The Zhengshi Hall, the emperor, the prince and the Zhengshi Hall were meeting and the topic discussed was to promote the practicality of propellers and how the court would use this military and national weapon to implement a series of "reforms" after the large number of steamships were modified.

Reform is an amazing word for governing the country. This means that the system that has been operating for 16 years since the first year of Mingde is about to undergo major changes, and various national policies will also change accordingly.

Of course, national policy cannot be changed immediately by changing. It must be carefully considered and gradually implemented, but one thing is certain, that is, it cannot be changed.

All of this is because of one thing.

Yesterday, good news came from Shanzhou. The propeller propeller experimental steamship "Lichuan" successfully broke through the danger of the Sanmen pillars, and within one day, he completed the dangerous section of the "Yellow River Three Gorges".

This is a major good news, which means that the Sanmenxia River section is finally no longer an ulcer for the Yellow River canal transportation. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, people can finally overcome this bottleneck. There are no longer major obstacles in the transfer of materials between Dongguandong and Guanxi.

Previously, the Yellow River canal transport was only in the "Three Gorges of the Yellow River", which took two or three months to get on the water. Moreover, in the Sanmen Dizhu River section, it was very dangerous and passing ships were very likely to capsize, so the cost of transport was extremely high.

But now it is different. With a new type of steamship with propeller propulsion, it only takes one day to go on the water to complete the "Three Gorges of the Yellow River".

Considering that the waterways are crowded during large-scale shipping, the ships on and off-water ships need to be interlaced to avoid navigation, this time will inevitably increase. When shipping is busy, it is expected that ships will pass through the "Three Gorges of the Yellow River".

The time for going to the "Three Gorges of the Yellow River" to shorten from three months to three or four days. Such a miracle is something that everyone dared not think of in advance.

When new types of transportation emerge, the transportation capacity will undergo earth-shaking changes and the transportation costs will drop sharply. The court must adapt to the series of impacts that will be affected and cannot ignore.

The root cause of a series of impacts is not only the smooth transportation of the Yellow River.

At the time of the Lichuan test sailing in Luoshui, the speed of the water was about 45 miles per hour. This speed would be lower than that of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and other rivers with rapid flows, but in the Yongji Canal and Tongji Canal, the speed of the water should be similar.

In other words, when the propeller-propelled steamer sails on these two canals, the water speed on it can be steadily maintained at forty miles per hour, and an important technical indicator of the new steamer is that it can sail continuously for more than one day.

This means that a thousand miles a day (an average speed of 40 miles per hour, a 24-hour sailing, equals 960 miles) becomes the norm.

If the shipping strategy of towing barges along the way is adopted, it means that the transportation speed on both canals can be maintained for several consecutive days.

The Yongji Canal and Tongji Canal are about two thousand miles long. The new steamer takes only about two and a half days to complete the entire journey of the Yongji Canal or Tongji Canal.

Considering the congestion of the waterway, the fleets of the upper and lowering must be interlaced to avoid sailing. The actual time to take the complete journey will inevitably increase, which is expected to be about five or six days.

This also means a further decline in shipping costs and a further increase in transportation capacity. The speed and frequency of personnel and materials flows in Hebei, Henan and Huainan areas have increased on a large scale.

For the court, this means that issues such as household registration management, taxation, public security, and justice will be further complicated. If the existing system is not reformed, it will not be able to adapt to such drastic changes at all.

For example, a person with a household registration in Youzhou registered 200 acres of land in the local government, but because of the convenient transportation and developed business, he chose to "work" or do business in Yangzhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River. In this way, how should this person's rental commission be collected?

Youzhou and Yangzhou are so far away. If both governments in both places collect rent commissions on this person, of course it is unfair, but if both governments in both places cannot collect rent commissions on this person, it means tax losses.

Or, if this person commits a crime in Yangzhou, does not pay back his debts, fights, kills people or is killed, who should be judged?

If the Yangzhou government sentences this person to be exiled to Australia but fails to communicate with the Youzhou government in time, who will be responsible for the series of problems caused by this?

