The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 293 The Ship
The Laozha ship has a gun deck. According to the design requirements, six [-]-pound guns produced by Huang are equipped on the left and right sides of the ship, and one [-]-pound gun is equipped on the bow and stern.

Possessing fourteen heavy guns is already the limit of this type of ship, even so, it is still more than twice as powerful as the main battleship of Ming Dynasty.

The number of guns with a displacement of [-] tons remains the same, but the caliber of the cannons decreases accordingly, with twelve six-pound guns and two twelve-pound guns as the main ones.

A warship with a displacement of [-] tons is equipped with a total of eight cannons, with the largest caliber being [-]-pound guns in the bow and one in the stern, and the remaining six are [-]-pound cannons.

Since there are not many artillery produced, city defenses must be arranged and infantry must be equipped.

Huang Han equipped one with a displacement of [-] tons, two with a displacement of [-] tons, and four with a displacement of [-] tons. A total of seven old lock ships were used as the main battleships of the "Red Banner Army" navy.

Fifteen old lock ships have been launched, and the dockyard is still building more ships, because the craftsmen are familiar with their hands and the number of personnel has increased. It is estimated that the output in the second half of the year will increase by more than half, and there will be at least [-] more in the spring of next year. The ship is launched, and the annual output will rise steadily in the future.

During this period of time, Huang Han personally took the old lock boat to the sea, tested the speed and stability of this new ship type, and found that this is a technology that has been verified by later generations. It is relatively reliable, indeed concentrated, and has many advantages of Western ships. The ship is [-]% faster.

When Huang Han practiced on the ship, he often discussed the most advanced technology of this era with the master shipbuilders headed by the master Wang Yuqi of Longjiang Shipyard.

Unexpectedly, these great craftsmen respected Huang Han like a god, because the blueprints of the fifteen old lock ships of three levels they built were perfected on the basis of the sketches provided by Huang Han.

Originally, they were a little apprehensive when they saw that the Patriarch arranged to build fifteen new ships at once without fear of failure. Now that the facts have proved that this kind of ship is unparalleled in ancient times, they are of course completely admired.

Huang Han still thought the ship was slow, and he was thinking about how to increase the power of the old lock ship. As a modern person, he knew that the most important turning point in the history of ship development was the appearance of the steam engine, and he also knew that the initial speed of the steam engine could not reach the speed required to drive the propeller. Requirements, so what is driven is the wheel paddle.

It is too early to open the golden finger to let the steam engine come out. This requires a process of slow development and accumulation, but the speed of the ship is an important link in whether it can occupy the China Sea in the future.

Because there is a powerful force in the Chinese sea now-Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group.

This person went to Zhao'an two years ago and became the guerrilla general of Daming's coastal defense. Of course, the pirates in official clothes will intensify. He attacks and recruits other pirates, and he has a tendency to dominate the China Sea.

It is said that Zheng Zhilong has thousands of large and small seagoing ships, tens of thousands of people, and his annual income exceeds ten million taels of silver.

Huang Han knew clearly that Zheng Zhilong was a speculator and a traitor with no ambitions. He didn't have the slightest sense of national honor, so he took the initiative to shave his head and surrender to the Manchu Qing. In the end, he was stabbed. The whole family he brought to surrender to the Qing Dynasty was also killed. net.

The most glorious time of Zheng Zhilong was when the Ming Dynasty was about to perish. He controlled the sea routes and collected port entry fees and protection fees from merchant ships from various countries. A large western deck ship had to pay 3000 taels of silver. According to historical records: "No sea vessel shall be allowed to use the flag of Zheng's order." Those who are not allowed to come and go. Each ship receives three thousand gold, and the annual income is tens of millions, so that the wealth can rival the country."

I really don't know where the money that this kid earns more than twice the tax of Ming Dynasty goes?

If Huang Han gets such huge profits every year, he will definitely use all of them to build more warships and merchant ships, and train more educated young gunners and sailors, which is essential for colonizing the world.

How can there be no powerful navy in the age of great exploration?Replacing Zheng Zhilong to seize the interests of maritime trade is the highlight of the ten-year development plan of the "Red Banner Army".

While discussing technology with the master craftsmen, Huang Han drew many creative sketches.

Among them, the sketch of using the pedal to drive the chain to drive the "wheel paddle" was sought after by Wang Yuqi and other shipbuilders.

Daming already had a steamship built by himself, called "Wheeler", which was a warship that the Daming Navy used to paddle the water. It was four or five feet long and more than one foot wide. With four wheel paddles, the head of the wheel enters the water for more than a foot, and the speed of the boat is much faster than that of paddling.

It must be that these craftsmen saw the owner's sketch and thought of their common "wheel boat".

The "wheel boat" only uses pedals to drive the wooden shaft to turn the wheeled oars to drive the ship forward. The speed of the "wheeled oars" is limited. Such a ship has the advantage of using one labor to row the boat directly with two oars.

The multi-person pedaling designed by Huang Han led to multiple chains driving a large gear to drive a steel shaft to rotate quickly to become the power of the "wheeled paddle". When this idea was seen by these master shipbuilders, these people had their own hearts. Everyone scratched their heads and eager to try the idea.

Seeing the high spirits of the shipbuilders, Huang Han smiled. He encouraged everyone to brainstorm, and agreed with them to develop together. The master whose design was adopted would receive the treatment of a seventh-rank general banner officer and be given the uniform of a seventh-rank military officer.

Such a generous reward made the shipbuilders even more impatient, because everyone wanted to wear official uniforms and become an official master.

Huang Han instructed to design eight "wheel paddles" to improve an old [-]-ton lock ship, and don't care about the investment period no matter how much money it costs.

As long as the new type of ship can be driven by human power to make such a large ship can start smoothly under the condition of no wind and ignoring the sea water velocity, it is a victory if it can reach more than three knots when sailing.

Of course, ships in the Ming Dynasty did not calculate their speed by knots. Huang Han's request to the craftsmen was that they would be successful if they traveled more than ten miles in half an hour by manpower.

Back in the "Tiger Cave" city, Wang Yuqi took the craftsmen to perfect the drawings. The steel factory received the task of producing steel shafts, chains and gears. With the drawings and acceptance standards, the chains made by hand can also reach the quality of bicycle chains in later generations. .

The most primitive ships in the world were built by the Han people. When it developed into the Ming Dynasty, there were warships such as "wheel boats". Huang Han developed the golden finger to improve the shaft by using a chain to drive the shaft. I believe it will not be long before the new generation of ships Will turn out.

There is no need for a ship to be used as a cargo ship, because it is not cost-effective to arrange dozens or hundreds of people to drive it manually.

The ships are all used as warships and passenger ships, because when the warships are sailing at sea, the marines, including the gunners, basically have nothing to do on board. Everyone takes turns to pedal to increase the speed of the ship and exercise their bodies along the way.

When the passenger ship is sailing, it is completely possible to mobilize idle passengers to interact, as long as the ticket price of those who are willing to contribute is properly discounted, it is estimated that it is easy to obtain a large amount of cheap labor.

(End of this chapter)