Chapter 316 Iron Armored Ship

Jiande Arsenal, Zhejiang.

After more than half a month of struggle, all the craftsmen of the Jiande Arsenal and all the academicians of the Academy of Military Sciences, the first small steam engine designed by Stephen was officially born.

As Wang Pu said, after the iron boring machine and lathe, the entire processing process becomes very fast and smooth. First pour the mold, pour out all the steel components required by the steam engine, and then perform boring, turning, grinding, drilling and other processing procedures, and finally assemble it.

In order to provide steam to the steam engine, Stephen also designed and built a small boiler.

However, in order to reduce the difficulty of processing and speed up the processing speed, Stephen's steam engine was designed very small and the output power was very limited. It is more appropriate to call it a steam engine model than a small steam engine, but no matter what, the first steam engine was built after all.

On the day of the demonstration, Wang Pu and all the academicians of the Academy of Military Sciences came. The 200 students from Yangming University, all the craftsmen from Jiande Arsenal and nearby mountain people rushed over from all over the countryside and watched from afar. For people of this era, hydraulic machinery is already very rare. Machinery that does not require people to pull, hydraulic power or animal power is even more incredible. People want to see the excitement.

As people looked at people's expectant eyes, Stephen walked out of the laboratory with the steam engine model he designed and produced by himself. Seeing Stephen holding the steam engine in his arms, Wang Pu couldn't help but laugh. Stephen looked like he was holding a half-month-old child.

The people around him also saw clearly that the main body of this steam engine model is about a foot long, with a height and width of no more than four inches at most. In addition, there are several crisscrossing iron tubes, which look quite strange.

Wang Pu was somewhat disappointed. He could not see any hope of industrial production from this model. However, this is the first steam engine in the true sense, and Wang Pu could not ask for too much.

There were two students following behind Stephen. One student was holding a cylindrical object. It seemed that it was a simple boiler specially designed and made for the steam engine. It was said that the boiler was actually a fully enclosed water boiler, and there was an additional valve connected to the iron pipes outside.

Another student was holding a crankshaft connecting rod mechanism, which could convert the reciprocating movement output by the steam engine into a rotating movement.

Stephen carefully placed the steam engine model in his arms on the demonstration table, connected the simple boiler and the connecting rod mechanism one after another, and then asked the students to add charcoal to the stove of the simple boiler to make a fire. It took half an hour to burn it. When everyone was a little impatient, Stephen slowly unscrewed the valve connecting the boiler and the steam engine.

"puff……"

A stream of hot steam suddenly spurted out from the exhaust port of the steam engine, and then the circular wheels on the connecting rod mechanism began to slowly rotate. The students and craftsmen gathered around the open space cheered, and a strange look appeared in Wang Pu's eyes.

Stephen smiled proudly and kept increasing the valve.

As the valve increases, the jet frequency of the steam engine exhaust port becomes faster and faster, and the rotation speed of the circular wheel of the connecting rod mechanism becomes faster and faster. In the end, it is like flying, and you can only see a blurry outline!

The students and craftsmen around were completely crazy...

The steam engine has finally been developed!

Although it is just a useless model and does not have the possibility of industrial production at all, the first real steam engine has appeared no matter what. Next, just keep improving, perfecting, and increasing the output power...

Wang Pu believes that it will take no long for industrial steam engines to appear!

It won't take long, the machine tool power of Jiande Arsenal can be transformed from hydraulic power to steam engines. It won't take long, a brand new iron armored ship that relies on steam engines as power will appear in the naval ships of the Ming Empire. It won't take long, rails and trains will appear on the territory of the Ming Empire, and the entire empire will be more closely connected!

The changes that the steam engine will bring to the empire will be revolutionary!

That night, the entire Jiande Arsenal was in a carnival.

In order to celebrate the birth of the first steam engine, Wang Pu even invited the best opera troupe from Jiande County to perform in succession to comfort the hard work of the academicians, students and craftsmen for more than half a month. However, when everyone was in a carnival, Wang Pu was not very interested. He couldn't wait to call Song Yingxing to his office.

Wang Pu was anxious to ask the Academy of Military Science to develop a steam engine to be the ironclad ship!

