Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 61 What is a battleship?

"Minglue, you are still a supervisor of the Imperial College now, right?" Wang Xijue said.

"I am ashamed of myself. I am busy with official duties. Although I am listed as a supervisor of the Imperial College, I actually did not attend the whole day's classes. I hope Cifu will forgive me." Zhang Xiao said.

"Minglue, you are busy with many things and can't get away. Naturally, I understand. In fact, although you, Minglue, do not have the imperial examination title, it is because it is not convenient for you to take the imperial examination overseas. Your knowledge is enough. Others It is said that if you are a student in the Imperial College, there is no problem in becoming a lecturer." Wang Xijue praised.

"I am ashamed. I entered the Hanlin Academy by His Majesty's grace. My colleagues don't care about it," Zhang Xiao said.

"Minglue, you still have to go to the Imperial College once, not as a student, but as a teacher and take a few classes. The chief minister has also agreed. You go to the Imperial College to give lectures, and you will talk about the naval development strategy written in your memorial." Wang Xijue said,

"Ah? Are you taking classes in the Imperial College and talking about naval strategy? Isn't this inappropriate? Doesn't the Imperial College teach the Tao of Confucius and Mencius?" Zhang Xiao was a little surprised.

"The Imperial College not only teaches classics, but also teaches the Six Arts of a Gentleman. There are also other courses. If I am free then, I will also listen to it when you are in class, and all my colleagues from the Hanlin Academy will also listen to it together." Wang Xijue said.

"I have to obey my orders. But I don't know when this class will take place? I still need to prepare lecture notes and practice drafts. If I don't speak well, I will really make people laugh." Zhang Xiao said.

"There's no rush. You can prepare slowly and wait until you're ready. By the way, Minglue, what do you have in these boxes? Since you've put them all, it's not good if I don't take a look." Wang Xijue said.

"This box contains manuscripts about the history of Timur's empire, this box contains my novel manuscripts, this box contains recent inventions and creations, mainly some drawings and other materials, and the last one is a slightly smaller box. These are some articles that I have saved temporarily," Zhang Xiao said.

"Oh, the invention is the hot air balloon, right?" Wang Xijue asked.

"It's not just a hot air balloon. You can understand it just by looking at it. Cifu, sit down and I will take it out for you personally." Zhang Xiao said.

"Oh, this hot air balloon looks like this. If one day you make it as big as the one in this painting, remember to tell me. I also want to see the novelty." Wang Xijue picked up the drawing of the hot air balloon and said with emotion.

"It would be a real honor for me if I can take the time to come here. However, the hot air balloons are still being made small, and many problems still need to be improved," Zhang Xiao said.

"If we make this hot air balloon bigger, it should be able to carry people, right?" Wang Xijue asked.

"It's possible, but you still need to experiment many times before that. After all, this hot air balloon can fly quite high into the sky." Zhang Xiao explained.

"Yes, the first manned flight has to be successful. If there is an accident, it's really hard to explain. You have to be careful." Wang Xijue warned.

"My subordinates know that they must be cautious and cautious." Zhang Xiao agreed. "You call this ship a turtle ship? Or is it made in North Korea? This ship looks like a turtle, and its style is similar to a stern boat. But it seems to have been improved, and it is stronger than an ordinary stern boat. Are you trying to make me understand? Does the navy also equip this kind of ship?" Wang Xijue then picked up the blueprint of the turtle ship and asked.

"Jisuke, this turtle ship is suitable for offshore combat, and we won't build many of them. But after all, it is an armored ship. Even if there are a few ships, it will be miraculous in today's naval battles. The Japanese don't have any decent ships. It would be somewhat useful to bring a few turtle ships to deal with them. Moreover, this turtle ship is still an armored ship after all, so its protection must be enough." Zhang Xiao said.

Many people think that the turtle ship was invented by Yi Sun-shin. In fact, this was not the case. What Yi Sun-shin built was an improved version of the turtle ship. Ships similar to the turtle ship shape had been equipped in North Korea before. But since the turtle ship can have such a great reputation in the war, and it is not a purely made-up weapon like the Shenji Arrow, it shows that it is still of some use. The Ming Dynasty is rich in resources, so it is good to build a few ships as backup. Zhang Xiao just kept this kind of thought in his heart.

"After all, it is also a warship made of iron armor. It might be good to try it out. But what is going on with this ship? Which country is it from? Oh, there is also a length mark here, what? The hull is fifty How many feet long? Eight feet wide? Or is it made of iron?" Wang Xijue looked at the battleship drawings drawn by Zhang Xiao with reference to the Dreadnought-class battleship, and was shocked by the parameters mentioned in the drawings.

"This is just the official's random thought. There is no such ship yet." Zhang Xiao explained.

"Whether a ship made of iron can float is another matter, but if the iron is so heavy, how can the ship move forward?" Wang Xijue asked.

"It relies on a steam engine. The drawings of the steam engine are below." Zhang Xiao said.

"Is this the steam engine it relies on? This style is really novel. Which country made it by craftsmen? I have never heard of such an instrument in Ming Dynasty." Wang Xijue asked, pointing to the drawing of the steam engine.

"This style of steam engine is also Xianguan's idea, and has never been actually built. However, I should be able to build some ships with my own efforts. Please scroll down." Zhang Xiao said.

"Is this picture the only ship that can be built? You said this is called a sail battleship. From the looks of it, this ship must not be made of iron. If nothing else, this sail is really beautiful." Wang Xijue picked up another one. A battleship drawing. The drawing was drawn by Zhang Xiao based on the prototype of the 18th century sailing battleship in the original time and space.

"The sailing battleship is still a wooden ship, but it can also be made of copper or iron on the hull to make a shell, which can be more solid and sturdy." Zhang Xiao explained.

"You can talk about this sailing battleship in class then. But why do you call these big ships battleships? What do you mean by the word 'battleship'?" Wang Xijue asked.

"The meaning of this battle line is that this kind of ship does not rely on hand-to-hand combat, ramming, or archery and stone fighting. It basically relies on the artillery on the ship to kill the enemy. The artillery of the sailing battleship is mainly placed on both sides of the ship. , so when the battleships are marching, they line up in a row, and when facing the enemy, they fire their cannons together to completely sink the enemy ships. Therefore, for battleships, the bigger the ship, the better, the faster the better, and the farther the cannon can fire, the more powerful it will be. The better, even if the artillery is a little bulky, it doesn't matter. The so-called artillery is the god of war. This is true on land, and even more so at sea. Artillery is even more important at sea," Zhang Xiao explained.

After Wang Xijue listened to Zhang Xiao's words, he did not answer immediately. Instead, he fell into silence, as if he was thinking about something. Zhang Xiao waited quietly, waiting for Lord Cifu to speak.

"Minglue, I've changed my mind. I want to take you into the Imperial College personally, and I want to listen to your class from beginning to end." Wang Xijue said.

"Thank you Cisuke." Zhang Xiao said.

(End of this chapter)