"Come, try to put these two iron plates together," Roland said.
Anna stretched out her finger and pressed it against the joint of the iron plates. Flames erupted from her fingertip, melting the joint at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Reduce the heat and do it again on the back."
She nodded and repeated the process. The two iron plates were joined at a 90-degree angle, firmly welded together.
Roland carefully inspected the joint and found that the effect was exactly as he had imagined—a perfect weld with no flaws. With a little polishing to remove the fluid traces of the molten iron, the two iron plates were almost indistinguishable from a single forging.
"Very good, Anna xiaojie, simply amazing," Roland couldn't help but exclaim. "Next, let's join the other two iron plates."
"What is this? An iron... bucket?"
"No, it's a cylinder," he corrected.
"Cylinder?" Anna repeated, puzzled.
"Yes, it can be used to fill air," Roland pointed to another square iron plate. "See the small hole on top? Air enters the cylinder from this small hole and pushes the piston—uh, the piston is an iron plate that is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, and it can move freely within the cylinder."
Even Anna was confused by so many newly coined words, "Then these... cylinders, pistons, and things, what are they for?"
"To build a machine that can move automatically."
The steam engine brought the power needed for humanity's first industrial revolution, completely liberating human and animal power.
Its principle diagram is familiar to every mechanical dog; simply put, it's an enlarged version of a kettle. The boiled steam is led into the cylinder, pushing the piston and connecting rod, converting thermal energy into mechanical energy.
The principle is exceptionally simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy to manufacture. The difficulty lies in the airtightness of the cylinder and piston, as well as the manufacture of the gas pipe. Without enough metalworking skills, it's virtually impossible to manually forge a qualified cylinder.
However, Anna's ability perfectly compensated for the lack of craftsmanship.
Roland only needed to pre-design four iron plates of the same size, have the blacksmith shop cast and polish them, then use right-angle plates to fix the shape, and then have Anna weld them together to obtain a square cylinder with extremely high rigidity. With the help of the witch, he didn't have to build a cannon boring machine and then process a round cylinder like in the traditional manufacturing process. The other large parts were the same; they could be made into small pieces and then spliced together. In this way, even a small workshop like a blacksmith shop could work together to manufacture all the parts needed for a steam engine.
In fact, before welding was invented, people could only rely on bolts or rivets to connect small parts, and the inside of the cylinder had to be smooth, which conventional connections obviously couldn't achieve.
The only trouble was the gas pipe. There was nothing particularly special about its manufacturing method; a long iron plate was heated until red-hot, then placed in a grooved mold, and hammered into shape, one hammer blow at a time. This was also the manufacturing method for the barrel of a muzzle-loading flintlock gun. It's just that the gun barrel needed to be straightened afterwards, bored with rifling, and so on, which was more complicated.
The trouble was that Roland couldn't bring the blacksmith to his backyard. The witch couldn't be exposed yet, and blacksmithing was not his strength. Helpless, he had to let the chief knight do it for him, while he directed from the side.
After tinkering for three days, Roland finally pieced together the first steam engine in his backyard.
"This is the thing you said has infinite power?" Carter frowned as he sized up the strange machine. He was sure that this thing had nothing to do with any evil cult rituals. Every iron lump on it was installed by him personally, and it looked like a sealed furnace. It would be too unreasonable if a demon could be attracted by it.
But how could a pile of iron lumps move? It looked clumsy, without feet, could it even fly?
But in Roland's eyes, this seemingly simple machine exuded industrial beauty. Standing on the shoulders of giants, he naturally didn't take the route of Newcomen steam engine - Watt steam engine - improved steam engine. His first prototype was already a high-pressure steam engine with double connecting rods and sliding valves. It wasn't much more difficult to make than the most primitive steam engine, the key was some innovative ideas.
"You'll know later."
Roland poured a bucket of water into the steam chamber and asked Anna to light the firewood.
A dozen minutes later, the water boiled and bubbled. Soon, there was a crackling sound from inside the cylinder. Roland knew that it was the sound of the cylinder body expanding from the heat. The iron plate of the piston was thinner, and its expansion and deformation would be greater than that of the cylinder body, and would eventually firmly press against the cylinder wall.
