Can you live forever

Chapter 15 Steel Ships, Steam Daming

"father."

When Wang Yuanzhi lost his composure, Wang Jiangque reminded him very calmly. When he came back to his senses, he changed into a very natural expression of surprise, fixedly looked at Zhang Zhixiang and asked, "Is that true?!"

Zhang Zhixiang felt that the businessman was really greedy for money, so although he was not happy, he still nodded.

He told Wang Yuanzhi that this matter was for him to make money, not because he wanted to make a profit from it, but because so many ginsengs were transported back, it was ultimately beneficial to the people of Ming Dynasty.

He was a little discouraged, and he didn't want to speak again.

On the other hand, Zhang Yonghuan noticed something, and looked at Wang Yuan calmly, then lowered his eyelids, he knew that Zhang Zhixiang might have told the secret of Guiyuan Commercial Company.

Unexpectedly, Wang Yuanzhi had the idea of ​​killing people to silence...

however.

Wang Jiangque, who was sitting by the side, spoke again, and she took the initiative to talk to Zhang Zhixiang for the first time: "The fleet set off from Hangzhou Mansion to the South China Sea, passed Mancijia, and crossed Xiaoxiyang. Up the river, through Lake Borno, into the Mediterranean Sea, westward, across the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean, across the Atlantic Ocean, to Kaliman Island, then into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, along the St. Lawrence River to Lake Superior."

"The range is about sixty thousand miles."

"Despite traveling day and night, it still takes three months to arrive. If there are no mistakes, it may take four to five months to actually take action."

"Even if the local ginseng is like a weed, it must be picked and sun-dried smoothly."

"How many people does this need?"

"If it weren't for the deep friendship with the local aborigines, I am afraid that this business would not be possible."

She said softly and softly, and even explained the sailing route so clearly, a wise person would know that the Wang family must have been to Lake Superior, and the analysis of the pros and cons was even more to the point.

It also wakes up others.

It doesn't matter if the Wang family's business is made public, their Wang family can do it, but others can't.

Even Wang Yuanzhi was shocked by Zhang Zhixiang's sudden revelation, but this little girl remained unmoved, and even calmed down the situation with some words, which showed that she had no intention of murdering and keeping it secret. It can only be said that it is really amazing.

Zhang Yonghuan looked at the girl in surprise, and said with a smile: "That's the truth, Anping, you don't have to talk nonsense, otherwise Mr. Wang's trip to Beishangzhou for nothing will cause a lot of losses."

Zhang Yonghuan usually calls him "Little Martial Uncle", but now calling him "Anping" is to treat him as a "junior".

Zhang Zhixiang understood, and followed the words to smooth things over.

In my heart, I was still thinking about the route and time that Wang Jiangque said. The [-]-mile voyage only takes three months?Wind direction and ocean currents should also be taken into account when traveling starry night, right?Can the sailboat really be done?Can sea navigation really be so safe?There are also a large number of river sections, so inland river navigation is more problematic, right?

After chatting for a while, put aside the topic just now, and start talking about overseas scenery to enliven the atmosphere.

Zhang Zhixiang raised a question: "Is it really possible to reach Lake Superior in three months? How can the ship have such a speed?"

Wang Yuanzhi knew that Zhang Zhixiang had never seen a sea ship.

Then he asked: "Little Immortal, have you ever seen a dry boat? It was used to drag beams and boulders when building a large palace. It can also pull a million catties of weight, but it consumes a lot of water. Often A well needs to be drilled every few miles in advance so that the water can be replenished at any time."

"During the Zhengde period, the palace was renovated and the middle steps were replaced."

"The boulder is three feet long, one foot wide, five feet thick, and weighs 32 catties. It was dragged by dry boats. When it entered the city, a 16-wheeled cart was built and 1600 mules and horses were used to reach the palace."

"Since there are dry boats, there must be water boats."

"舡, boat workers, means the machinery on the ship. The principle is that charcoal fire boils water to generate steam to drive the axle, and when it reciprocates, it provides power for the ship. We generally call this machine a steam engine."

"This object was developed during Zheng He's voyages to the West. The keel of the treasure ship was made of fine steel, and it became a giant ship of [-] materials. It was driven by this object."

"A sea-going ship with a thousand materials is equipped with a steam engine and a sail, and it can travel thousands of miles a day."

Zhang Zhixiang was dumbfounded when he heard that, while Wang Jiangque lowered his eyelids, thinking that he was a bumpkin on the mountain. So, times have changed, and giant steel ships can ride the wind and waves, so how can it be the era of immortal cultivators?
however.

