open sea

Chapter 439
Dawn pierced through the thick clouds, and the morning fog in Nanyang Weigang was dispelled by the sun in the early morning. The huge dry dock of Weigang was opened, and the sea water poured in. The dock slides into the sea.

Standing on the shore, Chen Mu squinted his eyes as he watched this newly built warship, which was still within the Chihai class, but with more sails and more power, less artillery and more cargo, enter the water, and nodded slowly.

The name of this battleship is 'Li Zhu', named after the divine bird under the Yellow Emperor. There are only [-] general Zhenshuo cannons on board and four new Zhao Shizhen rotary anti-cannons on the ship. It has no independent combat or long-distance combat capabilities. .

The only special thing about it is that this is the first warship equipped with electric motors in Ming Dynasty and in the whole world.

On both sides of Li Zhu's ship, there are two paddle wheels covered by ship planks. The gears on the thick steel wheel rods are connected to the motors, and the wires lead to the open upper deck at the stern. There is a pile of coils wrapped by a huge hemp rope.

Chen Mu looked at Li Zhujian with eager and expectant eyes.

He watched the warship enter the sea, under the force of the wind, the warship sailed slowly, and the two huge paddle wheels also turned slowly.This device relatively slowed down the speed of the warship, but it was only a little bit, less than five points for a four-masted sail.

But Chen Mu knew what it meant to slow Li Zhu's ship by five points, which meant that it was very likely that his entire fleet would be slowed down by 5.00% in the future.

Someone on the deck blew a sobbing horn, and several flag soldiers in the cabin held up long poles and tied them to the stern, struggling to fix the four corners of the large ball bag to the four brackets with ropes, followed by a young man with a determined face. The flag officer knelt down several times on the deck, and walked up to the wooden cabin under the big leather ball without hesitation.

Even if the suspended ball is supported by bamboo strips, it is still slightly shriveled, and there are more than 20 stitches of leather.

Immediately afterwards, the brave little banner officer lit the fire in the center of the big leather sky lantern. Under the fire, there was a wooden cabin that was large enough to hold coal and banner soldiers. He sat in the wooden cabin and tried hard to overcome his fear. Stay standing.

"After a while, this ball will rise up." Chen Mu said firmly, but his next tone was not so firm, "The Military Weapons Bureau tried to put the hot air balloon at a height of more than [-] feet in the sky, but Haven't tried putting a man on it, even though he weighs the same as the previous cargo."

As he spoke, Chen Mu held the binoculars in his right hand, trying to see every detail with his own eyes, and gestured with his left hand, and several small boats on the shore sailed away, heading towards Li Zhu's sanitation ship. Be ready to salvage robes at any time.

"I don't know if the ropes and wires will hold up."

Under the wooden basket, four ropes are twisted into one strand, with wires wrapped in the middle. These heavy ropes become the biggest resistance to the hot air balloon rising. As the balloon rises, its dragging weight becomes larger and larger, and Finally, it was fixed at an altitude of [-] meters.

The current wires and motors can only provide such a long distance. Even the size of the hot air balloon has been calculated and tested to ensure that it will not fall at a height of more than [-] feet, and that it will not continue to rise and be dragged. Break the rope.

Because of the fuel, the existing means of the Nanyang Military Bureau cannot accurately test the heat required to rise to the required height, and can only exhaustively use stupid methods.

There is a special telegraph in the wooden basket, which is connected to the warship by ropes, and the small flag officer carries a telescope.

"If everything goes well, Yu Shuai, our army will be ahead of the enemy both on land and at sea." Beside Chen Mu is Yu Dayou, the old general is looking at Li Zhu Jian full of surprise, and at the same time he does not forget to use shock Looking at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu, you are really too ruthless.

Yu Dayou has only seen fireworks being blown up to the sky, but he has never seen his subordinates sent to the sky in sky lanterns!

The leather balloon gradually inflated as the temperature rose. Yu Dayou, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, swallowed secretly, and asked, "Chen Shuai, if the rope is broken and the lamp is destroyed, the flag officer above..."

"It doesn't matter, the top of the ball has a cover opening and closing, and there is a rope connecting the opening and closing in the ball cabin. Pulling it can slow down the speed. If you pull it for a long time, it will fall. It is inevitable to fall into the sea, but you will not die. "Chen Mu turned his head and said to Yu Dayou: "But it's hard to say on land. From the small sky lantern to this big ball, the ropes were not strong enough a few times before, and they were broken by strong winds. on the ground."

"So be sure to complete the test at sea, and then use it by land—look, it's risen!"

Just as Chen Mu finished speaking, he saw the ball swaying slowly, gradually leaving the deck, and hurriedly raised his finger over it.

The flag officer in the wooden cabin of the hot air balloon also reached the most frightening moment. When he found through the wooden window that he was getting higher and higher than Paoze, and his feet were unstable and shaking, he was so frightened that he couldn't help shaking, even if he I thought I was fully prepared!

"Master Tao of Wanhu, please protect me, don't let your descendants follow in your footsteps, Lord Tao of Wanhu, please protect me, don't let..."

There is no gunpowder in his hot air balloon, only three stoves above his head, and a clock is placed in the wooden cabin. A valve is opened every half cup of tea, and when the third stove is lit, it is time to prepare for landing.

In other words, once the ball is lifted into the air, it can only last for 10 minutes, and it is necessary to go down to add fuel to the stove.

The flag officer had long been slumped on the wooden bench in the cabin. He wanted to stand up, but his legs were so weak that he couldn't use the strength. The wind came in from the transparent wooden windows on all sides, and blew on him who was covered in cold sweat. , he saw that the people in the port were so small that they could even overlook the entire Nanyangwei Port.

It was also Nanyang Weigang, and he couldn't see the Weicheng in the distance, but when he picked up the binoculars tremblingly, he could still see the patrol ships on the sea in the distance.

He took a few deep breaths, looked at the telegraph in front of him, counted the ships in the direction, and pressed a few buttons.

In front of him was the unparalleled and most complicated telegraph machine, with 24 buttons arranged in three circular circles inside and outside. is quantity.

In a very short period of time, the Lizhu ship with the hot air balloon lowered the boat and quickly rowed towards the shore. Almost at the same time as the boat docked, the flag officer on the hot air balloon pulled the rope to open and close the top of the ball, and the hot air flowed from the top of the ball. Released, the drive to float was suppressed, and began to descend at an extremely slow speed.

The Banner Army from the stern of the Zhu ship also pulled the winch, and slowly led the hot air balloon down to the stern.

"Master, telegram!"

Chen Mu took the paper with a smile on his face. The telegraph map clearly marked the position of the maritime patrol team, which was far more powerful than standing on the mast to look out.

He put away the telegram, watched the pulling force slowly fall back to the stern of the Lizhu ship, nodded in satisfaction and said: "Go to the deep sea and continue the experiment. Fuel, spare hot air balloons, electrical appliances, etc. should be reported to the Nanyang Army on Mindoro Island."

"No hot air balloon has been tested for three times. When everything is done, the Lizhu ship will be incorporated into the Six Ding Liujia fleet!"

(End of this chapter)