I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 736 Reach out
The neat ship was docked in the dock by the lake, and more than 20 craftsmen were working on it at this time.

The ship still maintains the appearance of a treasure ship as a whole, except that there are four huge wooden wheels on both sides of the hull, and a huge black chimney in the middle of the hull.

Daming's treasure ship Sophia has seen it before, but this is the first time she has seen such a strange treasure ship.

Before Li Tian could introduce her, she exclaimed first,

"Your Majesty, is this the ship you want to show me? Why is its shape so strange, what are those four wheels for, and what is that dark thing!"

Li Tian couldn't explain the operation principle of the neat ship to her for a while, no matter how detailed he said, she might not be able to understand it, so it's better to let her board the ship and experience it for herself.

"You don't understand even if you say it, let them cover it up for you, and then you will understand what they are for!"

After speaking, several people boarded the boat through the deck on the shore.

A steamship is driven by steam in a boiler, so even if the fire is ignited immediately, it will take a certain amount of time to boil the water.

During this process, Li Tian began to show Sophia the structure of the ship.

First of all, because this treasure ship is powered by steam, the masts are reduced to a minimum of three, which is three less than other treasure ships of the same size.

In this way, a lot of space is saved on the hull.

Moreover, due to the existence of the huge steam engine, the cabin where the people used to live at the stern of the hull was almost hollowed out to store the steam engine and coal for combustion.

In order to maintain the balance of the hull, the craftsmen transformed the position of the bow into a cabin for the crew to rest and a place for loading goods.

The shape of the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty is very different from that of Western ships.

The shape of the treasure ship is more like a crescent moon, with both ends upturned and very high, but the middle is very low, and the lowest place is not much higher than the waterline.

This leads to a problem, that is, the two ends are heavy and the middle is light!
Originally, there was no problem with this, but it was very convenient for heavy objects to get on and off the ship.

However, due to the existence of the steam engine, the thickness of the keel is affected, so if it is a long-distance voyage, it is very likely to cause the danger of breaking the hull.

It was also the first time for Sophia to visit on a treasure ship of Ming Dynasty.

It feels fresh everywhere I see it.

Touching this for a while, looking at that for a while, it seems very excited.

In fact, with Sophia's ability as an experienced navigator, she doesn't need Li Tian's introduction at all. She only needs to take a few glances to tell what the various facilities on the ship are for.

But Li Tian still patiently accompanied her and introduced her one by one.

Not long after, the hull suddenly began to rumble, and even began to shake slightly.

Sophia was attracted by the shock, and hurried to the edge of the boat to look out.

At this time, a scene that shocked her appeared.

As the rumbling sound continued, the four huge wheels on the outside of the hull began to rotate slowly as if being pulled by something.

"My God, I'm not mistaken, this wheel actually moves by itself.

What's going on here, could it be that there are many people spinning the wheel under the cabin! "

Li Tian felt that the time had come, so he didn't say much.

He took Sophia directly to the place where the steam engine was.

On the way, Sophia kept asking,
"Your Majesty, my guess just now must be correct, there must be someone turning around below, right?

At this time, there was no wind, and the sails on the ship were not stretched. The reason why such a large ship could move must be due to those wheels. "

Li Tian still didn't speak.

After reaching the interior of the cabin, everyone saw the giant steam engine together.

Then Li Tian pointed to the steam engine and said,
"Sophia, although you are an excellent navigator, I have to tell you that you guessed wrong just now, no one in the cabin is turning the wheel, it is this machine that is turning the wheel.

This machine is called a steam engine, and it was invented by my Ming craftsman only this year! "

I have to say that there are indeed geniuses in this world.

Although the principle of the steam engine is very simple, for those who see it for the first time, if they don't take it apart and study it carefully, they will not understand it in ten days and a half months.

But Sophia just passed through Li Tian's brief introduction, and it didn't take long to understand how this thing works.

She pointed to a drive rod under the steam engine and said,

"I understand. I finally figured it out. The reason why the outer wheels can move is because the machine provides enough power to the transmission rod."

"This... this is simply wonderful, this is really a wonderful idea that even God will admire!"

"My dear His Majesty the Emperor, you people from the Ming Dynasty are really talented. I can assure you that the person who invented this machine and thought of using it in navigation must be an extremely smart person!"

Li Tian was a little embarrassed by Sophia's fierce praise.

But he didn't proudly tell Sophia that he was the inventor of this machine.

It's not that he is modest, but that he has something to ask Sophia later, in order to prevent her from making any unreasonable demands, Li Tian can only pretend for the time being.

After exclaiming for a while, Sophia suddenly seemed to see something, and then jumped around, running around to verify her thoughts!
Then she ran back and said to Li Tian with a serious face,
"Your Majesty, although the design of this ship is very ingenious, it can even be said to be ingenious.

But I just saw a problem. "

Li Tian smiled slightly,
"I didn't expect you to see it so quickly, tell me what you think!"

Sophia changed her previous startled personality and said very seriously,

"I have just carefully inspected the keel of this ship. Judging from my experience, this ship is much heavier than ordinary ships, so there is no problem in sailing short distances offshore.

But to go on a long voyage, I can bet that under the attack of sea waves, it will definitely not last a month! "

After hearing her words, Li Tian couldn't help clapping his hands,
"Sophia, you are right, this is exactly why I want to invite you to visit this ship.

In fact, the craftsmen have already reported this problem to me half a month ago, but I couldn't find a suitable solution for a while.

I heard that your western shipbuilding concept is very different from mine, Daming. I wondered if you could use your professional knowledge to help me and Daming come up with a perfect solution. "

(End of this chapter)