On October 4, 1679, the expedition continued and the chaos gradually subsided. In the swampy area of the lake district east of Xinchu Township, a group of farmers on the east bank gathered around a few sweaty workers, chatting and laughing while watching the excitement.

Several workers from the township agricultural technology station, dressed in sky-blue denim overalls, holding various tools in their hands, are turning a small steam pumping machine. This pumping machine is used to discharge the swamp water into Lake Puyeve, the type is not large, but the power is not small, there are as many as 5 horsepower - so far we also understand, this is now in the east coast has been very popular 5 horsepower steam engine, because of the small size, light weight (relative), large power, very popular with agriculture, transportation and other departments, the current manufacturer of this type of pumping machine of the state-owned Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory has sold more than 2,800 units nationwide, and has achieved very amazing economic benefits.

For example, in this remote, remote and poor place in the central valley of southern Chile, one has also been purchased and used in the project of draining the stagnant water in the swamps around the lake area.

"There's a problem with the cylinder's seal, maybe it's the ring, maybe it's the piston, I'm not sure." A young man who looked to be an apprentice of seventeen or eighteen years old said, his face was full of oil and dirt with tools in his hands.

"Of course I knew there was a problem with the cylinder seal. The gas is leaking so badly, as long as you don't have it right now, is it difficult to come to this conclusion? A bearded middle-aged mechanic with a pipe in his mouth came over and cursed: "Why do you think I brought you stupid apprentice?" Why is it so difficult to do something? No matter where there is a problem with the cylinder, we have no spare parts, is it possible that you want to grind one by hand? Go and borrow some spare parts from the mining area across the lake, yes, take a boat and report my name. In addition, Xiao Liu, you can check the other parts and see if there are any problems. ”

"Understood, webmaster." The mechanic known as "Xiao Liu" answered, and then carefully picked up the machine in front of him, from the cylinder to the connecting rod, from the crankshaft to the pump body, the inspection was very careful and very professional.

The parts on this equipment are all produced by Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, the Second Heavy Machinery Factory, Shipu Branch of Dayuhe Arsenal, Tieling Special Steel, and Meilin Railway Machinery Processing Factory, involving various materials, sizes and shapes, and the processing accuracy is also very high, reflecting the latest level of industrial manufacturing on the east coast. At this time, when Europe was still using pedal machine tools and hydraulic machine tools to produce iron parts and even wood parts (only Britain began to try to use steam engines to drive machine tools to process objects), the East Coast had begun to widely popularize steam machine tools, because of its low vibration characteristics, so the machining accuracy could reach a very high level. In addition, the East Coast people have made many breakthroughs in material science in the past ten years, and many new materials have begun to be applied, such as manganese steel cutter heads on machining, which has made the machine tool speed reach a higher level, and the stability and machining accuracy have been doubled. Not to mention, the East Coast people also invented the engraving machine, a national treasure-like artifact, which made large-scale standardized production possible (in the past, only partial standardized production, poor interchangeability of parts), industrial production costs were further reduced, and the accuracy was further improved, which greatly promoted the spread of machinery and equipment throughout the country.

Just like the 5-horsepower steam engine in front of you, it is actually very different from the early production, which is only related to the level of industrial processing. For example, if only 30 percent of the parts of the early steam engine were interchangeable, now sixty or seventy percent of them may be interchangeable. And even if it is not interchangeable, it may be able to be used after a second manual processing, which can undoubtedly greatly reduce maintenance costs.

On the other hand, the machinery and equipment in Europe, because of the lack of universal measuring tools (there is no engraving machine, can not be copied and produced on a large scale), the parts they process are not very versatile, because they are still through the ancient fifth division method, ten division of raw materials to scale processing, there may be inconsistencies before and after. If the machine is processed with this kind of parts, after the parts are damaged, it is necessary to go to the original factory to find the parts, and the parts found may not be usable, because there may be small differences in the size, and they must be reprocessed. Such a cost is indeed very high, unless the steam engine clearly has a huge advantage, otherwise the cost of use may not be much lower than that of mules, horses, and water power.

