The manufacture of a small steam engine was not a problem, and it could only be regarded as a pediatric task for the steam engine workshop.

As early as when Cheng Chuliang found Li Yuanjing, Li Yuanjing sent a letter to Haizhou and let the steam engine workshop there make ten small steam engines.

So less than a month after receiving the order, the steam engine workshop took the time to build ten steam engines that met the specifications and arranged for personnel to transport them back.

Considering the inconvenience of transportation, the shipping method was adopted, starting from Haizhou, detouring Yangzhou through the canal to Luozhou, and then from Luozhou to Chang'an by land.

Before the end of the year, Li Yuanjing saw these steam engines and couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

Counting the time wasted on the way, that is, it was built in less than a month?

"How's the big steam engine going?" Li Yuanjing couldn't help asking.

"Your Highness, everything is going well, the first large steam engine is almost completed, and it will be installed for trial flights after the year, and if there is no problem, it can be manufactured in batches." Coming back this time was Ye Nan, one of the deputy envoys sent to Haizhou in charge of the steam engine workshop, and he was also a veteran who joined early, so he naturally had nothing to find fault with in terms of technology, and he was also a leader in this group of people.

"Oh? How does it feel? Li Yuanjing was a little surprised, when they came back from Haizhou a few months ago, it seemed that they had encountered some technical problems, but they didn't expect to solve them so quickly.

"It's hard to say what the effect will be at the moment, but theoretically the power should be more than five times that of the first ship, but the weight of the two ships is not the same, and the resistance after launching is not the same, so we still need to know the results after a specific sea trial." Ye Nan didn't exaggerate, but said something.

"Hmm!" Li Yuanjing nodded.

The principle of the boiler providing power is how much pressure there is in the furnace, and the higher the pressure, the stronger the power provided.

But in the same way, if the technology is not in place, or the materials are not up to standard, it will be a devastating disaster to rashly not set a pressure ceiling.

Today's battleships are almost entirely wooden, and if the boiler explodes due to excessive pressure, then the consequences are ......

There is no need to think about how to make up for it, the ship can sink directly, and there is no chance of remedy.

"Your Highness, in fact, there are two things to do when you come back this time, the first is to help the machinery workshop solve some technical problems, and the second is to report to Your Highness about the next expansion plan of the steam engine workshop." Ye Nan said, and then took out a stack of papers from a bag, on which a series of plans were densely listed.

Li Yuanjing took the plan and looked at it, the biggest problem in the current steam engine workshop is that the technology is not advanced enough, and at the same time, the manpower is not too sufficient.

If it was only used to study the new steam engine, and to improve the old steam engine, they would barely be able to do it.

But in addition to this, they also need to produce steam engines.

These are relatively professional things, even if they are allowed to do it by professionals, they must be carefully compared and checked, and let those who don't know anything do it, and the ghost knows whether the things made can be used.

At this time, Li Yuanjing was extremely nostalgic for the technical school of later generations, although entering the new century technical school has become a place for some people who do not like to study, but in the early days, it was not easier to enter a technical school than to enter a university.

If there were technical schools now, many problems could be solved, at least these workers would not have to worry.

Li Yuanjing mentioned this matter to Li Shimin, but Li Shimin didn't seem to be too enthusiastic, so this matter could only be delayed.

The plans for the steam engine workshop were huge, but they were also pragmatic.

Li Yuanjing's decision to let them build small steam engines for use in machinery has already given them some future deployment plans, and the number of steam engines used in these land machines should be more than that of marine steam engines.

And the specifications are not big, and it is relatively easy to do, in fact, this thing is too big to do, too small and not easy to do, of course, the big here refers to the kind that can drive the 10,000-ton warship, and the small refers to the kind that can not be seen but can still provide strong power.

But in any case, the mechanical steam engine made the steam engine workshop see the possibility of profit.

Therefore, they planned to expand the scale of the mechanical steam engine workshop in advance, and use it alone to produce this small steam engine factory, and the planned site was located in Chang'an.

For the steam engine workshop, it is enough to transfer some technicians to Chang'an, which can also save the trouble of transportation back and forth.

According to the production of these ten steam engines, they planned to build a workshop with about 1,000 people in advance, and planned to produce 2,500 units per year within two years, and then decide according to the actual situation.

Of course, this plan is not untargeted, but to build these ten steam engines by mobilizing about fifty people in a month, and these fifty people are all skilled and have a lot of manufacturing experience, so their speed is naturally the fastest person that Datang can find at present.

However, there is also a difference, that is, the materials they need must be mobilized after the normal task is solved.

At this rate, these 50 people can build 120 units a year, and 1,000 people can build 2,400 units a year.

But considering that it is impossible for a thousand people to build steam engines, there must always be some people who are responsible for logistics and other work, so in fact, there may be 800 to 900 people in the front line, even if they set up some equipment separately and do not restrict their use, but these are all new hands, so the annual output of 2,500 units in two years is actually still a bit challenging.

In addition, they also plan to gather some excellent people, who are not responsible for the specific construction, but can guide them when necessary, and most of the time the group will get together to work on new things.

"Yes!" Li Yuanjing directly returned the plan to Ye Nan, it was very detailed, and he had nothing to add.

Li Yuanjing suddenly thought of a question: "How do you weld?" And how do you prevent rust? ”

"Welding is hot welding, with a modified nozzle will be flame sprayed to the place that needs to be welded, the two areas are all red, and then squeeze welding on the line, there are special tools, it is not too difficult to operate, as for rust prevention, there is no good way at present, I have tried to apply some paint before, but the effect is not good, and the internal words are easy to affect the performance of the boiler, so most of the methods used at present are regular manual cleaning."

Hearing Ye Nan's reply, Li Yuanjing couldn't help but be a little disappointed, originally he had planned to get some technology from here to use it on the warship, but now it seems that it is impossible.