Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

“Commoner greets His Highness the Crown Prince! Please, have a seat, please.” Han Qi busily ushered the man into the room.

The others, hearing the voices, were immediately alarmed and stood up in a panic, lining up along the wall.

Fang Zheng Yi didn't stand on ceremony and sat down heavily on the chair.

Looking at the dazzling array of delicacies on the table, the anger in his heart began to grow again.

It seemed that he had been slacking off lately, and hadn't noticed his subordinates being so lazy.

In the past, he didn't mind them trying to get more funding; after all, 'a cook doesn't steal, five grains won't be collected.' Every industry has such problems to some extent.

As long as they honestly did their job well after meeting their needs, he didn't mind spending a little extra money!

Now, he was truly disappointed.

The steam engine was the most important thing in his eyes, and anyone who dared to joke about it would definitely not have a good time!

While Fang Zheng Yi was still thinking about how to punish them, Li Yuanzhao had already begun to look around.

This archive wasn't big, with a large table in the middle, and the three walls were filled with various categorized materials.

Parts, experimental records, material records, and so on...

Before he could finish looking, Han Qi said with difficulty, "Master... the funding is really gone... The money we spent on gambling on football was really our own."

"I haven't even asked you yet, and you still have the face to talk!" Fang Zheng Yi slammed the table. "Today, I brought the Crown Prince here to see how your research is going. If you can't produce results that satisfy me, everyone will go to the Imperial Prison to reflect, and I'll replace you with a new batch of people to research!"

It's over, Master is really angry.

Han Qi shivered and said, "Master, I'll take you to see it, right now. Everything is in the newly built factory..."

"Let's go!"

Fang Zheng Yi didn't waste any words, got up and walked out of the room first, with Li Yuanzhao following closely behind.

Han Qi breathed a sigh of relief, while the others were in a sweat: "Old Han, what should we do! Master is really angry."

"Don't be afraid! If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't need to fear ghosts knocking on your door. You guys go to the factory and prepare, don't let anything go wrong during the demonstration later."

After Han Qi finished speaking, he hurriedly left the room to lead the way for Fang Zheng Yi.

On the way, Han Qi was still explaining incessantly: "Master, this is a misunderstanding, we really spent our own money on gambling on football. The Embroidered Uniform Guard checks the accounts once a month, we can't deceive you."

"However... we just finished a busy period recently. Several brothers were complaining about being tired, so we... took two days off. You see, we didn't go home even on our days off, we were still at the research institute..."

Listening to his explanation, Fang Zheng Yi's mood calmed down a lot: "No matter what, I want to see the results today, and I will find someone to investigate the rest."

Han Qi forced a smile and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Hopefully, Master will be satisfied today, otherwise it seems like we're in trouble.

After walking not far, they arrived at the backyard of the small building, but this backyard was quite strange, it wasn't open-air but had a shed built over it.

Inside the shed were strange-shaped devices built with iron pipes and bricks, and several people were gathered around the devices, some adding coal, some dismantling the shed.

Fang Zheng Yi had never seen these strange-shaped things before, but as he scanned around, he still found a familiar object.

An object similar to a pocket watch was on the iron pipe of the device, it was a pressure gauge...?

Han Qi said: "Master, this is a steam pump, connected to the well, it can pump water up, please wait a moment."

After waiting for a while, the machine began to operate, making a roaring sound, and white smoke began to slowly rise from above.

Li Yuanzhao's face showed a look of horror, and he exclaimed: "What's this strange noise?"

Han Qi hurriedly explained, followed by a string of difficult terms, which Fang Zheng Yi and Li Yuanzhao couldn't understand.

While he was explaining, the pump had already begun to operate, and water was constantly flowing out of the exposed pipe opening.

Li Yuanzhao said in surprise: "It really pumped it up! Old Fang, look!"

Fang Zheng Yi was very surprised.

Steam pump... this is really interesting, it seems that the people at the Steam Research Institute didn't waste their time, they worked hard.

You should know that the practical value of this thing is still quite large.

Seeing the surprised expressions on both of their faces, Han Qi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master, are you satisfied?"

Before Fang Zheng Yi could answer, Li Yuanzhao asked first: "What is this thing for? If it's just for pumping water, building such a thing seems a bit redundant."

Han Qi was instantly embarrassed.

Yes, they thought so too. Ever since this steam pump was built, they all felt it was useless, so they hadn't reported it.

Just as he was wondering how to explain, Fang Zheng Yi spoke: "Your Highness, this thing is very useful. When mining, some mine shafts have serious water accumulation and cannot be mined. If you use manpower to carry water, the time required would be immeasurable, but with this, it will be much more convenient."

"It can also pump water for fish ponds, draining the water to touch the fish."

Han Qi slapped his thigh and said excitedly: "Master is wise! That's what I thought!"

"Then what are the shortcomings of this thing...?" Fang Zheng Yi added.

Han Qi's expression froze, and he stammered: "Fuel consumption is high... and it's easy to explode. But Master, give us some time, and we will definitely solve it!"

Fang Zheng Yi felt regret in his heart. It seemed that it was still far from perfect, but it already had initial practical value, which was a good thing.

"Are there any other things? You haven't only come up with this one useful thing after such a long time, have you?"

"Yes! There are more, Master, please follow me."

Soon, the three arrived at the first factory building.

This factory building was built with cement, covering a large area, wide and long, and the most eye-catching thing was the oversized iron door.

After Han Qi opened the iron door, the interior of the factory building was revealed.

Many windows were opened on the surrounding walls for lighting, and the most striking part was the oval iron track in the center of the factory building.

Fang Zheng Yi nodded secretly.

Although the train hadn't been built yet, they had obviously already created the track model he had described, but there should be matching devices as well.

Otherwise, trying to claim credit with just a track would be asking for a scolding!

Li Yuanzhao pointed to the track and asked: "What is this, what is it for?"

Han Qi said: "Your Highness, this is a track, a car can run on it. Your Highness, Master, please wait a moment, I'll go get some things."

After speaking, Han Qi ran to the depths of the factory building to find things.

A car? Isn't running a car on a track setting limits for yourself?

Li Yuanzhao was full of question marks.

But the next moment, Han Qi was already running back in a hurry, holding two long objects.

He placed the things on the track in front of Fang Zheng Yi, and Fang Zheng Yi immediately felt his eyes light up.

This train model was made authentically!

Han Qi claimed credit: "Master! This is the experimental model we made. You see these two small cars, each one has been improved, and the third generation is still customizing parts."

"Our Steam Institute's internal research code name is War God, this first generation is called Primitive War God, and the second generation is called Charge War God. In a while, add water and inject kerosene, and it will be able to run! What do you think?"

The corners of Fang Zheng Yi's mouth twitched twice: "Good... good name."