In the 21st year of Hongwu, Dengzhou's first steam engine was finally tested successfully this year. The place where this first steam engine was invested was on a mine 55 miles away from Dengzhou City.

In less than ten days, a boiler room was built on this mine called Happiness. Some people would wonder why the first steam engine was built on the mine.

First of all... this steam engine is just the first generation, and its capabilities are still limited, so the main mission of this first steam engine is to pump water.

Some people will definitely be surprised, how can there be water in this mine?

There are several common sources of water rush in this mine:

Surface water: The infiltration or inflow of atmospheric precipitation is often the main source of water for mining low-lying terrain and shallow buried coal seams, which is particularly obvious in the rainy season; rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and pond water on the ground will also seep and flow downhole to become mine water. Whether surface water can become a mine water source, in addition to the mining depth conditions, is also related to the formation structure and coal mining methods.

Groundwater: Some rock layers have voids, cracks or caves and contain groundwater. We call it aquifers. The water in the flow sand layer and gravel layer is called pore water, the water in the limestone aquifer is called cave water, and the water in the sandstone is fissure water. Groundwater can flow and constantly receive supply from surface water. The deeper the mining, the higher the water pressure, the larger the crack cave, the richer the water content. It is the most direct and most common water source underground. Once these aquifers are exposed on the underground tunnel or the retrieval surface, the water will be prominent and has greater harm.

Lao Kong Water: There is often a lot of water accumulation in small coal mines and abandoned old tunnels in mines. When the mining and working surfaces are penetrated with them, a large amount of water will pour in in a short time, causing fierce water permeability accidents and are very destructive.

Fault water: Faults and movements of rock formations are called faults. Some fault zones will accumulate water, and faults often connect different aquifers, and some even connect with surface water. When opening up and running, coal mining approaches or reveals such faults, fault water will gush out.

As long as the water pours in, you will have no way to mine coal. When will you pump water manually? So in ancient times, it was the most helpless about the coal seepage. After finally digging it here, the entire mine will be scrapped as soon as the water comes. This is very harmful.

However, after the steam engine is developed, it can steam and pump water.

"Preparation...start..." With Wang Zhenyi's order, a shirtless miner immediately shoveled coal at the furnace entrance of the steam engine with a shovel. The entire furnace entrance was burned red after two strokes.

Then I heard a whistle sound.

"Buzz..."

Finally, the pumping machine began to move, and a large amount of mine wastewater was pumped out by iron pipes. The speed was definitely a hundred times that of manual labor. My God, the workers cheered.

With this steam pump, the coal mine here can be dug at least thirty meters more than thirty meters, which is countless coal.

This greatly increased the amount of coal, which is the charm of the first generation of steam engines, which directly brought humans to the machine.

After the invention of the steam engine abroad, it took decades to apply the steam engine to the metallurgical industry and metal processing departments. First in the UK and later in the European continent, blast furnace iron smelting increasingly uses fossil fuel - coal.

All kinds of machines and machinery need to be made of metal, which requires the machine manufacturing industry to keep up. Until the early 19th century, machines were mainly made by hand. In the first half of the 19th century, machine tools such as planers, milling machines, vertical lathes, riveting machines and grinders were successively created.

The rapid development of machine manufacturing and metal processing industries requires the increase in the amount of ore, coal mining and pig iron, wax iron and steel smelting. Especially after the railway switched to rails in the 1860s, it is especially necessary to improve the process of the metallurgical industry.

In the mid-1950s, British inventor Bessemai used the converter steelmaking method, injecting pig iron liquid into the converter, and then blowing air to burn out the excess carbon and other impurities in the pig iron, and then casting mature iron and steel ingots.

In the 1960s, French engineers Martin and his son used the reflective furnace steelmaking method. From 1865 to 1875, the world's steel production increased by 70% due to the promotion of Martin furnace and Bessema steelmaking method. However, this new steelmaking method was not widely used after the 1970s.

What are the above? It is a detour, a big detour. Zhu Lang won’t take these detours. If it were the past, Zhu Lang might have to grop forward, but now Zhu Lang doesn’t need it anymore.

