Chapter 776

The third month after the imperial edict was issued.

In the main experimental field underground at the Investigation of Things Institute, the roar of the steam engine was deafening.

That was not the intermittent, almost falling-apart panting of the Hongwu Model One prototype.

But a low, steady, continuous roar.

Liu Ji stood on the observation platform, holding the latest operational record in his hands.

"Continuous operation for seventy-two double hours."

"Output power stabilized at 3.7 times that of the prototype."

"Coal consumption reduced by forty percent."

He raised his head, looking at the massive machine wrapped in brass pipes and cast-iron cylinders.

The cylinders rose and fell rhythmically, driving the pushrods, transmitting power to the twelve hammers, eight rolling mills, and six pumps connected behind.

The whole workshop vibrated with its pulse.

"We did it."

The old artisan standing beside him muttered, his face smeared with coal dust, his eye sockets red.

"Really done."

When Zhu Yuanzhang entered the workshop, all the artisans stopped what they were doing.

"Get back to work."

He waved his hand and walked straight to the steam engine.

The heat wave emitted by the machine hit his face, mixed with the smell of grease, coal, and metal.

"Your Majesty, this Hongwu Model Two has passed all tests."

Liu Ji followed quickly, raising his voice over the roar.

"It's two months ahead of schedule."

"What about the cost?"

"Because of standardized parts and improved smelting techniques, the unit cost is only sixty percent of the prototype's."

Zhu Yuanzhang walked around the machine once.

He reached out and touched the pushrods that had been polished to a shine.

The metal transmitted a steady vibration through his palm, as if he could feel that tamed power.

"Begin mass production immediately."

He said.

"First, make fifty units."

"Thirty will go to the capital region's arsenals, ten to the Zunhua Iron Factory, five to the Yangtze River shipyards, and the remaining five..."

He paused.

"Send them to the Jinzhou front."

Liu Ji was taken aback.

"The front? There are no factories there——"

"Let them build their own."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned around.

The front line needs on-site weapon repair, bullet casting, and even production of simple generator parts.

Relying on manpower and water power is too slow.

Starting today, we will also have a 'factory' at the front line.

Mass production of steam engines is like a key.

It opened the first link of a chain reaction.

At the Xuanzhou Iron Works, after obtaining new-model steam blowers and rolling mills, pig iron output quadrupled within a month.

And the application of the new steel-making method (deciphered from fragments of the Chen Dynasty anomaly signal and restored after thousands of trials) raised steel quality to unprecedented heights.

The tip of a 'Piercing-Armor Spear' made from this steel can easily pierce the three-cun-thick chest armor of Iron Bone War Slaves.

Yangtze River Shipyard.

The first warship entirely driven by steam paddle wheels, the 'Zhenyuan', was launched.

Although its tonnage is modest and its speed far from ideal, it does not rely on sails or manpower oars.

This means it can maintain speed in calm or against the current, and can operate in dead-water zones contaminated by Yuneng Pollution where sails cannot be raised.

More importantly, its hold was converted into a mobile workshop equipped with a small steam engine and forge, allowing it to repair damaged ships en route and even produce some ordnance.

But the biggest change was the railway.

The experimental railway from Tangshan to Xuanzhou, after additional investment and improvements to the steam locomotives, saw its transport efficiency increase tenfold.

What once required three hundred horse-drawn wagons and three days to transport ten cannons and their ammunition can now be delivered by a single train in six hours.

Moreover, it is unaffected by weather or road mud.

"The railway network must be accelerated."

At the imperial council, Tang He pointed at the map, his voice hoarse from excitement.

"The supplies needed for the Liaodong front are astronomical; relying solely on horse carts and canal transport can never fill that bottomless pit."

"I propose immediately launching three main lines."

"One runs straight from Ying Tian to Shan Hai Guan, another from Tianjin straight to Jinzhou, and a third follows the Yangtze linking Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Ying Tian to ensure southern supplies are transported north."

Li Shanzhang stared at the budget draft, his fingers trembling slightly.

"If these three roads… are all started at once, this year's treasury…"

The treasury's money will first guarantee the railways and military factories.

Zhu Yuanzhang set the tone directly.

The Ministry of Revenue will recalculate, suspend all nonessential projects, and divert the freed-up funds and manpower entirely to the railways.

He looked toward the Minister of Works.

How many people are needed?

Your Majesty, with three main lines starting simultaneously, we need at least 500,000 conscripted laborers, plus an additional 100,000 artisans.

Approved.

How much iron is needed?

Preliminary estimates…… at least three times the current national annual iron output.

Let the Zunhua Iron Works continue expanding production, seek new mines in Jiangxi and Guangdong, and have the Investigation of Things Institute cooperate to improve prospecting and smelting techniques.

