Soul Guidance Steam Engine and Industrial Development Plan

Xu Mochen was not worried about such issues. Instead, he retrieved a blueprint from his storage soul tool; the drawing depicted a Soul Guidance Steam Engine he had designed after localizing and improving the technology.

"That is not a problem. We can resolve it by employing a separate condenser and setting an insulation layer outside the cylinder. Specifically, we can do it like this..." Following this, Xu Mochen began to point at his design, explaining his concepts and train of thought to Kong Dehan in a continuous, impassioned stream.

Although the technological tree of Blue Star differed from that of the Sun Moon Continent, the design logic and concepts in certain areas could achieve the same result by different means. Xu Mochen had only spent one night to produce these results.

"This, this is... Heavens! How did you come up with these? This is simply..." Kong Dehan's jaw had dropped once again, his worldview collapsing in his mind! Although Xu Mochen's plan had yet to be tested in practice, theoretically, it perfectly solved the difficulties facing the design of the Soul Guidance Steam Engine.

When the time came, the emergence of a Soul Guidance Steam Engine fueled by soul coal would no longer be a dream! He had lived for so long, yet he had never spent his days in such constant astonishment as he had these past two days. Xu Mochen's wisdom could no longer be described as genius; he was a monster! How had he never noticed this talent before?

Kong Dehan even began to suspect whether the Crown Prince before him had been replaced by someone else. However, the moment this thought surfaced in his mind, he quickly dismissed it. At the very least, in his own understanding, he had never encountered such an absurd thing.

Could it be that the Crown Prince had received guidance from their ancestors? Yes! That must be it! Unable to think of any other possibility, Kong Dehan could only attribute the cause to the wisdom of their ancestors. Otherwise, he truly could not understand why a six-year-old child who had previously seemed so unremarkable would possess such heaven-defying wisdom!

However, it was clear that Xu Mochen did not care about Kong Dehan's reaction at all. He waved his hand and said, "That is not the point. The point is, can we attempt to experiment with my idea?"

Kong Dehan was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded excitedly. "Yes, of course! Your Highness, I will arrange for people to analyze and manufacture it immediately. If Your Highness's design logic truly succeeds, the development of the Sun Moon Empire's soul guidance technology will inevitably enter a brand-new era."

Kong Dehan was worthy of being an expert in soul tools; his sharp eyes saw at a glance what a massive transformation such a soul machine would bring to the entire society once successfully manufactured!

"I have no doubt about that either." Xu Mochen did not show false modesty, but affirmed, "I already have a comprehensive plan. Once this new type of Soul Guidance Steam Engine is successfully developed, we can not only use it for industrial assembly line production, but also apply it to agricultural production, transportation, equipment operation, and various other fields. I have several other design ideas as well..."

Subsequently, Xu Mochen and Kong Dehan discussed the matter heatedly, occasionally taking out blueprints to gesture, write, and draw. They even forgot the passage of time, skipping dinner to plan until late into the night. Ultimately, because it was too late and he had to return to the palace, Xu Mochen left under Kong Dehan's reluctant gaze.

In the time that followed, Xu Mochen became a very busy man. On one hand, he needed to cultivate; on the other, he had to handle government affairs; and on yet another, he had to accompany Kong Dehan in researching soul tools. Kong Dehan's skills were indeed superb; in less than ten days, he and a group of soul tool designers successfully built this new type of Soul Guidance Steam Engine.

Accompanied by experiment after experiment, revisions, and refinements, finally, with the help of Xu Mochen's advanced theoretical knowledge, a new type of Soul Guidance Steam Engine fully capable of being used for industrial production was officially completed in just fifteen days.

As the new Soul Guidance Steam Engine burned soul coal, emitting constant steam and a "rumbling" sound during its operation, a burst of enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted throughout the Royal Research Institute.

A group of white-haired soul tool designers were celebrating this historic moment like innocent children! Xu Mochen wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief. The hard work of these past few days had not been in vain.

"Old Qin, it seems a miracle has been born in our hands," Kong Dehan said excitedly to another soul tool designer nearby. "Indeed, even now I cannot believe we actually succeeded! This is all thanks to the Crown Prince!" The soul tool designer Kong Dehan called Old Qin also appeared quite excited.

Old Qin, whose real name was Qin Huaiyuan, was the Vice Dean of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Research Institute and, like Kong Dehan, a famous Level 9 soul tool designer. Initially, when he heard about the manufacturing plan for the Soul Guidance Steam Engine from Kong Dehan and Xu Mochen, he had been somewhat disdainful. After all, even he did not believe it was truly possible to build such a magical contraption so easily, and he had even suspected that Kong Dehan might have lost his mind due to old age.

It was only after reading the manufacturing blueprints and plans of Kong Dehan and Xu Mochen that Qin Huaiyuan was deeply convinced by their wisdom and joined the manufacturing project!

If Qin Huaiyuan had previously thought of Xu Mochen as just a six-year-old child with whimsical ideas, then in his eyes now, Xu Mochen had become a super prodigy even more formidable than himself! The other soul tool designers were equally impressed by Xu Mochen, and it was only then that they truly and completely submitted to him.

