The mining of iron ore is not an overnight thing, and now there are several iron mines secretly occupied by Youzhou, all of which are disguised in the name of commerce.

The production is considerable, providing a large number of jobs for the transport fleet, and there are many people in Youzhou, most of whom are people who have been displaced.

The treatment of iron ore mining is very generous, so the secrecy is very well done, and now it is a very luxurious thing to smelt a large amount of iron ore into a boiler.

The people in the R&D team have already mastered the drawings provided by Li De, and they are all looking forward to the realization of the steam engine.

Li De also often inspects and guides the workshop, and helps the craftsmen come up with ideas through some cognition.

The boiler was built quickly, and after a large amount of iron ore was put in, the first steam boiler was built to be half a room in size.

The iron used is very heavy and has a fixed firmware, which gives the impression of being very large and bulky from the outside.

Today, Li De is here to wait for the trial, and all the craftsmen in the R&D team in the workshop are there, and Li De did not call too many people.

It's better to have fewer people for the first experiment.

The point is that there is no pressure gauge, and the pressure can only be poured through the exhaust valve, which needs to be controlled.

According to the operation procedure, the experimental personnel only started after reconfirmation, and in order to prevent excessive pressure, the amount of coal in the boiler was limited.

After the boiler burns, it waits for the steam in the tank to make a sound in the exhaust hole, and then closes the exhaust valve and allows the steam to pass directly through the air plug to drive the flywheel.

Li De watched from a distance, he didn't dare to approach a boiler without a pressure gauge, and even if there was a pressure gauge, he wouldn't take any risks with the current iron smelting technology.

"Governor, watch the flywheel turn." Lu Xingxing said happily.

Before carrying out this experiment, Li De made it clear how much value the steam engine could bring to the workshop, and the Lu brothers had heard all the plans.

They are all carpenters themselves, and they are very persistent in technology, especially when they heard that there is some connection between steam and mechanics, and they are very interested in this project.

The steam furnace drove the flywheel to rotate, they all saw it, and the steady speed drove the grinding disc that had been prepared for a long time to rotate slowly, and the speed was very even.

Lu Mingyue was not satisfied with the current Chengdu, so she asked the craftsman to continue to add some coal to the boiler, and the steam pressure was large, and the speed of the flywheel began to increase.

Li De just looked at it, and the grinding disc that was pushed could have two or three hundred catties, although the speed was not fast, but the strength was still enough.

In this case, it is easy to drive a slow machine.

He could already think of using the steam engine for drilling, and drilling at a slow speed was similar to a bench drill, and the speed could be mentioned to ensure that the speed was basically continuous.

If the Youzhou workshop is successful, it will be able to process iron pipes, and there should be no problem in making a few Hongwu cannons at that time.

"Woohoo!"

"Open the vent valve!" Li De heard the sound of a steam warning, and the hurried sound made people feel uneasy.

Li De immediately shouted, at this time, according to the previous reminder of the operation personnel to respond in time, just in a hurry the worker subconsciously pulled the valve.

The vent opened, and the flywheel on the steam engine began to slow down, but the temperature of the coal in the boiler came up, and water was added again.

After some processing, the flywheel slowly stopped.

"Governor, are you alright?"

"It's okay, check some steam engines, it seems that it really can't be done without a pressure gauge, let's stop the experiment first, and call all the most skilled craftsmen in the craftsman." Li De commanded.

After a while, the craftsmen with the highest level of kung fu were called into the office, and Li De drew the design of the pressure gauge on the drawing.

The technology required is not too high, but it requires the craftsmen who build it to be meticulous and complete the various accessories inside.

Especially for pipe sealing, now there is no screw wrench, and it can only be made with a saw blade a little bit, and it is not possible to check the slightest.

After seeing the drawings, the craftsmen immediately divided and cooperated, not to create a thing reasonably, but to build the most suitable parts in batches for fine grinding.

This is done for the parts that require precision, each time to create the best, and the rest can be reworked as a backup.

"Lu Xingxing, let's put the matter of the steam engine first, when the pressure gauge is completed and when it is being tested."

Li De directly stopped the project in one sentence, which is very common, mainly for safety reasons.

With today's experiments, the craftsmen of the R&D team have an understanding of the steam engine, and some of them have already begun to study the application of machine tools.

Li De also gave some suggestions, yes, after having a steam engine, the matter of making Hongwu cannons can also be studied.

The faces of the Lu family brothers were all calm, and they were very happy to hear that powerful weapons were made, but when they counted the amount of iron used, they didn't think so.

Li De also has no choice, the current situation is like this, let them make the most basic artillery.

In the end, in order to save the railway, the final plan was to start the manufacture of cannons from the gun, and it was indeed unrealistic to want to do it in one step.

Li De has been working in the workshop recently, and the money he just earned has basically been spent on a project, and the vanguard's finances have repeatedly entered a state of loss.

Li Shimin is still working hard to encourage businessmen to do business, and the tax from visiting shops is to surpass the financial resources of the vanguards.

The people in the castle guard were talking about this when they were fine.

Li De didn't react much after hearing the news, but the lord of Yujun asked the Youzhou Finance Department to be independent and directly under the management of the Grand Governor.

These things don't need to be presided over by Li De, and after the Yujun Lord proposed it, Li Ying, the head of the finance department, completed the handover of the financial affairs.

In fact, the finance department was originally responsible to Li De, but during this period of absence, Li De's younger brother was managing and Pei Qingxuan was supervising.

In terms of speech, the mode of being in charge of finance still has to continue, but if the finance department is directly put in charge of Li De, there will be no rumors.

Youzhou's system is very new, but it does not mean that the new system is necessarily suitable for the development of Youzhou, Li De is also trying.

All aspects need to be corrected and improved according to the actual situation.

The matter of the city guard and the vanguard finances now looks at the affairs of the bureaucracy, which will make the officials think more, and since there is a problem like this, it needs to be solved as soon as possible.

So Li De had to put down the work of the workshop first and start to manage the accounts of Youzhou, and he had already decided to implement the appropriation system.

As large as the city guard, the vanguard should allocate how much money should be allocated to each department, and as small as the amount of funds allocated by each department, it must be planned.

With the help of Lord Yu and Li Xuan, the whole speed was very fast.