"Xingxia, Zhang Qiang, you two are so fast, I thought you should be able to arrive in Tianjin at the end of May, why is it only twenty today, and you came over." Li Xuanqing did not interfere in the development of local government affairs in Youzhou, and even did not even ask about the follow-up handling of the law court and the army's continued extermination of the follow-up remnants of the anti-party, but began to ask Qiaoxi to mobilize the internal manpower of the royal assets group to prepare for the expedition to the sea, and secretly convened the Beiyang Fleet to arrange escort warships and prepare logistics materials. As the largest comprehensive seaport base in the north, Tianjin Port is naturally very complete with all the materials in the port. It's just that this expedition is not similar to the Nanyang side, which is very close to the area ruled by the empire, and can easily be rescued by the navy and passing merchant ships, plus the Nanyang side is very well prepared, basically no matter which direction the expedition is, several expedition teams set off at the same time, taking care of each other along the way, so as to ensure that there are basically no major mistakes in the exploration work in the Nanyang for such a long time. But this time it is an eastward crossing, others don't know, but Li Xuanqing himself and Qiaoxi know very well that even if they take advantage of the rising climate in the northern hemisphere in summer to pass along the coastline from the junction of the two continents, the distance will be unimaginable, and at present, even the largest voyage of a civilian freighter is only about 7,000 kilometers.

Therefore, during this time, most of the two of them focused on the Tianjin No. 1 Shipyard to investigate and see if they could promote the improvement of the steam engine and boiler as soon as possible, and only in this way could they solve the problem of being too short to go out of more roads at one time on the original basis.

Li Xuanqing and his wife are well aware of the development process of steam engines and boilers in later generations, although the detailed technology is not very clear, but there is probably no problem. Therefore, in the process of waiting for Xu Xingxia and Zhang Qiang, in the more than one month in Tianjin, Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi basically plunged into the power manufacturing workshop attached to the shipyard, and worked with the technicians inside to find a way to change the existing boiler into a small water tube boiler, and then changed the steam engine to a three-rise steam engine, so that at least the power technology in their own hands can reach the technical level when the sun never sets in the empire when the sun never sets in the later generations when the steam-powered ships were popularized, and even more than a lot. At least in terms of other auxiliary technology innovations, Li Xuanqing came up with a lot of opinions, modifying the shape of the ship, so that the shape of the flying shear type of ship can be better retained, although in this way the difficulty of ship manufacturing will be greatly improved, but when his power technology can not meet the requirements of later generations, he can save a little power. As for the forced ventilation technology, it is actually not Li Xuanqing's masterpiece, but a defective product inadvertently developed by Qin Yao in the equipment department when he was researching other equipment, but later I don't know how to get it for Zhang Qiang and then transfer the production technology and production line to the royal manufacturing group, so that since the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, the ships have been equipped with this forced ventilation technology similar to later generations, and Tianjin Shipyard is still improving on this basis, and the latest model has achieved miniaturization and high power, so that the efficiency of the original steam engine and boiler has been improved a lot. This time, with the three-rise steam engine and small water-tube boiler, the sailing range of the ship will inevitably exceed 10,000 kilometers. Of course, the premise is that the tonnage of your own ships will also increase, not basically floating around 5,000 tons at this time.

"Big brother, Brother Zhang and Brother Xu don't know what you called them to do, so they have been taking a clipper day and night for the past few days, so they were able to arrive in Tianjin on the twenty. They didn't even have time to drink their saliva before they came and went. Qiaoxi brought a few cups of tea to each person and said with a smile: "Two of you to taste, this is the Longjing tea that Qiaoxi sent someone to pick from Hangzhou, this is before the Ming Dynasty, how do you taste it?" "To be honest, West Lake Longjing has not been as popular as in later generations in this era, but Qiaoxi knows that the famous tea produced in that place is famous in later generations, so he specially arranges people to plant tea trees in the place of origin according to the methods of later generations, and this year can be regarded as the first season of new tea.

