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Chapter 1108 Steamship

The places with the best views in the distance on the other side are almost all wealthy people in the capital, Tongzhou and nearby areas. Some of them had already sent their servants over to occupy the position, while others came over and saw a position they were satisfied with and directly spent money on it;

They are either out of curiosity and want to see how the legendary steamship makes the boat move on the water; or they feel that there are some business opportunities in it and want to come and see and confirm...

While waiting, there will naturally be no silence. In fact, there is almost always a buzzing sound on the other side of the shipyard, and the government officials standing by the river don't care. Even they themselves are basically looking at the shipyard.

"You said, if this steam is burned with coal, it can make the ship move. It is simply unbelievable!" A young man dressed as a scholar, although it is winter, is also dressed more gorgeously. It seems that he has Rich people, those who pay more personal income tax said with some emotion.

"Hey, you haven't read those science and technology books that the Ministry of Rites is vigorously promoting? You are too ignorant!" There was a tall young man who looked like a scholar, but he was well-dressed and said with disdain He said with a look in his eyes and a tone of voice, "Do you understand energy conversion? Please tell me, I'm afraid you don't even know what energy is, right?"

After hearing this, his companion immediately followed him and said with a little ridicule: "Don't even say it, he must be from Jiangnan! Haha, they are different from us northerners. All their energy and knowledge are spent on empty talk. How can you read some real books when you talk about government affairs, women, and romantic affairs? The imperial court has said that this book on science and technology is a book about getting rich, a book about enlightening people's wisdom, and a book about epoch-making. They southerners don't understand. !”

"..." After hearing this, the handsome young man's face turned red immediately. After being stunned for a moment, he retorted with a lack of confidence: "Please don't talk nonsense, I..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the person just now: "You still don't admit it? Look at your clothes. The tax on these clothes has been paid, right? You would rather pay taxes than look good. Those who love vanity are you Jiangnan people. Characteristics, and don’t tell me that you haven’t joined the Fushe, huh, aren’t those people in the Fushe just like this!”

"You..." Upon hearing this, the handsome young man's face seemed to turn redder. He pointed at the person who despised him, but was speechless. Obviously, he must have been hit by someone. In fact, this is not surprising. In the early years of Chongzhen, all the literati in the south of the Yangtze River, as well as those with a little respect, joined the Fushe.

This complex society is actually a combination of multiple societies. The emergence of the society began as a poetry club formed by reciting poems for poetry. However, because they were scholars, they would inevitably talk about things related to the imperial examinations, and their nature gradually changed. Eventually, various societies developed. , and all aimed at the imperial examination, and this attracted more scholars to join the society.

So, naturally, people in these societies began to pursue how to pass the imperial examinations. Those with good knowledge gradually became leaders, or those who were officials' children and had family connections in the officialdom began to make use of their resources. , and attracted more people to join the group. Eventually, many societies merged, and only then did the Fushe all over Jiangnan come into being. In order to gain political status, it is inevitable to talk about government affairs, criticize government affairs, attract the attention of officials from both the government and the opposition, and gain prestige.

Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, became famous all over the world with his "Tombstone Story of Five People" which was famous even for later generations, thus laying the foundation for his leadership. And this attracted more Jiangnan scholars to follow suit. At gatherings of literati in Jiangnan, they either recited poems and wrote poems, or criticized the government, and never stopped talking. It is precisely because of this that the cynicism of these northern literati just now happened. Because they finally found a better place than the Jiangnan literati with their flourishing literary style.

In the original history, Fushe almost controlled the imperial examination of students in the Chongzhen Dynasty. If you did not worship the dock of Fushe, it was almost impossible to become a scholar. By the time Chongzhen was in his last years, even the candidates and scholars were under his control. Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, is even vaguely known as the "civilian emperor".

When the people around them heard their conversation, those who were born in the south basically stopped talking to avoid ridicule; while those who were born in the north started talking about the new thing of technology, and many scholars talked eloquently. They were all frothing at the mouth and seemed to be masters of science and technology, showing off in front of the southerners.

