I founded a heavy industry group in the late Ming Dynasty.

After Chapter 157, there are only fire oxen, no steam engines.

Chapter 156 Upon reaching the dock, the Tianqi Emperor stared blankly at the mountain of timber: "This—this? So much timber, how many ships can be built?"

"Based on preliminary estimates, we can build five to six hundred ships of this size, which have a displacement of 4,400 liters!"

"My goodness, Minister Chen, you are such a spendthrift! Our Great Ming Dynasty doesn't need so many warships. One or two hundred would be enough."

"Your Majesty, you may not know this, but in Europe there is a small country called Venice, with only a little over 200,000 people, yet they possess more than a thousand large armed merchant ships, each exceeding 3,000 li in length. There is also a country called the Netherlands, with less than five million people, equivalent to a prefecture in our Great Ming Dynasty, yet they have twenty to thirty thousand large ships, known as the 'Seafaring Horsemen'!"

Chen Ying was referring to the Netherlands decades later. The Netherlands, like Portugal, was still part of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish Empire remained the world's leading superpower; even at its peak, the Ming Dynasty's territory was smaller than Spain's. Its European mainland included the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Burgundy, Franche-de-Provence, and...

Comte (eastern France), the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and many other overseas colonies, including Brazil, Mexico, Mozambique, and Angola.

However, with the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the Spanish Empire was dethroned, and its former vassals, the Netherlands and Portugal, subsequently gained independence. Just like the Spanish ocean-going fleet, the Dutch plundered them, the Portuguese plundered them, and the British and French plundered them as well; Spain was now essentially surrounded by enemies.

The Spanish Empire was almost like the Ming Dynasty, declining in power. However, the Spanish Empire only lost all its colonies and was internally divided into dozens of countries, while the Ming Dynasty ceased to exist.

Chen Ying led the Tianqi Emperor to the factory gate. His feet seemed nailed to the ground. Before him stood a machine he had never seen before, over three zhang tall, entirely cast iron, with a rugged frame, like a crouching steel behemoth. The boiler roared with charcoal fire, steam gushing from the pipes with a low hiss. A flywheel spun overhead, a belt driving a massive saw blade up and down, splitting a red pine tree that would take three people to encircle in two. The saw blade shrieked as it cut into the wood, sending sawdust flying and filling the air with the rich scent of pine.

"What...what is this?"

The Tianqi Emperor's voice trembled slightly.

Chen Ying stood beside him, his expression calm: "Your Majesty, this is the Fire Ox Sawing Machine."

The steam engine, also known as the fire ox, was a project that Chen Ying began developing after moving from Yongcheng to Shahe. The principle of the steam engine is not complicated, and the Ming Dynasty had also conducted relevant research, but none of them succeeded. This was actually a semi-finished product. There was no other way; the weather in Lushun was too cold, and to produce in winter, there had to be sufficient power. However, the flow of the Lushun River was too small and the seasonality was obvious.

Chen Ying was worried about causing unnecessary trouble in Shahe, so he moved these semi-finished products to Lushun to serve as basic power sources, using and improving them as they went.

"A fire-powered saw?"

"right!"

When Chen Ying arrived in the Ming Dynasty, he wouldn't allow the term "steam engine" to appear. It could only be the Ming Dynasty's "fire ox." In the future, the whole world could only follow the Ming Dynasty's standards. Why call power "horsepower"? Why not "ox power"?

Centimeters will never appear again; only the ruler of the Ming Dynasty will exist. Many people think that the standard of size is somewhat cumbersome, but the problem is that as people of the Ming Dynasty, they are far more familiar with the concept and understanding of size than Chen Ying. He still needs to silently convert it in his mind, but the problem is that the people of the Ming Dynasty have an extremely clear understanding. This is the environment in which they have been learning since childhood. Square meters do not exist.

The Tianqi Emperor murmured repeatedly, his gaze never leaving the machine.

One craftsman lifted the split plank off the saw, while another immediately pushed another log onto the slide. The saw blade fell again, and the shrill whistling sound rang out once more. The Tianqi Emperor involuntarily took a step back, then stopped. He reached out to touch the machine, then withdrew his hand.

"Chen Qing, is this thing yours?"

"It was I who spent more than two years, leading dozens of craftsmen, repeatedly experimenting and improving it."

Chen Ying pointed to the machine and explained each part: "Your Majesty, please look. That's a boiler, which heats water to produce steam; that's a cylinder, which uses the steam to drive the piston in a reciprocating motion; that's a flywheel, which converts the piston's linear motion into rotational motion; that's a belt, which transmits the flywheel's power to the saw blade; and that's a guide rail, which smoothly feeds the logs under the saw blade. Currently, this machine is only a semi-finished product. Its thermal efficiency is not high, steam leakage is serious, and the reciprocating speed of the saw blade is not stable enough. But when used for sawing wood, it is already dozens of times faster than manual labor."

