Zhu Houzhao was about to make a southern tour. The news was originally kept confidential, but who thought it would spread throughout the officialdom of Jiangnan within five or six days, and then spread in the capital.

Originally, the officials of the small court in Nanjing and local prefectures and counties had their own thoughts, but after hearing the news that the emperor was about to go south, their attitudes changed.

The group of people who originally did not support Chen Xi and wanted to suppress Chen Xi, naturally felt that Chen Xi was not only exhausting the people but also causing the emperor to be addicted to leisure and make trouble, but was extremely guilty. However, those officials who were perfunctory and imprisoned, but were not interested in helping Chen Xi build the city suddenly became keen on the matter of the new city because it involved their political future. It was a huge opportunity for them to visit Jiangnan.

In mid-July, there were significantly more local officials who came to contact Chenxi to help raise manpower and material resources, and many people came to donate money to build a palace for Zhu Houzhao.

The Ming Dynasty ushered in its heyday in the middle. Although the court had no money and the people could only have enough food and clothing, the landlords who had officials at home were very rich. This was an era of gradually concentrating money and power. When silver could be paid to status, silver would no longer be taken seriously.

Local officials can raise funds from landlords and merchants to help build palaces and seize political benefits, and money is linked to power.

On July 14th, Li Ling, a thousand households in the middle and back office of Nanhuizui, came to see Chen Xi. This time he did not give Chen Xi money, but volunteered to go out to sea to fight a war with the Japanese pirates.

In the past two months, Jinshanwei has built more than 50 warships in one go, including twenty of which were assigned to Nanhuizui Zhonghou. Although these ships can only transport twenty or thirty people, it seems unworthy and cannot be compared with the existing ships in the Chenxi army, Li Ling is full of confidence in going to sea to fight.

"Mr. Shen, let me tell you, the last general sent a detailed plan to sneak into the Japanese pirates before, and he is quite familiar with the situation of the Japanese pirates... After Lord Shen arrived in Jiangnan, the Japanese pirates fled. Now there are not many people left on the surrounding islands, but more are old, weak, sick and disabled. Groups of Japanese pirates moved to Fujian and Guangdong. There are fewer pirates on the coast of Zhejiang than usual..."

Li Ling was very confident. In his words, it seemed that he could bring hundreds of troops to sea to restore all the surrounding islands, so that the coastal areas of Nanzhili would restore peace.

Chen Xi smiled faintly: "General Li is quite confident."

Li Ling heard that Chen Xi was not so enthusiastic about going to the war, and smiled ashamedly: "Don't everything rely on the power of the adults? Besides, only the adults are qualified to decide everything... Finally, he heard that His Majesty is coming to the south. If the Japanese pirates are not eliminated for a long time, it will always be a huge threat to the new city..."

Originally, Li Ling also showed a gesture of loyalty to the country, but as the topic deepened, he also expressed his true purpose.

It was not that he really wanted to take risks in the sea, but that he wanted to make contributions before the emperor arrived. After all, he was the one who made his own decision to attack Shanghai County before and lost points in front of Shen Xi. If he didn't show off while the emperor came to Jiangnan, he might have been staying in a deserted coastal land for the rest of his life and would not be promoted for life and live the life he wanted to live in a wealthy place.

Chen Xi shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty is just a patrol in Jiangnan. If you fight with the Japanese pirates for this, it will be a bit too reckless. Besides, if all the Japanese pirates retreated south as you think, and suddenly transferred a large ship to fight our army, how will they deal with it? How many brothers will die in the battle? If the first battle to go out to sea will fail, this will boost the morale of the Japanese pirates and enhance their determination to fight the court to the end. How can one ensure the peace of the future seaside when one goes out to the other?"

Chen Xi’s meaning is very simple. Even if you are sure that you have a great chance of success, you cannot take risks. What I want is not 90% hope, but full confidence.

