Soon, the group arrived at the shipyard not far from the Yamen. There was no obstruction in sight. Zheng Zhilong saw a ship docked at the dock at a glance.
With just one look, he knew that this ship was the ship that the tech uncle said was undergoing modification experiments.
Because this ship is so special, no matter how many fleets it is placed in, it will always get attention immediately.
I saw that this ship is probably the largest warship among the warships of the Ming Dynasty. This is actually nothing. At least Zheng Zhilong’s men have many such warships. But the key problem is that the middle part of this warship is actually
There was a cylindrical thing standing tall, and on both sides of the ship, there were two large wheels.
Zheng Zhilong couldn't guess what the cylinder was for, but he knew the wheels on both sides of the ship.
There are actually some boats under his command, but they are all small boats. Using human power to step on the mechanism can drive the two wheels to rotate, making the boat faster than paddling.
However, there is a problem, that is, this kind of boat can generally only be used in inland river basins or calm harbors. Otherwise, on the sea, this kind of boat is too small, and if the waves are big, it is obviously not as useful as a sail boat.
And if this kind of wheel is used on a large ship, a lot of people will have to step on the mechanism to make the wheel rotate. However, it is not suitable if there are many people, and human power will not last long.
With these thoughts in his mind, Zheng Zhilong was a little confused. Is this the ship that Uncle Science and Technology mentioned?
Song Yingxing didn't feel self-conscious at all. He just smiled and ordered his subordinates to let the boat demonstrate first. He himself took the Zheng Zhilong brothers to the stand to watch.
Zheng Zhilong would naturally not take the initiative to talk about the shortcomings of this kind of ship. It would be a slap in the face of the tech uncle and the emperor's favorite. He would not do such a thing.
Therefore, if Song Yingxing laughed as if he didn't know, he would also laugh along with it. If the tech uncle wanted to ask questions later, he would just show his level without any trace and say it without hurting the tech uncle's face.
While he was thinking this, he suddenly saw smoke coming out of the strange cylinder of the modified warship.
"No, it's on fire!" Before he could say anything, Zheng Hongkui suddenly exclaimed.
If a ship catches fire, it is a disaster!
However, when Song Yingxing heard this, he just smiled and said: "No, no, that's just the smoke caused by burning coal."
Hearing what he said and seeing how calm he was, Zheng Hongkui knew that he had misunderstood, so he wanted to ask why the coal was being burned on the ship?
Cooking? As for that?
However, at this moment, his brother Zheng Zhilong exclaimed: "Is this the head of the steam train? Isn't it a steam engine? Is there a steam engine on the ship?"
Zheng Zhilong was obviously smarter than his fourth brother. He immediately thought of it and immediately lost his composure and became restless.
Because he thought that the steam engine could pull even objects as heavy as a train and could continue to do so. So if it was moved to a ship, wouldn't it solve the shortcomings of being driven by human power?
Sure enough, after Song Yingxing heard what he said, he turned to look at him, nodded approvingly and said, "Yes, a steam engine is used to drive the ship."
One advantage of talking to smart people is that you don't need to introduce everything in detail, but just talk a little bit, and the other person will understand.
After Zheng Zhilong heard this, he stared at the modified warship intently, and immediately thought in his mind what would become of this ship?
I don't know why, but he was really looking forward to it. Will this ship be what he imagined?
After the smoke from the ship's chimney smoked for a while, the ship began to move.
The wheels turned slowly, from slow to fast, and drove out of the pier, starting to move on the sea at Tianjin Port.
Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Hongkui both stared at her without blinking, as if they were lustful people who had discovered a stunning beauty.
They didn't come back to their senses until the new warship sailed back to the dock and Song Yingxing asked them about it.
"You are all rare and famous maritime generals in the Ming Dynasty. Don't you know that this ship might catch your eye?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongkui immediately patted his thigh and said excitedly: "Great, this ship is great..."
Zheng Zhilong, on the other hand, although he was also excited, he still maintained his image and said to Song Yingxing: "Not bad, it's really good!"
"Tell me about it!" Song Yingxing listened and looked at Zheng Zhilong with great interest and demanded.
Zheng Hongkui next to him was ignored, but he didn't take it personally. He just looked at his elder brother and was ready to listen to what his elder brother had to say.
Just listen to Zheng Zhilong looking at the new warship and saying: "Before this, all ships, including Xiyi's ships, were restricted by the wind direction and wind force. They had to follow the wind, and the wind force determined the speed of the ship and so on; however, this new warship
Warships have broken through the limitations of wind direction and force, and will definitely become the overlord of the sea. From now on, you don’t have to wait for the wind direction to change wherever you want to go on the sea. You can go and come when you want. The Ming Dynasty’s shipping will prosper!"
