Zhao Yu naturally knew that there were ships that could sail against the wind, whether they were nuclear-powered or fuel-powered and steam-powered ships in modern times, but they were not available in this era, and he could not build them at the moment. Now there are only ships driven by manpower and wind power, so it is no wonder that Zheng Yong and the others look disbelieving.

Of course, Zhao Yu is not talking nonsense, there are really sailboats in the real world that are powered by the wind, but can really sail against the wind. That is, in the nineteenth century, in order to meet the needs of naval warfare, especially maritime trade, the fast sailing ship that came into being in the history of navigation - the clipper ship, which can reach a speed of about 17 knots and a carrying capacity of about 1,000 tons.

In order to confirm his statement, Zhao Yu asked Wang De to take a ship model from his studio and put it in front of them. But in addition to thinking that the ship looked strange, they couldn't see any mystery in it, let alone the truth, so he could only make a popular science for the two of them, talking about the wonders of the flying clipping boat.

The boat has a small freeboard, less superstructure, which not only improves the stability of the ship, but also allows it to fully play the role of the sail. Boats sail almost close to the surface of the water, and the length-to-width ratio is generally greater than six to one. Its underwater shape is designed to have a minimum drag value to increase speed, but it maintains a certain lateral drag profile, resulting in a particularly graceful waterline, and even a concave in the first waterline surface, and the long and sharp curved scissor-shaped head column is a suitable for racing, and can split the waves to reduce wave resistance at sea, so it has gained the reputation of 'flying shear'.

In order to achieve high performance, the clipper has also made many innovative designs. The head column of the clipper ship also extends the length of the hull, and a slash bar is extended along the head column, which can hang some more support cable spinnakers at the head, which is conducive to expanding the capacity of the sail; The hollow bow makes it easy for the boat to lift its head in the waves, improving its course stability in the waves. The sloping waterline that gradually changes at the rear transitions harmoniously to a narrow round tail, harmoniously blending in with the graceful bow shape.

This kind of clipper ship is more obvious is that the sail area is very large, generally use three to four masts fully equipped with sails, often with high masts, its height up to 3/4 of the length of the ship, on the top mast sail also hung with moon sails and support sails, sometimes on both sides of the ship there are extended sail trusses, called wing sails, can hang wing sails, more large sail lateral extension area, even more than the width of the hull.

The clipper is slender and long, with a sharp and protruding nose, and the gradually changing sloping waterline at the rear transitions harmoniously to a narrow round tail, harmoniously blending in with the graceful bow shape. The height of the mast is more than ten zhang, and the area of the sail reaches thousands of square meters, which allows the clipper to obtain a high speed, and by adjusting the sail, the performance of driving against the wind is obtained.

"Your Majesty, this mast is so high, and it is four masts, full of sails, and the speed must be very fast!" Zheng Yong looked at the model, which was more than three feet long, and pointed out.

"Of course, there are always three hundred miles a day!" Zhao Hao touched his chin and said, in fact, this is still conservative, because the real thing has not yet been created, he thinks it is better not to talk too much, so as not to fall into the handle of bragging.

In fact, according to Zhao Hao's knowledge, after the birth of the clipper ship, the speed competition of this kind of clipper ship is very frequent, the more famous is the tea transportation competition from China to Britain in 1866, this kind of competition in addition to the competition, of course, also has the purpose of grabbing the season. The fast sailing ships "Antelope" and "Taping" left the docks of Fuzhou in China at the same time, and sailed 25,600 kilometers in 99 days to reach their destination in England.

"Your Majesty, how much cargo can this ship hold?" Shangguan Xi was more concerned about the load capacity, and looked up and asked expectantly.

"If it is built according to the standard, the captain is more than twenty zhang, and if it is fully loaded, it should be able to load 18,000 stones!" Zhao Yu estimated the next way, he is a model made of the most famous American clipper ship "short shirt" made by the most famous person in the history of the development of American clippers is Donald McKay, who is a Boston ship designer and builder, has developed more than 30 high-performance clippers, with a carrying capacity of 1,000 tons.

