"How is the shipyard lately, have any new ships been launched?" Zhu Youxiao asked while walking around here, this is the one thing he is most concerned about at the moment. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Without sea power, many of his plans will be hindered, such as the most important one, the return of grain, and the overseas grain purchase plan.

Originally, this was all a plan he was going to carry out after returning from Liaodong, but who knew that the naval fleet was short-lived and was destroyed in Ningbo by fireship. It's really like chess, and it's unexpected.

"This ......" When Gao Lao heard this question, his old face turned red, and he was full of embarrassment.

"What, what's the problem?" Zhu Youxiao caught his expression and asked solemnly.

"Your Majesty, the main problem is wood, many of the big materials have just been transported from Liaodong, and it will take a long time to dry, and I don't know why, it has been a long time since I purchased the prepared materials from the south, so ......." Gao Lao explained, originally if the south could ensure the source of the big materials, he would still be able to build some warships here.

"That's it!" Zhu Youxiao suddenly realized that Elder Gao didn't know the reason, it didn't mean that he didn't know, many shipyards in the south had the shadow of the big families behind them, and they naturally didn't want the emperor's sea power to become stronger and stronger, so they were stuck in the supply of wood.

"Don't worry, after two or three months, there should be a lot of timber." Zhu Youxiao was relieved, and then diverted the topic, "At present, in the shipyard, how big a ship can be built with the materials that can be used." ”

"This ....." After pondering, Elder Gao said, "About three thousand-material gunboats. ”

The thousand-material gunboat, that is, the Galen ship with a displacement of 500 tons, this tonnage, that is, the medium-sized gunboat, if it was in the past, Zhu Youxiao felt that it was still good.

But now he doesn't think so, the number is too small, and he doesn't have much advantage over the pirates floating in the Chinese ocean at this moment. The key is that the speed of the Galen ship is still a little slow, and it is a few knots faster than the Fu ship, if it is blocked, the combat effectiveness is really worrying.

After all, his artillery is still a relatively backward cannon with no flintlock, ammunition is also solid bullets, there are no flowering shells, and the artillery technology is not very advanced.

"What happened to the experiment of attaching artillery to the sides of the clipper? Do stabilizer fins work? Zhu Youxiao continued to ask, there are many ideas and technologies beyond this era in the materials he gave to the shipyard, and if they are absorbed here, they should be able to come up with a way.

"We've already talked about that." Speaking of technical problems, Gao Lao's spirit soared, "The clipper boat is easy to shake, and there can be a lot of changes after installing the stabilizer fin, but the structure of the stabilizer fin is complex, and it cannot be installed with wood, and it is easy to break." ”

"Then use steel, use steel for the stabilizer fins." Zhu Youxiao said categorically that although the output of steel is not stable now, it is still not a problem to supply stabilizer fins to shipyards.

"With steel?" Gao Lao's voice lowered, and the pupils of his eyes dilated, obviously lost in thought. Suddenly, as if he had woken up from a nightmare, he exclaimed, "yes, why didn't I think of steel!" ”

"Your Majesty, with the stabilizer fins, when they are retrofitted to all ships, they can produce great stability during navigation, and can raise the accuracy of all gunboats' shelling to a higher level." Gao Lao shouted in surprise inexplicably.

"What about the artillery, what about the result of the addition of artillery?" Zhu Youxiao asked, what is to reduce the shake or something, it is only to improve the working condition of the ship, and the most important thing is the installation of artillery, no matter how fast the ship runs, without artillery, it is of little significance.

Truth is only within the range of a cannon.

"Your Majesty, due to the lack of wood, we cannot do experiments, only theoretical research." Gao Lao said with some embarrassment again, this is also the reason why he avoided talking about the artillery just now, and only talked about the fin reduction, but he didn't expect that he still couldn't escape now.

"Theoretically?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, "Then tell me about your theory." ”

"That's right, Your Majesty should know that the reason why the clipper ship is so fast is mainly due to its unique shape, the great aspect ratio, the unique bottom shape that reduces drag, and the high hollow bow, which together create the characteristics of the clipper ship's speed."

"And if you want to install artillery, you need the ship to provide a lot of lateral buoyancy, to offset the recoil when firing the gun, and these are exactly what the flying clipper ship lacks, after the installation of stabilizer fins, when sailing at high speeds, the stabilizer fin can provide part of this buoyancy, but this is still not enough, if you want to install a side gun on the flying shear ship, and also to ensure firepower, you must make the ship very large, and the huge size can provide enough buoyancy."

Elder Gao gave a detailed explanation and explained the current problems.

"Big, how big?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Three thousand materials!" Gao Lao stretched out three fingers, "This is still reduced after adding stabilizer fins, if there are no stabilizer fins, the boat will be bigger." ”

The figure of "3,000 material ......." really surprised Zhu Youxiao, this is the tonnage of the largest Western ship in the world today, and even the West, which is now more developed in navigation technology than China, does not know if there is such a ship, and the cost of such a huge ship does not know how expensive it is.

And this is only the most basic entry tonnage of the clipper gunship.

"What about the number of artillery?" Zhu Youxiao asked, putting aside the number of artillery pieces and talking about tonnage is a hooligan.

"Thirty doors on one side, sixty doors on both sides." Gao Lao said without thinking, and after a pause, he added, "The shape design of the clipper ship can only be made into a single deck, and each gun must have a fixed separation distance, not too dense, and the cabin under the deck must use a large number of watertight compartments to provide lateral support in addition to dense ribs." ”

"It can only be a single layer, and there are spacing requirements, no wonder it has such a large tonnage." Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself, and he also understood, "By the way, how dense are the dense watertight compartments?" He noticed another piece of information revealed by Elder Gao.

"Need ...... About twenty! Gao Lao said hesitantly.

"So dense!?" Zhu Youxiao was surprised, with such a degree of division, I am afraid that it can only be used as a gunboat, and it has no transportation function at all, and it can't even have more people, except for sailors and gunners, there can be no melee personnel to prevent string battles.

"What about the speed, can it be twelve knots?" Zhu Youxiao asked with concern.

"This ......" Elder Gao was a little embarrassed, "Your Majesty, the designs just now are only theoretical, and we have not made actual calculations, and the speed cannot be verified." ”

"That's going to make a one!" Zhu Youxiao blurted out.

"There is no material, not such a long keel to be exact!" Gao Lao spread his hands and said helplessly.

"Are there any of the materials I brought?" Zhu Youxiao is a little anxious, flying clipping boats and gunboats, it's exciting to think about!

"Your Majesty, Rong Weichen will take a look." Elder Gao said.

"Block to block to block." He urged.

Just looking at the length, the old man came back soon, but the result disappointed the young emperor, and there was no such long keel in those woods.

"This ......." Zhu Youxiao pondered, and then suddenly a flash of inspiration came to him, "Or, the keel is also made of steel?" He hesitated to utter the astonishing idea.

"!! with steel" Gao Lao and surprised, this idea is too testing people's three views.

"Yes, with steel, the hardness of steel is definitely better than wood, but I don't know how flexible it is, and whether such a long thing can be made, let Xu Guangqi study it." Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself.