Chapter 55: The Great Zhou Dynasty (IV) Update
At night, Liu Ziye struggled with various blast furnaces, smelting iron, and assembling molds all day.
Accompanied by equally exhausted Ah Huan and Ah Bi, he finally returned to his own tent at the Queping Mine. After days of intense, physically and mentally demanding closed-door research and development, Liu Ziye was also feeling exhausted.
Fu Zhen'er followed him throughout the whole process, but Liu Ziye could read doubts in his eyes every day.
Why are you rushing to do this so desperately?
Yes, why are you trying so hard? Liu Ziye really wanted to pull the system out with all his strength, press it against the ground and rub it hard, while also asking it this question!
After the Queping Mountain mine was confirmed to have been excavated and preliminary surveys were conducted to make a rough plan for the mineral deposits, Liu Ziye successfully earned a sum of imperial merit points.
Afterwards, she successfully obtained the fiefdom and the development rights of the fiefdom through the prince, and received another point.
With the progress of mining and smelting, and her pioneering work in the mine area and her practical guidance in mining, recruitment, treatment, and smelting, her influence on people's minds has changed.
Almost every day, Liu Ziye could hear the notification sound of the system gradually crediting points after evaluation.
The minimum is a few points, and the maximum is dozens of points.
Every day before going to bed, she would check her points balance and fall asleep with the peace of mind that her points were continuously growing.
However, in the past ten days or so, Liu Ziye noticed that the amount of system points recorded was gradually decreasing.
Just a few days before Fu Zhener arrived at the Quepingshan Mine, even though she was still making effective progress, the points she received had completely stopped.
Even that night, she had a vague premonition—
If she doesn't implement a new action plan quickly, then this broken system might start deducting points again!
Liu Ziye thought about it over and over again, but he couldn't understand the root of the problem.
Until the day before yesterday, she accidentally learned from her conversation with Fu Zhener and Hao Wenchang that
The salt mine on the north bank of Xisai Lake, where the natural salt lake is located, has begun to produce salt. Hao Wenchang told her that Wang Yanpeng, the governor of Xiguan, had already shipped the first batch of crude salt out of Xiguan County.
Liu Ziye was quick to sense something and suddenly asked, "When did the first batch of salt leave Xiguan?"
Hao Wenchang replied, "According to the message sent by Yijun, it was on the eighth day of this month, which was five days ago."
Five days ago.
Liu Ziye understood the key instantly. Could it be that the key that she had been puzzled about for so long was right here?
The effectiveness of her point acquisition is not only related to her hard work and active acquisition, but also closely related to her background, the dynasty, and the changing situation.
It’s just like her academic performance in her class at school. Every time the school and teachers evaluate your performance, they not only look at the score you got this time, but also your ranking in the class, in the entire grade, and even in the entire district and the entire city.
It can even be said that the ranking compared with them has higher value than your actual absolute score.
Because in the end, for those target institutions, admissions are based on the number of rankings and the number of applicants.
Corresponding to her current situation, her ultimate mission was to become the Nanbowan of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty. While she was busy solving problems to earn points, if a teammate worked harder than her and achieved greater success, they would surpass her in ranking.
Then the effect of the points she earned would be reduced.
Who are her teammates or opponents?
The answer was obvious without further ado. The first person to bear the brunt of the situation was, wasn't it, that cousin of the Crown Prince?!
After all, if you really want to talk about it, he is the rightful heir to the throne!
In the glorious Great Zhou, besides the cousin prince, is there anyone else? Considering the situation of turmoil among the kings and wars on all sides at the end of the previous world line, there must be many people who are interested in the throne of the emperor of the Great Zhou.
These teammates and opponents are completely unpredictable.
Hao Wenchang looked at his own lord who fell into deep thought after listening to what he said, and for a moment he was a little confused about what the young lord was thinking.
He asked tentatively, "Young Marquis, are you still unwilling to let that salt lake be taken away by someone else?"
Liu Ziye came back to his senses and looked at him, then shook his head and said, "No."
She exhaled softly: "That place doesn't belong to me for the time being, and I can't bear to force it."
Seeing that Liu Ziye wasn't worried about this matter, Hao Wenchang asked again, "My Lord, what else are you worried about? Could you please tell us so we can share your worries?"
This was the duty of him and Du Hui and others who stayed in the Marquis' Mansion. It was reasonable for Hao Wenchang to ask this question.
Liu Ziye lowered his head and thought for a long time before saying, "Mr. Hao, there is something I would like you to do as soon as possible."
"What is it? My Lord, please tell me."
"Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest, I will give you a list. You should buy everything as soon as possible according to the contents on the list and place it separately in one of the workshops in the Queping Mine Camp." Liu Ziye said.
During the brief moment of thought just now, Liu Ziye figured something out.
If he wanted to surpass others in the same race, he would have to come up with some tricks that others couldn't.
Nowadays, whether it is mining or manufacturing machinery, although it is useful, she is, after all, a poor marquis hiding in a desolate borderland. How can she compare with the prince in Yanjing who can shake the court and the people of the Great Zhou with just a breath?
Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince casually says a word, the effect of the achievement can far surpass the achievements of my own hard work for months.
Liu Ziye was angry.
This is really, so unfair!
But she knew from her previous life that there were too many unfair things.
Otherwise, why was she born an orphan with a heart disease, while others had both parents, were wealthy and favored?
There is no use in being angry and resentful.
"Alright, then I'll wait for the young marquis's list. I'll do my best to gather everything for him as quickly as possible!"
Seeing Liu Ziye's rare serious expression, Hao Wenchang realized that the things he had to prepare himself might be very important, so he immediately made a solemn promise.
Liu Ziye pulled himself out of his thoughts and nodded.
