Capítulo 1012: Chapter 1010: Is It Really That Miraculous?

Jinrong similarly does not support the emperor’s travel, at least not now.

He pondered and said, “Imperial Father, if you go now, you truly won’t see anything. Wong Qiao and others spent nearly a year just trying to stabilize the trial operation of the steam engine. This trial, I fear, will also require some effort.”

The emperor looked at the dossier sent up from the Mechanical Workshop, truly unwilling to give up this chance to witness history. According to Jinrong and Jiang Yifan’s grand descriptions, if this thing successfully works, it indeed could greatly increase the output of the Iron-smelting Furnace.

Not much, just increasing iron material output by one to two tenths, the court’s tight usage of iron for weapons, ships, and construction could be greatly alleviated. Moreover, continuing to build iron tracks would not be an issue.

Even more, if the steam engine runs successfully, it could be applied to multiple industries in the future, completely changing the traditional patterns of various sectors.

This is a major reform that could be recorded in history.

He is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to experience it firsthand but cannot see it with his own eyes due to his emperor status; what a great regret!

Jinrong watched the emperor’s increasingly furrowed brows and took a step back, saying, “If you truly want to see, then wait until they successfully test it and it indeed can increase the output of the Iron-smelting Furnace. By then, Imperial Father can arrange a trip and surely witness the Blast Furnace’s operation. How does that sound to you?”

Han Yanhui and several others glanced begrudgingly at Jinrong. Just hearing about the rotation type and speed of those steam engines and blast furnaces is extremely terrifying.

Letting His Majesty’s precious body go to see such a terrifying thing, still connected with the Iron-smelting Furnace… it’s really not safe.

At this time, several ministers were actually hoping that that blast furnace wouldn’t work, so the emperor wouldn’t need to go see it.

Whether this thing succeeds or not doesn’t shake the Grand Xia Dynasty’s strong status among surrounding nations. But if something unfortunate happens to the emperor, that’s like the sky falling.

Jinrong spoke with reason and evidence, and the emperor couldn’t insist further, his enthusiasm quenched with cold water, leaving him disheartened.

He waved his hand: “Then let it be. Order the Ministry of Works to fully cooperate with the Qi Family Mechanical Workshop to test-use the blast furnace,” speaking, the emperor looked at Liu Chengzhi, “No need for special instructions at the iron smelting workshop, right? This is a big issue, warn them not to exhibit the court-affiliated workshop’s airs, don’t pose problems for others.”

Liu Chengzhi hastily bowed in agreement. He’s not foolish; the Qi Family Mechanical Workshop is the business of the Qi family, Prince Yu, and Jiang Yifan. Prince Yu is absolutely someone he can’t provoke, and with the Qi family and Jiang Yifan, having that unruly lady involved, he’s equally unwilling to mess with them.

Prince Fu, due to his mistakes, is still lying low, and he can continue in the Cabinet thanks to the emperor specifically allowing him to redeem himself through work. Now, Jiang Yifan holds real power in the Ministry of Works, where would he find the courage to obstruct matters personally arranged by the emperor?

……

This time, without Shi Yin having to drive anyone away, Ye Xinyan consciously didn’t head toward Huaiyuan County, leaving the honor to the broader labor force.

With the help of personnel from the Ministry of Works, the blast furnace was successfully transported to Huaiyuan County.

Even with prior preparations, Wong Qiao and Cheng Dahui, accompanied by quite a few craftsmen, took two days to properly install the machine.

The subsequent adjustments took another six days, and by mid-December, the Iron-smelting Furnace had successfully produced its first batch of iron materials. Output increased by a quarter, and the quality of the iron was excellent.

This result nearly shocked the eyes of the workshop managers and craftsmen. In the past, even a one-tenth or half-tenth increase in iron material was extremely rare. Not to mention the superior quality of the iron, many veteran craftsmen had never seen it in their lifetime.

In the following days, assisted by the blast furnace, ten batches were continuously produced. Aside from one batch with minor discrepancies, slightly lower in quantity and quality, the rest were high-quality, high-output.

Even those with discrepancies were much better than previous traditional methods.

Cheng Dahui, having overseen the Imperial Workshops Bureau for many years, deeply understood the rarity and profound significance of this smelting progress. This was just the beginning; if this blast volume continues, the Iron-smelting Furnace could be enlarged. Once this blast furnace is widely used in smelting, the Celestial Empire’s iron material output will increase in stages, and all industries will undergo revolutionary changes.

The promising future of the iron smelting industry and industrial sector excited Cheng Dahui immensely, prompting him to compile all the past half month’s data from the iron smelting.

First, stopped the blast furnace and, together with Wong Qiao, arranged the return to the capital for craftsmen who also went to Huaiyuan County, then gleefully pulled Shi Yin and Wong Qiao, eagerly heading back to the capital ahead of schedule.

By this time, it was nearing the year’s end, the 23rd of the lunar month.

This generation of the Imperial Workshops Bureau, overseen by Cheng Dahui, was considered quite fortunate; Emperor Qianqing was not one to pursue etiquette and elegance, he focused on the hardships of the populace, correspondingly interested in engineering devices.

This is also the reason why, since boyhood, he frequently neglected proper matters, always favoring intrigue and ingenious devices, with the emperor indulging him greatly.

Cheng Dahui bid farewell to Wong Qiao and Shi Yin, not even taking time to return to his own family, hurried directly to the palace to request an audience with the emperor and present various parameters from the iron smelting furnace over the past half month.

In winter, during the late Shen hour, the sky had darkened somewhat, and the room was early illuminated with lamps and candles.

The emperor naturally could not comprehend the various parameters of the steam engine and iron-smelting furnace; he merely glanced briefly, then fixed his gaze on the output and quality of iron materials from the Iron-smelting Furnace.

Upon clearly seeing the written data, he unconsciously sat up straighter.

Inside the Imperial Study Room, only a few eunuchs were serving the emperor closely. Zhang Cunhai noticed the emperor’s body slightly rising, knowing in his heart that what Lord Cheng Dahui brought was certainly very satisfying to the emperor.

Cheng Dahui sat on a chair below, watching the emperor with full joy, knowing that as an emperor concerned with practical matters, he certainly comprehends how challenging it is to improve smelting efficiency at such a pace. And this increase would bring transformative changes to the Celestial Empire.

The emperor pulled out a comparison record of old and new iron-smelting furnace outputs from a stack of materials, read it twice carefully, then looked at Cheng Dahui, solemnly asking, “Is there anything special about the wind blown by this blast furnace? How does it have such miraculous effects?”

It’s no wonder the emperor is puzzled, but simply blowing a bit more wind into the smelting furnace, how can it so greatly increase the output of the same furnace?

This question hit Cheng Dahui’s heart directly, as not only the emperor as an outsider doesn’t understand, but even those craftsmen who’ve spent their lives in smelting probably aren’t very clear on it either.

Cheng Dahui sincerely responded, “Replying to His Majesty, the wind itself isn’t special, but according to Wong Qiao, before the strong blowing by the blast furnace, the wind volume within the smelting furnace was insufficient, which made the combustion of charcoal inside inadequate, leading to lower average furnace temperature and more slag, hence reducing the output and quality of iron materials.”

The emperor understood but was also speechless, “So, the unsolved issues like low smelting output and extensive impurities in iron materials were simply because of inadequate wind volume?”

Such a challenging matter, solved by such a simple reason; is it really this miraculous?