On the outskirts of the capital, the Ming Dynasty’s Scientific Research Department.

This is a new department that has been established for less than two years. It is not subordinate to any department but is directly controlled by Zhu Ying.

The specific location of the Scientific Research Department is on the northwest side of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, which is close to Xuanwu Lake.

The area within a radius of twenty miles is under the control of the Xiaoling Guards.

The reason for choosing Xiaoling Guard is because of its special nature.

The Xiaoling Guards themselves have powerful combat capabilities and have lived in the Xiaoling Mausoleum for a long time, so they can be considered isolated from the outside world, making them just right for providing security for the Scientific Research Department.

The architecture of the Research and Development Department is very different from the current Ming Dynasty style, or it can be said that it has a more modern feel.

The houses here are basically made of cement red bricks, and there are basically no wooden structures except for some furniture.

As a scientific research area, wooden structures are too likely to pose safety hazards.

A simple study of gunpowder formula and a wrong test could cause a fire.

Wooden structures will only serve to fuel such fires.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is here to see you."

"No need to be polite, everyone, please stand up."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Zhu Ying actually didn't come here very often. He had a great interest in scientific research, but after getting involved, he found that he might not be cut out for it.

Maybe my talent is not in this area, but I may be more professional in inspiring people.

Zhu Ying walked straight inside. He had personally participated in the design of the architectural layout here, so he was naturally very familiar with it.

There were dozens of guards following Zhu Ying.

There is no other way. As the crown prince, he naturally needs some guarantees and pomp when traveling.

There are also two old eunuchs in charge here.

The two old eunuchs are considered to be the persons in charge here. The eunuchs as a group may generally have some psychological problems, but there is no doubt that they are the most loyal to the imperial power.

boom!!!

Just as Zhu Ying moved forward, a huge explosion sounded not far away.

Dozens of guards behind him reacted almost the moment the explosion sounded. Everyone immediately surrounded him, forming a protective circle, protecting the crown prince firmly inside.

If there were an assassin at this moment, the first ones he would face would be these guards.

He scanned the surroundings with a determined gaze, trying to find any factor in the surrounding environment that might affect the safety of the Crown Prince.

"Don't be so nervous, just disperse."

"Oh, is this another failure?"

Zhu Ying waved his hand to let the guards return to their original state, and sighed at the same time.

As the sound spread, thick white fog could be clearly seen rising not far away.

This is formed by boiling hot water after a steam explosion.

After the guards dispersed, Zhu Ying wanted to go and see the scene.

The old eunuch on the left suddenly said, "Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will go and check on the safety first. The water temperature after the steam engine exploded is very high and it is very easy to cause burns."

Zhu Ying nodded: "Check the situation at the scene. If anyone is injured, arrange for a doctor to come and treat them immediately."

"Lessons have been learned and safety measures will be strengthened in the future based on the situation on the scene."

The old eunuch bowed in response, then ran forward quickly.

Zhu Ying did not stand still, but walked slowly towards the place where the explosion occurred.

There is basically no possibility of secondary explosion in steam engines, that is, the hot air after the explosion may have a short-term impact, but it will dissipate quickly.

The old eunuch ran back quickly and said that the accident scene was very safe.

…

Shan Wenli is already over sixty years old and most of his hair has turned white.

But his body was full of muscles, which didn't look like a man of his age at all.

He patted his head, feeling extremely regretful: "It was clear that everything was fine this time, so why did I still fail?"

Although he was a little unhappy, Shan Wenli quickly adjusted his mentality and directed the apprentices on the scene to clean up the mess caused by the explosion.

After many rounds of research and development, we now have a complete set of safety protection measures.

There are brick walls around the steam engine to resist the shock wave of the explosion.

Even when adding coal, it was thrown in through the holes in the brick wall.

All personnel on site were dressed in leather, even hoods were made, in order to prevent burns caused by high temperatures after the steam engine exploded.

If these people took off their leather coats, they would find that everyone present had more or less burn marks on their bodies.

There is no doubt that the person with the most scars is Shan Wenli, after all, he is the first person in charge of this steam engine project.

"Record, the twenty-seventh experiment of the steam engine project has failed. The cause of failure is currently speculated to be insufficient containment. No one was injured on site."

