Chapter 84

Chapter 84: The Mass Production of Steel.

“It’s very beautiful… I’ve never seen such a pattern before.”

The trade goods from the Wakan Tanka Empire. 

Especially, the artworks such as pottery were quickly spread among the nobles and royals of various European countries.

They were amazed by the exotic designs and naturally became interested in the traders who exchanged these precious items.

“Where on earth did they go?”

“…We tried to find them, but we couldn’t tell where they headed.”

But the imperial fleet landed in several regions at once, finished their short trade and learning, and left without hesitation. Therefore, they couldn’t find the imperial fleet.

All they knew was that they came from the east.

While there was a commotion in Europe, the expedition returned to the Wakan Tanka continent one by one.

The expedition moved to a designated island in the Caribbean Sea and landed there.

‘Hmm… I see.’

Kim Ki-woo looked around the status of the expedition and nodded his head with a stern face.

There might still be ships coming back, but Kim Ki-woo didn’t expect much.

It had been quite a while since the first squad arrived at the island.

‘They probably have a high chance of being dead.’

But there were more surviving ships than he thought. 

Out of 30 ships, 18 came back.

Of course, there were many casualties on the 18 ships, so the number of sailors was much lower.

The sailors who returned like this had to live under control on the island for a long time, unfortunately.

They had to breed enough livestock from various animals they brought from Europe, and check for any epidemics that occurred in the process.

Also, if they announced the success of the European expedition, there was a possibility that the explorers would violate the imperial law and smuggle out.

In other words, until they had enough livestock and prepared countermeasures for infectious diseases, the control on the island would continue.

‘It won’t take too long.’

In fact, at this moment, research on vaccines was progressing more and more.

Kim Ki-woo went to the research complex on a whim and checked the status of vaccine research.

“Hmm…”

Kim Ki-woo frowned slightly as he looked at the research status.

Seeing his expression, Dark Flame, who was the highest authority on anatomy and human experimentation, replied.

“It’s necessary. Your Majesty, please don’t be too distressed. Everything is for the great Wakan Tanka Empire.”

Kim Ki-woo briefly nodded his head at Dark Flame’s consolation.

She was the first person in the empire to perform anatomy for medical reasons.

But Dark Flame, who was nineteen years old at that time, was now over fifty years old.

She still maintained a healthy physical condition enough to work in active duty.

So she was active as the leader of this human experiment.

Kim Ki-woo turned his attention back to the research status.

‘Many people are dying.’

Of course, the human experiment subjects were those who deserved to die.

The main culprits of kidnapping and killing missionaries were also injected with cultured germs before being tortured and their progress was monitored.

But even if they were humans who were sentenced to death, it was hard to accept that they were doing inhumane experiments on living people.

But as Dark Flame said, it couldn’t be helped.

There were still not enough samples, so it was hard to tell if the cultured germs had been attenuated or not.

Of course, they first experimented on small animals before injecting them into humans, but they also had to check their reactions when injected into humans.

“But thanks to that, as Your Majesty said, vaccines with no toxicity are appearing one after another. If we improve the mass production method, soon many imperial citizens will benefit from vaccines.”

“I hope so.”

Kim Ki-woo watched the vaccine research for a little longer after that.

‘They’re doing well on their own without me interfering.’

Most of them were repeating standardized experiments and extracting data, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

After pointing out some visible errors, Kim Kiwoo left the vaccine experiment area.

***

The next place he went to was the experiment area where Kim Kiwoo was currently investing the most effort.

‘It’s amazing every time I see it.’

Kim Kiwoo smiled with satisfaction as he looked at the steam engine.

He had seen many internal combustion engines in the modern era that were incomparable to these external combustion engines, but it was remarkable that they had implemented such an engine in this era.

They were currently conducting various tests to utilize the steam engine in different ways.

From cutting metal with the powerful force of the steam engine to making a strong blower.

They were experimenting with almost everything that could be done with an external combustion engine.

Among them, what Kim Kiwoo was most interested in was none other than the blower.

“Your Majesty, may we begin?”

“Yes.”

“Then please move away from the steam engine.”

Kim Kiwoo followed the craftsman’s words and moved to the safety zone.

Soon, the experiment began.

Hwaruruk!

After sufficiently heating up the steam engine with coal.

Kukung!

Kkieek!

The steam engine started to work with a loud noise.

Kim Kiwoo watched the experimental situation with his eyes sharpened.

After a while.

Huuuuuk!

Finally, a wind blew out of the blower connected to the steam engine.

“Wow…”

The strength of the wind was easily seen through the flags fluttering at different distances.

It was strong enough to make the flags planted far away sway.

‘It’s definitely much stronger than before.’

