When he heard that it was good news, Zhong Jinwei couldn't help but smile. In the past, if there was good news, he would usually bring it to Emperor Chongzhen himself, but now it was his turn to tell him.
Zhong Jinwei thought to himself, hoping that such things would happen more and more in the future! He asked Emperor Chongzhen with a little curiosity: "Your Majesty, what is the good news?"
Emperor Chongzhen smiled and nodded to Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet. After receiving the instructions, Wen Tiren said to Zhong Jinwei: "One of the five pirates who were previously imprisoned in Dongchang said there is a shortcut to North America."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he was very surprised. How could there be a shortcut to North America? He quickly asked: "Is it true? What shortcut is it?"
Seeing Zhong Jinwei's behavior, Wen Tiren knew that Zhong Jinwei didn't know anything about it, and thought that Hou Zhongxing finally had something he didn't know about.
He immediately turned to Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, please give me a map."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately asked his chamberlain to bring him a map of the world.
At Wen Tiren's signal, the chamberlain unfolded the map. Wen Tiren pointed to an area in the North Pacific and explained to Zhong Jinwei: "Those pirates confessed that the seawater in this area flows eastward and can reach North America directly."
Wen Tiren is actually referring to the North Pacific Warm Current, which flows from the intersection of the Japan Warm Current and the Kuril Current to the waters near Vancouver in North America.
Zhong Jinwei frowned and looked at the map without saying anything. When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he asked worriedly: "Master Zhong, don't you have any impression?"
If there is one more road to North America, then the vassal king will have more confidence in his feudal overseas affairs. After all, if you keep going north, the climate is too cold and the time in a year will be very short.
Zhong Jinwei heard Emperor Chongzhen's question. He thought for a while, then raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, where is the original version of the world map? I would like to take a look at it again."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he naturally would not refuse. He immediately said: "Master Zhong, please wait a moment. I will ask Wang Daban to get it."
After saying that, he asked his chamberlain to convey the order to Wang Chengen, asking him to bring the world map brought by Zhong Jinwei. Only Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen knew where the original world map was kept.
"Marquis Zhongxing, do you have any clues?" Wen Tiren asked Zhong Jinwei a little curiously.
"I don't know either. It's just that this is a replica map after all. Some things were removed to keep it secret. So we need to take out the original map to see. Maybe something important is missing." Zhong Jinwei frowned slightly and asked.
Wen Tiren explained.
Wen Tiren had also seen the original version of the world map at the beginning, so he still had some impressions and knew that compared with the imitation map, there was indeed a lot missing.
If Zhong Jinwei could see something on the world map to confirm what the pirate said, it would give them more confidence.
Amid the expectations of several people, Wang Chengen quickly hurried over with the map.
Everyone in the palace left the Wenhua Palace, leaving only Zhong Jinwei and three insiders.
Wang Chengen hung the world map on the screen and pushed it in front of Zhong Jinwei. Not only Wen Tiren, but also Emperor Chongzhen was a little curious, so he walked down and stood next to Zhong Jinwei to look at the original version of the world map.
Zhong Jinwei looked at it extremely carefully, and because he was looking with a purpose, he actually found some clues. There were only two dotted lines in the area pointed by Wen Tiren. These two dotted lines were marked in the legend in the lower right corner of the map.
It's a navigation line.
He was immediately overjoyed and happily said to Emperor Chongzhen beside him: "Your Majesty, what the pirate said may be true."
"Oh, what did Master Zhong see?" Emperor Chongzhen immediately asked with concern on his face.
Zhong Jinwei explained his discovery to Emperor Chongzhen: "Please see, Your Majesty, these two dotted lines are actually the navigation lines of ships, both routes from Asia to North America. Although ships in later generations do not sail by wind and ocean currents, if
It can also save a lot of effort by sailing in the direction of the ocean current. Therefore, I think this can be regarded as confirming that what the pirates said is true."
Emperor Chongzhen nodded repeatedly and said "good" several times.
But Wen Tiren was a little surprised when he heard what Zhong Jinwei said, and asked him: "Marquis Zhongxing, if the ships of later generations don't rely on wind and ocean currents, how do they move?"
When Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen heard this, they both looked at Zhong Jinwei with concern, ready to hear the miracle of future generations.
Zhong Jinwei was stunned for a moment when Wen Tiren asked him, "How did the ships of later generations sail? What else is nuclear power? It couldn't be steam power. It would have been eliminated long ago."
He thought for a moment before explaining to Wen Tiren: "The power of ship navigation has developed over many generations. Now it is wind, then steam power, and then there are many more, all the way to the most advanced nuclear power."
These ancient people obviously didn't understand what the motivation Zhong Jinwei was talking about, but it didn't stop them from having ideas.
Emperor Chongzhen asked Zhong Jinwei with a glimmer of hope: "Master Zhong, what kind of power can I use now? Sailing by wind is too restricted by the sky."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, the word steam engine immediately appeared in his mind. Although he had read many time travel books, it was not difficult to build a steam engine, but he also heard from netizens that steam engines actually need rubber to solve the sealing problem.
It was precisely because of this impression that he never mentioned the steam engine. He originally planned to wait until the environment of the Ming Dynasty was stabilized and at least the Jianlu were resolved before discussing this matter.
Now when Emperor Chongzhen asked, he had the final say after thinking about it, so he answered Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the most likely power that the Ming Dynasty can realize now is steam power, and its device is called a steam engine."
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately remembered the mobile phones that Zhong Jinwei brought. Both of them were brought by machine. He immediately asked: "Master Zhong, what is this steam engine and how can I get it?"
This explanation does not seem to be easy to explain. After all, Emperor Chongzhen could not have boiled water. But if he does an experiment, it is very intuitive. So Zhong Jinwei replied: "Your Majesty, I can easily explain the steam engine by doing an experiment."
What is it?"
Of course Emperor Chongzhen would not disagree. He immediately asked Zhong Jinwei what raw materials he wanted and asked Wang Chengen to get them.
So, the four people in the Wenhua Hall gathered around the kettle on the table and looked at it.
Because Zhong Jinwei blocked the spout of the pot, after a small amount of water boiled, he began to lift the lid. Zhong Jinwei explained the principle based on this phenomenon.
Wang Cheng'en and Wen Tiren had seen this phenomenon before, but they didn't expect that there was a hint to change the world hidden in it, and they felt slightly ashamed.
Finally, Zhong Jinwei explained: "Your Majesty, the process of converting heat energy into steam and then into kinetic energy is very complicated. I only know a few principles. It will take a lot of practice to figure out this process. If a steam engine is really built,
Once it comes out, Ming Dynasty will truly be invincible in the world!"