Douluo: The Peerless Sun, Moon, and Yuhao

Chapter 190 The Track of the Military Column

"Get up, get up, get up...Okay, stop! Put it here!"

Wearing a safety helmet, Tangerine held a blueprint in his hand, looked up at the huge machinery that was fully opened in front of him, and was ten stories high, and waved his hand to signal the engineering staff to stop the operation.

This is a crane with a huge chassis, and a cab with a boom operation function is installed near the bottom.

However, due to engineering design problems at the beginning, the vision of the cab is not very good, and the steering is not very convenient, so someone needs to guide the micro-manipulation at all times.

Although it is really troublesome to do this, but considering that the speed of this soul guide crane is like a turtle crawling, it doesn't matter.

Huo Yuhao followed Xuan Ziwen, looking at this crane that was usually kept in Dongyang City to transport mechanical supplies when defending against sea spirit beasts, and was rarely used once. His mood was quite complicated.

Tomorrow, the Sun and Moon Empire will be able to produce an all-terrain detection soul guide, which is "running with a ball on eight legs". Even from Huo Yuhao's point of view, it is a bit sci-fi, but the general transportation mode of its ground vehicles It's really hard to say.

With inexhaustible soul power available anytime, anywhere, the Sun Moon Empire does not rely on coal and oil for energy, and no one engages in steam engines and internal combustion engines, which is normal.

But some things at the mechanical application level are a bit unbelievable. For example, they are mixed with unreasonably advanced and backward technology trees, making the entire Sun Moon Empire sometimes look a bit wasteland punk...

For example, a crawler car may suddenly appear behind the carriage body on the road for people with a bit of wealth...

The crane with a huge chassis in front of me is equipped with tracks at the bottom that reduce pressure and improve terrain passability. It is said that for such a huge machine with a very complex internal structure, the team of soul engineers who originally designed it spent a lot of energy just on the drive system.

If soul power is used and it is a machine, then it meets the definition of a "soul guide device", and the designer is naturally a soul guide.

The application of crawlers on Douluo Dalu is not new. Even the Zhuge God Ballista that Huo Hang later used to defend the city in the original book has crawlers installed on the bottom.

Due to the good and bad road conditions in the Empire of the Sun and Moon, the journey of more than 200 kilometers alone was long. In order to prevent the excessive weight from collapsing certain sections of the road, this steel giant and the transportation vehicle following it walked a long way. A full ten days.

Fortunately, the journey finally came to an end, and Huo Yuhao and his party finally arrived at the scheduled exercise area - this area is controlled by the military and is generally used for small and medium-sized exercises.

This time, so many people from all walks of life were invited, even the auditorium had to be built improvised.

"I said, Mr. Xuan... haven't you guys tried a more convenient transportation method to mobilize large-scale supplies?"

Huo Yuhao looked at the crawler trucks that had been repaired many times in the past few days, and asked Xuan Ziwen beside him.

"More convenient? Which one are you talking about?" Xuan Ziwen scanned the surrounding environment.

"It is to pave a section of gravel sleepers between two places with a large traffic volume, and build a special track on it... At that time, two power devices at the front and rear will be used to pull the unpowered cargo box connected in the middle, and it will become a trains for long-distance transport.”

In Huo Yuhao's impression, road transportation does have unique advantages over railway transportation, but it has obvious disadvantages in long-distance mass transportation, and rails must be used in conjunction with trains to fully demonstrate their advantages in terms of transportation capacity.

In the face of the transportation needs of such a large amount of military supplies, relying only on mules or horses or relatively primitive crawler vehicles for transportation is simply worrying to death.

Xuan Ziwen let out a "hmm" at first, and continued to look at his scenery, but then bowed his head in silence for a while, and said with some doubts:

"To be honest, I don't quite understand the difference between this and our current transportation methods."

Tracks are nothing new. There are several vertical track transportation systems in Mingdetang.

The city walls of Star Luo City are also paved with short-distance tracks and winches for transportation—otherwise, the city walls with a height of [-] meters and an even more terrifying length cannot be resupplied by manpower every day, right?

