Chapter 941

Pan Yun was utterly tired of the back-and-forth struggle over land and existing taxes—the pie was only so big, and a portion had been hidden away.

Yu Qian and his group wanted to expose that hidden portion to the world; beyond that, they sought to increase state revenue by overhauling officialdom and cutting expenditures.

This was tantamount to snatching food from people’s mouths—every time a hint emerged, accidents erupted in both the former court and the imperial harem, and Pan Yun inevitably got dragged out and scolded along with them.

Her stance had never changed: Yu Qian and his allies could continue their efforts, but she could make the pie bigger, thereby dispersing the tensions and softening the opposition.

Nothing was a better pie than developing technology and boosting productivity.

If the Ministry of Works could build a hand-cranked generator, then steam engines shouldn’t be too difficult.

With the Great Ming’s current technological level, it was merely a matter of time.

Pan Yun had already handed over the blueprints to them.

Unfortunately, only these researchers were excited; few court ministers grasped the importance of these inventions, so the Ministry of Works’ funding requests were slashed again and again, until they received only the smallest share—so small that even the artisans’ wages had to be squeezed out of officials’ salaries.

Otherwise, how could someone as frugal as Pan Yun have handed over ten thousand taels of silver as a reward fund without a single hesitation?

To make the Ministry of Works gain attention, these ministers must understand just how vital technology is.

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Pan Yun decided to let them experience the allure of technology through the speaking tube and wireless telegraph.

The next day, Zhu Qiyu led the ministers to visit the Ministry of Works.

Hu Cheng warmly received them.

The Ministry of Works had always done the most with the least money.

Don’t assume that because they were assigned to dredge the Yellow River or construct palaces—lucrative posts—they were wealthy; quite the opposite.

For Yellow River management, the Ministry of Works sent officials to assist, but the lead official was never one of theirs.

Now it was a man named Xu Youzhen—he had once been a Hanlin scholar—and the two men the Ministry of Works sent were merely deputies, serving only as technical advisors, occasionally tossed to the riverbank to inspect whether the work met standards.

They did all the dirty, exhausting labor, but never handled funds or materials, so there was no chance for corruption.

As for palace construction, Ministry of Works officials always bore the blame, but the credit and real benefits went either to the Imperial Household or the Chief Eunuch.

Hu Cheng himself had no interest in bribery or corruption; his entire being was devoted to firearms research.

This part was funded by the Ministry of War.

His personal research funding was not a problem, but the others in the Ministry of Works had little to no research funds; before Pan Yun arrived, everyone merely carried out studies within their assigned duties, and privately pursued their own interests.

But due to lack of money, many studies made no progress.

After Pan Yun arrived, the Ministry of Works gradually produced outstanding results, and Hu Cheng hoped it would produce more; thus, seeing the emperor bring so many ministers, he was extremely pleased and enthusiastic.

Hu Cheng was on good terms with Wang Ji and Yu Qian; after showing the emperor around the Ministry’s courtyard, he quietly walked over to the two men and whispered, asking them to speak well of the Ministry later.

Yu Qian said nothing, but Wang Ji asked curiously, “What fine thing is the State Tutor going to show us?”

Hu Cheng grew excited and whispered, “General, you’ll surely love it—it has great military utility.”

Pan Yun arrived from another direction, saw the emperor, and immediately smiled: “Your Majesty has come—quickly, quickly, let’s walk along the line, and we can test it right away.”

Zhu Qiyu followed her, bewildered, from the Ministry of Works to the Ministry of War, passing through two courtyards, with only a single pipe along the entire route.

The ministers followed, equally bewildered; Pan Yun told Yu Qian and the others to stay in the Ministry of War, holding a round earpiece to their ears, and said: “Soon, a voice will come through this—Minister Yu, please listen carefully and see if you can hear clearly.”

Yu Qian raised an eyebrow: “Are you going to speak from the other end, in the Ministry of Works?”

“Exactly.”

Before Yu Qian could reply, Chen Xun laughed: “State Tutor, there are two courtyards between the two ministries!”

Wang Ji thought for a moment and said: “You can still hear if you shout loudly—didn’t you ever hear the mountain-call?”

Pan Yun pulled Zhu Qiyu away: “It’s not a mountain-call—it’s like speaking face-to-face.”

Pan Yun led Zhu Qiyu to the Ministry of Works, picked up an earpiece from the other end of the pipe, and gestured: “Your Majesty, shout into it.”

Zhu Qiyu opened his mouth, saw all the ministers staring intently at him, felt inexplicably embarrassed, and held the earpiece without speaking.

Pan Yun urged: “The other side is Minister Yu—just call out ‘Minister Yu.’”

Zhu Qiyu placed the earpiece to his ear and hesitantly called: “Minister Yu?”

