Iron Dynasty

“That’s right, let us see this… telegraph!”

In the laboratory, Niu Ben was a bit impatient. In his ten years in Qingzhou, he had seen things he hadn’t seen in his entire life.

He Dong grinned. For them, who worked hard in the lab, having someone appreciate their hard work was the greatest comfort.

So he said, “Your Majesty, two generals, please follow me.”

With that, he led the three of them to a telegraph machine.

What was in front of the three was a transmitter. This transmitter was very simple; it was actually just a power switch, but unlike a modern switch, it was a knife switch.

From this knife switch, two wires ran to a receiver ten meters away. This receiver was composed of a coil wrapped in copper wire, an iron plate above the coil, a paper roll, and a pen.

“Two generals, this is a complete telegraph machine. When the switch is pressed, the entire circuit is connected. The copper wire coil is energized to generate magnetic force, which attracts the iron plate, making a ‘ding’ sound. This is one signal. When the current is cut off, the iron plate returns to its original position, making a ‘da’ sound. This is the second signal. By combining the length of these two signals, you can send information to the other party,” He Dong explained to Niu Ben and Luo Quan.

As for Xiao Ming, no explanation was needed because the entire set of codes he received was given to him by Xiao Ming. Now the codes were being sent according to the small book he had been given.

Niu Ben and Luo Quan were naturally confused by the explanation. They looked helplessly at Xiao Ming.

At this time, Xiao Ming said, “You two, tell He Dong a sentence, but don’t let me know. Later, He Dong will send it to me using the telegraph machine, and I will tell you what you just said.”

“There’s such a thing? Isn’t this a clairaudience?” Niu Ben looked incredulous. But he turned his head and said a sentence to He Dong.

He Dong understood and sat in front of the telegraph machine to send the telegram using the code Xiao Ming gave him. While He Dong was sending the telegram, the iron plate moved the pen, and the pen began to draw zigzag lines of varying lengths on the white paper as the iron plate moved.

When He Dong finished sending the telegram, Xiao Ming read out, “Luo Quan is not a good person!”

Niu Ben was stunned. Luo Quan, on the other hand, angrily cursed, “You’re the one who’s not a good person, you old madman!”

“Hahaha…” Niu Ben was not angry after being cursed back by Luo Quan; on the contrary, he was happy. He said, “I didn’t expect this thing to be so amazing. But Your Majesty, isn’t the distance a bit too short?”

“That’s not a problem. When I had Su Liangcai lay the power lines, I also had him bury telegraph lines. As long as there are enough wires, you can go as far as you want. It only takes a moment to transmit a message over a distance of a thousand miles. As for the cities that have not built thermal power plants, a small generator is enough to power the telegraph machine for now.”

The small generator Xiao Ming mentioned was the small power generation equipment that Su Liangcai made during his first laboratory power generation, which was equivalent to a mini thermal power generation unit.

This thing was enough to provide power for a provincial office. In this way, the wired telegraph would not be limited by the lack of thermal power plants.

Once the entire Great Yu Empire was covered by the telegraph, the court’s control over the empire would become more timely.

“A thousand miles in an instant?” Niu Ben and Luo Quan swallowed. In their opinion, this was truly a divine ability.

“Technology is truly amazing. No wonder Your Majesty is willing to promote technology at any cost and let poor students of the Great Yu Empire go to school for free. If there are thousands of poor students who understand technology, who can shake the Great Yu Empire?” Niu Ben’s face was flushed with excitement.

Luo Quan said, “That’s right. Since they are all allowed to go to school for free, they must study hard, or they will be punished with a beating!”

He Dong couldn’t help but touch his butt when he heard this. He said, “We students in the academy have been beaten a lot. These primary, middle, and high school students will definitely be disciplined more strictly.”

Xiao Ming grinned. He was indeed very strict about education. In this era, there was no such thing as quality education. For him, instilling technological knowledge was the top priority.

Therefore, the primary, middle, and high school education in the Great Yu Empire was not set according to the age of modern schools but according to the standards of the Great Yu Empire. The time from primary to high school graduation was only nine years, which was three years of primary school, three years of middle school, and three years of high school.

Students started school at the age of six and graduated at fifteen, and then they completed four years of university to enter various industries.

He considered this time to be quite short. But for the people of the Great Yu Empire, this time was still very long, after all, ten years of hard study could lead to becoming a top scholar and an official, while the current education system required a total of thirteen years.

“Education is the foundation of a strong country, so I will not take it lightly,” Xiao Ming said in a firm tone.

Now the Great Yu Empire had passed through a difficult ten years, moving from a zero industrial base to the period between the first and second industrial revolutions.

Now he needed more elite talents to push the Great Yu Empire’s technology forward. These elites, who had a foundation from childhood and had received thirteen years of education before entering the laboratory, would definitely have better comprehensive abilities than those like Lin Wentao, who started halfway.

At that time, the technology of the Great Yu Empire would be able to achieve a rapid increase, because with the efforts of the older generation, the industrial foundation was already in place.

After experiencing the wired telegraph machine, Xiao Ming looked at the three glass-like things being assembled in the experiment. These were the electron tubes needed for the wireless telegraph.

Simply put, this kind of electron tube was a signal amplifier. Only with this thing could a wireless signal be transmitted farther.

However, the size of this kind of electron tube was very large because it was the most primitive type. The material had not yet reached the level of semiconductors and only used the most primitive grid rare earth materials. But even so, this was a difficult problem for He Dong’s team, and this was what their laboratory was really focused on.

After all, the wired telegraph was too simple and did not require more than thirty people to study together.

“The wired telegraph is not a problem, but this cannot be relaxed either.” Xiao Ming pointed to the electron tube.

He Dong understood. He said, “We are currently communicating with Lu Tong’s chemical academy, hoping they can help us with the materials. As long as the materials are in place, this electron tube will not be a problem, after all, welding is also not a problem after it’s been energized.”

“En, I will tell him to cooperate with you.” Xiao Ming patted He Dong on the shoulder.

Based on time, the technology in Europe was also in a period of great explosion. All kinds of inventions and creations would emerge one after another because this was the result of the accumulation of European technology.

In addition, they had the guidance of the Great Yu Empire’s technological achievements, so they would avoid many detours, thereby accelerating their technology.

Therefore, he could not relax in scientific research.