However, the difference between the original track and the I-shaped track that was later improved to accommodate trains and stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers is still very different. Not to mention that "railway" is a systematic project. If you want to run well, It is far from just laying gravel on the ground with sleepers and then building rails.

Huo Yuhao pointed to the tracked vehicles behind him that were all busy in maintenance: "Teacher Xuan, do you still remember how many times these things had problems, big and small, along the way?"

"I don't know the specifics, but basically every car will have some minor problems every two days. The road conditions on this road are too bad. If it is used in Dongyang City, there will be no serious problems. It can be repaired once a week. about there."

As Xuan Ziwen said this, he turned his attention to the "soul mentors" who were responsible for driving with the army. At this time, they took out wrenches and other maintenance tools to inspect transmission rods and other components. If Huo Yuhao defines it, they should actually be considered to have soul power. A current mechanic and driver.

Except for some of these mechanics who are members of the soul engineer group who go into battle in person, the others are not included in the official combat organization of the soul engineer group and belong to the logistics force. 500 people - unless all services are outsourced and non-combatants are expelled.

As we all know, the number of ground crews repairing airplanes is many times larger than the number of pilots flying airplanes, and counting other miscellaneous personnel, it is ten times less.

"Mr. Xuan, although the original intention of the tracked vehicle we use is to adapt to different terrains, it is impossible to drive on the rough and unrenovated primitive mountain roads for a long time, and it can even be said that it is basically only used for formed roads."

"Mr. Xuan, you know how wide these roads are. Excluding the roads around big cities like Mingdu and Dongyang City, ordinary wild roads can only accommodate at most two cars passing side by side - most of the time there is only one."

"As long as one car has a problem, the cars behind it will have to stay there and wait for it to be repaired before they can continue on the road."

"Indeed." Xuan Ziwen nodded lightly, as if savoring something: "Continue talking."

Huo Yuhao crossed his hips, looked at the sweating mechanics and said, "In the final analysis, each car has an independent power system—and these systems are not particularly reliable on bad roads. It doesn't matter if one or two cars, If there are tens or hundreds of vehicles... then I am afraid that on average, there will be several accidents every hour, and the overall transportation efficiency may not be stronger than that of mules and horses."

"If the main power system that needs maintenance can be simplified to one or two sets, the overall failure frequency can be greatly reduced, and some maintenance personnel can also be released."

Along the way, Xuan Ziwen, who stopped and stopped with the team, and from time to time had to personally go to the battle to repair those precious holes, deeply understood and agreed with this.

A soul master's personal belongings can be carried around with the storage soul guide, but how can the baggage of hundreds of thousands of troops be solved by this method?
The special mineral resources needed to store the soul guide are produced only so little every year, and the pitiful reserves are also dug a little bit less, not to mention that the crane that is currently being transported by Juzi to transport construction materials, fully unfolded, and has a height of ten floors is simply blocked. don't go in.

"It makes sense. It has not been held on such a large scale for at least hundreds of years. The usual material handling is handled by mules and horses. This time, the transportation pressure is too great to transfer so many crawler vehicles. The result is really Something went wrong."

Wang Yiheng, who had just inspected the troops, said that he came over. The number of tracked vehicles dispatched by the Sun Moon Empire from Dongyang City and even Mingdu this time was as many as three digits.

Fortunately, no one has been invited to enter the venue during this early stage of preparations, otherwise the underwear would have been exposed before the real estate was revealed to scare people. It would inevitably make people think that "the sun-moon empire's soul guide is just like this if it breaks down all the way." ".

Although no matter how many problems there are, the mechanical transportation that consumes two and a half milk bottles per [-] kilometers is more suitable than the animal transportation that eats all the way by relying on the power of the soul, but the distance must be long enough. Only in this situation can the advantages be fully realized.

Huo Yuhao even felt that if the technical level of Douluo Continent was higher and the mechanical failure rate was low enough to be acceptable, letting them drive tracked vehicles on the plains might be more terrifying than the mechanized troops in his impression - using the omnipotent Vehicles driven by soul power are not restricted by oil transportation at all.