Song Yingxing listened with a smile, nodding from time to time, but did not speak.
Zheng Zhilong continued there: "In maritime warfare, it is important to have the upper hand so that you can flexibly deal with enemy ships. But this new type of warship has no such restrictions at all. In addition, the general also saw just now that the speed of this ship
Soon, as long as there is not too much wind on the sea, the speed of this ship can exceed that of Xiyi's sailing ship. But if the wind is too strong, the high waves will not be conducive to the war, and generally speaking, the ship will not go to sea. "
"In addition, the steering of this new type of warship is very flexible. One wheel rotates and the other wheel does not move, so it can turn. The arc of this turning direction is definitely smaller than that of a sailboat!"
When Zheng Zhilong said this, he couldn't help but said with emotion: "If the Ming Dynasty had more warships like this, it would be no problem to travel across Southeast Asia, but I don't know how much it would cost?"
"This ship has not yet been finalized, and the cost is hard to say, but it is true that it is definitely not cheap!" After hearing this, Song Yingxing replied with a smile, and then asked Zheng Zhilong, "In your eyes, does this ship have any value?"
Are there any shortcomings, or areas that need improvement? I want to hear the truth, and I want to hear this most. Don’t have any worries, and help us improve this ship!"
Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong's face straightened up. He could feel that Uncle Tech was not being polite to him, but really wanted to hear it.
So, he said seriously: "In this case, I will give you my personal opinion. If I am wrong, please forgive me!"
"Say it!" Song Yingxing listened and responded seriously, "Say it!"
So Zheng Zhilong said to Song Yingxing: "First, the cost of building this ship is high. If it is too high, the cost of losing a ship will be too high, and it will be a bit outweighed by the gain, and it is impossible to build such ships on a large scale. After all, it is necessary to build such a ship on a large scale.
Look at God, it’s not uncommon for people and ships to be lost. And if the ship goes to war with the Western Yi, it will also suffer losses.”
Song Yingxing listened and said seriously: "That's right, what else is there?"
"Second, this new warship is driven by two wheels. If the general is Xiyi, he will definitely focus on destroying these two wheels. In this way, as long as one is destroyed, the ship will be useless!"
At this point, when Song Yingxing nodded again, but there was no surprise on his face, he knew that Song Yingxing had probably thought of this, so he continued: "Of course, this new warship cannot fight alone. There are other types of warships."
It would be a lot better if we had boat cover!"
When Song Yingxing heard that he seemed to have finished speaking, he reached out and motioned for Zheng Zhilong to follow him down the stands and towards the pier. Apparently, Zheng Zhilong had won his respect.
As he walked, he introduced to Zheng Zhilong: "You are right. This is based on His Majesty's order. We have started to renovate the warship. At least in the short term, it is impossible to reduce the cost."
Having said this, he paused and then continued with the second question: "As for the protection of the ship's wheel, I have already thought of it. The first is to build the wheel in the water, but the experiment is not feasible. The second is
The wheels could be made smaller, but the speed of the ship would not increase. So I thought of repairing iron protective gear to protect the wheels."
Listening to this, Zheng Zhilong felt that Uncle Tech had put a lot of thought into it, and he couldn't help but feel that he was such a down-to-earth person. He respected Uncle Tech even more in his heart.
"In addition, in the future, according to His Majesty's wishes, the outer shell of the warship will be covered with iron sheets to enhance the protective power of this warship. Although the cost will be higher, it can reduce the damage to it in naval battles!"
Hearing Song Yingxing's words, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but be surprised. This was the first time he had heard of this idea.
But he was a smart man, and he immediately looked at the new warships that were getting closer and closer, and immediately thought that even if this kind of warships were covered with iron sheets and increased in weight, the power of this ship was a steam engine, and even the steam
The train can pull it, so the added weight of covering it with iron sheets doesn't seem to have much impact.
Thinking like this, he couldn't help but stare at this new warship again. At the same time, he thought in his mind: Will this thing become an armored monster in the future?
After being shocked for a while, Zheng Zhilong suddenly thought that everything about this new warship came from the emperor's idea from the introduction of the technology uncle!
The emperor was always in the Forbidden City. How did he come up with these ideas?
At least after seeing the steam train, I never thought about using the steam engine on the ship!
Thinking about it this way, I feel more in awe of today's person whom I have yet to meet.
At this time, they had already set foot on the steamship, and Song Yingxing said with a smile: "His Majesty also said that in the future, after we have more shipbuilding technology reserves, we can even build warships made entirely of steel. In addition, this kind of use
Wheel-driven warships are also a transitional ship type. They can mainly modify existing warships, and the cost will be much lower. In the future, such ships will no longer be needed!"
Zheng Zhilong was already shocked. When he heard this, he couldn't help but be even more shocked!