If there is a possibility of failure, it will be unfavorable to the overall situation and the impact will be very far-reaching. It may become a luxury to plow the coastal Japanese pirates in the next two years. The emperor will not have to come to Xincheng again, because Xincheng will often be attacked by Japanese pirates who are cheering up.

People are usually afraid of the unknown.

Now the Japanese pirates do not know the strength of the court. They choose to escape and avoid the limelight due to their fear of Chen Xi and the official army. However, if they think that the imperial army is just like this, they will no longer be afraid. At that time, the official army will no longer take the initiative, and the Japanese pirates will provoke wars every day.

Of course, Li Ling was difficult to understand these situations. He felt that Chen Xi hated him for his previous competing for credit and deliberately disagreed with his suggestions.

However, no matter what dissatisfaction in Li Ling's heart, he must keep the courtesy of Chen Xi, the Minister of War, and bow his head and bow: "The Lord is far-sighted and will not obey everything."

...

...

Li Ling did not rush to leave when he came to Xincheng. He brought more than 100 people, some mules and horses, saying that he came to help, but in fact, like a drop of water in the sea, he could not help Chen Xi at all.

He stayed in the city for two days. At night, the city was still busy and there were many bright lights in many places, which were very eye-catching.

"What's going on?"

Li Ling came out of the house where he was sleeping and saw that the bright ones in the distance were not the light emitted by ordinary candles or oil lamps, but a kind of shiny ball of light that he had never seen before.

There are many such light balls, all around construction sites and factories. Although the streets are not very bright under the light, they are much stronger than ordinary oil lamps and candles.

"Li Qianhu, don't go around at night. Passage between the various yards in the city is prohibited unless there is a special token. You are not a craftsman who needs night time..."

A yamen outside the alley stopped Li Ling and prevented him from entering the street.

Li Ling asked curiously: "What are those glowing things in the distance? Night Pearl? Why are many places so bright?"

The Yachao smiled and said, "That was the night lights set up in the city. As for how they were made, they were all made by Master Shen instructed the craftsmen in the workshop. A lot of wires were set up on the roadside. If you accidentally touch those wires, you might be electrocuted, as if you were struck by lightning... But the situation is much better now, because it is far from the ground and ordinary people are generally unable to reach them. When the erecting was set up, many people were injured."

The more Li Ling listened, the more confused he became.

"I want to find Lord Shen." Li Ling bowed.

"Don't bother Lord Shen after nightfall. Lord Shen is still very busy until night. If it's not an important matter, it's not too late for you to see him again the next day." said the yamen.

Li Ling had no choice but to go back to his house. He originally came with speculative thoughts, but when he saw the scene in the new city, he was moved.

He couldn't help but say to himself: "If you can stay with Lord Shen for this, it might be a good thing."

...

...

Chen Xi did not fall asleep early that day. He was taking Tang Yin, Zhang Lun, Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and others to inspect the construction sites and factories in the city.

Chenxi rarely goes out to patrol at night, but with the basic construction of the shipyard, twenty-four large docks were put into use one after another, and the construction of sea ships was officially put on the agenda. Chenxi attached great importance to this and went to patrol.

"Shangshu Chen, why is the dock so bright at night? What exactly are those shiny things?"

Not only are outsiders like Li Ling curious about electric lights, but even Tang Yin, who is an eyewitness in urban construction, don’t know much about this. This is related to Tang Yin’s rare opportunity to come to the riverside at night. Only places close to Huangpu River and Wusong River will there be electric lights.

Chenxi uses the simplest hydraulic device to create electricity, relying on the water trucks by the river to drive the generator rotor to generate current. In this era, metal wires are not easy to manufacture, making wire laying and long-distance conduction of electricity a problem. Electric lights can only be used in small areas along rivers.

The power system developed by Chenxi is not very perfect. The steam era has not arrived now. It is not realistic to rely on electricity to bring technological innovation. It is not easy to generate current through magnetic field cutting, and it is considered to be an over-completion of the task.

