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The explosion at Bowen Academy was just a false alarm, which brought a sigh of relief to Xiao Ming.
However, the attempt at smokeless gunpowder still showed him the students’ passionate drive. After more than three years, Qingzhou’s science and technology had not yet completely surpassed the West, but with the efforts of these students, he believed there would be trains, electricity, and internal combustion engines. It wouldn’t take long for the Great Yu Empire to once again stand proudly among the nations in science and technology, becoming a sacred land to which all nations would pay homage.
Having understood the situation, Xiao Ming then instructed Lu Tong on establishing the chemical industry. Afterwards, he used his free time today to inspect various workshops in Qingzhou.
With the establishment of the steam engine workshop, steam engines began to be used in more and more machinery. During the attack on Wei, drilling machines, boring machines, milling machines, and grinding machines all began to use steam engines.
Now, not only did the production speed of gun barrels increase by leaps and bounds, but the production speed of flintlock components also greatly accelerated, as artisans no longer needed to rely on traditional manual grinding methods but directly used mechanical grinding.
Besides the military industry accelerating under the impetus of the steam engine, the textile industry managed by Fei Yuer was also thriving, with greatly improved cloth production and quality.
However, this was only part of the steam engine’s role. Lin Wentao was leading the academy’s students, preparing to apply steam engines in the chemical and metallurgical industries.
After all, a steam engine could perform both linear motion and be converted into rotary motion through crankshafts and flywheels. It could be said that the steam engine of this era was truly an all-purpose machine. Even in modern times, many industries still used steam engines. His only regret now was that the steam engine could only be used within the small area of Qingzhou, and other prefectures and counties were rarely affected by it.
However, everything is difficult at the beginning, and one must eat one bite at a time.
Upon arriving at the workshop district, Xiao Ming first went to the iron and steel workshop. Lin Wentao had already installed two steam engines there. When he arrived, the steam engines were driving bellows, continuously blowing air into the converter.
Below the converter was burning coal, and on the observation platform above the converter were artisans monitoring the molten steel. Once the molten steel was refined, the artisans below would pull the converter, causing it to tilt.
At this point, the molten steel in the converter would flow out through the tapping hole, then flow down another groove into various molds for shaping.
In addition to the bellows being steam-powered, the iron and steel workshop now also had its own forging hammers. Unlike water-powered forging hammers, these were stable forging hammers powered by steam.
Some large steel structures were gradually taking shape under the pounding of these forging hammers.
Very satisfied with the reforms at the iron and steel workshop, Xiao Ming then went to the paper mill. This industry, since its establishment by Xiao Ming, had always used manual production, so the paper mill’s output had always been low.
Now, the steam engine undertook the most important pulping stage in the papermaking process, which immediately increased the output of paper pulp. Now, the artisans only needed to focus on the subsequent processes of sheet formation and pressing. In this way, most artisans were freed up to engage in later work, and paper production also doubled.
Leaving the paper mill, Xiao Ming then went to the white sugar workshop. Similar to the pulping stage for papermaking materials, the work of crushing sugarcane in the white sugar workshop was now also handled by the steam engine.
When combining the steam engine with other machinery, Xiao Ming naturally did not forget to give Lin Wentao the designs for simple machines like crushers. These crushers were produced under the guidance of Lin Wentao and others in the iron and steel workshop.
After all, the structure of a crusher was very simple, just a large cylinder with a fan blade turbine-like structure inside.
Having understood the pilot experiments of the current steam engine, Xiao Ming finally went to Lin Wentao’s steam engine workshop. To facilitate obtaining raw materials, the steam engine workshop was located within the workshop area, only a thousand meters away from the iron and steel workshop.
When he arrived at the workshop, Lin Wentao was lecturing students in the workshop’s research room.
“Your Highness.” Seeing Xiao Ming arrive, Lin Wentao bowed, and the students in the research room looked excited.
Nodding, Xiao Ming looked at the drawing on the blackboard in the research room and said, “Are you researching conveyor belts for coal mines?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Steam engines require a large amount of coal, but there are not many coal mines within Qingzhou, and most are deep mines. If steam engines are used to pump water and transport coal, the output of the mining area will increase significantly. And once coal mines can be used, other mines can also be used, which will allow Qingzhou’s metallurgical industry to develop,” Lin Wentao said. “Your Highness once said that Qingzhou lacks raw materials, so I thought of developing the machinery needed for mines first.”
Hearing this, Xiao Ming smiled with satisfaction. In three or four years, these students’ progress was greater day by day, and his daily hard work in writing scientific books had not been in vain after all.
“You truly think what I think. However, what I want to tell you this time is, for example, how about directly separating machinery from steam engines and having a portion of the academy’s students be responsible for the research of machinery in various industries?” Xiao Ming said.
In modern times, mechanical engineering is an independent discipline. The steam engine only provides power, and machinery is the purpose of using that power. Now with the steam engine, Xiao Ming can teach the mechanical knowledge from his technology crystal to Lin Wentao and others.
Lin Wentao thought for a moment. Indeed, the academy’s main work was now shifting from steam engines to machinery. He said to Xiao Ming, “Your Highness, this is also feasible. Now that some machinery is being developed from scratch, we do need a dedicated group of people to be responsible for it.”
Xiao Ming smiled. The books in Bowen Academy were only a part, arguably just simple junior high school knowledge with some high school knowledge, while mechanical engineering was a proper university major.
Moreover, to prevent technological leaks, he always extracted important technologies from books and compiled them into separate volumes for each laboratory and research institute to study independently.
So he said, “Starting from scratch is too time-consuming. I will give you a book on machinery. You just need to follow the book to manufacture machinery for various industries.”
Lin Wentao was somewhat shocked. As he gained more knowledge of science, he increasingly realized that any single discipline in Bowen Academy required a person to expend a great deal of effort to achieve anything, yet Xiao Ming spoke of everything so casually, as if he had a masterful grasp of all knowledge.
Thinking of this, his admiration for Xiao Ming grew even deeper. This admiration was not that of a common person for a monarch, but rather that of a person for someone of profound knowledge.
Having decided on the matter of machinery manufacturing, Xiao Ming chatted with the students of the research institute for a while, and then he went to the Qingzhou Grand Camp. He had prepared the grain and firearms, and the remaining matter was the army.