Wang Pu knew that the Western navigation movement was in full swing. The fleets of European countries were sailing to every corner of the four oceans and found one new continent after another with rich resources. It was the great era of navigation that created the glory of modern European history. Now Wang Pu has the opportunity to rewrite history, how could he let the Ming Empire pass by the Great Navigation?

So Wang Pu wanted the Academy of Military Science to develop a steam engine. After the steam engine model was successfully developed, Wang Pu couldn't wait to talk to Song Yingxing.

The Ming Dynasty's navy was originally extremely powerful. The Ming Dynasty's fleet during the reign of Emperor Yongle had sailed to the east coast of Africa. There are even rumors that the Ming Dynasty's fleet once appeared across the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of South America. Although these rumors are not credible, the strength of the Ming Dynasty's navy during the Yongle Dynasty is self-evident.

An undisputed fact is that until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming navy was first-class in the world at that time!

Even after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Zheng family retreated to Taiwan repeatedly defeated Spain and the Netherlands, the naval overlords of the Western world at that time, in naval battles.

Although the Ming Dynasty is still in the midst of internal and external troubles, the Jiannu in Liaodong and the Tartars in the desert have not been conquered, and the rebels in Shanxi and Sichuan have not been pacified.

However, the current Ming Empire is no longer the Ming Empire when Emperor Chongzhen was in power. The current Ming Empire has a united and efficient cabinet team and an extremely powerful central army. When the Ming Empire no longer fucks internally, external troubles and internal troubles will become a mustard disease!

With the current economic strength of the Ming Empire, it is fully qualified to vigorously develop the navy!

However, Wang Pu did not want to simply copy the powerful Ming navy during the Emperor Yongle period. He consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and could not simply copy the nine-masted treasure ships, eight-masted horse ships and seven-masted grain ships during the Emperor Yongle period. He also had to cover these ships with thick armor outside to create an unprecedented iron armor fleet that surpassed the times!

In fact, Wang Pu really wanted to build a pure steel structure iron-clad ship. Unfortunately, the welding technology of this era was too backward and it was impossible to weld the overall hull. Wang Pu had to settle for the second best. Covering the original wooden hulls, wasn’t the same thing with the iron-clad ships in the West in the early days of the Industrial Revolution?

Of course, even if it is covered with a layer of armor, such an ironclad ship will become extremely bulky. It is certainly impossible to drive the ironclad ship by relying on sails alone, but the emergence of the steam engine makes it possible!

Compared with wooden sailing ships, ironclad ships have unparalleled advantages. Ironclad ships have continuous and sufficient power and are completely unaffected by monsoons and ocean currents. The navigational properties of various oceans are far beyond those of sailing ships! In addition, ironclad ships driven by steam engines have faster speeds. Once encountered at sea, the sailing ships cannot escape the pursuit of ironclad ships!

It is no exaggeration to say that in front of the Iron Armored Fleet, the wooden sailing fleet can only end up waiting for death. If the Ming Empire has an Iron Armored Navy, it can become the overlord of the ocean again overnight. Western European maritime powers such as Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and England will become vulnerable!

Of course, the Ming Empire cannot become a naval power overnight with advanced iron armored warships. In order to build an invincible naval force, in addition to the advanced iron armored warships, a large number of excellent sailors and a large number of excellent officers are needed! Wang Pu was very lucky. The Ming Empire was far from decline at this time, and the Ming Empire at this time had a large number of excellent sailors and a large number of excellent naval generals.

So, for Wang Pu, everything is ready now, but the east wind is missing!

As long as a iron-clad fleet was built, the Ming Empire could have an invincible maritime army overnight. From then on, the great voyage had nothing to do with the Europeans, and the Sun-Don't Set Empire had nothing to do with the English. The ocean could only be the ocean of the Ming Empire, and the Sun-Don't Set Empire could only be the Sun-Don't Set Empire of the Han people!

A burst of tiny footsteps suddenly woke Wang Pu up from his thoughts, and he looked up and saw that Song Yingxing had already walked in.

Wang Pu quickly stood up, bowed respectfully to Song Yingxing, and said aloud: "Old Song."

"Oh." Song Yingxing quickly shook his hands and said in panic, "Marty, I dare not take this, I dare not take it."