Wang Yiheng looked at the construction site, which was basically blank at the moment, but was personally directed and operated by Xuan Ziwen's teacher, Ai Tujuzi, and asked:
"Yuhao, I understand the reduction in the number of power units you mentioned. It is not difficult to do it. As for connecting the carriages in the unpowered workshop... it is also a method. As long as the power supplied by the milk bottle meets the standard, you can drag a convoy at a time." things, and can flexibly control the number of carriages.”

It is basically impossible for a train that can pull many carriages to rely on mass-produced resident soul masters for power supply. Now it seems that it can only rely on milk bottles.

A smaller traction force is also acceptable. Loosely speaking, as long as the initial friction and air resistance can be overcome to move the train, it will not lengthen the acceleration period.

"We have ready-made carriages here, and we can experiment after dismantling them and modifying them. The power system... This is not a problem, and it is easier to modify."

It's really simple, as long as it can be pulled up, Wang Yiheng doesn't care what the "front" looks like, at worst, find a few soul mentors to stand on the front of the car, pull the rope and manually push it to verify.

"The main reason is why does this thing have to be equipped with tracks? If you want a simple power system and a simple carriage, I have the right to dismantle a few cars and put them together for you."

"But if such a big guy wants to accelerate to cruising speed, the required track cannot be short. I have no right to lay tracks everywhere."

The right of way is indeed a very sensitive thing. If Huo Yuhao remembers correctly, the early railway system was completely regarded as an independent kingdom. Even if it was later taken over, it still had a subordinate iron police establishment, which was very prestigious.

Even in the Sun Moon Empire, dirt roads are not something that can be built casually in the name of a private person—you are not afraid of paving the road, but if you don’t distinguish between official roads and private roads, if you don’t have the right to build roads below, don’t doubt that there will definitely be people who “can’t tell the difference” dismantle.

Huo Yuhao sorted out his thoughts and was about to discuss it when Teacher Xuan lifted his glasses—the reflection on the glasses looked like a flash of spiritual light that suddenly flashed at the crime scene.

"Master Wang, as to why we need tracks, do you still remember why we installed crawlers under heavy machinery?"

"Of course, if only the wheels are installed, the road surface will collapse... Oh, I understand, what Teacher Xuan said is right."

Wang Yiheng had an expression of "enlightened", while Xuan Ziwen continued:

"Even if crawlers are installed, the safe load capacity is not that satisfactory. The purpose of laying some gravel sleepers to pad the track should be similar...Since this rail vehicle is conceived to be used for transportation, it is natural to try to increase each carriage as much as possible weight limit. Yuhao, am I right?"

"With the whip inside, you are worthy of being Teacher Xuan."

Huo Yuhao skillfully flattered him.

"Also, Commander Wang, have you noticed how long our convoy is this time?" Xuan Ziwen continued.

Wang Yiheng glanced back: "It's true that I haven't checked carefully... Vehicles need to keep a safe distance. If there are more vehicles, it can only be said that there is no end in sight."

Xuan Ziwen let out a long breath, and said slowly:

"It saves the need for the front of each vehicle and the need for a safe distance. The close connection between the cargo boxes can greatly reduce the length of the transportation team, but in this way... Commander Wang, how do you think this car should turn?"

"If there are more than a dozen cargo boxes connected, if the space is narrow, even the most skilled driver can hardly guarantee that there will be no collision or even rollover when turning. It is really inconvenient to observe. We have arranged an observation for the crane alone. Hands, can’t each train have several people watching on the cargo boxes?”

"If you don't install tracks to enforce the standardization of the train's trajectory, I'm afraid that all the supplies will have been dumped on the road before the train arrives. It is inevitable to build a special road for it."

Orange, who was directing the start of the construction site, came over without knowing when, but the movements of his hands and mouth were not affected at all.

