Xiao Ming closed the memorial sent by Niu Ben, a deep smile on his face.
Qian Dafu, standing by, also smiled. “Your Majesty is so pleased. It must be that the remaining three cities have all been conquered.”
“You guessed correctly. All of Guandong is now under the control of the Great Yu Empire. Now, the Great Yu Empire has gained the land of three additional prefectures, which is truly gratifying,” Xiao Ming said.
The Northeast three provinces were famously known as a grain-producing region in contemporary times. Their fertile black soil yielded high grain production.
It was a pity that the Central Plains dynasties rarely focused their attention here, leaving it continuously occupied by foreign tribes throughout various dynasties.
Now that he had reclaimed the entire Guandong region, his next step would be to establish an industrial zone centered on Anshan, and at the same time, develop it into a grain production base. The contemporary Liaoning region, where Bisa Castle was located, would also have a large shipyard.
“Such a monumental achievement will surely engrave Your Majesty’s name in history and be praised for ten thousand generations. Your old servant will also bask in your glory,” Qian Dafu smiled even more happily.
Xiao Ming shook his head helplessly, “I don’t care how historians evaluate me. I only hope that the Great Yu Empire will no longer suffer bullying from foreign tribes and stand at the pinnacle of the world.”
With that, Xiao Ming remembered something and picked up his pen.
Now that Guandong was stable, there was no need for so many troops to be stationed there. He would recall most of the musketeers.
The barbarians had migrated west. They were now like dogs without a home, utterly incapable of harassing the Great Yu Empire again. Now, he could finally free up his hands to completely unify the Great Yu Empire.
After all, the Prince of Yong, the Prince of Huainan, the Prince of Chu, and the Prince of Ruyang were still there. Strictly speaking, the Great Yu Empire was still in a state of division.
Only by pacifying the domestic situation could he concentrate on using firearms, which were even more advanced than those of the Europeans, to end the Western colonial era.
After writing the imperial edict to recall the troops, Xiao Ming had Qian Dafu dispatch a eunuch to Jinzhou.
Once the main army returned to the capital and rested for a period, he would have time to deal with the remaining feudal lords.
Having settled this matter, Xiao Ming did not remain idle. Instead, he went to Bowen Academy under the protection of his guards. Now, daily lectures at the Son of Heaven’s Academy had almost become a major event, equivalent to court assemblies.
And to gain entry to the Son of Heaven’s Academy and the special honor of being a disciple of the Son of Heaven, the learning atmosphere at Bowen Academy was intense. One could hardly find any students loitering there.
Every student he saw was carrying books and hurrying along, because not only the Son of Heaven’s Academy, but the selection system practiced by Bowen Academy also put great pressure on the students.
If one did not study diligently and failed exams, after two failed retakes, one would be advised to withdraw, thereby losing the qualification as a student of Bowen Academy.
For many impoverished students, such a thing was intolerable, because everything at Bowen Academy was free, and they couldn’t possibly find a better place.
Following his usual custom, Xiao Ming first went to the Son of Heaven’s Academy to answer difficult questions.
Next, he proceeded to the laboratories where key experiments were currently being conducted.
Unlike before, he now directly participated in various experiments as a technical consultant, and he had formulated a sequence of scientific and technological developments, gradually realizing the technologies from the technology crystal.
“Your Majesty, this is the latest improved triple-expansion steam engine. Overall, it has completely surpassed the previous single-cylinder reciprocating engine.”
Xiao Ming was now in Lin Wentao’s laboratory. After repeated experimental improvements, Lin Wentao had finally manufactured the triple-expansion steam engine.
In fact, the principle of this steam engine was similar to that of a simple reciprocating engine, except that this steam engine had three cylinders.
These three cylinders were respectively high, medium, and low pressure cylinders. The steam engine underwent three stages of expansion in the three cylinders, thereby improving the thermal efficiency of the steam engine.
Therefore, the truly advanced aspect of the triple-expansion steam engine lay in the three-stage utilization of steam. This meant that after steam performed work in the first cylinder, it would then enter the second cylinder to perform work, followed by the third. This way, the same amount of steam could allow the steam engine to perform more work.
This would allow a steamship to travel further at sea using the same amount of coal and water.
To put it simply, this was equivalent to the fuel consumption problem of modern automobiles. The utilization rate of fuel would determine how far a vehicle could travel under equivalent conditions.
And in the era he was in, maritime resupply was already a very difficult matter. Being able to reduce fuel supply points would be a huge saving.
Being able to manufacture single-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, the components for this three-cylinder steam engine were naturally not a problem, as the materials used were the same.
The only concern was the problem of explosions caused by excessive pressure in high-temperature, high-pressure steam engines. There were many such instances in history.
The reason it took so long to successfully develop this steam engine was primarily due to testing the strength of the materials required for this steam engine, as well as the use of safety valves on the steam engine.
However, the Great Yu Empire already had pressure gauges. With the appropriate release of steam pressure using safety valves, the high-temperature, high-pressure steam engine was now much more stable.
Precisely because of this, Lin Wentao announced the successful development of the triple-expansion steam engine.
“After all this time, the effort wasn’t wasted. But you can’t be idle now. You must immediately produce this steam engine and deliver it to the shipyard. Zhang Liang is waiting for your steam engine to refit his warships,” Xiao Ming said, looking at the steam engine in the laboratory with satisfaction.
This was almost identical to the triple-expansion steam engine in the technology crystal. With basic industrial capabilities, many machinery manufacturing processes became easier. As long as qualified parts were available, some machines could be successfully manufactured. The only thing that needed to be strengthened was the strength and precision of the parts.
Lin Wentao breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. This triple-expansion steam engine was finally qualified. Ever since Xiao Ming started overseeing the laboratory, everyone had been on edge, all to achieve their goal as soon as possible.
Although the pressure was greater than before, Lin Wentao was still very happy. The honor of researching steam engines with the Emperor was not something everyone could obtain.
Now, whenever they met with officials, they no longer spoke with any condescension. On the contrary, they were extremely envious.
“Yes, Your Majesty, I will return and arrange for artisans to manufacture the triple-expansion steam engine. However, what is the next task for the laboratory?” Lin Wentao asked with some anticipation. Those who specialized in technology could not sit still.
Xiao Ming hesitated. In fact, for him, the triple-expansion steam engine was just the beginning. This steam engine was merely the simplest multi-expansion steam engine.
In the field of steam engines, Lin Wentao still had a long way to go. Furthermore, the next step beyond multi-expansion steam engines was steam turbines, but Xiao Ming had no expectation of realizing this in the next five or six years.
Because this was completely technology from the World War I era. However, even if it couldn’t be realized, advance technological reserves were still necessary.
So he said, “Continue the research and improvement of the multi-expansion steam engine. If you still have energy, you can consider steam turbines. For both ships and electricity, these are revolutionary power machines.”
Lin Wentao had also encountered the concept of steam turbines in books, but this type of machine was clearly much more complex than a steam engine. Currently, Qingzhou Province’s industrial capacity could not produce it.
However, thinking of Su Liangcai’s good progress in electricity research, a faint sense of anticipation stirred in his heart.
The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair