Longzang

Chapter 817 Ma Li
The birth of the inline three-cylinder spirit engine was worthy of the fortune it brought. Wei Yuan thought of hundreds of uses almost instantly, while Yu Zhizhuo had already completed a preparation document, listing dozens of industries that could be applied immediately.

The spirit energy engine has extremely high power; according to the new standards set by Qingming, the prototype engine can reach a maximum power of fifty horsepower.

In Qingming, "horsepower" does not refer to the strength of an ordinary horse, but rather the maximum power output that an average early-stage Dao Foundation cultivator can generate.

Yu Zhizhu organized hundreds of natural cultivators and five thousand template cultivators to conduct multiple tests, then filtered and optimized the data, and finally derived the basic power unit: horsepower.

An ordinary early-stage Dharma Aspect cultivator's striking power is roughly between forty and fifty horsepower. Three mid-stage Heavenly Foundation and Dao Foundation disciples, according to the Heavenly Azure Palace's merit standards, should normally have a striking power of twenty-four horsepower.

But once you sit inside this engine, it can output fifty horsepower, and that output can continue for an hour. If it's at a more economical output of twenty horsepower, it can operate for a whole day.

From this engine, Wei Yuan immediately saw the future direction of development: improving the efficiency of unit spiritual energy utilization.

Most cultivators have a vague concept of spiritual energy, and their understanding varies. Local Dao Foundation Ancestors often refer to it as "one breath of spiritual energy" or "two breaths of spiritual energy."

The Tai Chu Palace is far more adept at utilizing spiritual energy. Its array design, if not the best in the cultivation world, is certainly among the top three, and no one dares to claim that it is significantly stronger than the Tai Chu Palace.

Even so, the Wind Control Formation, passed down for many years, is completely outmatched in efficiency by the spiritual energy engine. The combination of formation and mechanical structure is surprisingly efficient.

Yu Zhizhuo stopped the engine and let Wei Yuan inspect it carefully, inside and out. The two then went into the workshop, where Yu Zhizhuo showed Wei Yuan the design drawings and explained the core design concepts. This explanation lasted for most of the day.

The core mechanism of the engine is extremely complex, far exceeding Wei Yuan's expectations. To stably convert spiritual energy into mechanical energy, the array used has dozens of nested layers and nearly a thousand mechanical parts.

Some components were extremely intricate and complex. A single, palm-sized control box contained four layers of three-dimensional arrays and hundreds of parts. If it weren't for Yu Zhizhuo's explanation, Wei Yuan probably wouldn't have been able to put it back together even if he had taken it apart himself.

The next crucial step is figuring out where to use the spirit engine.

After weighing the needs of various sectors, Wei Yuan concluded that the most urgent task at present was the textile factory.

Of the basic necessities of life—clothing, food, shelter, and transportation—Wei Yuan has largely solved the food problem and is beginning to move towards eating well. As for shelter, he has largely met most of his most basic needs, with millions already living in apartment buildings, although most of them are in drafty, dilapidated buildings like the Yuanzhi Tower.

But the clothing problem is far from solved. Qingming's brocade has become wildly popular in Jin and Zhao, and the brocade industry in the eight prefectures of Ningxi has been utterly destroyed, with only a few old craftsmen barely surviving. Zhao brocade, which was already small-scale, has been completely eradicated by Wei Yuan.

In both countries, more than a dozen counties are gradually converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, with tens of millions of acres already established. Among them, mulberry trees cover nearly one million acres.

Almost all of these raw materials were collected by Qingming, then transformed into mechanical brocade, and continuously transported back.

Brocade was the exclusive domain of the wealthy, and Wei Yuan was preparing to mass-produce cotton cloth this time. Qingming had been developing cotton weaving for several years, but had not yet made it large-scale, only meeting the cloth needs within the realm.

The textile factory was also part of Yu Zhizhuo's plan, and he had already conducted research on it. Using spirit energy engines as power sources, one engine could drive two hundred looms, making the processing cost of cotton fabric unimaginably low. As production increased, the cost of the factory and looms would be spread out and become almost negligible.

