Chapter 78

Chapter 78: The Completion of the Steam Engine.

The first land that the expedition discovered was the island of Ireland.

Brilliant Flower looked around the coast of Ireland with a telescope.

‘I didn’t expect it to be so accurate…’

He marveled once again at the sight that was almost identical to the map that Kim Kiwoo had given him.

Thanks to that, he felt his trust in him increase even more.

‘Then I should proceed as planned.’

After the land was discovered.

Brilliant Flower called the captains of each ship back to the flagship once again.

When they all gathered, he opened his mouth.

“You have all done a great job crossing this vast sea. But the real mission starts now. You know that well, right?”

“Of course. Hahaha!”

“I can’t wait to meet the people who live on this land.”

The captains replied with bright smiles.

Brilliant Flower looked around their faces and continued his speech.

“I think you have all understood your assigned areas well. From now on, your roles are the most important. Let’s make sure we meet again alive.”

“Yes, sir!”

With their spirited answers, the captains returned to their respective ships.

The plan of the expedition was simple.

After arriving at the European continent, they would divide the 30 ships of the expedition into ten groups of three ships each.

Then each group would go to their designated area and contact the people there, and trade their language and various necessities with them.

When they thought they had done enough, they would cross the vast sea again and return to their homeland.

This was the general outline of this expedition.

Kim Ki-woo adopted this method to prevent the possible annihilation of the expedition team due to an epidemic, and to closely examine the language, culture, and current situation of the European region.

Besides, if a too large-scale team moved around together, it could attract unwanted attention.

After that, the expedition team’s vanguard scattered according to their respective missions.

***

Sharp Teeth and his colleagues went through numerous trials and errors in the process of making a steam engine.

The initial experimental steam engine they made easily exploded, and even if it didn’t, it was prone to malfunction.

‘Can we really succeed?’

As he repeated failures, this thought popped up in Sharp Teeth’s head from time to time.

But this changed when Kim Ki-woo personally modified a significant part of the blueprint.

“Wow! What a beautiful structure this is!”

“If it’s made like this, it will surely…”

They were people who had been studying only one steam engine for a long time, so they recognized the value of the revised blueprint at a glance.

“As expected, our idea was not wrong! Hahaha!”

With Kim Ki-woo’s full support, Sharp Teeth burst into laughter.

After that, Sharp Teeth proceeded with the experiment more enthusiastically.

Even when various things happened in the empire, and the scholars’ attention was focused on microbes, Sharp Teeth did not look elsewhere.

He only thought about implementing a steam engine that was exactly the same as the blueprint in reality.

And finally.

He achieved his goal.

The steam engine experiment was successful.

This was reported to Kim Ki-woo right away.

“Is that really true?”

Kim Ki-woo sprang up as soon as he heard the news of the successful development of the steam engine.

His aide bowed his head and answered.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Hahaha! That’s what I’m talking about!”

Kim Ki-woo had made some adjustments to the design to reduce the trial and error of the steam engine, but he had focused more on the vaccine, so he thought it would take longer to develop the steam engine.

But when the steam engine was built faster than he expected, Kim Ki-woo was overjoyed.

“This is not the time to celebrate. Get ready to go to the Imperial College.”

“Yes, sir.”

As soon as Kim Ki-woo gave his order, his aide bowed and left the office.

And a little later.

Kim Ki-woo arrived at the Imperial College.

“Your Majesty!”

“Hahaha! You’ve done a great job!”

“Th-thank you…!”

Kim Ki-woo praised the scholars and craftsmen who had succeeded in making the steam engine.

Then, he went straight to the completed steam engine.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We tried our best to implement the design that you gave us.”

Kim Ki-woo nodded.

The words of the sharp-toothed man were accurate.

The steam engine in front of him looked almost exactly like the one he had imagined.

It had a separate condenser like the Watt’s steam engine to minimize the loss of coal.

And it used a crank to convert the reciprocating motion into rotary motion.

Kim Ki-woo checked all the parts of the steam engine that enabled him to perform this function, and then gave the order.

“Let’s proceed with the demonstration then.”

“Yes, sir!”

The researchers then prepared to operate the steam engine.

After the preparations were completed.

Whoosh!

The coal burned fiercely.

Kim Ki-woo focused all his nerves and watched the process of the steam engine running.

‘I can clearly see that there are still things lacking.’

The heat efficiency was not very good, so it took a long time to preheat.

But this was somewhat expected. Kim Ki-woo quietly waited for the preheating to finish.

How long had it been?

Finally, the preheating was over and…

Thump, thump!

Screech!

The steam engine finally started to work.

