Chapter 1068

Chang Yuzhu, who was walking through the fire-engulfed city of Jakarta, was almost driven mad with anger.

Now, burning buildings were everywhere in Jakarta. The captured Dutch soldiers had pointed out all the important buildings in the city one by one, and without exception, these buildings were all on fire.

“These sons of bitches!” Chang Yuzhu said angrily. “Go quickly and notify the fleet to head for the city of Bula. We absolutely cannot let these Dutchmen escape from the city of Bula to Calcutta.”

Upon receiving the order, the messenger quickly rushed to the coast. On the coast, he used flag signals to tell Lei Ming the situation in the city.

“Scorched-earth policy. These Europeans are somewhat capable.” After reading the flag signals, Yue Yun said with a solemn face.

Lei Ming’s face was extremely grim. According to the Empire’s reward system for foreign military campaigns, war spoils were a very important metric.

Now, having acquired a city that was in a complete mess from being burned, they were at a great disadvantage.

Moreover, although this attack was as successful as ever, the number of soldiers they had lost had increased several times compared to previous campaigns.

The deep trenches had still provided a lot of protection for the Dutch soldiers.

“With 1,300 casualties, and the soldiers not getting a single copper coin, my position as commander is a waste. General Yue, please, we must arrive at the city of Bula before them. I absolutely cannot let these bastards get away.” Lei Ming said.

Although he was used to seeing deaths on the battlefield, so many casualties made him feel very uncomfortable. Now, they were only fighting against 20,000 Dutchmen and some native rabble. If they were to face the Calcutta battlefield, the number of casualties would probably double.

Yue Yun could feel Lei Ming’s anger. It was clear that the Dutch had infuriated him.

“That is not a problem. With the speed of the ironclads, we can definitely arrive at the city of Bula before them.” Yue Yun said.

The city of Bula was a straight distance for the Dutch army on land, but for the navy, they had to take a long detour to get there. After all, the coastline was not straight, and with the speed of sailing warships, they really might not be able to get there in time.

But an all-out voyage with the ironclads would definitely be able to complete this mission.

“Thank you,” Lei Ming said through gritted teeth.

…

Qingzhou.

After the official connection of the hand-cranked telephone, the Telecommunications Department began to install telephones in the palace and the official residences outside the palace.

According to the Cabinet’s request, telephones were to be installed in all departments of the court in Qingzhou before the New Year to improve the efficiency of handling government affairs.

And while the telephone was making significant progress, good news also came from Lin Wentao’s machinery research institute.

“Your Majesty, this is the first automobile prototype we manufactured using the internal combustion engine.”

Inside the machinery factory, Lin Wentao pointed to the vintage car in front of him with an excited expression. Ever since the internal combustion engine technology became mature, they had begun to apply the internal combustion engine to various uses.

In addition to the diesel engine used for drilling, they also put the research on applying the internal combustion engine to mobile machinery on the agenda, according to the requirements of the five-year plan.

So they first set their sights on the animal-powered harvesters that the Empire was using. According to the structural drawings, they gave these agricultural machines the heart of an internal combustion engine.

And after the application of the harvester was expanded, they manufactured a passenger car based on the drawings provided by Xiao Ming. This was the vintage car in front of them.

Xiao Ming walked up to the vintage car. The shape of this vintage car was basically similar to the first generation of European automobiles in the nineteenth century.

It was not that he did not know a more perfect shape, but with the current industrial technology, Qingzhou’s industry was still unable to manufacture a car shell with modern craftsmanship.

So after weighing it, he still honestly used the old-fashioned beetle shell.

“How fast can this car go?” Xiao Ming asked with a little excitement. After so many years, he finally did not have to go out on a horse or in a carriage, which was awkward.

From another perspective, with a car, his safety when going out would also be greatly improved.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, this car can reach a speed of sixty kilometers per hour,” Lin Wentao said.

“Sixty kilometers?” A broad smile appeared on Xiao Ming’s face. He was already very satisfied with this speed. After all, the speed of the world’s first car was only fifteen kilometers per hour.

The difference, however, was that Xiao Ming had given Lin Wentao mature internal combustion engine technology, and they were also using purified gasoline, so this car was in all aspects far superior to the first car and had reached the level of an improved car.

Qian Dafu said with a smile, “A speed of sixty kilometers per hour means it can travel over a thousand kilometers in a day?”

“That is natural, but it requires carrying a sufficient amount of fuel. I am afraid the Empire cannot be that extravagant in its use of gasoline yet.” There was a hint of regret in Lin Wentao’s words.

So far, the drilling of oil wells had not made any progress, and the difficulty of drilling was beyond everyone’s expectations.

Without an oil field, it meant that the car was just for show. This was the reason for Lin Wentao’s sigh.

Xiao Ming naturally understood what Lin Wentao meant. He had somewhat overestimated the Empire’s current technological level, and the Daqing Oilfield was originally difficult to exploit. It was normal that there had been no progress for such a long time.

According to records, during World War II, Japan had also attempted to find the Daqing Oilfield, but they stopped after drilling to a depth of about eight hundred meters, because the Japanese at that time did not have the technology to drill into a deeper rock layer.

The true depth of the Daqing Oilfield was around 1,300 meters, so whether they could successfully extract oil essentially depended on the drilling technology.

And the core of drilling technology was the drill bit. Now that they had a diesel engine, the power was no longer an issue. If they still could not reach such a deep rock layer, it must be a problem with the strength of the drill bit.

After all, drilling for oil required a special oil drill bit. He could provide the design drawings for the drill bit, but the material problem still required extensive experimentation.

So he was a little helpless with the current problem, because no one could be sure when this oil field could be successfully exploited.

If the oil field could not be utilized due to technological problems, he would have to find a way from overseas. After all, his drilling technology could not conquer the 1,000-meter depth of Daqing, but drilling oil wells on the land of the Middle East was very simple.

Most importantly, after mastering mature ironclad warship technology, the cost of sea transportation was greatly reduced. The distance from the Middle East to the Empire was not very far with the speed of the ironclads, so the cost of transporting oil would be very low.

“The Empire is currently fighting a war in Southeast Asia. If the progress is smooth, the shipping lanes to Persia and the Ottoman Empire will be completely opened up. At that time, the Empire can establish diplomatic relations with Persia and the Ottoman Empire and purchase their oil at a cheap price. In this way, machines with internal combustion engines will be able to run.” Xiao Ming said. At the same time, his idea of monopolizing oil became even more firm.

This feeling of being oil-poor was truly unpleasant. And in addition to Persia and the Ottoman Empire, he also had to completely occupy Siberia, after all, there was also a large oil field there.