The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 32 Inventions and Creations

This straw boat is about 25 meters long, about [-] meters wide, and [-] meters deep, with a displacement of nearly [-] tons and a load of more than [-] tons. There are [-] partitions inside the boat, which divide the boat into [-] separate compartments.

This is the biggest feature of China Fuchuan. Although the multi-sealed cabin structure increases the difficulty of manufacturing, it greatly enhances the safety during navigation. Even if the ship hits a rock, it is difficult to sink, because more than half of the sealed cabins may be flooded. too low.

The ship has three masts, the main mast is 21 meters high, the head and tail masts are 17 meters and 13 meters high respectively, and are made of teak.

Huang Sheng carefully admired this sea-going ship that belonged to him. It seemed that Ma Shilong, the commander-in-chief, really put his mind to it, and several sailors also highly praised this good ship.

Huang Sheng asked the sailors many questions separately, also wanting to get to know them better and choose the future captain from among them.

The sailors also meant to compare each other, knowing everything without saying anything, Huang Sheng had a general understanding of the speed of seagoing ships in this era.

In later generations, he had more contact with the shipbuilding industry, and had received many orders for casting anchors for sea ships.

Behind my small blast furnace is a small shipyard run by a friend. I have seen many drawings of later ships, and I can still remember some of the basic structures.

Speed ​​is everything, and I just have a way to speed up the No. [-] blessing boat. The simplest and most effective way is to increase the wind exposure. The method is simple and the investment is controllable.

Soft sails are widely used in the West now, and they can design and manufacture pulley blocks by themselves to improve the lifting and landing of the three-masted hard sails, increase the work efficiency of sailors, and add seven or eight soft sails, of course the speed will increase a lot. The most important thing here The thing to pay attention to is the balance of the hull.

Then take the time to add another airtight compartment to the wide stern of the ship. The underwater part is made of copper, and the surface is tin-plated to increase the corrosion resistance of the copper part.

I made two copper propellers by hand and drove them through gears, which can increase a lot of power.

Huang Sheng's idea was inspired by a human-powered cruise ship hired by tourists when they visited the West Lake in Hangzhou.We step on the pedals with our feet to drive the paddle wheels, and the boat can sail smoothly.

I also design and manufacture something like a bicycle chain to drive the gears, let the sailors sit in a position like a bicycle seat, everyone pedals hard at the same time, and the big gear drives the small gear.

A group of 12 to [-] people work hard at the same time, the power generated by the transmission shaft acts on the propeller and the thrust generated can completely increase the speed of the boat, which is more than three times more efficient than paddling with oars and rowing with oars .

Putting in [-] labors to drive the propellers can produce more than [-] experienced rowers. Not only is the efficiency doubled, but labor does not require training at all, as long as you have strength.

They can also do the work of adding power to the boat with little effort and comfort.

The oars and sculls used by sea ships are too heavy, and the sailors work too hard to maneuver them, and not everyone can row them, which wastes manpower in vain.

Huang Sheng named his first sea-going ship, 'Guangning', implying not to forget the homeland of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, which was invaded by Jiannu.

Back home, Huang Sheng instructed his servants to set up two horizontal bars in the yard, and went up to demonstrate the abdominal circle movement by himself, and told those who suffer from seasickness to practice more frequently.

If you still get seasick, you won't be able to take them with you if you attack Jiannu across the sea in the future.

Heihu and Huang Mingli were in a hurry now. They knew that they were so seasick that they couldn't even stand upright, so what kind of combat power would they have?

Of course the adults will not bring themselves, since the adults said that as long as they fainted next time, it will be much better next time.So what are you waiting for, practice!

In the days that followed, there were almost no people on the horizontal bar. The downside was that they were always dizzy and knocked things over, and the consumption of bowls at home doubled.

Huang Sheng asked Gu San to find many craftsmen to add soft sails to his 'Guangning'.Gu San is his own person in the eyes of the craftsmen, he went to find out who has good skills, and who has the most skills, then he will be handy.

Soon, he recruited a lot of good craftsmen on Juehua Island, and everyone worked hard for Huang Sheng, because this adult not only took care of food and drink, but also had four taels of meat every day, and the wages were settled every day and never fell behind.

Gu Shanhai took a few well-known blacksmiths and three craftsmen who processed jewelry, and followed Huang Sheng to invent and create at home.

Huang Sheng used his own steel to manufacture some transmission chain parts and gears, making these parts he had personally handled become the standard, and then asked those ingenious craftsmen to refer to the samples to produce the quantity he needed.