"Isn't this just boiling water? I didn't expect it to really be a stove," Carter muttered.
When the cylinder was filled with steam, a scene that made Roland extremely excited appeared. The piston began to push the connecting rod outwards, and when it moved to the top, another connecting rod pulled the sliding valve, and the steam pushed the piston inwards again. The two connecting rods went back and forth, turning the wheel rapidly, and as the heat increased, the speed quickly reached its peak.
The machine made a harsh roar, and the exhaust port spewed out white steam, giving off an unstoppable momentum.
"Is this what you call... the power hidden in nature?" Anna asked blankly.
The chief knight's face was full of disbelief. He had spent a lot of effort to install the big iron wheel, but now it was spinning like a feather, and standing next to it, he could even feel the airflow from the wheel blowing on his face—this could only mean that the iron lump in front of him was incredibly powerful.
A trace of unease gradually rose in his heart.
His Highness said that it could replace human and animal power. If he wasn't lying, when it replaced horses to pull chariots, with just this brute force, even ten knights would be difficult to resist.
It takes fifteen years to train a qualified knight, but it only takes three days to build such an iron furnace. Including the time it takes for the blacksmith to make the parts, it's only a week.
It doesn't need to be fed, it's not afraid of cold or hunger, and it's not afraid of arrows and swords. As long as a ram is installed in the front, it can rampage on the battlefield.
In that case... is there still a need for traditional knights to exist?
*******************
In the evening, when Roland returned to his bedroom, he saw Nightingale again.
This time she wasn't wearing a hood, and was sitting at the table with a smile, fiddling with a few parchment papers, "It seems that the rumors outside really can't be believed. Everyone says that the Fourth Prince is uneducated and has a bad personality, but in reality, he's no less than a court master. Is this the design drawing of that iron furnace? You call it... a steam engine, right?"
Damn, can't you give people a little privacy? Coming and going as you please, do you think this is your home! Roland complained inwardly, but still replied nonchalantly, "It's the design drawing, but without Anna's help, it's just a drawing."
"What can it do?"
"A lot, transport ore, drain water, smelt iron, forge, it can play a role in any place that requires a lot of effort."
"Then I'll take it," Nightingale rolled up the parchment and put it into her robe, "There are also people in the Co-prosperity Society who can control flames."
"Hey—"
She waved her hand, stopping Roland's protest, "Of course, I'm not taking your things for nothing, take a look at this first." She placed a small ball of white stuff on the table.
Roland walked over, picked it up with his fingers, and found that it was actually a rolled-up strip of paper.
He gently unfolded it, scanned it twice, "This is..."
"A secret message used for pigeon delivery," Nightingale said in a teasing tone, "The recipient is your chamberlain, Tilly, tsk tsk, it seems that your harem is not stable."
"I haven't touched her," Roland frowned.
Tilly, in his memory, this woman seemed to have been following him for a long time. The original Fourth Prince was quite interested in her, but unfortunately, several harassments failed. This time, he simply promoted her to chamberlain when he came to Border Town, to serve him closely. Her room was arranged next door. He didn't expect her to be an informant arranged by his royal brothers and sisters?
Although this letter was not signed, judging from the content, it was most likely from the hands of those siblings. The letter stated that the last failure made the master very unhappy, and the next time they took advantage of the Longsong Stronghold disturbance, they must not fail again. Okay, you have already succeeded, he thought, otherwise he wouldn't have become Roland Wimbledon.
This letter was unlikely to be forged by Nightingale, because only those who participated in this conspiracy would know clearly about the first assassination plan. And if Nightingale wanted to kill him, there was no need for such trouble.
"Did you steal it from her?"
"Your chamberlain isn't that stupid, she was going to burn it after reading it. It's just a pity that I happened to be behind her when she was reading it," she made a switching gesture, "So, what are you going to do? Do you need me to help 'deal' with it?"
Roland naturally understood what she meant by dealing with it. After hesitating for a moment, he finally nodded, "Please." He really didn't have the confidence to do this kind of thing himself, "If possible... ask me, who is the person behind her."
"As you wish, Your Highness," Nightingale smiled and bowed, "Then, this scroll of drawings is the reward."
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