xymnovel Chapter 76 When Electric Sparks Meet
Chapter 76 When Electric Sparks Meet
West side of Xianyang Palace.
This place was originally used for divination and fortune telling, and was filled with tortoise shells, animal bones, and mysterious talismans. But now, all these feudal superstitious items have been removed, replaced by mountains of copper wire, magnetite, and all sorts of strange wooden frames.
A brand-new plaque was hung at the entrance—**Daqin High Energy Physics Laboratory**.
Although the name sounds intimidating, the scene inside is like a large textile workshop.
"Twist it! Twist it as much as you can! If anyone breaks the copper wire or scratches the insulation, we'll make sure they get a taste of the tiger bench!"
Zhao Gao, with his delicate fingers raised, patrolled the workshop in a high-pitched voice. Holding a rattan cane, he directed dozens of eunuchs and palace maids as they performed an extremely tedious "winding motion" on wooden coil frames.
This work is even more tiring than embroidery. The copper wire was just drawn from the Shaofu workshop; it was as thin as a hair and coated with a thick layer of a mixture of raw lacquer and tung oil (the current rudimentary insulation layer in the Qin Dynasty). Mr. Wang said that this is called a "stator coil," and it must be wound densely and neatly, without the slightest short circuit.
Although Zhao Gao didn't understand what a short circuit was, he understood Mr. Wang's gaze. That look, as if looking at trash, told him that if this thing wasn't done well, the so-called "control of lightning" plan would be ruined.
"Lightning..." Zhao Gao looked up at the clear sky outside the window, his heart pounding.
As a typical remnant of feudalism, Zhao Gao had a natural reverence for "thunder and lightning." It was the divine power of the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, the whip of heaven to punish sinners.
"Mr. Wang actually said he wanted to 'mold lightning by hand' and put it in a box..." Zhao Gao shuddered. "Isn't this going against the will of Heaven? What if the Thunder God gets angry and strikes down?"
Just then, Wang Jianguo walked in.
He was carrying a heavy box containing several dark stones—these were top-quality natural magnets transported from Cishan, which Wang Jianguo had slightly enhanced using an "artificial magnetization method" (using lightning-struck wood or instantaneous strong current, although it is currently difficult, he used a clever mechanical vibration arrangement method to assist).
"Prefect Zhao, is the coil wound up?" Wang Jianguo asked.
"Reporting to Mr. Wang, this batch of one hundred bundles is ready." Zhao Gao immediately put on a fawning smile. "However... this servant has a question."
"explain."
"Are we... building a temple for the God of Thunder?" Zhao Gao pointed to the huge, bizarre-looking machine wrapped in copper wire. "This thing looks like a prayer wheel, how can it generate thunder?"
Wang Jianguo smiled and carefully installed the magnet on the rotor.
"Zhao Gao, this is called 'magnetism generating electricity.' Simply put, if you make these magnets rotate rapidly inside a copper coil, the invisible magnetic field lines will be cut, thus turning into an electric current."
"Sever?" Zhao Gao was completely bewildered. "Magnetic force can cut? With what? A sickle?"
"Use kinetic energy." Wang Jianguo patted the hand crank on the machine. "Come on, Magistrate Zhao, you're the chief steward, so the first crank to start the machine is yours alone."
---
In front of the lab bench.
This "Daqin No. 1 hand-cranked generator" looks quite crude. It has a wooden base, brass bearings, a stator wrapped with raw lacquer copper wire, and a rotor with a magnet in the middle.
Two output wires (still copper wire wrapped in cloth) extend out, with no load at the ends, and are separated by a very short distance, forming a "spark gap".
"Shake it." Wang Jianguo put on his goggles and gave the order.
Zhao Gao swallowed hard. He looked at the handle and felt a strange sense of unease. But he dared not disobey, so he could only steel himself and step forward to grasp the crank.
"Our family... is already shaking."
Zhao Gao took a deep breath and began to turn the crank.
"Squeak—squeak—"
The sound of gears meshing filled the air, and the rotor began to spin. It felt somewhat heavy at first, but as inertia increased, the speed rose faster and faster.
"Faster!" Wang Jianguo stared at the gap in the sparks. "Not enough voltage! Push harder!"
Zhao Gao was going all out. To impress Mr. Wang, he gritted his teeth and swung his arms like a whirlwind. Sweat streamed down his forehead and into his palms.
Summers in the Qin Dynasty were already hot, and with the added tension and strenuous exercise, Zhao Gao's palms were covered in sweat—a perfect electrolyte solution.
Just at the moment the speed reaches its peak.
"Sizzle!"
A blue-white arc of electricity suddenly flashed across the gap between the sparks!
With a crisp cracking sound, a very faint "lightning" appeared out of thin air, but in Zhao Gao's eyes it was like a giant dragon.
"Lightning...lightning struck?!"