Yu Zhizhuo estimated that in the initial stage, the cost of a piece of cotton cloth would be half the market price. However, once the scale expands to more than a thousand looms, the cost will be one-tenth of the current market price, and the quality will be far superior to that of homespun cloth. It will be twice as durable, and its smoothness and color will be on a completely different level.

Although Qingming's machine-woven cloth is of good quality, the problem is that there is no cotton cloth market outside of Qingming. Cotton cloth is cheap, and almost every household in the region can weave homespun cloth. Moreover, the people in the surrounding countries are too poor to even afford a bolt of cotton cloth costing a few taels of silver. It is not uncommon for a quilt or a pair of cotton trousers to be passed down for generations.

People in different countries don't care about the quality of cotton cloth; homespun cloth works just as well, and since they weave it themselves, they don't have to pay for it.

Fortunately, in the past two years, Wei Yuan, under the guise of the Southern Military Council Minister, has plundered the five southwestern prefectures on a massive scale, practically stripping the land bare and taking away 17 million people. Three to four tenths of the population of each prefecture were abducted by Wei Yuan. Once these people arrive in Qingming, they will gradually have money and will need clothes.

To be honest, Yu Zhizhuo, while not opposing Wei Yuan's decision, was somewhat puzzled. He didn't quite understand why Wei Yuan was so focused on improving the quality of life for the mortals of Qingming. In his view, the people of Qingming were already living well enough; looking around the world, where else could you find a place like Qingming?

There are many places where spirit engines are needed, but the production of engines is quite limited. Using them in textile factories means that other industries have to wait.

Wei Yuan, however, could not explain that this action was actually for the sake of human fortune. With human fortune, there would be room to struggle and resist when facing an immortal.

In addition to internal demand, Wei Yuan also plans to explore a large market: military uniforms.

Qingming's army is growing larger and larger, requiring a large amount of high-quality fabric just for uniforms and clothing. In addition, Wei Yuan has his eye on the King of Ying's Northern Army, which numbers 1.5 million, along with the families of 9 million military personnel.

Zhao Jun also needs military uniforms, but how many he can sell depends on Li Chengfeng.

There is also an almost inexhaustible market: the witch clan.

Once the textile factory is completed, Wei Yuan plans to petition the Prince of Jin to have a portion of the military pay distributed using military cotton cloth produced in Qingming, which would then be sent directly to the Prince of Ying's northern army. This would likely infuriate the Minister of War, but Wei Yuan is not afraid of him; if he can't win an argument in the main hall, he can simply resort to physical violence.

Wei Yuan is no longer the young man who first entered the court. Even if the six ministers were tied together, they wouldn't be enough to defeat him.

However, fighting in the palace is rather unsightly and will inevitably leave a bad reputation as barbarians in history books. It would be best to subdue the enemy without fighting.

So Wei Yuan couldn't help but think of the phrase "sword and shoes in court."
Besides the cotton textile industry, Wei Yuan identified another key application area as cargo airships and large heavy-duty trucks. This is primarily due to considerations for military needs.

The logistical needs of Qingming in its current war effort are astronomical. The amount of ammunition and artillery required to transport far exceeds that of traditional provisions. A single soldier on campaign can consume hundreds of kilograms of various supplies per month. Sufficient supplies are essential for combat effectiveness.

There is also a huge demand for spirit energy engines in forging and mining. Wei Yuan and Yu Zhizhu discussed it in detail, and after several days, they finally came up with a general plan.

The most important item was still the large cargo airship. Once the problem of long-distance transport of supplies could be solved, Wei Yuan could launch military campaigns abroad.

Wei Yuan then wrote another letter to Li Chengfeng.

Upon receiving the letter, Li Chengfeng reluctantly stepped forward to court the next day and reported: "Currently, the Bishui region has a population of 500,000, which is far from the homeland of Great Zhao, making travel extremely inconvenient. Your subject requests that a road be built between Bishui and the Zhao territory to facilitate military operations!"

(End of this chapter)