"This is called an electric light. It was made by Lord Shen. When I have time, I will take the military advisor to the power generation place to see it. It is very magical. Just by the water truck, there is actually light here."

Hu Songyue said with a smile.

Tang Yin walked to a high-hanging electric light, looked up and said, "It's just a ball of light..."

Chen Xi explained: "The outer layer is glass, and the inside is shiny bamboo wire, which is made by carbonization. It means it is burned first... Such a light bulb costs about one or two silver dollars..."

Tang Yin was shocked: "Is it so expensive? I wonder how long it will last?"

Hu Songyue said: "It's okay, if you only use it at night, it can last for more than ten days. However, due to the large amount of use, the daily loss is not a small amount. Fortunately, there is a dedicated person to maintain it, so we don't need to worry about it... The military advisor doesn't think that with this thing, brothers are more motivated to do things at night?"

Tang Yin didn't answer. He was about to find a ladder to climb the wooden pole to observe the so-called electric light up close, but Chen Xi grabbed it and warned: "Don't get close. There are bad things about this thing, it's easy to get electricity. If the body is electrocuted, the whole body will twitch, and if it is severe, it will cause death."

Hearing this, Tang Yin's body trembled for a moment, his face turned pale, and he never dared to find out again.

"Sir, more than 20 electric lights have been added in the shipyard, but many workshops can only use candlelight to illuminate. You also know that it is not easy to pull wires there, but the guys start working inside, and it is easy to cause fires with candlelight to illuminate..." Song Shu said next to him.

Chen Xi nodded: "Then improve the wire technology and put a layer of rubber on the outside. If you are so connected, you won't be afraid of accidents!"

Technology progress has never been achieved overnight. The Wuchang Industrial Park, which was built when Chen Xi served as the governor of Huguang and Jiangxi five or six years ago, played a huge role in the construction of the new city.

When Chen Xi stepped down as governor, the industrial park had established a relatively complete industrial system, and the most important thing was to produce machine tools that are known as the mother of industry.

At that time, the monthly income of the steel mills in the industrial park had remained at about 50,000 taels of silver, and the monthly income of the spinning mills and weaving mills was also 40,000 taels. On this basis, glass factories, coking and coke factories, chemical factories, paper mills, etc. were also built, and rubber factories were built the year before yesterday.

In the trade with Folang Jiren, rubber trees are the tree species named by Chenxi. When Tang Yin opened a salt farm in Qiongya, he organized people to plant rubber trees. Over the years, he has been replanted and has reached a certain scale. Two years ago, they began to produce raw rubber and sent to Guangzhou Prefecture by sea, and then sent to Wuchang by land, where rubber is produced.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Chen Xi instructed to put a layer of rubber on the wire at this time.

Chenxi is a helpless move to study power generation technology. After all, it is too dangerous to use candlelight to light in places like shipyards and textile factories. Once a fire occurs, it will be a group of deaths and injuries, which is extremely harmful. Relatively speaking, only electric lights are safer.

The new city embodies Chenxi's utopian dream, but its more important function is to build sea ships and fight against Japanese pirates. If it can only be constructed during the day, the shipbuilding construction period will be greatly extended, and the use of electric lights will become inevitable. In addition to shortening the construction period, the new city also looks more like a civilized city where Chenxi lived in his previous life.

That night, Shenxi inspected the shipyard. The sea ship built in the first dock had come to an end. The shipyard head Lieryo was still supervising the shipbuilding. When Shenxi came, craftsmen and soldiers rushed over to greet Shenxi. Only Lieryo was unmoved and still hid in the cabin and riveted.

Lieu was a Portuguese and had previously worked as an engineer at the Malacca Shipyard. Before leaving Beijing, Chen Xi specifically instructed Song Xiaocheng to invite a group of shipbuilding experts from the Flang Jimen. As a result, the news came to Nanyang. Only Lieu was moved by the salary of 100 taels of silver per month. He followed the fleet that came to the Ming Dynasty to trade to Fuzhou, and was then sent to Shanghai by Song Xiaocheng.

