I Am the Grandson of the Second Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Earning 100 Million Taels at the Beginn

Chapter 260 Zheng He: I want this ship, no one can use it!
With a bang, the warship poured into the sea, splashing large waves.

The icy sea water splashed on the watching navy, and instead of complaining, the soldiers screamed excitedly.

For the navy, the waves splashed by the warships are a kind of spiritual baptism.

Not only is it not bad luck, but it is a kind of honor, the honor of witnessing the enlistment of new partners.

The shipyard workers who had been on standby for a long time quickly boarded the battleship and checked the top and bottom of the battleship to see if there was any tilt or water leakage.

After confirming that there was no problem at all, Zhu Zhangui, accompanied by the general manager, boarded the battleship with a group of navy generals.

"Your Highness, please light this first fire!"

When he came to the boiler room, the person in charge handed Zhu Zhangui a torch.

The boiler was already full of firewood, and the coal bunker next to it was also piled with coal.

Zhu Zhangui nodded, took the torch and lit the firewood in the boiler.

As the firewood was ignited, a raging flame burned.

The naval soldiers on the shore, seeing the smoke coming from the chimney, shouted more excitedly, staring at each other, looking forward to the operation of the ironclad ship.

But a few quarters of an hour, half an hour passed by, and the boat didn't even move.

The excitement of the soldiers just now slowly subsided, and each of them scratched their heads in doubt.

"What's going on? It's been an hour, why don't you even move, the boat won't break down!"

"It's possible. After all, this is the first steam ironclad battleship. The craftsmen are inexperienced, and it is normal for problems to occur!"

"Oh, suddenly I feel a little empty in my heart, I was just excited for nothing!"

"Indeed, there are so many people watching here, and His Highness came here in person. As a result, something went wrong. I'm afraid someone at the shipyard will be punished. If His Highness gets angry, he may lose a few heads."

The craftsmen of the shipyard standing in the crowd heard the soldiers talking with black lines all over their heads, and finally couldn't listen anymore, and yelled at the few soldiers who were discussing quietly.

"You big-headed soldiers know what a fart. The steam engine needs to wait for the water to boil, and the steam can be repressurized before it can be started. It takes at least 1~2 hours for such a big ship to move!"

The surrounding soldiers despised him even more.

"What, 1~2 hours, during this time my boat ran dozens of nautical miles."

Those who thought more deeply were even more worried: "If there is a sudden attack and the boat cannot even sail, then it is purely a living target!"

The craftsman in the shipyard rolled his eyes, "So the steamship does not turn off under normal circumstances, and it must always ensure that it has sufficient power."

"Do not turn off the fire?"

The navy soldiers froze for a moment, then looked sympathetically at the sailors responsible for the power.

The power sailors had black threads all over their heads, and one of them looked at the craftsman with his ears out.

"You mean, from now on, we sailors in charge of power will lie on the boat all year round and take care of this uncle!"

The craftsman spread his hands, "You can understand it this way. After all, this thing is not a horse. It will go away with a flick of the whip. It needs sufficient strength to drive the wheel and drive the propeller."

The power sailors saw darkness.

They are the sailors who are responsible for power. In order to ensure that the warship can move at any time, they have fewer holidays than other sailors.

They thought that with the steam engine, they could also live a normal holiday life, but they didn't expect the idea to fail.

When relying exclusively on power before, if they had no plans to go to sea in a short period of time, they could still go ashore to rest.

But now if they were replaced by a steamboat, they would lie on the boat every day, staring at the boiler.

"Besides, it's very hot in the boiler room. You'll feel better in winter. If it's summer..." The craftsman gave a sympathetic look, and ruthlessly gave the power sailors another stab at their hearts.

"Woooooooo..."

Just when the power sailors were feeling depressed, the ear-splitting whistle sounded from the iron-clad warship that was only smoking from the chimney and making no movement.

"Hey, good guy, that's loud enough!"

The sailor in charge of the direction of the warship scratched his ears excitedly.

Despite the ship's problems of one kind or another, the sound was really strong.

"Move, move!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of cheers.

The sailors standing on the shore stretched their necks, looked at the iron-clad battleship parked in the water, and began to move forward bit by bit.

