Chapter 3370 3572 [Message sent thousands of miles]
In the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, the Yangtze River Bridge was officially completed.
In this way, the north and south of the Yangtze River are connected without any obstacles.
The train can go directly from Beijing to Suzhou and Hangzhou, eliminating the need for horseback riding and boating.
In the past, it would take five days to ride a fast horse from Suzhou and Hangzhou to Beijing. If you take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it will take eighteen days. If we go by sea, it will take three or four days by steamboat.
Now after getting on the train, it will only take a day or two. After saving time, fruits and vegetables grown in the south can be transported to the north in time.
In addition, rice, tea, silk, etc. can also be easily transported to the north by train. Medicinal materials, furs, cotton yarn, steel, etc. from the north can also be easily transported to the south by train.
Since ancient times, it has been bitterly cold in the north, especially in the northeast. After winter, except for cabbage, radish, green onions, etc., there are almost no decent vegetables, so the habit of eating sauerkraut has been developed.
Now that the train is connected, vegetables from the south can be transported to the north in a steady stream. Just imagine that while others are still nibbling radishes, you can have a plate of juicy, tender cucumbers on your dining table. It would be absolutely magnificent.
Hence, after the completion of the Yangtze River Bridge, the flow of goods became very intensive, just like a martial arts master opening up the Rendu line.
…
In this year, the first petroleum refinery in Qing Dynasty was officially completed and then put into operation, refining China's first drop of kerosene, first drop of gasoline, and first drop of diesel oil.
In fact, oil has been used for lighting as early as ancient Egypt. However, compared with petroleum, processed kerosene not only burns brightly, but also has no smell.
The birth of kerosene greatly reduced the cost of lighting.
Before this, people were reluctant to light lamps at night.
Because the lamp oil at that time came from animal and vegetable oils. For example, Europe once used whale oil as lighting tools, so that sperm whales were almost extinct.
In ancient China, most of the lamp oil used was vegetable oil. The upper-class people used sesame oil, while ordinary people used tung oil and hemp oil. This type of oil is not cheap either.
The Yuan Dynasty's "Shu Zhai Lao Xue Cong Tan" records, "Every night, I carry a bottle and sell oil for four or five pennies, hide it in the sleeves of my green cloth, and light a lamp to read." It can be seen that a bowl of lamp oil costs four or five pennies. , it costs one and a half bucks a year, which is not something ordinary people can afford.
That's why in ancient times there were allusions about chiseling a wall to borrow light and holding fireflies to reflect the snow. It was really a way for poor people who couldn't afford to burn lamp oil and were forced to do so.
The dignitaries mostly used candles for lighting. Candles are made from beeswax, suet and other animal oils and are very expensive. In ancient times, the price of a high-quality candle could reach four hundred cents, and an ordinary candle would cost twenty cents.
Because of the feud between Wang Kai and Shi Chong of the Jin Dynasty, Shi Chong used candles as firewood. If candles were not expensive, they would not need to be written down in the history books.
Now that kerosene has been introduced, it is not only bright but also cheap, so it is naturally very popular among the people.
…
Gasoline and diesel are mainly used in internal combustion engines and generators.
Compared with steam engines, internal combustion engines are smaller in size, more powerful, lighter in weight and more flexible in operation. And there is no need to add coal or water frequently.
With the availability of gasoline and kerosene, internal combustion engines can come in handy. By then, internal combustion engine-driven trains, cars, motorcycles, tanks, airplanes, tractors, harvesters, planters... their uses will be even more widespread than imagined.
Xiang Nan has already sent people to build an internal combustion engine. The train driven by it can reach a maximum speed of three hundred miles an hour. Even if you go to Suzhou and Hangzhou, you can go there and back in one day.
But even at this speed, it is quite incredible. The speed is more than twice that of a steam locomotive, and it is faster than the fastest galloping horse. And the increase in speed brings about an increase in efficiency. In the future, using a diesel locomotive to go to Europe will save time to less than a week.
In other words, if there is a rebellion in Europe, the army can arrive in time within a week to suppress all the rebels.
…
The generator is even more useful.
Electricity is a good thing, and it can be used in military, industrial, and civilian applications...it is used in everything.
The main reason why Xiang Nan needed a generator was not for industrial production or lighting in the palace, but for communication.
Today, the territory of the Qing Dynasty extends all over the world, from Asia to Europe, from Europe to the Americas, and from the Americas to Australia. The Qing Dynasty has territory everywhere.
Even if Xiang Nan had the ability to gather animals and control birds, he could use flying eagles to deliver messages every day, but the messages would still be delayed for dozens of days. Because the radius of the earth is nearly ten thousand miles, and no matter how fast a bird flies, flying three to four hundred miles a day is already the limit.
In this case, the empire could not effectively control its territory.
In ancient times, one of the reasons why China's territory was only so large was because of backward communication technology. As a result, information from the frontiers could not be transmitted to the central center. Therefore, even if something happened on the frontiers, the court would be beyond its reach.
When the news is received, the troops, horses, and supplies are gathered together, and by the time the troops are dispatched to the frontier, the frontier may have fallen and the day lilies will be cold.
For this reason, the backwardness of communication technology limited the expansion of territory.
However, Xiang Nan knew that wireless telegraphy technology could solve this problem.
And it just so happened that he could make a wireless telegraph machine.
But it is easy to build a wireless telegraph machine, but radio requires transmitters, receivers, antennas, etc. to function. Especially ocean-going wireless communications require powerful transmitters, receivers, and antennas.
Although Xiang Nan can now make dry batteries, dry batteries are not enough to support ocean-going radio communications, so a generator is still needed.
Fortunately, neither generators nor wireless communication technology are difficult for Xiang Nan.
He has sent people to make generators and wireless telegraph machines. When the time comes, he will put these machines in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Tianzhu, Southeast Asia, Japan, America...
In this way, through wireless telegraphy, unhindered communication can be achieved in these areas. Coupled with the two Asia-Europe railways, which are connected from beginning to end, it will be difficult to lose these places.
…
Soon, generators and wireless telegraph machines were completed. The training of the first batch of telegraph operators was completed immediately.
Xiang Nan conducted the first ocean-going communication and sent a telegram from the capital to Paris. Five minutes later, the "received" news came back from Paris.
Xiang Nan was very excited when he saw this telegram.
When all the courtiers learned about this, they were even more stunned.
Although there are statements in the book such as "clairvoyance", "ears to the wind", "voices traveling thousands of miles", and "knowing the world without leaving home", they are mostly exaggerations and fictions.
But now, they have really seen the "message sent thousands of miles", which is quite remarkable. With such a magic, even if it is far away, it still feels like it is close at hand, which is really convenient for ruling.
(End of this chapter)