Camillo, the Italian missionary, chased the emperor almost all the way.
After visiting Baoen Temple in Nanjing, Camilo heard that the Chinese Emperor was coming. As he was preparing to go to the audience, the Emperor suddenly took a boat to Zhenjiang. When he caught up with him in Zhenjiang, the Emperor ran to Suzhou again.
The emperor finally stopped in Suzhou and asked famous prostitutes to compete in military uniforms.
After hearing this news, Camilo knew that the Chinese emperor was ridiculous. He prepared novel gadgets as a gift, but suffered from the lack of a way to meet him. Once, he rashly broke out of the road and before he even got close to the emperor, he was captured by the soldiers from the Beijing camp.
After being beaten severely, he was thrown into the ditch.
On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, the Zhejiang Governor's Mansion.
Zhang Mu came over and said, "President, that monk has been waiting for half a month. Do you want to invite him to meet him?"
"It's almost done, let him in." Wang Yuan said with a smile.
Camilo originally just wanted to bow, but he didn't want to miss the opportunity, so he knelt down and prostrated: "Ke Yudao, a monk from the outer vassal, pays homage to the Governor of the Celestial Empire!"
Wang Yuan couldn't help laughing and asked with a smile: "Have you learned how to kowtow?"
Camilo replied: "When I meet the Governor, I can't help but want to kneel down. This is the admiration for the hero."
"I learned Chinese well, and I can actually use idioms." Wang Yuan praised.
Camilo said: "Chinese culture is vast and profound, and the barbarians in our vassal country naturally admire it and wish they could wander in the ocean of Chinese culture all day long."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "I don't know if you have heard of it. There is a saying in China, which is: 'To show courtesy for nothing is to be a thief.' You kneel down and kowtow, and you flatter me. What do you want from me?"
"
Since Wang Yuan stabbed him directly, Camilo didn't hide it: "I want to see the Ming Emperor."
Wang Yuan sneered: "Preaching to His Majesty the Emperor?"
"No, no, no," Camilo said, having been in China for a year and knowing that this issue is very sensitive, "I just want to present a treasure to the emperor to express my admiration and respect for China and the Chinese emperor."
Wang Yuan asked: "What are you offering? Let me see."
Camilo took out a gadget from his arms, stepped forward and handed it to Wang Yuan: "Mr. Governor, this is... uh, I don't know how to translate it."
Wang Yuan took it over and took a look, but it was a pocket watch as big as a palm. It only had an hour hand, not a minute hand or a second hand. Who knows how big the daily error was.
Camilo explained: "This thing can be used to tell time."
Wang Yuan said: "Then let's translate it as 'biao'."
Camilo was a little confused and asked: "Why is it called a watch?"
Wang Yuan explained: "There is a kind of timepiece in China called a sundial. Its benchmark and stone pillar are called 'Biao', and its photometric stereotype is called 'Gui'. Therefore, it is also called 'Gui Biao' among the people. This thing of yours also keeps time, so
It can be called a 'table'."
Camilo sincerely praised: "The Governor is really knowledgeable."
Wang Yuan asked: "Do all Western chronographs have only one hand?"
Camilo said confusedly: "What do you need so many pointers for?"
Wang Yuan was stunned and then became amused. It turned out that Europe at this time was not that good either.
The originator of mechanical clocks is the Water Transport Instrument Tower built by Su Song, the Prime Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. It has the escapement, the core of mechanical clocks - when the clock is running, the ticking sound is made by the escapement.
Around the Southern Song Dynasty, clock escapement technology was introduced to Europe and was improved and applied. Large mechanical clocks began to appear in European monasteries.
About ten years ago, European clocks were miniaturized and pocket watches and small clocks were invented.
However, these European clocks only have one hour hand.
As for why there are no minute hands and second hands, the reason is very simple. The technology is limited and cannot be made.
The pocket watch donated by Camilo is considered a treasure even if it is placed in Europe, let alone China. This thing is only as big as a palm and is considered the smallest clock in Europe. There are probably only a few dozen in the world at present.
Wang Yuan played with his pocket watch for a while, threw it to Camilo, and said, "Let's go and see the emperor."
Zhu Houzhao was at the shipyard again today because the newly cast Franco cannons had arrived.
