Daming 1805

Chapter 204 Subversive Improvement of Aircraft Performance

Dongmei led Yu Muxue and Liu Muyun into the living room to meet Liang Yunying and Zhu Jingyuan.

Both girls lowered their heads, but the tall Liu Muyun was obviously lower.

But Dongmei was beside her, carefully reminding them to raise their heads so that Zhu Jingyuan could see clearly, and then they raised their heads.

Zhu Jingyuan took a closer look at the scene, and it was more real than what he saw through the glass. He still nodded in satisfaction:

"Okay, it's all good, let's choose a day."

The official meeting was over soon, and the officials of the palace were going to be busy with formal etiquette.

In the late Ming Dynasty in history, legal concubines already had a relatively standardized marriage process, but it was easier than marrying a regular wife.

At the very least, a marriage certificate must be established, and the ceremony can be considered a marriage.

Only those who are concubines in name but are actually slaves will be very casual.

Pay money to buy the deed, and just put it in the backyard and use it. There is no clear etiquette process.

Because Emperor Shizu prohibited Daming people from being slaves, this situation will no longer happen to Daming women.

At the same time, after the Renwu Dynasty, the princes and grandsons before the age of 20 took concubines for the first time. The choice of date was not based on auspiciousness, but on the concubine's menstrual cycle.

According to the experience left by Emperor Shizu, coupled with the long-term records and verification of the Imperial Hospital, doctors in Daming have now basically determined the law of women's fertile period (ovulation period) and infertility period (safety period).

The princes and grandchildren before the age of 20 only have two chances a month.

The most important thing to do when taking a concubine for the first time is to confirm fertility.

Therefore, the concubine ceremony will be placed in the concubine's conception period, and thereafter it will only be married during the conception period for at least one year.

If he sticks with the two concubines like this for a year, and the prince and grandson still have nothing to do, then he will basically be useless.

Although I can take two more concubines and continue to work hard, even if I give birth to a child later, I will have no chance to succeed to the throne.

Dongmei, the big girl, took Zhu Jingyuan's two concubines to leave, and went to the small room to inquire about the situation in private.

Liu Muyun's fertile period is coming soon, and it is scheduled for seven days later, while Yu Muxue has just passed by, and it is scheduled for 23 days later.

Zhu Jingyuan's concubine matter is an absolute big deal in Dashi Kingdom.

The royal concubine Liang Yunying took the command personally, Dongmei and Chunxiang followed and urged, and the palace quickly became busy.

Zhu Jingyuan himself doesn't have to worry about these things. After his mother comes, he really doesn't have to worry about the backyard.

In the morning of the next day, Zhu Jingyuan got up to eat, practice daily, take a bath and change clothes, and then went to the martial arts arena in the backyard of the palace.

It's been the third day since the fleet arrived, and it's finally time to meet the people Zhu Jingyuan is most interested in—the craftsmen of Daming Airlines.

Zheng Fuguang, a master craftsman, brought a group of craftsmen who were willing to come to Dashi Kingdom, and waited for Zhu Jingyuan on the martial arts arena. Of course, he did not want to practice martial arts.

Instead, I want to show Zhu Jingyuan the achievements of the past year.

There are a lot of wooden boxes around them, and the disassembled machines are placed beside them.

There are also two planes, a car, and a motorcycle.

Zheng Fuguang saw Zhu Jingyuan approaching, and immediately led the team to salute:
"See Your Highness."

Zhu Jingyuan walked over quickly, glanced at the machines all over the floor, and said with a very happy smile:
"Don't be too polite, everyone has worked hard, this journey, this year has been hard.

"We have nothing in Dashi Country, so we can only reward you with more wages."

There was a burst of laughter at the scene.

The craftsmen have all heard Zheng Fuguang introduce Zhu Jingyuan, who has a particularly hearty and kind personality, and the most important thing is that he is also very generous.

Seeing it today is indeed the case, and the craftsmen are very happy when they come up and say that they want to send money.

No one dislikes such a boss.

After saying hello, Zheng Fuguang introduced the surrounding machines to Zhu Jingyuan.

Zheng Fuguang's original major was actually mechanics, and he was actually a part-time major in drilling.

Although these machines were not designed by Zheng Fuguang, they were fully understood before coming here.

Zhu Jingyuan came to the motorcycle first, and looked down at the wheels slightly.

The engine of this motorcycle is mounted on the wheels.

With the wheel axle as the center, five cylinders surround it, and it looks like a five-pointed star from the side.

This is a kind of radial engine - rotary cylinder engine.

Zhu Jingyuan asked the craftsmen to set up the wheels and tried to start the engine on the spot.

The engine on the axle starts to rotate, and the cylinder rotates together, driving the wheels to rotate.

The main shaft is fixed, and the cylinder rotates like a windmill, so it is called a rotary cylinder engine.

The rotating cylinder can store energy and has the function of a flywheel, omitting a special flywheel.

The cylinder itself rotates at high speed, which is equivalent to its own air cooling, and no special cooling structure is needed.

These characteristics make the structure of the engine itself very simple.

Its application is also very simple, and it can be directly installed on the wheel without complicated transmission structure.