After Shen Xi entered the cabin, Lieuo put down his work and said with a smile: "Mr. Shen, the ship is almost built. Give us another ten days to get the first ship into the water, two months earlier than expected."

Lieryo was very excited. He thought the Ming Dynasty was backward in feudalism, but when he arrived, he realized that it was more civilized than his motherland. In his memory, Lisbon's cities were cramped and the streets were full of feces and urine, and they were not as clean and tidy as the Ming Dynasty cities.

Especially in this new city, he saw many incredible things and felt that he lived in a civilized country. He wanted to learn the magical electric lamp manufacturing technology, but unfortunately no one explained the manufacturing details to him, and he could not take apart the power generation device manufactured based on the technology provided by Chenxi to study it.

Without a theoretical basis, he had no idea what electricity was and had no idea.

Chen Xi nodded with satisfaction: "Early testing the water can prove whether the new shipbuilding technology is feasible. If there is a problem, we can make further improvements."

Lieryo said: "There should be no problem. The strength of each key part is sufficient. The Ming Dynasty's riveting technology is very advanced, making the overall skeleton structure of the ship more complete..."

Chenxidao: "These technologies have not been used in ship construction before. The first attempt may not be effective. We cannot simply use paper data to determine whether the ship can only sail far away. More importantly, it depends on whether it can withstand wind and waves at sea. Flexibility is also important..."

Originally, Lielyo only admired some new technologies developed by Chenxi, but after listening to Chenxi's insights on shipbuilding, he praised Chenxi a little more.

When Chen Xi said this, he used paper and pen to draw it on the drawings. They were the most prone places in ship construction, involving the fixation of the boards and sterns, as well as the stability of the sails, etc.

The people who followed Chen Xi were basically ignorant of shipbuilding. Only Lieuo was there to know the industry. Lieuo was listening carefully there. Tang Yin and others could only stare at each other. After all, they had no say in terms of technology.

Chen Xi and Lie had been talking to each other for about half an hour. Lie Yee hurriedly took the people to work hard. At this time, Tang Yin and others had already begun to get sleepy.

"Has Secretary Chen finished speaking? Can you go back earlier?" Tang Yin seemed a little anxious.

Chen Xi smiled and said, "What, Brother Bohu has something important to go back and do today?"

Tang Yin smiled awkwardly: "It's nothing, it's just getting late, and I think today's inspection should be over."

Chen Xi nodded and smiled and said, "What should be said is almost done, but there is one important thing that cannot be done."

"How long will it take?"

Tang Yin seemed a little embarrassed and asked.

Song Shu came next to him: "Mr. Shen, if it is not an important matter, it is better to let the military advisor go back and rest. I will accompany you to do it."

Chen Xi smiled and shook his head: "This matter must be done by the military advisor, because next I want to go to the west bank of Suzhou River to see the construction situation. This is the specific project that the military advisor is responsible for."

“That’s…”

A group of people looked at Tang Yin, with some expectations in their eyes, and they were obviously very curious about the place where the emperor lived.

Tang Yin seemed a little ashamed and said softly: "Because time is too tight, it has not been completely transformed yet, so I dare not work to go to inspect Shangshu."

He said so, even if someone who doesn't understand the truth knows that Tang Yin hasn't done the job well.

“Well.”

Chen Xi nodded, "Don't be in a hurry to do things. I hope Brother Bo Hu, you can transform your business in the next few days. It's not too late for me to go on inspections at that time."

Chen Xi usually laughs and laughs, and seems to have no high demands on Tang Yin, but this does not mean that he just ignores him. Perhaps it was because of the attitude Chen Xi showed before that Tang Yin had an illusion that he would not be set up rules and regulations no matter what he did, and he relaxed his requirements a lot.
Chapter completed!