Workshop of Emperor 218

  The young man in front of him was actually the Emperor, which was slightly beyond Liu Ziguang's expectations. He thought that the Emperor was too far away, a person sitting on the dragon chair who was almost like a puppet. The fact that he could walk out of the palace, try flying gliders, gamble and fight, sell duck blood noodles, and follow him to rob people... it was all just a bit too darkly humorous.

  Liu Ziguang did not immediately kowtow, but instead bowed his head and clasped his fists in salute: "Your humble subject Liu Ziguang pays his respects to Your Majesty." Yesterday he was still a younger brother, today he had to kneel down and knock his head on the ground, it was a bit hard for him to accept.

  "Wei Zhongxian shouted loudly: 'How dare you! Seeing the current emperor and yet not kneeling, come on, take him down for me.'"

  Zhu Tianxia glared at Wei Zhongxian and said, "Brother Liu is a transcendent being, how can he be the same as you common people? I just want to have a friend like Brother Liu, not some yes-man."

  Then he explained to Liu Ziguang: "This emperor of mine is actually just a title, can't appoint officials, can't issue imperial edicts, and even when doing things outside, the little wise son who has the identity of Dongchang's slave is useful. Even the silver in the inner warehouse cannot be withdrawn at will. Forget it, Liu brother come and visit my factory."

  The Little Emperor's factory is a diverse and complex place, with craftsmen such as potters, carpenters, blacksmiths, and stonemasons all present. There are also various strange processing equipment that Liu Ziguang can't understand how to use, but after listening to the emperor's introduction, he begins to understand a bit. The processing sequence is arranged in this way: first, the Little Emperor comes up with an idea, then the design personnel draw out the blueprints, and use hardwood to carve out models. After repeated experimentation, if it works, they proceed to production, using clay to create molds, pouring molten iron into them to cast shapes, and having blacksmiths and jewelry craftsmen carefully forge out detailed components. One good idea is that commonly used parts such as gears, chains, pipes, bearings, and pulleys are all standardized, with various models available from small to large, so they don't have to design repetitive things every time.

  Technical personnel have played a huge role! Now the production technology of the Great Ming Dynasty is relatively advanced, what's lacking is a breakthrough in thinking and innovation in technology. Liu Ziguang suggested to take a look at the designers.

  This is a very large room, with more than ten people wearing long gowns bowed over their respective desks, holding fine pencils and straightedges, compasses, triangles and protractors to draw diagrams on thick white paper.

  "These people, some of whom I poached from the Ministry of Works and Manufactures, and others who were hired by Master Liu at high salaries, are all treasures. They have endless ingenious ideas, and my designs can be turned into living objects in their hands. Ah, yes, there's a divine object, the Night-Illuminating Electric Arc Lamp - Brother Liu, come take a look."

  Following the young emperor into a room, the windows were blocked by black curtains, and the house was pitch dark. With a shout of "Light!", the beams emitted dazzling light, illuminating the house as bright as daylight, even brighter than daylight, almost comparable to the scorching sun on a summer day.

  Liu Ziguang narrowed his eyes to take a closer look, and found that it was two parallel carbon rods, with an electric arc drawn between the ends of the rods, emitting a strong light. However, this lamp light is too dazzling, it's barely acceptable if placed in a square, but if used as a reading lamp for a study, it would definitely blind one's eyes. Moreover, there is also a pungent smell.

  "How's that, bright enough? No need to burn coal gas or lamp oil. My wish now is to first turn the candles in the palace into arc lamps. Unfortunately, the Empress Dowager wouldn't even light the gas lamps, let alone these more advanced arc lamps." The young emperor spoke with regret.

  Even if I were to change, I couldn't let you hang this dazzling thing all over the imperial palace, Liu Ziguang said quietly. "The Night Illuminating Lamp is indeed a divine artifact. If used in night battles, it would surely make all enemies have nowhere to hide. I wonder what kind of fuel this divine artifact uses?"

  "Using this." Following the direction of the Little Emperor's pointing hand, Liu Ziguang saw a pile of strange objects, white and yellow metal sheets and wet thick paper scraps stacked together, connecting two metal wires to an arc lamp. It should be a primitive battery.

  "This is a battery made of zinc sheets, thick paper soaked in salt water and copper sheets stacked on top of each other. It's a device that stores electricity, which can power an arc lamp for several hours. However, the carbon rods of the arc lamp also get shorter as they burn, so after a few hours, they need to be replaced too. This kind of magical object is extremely expensive, and ordinary families can't afford it no matter what." The Little Emperor continued his introduction.

  The product of the laboratory has no practical value, Liu Ziguang concluded that the electric arc lamp was over, but it can invent such an electrified thing, which is a great promotion for social progress.

  "The little emperor continued to explain: 'There is something even better than batteries that can generate electricity. Brother Liu, come and take a look next door.'"

  In the next room, a large iron wheel, similar to a millstone, was placed in the middle of the house. A sturdy bull was walking around the wheel in circles. The bull pushed the wheel to rotate slowly, like a flat bicycle pedal. Underneath the wheel were thick chains that passed through several small gears, driving a larger wheel in the distance to rotate, similar to the principle of a variable-speed bicycle. The smaller wheel drove the larger wheel, increasing its speed. Inside the large wheel was a copper wire coil rotating rapidly between the two poles of a strong magnet.

