Iron Dynasty

Chapter 1149

Xiao Ming stood on the left side of the airport runway, watching the monoplane taxiing forward. For the blitzkrieg against Tsarist Russia or dealing with Britain, there were generals on the front lines to command. With a distance of thousands of miles and slow information transfer, he, as the Emperor, could only focus on production, technology, construction, and logistics. And this monoplane, which was currently undergoing its test flight, was one of the projects he had been watching for more than half a year.

As the Empire’s industrial system became more and more perfect and chemistry and materials science continued to develop, the Empire’s technological level had now fully reached the level of the early twentieth century. Because of this, the Empire’s machinery factory was able to turn the tanks on the blueprints into reality, and now, the monoplane, a high-tech machine, had succeeded again in a short period of time. It could be said that the current technological explosion in the Empire was entirely due to the accumulation of more than two decades, and the accumulation of talent played the most important role.

The majors in the Empire’s major academies are now basically in line with the contemporary scientific research system. In addition to the traditional majors of chemistry, materials, and physics, computer science and atomic energy have been added in the past two years. The reason he only added these two majors to the major academies now was that only when the technology had accumulated to a certain stage could the research in these two fields be possible. The law of development from simple to complex science cannot be violated. Of course, in addition to the new majors, he also released a lot of new knowledge in the old majors, such as steam turbines and aero-engines.

“I never thought that people could fly in the sky. Now my eyes have been opened,” Fei Ji said. As time passed, this three-dynasty veteran’s hair had turned gray, and his back was a little hunched. Two days ago, he had formally submitted his resignation to Xiao Ming, intending to retire in Qingzhou. At nearly sixty-five years old, his body was becoming less and less able to support the current intensity of government affairs.

Xiao Ming did not try to keep him. In these years, the Empire had been fighting in the east and west, and technology had flourished, but he had also been improving government affairs. And for the first time in the Empire, he proposed that officials could resign and return to their fields at the age of fifty-five and must resign at the age of sixty. After all, at this age, a person’s body and reaction speed are somewhat slow, and it is no longer appropriate to continue to hold a position in the Imperial Court. Xiao Ming also intended to eliminate this group of old officials whose thinking was gradually failing to keep up with the times. In his opinion, only new-style officials could lead the Empire to a more glorious future.

Logically, Fei Ji should have resigned five years ago, but Xiao Ming believed that he was still quite prestigious among the old officials, so he kept him for five years and put him in charge of supervising the officials and dismissing those corrupt and inactive old officials, which was also making the best use of his talents.

“Not just Grand Secretary Fei, but we also never thought we would see such a magical machine,” Pang Yukun said. Suddenly, when Fei Ji was about to resign and return to his fields, he suddenly felt a little reluctant. With one less opponent, the Imperial Court would be much lonelier. But he also understood that the present was different from the past. The Empire now did not favor infighting. The atmosphere of the entire Empire was to unite against foreign enemies. And he was not young either; in a few more years, he would have to do the same as Fei Ji, so he had similar feelings.

Xiao Ming’s gaze moved back and forth between the two of them, and he could not help but smile. “You are making a fuss over nothing. The Empire’s technological explosion has just begun, and you will see more in the future.”

“Hahaha… In that case, I must live longer,” Fei Ji laughed loudly.

While the three of them were talking, the monoplane at the end of the runway began to take off, rushing into the sky like a little bird. In an instant, the entire machinery factory erupted in thunderous cheers.

“It’s flying! It’s flying!”

The technicians of the machinery factory danced with joy, and the workers lifted the aircraft’s technicians and threw them into the air to express their excitement. For the people of the Empire, the significance of the airplane was incomparable to that of tanks and automobiles, because throughout the long history, humans had always held a sense of reverence for the sky, believing it to be the dwelling place of the gods. But now, the success of the monoplane meant that humans could soar freely in the sky, which was incomparable to a hot air balloon that drifted with the wind.

Xiao Ming could not help but be infected by this enthusiasm. This was his Empire, a rapidly rising superpower.

“Lin Wentao, you have done a good job. You can be said to have completed the test flight of the airplane ahead of schedule. But now is not the time to be proud. The military production of airplanes must be put on the agenda, especially the development of bombers and transport aircraft must be sped up,” Xiao Ming said. At present, no country in the world has an air force.

So, fighter jets were not of much significance to Xiao Ming. What was really useful to the Empire were bombers and transport aircraft. The former could conduct carpet bombing on enemy positions, and the latter could increase the Empire’s troop deployment speed.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. We have accumulated experience with this airplane, so the rest will be simple.” Lin Wentao nodded. He already had the design drawings for bombers and transport aircraft. This monoplane was just to kick-start the aircraft manufacturing industry. Soon, the Empire would establish a Northern Aircraft Design and Manufacturing Center in Jinzhou, an Eastern Aircraft Design and Manufacturing Center in Qingzhou, a Southern Aircraft Manufacturing Center in Chengdu, and a Western Aircraft Manufacturing Center in Chang’an. These manufacturing centers would design and manufacture all types of airplanes for the Empire in the future.

“Yes, I hope to one day be able to travel between the various cities of the Empire on an airplane made by the Empire.” Xiao Ming showed a look of anticipation. For him, the most fatal problems of this era were transportation and information transfer. By solving these two problems, the Empire would be able to effectively control its overseas colonies and avoid the estrangement between the colonies and the Empire caused by distance.

After circling Qingzhou City ten times, the airplane landed slowly at the airport. This test flight was perfectly completed. After commending the technicians and workers who participated in the aircraft manufacturing, Xiao Ming led the ministers back in a carriage.

On the way back, Xiao Ming asked Pang Yukun to start planning the construction of airports for the Empire from now on, not to wait until the airplanes were produced to get busy. At the same time, he also demanded that all the cities in the Empire, except for some valuable city walls, have all the meaningless city walls demolished so as not to affect the construction of traffic roads. In addition, the two also discussed the Empire’s welfare system.

In the more than twenty years of industrialization, the biggest change in the Empire was actually the living standard of the people. From not having enough to eat or wear in the past, to every family in the Empire now having enough fish and meat and new clothes every year, the Empire’s overall living standard had long surpassed that of Europe and was even a hundred years ahead. After all, in addition to military and heavy industry, Xiao Ming had also brought contemporary food and various light industries here.