Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 678 Ironclad Ship

Fang Yizhi hopes that steam locomotives can not only run on railways, but also on land.

Let the travel tools of the entire Ming Dynasty completely get rid of the reliance on animal power and manpower.

Especially manpower.

The sympathetic Fang Yizhi felt that the appearance of the rickshaw driver in Daming was an insult to him, who was mainly responsible for the manufacture of locomotives.

Fang Yizhi has been trying to reduce the size of the steam locomotive.

At the same time, it is also trying to use tires made of natural rubber to realize that the locomotive can run on land instead of using rails.

But because the steam locomotive is still too heavy, ordinary rubber cannot withstand the pressure of the steam locomotive.

Therefore, Fang Yizhi has been obsessed with the improvement of rubber tires.

Rubber is an important part of the machinery industry. When Zhu Youjian entrusted the kings to America, he ordered Jin Yiwei to find a way to bring back a batch of rubber seedlings from South America.

At the same time, it is arranged to cultivate in Batavia and other tropical areas controlled by Ming Dynasty.

Even, Daming made the local aborigines become Daming's rubber workers, forcing them to plant all the rubber and split the rubber.

Because of this, Daming does not lack rubber.

But what Fang Yizhi needed were rubber tires that could withstand the operation of steam locomotives.

Boyle was also interested in rubber technology after all, and began to use the phenomenon that the mixing of sulfur and rubber can enhance the strength of rubber, and began to use vulcanized compounds as accelerators, hoping to test out better rubber reinforcing agents.

Hard work pays off.

With the support of Fang Yizhi, Boyle finally produced aniline sulfur, a rubber reinforcing agent.

As a result, Fang Yizhi's team began to manufacture rubber pneumatic tires with better strength, and experiments proved that they were enough to withstand the load of locomotives.

The manufacture of steam locomotives is no longer difficult.

The current steam industry in Daming has matured. Now that the rubber industry has been improved, the first original version of the steam car was officially launched at the end of the 45th year of Chongzhen.

Although Daming's first steam car was a bit too big, it was equivalent to a steam locomotive car.

But it did achieve the goal of getting rid of the rails and running on land.

Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian personally experienced the steam car of Daming, and saw that there was a big chimney above the iron car of Nuoda, without a car cover, and only a row of seats could be seen in the row behind the chimney. It also looks rough, and it seems that it can't control much speed.

All in all, Ming's first steam car wasn't much faster than a bicycle, but it was a real start.

Fang Yizhi's team began to continue to seek ways to reduce the size of the steam car and enhance the control system and appearance. Boyle and others in his team continued to look for rubber reinforcing agents and anti-aging agents.

Even, began to focus on the research of synthetic rubber.

And Daming's military company also began to develop steam chariots more conveniently with the technical data of the Zhi team, hoping to realize the use of steam chariots in warfare.

……

The shipbuilding base of the Daming Shipbuilding Bureau where Hook stayed is still an important base for the manufacturing of the Daming Shipbuilding Industry, and it has been undertaking the research and development of steam iron-clad ships.

The most difficult thing about the current Daming iron-clad ships is not the iron-clad, but the ease of operation while being iron-clad.

Regardless of whether the hull is wood or iron, as long as it is made into a ship model, it will be difficult to sink, and the most difficult thing is the insensitivity caused by the increase in its own tonnage.

However, at the beginning of the 46th year of Chongzhen, Daming still achieved the success of manufacturing iron-clad steam warships.

In order to manufacture a true iron-clad warship, Ming has spent more than ten years.

Even in these years, there have been several times of overthrowing and starting over, achieving countless technological innovations, and even benefiting from the development of organic chemistry, so that Daming began to master the welding technology using acetylene.

Not only that, Daming's manufacturing industry began to move toward operating systems.

A mechanical product is not just an independent variety of a certain technical category, but the result of the combination of various technical systems.

The first ironclad ship of the Ming Dynasty was named "Zhongshan Wang" by Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian even came to Nanjing in person to participate in the launching ceremony of the ironclad ship.

The entire "Zhongshan Wang" is very large, one-third larger than the "Kaiping Wang", and has three large chimneys. The deck and hull are all welded and joined together by painted steel.

In terms of artillery, it is not only the three-layer rifled cannon turret at a glance like the previous battleships.

A 65 catties central turret was even added.

What's even more rare is its operating system. The commander of the warship can easily command the movement of the ship in the command room, and even realized the automatic firing device made by using the principle of electricity.

And Hook also personally participated in the collision test of the battleship, and discovered the best outer armor of the iron-clad battleship.

Not only Hooker, there are quite a few Westerners serving in the Daming Shipbuilding Bureau in the Daming Shipbuilding Bureau, and even many of them are Dutch prisoners of war captured when Dongfan Island was recovered.

Naturally, the production of such ironclad battleships needs to be stepped up, but for the cabinet, it is also a small sum of money to produce and maintain such warships.

Therefore, the cabinet is undoubtedly busier, trying every means to use limited funds for the construction and invention of the empire.

To invest in large-scale construction projects and manufacturing projects in the country, for the cabinet, it can only obtain more benefits from the bourgeoisie as much as possible.

But Zhu Youjian thought that he could take advantage of the advent of the Daming iron-clad battleship to take back the sovereignty of Macau.

At the same time, this is also to lay the foundation for the recovery of Jiaozhi.

The Ming Nanyang Fleet was in charge of purchasing the first armored steam warship of Ming Dynasty.

Not long after, the Ming Nanyang Fleet sailed towards Macau with this iron-clad steam warship, the "Zhongshanwang" as its flagship.

Over the years, apart from the fact that the Netherlands was completely destroyed by the Ming Dynasty because of offending the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youjian has not stepped up to solve many sovereignty issues.

And Macau is one of them.

It's not just that Macau has become a gathering base for Francois now, but more because of the development of trade, Macau has also begun to become a rich place, and a lot of wealth is concentrated here.

A rumbling sound rang out.

Black smoke and dust shot straight into the sky.

The first battleship of the Ming Dynasty was the flagship "Zhongshanwang", and as soon as it arrived in Macau, it jumped up and directly prepared to attack Macau with its side turrets.

And behind the "Zhongshanwang" there are dozens of battleships of different levels and sizes.

"Oh my god, how could it be so terrifying? How far has the warship of the Ming Empire developed?" De Waal, the evil-doing governor of Macau's Frangji couldn't help but marvel.

But De Waal is not willing to give up Macau so easily, after all, Macau has a lot of wealth.

As a result, the French robot De Waal still gathered ten battleships and came out to face the fleet sent by the Ming Nanyang Fleet.

The first to bear the brunt is naturally the "Zhongshanwang".

When the Folang robot began to drive towards the "Zhongshanwang" with two battleships at a light speed, the central turret of the "Zhongshanwang" had also begun to be adjusted, aiming at an enemy battleship.

(End of this chapter)