Li Xuanqing savored it for a long time, nodded and said with a smile: "It's a little tasteful, and it's very different from the Junshan Silver Needle we drank before, it's very good." Li Xuanqing put down the teacup and said with a smile: "I am in such a hurry to bring you over because there is a major matter that I want to ask for the opinions of the two of you, and I plan to let you form a joint fleet to go on an expedition." ”

"Going on an expedition?" Zhang Qiang and Xu Xingxia looked at each other in confusion, the two of them were familiar with this overseas expedition, and basically eight of the ten expeditions on the Nanyang side were under the two of them. This is not a big deal, but listening to Li Xuanqing's tone, this is not a trivial matter, otherwise he would not have worked hard to find the two of them from Guangzhou. Moreover, Zhang Qiang heard that during this time, Li Xuanqing and his wife mobilized a lot of materials stored in the warehouse of the Royal Assets Group in Tianjin, and it seems that this overseas expedition is not so simple.

"Xingxia, your family has done a good job on the Oriental route, have you ever tried to cross Japan and continue to sail east?" Li Xuanqing saw that the two of them were puzzled and knew what they were thinking, so he opened his mouth and continued to ask.

"Further east? Yes, but I drove out thousands of miles and only found a few small islands, which is what the Japanese say about Chichijima or something, and there was not much gain, so I asked them to pause and did not continue. What's the matter, is the emperor going east and still making a big discovery? Xu Xingxia said without thinking: "Because the main destination of the Oriental Route is Japan, and the Korean Province is the official territory of the Empire, the Oriental Route has basically been developed to the limit, and it is precisely because of this that the Xu family will transfer the main forces to the south and southwest to participate in the development of the South and Western routes." ”

"How about I invite Brother Xingxia to form a joint expedition team and head eastward to continue the expedition?" Li Xuanqing saw Qiaoxi spread out the map and said with a smile: "But it's not the route you took before, but along the coastline to the northeast, from Temple Street and Vladivostok as the base to the north." Li Xuanqing pointed to the area northeast of Vladivostok and said: "At present, this area has been basically explored by the navy, so the next step is that you can join forces with the navy and continue to the northeast to see if the strange land mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas is really true." ”

"Don't be surprised, I think this trip will be worthwhile." Qiao Xi smiled and said, "Although China Eastern Airlines may take a long time, and traveling north means that our biggest activity time of the year is summer, and it will not even exceed five months. But my big brother and I are already improving the steam power, and I think that by the end of this year at the latest, the voyages of the newly built freighters and cruise ships will inevitably go to a higher level, so that we don't have to sail along the coastline all the time, and we can calmly find the best and shortest route of China Eastern Airlines. ”

"Since the emperor said so, the two of us will immediately arrange to organize a manpower ship and then arrive at Vladivostok in advance, join the navy, and then continue to the northeast. I wonder what the emperor thinks? Zhang Qiang and Xu Xingxia glanced at each other and then got up and replied. Although the two of them didn't know what the basis for Li Xuanqing's words to say that China Eastern Airlines would have a big harvest in the future, both of them were people who had been with Li Xuanqing and his wife for a long time, so they naturally understood that the two of them would basically not talk about it, and they had never made mistakes. Therefore, after bidding farewell to Li Xuanqing and his wife, the two took a short rest, and immediately arranged for the manpower to organize the fleet and crew to set off towards Temple Street and Vladivostok, and the naval dispatch order issued by Li Xuanqing was also issued from the headquarters of the Beiyang Fleet in Tianjin, and at the same time headed towards Vladivostok.

However, Li Xuanqing was a little absent-minded after the two left, and after Qiaoxi put away the map, he sat with him and said with a smile: "Big brother is worried about one thing, to be precise, is it a piece of equipment?" Do you want Qiaoxi to guess? ”

Li Xuanqing also knew that he couldn't hide anything from the other party, so he said with a wry smile: "The high-temperature forging furnace we currently use in the shipyard is actually still at a very primitive level, and as the tonnage of the ships we build is getting larger and larger, the keel of the ships built at this level will definitely be very fragile, and with the large-scale ships, all kinds of plates and steel plates that can be successfully forged at one time need to be forged at one time, otherwise the strength of the ship will become more and more fragile with the increase of the tonnage of the ship. Therefore, it is imperative that we immediately improve this shortcoming. ”

"I understand, Qiaoxi immediately mobilized the team of the Royal Manufacturing Group Laboratory to come to Tianjin immediately, I remember that there was a similar study in the laboratory, but I don't know that there is no high progress so far." Qiaoxi arranged for people to inform Zhang Chong to move the forging and smelting technical team under Muchen to leave for Tianjin immediately, and at the same time asked the Tianjin Shipyard to start making urgent arrangements.