Finally, Gu Shanhai, who has almost mastered the minimum precision of these parts, inspected and accepted them one by one, and rewarded the craftsmen who can produce qualified products.Because the wages are paid every day, craftsmen with high quality can get nearly a penny a day.

This kind of income is incredible, there is no workshop in Ming Dynasty that can give the craftsmen a salary of nearly three taels of silver for a month while allowing the craftsmen to eat meat.The work enthusiasm of the craftsmen was quickly stimulated, and they all took the initiative to work overtime and do fine work.

Huang Sheng instructed several master craftsmen to use a small amount of spring steel to make a steel crossbow, three steel bows, not complicated, mainly because it took some time to make the steel wire for the crossbow string.

The wire drawing technology already existed in the Ming Dynasty. Gold and silver wires were used to make jewelry. Almost no one drew steel wires. Craftsman Zhang Laifu and his son spent three days pulling out the thin steel wires Huang Sheng needed. Ten strands are twisted together to make an ideal steel bowstring.

Looking at the completed works, Zhang Laifu found that the three bows were really beautiful, and the matching steel arrows were also very sharp, but...?
He murmured in his heart for a while, ever since following Lord Huang, he felt that life was extremely comfortable. He has a kind face and is very kind to all lowly craftsmen. Everyone is happy to be able to do things for him. Zhang Laifu does not want to see his beloved lord Disappointed, he decided to remind the adults.

Huang Sheng has already started training Huang Dongshan, Gouer, Lu Chengzu, and Gu Shanhe to play Lumi guns, and even equipped them with goggles.

Shooting guns is the same thing. If you can hit the Lumi blunderbuss accurately, you will get twice the result with half the effort if you practice using the flintlock rifle in the future, and it will also reduce the scrap rate of the gun. Anyway, if the Lumi blunderbuss is broken, you can take it to the Daming Military Supply Warehouse to exchange for new ones. of.

It was strange that Zhang Laifu, who was usually reticent, came to talk to him with a bow and crossbow in his hand, and Huang Sheng immediately met him.

Zhang Laifu saluted respectfully. Huang Sheng had already canceled kneeling in his own home, but he could not cancel the sense of superiority and inferiority, so saluting was still necessary.

Zhang Laifu said: "My lord, it's great that you made such a strong bow and hard crossbow, but it's a pity that you can't pull it without Yue Wumu's supernatural power!"

It turned out that this master master knew how to think. He tried the hardness of the bow and thought that it would be difficult to open the bow and release the arrow calmly with human power.

Huang Sheng took a look at the back of the bow that had been completed and hadn't been stringed. Zhang Laifu and the others really put their heart into it, it was like a work of art.

Huang Sheng said: "It's okay, I'll add some pulley blocks, even Gu Ling'er can drive such a bow and crossbow, have you finished the pulleys yet?"

"Shi Jincai is in charge of making the pulleys. My lord, please be determined. His craftsmanship is very good, and he is serious about his work, so he won't miss anything. It's just that he's going to install the pulleys on our ship 'Guangning' at the seaside pier." Zhang Laifu said.

Three days later, Huang Sheng calibrated the completed crossbow in his yard. This was completely imitated from the military crossbows of later generations in his memory. Even the sights looked decent. In other words, handmade products cannot be mass-produced. , and it is relatively sophisticated, and cannot be used by farmers who put down their hoes.

Calibration, lubrication, and correction are very important. You have to do it again after using it a few times. It’s a bit like tuning a guitar. Where it’s tight or loose depends entirely on feeling. It’s more complicated than a flintlock rifle, and it’s not easy for an illiterate to master.

Huang Sheng only got one for himself.I can only shoot guns, what if a large enemy force is nearby, and the enemy in front of me must be eliminated?
Shooting is completely courting death. The sound of the gun will reveal your position and attract nearby enemies, so a big killer like the steel crossbow with pulleys came out in response.

Huang Sheng hugged the grass and beat the rabbit, and prepared three stainless steel pulley bows for Huang Mingli, Huang Mingdao, and Hei Hu, but the other two were fine, so I don’t know if Hei Hu, a thick man, can master the maintenance and maintenance of such a new weapon. .

The three of them were overjoyed when they saw these three steel bows, which they had never heard or seen before, and they felt itchy for a while, and they rushed to try the bows.

