Chapter 54: The great father lends the child some money
If asked about the number one cavalry battle in the Tang Dynasty, Li Jing deserves his name.
If asked to rank first in land warfare in the Tang Dynasty, Li Ji deserves the title.
But if you ask who is the number one in water warfare in the Tang Dynasty, probably no one can answer it.
If you ask who knows the best about ships in the world today, it is only Li Xiaogong.
The history books left him with the words "the famous king of the clan, and his unique military merit", which is no joke.
In fact, Li Chengqian only learned this after he traveled to this world.
When Li Yuan launched his army in Jinyang, Li Xiaogong was responsible for the administration of Bashu and later served as the general manager of Kuizhou.
Later, he built ships for the Tang Dynasty to train the navy. In cooperation with Li Jing, he destroyed Xiao Xian and pacified the south of the Yangtze River, which can be said to be brilliant military achievements.
However, he remained neutral during the Xuanwumen Incident, so he never gained Li Shimin's trust.
Li Shimin only asked him to be the Minister of Rites, and by the way, he was granted the title of Prince of Hejian County.
Apart from anything else, this man is definitely a talent among talents.
In his previous life, Li Shimin did not reuse him, which was a pity.
However, because of the appearance of Li Chengqian, this life is different.
Not to mention the relationship between Li Chongyi and Li Chengqian.
Just saying that he was the only person in the entire Tang Dynasty who knew best about shipbuilding and water warfare, Li Chengqian could not let him continue to be so depressed.
…
The day after Li Shimin left the palace, Li Chengqian came to Li Xiaogong's house.
Even from a long distance, you can hear the lively singing and dancing in the mansion.
Of course, this old prince, who had made outstanding military exploits in his early years, was not a fool.
It is said that those who have great achievements will undoubtedly die, and he also understands that, so he retreated bravely at the peak of his power.
He entertained himself with singing, dancing, beauties and fine wine all day long, and others said that he was self-destructive.
But all smart people know that this is to prevent the king from being jealous and self-defeating.
Only if you have a small reputation and a bad reputation can you keep the king from being suspicious and allow you and your descendants to live a long life.
Seeing Li Chengqian come in, the old prince was stunned for a moment, and then said: "You little Why are you running into my house?"
"Of course I have something serious to discuss with the clan uncle."
Li Chengqian smiled and walked directly in front of Li Xiaogong.
"Business?"
"What's the matter with you?"
Li Xiaogong raised his head and laughed loudly: "Don't try to trap me. Are you thinking about the fine wine in my house again?"
Last time that boy Li Chongyi stole his wine and went to Li Chengqian's house, of course he knew.
Otherwise, Li Chongyi would not have been thrown into the mud pit by Li Shimin in the western suburbs camp where he had been stuck with Cheng Yaojin for more than half a year.
Li Chengqian was also embarrassed and laughed dryly: "How is that possible? How could I miss the uncle's wine? I really have something serious to tell the uncle."
After saying this, Li Chengqian took out the ship blueprint he designed from his sleeve and showed it to Li Xiaogong.
"I know that the person in our Tang Dynasty who has the most knowledge about shipbuilding is the clan uncle, so I brought it here to show it to the clan uncle today."
Li Xiaogong took the drawing handed over by Li Chengqian with hesitation.
After reading it once, Li Xiaogong raised his eyebrows, pointed at the stern of the ship and asked, "What is that at the bottom of the stern?"
"This is the propeller."
"propeller?"
"right."
"The propeller is driven by manpower or wind power, and uses bearings to drive the lower gear. The gear then drives the transmission chain, and the transmission chain drives the underwater propeller."
"The propeller rotates underwater to generate power to propel the ship forward..."
Li Chengqian quickly pointed to the propeller and said, "Uncle, this propeller push is definitely a good idea. I know it."
"But if you want the propeller to produce great propulsion in the water, it must have a very fast speed."
"If there is no way to provide rotational speed, we can only increase the size of the propeller and change the
In the shape of a spiral."
"But after changing it to a spiral shape, the material became a problem again."
"I really have no choice, uncle, I can only rely on you to help me now."
At first, Li Xiaogong only thought that Li Chengqian was joking. It could be seen that Li Chengqian explained seriously, and he also listened seriously.
But the more he listened, the more frightened he became.
I was surprised that at such an old age, Li Chengqian could actually research such a thing.
The second surprise was that Li Xiaogong was very knowledgeable about ships. As soon as Li Chengqian opened his mouth, he could imagine such a scene.
Li Xiaogong looked at Li Chengqian with surprise: "Did you really make this?"
"if not?"
"I even made a bet with my father."
Li Chengqian sighed: "If I lose, I'm afraid I will be beaten dozens of times by my father."
Hearing this, Li Xiaogong was happy.
"I'm not afraid of that, because I can definitely build a ship that can travel five hundred miles a day."
"It's just that some things need to be improved."
"Improvement?"
"That's right!"
The eyes of the old and the young met.
The next moment, Li Chengqian smiled: "So, the clan uncle is willing to help me?"
"Hey, whether you want to help or not, this is all for the benefit of Datang. How can I not care about it?"
Then the old and the young began to discuss how to make improvements on the drawings drawn by Li Chengqian.
After all, Li Chengqian came from a later generation, and his ideas were very novel, but there were some things that were not in line with the current situation.
After hearing what Li Xiaogong said, Li Chengqian felt relieved.
Finally someone helped me.
Li Xiaogong nodded Li Chengqian's head.
"You're in a dead end now."
"Who told you that a ship can only have one propulsion power?" r> Li Xiaogong pointed at the propeller and said, "If you can't reach the speed you want, you can install a few more."
"If one is not enough, come with two. If two is not enough, come with four. I don't believe it is not enough."
After hearing these words, Li Chengqian suddenly felt like he was seeing the bright moon through the clouds.
It seems that my idea is too naive, and I only want to use one propeller to propel the entire ship.
Before Li Chengqian could speak, he heard Li Xiaogong continue: "At the same time, I also want to point out a question to you."
"You can use a propeller instead of a normal oar, no problem, but you don't need anything to replace a sail."
"Especially using wind to drive propellers is impractical."
In fact, Li Chengqian also discovered this.
The model ship he made was okay to be driven by wind power, but if he wanted to drive a big ship, it would be a bit too much.
A ship filled with grain must weigh at least five or six tons, so how big of a fan would it take to move it?
Li Chengqian scratched his head and chuckled.
"Uncle, if you have nothing to do recently, how about you build a ship with your nephew?"
"Okay."
Li Xiaogong smiled and said: "If you don't understand anything, just come to me and let me build it for you myself."
Hearing that Li Xiaogong agreed, Li Chengqian was overjoyed.
Preparations for shipbuilding began immediately.
He first asked the carpenter in his house to buy iron pear wood specially used for shipbuilding and then polished it carefully to make some prototype propellers.
Then he took these prototypes and approached Li Shimin.
At this moment, Li Shimin was reviewing the memorial in the palace.
Li Chengqian swished up and said, "Hey, my dear old father, are you busy?"
Li Shimin looked at him with a caring look, then lowered his head to read the memorial.
Li Chengqian bared his teeth and said with a smile: "Father, let's talk about it and borrow some money?"