Chapter 460: Another Surprise

Xiao Ming’s collective commendation of the physics academy further ignited the students’ enthusiasm. The entire academy was as lively as a festival, with discussions about the compound steam engine everywhere.

Of course, the happiest was Xiao Ming himself. After leaving Bowen Academy, he smiled all the way back to the manor, knowing that an industrial era revolution was about to happen in Qingzhou.

“What good news makes Your Highness so happy?” Fei Yue’er asked with a smile when he returned. Though she didn’t know why, seeing Xiao Ming so happy made her smile too.

Xiao Ming said, “Princess, you might not understand what a steam engine is. Come, I will tell you about it.”

He then explained how Bowen Academy had developed the steam engine and used a technology crystal to give Fei Yue’er a brief science lesson. After his detailed explanation, she gradually understood.

“If what Your Highness says is true, this steam engine is extremely important for Qingzhou and even Great Yu. One steam engine can replace more than a hundred people. That’s terrifying,” Fei Yue’er exclaimed.

Xiao Ming nodded. “Exactly. The fief has few people. Now with steam engines, one person can manage machines that replace a hundred workers. Especially in the textile industry, massive changes are about to happen.”

Fei Yue’er became more interested and asked, “Your Highness, what does this have to do with the textile industry?”

“Because there is a kind of textile machine that only works properly with a steam engine,” Xiao Ming said.

After the Industrial Revolution began, steam engines were first applied in textiles. He thought it was time to introduce the spinning jenny.

With the steam engine plus the spinning jenny, Qingzhou’s textile industry would undergo a complete transformation driven by these two machines.

Great Yu had long been a land where men worked the fields and women wove cloth. Talking about textiles, Fei Yue’er became excited and said, “Your Highness, the new-style textile machine you made for Qingzhou is already amazing. Is there an even better textile machine?”

“Of course. There is a power loom that uses a flying shuttle. It’s also a multi-spindle spinning machine with eight spindles. It can spin cotton as well as wool and hemp,” Xiao Ming said.

Fei Yue’er was surprised. “It can spin wool and hemp too?”

Xiao Ming nodded. “That’s just the basic model. After improvements, the machine can have up to forty spindles. Imagine one steam engine powering a forty-spindle machine running day and night—how much cloth could it produce?”

Fei Yue’er thought for a moment, eyes wide in shock. She looked at Xiao Ming and said, “Your Highness, if that’s true, how will common people sell cloth in the future? Their handwoven cloth will be more expensive and cannot compete with our cloth. This could cause resentment among the people.”

Fei Yue’er’s warning made Xiao Ming frown.

He clearly remembered how the original spinning jenny was smashed by citizens who feared losing their jobs because it severely disrupted self-sufficient economies.

Now he would face the same problem. But he knew that history’s progress cannot stop because of temporary misunderstandings.

He said, “Even so, the textile industry must change. They don’t understand now, but soon they will.”

Fei Yue’er nodded with concern.

Seeing Xiao Ming lost in thought, she wisely said no more and returned to her chamber.

Sighing, Xiao Ming rubbed his forehead. The steam engine’s appearance was indeed a joy, but Fei Yue’er’s unintended reminder caused him some pain.

Great Yu’s whole country was a small-scale self-sufficient farming economy. Women wove cloth to sell, men farmed and raised cattle.

The steam engine’s arrival meant Qingzhou could move toward an industrial society. But such drastic change easily causes chaos. If he let things run wild, capital would rapidly push his fief toward capitalism and urbanization.

He could not predict what chaos would arise, nor could he bear the disorder such change might cause.

After much hesitation, Xiao Ming decided not to open steam engines to merchants for now. This was the safest method.

Great Yu was different from pre-Industrial Revolution England. Here, land was the lifeblood of the people and could not be disturbed for now. Plus, the commoners lacked the knowledge to understand industrial change.

So, he planned to have the government establish steam engine workshops, preventing too intense change. When the people accepted steam engines and factories and realized working in factories could sustain them, then he would gradually open steam engines to merchants.

Also, he could keep the steam engine’s secret longer, avoiding premature exposure.

Having figured this out, Xiao Ming exhaled lightly. Being a vassal prince was not easy. Any change had to be handled carefully. He still relied on the people and could not suddenly switch to support capitalists.

Once industrial knowledge was widespread, he believed the industrial revolution could land softly.

As he was thinking, a servant reported, “Your Highness, Song Changping from the military workshop has arrived. He says he brought you a rifled gun.”

“Rifled gun?” Xiao Ming was stunned.

Since his trip to Dengzhou, technology in Qingzhou had really exploded. Not only was the compound steam engine developed, now there was even a rifled gun. Just as he expected, as knowledge spread, his fief was moving toward a technological explosion.

“Let him in,” Xiao Ming said excitedly. He was eager to see how Song Changping produced the rifled gun.

Soon Song Changping entered holding a flintlock rifle. He said, “Your Highness, this is a new rifle from the military workshop—a rifled gun, produced by imitating the books Your Highness provided.”

Xiao Ming took the rifle and looked inside the barrel. It wasn’t a spiral rifling but had many closely spaced slanted grooves. At a glance, they looked similar to standard spiral rifling.

After examining the grooves, Xiao Ming already had plans. He asked, “Honestly, how long did you spend rifling this gun with a hooked tool?”

Song Changping was taken aback but smiled wryly. “Nothing can be hidden from Your Highness. Yes, this rifled gun was made using a hooked tool. It took me several days to produce one qualified rifled barrel. But even so, loading bullets is very difficult, and its speed only reaches about one-third that of a smoothbore musket.”