I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 739 Blueprint Appears
This time the queen can be regarded as officially acquainted with Sophia.

A few days later, after careful research by the two of them, and after combining the opinions of many shipbuilders, they finally redesigned a new type of ship that had never been seen before in the East and the West.

This kind of ship combines the advantages of Eastern and Western ships, not only has both aesthetic feeling, but also ensures the convenience of long-distance voyage and inland river navigation.

This new type of steam ship is divided into two types, large and small. The largest is the long-distance ship, which is a circle larger than the previous largest treasure ship, reaching an astonishing 150 meters long, and it takes four steam engines to work together. Only when it works can it barely open.

The small ones are specially prepared for inland navigation.

Although it may seem small, the weight of this small boat, including the steam engine, has reached an astonishing 20 tons under ideal conditions.

That is about [-] kilograms, which is about three hundred stones, which is more than three times more than that.

Of course, this was achieved at the expense of most of the cabins where people lived.

However, because it is traveling on an inland river, there are not many cabins for people to live in, so there is no major problem.

The largest steamship used for long-distance voyages is quite different.

It is more than ten meters high in the cabin alone, which is as high as a four-story building.

Even if half of it is loaded with goods and half is used to hold people, it is enough to accommodate more than 1 tons of goods.

If all these loads were used to load coal, not only would it be able to guarantee its own round trip between Daming and the Mediterranean coast, but it could also provide enough fuel for no less than five medium-sized warships.

It can be said that it is not only a long-distance ship, but also a sea supply ship.

Its huge size not only allows it to withstand stronger wind and waves, but also serves as a large transport and supply ship, and can even become a battlefield in the sea when necessary.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is multipurpose.

Of course, designing it so huge is not without its shortcomings.

The only disadvantage of this ship is that its sails are basically useless because of its size.

So Li Tian and Sophia simply removed the mast and sails completely, making it completely driven by steam engines.

But this does not mean that its speed may be slower than ordinary ships with a combination of steam and sail power.

According to the design data to calculate.

With the four steam engines running at full speed, the ship's speed can even reach an astonishing fifteen knots.

We must know that from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, Western sailing craftsmanship has reached its peak, and even in a downwind state, it can only reach about ten knots.

In this era, being able to build a ship that is not affected by the wind and can sail smoothly under any circumstances is enough to overwhelm all ships in the world.

Calculated at this speed, from the Guangdong area to London, even if you go around the Cape of Good Hope and take many wrong roads, you can complete a voyage within three months.

This may not be understood by everyone.

But as long as you compare them horizontally, it will be clear at a glance.

It took nearly two years for Zheng He's fleet to reach the coast of the African continent.

This is still under the condition that the weather is smooth and there are no accidents.

In this way, it is equivalent to that Shengsheng has increased this speed by more than four times.

What is this concept.

It used to take two years to complete a voyage, but now it takes half a year.

Being able to go back and forth twice within a year is simply a dreamlike speed.

If you just think that the speed of the ship has increased, it doesn't seem to be a big deal.

Then you could be very wrong.

There is such a theorem in the market.

Under the condition that your principal remains the same, the more frequently you sell goods, the more money you can make within a year.

The same is true of maritime trade.

Originally, you could only complete one transaction every two years, but now you can complete it twice within a year. The efficiency has increased by four times, which means that the speed at which you make money has increased by four times.

But this is only the most basic advantage.

The shortened sailing time affects more than just the speed of making money.

First of all, the shorter the time spent drifting at sea, the less the consumption will be. Correspondingly, the survival supplies you need to carry can be reduced accordingly, so that you can pull more goods.

Second, the less time a ship spends at sea, the lower the chance of danger.

For example, for a ship, a long voyage takes two or three years. During this time, the ship is basically soaked in water. Even if the hull is rotten and damaged, you can't repair it.

Once this happens, the best result may be to be stranded somewhere, and the worst may be to destroy the ship and die.

The navigability is shortened, and the possibility of this problem will be greatly reduced. Even if this situation does occur, it only needs to be repaired briefly and persisted for a month or two to reach the destination smoothly. The safety is greatly improved. increase.

Of course, this top-notch large-scale steamship does not mean that it can be built if you want to.

Not to mention, the craftsmen of Ming Dynasty have never built this new type of boat. Whether they can get started in a short period of time is still a matter of course. Just saying that a boat needs four steam engines, Li Tian just wants to find four steam engines. I can't even find a machine.

In the best case scenario, it will take at least a year for this giant ship destined to be recorded in the annals of human history to be launched.

Afterwards, it will take at least half a year for the long-distance voyage test to correct the problems that arise.

Even if all of these are finished, it will take about a year to wait for mass production.

In other words, if Li Tian wants to realize his dream of traveling to Europe, it will take at least two and a half years before he can make the trip.

In his original conception, Daming's steam fleet would see its prototype by the end of next year at the latest, and within three to five years, it would reach a thousand ships, realizing the goal of dominating the world's oceans.

If the current speed is followed, it is estimated that there will be no play in three to five years, let alone seven or eight years.

Li Tian couldn't bear such a long time.

Not to mention, there are high-yield crops such as potatoes and corns in North America waiting for him and the people of Daming who are waiting to be fed.

That said, this time is enough to wait for the dead.

Seven or eight years later, he will be in his 40s, how can he still have the pleasure of wandering around the world.

So when Li Tian designed this ship, he adopted a design concept that humans in this era simply cannot understand.

He disassembled the entire ship, like building blocks, into countless parts and designed them individually, so that each part can be replaced.

(End of this chapter)