Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 45 Zhang Xiao’s new twists and turns
  In the second half of the 19th year of Wanli, major changes occurred in the Ming court. Shen Shi, the chief minister of the Ming cabinet, went to beg for his remains and received the emperor's approval. Xu Guo also resigned from his position as cabinet minister. Wang Jiaping took over the position of first assistant, while Wang Xijue served as second assistant. In his resignation letter, Shen Shixing also recommended two ministers, Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei, to join the cabinet. The Ming Dynasty cabinet now has four cabinet ministers.

The two most famous generals in the world at that time, Qi Jiguang, was dismissed from office because Zhang Juzheng was implicated, and he had died two years ago. And Li Chengliang, who had been powerful in Liaodong for twenty years, had just been dismissed from office.

But all this has nothing to do with Zhang Xiao. He is thinking hard about how to build a hot air balloon. I said the name hot air balloon in a moment of excitement, but now I am a bit stuck. Although Yuan Shikong himself has watched some popular science videos, he has not been able to understand them deeply.

According to the current existing technology, it is possible to build a hot air balloon. After all, it is a large Kongming Lantern. However, even hot air balloons that seem to be relatively easy to implement at present cannot be made practical for carrying people immediately, because the fuel problem is not so easy to solve, and the material of the balloon must be selected and processed well. It is not difficult to make a hot air balloon. What is difficult is how to make it fly higher and farther, and be able to carry more things and even living people.

If you make hydrogen balloons and helium balloons, you can ensure that they fly high and for a long time. The crux of the matter is how do you know how to produce the hydrogen and helium used for inflation? Helium production is high-tech. As for hydrogen, if he really wanted to make a miracle with great force and just create hydrogen through local methods, Zhang Xiao was afraid that he would be blown up while playing around. Even in the 21st century, playing with hydrogen is very dangerous. Another problem is that if it is a hot air balloon, the rise and fall of the hot air balloon can be adjusted by controlling the amount of heating. If it is a hydrogen balloon or a helium balloon, you don’t know how to come down after flying into the sky. Modern amusement projects also include hot air balloons.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Xiao roughly drew the shape of the hot air balloon, and then explained the principle of the hot air balloon and the current difficulty of making a hot air balloon.

As for the turtle ship, North Korea had already manufactured it at this time, and Zhang Xiao was just copying the cat and imitating the tiger. It was not difficult for the emperor to find information or even physical objects by himself. His own efforts only made the process a little simpler. Zhang Xiao tried hard to find the turtle ship in his memory. After all, there was a turtle ship in Age of Empires 2, which he played since childhood, and it was almost like that.

As for the steam ironclad ship, I have seen a lot of the appearance of the ironclad ship on the Internet. To put it bluntly, this time I just have to draw a steam ironclad ship with a certain look. No matter how handsome you are, you can draw it. Anyway, it’s not that the armored giant ship will be built soon, it’s just a concept drawing. Zhang Xiao thought for a while, and simply drew the Dreadnought battleship, a model of the famous giant ship cannon of later generations. The turret at least looked handsome and eye-catching.

But steam engines are troublesome. Although Zhang Xiao has read some popular science materials, he is not a DIY expert, he just talks on paper. Zhang Xiao could only roughly draw the structure of the Watt steam engine based on the popular science materials he had read before, write down the operating principles of the steam engine, and then explain the shortcomings in the current raw materials and technology for making steam engines. After all, history books also say that Watt improved the steam engine. Early steam engines already existed, but they were relatively low-efficiency and not that practical. They were not some insurmountable mysterious technology.

But after thinking about it for a while, Zhang Xiao seemed to be unable to achieve any visible results. It seems that I was misled by the online article I originally read. It is not that easy to be a craftsman in a great country.

It seems that he is still suitable for copying books, Zhang Xiao thought secretly. Now that the bullshit has reached the armored ship, I might as well just go all out and copy "On Sea Power".

Just do it. After drawing the general appearance of a hot air balloon, a turtle ship, an armored ship, and a steam engine, Zhang Xiao opened up a new pit, "On Sea Power."

After all, "On Sea Power" was born a little late, so it is absolutely impossible to copy it. Therefore, what Zhang Xiao has to do is to make a discussion based on the correct naval development concepts provided by books such as "On Sea Power" and combine it with the practical problems faced by the Ming Dynasty's current military development. In the process, he must also make good use of examples of naval warfare at home and abroad in ancient and modern times. , as strong evidence for one's own point of view. With these ideas in mind, the framework of this book has begun to be laid out.

Therefore, although the book is called "On Sea Power", there is not much similarity with General Mahan's discussion in the original time and space. Moreover, when writing this book "On Sea Power", we need to focus on the upcoming war to aid Korea and resist Japanese aggression, so as not to be too exaggerated. However, this will be a big book and cannot be finished in a short while, so Zhang Xiao really wrote the beginning and gave a rough outline of the concept of building a navy. On the second day, Zhang Xiao hurriedly handed this set of information to Chen Ju and left in a hurry. Zhang Xiao still needs to find a suitable venue to make, debug, and fly hot air balloons. The worst thing he can do is learn about the history of hot air balloons and start making hot air balloons from a young age.

Chen Ju got the information and slowly looked through the drawings drawn by Zhang Xiao. The more he looked at it, the more surprised he became. Then he flipped through the outline and beginning of the book on sea power written by Zhang Xiao, and was stunned by the first sentence: "Whoever can control the ocean can control the entire world." Chen Ju put Zhang Xiao carefully packed the manuscripts he handed over and hurriedly reported to the emperor.

……

"Zhang Xiao, he came up with the drawing so quickly. It seems that he already has a plan in mind. Chen Ju, as you expected, the production of hot air balloons is relatively simple." The emperor said while looking at the drawings.

"But with a hot air balloon like this, it's hard to say whether it can fly, how long it can fly, or how it will come down. It would be too risky to use it to carry people into the sky," Chen Ju said.

"It doesn't matter. Even if this thing can't carry people, as long as it can fly into the air, it can be used as a road sign or signal, and it can also be a deterrent to the enemy. Just let Zhang Xiao rest assured to study it, and I won't set a time limit for him. The style of the turtle ship has also been put away first. Then we will compare it with what North Korea brought. Although this turtle ship is strong, it is only useful for coastal defense and charging among the rebels. The surrounding area is closed. They are all made of iron sheets, and the cost is too high, so they are not suitable to be used as main battleships. If the Japanese countries are all small boats, the turtle ships can be of some use." The emperor analyzed.

"Your Majesty is wise," Chen Ju said.

"As for the armored steamship, Zhang Xiao actually drew it. The ship looks quite big, and the smoking cylinder in the middle of the ship should be the chimney. The cannon is so big, so it must be quite powerful. I just don’t know how fast it can go if it is made of iron. And the whole ship is basically made of steel. How much iron does it cost? And this steam engine, even though Zhang Xiao drew it in such detail, I still can’t understand it." Emperor He laughed at himself.

"Although these drawings are also important, they are not as important as the book "On Sea Power". If Zhang Xiao could really write this book, he would be considered a military strategist. Since ancient times, there has never been such a book about naval warfare. Meticulous, so far-sighted. But let Zhang Xiao finish writing his book first. He writes a book as he thinks about it, and he is still in the state of mind of a young man. On my behalf, go and see how busy he is these days. How about, by the way, I would also like to express my condolences to him." The emperor ordered.

"The minister obeys the order," Chen Ju responded.

　There is a difference between a hot air balloon and a hydrogen balloon. Let me change the wording.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)