Huang's current yard is relatively large, and the original residents built a vegetable garden in it. Huang Sheng didn't want his servants to waste time growing vegetables for himself, so he leveled the ground as a training ground the day he came here.

The farthest distance was fifty paces. Huang Sheng asked the three of them not to rush to do it, and asked them to carefully watch how they adjusted the front sight of the crossbow, and then kept shooting. After constant adjustments, they could basically hit the bull's-eye every time they shot. .

Huang Mingli and the others became more and more amazed as they watched. They couldn't imagine that there was such a precise crossbow.

Obviously at the beginning of shooting, the crossbow bolts fired by the adults couldn't even touch the edge of the target, but every time I fiddled with the nuts on the crossbow a few times, the arrows became more and more accurate.

Huang Sheng told them the steps of how to use the fine steel pulley bow, and the three couldn't wait to practice immediately. As expected, after an hour, Huang Mingli and Huang Mingdao had mastered the trick, jumping happily.

Huang Mingli said: "My lord, this bow is so good, I shot thirty arrows in a row. I didn't feel it at all, and every arrow was firmly nailed into the wooden target, and I couldn't pull it out with my hands."

"Yes! Yes! This kind of steel bow is much more powerful than Jiannu's step bow! I can see that it can break through three layers of armor at fifty steps. And we can shoot continuously. Jiannu will suffer a lot if we shoot at each other. They have exhausted their ten heavy arrows, and they can't shoot without rest." Huang Mingdao couldn't put it down in his hands, he exclaimed.

Heihu was already sweating profusely. He couldn't adjust the aim of the bow and arrow in his hand at all. He shot more than a dozen arrows, but each time they were crooked differently, but they just missed the target.

He was anxious, and said: "My lord, please help me to see, this bow may be broken."

Huang Sheng doesn't know how to shoot arrows, but these three bows have been tested by himself, and there is no possibility of them being broken.

He said to Huang Mingdao: "Mingdao, give him yours, this kid is too stupid, if you can't use such a bow, forget it, and use the Jiannu step bow in the future."

Huang Mingdao gave the bow and arrow he had adjusted to Heihu, took his and fiddled with it for a while, then tried to shoot, adjusted again, and tried to shoot again. After more than a dozen arrows were shot, the arrow hit the bull's-eye again.

And Heihu took Huang Mingdao's bow and arrow, shot more than a dozen of them at once, all of them hit the bull's-eye, he grinned, but unfortunately the good times didn't last long, he didn't know what he moved, and then he lost his head again.

This simple and honest man knew that he was in trouble again, so he quickly asked Huang Mingdao for help, and stared at Huang Mingdao's movements without blinking.

Huang Sheng said: "Heihu, everyone has their own strengths. You may not be able to play with such delicate things. If you can't use this bow, forget it. I'll see if other people can master it quickly."

The naive Heihu was shocked by such a powerful and good bow, and he already loved it in his heart. Hearing that the adults were not going to panic him, he hugged the fine steel bow in his arms, and refused to let go.

He said: "My lord, how can it be done? The little one is good at shooting arrows. Now that he has such a strong bow, he is even more powerful. Don't worry, the little one has to figure it out even if he doesn't eat or sleep."

The reason why Huang Sheng chose Heihu to use the stainless steel pulley bow was that his riding and shooting skills were unparalleled among his own family members. He was determined to study it, and of course he had to be given a chance.

He nodded and said: "Okay, you should think about it carefully, and you have to teach Huang Mingdao well. But if you still can't do it, don't force it. The maintenance of such a bow is very troublesome, and it needs to be calibrated almost every time."

Heihu knew that there were only three such bows, and he was really afraid that adults would think he was stupid for giving the bows to other people. It was obvious that Li Dagang and Han Kuan were eager to try.

He hurriedly said: "My lord, Heihu is not afraid of trouble, just look at it, after ten days and a half months, he will definitely be able to handle it with ease."

Li Dagang joked: "Heihu, I can't see it, so just let me do it! I promise that I will be like Brother Huang Mingli, and I will be able to figure out the way in a few hours."

Heihu held the fine steel bow tightly and said: "Don't even think about it, it's okay to take Heihu's life, but there is no way to ask for a bow! My lord has long said that my Heihu is the best at riding and shooting, so he will give me a good bow .You just wait and see! . . . "

In the days that followed, Heihu became bewildered. He spent every day circling bars, shooting arrows, and even sleeping with his stainless steel pulley bow in his arms, saying that he wanted to become one with the bow.

(End of this chapter)