There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 228 Steam Spinning and Steamships
Once Nie Yu made the decision, the Great Han Steam Engine Bureau, located in Jingzhou Prefecture, Hubei Province, immediately dispatched a group of craftsmen to begin modifying the current model of steam engine.

Although the output power of the steam engine in the Han Dynasty is still very low, barely keeping up with the European steam engines of the same era, it is still more than enough for stamping coins and drawing the rifling of firearms.

The craftsmen at the Great Han Dynasty's Steam Engine Bureau already had a plan. It was simply a matter of referencing the previous rifled gun's drawbar mechanism, connecting an external stamping press to the steam engine, and using the steam engine's connecting rod to generate power so that the stamping press could automatically press and mint coins.

However, the steam-powered coin minting machine is relatively simple. At present, the main research and development bottleneck of the Great Han Steam Engine Bureau is still the steam-powered spinning machine and steam-powered warship.

That's right, the Han Dynasty has already developed the European spinning jenny. With the blueprints and design concepts, it would be quite easy to build it.

Because it was made by the craftsmen of the Han Dynasty, it certainly couldn't still be called the Spinning Jenny. The Han Emperor personally named it the "First Year Model Spinning Machine," signifying that it was the first new model spinning machine of the Han Dynasty in the first year of Xinghua.

The spinning machine of the first year still required manual spinning, but its spinning efficiency was eight times higher than that of the original spinning machine.

The Han Dynasty did not rush to promote the Yuannian Machine. The spinning efficiency of the Yuannian Machine was too high. If it were to be promoted forcibly without any preparation, it would definitely cause a major shock to the cotton textile industry of the Han Dynasty.

The Industrial Revolution liberated productive forces, but it was not a panacea. There are always time-travel novels that introduce the spinning jenny, allowing people to make a fortune in ancient times through cost-efficiency, without ever considering the potentially disastrous consequences of such a radical revolution in spinning technology.

When the spinning jenny first came out in Europe, the inventors spent half their lives having their house burned and vandalized by angry spinning workers, and were later driven out of their town, where they almost died.

This was in Britain, which was already in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution and had a small population, so the impact wasn't too severe. If this had happened in China, the upheaval would have been enormous. Forcibly implementing such a policy without any prior preparation would essentially be tantamount to forcing the people to rebel.

Even if the people don't resist, the sudden increase in cotton yarn production will definitely saturate the market quickly, causing cotton yarn prices to plummet. Don't even think about making money; it would be a miracle if the market didn't collapse.

After discussing with his cabinet ministers, Nie Yu finally decided not to promote the first-year machine for the time being.

Once the Han Dynasty expands to the Jiangnan region and gains control of the raw silk market there, the Yuan Nian machine will be brought out and first promoted on a small scale. This will allow the weavers and artisans of Jiangnan, who rely on this for their livelihood, to gradually adapt. At the same time, it will also open up the raw silk market to overseas vassal states through the ports along the southeastern coast.

Relying solely on internal resources is insufficient to handle such a large volume of goods; it is still necessary to extract profits from external vassal states.

With the first year's machine already produced, Nie Yu then ordered the Steam Engine Bureau and the Ministry of Works to immediately begin developing whether steam engines could be used to link spinning machines, replacing manual spinning with steam spinning.

The first year of the Han Dynasty sounds impressive, but it was already a bit too late.

The British had spinning jenny thirty years ago, and now they even have cotton spinning factories that use spinning jenny entirely. While ruthlessly exploiting and reaping the colonies, they also take the opportunity to annex land, allowing capitalism to expand rapidly, and they treat the British people as their own children.

Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution led to the expansion of factories and the growth of capitalism. As a result, large amounts of land were acquired by these factories, leading to a surge in land loss and poverty, and creating too many factors of social instability.

To prevent rebellions by displaced people in Britain, the British Parliament was forced to increase the severity of punishments, with anyone caught stealing even half a loaf of bread being exiled to Australia to live as a wild man.

……

Jingzhou.

"No, this still won't work!"

"The steam engine is too powerful; it can easily tear cotton yarn."

"Master Wu, how about turning the power down a bit?"

"It can't be any smaller. Doctor Liu, you've never worked with a steam engine before, so you don't know how powerful it is. Cotton yarn is so soft that even a little bit of force from a human hand can break several strands, let alone the immense power of a steam engine."

"Old Wu, do you think we could lengthen the connecting rod a bit more?"

"Lengthen it further? Even if it works, how can it be used? And if the rod is too long, how can the steam engine maintain a stable power output?"

"Hey, it would be better if this cotton yarn were a little stronger."