Pan Yun: “Louder!”

Zhu Qiyu instinctively shouted: “Minister Yu!”

The ministers couldn’t help laughing; Zhu Qiyu’s face turned bright red; Chen Xun roared: “State Tutor, there are two courtyards between them—Minister Yu’s ears may be sharp, but he won’t hear that!”

Pan Yun lifted the emperor’s hand and pressed the earpiece to his ear; amid low laughter, a hesitant voice came through: “Your Majesty?”

Zhu Qiyu froze, looked around wildly, but saw no Yu Qian; he hurriedly asked: “Is Minister Yu still in the Ministry of War?”

“Of course he’s still in the Ministry of War.”

The voice in the earpiece, slightly delayed, caught the tail of the sound and replied: “Yes, I’m still in the Ministry of War—is Your Majesty now in the Ministry of Works?”

Zhu Qiyu stared at Pan Yun in astonishment, then said: “Yes, I’m still in the Ministry of Works.”

Only then did the ministers realize the emperor wasn’t speaking to them—he was conversing with Yu Qian.

Everyone fell silent.

Zhu Qiyu was thrilled and spoke into the earpiece: “Minister Yu, is General Wang beside you? Please have him say something.”

Wang Ji, standing beside Yu Qian, scratched his head and snatched the earpiece the moment Yu Qian handed it to him.

The emperor and minister exchanged words; only then did Zhu Qiyu reluctantly hand the earpiece to other ministers.

Thus, the ministers began playing the voice-transmission game between the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War.

Some ministers, annoyed by the crowd on their side, lifted their robes and ran to the Ministry of War to queue up, also wanting to confirm whether the voice truly came from the other side.

As a result, officials from all six ministries had the rare sight of third-rank and above ministers sprinting back and forth between the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War.

Yu Qian and Wang Ji also ran over, faces alight with excitement.

Wang Ji was sixty-eight, yet he sprinted the whole way, eyes blazing with enthusiasm as if filled with sunlight—he had never looked at his wife that way in his youth.

Wang Ji bowed briefly to the emperor, then rushed to Pan Yun, beaming: “State Tutor, is this thing called the ‘Thousand-Li Ear’? Can ordinary people really use it?”

Yu Qian also stared at Pan Yun in astonishment.

Zhu Qiyu snapped back to himself and hurriedly said: “State Tutor, with this, can I now communicate with you without using yellow talismans?”

Writing on yellow talismans was too cumbersome—the characters had to be tiny; sometimes one matter required four or five talismans, and before writing, one had to deliberate endlessly, compressing a sentence into a few characters—it truly tested one’s literary skill.

Zhu Qiyu felt his literary ability had improved greatly these past months, comparable to when he studied under his tutor as a child.

Chen Xun had also tried it; the earpiece was snatched by Cao Nai, so he could only come over with an expression of lingering desire, looking at Pan Yun with complex eyes: “State Tutor, you Daoists have hidden this from us so well—we always heard your magical artifacts could only be used by cultivators: sleeve-space, thousand-li sight, thousand-li hearing, earth-translocation, water-translocation—we all envied them inwardly, dared not speak of it aloud—and now we can use them too?”

Pan Yun waited until they finished speaking, then said: “This is not a magical artifact—it’s a mundane device. Any skilled craftsman can build it, and anyone can use it.”

“Mundane device?” Wang Ji murmured: “How can a mundane device transmit sound a thousand li?”

“This is the power of technology,” Pan Yun said. “Technology allows those without cultivation to achieve what cultivators do: travel a thousand li in a day, transmit sound a thousand li, transmit images a thousand li—oh, like speaking face-to-face.”

Yu Qian suddenly remembered yesterday’s words; his eyes narrowed slightly: “This is what you meant yesterday by the power of technology?”

“Exactly!”

Zhu Qiyu waved his hand grandly: “Build it! I want this thousand-li voice transmission!”

Pan Yun spread her hands: “We can’t do it yet.”

Zhu Qiyu: “Huh?”

“Your Majesty, you can’t eat a fat man in one bite—you must give us time to grow.”

“But we just heard it!”

“We only had two courtyards apart—costs were manageable. But if you want to speak to Sun Yuanzhen, you’ll need to lay a line from Beijing all the way to Hangzhou—not just laying wire,” Pan Yun asked: “Forget the technical issues—do you have the money?”

Zhu Qiyu: … Money, money, money—why is it always about money?

Yu Qian’s eyes narrowed; he said directly: “Money is not the issue—how long will it take for your technology to lay a line from Beijing to Hangzhou?”

Pan Yun smiled, holding up five fingers: “Five years!”

Yu Qian nodded immediately: “Good—we’ll wait.”

“Wait, wait a moment,” Zhu Qiyu hurriedly said: “Minister Yu, what do you mean ‘money is not the issue’?”

