Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 70 Steam Engine

Xu Da looked at the jokes in the comment section and thought that when it came to testing whether there was electricity, he was no worse than a professional electrician.

All the generals were very interested and wished that the people from the Science Department would come up with it tomorrow.

After all, leading troops in war is not as good as having a wife and children in the capital. It's okay in spring, summer and autumn, but if the war stalemate lasts through the winter, the winter in the north is freezing enough to kill people.

Moreover, this thing is not like coal mines, hay and firewood that require a lot of luck to transport. As long as there is an electric wire connected to the electricity, it will be the same no matter how far away it is. This was tested in the palace a few days ago.

Even laying out the wires is extremely laborious, as a lot of copper is needed, and large-scale laying is impossible at present. Especially outside the city, it will be stolen.
"Electricity is generated by burning coal, and the heat can be quickly converted into heat, so why not just burn coal directly?" Someone found a tricky question.

"Are you stupid? Aren't you afraid of dying if you just burn coal? Even if nothing happens, it will make the whole house stink. You don't have this problem if you use electricity."

"As long as the power lines are laid, electricity can be used everywhere. What about coal mines? Isn't it free to bring it from Shanxi?"

"In addition to thermal power generation, there is also hydropower and wind power generation. If we use these, we can generate a lot of electricity. It's like picking up money for free."

Everyone talked at once until the person who raised the question was convinced.

Speaking of hydropower, one cannot help but admire the genius of this idea. It is possible to obtain a steady supply of electricity without human intervention. The faster the flow, the greater the power of the electricity generated. By utilizing this characteristic, the river channel can also be artificially narrowed where the generator is to be placed.

The efficiency of the Science Department was also very good. With the cooperation of the craftsmen, they quickly built the first hydroelectric generator based on the principle of the water wheel. Then, over the next ten days, they made many improvements to the structure and fan blades, and finally shaped the fan blades into a bowl shape.

This version of the hydroelectric generator can be considered perfect.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang thought they were still too lacking in imagination, since there was a river outside the city that never stopped flowing.
[It is said that the end of science is boiling water. Actually, there is nothing wrong with this statement.]

[From the perspective of aliens, humans on Earth have not changed much over the past few thousand years. They just boil water in a fancy way.]

[After all, in the modern world, most electricity is generated by steam. Whether it is directly burning firewood, using coal or using oil to boil water, they are all of the same nature. Even nuclear energy works by boiling water in a nuclear reactor.]

[The steam engine is the most typical example. It is an essential item for launching the First Industrial Revolution. Its importance is self-evident. Its application in trains alone is enough to establish its historical status.]

[In fact, as long as you look at the structural diagram of the steam engine, you will know that the principle of making a steam engine is very simple. It has only two parts: the boiler and the engine]

[The boiler is used to boil water to produce high-pressure steam. The engine uses the steam produced by the boiler to push the piston. Basically, you just need your hands.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard "boil water" again, his expression looked a little complicated. This time, Daming finally understood the teasing.

The structure of the steam engine demonstrated in the skylight is not quite similar to the steam engines currently being studied, but the principles are the same.

"It's the steam engine structure. Your Highness is right, we are right!" The officials of the Science Department were almost in tears. This proved that the current research direction of the Science Department was correct.

Liu Ji looked at the animation on the sky screen, somewhat lost in thought.
Of course he knew the importance of the steam engine. In fact, ever since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince proposed the structure of the steam engine, he had realized the important mission of the steam engine.

Once this thing is laid out, the court's ability to control the grassroots, government affairs, trade, etc., and its efficiency will be greatly increased.

In addition, once a war breaks out, the mobilization of troops will be even faster, and all kinds of blitzkrieg tactics can be used with just the right hands. After all, the soldiers have to get on the long train and cannot run by themselves. It doesn't matter whether the march is forced or not, as they can rest on the road anyway.

There is an even greater difference in the transportation of grain and fodder. There is no need to conscript civilians to transport grain and fodder. This not only saves the local people from the hard labor, but also prevents most of the grain and fodder from being consumed on the way.

With this thing, horses don't seem to matter anymore.
Looking at the rumbling train emitting thick smoke on the sky curtain, Liu Ji knew that he would be able to see it in the palace soon. This was the eve of a major change in the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

Unlike the mystery of electricity, there is really no secret about the steam engine. As long as you know the principle, it is basically only a matter of time before it can be applied to reality.

The biggest problem the Science Department is facing right now is nothing more than air leakage.
This problem was not easy to solve, but at the same time it did not hinder the overall operation of the steam engine.

Zhu Biao puffed out his chest and pretended to look at the sky curtain intently, it was exactly the same as the one I made!!!
During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

Li Shimin looked at the dynamic demonstration diagram given by the sky screen and jumped up from the dragon chair: "Is it really boiling water???"

"Wonderful!"

"Scholars' brains are very useful." Cheng Yaojin's eyes sparkled and he was not stingy with his praise. That long thing in the sky that made a rumbling sound and leaked thick smoke everywhere was called a train?