At the same time, the wheel that had been prepared in advance spun rapidly.

“Wow!”

“Amazing…”

Exclamations burst out from the mouths of the people who had seen the steam engine for the first time.

Some of them rubbed their eyes as if they could not believe it.

It was understandable.

The wheel was spinning on its own without being connected to a waterwheel or a windmill.

Moreover, the rotation of the wheel showed a much more powerful dynamism than a waterwheel.

Thud, thud!

The steam engine began to operate.

Simultaneously, the prepared wheel spun swiftly.

“Wow!”

“Unbelievable…”

The people who saw the steam engine for the first time were astonished.

Some of them even rubbed their eyes, as if they were seeing things.

They had no choice.

The wheel was spinning by itself, without being connected to any waterwheel or windmill.

And the wheel’s rotation was much more powerful than that of a waterwheel.

“I was such a fool.”

Even the scholars who had scoffed at the work of the sharp teeth, regretted their past words and actions.

Of course, some people still disparaged the steam engine.

“Why do we need such an expensive power engine when we have waterwheels? Besides, it consumes a lot of coal.”

They thought it was too costly to make and maintain, compared to a waterwheel.

But many people thought differently, and imagined the endless possibilities of the steam engine.

They realized that it had a much stronger power than a waterwheel, and that it was not limited by location.

“This is surely an amazing invention!”

They imagined the world that would change because of the steam engine.

And that change happened faster than they thought.

Kim Ki-woo summoned the head of the industrial department.

The Minister of Industry spoke as soon as he sat down in his seat.

“Steam engines are truly amazing. They will change the empire’s industry!”

“Haha. I think so too. That’s also one of the reasons why I called you here.”

“Please tell me anything!”

The Minister of Industry’s face was full of enthusiasm.

Kim Ki-woo smiled and continued.

“I think steam engines will be used in many industrial fields in the future. However, we still have a very limited number of them.”

“That’s true.”

“So we need to increase the production of steam engines first. I have already discussed this with the Minister of Internal Affairs, so please expand the production facilities as much as you can.”

“Yes. I will do that.”

“And one more thing. There is a place where I want to prioritize the placement of the current and future steam engines.”

“Where is that?”

“It’s the mines.”

“The mines?”

The Minister of Industry frowned slightly.

He couldn’t think of the reason for placing them in the mines at that moment.

Kim Ki-woo explained the reason to him.

“Mining is very important for the empire right now. However, as the mines get deeper and deeper, water accumulates inside them, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. That’s very troublesome.”

“I think we can use steam engines to pump out this water easily.”

Kim Ki-woo then explained how to use steam engines to drain water from the mines.

After hearing all this, the Minister of Industry exclaimed in admiration.

“That sounds very possible! If it goes as you say, mining will be much easier. Hahaha!”

“It will surely be so. Then I’ll leave this matter to you, the head of the industry department.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, the head of the industry department left the office with full enthusiasm.

Kim Kiwoo was left alone in the office and immersed himself in his thoughts.

‘Now I can finally do the things I’ve only planned.’

Of course, it would take time to mass-produce steam engines, but once enough steam engines were made, the changes that would happen would be much more dramatic than now.

Especially in the fields of metal processing and iron and steel making.

In those fields, water wheels had been commonly used until now.

But water wheels had a limit to the power they could produce.

However, the power obtained from steam engines was much stronger than water wheels.

With this, they could easily mass-produce steel and process metals more precisely.

Eventually, this would lead to more accurate and superior steam engines being made, and the overall industrial power would explode.

Kim Kiwoo was very eager for that time to come.

***

The head of the industry department perfectly executed Kim Kiwoo’s two orders.

“From now on, our industry department will focus all our efforts on mass-producing steam engines!”

After his declaration, countless craftsmen were assigned to the mass production of steam engines.

And they placed these steam engines in the mines.

“Damn. Why do we have to carry this pile of scrap metal to the mine?”

“Ugh… This is killing me, I’m dying!”

Moving the extremely heavy steam engines to the mines and installing them properly was a very difficult task. Therefore, the miners grumbled with frowns on their faces.

But these complaints disappeared as if washed away when the steam engines started working.

Clack clack clack!

The steam engines operated and the stagnant water was continuously drained out.

“Wow!”

“Wh, what am I seeing right now?”

“…”

The miners could not hide their astonishment with their mouths wide open.

And this astonishment soon turned into cheers.

“Woohoo! The water is draining out!”

“Hahaha!”

“Hooray!”

The stagnant water had been tormenting the miners for so long.

But now that they could easily get rid of the water, the miners were overjoyed.

Thus, the steam engines began to be used effectively in the actual industrial sites.