A dark environment, extreme quiet and silence, day and night, the passage of time seems to have stopped...
That kind of mental torture is more unbearable than physical pain.
Zhou Tianxu has seen many brave soldiers who were wounded on the battlefield and covered in blood and still fighting fiercely. After coming out of the confinement room, they cried for their fathers and mothers, with tears streaming down their faces.
It is precisely because of this that he has a clear understanding of the horror of confinement.
Zhou Tianxu gave the order, and not only a Kang Qiaonian was sent to the solitary room, but basically all those who stubbornly refused to explain were sent in.
If it doesn’t work for one day, it will be shut down for two days, if it doesn’t work for two days, it will be shut down for three days, five days, eight days, ten days, half a month...
No matter how tough these people are, sooner or later they will be unable to stand it any longer.
…
Zhu Hongyu put down the report in his hand and spoke to the person in front of him.
"The construction of the shipyard must be accelerated!"
“The first thing is to do a good job in site selection!”
In the Battle of Jiangnan, the Ming army captured the Qing court's Longjiang Bao Shipyard in one fell swoop.
The large number of shipwrights, Western missionaries, and a large number of coffin boards (shipbuilding timber) of wealthy landlords gathered by the Qing government in the Longjiang Bao Shipyard basically all ended up in the hands of the Ming army.
Zhu Hongyu was not prepared to transport all the shipwrights and timber back to Luzon.
He plans to use the resources he has on hand to build another shipyard along the coast of Guangdong.
The most Zhu Hongyu can do is dispatch some technical backbones from Luzon and Batavia.
In this case, there would be four large shipyards under the control of Ming Dynasty!
The Huaxing Shipyard in Luzon, the Batavia Shipyard, the Zheng-controlled shipyard in Hongji, Annan, and the shipyard that Zhu Hongyu is planning to build on the coast of Guangdong.
In Zhu Hongyu's vision, the main task of Luzon and Batavia is to manufacture sea-going ships, including various sail battleships, Western-style armed merchant ships, etc.
The Zheng family's shipyard in Hongji mainly builds traditional Chinese ships such as Fu Ship and Guangzhou Ship.
Chinese-style ships are not suitable for ocean-going voyages, but their seaworthiness, cargo capacity, and operational difficulty in coastal navigation are much better than those of Western-style seagoing ships.
At the very least, if it is just a merchant ship traveling along the coast, Chinese-style ships are definitely more suitable than Western-style ships.
Then there is the new shipyard that Zhu Hongyu is planning to build in Guangdong.
Zhu Hongyu's plan for it is to build inland river ships, as well as transport ships suitable for inland rivers and canals.
"Your Highness, what are your opinions on the location of the shipyard?"
The person in charge of the shipyard asked Zhu Hongyu for his opinion.
Zhu Hongyu pondered for a while, and then spoke.
"Let the people from the Ministry of Construction do a survey of the terrain first. After the Ministry of Construction has the results, we will decide on the location."
Zhu Hongyu basically didn't know much about engineering construction, so he didn't give any advice.
So as not to cause trouble below!
The person in charge of the shipyard nodded when he heard this, but then he spoke again.
"Your Highness, those Western prisoners of war we captured at Longjiang Bao Shipyard are very restless!"
"I don't know how to deal with it!"
Zhu Hongyu raised his eyebrows and asked.
"What's the reason for being uneasy?"
He was a little curious. These missionaries have become prisoners of war. Are they still so stubborn?
The person in charge replied.
"Your Highness, those Western missionaries insist on spreading their Western cult!"
"What else are you talking about? They will only work for the Ming Dynasty if His Highness agrees to their missionary work!"
Hearing this, Zhu Hongyu nodded slightly, but he was not surprised.
Why do you think they are called missionaries?
The missionaries who came to the East from the West in this era are not synonymous with the trash and scum of later generations, but are truly religious.
They crossed the ocean from the west to the east, and at least half of them died from injuries caused by wind and waves on the way.
But even so, they still came.
This shows how firm their faith is!
After thinking for a while, Zhu Hongyu spoke.
"There's no way Gu would agree to their missionary work!"
"Since they are unwilling to work for me, Ming Dynasty, then send them all to labor camps."
"According to different crimes, let's sentence them to different years of forced labor service!"
"After the labor reform is over, expel them from Ming Dynasty!"
Although Zhu Hongyu admired the firm belief of these people, he would never allow these missionaries to preach.
He would rather throw all these high-level talents to do hard labor than give in to missionaries on this issue!
Because this is not only a religious issue, but also an issue between Eastern and Western civilizations competing for the right to speak in the world.
Of course, the main reason is that Zhu Hongyu doesn't like those missionaries very much now.
They don’t know as many things as Zhu Hongyu!
The person in charge of the shipyard resigned and left, and Zhu Hongyu continued busy with the matter at hand.
The Ming Royal Research Institute sent a report to Zhu Hongyu.
The specific content is about the research and development of generators and the practical progress of steam engines.
With the in-depth research of the institute, the research and development direction of steam engines can be roughly divided into two different directions: miniaturization and large-scale.
Needless to say, they were enlarged in preparation for the power plants of steam locomotives and steam ships.
In terms of miniaturization, it must be used in various mines and factories, and must be adapted to different mechanical equipment to provide kinetic energy for those mechanical equipment.
Let machinery replace the position of labor in production to some extent!
Moreover, the development process of generators is actually closely related to the development process of miniaturization of steam engines.
Is it difficult to build a handmade generator?
Not difficult!
Magnets, copper coils, and a rocker can basically be made by a skilled craftsman.
Even if there are no skilled craftsmen, ordinary people with strong hands-on skills can still make it!
In order to make the generator truly practical, the real difficulty lies in the two aspects of voltage control and current transmission.
In order to achieve results in these two aspects, the most basic requirement is that the generator must run stably.
In this era, the only thing that can provide a stable power source for generators is the steam engine!
A steam engine is used to drive a generator to generate a stable current.
With a stable current, we can start to study things like voltage and current transmission.
Looking at the reports sent by the institute, including steam engine shipboard experiments, locomotive experiments, generator operation experiments, electrical appliance research and development, etc...
Zhu Hongyu can only say that it is true!
He just gave a general idea and research direction, and they just gave the results.
This group of researchers at the Ming Dynasty Royal Research Institute are really capable of doing things!
And this group of researchers with strong hands-on skills is what gives Zhu Hongyu the confidence to not care about those Western missionaries!
Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen, no matter how awesome they are, can they build a steam engine? Can they build a generator?