The engine directly drives the wheels, directly dragging the body forward.

This kind of engine appeared very early, before Zhu Jingyuan recovered his memory.

It looks full of advantages, so it was very popular around World War I in history.

But it also has two huge disadvantages - sealing and weight.

After Zhu Jingyuan turned off the engine, Zheng Fuguang introduced next to him:

"The power of this rotary cylinder engine is 32 horsepower, the maximum speed of the two-wheeled vehicle...there is no actual measurement result.

"No one dares to drive to its limit, the actual measured maximum speed is 160 kilometers per hour.

"The Ministry of Industry and the Royal Machinery Company produced a similar engine of about 160 horsepower.

"This engine has a simple structure and is easy to install.

"However, it is difficult to seal and pressurize the oil circuit, and the exhaust gas is not easy to collect.

"Because these structures are active, this severely limits its power to continue to improve.

"At the same time, the greater the number of cylinders, the greater the moment of inertia when rotating.

"It's okay to install it on a car, but if it's placed on an airplane, the huge inertial torque will seriously affect the handling performance of the airplane.

"When you put it on the ground and start the engine, it can make the aircraft itself slide sideways continuously.

"At present, institutions including our Daming Aviation, Daming Aviation Machine, and the Ministry of Industry have basically given up on continuing to develop it.

"The research direction of the new engine has turned to the new radial engine you designed."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly:
"This is a natural problem with the structure of the rotary cylinder, and there is no way to completely eradicate it.

"It is the extreme pursuit of simple design, which leads to corresponding unsolvable defects.
"So my new radial engine is a relatively compromised design."

While talking, Zhu Jingyuan came to the front of a plane.

The structure of this aircraft is completely different from those before it. It has only one wing and is a monoplane.

The aircraft abandoned the previous wooden structure and was made entirely of steel and aluminum.

The overall shape is also made according to Zhu Jingyuan's design.

It is almost the shape of the German FW-190D and the British Sea Fury fighter at the end of World War II.

Zhu Jingyuan looked at the number of cylinders in the engine in front of the plane:
"This plane uses an air-cooled nine-cylinder engine. What is the maximum power? How about speed and range?"

Zheng Fuguang immediately said with emotion:
"The rated power of this one is [-] horsepower, and a [-]-horsepower one is also under development.

"The cruise speed is [-] kilometers per hour, the maximum range is [-] kilometers, and the combat radius can be [-] kilometers.

"According to the Dudufu's statement, it already has strong practical significance, and mass production of military models has already begun.

"The most important thing is the engine, without which none of this would be possible.

"His Royal Highness designed this kind of engine, and it is extremely ingenious to install it on the plane, and it has excellent expandability.

"The increase in engine power in the future is purely a process upgrade and a stack of cylinders.

"It is only a matter of time before the future power increases to [-] horsepower, or even [-] horsepower.

"At that time, the speed of the aircraft may increase to [-] or even [-] kilometers per hour."

The new radial engine designed by Zhu Jingyuan is also the main engine of the carrier-based aircraft in the World War II era.

Compared with the rotary cylinder engine of the World War I era before, its shape does not seem to have changed much, and it is still surrounded by a ring of cylinders.

The biggest internal change is that the cylinder itself no longer rotates, and the middle spindle is allowed to rotate in circles.

Its shortcomings are also very obvious, and a special cooling method must be designed.

But in front of the aircraft engine is the propeller, and the propeller can cool the engine by blowing air.

Therefore, if it is used on an airplane, the convenience is not much different from that of a rotary cylinder engine, and it also has its own air cooling.

The advantages are also very obvious. The oil supply, pressurization, and exhaust structures are all fixed, which is convenient for production and maintenance.

The main shaft of the engine is directly connected to the propeller, without any reduction and transmission structure.

The most critical advantage is that the overall fixed radial engine can be made larger and the number of cylinders can be more.

Cylinders can be five, seven, nine, or even two rows of eighteen cylinders, or even four rows of 28 cylinders.

The follow-up technology is mature, and a turbocharged structure can be added.

Zhu Jingyuan thought about the engine he had heard about in his previous life, and nodded with a smile:
"It's still conservative, [-] horsepower is just a start, [-] horsepower is considered mature, and the limit should be more than [-] horsepower."

Zheng Fuguang and a group of craftsmen were originally happy and even quite proud.

The engine power has directly increased from more than 60 horsepower to [-] horsepower in the past year, a full six-fold increase.

The key is the performance of the aircraft, which has also undergone earth-shaking improvements.

Now Zhu Jingyuan reminded them that on the basis of [-] horsepower, it should be increased by at least five times or even eight times.

It was a little frightening right away.

Zheng Fuguang asked excitedly and in astonishment:
"Your Highness... two thousand to three thousand horsepower? Can it really be so high?"

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded and said:
"Yes, but it has limits, similar to the limits of a rotary engine.

"The weight is increasing, the mechanical structure is complex, and maintenance is becoming more and more difficult.

"At that point, a new type of engine will replace them.

"Another type of engine with a simpler structure and higher power density..."

That is, jet engines.

(End of this chapter)