It was a huge ship that was so huge that it subverted the world's understanding. It was about two hundred meters long and thirty meters wide. There were four levels of cabins just above the deck. There were no masts and no sails. Instead, there were three rows of six giant ships.
Smoke column. Moreover, the hull structure is mainly made of steel and supplemented by wood. Although it is very different from the warships in Xia and Shang's memories, it can already smell an advanced atmosphere of the Western Industrial Age.
This is a giant warship powered by thermal energy, which completely subverts the understanding of the people of China. Not only is it huge, but also everything presented by the ship is extremely shocking to people of this era.
Not to mention the small flower boats that everyone was riding on, even the various large merchant ships in the water village were as small as babies in front of them.
When the flower boat came closer, everyone around Xia Shang opened their mouths in horror.
"This...how is this possible?"
"Isn't this the largest ship in history?"
"It's hard to imagine that this was made by Westerners?"
"It's impossible. Except for me, the Dahua craftsman, no one in the world can create such a huge divine object."
The people who were talking about it just said a few words far away from the ship. Seeing that the flower boat was getting closer, the huge warship gave people an invisible pressure, and the people on the flower boat were also silent, facing such a huge new arrival.
Things are full of fear.
Next to Xia Shang, Li Zijin sighed with emotion: "It really fits the saying that there is a God outside the world! Can such a big thing be made by human beings? Xia Hui, have you ever seen such a thing?"
"I think I've seen it before."
"Ah?" Li Zijin was surprised, "Have you ever seen such an ancient thing? There are no masts or sails on the ship, and there are no paddles under the hull. How can it move forward?"
"If I think correctly, this is a semi-mechanized ship. Its power comes from the combustion of coal. This is a physical knowledge of energy conversion. Even if I tell you, you won't understand it. You see those six cigarettes
Have you flushed it? It is used to remove the smoke from burning coal. Its blades are underwater and are in a spiral shape. The burning coal causes the blades to rotate and generate propulsion, so the ship will naturally move."
"Energy transformation? Physics knowledge? I have never heard of it! Xia Hui, who are you? Why do you know all these uncommon things? And how do Westerners know about it? Why does no one in Dahua understand it?
From this point of view, wouldn’t our country, Dahua, be in danger? If those Westerners attack us with such warships, wouldn’t we be powerless to fight back?”
Li Zijin is also an anomaly. He is obviously a young boy who worries about national affairs and seems to live just to be the emperor.
Xia Shang smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Your Highness, don't be unreasonable. These Westerners are far away from us, Dahua! Even if they can make such a warship, if they want to drive such a large thing from Europe to Asia, with the help of the industrial age
Technology is far from enough.”
"Europe, Asia? Industrial era?" Li Zijin covered his head, feeling like he was confused by Xia Shang. There were too many unfamiliar terms and too many words that he didn't understand.
Xia Shang continued without any explanation: "The technology of these Westerners is also limited. Judging from the fact that the hull is not made of all steel, it must be due to the weight of the hull and the buoyancy of the water, which shows that they have not fully understood it.
It is even more impossible to deduce some formulas about the relationship between weight and buoyancy. Their technological lead does not exceed that of Dahua. If we, Dahua, start to focus on craft manufacturing at this time, we will not catch up with them in a hundred or two hundred years.
Impossible."
"You mean Dahua should focus on craftsmen now?"
"That's understandable."
"But craftsmanship is not a lowly profession?"
"There is no distinction between high and low professions. The development of a country cannot be separated from craftsmen. Without craftsmen to cast swords, what would soldiers use to fight? Without craftsmen to make pens and ink, how would literati use to write? If there were no craftsmen to make this huge warship, it would be
The world will never know that there is such a thing in the world."
Li Zijin frowned and thought seriously: "You seem to make some sense. Let me think about it carefully."
This is a studious prince, Xia Shang is willing to tell him this, and he hopes that thirty or fifty years later, he can bring some surprises to the world, which can be regarded as Xia Shang's small contribution to the world.
Not long after, the flower boat suddenly stopped.
Under the sun, the huge ship shadow completely enveloped the small flower boat. It was leaning against the side of the big ship. When you looked up, you couldn't see the deck. You could only see a few black smoke puffs that looked like monsters puffing out smoke.
A rope ladder was thrown down from the deck of the ship, and several guards shouted from the top: "Please take the rope ladder to the deck."
Then several more rope ladders were thrown down.
Everyone looked above, at the swaying rope ladder, and at the turbulent river below, and they were all secretly beating their hearts out.
Those who were bold wanted to try it first, but suddenly there was a low shout from above: "How can I, a noble nobleman, climb freely? What kind of behavior is this?!"
After the sound, more than ten people jumped down from above and stood steadily on the flower boat.
These people were all dressed as royal guards and wore heavy armor, but this did not affect their skills at all.
The leader among them said: "Masters, my subordinates and others will send you up. Skin contact will inevitably occur during this process. Please forgive me."
After saying that, he winked at his subordinates, and everyone held one person in each hand. Then they tapped their feet lightly and rushed up to the sky with a whooshing sound. In the blink of an eye, they were on the deck of the big ship.
The deck is very wide, and in addition to many guards, there are also a few Westerners.
They looked the same as Xia Shang remembered, wearing aristocratic dresses and bow ties from the industrial era. They were staring at the guards with their mouths open, obviously shocked by the scene just now.
After a long time, he came back to his senses, clapped his hands and clapped his hands, and kept tying his thumbs.
"Hey, is that a Westerner? So funny." Li Youlan whispered in Xia Shang's ear, her face was pretty and she seemed to be in a good mood.
Xia Shang nodded: "It must be. I don't know if these Westerners speak English or something else."
"English?" Li Youlan wondered.
Just as Xia Shang was about to explain, a Westerner walked up to him and said in awkward Chinese: "Hello, please come this way."
Li Youlan: "It turns out they also said the same things about us."
"This is what they came to Dahua to learn." Li Zijin said, "These Westerners have been lurking in Dahua for a long time. When my father met them three years ago, they could already speak some Chinese. Three more years later
Years ago, they have been able to communicate with us normally."
Xia Shang asked: "Do you think they have ulterior motives for being able to lurk for so long?" (To be continued)