Obviously, in the promotion of science and technology with the capital as its origin and center, the north was the most affected, while in the south of the Ming Dynasty, it was somewhat slower. After all, changing trends cannot be that easy!

But as long as the people of Ming Dynasty take pride in understanding science and technology and taking pride in being proficient in science and technology, then sooner or later, the current atmosphere of Ming Dynasty will change. And this is why Emperor Chongzhen did not hesitate to encourage enlightenment with great fanfare and widely publicized things related to science and technology, thereby promoting the spread of science and technology. For example, the current improved ships are the best example.

While they were talking, they suddenly heard a "bang bang bang" sound, and then saw thick smoke rising from several boats on the river in the distance where the imperial driver was.

"It's begun, it's begun..."

Many people announced excitedly, and then the people on the other side consciously stopped talking and stared breathlessly at the steam-powered ship emitting black smoke on the opposite river.

After waiting for a while, I saw the boats on the sea with black smoke rising from all sides. Sure enough, they all moved and slowly left the harbor.

Seeing this, many people cheered, celebrating the appearance of the new ship and witnessing the birth of new things.

However, amidst their cheers, they saw a steam engine ship slowly falling behind, and then seemed to stop moving. Obviously, something went wrong; this was not over yet. Immediately afterwards, another one of the other three steam engine ships stopped. It seemed that there was some bigger problem. The craftsmen on the ship were seen in a hurry, as if... …It seems like there’s water in it.

In the shipyard, several ordinary boats were quickly rowed out and dragged the two problematic boats back to the shipyard.

But in the end, nothing happened to the two boats. They sailed forward on the river one after the other.

"Did you see that boat with two big wheels? This is called a paddle wheel. In fact, it existed a long time ago, but the wheels were not so huge!" A knowledgeable person quickly introduced it to the people around him.

"Oh, that's it. The steam engine drives these two big wheels to rotate on the water, so that the boat can move forward in the river!" Others suddenly realized, "The previous paddle wheels had two rows. People sit on the bottom of the boat and step on it with their feet.”

Many people can still talk about this steam paddle steamer. After all, it is something they are familiar with. But for the other steam engine ship, no one could comment on it.

"What made that boat work? There was no sail, no one rowing, and no paddle wheel. How did it move?" Someone said with a confused look on his face. "And looking at the speed, it seems to be getting faster and faster. It's obvious. More than a paddle steamer!”

"Wow, it's faster than a paddle steamer, and it's getting faster and faster." Someone else exclaimed, "Awesome, awesome, so awesome..."

As time went by, the steamship without a paddle wheel became faster and faster. Not only did it surpass the paddle wheel, it even left the paddle wheel far away.

Under such a miracle, almost all the people, even the yamen and officials on the alert couldn't help but cheer. The sound of cheers was earth-shattering, and each wave was louder than the other. They were all smiling, excited that they could witness a powerful ship, a new type of ship, a ship that could change the status quo of Ming Dynasty ships.

"Look, did you see it? The boat is coming back again, did you see it?"

"Wow, this is really fast, this is really amazing!"

"..."

However, an accident happened again. Just when the steamship was only about a mile away from the shipyard, where the captain was, it suddenly slowed down again, and the craftsmen on the ship began to get busy. Finally, a small flag was waved, and the shipyard Another large ship was sent over there to pull up the steamer.

Seeing this situation, many of the people on the shore felt very sorry. It was also a pity for them that this scene was not perfect. However, the steamship's previous performance still made them excited. At this time, they are quite tolerant.

"What a pity! It would be great if nothing went wrong! I didn't expect that in the end, I would end up lying there!"

"Isn't there still the paddle steam engine ship? It's okay. Did you see it? It came back safely!"

"Ah, this speed is too slow!"

"Just be content. The reason this paddle steamer ship is slow is because the steamer ship just now was too fast, okay? Compare this paddle steamer ship with other ships, it's true!"

