John Freeman, who has been fond of all kinds of mechanical equipment since he was a child, signed up for a steam engine design competition sponsored by Mark three years ago. He finally won and received a bonus. Then he started working for Mark to imitate Datang's advanced steam engines.
Well, in fact, what they copied was the early low-pressure steam engine that Datang had eliminated for many years. Nowadays, most of the steam engines used by Datang, whether in industry or transportation, are high-pressure steam engines. Only some steam engines installed in the early years are still in a few areas.
use.
Mark hoped that he could copy the Tang Dynasty steam engine and use it in his own factory.
But it only took a few days for John to know that this was impossible, at least not in a short period of time, because the machining accuracy of Datang's steam engine and the performance of key components far exceeded his imagination.
Yes, it was directly beyond his imagination!
He dared to assert that even the best craftsmen in Europe would not be able to create such high-performance key components.
In fact, the processing accuracy can be barely solved. At worst, it can only be polished slowly by hand.
But you don’t even have the raw materials to make parts, so what can you use to slowly polish them?
In the past three years, he kept studying and thinking hard. He did not have the luxury to directly produce the Tang Dynasty steam engine. He only hoped to produce a steam engine that was barely practical.
But it is a pity that the principle of the steam engine is very simple. He can easily make the simplest prototype, but if he wants to make a practical steam engine that can drive the machine to rotate, the difficulty is increased hundreds or thousands of times.
.
Mark said he spent two thousand pounds, but in John's opinion, if he wanted to make a practical steam engine, he would have to add several zeros at the end.
Now, with more than two thousand pounds, he saw a steam engine that could run for thirty seconds, which was already quite good, and from now on, John had no intention of talking to him anymore.
Although Mark had two factories, the layout was still too small. He didn't know how to fund his own replica of the steam engine.
He was going to find a bigger sponsor, one with enough support to allow him to develop a practical steam engine.
Or, simply go directly to South Africa, and then transfer to the legendary Eastern Tang Dynasty!
Rather than building a steam engine, he was more interested in the developed industry of the Tang Dynasty!
Mark and John outside London did not know that they had already made history. They became the first people in Europe to successfully develop a steam engine. Even though their steam engine only ran for thirty seconds, the result was still
First, because the Portuguese were the ones who developed the most steam engines in the past, and they have not been able to do this yet.
And they don't even know that with the current overall industrial technology level in Europe, no matter how hard they try, it is actually impossible to build a practical steam engine.
As John himself said, the difficulty of the steam engine is not in the design. To design this thing, you can dismantle a steam engine yourself and draw the drawings. As for the principle, it is even simpler.
The difficulty lies in the parts and processing technology, both of which are closely related to basic materials science!
As for basic materials, one characteristic is that it takes a lot of time, a lot of money, and tests again and again. If you are lucky, you may be able to make it after a hundred or dozens of tests. If you are not lucky,
Well, it might take ten thousand or one hundred thousand times or even never be able to do it!
To put it bluntly, contemporary Europe does not have this foundation!
All contemporary European countries combined, the amount of money they invest in R&D every year is not comparable to the entire Tang Empire, it is not even comparable to the amount of R&D money invested by Feng Shipping Company every year.
If you pick any medium-sized enterprise in Datang, the R&D funds it invests every year will be higher than the investment in scientific research in England as a whole!
Although money is not everything, scientific research and development is absolutely impossible without money.
John has already made up his mind to find a bigger sponsor in order to build his own steam engine!
At this time, the English navy also came to him. To be more precise, the pirate leader John Hawkins, who founded the triangular slave trade in England, came to him.
The reason why Hawkins found Philoman was very simple. After he saw the majesty of the Tang Dynasty navy in the South African port, especially when he saw that the Tang Dynasty ships could still sail quickly without using sails.
It made his heart tremble.
In the twenty-sixth year of the Xuan Ping Dynasty, Hawkins returned to the UK with a large number of Tang products from the South African port. Not only did he earn huge profits for himself and the Queen, but he also deeply felt the relationship with the English Navy and several major naval powers.
Disparity and ill will.
Not only the gap with the Tang Dynasty's navy, but also the naval power of Spain and Portugal made him shocked and even despaired.
In today's Atlantic Ocean, the Portuguese control the western coast of Africa, while the Spanish control most of the waters in the Americas, especially the Caribbean, which is the Spanish back garden.