Zhu Lang has an encyclopedia, and all the above Zhu Lang can be easily found.

Therefore, after the first generation of steam engine was completed, Zhu Lang immediately began to study the second generation of steam engine. Zhu Lang needed to complete the second generation of steam engine in one year. The so-called second generation of steam engine is a steam engine with a separate condenser, which increased the efficiency of the steam engine by 3 times.

This kind of steam engine can be used in industrial sectors such as textiles, mining, metallurgy, and papermaking, which can greatly improve efficiency.

Especially textiles.

In Dengzhou, Hongwu used a weaving tool called Feishu about ten years, which greatly accelerated the weaving speed and stimulated the demand for cotton yarn.

However, since Zhu Lang obtained the encyclopedia.

Zhu Lang immediately developed a hand-spinning machine for Jenny Machine. The "Jenny Machine" can spin many cotton threads at a time, greatly improving productivity. The Jenny Machine's spinning capacity is 8 times higher than that of old-style spinning wheels. Zhu Lang has about 10,000 people in a textile factory in Dengzhou.

These made textiles are sold to the world, but they are still in short supply.

If Zhu Lang can use steam engines as power, then textiles can be transitioned from factory handicraft industry to large-scale machinery industry. In addition to the textile industry, with the development of production, mechanical transmission devices are increasingly unable to handle the power transmission tasks from power stations to working machines, and the development of transportation tools requires new lighter and more efficient power machines.

Trains and ships will appear one by one.

And among the emerging production sectors that have achieved important achievements after the industrial revolution, the development of the chemical industry is very significant. Especially the development of the basic chemical industry, namely the production of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, glass, explosives, dyes, fertilizers and chemical agents, is particularly prominent.

There is also the paper industry, which can use wood pulp to make paper, which greatly improves the quality of paper.

Of course, these have to be done step by step, but since the first steam engine is successful, the road ahead will not be too far.

....................................

"See Your Highness, King of Qin..." On the mine, as the large pump started working, Zhu Lang also came here. As soon as Zhu Lang appeared, the surrounding miners immediately knelt down and saluted.

Zhu Lang is the real benefactor to these miners.

Because the miners in this mine are basically retired soldiers, and the Ming army is really not very good. The recruitment treatment in the Ming Dynasty was quite good. Three taels of silver per month, which is equivalent to the current price, is about 2,000 yuan. Each person is given three kilograms of lard, one kilogram of salt, twenty kilograms of rice, and five kilograms of cloth.

The Ming Dynasty was very sympathetic to those soldiers who fought for the country. People with families lived a very prosperous life. This was a considerable income in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the Ming Dynasty's army was full of vitality and invincible.

However, the miners in this mine were all veterans. After coming to Dengzhou, they encountered a group of officials withdrew their retirement salary, and each person's salary should be 1.2 taels. However, in order to save money, some officials deliberately squeezed them, and each person could only receive eight cents of silver. The food and salary of one stone was only four taels left.

And he often owes military pay, and he works hard every day for his family to think about what to eat today.

What is this? You should know that in addition to defending the country, one is to serve as a soldier to eat food. Now that the soldiers are finished, you will not give them food. Who will come to join the army in the future?

It is well said: having money is omnipotent. Whether the soldiers of the Ming army are for the glory of the country or for survival, they must connect manpower and money together, so that their army can become stronger.

In the late Ming Dynasty, it was because of the huge amount of military expenditure embezzlement by middle and low-level officials, which caused a shortage of military supply in the Ming Dynasty and increased the burden on soldiers.

In addition to the corruption and bribery of the military officials, some officials responsible for forging weapons have cut corners and created low-level weapons.

In addition to such bad behavior, civil groups also colluded with officials to embezzle landlords. In such exploitation and plunder, the most affected are soldiers and civilians on the front line.

The Ming army was depressed and morale was low. Once the enemy arrived, they would immediately break through the defense line and become defeated.

The salary of the Qing army was: six taels of silver, eight kilograms of rice and grain, and two bags of fodder each month. Although it was not as much as the Ming army, the salary gap between the two sides was still very obvious.

Further up, there were 100 taels of silver. From the highest position, to the peak of the Qing Dynasty, everyone's salary was about 30 taels.