We need time……

We have no time.

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was very calm, but everyone heard the weight in it.

The Qing forces won't wait for us to finish the railway before attacking.

They are now underground, digging deeper each day, getting closer to our city walls.

What we must seize is the time before they break through.

Orders were transmitted at the fastest speed.

The Ming war machine, driven by steam engines, began operating at an unprecedented speed.

But the faster the machines run, the greater their consumption.

Friction and wear also come along.

At the Jinzhou front, Zu Dashou received the first batch of five steam engines that had arrived, along with thirty accompanying artisans.

They chose to set up a temporary workshop inside the relatively safe southern city wall.

The steam engine drove the hammer, continuously repairing damaged weapons and casting shells and armor-piercing spearheads day and night.

Efficiency indeed increased.

But problems quickly surfaced.

Not enough coal.

Zu Dashou looked at the accounts, his brows knotted tightly.

One steam engine burns five hundred catties of coal a day; five engines consume two thousand five hundred catties.

Jinzhou's local coal stores will last only half a month.

On the route transporting coal from the Kaiping mines, one must pass three hundred li of hills, where wagons move slowly and are often ambushed by Qing cavalry.

He picked up his brush to write a memorial.

Either we send heavy troops to protect the coal convoys, or…… the steam engines on the front can only be used intermittently.

The same dilemma appeared in each newly built arsenal.

Steam engines are iron beasts with empty stomachs.

They devour coal and exhale power.

But most of the Ming's coal mines are in the north, while many arsenals are located inland.

Transport has become the new bottleneck.

Railways……

Zhu Yuanzhang paced in the imperial study.

Only railways can solve the transport problem.

But railways need iron, need coal, need time……

He stopped his steps and gazed at the ever-expanding yuneng-blue region on the northern map.

What we lack most is time.

The Investigation of Things Institute launched a new round of research.

The goal is to improve the steam engine's thermal efficiency and reduce coal consumption.

Meanwhile, another group began researching whether other fuels could replace coal.

Charcoal? Its calorific value is too low.

Plant oil? The cost is too high.

Crystallized residue extracted from the Yuneng Pollution zone? Preliminary tests show it can indeed burn, but the gas released during combustion is toxic and may cause unpredictable mutations.

All avenues are fraught with difficulty.

Yet no one said to stop.

Because the battle reports from the front grew grimmer day by day.

Jinzhou's subterranean monitoring array detected three more large-scale Yuneng activities within half a month.

Each time the depth was greater; the most recent reached an astonishing fifteen zhang.

Moreover, the activity's range is no longer limited to the northern city wall.

It began extending toward the east and west sides.

They may be digging…… an underground network.

On the report sent back, Zu Dashou's handwriting looked somewhat hurried.

Like a spiderweb, it surrounds Jinzhou from all directions.

When the net is complete, it may no longer be fifteen burrowing beasts attacking at once.

But it was fifty, a hundred heads, all bursting out simultaneously from every direction of the city wall.

At the end of the report, he wrote a sentence:

"The steam engine is excellent, and the newly made armor-piercing spear is also excellent."

"But they are all on the ground."

"But our enemies have already dug underground."

"We need something that can dig underground to fight them."

"Or at least something that can prevent them from surfacing."

Zhu Yuanzhang posted this report on the north wall of the Hall of Martial Glory.

Along with it were dozens of battle reports from different fronts, technical bottleneck reports, and resource shortage lists.

Each one was howling the same word:

"Time."

"Tell Zu Dashou."

He commented on the report.

"The underground network, blow it up with explosives."

"The Investigation of Things Institute is developing delayed-fuse deep-well explosive bombs."

"The first batch of samples will be delivered in ten days."

"If we can't blow them all up, we'll flood them with water, boiling oil, and lime."

"Even if we fill them with earth, we must seal those tunnels for me."

"Above ground, the steam engine must not stop."

"Coal, I will find a way."

He left the Hall of Martial Glory and climbed to a high point of the Palace City.

He looked northward.

In the night of Heaven-responding City, countless workshop and newly built factory lights dotted the landscape, merging into a sea of light.

That was the burning of national strength and hope.

Farther north, in the unseen dark depths, a faint blue "root" silently spread underground.

A competition.

A death match where the territory is the board and civilization is the stake.

It has already entered the most brutal stage.

He stood for a long time, until night dew soaked his shoulders.

"Come here."

"Pass the order to Admiral of the Navy Liao Yongzhong."

"Have him detach twenty fast ships to form an exploration fleet."

"Along the coastline heading north, then east."

"To search for new, easily mined coal deposits."

"Tell him……"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice fell into the night wind.

"No matter how far, you must find it for me."

"The Great Ming needs fire."

"An unextinguishable fire."