I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 287 Voyage Technology

Traveling once, even if you can't kill the enemy immediately on the battlefield, you must at least sail to the sea to promote the country's prestige.

Li Tian's thinking is also very simple, he is already the lord of a country, and he doesn't need to risk his life and fight with someone to earn merit.

Furthermore, since the muskets and cannons have already shown their signs, it is obviously inappropriate to use that kind of real knife and real gun fighting method.

As long as I forge suitable weapons and supplies for the soldiers in front, there is really no one in the world who is a real opponent of Daming.

But Western countries are different.

The vigorous renaissance is about to begin, and generations of famous figures in history are about to step onto the big stage of history.

In the previous life, if you want to take a look at their works, you not only have to buy tickets and queue up, but even so, you may not have the opportunity to see them.

But now that they have the opportunity to see their true deities, wouldn't it be much more refreshing than looking at a painting or manuscript that can neither move nor speak.

But Li Tian actually wanted more.

At the same time, there are far more famous talents in the West than Daming. He has the ability to make Daming a military, political, and even cultural center in the world.

That is what a truly great emperor should do!

But it is very difficult to realize this matter.

First of all, although Daming's navigation technology at this time has reached its peak, it still has its limits.

Zheng He made six voyages to the West, the farthest of which was to go around the Cape of Good Hope and visit several coastal African countries.

However, there is still a long way to go to Spain, Portugal, which has gradually grown at this time, and even more developed countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.

Moreover, a voyage would take at least one, two, or even three or four years.

This time is intolerable to Li Tian.

Even if he really wanted to go to those European countries at this time to take a look, it was impossible for him to go out for such a long time at once.

It is impossible for the emperor of a country to disappear for three or four years, no matter where he is at any time.

In fact, with the speed of sailing ships in this era, if the journey goes smoothly, it only takes two or three months to sail from Daming to the Cape of Good Hope, or even Spain and other places.

The main reason is that the monsoon in the Pacific Ocean changes with the seasons, and the fleet has to dock at regular intervals for replenishment, so it is easy to miss the monsoon, and you have to wait if you want to move forward.

In this way, the sailing time is greatly extended.

But steamships don't have this problem. As long as the coal for burning fire has not been used up, they can sail at will, regardless of the monsoon or not.

Another advantage of a steamship is that it does not need to rely on sails to sail, so the ship can be loaded very heavily. Whether it is supplies or fuel, it can be loaded to the limit of the ship before starting, and the speed will still not be delayed.

The previous sails are no longer good. Sometimes in order to catch up with the monsoon and cross the wind and waves, the boat must lose weight to continue.

Naturally, it is impossible to bring too much supplies.

Compared with sailing ships, although steam ships have incomparable advantages, they also have certain disadvantages.

That is, the coal will always burn out one day, and the fuel supply along the way is still a problem.

But Li Tian had already thought about this point.

He has already made the idea of ​​letting the royal family and princes go out to develop overseas colonies, and let them build some supply stations on the way to Europe or even the Americas, which is actually not a big problem.

Coal is found all over the world, and it is not difficult to find it.

Even if you can't find it, you can still transport it from a nearby place with coal to the supply point. One of the functions of the colony is to supply large troops.

Of course, Li Tian didn't intend to remove all the sails of the ship in one step.

He is absolutely capable of creating a hybrid boat that can not only use Minglun to advance, but also rely on sails to advance.

The advantage of this is that when there is a suitable monsoon, the steam engine can be completely stopped and the wind can be used to advance. In this way, the distance that can be sailed for a supply will be greatly increased.

If there are three or five replenishments, even the long voyage to the Americas is actually not a big problem.

As long as the steamship can be built, within three years, Li Tian's dream of eating American potatoes, peppers, and corns is completely achievable.

Thinking of the high-yield crops such as potatoes, corn, and peanuts, which have greatly promoted the population growth of the entire human civilization, Li Tian couldn't help but want to fiddle with these things immediately.

……

After returning to Qianqing Palace, Li Tian immediately asked people to find all kinds of tools, for fear that doing it himself would destroy this treasure ship model, which is called a work of art.

He also ordered people to find some eunuchs who were best at carpentry in the palace, drew the blueprints himself, and asked them to help make parts and dismantle the treasure ship.

The ship Li Tian was going to make at this time was not the dark steamer with oars at the tail of the later generations, but a wooden ship with four huge paddle wheels.

To achieve this goal, four suitable holes must be made on both sides of the hull.

What is exposed is a huge wheel that is very easy to handle.

Even though what Li Tian said was not very clear, those little eunuchs who were very good at carpentry understood what Li Tian wanted right away.

Isn't it just a modified version of the waterwheel impeller?

The original impeller relies on the power formed by the impact of the water flow to drive the waterwheel to rotate, but this method is just reversed at this time.

Let the impeller rotate by itself to drive the boat forward.

As for how to make the paddle wheel generate power, Li Tian didn't say, and the little eunuchs didn't ask much.

In this way, the few of them hid in a small fully enclosed room for three days, and finally got everything inside and out of the treasure ship.

Li Tian locked himself in the room and didn't come out for three days. Not only did all the ministers of the court panic, but even the always stable queen couldn't sit still, and almost knocked down the threshold of the Qianqing Palace. up.

After three days of retreat, Li Tian seemed to have lost weight.

The moment he opened the door, the glare of the sun made him very uncomfortable, and he almost staggered and fell to the ground.

Outside the door, the six ministers, cabinet ministers, and a large group of people including the queen were all staring at Li Tian anxiously.

It made Li Tian a little baffled.

After being busy for three days, he didn't even sleep much. Li Tiangang wanted him to disperse so that he could have a good rest.

But I haven't waited to speak.

The queen was uncharacteristically, pointing with righteous indignation, and the little eunuchs who helped Li Tian with carpentry shouted sharply,
"Come here, take down these eunuchs who have bewitched His Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)