Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 345, The Veteran Scientific Researcher
Of course I wouldn't want to part with it.

But Rick Congreve is different from others.

Rick Congreve, a genius in scientific research, inherited his father's scientific talent well, but unlike his father, he was not enthusiastic about politics.

He was so engrossed in scientific research that he developed a new rocket structure design at the age of sixteen, which improved the efficiency of gunpowder propulsion by 15%.

Although his improvement wasn't significant, considering his age, he was still considered a genius, and Cambridge University made an exception and admitted him.

Rick Congreve then dropped out of Cambridge at the age of eighteen.

The reason is that his father was involved in a political incident.

William Congreve, the inventor of the Congreve rocket, was born into a minor noble family. He entered politics directly with this honor and became a member of parliament. However, despite his talent for invention, he was not good at politics.

In the midst of a political infighting, William Congreve was forced to flee to the July Empire for refuge, but he was unable to take his family with him to the British Empire.

Ultimately, Rick Congreve was forced to drop out of Cambridge due to the political purges brought on by his father.

Because the Congreve family was considered a minor noble family, the nobles of the British Empire did not exterminate them.

Although Rick Congreve did not graduate from Cambridge, his degree was still enough to secure a decent job and a good life for the young Rick Congreve in London.

However, even the most respectable job could not support his rocket research.

Rick Congreve, dedicated to rocket research, poured everything into it. He was researching a new type of liquid fuel, a very expensive and slow-growing endeavor.

If it weren't for his father, who was in exile in France, secretly sending him money to support his research, he wouldn't have been able to sustain his research for so many years.

But just recently, William Congreve died in Toulouse.

After his father's death, Rick Congreve's research quickly depleted the family's wealth. In the end, he sold off his possessions, moved the whole family to the countryside, and couldn't even afford new diapers for the baby. He and his wife ate mashed potatoes for a whole week.

No sauce.

Rick Congreve's dream finally crumbled under the pressure of reality.

After that, Fang Yong placed an order with the British Empire for three Nemesis warships.

The timeframe was short and the speed was fast; the British Empire simply didn't have time to build a new one.

After deliberation, the councilors ordered that the three old warships in the navy be repainted and converted into new warships using the shiniest materials, and then issued to Fang Yong.

Therefore, the three warships that Fang Yong received were actually old warships.

Even Fang Yong didn't know this.

During this period, in order to speed up the work, the British Empire temporarily recruited a large number of temporary workers to assist in the renovation.

Just then, Rick Congreve, who was struggling to make a living, decided to give up his rocket research and applied for the job. As the son of Congreve, the inventor of the rocket, he had been exposed to it since childhood and no one knew better than him how to modify it.

Unsurprisingly, Rick Congreve was retained on the warship with a high salary due to his outstanding work, and was responsible for the subsequent maintenance of the warship's rockets.

At this point, Rick Congreve had decided to abandon rocket development.

Rick Congreve was offered a high salary of £11 a month by the Campbell family’s ocean shipping company, which led him to choose to stay on the ship.

Later, Rick Congreve was discovered by Earl Sweet by chance.

The other party's family background is no longer acceptable to the aristocratic class of the British Empire, unless he can develop another epoch-making rocket, which is obviously unlikely.

Therefore, Earl Sweet decided to do a favor and give Rick Congreve to Fang Yong.

Even if he couldn't develop a new rocket, Rick Congreve's value was still immense. At least the old Congreve rocket held no secrets for him and could be easily copied.

Without him, even if Fang Yong made a one-to-one replica, it would not have been possible to succeed quickly, and it would have consumed a huge amount of manpower and resources.

"Did you bring the person?" Fang Yong asked with interest.

"He's waiting outside," said Earl Sweet.

Fang Yong then ordered his guards to bring the person in.

The visitor's appearance was hard to describe.

This was a middle-aged man who looked very old. His carefully chosen suit and trimmed hair could not hide his weathered appearance. He was of average height and somewhat thin, with brown hair and a bald head.

Before coming, Fang Yong thought he was a disillusioned young scientific research talent.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be... such an image.

Rick Congreve looked at Fang Yong with obvious nervousness in his eyes. His long period of solitary scientific research seemed to have caused his communication skills to deteriorate considerably. When Fang Yong asked him questions, he always stumbled over his words, and even though Fang Yong did not understand foreign languages, he could sense the interruptions in his speech.

However, the fact that he was chosen by Earl Sweet shows that he must have real talent.

The other party wouldn't just randomly pull someone off the street to amuse themselves.

Fang Yong asked him to demonstrate his scientific research techniques.

Rick Congreve said yes.

So Fang Yong found a spacious venue for Rick Congreve to demonstrate.

Rick Congreve painstakingly set up a rocket launch pad, then assembled the rocket on site, ignited the Congreve rocket, and launched it.

A trail of flickering flame appeared in the air, which flew for a kilometer or two before a loud explosion occurred, sending flames flying in all directions.

Fang Yong looked at this scene and asked in confusion:

"Isn't this the same kind of rocket as the one on the Nemesis warship?"

After the warship Fang Yong purchased arrived, he naturally took the opportunity to experience the ship's firepower. The rockets in front of him were clearly the same as those on the Nemesis.

Rick Congreve was so nervous that he couldn't speak.

Earl Sweet explained from the side:

"Your Majesty, Mr. Rick Congreve is very familiar with this rocket. It was originally created by his father. He can help you mass-produce this rocket and even modify it to design more types. These are all very valuable technologies."

Fang Yong nodded upon hearing this.

Earl Sweet's words make sense.

but……

Fang Yong walked up to Rick Congreve, looked at the nervous young man...and asked:
"What has your research been all these years? Is all that research just the same as this?"

Rick Congreve lowered his head.

Fang Yong waited quietly.

After a moment, Rick Congreve whispered,
“King, my research is about a fuel, and it’s not finished yet, so it’s not really suitable to demonstrate it.”

Fang Yong said, "It's alright, I just want to see what you've researched over the years."

After some time, Rick Congreve concocted a drop of colorless liquid the size of a fingernail.

Rick Congreve ignited the drop of liquid and said:
"This is a new material I developed, which I named RK-263. It is expensive, costing about six pounds per liter. Its advantage is that it has a high energy density, and each milliliter can burn for three minutes and sixteen seconds."

(End of this chapter)