Chương 657: The steamship is complete.

Song Yingxing stared at the four iron plates for a long time, his heart pounding: Could this thing really push a ship weighing over a hundred tons?

But he knew His Majesty never talked nonsense, so he gritted his teeth and finally said:

"... I'll give it a try first. Your Majesty, please don't blame me for my poor skills if it explodes."

This trial lasted for more than three years.

The shipyard started from a few shacks and has grown to have more than 300 skilled craftsmen and more than 40 researchers. The pitfalls it encountered along the way could fill the Yangqu Canal.

The first year we tried using a small boiler, it exploded twice.

The first time it was blasted, Song Yingxing was squatting nearby watching the fire. With a loud "boom," black smoke billowed into the sky. He crawled out of the ashes, his hair a mess like a bird's nest, his face blackened except for his teeth, and he still managed to shout:

"Is the person alright? Are the parts still usable after we salvage them?"

The second explosion was even more devastating; the boiler cover flew thirty paces away, smashing through the roof of the adjacent warehouse and scattering all the timber stored inside.

The workers were terrified, but Song Yingxing squatted in the ruins, picking up fragments and examining each broken piece, muttering to himself:

"This time it's a problem with the weld; next time we'll try riveting."

To calculate the optimal pitch ratio for the propeller, Shen Ming, sent by the academy, stayed up for three days and three nights straight, calculating until his nose bled, but he still wouldn't stop. In the end, Song Yingxing personally dragged him home by the ear.

"Come back and calculate after you've had enough sleep! If you get one number wrong, you'll be shaving wood on the shipyard for three months!"

They tried countless propellers: two-bladed, three-bladed, four-bladed, and one particularly imaginative craftsman even made a six-bladed one that looked like an iron lotus. When it spun in the water, the water splashed higher than a person, and everyone standing on the shore got soaked. Everyone laughed at him for half a month, and even his wife laughed at him for "creating a lotus spirit."

So they kept repairing, fixing, and starting over whenever something went wrong. The young men from the Royal Academy of Sciences spent their days on the slipway taking data and their nights calculating formulas by oil lamp. When they got sleepy, they'd wrap themselves in blankets and curl up in piles of sawdust, then get back to work. Their meals were irregular...

..................

On April 16th, the slipway was unusually quiet.

A colossal vessel lay quietly on the wooden slide, its nearly 100-meter-long hull gleaming with a warm, golden-brown light under the sun, resembling a stranded whale.

The central cabin was bulging with sheet metal, and two dark gray chimneys stood at an angle, topped with shiny brass decorations.

At the stern underwater, a four-bladed propeller is suspended, each blade polished smooth by hand by craftsmen, without a single burr.

Two elderly workers were hammering in the last rivet with sledgehammers, veins bulging on their arms.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Three crisp metallic clanging sounds drifted far away from the slipway.

The rivets fit perfectly into place.

There was a moment of silence on the slipway.

And then...

"It's done!!!"

Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, and the entire shipyard erupted in cheers, so loud that dust fell from the roof.

The workers threw down their hammers, planes, and files, patted each other on the shoulder and pounded their chests. Some threw their straw hats into the air, while others sat down in the pile of wood shavings, laughing foolishly until tears streamed down their faces.

Several young researchers huddled together, jumping and hopping, completely ignoring the engine oil they were rubbing against each other, acting like three-year-olds.

Song Yingxing stood motionless at the edge of the crowd, covered in sawdust and engine oil...

He looked up, from the bow to the stern, and then from the stern to the smokestack, his eyes fixed on the view.

From the laying of the first keel to the dropping of the last rivet today, it has been more than a thousand days, and he knows the details perfectly.

She blinked, and warm tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving two white streaks on her dusty face.

"Lord Song! It's done! It's really done!"

Young researcher Xiao Zhou ran over, his voice trembling with excitement, and tugged at Song Yingxing's sleeve.

"Lord Song, why are you crying?"

"Who's crying!"

Song Yingxing quickly raised his hand to wipe his face, deliberately maintaining a stern expression to preserve the dignity of the Minister:

"... Okay, I got it. Don't jump, be careful not to fall."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the stable, his steps quick and his voice carried on the wind:

"Prepare the horses! I need to go to the palace immediately! Now!"

Inside the Liangyi Hall, Liu Ce was reviewing memorials.

To be precise, on a folded document impeaching a local official for embezzling funds, a large red circle was drawn, and next to it were written four large characters: Arrest, confiscate, try, execute.

The moment the vermilion brush touched the paper, a eunuch outside cautiously announced:

"Your Majesty, Minister Song Yingxing of the Ministry of Works requests an audience, saying he has important matters to discuss..."

Before he could finish speaking, Song Yingxing rushed in...

Liu Ce looked up and chuckled: the Minister of Works was covered in sweat, his official robe was stained with mud, and there was a black mark on his face. He tried his best to suppress the corners of his mouth from turning up, but he couldn't stop them from turning up.

"Let me guess..."

Liu Ce put down his vermilion brush, smiled, and leaned back in his chair.

"Is the ship finished?"

Song Yingxing bowed deeply, his voice cracking as he reported, "Your Majesty! After three years and four months of work, the first steam-powered propeller ship of the Great Han Dynasty has been completed at the Luoyang Shipyard! Displacement of 520 tons, main engine power... can reach... can reach..."

He was so excited that he stammered, unable to utter the exact number for a long time, his face turning red.

"How much can it reach?"

Liu Ce teased him with great interest.

"Kelta... well, it's huge! It can haul hundreds of tons of cargo like it's nothing!"

Song Yingxing simply abandoned precise figures, holding the thick volume of the "Steamship Trial Production Report" above his head with both hands.

"The detailed data is all here, Your Majesty, please review it! I guarantee that this ship will be able to sail once launched!"

Liu Ce took the report, but didn't immediately flip through it. Looking at his disheveled yet excited expression, he remained silent for a moment, then softly said:

"Minister Song, you've worked hard."

Just the character "Liu".

Song Yingxing's tears streamed down her face again. She quickly lowered her head to wipe them away, muttering to herself:

"I am not suffering... it is the researchers and workers who have worked so hard... I have only been looking at the blueprints for three years..."

After he calmed down, Liu Ce asked about the important matter:

"Now that the ship is built, do you know when it will be launched?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not act on my own authority and have come to request your instructions."

Liu Ce thought for a moment, then tapped the table: "What day of the week is it today?"

The eunuch beside him quickly replied, "Your Majesty, it's Wednesday."

"Then next Monday it will be." Liu Ce made the decision.

"I'll give you these few days to check for any omissions or deficiencies. Check the seals, welds, and boiler several more times. Don't let anything go wrong when it goes into the water. I'll be there personally on the day it goes into the water."

"Official... I obey your order!"

Song Yingxing bowed deeply to accept the order, his waist bent so low that his hat almost fell to the ground.

......

Next Monday, just as dawn was breaking, the banks of the canal were already packed with people.

The riverbank was covered with colorful flags, red, yellow and blue, which rustled loudly in the wind.