanjing.
Peng Renhu said: "The electrostatic generator works like this. Add sulfur to the glass bottle and continue to heat the glass bottle. After the sulfur melts, continue to add sulfur until the glass bottle is filled. And before the sulfur solidifies, insert a wooden handle
.When the glass bottle cools down, smash it and get a sulfur ball with a wooden handle."
"One end of this ball is the positive pole and the other end is the negative pole. It is more suitable for experiments than tortoise and amber."
"However, the mayor's generator can only attract paper scraps and hair. We have improved it by making the sulfur ball into a larger cylinder, and then using a pedal machine to make the sulfur cylinder rotate at high speed, rubbing the silk
Generate static electricity. Sulfur cylinders can store static electricity. The electricity is so powerful that it electrocuted a chicken to death."
Is static electricity so powerful?
Zhao Han had no relevant concepts at all, and he could not even remember the electromagnetic induction experiment. He only reminded: "You can use copper wire to make a circle and move it back and forth between two mutually repelling magnets. How to do it specifically?
I don’t know, but I always feel that there is a connection between magnetism and electricity.”