dognovel Chapter 952 These officials are truly filthy-hearted!
Chapter 952 These officials are truly filthy-hearted!
Old Deng had gone on a killing spree in Nanjing, and even the civil and military officials and students of the Nanjing Imperial Academy suffered greatly, being forcibly taken to the execution ground to watch people being beheaded.
In Lao Deng's view, officials and students were all members of the gentry, and even if they were not gentry now, they would become gentry in the future.
Since you're part of the gentry, then you should see what happens when you don't know any better.
Therefore, what Lao Deng meant by "only punishing the ringleaders" was to only punish the ringleaders' entire families, and then exile the ringleaders' nine generations of relatives to Liaodong.
As for how many people were killed, how many were implicated, and how many of them were innocent?
Old Deng didn't care.
Just as Zhu Biao complained, "These idiots, even if they directly raised the flag of rebellion, they wouldn't have to kill their entire families first and then exile their nine generations of relatives."
Yang Shaofeng also expressed his dissatisfaction with this.
What do the Embroidered Uniform Guards do?
The Embroidered Uniform Guard's profession was framing and extracting confessions through torture, not finding relatives for people when they had nothing better to do.
Good heavens, just because some gentry smeared the black sesame dumplings, Old Deng actually turned the Embroidered Uniform Guard into a professional family-finding team, finding countless distant relatives for people.
……
Just as Yang Shaofeng was furiously criticizing Lao Deng's ruthlessness, in a workshop in Ningyang County, a large group of craftsmen were gathered together, staring at a steel behemoth with fascination.
This dark, steel behemoth lay silently on the two railway tracks, utterly devoid of any aesthetic appeal. Clumsy, big, black, rough, and clumsy—these are almost the most accurate descriptions of this steel behemoth.
At the very front of the entire steel behemoth was its enormous boiler, a cylindrical structure made of riveted steel plates. At the front of the boiler was a towering chimney, and behind it was a not-too-large driver's cab containing a few rather rudimentary control levers.
Beneath the behemoth's body were five pairs of enormous iron wheels. The first pair was smaller, while the four larger sets of wheels behind it were connected by crankshafts and connecting rods. These thick crankshafts and connecting rods were connected to the wheels at one end and deeply inserted into the cylinders of the steam engine at the other.
Beneath the iron wheels were two parallel railway tracks.
The rails were secured to the sleepers with sturdy rivets, and the spaces between the sleepers, as well as the sides of the rails, were covered with gravel of various sizes.
Behind the behemoth's body was a coal and water tank connected to the driver's cab, filled with coal and water to replenish the coal mine and steam source during the journey.
This is the steam locomotive that the lord wanted.
The lead craftsman withdrew his fascinated gaze, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and turned to another craftsman, instructing, "Prepare to begin the load test and the maximum load speed test."
Two craftsmen stepped forward and climbed onto the huge front of the cart.
Chen Mo, who had arrived at the last minute, was slightly uneasy. He cautiously looked at the leading craftsman and asked, "Wang Xianzi, is this the last test?"
The craftsman known as Wang Xianzi chuckled and said, "Vice County Magistrate Chen is right, this is the final test."
"Once the test results are out, we can start writing the manufacturing process and operating instructions."
"Then we can send this thing to the master in Liaodong."
Chen Mo was immediately relieved.
Most of the craftsmen in Ningyang County held the titles of county baron or county serf, and they didn't usually take the county officials seriously, not even paying much attention to him, the executive deputy magistrate of Ningyang.
However, these noblemen would never fool the county magistrate.
Since Wang Xianzi said he could send this thing to Liaodong after this test, then it definitely can be sent there.
After glancing at the steel behemoth with steam billowing from its chimney, Chen Mo asked with a troubled expression, "How much does this thing weigh?"
Wang Xianzi said, "It's about 40,000 jin."
Chen Mo's expression immediately became even more troubled: "Around 40,000 catties, what kind of cart would be needed to transport it to Liaodong?"
"Even transporting it to Dengzhou Prefecture wouldn't be easy, would it?"
"Not to mention that Liaodong is so poor that even the roads are probably not properly built."
"Are we supposed to disassemble this thing and then transport it over there?"
"Should we wait until a new one is built in Liaodong?"
Wang Xianzi chuckled again and pointed to the ironworks in the distance, saying, "The steam locomotives in the future can be made in Liaodong, but the first few must have their parts made in Ningyang County, and then transported there for assembly."
"I've already made arrangements with the ironworks next door to manufacture three more sets of steam locomotive parts."
"One set will be sent to the lord in Liaodong, one set to the emperor in the capital, and the last set to Dengzhou Prefecture."
Chen Mo immediately felt relieved and said while considering it carefully, "This will also work."
"However, we still need to build a few more sets as backups."
"Have the ironworks produce more rails."
"I'll go find the Assistant Prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture later and discuss the matter of laying railway tracks with him."
"First, we need to lay the railway from Ningyang to Dengzhou Prefecture."
"..."
"No, it's not just Dengzhou Prefecture."
"This thing is causing too much of a commotion. I'm afraid that when it's being sent to Liaodong, Governor Wang will already have the news."
“Especially the laying of railways, it was impossible to hide it from anyone.”
"Instead of laying a direct line to Dengzhou, it would be better to drag Wang Buzheng into this first, so that the Provincial Administration Commission and Jinan Prefecture would also send more people, and at the same time lay the railway from Ningyang to Jinan and from Jinan to Dengzhou."
"I just don't know if steel production can keep up."
Chen Mo stroked his beard, considered for a moment, and said, "Here's what we'll do: you send a few more people to the capital to demonstrate this steam engine to His Majesty, and then I'll arrange for people to build a railway from Ningyang to the capital."
“Once His Majesty sees the steam locomotive with his own eyes, the production of steel will no longer be a problem.”
Wang Xianzi couldn't help but glance at Chen Mo sideways.
These officials are truly filthy-hearted; they even dare to scheme against His Majesty!
Wang Xianzi was inwardly complaining, but Chen Mo continued, "And Zhou Liangyu's place, anyway, there's plenty of iron ore in Luan County, let him get more."
"The county magistrate's side..."
"Forget it, let's just write to Mao Ge'er and Qi Ge'er directly."
"The county magistrate said that Liaodong has plenty of coal and iron mines. Now that these young masters are all in Liaodong, it's time for them to lend a hand."
"..."
Just as Chen Mo was scheming about this and that, the huge, clumsy, black steel behemoth suddenly roared, and a plume of white smoke suddenly spewed out from near the several huge iron wheels. A plume of black smoke with sparks also spewed out from the chimney, and the iron wheels made a loud "pants-pants-pants" sound as they were driven by the crankshaft.
As Wang Xianzi watched the steam locomotive slowly begin to move, a smile couldn't help but appear on his dark old face: "This is the thing, it's really awesome!"