Looking at the unfurled sails on the plywood, the sailors cheered.

It worked, really worked.

The ship really moved by itself without the aid of sails and oars.

He had already got off the iron-clad ship and went to Zhu Zhangui who was on the guard ship next to him, nodding in satisfaction.

The reason why he was on this ship was because he was worried that the craftsmen were making this kind of large boiler for the first time, and they were afraid that something might go wrong and it would suddenly explode.

This is not a joke. The power of a boiler explosion is absolutely no worse than that of a missile. Standing on an ironclad ship is standing on a missile that is about to explode at any time.

The trial route of the ironclad ship is from Quanzhou to Qiongzhou Port, the base of the West Sea Fleet.

In addition to testing the performance of the ironclad ship, various experiments will be carried out along the way.

The most important experiment is to add a new equipment to the navy, the water torpedo.

"Let's go, let's follow!"

Zhu Zhangui waved his hand towards the shore and gave follow-up orders to the escorting warships.

Li Hu originally wanted to follow, but was strictly refused by Zhu Zhangui.

The dignified admiral of the navy is not managing the army at the naval base, but instead follows the trial ship around without doing his job, which is serious dereliction of duty.

As for other generals.

Even the main general was kicked out, and they didn't dare to say anything.

4 frigates and 4 supply ships, escorting the armored battleship slowly moved forward, and slowly disappeared from the sight of the people on the shore.

The 16th year of Yongle was spent in Zhu Zhangui's sea voyage.

Over the past year, many major events have happened in Daming.

The grassland forces that had just been unified in the north had a war that was rare in history with Ming Dynasty.

The battle ended with the death of Alutai, and the grassland once again returned to a state of disintegration.

But in Daming's country, everything is very stable, and all aspects are developing steadily.

As the chamber of commerce's income increased, the number of investors also increased, and more and more land was recovered by the imperial court.These lands were registered by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and then sub-leased at extremely low prices to people who had no land or had very little land.

As for the overseas colonies, apart from some battles at the beginning of the year, with the construction of land routes between the two sides and the entry of migrant workers, they have gradually stabilized.

At the end of the year, Daming got a large amount of food.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs, these grains are enough for the Ming army to feed for two years.

In terms of finances, although the imperial court posted a lot of money because of the purchase of precious banknotes, as the family members of those criminals paid the repayments, they gradually returned to a stable state.

This year, technology has ushered in a huge development.

The steam engine that started the first generation of industrial revolution has been officially developed and entered the production stage.

With the addition of the steam engine, the progress of industry is about to improve rapidly.

For example, wrought iron and textiles will be operated by steam engines next year, and the output will be greatly improved.

The most important transportation force, the train, is already in the process of being manufactured, and it will be officially put into operation next year when the railway from Peiping to Jinling is completed.

In terms of oceans, steamships are currently only produced for the army, and it may take more than ten years or even decades for ordinary ships to be equipped with steam engines.

"We're finally home!"

At the Xihai Fleet Base in Qiongzhou, dozens of warships slowly sailed into the port under the guidance of the leading ship.

Zheng He looked at the big flag with Ming characters fluttering in the port, knelt on the deck excitedly and sobbed softly.

On this journey around the world, they have experienced too many hardships and tribulations.

There were hundreds of ships, large and small, but only a dozen remained. The others were either swept into the sea by wind and waves, or were captured by the enemy and became other people's trophies.

Tens of thousands of soldiers followed him to the sea, but looking at the number of people around him at this time, there were less than 2000.

Zheng He's heart was full of guilt. He was ashamed of his trust in the emperor, his entrustment to the grandson of the emperor, and those sailors who believed in him and supported him.

He didn't know how to face the families of those sacrificed soldiers, let alone how to comfort their sad and distressed hearts.

"Head Zheng, should we rest here for a few days, or go back directly."

The shirtless man, who had recovered from his injuries, looked at Zheng He who was kneeling on the deck crying silently, raised his head and suppressed the tears that were about to flow from his eyes, and stepped forward to help Zheng He.

"Rest here for a few days before going back. Brothers have been tired after following me for so long, so it's time to take a good rest!"

