Chen Jingke has been mainly busy with two things recently, one is the construction of Gewu College, and the other is the construction of factories.
The actual construction work of Gewu College was overseen by the general, who used the same craftsmen who built the Daming Palace, and the building materials were also those of the Daming Palace.
Even the college design drawings were personally designed by Yan Lide.
Chen Jingke put forward the functional requirements, and Yan Lide designed and constructed it. It can be said that the quality is very high.
With such a big boss personally in charge, Chen Jingke naturally doesn't have to worry so much. He just occasionally goes to take a look and put forward some modifications on the details.
After more than two months of rush work, the academy was finally completed before the year, and Chen Jingke took people to inspect it early this morning.
When the students in the Gewu class heard that their academy was being built, they also asked to come with them.
Chen Jingke did not refuse and took everyone to the destination.
Walking ten miles north-west from Fanglin Gate, there is Longshou Mountain, which is about sixty miles long, with a maximum height of 100 meters, and is generally only a few dozen meters high.
It's not so much a mountain as a ridge on the ground.
But it is still a natural barrier in the north of Chang'an. The Royal Garden Longshou is located in the embrace of Longshou Mountain.
Gewu College is at the foot of Longshou Mountain, which was the site chosen by Chen Jingke.
Firstly, it is safe enough, secondly, it is far away from the bustling Chang'an, and thirdly, there is enough space for students to do experiments.
Chen Jingke's long-term plan is not just a institute of ancient things, but a collection of medical schools, liberal arts colleges, agricultural colleges, etc.
To put it bluntly, it is a school city.
By the way, some factories can also be built as experimental bases for students.
He asked Taoism to open a new factory at the foot of Longshou Mountain, so that students could come and visit it.
However, for safety reasons, the location of the factory is even more remote, more than 20 miles away from Chang'an and out of the scope of Longshouyuan.
Chen Jingke, Li Tai, and Cheng Hualiang took the students on an outing to the location of the academy.
When he was halfway there, Li Tai took a long breath and said, "It's too far. The key is that there is no boat access. It would be too troublesome to get there."
Cheng Huailiang looked at the panting classmates and said: "Yes, it is easier for us to have horses to travel, but it will be difficult for the students to go into the city."
Chen Jingke said slowly: "I am going to build a train here next year."
Li Tai was stunned for a moment, and then said in disbelief: "What? Repairing the train? Really?"
Others also looked over.
Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Jingke nodded slightly and said, "Yes, build a train. Then it will be more convenient for everyone to travel."
After thinking for a while, Li Tai shook his head and said: "It's not cost-effective. It's too luxurious to build a train just to facilitate the passage of a few people in the academy."
Cheng Huailiang also nodded and said: "Yes, that's a lump of iron. It's hard to say whether the annual output of a large iron factory is enough to repair this railway track."
Other students thought the same thing. They had discussed the railway countless times in private. It was indeed a good thing, but the cost was too high.
It's so high that it's unbearable.
Now it is too luxurious to build a train just for the convenience of transportation to the academy.
Chen Jingke smiled and said: "Who said this railway was built specifically for the academy? It was built for the factory twenty miles away. It just took a detour and passed the academy."
Li Tai still shook his head and said: "I know the factories you mentioned, but they are still not cost-effective. The cost of this railway, those factories combined will not be able to make back the profit in a lifetime."
Chen Jingke said rudely: "Short-sighted, do you know that those factories will not expand and will always be small workshops?"
"And this railway is not just for transportation, it is also the key to unlocking people's wisdom..."
"Think about it, if the people of Chang'an could see trains passing by every day, how big of an impact would it have on their cognition?"
"If things go on like this, the world's prejudice against the object will slowly be reversed."
At this point, he raised his voice and said: "The great prosperity of Gewu began with this railway."
"Okay, what the real person said is great." Others said in great spirits.
No one wants to see the great success of Gewu more than they do, after all, the stakeholder groups.
Li Tai was still not so optimistic, saying: "Your idea is indeed very good, but have you ever thought about the cost? Where are you going to get so much steel?"
Chen Jingke looked at him and said with a smile: "It seems that you are already a qualified scholar."