"Yuhao, what you said made my heart flutter. We have had enough of the trouble of repairing the car along the way. But there is still the problem, neither Head Master Wang nor Teacher Xuan has the right to approve the construction of a long road experiment! "

Xuan Ziwen had a surprised expression on his face when he heard Juzi's voice, he didn't notice when the student came over at all.

Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples: "Senior Orange, you don't mean to ask me to apply to Hall Master Hongchen?"

Xuan Ziwen shook his head: "The old hall master doesn't have that right...but those who have the authority to approve have to listen to him, and report to the old man when the time comes, I think it's worth trying."

"Indeed, it may be a way to transport military supplies. In the past, when there was no major war, it was enough to use livestock to deal with it. But if it is needed to transport large armies over long distances in the future, how can it be sustained?" Wang Yiheng said softly, his eyes were a little lost, and he didn't know what he was thinking. What.

And after hearing Wang Yiheng's words, "Just use animals to deal with it when there is no serious war." Huo Yuhao found that he seemed to understand why no one in the Sun and Moon Empire had built a complete train until now.

Although for the current Huo Yuhao, it seems that the audit risk is more fatal than the technical difficulty, but this is not the reason why no one has produced a finished product to test the water so far.

Although the Sun Moon Empire seems to have a good level of technology, most of the areas are still in the mode of small-scale peasant economy - the agricultural products and raw materials in the city can be basically met by the supply of nearby rural areas, and there is no need for long-distance mass transportation at all. .

As for the super city of Mingdu, the demand for materials depends on water transportation and the surrounding satellite cities. The entire Sun Moon Empire has not formed a stable supply chain across the country, and there is a national transportation demand for the minerals needed by the soul teacher, but The total amount is really not much.

To put it bluntly, the current productivity has not yet reached the point where there is an urgent need for more powerful transportation capabilities.

Even for military supplies, the demand for transportation capacity suddenly increased only when the Sun and Moon Empire mobilized a large number of troops.

Orange stood aside and listened to their conversation. No matter what Mingdetang decided, she planned to mention this idea to the prince when she returned - as long as she could effectively support the war and support his idea of ​​"one emperor through the ages" Xu Tianran always devotes himself to dreams.

While several people were having their own thoughts, another crane of the same type as the crane that was transporting building materials on the construction site made an ear-splitting roar, and the transmission device drove the crawler tracks slowly towards them.

"Mr. Xuan, it's almost time. Let's check the result of the first experiment now?"

Wang Yiheng glanced at the crane that was extending its boom, and suggested to Xuan Ziwen.

"I think it's fine, Yuhao, prepare to record."

Xuan Ziwen nodded, while Huo Yuhao took out a memorandum from the storage soul tool - it recorded many requirements and review standards for the various experiments of this trip.

After Xuan Ziwen greeted the driver, he jumped onto the chassis that was nearly two people tall; although he was a scientific researcher, he was also an eight-ring Soul Douluo, and his physical fitness as a Soul Master was relatively high. Ordinary people are much stronger.

Huo Yuhao followed closely behind, standing beside Xuan Ziwen, watching him operate the mechanical switch before opening the gate of the "engine compartment".

Although the other components of the crane driven by soul power must abide by the basic mechanical principles, it obviously does not have the kind of "engine" that Huo Yuhao understands that converts chemical energy into mechanical energy. Inside is a huge Cuboid chassis.

On the chassis, except for the bottom surface welded to the bottom of the chassis, the remaining five sides have neatly arranged black holes, and at this time, each black hole is connected to a milk bottle, which looks like a light bulb. Ziwen used it as a fourth-grade feeding bottle with decent economy for comparative experiments.

And each bottle has a black block-shaped reading recorder the size of a fingernail. Huo Yuhao and Xuan Ziwen each took a small box to collect these recorders.

Recording the collected results one by one on the memorandum, Xuan Ziwen looked at the numbers above, calculated and verified with pen and paper, and then ordered:
"Yuhao, record, the sealed feeding bottle set traveled 260 kilometers, took ten days, and the soul power loss ratio was 60.00%."

(End of this chapter)