"That's what I want?"

In one of the larger buildings in this factory, His Majesty the Emperor looked at the pile of freshly cast parts in front of him and said. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Long live it, this is your machine."

An old craftsman said.

What is being manufactured here is the first steam engine of the Ming Dynasty, the core is a section of high-pressure alloy steel pipe that has been cut, the diameter is more than half a meter thick, which itself is a high-pressure steam pipeline, which is subjected to the ultra-high pressure of modern steam turbines, and it is no problem to use it as a primary version of the steam engine cylinder, but the problem is that it is too difficult to process this thing, in the absence of machinery available, four craftsmen have been grinding for several days in the way of hard grinding of animal grinding wheels, and the section is smoothed.

As for the other parts, you have to make them yourself.

"Your Majesty, please see."

The old craftsman said.

Immediately afterwards, he and another craftsman lifted the steel pipe to a cast pig iron end, and the copper pad for sealing had been padded below, and then a cast piston was put directly into it, the cast iron piston has been repeatedly polished, and the surface is as bright as a mirror, because the size is very different from the inner diameter of the steel pipe, and the surface is also smeared with oil.

Then an end cap with a round hole in the middle was added so that the shaft of the piston passed through the round hole in the middle.

Then it was carefully put in, with steel rollers with wires at both ends through the holes reserved at the four corners of the two end covers, and then began to put on the nuts, after the nuts were all tightened, a cylinder was placed in front of Yang Feng, he squatted down and grabbed the shaft and pulled outward, and the feeling was very smooth and pulled out by him.

"Not bad!"

Yang Feng pushed the piston back in, and then said with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty, there is nothing to worry about air leakage in other places, that is, the position of this shaft will inevitably leak, and the ministers are using a copper sleeve for it at this time, so that the polished smooth shaft passes through the copper sleeve, and then keep injecting oil and lubrication into it when using it, but it is still difficult to ensure that there is no air leakage, after all, this thing is going to move back and forth."

The craftsman said cautiously.

"It's okay, it's a little leaky, don't worry!"

Yang Feng said.

I'll talk about this thing later, if it doesn't work, it's just a trivial matter.

"How long do you think it will take to actually make this thing?"

He said.

"It is estimated that there will be a month at most, but after it is made, the villain does not dare to guarantee whether there will be some problems, and this machine can only be used to repair and modify."

The craftsman said.

"Very well, make this thing, and each of you will reward each of you with a baron!"

Yang Feng said.

He gave the work to the four who could cast the flowering bullet for him in one piece, which was the best skill among his craftsmen, and they clearly lived up to the trust.

The four craftsmen were all stupid.

Artisan knighthood?

All of a sudden, the four craftsmen knelt on the ground, crying silently lying there and kowtowing to the emperor, even Song Yingxing on the side was dumbfounded, although he knew that since the changes in Beijing, the emperor often did not follow the routine, how to exaggerate and do many things, but the craftsman knight is still a little too exaggerated, you must know that the Ming system can not be knighted without military merits, and even the Wenchen knight has to go on the curve, but now even the craftsman is knighted, what kind of trouble is this?

However, Yang Fengcai didn't care what Song Shangshu was thinking, in such an era, he could build a steam engine for him with his craftsmanship, and it was necessary for such a person to be knighted.

He didn't worry too much about this steam engine, the key to this thing was this cylinder, the others were just simple castings, pipe fittings could be made of copper pipes, flywheels and the like could be cast in iron, small parts could be cast in crucible steel, all of which were within the scope of the ability to solve at this time. Of course, the cost may be high, but the cost of such things is no longer something to consider, as long as there is a steam engine, then even if it is still far away from trains and ships, but those machinery and the like, there is no need to rely on water power, and the power will be stronger than water power.

That's enough.

In fact, a month later, when his steam engine was assembled and connected to a newly-built boiler, there was nothing really wrong with it except for a slight leakage, and then after the repeated trials and tests of those craftsmen, by February of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, it was already possible to drive the blower and restore the production of the largest iron-making blast furnace, and even because the blast effect was stronger than that of the hydraulic blast, the furnace temperature was higher, and the iron smelted was better than before.

However, it was at this time that the news came from the south that Fengyang had fallen, Liu Liangzuo had fled to Chuzhou, and Liu Zeqing had killed Gao Jie and surrendered to Li Zicheng with Huai'an.

This is really bad news.

Of course, the emperor was helpless.

After once again summoning the ministers to be furious, His Majesty the Emperor issued an edict to punish Liu Zeqing's nine clans, this matter is over, as for Liu Zeqing's nine clans or something, that is to say, people have been named the Marquis of Chu by Li Zicheng, happily joined the command of Emperor Yongchang of Dashun, and drove straight to Yangzhou along the canal for the king's division.

Then the bad news kept coming.

Huang Degong was isolated and had to abandon Hefei after several months of hard fighting.