Although Zheng He really wanted to go back immediately to form a new fleet and beat those white pigs to death.

But looking at the tired expressions of his soldiers, he could only temporarily suppress the anger of revenge in his heart, and ordered everyone to go to the port to rest.

"Head Zheng, who are you?"

Just as the warship docked, a large group of naval officers and soldiers quickly greeted it.

The leading naval officer, seeing Zheng He's distressed appearance, hurried forward and grabbed Zheng He's empty sleeve, with a hint of anger in his eyes.

Zheng He was his old officer, but he never expected to go to sea and become like this.

He swore that if he found out who did it, he would have to tear that guy to pieces.

"I'm in trouble!"

Seeing his former brother, Zheng He felt better, stretched out his good hand, and patted the admiral on the shoulder.

Immediately, Zheng He noticed that there were lights and festoons everywhere in the port, and colorful flags were still hung on the warships docked by the sea, so he asked with some doubts.

"How do you know we're back?"

"We don't know!" The officer scratched his head incomprehensibly.

"We are going to meet His Highness the Grandson. When you drove over just now, we thought it was His Highness the Grandson. After calling for a long time and no one responded, I sent someone over to know that it was you who came back."

"His Highness is coming!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Zheng He's eyes.

He didn't expect to see Zhu Zhangui so soon, but then he thought of his current situation, and a trace of loneliness flashed in his eyes.

If Zhu Zhangui saw him like this, he might be very disappointed.

"That's right, Your Highness came here with the new warship on trial, and our place happens to be the finish line."

Not noticing Zheng He's expression, the officer nodded.

Then he said to Zheng He and the others with a mysterious face.

"Head Zheng, brothers, our first new warship that spans history has been launched. Guess what kind of warship it is!"

When everyone saw this guy's trickery, they all gritted with hatred.

They have been away from home for several years, and they don't know what new warships will be built.

"Old Xu, you brat, don't be a fool, tell me quickly, be careful I beat you!"

The shirtless man rolled his eyes angrily, and stretched out his sandbag-sized fist to threaten the officer of the Xihai military base.

"Yeah, let's just say it, we've been away from home for a few years, so we don't know how the navy has developed."

Zheng He also smiled and asked the officer to speak quickly.

The officer chuckled and said mysteriously to several people.

"You guys still remember what His Highness said about the iron-clad battleship back then!"

As soon as these words came out, Zheng He and the others trembled slightly, and Zheng He grabbed the officer excitedly.

"You mean our ironclad battleship has launched!"

Seeing Zheng He's excited appearance, the officer gave up his tricks and nodded vigorously.

"It's not just an ironclad warship, it's a steam warship that doesn't use sails. It is said that without sails, it can run at a speed of ten knots."

"Ten festivals?"

Zheng He and the others were confused for a moment, not understanding what the word meant.

The change of the navy only slowly changed after Zheng He and others left, so they couldn't understand some new terms of the navy.

"Knots is our Navy's abbreviated term for the speed of a ship."

"One knot is equal to nearly 4 miles. Ten knots means that without the help of sails, a battleship can run 40 miles in half an hour, and 80 miles in an hour!"

Seeing that a few people did not understand, the officer remembered that when these people left, the navy did not have this term, so he quickly explained it to Zheng He and others.

Only then did a few people suddenly realize.

"You can run 80 miles in one hour, then 10 miles in 800 hours, and thousands of miles in a day!" The shirtless man broke his fingers, and the more he counted, the wider his mouth opened, and finally he was so surprised that he opened his mouth so much that he could swallow a duck egg .

"My boy, this is faster than when the wind and the current flow!"

"Hehe, of course, otherwise, why would I call it a new type of warship that has crossed the era!"

The naval base officer laughed, and then said helplessly.

"It's a pity that there is only one boat. If there are a few more boats, I will fight my old face and ask for one from His Highness, and row it to our West Sea!"

Listening to the conversation between the officers of the Xihai Base and his subordinates, Zheng He's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"Ironclad battleship, powered by steam, travels thousands of miles a day!"

The more he thought about it, the hotter he felt, and he made a decision.

"I want this boat!"

(End of this chapter)