"But it's a coincidence, you and I don't know much about this kind of high-precision technology, and what we can do now is to gather a large number of professionals and talk about our technical concepts in advance." Li Xuanqing wrote orders while talking with Qiaoxi, and this matter was only due to the technical strength of Qiaoxi's subordinates, so he also needed to mobilize the manpower of the equipment department to come over, and the two could be combined to complete this technological innovation in the fastest time.

When Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi were mobilizing the most high-end technical forces of the empire in Tianjin to study this technology in large quantities, Xu Xingxia and Zhang Qiang were also ready to order the fleet to go east. However, Li Xuanqing's actions are naturally clear to the two of them, especially Zhang Qiang, who is also the person in charge of the royal family's assets, and he feels the dignified atmosphere.

"Lao Zhang, what do you say the emperor is doing? How can we mobilize so many people to the shipyard, and also specially improve the steam engine and boiler, this is to completely renovate our current sea ships, is it possible that there are really legendary guiru and soup valley in the east? Xu Xingxia asked.

"I'm afraid that the emperor will really make a big deal this time, you and I have to be ready. I am in charge of the royal assets group, which is equivalent to the shopkeeper of the two proprietors of the emperor and the queen's mother, Brother Xingxia, you are in charge of the Xu family, but I am afraid that your Xu family is not under the Murong family, the first family, right? You and I must seize this opportunity this time to complete the things that the emperor explained alone. Zhang Qiang said with a smile: "So I plan to temporarily hand over the affairs of the South and Western Oceans to the deputy, and then concentrate on the affairs of the Eastern Airlines mentioned by the emperor. ”

Xu Xingxia was taken aback by Zhang Qiang's words, not that the other party said that his family property was not inferior to the Murong family, but that Zhang Qiang actually had such a big determination to give up the ascendant South Sea route and the increasingly important Western sea route, and he was specifically responsible for the expedition of China Eastern Airlines. You must know that neither Li Xuanqing, Qiaoxi nor Murong Feixue will interfere in the specific management of the royal assets, which means that Zhang Qiang will basically be able to adjust the main direction of the royal assets group in the next step. Does this mean that the royal asset group, including Zhang Qiang, is preparing to make a big move in the East?

"Since Lao Zhang, you are so arrogant, what am I afraid of, anyway, I don't have much impression of money in my position, so I just did it." Xu Xingxia said with a smile: "I will immediately transfer back the third fleet of the Xu family in Liuqiu, and I am ready to join forces with you to form the next fleet at any time." ”

"That's right, I'll pay attention to the movements of the shipyard, if there is a breakthrough on the emperor's side, let's order new ships immediately, and then we can realize what the emperor said about choosing the best and shortest route for the Eastern Voyage expedition." Zhang Qiang smiled, "How's it going?" You can't lose this deal, right? ”

"That's, your brother is in charge of the Royal Assets Group, isn't it good to open a back door for me?" After Xu Xingxia made up his mind, his mood was relaxed, and he turned around and teased Zhang Qiang and said with a smile: "Be careful that the queen mother and the queen mother are making trouble for you, don't blame me for telling the truth when the time comes." ”

"Tell the truth, just tell the truth. Anyway, the queen mother is in Tianjin, but I'm afraid that even if I don't say it, the queen mother will find you in advance at that time. So Brother Xingxia, just prepare Tang coins, and don't take credit. Zhang Qiang smiled indifferently: "So in order to please me, I'll give you a chance to invite me to dinner, and bribe me a little, how about it?" ”

"Okay, anyway, there is my own restaurant in Tianjin, and there is also Murong's Heyun restaurant, what do you think?" Xu Xingxia said with a smile: "Recently, the queen's pastries are rich in styles, and some people in our family have gone to learn them, and the effect is not bad." Xu Xingxia pulled Zhang Qiang to have a big meal, and at the same time, the two of them were also mobilizing people to quickly assemble in Tianjin, so that Tianjin became the destination with the most internal personnel from the two families during this time.