Chapter 1133: Hand-cranked Telephone

"Also, do not forget to make a trip to Tianzhu; have them sign the Dongtu trade treaty. Once this piece is filled in, the entire Dongtu trade circle will be complete."

The autumn sun was still very scorching. Zhao Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead and threw another remark to Yang He.

"Yes, Your Majesty. This subject will go back to prepare, then head to Tianzhu." Hearing this, Yang He replied in the affirmative, his excitement undisguised on his face.

For him, he had long been looking forward to the arrival of this day.

Bowing to perform a salute, Yang He turned and left.

After he went out, a young eunuch arrived at the door, full of excitement, and said something to Xiao Guizi.

Xiao Guizi's face was then also filled with smiles. He entered the Imperial Study and said to Zhao Xu, "Your Majesty, the Minister of Technology from the Technology Department, Wang Chong, has arrived. He also brought a telephone and said he wants to install it for Your Majesty."

"Oh?" Zhao Xu heard this, his eyes showing anticipation. "Then let him come in quickly; I have been waiting until I am out of patience."

Xiao Guizi understood and immediately had the young eunuch lead Wang Chong into the palace.

Before long, Wang Chong arrived with three technicians.

After saluting Zhao Xu, he presented the hand-cranked telephone he was holding in his arms to Zhao Xu. "Your Majesty, the Seventh Laboratory of the Research Institute has lived up to expectations and created the hand-cranked telephone. Now, Yancheng can soon realize city-wide communication."

Zhao Xu nodded and said to him, "Less empty talk, get to work quickly and let me experience it."

While the south and west of Great Song were at war, none of the other functional agencies were idle.

The Cabinet was constantly pushing for reforms, and the Technology Department was one of the results of the reforms.

From now on, the technological development of Great Song would be coordinated by the Technology Department.

And the Technology Department, led by Wang Chong, had also broken through many technologies, adding bricks and mortar to the Electric Power Industry.

This hand-cranked telephone was one of the small achievements.

After all, the biggest difficulty with the hand-cranked telephone lay in Electricity, while the technology of the telephone itself was not difficult.

Simply put, the structure of the hand-cranked telephone had two important components.

One was the rotatable dial, and the other was the receiver.

This rotary dialing structure was actually a small Generator.

Each time one dialed, it was equivalent to generating electricity once; this current, just like the current of the Wired Telegraph, would cause the magnetic plates in the switchboard to close.

Because the intensity of the current generated by each turn varied according to the number, the dialed number could be distinguished.

The switchboard would then connect the corresponding telephone line with the dialing telephone line, and after that, one could talk.

"You heard him, His Majesty said to get to work quickly." Seeing that Zhao Xu was somewhat impatient, Wang Chong chuckled and immediately had the technicians install the hand-cranked telephone.

While the hand-cranked telephone was being developed, the laying of telephone lines in Yancheng had already begun.

As long as each agency installed a telephone, Zhao Xu could directly contact the Cabinet, the Defense Department, and other agencies from the Imperial Study.

Receiving the order, the three technicians got busy.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the hand-cranked telephone was installed.

At this time, Wang Chong said, "Your Majesty, there are currently only two hand-cranked telephones; one is at the Research Institute, and one is the one delivered to Your Majesty, so now we can only call the Research Institute."

"Then dial the number for your Research Institute," Zhao Xu laughed.

To him, this was already a very good start.

Although the Telegraph had already caused a qualitative change in the transmission of information throughout Great Song.

But after the appearance of the Telephone, the efficiency of information transmission would be even higher.

Next, as long as the hand-cranked telephone was mass-produced, it would be possible to have city-wide telephone communication in Yancheng,

And after that, it would be between cities, and even between Xingshengs, until the entire Great Song.

"The number is two zeros and a two," Wang Chong reported the number of the Research Institute.

"Then my Imperial Study should be two zeros and a one, right?" Zhao Xu looked at the ten digits on the dial.

"Your Majesty is wise, that is correct." Wang Chong chuckled twice.

"Too few, go back and change it to eight digits."

This telephone number only had three digits, which meant that a total of one thousand telephone numbers could be used.

Changing it to eight digits would provide one hundred million numbers to choose from.

Although he was very clear that Great Song might not be able to popularize telephones to the common people all at once.

But this expectation had to be there.

After saying this, Zhao Xu dialed two zeros and a two.

At this moment, a woman's voice came through the telephone.

"Do you want to transfer to the Research Institute now?" the woman asked, her voice clearly trembling a little.

Obviously, she knew that the person on the other end might be Zhao Xu.

"Yes, transfer to the Research Institute," Zhao Xu replied.

"Alright." After saying this, the woman's

voice disappeared.

Then came the "beep-beep" sound of the telephone.

Before it had rung twice, a voice came from the other side, "This is the Seventh Laboratory of the Research Institute, long live the Emperor."

Zhao Xu heard this and did not know whether to laugh or cry; for this test, all the participating personnel had concluded that the first call would definitely be made by him.

He had wanted to tease them, but Zhao Xu was afraid of scaring them, so he said: "Congratulations on overcoming the technology of the hand-cranked telephone. This call test was perfect, I am very satisfied, you have worked hard."

"No... no hard work." The person on the other end of the telephone stammered, also very nervous.

After asking about the subsequent mass production of the hand-cranked telephone, Zhao Xu hung up the phone, his expression satisfied.

Turning to Wang Chong, he said: "Next, speed up the promotion of the mass production of telephones; the produced telephones will be handed over directly to the Communication Department."

The predecessor of the Communication Department was the post station system of Great Song.

After handing the Telegraph over to the post station system, now the Telephone would also be handed over to the Communication Department for management.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Chong responded.

Then, thinking of something, he said to Zhao Xu, "Your Majesty, besides the matter of the Flashlight, there is one more thing I must report, and that is the matter of Petroleum. This cannot be delayed any longer. Before the Internal Combustion Engine is developed, the Great Song must establish a petrochemical industry in advance; otherwise, when the time comes, an Internal Combustion Engine without fuel will be nothing but scrap metal."

"I understand what you mean," Zhao Xu said.

During this period, the Research Institute had only relied on a small amount of Petroleum to overcome some smelting techniques in the petrochemical industry.

This small amount of Petroleum was still transported by smugglers from Zhongtu who risked their lives to bring it near Tianshan, and then transported it from Tianshan.

It could be said that the quantity was very small, but the cost was very high.

Petroleum transported in this way could only be used in the Laboratory, but if it were to be refined in large quantities, not only would the quantity be a problem, but the cost would also skyrocket.

Therefore, the next step must be to find a way for the Great Song to reduce costs.

To this end, he had already instructed Chen Shou of the Shipbuilding Department to design and build Merchant Ships specifically for transporting fuel.

In this way, the transportation problem was solved.

But besides transportation, there was also the issue of the source.

This problem would require the Great Song to enter the field personally and reshape the order of Zhongtu.

Now, Qin Shan had already pacified Tianzhu.

Thus, just like Wumu City, Tianzhu had become a springboard for the Great Song to extend its sphere of influence into Zhongtu.

Next, he would use these two springboards to disintegrate the Tusman Empire.