44: Chapter 44: "Imperially learned, does that mean he's studied five books?" Zhao Fusu's breakdown.

"Please, Chancellors, come and inspect the current Forging Workshop."

"I will show you our entire process for firing Refractory Bricks, coking, sintering, ironmaking, and steelmaking."

Zhao Fusu extended the invitation.

"Very well."

Under Zhao Fusu's lead, they first arrived at the brick kiln where the Refractory Bricks were being fired.

"Puff, puff, puff! Puff, puff, puff!"

"Clang, bang, clang, bang..."

Li Si and Feng Quji felt the massive commotion ahead from quite a distance away.

As they drew closer to the Refractory Brick kiln, the noise grew louder, and even the ground began to tremble.

Li Si and Feng Quji's hearts couldn't help but tighten.

They felt as if a ferocious beast was crouching ahead; the closer they got, the greater the disturbance the beast created.

While Li Si and Feng Quji felt fear, they were also filled with curiosity. Just what kind of beast could create such a terrifying commotion?

"Puff, puff, puff..."

"Clang, bang, clang, bang..."

Li Si and Feng Quji finally saw the true face of the mystery.

They saw a massive steel beast roaring ahead.

With every roar, a large amount of startling white steam billowed from the top of its head.

Its crankshaft and connecting rods were moving rapidly back and forth, pulling a massive flywheel that was spinning at high speed.

Before Li Si and Feng Quji could ask, Zhao Fusu took the initiative to introduce it: "This is called a Steam Engine."

"The Steam Engine you see here has sixty-four horsepower, which is equivalent to the pulling force of one hundred and twenty-eight horses weighing three hundred kilograms each."

"How... how many?"

"One hundred and twenty-eight horses!"

Li Si and Feng Quji were both horrified.

"Using the Steam Engine as power to create a Rotary Tiller can save a massive amount of manpower and oxen when reclaiming land."

"It can also be used as power for a Rice Transplanter to plant seedlings."

"The Steam Engine can also be made into a Combine Harvester to harvest wheat, soybeans, and rice."

"A medium-sized Combine Harvester, operated by two people in centralized farming, can work over a dozen mu in one hour!"

"Ah!"

Upon hearing Zhao Fusu say this, Li Si and Feng Quji were stunned.

Anyone who has harvested rice knows that for two strong laborers to finish harvesting one mu of rice in three hours, their hand speed would have to be incredibly fast.

If it were someone with poor physical strength or slow hands, it would be impossible to finish harvesting one mu of rice in three hours.

And that's just the harvesting; it doesn't even count the time needed to thresh the grain.

To thresh the ears of grain from the harvested rice would take at least another two hours.

That's even with a threshing machine; if done by hand, the time would double!

Now, a medium-sized Combine Harvester could work over a dozen mu in one hour—this speed was simply too fast.

The working speed of one medium-sized Combine Harvester could match the combined speed of over a hundred and forty people.

This harvesting efficiency had increased dozens of times over!

"Is this truly possible?"

Li Si and Feng Quji still held some doubts.

"It is."

Zhao Fusu knew that modern large-scale Combine Harvesters could harvest one hundred and thirty mu in an hour!

It was precisely because modern society had these high-efficiency agricultural machines that a large number of farmers could be liberated from the land, providing enough manpower to develop industry and commerce and improve the economy.

"Young Master Fusu."

Suddenly, a resentful voice rang out.

Zhao Fusu looked toward the source of the sound; it was Elder Mo looking at him with an incredibly resentful gaze.

"What is it?"

Zhao Fusu looked puzzled.

Elder Mo said plaintively, "Young Master Fusu, have you forgotten? You haven't explained to this old man exactly how this Steam Engine works!"

Elder Mo's eyes were fixed intently on Zhao Fusu.

If Zhao Fusu hadn't said there was only one Steam Engine, he would have really wanted to dismantle it into its component parts to see what the specific operating principles were like.

Elder Mo had been privately studying the internal structure of the Steam Engine.

By burning coal and putting water into the boiler, he already understood that the Steam Engine's power came from burning coal to boil the water in the boiler, relying on the resulting steam to provide force.

Elder Mo was very curious about the internal structure of the Steam Engine and how it could transform ordinary steam into such immense power.

He didn't understand what design allowed the crankshaft and connecting rods to move back and forth, thereby driving the rotation of the flywheel.

Li Si and Feng Quji were also curious about how this steel beast operated.

"This is the structural diagram of the Steam Engine."

Zhao Fusu pulled the industrial encyclopedia from his long sleeve and flipped the book to the chapter on the Steam Engine.

"Fuhrer, this is!"

Li Si and Feng Quji both looked at the book in Zhao Fusu's hand with burning eyes.

Although they did not recognize the characters in the book, the medium of a book as a carrier made them exceptionally excited.

"Fuhrer, if these densely packed words were recorded on bamboo slips, it would surely take a whole cart's worth."

Li Si's excited words gave rise to a strange thought in Zhao Fusu's mind.

Being 'as learned as five carts'—did that only mean five books?

Hmm?

Hmm?

Hmm?

Good grief. Zhao Fusu felt a bit of a breakdown; even kindergarten kids probably study more than five books!

The development of an era is just a process of constant competition!

Zhao Fusu felt that the ancients were living too comfortably.

Once he brought down the sky-high grain prices...

Once he increased food production...

Once he obtained Papermaking Technique and Movable Type Printing through check-ins, he would definitely establish exam-oriented education. He'd roll out subjects like PE, Language, Math, Ethics, Physics, Chemistry, History, Biology, and Geography to give the ancients a taste of real intensity!

In the future, when he gave gifts, he would give exercise books!

Hehehe, hehehe!

Zhao Fusu chuckled wickedly.

"Fuhrer? Fuhrer?"

Li Si called out to the distracted Zhao Fusu.

"Yes."

Zhao Fusu nodded and said, "This book contains over six hundred thousand words."

"Hiss!"

Li Si and Feng Quji both gasped.

If six hundred thousand words were written on bamboo slips, they really could fill a whole cart.

Their hands brushed the pages, their faces full of excitement.

For scholars like them, this method of using paper as a carrier was far too convenient.

Holding one book was equivalent to carrying a whole cart of bamboo slips.

Just the thought of it made them feel excited.

Zhao Fusu felt they were getting excited for nothing.

Among the items he had obtained through check-ins, none included Papermaking Technique yet.

Elder Mo, however, was only interested in the Steam Engine.

He couldn't understand the simplified characters in the book, so he grabbed Zhao Fusu's sleeve and asked him to explain.

Pointing to the Steam Engine's construction, Zhao Fusu said, "A Steam Engine is composed of a cylinder, piston, Slide Valve, crankshaft, connecting rods, and a flywheel."

"The piston can be made of cast iron."

"The most important part of the Steam Engine is the Slide Valve."

"Ordinary people cannot understand the principle of the Slide Valve."

"Those who can understand it possess extremely high intelligence."