Yu Qian’s eyes sparkled: “Your Majesty, I was short-sighted yesterday. The State Tutor is right—once technology reaches a certain level, money ceases to be an obstacle.”

Pan Yun clapped her hands, laughed for a moment, then said: “Of course, since Your Majesty and the ministers have come all this way, I won’t show only this one thing—there’s another, and it’s the true device capable of instant thousand-li communication.”

Pan Yun had Hu Wei bring out the wireless telegraph machine.

Hu Wei placed it carefully; Pan Yun said: “We owe great thanks to Master Song Yang and Master Lian Cheng—they fired the crystal tubes I required, making this telegraph possible. I thought it would take years of research, but our Great Ming craftsmen are truly skilled.”

Hu Wei beamed: “State Tutor already gave us the exact blueprints—if we couldn’t build this, we’d be utterly incompetent.”

Pan Yun shook her finger: “No, no, no—many of these technologies don’t exist among the common folk. I say you’re talented because you truly are.”

Today, the Great Ming’s economy, culture, and technology still lead the world, far beyond what the West can match.

Unfortunately, after the late Ming, technology stagnated, while the West, through several revolutions, not only caught up to Huaxia, but left it far behind.

Many crafts had already emerged, yet were never systematically applied.

Pan Yun knew that once these were unearthed and put into use, they would develop with explosive vitality.

She had merely pointed the way with blueprints.

But for that path to truly be opened, it still depended on the emperor and every minister in this courtyard.

Only when they understood the power of technology would they value it.

Pan Yun explained the principle of the wireless telegraph.

Of those present, except for a very few, no one understood.

Yu Qian didn’t understand, but Wang Ji and Hu Cheng did; what surprised Pan Yun was that the one who understood best was Chen Xun.

Chen Xun not only grasped the principle, but took the device in hand himself—he first cranked the generator by hand, activated the telegraph, then clumsily operated it using the code Pan Yun had given.

Pan Yun looked at Chen Xun as if he glowed; she praised: “Excellent, Minister Chen—you’re the third person who understood instantly and could operate it right away.”

Chen Xun felt proud, lost in thought: “If so, with the right personnel and codes, this could replace the eight-hundred-li express courier...”

Pan Yun said: “It can’t be said to be a complete replacement—if the telegraph machine is destroyed, human transmission remains the safest method.”

Wang Ji exclaimed: “But this brings great advantage in wartime, Your Majesty!”

Zhu Qiyu nodded repeatedly: “I understand, I understand—this is military preparedness equipment; it must be issued first to the army. If, if last year’s campaign against the Oirats had this device...”

The ministers fell silent.

Zhu Qiyu turned his head and wiped away tears, smiling: “It’s not too late yet, Chen Xun.”

“Your servant is here.”

“Allocate funds to the Ministry of Works; order them to produce twenty telegraph machines first.”

Pan Yun added: “And hand-cranked generators.”

“Yes,” Zhu Qiyu asked, “how much will it cost?”

Pan Yun looked at Hu Wei.

Hu Wei stammered: “It, it will take about five thousand taels.”

Zhu Qiyu waved his hand: “Give them eight thousand taels!”

He said: “Do your best. If you succeed, I will reward you.”

Hu Wei was merely a craftsman; upon hearing this, he fell to his knees with a thud and shouted: “Yes!”

Zhu Qiyu quickly helped him up, smiling: “A man’s knees hold gold. You are the pillars of the state—except during grand ceremonies, you need not kneel before me.”

Hu Wei’s eyes grew moist; he gazed at the emperor with admiration and devotion, and at that moment, he was willing to lay down his life for him.

The frugal Chen Xun, unusually, did not haggle—he agreed and promised to allocate the funds to the Ministry of Works upon returning.

The emperor pointed to the still-being-played-with speaking tube and asked: “What about this one? How much will it cost to research this?”

Pan Yun: “This one will cost far more. Have the Ministry of Works draft a plan for you—list the materials needed, and we can estimate the cost.”

The emperor and the others were more interested in the speaking tube; after all, they didn’t understand the telegraph machine, nor fully grasp it—they only knew that electromagnetic waves emitted by the telegraph machine would travel through heaven and earth, and be received by another telegraph machine, which then decoded them using a prearranged code of dots and lines...

They understood every word of this, but together it made no sense—first, what was an electromagnetic wave?

Zhu Qiyu didn’t understand and didn’t ask; he felt he had no need to understand it—he only needed to know the device worked and was useful.

Still, the speaking tube was more direct.

To be honest, if they hadn’t first tested the speaking tube, Pan Yun’s telegraph machine would have been met with disbelief.

Could she simply say it could transmit voice a thousand li away, and expect them to believe it?