Chapter 264: Drill Bit

Three days later.

Jinling.

Zhao Xu's memorial reached Zhao Heng's hands.

After reading the contents of the memorial, he summoned Mi Yan and Dou Wei to the study.

"Your Majesty, the war in Jinzhou is urgent. How can we let Yan Wang train troops at his leisure? We should take advantage of the fact that the Xiliang troops have not yet established a firm footing to retake Jincheng," Dou Wei said, bowing with an expression of righteous indignation for the sake of the country and the people.

Zhao Heng then looked at Mi Yan, "What does Minister Mi think?"

"This subject disagrees. Firstly, it has been less than two months since the chaos in Yanzhou; Yan Wang's troops need time to rest and reorganize. Secondly, Yan Wang's troops are mostly newly recruited soldiers. If they rush into battle, I fear they will not only fail to win but will suffer heavy losses, and then there will be no one left to salvage the chaotic situation in the Northwest," Mi Yan said, glancing at Dou Wei, unhurried and composed.

"Minister Mi's words make no sense. Back then, Yan Wang relied on thirty thousand troops to hold off the Yuan Family and defend Yanguan. Why must he be so timid when dealing with Xiliang? Your Majesty, this subject believes that Yan Wang is afraid of battle," Dou Wei sneered.

Mi Yan laughed heartily, "Why is Prime Minister Dou so harsh toward Yan Wang? If the Prime Minister feels that Yan Wang is afraid of battle, why not immediately dispatch the Jingzhou troops into Jinzhou?"

Dou Wei's expression changed immediately, "You are being unreasonable. We were clearly talking about Yan Wang; why drag my Dou Family into this?"

"Is the Dou Family not also a subject of His Majesty? If Jinzhou falls, can the Dou Family just stand by and watch?" Mi Yan pressed step by step.

Dou Wei choked, his eyes darting around three times, and he suddenly replied: "This subject suddenly feels that what Yan Wang said also makes sense. He should be given time to train his troops at his leisure."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Heng pondered for a moment and said, "Since both ministers think so, I shall grant Yan Wang's request."

"Your Majesty is wise," Mi Yan and Dou Wei said, bowing.

Only, Dou Wei's expression was quite unwilling.

With no other business, Zhao Heng ordered Dou Wei to withdraw, leaving Mi Yan behind.

He had his own plans for calling Mi Yan and Dou Wei over today.

Dou Wei represented the powerful official faction; as long as Dou Wei nodded, there would be no objections to allowing Yan Wang to train troops.

There was no need to bring it up at the court session.

As for Mi Yan, he was someone he intended to support, representing himself and the influence of Yan Wang at court.

He had him come this time specifically to refute Dou Wei.

Because he knew Dou Wei would certainly oppose Yan Wang's request.

Now that Mi Yan had said all the unpleasant things, he, the Emperor, could sit back and reap the benefits without needing to argue directly with Dou Wei.

To him, this feeling was unprecedentedly good.

Of course, he also agreed with the idea of Yan Wang training troops.

What he wanted was to retake Jinzhou.

If Yan Wang were to suffer a crushing defeat because the new recruits were untrained, the chaotic situation in the Northwest would become unmanageable.

Rather than that, it was better to delay by three months.

"Minister Mi has worked hard this time," Zhao Heng said, his face full of smiles as he looked at Mi Yan.

This time, he had deliberately let Mi Yan arrive first; before Dou Wei came, the two of them had already discussed how to force Dou Wei to agree to this matter.

But because of this, Dou Wei would likely hate Mi Yan even more.

"Your Majesty is too kind. This is my duty. The world of Great Song is the world of the Imperial Clan; how can we allow petty people to engage in their schemes?" Mi Yan said.

Zhao Heng nodded slightly, "Dou Wei covers the sky with one hand in the court, and he will soon have the assistance of the Ma Family. His arrogance will likely grow even more in the future."

"

With a light sigh, he revealed a sorrowful expression, "At this moment, I can only rely on you and Yan Wang."

