"Sir, I want to take this ship to Duolun in person. I am the chief engineer for the modification of this ship. I am responsible for my products. Only by taking a trip in person can I truly understand the performance and shortcomings of these devices.
." Chen Xi said to Yang Fan seriously with a small face.
"Nonsense, your position is not on this ship, but in the research institute. Do you know how risky this trial voyage is? Don't think that there will be no problem after the trial voyage has run more than a hundred miles. From here, go upstream to Toronto.
The waterway is more than five hundred miles one way. You can guarantee that there will be no problems."
"Master, I will bring the technical team, and we will also bring accessories. If it breaks, we can fix it at any time." Chen Xi puffed up his chest and said loudly.
"This is a war, not your playing house, just kidding. You have never been on the battlefield, and you don't know the dangers of the battlefield. If you cut someone with a knife, they will bleed, and they will die. You don't have eyes for loss on the battlefield.
I won’t look for you just because you have a pretty face.”
"Sir, as you said, problems can only be discovered during use. The worse the battlefield environment, the more problems we have not yet discovered can be exposed. Only in this way can the steam engine mature as soon as possible. I can also know the next step of the reciprocating steam engine
Possible problems and the needs of actual users. A good designer cannot work behind closed doors. I can't convince myself without taking a trip."
Yang Fan didn't want her to put herself in danger, but Chen Xi was right. Only when a designer and engineer follows his or her product to the battlefield and inspects its performance on the spot can he truly have a deep understanding of the product's advantages, disadvantages, and performance potential.
Only then can you grow up quickly.
"Master, why don't I lead the team, I will protect Miss Chen." Mo Zhui said. "We don't leave the ship along the way, it should be fine. Even if we need to repair the ship, we can anchor and stop in the middle of the river. Mongolia
We don’t have artillery, and missing arrows poses no great threat to us.
Yang Fan pondered for a while and finally agreed.
After all, he also hopes that Chen Xi can grow up quickly.
Early the next morning, at Chen Xi's request, the inland river steamship named Chenxi lit a fire and set sail.
The first inland river steamship put into use in the Ming Dynasty set off with billowing smoke.
Watching the boat leave the dock and go away, Yang Fan was still a little worried.
He regretted agreeing. After all, Chen Xi's value was too great to be compromised. Yang Fan would still count on her to support the Power Research Institute in the future.
Because it was a trial voyage and restoration of the channel, there was no cargo loaded on the ship. Except for twenty crew members and six technicians, Mo Table carried a general flag and fifty fusiliers, who were responsible for the security work.
In order to deal with the Mongols along the way, three small pillar-type Fran cannons were installed on each side of the ship.
In order to counterweight equipment such as steam engines and paddle wheels and prevent the bow from tilting up, a rotating turret and a 24-caliber red cannon made of cast steel were installed on the bow.
This gun weighs two tons and has a caliber of 130 mm. It uses spherical solid lead bullets and the shells weigh 36 pounds. The effective range can reach 1,500 meters. If shotguns are used, each custom shotshell is loaded with 500 small pieces.
Steel balls. Can shoot enemies within 200 meters in a fan shape.
Spherical solid bullets and shotgun shells are the two main types of ammunition. In addition, chain bullets and buckshot bullets used by the navy are also carried. If they encounter the Mongolian cavalry, they also plan to test them.
During this trial, Fu Laoliu, the head of the firearms workshop and a veteran master craftsman from Xinghe Iron Works, also came with six apprentices.
He wanted to take the opportunity to test their artillery.
The artillery and flintlock guns used on this ship were all produced by them. Like Chen Xi, he wanted to take this opportunity to test his products.
The former main gun was produced by Xinghe Iron Works and was cast by Fu Laoliu himself.
Xinghe Iron Works now fully masters the casting of various large and small Franco machine guns and propeller cannons. The next step is to cast long-caliber naval guns for ships, heavy artillery for city defense, and car camps and infantry.
of light field artillery.
Now the materials for casting cannons have been changed from copper and iron to open-hearth steel. Iron molds are used to cast cannons and oil is cooled. The generation of bubbles is greatly reduced, and the success rate has increased from 15% in this era to 100%.
sixty.
Using steel can make the cannon wall thinner, greatly reducing the weight.
And its performance exceeds the imported red cannon currently used by the Ming Dynasty.
If the cannon is made of bronze material, although the copper cannon is safer and less likely to explode the barrel, the bronze cannon is prone to thermal expansion and expansion of the barrel when fired multiple times, resulting in a great decrease in accuracy.