But he didn't go to Chuzhou, but went south to Anqing by boat, which represents another bad news, that is, Nanjing's supervisor was already worried about Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing was able to kill Gao Jie and surrender Li Zicheng, so Zuo Liangyu, who always sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, was even more unsafe, and Huang Degong was the only one who guaranteed loyalty, and his entry into Anqing was undoubtedly to prevent Zuo Liangyu from going down the river to raid Nanjing.

When the spring breeze blew the earth, Yang Feng finally got the news of the fall of Yangzhou.

Liu Liangzuo surrendered Li to Yangzhou.

Huaiyang Governor Lu Zhenfei committed suicide.

Li Zicheng drank the Yangtze River.

Coupled with the previous capture of the Lujiang River, Li Zicheng's army pressed the Yangtze River on the whole front, and the vanguard led by Li Laiheng even Yaobing Pukou, Nanjing City faced the flames of war.

"Chase after Earl Lu Zhenfei, also, let Liu Zhaoji and Huang Binqing each bring their departments to Shanhaiguan, it is estimated that it will be thawed on the sea in a few days, and they will board the ship as soon as the port opens, and then give an order to the King of Tang, Nanjing is where the filial piety tomb is located, no matter what, there can be no loss, and then tell the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River to be sincere and united, not like those rebellious ministers, if there are local gentry officials who are rebellious and ignore the grace of the imperial court, they will all be dealt with in accordance with the northern regulations."

Yang Feng said gloomily.

"Your Majesty, 10,000 is enough, there is no shortage of troops in Nanjing, and we are even more short of troops, that Dolgon has been expanding in Beijing, it is said that now the green battalion alone has exceeded 300,000, I am afraid that after the beginning of spring, there will be another attack on Xingzai."

Li Yutian said.

He is also telling the truth, Dolgon is expanding the army with all his strength during this time, and the goal is to solve the problem of Daming Xing's henchmen, and there are soldiers in Nanjing, as well as the Yangtze River moat, more than 20,000 is not much, less than 20,000 is not a lot, but for the small number of troops, 20,000 people are also precious.

"Confused, that filial piety tomb is the foundation, if you let that rebel commit filial piety again, what face do I have to see Taizu, give Liu Zhaoji and Huang Binqing a Shangfang sword, then Jiangnan civil and military officials who dare to abandon the city and flee can be cut first."

Yang Feng said viciously.

It is undoubtedly a very happy thing to watch the bloody battle between the Jiangnan gentry and Li Zicheng.

After the latter captured Yangzhou, it completely copied the practice in Beijing, all the salt merchants who didn't have time to run were arrested, and then used a very creative method to raid the house, first arrest their old and young people and whip them first, and then throw them into the salt tank to soak, pity those salt merchants who are clothed and eaten, and soak in Yangzhou every day in the thin horses and sheng songs, how can they withstand this kind of toss, the gold and silver treasures are taken out in a hurry, and it is estimated that Li Zicheng will have to take a handful of them again this time.

Not only him, but also the poor.

When Li Zicheng arrived in Yangzhou, the army had swelled to 800,000, and all of them were poor people who joined the team of fighting local tyrants along the way, especially those who had been exploited by salt merchants for generations, and the two Huai stove households who had become rich and rival the country of salt merchants without food and hunger, were even more ecstatic to follow King Chuang.

They know very well who has money in Yangzhou.

These countless locusts swarmed into Yangzhou, coupled with Liu Liangzuo who took advantage of the fire to rob, the poor people in Yangzhou City who opened the door to meet the king, and the coolies who were cattle and horses on the canal, completely regarded Yangzhou as a carnival paradise, they frantically ransacked the gentry's gardens, and snatched everything they could, gold, silver, treasures, silk and satin, and even tables, chairs and furniture, and even those daughters who were sick and buried in the garden every day, were carried home by those dirty and chaotic people to give birth to monkeys.

It is said that even many famous prostitutes in Yangzhou were murdered, and one by one the Qing people who originally knew all the poems, songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting had no choice but to blow and blow at the feet of those rough men.

It's a pity that the heavenly street has stepped on the bones of the princess, and the inner library has been burned into splendid ashes!

In this way, the Jiangnan gentry had no way out.

They have to fight, and if they don't fight, they have to fight, otherwise not only will the Shunjun army loot their property after crossing the river, but His Majesty the Emperor will have to loot it again afterwards, but one wants money and one land, they want to keep money and land, so they can only desperately hold the Yangtze River, they can also understand at this time, the emperor was stimulated by the destruction of the family, and it was not the emperor in the past at this time.

At least not as easy to fool as it used to be.

As for whether Li Zicheng can fight the Yangtze River in the end, this Yang Feng actually doesn't care much, even if Li Zicheng can't beat it, he will consume the strength of the Jiangnan gentry, and it will be much easier for him to start when the time comes.

If Li Zicheng had crossed the Yangtze River, it would have been simpler, and he could happily paint on a blank piece of paper.