EBE Chapter 83 You told me to take a cannon to bombard the Dragon King
Chapter 83 You told me to take a cannon to bombard the Dragon King
The Luoyang shovel was created in the early 20th century by a man named Li Yazi. It was initially used for tomb raiding, but later it was widely used in archaeological excavations. Emperor Kangxi and his contemporaries had never seen such a shovel before.
"You mean this shovel can extract deep soil without digging?"
Look at that question! Weren't they created for this very purpose? Upon hearing Kangxi's question, Yinzhuo nodded without hesitation.
"Father, if you don't trust your son, just send someone with the blueprints to the Ministry of Works and have them make a few to test, then you'll know."
Kangxi naturally trusted his son Yinzhuo. He asked that question just now because he was too surprised. You know, although his son seemed quite unreliable on weekdays, he was never ambiguous when it came to serious matters. Since he said that this strange-looking shovel could bring up soil from deep underground, he must have some confidence in it.
"Liang Jiugong, have someone take this blueprint to the Ministry of Works and instruct them to expedite the manufacture of the shovel according to the blueprint. If, after testing, it is indeed able to bring up soil from deep underground as the Sixth Prince said, then make more for the teams that go out to find water."
Liang Jiugong naturally knew that the drought was severe and time was precious. He took the blueprints from Kangxi and hurriedly led his men out of Qingxi Study without entrusting them to others.
"Yinzuo, do you have any good ideas regarding this drought?"
The reason why Kangxi didn't ask Yinzhuo earlier was because he thought that his son had been pampered since childhood and had never suffered any hardship. After growing up, he was not interested in court affairs and usually preferred to study eating and drinking. He thought that Yinzhuo should be completely ignorant about disaster relief. He didn't expect that Yinzhuo would give him such a pleasant surprise.
Yinzhu thought to himself, "You ask me what good ideas I have? I'm not the Dragon King, how could I possibly make it rain... Oh, the Dragon King, Commander Zhang, why didn't you think of that before? Our Commander Zhang is the number one person in artificial rainmaking!"
"Father, I do have a solution that doesn't seem like a solution, but I must tell you beforehand that it might not work. Do you still want to hear it?"
At this point, Kangxi was desperate and would try anything. Regardless of whether it would work or not, he wanted to hear what Yinzhuo had to say, just in case his plan was feasible.
"Stop keeping me in suspense, tell me about it."
Yinzhuo knew that Kangxi was anxious at this moment, so he naturally wouldn't keep him in suspense.
"Father, you can summon the people from the Imperial Observatory now and have them observe the night sky to calculate the most likely day for rain. Then find some high, open hills around the capital and move all the cannons from our camp in the outskirts of the capital there and set them up on the hilltops. As soon as you see clouds, fire a few shots at them, regardless of whether it will rain or not. Who knows, there might be a pleasant surprise."
When Yinzhuo said this, not only Yinti and the others were stunned, but even Kangxi was dumbfounded. Good heavens, they were told to fire a few cannons at the clouds. Were they supposed to use the red cannons to scare the Dragon King?
"Yinzhuo, listen to your father, go over there for some snacks and tea. Your brothers and I are fine here."
When Yinzhu saw Kangxi's reaction, he knew that Kangxi thought he was being ridiculous, so he immediately became unhappy. What's wrong with you? You're the one who asked me for ideas, and now that I've finally come up with a feasible solution, you're telling me to leave? Hey, I'm not leaving today. I have to have a serious talk with you.
"Father, do you think your son is just fooling around? Let me tell you, what I'm doing might be the only way to make it rain right now. Do you know why we often see dark clouds when it rains? That's because rainwater is water vapor in these clouds that cools and turns into liquid particles. Through continuous collisions, these particles combine to form larger water droplets. When these droplets reach a certain weight, the clouds can no longer support them, and they fall as the rain we see. The reason it's not raining now is because the water droplets in the air are too small to become rain. What we need to do is to artificially supplement the necessary conditions for precipitation according to the natural rainfall patterns, causing the water droplets in the clouds to condense or collide and expand rapidly, thus making them fall to the ground quickly. The specific method is what your son mentioned before: have the Imperial Observatory observe the celestial phenomena at night, find out the time when it is most likely to rain in the coming days, and then set up cannons in some high and open places. When they spot clouds, they should not hesitate to fire the cannons, and perhaps then the rain will fall."
Over the years, Emperor Kangxi had been exposed to Western learning quite a bit, and he considered himself to be quite capable of accepting new things. However, he felt that he still couldn't quite accept being asked to take a cannon and bombard the Dragon King. But after listening to his son's explanation, although he didn't understand it, he felt impressed and awe-inspired. Caught between these two dilemmas, Emperor Kangxi fell silent for a moment.
"Sixth Brother, although Second Brother doesn't understand what you're saying, I still feel that if we really do that, Heaven will surely punish us..."
Yinzhuo naturally understood Kangxi and the others' concerns. People nowadays have an almost obsessive reverence for ghosts and gods, so this method of artificial rainmaking naturally posed a challenge for them.
"In that case, I will first have people select a few high, open hilltops around the capital as you suggested and set up the red-coated cannons. Then I will have the Imperial Observatory calculate the days when it is likely to rain. If the search for water does not go smoothly, we will consider whether to use this method."
After much deliberation, Emperor Kangxi decided to avoid using this method unless absolutely necessary. However, it was advisable to prepare in advance to avoid being caught unprepared when the day came that it was needed.
Yinzhuo naturally had no objection to Kangxi's decision. In any case, if the process of finding water went smoothly, then this trick would not be needed. If Kangxi really decided to use this trick later, he would definitely try his best to eliminate those opposing voices.
“Father, I think we don’t have to think of a solution every time a disaster strikes. Instead, we should plan ahead. For example, with this drought, if we had thought of a solution in advance and made sufficient preparations, then even if it doesn’t rain now, there would be no drought.”
Kangxi naturally understood the importance of being prepared for a rainy day. He nodded slightly after hearing Yinzhuo's words and looked at Yinzhuo with encouraging eyes, signaling him to continue.
"Your subject believes that we can gradually build some water conservancy facilities in various places, such as reservoirs. We can store the water during the rainy season in the reservoirs, and use it to irrigate the farmland in the dry year. We can also encourage people to grow more drought-resistant crops and keep enough seeds for future use after each harvest. In addition, we can send special people to observe the weather. Although it may not be as accurate as predicting solar and lunar eclipses, if we keep records for a long time, we may be able to find some patterns."