CHAPTER 904: CHAPTER 902: EXPLANATION

Jiang Yifan frowned: Industrialization process? And what is technology?

The new terms in these few sentences puzzled Jiang Yifan. He rubbed his temples and said, "Ah Yan, slow down a bit, explain it to me in detail. I don’t quite understand what you’re saying."

Ye Xinyan paused for a moment, then laughed in surprise. For someone like Jiang Yifan, who has never been exposed to machines and doesn’t understand what thermal energy or mechanical energy is, let alone how they convert, it’s only natural he wouldn’t know what industrialization is and can’t comprehend what she’s talking about.

She shifted direction, saying, "To put it simply, in my memory, the difficulty in early iron smelting where I’m from was that the smelting temperature couldn’t be raised, and the main reason for insufficient temperature was inadequate air blast. You understand this, right?"

Jiang Yifan nodded, and Ye Xinyan continued, "In the era I grew up in, over two hundred years ago, the Steam Engine was created by some wise people from Foreign Lands and was widely used in various fields of society, including smelting.

The Steam Engine can convert energy... anyway, through a series of mechanical structures and burning heat, it provides a large air blast to the smelting furnace, allowing carbon to burn better, significantly raising the smelting temperature, thus improving smelting efficiency and increasing output."

"Foreign Lands again..." Jiang Yifan frowned, and once more, a sense of crisis rose in his heart.

"Let’s not talk about Foreign Lands for now," said Ye Xinyan. It’s a long story, and the Steam Engine played an important role in it, leading not only to the prosperity of the steel industry and strengthening ocean-going vessels but also providing Foreign Lands’ giant ships with sufficient power for long-distance travel and expansion. Alas, it’s all tears.

"I want Wong Qiao to take a look at the structure and operation of the smelting furnace in the Smeltery Workshop. Based on the smelting furnace, create a Steam Engine for smelting air blast. Even an early, simpler version would do. Once we have an early Steam Engine, with a little guidance, it can naturally be applied to other industries. It’s a machine that can drive the process of history, very crucial."

Jiang Yifan thought for a moment and asked, "But isn’t it just blowing wind into the furnace? The bellows and wheezeways used in iron smelting and forge also generate large airflow. Why make a Steam Engine specifically?"

Ye Xinyan shook her head, "It’s different. The air blast volume of the Steam Engine and those bellows aren’t the same matter; their efficiency is incomparable. The wind volume generated by such rotation speed and force is remarkable, impossible by manpower..."

Ye Xinyan prattled on, using what she considered simple and clear language to give Jiang Yifan a primer on early industrial machines.

As a result, Jiang Yifan listened intently but still shook his head: "This, I truly don’t excel at. You talked so long, yet I still don’t quite understand. You mentioned its various uses, besides smelting, what else could it be used for?" Apparently, he had some interest in this.

Ye Xinyan, somewhat proud, said, "There’s a lot, textile, underground mining, ship sailing, etc. The conditions here simply can’t keep up with the Steam Engine’s usage. The most widespread application of the Steam Engine is on tracks and ships, if possible, it could also significantly impact the textile industry."

Jiang Yifan was very puzzled, regarding textiles he could barely accept, but...

"This kind of thing? What can it do on tracks?"

As expected, he couldn’t imagine it. Ye Xinyan laughed, "It can replace horses, pulling incredibly heavy loads, several hundred or thousand times more than horses can carry, racing along the tracks. Not only carrying a lot of goods but also incredibly fast, faster than the Thousand-Miles Horse you speak of."

"This thing, shouldn’t this thing be an iron lump?" Jiang Yifan felt his tongue was about to tie itself in knots, "Could it really run on its own?"

Ye Xinyan nodded, smiling, "Yes, it can run on its own, as long as it gets enough heat from combustion, it can pull carriages, very heavy, many carriages, and run on its own."

Jiang Yifan forgot his amazement, yearning, "Can you and Ah Qiao make this thing?"

Ye Xinyan rolled her eyes at him, "Do you think I’m an Immortal? I definitely can’t make it."

Saying this, she clenched her fist forcefully, "Yes! I place my hope on Wong Qiao and Master Shi, hoping they can create it. If they can’t make it temporarily, then record all the trial processes, maybe future generations will be inspired when they see it, and they can continue to create it."

Ah Yan is working hard, but it’s really to make others work hard, isn’t it?

Jiang Yifan stroked her cheek, smiling, "You’re really something, you’ve seen these things yourself, understand them roughly, yet place your hope on others. Such unimaginable apparatus, how can you expect Wong Qiao and Master Shi to create it?"

Ye Xinyan coyly pushed his hand away and said righteously, "Putting the right people in the right place is a skill, you know? However capable a person is, they’re still just one person, pooling efforts and ideas is the key. You have to believe in the wisdom and talent of the vast working people, you know?"

"..." Did his wife just teach him a lesson?

Forget it, forget it, the sages said, only women and petty people are hard to raise, Ah Yan is also a woman, how could he counter her crooked logic?

Back to the main topic, Jiang Yifan took some paper, ink, and brush from the side, spread it on the kang table, and assumed a recording posture, "Ah Yan, tell me what role this Steam Engine can play, and how it leads the industrialization process you mentioned."

What’s he up to? Ye Xinyan wondered.

Jiang Yifan explained, "I want to make all these things you tell me into a record of strange tales. Whether it’s useful for now or not, as long as it can be passed down, it might inspire craftsmen in future specific periods as a guide for them."

"Yes, yes, yes, this is possible." Ye Xinyan nodded repeatedly. At that moment, she thought of science fiction novels.

Back then, the sci-fi novels like submarines, lunar landings, and mysterious islands in Verne’s pen seemed so bizarre, distant, and unbelievable, as if they could only exist in people’s imagination, never to appear in the real world.

Yet, in just a few decades, those magical ideas started to come true one by one.

This era absolutely cannot accept transmigrators and a world millennia later, but it can accept strange tales. Many fallen scholars even make a living by writing such things, and many storytellers feed their families by telling such tales.

If Jiang Yifan could write these into a classic, passing them down, it might indeed become a reference for achieving industrialization in the future.

"Then let me tell you about mining, textile, smelting, and trains, ships related to the Steam Engine..." and the humiliation brought by those ironclad ships and powerful cannons.

...