There are fifty Franco machine steel cannons in this batch, eight of which are two-thousand-pound cannons. In order to create this kind of giant cannon, the number of steel-making furnaces in the steel plant was increased fourfold, otherwise it would not be able to produce so much molten steel at the same time.
Eight two-thousand-jin cannons, ten thousand-jin cannons, thirty-two five-hundred-jin cannons, and many ballistae capable of shooting rockets were all installed on the treasure ship that was about to be launched.
Regardless of naval warfare technology, in terms of tonnage and firepower alone, it has crushed Portugal's only two super ships. Those two super ships have been staying in Europe to fight, and the warships sent by Portugal to Asia are even less powerful.
It's nothing compared to a heavily armed treasure ship.
However, the maneuverability of the Ming Dynasty treasure ship is far inferior to that of the Portuguese warship. When fighting in the open sea, the treasure ship is more like a water fortress, a giant turtle with powerful firepower.
Therefore, bird ships are needed as mobile forces. Bird ships can sail very fast and are very suitable for flexible operations at sea.
By the way, European spinnaker technology has been sent to the shipyard.
But the Chinese shipbuilders sneered at the jib. The weakness of this thing was too obvious!
Sea-going ships using triangular sails must build the mast very high. In order to prevent the mast from breaking, a large number of ropes must be used to reinforce it, and the sail cannot rotate flexibly.
Moreover, the downwind utilization rate of the spinnaker is very low, and it cannot outrun the square sail in the downwind condition.
The advantage of the spinnaker is that it has a high utilization rate of wind measurement and headwind, and is suitable for long-distance sailing in deep seas. The Chinese square sail can use winds from all directions, and the headwind can also be used, but it is far less efficient than the headwind utilization rate of the spinnaker.
In other words, a jib sail goes faster against the wind, while a square sail goes faster against the wind.
Since Wang Yuan wanted to engage in large-scale navigation, he naturally had to engage in deep-sea ocean navigation, and the triangle sail was a must-have technology. The shipbuilders dismissed it, but Wang Yuan forced them to improve, so a combination of square sails and triangle sails appeared.
This was designed by the physics disciple Wang Yuan left behind, together with shipbuilders and sailors.
That is, the combination of square sails and triangle sails can be used in both wind and headwinds. However, this sail warship design can only be used on large ships, and sea-going ships with less than 2,000 pieces of material cannot be used at all. Even if it was taught to the Portuguese,
Portugal also only has two super ships that can be refitted.
The treasure ship that is about to be launched at the shipyard is a composite battleship with square sails and triangle sails!
In fact, adding a stay sail would be more effective, but at this time, neither China nor Europe knew what a stay sail was.
However, since the shipbuilder adopts the composite sail design, the crew should be able to discover practical problems during future sailing, and the stay sail can be invented as a matter of course.
Wang Yuan took Camilo to the shipyard to meet the emperor. The treasure ship was being installed with Fran cannons and ballistae.
Large treasure ships have eight floors, while small treasure ships have six floors.
Sand and gravel ballast are usually placed on the bottom floor to ensure that the ship can sail smoothly. The second and third floors are loaded with cargo and food. Starting from the fourth floor, there are gun emplacements, and the crew also lives on the fourth floor. As for the fifth floor,
The sixth floor is the steering building, which has the captain's room, infirmary, helmsman's room, office, kitchen, yin and yang room (astronomy and meteorology work), etc., and a special shrine is reserved for Mazu.
Zhu Houzhao was watching the excitement on the boat, stroking the two thousand kilogram cannon and said to Wang Yuan: "Erlang, this cannon is really powerful. I want to fire it now."
"After entering the water, Your Majesty will have plenty of opportunities," Wang Yuan said with a smile, "This monk Franji said he has a treasure to offer to Your Majesty."
Zhu Houzhao stared at Camilo for a few times and wondered: "How come this Fo Langji guy doesn't have red hair? He actually has black hair like the Han people, and his eyes are blue and ghost-like."
Camilo suddenly knelt down and prostrated: "Taixi monk Ke Yudao, pay your respects to His Majesty the Emperor of China!"
Zhu Houzhao laughed: "Haha, it turns out you can speak Chinese. If you have any treasures, please present them quickly. If they are really rare and hard to find, I will definitely reward them heavily."