Zhao Gao was terrified. He instinctively tried to let go, but at that moment, due to the poor design of the crank handle (it had no insulation protection), and the sweat from his palms seeping into the gaps in the handle, it came into contact with the internal metal rod.
A current of only a few tens of volts, but with an extremely unstable frequency, shot up Zhao Gao's arm and straight to the top of his head.
"Aaaaaaahh ...
A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the laboratory.
Zhao Gao's body stiffened instantly, his hair standing on end. Although he was wearing a hat that obscured his face, the hat was pushed up high. He looked as if he were performing some kind of extremely convulsive breakdancing.
The feeling was like countless invisible needles piercing his bone marrow, or like an invisible hand frantically pulling at his tendons.
"God of Thunder, spare me! God of Thunder, spare me!"
In the instant Zhao Gao was flung away, a flood of thoughts rushed through his mind, recalling all the despicable things he had done in his life:
"This servant shouldn't have stolen the chicken legs from the Imperial Kitchen! Shouldn't have used His Majesty's foot-wiping cloth as a rag! Shouldn't have accepted the 300 taels of gold from that county magistrate! Shouldn't have cursed Mr. Wang as a bald monk in my heart (even though Wang Jianguo isn't bald)! Thunder God, please don't strike me down! I'll change! I'll definitely change!"
"Thump."
Zhao Gao fell to the ground, his body still convulsing, foaming at the mouth, and his eyes rolling back.
The surrounding eunuchs were terrified, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly: "The Thunder God has appeared! Chief Eunuch Zhao has been punished by Heaven!"
Wang Jianguo calmly walked over, but instead of helping Zhao Gao up immediately, he checked the machine first.
"Hmm, although that arc was short, it means the voltage was at least several hundred volts. There's still a problem with the insulation; there's a leakage." Wang Jianguo muttered to himself before turning to look at Zhao Gao on the ground.
"Alright, stop playing dead. That's alternating current; you're lucky it didn't suck you in."
Zhao Gao opened his eyes shakily. He touched his face, then his chest.
Not burnt? Not dead?
"Mr. Wang..." Zhao Gao stammered, getting up and kneeling before Wang Jianguo. "Just now... just now, was that the Thunder God warning me?"
"Thunder God?" Wang Jianguo scoffed, pointing at the machine. "Zhao Gao, look closely. What struck you just now wasn't a celestial being, but this wooden box. It's 'electricity' you created yourself."
"I...I shook it out?" Zhao Gao was stunned.
"Yes. That's the power of science." Wang Jianguo squatted down, looking directly into Zhao Gao's eyes. "There's no divine punishment. Electricity is just a form of energy, like flowing water. You just accidentally fell into the 'river' and choked on some water."
Wang Jianguo picked up the insulation of the two wires and touched them gently again.
"Snapped!"
Blue sparks flashed again.
"Look, it obeys me." Wang Jianguo handed the wire to Zhao Gao. "Once you grasp the pattern, thunder will just be a plaything in your hands. Zhao Gao, do you want to be the slave kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, or do you want to be the master who controls thunder?"
Zhao Gao stared at the two copper wires, the fear in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by an unprecedented fervor.
Control the thunder...
We can even hold and play with the weapons of God?
This...this is so exciting!
"This servant...wants to be a master!" Zhao Gao kowtowed violently, "Please, Master Wang, teach me the art of controlling lightning!"
---
In the following days, a strange scene unfolded at the Daqin High Energy Physics Laboratory.
Zhao Gao was no longer afraid of the machine; instead, he became its ardent fan. He discovered an astonishing side effect—after being electrocuted that day, his chronic leg pain and shoulder rheumatism, which he had suffered from for many years, miraculously disappeared!
In reality, it was the electrical stimulation therapy that relieved the muscle pain, but Zhao Gao considered it a miracle.
So every afternoon, Zhao Gao would order two strong eunuchs to crank the generator, while he himself would carefully prick himself with two specially made copper needles.
"Ouch! Hiss! That feels so good!"
Zhao Gao convulsed and groaned, his expression a mixture of pleasure and pain that sent chills down the spines of those around him.
Moreover, he also developed new uses for it.
One day, several palace maids caught slacking off were about to be punished. Usually, they would be beaten, but today Zhao Gao mercifully took out his "magic weapon".
"My family is kind-hearted and won't hit you. Here, hold these two strings. If you can hold them for ten counts, my family will forgive you."
The palace maids, oblivious to their own mortality, grabbed the copper wire.
"Shake!" Zhao Gao gave the order.
"Aaaaaahh ...
The palace maids instantly transformed into dancing shadow puppets, their screams piercing through the three layers of palace walls.
Zhao Gao laughed uproariously, "Look! This is what happens when you disobey! The Thunder God is helping us discipline your muscles and bones!"
