I have already established my power and prestige, so how did Li Shimin come back to life?

During these two and a half difficult years, the Qianyu Chamber of Commerce generously allocated huge amounts of funds to the Ministry of Industry every year to support the research and development of steam engines.

The Ministry of Industry has given extremely generous treatment to every craftsman, not only ensuring that they themselves have enough food and clothing, but also that every family member in their family has received His Majesty's meticulous care and attention.

Back in the day, before His Royal Highness the Crown Prince (now His Majesty) came here, these craftsmen were just humble people at the bottom of society.

Every day I have to follow other people's instructions and live in fear.

After the arrival of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, everything changed dramatically.

The profession of craftsman gradually became a noble profession respected and admired by everyone in Xianyang City.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince affectionately calls them "workers."

And he solemnly declared to all the people in Xianyang City: The Tang Dynasty was created by the hard work of the workers!

Precisely because of the great favor bestowed upon us by Your Majesty, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry feel a deeper sense of guilt and anxiety than anyone else, as this steam engine has yet to be developed into a perfect finished product.

They felt that they had failed His Majesty's trust and expectations, and their hearts were filled with self-blame, so much so that many craftsmen did not even dare to go home to face their families.

They stayed in the Ministry of Industry day and night, taking care of all the trivial matters of life such as eating, drinking, defecating and urinating in the Ministry of Industry, and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the research of steam engines.

Cui Dayong even made a vow in public: As long as the steam engine is not successfully developed by the Ministry of Industry, he will not leave the door of the Ministry of Industry!

These craftsmen all knew in their hearts that it was not that they really did not want to step out of the Ministry of Industry, but they felt ashamed to face the outside world's gaze, and the guilt in their hearts always followed them.

In fact, the Ministry of Industry will naturally not spend all the huge funds allocated each year on the difficult problem of sealing.

The craftsmen have full confidence in the steam engines they make. Except for the sealing, all other parts have been carefully polished to the best condition.

In this situation, they did not blindly focus on studying the sealing problem, but secretly made a bold decision - to mass-produce steam engines in secret.

In the past two and a half years, they have produced a total of 241 steam engines, which are the results of their hard work day and night.

They had a glimmer of hope and expectation in their hearts. If they could find suitable and good sealing materials in subsequent explorations, they would undoubtedly become heroes of the Tang Dynasty and their names would go down in history.

If they could not find the ideal sealing material, I am afraid that even if all the craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry were sentenced to death, it would be difficult to make up for the mistakes they had made.

After all, spending so much money only to produce a bunch of useless "iron lumps" is something that no one in power can tolerate.

It can be said that this is a big gamble for the entire Ministry of Industry, and success or failure depends on this one move.

Today, as usual, they are concentrating on researching more airtight materials.

After countless failed attempts, they have completely ruled out animal fur as an option.

Because they found in repeated experiments that no matter what kind of precious animal fur was chosen, as long as it was heated during the steam engine operation.

These furs will inevitably crack and cannot meet the strict sealing requirements of steam engines.

In order to overcome this difficulty, they even tried using precious syrup, but the results were still frustrating and ineffective.

And just today, Cui Dayong's eyes inadvertently fell on a new direction of exploration - rubber.

Trees can secrete gummy substances, which is an ordinary thing that few people pay attention to in daily life.

Today, a craftsman accidentally got some peach gum.

It coincides with the beginning of spring, which is the peak period for peach trees to secrete peach gum.

Several craftsmen carefully put the prepared peach gum on the cylinder and valve of the steam engine, then poured coal into the boiler and slowly started the steam engine.

The steam engine roared loudly, and the sound echoed in the silent Ministry of Industry, seeming particularly loud.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the cylinders and valves as if attracted by a magnet. Everyone held their breath, not daring to breathe. The entire Ministry of Industry was filled with a tense atmosphere.

A quarter of an hour passed slowly in this agonizing wait, and just at that moment, Cui Dayong shouted excitedly with joy: "Success!"

It seemed like God was deliberately playing a cruel joke on me.

The peach gum that seemed perfect suddenly cracked with a "pop" sound without any warning.

Cui Dayong turned around with an expression of disbelief, staring at the cracked peach gum. The joy that had just surged in his heart instantly shattered like bubbles, and was replaced by an indescribable disappointment.

Cui Dayong is indeed an experienced and determined leader of craftsmen. Soon, the light of hope flashed in his eyes again.

Although the peach gum eventually cracked, it actually lasted for a full quarter of an hour!

This result is enough to prove that their choice of gum as the research direction was absolutely correct!

Compared with the previous animal skins, plant glue obviously has stronger sealing properties, and is also more durable and not easy to break.

In an instant, hope flashed in the eyes of all the craftsmen.

In their minds, gum has become the most important object of their next research work!

"Write it down! Write down the results! We're almost there! Brothers!"

Cui Dayong shouted excitedly!