Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 381

In the ninth year of Qianxi's reign, it was the eighth day of August.

Damingmei Kingdom, Xijingang.

This port is a natural port and is named after its proximity to Xijinwei.

Zhu Gaoxu, Emperor Qianxi of the Ming Dynasty, sent Zheng He as an imperial envoy. He took a new type of cargo ship, departed from Liujiagang, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and successfully arrived at Xijingang Port in 69 days.

After Zheng He gave the edict to the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang, he only stayed in Xijin Port for three days.

After that, he continued to lead the fleet to sail and convey orders to other Ming princes who were stationed in Fanwozhou.

During Zheng He's stay in Xijin Port, the American King Zhu Zhantang repeatedly asked Zheng He to leave a clipper ship for research purposes.

Zheng He was very surprised.

He was not surprised by Zhu Zhantang's boldness, but he was surprised that Zhu Gaoxu had guessed it right.

Zhu Gaoxu had previously made a bet with Zheng He that when Zhu Zhantang saw this new type of fast sailing ship, he would definitely ask him to keep one in the name of research.

Although Zheng He was an imperial envoy, he had no right to gift the imperial ships without permission, let alone such a fast sailing ship.

However, he had long been instructed by Zhu Gaoxu to stay in Xijin Port on the grounds that three clipper cargo ships were damaged by waves and needed to be repaired.

As for when these three ships will be repaired, it depends on the mood of the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang.

During his stay in Xijin Port, Zheng He had a pleasant chat with the American King Zhu Zhantang.

The two of them started talking about the invention of ships, then to the steam engine, then from the steam engine to the steam ship, and finally to the clipper ship.

Before the invention of wood pulp, people could only use rafts to float on the water, relying on the direction of the water flow and unable to control the direction.

Until people learned to use wooden paddles as power, rafts could travel upstream.

The emergence of sails has epoch-making significance for ships.

A paddle boat can rely on human power to row, but a sail can be raised on the boat with the help of a mast to collect wind power and drive the boat to sail.

The larger the sail area, the faster the hull can sail.

As a result, the power of the ship is greatly increased, and large ships can choose to use oars and sails to provide power together.

However, wind still has disadvantages, because ships can travel with the wind, but if they go against the wind, they will lose power and become resistance.

In order to reverse this situation, people invented the triangular sail, or "longitudinal sail" through continuous practical exploration.

That is to say, adjusting the sail to a special angle can convert the driving force of the wind into a suction force. In this case, the ship can follow the "Z" shaped route against the wind.

Whether it is a paddle boat or a sailboat, people are needed to control the course of the ship, and these people are sailors.

Since Yongle opened the sea, becoming a sailor in the Ming Dynasty's official fleet or merchant ships along the coast has even become a career pursued by the younger generation.

With the strong promotion of father and son Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, steam ships powered by steam engines gradually entered the stage of history.

In the early days, because the steam engine was too heavy to drive sea ships, Mo Qiaosi failed to achieve the goal of father and son.

Later, steam engines were continuously improved and could drive paddle wheels, thus propelling ships to sail.

In the early years of Qianxi's reign, Zhu Di's ship, the General, was initially equipped with a paddle steamer.However, Zhu Gaoxu considered the various disadvantages of paddle steamers and for safety purposes. Under his guidance and suggestions, the Guandao-shaped propeller was built hundreds of years in advance by the craftsmen of Mo Qiaosi.

In this way, the world's first true propeller steam ship was born!
This huge ship, the General, has been moored in Tianjin Port until now after fulfilling its mission as Zhu Di's imperial treasure ship for patrolling the four oceans.

It's not because the ship has been damaged, but because it is the royal treasure ship of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di. No one except Zhu Gaoxu, the Qianxi Emperor, is currently qualified to pilot it.

In the middle and late Yongle period, when Zheng He led his fleet to explore Wozhou, in order to get in touch with the fleet in time, the imperial court mobilized a large number of shipbuilding craftsmen to concentrate on improving and building a series of fast sailing ships.

