Chapter 1015

The vast world map filled one with endless imagination.

Xiao Ming slowly said, “If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. This is precisely what I want to say. The foundation of the String of Pearls strategy is the navy. From now on, no more sailing warships should be built. Combining the Empire’s current new technologies, we must build brand new warships.”

Cui Shang’an was excited. The first generation of steam ironclad warships was already very powerful, and one could imagine the terror of the second generation of ironclad warships.

If these warships used the latest breech-loading rifled naval guns, the European navies would be nothing but targets at sea.

However, relatively speaking, the construction process of ironclads was slower than that of sailing warships. The construction of a warship often took one year, or even two years.

It was precisely for this reason that sailing warships were to be cut, so that shipyards could fully commit to the construction of ironclads.

“Yes, Your Majesty, I will go back and urge this matter,” Cui Shang’an bowed and accepted the order.

Xiao Ming nodded slightly. Then, the two discussed some detailed issues before ending the conversation.

Watching Cui Shang’an leave, Xiao Ming sighed softly. Although he wanted the Chinese Empire under his rule to be worshipped by the world, the realization of technology was still the biggest limitation.

After all, it was easy for him to come up with technology, but it took a long time to implement it, such as the construction of this ironclad warship.

And this was just one of them. The construction of thermal power plants, bridges, railways, water conservancy projects, and other infrastructure was not accomplished overnight.

Nevertheless, under his leadership, the empire was thriving. The main problem now was no longer resisting foreign tribes, but contending with the Western powers for spheres of influence.

Just as he was thinking, Qian Dafu came trotting over in a hurry. When he arrived at the Imperial Study, he smiled and said, “Your Majesty, Lin Wentao’s telegram, there’s progress with the internal combustion engine.”

Since the advent of the telegraph, message delivery had become much faster. Many matters could be resolved with just one telegram, which greatly eased Xiao Ming and the officials.

Especially for scientific researchers like Lin Wentao, time was very precious, so he gave Lin Wentao and others the privilege of sending telegrams directly to him.

“Today is a day of double joy.” Xiao Ming laughed heartily. The development of the internal combustion engine had long been on the agenda, after all, with Qingzhou’s current industrial capacity, manufacturing an internal combustion engine was stress-free.

Stretching, he said to Qian Dafu, “Let’s go, let’s see how Lin Wentao’s internal combustion engine is.”

“Alright,” Qian Dafu said with a smile, walking with Xiao Ming towards the palace gate.

At this time, in the Qingzhou Machinery Research Department, Lin Wentao was discussing the issue of gasoline and diesel with Lu Tong.

In the process of developing the internal combustion engine, due to the lack of gasoline and diesel as fuels, Lin Wentao actually first used a gas combustion method to test the combustion performance of the internal combustion engine. It was only in the past two days that he obtained real gasoline from Lu Tong to test the first four-stroke internal combustion engine he manufactured. After verification, the internal combustion engine’s rotational speed had reached 800 revolutions per minute, and the compression ratio had reached 3:1. It operated smoothly. It was only then that he officially sent a telegram to the palace.

“This thing is much more powerful than a steam engine, impressive,” Lu Tong said. In the recent test, the internal combustion engine had strong power, and most importantly, the internal combustion engine was very small. According to Lin Wentao, the internal combustion engine would bring about earth-shaking changes to domestic transportation.

Lin Wentao sighed, “No matter how powerful it is, it needs fuel. Your little bit of oil is simply not enough.”

Lu Tong spread his hands when he heard this. He said, “This is already the result of our three months of collection in Guandong. Unless the Department of Minerals officially drills oil wells, no one can do anything about large-scale oil supplies.”

The two chatted idly for a while. Soon after, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu arrived at the research department. Seeing Xiao Ming, everyone stopped what they were doing.

“Your Majesty, this is the four-stroke internal combustion engine,” Lin Wentao said, pointing to the machinery in front of him.

The horizontal machine in front of Xiao Ming was on the ground, generally shaped like the character “工” (Gong, meaning work). It was currently performing reciprocating motion through connecting rods and a crankshaft, driving a pair of wheels to idle.

This scene made Xiao Ming smile with satisfaction. He said, “It seems the internal combustion engine is very successful.”

“Your Majesty exaggerates. It is all thanks to the technical data provided by Your Majesty. This four-stroke internal combustion engine is no longer a problem. I am now preparing to research a six-stroke internal combustion engine,” Lin Wentao said with full confidence.

If it were before, he would naturally not dare to speak so boldly, but now it was different. The advent of electric motors had brought a qualitative leap to Qingzhou’s industry, and conditions allowed him to boldly develop internal combustion engines, as all the necessary conditions were met.

The only thing lacking was gasoline, so he said, “Your Majesty, this internal combustion engine is fine, but the gasoline is a problem. I was just discussing this with Lu Tong.”

Lu Tong echoed, “My chemistry academy has already mastered the method of producing gasoline and diesel by distillation. As long as there is a large amount of crude oil, I can provide gasoline and diesel.”

All the problems suddenly converged on the issue of oil extraction. He smiled slightly. Although he really wanted to directly transport oil from the Middle East, it might be difficult at the current stage, and he could not keep waiting for trade routes to open up.

So, after weighing his options, he placed his hopes on Guandong, after all, the contemporary Daqing Oilfield was located in the Songnen Plain of Heilongjiang, and this deployment had already begun when Zhu Sansi went north.

After Yakutsk was occupied, the Ministry of Minerals dispatched personnel to the Songnen Plain to search for oil fields. During this time, they basically figured out the specific locations, because in some springs in these areas, they found floating black oil, which was proven to be petroleum.

And this method was not without basis. In Shen Kuo’s “Dream Pool Essays” from the Song Dynasty, there was such a record: within Yan Prefecture, there was a kind of petroleum that came out near the water, mixed with sand and spring water, flowing intermittently. Local residents would then use pheasant tail feathers to extract it and collect it in clay pots.

This substance was petroleum brought up by groundwater. In the process of searching for petroleum, the Ministry of Minerals also discovered this situation.

“It was impossible before, but now it is. The most critical parts of the drilling equipment are now available,” Xiao Ming said, pointing to the internal combustion engine. In the early days, the main power source for drilling was diesel engines. It wasn’t until modern times that electricity was used, after all, oil was usually found in remote areas where electricity was difficult to reach.

Lin Wentao and Lu Tong looked at each other and both smiled. They had not expected that oil and internal combustion engines would complement each other so well.

He said, “If that’s the case, I will have the machinery factory try to produce a set of drilling equipment.”

Xiao Ming nodded. Qingzhou’s industrial level had now reached the late 19th century, and petroleum and internal combustion engines should now be put into use.