Chapter 486: Power

Latest website: "Your Highness, the Steam Engine exploded..."

Scratching his head, Wang Chong blushed slightly.

During this period, Yan Wang and the soldiers of Yanzhou fought bloody battles, once again thwarting the Northern Di's plan to move south.

He had not been idle either, having been busy with the task Yan Wang had entrusted to him before the war: researching and building a Compound Steam Engine.

Following Yan Wang's blueprints, he had his father clear out five Hydraulic Boring Machines for him, and cast five solid steel cylinders with a diameter of half a meter and a length of one meter.

It took a month for the Hydraulic Boring Machines to finish cutting these five steel cylinders, turning them into structures similar to wooden barrels.

Immediately after, he and the students personally worked on grinding the pistons and manufacturing parts needed for the Compound Steam Engine, such as the connecting rods.

After successively experiencing problems like air leaks and deformation, they discarded four steam engines.

Finally, they built one complete Compound Steam Engine.

At this time, the war in Yanzhou was also drawing to a close.

Originally, he wanted to test it a few times.

If the steam engine could operate normally for more than half a day without breaking down, he would then come to report the good news to Yan Wang.

But he did not expect that the slide valve rod would have a problem and fail to pull the slide valve open, causing the high-pressure steam inside the cylinder to fail to exhaust; it swelled up like a balloon and exploded.

Thinking of this, he recounted the whole sequence of events to Yan Wang.

"Hahaha..." Zhao Xu laughed; he had no intention of blaming Wang Chong and the others for this accident.

What he cared about most was whether the explosion had hurt anyone.

If the object was broken, they could just build another, but if Wang Chong were gone, the loss would be great.

Therefore, he said: "As long as you are all fine, that is enough. However, you must be more careful in the future. As for failure, this is a common occurrence in technical exploration, so there is no need to feel guilty."

While speaking, he walked into the Physics Laboratory.

This laboratory was newly built for them by the officials of the Works Department at the request of Wang Chong and his group.

It was just a one-story bungalow.

It used a cement and red brick structure.

After making Wang Chong the head of Physics, he gave Wang Chong some authority, including applying for Silver from the Government Office and having the Government Office provide them with conveniences.

At this moment, the bungalow was in a mess.

Something like an iron barrel was completely deformed, lying horizontally on the ground.

Parts of the steam engine, such as the connecting rods, crankshaft, and flywheel, were also scattered everywhere.

"Have you figured out the reason for the slide valve rod's failure?" Zhao Xu asked.

With the Northern Expedition over, on the long border line of Da Song, the war would only be concentrated in Yanzhou.

And relying on Yanshan, Yanguan, and the fleet, he was confident that he would not let a single Northern Di soldier enter Yanzhou.

Therefore, even if the Northern Di intended to rely on their own deep national strength to engage in a war of attrition with him, it would not affect Yanzhou in the short term, but it would be troublesome in the long term.

The only way to solve this problem was to use the knowledge in his mind to raise Yanzhou's technical level and productivity level one step further.

Undoubtedly, the steam engine was the answer to all problems.

It was also the key to Yanzhou stepping through the door of the First Industrial Revolution.

Why?

The height of human civilization's development is closely related to power.

From primitive society to modern society, it has successively gone through four stages: human power, water power, steam power, and electric power.

Each leap in stages would significantly increase the technical level and productivity.

One person operating a machine could even equal the workload of hundreds or thousands of people in a day.

It is foreseeable that as long as the steam engine is put into use in Yanzhou, it will greatly alleviate the problem of labor shortages in Yanzhou.

Even if more young and able-bodied men are recruited into the army, it will not cause great damage to Yanzhou's production.

After all, with the steam engine, women's productivity will also be liberated.

The mechanical weaving that comes with the steam engine is the domain of women.

"Found it, it was the connection point between the slide valve rod and the flywheel that loosened, and it just so happened that the student responsible for watching it went out because he needed to urinate, and so..." Wang Chong turned his head and glared at the student behind him.

The student immediately hung his head low.

"So, this Compound Steam Engine is basically fine?"

"Yes, Your Highness, out of five steam engines, this is the only one left." Wang Chong looked proud.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

In his view, the main difficulty of the steam engine lies in the bore reaming of the cylinder.

As long as the cylinder's seal is not a problem, most of the steam engine's problems are solved.

When it comes down to it, the steam engine is equivalent to a modern kettle with a spout.

The main body of the kettle is equivalent to the cylinder, and the lid on the spout is equivalent to the slide valve.

If you block the spout, the lid is pushed up by the steam; this is equivalent to the steam engine's piston being pushed out by the steam, moving outward.

At this time, if you release the spout and let the excess steam out, the lid will fall; this is equivalent to the piston moving inward.

Thus, the reciprocating motion of the steam engine was born, which is also the origin of the name Compound Steam Engine.

As for the functions of the three things—connecting rod, crankshaft, and flywheel—they are actually to convert linear motion into rotary motion.

The connecting rod is an iron piece shaped like a rod with round holes at both ends.

The flywheel is a wheel equivalent to a cart wheel.

The crankshaft is the most important of the three, as it can convert the force transmitted by the connecting rod into torque, allowing the flywheel to rotate.

It is a continuous short metal crossbar roughly in the shape of an 'n'.

"Hmm, your next task is to let the steam engine walk out of the laboratory and teach the craftsmen how to produce it." Zhao Xu could not help but feel a bit excited as well.

Come to think of it, this war has been going on for two or three months.

It is indeed impressive that Wang Chong was able to build a qualified Steam Engine in this period of time.

"Yes, Your Highness," Wang Chong replied loudly.

The test results of the Steam Engine during this time made him fully realize the terrifying nature of the Steam Engine.

Currently, the Hydraulic Drill and Hydraulic Boring Machine in the Armament Bureau and the Workshop can already replace ten, or even a hundred, men.

If they were to be switched to steam power, he could not imagine what the efficiency of the Armament Bureau and the Workshop would become.

The group was talking as they walked.

At this moment, a chaotic noise came again, and then Wang Ying appeared with a nervous look on his face.

Seeing that Wang Chong was still perfectly fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that Yan Wang was also there, he immediately came over to salute.

"Wang Chong is fine, so you can set your heart at ease," Zhao Xu said to Wang Ying.

Wang Ying said indifferently, "This subordinate just came to take a look; if he had been blown to death, I could at least collect his corpse."

"Father, why do you never wish for anything good for me?" Wang Chong's face turned green as soon as he heard this.

Wang Ying said sternly, "What is wrong with these words? The task of research and construction is like soldiers fighting on the battlefield; if there is an accident, it is just like soldiers being wrapped in horse hides for burial, why be pretentious?"

Zhao Xu understood Wang Ying and knew he was not a person who beat around the bush.

Since he said it this way, it was his true feelings.

Both of these father and son were fulfilling their oaths to him.

Thinking of this, he patted Wang Ying on the shoulder, and then patted Wang Chong on the shoulder.

He let Wang Chong go back to clean up the mess, and he walked outside alone with Wang Ying.

"Wang Chong has done well; the Steam Engine has made progress, and from now on, both the Armament Bureau and the Workshop will benefit from the Steam Engine, but before that, I have a very important matter to entrust to you; you and the craftsmen should explore it first," Zhao Xu said.

Once this matter is accomplished, he will beat the Northern Di very hard.

Yanzhou will also become more stable from now on, and it will be easier for the fleet to tear open the gap for maritime trade.