Then, she immediately got up and returned to the Queping Mine to continue her mining and smelting work.
Right now, she, along with Fu Zhen'er, Ahuan and A'bi, were busy all day and night with the materials that Hao Wenchang had prepared for her in the past few days.
However, most of the materials must be fired strictly according to the specific dimensions of her design drawings.
Fortunately, they have no shortage of iron materials now.
There are more than a dozen blast furnaces for smelting in the mine. In the past few days, a giant iron machine with a length and width of seven or eight feet has taken shape.
Although Ah Huan and Ah Bi had been in the Marquis' Mansion before, they had to accept the lessons arranged by the young Marquis every day.
But it was not until they left the Marquis' Mansion for the first time and arrived at the Queping Mine after crossing the uninhabited area that they realized how lenient their young Marquis had been to them!
During these few days, the two sisters' skin looked as if it was covered with a layer of honey oil.
The tanned complexion of the young Marquis of Xiguan was becoming increasingly similar. There was no need to be particular about hairstyle or attire; just do whatever was convenient.
At this time, the two men were sweating profusely as they looked at the finished product that they had worked so hard for many days.
Although I have no idea what this huge lump of iron is, I can't hide my sense of accomplishment!
The two of them felt that they had become doubly close to the young marquis who had been spending so much time together during these days and who had personally handled almost all the affairs, big and small.
Ah Huan went to the water tank outside the workshop to get some clear water, wet a towel and handed it to Liu Ziye: "Young Marquis, take a break for a while!"
Liu Ziye took the towel from Ah Huan and wiped his sweat while asking, "The connecting rod and crankshaft convert linear motion into rotational motion. Do you understand now?"
"Understood!"
Ah Huan responded very quickly this time because she had personally created such a process with the young marquis in the past few days.
Ah Huan had read about it in the book given to him by the young marquis, so it was not difficult for him to understand it.
But after operating it herself, she clearly understood the specific force principle, how the length of the connecting rod and the diameter of the crankshaft should be coordinated, and what speed of rotation was produced.
Liu Ziye turned his gaze to A'pi again, and A'pi answered affirmatively: "I understand!"
"become."
Liu Ziye heard the confidence in their voices and finally felt the sense of achievement from teaching and educating for the first time.
She said, "If this fellow of ours succeeds this time, I will teach you the principles of aerodynamics and the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical energy."
Liu Ziye was very happy that he could finally finish the basic mechanics and mechanical principles unit and climb to the more difficult level of theoretical physics.
However, the two maids' faces turned bitter the moment they heard it.
"Yes, young marquis."
Although they experienced the sense of accomplishment brought by learning, they could not erase the inhumane learning process!
Fu Zhen'er was standing next to him, taking the towel handed to her by Asi and wiping the sweat off her face.
Since Liu Ziye hadn't been shy about discussing these matters with the two maids, he also took the opportunity to ask, "Connecting rod and crankshaft? Are they referring to these two things?"
He pointed at the long pole protruding from the back of the iron thing and looked at Liu Ziye.
"That's right, Brother Fu is really smart!"
Liu Ziye was in a relaxed mood at this time, and he also wanted to ease the tension of verifying whether this first prototype could work properly through conversation.
She pointed to the crank-connecting rod structure on the base and prepared to explain the entire structure of the steam engine to the three people: "I call this machine a steam engine."
Liu Ziye walked around the steam engine, pointing to each component one by one and said, "This is the steam cylinder, the base, the piston, and this is the speed regulating mechanism and the flywheel."
"This is called a steam cylinder because water is injected into the boiler here. Through the combustion process, the water boils into steam, which is then sent to the cylinder through this pipe. These two valves can control the sliding valve chamber that enters the cylinder in an orderly manner, allowing steam to alternately enter the left and right sides of the cylinder, pushing the piston to move. In turn, this drives the connecting rod crank to rotate."
Liu Ziye looked at the three of them and asked with hope and persuasion, "Imagine what would happen if I connected this rotating connecting rod to the axle of the carriage wheel?"
The three of them acquiesced for a moment.
Soon, almost in unison, they said, "The wheels will start turning!"
"Then, then, the car will start moving, right?" Asi frowned, thinking seriously.
Liu Ziye clapped his hands together: "That's right!"
"This is what I told you, it works automatically without any external force!" said Liu Ziye.
Fu Zhen'er thought for a moment and asked again, "Then how can we ensure that the water in the boiler can continue to boil? If we want the vehicle to move forward, short and slow rotations may not be enough."
"Brother Fu, that's a good question!"
Liu Ziye did not hide her praise.
But after that, she fell into thought again: "We can first borrow the charcoal burned in Queping Mountain to confirm that this steam engine can move as just described."
"If the machine runs smoothly, the heat generated by burning these ordinary charcoals is indeed not enough to drive the vehicle to move quickly and for a long time." Liu Ziye said.
"We need to find another fuel with stronger and longer-lasting thermal energy. This is the next problem I need to solve."
Ah Huan asked in confusion, "But young marquis, what other fuel could be like what you described? We are short-sighted and have never heard of it."
Fu Zhen'er also frowned slightly and began to think.
After listening to Liu Ziye, he obviously realized that this fuel would play an extremely important role.
Ah Huan was right. It was not a question of their knowledge, but rather that there really was no fuel that could generate enormous amounts of heat and continue burning for a long time as Ziye said.
At least, it does not exist in the experience accumulated by generations of Xiguan County.
Liu Ziye interrupted their scattered thoughts and said, "I'll find a way to solve this problem. Now, let's try it out with this charcoal!"
After a short rest, the four of them regained their energy.
In particular, after listening to Liu Ziye’s story just now, everyone is looking forward to whether this steam engine can operate smoothly!
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