Moreover, copper is much heavier than iron. After all, copper is the material used to make money, so it is expensive.
Cast steel is much better.
It is cheaper, has better strength and toughness, and can be cast thinner, so the weight is reduced. Or the same weight has a larger aspect ratio and a longer range.
The bridge is placed on the top of the middle part of the ship. It is a simple small platform paved with wooden planks. It has a good view. It is easy to see the route clearly, and it is also convenient to use iron pipes to transmit commands down to the cockpit at the rear of the ship.
There is a simple lookout bucket on the top of the mast. The mast is made of steel pipes and the ladder is riveted. The lookout bucket is on the top of the mast and is simply surrounded by a circle of tiled steel plates.
The steamboat puffed out thick smoke and sailed upstream at a speed of about five knots.
The man on the bridge was Chen Zhijian. Yang Fan was worried and sent several people from Beitang Shipyard.
Regardless of the scorching heat of the boiler in the summer, Chen Xi would go to the back cabin to check the boiler every once in a while and record the working conditions of the machine in a small notebook.
Ten kilometers per hour is not too slow. It takes about a whole day to reach Toronto.
At noon, the boat had already gone far along the Great Wall. It had entered the hilly and valley area along the Luanhe River.
Chen Xi wiped his sweat and walked up the escalator from the back cabin to the bridge, where Chen Zhijian and several apprentices were driving carefully.
There are no more reefs in inland rivers than in the sea. Moreover, the river water becomes shallower as you go upstream.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! It is especially easy to hit the rocks and become stranded.
Fortunately, I am familiar with this route, and I brought along Li Shan, my guide from the previous human-powered boat, to serve as hydrographer and assist the command on the bridge.
"There are some shoals here, yes, try to stay as far to the left as possible." Li Shan shouted loudly.
He played a big role along the way. The voyage was relatively smooth.
There was a strong wind on the bridge and it felt very cool.
Chen Xi held the railing comfortably and admired the scenery.
"Master Chen, there are so many shoals, can we still drive after dark?" Chen Xi asked.
"Don't worry, Li Shan is very familiar with this road. When it gets dark, we will turn on the carbide searchlight. The light is very strong. You can see the river clearly." Chen Zhijian said.
"The food is ready, let's all have some food," Mo Zui came up from behind, carrying a tray with more than ten buckets of instant noodles on it.
Instant noodles are a good thing, but they are all delivered and are expensive. Only some people at the top of Yang Fan's system are rationed. Being able to eat instant noodles is a status symbol.
Yang Fan attached great importance to this task, and Duoyi specially approved a lot of instant noodles and self-heating foods.
"Wow, that's great. There are instant noodles. I want spicy ones." Chen Xi immediately became happy. After leaving the secretariat, he hadn't had instant noodles for a long time.
After an afternoon of sailing, it was getting dark.
Two huge searchlights were turned on on the bow of the ship.
The searchlight is a large carbide lamp, made of a semicircular reflective hemisphere on the back, and is equipped with glass on the front, so it can be used normally even if it rains heavily.
This boat, with its pitch-black body, looked like a monster in the silent night.
The loud noise from the steam engine spread far away. The two searchlights were like two eyes, constantly scanning the front and both sides of the bank.
In the middle of the night, the boat had sailed out of the mountains and entered the grassland.
Not long after, dots of bonfires and tents appeared on both sides of the river bank.
You can already meet herders here.
Batu got up at night, yawning while peeing.
His tribe was very small, with only a few dozen felt bags, and was taken by Master Taiji to attack the earth city built by the Han people on the grassland.
Their strength was too small and they were sent to camp outside.
It is the habit of the Mongolians to camp by the river for easy access to water.
He suddenly heard a sudden sound coming from a distance, and he was a little confused. He didn't wake up and was suffering from hysteria.
At this time, a strong light swept over, illuminating the surrounding area.
Now he knew that this was not a hallucination, but that something really came from the river. He was so frightened that he immediately screamed.
Following the shouting, the sleeping herdsmen got out of their felt bags one after another.
At this time, a monster came from the lower reaches of the river.
Even in the dark night, because the moon is very round, you can clearly see that the ship has two large smokestacks, emitting fire and billowing black smoke, and there seem to be two big eyes on the bow, emitting terrible electric light.
Shooting everywhere.
"What is this? It's terrible."
"Is this a legendary monster?"
At this time, an old man was trembling, shaking his white beard, and shouted: "Quickly, send someone to report to Taiji. This ship is bound for the earth city of the Han people."