Li Tai looked at him puzzled, what are you talking about? Why can't I understand?
Steel is a reflection of a country's strength. Li Tai didn't even know about such an important thing, which shows that he really gave up the idea of seizing the heir and devoted himself to the study of objects.
That's why Chen Jingke said that he was already a qualified scholar.
There were so many people here that he didn't say much. He just said: "In the past two years, the imperial court has opened more than ten new iron ore plants, and has adopted new mining methods and new steel frying methods...steel production has increased more than a hundred times."
"Although building a railway requires a lot of steel, in my honor, I can still ask the saint for some iron to build one."
"And what I want to build this time is not a standard rail, but a light rail. I only need to run a small train on it, which can save one-third of the steel."
In his previous life, he was a senior travel enthusiast. He had traveled to many places for adventure and knew the locations of some well-known iron mines.
He also drilled through many caves, and later traveled through them, and saw traces of salt boiling left by his predecessors in many caves.
This information in previous lives was useless and could only be used as conversation material in a small circle, but in ancient times it was the most important information.
The newly built iron ore plant in Datang was thanks to the information he provided.
There is also saltpeter required for the production of gunpowder, most of which is mined from the caves he provided.
Going back to steel, the most important iron ore plant in Datang at this time was the Shilu Iron Mine located on Zhuyazhou (Hainan Island).
Although the Shilu Iron Works was established relatively late and its output is not very high, the quality of the iron ore here is too high, and the steel produced is also of higher quality.
Therefore, it is basically used to cast artillery and make weapons and armor, and is rarely exported.
The few that left the country were used in special places, such as the watch workshop owned by Changsun Wugou.
Of course, these are top secret information, and Chen Jingke did not tell everyone.
After hearing his explanation, Li Tai had to admit that what he said made sense.
Moreover, for the emperor and his ministers, this railway was also the best experimental product, which could actually verify the function of the train and prepare for the next step of building a real railway.
Thinking of this, he finally nodded and said: "What you said makes sense. There is indeed much potential for this matter."
Seeing that he was convinced, the other students cheered.
This is the railway they have discussed countless times, how can they be unhappy?
Looking at the excited people, Chen Jingke said: "Don't be too happy. You will be very busy next. We have to build at least two light trains."
"You can't ask others for help for this kind of thing, you can only do it yourself. Not only do you have to build the train, but you also have to understand the principles and draw detailed structural drawings."
After hearing this, everyone became even more excited and said one after another: "Don't worry, Master, just leave this matter to us. I guarantee you will be satisfied."
"Yes, yes, we have built countless miniature train models. We have long wanted to build a real train."
Chen Jingke nodded and said to Li Tai: "How about it? Are you interested in leading a team to build a real train?"
Li Tai said proudly: "Besides me, can you find anyone else to lead the team?"
Chen Jingke laughed and said: "Seeing your proud look makes me feel relieved... Students, take big strides and go to our college."
Everyone who was still a little tired was revived with full health, and happily went to the academy.
The further northwest you go, the more desolate it becomes, but fortunately the roads are ready, so you won't get lost.
It took two or three hours of walking and resting to reach the academy.
Just looking at the size of the land and the luxurious buildings, everyone couldn't help but exclaim.
It covers a very large area and can accommodate tens of thousands of people studying and living, but there are only a few dozen of them.
The enrollment will triple next year, and the total number of students will only be over 200.
Living in such a big place is really too luxurious and wasteful.
Chen Jingke was very satisfied with everyone's performance and said: "Do you think it's too big? It seems too big now, but I hope that ten years from now everyone will think it's too small. Whether you can do this depends on you.
"
"You are the seeds of the study of objects and the future of the study of objects... I have said this countless times, and I don't want to repeat it again."
"But I hope you can always remember this sentence and study hard for the prosperity of gewuxue."
Everyone said with solemn expressions: "Well, I will follow the teachings of the real person."
After feeding everyone chicken soup, Chen Jingke came to the door and knocked on the door.
The craftsman guarding the door knew him, so he quickly opened the door and said: "Master, you are here, please come in quickly."
