"That's good!" Liu Yu continued, "Teacher's idea is correct, let me give you a simple example, so it will be easier for everyone to understand." Take the water we often see, for example, when we heat it to a certain temperature, the water will boil and become steam. And the volume of water vapor is much larger than the volume of water, which is why the lid of the pot will be lifted when our water is boiling. If it is heated continuously in a confined space, it will expand in volume all the time. However, due to the airtightness of the space, it is compressed within a certain range, which makes its pressure continue to rise. When a gap is opened in this confined space, the huge pressure stored inside will be vented from this gap, thus generating huge kinetic energy, and it is this energy that we need to use. ”

"I just happened to have a set of drawings that used steam to get power. As he spoke, Liu Yu took out a stack of drawings and handed them to Liang Shan.

Liang Shan took the drawings and studied them carefully. The drawings are detailed and there are two kinds of equipment. One is the steam engine, which is used on vehicles and ships, using the steam engine as the power to replace horses and sails. The other is a steam boiler, which is used to power machinery and equipment.

Liang Shan looked at the drawings and nodded: "Yes, it's a good thing, I'll go and cast it to test it." After saying that, he got up and was about to leave.

Liu Yu hurriedly grabbed him and said, "Teacher, I haven't finished talking yet." After many experiments, I finally succeeded in formulating a powder, which I named 'gunpowder', you see. As he spoke, Liu Yu took out a clay pot and handed it to Liang Shan.

"What's the use of this?" Liang Shan asked suspiciously, after lifting the lid and looking at the yellow powder inside.

"When it burns, it produces a large amount of gas, and if it is in a closed situation, it will form a violent explosion, which has a strong destructive surname. Liu Yu explained.

"Oh, it's so powerful, can you test it out?" Guan Xing asked.

"Of course, you come with me. After speaking, Liu Yu took the lead and walked out. The others followed. Coming to an open place, Liu Yu found a pile of gravel to bury the clay pot underneath, and then dragged out a long lead from the clay pot, which was two hundred meters long. Liu Yu stood at one end of the lead, motioned for everyone to retreat behind him, and then took out the flint to ignite the lead.

The lead "snorted" burning, the speed was very fast, and it burned out after a while, only to hear a loud "boom", the gravel flew in all directions, and was blown out of a long distance, and a large pit appeared on the ground where the gravel was piled up before.

Everyone was shocked by the scene in front of them, what kind of power is this! Even the bear clan, which has the strongest defense among the orcs, may not be able to withstand such an attack!

Liang Shan rubbed his eyes and said, "I'm not mistaken, right?

"Xiao Yu, is this 'gunpowder' you said complicated to prepare, and are the materials needed sufficient?" Guan Xing was the first to recover and asked one of the key questions. If the formulation is complex and the materials are lacking, it still cannot be applied on a large scale.

"It's not very difficult to prepare, and the materials needed are easy to obtain. However, it is necessary to pay attention to safety when formulating, because it is prone to explosion when rubbed, so be extra careful. Liu Yu replied.

"It's great, with this 'gunpowder', I don't think it will be so easy for the orcs to attack us again. Guan Xing said excitedly.

In the following days, Liangshan became extremely busy. According to the drawings again and again to build, modify, and improve. The construction of the steamship went relatively smoothly, using the existing ships to install the steam engine in a compartment at the stern of the ship, to which a propeller was attached. The steam engine is used to drive the propellers to move the ship forward and backward.

The construction of steam locomotives was much more difficult, as the huge steam engines already took up too much space, and coal as fuel took up another part. As a result, the locomotive was so large and heavy that it could only be supported by two rows of steel wheels, so that there was no road surface to withstand it.

For this reason, Liang Shan racked his brains and designed many schemes, but the results were not very ideal. Seeing that the locomotive that had been built was parked there and could not be used, Liang Shan was anxious, what should he do? Could it be that the locomotive that he had worked so hard to develop could only be put there for watching? How could he hold up such a heavy locomotive?

Liu Yu was also thinking there, if you want the locomotive to be able to drive, you must keep the wheels from sinking into the soil, and the wheels should not be too wide, which will only increase its own weight, and it is not convenient to move. It would be nice if a road could be laid out of thick steel plates that would allow the locomotive to fly on it!

But such an idea is too unrealistic, and it is too uneconomical to use so much steel just to pave a road. Suddenly, an idea flashed in Liu Yu's mind. If this steel plate is made small into two rails, supporting only two rows of wheels, and laying stone strips under the rails to increase its stress area, this may be enough, right?

Thinking of doing it, Liu Yu immediately found his teacher Liang Shan, said his thoughts, the master and apprentice research felt feasible, they began to experiment, first designed the style of the rail and the wheels that can be used, and then organized production, a day's work to produce enough to lay a thousand meters of rail, in the locomotive production workshop forward to build a thousand meters of roadbed, on the roadbed every eighty centimeters to place a 30 centimeter square stone strip, and then lay the rail on the stone strip and fix the rail on the stone strip.

When all this work was done, a large number of people were called in to move the locomotive laboriously onto the rails. Seeing that the locomotive lying quietly on the steel rails did not sink into the ground again, Liu Yu knew that he had achieved half the battle.

After the steam engine ignited, the locomotive began to move slowly, and the crew controlled the operation of the steam engine to let the locomotive slowly run on the track. After confirming that everything was intact, the two of them couldn't help but be overjoyed, and if they succeeded, they would no longer need to use horse-drawn carriages to transport supplies in the future, which would greatly increase the speed of transportation of goods.

After this series of explorations, Liang Shan and Liu Yu became more familiar with the construction of locomotives. The subsequent locomotives are assembled directly on the rails during the final assembly, avoiding the waste of manpower in hauling the locomotive onto the rails.

After this innovation, Bokan Equipment Group has been re-divided. At present, it is divided into five business projects: steel smelting, equipment manufacturing, gunpowder manufacturing, locomotive manufacturing, steamship manufacturing, and road and bridge construction.

The increase in business items has directly led to a large shortage of craftsmen, after all, it is developing too fast, the cultivation of talents has not kept up, and various new technologies require a large number of skilled craftsmen to be proficient. To this end, Liang Shan spent a month compiling several sets of teaching materials, printing various skills into books, and providing them with learning according to the position of each craftsman, so that they could improve in a short period of time.

But this is not a long-term solution after all, Liangshan is already planning to set up more engineering colleges, each specializing in a major, so as to cultivate more and more professional talents.