The triangular slave trade pioneered by Hawkins at that time started from England and went south to the central part of the west coast of Africa, and then carried the slaves across the Atlantic to the Americas, and then returned to England.
During this process, he would inevitably be intercepted by both the Portuguese and the Spanish. Spain and the Portuguese had been trying to monopolize Atlantic navigation, so how could they let the English get involved.
As a result, many sea battles broke out.
For this reason, the relationship between England, Spain, and the Portuguese has also deteriorated sharply!
In the twenty-sixth year, when Hawkins went to South Africa for trade, although he was just a pirate leader, he was the representative of the Queen of England and an official naval admiral, leading the Queen and many ministers to contribute money, as well as his own personal investment and other businessmen's investment.
The combined fleet went to sea, and a total of five ships arrived at the South African port.
However, on the way back, they were intercepted by the Spanish navy. Although they escaped in the end and suffered no actual losses, this incident strengthened Hawkins' determination to fight against the Spanish.
For this reason, after he returned to England, he relied on the large amount of Tang products he brought back to benefit many powerful people. He transformed into an important general of the English Navy and presided over the construction of a new and powerful army.
Navy to fight the Spanish.
What is the new navy?
There is no doubt that a navy like the Tang Navy is a new navy!
With an extremely strong hull, all the hull's load capacity is used for combat, not for transporting cargo.
Artillery must use large-caliber artillery with long barrels to increase range and power.
However, these are all important, because the above two points have actually appeared in the navies of various European countries in the early years. The Portuguese were the first to follow the example of the Tang Dynasty in building professional warships. The large-tonnage professional warships owned by the Portuguese at that time were once called European
First, even the Spaniards had to surrender.
Even the English themselves started building this new type of warship a few years ago and equipped it with long guns.
However, this alone is not enough!
The Portuguese's professional warships are powerful enough, but they were not defeated by the Tang Navy in the Indian Ocean. The huge Portuguese fleet, especially their professional large-tonnage warships, in just a few years of war,
That's half the loss.
All this is because the warships of the Tang Dynasty used steam engines, a machine that can operate automatically without wind.
If England wanted to become a naval power and break the naval blockade of the Spanish and Portuguese, it must have a fleet of new warships.
Once the blockade could be broken, British ships would be able to freely travel across the Atlantic, and then go to South Africa to trade with the Tang Dynasty, thereby earning huge profits.
Therefore, Hawkins is eager to get a new kind of warship, a warship equipped with a steam engine!
It must be said that Hawkins, the slave leader, is still very far-sighted. He clearly saw the advantages of the Tang warship and was able to make the decision to follow up.
But then again, who doesn’t know how advanced the Tang Empire’s battleships are? Anyone in Europe who has dealt with the Tang Empire knows how advanced the Tang Empire’s battleships are. Those who want to imitate them dare not say 100%
However, 99% of them still exist, and the Portuguese are the most typical example.
But did the Portuguese imitate it?
No!
They haven't even developed the most basic low-pressure steam engine that can be used for practical purposes, let alone a high-pressure steam engine that can be used as shipboard power and can reach hundreds or even thousands of horsepower.
Well, they still don’t know how big the technical gap between the two is!
Hawkins didn't know either, but that didn't stop him from finding someone to try to build a steam engine and then load it onto a battleship.
To this end, he found John Freeman!
Inviting him to develop more advanced steam engines, Ferroman was almost frightened when he heard that this man wanted a steam engine that could propel ships of hundreds of tons.
Slave leader, do you know how big a steam engine is needed to propel a ship of hundreds of tons? At least a few hundred horsepower.
We can't even make a steam engine with just one horsepower now. You tell me we need a steam engine with hundreds of horsepower?
What are you dreaming about in broad daylight?
After learning from Ferroman that there was no way to obtain a ship-based steam engine in the near future or even in the distant future, Hawkins was a little desperate!
Is the gap really that big?
Well, the difference is so big.
Now Hawkins has not seen the more advanced steel and steam battleships of the Tang Dynasty. If he sees the Jiangnan-class battleship, or the larger-tonnage Shanxi-class battleship or even the Hebei-class battleship, he will probably be completely desperate.
Jump off the Tower of London.
Hawkins, who has never been to the Tang Dynasty, cannot imagine the development of the Tang Dynasty!