Lao Xu is not stupid, although his apprentice was not the best when he was in the academy, but after coming here, he performed very well, and even single-handedly overpowered all the researchers in the same period.

Don't look at Lao Xu's mouth, he scolded Jiang Tian and drove him away, but in his heart, he couldn't do anything to Jiang Tian's baby.

As long as Jiang Tian dares to show his attitude of leaving, Lao Xu will definitely persuade him with good words, and he will never watch him leave like this.

As for exchanging students with a few other people, unless Lao Xu is stupid, why should he exchange that piece of jade for those ordinary jade?

Drawing is a basic skill, but drawing is also a direct way to get a clearer understanding of the internal structure, and when a person can draw a drawing without referring to the real thing, it proves that he has become a true master.

And the test product in front of Jiang Tian is the latest version that these masters have improved after countless days and nights, and dozens of tests, although there are still big problems, but compared to before, it is much better.

Scientific research is not just about how much progress has been made, and for them, as long as the test is improved over the previous one, then the experiment is considered successful.

When engaging in scientific research, there are always problems stacked on top of each other, and scientists are also human beings, and when they encounter problems, they need to solve them one by one, and there must always be a sequence.

"Hey, I don't know when this thing will succeed." No one mentioned the topic of Jiang Tian's contention anymore, because there was no need, and Lao Xu could not let him out, so everyone turned their attention back to the project.

"What? Discouraged? Lao Xu forcibly suppressed the disappointment in his heart and said discouraged, who among these people is not discouraged? But they couldn't give up.

"It's been three years soon, in the past three years, the scale of our place has expanded a lot, and a lot of fresh blood has been added, people come and go, and the old guys in the past have also made achievements in other places, although we have also made progress here, but this progress is insignificant." Some people sighed, as the saying goes, there is no harm if there is no comparison, even if their personal abilities are good, but in the case of long-term investment, but no gains, it is inevitable that there will be all kinds of problems.

And as early as a long time ago, these problems have appeared, "I heard that the armory has developed a musket, and made a small batch of tests for the army, and now they have started the project of transforming the musket, but the funds required are very large, I heard that there are already people over there who are dissatisfied with us, occupying a lot of funds and personnel, but there is no achievement in the past few years." Moreover, the artillery department of the Ordnance Institute also slapped the table with the above because of the problem of funding, and the project they came up with was denied, but not completely denied, at least the basic problem did not exist, and only one shell was needed to be studied, and now a lot of funds are needed to study it.

In addition to the armory, there are also some opposing voices from other departments, and if we can't produce results on our side, I'm afraid we will be scolded by 10,000 people. ”

"What did Director Yang say?" Lao Xu frowned.

"Director Yang also has some opinions about us, but it seems that I heard that His Majesty is pressing on it, otherwise, even if our project is not canceled, the funds will definitely be greatly reduced."

Datang's economy has improved, but after all, it has only started for a few years, and now the economic strength is not the strongest, and the imperial court does not have enough funds to invest in every project.

In the eyes of the outside world, the Academy of Sciences takes a large amount of funds every year, which is the largest among all the yamen, and even the funds of one department exceed the total funds of the four provinces and six ministries.

However, the Academy of Sciences is also divided into many small departments, and according to the different research projects of each other, new project departments may be formed at any time, and a department will be abolished according to the completion of a project.

No matter how much money there is, it can't stand up to so many departments, as well as various experiments that are faster than burning money.

Let's just say that Lao Xu and their department will spend dozens of dollars on an experiment, and thousands of dollars will be needed for experiments alone throughout the year.

Coupled with other miscellaneous expenses, in a year, the funds they need to spend on this project are more than 3,000 yuan, accounting for almost one-tenth of the funds of the entire academy of sciences.

It is normal to take a lot of funds, but not be able to study something, no matter who it puts on it, it is normal to encounter this kind of problem today.

"Don't say anything, just keep your head down." Lao Xu was a little helpless, and continued: "In the past three years, we have burned nearly 10,000 yuan of funds, no matter how others make trouble, at least now it seems not very imposing to talk back to others. ”

"But it's not a matter of hard work, unless it's a few more people with ideas, or just a few of us, I'm afraid it's already Jiang Lang's end." They have tried everything they can think of and what they can improve, but so far there is still no effect.