Before, even with paddle-wheeled steamships, the people generally would not stay away from their hometowns. The people of Youzhou might at most go to Xiangzhou or the Yellow River to become "mile population".

Then the cooperation between the two governments can at least barely achieve effective management of these "mile populations".

In the future, transportation will be more convenient. People with household registration in Youzhou will go to Yangzhou on the Yangtze River to work and do business, thus forming a large number of people who move far away, and their management problems will become more complicated.

If the court does not carry out targeted institutional construction or reform, it will inevitably lead to a series of social problems.

This is just a microcosm of people's livelihood issues. When transportation becomes more convenient and the transportation capacity of personnel and materials is "a thousand miles a day", the central government's ability to control the vast territory will inevitably be enhanced.

How to deal with the series of impacts caused by this is also a question that the priests must consider.

In the past, it took about two months to travel by land (water-land conversion) from Guangzhou, Lingnan to Chang'an, Guanzhong. When paddle wheel steamers appeared, the time was shortened to more than one month.

When steamships propelled by propellers become popular, this time may be shortened to within one month.

This is true in Lingnan, Jiaozhou, Nanzhong, Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Hetao?

Therefore, within the Great Zhou Dynasty, the speed of the public document exchanges and personnel transfers of various water systems that can navigate the steamships and surrounding areas will change qualitatively.

This is true for official posters and private postal services, which means that the central government’s control over local areas has been greatly strengthened, while the “centrifugal force” in remote areas has decreased.

Also, as shipping capacity changes qualitatively, the speed of the army's mobilization will become faster.

Foreign, once foreign enemies invade or garrison rebellion occurs on the border (Hetao, Nanzhong, Jiaozhou, Liaodong, etc.), reinforcements sent by the imperial court can arrive faster.

Internally, if there is a civil rebellion in the jurisdiction of the General Administration, the General Administration will be able to dispatch troops faster, or when there is turmoil in a certain area, the central government will also accelerate.

what does that mean?

This means that the center must re-adjust the military layout of the country (especially in areas with convenient shipping), adjust the garrisons of various elite troops, and also adjust the administrative divisions and various household registration systems and judicial systems.

This series of changes are all due to the transformation of shipping capabilities and the realization of thousands of miles a day.

The reason is that the propeller promotes the practicality of the steamship.

It can be said that after the propeller propeller is popularized, it will inevitably lead to huge changes in the current situation. The officials of the Political Affairs Hall must adapt to such changes, and the imperial court (center) must adapt to such changes.

Reform (reform) is imperative, but what should be done needs to be considered in the long run.

At today's Political Affairs Hall meeting, the emperor and the three high officials will naturally not discuss the issue of the new steamship immediately. The main content of the meeting was to listen to the introduction of the new steamship by Prince Yuwen Weicheng and the main technicians.

With the successful trial of the new steamship, it was natural for the prince to gain huge reputation as the "general director of the project", but such reputation will not pose a substantial threat to the emperor.

Yuwen Wen was very happy to see his son introducing the performance of the new steamship to the priests and the various technical parameters were easily obtained.

Since ancient times, it is difficult to be a prince, especially when the emperor is young and strong and has not "retired", the prince who has entered adulthood will be very depressed: it is not enough to perform too well, and it is not enough to perform too poorly.

Leading troops to fight and winning the war, the "old man" is worried that the prince will take the opportunity to win over the general; if he defeats the war, the "old man" feels that the prince will not be able to defend his country in the future.

The state-controlled performance is good, and the "old man" is worried that the prince will make friends with important officials; the "old man" feels that the prince will lose his family sooner or later.

In a dilemma, either the prince was deposed or the prince took the risk and sent the "old man" to return to the west in advance.

Now, the prince "engages scientific research" and can not only exercise his abilities, gain reputation, but also not threaten imperial power. The most important thing is that the scientific and industrial system he has worked hard to establish has a reliable successor.

Yuwen Wen spent thirty years investing countless manpower, material resources and financial resources to reap the fruits of the propeller steamship. Then, in the next thirty years, his son and even grandson will fight.
Chapter completed!