"Actually, you seniors do not need to praise me. If it weren't for your collective efforts, I don't know how long it would have taken me to manufacture this new Soul Guidance Steam Engine on my own." After a small display of modesty, Xu Mochen straightened his expression. "However, seniors, we have only completed the most basic work of building the steam engine. To truly apply the Soul Guidance Steam Engine to fields like industry and agriculture, we must also produce the corresponding auxiliary equipment. I have some ideas regarding this as well."

After speaking, Xu Mochen picked up his tools and spread out the blueprints to begin designing. The other soul designers no longer showed the same contempt as they had at the beginning; instead, they eagerly crowded around, vying to observe Xu Mochen's designs, fearing they might miss a single detail.

Regarding the manufacturing of the auxiliary equipment for the steam engine, Xu Mochen had his own plan in mind: first, he intended to use the Sun Moon Royal Group, which was directly under the royal family, to establish a batch of Soul Guidance Steam Engine manufacturing factories and stockpile a sufficient number of engines.

Next, he would produce samples of the Soul Guidance Steamships, Soul Guidance Steam Trains, and various agricultural and industrial soul machinery that matched the Soul Guidance Steam Engine.

Subsequently, he would attract merchants to pre-order these derivative products while pushing the Imperial Parliament to allocate funds to order the new equipment from the Sun Moon Royal Group. Once sufficient capital was raised, he would establish relevant production lines to mass-produce these products.

Of course, during this period, it was impossible to expect other groups not to take the opportunity to replicate his product technology. However, he was not panicked, because according to the Sun Moon Empire's Intellectual Property Law and Patent Law, he and the Sun Moon Royal Group held a thirty-year patent on the Soul Guidance Steam Engine and its derivatives.

This meant that within thirty years, any enterprise wishing to replicate his group's Soul Guidance Steam Engine must obtain his and the Sun Moon Royal Group's consent; otherwise, they could be legally subjected to massive fines and other sanctions. Presumably, even the other families among the Ten Great Families would not dare to openly defy the laws of the Sun Moon Empire.

However, Xu Mochen did not intend to restrict other families from researching and developing the Soul Guidance Steam Engine. Because while serving as the Chairman of the Sun Moon Royal Group, Xu Mochen was also the Crown Prince and the Hidden Emperor of this country. In his heart, the interests of the empire were above all else, so he would not only refrain from obstructing other groups' research and development, but would even actively provide technical references and design blueprints.

Of course, in this process, they would have to pay Xu Mochen a very high patent fee and technical fee. After all, he was not running a charity; if he wanted to carry out the next large-scale scientific research plan, he had to obtain more R&D funding.

Many people might find it strange: since Xu Mochen was the Crown Prince and the Hidden Emperor, why couldn't he simply allocate funds from the national treasury to the Sun Moon Royal Group?

This was a matter of the Sun Moon Empire's political system. As mentioned earlier, after the God-Emperor War, the contemporary emperor of the Sun Moon Empire and the forces of the great merchants and new nobility reached a compromise, establishing a parliament to limit the emperor's power. Although the emperor's power remained significant to this day, it was no longer the supreme status of the past.

First, according to the Sun Moon Empire Constitution, the parliament and the emperor shared legislative power, as well as the power to interpret, supervise, amend, and abolish laws. However, laws formulated by the parliament required a vote of more than half of the members to be implemented. While the emperor could also formulate laws, they could not conflict with those formulated by the parliament; otherwise, the parliament's laws took precedence.

The emperor held a veto power over legal clauses and could amend or abolish them, provided that no more than two-thirds of the parliament members supported retaining the clause; otherwise, the veto was invalid. At the same time, the emperor had no right to arbitrarily allocate national treasury funds. The movement of all treasury funds, including those for the emperor, required parliamentary approval. If the parliament did not agree, the emperor could not move a single cent.

Of course, the parliament did allocate specific private funds to the royal family, which served as the emperor's salary and could be used at will. However, this money was not particularly large; it was more than enough to maintain the royal family's daily expenses, but it was a bit stretched if one wanted to do something major.

In addition, the Sun Moon Empire's parliament also held personnel, supervisory, impeachment, and judicial powers over the empire's administrative officials; its power was by no means small.

The Sun Moon Royal Group was the private group of the Sun Moon Empire's royal family and also the most powerful group in the empire. Although the group was owned by the Xu and Kong royal families, it did not receive direct support from the imperial government. In other words, although it was a royal group, it competed fairly with other enterprises, and its operating model was based on board resolutions and self-financing.

As for whether he could persuade the other board members of the Sun Moon Royal Group to agree to his plan? Sorry, the largest shareholder of the Sun Moon Royal Group was held by the successive emperors of the Xu family. After the late emperor passed away, the largest shareholder naturally became Xu Mochen himself. The second-largest shareholder was none other than the Vice Chairman of the Sun Moon Royal Group, who was also the Dean of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Research Institute, Prince Yinyue, Kong Dehan.

He had already proposed his plan to Kong Dehan and received his support. The combined shares of the two alone already exceeded fifty percent of all shares in the Sun Moon Royal Group, so the passage of his plan was a foregone conclusion.