Chapter 758: The Clairaudient

"That's right, everything related to electricity." Zhao Xu's face revealed a smile, "Do you still remember the Voltaic Pile and Wired Telegraph I spoke of?"

"Of course I remember." Wang Chong scratched his head, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, "To tell you the truth, I even secretly made one to play with."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu laughed in spite of himself, "So, I can actually see a ready-made one today? Go and fetch the Voltaic Pile; within these two days, build me a laboratory Wired Telegraph."

There is still a gap between things in the laboratory and things in practice; one could say it is a simplified version.

Because for any item to go from the laboratory to widespread use, many details need to be perfected.

"I can. This Voltaic Pile is right in my room." Wang Chong raised his eyebrows and called over a student, telling him to go fetch it.

Ever since the Research Institute was built, he had been living here.

There were people specifically assigned to serve their needs in food, clothing, housing, and transportation; they only needed to focus on research and manufacturing.

Before long, the student brought over a cylindrical metal object.

It was precisely the Voltaic Pile.

This cylindrical metal object was not actually a single piece, but rather like a candied hawthorn skewer: a copper rod in the middle, then circular copper plates with holes in the center, paper soaked in salt water, and zinc plates stacked in order.

Separated, these three things are nothing, but when stacked together, they become a battery.

By tying copper wires to both ends of the central copper rod, it can be used for a Wired Telegraph.

Therefore, in the nineteenth century, beside a telegraph machine there was often a large box, and the empty space in the box was filled with Voltaic Piles.

Seeing the Voltaic Pile with his own eyes, Zhao Xu nodded slightly, "Don't forget the Wired Telegraph; I don't need to participate in this personally, do I?"

"Having learned so much from Your Highness, if we couldn't even do this, wouldn't we be nothing but useless gluttons?" Wang Chong's expression was confident.

In the study of Electricity, the Voltaic Pile and Wired Telegraph are the most basic things, even easier than the Steam Engine; it is just that the further one goes, the more difficult it becomes.

He only needed copper wire, iron wire, and a few copper plates to make a Wired Telegraph within two or three days.

"Even so, I will give you three days. After three days, I want to see a laboratory Wired Telegraph." Zhao Xu set a deadline for Wang Chong.

He had confidence in Wang Chong; with the current industrial foundation, it would be easy for him to use a Lathe to manufacture the parts for a Wired Telegraph.

However, while making the telegraph is easy, the truly difficult problem is transmitting messages via the Wired Telegraph, as well as the laying of wired cables.

Initial Wired Telegraphs transmitted messages via Morse Code.

He also had to come up with a set of such codes, using the frequency of long and short taps to correspond to specific characters, in order to transmit messages accurately.

Once this problem was solved, it would involve cable laying.

A Wired Telegraph that cannot transmit information to all parts of Da Song is useless.

This kind of cable is a combination of a copper wire and an iron wire.

One needs to use oil paper to wrap the copper wire and iron wire separately to prevent short circuits from contact, and then wrap a layer of cotton yarn soaked in linseed oil around the outside.

Although the process is not difficult,

to cover Jiangbei with wired cables would require at least thousands of kilometers of cable, which is no small project.

That is why he said the laboratory Wired Telegraph is easy, but popularizing it is not.

But just like laying a Railway, for matters that promote the development of Da Song, one must push forward even through difficulties.

He did not want a day to come where his own army was fighting overseas, and the opponent used a Wired Telegraph to reach the battlefield for on-site command and dispatch.

While his own generals still had to send people back by ship to ask for instructions.

After instructing Wang Chong on this matter, Zhao Xu left the Research Institute.

Once the Wired Telegraph was created, Wang Chong would be able to conduct various electrical experiments until one day he possessed the capability to build a Thermal Power Plant, output electricity through a Transformer, and step into the Second Industrial Revolution.

Arriving on the street, Zhao Xu did not immediately return to the Prince's Mansion, but instead went to the Technology Academy.

After Wang Chong's batch of students graduated, the Technology Academy did not stagnate, but was constantly recruiting new students, and even expanded the number of students.

Walking through the academy, apart from a few old students who remained to teach, they were all new faces.

Many people were holding textbooks and studying hard under the academy's corridors.

Feeling satisfied with the current situation of the Technology Academy, he went to the Military Academy, Government Academy, Naval Academy, and others.

These academies were the same, all orderly, and had established a perfect academy management system.

Da Song's talent cultivation system was initially mature.

Without needing his worry, a large number of talents could emerge continuously every year.

In the future, through their efforts, the development of Da Song would only become faster and faster.

After inspecting the academies, Zhao Xu finally went to the Armory Department.

The war in Gaoli had ended, but the clouds of war still lingered over Da Song.

The Eastern Land Alliance's heart to destroy Da Song had not died; after Gaoli, they certainly would not rest.

In terms of military affairs, he could not slack off.

After all, this was an era of great Weapon revolution.

The technology of the Western Lands was also constantly advancing; within a few years, Breech-loading Rifles, Breech-loading Cannons, and Ironclad Warships would appear one after another.

"How is the Rifled Cannon coming along?" Upon arriving at the Armory Department, Zhao Xu asked directly.

He had been in Gaoli for so long; he believed Wang Ying must have made some progress.

This time, he wanted to replace the Artillery on some of the Sailing Warships before the Steam Engine was launched.

So as to completely destroy Britain's fleet in Dongtu in the next naval battle.