Therefore, you can see that over the years, with the increasing use of machinery and equipment exported from the east coast in European countries, the export of mechanical parts has gradually become a large-scale industry, and the growth rate is increasing. The reason for this is that the high versatility and interchangeability of the East Coast mechanical parts make the maintenance cost low, which indirectly promotes the degree of production mechanization in European countries, and of course also suppresses the progress of the mechanical processing industry in European countries.

This 5-horsepower small steam engine is now mainly used in the eastern coast of the savannah, between the rivers and in the Duck Lake basin, and the poor and remote areas of southern Chile are limited by a variety of factors (mainly quota restrictions), and are not introduced much, taking Boling County as an example, a trial was purchased in the lake area, and together with those mule and horse pumps, large steam pumps (stationary, very difficult to move), drain the swamp and play a role in local agricultural development.

These pumping machines are accompanied by steam hoes and steam ploughs that dig trenches. With the help of these machines, the transformation of natural ponds, lakes and swamps into reservoirs and the excavation of irrigation canals has become a much easier task. Even, I heard that the county agricultural bureau has sent a special person to the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory in Xihu County, planning to buy a steam tractor back, to see how the effect is, I heard that this kind of tractor in Patagonia is used a lot, very frequent, whether it is pulling goods or pulling other things, the effect is very good.

Of course, it is not uncommon in the county to point out that this kind of steam tractor with a power of 25 horsepower and the steam corn harvester, wheat harvester, soybean harvester or something derived from it (replacing the previous types of horse-drawn harvesters) are only suitable for use in parts of Patagonia and the Pampa Plain where the soil is relatively dry and hard, otherwise it may greatly damage farmland and roads, causing considerable losses.

In southern Chile, for example, the soil is softer than in many parts of the Brazilian highlands due to its humid climate and abundant precipitation. When the steam tractor arrives with a staggering weight, it will destroy the fields so badly that the farmers will have to spend a lot of energy to repair them later, and it is better not to use them, and save some effort.

Naturally, there is some truth to this argument, because the rivers and rainfall are abundant, and the Hejian region, known as the water town, has demonstrated how the use of 25 horsepower steam tractors and various derived machinery can fail on the farm. However, the county agriculture bureau is also more clear-cut, believing that in southern Chile, which is relatively sparsely populated, surrounded by mountains and densely forested, even if the steam tractor is completely unusable for farming, then it can be extended to forest farms and mines. In those places, I am not very afraid of you destroying the ground, and the only thing to worry about is probably the muddy roads caused by rain and snow, and I can't walk.

Of course, in addition to the steam engines that burn firewood or coal, the use of traditional wind and water energy is naturally very common in southern Chile, where the industrial base is relatively weak, to reduce the dependence on new machines and provide their productivity levels. For example, across the lake where the mechanics of this agricultural technology station will go, there is a large steam engine that uses water energy, with a total horsepower of more than 150, which is similar to the Marley machine built for Louis XIV by the carpenter Renequin in 1682 in the south of the Netherlands (to provide water for the Palace of Versailles), and the maximum power of the latter reached 124 horsepower, which should be the most powerful power equipment in France at that time.

To be fair, because of the humid climate, abundant precipitation and the abundance of rivers and lakes, the basis for the use of hydraulic equipment in southern Chile is very good. Especially those wood processing plants, sulfur mines, limestone mines, etc., do you really need a steam engine? Do they require a high degree of machining accuracy? No, you don't need it! Like those sledgehammers used to crush ores, hydraulics are sufficient, because a little deviation does not matter at all. Even because of the lack of water - in some places, because the water flow rate is slow, can not drive large machinery and equipment, so it is first necessary to use water trucks to send water to high places, and then drop to drive the water wheels, in this case, the hydraulic machinery and equipment can not operate for a long time - and the stop in the middle has no impact at all, which is very different from the mechanical processing industry, so we see that the state has invested money to help the southern Chile region and Boling County to build a large water energy utilization system on the state-owned sulfur mines and stone mines east of Lake Puyeve. With a potential power of 150 horsepower, it can drive a variety of equipment including hydraulic forging hammers and hydraulic breakers, which is very good to use.

