158: Chapter 69 Technical Transfusion

On the fifth day after the princess married into the Tang Country, the first batch of engineering and technical teams from the German Empire arrived at Jinling Port.

A total of one hundred and twenty people, all carefully selected industry leaders—there were retired senior technicians from Krupp's Armaments Factory, senior engineers from the Vulcan Shipyard, young experts graduated from the Technical University of Berlin, and metallurgy doctors specializing in special steel formulas. Wearing neat deep blue overalls, bowler hats, and carrying toolboxes of various sizes, they walked down the ship's gangway, leaving the workers on the dock dumbfounded.

"So many foreigners?" a young man carrying a shovel asked blankly.

"I heard they are engineers sent by the German Empire," an older worker nearby said in a lowered voice. "His Majesty married their princess, so they sent a group of experts over as a dowry."

"A dowry? Aren't dowries usually gold, silver, and jewelry? What's the deal with sending people?"

"What do you know? People are worth much more than gold!" The old worker glared at him. "When we were building the railway last year, Vice Minister Zhan Tianyou alone, with a few apprentices, could do the work of three divisions. Now over a hundred Zhan Tianyous have arrived, how much do you think that's worth?"

Li Ling personally went to the dock to welcome them. He wore understated, casual gray clothes and brought only two translators, with no grand entourage surrounding him. He walked up to the white-haired old engineer at the front and greeted him in fluent German, "Sir, welcome to the Tang Country. Thank you for your hard work on this journey."

The old engineer looked up, pushed the round-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and replied in German with a thick Bavarian accent, "Are you General Li Ling? No, it should be His Majesty the Emperor now. I have read your article on naval gun design published in Krupp's internal publication; it was brilliantly written. It is an honor to meet you in person in my lifetime."

Li Ling was stunned for a moment. He had indeed written several technical papers in the system's Production Base, but those were for internal system reference and had never been made public. How did the old engineer in front of him see them?

[Host, when the system materializes talents, it implants some "background information," including your "academic reputation" in the minds of those German experts. In their eyes now, you are not just the Emperor of the Tang Country, but also a colleague who can understand blueprints and explain principles clearly. Only in this way will they work for you wholeheartedly.] The system's voice carried a hint of pride, [Otherwise, why do you think they would leave their homes to come to such a distant place? Money alone cannot invite experts of this caliber. They came because they feel you understand them and believe they can learn things from you.]

Li Ling secretly gave the system a thumbs-up in his mind, while smiling and extending his hand on the outside, "You flatter me, old gentleman. Those articles were just written casually and are not worth mentioning. But now that you are here, we will have plenty of time to discuss. I have just started construction on a brand-new shipyard, and I happen to need an expert like you to oversee it."

The old engineer's eyes lit up, "A shipyard? How big?"

"Three large dry docks that can simultaneously construct three warships of over ten thousand tons. The supporting metallurgy workshop is being expanded, and the production line for special steel has been commissioned, but there are still a few technical bottlenecks that haven't been broken through."

"Which bottlenecks?"

"The quenching process for armor steel, and the precision casting of the main turret base." As Li Ling spoke, he made a gesturing motion to invite him, leading the old engineer toward the parking area. "We can discuss the details in the carriage. The journey is a bit long, which is just enough time for you to understand the basic situation."

Without another word, the old engineer climbed into the carriage carrying his toolbox. The more than one hundred technicians behind him also boarded their carriages one after another, and the convoy drove grandly through Jinling City, heading toward the Production Base outside the city.

That evening, Li Ling hosted a banquet in the newly built engineer apartments to entertain the technical experts. The banquet was not luxurious, but the dishes were rich and there was plenty of alcohol. What surprised the Germans the most was that several plates of authentic German sausages and rye bread were actually placed on the table—which the princess had specifically instructed the accompanying chefs to prepare, meticulous from ingredients to preparation.

"Her Highness the Princess is indeed very thoughtful," Li Ling sighed to the system in his heart. "She even prepared the sausages. No wonder these Germans were all smiles as soon as they sat down."

