The propeller structure is not complicated. For Li Zhi, who produced a large number of dragon-tail cars, forging a barely usable propeller is not a problem. Although modern propellers are very complex and cannot be produced with the technology of the Ming Dynasty. But you must know that Li Zhi
The ship is a ship of several hundred tons. The requirements for propellers of such a ship are completely different from those of later generations' giant ships of thousands of tons and ten thousand tons. Li Zhiyong's materials and technology are capable of doing the job.
The difficulty of the problem lies in the efficiency of the propeller: the overall size of the propeller, the angle of rotation of the blades, and the distance between the blades will all affect the overall efficiency of the propeller.
Although Li Zhi is an industrial designer, his research on propellers is not in-depth. The knowledge he knows is limited to "the efficiency of an excellent propeller is higher than that of a paddle wheel." As for the detailed parameters, Li Zhi doesn't know anything about it.
All Li Zhi could do was to continuously forge propellers with different parameters and then install them on ships for testing.
The paddle wheel on the ship was changed to a propeller, and the structure of the entire ship also changed accordingly. First, in order to adapt to the position of the propeller, the position of the steam engine was moved to the bottom cabin, and only two huge chimneys were exposed on the first deck. The steam engine was
After being arranged in the bottom tank, it is closer to the coal storage area on the ship, which saves the workload of transporting coal. After the steam engine is installed in the bottom tank, the center of gravity of the ship also moves downward, making the ship more stable.
In addition, because the paddle wheel was removed, the number of gun positions on the ship was greatly increased. The 4,000-gun ship that was originally only able to carry twenty guns could be equipped with twenty-eight guns after being transformed into a propeller ship. Several newly built five-gun ships
The Qianliu ship has more gun positions, from twenty-four gun positions to thirty-two gun positions. If all Li Zhi's forty-three ships were transformed into propeller-type ships, Li Zhi's fleet would suddenly increase by more than three hundred
An artillery emplacement.
Fortunately, Li Zhi has cast a large number of artillery in the past two years, all of which are stored in warehouses. After the four shipbuilding sites in Shandong were suspended, the number of artillery produced by the artillery workshop far exceeded the number needed to launch new ships, which could meet the demand for artillery in the new gun positions.
need.
Li Zhi chose a newly launched 5,000-material ship "Dingxin" as a test ship and led carpenters on board to modify the propeller. Although the ship did not have iron armor, after installing some iron ingots as ballast in the bottom tank,
It can simulate an ironclad ship.
After the propeller is on the ship, it is connected to the steam engine through a steel rod. The drive shaft is equipped with bearings to reduce friction, and finally transmits the power to the propeller outside the stern of the ship.
Li Zhi organized the forging workers to start forging propellers. This work was purely for experimentation. Li Zhi asked the forging workers to make various propellers, three-bladed and four-bladed. Finally, they were installed on the Dingxin for trial use.
Next to the Dingxin, there is a large ship with 5,000 materials using a paddle wheel. Every time a new propeller is replaced, the Dingxin competes with the Ming Dynasty ship in speed. The thirty or so propellers produced previously are not very effective.
Li Zhi thought about it for a long time and greatly increased the size of the paddle surface, and the efficiency was greatly improved.
The scene of the race between the propeller boat and the Ming Dynasty boat is something that the people on the Tianjin coast have never seen. It is incredible that a boat without sails can sail, but after all, that kind of boat has a wheel to paddle, and the people can
I understand that a machine drives the paddle wheel to propel the big boat. But the propeller boat doesn’t even have the paddle wheel, but it still miraculously travels on the sea at high speed. The people of Tianjin seem to have seen magical things, and there are a lot of them every day.
People crowded to Dagu Pier to watch the excitement.
Even a man like Gao Ligong, who claims to be well-informed, was stunned by this new propulsion facility. The propeller trial production has been going on for half a month, and the propeller boat has not yet defeated the paddle boat in the competition, but in
In Gao Ligong's eyes, this is already an epoch-making innovation.
"My lord, if this armored ship uses a propeller, it can wrap its whole body in iron armor. It's really watertight!"
"Look at those eight extra heavy cannons. They are really powerful! This big ship has thirty-two cannons. One ship can sail to Japan to bomb land forts and plunder coastal towns."
"My lord, although this propeller boat cannot outrun a paddle steamer, it is already faster than a sailboat. I think we will win this battle with Zheng Zhilong."
Li Zhi smiled and asked: "All six shipbuilding sites have begun to produce new ironclad ships at full capacity?"
Gao Ligong said loudly: "Don't worry, Uncle, the work has started. I asked the shipbuilding foremen to hire the most manpower to start work! The two shipbuilding sites that have been building ships have been fattened by us over the years. With more manpower, they can build at the same time."
Two ships. So there are now eight ironclad ships being built in six shipbuilding sites. In addition, I have also contacted two large shipbuilding sites in the north of South Zhili, and these two sites have also started building two large ships."
"The ships built in Nanzhili look a little different from our big pointed ships, but they can also sail long distances. As long as we send a few veterans to guide them, and add the drawings you drew, these craftsmen can build something suitable for us.
Ironclad hull."
"It only takes five months to build all ten ironclad ships."
"After these ships were built in other places, they were towed to Tianjin by ship. We installed propellers and steam engines in Dagu Port. In this way, shipwrights from other places only know our hulls and armored structures and will not spy on our steam engines.
, propeller technology.”
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Very good, Gao Ligong, you have done well in the past few years. When the ten armored ships are completed, I will ask you to be appointed as a guard commander."
"OK!"
Now Li Zhi's brother-in-law, Cui Changwu, is already a guard commander. Gao Ligong and Cui Changwu joined Li Zhi's camp at the same time, and are still fellow guards commanders, which is a bit worse than Cui Changwu. Gao Ligong thinks that he has made great achievements in the past and present campaigns.
, made greater contributions than Cui Changwu, and was very greedy for Cui Changwu's official title.
When he heard Li Zhi's words, his eyes lit up and he was very happy. He laughed for a while, then knelt on one knee on the ground, raised his hands and said: "Gao Ligong is willing to follow the Duke of the country, and I will not hesitate to be broken into pieces."
####
On November 27, Li Zhi stood on the poop of the Dingxin and looked at the soldiers of the Huben Division practicing target practice on the fishing boat.
Zheng Zhilong has tens of thousands of pirates under his command, and the war with Zheng Zhilong is bound to be a big battle. Such a battle obviously cannot be solved by firing cannons from a distance. The war is very likely to turn into a close-range ship-seizing battle. Li Zhi
He was unwilling to let the soldiers engage in hand-to-hand combat with Zheng Zhilong's pirates. On the rocking ship, the hand-to-hand combat capabilities of the soldiers of the Huben Division were obviously not as good as those of the pirates who had been traveling on the sea for a long time. Li Zhi had to win the battle at a distance of more than ten meters.
So shooting on a bumpy ship became the next daily training for the veterans of the Tiger Division.
Li Xing raised his gun and fired at the seagull at the stern of the boat, but missed. He put down the rifle angrily. He put the rifle on the ground and asked Li Zhi: "Brother, I heard that Zheng Zhilong is as rich as the enemy. If we attack Zheng Zhilong in Quanzhou
How many millions of taels of silver do you need to pay for your family?"