The Tianqi Emperor fell silent. He walked to the slide rail, squatted down, and carefully examined the cut surface left by the saw blade. The cut surface was as smooth as a mirror, without even a burr. He reached out and touched it, then brought it closer to smell it, as if confirming something.

"It would take at least half a day to saw a log like this by hand," Chen Ying continued. "This machine can do it in just fifteen minutes. Moreover, the sawn planks are of uniform thickness and have a smooth surface, requiring no further processing."

The Tianqi Emperor stood up, his gaze fixed intently on the machine. He suddenly asked, "What else can this thing do?"

Chen Ying thought for a moment and said, "I use it to drive saws, gantry cranes, and cranes. After future improvements, it can also drive looms, mills, and water pumps. It can be used wherever power is needed."

The Tianqi Emperor took a deep breath and slowly exhaled: "Minister Chen, this thing of yours is even more powerful than a cannon."

Chen Ying was taken aback.

The Tianqi Emperor pointed at the steam-powered saw, his voice strained: "Cannons can kill, but this thing can change everything. With it, shipbuilding can be dozens of times faster, cannon manufacturing can be dozens of times faster, everything can be dozens of times faster. It can transform the workshops of the Ming Dynasty into—into what?"

"To become the factory of the world."

Chen Ying continued, "Your Majesty, with the steam engine, the artisans of the Ming Dynasty can be freed from heavy manual labor and can do more technical work. The workshops of the Ming Dynasty can be transformed into factories, producing goods in large quantities and building ships in large quantities, thus multiplying the national strength of the Ming Dynasty."

The Tianqi Emperor remained silent. He walked around the steam saw, sometimes looking up at the flywheel, sometimes looking down at the cylinders, and sometimes feeling the heat emanating from the pipes with his hand. In his eyes, there was fear, excitement, and a complex emotion that was difficult to describe.

"Minister Chen," he suddenly stopped, "I ask you, do the Jurchens possess this?"

Chen Ying shook his head: "No."

"What about the Europeans?"

Chen Ying thought for a moment: "Europeans may also be researching similar things, but I have neither seen nor heard of them. At least for now, the fire oxen of the Ming Dynasty are unique in the world."

The Tianqi Emperor suddenly laughed, a smug laugh: "Good! Good! My empire still possesses such treasures!"

He turned to Chen Ying, his eyes gleaming: "Minister Chen, tell me, can this thing be loaded onto a ship?"

Chen Ying was taken aback: "Your Majesty means—the fire ox boat?"

"Yes! Fire ox ships!" The Tianqi Emperor's eyes shone with an alarming light. "With fire oxen, ships won't need sails. Without sails, they won't fear headwinds, calm seas, or strong currents. The Ming fleet can go wherever it wants, and no one can stop it!"

Chen Ying was startled. He hadn't expected the Tianqi Emperor to have conceived of steamships so quickly. This was at least ten years earlier than he had anticipated. Perhaps this was the Tianqi Emperor's intuition as a craftsman.

"Your Majesty is wise," Chen Ying bowed and said, "In theory, a steam engine can be installed on a ship to drive a paddle wheel or a propeller, enabling the ship to sail even in calm or headwind conditions. However, the current steam engine is too cumbersome and has too low thermal efficiency, making it impractical. I need time to further improve it."

"How long will it take?" the Tianqi Emperor pressed.

Chen Ying thought for a moment: "It will take at least three to five years, and at most ten years."

The Tianqi Emperor nodded, not disappointed, but smiling instead: "Ten years it is. I can wait. Do a good job. I'll be in the capital, waiting for your good news."

Chen Ying knelt down: "Your Majesty, I will certainly not fail in your trust."

Watching this scene, Sun Chengzong was filled with emotion. He suddenly recalled the book "Tiangong Kaiwu" (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature) he had read in his youth, the descriptions of craftsmen's skills, and the skilled artisans who had ensured the continuation of Chinese civilization. At this moment, he seemed to see an unprecedented picture, in which the artisans of the Ming Dynasty were no longer considered to be performing "minor skills," but rather the backbone propelling the empire forward.

"Your Majesty," Sun Chengzong stepped forward and said softly, "it's time to return to the ship. It's getting late."

The Tianqi Emperor nodded, glanced at the steam-powered saw again, and then turned to leave. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back at the factory. Through the open door, he could still see the shadow of the steam-powered saw, flickering in the firelight, like a giant beast awakening.

"Master Sun," he suddenly spoke, "tell me, if I had met Chen Boying earlier, would the Ming Dynasty have been different?"

Sun Chengzong was silent for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, there's no need to dwell on the past. What matters is the present and the future."

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