[Host, a leader who can keep their subordinates well-fed and well-hydrated is more likely to gain loyalty. You should understand this principle. However, as for your cooking skills... the system suggests you leave professional matters to professional people.]

"Can't you just let me be happy for once?"

[The system is merely speaking the truth.]

Li Ling was too lazy to argue back. He picked up his wine glass, walked to the head table, and raised his glass to toast all the German engineers in the room.

"Gentlemen, allow me to propose a toast to everyone first." His German was fluent and natural, with just the right gestures and rhythm. "You have traveled thousands of miles to come to the Tang Country, giving up your comfortable lives and work in Germany to help us build a country that is just starting out. This friendship, I will keep in my heart. I also promise you—what you learn and see here will be enough to make you legends in the industry when you return to Germany."

The engineers looked at each other; some showed curious expressions, some frowned slightly, while others thoughtfully raised their wine glasses. The old engineer at the front—his name was Fritz Krupp, and he was indeed a member of a branch of Krupp's family—stood up and toasted in return, "Your Majesty, the reason we were willing to come is not because of the high salary you offered, nor is it because of Her Highness the Princess's reputation. We were willing to come because we saw in Krupp's factory the design concepts of those weapons you sold to us. Those concepts are at least fifteen years more advanced than what we currently possess. We want to know how you did it."

"Come, sit down and let's talk." Li Ling signaled Fritz to sit, and pulled up a chair himself to sit among them, as casual as old friends chatting. "Don't you want to know how I did it? Then I shall start from the design of the first Dreadnought."

The engineers immediately pricked up their ears. Fritz even pulled out his notebook and pencil, flipping to a blank page, ready to take notes.

That evening's "banquet" ultimately turned into a technical seminar that lasted for four hours. Li Ling spoke from hull structure to power layout, from armor inclination to fire control systems, and from steel formulas to welding processes; every topic hit the mark, and every explanation was profound yet easy to understand. Those engineers listened with rapt attention, filling dozens of pages in their notebooks and breaking several pencil leads. Fritz even stood up excitedly halfway through, asking Li Ling to repeat the key data once more to confirm he hadn't recorded it incorrectly.

When the night grew deep and the banquet ended, more than a hundred and twenty engineers walked out of the restaurant. Their steps were much lighter than when they arrived, and their eyes held sparks of excitement. Someone whispered to a companion, "I feel like I've worked in vain for the past twenty years. What is packed inside this young emperor's head is enough for us to spend ten years relearning."

"Stop complaining," his companion patted his shoulder. "Don't we have the opportunity to learn now? Hurry up, once you miss this chance, it won't come again."

Early the next morning, these engineers were assigned to various technical departments. Two-thirds went to the Production Base, responsible for process breakthroughs in special steel and precision casting; one-third went to the shipyard, participating in the design and construction of the new batch of Dreadnoughts. Each of them carried "technical adaptation materials" prepared in advance by the system—which Li Ling had the system customize for each person's expertise, allowing them to quickly get into the groove without exposing them to the most core black technologies of the system.

Fritz Krupp was assigned to the special steel workshop of the Production Base. On his first day on the job, he discovered that the equipment in the workshop was far more advanced than he had imagined—a giant electroslag remelting furnace was operating, the molten steel flowing slowly under the stirring of an electromagnetic field, with impurities being separated layer by layer, ultimately forming alloy steel ingots of uniform texture and extremely high purity. Standing next to the furnace, Fritz watched those steel ingots slowly take shape in the high temperatures, his jaw nearly dropping.

"Your Majesty," he turned to look at Li Ling, who was accompanying him, his voice trembling, "this kind of equipment... how did you get it? Even the most advanced steelmaking workshop of Krupp's factory doesn't have this technology!"

Li Ling smiled slightly and did not answer directly, "Mr. Fritz, you only need to know one thing right now—the armor steel plates produced from this batch of molten steel are ten percent thinner than the best products of your Krupp's factory, but their protective performance is thirty percent higher. Do you believe it?"

Fritz took a deep breath, took off his glasses to wipe them, and put them back on, "Your Majesty, I need to test it myself to believe it."

