The ancient Central Plains land was silent for more than a hundred years. After the war at the beginning of the independent dynasty, the changes in the Ming Dynasty all seemed to have nothing to do with it. This land just silently nurtured the people who lived here for generations and the royal princes and princes who had been enfeoffed here.

If the wheel of history has not changed its trajectory, then this land will remain silent for more than a hundred years before it will usher in a huge change. That huge change is the prelude to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, at this moment, the wheel of history has changed its trajectory. When Yang Cong comes, the Ming Dynasty will not be destroyed. The Central Plains is once again full of vitality because Yang Cong is ordered to build the Shuncheng Railway.

The Shuncheng Railway is the railway from Shuntian Prefecture to Chengtian Prefecture. Although it connects the Northern Zhili and Huguang Chengxuan Government Office, its main body is in the Central Plains. Because most of the Shuncheng Railway is in the Central Plains, Hu Zongxian, the governor of the three provinces, also set the temporary headquarters in Zhengzhou Prefecture.

Hu Zongxian is a ruthless man, and he is quite ruthless when he is doing things. He asked him to supervise the construction of the Shuncheng Railway. Yang Cong was looking for the right person. As soon as he took office, he ordered all the prefectures along the way to recruit labor and cooperate with the officials sent by the Ministry of Works to build the railway. He also kept patrolling back and forth. Anyone who delayed, no matter what the reason was, would be dismissed from office and investigated!

However, even if he was so cruel, the railway was not so easy to build. It was indeed a arduous project to build a railway of more than 2,000 miles within two years, because from Shuntian Prefecture to Chengtian Prefecture is not a flat ocean, with mountains, rivers, hills, and dangerous land in the middle. The complex terrain is often a headache.

Just now, after halfway through the railway, Hu Zongxian faced a huge challenge, because the railway had to cross the Yellow River before it could be built to Huguang.

Hu Zongxian had actually realized this problem a long time ago, so he invited a group of veteran officials who were responsible for building bridges from the Ministry of Works, and asked them to think of ways to see if they could build a bridge on the Yellow River.

At this time, building a bridge on the Yellow River was simply a joke. Without cement or steel, how can a bridge that is several miles long be formed?

The old officials of the Ministry of Works Dushuiqing Literature Department racked their brains and thought about it for nearly a year, but still couldn't come up with a solution. This bridge is really impossible to build!

What to do?

In desperation, Hu Zongxian could only write a letter and ordered people to send it to the capital for 800 miles in a hurry to Yang Cong, asking this godlike existence to think of a solution.

Yang Cong was now complacent because he "invented" the telescope. He never thought that Hu Zongxian suddenly lost such a big problem.

Is it possible to build a bridge on the Yellow River?

It's impossible at all!

At least, it is impossible at this time. Not to mention two years, the Ming Dynasty may not have reached the level of building a bridge on the Yellow River for another twenty years.

So, what should I do?

If you can't build a bridge, you can only ferry. Yang Cong suddenly remembered that he hadn't built a steamship yet.

Steam ships are actually simpler than steam locomotives, because the hull is already available and does not need to be redesigned, and there is no need to consider whether the load or steering system is loaded. You only need to consider how to use a steam engine to push the hull to sail on the water.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has another advantage at this moment, that is, the Ming Navy originally had steamships, such as wheel boats, which were driven by wheel-like water wheels, but the rotation of the water wheels was only due to manpower.

If you want to improve this thing slightly and install the steam engine, it will be a steam ship.

Of course, the emperor always pays attention to the show when going on tour. If it is just a few feet long, it seems a bit shabby. Yang Cong simply ordered people to transform the Dafu ship, remove the sails, and add water wheels to use them as the dragon boat for Jiajing to ride.

The School of Physics already has a sailing school, and most of the disciples there are shipbuilding craftsmen. Yang Cong doesn't need to do such "small things" by themselves. He just needs to express his ideas, so naturally someone will help him complete them.

At this time, Yang Cong had important things to be busy with and had no time to supervise the construction of any ship, because the compilation of "Theory of Studying Things and Learning to Know" was almost completed.

The book "Theory of Understanding of Investigating Things" is the basis for transforming the entire Ming Dynasty, so he naturally wants to put it first.

Moreover, this book has been compiled for more than ten years, and it took him countless efforts. Now it is almost done. He has not left everything behind and has done his best to do it.

In fact, the subsequent compilation did not have much workload. The main thing is to ask Jiajing to read it, put forward some opinions, and then modify them based on Jiajing's opinions.

For example, the title of the book seems a bit inappropriate just by "Theory of Investigating Things and Achievement", because the above mentioned Emperor Jiajing is not mentioned.

Therefore, Jiajing required that the words "Made by Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty" must be added in front of the book's title and the upper left corner of the cover.

For example, Jiajing felt that the "Story of War" involved the secrets of the Ming army and was not suitable for spreading them. Therefore, the "Theory of Understanding of the Investigation of Things" must be divided into court and folk editions. The palace version is the imperial book, while the folk edition should delete a lot of confidential content.

Yang Cong deeply agreed with this. He believed that the "The Art of War" was nothing, because even if the enemy country knew the Ming army's method of deploying troops, it would be fake without the advanced weapons as the Ming army.

There are many things in the book "Theory of Understanding and Knowing" that are more important than military tactics, such as the manufacturing methods of steam engines, the processing methods of muskets and cannons, and the manufacturing methods of various processing equipment. These cannot be spread out. Once they are spread out, the continental powers will become rich, and even the small Japan will become uncontrollable.

Therefore, he took the initiative to delete the manufacturing methods of steam engines, the processing methods of muskets and cannons, the manufacturing methods of various processing equipment, as well as trains, ships, etc. from the folk version, leaving only the description of civilian equipment such as spinning machines, looms, etc.

Moreover, he also asked Wang Xuan to improve all the steam engines and seal them all, leaving only the openings for steam entering and exiting and the place where the connecting rods extend. Others could not be seen from the outside.

This sealed shell is also connected to the outer wall of the steam piston. Once forced to be disassembled, the entire steam engine will be scrapped.

Of course, even if you are so careful, you can still copy it if you take some time. This is impossible. He could only warn Wang Xuan and other disciples from the School of Physics to study hard, make progress, and strive to always maintain a leading position in the application of steam engines.

After some careful compilation, the book "Theory of Understanding of Investigation and Enlightenment" finally passed the review of Jiajing and was officially completed.

This book is divided into imperial palace editions and folk editions, with eight major categories including "Astronomy", "Geography", "Five Elements", and "Martial Arts", with a total of 36 volumes and more than 180 volumes. Among them, the folk edition has deleted a major category, four volumes, more than twenty volumes, and only more than 160 volumes are left.

The paper used for the whole book is extremely luxurious. The cover is made of the most durable raw rice crust paper, and the pages inside are also the most expensive white cotton Xue Tao paper. The overall materials are even better than those in the "Yongle Encyclopedia".

Moreover, Yang Cong spent a lot of money this time, and asked someone to make a unified template for batch printing!

You should know that great works like "Theory of Understanding and Knowledge" are usually hand-written these days, because the whole set contains too many books. If more than 100 or even hundreds of books are all printed, the cost is immeasurable, and even the royal family can't afford it!
Chapter completed!