No, it can't be said that it doesn't have any effect, but it can push the runner to spin idly, but after placing it on the ground, it will quickly cause problems.

They thought about the material, and they experimented with many different materials, whether it was iron or steel, but the end result was the same.

"Master...... I seem to have found something? When the old Xu people were worried, Jiang Tian walked out with a half-drawn drawing in his hand.

"What's the scare of if you don't draw well?" Lao Xu's face was full of black lines, and he seemed to feel embarrassed to say that he was a master without two sentences.

"There's really a discovery, but I don't know if it's reasonable?" Jiang Tian was cautious and his liver was throbbing, and he had an indescribable feeling.

Just now he was concentrating on drawing, and was studying the steam engine that had been disassembled, but as he painted, he always felt that something was wrong.

So I flipped through the previous drawings again, compared them with each other, and felt as if I had discovered a new continent, so I hurriedly ran out with the drawings.

At present, the main problem of the steam engine is the lack of power, and there is a big problem with durability, no more than 30 breaths in the case of idling, and then the speed will slow down, and then there will be abnormal noise, or even stop, and the small boiler will overheat.

If you put it on the ground, you will have to stop eating within fifteen breaths, not only the food, but some of the internal shafts will either bend directly or break directly.

Such a steam engine is a problem not only to pull a train, but also to pull a person.

"Tell me, what did you find? If it's made up, don't blame Lao Tzu for cleaning you up. Lao Xu said with a dark face.

"Master, you see, this steam engine can be regarded as a person, hot air is like breathing, what happens if a person only inhales but does not exhale?" Jiang Tian made an analogy.

"I'm sure I'm going to suffocate ......"

"Boy, you mean? ......" was originally just a subconscious reply, but when I thought about it, it seemed to make a lot of sense.

Since a person who only inhales and does not exhale, or only exhale without inhaling will suffocate to death, is it the same with machines? In their previous design, only steam entered, but no heat was vented.

This principle seems to be the same as human breathing, that is, the steam engine they built before was suffocated?

"Let's go, let's get some of it!" A few old guys seemed to be stunned, and when they thought of this possibility, they couldn't wait to urge the experiment.

So, a few old guys took matters into their own hands and directly reassembled the original steam engine that had been disassembled, and then punched a hole at the other end of the cylinder, which was a hard work, and it was not easy to do this in this era of relying on hands.

Of course, they can let other departments cooperate with them to directly build a new one, but now many departments have opinions about them, and a few old guys are in line with the principle of saving and saving, so they would rather suffer a little more than waste limited funds.

It doesn't take long to punch a hole, but if you do it by hand, it still takes three hours, and several people take turns to punch the hole, and the rest assemble the machine.

It wasn't until dark that the men reassembled the steam engine, and then eagerly began experimenting.

Of course, because this is small, it can't pull the car at all, all they have to do is to idle first, and when it can be stabilized, put it on the ground and let him run by himself, and after stabilization, it is installed on the mold to simulate the train.

When these three steps are completed, they will zoom in at equal proportions and then pull them up to the rails to test them, well, so far, they haven't seen the rails.

'......'

After working for half a day, when a few people restarted the steam engine, they unexpectedly found that although there was a long time, the power seemed to be worse, but even so, a few people still stared at the steam engine for half an hour, the sound of air leakage has always been there, and the roller has been rotating, very stable, steady as a dog, although the speed is very slow.

A few of the old fellows looked happy, and then quickly put it on the ground to test, and although they were gone, they moved more slowly, and the air leak was a little worse.

"Stability is stability, but now it seems that there is more air out and less air intake......"

Put a bowl of cold water on it, and the boiling speed is much slower than before, which proves that the boiler temperature can be guaranteed, but it is not a matter of more gas outlet and less air intake.

"I think we're going to make it!" Lao Xu smacked his lips, unable to hide the excitement and excitement in his heart, and even forgot that this problem was discovered by his apprentice first.

"Almost successful?" Several people were puzzled, the old problem was solved, but the new problem appeared, why was it almost successful?

"Your Majesty has repeatedly emphasized before that there is a certain relationship between power and tightness, and the air leakage indicates that the sealing is not good, and this air outlet is our random punch, without careful calculation and testing, then we only need to solve the sealing problem, and then find out the right position to arrange the air hole, the problem can basically be solved...... Lao Xu pointed to the obviously asymmetrical air hole.