From then on, Zhao Gao's influence in the palace rose sharply, and he was nicknamed "General Manager of the Thunder Department" (the palace servants privately called him "Electric Shock Demon," but no one dared to say it to his face).
---
However, Wang Jianguo's purpose was not to have Zhao Gao carry out electroconvulsive therapy.
His target was the telegram.
Two weeks later, the first primitive "wired telegraph machine" was assembled.
To conduct the test, Ying Zheng personally came to the laboratory.
"Jianguo, do you really think this thin thread can carry my voice a hundred miles away?" Ying Zheng looked at the rolls of copper wire and expressed his doubt.
"Your Majesty, it's not about transmitting sound, it's about transmitting signals." Wang Jianguo took out a small booklet. "This is a codebook. A long press is 'beep,' a short press is 'answer.' Different combinations represent different words."
At that time, the telegraph line was only stretched from the laboratory to the outside of the palace gate, a distance of about 500 meters.
"I'll give it a try."
Ying Zheng sat in front of the telegraph machine and pressed the bronze button.
"Tick-tock—tick- ...
The current flowed along the wire, through the window, across the corridor, and connected to the receiving end outside the palace gate.
Li Si sat there, holding the same codebook in his hand, and wearing a simple earphone (actually just an electromagnet vibrating diaphragm).
However, a problem arose.
Because good rubber was scarce at the time, the insulation of the wires was made of silk soaked in tung oil and raw lacquer. This insulation was fine when dry, but it happens to be a little damp today.
In addition, Wang Jianguo increased the voltage to make the signal travel further.
As a result, severe leakage and crosstalk occurred during the transmission of the current. The originally clear "drip-drip" sound turned into a series of irregular "sizzling" and "popping" sounds in Li Si's ears.
Li Si was covered in sweat.
This is an imperial edict from His Majesty! If it's translated incorrectly, it's a capital offense!
He desperately tried to discern the faint rhythms amidst the noise.
"This...this long vowel...it sounds like '朕' (zhen, the imperial emperor)?" Li Si wrote a character on the paper.
"Sizzle—Pfft—"
"What... what is this? A short sound? Or static?" Li Si panicked.
He could only frantically fill in the gaps in his mind based on that intermittent rhythm.
After a while, Li Si, holding the translated telegram, ran shakily back to the laboratory.
"Your Majesty! Signal received!"
Ying Zheng looked on expectantly: "Oh? What I just sent was 'May the Great Qin last ten thousand years, and may the four seas be unified.' Did you translate it?"
Li Si stared at the note in his hand, cold sweat pouring down his face, and he knelt down with a thud.
"Your Majesty... I... I deserve to die!"
"read!"
With his eyes closed and a look of grim determination on his face, Li Si recited, "What I translated is... 'Great Qin... Great Qin... Meow... Meow... One... ball.'"
The entire room fell silent.
Wang Jianguo almost sprayed his goggles out.
"Meow?" Ying Zheng's face instantly darkened. "I am the First Emperor, and you're calling me a meow? Or a ball?"
"I'm innocent!" Li Si kowtowed until his forehead bled. "The sound was indeed all strange 'meowing' noises, and I was only recording the facts!"
Wang Jianguo quickly stepped in to smooth things over. He picked up the wire, examined it, and sighed helplessly.
"Your Majesty, this is due to poor insulation. The signal is lost halfway through, turning into noise. It's like a leaky pipe; by the time it reaches the other end, all that's left is the dripping sound."
He cut a slit in the wire and pointed to the somewhat carbonized silk inside.
"There's no rubber. Only by finding the tears of that sacred tree—natural rubber—can we make real, leak-proof insulation. Otherwise, this telegraph machine is just a toy that can only meow like a cat."
Ying Zheng looked at the wire, then at the innocent-looking Li Si, and finally took a deep breath.
"Rubber...it's rubber again."
He recalled their previous discussion about rubber.
"Li Si."
"Your subject is here!" Li Si quickly replied.
"By imperial decree, intensify the search for rubber resources. Whether in the Baiyue region or even further afield, whoever finds rubber trees will be richly rewarded!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Si bowed and accepted the order.
---
late at night.
Wang Jianguo was alone in the laboratory, looking at the generator that still occasionally emitted sparks.
Although the first experiment failed and became a joke about "Qin Shi Huang being a cat", he knew that the spark had been ignited.
Zhao Gao no longer revered the Thunder God, Li Si began to listen to the sound of electricity, and Ying Zheng... he had begun to regard the power he had seized from the "gods" as part of his tools of rule.
"The era of demystification has begun."
Wang Jianguo wrote a formula on the blackboard: ε = -dΦ/dt (Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction).
He smiled and muttered to himself, "Next, it's time to add some real 'high pressure' to this era."
Outside the window, a bolt of lightning ripped through the night sky.
This time, no one knelt on the ground trembling. Instead, countless eyes stared greedily at the light, pondering how to capture it and put it in a cage.