Is Zhang Zhixiang a bumpkin?No, he was just shocked that Daming had a steam engine! !He suddenly had some doubts, he really traveled to the Xianxia plane, not some steampunk sci-fi plane?

For a long time, Zheng He's fleet is a giant steel ship?
No wonder there has been arguing about the tonnage of treasure ships, saying that it is impossible for a wooden keel to have a huge ship of [-] tons. Indeed, it is impossible to make a wooden keel. If the keel is made of steel, there will be no problem.

As for whether Daming has suitable steel and steel production?
There are.

Tiangong Kaiwu has clearly recorded the method of frying steel, and there is no problem with the technology. At the peak of the Ming Dynasty, there were 245 counties producing iron ore, only 45 in the Yuan Dynasty, and only 137 in the Qing Dynasty. , There are 13 state-owned iron mining areas, and Emperor Hongwu prohibited private mining of iron mines, that is to say, the state-owned production capacity recorded in only 13 specialized mining areas has more than 1847 million catties.

According to the records of the Ming Dynasty in March of the seventh year of Hongwu.

All production in the state-run ironworks is subject to quotas, with a total output of 805 catties per year. Even if it is considered that Sichuan Longzhou Smelter and Shuntianfu Zunhua Iron Smelter were newly added during the Yongle period, it would not exceed 2987 catties.The total is 82 million catties.

1847-887=960 million catties.

The 960 million jins of iron were taxed from 13 mining areas. There was going to be a war in the early Ming Dynasty, and the iron material tax rate was high at 15 to 1, which means that the steel production capacity of these 13 exclusive mining areas reached 1 million jins. .

At the peak of the Ming Dynasty, there were as many as 245 iron mining areas, even though many mining areas were not as large as those 13 franchises.

But it’s okay to double the total amount by ten times, right?After all, there is no record among the people, and the amount of private mining is huge!
and so.

It is conservatively estimated that during the Xuande period, the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty, the annual steel output was at least 70 tons. So what was my country's steel output in 1949?Answer, the output of crude steel that year was 14.5 tons.

With output and quality, it seems that it is not impossible to build iron-clad ships...

pity.

The copy of "Yongle Dadian" has been destroyed and stolen. If the complete original copy of "Yongle Dadian" can be found from Yongling, then all the mysteries of history will be solved. Unfortunately, when he died of illness in his previous life, there was still not enough technology to accomplish this task.

Forget it, let's think of this as the parallel plane of magic reform.

After figuring it out, Zhang Zhixiang stopped worrying about the steam engine, asked Wang Yuanzhi about the general situation of some ships, and then quietly listened to their talk about overseas scenery.

Perhaps because Zhang Zhixiang and the others came from Mount Longhu, Wang Yuanzhi deliberately chose priests from various ethnic groups overseas to speak.

There are many barbarians overseas.

Many tribes are uncivilized and still believe in blood sacrifices and living sacrifices. Even in the largest country in Shangzhou, the Aztec Kingdom, they often capture savages to sacrifice to the gods.

Although in Daming's view, both the Aztecs and the savages belong to the Yindi'an people...

But they themselves obviously don't think so.

The Aztec sacrificial group has seriously affected the operation of the empire. They occupy a large amount of resources and are neither engaged in production nor in charge of fighting. As a result, their emperor Montezuma II is in a very delicate situation. The brink of civil unrest.

There are naturally some reasons for those priests to maintain their privileges.

For example, in the temple of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs, there is a big snake, which is said to be tens of feet long, and is the incarnation of the sun god in the world.

Wang Yuanzhi said that he had seen this snake before.

It has no wings or feathers. It is just a giant golden snake, which is actually fifteen feet long. It feeds on living people every day. It has developed spiritual wisdom and belongs to the category of evil spirits.

Such evil spirits also existed in ancient times.

It is said that Zhengyi was born because of this, to eliminate the prostitutes in the mountains and wilds, and to kill all the demons in the world. Before that, the demons lived in the mountains and stole the gods, and most of the fools sacrificed their lives.

In China, there is Zhuanxu who is the best at heaven, and there is Zhengyi who sweeps away evil spirits.

But not overseas.

Therefore, when sailing overseas, not only do you have to face darkness and terror in the sea, but you also have to worry about all kinds of evil spirits left over from the wilderness in the uncivilized land...

(PS: The record of Hanga comes from the architectural document "Dongguan Jishi" in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The detailed process of the palace, and the case of changing the middle step came from this.)
(End of this chapter)