Chapter 61 Successful Disaster Relief
Just as those officials were crying and wailing, their snot and tears covering their bodies.
Lin Qingyan didn't even spare them a glance.
He simply stared silently ahead.
"ignition!"
He gave the order.
The craftsmen, who were already prepared, threw their torches into the boiler.
The smell of burning coal filled the air instantly.
Immediately afterwards.
A tremendous shriek pierced through the wind and rain.
The officials kneeling on the ground trembled with fear and almost wet their pants.
Some even lay directly in the mud and water, shivering and covering their heads.
"The Dragon King has appeared!"
"That's a monster screaming!"
"It's all over, we're all going to be eaten!"
The expected gaping maw did not fall.
Instead, the ground beneath my feet began to vibrate rhythmically.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The enormous flywheel began to spin slowly, then sped up until it became a blur.
Those few black water pumps, their pipe openings facing the floodwaters, sucked them in forcefully.
The murky water seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand and lifted up along the pipe!
Then it transformed into several white water dragons, roaring as it sprayed towards the distant flood discharge channel.
The scene was truly breathtaking.
The officials, who had been wailing, suddenly fell silent, as if their voices had been choked.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the scene.
They didn't even realize that rainwater was getting into their mouths.
This is too much...
That's brutal!
That was a flood!
Normally I wouldn't even dare to touch it, but now I've been completely tamed by this iron lump?
Wan Cheng was completely dumbfounded.
He rubbed his eyes and pinched his thigh.
pain!
It's not a dream!
He scrambled to the water level gauge and stared intently at the markings.
A quarter of an hour passed.
Half an hour passed.
The water level, which had been rising rapidly, has suddenly stopped!
Immediately afterwards.
The water level started to drop at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Although it was only a tiny bit, for Yanzhou, which was about to breach its banks, it was the line between life and death!
"It's gone down!"
"It's gone down!!!"
Wan Cheng suddenly turned around, jumping and skipping with joy.
He knelt down in the mud with a thud and kowtowed frantically to Lin Qingyan and the machines.
"A miracle! It's truly a miracle!"
"Yanzhou is saved!"
"The people are saved!"
This roar completely awakened everyone.
Those people who had been waiting in despair to die emerged one by one from the shelters where they were taking shelter from the rain.
They watched the water jets gushing forth and the water level dropping lower and lower.
One by one, they wept with joy.
"What kind of treasure is that?"
"How can they be so amazing?"
"My goodness! This is even more effective than the Dragon King!"
The cheers were deafening, even amidst the torrential rain.
Despite the mud on the ground, countless people knelt down and worshipped in the direction of the dam.
"Thank you so much, Prime Minister Lin, for saving my life!"
"Thank you so much, Second Princess, for saving my life!"
"This is a living Bodhisattva descended to earth!"
Faced with one excited official after another.
Although Lin Qingyan was exhausted and her eyes were bloodshot, her back was ramrod straight.
He stepped forward and shouted.
"Fellow villagers!"
"No need to thank me!"
Lin Qingyan turned around, facing the direction of the capital, and respectfully bowed with his hands clasped.
His expression was solemn and devout.
"This is not our achievement!"
"These blueprints were obtained by Her Majesty the Empress from the gods!"
"It is because His Majesty cares for the people of Yanzhou and prays for them day and night that the gods have bestowed upon him such a divine artifact!"
"The Ministry of Works of the Imperial Court worked day and night to rush out these parts!"
"Our Great Yu has such a wise ruler; it is a blessing for all the people!"
Luan Xue also came up at this time.
Although she was soaked to the bone and her hair was disheveled, her eyes shone brighter than the stars in the sky.
She also bowed deeply in the direction of the capital.
The sound was crisp and clear.
"That's right!"
"If it weren't for the Empress Dowager overseeing the rear, and if it weren't for the divine map bestowed by His Majesty..."
"We really can only watch helplessly as our homes are destroyed!"
"This is the destiny of the Great Yu Dynasty, and His Majesty's great fortune!"
The people were even more excited when they heard this.
So it was that little empress who was only four years old?
I heard that the Empress was the reincarnation of a celestial child, and it turns out it's true!
"Long live Her Majesty the Empress!"
Long live the Great Yu!
"We have a good emperor!"
Even the most ignorant people understood a principle at this moment.
The imperial court has not forgotten him!
The emperor cared about them!
This feeling of being valued brought tears to the eyes of countless people, who banged their heads on the ground repeatedly.
And those officials who were just crying and shouting that they wanted to run away.
At this moment, everyone's faces turned red, so embarrassed that they wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
That... solves it?
The floods that had plagued Yanzhou were solved with just these few smoking iron lumps.
This is unbelievable!
A few officials with slightly sharper minds immediately moved closer, their eyes darting around.
"Prime Minister Lin! I am guilty; I was confused just now!"
"Yes, yes, yes, I must have been blinded by greed, or is Prime Minister Lin truly wise and capable!"
Lin Qingyan glanced at them coldly, but did not lash out on the spot.
Now is the time when we need people.
At this time.
An official in charge of the canal transport stared at the rapidly spinning paddlewheel and couldn't help but mutter something under his breath.
"Prime Minister Lin, look how powerful this thing is."
"Since it can be pushed along by water, what if it were loaded onto a boat..."
"Can't you push the boat along with it?"
"Nowadays, the canal transport relies entirely on boatmen pulling it, and going against the current is even more difficult."
"If we had this..."
Upon hearing this, the eyes of the surrounding officials lit up instantly.
Another official from the Ministry of Works slapped his thigh in agreement.
"yes!"
"If we modify this pipe, could it be used to blast air for iron smelting?"
"That force is greater than dozens of bellows combined!"
"Wouldn't the iron we smelt then be even better?"
Some people were pointing at the flywheel.
"Can it be used to grind flour?"
"Can it be used for weaving cloth?"
In a short time.
The levee became a makeshift seminar.
These officials, who were just moments ago afraid of death, suddenly became quick-witted and resourceful once they realized the stakes involved.
This is a political achievement!
That's real money!
As Lin Qingyan listened to these discussions, a smile finally appeared on her previously tense face.
He pulled a booklet from his pocket, its cover already soaked by the rain.
Have a guard hold an umbrella for him.
Even when he was exhausted, he carefully wrote down each of his thoughts.
These.
They are all the hope for the future of Dayu.
As Luan Xue watched this scene, an indescribable sense of pride welled up in her heart.
She remembered the words her grandmother had said to her while holding her hand before she left.
"Xue'er".
"The invention of the steam engine was not just for disaster relief."
"It's about changing the world."
"Making the impossible possible."
Luan Xue took a deep breath and addressed the assembled officials.
"What you gentlemen say is absolutely right!"
"My mother once taught me."
"The power of this steam is inexhaustible."
"Today it can save Yanzhou from disaster, and tomorrow it can lead my Great Yu fleet to even more distant seas!"
"It can make farmland irrigation no longer dependent on the weather!"
"It can make cloth production hundreds or thousands of times faster!"
"As long as we work together."
"The Great Yu will surely prosper!"
"One day, we will ensure that all people in the world have enough to eat and wear, and that they can use such amazing machines!"
These words.
His words ignited the passion of everyone present.
Even those officials who were only thinking about making a quick buck were stunned by the blueprint drawn up.
Will that day really come?
Looking at the still-roaring behemoth before them.
They felt that...
Perhaps, it really is possible!