"Old Song, you can afford it!"

Wang Pu bowed firmly to Song Yingxing, and then he asked Song Yingxing to sit down with a stern hand.

Song Yingxing fell down a little crampedly, and suddenly found that Wang Pu's table was actually placed on his compilation "The Work of Heavenly Work of Heavenly Work" and smiled and said, "Old Song, your book simply describes treasure ships, horse ships, grain ships and other naval ships, but I don't know if you know the processing technology of these ships?"

When talking about academic issues, Song Yingxing's expression immediately became natural and he talked freely: "During the Wanli period, I worked as a supervisor at Zhenhai Shipbuilding Bureau for several years. I have a little research on the shipbuilding technology and the structure of various ships of navy. From the perspective of technology, it is not impossible to build a treasure ship. The most difficult thing is that I cannot find suitable wood and craftsmen with excellent craftsmanship."

Wang Pu waved his hand and smiled, "Old Song, suitable wood and skilled craftsmen can slowly find it. Now I want to ask you another question, can you cover thick iron plates on the side of the nine-masted treasure ship, eight-masted horse ship and seven-masted grain ship to resist the artillery fire of enemy ships?"

"Cover the thick iron plate?" Song Yingxing was stunned at first, then shook his head, "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible."

Wang Pu asked with a smile: "Why is it impossible?"

Song Yingxing smiled bitterly and said, "It is easy to nail thick iron plates on the side, but in this way, the weight of the warship will be greatly increased. The nine-masted ship, eight-masted ship and seven-masted ship are originally huge. If you want to cover the iron plates on all surfaces, how many iron plates do you need to add? How big a sail does such a bulky warship have to hang to ensure speed? It's difficult, too difficult!"

"Don't we already have a steam engine?" Wang Pu smiled, "Why don't we install the steam engine on the nine-masted ship, eight-masted ship and seven-masted ship? At that time, we use the steam engine as the main driving force and the sail as the auxiliary driving force. We usually use the sails and then use the steam engine to drive when fighting enemy ships. What does Mr. Song think?"

"Steam engine?" Song Yingxing couldn't keep up with Wang Pu's thinking. He opened his hands and put a round shape, and said with a gaze, "Just that's the little thing Stephen fiddled with? I'm afraid it can't even drive a small sampan, let alone the seven-masted ship, the eight-masted ship and the nine-masted ship."

"Hahaha..." Wang Pu laughed, "Old Song was joking. Although the first steam engine that Stephen built was small, the steam engine he built in the future was large enough. If he could build a steam engine as big as a house, would you say that it could drive a nine-mast ship? If one steam engine could not be dragged, then two or three?"

"this……"

Song Yingxing's expression moved and fell into meditation. After a while, he whispered, "Marty, can Stephen really build a steam engine as big as a house?"

Wang Pu said solemnly: "Of course."

Song Yingxing measured it carefully and said solemnly: "Mr. Marquis, I can try it."

"It's not a try, it's a must-built!" Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "Old Song, you will leave for Zhenhai Shipbuilding Bureau tomorrow. If there are experts familiar with shipbuilding technology in the Academy of Military Sciences, you'd better take them with you. After arriving in Zhenhai, you will take over the Shipbuilding Bureau in full. What wood is needed, how many craftsmen are needed, how much land is needed, how much money is needed, and how many people are needed. You can ask the cabinet directly, and the cabinet will unconditionally support your work!"

From Wang Pu's tone, Song Yingxing heard unprecedented eagerness. It can be seen that Wang Pu was very eager to rebuild a powerful navy.

Although Song Yingxing didn't know why Wang Pu was so eager, he was obviously infected by Wang Pu's emotions and slowly stood up. His face also showed unprecedented solemnity, saying: "Marty, I dare not boast about anything else, but this seven-masted ship, eight-masted ship and nine-masted ship wrapped in iron armor must be built for the Marquis. Even if the King of Hell has a reputation for his life and death, I will have to hold on until the genius of the iron armored ship was built before he could die!"

Wang Pupu kicked his right leg and saluted Song Yingxing with a standard military salute, saying solemnly: "Old Song, please!"
Chapter completed!