The first thousand three hundred and eighty-seven chapters are not afraid of your imitation
The steam fleet that these Portuguese saw was the test fleet of the Tang Dynasty Navy that was undergoing an ocean trial mission. They set off from Hong Kong, passed through Taiyuan Strait, and stopped at Taiyuan Island, then headed towards Shanghai.
Sailing.
According to the original plan, they would carry out supplies and simple repairs at Wusong Port Naval Base, then continue sailing north, arriving all the way to Busan Port before returning south again.
This test voyage has not caused much trouble so far. The most is the occasional failure of the steam engine, but this is inevitable. The steam engines loaded in these test ships are the earliest batch of trial production steam units.
, early products will naturally have problems of one kind or another, plus they are embarking on a long-distance ocean voyage this time.
Although they were all in the coastal waters of the empire, no renovations were carried out during the journey. In the entire voyage plan, they would simply carry out renovations twice at the Wusong Port Naval Base.
After all, this navigation test was originally intended to test the stability of the steam unit during long-distance voyages and complex ocean conditions. If it is repaired after sailing for a certain distance, the significance of this test will be lost.
Although many steam engine failures occurred on the road, the fleet was accompanied by many engineers, who were barely able to perform simple repairs while sailing. At the same time, many problems were recorded and used in subsequent steam engine development and production.
improvements in.
The Portuguese watched the fleet emitting black smoke all the way and then headed straight to the Wusong Port Naval Base. Many people were amazed and panicked.
In recent years, the Portuguese have been facing great pressure from the Tang Empire in the Southeast Asia region and the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. However, if the Portuguese could withstand the pressure before, then this steam
How can they resist after ships emerge from the sky?
Even an ordinary sailor can instantly imagine an extremely terrifying scene in his mind after seeing this kind of ship that can sail without relying on sails.
That is, the opponent can ignore the wind direction, then seize the "T" at will, and attack the enemy's bow with a large number of broadside artillery!
As a result, traditional sail warships will fall completely behind almost instantly.
Not to mention, the Tang Empire Navy already had a powerful weapon, the howitzer shell!
This kind of howitzer shell is extremely lethal to wooden warships. One shell will explode directly on the ship, causing casualties, broken masts, and burned sails. Even such an explosion will cause huge damage to the hull itself.
damage.
In the past, although the Portuguese felt that the grenades of the Tang Navy were already difficult to deal with, it was not impossible. Because of the problem of artillery accuracy, even if the Datang Navy used grenades, they still had to get close.
Only when firing from a distance of about three hundred meters can a greater hit rate be achieved, and at this distance, the firepower of solid bullets, grape bullets, chain bullets and other bullets fired by the smoothbore cannon is actually not weak.
Therefore, although things like grenades have a great effect on naval battles in this era, they have not yet reached the point of being one-sided.
However, today's steam battleships are no longer dependent on wind direction, and their role will be greater than that of simple grenades.
Could it be said that the Kingdom is really unable to protect its interests in the Nanyang region and will eventually be forced to withdraw from this sea area?
A possibility has begun to emerge in the minds of many Portuguese people, that is, once the two sides start a war, the steam warships of the Tang Empire can easily use steam engines and grenades to massacre their own sail warships. In this case, how can the Portuguese still possibly
Keep Malacca and safeguard interests in Nanyang?
Pessimism instantly enveloped the hearts of many Portuguese people.
As for building a steam engine or buying a steam engine, they didn't even think about it because they knew it was impossible.
Don't expect to buy a steam engine. The Tang Empire has always had very strict control over all types of mechanical equipment, especially steam engines. Exports are strictly prohibited, and they will not be shipped to overseas territories or colonies.
go.
Bandan has long wanted to acquire some mechanical equipment for the port to improve port efficiency, but the imperial official directly rejected this application from Bandan.
As for pure exports, don't even count on a screw, let alone a steam engine or something.
As for making it yourself, it is more difficult than buying it!
Because when it comes to purchasing, although the Tang Empire officially prohibits the export of steam engines, it does not mean that there are no purchasing channels. After all, there is still a group of smugglers in this world.
Some people who want money rather than their lives dare to secretly transport these machinery and equipment, and then make huge profits.
Although the Tang Empire cracked down on smuggling very severely, it was still impossible to completely block such a long border and coastline, which would always allow some smugglers to find loopholes.
Over the years, the Portuguese have secretly purchased multiple sets of steam engines from the Tang Empire through smuggling for production.
They have also tried to prevent these steam engines. After all, the principle of steam engines is actually very simple. But once they know the principle and have the actual objects on hand, it is impossible to imitate them.