  "This is a dynamo, the same principle also applies to wind power generation and hydroelectric power generation. Electricity cannot be stored, it can only be used immediately. Now, in addition to arc lamps, electric power can also drive drills, lathes, grinding machines, etc., which are used for drilling holes, cutting and shaping semi-finished machine parts. The only drawback is that the power is not strong enough, not as powerful as a steam engine."

  "Why not use a steam engine to drive the generator?" Liu Ziguo's mind turned quickly.

  "Brother Liu means to use a steam engine's piston instead of oxen?" the Little Emperor asked.

  "Or go a step further, isn't it more convenient to use steam to directly drive the wheel and make it turn? Use good steel materials to build a pressure-resistant furnace, produce high-pressure steam, just like the wind driving a windmill, arrange several blades on the wheel, the power of the steam is much greater than that of the windmill, and the generated electricity will be more and stronger." Liu Ziguang's description of the steam-powered generator set is simply a small thermal power plant.

  "Wheel, blade, is that thing the propeller you were talking about? I had someone make a model, Brother Liu please take a look." The young emperor's thoughts jumped around a bit, easily linking one thing to another matter.

  The power model of a screw propeller is a small boat, driven by a spring, and also a paddle-wheel boat model of the same size, driven by a similar spring, for comparison.

  Two small boats were placed in the pool, wound up and started at the same time. The paddlewheel boat churned the water and moved forward slowly, while the propeller-driven boat sped away quickly. Because the propeller was spinning underwater, the thrust generated wasn't wasted, so it far exceeded the speed of the paddlewheel boat.

  Another experiment was conducted, this time with the two small boats tied together at the stern with a rope for a tug-of-war competition. As expected, the screw propeller boat won again, even pulling the paddle wheel boat backwards.

  To verify the efficiency of the propeller in air, the experiment led to a major revolution in shipbuilding technology. Later steamships no longer needed to be equipped with two large paddle wheels. The idea for this invention came from Liu Ziguang, and the specific implementation was indeed by the emperor himself.

  The young emperor had already known the results of such experiments, and when he returned that day, he told the designer about the principle of the spiral propeller. Several craftsmen made more than a dozen forms of spiral propellers using bamboo, including two-bladed, three-bladed, five-bladed, parallel, angled, long, short, wide, and narrow ones. After comparative testing, it was found that the short and wide ones were still more efficient underwater.

  Due to the temporary lack of a suitable power source, designers plan to install a pedal-powered propeller under the triangular wing. Most components are made of lightweight bamboo and wood, with only the wheel and chain being metal. The rear blades are wooden. It is said that the finished product will use expensive aluminum alloy. Of course, due to the urgency of time, all this is still on paper.

  "Your Majesty is very fond of flying?" Liu Ziguang asked.

  "Yes, just as you said, sitting on the Flying Swallow's wings, what a distant place like Chang'an or Beijing can be reached within a day. It's really like the ends of the earth are next door." The Little Emperor looked up at the birds flying in the sky, his eyes narrowed with longing and said.

  "It doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of flying divine wings, Your Majesty. Do you know what a Kongming lantern is?" Liu Ziguang thought that there were many things that could fly, hot air balloons being the easiest, followed by the Kirov airship from Red Alert. Once internal combustion engines developed, they could even make real airplanes.

  The little emperor thought for a moment and said: "Of course, I know that it is said to have been invented by Zhuge Kongming of the Three Kingdoms period. At that time, Zhuge Kongming was besieged by Sima Yi in Pingyang and could not send troops out of the city to seek help. Kongming calculated the wind direction and made paper lanterns that would float. The main body of this lantern is mostly made of bamboo strips, and then covered with cotton paper or paper paste, while the bracket at the bottom is made of bamboo strips. Kongming lanterns can be large or small, round or rectangular. Generally, a Kongming lantern is made of bamboo strips in a cylindrical shape, wrapped tightly with thin white paper on the outside and open downwards. When you want to light it up and let it rise into the air, tie a piece of cloth or gold paper with peanut oil on the bracket at the bottom, ignite the oil before flying, and after the fire burns for a while, hot air is produced inside the lantern, causing the Kongming lantern to expand. After releasing your hand, the entire lantern will slowly rise into the air. If the weather is good, after the coal oil at the bottom is burned out, the Kongming lantern will automatically descend.

  "What a great idea! Making a large Kongming lantern, one that people can sit in, wouldn't it be possible to fly up into the sky? Your Majesty is so knowledgeable and has such a good memory, I am deeply impressed." Liu Ziguang said humbly. The young emperor was indeed a talented person, worthy of respect.

  "The little emperor slapped his thigh: 'Come on! Get a big Kongming lantern, then install a stove with burnt charcoal to produce hot air. Can't we just fly up into the sky? I'll have someone make it right away. Brother Liu has truly awakened me from my dream.'"

  A small eunuch beside him took note of the emperor's instructions regarding the development of large Kongming lanterns and left hastily. The emperor pointed to the pavilion on top of the artificial hill and said, "Let's go up and have a chat."

  Several small eunuchs quickly ran up, nimbly swept the floor, and laid out a golden cushion and an ivory cushion to serve as seats for the two of them.

  The young emperor sat upright in the pavilion, waving his hand to let the eunuchs retreat, and said seriously: "Liu Ai Qing, do you think that I summoned you today just for the propeller and internal combustion engine?"

  Haha, titles have changed, I've become "darling", finally getting to the point.