While Shan Wenli was speaking, there was a person behind him taking notes with a pen and paper.

Although the previous explosion left many people in a mess, including four brick walls collapsing due to the huge impact, it was just a mess.

Zhu Ying required the recording of the experiment, and even the recording template was developed by him.

While Shan Wenli was deep in thought, the old eunuch had already run over and forcibly pulled Shan Wenli back to his senses.

"What? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here in person. Okay, I'll get ready right away."

"Hurry up, boys. The Crown Prince is here. Be quick."

The phrase "Your Highness the Crown Prince" seemed to have some kind of magical power. The people who were originally a little depressed were filled with energy as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Almost at the same time as they were cleaning up, almost everyone's eyes subconsciously looked towards the door.

Finally, with the sound of footsteps, the crown prince appeared in royal casual clothes.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!!!"

Everyone knelt down and shouted without hesitation.

Zhu Ying felt helpless.

He suddenly understood how future stars felt when they looked at their private fans.

In the era of imperial power, the emperor or the crown prince himself is the biggest traffic star in the country.

Not to mention that while Zhu Ying controlled the weapon of public opinion, he also truly changed the lives of the people.

After the process, Zhu Ying began to ask Shan Wenli about the current production status of steam engines.

Shan Wenli was the person appointed by Zhu Ying to be the first person in charge of steam engine production. Even though he was in his early sixties, his physical condition was probably healthier than many young people.

Shan Wenli was not a royal craftsman, but a blacksmith from the common people.

At the beginning, Shan Wenli responded to the call of the Ministry of Industry and joined the large team making fire bombs.

Shan Wenli, a man with a family heritage, was not originally a blacksmith, but a craftsman who made gold and silver.

But in that war-torn era, who would want to buy custom jewelry? The market itself was extremely fragile and there was no room for development.

In order to make a living, Shan Wenli had to change his career and become a blacksmith.

Wars have a huge demand for weapons, and industries like blacksmiths are obviously popular in the market. Even if a force is destroyed, blacksmiths can be well accepted.

This doesn't matter to most craftsmen. It doesn't matter who they work for, as long as they can make a living.

In most cases, no one would treat a blacksmith harshly.

The more you do it, the more you will understand and become proficient at it.

Compared to making jewelry, the requirements for crafting weapons are obviously much lower, and Shan Wenli soon gained some fame.

Even in the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty when there were refugees everywhere, he was still living a pretty good life, after all, he had his skills.

Among the team of matchlock gun craftsmen, Shan Wenli quickly stood out.

Especially in the modification of fire bombs, extremely exquisite craftsmanship was demonstrated.

This soon attracted Zhu Ying's attention.

Including Zhu Ying's short-barreled flintlock rifle, the main maker was Shan Wenli.

"Your Highness, I'm sorry to disappoint you. This is another failed test. I don't know when it will end. When the explosion was about to happen, I was even a little confused."

"After so many failures, I have wasted countless treasures. With this money, I might be able to buy a larger villa in the capital."

"But in my case, I don't know how many times it will take to complete it."

Shan Wenli's voice was slightly frustrated.

You should know that building each boiler is not an easy task, as all the materials used here are wrought iron.

Including the parts connected to the boiler, all are individually customized.

That is to say, in order to test a steam engine, it would take at least a dozen blacksmiths to complete the preliminary work for a month.

And the final result was that everything was blown up with a "boom".

"The other courtyards in the capital are not as important as this thing. Not to mention one courtyard, even if there are ten or a hundred of them, it won't be enough."

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "There's no need to worry about how much money has been wasted. Whether it's the national treasury or the private treasury, there's more money than you can imagine. No matter how many times we fail, it won't have any impact."

"In fact, as of now, Master Shan, you have already succeeded. To truly fully utilize it is not such a simple matter."

Zhu Ying pointed to the scattered parts on the ground and said, "Every part here is very important. If any part fails to pass the test, it will cause a huge effect."

"Have you heard? I have asked the Ministry of Industry to issue a notice to invite all the talented craftsmen in the world to gather here. Perhaps there will be a few extraordinary people who can solve this problem."

"My rough guess is that it's not a limitation of the material, but a problem with the design. Maybe we can find some carpenters to work with us on the design."