"This is true, it seems to be faster than the previous ship!"

"It's okay, it's okay. Didn't the fastest steam engine ship drive so far just now? The craftsmen will make some changes later, and maybe everything will be fine!"

"Yes, let's talk about this steamship. The emperor personally participated in it and tested it many times before building the steamship it is today. It would be weird if this steamship could run in no time without testing it many times!"

"..."

Emperor Chongzhen's deliberate publicity did not cover up how wise and powerful the emperor was and achieved success overnight. Instead, the process of inventing the steam engine was widely publicized, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty could understand how many failures this steam engine had experienced. This made the people of the Ming Dynasty unknowingly accept the invention model of experiment...improvement...test again...improve again...

Therefore, most people are very satisfied with this maiden voyage test of the steam engine ship. Their excitement may be different and the focus of the discussion may be different. But in the end, the point of view is the same, that is, this steam engine ship will definitely be built in the end. From now on, the ships of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be steam engine ships of this kind.

The young scholar in gorgeous clothes was also moved by the emotions at the scene, and he made up his mind to understand the book of science and technology carefully. After returning to the south of the Yangtze River, when this kind of steam engine ship appeared in the south of the Yangtze River, he also Can understand more than others, be more eye-catching, and be looked up to by others...

Not to mention how the people dispersed excitedly in the end, but at the shipyard, as the ships were being towed to the shore, some people naturally reported the causes of the accidents to the imperial court.

And these reasons are actually similar to those that appeared in history. Thermal energy drives the propeller to rotate, causing vibration, which is very obvious on wooden boats. The one that broke down at the beginning was caused by too much vibration.

To sum up, although the paddle steamer is relatively stable, it wastes too much kinetic energy, which translates into too much energy consumption to propel the ship forward; while the propeller ship has to overcome many problems, such as the terrible vibration on the wooden ship, and the waterline The lower propeller shaft bearings, propeller shaft seals, thrust bearings, etc. are worn.

As for the last machine ship, it could sail for such a long time and was faster than a paddle wheel. This made Emperor Chongzhen very excited. He immediately ordered to abandon the research and development of several other forms of propellers and instead conquer this kind of propeller to solve all problems. Improve it.

He did not know that because of his participation as a later generation, this propeller steamship did not encounter some of the problems that propellers originally encountered in history.

In the original history, in the initial experiments of steam ships, propeller ships were actually not as fast as paddle wheel ships. There are various reasons, such as the design mode of the propeller, the length of the shaft, etc.

It is a very coincidence that among the several propellers given by Emperor Chongzhen, there is a propeller similar to the famous "Guandao Propeller" in later generations. This kind of propeller invented by the Chinese after liberation is similar to the Guan Gong knife, so it is called "Guang Dao propeller". It has a very big advantage. It not only increases the speed of the ship, but more importantly, the vibration of the spiral greatly weakened.

After Emperor Chongzhen gave clear instructions on the direction of the research and development of steam engine ships, the eunuch in charge of the shipyard reported to him: "Your Majesty, the difficulty that ironclad ships are encountering now is the fit between the hulls, but the slaves are already organizing manpower. Build a huge mold and try it directly by pouring it, or soon, you can have an ironclad ship."

Emperor Chongzhen was speechless after hearing this. But what immediately came to his mind was the Great Wall and the pyramids of Egypt!

Although he didn't visit the huge mold that the eunuch in charge was talking about, he could know that this method might really work, just regardless of the cost, and the ship built could not be too big to fundamentally solve the problem. question.

Therefore, he instructed: "We can try in many ways, but the final direction of research and development is to have simple operations, capable of assembly line operation, high energy production, and the problem of the fit between armors must be solved. There is no such problem now." Just because we can solve it doesn’t mean it won’t be solved in the future!”

Thanks for the rain, rain, rain, water, book friend 160804203001594 for the reward!

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