Chen Jingke led everyone into the gate and began to tour the entire academy.
The space inside is very large, and the overall layout is spacious and bright.
The entire academy is divided into several different areas, including faculty and staff area, teaching area, dormitory area, stadium, living area, etc.
Various buildings are also very complete, including canteens, libraries, laboratory buildings, etc.
There is even a specially divided workshop area, which includes an ironmaking room, a huge workshop building, and there are hanging rails and other tools in the factory building.
In addition to the above, a garden is also indispensable, with many plum trees planted.
They even dug an artificial lake and threw some koi into it to raise.
In short, Chen Jingke built all the areas that he knew that colleges and universities should have.
However, most areas are currently unused and can only be closed off for the time being.
But he believes that one day this academy will no longer be able to accommodate so many students, and more branch campuses will be built next to it.
Afterwards, everyone went to visit classrooms, dormitories, canteens, libraries and other places.
The classroom is not big and can only seat forty or fifty people. This is because the classroom is too big and too many students will affect teaching.
If you need to take a large class, there is a larger multi-purpose room available.
The dormitory is similar to the one at Zixiaoguan, a four-person room with a table on the lower bunk, a bed on the upper bunk, and a cabinet for each person's personal belongings.
The library is even more spacious and bright, and can hold 100,000 books.
However, everyone soon discovered something strange. Li Tai was the first to ask: "What is this under the window? Does it look like a clay pipe?"
Chen Jingke smiled proudly and said: "It is indeed a clay pipe, but it is not an ordinary clay pipe, but a clay pipe with iron ore soil added, which makes it stronger and more durable."
Li Tai said in confusion: "If I remember correctly, all buildings have this thing. You definitely won't repair useless things. What is this for?"
Chen Jingke didn't care and said, "This is the heating pipe."
Li Tai thought: "Heating? For heating? How to use this thing?"
Chen Jingke said: "Fill it with hot water, and the heat in the water will be conducted to the air and heat up the room temperature."
Cheng Huailiang asked doubtfully: "But how to pour hot water into the clay pipe? Moreover, the heat of water is limited. What should we do after the temperature drops?"
Everyone showed the same doubts, only Li Tai was thoughtful at first, and then suddenly realized.
Chen Jingke did not answer directly, but said: "Actually, the method is very simple. It is to use a machine that you have seen and studied. You might as well take a guess."
Everyone frowned and thought, have they seen the machine they have studied? What is it?
An idea flashed in Zhao Youchang's mind, and he thought of something and said quickly: "A water pump, it must be a water pump. Just use a water pump to pump hot water into the ceramic pipe."
Everyone suddenly realized and said: "Yes, why did you forget the water pump... Real person, is it a water pump?"
Chen Jingke smiled and said: "Yes, it's a water pump. There is a house in the living area specially used for burning boilers. The water inlet and outlet of this clay pot are connected to the boiler."
"As long as you use a water pump to pump hot water into the ceramic pipe, you can achieve hot water circulation. This will continuously heat the air and achieve the effect of keeping warm."
Li Tai said in amazement: "Your ideas are really unique. They are clearly ready-made tools and they can always play a greater role in your hands."
Others also nodded.
They know about the boilers, which are used to heat hot water in public bathhouses. They also know about the pipes, and there are simple tap water pipes in Zixiao Temple.
They were even more familiar with water pumps and had even built them themselves.
But they never thought that the combination of these three things could actually become a safe and effective heating device.
Chen Jingke said: "So your understanding of gewu is still very shallow, or you still have misunderstandings."
Everyone looked attentively and listened.
"It's not your fault. It should be said that it is a common characteristic of all scholars, arrogance."
"I always think that knowledge is used to do big things, and to use it to solve trivial matters is to belittle one's talents and is an insult to knowledge."
"In fact, this is the greatest ignorance. The real role of knowledge is to change people's lives and make people live better."
"If it can make people's food, clothing, housing and transportation more convenient and comfortable, then it is a useful thing. Even if it is just a toilet that can flush water, it is worth the money."
"So I hope you can put down the arrogance in your heart, start from the small things, and change the world and people's lives bit by bit."