Lu Wei asked the dock steward to drag a wooden cart over. The wooden cart was pulled by donkeys. It had tall wheels and looked very strong. If you look closely, it looks like a miniature large-wheeled carriage. The cart-making technology in the Song Dynasty was very mature, causing
Carts are light and strong, and are very consistent with mechanical principles. Unless iron production increases rapidly and all wheels and axles are replaced with iron, there will be little room for improvement. This is not a problem of technology, but a problem of national strength.
But what interests Chen Qing is that there is a wheel and a wooden axle hanging on the back of each vehicle.
You must know that after a wooden wheel vehicle has been used for a long time, the wheels and axles are easily deformed and broken, and replacement is very troublesome. It requires professional craftsmen to do it. After it is damaged in the wild, you have to find another big vehicle to transport it back. More
It is troublesome, so you can often see abandoned carts with broken wheels on the official road. They are eventually picked up by nearby farmers and used as firewood.
But what does it mean that there is a wheel hanging on the back of the wooden wheel vehicle? Can you repair it yourself?
The dock steward explained with a smile: "This is said to be a new type of wooden wheel cart developed by Taixue. It is very popular on the market. The biggest selling point is that it is easy to replace the axle and wheel. The driver can replace it alone, so every time
Every new car has a wheel and an axle hanging on the back.”
Chen Qing was suddenly surprised and happy. Because the national power limit could not change the overall quality of the cart for the time being, he would start with simplicity. It was like opening a window when the door could not be pushed open, allowing people to see the infinite
In the future, we must reward the Taixue craftsmen who came up with this method.
"Have someone remove it and replace it. I want to see how easy it is."
Back at the official residence, Chen Qing was still recalling the scene of the coachman installing the wheels and axles in his mind. With three clicks and two clicks, the coachman completed the replacement in the time it took him to burn an incense stick, which left a very deep impression on Chen Qing.
At this time, a soldier said at the door: "Your Highness, Minister Lu is here!"
Chen Qing nodded, "Let him in!"
After a moment, Lu Wei quickly walked into the official room, bowed and saluted, "See you, Your Highness!"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "Sit down and talk!"
Lu Wei sat down on a chair nearby, and Chen Qing said with a smile: "We have performed well in the past six months. The Ministry of Industry has just been established, and it has managed the Sanmenxia river and plank road, repaired the Cao River and Guangyun Lake. Facts have proved that you will be in charge of the Ministry of Industry
, is a very correct decision.”
Lu Wei hurriedly said: "The real credit should go to His Highness. If His Highness had not approved the use of iron fire thunder to blow up the reef, and if His Highness had not allocated sufficient money and materials from the treasury, it would not have been so effective and it would not have been so smooth.
"
"Okay! Stop bragging about me. I didn't ask you to come here just to hear you brag."
Chen Qing smiled and interrupted Lu Wei, "I asked you to come here to talk about what you will do in the future? Have you ever considered it?"
"Which aspect is your Highness referring to? My personal future, or what I will do with the Ministry of Works in the future?"
"Of course it's the latter. If you do a good job with the Ministry of Works, your personal future will not be a problem."
Lu Wei sighed and said: "Actually, I have also considered it. I think the affairs of the Ministry of Works are very cumbersome and messy. Sometimes I don't know where to start. The dredging of the river this time is because of His Highness's arrangement. How about finishing this? Continue.
I don’t know what to do next.”
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "The deployment of the river management plan is the matter of the Ministry of Industry, and the specific implementation of the plan is the matter of the Capital Water Supervision. The dredging of the river this time should be the matter of the Capital Water Supervision, but I didn't see the Du Water Supervision.
People are busy, but they see officials from the Ministry of Works running around."
"Your Highness, the Capital Water Supervisor has not been established yet!"
"That's the problem. You are busy doing things all day long. How can you have time to think about what to do next? You are the minister of the Ministry of Industry, not the capital water supervisor. The capital water supervision has not been established yet, so you have to do it as soon as possible.
Propose a plan and ask the Internal Affairs Bureau to establish the Metropolitan Water Supervision. As the chief official of the Ministry of Works, you also have the right to recommend candidates for the Metropolitan Water Supervision to the Internal Affairs Bureau."