"Then test it yourself." Li Ling patted his shoulder. "From today on, you are the technical director of this workshop. How the equipment is commissioned, how the process is optimized, and how quality is controlled is entirely up to you. I have only one requirement—within three months, raise the yield rate of this batch of armor steel from the current sixty percent to over ninety percent. Can you do it?"

Without a second word, Fritz placed his tool bag on the workbench and rolled up his sleeves, "From now on, I will live here. Come and inspect it in three months."

Li Ling looked at the almost fanatical light in his eyes, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to walk out of the workshop. Behind him, Fritz was already gathered around the electroslag remelting furnace with several German engineers, rapidly discussing something in German, with people occasionally pulling out rulers and blueprints to measure and compare.

"System," Li Ling asked in his mind, "how long do you think it will take him to make a breakthrough?"

[According to the system's assessment, Fritz Krupp's technical level and learning ability far exceed the average of his peers in this era. A yield rate breakthrough of over ninety percent within three months is a high-probability event. However, Host, the system must remind you—the technology you have shown to these German experts is already close to forty percent of the system's current technology tree. If left uncontrolled, their learning speed might exceed your expectations.]

"Of course I know that." The corner of Li Ling's mouth curved up slightly. "That is why the positions I arranged for them have been carefully designed—each person is only responsible for one link and cannot see the whole picture. No matter how formidable Fritz is, he can only improve the steelmaking process and cannot see the complete version of the blueprints. They learn the technology, and I get the production capacity. Each gets what they need, and no one loses out."

[...Host, you are looking more and more like a qualified chess player.]

"Thank you for the compliment."

---

Three days later, Fritz delivered his first result—the improved armor steel formula. He finely adjusted the original alloy ratio by 0.5 percent, and by adjusting the quenching temperature and cooling speed, he improved both the hardness and toughness of the new steel. After testing by the Production Base, under the same thickness, the ballistic performance of the improved armor steel plate was twelve percent higher than that of the original formula.

Li Ling looked at the test report, remained silent for a few seconds, then stood up and personally went to Fritz's workshop.

Fritz was squatting next to a tempering furnace, holding a newly cooled steel sample in his hand, carefully inspecting the surface's crystalline structure with a magnifying glass. Hearing footsteps, he said without looking back, "Your Majesty, the grain size of this steel is slightly finer than the last batch. If I can optimize the cooling speed by another 0.5 seconds, it should be even more uniform."

Li Ling did not interrupt him, but just stood aside and watched quietly. It was only when Fritz put down the magnifying glass and stood up to stretch his neck that he spoke, "Mr. Fritz, I have read your test report. It is very remarkable."

Fritz turned around, a childlike and sincere smile appearing on his tired face, "Your Majesty, I only made a tiny adjustment. The foundation of this factory is already good enough; all I needed to do was add bricks and tiles to it."

"Adding bricks and tiles is also a skill." Li Ling pulled an appointment letter from his pocket and handed it over, "From today on, you are not only the technical director of the special steel workshop, but also the deputy chief engineer of the Production Base. Your salary will be doubled, you will be provided with a detached house, and the imperial court will arrange for your children's education. I have only one requirement—you must help me train a batch of the Qingxia Kingdom's own engineers."

Fritz took the appointment letter and looked down at it for a long time. When he raised his head, his eyes were slightly red.

"Your Majesty," his voice was somewhat choked, "I worked at Krupp's factory for thirty years, and the highest position I ever reached was deputy workshop director. You have given me a position I wouldn't have dared to dream of. I will remember this kindness."

Li Ling patted his shoulder, said nothing more, and turned to walk out of the workshop.

Outside, the autumn sun was warm. Standing at the workshop entrance, he watched the new factory buildings rising from the ground not far away, listening to the symphony of welding, hammering, and machinery operation, feeling the slight vibration beneath his feet—the pulse of the entire industrial base operating at high speed.

"System," he said in his mind.

"Hmm?"

"Now you know why I married the princess and brought her back, right?"

[The system has known for a long time. However, the host's willingness to say it out loud shows that you are becoming more and more confident in your own decisions.]

"Confident, my foot," Li Ling smiled. "I just feel that some chess moves, once played correctly, are simply correct."