Moreover, the wind that came out of the blower was hot because of the heat from the steam engine.

They had finally managed to create a strong and hot wind.

This would act as a driving force that could bring about a huge change in the current situation.

The industrial minister, who witnessed this together, exclaimed as he saw the powerful wind.

“It’s really powerful. The steam engine has indeed a great potential. If we install this blower in the ironworks, we will be able to get more pig iron faster.”

“Haha. Surely it will.”

Kim Kiwoo agreed with the industrial minister’s words.

The size and speed of the ironworks depended on the strength and amount of wind that was inputted.

Of course, the stronger and more wind there was, the larger the ironworks would be and the higher the productivity would be.

But what Kim Kiwoo expected most from the blowing ability of the steam engine was not ironmaking.

“This blower will not only be used for ironmaking. It will also greatly boost the empire’s industry.”

“…Is that so?”

The industrial minister tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that, Kim Kiwoo smiled softly and continued.

“Isn’t it very hard and inefficient to make steel with the current crucible steel method?”

“Your Majesty is right. There are many places that need steel, but there is not enough steel.”

Steel was needed for various weapons production, as well as for various iron products that required precision manufacturing such as gears and springs.

Even the steam engine in front of him was mostly made of steel.

The situation was like this, but the amount of steel produced by crucible steel method did not increase enough to satisfy them.

Crucible steel method required a lot of manpower above all else.

Moreover, the environment here was very poor.

Many workers lost their health quickly near the heat source.

As a result, at some point, crucible steelworks became a target of aversion for imperial workers.

He had obtained some prisoners from the central continent, but they were not enough to fill the manpower gap, as they were distributed to various places besides the Doga Ironworks.

‘Besides, if the industry develops further, the current steel will be nothing.’

He would need a tremendous amount of steel to build railways and steam locomotives, and to produce iron steamships.

The Doga Ironmaking Method was impossible to handle that amount.

It was not for nothing that steel was called the rice of industry.

“Think about it. How is steel being made right now?”

“Are you talking about steel?”

“Yes.”

The industrial director opened his mouth after a moment of thought.

“Well, molten pig iron is stirred in the air to make wrought iron, and then a certain proportion of pig iron is put into the Doga furnace to make steel.”

He was an industrial director, even if he was in a different field.

He knew the basic knowledge of ironmaking.

Kim Ki-woo nodded and replied.

“That’s right. Thanks to the air, pig iron becomes wrought iron. But what if you inject air directly into this pig iron with such a powerful blower?”

“…”

The industrial director could not continue.

He was not an expert in this field, and he had never thought of this before, so he could not predict the outcome.

“I assure you. If this ironmaking method succeeds, it will produce steel that is incomparable to the Doga Ironmaking Method. And it will not require as many workers as it does now.”

“Is that so? Wow…”

The industrial director’s eyes became dreamy.

It sounded like a dream come true.

If much more steel could be produced with much less labor, it would surely cause a huge change.

‘The empire’s industry will surely develop dazzlingly!’

As he had been working in the industry for a long time, the industrial director easily noticed this.

And he also felt a chill.

‘His Majesty has been doing this for this purpose!’

He finally understood Kim Ki-woo’s great interest in steam engines.

He could easily extract water from the mines and increase the mining volume.

Then, he could smoothly digest the increased mining volume at the ironworks with the steam engine blower.

Finally, he could see that most of the iron made in this way would be turned into steel and meet the explosive demand for steel.

‘How far does His Majesty see? He is truly a great and great person.’

While the industrial director was admiring Kim Ki-woo anew,

Kim Ki-woo was also running his happy circuit while looking at the blower.

‘When steel is mass-produced, I can implement what I’ve only thought of so far.’

Of course, he also needed to mass-produce various iron precision products using steam engines, but this would be achieved soon at this rate.

Among them, what Kim Ki-woo was most looking forward to was none other than bridges.

‘There are too many rivers in the empire.’

This was a blessing, but on the other hand, it was very hard to cross the river.

Even now, he was building small bridges, but it was almost impossible to build bridges that connected large rivers.

But if standardized steel rebar began to be mass-produced, this would not be a dream.

Rebar and concrete had surprisingly similar properties.

Thanks to this, he could supplement the low tensile strength of concrete with rebar.

This was the famous reinforced concrete method.

He could build sturdy bridges with reinforced concrete and facilitate logistics and movement, and if he laid railways on these bridges…

The ideal image of the empire that Kim Ki-woo envisioned began to reveal its outline.

‘I’m almost there. Let’s hang in there a little more.’

Before long, the brilliant light of the industrial revolution began to enter Kim Ki-woo’s eyes.