Hearing Zhao Heng say this, Mi Yan's expression was agitated, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. We will certainly not let Dou Wei do as he pleases."

"Good," Zhao Heng nodded with satisfaction.

After letting Mi Yan return, he drafted an imperial decree and ordered it to be sent to Yanzhou.

This time, the changes in Jinzhou and the Ma Family made him smell a trace of unease.

Someone's ambition was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.

……

Armaments Bureau.

Wang Ying held up a drill bit in front of Zhao Xu.

This was a long rod made of High Carbon Steel; one end of the rod was cone-shaped, and the rod body had six rows of horizontal lugs.

"Hmm, not bad. Once it is fixed onto the water wheel, we can attempt to drill holes," Zhao Xu said.

The drill bit in Wang Ying's hand now was the simplest style of drill bit.

Naturally, it could not compare to the twist drill bits used in the modern era.

The reason for using this type of drill bit was that twist drill bits were too complex, and it was quite troublesome for craftsmen to grind them; grinding them by hand would take ten days or half a month to produce even one.

Therefore, he chose this most basic type of drill bit.

Simply put, this was a large-sized needle.

However, it was sufficient for drilling holes.

After all, the initial industrial products were very crude and could not be as refined as those of the modern era.

Wang Ying nodded and called over a craftsman to a Workshop by the river.

While grinding the drill bit, Wang Ying had a carpenter make a water wheel.

Now, a wooden rod extended from outside the Workshop.

Driven by the water wheel, it rotated continuously.

Wang Ying ordered someone to lift the water wheel out of the water, and the wooden rod stopped rotating.

At this time, the craftsman aligned the horizontal lugs with the grooves on the wooden rod and inserted them to fix it in place.

After the water wheel was lowered, the drill bit began to rotate.

Seeing this, Wang Ying breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhao Xu revealed a smile; the Hydraulic Drill could be considered a success.

Next, he would finally be able to drill gun barrels.

"Besides the Hydraulic Drill, build some more Hand-cranked Drilling Machines," Zhao Xu said.

Originally, manufacturing Flintlocks was a task that could be done at a leisurely pace.

But the suddenly erupted war forced him to increase production in a short amount of time.

This hand-cranked drilling machine was simple; it was just replacing the water wheel with something like a car steering wheel.

The craftsman could turn the wheel to make it rotate.

However, human power was naturally not as strong as hydraulic power, so the drilling efficiency would not be very high, but relying on more people could compensate for it.

"Yes, Your Highness," Wang Ying replied.

At this moment, a craftsman came over holding a solid iron rod.

The two of them directed the craftsmen to secure the iron rod onto a fixing frame that looked like a bench.

After adjusting the position of the iron rod so the center was aligned with the Drill Bit, the craftsman moved the iron rod forward.

The Drill Bit made contact with the iron rod; first a small hole appeared, then the Drill Bit continued to penetrate deeper, and the hole kept expanding until it was as thick as the drill rod.

It then proceeded with difficulty; at this rate, it was estimated that one could be drilled out per day.

Although in Zhao Xu's view, such efficiency was quite low.

Wang Ying and the craftsmen were dancing with joy as if they had created a nuclear bomb.

After all, this was yet another brand-new technique for the Armory Bureau.

Zhao Xu was also infected by the mood and rejoiced with the craftsmen for a while.

Regardless, an important process for the Flintlock had been cleared.

And more importantly, the success of the Drilling Machine laid the foundation for the manufacture of the Boring Machine.

Besides being able to perform Bore Reaming on Artillery, the Boring Machine could also be used to manufacture the Steam Engine.

The steam engine cylinders of the eighteenth century were precisely bored out using the Boring Machine used for Artillery.

Emerging from the Workshop, Zhao Xu instructed Wang Ying to add more water wheels.

He then asked, "How is the firing mechanism that Wang Chong is building coming along?"

Just as he finished speaking, he saw Wang Chong running toward him in high spirits, holding something shiny and silver in his hand.

Arriving before Zhao Xu, he held up the object in his hand and said, "Your Highness, I have arrived just in time, haven't I?"