I don’t know how it feels compared to riding a horse, and how far you can run in an hour.

Li Jing and other generals were all staring with their eyes wide open, and they began to calculate in their minds how to use this thing to transport food and grass. In fact, there is no need to calculate specifically, just the fact that there is no need to recruit civilians and no need to consume food and grass on the road is already a win.

You have to know that to transport food and fodder to the front line, hundreds of thousands of civilians would be conscripted at any time. Those hundreds of thousands of civilians mean hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed. Don’t they need to eat?

Not only should you eat when you come, you should also eat when you leave.

Moreover, the mountains are long and the roads are far away, and in the process of escorting the grain and grass, the grain bags are bound to be bumped and broken, and the grain will be lost again.
It can be said that if 30% of the food shipped from various places can be transported to the front-line soldiers, they should be happy. And the train that looks like it is on fire and leaking smoke everywhere can run by burning coal mines, so there is no need to consume food on the way.

Whether from the perspective of ordinary people or the court, it is a win-win situation.
After realizing this, Li Jing and Li Ji both saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Many craftsmen’s eyes lit up. This was a professional reaction that they had been using for decades. After realizing what was happening, they beat their chests and stamped their feet, wishing they could beat themselves to death. Steam engine, steam engine, isn’t this clearly stated? Why couldn’t they figure it out? ? ?
If I could also come up with this object, it would be pleasing to Your Majesty.

What a fucking stupid, dumb ass!

[You can use iron to make boilers for boiling water, and use cast iron to make pistons or various cylinders. The main difficulty is that the diameter of the piston must be slightly smaller than the diameter of the cylinder, but it cannot be too small or it will leak.]

[The basic principle is that in a steam boiler, fuel is burned to heat water to boil into steam, and then the steam is sent to the cylinder through a pipe, and a linked valve is used to control the time when the steam reaches the cylinder]

[Steam enters the slide valve chamber through the main air valve and the throttle valve, and is controlled by the slide valve to alternately enter the left and right sides of the cylinder, driving the steam to push the piston in the cylinder to work]

[The steam during cooling is introduced into the condenser through the pipe and condensed into water again. This process is repeated again and again when the steam engine is running.]

[Similarly, using this principle, we can directly build trains or other power sources]

[Similarly, there is a boiler filled with water inside the locomotive. Coal is continuously added to the charcoal burning port, and multiple pipes are added to the rear of the combustion chamber.]

[The high temperature of the pipe is used to heat the water tank at the same time, and the hot steam generated in the water tank is introduced into the cylinder through the pipe. In this way, great force works miracles, and the wheels start to turn with a roar.]

[This time you have a device that can convert thermal energy into kinetic energy. As long as you use fuel, you can move.]

[If you want to be more powerful, you just need to provide more fuel and optimize the mechanical structure. With this, you will be invincible after traveling through time.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was also listening, he was not that careful. This part was a technical detail, which was just to recover the originally released steam.

This part of the content was naturally handed over to the Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Industry for research.

Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking about the manufacture of trains and the laying of roads. Of course, he had seen that kind of track in the sky, but only at a distance, so he was not clear about its structure and function for the time being.

"But why are there special steel tracks?" Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, but did not bring it up. The current task was to build a "train". If the trouble of laying tracks could be avoided, that would naturally be good.

Nanjun in the late Han Dynasty.

Zhang Fei clapped his hands: "So that's how it is!"

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly. This is both educational and entertaining. This demonstration method is indeed simple and easy to understand.

It’s just that there are coal mines in Jingzhou, but I don’t know if there are any open-pit coal mines.

"Although boiling water is the biggest expense, the internal combustion engine: Then I leave?"

"Internal combustion engines are very picky about fuel. There is no point in industrially refining fuel oil. Boiling water is different. You can start it with a piece of wood."

"The most difficult part of a steam engine is its sealing. Before the invention of rubber, there was almost no perfect solution."

"The energy conversion efficiency is too low, even aliens can't stand it [covering face]"

Photovoltaic technology is still the most advanced

"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest problem with photovoltaic, hydroelectric and wind power generation is their instability. Unless you use a Dyson sphere [dog head]]"

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the expanding comment section with great anticipation.

He knew that under this type of video, the comment section would generally discuss some technical details, and there was nothing good worth digging out.

No, when the three dots stopped jumping and disappeared, the first one was something he couldn't understand.
"Internal combustion engine, Dyson sphere? What is this?"

"Don't worry about it, just write it down first!"

"The energy conversion efficiency is too low?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the comment. Unfortunately, no one responded to it, and there was no specific news.

As for energy conversion, they only knew a few: electrical energy converted into thermal energy - heat is generated quickly, and thermal energy converted into mechanical energy - steam engine.

Or does energy conversion occur when electricity is generated?
"Could it be that internal combustion engines and Dyson spheres improve the efficiency of energy conversion?" Everyone started to guess.

(End of this chapter)