Most sailboats of this type are less than [-] pieces in weight, and can achieve extremely high speeds on the sea with their long and narrow hulls.

Since such ships sailed quickly enough, there was no doubt that they were introduced into commercial use.

Because the quality of tea is highly time-sensitive, especially long-distance shipping, it is easy for tea to become damp and deteriorate. Therefore, the tea trade requires very high speeds for cargo ships.

Under the same voyage, the captain with the shortest voyage time can obtain higher freight, especially when new tea is on the market, this demand is even more prominent.

As a result, clipper ships with faster speeds and larger carrying capacity were built by shipbuilders under the generous rewards of many wealthy merchants.

The first real clipper ship in the history of shipbuilding development in the Ming Dynasty was launched in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in the seventh year of Qianxi. Since this ship was invested and built by a wealthy businessman named Chen, it was named "Chen's Ship".

The "Chen's" is a large ship of [-] materials, with a load capacity of more than [-] tons. The hull is more narrow and long, with the bow tilted upward and extended. The bottom of the ship is designed into a sharp blade shape to facilitate cutting through waves.

The ship created a speed miracle in the early stage, that is, it took 110 days from Daming Quanzhou to the trade port on the west coast of the Kingdom of Spain.

The "Chen's" was known as a speed sailing ship at the time, and because its sharp upturned and forward-extending bow resembled a pair of scissors with its reflection on the calm water, it was also nicknamed by the sailors. "Clippers".

Stimulated by huge profits, tea merchants and captains, while striving for higher speeds, would also start a speed race when new tea came on the market.

In February of the eighth year of Qianxi, fifteen tea-carrying clippers departed from Fuzhou in the Ming Dynasty on the 21th, 22st and [-]nd respectively, passed through the South China Sea, crossed the Lac Strait, crossed the Xiaoxi Ocean (Indian Ocean), and circled Yanzhou (Africa) The southern tip of Cape Horn, sailing north to London.

During this voyage of nearly 97 kilometers, the fifteen ships took 99 days, [-] days and [-] days respectively, which also set a speed record for tea-carrying clippers.

Although the flying shear ship has extremely high speed, its load capacity is too small precisely because of its excessive pursuit of speed. Most flying shear ships are three thousand materials, that is, the load capacity is about one thousand tons.

This kind of sailing cargo ship, which was born in Fujian during the Ming Dynasty, is no different from the clipper ship that was famous in the era of sailing warships in history.

Even though steamships have gradually become the mainstream cargo ships used by Ming Dynasty officials, clipper ships are still praised for their speed and are deeply favored by private maritime merchants.

As far as Zheng He knew, the fastest clipper ship had ever appeared in Nanyang, which could travel [-] miles a day. It was like a mythical existence among sail cargo ships.

This kind of boat is characterized by a large aspect ratio, a graceful waterline shape, and a high-mast full sail. The mast length is about three-quarters of the length of the boat. In order to obtain more power, it is also equipped with a wing sail in addition to the main sail. .

When a clipper ship sails at full sail on the sea, its bulging sails and hull slightly above the water are like a giant dragonfly gliding against the water.

However, such a super-fast ship is slightly less stable and has the risk of disintegrating.

For businessmen who put profits first, there is no meaning in pursuing them.

Therefore, the clipper ship that Zheng He and others took this time was second to none in terms of speed, stability, and carrying capacity.

The current clipper boats have increased the speed of sailing boats to the extreme.

Zheng He believed that with the further improvement of Ming steamships, the days of clipper ships "flying" across the ocean would sooner or later come to an end.

Historically, after the advent of commercial steamships, it only took about half a century for clipper ships to disappear from the commercial shipping industry.

PS: Belated update, everyone should go to bed early after reading this!Happy New Year to everyone!
(End of this chapter)