"How is the shipyard lately? Are there any new ships launched?" Zhu Youxiao asked while wandering around here. This is the thing he is most concerned about at the moment. Without maritime power, many of his plans will be hindered, such as the final

Importantly, the reform of grain repayment and the overseas grain purchase plan.

Originally, this was a plan he prepared to carry out after returning from Liaodong, but who knew that the naval fleet would be destroyed in Ningbo with a fire ship after a short period of time. It is really like a chess game in the world, and no one expected it.

"This..." When Gao Lao heard this question, his face turned red and he was filled with embarrassment.

"What? Is there any problem?" Zhu Youxiao caught his expression and asked solemnly.

"Your Majesty, the main problem is the wood. A lot of aniseed has just been shipped from Liaodong and will take a long time to dry. And for some reason, I haven't purchased prepared aniseed from the south for a long time, so...

" Mr. Gao explained that if the south could guarantee the source of aniseed, he could still build some warships here.

"That's it!" Zhu Youxiao suddenly realized that Gao Lao didn't know the reason. It doesn't mean that he didn't know that there were shadows of aristocratic families behind many shipyards in the south. Naturally, they didn't want the emperor's maritime power to become stronger and stronger, so

The supply of lumber was blocked.

"Don't worry, after two or three months, there should be a lot of wood." Zhu Youxiao said with relief, then changed the topic, "At present, the shipyard can build as big a ship as possible with the available materials."

"This..." Gao Lao thought for a moment and said, "About three thousand-material gunboats."

A thousand-material gunboat is a Galen ship with a displacement of 500 tons. This tonnage is a medium-sized gunboat. If it were in the past, Zhu Youxiao thought it would be pretty good.

But now he doesn't think so. The number is too small, and there is not much advantage against the pirates floating on the Chinese ocean at the moment. The key is that the speed of the Galen ship is still a bit slow, which is faster than the Fu ship.

It only looks like a few knots. If it is blocked, the combat effectiveness will be really worrying.

After all, his artillery is still a relatively backward portal cannon. It has no flintlock engine, the ammunition is solid bullets, and there are no explosive bullets. The artillery combat technology is not very advanced. If it really confronts a large group of pirates, its combat power will not have much advantage.

"How is the experiment of installing artillery on both sides of the clipper ship going? Are fin stabilizers useful?" Zhu Youxiao continued to ask. The information he gave to the shipyard contained many ideas and technologies that were beyond this era. If this is the case,

After absorbing it, you should be able to come up with a solution.

"We have already discussed this." Speaking of technical issues, Gao Laodeng became very excited, "Clipper ships are prone to swaying, and adding stabilizers can make a big difference. However, the structure of the stabilizer is complicated.

It cannot be retrofitted using wood and is prone to breakage.”

"Then use steel to make stabilizer fins." Zhu Youxiao said decisively. Although the output of steel is not yet stable, supplying stabilizers to shipyards is still not a problem.

"Use steel?" Mr. Gao's voice lowered, his pupils dilated, and he was obviously deep in thought. Suddenly, he shouted as if he had woken up from a nightmare, "Yes, why didn't I think of using steel!"

"Your Majesty, with the stabilizer fins installed on all ships, it will create great stability during navigation and improve the gunfire accuracy of all gunboats." Gao Lao shouted in surprise.

"What about the artillery? What is the result of installing artillery?" Zhu Youxiao asked, anti-roll and other things are just to improve the working condition of the ship. The most important thing is the installation of artillery. No matter how fast the ship is, there is no artillery.

, it doesn’t mean much.

Truth is only within the range of a cannon.

"Your Majesty, due to the lack of wood, we cannot conduct experiments, only theoretical research." Gao Lao said again with some embarrassment. This was also the reason why he avoided talking about the artillery just now and only talked about the stabilizer fin, but he did not expect that

There is still no way to escape now.

"Theoretically?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, "Then tell me your theory."

"It's like this. Your Majesty should know that the reason why the clipper ship is so fast is mainly due to its unique shape, huge aspect ratio, unique bottom shape that reduces resistance, and high hollow bow. The combination of these creates a flying shear ship.

The characteristic of cutting boats quickly.”

"If you want to install artillery, you need the ship to provide a lot of lateral buoyancy to offset the recoil when firing, which is exactly what the clipper ship lacks. After adding stabilizers, when sailing at high speed, the stabilizer will

Fins can provide part of this buoyancy, but it is still not enough. If you want to install side cannons on a clipper ship and ensure firepower, you have to make the ship very large. Only the huge size can provide enough buoyancy."

Mr. Gao gave a detailed explanation and explained the current problem.

"It's very big. How big should it be?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Three thousand materials!" Mr. Gao held out three fingers, "This is reduced after adding a stabilizer. Without the stabilizer, the boat would be even bigger."

"Three thousand materials..." This number really surprised Zhu Youxiao. This is the tonnage of the largest Western ship in the world today. Even the West, which has more developed navigation technology than China, does not know if there is such a ship.

The cost of such a huge ship is unknown.

And this is just the basic entry-level tonnage of a clipper gunboat.

"What about the number of artillery pieces?" Zhu Youxiao asked. It would be a hooligan to just talk about the tonnage aside from the number of artillery pieces.

"Thirty doors on one side, and a total of sixty doors on both sides." Gao Lao said without thinking. After a pause, he added, "The shape design of the clipper ship can only be made into a single deck. Each door

The artillery must be spaced at a fixed distance and cannot be too dense. In addition to dense ribs, the cabins below the deck must also use a large number of watertight compartments to provide lateral support."

"It can only be a single layer, and there are spacing requirements. No wonder it needs such a large tonnage." Zhu Youxiao murmured to himself, and he understood, "By the way, how dense are the dense watertight compartments?" He said

I also noticed a piece of information revealed by Mr. Gao.

"We need...about twenty!" Mr. Gao said hesitantly.

"So dense!?" Zhu Youxiao was surprised. With such a degree of division, I'm afraid it can only be used as a gunboat. It has no transportation function at all, and it can't even carry more people, except for sailors and gunners, to prevent continuous battles.

No melee personnel are allowed.

"What about the speed? Can it reach twelve knots?" Zhu Youxiao asked with concern.

"This..." Gao Lao was a little embarrassed, "Your Majesty, those designs just now are only theoretical. We have not done any actual calculations, so the speed cannot be verified."

"Let's build one!" Zhu Youxiao blurted out.

"There is no material, to be precise, there is no such a long keel!" Gao Lao spread his hands and said helplessly.

"Are there any of the materials I brought?" Zhu Youxiao was a little anxious. Thinking about clipper ships and gunboats is exciting!

"Your Majesty, please allow Weichen to take a look." Gao Lao said.

"Go, go, go," he urged.

Just to check the length, Gao Lao came back soon, but the result disappointed the young emperor. There was no such a long keel among the wood.

"This..." Zhu Youxiao frowned in thought, and then suddenly an idea flashed out, "How about the keel is also made of steel?" He hesitated to express this amazing idea.

"Use steel!!!" Gao Laohe was surprised. This idea really tests one's perspective.
Chapter completed!