The system of the East Coast people is naturally very different from that of the French, and the main differences are reflected in the design, size, reliability and service life. Needless to say, the East Coast people, who have a lot of theoretical knowledge, are very different from the design of traditional hydraulic equipment in Europe, with a smaller size and higher efficiency. In terms of performance indicators, it is naturally much ahead, first of all, it has high reliability, unlike the high failure rate of the French, which stops at every turn, which mainly depends on the leading design and processing accuracy of parts; Secondly, the service life is also much more than others, which is of course due to the leading design and parts materials, not comparable to the French hardwood and cast iron mixed equipment.

Therefore, don't look at the power difference between the two hydraulic equipment, but the actual use of the difference is big. If the time span is a little longer, it is very good that this system of the French can use half the power of the people on the east coast, although this is already a very bright hydraulic equipment in Europe, but you must know that this is the property of the king, and ordinary people do not have the financial resources to build such magnificent equipment.

What Europeans can now have is all imitation of the early East Coast steam engine. As for the more advanced ones in the later stage, even if they use various channels to cobble together the real thing, they cannot be copied, or the cost of copying is extremely high, the reliability is also very low, and there is no use value at all.

Even in the more technologically advanced regions of Great Britain, the United Provinces and North Germany, and in some of the backward states of Portugal, Spain and Italy, the steam engines used, some of which are difficult to say whether they were steam engines or not, were still very primitive. This is due not only to the lack of machining and materials science, but also to the backwardness of theory. For example, the Europeans only had a certain degree of understanding of the concept of air pressure nearly thirty years ago, let alone studied it in depth, and this was only achieved when the knowledge of the East Coast civilization spread overseas.

Of course, this is not to say that the Europeans will not be able to make progress, in fact, if the Anglo-Dutch steam engine researchers continue to develop along the current path, with sufficient funds, sooner or later they will slowly develop and continuously improve the steam engine to reach a very high level. But how much time will it take?

You know, the people of the East Coast haven't stopped waiting for you. With the advancement of basic industry, the East Coasters have been able to design lighter, smaller, more efficient, and more powerful steam engines for use in ships, trains, factories, mines, and farmland. Moreover, the reliability of some more mature steam engine models has reached a very high level, the average trouble-free working time has risen again and again, and the research and development of all-steam-powered ships has risen again.

In addition, the East Coast people have developed the electricity industry for decades, and now they have made certain achievements. The Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Second Heavy Machinery Factory have been deeply engaged in the South Cone Xuefeng Lake for many years, produced a large number of electrical instruments and meters, and cultivated a lot of related talents, which have undoubtedly greatly consolidated the foundation of this science. For example, the electrolytic saturated brine industry engaged in by Pan's father and son is already a little interesting now, and now they are thinking of planning to build a small power station on the Huangyang River, a river with a large drop and a very rapid flow rate, and while building it, it will confirm the various theoretical knowledge studied before, and lay a good foundation for large-scale development in the future.

Therefore, the most likely scenario in the future is that when the Europeans have spent countless costs to make a major breakthrough in the field of steam engines and invest huge sums of money to fully roll it out (which means that the cost of turning around in the short term will be high), the East Coast has gradually completed the relevant preparations for electricity, and then introduced electrical equipment such as electric motors in one fell swoop, and opened up the gap with it again. And this time, unlike the steam engine, which is simple, easy to understand and has a certain foundation, it may be more difficult for European countries that have not been involved in it before and are at a loss.