Because the production of this thing requires too high requirements for mechanical equipment and raw materials.
Even if the Portuguese use highly skilled craftsmen to hand-craft parts one by one and then assemble them, they are actually unable to operate stably.
Why?
The material is not good!
Many parts in steam engines are not ordinary pig iron or wrought iron at all, but steel, or more accurately, alloy steel. At the same time, the requirements for processing accuracy are very high.
In fact, not only steam engines, many key components of many mechanical equipment used by the Tang Empire were made of special materials.
The appearance can prevent it, but the material cannot.
This is also the reason why the Tang Empire has been industrialized for so many years, but the leakage of technology is basically zero.
To put it bluntly, the Tang Empire was not afraid of imitation by the natives at all!
Without a large and mature industrial system, it would be almost impossible to imitate various industrial products of the Tang Empire, let alone the most top-notch industrial products such as steam engines.
The empire will naturally not think about what the Portuguese think. The empire officials are still executing many plans at their own pace, and the navy's steam fleet trials are still continuing.
Several major private shipping companies have also begun to use steam. In addition to the two major shipping companies, Yangtze River Shipping Company and Feng's Aerospace Company, other shipping companies have more or less begun to enter the field of steam ships.
After entering the summer of the 20th year of Xuanping, steamships could be seen on several major inland rivers and busy coastal waters of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, there were also many civilian steamships. After seeing the navy completely abandoning the Ming Dynasty,
After the ship was launched, it also began to follow up, planning to build civilian steam engine ships propelled by propellers.
Especially in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River where shipping is busiest, that is, the Yangtze River Basin. This section of the river basin has always been a key competition area for several major domestic shipping companies. Sometimes they even have to lose money in order to maintain the reputation of the company.
When major shipping companies come up with any good ships, they basically put them into operation on the route from Jinling City to Shanghai as soon as possible.
This is true for the Lady, the first practical steamship in China, and the Yuanfang, the first commercial ship. However, these two pioneering steamships have now gradually taken a back seat and are only conducting normal business.
It's operational.
Nowadays, it is Yangtze River Shipping Company's Crescent Palace series of passenger ships and its competitor, Fung Shipping Company's Qiancheng series of passenger ships, that are stealing the show on the Yangtze River route.
Since the two companies put their ships into commercial operation in the spring of the 19th year of Xuanping, in order to compete for the throne of the first domestic shipping company and to build their own corporate brands, these two companies have made breakthroughs in the field of ships.
head.
In addition, several first-generation test ships such as Lady and Yuanfang were quickly refitted or built. Among them, the most eye-catching should be the Yangtze River Shipping Company, which was put into operation this spring.
Crescent Palace series passenger ships.
The Yangtze River Shipping Company's Crescent Palace is the successor to their company's previous passenger flagship, the Yuegong. It is also the first truly large passenger ship they have built, and is ready to be used as the flagship of a new generation.
Needless to say, this kind of passenger ship is luxuriously decorated, which is the biggest selling point of the Yangtze River Shipping Company's high-end shipping. In addition, they also use both sails and paddle wheels for propulsion.
Although the steam unit on the Crescent Palace is not very powerful, it has the characteristics of low vibration and low noise to meet the needs of high-end passenger transportation.
Two of this Crescent Palace series of passenger ships have been officially put into operation, and as before, they are executing the route from Guangzhou to Jinling!
With a displacement of nearly a thousand tons, a sailing speed higher than that of a sailboat, luxurious decoration, and smooth ride comfort, the Crescent Palace series of passenger ships continue to be sought after by the powerful. Many people even come to ride this type of passenger ship.
Made a special trip.
Feng Shipping Company is not willing to lag behind, but their main market is not high-end passenger transport, but mid-to-high-end business passenger transport. They seek the maximum speed while maintaining a certain level of comfort!
For this reason, their Qianchen No. had a displacement of only over 600 tons, but it adopted a plan of dual steam engines running in parallel, giving it a full 400 horsepower. Coupled with the sail power, it was enough for the Qiancheng to ride the wind and waves.
, it travels to and from Shanghai, Guangzhou and Jinling at extremely fast speeds. Its excellent speed has been very popular among business people traveling between the above three places once it was launched.
It can be said that by this time, Yangtze River Shipping Company and Feng Shipping Company had already engaged in differentiated competition in the field of passenger ships. One focused on luxury and comfort and focused on the enjoyment on the road, while the other pursued the ultimate speed.
, striving to deliver passengers to their destinations in the shortest possible time.
And this kind of differentiated competition really allowed Feng Shipping Company to gain a foothold in the field of long-distance passenger transportation for the first time!