"..." Several craftsmen were sitting around a steam spinning machine, and several young officials from the Ministry of Works were working with them.

It's obvious that the steam spinning machine has stalled again. Compared to the initial prototype built at the beginning of the year, the current steam spinning machine is much more refined, with a more stable structure and output power.

However, while the power output was stable, the cotton yarn on the steam spinning machine could not be spun normally at all, and would be torn by the steam engine if left for a little while.

Manually operated spinning machines allow for good control of force. However, steam spinning is different. The power output of a steam engine is far too strong, many times greater than that of human power. The fragile cotton yarn cannot withstand the steam power and is easily torn or damaged, rendering it unusable.

The craftsmen tried all sorts of methods, including extending the connecting rod and reducing the output power of the steam engine, but none of them could solve the problem. At most, they could only extend the working time of the spinning machine a little, but the cotton yarn would still break.

If it weren't for the Emperor's order, these responsible craftsmen and officials would have been compelled to complain: could such a violent machine as a steam engine really be used to spin soft cotton yarn?
The docks along the coast of Changyang.

"Huffing and puffing... booming and rumbling!"

Amidst thunderous roars, a small warship belonging to the Han army's navy was slowly sailing along the Yangtze River.

It did indeed sail by very slowly, at a speed so slow that it was barely faster than a person walking on the shore.

The only amazing thing was that the ship's sails were folded up. And it was still summer, the middle of the day, and there was hardly any wind on the shore, yet this warship could move on its own without any wind, which was simply incredible.

Several large black smokestacks have appeared on the once empty deck of the warship, billowing black smoke out of them.

If you go inside the ship's cabin, you can see many crew members and sailors, all shirtless, constantly adding coal fuel to the latest model steam engine installed in the cabin.

Yes, this is a steamship, and it's the world's first steamship!

Wang Ruoyu, the Minister of War, was standing on the shore at this moment, and exclaimed in amazement: "It can actually move on its own without wind. If we could make this ship even faster, even if it were only half of its normal speed, then our Great Han army would no longer need to worry about seasonal logistics and could declare war on the puppet Qing at any time."

As the Minister of War, Wang Ruoyu clearly had more to consider.

For him, steamships were not only useful for naval warfare; if fully utilized, they could also serve as inexpensive waterborne logistical supplies for land-based armies.

Water transport is clearly cheaper than land transport, but it can only be used as a logistical support. This is because it is limited by the water network and by the monsoon. The monsoon is too unpredictable, and without wind power, inland waterway transport is basically paralyzed.

But if the sailboats could operate automatically, the situation would be different. As long as the waterways weren't completely frozen, the Han dynasty could launch military campaigns anywhere by water at any time.

In other words, the Han Dynasty had completely seized the strategic initiative. The Han Dynasty could attack the Qing Dynasty by water, while the Qing Dynasty was limited by its backward sailing technology and could only rely on land routes.

Not only did they suffer huge losses, but they were also completely outmatched by the Han Dynasty in terms of troop deployment.

With the balance of power shifting, the Qing dynasty had already lost most of its battles even before the war began.

Don't think this is alarmist; the Crimean War, which began nearly sixty years later, saw Tsarist Russia attack the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, relying on British-supplied steamships and steam trains, and with a troop deployment speed and logistical capabilities ten times greater than Tsarist Russia, successfully wore down and defeated the much stronger Tsarist Russia.

Of course, this is still too early for the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty has built steamships, but they have too many shortcomings and problems. In Wang Ruoyu's words, the steamships are too slow.

This problem is currently unsolvable because the steam engine's output power is insufficient. The steam spinning machine manufacturers feel that the steam engine's power is too high and unsuitable for spinning, and are trying to reduce the power to solve the problem. Meanwhile, the shipbuilding craftsmen are still worried that the steam engine's power is too low. It's barely enough to drive a small boat, and it's doubtful whether it can even move a large warship.

However, there's no rush now. The Han Dynasty's current strategic plan prioritizes capturing Jiangnan, a major financial center previously controlled by the Qing Dynasty. Afterward, they will fully implement the Yuannian spinning machine in Jiangnan. Once the Yuannian machine is truly widespread and the first stage of the Industrial Revolution is complete, they can then proceed with the development of steam-powered spinning machines.

There was no rush for steamships either. Europe didn't have steamships yet, and they wouldn't appear for at least another ten years. Ten years was enough time for the Han Dynasty to solve the problem of insufficient steamship power, and even develop revolutionary means of transportation such as steam locomotives, trains, and airplanes.

(End of this chapter)