The most important thing is that even before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, these soldiers received high salaries and never owed their wages.

The court was very clear that the outcome of a war was exchanged for blood and sweat. On the battlefield, their lives were used to determine their destiny. Therefore, it was reasonable to give them enough rewards.

With the trust and trust of the court, the army will advance at full speed and kill all the enemies.

This is true for the Qing army soldiers, and the captured Ming army. Not only did they not start a massacre, they also included them all in the Qing army.

The surrendered soldiers had a donkey, eight cows and sheep, and a room with tiles. If they died in battle on the battlefield, they could receive pensions from seventy two cavalry and fifty two infantry.

Although there were many elderly people and old people, the Qing army did not kill them all, but instead removed them, allowing them to restore their identity as ordinary people.

The remaining British generals were even named Generals and had a bounty of 100 taels.

Even Zuo Menggeng, who voluntarily surrendered, was appointed as the commander of the Huangqi of the Han army after joining the Qing army. He was famous and fought with the rebels. Such treatment was completely different from his feeling of being bullied in the Ming Dynasty.

As the proverb says: If there is a country, there is a home. The Qing Dynasty sent the Ming army to its own safe haven and said, "In my country, you can fight with peace of mind, and your efforts will definitely be rewarded."

Under the reward, there must be brave people, and both generals and soldiers can receive considerable rewards.

Under objective conditions, the war situation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties was clear at a glance. The Ming Dynasty was like a crumbling building that could not withstand wind and rain, and could collapse at any time. Morale collapsed, like a broken porcelain that could not be restored.

However, the Qing Dynasty was victorious again and again, and it was defeated and destroyed. Morale was greatly boosted and morale was greatly boosted.

Zhu Lang knew that he could never treat veterans like this, so he killed the corrupt officials as soon as possible, which attracted the joy of the veterans. Then Zhu Lang asked these people if they were willing to make money.

The policy of veterans in the Ming Dynasty was still too bad. In the early Ming Dynasty, the military system was implemented, and soldiers from generals to ordinary military officers adopted the hereditary method. The Ming Taizu conquered the world with his meritorious officials and was very favored by the officers. Even if the military officers were dismissed for their mistakes, the privileges of inheritance of their descendants would be retained.

But it's a bit bad for soldiers.

For example, to provide certain financial support to soldiers who are disabled due to war and their families. This will definitely not exceed ten taels. Too little is too little, so Zhu Lang brought all these veterans to the mine to work. The more they work, the more they get. Some veterans work for ten taels of silver a month, and they can get a high monthly salary.

So these veterans were very happy when they saw Zhu Lang and knelt down together. Zhu Lang smiled and helped the veterans up, following me to you: "Are you satisfied with the current salary?"

"Satisfied." The miners answered excitedly.

Zhu Lang laughed: "It's good to be satisfied. By the way, how are you eating?"

"Very good..." Another uniform answer.

Zhu Lang also laughed: "Okay, okay..." As he said that, Zhu Lang came to Wang Zhenyi and asked: "How is it...going smooth?"

Wang Zhenyi nodded and said, "It's very smooth and can pump water efficiently and quickly. This shows that our first steam engine has been completely successful. Next, we will build a few more steam engines, in mines and blast furnaces, so that we are building the rail train you mentioned, and then building steamships, so that our Ming Dynasty's strength will surpass the world."

Zhu Lang smiled slightly after hearing Wang Zhenyi's words. This is what Zhu Lang thought. It would take him five years to make trains, ships, cannons, etc. After these were made, it would be Zhu Lang's further invasion, integrating resources from other countries and regions into the Ming Dynasty, and creating a Ming Dynasty that has eternal history.

Zhu Lang wants to make the Ming Dynasty in this space the world number one, and he must not let the Ming Dynasty be defeated by the Qing Dynasty, and he must not let the Chinese people be enslaved by other people. Zhu Lang is very selfish and he does not want his Chinese people to be enslaved.

So for this wish, Zhu Lang had to polish the Ming Dynasty from now on, which is an important reason why Zhu Lang worked hard for it!
Chapter completed!