"I would like to recommend Zhang Yuanlang, the Superintendent of Henan Road Water Affairs, to be the Capital Water Supervisor. To be honest with Your Highness, the plan to control Sanmenxia and dredge the Cao River this time was Zhang Yuanlang's plan. He is very experienced in water control, and even the Imperial Academy invited him to take classes."
Chen Qing remembered that Zhang Yuanlang was responsible for widening the Cai River into the New Bian River, dredging Biankou, calling on the government and the people to plant trees extensively in the yellow flood zone, and changing the soil salinity.
"Okay! I also agree to appoint Zhang Yuanlang as the capital's water supervisor, but you haven't answered my previous question. What do you, the Minister of Works, plan to do?"
Lu Wei already understood that it was not what he wanted to do, but His Highness King Yong who had already prepared an answer for him. He bowed and said: "I am stupid because of my humble position, please give me a clear explanation from Your Highness!"
Chen Qing said calmly: "I saw that easy-to-disassemble transport truck on the dock today. I was thinking, why don't such a good vehicle be promoted to all parts of the world immediately? But who will promote it? In fact, it should be workers
If the Ministry of Industry expects the people to promote it voluntarily, it will take at least ten to twenty years or even longer. However, government promotion can only be promoted in two or three years. So I think the promotion of new technologies is a very important task of the Ministry of Industry.
"
Chen Qing took two steps with his hands behind his back and said: "In fact, the most important thing for us now is to restore the previous prosperity and restore the population. Every department has a lot to do, and the Ministry of Industry is no exception. Take the management of Sanmenxia as an example.
What is the purpose of our management of Sanmenxia? It is to allow more and larger ships to pass through more safely and improve transportation capacity.
So the question is, can we continue to use large iron fire mines to blast the stone islands in Sanmenxia to make the Yellow River waterway wider and the water flow gentler? If we can pass the Wanshi ship, and extend it one step further, can we let the Wanshi sea ship
Arrive directly at Jingzhao?
The question comes again, what should we do if the number of Wanshi sea-going ships is too small? We want to build more sea-going ships, stronger and cheaper ships. Where do the craftsmen come from? Where do the raw materials come from? Where do better technologies come from?
These are things that the Ministry of Industry must consider.
For example, the Taixue Machinery Class is now divided into several groups to develop steam engines. Once successful, we can build large ships of 100,000 dan and 200,000 dan, which can reach Yangzhou in a few days. Has the Ministry of Industry paid attention to Taixue?
Study this program?
We just talked about the Yellow River, but what about the Yangtze River? We used Danshui to extend water transportation from Xiangyang to Shangluo County. Can we extend the water transportation for another hundred miles to the north, build a canal to the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, and then build a canal on the other side to connect
Jingzhao, and then build a transit warehouse group at the north and south ends of Zhongnan Mountain. In fact, the only land route left is the section through Zhongnan Mountain, so the transportation capacity will be greatly enhanced."
After saying so much in one breath, Chen Qing said with a smile: "I have thought of so many things to do at this moment, but you feel confused. This is not a qualified minister of the Ministry of Industry."
Lu Wei's face was full of shame, he stood up and saluted and said: "His Highness's words have made me realize my humble position!"
"You go back and convene the officials of the Ministry of Industry to discuss the matter and tell everyone what I said today. There is one last sentence I want to tell everyone. Tools are the extension of human hands, and cars and ships are the extension of human legs. What the Ministry of Industry has to do is how to
Extending human hands and human legs longer and further.”
Chen Qing taught Lu Wei a good lesson. Lu Wei is the chief official of the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Industry is responsible for making plans, deploying various large projects, and requiring the promotion of various new technologies. Simply put, the Ministry of Industry is a scheduler.
, is responsible for allocating resources, arranging projects, and making long-term plans. If even the chief officer of the Ministry of Industry is confused, has unclear ideas, and does not know what to do, then nothing will be accomplished in the end.
There is no doubt that Lu Wei has better ability to do things, but Chen Qing has higher requirements for him, asking him to become a thinker and planner, with a long-term vision and a higher level of thinking.
Obviously, Lu Wei is not qualified for the time being. If Lu Wei is still in a confused state after half a year and has not really understood his intentions, then the Minister of Industry will have to be replaced.