To put it simply, a steam engine is driven by the heat generated by a boiler.

It's not that difficult at this point.

You just need to ensure the airtightness and make a pipe to push the piston, and give the driving force to drive the gears outside.

Zhu Ying still knows something about gears.

The key issue at the moment is the intensity.

Ordinary steam engines were safe enough, but they were inefficient and if material broke the machine would collapse inwards rather than explode outwards.

Such propulsion force is simply incapable of driving a ship and is far from the steam ironclad ship that Zhu Ying had imagined.

The reason why it exploded was that it tried to perform under high pressure.

Apparently the steam was too powerful and that caused the explosion.

"If I had known I should have studied science in my previous life, it would have been much easier to make this thing."

'Why did I choose the liberal arts major? Was it because there were a lot of girls majoring in liberal arts?'

'No, that's not the case at all, it's just that I prefer the Three Hundred Tang and Song Poems.'

"It's a pity that this is the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps others can recite it more skillfully than I do."

Zhu Ying muttered to himself, with a look of helplessness on his face. He really wanted to fast forward to the moment when the steam ironclad ship appeared.

Now he can only rely on the vague memories of steam engines from his previous life to guide the production process.

The steam engine was not useful when it was first created; it had serious drawbacks in terms of fuel efficiency and other aspects.

In fact, Zhu Ying could build more than a dozen steam engines to jointly drive the ship, which would also generate enough power to drive the ship.

But unfortunately, this is destined to be just a showpiece.

Due to the efficiency of coal combustion, a large amount of steam heat is lost, so a large amount of coal is needed to be burned to provide sufficient power.

In this case, the entire steam ironclad ship can only be used to carry coal, and the huge consumption of more than ten steam engines means that even a shipload of coal cannot last long.

In comparison, it is not as good as a wind-powered sailboat.

How about a bigger boat?

Sorry, that requires more steam engines and more coal mines. It's an unbreakable vicious cycle.

The only solution is to improve the steam engine as has been done in history.

But this is easier said than done.

The current problem with steam engines is that they are stuck here.

In the early seventeenth century, Savery built the world's first practical steam water pumping machine.

It was not until the beginning of the eighteenth century that Watt successfully improved the steam engine, resulting in the first industrial steam engine.

It was not until the early 19th century that Fulton was the first to successfully use a steam engine to drive a ship.

In other words, it took two hundred years from the invention of the steam engine to ship propulsion.

And now, it is the end of the fourteenth century.

It was still two hundred years before the invention of the steam engine in the West.

Zhu Ying knew very well that if he did not develop the steam engine now, he bet that this project would definitely fail in the hands of his descendants.

At present, in terms of physical knowledge, the Ming Dynasty is a complete vacuum zone.

Of course, the West is not much better.

After all, although the Hundred Years' War between England and France was coming to an end, it would still take more than ten years to end.

That is to say, in this day and age, there are no scientific talents.

The only good thing is that Zhu Ying knows that the research direction is correct and the results are absolutely correct.

No matter how you do it, you will eventually get it done.

Here, consumption, friction, heat loss and air leakage are all problems that need to be solved.

The design of the piston and slide rod can only be tried slowly.

How to ensure stability under high pressure.

In fact, as of now, Zhu Ying feels that it is not too far from the final form.

Even if there are no lathes or anything like that, as long as the first steam engine can do it, there's nothing wrong with rubbing by hand.

As for the later part, how to reduce heat consumption and increase efficiency, etc., we can continue to study it slowly.

"Don't be discouraged, Master Shan, you are now at the forefront of this era. No matter how big the difficulties are, believe me, they will be solved in the end."

"History will not forget your contribution. When you succeed, I will have the historian write you into the history books. This will be a landmark event."

"This is what every scholar dreams of, to be remembered through the ages. Likewise, the imperial court will not forget your contribution. All the rewards you want can be given to you."

Zhu Ying patted Shan Wenli on the shoulder and said in a lustful tone.

Faced with the big pie offered by the Crown Prince, Shan Wenli said he was very full.

Even though many of the words in the Crown Prince's words were unfamiliar to him, this did not prevent Shan Wenli from igniting his fighting spirit again.

It turns out that a craftsman of my status and position can also have the opportunity to be remembered for generations.