Iron Dynasty

The general has been on the battlefield for decades, so why should you belittle yourself?

Xiao Ming did not expect Luo Quan to decline his proposal at this time.

His Royal Highness, the old minister is not self-deprecating. Since the last battle in Jizhou, the old minister has been thinking about this matter. Qingzhou's muskets and artillery make the old minister feel that the war is no longer what it used to be. Relatively speaking, Luo Hongyao It's easier to accept the Musketeer than the old minister. Luo Quan said with a sigh.

Seeing Luo Quan's resolute expression, Xiao Ming nodded and said, In this case, this king will not keep the old general.

Thank you, Your Highness. Luo Quan seemed to be relieved.

Fiji's eyes flickered, this army is no better than the officialdom, Luo Quan made this decision carefully, and he discussed with him when he came. Even if he agreed to Xiao Ming's request, the soldiers in the army would probably not be able to help him. rise.

The most important thing is that if he enters the army, the firearms battalion from Chang'an or Jin Wuwei who defected to Qingzhou in the future will look at him, which will undoubtedly cause factions in the army.

Officials can argue with each other, but the army must be consistent. Taking this into account, he decided not to take control of the military, and with Niuben's qualifications enough to suppress these soldiers from Chang'an, integrating the army is not a problem.

The officials and generals were initially resolved, and then everyone talked about the issue of Pengzhou for a while. This time Fiji sent an envoy to Jinling City. Since King Wei has the heart to fight for hegemony, he doesn't need to be polite.

Moreover, Fiji also hinted that Xiao Ming, the king of Wei, had inherited the great power, but King Wei still ignored it. This is simply a betrayal of the royal family.

It was decided to annex Pengzhou, and everyone dispersed, but before Niu Ben left, Xiao Ming left a problem, and the army was responsible for attacking Pengzhou.

Now the Youzhou Army guards Shanhaiguan and naturally cannot move, while part of the Qingzhou Army is in Yunzhou to guard against the attack of King Zhao and the barbarians, and the other part is in Ryukyu Island.

However, the Dengzhou Army had to guard against possible attacks from Korea and Japan. After thinking about it, he could only mobilize the Cangzhou Army, Yizhou Army, and Laizhou Army to attack Pengzhou, but because these three armies were not like other states at the border, the three The combined army of each state is no more than 15,000 people, and there is almost no equipment.

However, during this time, the armies of these three states have been training in accordance with the formation of the musket team, because the army has training guns, so as long as they are equipped, they can quickly become an army.

Thinking of this, he had a big headache, and it was a problem with equipment. Now he lacked most of the muskets and artillery.

At the same time, a sense of crisis was born in his heart. Although Qingzhou's industry exceeded that of Dayu by a lot, the shortage of population was fatal.

Crowd tactics are enough to destroy everything he's built.

While he was worrying about the equipment, suddenly the servants of the palace came to report, saying that it was Lin Wentao who asked to see him.

Hearing this, Xiao Ming was overjoyed. The person he most wanted to see now was Lin Wentao. It was up to him whether the production speed of this equipment could go up.

Let him in. Xiao Ming said excitedly.

After the servants left, Lin Wentao arrived at the main hall with a look of excitement.

His Royal Highness, Xiaguan and Zhang Liu have solved the problem of one steam engine driving multiple machines. Using the crankshaft and connecting rods, the steam engine in the machine tool workshop can now drive a row of twelve drilling machines to work, and now we have installed them. There are five steam engines, and now there are a total of 72 drilling machines using steam power. Lin Wentao said excitedly.

After a pause, Lin Wentao continued: During this time, the steam engine workshop produced a total of sixteen steam engines. According to His Highness's request, six were given to the machine tool workshop, and the remaining twelve were given to the textile workshop. , the remaining six will be handed over to the musket workshop of the military workshop for rifling of rifled guns.

Not bad, very good. For Xiao Ming, this was undoubtedly a timely rain, because the fiefs were underpopulated, and what he could really rely on was the steam power brought by the steam engine.

Now Lin Wentao has successfully overcome the problem of one steam engine driving multiple machines, which will save him a lot of labor.

And once Lin Wentao mastered the problem of one steam engine driving multiple machines, it means that the technical problems of steam locomotives have been initially solved.

Lin Wentao was very excited, he said, Your Highness, although the steam engine is working well now, there is still a shortcoming that the air leakage of the cylinder plug is still a little serious. , It is said that the cylinder plug made of rubber is soft and can ensure air tightness, but the official does not know what this rubber is?

This rubber lutong understands, but this kind of thing is not available in Dayu country, only the southern ocean coast will have this kind of thing, but now that this king has traded with the Dutch, this king will find a way to find some rubber.

Yes, Your Highness. Lin Wentao said happily.

Xiao Ming was a little helpless. This is the importance of colonization. If there was no colonization, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes would not have been introduced to Europe and Asia. Without colonization, things like rubber would not have been found to be used in industry.

It just made him annoyed that he was preparing to sail to the sea, but he didn't expect such a mess to happen in the country.

For him, this civil unrest was no less than the Thirty Years' War and the Great Northern War in Europe.

After talking, Xiao Ming said to Lin Wentao: By the way, this steam engine is not only a single-cylinder steam engine, but also a two-cylinder steam engine, and even a four-cylinder steam engine. With a little improvement, this steam engine will have enough power to drive more Machines, you have to do some in-depth research on this point, and you should also test the steam locomotives in the books, after all, the principles will not be much worse.

Xiao Ming throwing out so many tasks made Lin Wentao a little stunned, he said to Xiao Ming: Your Highness, there are too many tasks, I am afraid that the subordinate is not able to do it, I implore the subordinate to let the subordinate choose some students in Bowen College to set up the experiment of the steam engine workshop. How is the room?

Of course you can. Xiao Ming laughed. Lin Wentao was enlightened. He finally understood that it was not enough to fight alone, and it took a lot of people to do research.

Lin Wentao nodded, That's the case. I will go to Bowen College to select students.

After saying that, Lin Wentao bowed and walked out.

Watching Lin Wentao leave, Xiao Ming felt relieved for a while. I don't know what the effect of this steam engine was. Among them, he is most concerned about the rifling of the gun workshop.

If the steam engine made it easy to cut rifling, then he could equip the army with rifled guns in batches.

Thinking of this, he couldn't wait to go to the military workshop. During this time, he was very busy because of the chaos in Chang'an, but he neglected the production of military industry. Now, in order to attack Pengzhou, he has to go to remind him in person.