"Your Majesty, this ship can actually carry so much cargo, isn't it one that can withstand the loading capacity of our current three large sea ships, but it doesn't look big!" There are only a few Wanshi sea ships in the current Great Song Dynasty, and they are all used for military purposes, and the cargo ship of 5,000 stone is already a large ship, but the length of Shangguan Xi's ship is not large, and he still doesn't believe it.

"Shangguan is in charge, don't just look at the length of the ship, you see where the waterline of the ship is, if it is built to a depth of more than two zhang, how much cargo can be loaded!" Without waiting for the little emperor to answer, Zheng Yong pulled him and pointed to the bottom of the boat and said.

"Oh, I see, I don't understand!" Shangguan Xi said with a smile.

"This kind of ship is specialized in roaming the four seas, so it is required to bring all kinds of supplies for more than a year, and it needs to be loaded with as many materials as possible in the huge bilge, so this kind of ship has a very deep draft, and the structure of the Fu ship we use now is very different, and the bilge is not much lower than the two-story pavilion!" Zhao Hao said with a smile. Because most of the ships of the Great Song Dynasty use watertight structures, which affects the cargo capacity, and the hull adopts a multi-layer superimposed mechanism and adopts a diagonal rib design to enhance safety, so the number of ways to play in the east and west is different, and it is no wonder that they do not understand.

"Alas, he also claims to travel all over the East and West by boat, but he doesn't even understand this." Zheng Yong teased again, "Because for the stability of the ship and the comfort of sailing in strong winds and waves, the height of the mast is determined by the width and draft of the ship. ”

"Hehe, I'm lonely and unheard, if Zheng Dutong is well-informed by His Majesty's side, I will have to teach more in the future!" Shangguan Xi and the two have been adrift at sea for more than a year, so they have naturally become acquainted with each other, and their ridicule is not a pestle, but a smile.

"I also heard some fur from Your Majesty, how dare I speak!" With the emperor by his side, where did Zheng Yong dare to hold it up, and after returning the salute, he turned to the little emperor and asked, "Your Majesty, there are many sails used in this ship, which I have never seen before, and why don't you use one big sail here, but divide it into two parts?" ”

"Hmm...... Let's put it this way! Zhao Yu pondered for a moment and said, "The sails used in the current ships are mostly bamboo and reeds, mixed with linen, and the right is made of hard sails, which is easy to lift and operate, and only a few sailors are needed to operate." However, the high-speed performance is poor, and the limit speed cannot go up; And this kind of sail is mostly woven with cotton and linen, which can be called a soft sail, which has a large draft area and can sail at extremely high speeds. The disadvantage is that the soft sail is cumbersome to operate, requires a large number of skilled sailors, and struggles to face sea conditions where the wind direction changes quickly! ”

"Oh, so that's what I said!" Zheng Yong nodded, but at this time, he heard Shangguan Xi's laughter, he knew that he was laughing at himself, and turned his face and rolled his eyes.

"Because the sailors have to climb the mast when the soft sail is collected, pull the canvas on the sail truss and pull it up, pull the sail up little by little, and tie it to the sail truss with cooperation and layers, this kind of sail collection method is very labor-intensive, and it requires many sailors to cooperate with each other." After clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of the two sails, Zhao Yu continued to preach that he was very willing to pass on his knowledge to the people around him, after all, his identity is different, and it is impossible to do everything himself, and they can only pass it on to more people if they understand.

"The fact that you speak of a large number of sails is mainly due to the fact that there is an extra layer of top sails at the top of the mainmast, and the second layer of sails is divided into two halves." Zhao Hao said with a slow breath, "The second layer of sails is divided into two layouts, and you can use manpower to collect the sails on the deck through the sail cables, saving a lot of manpower." In addition, the second layer of the quadripartite sail is the sail that provides the main thrust on the sailboat, divided into the upper and lower sections of the second layer of sails, the lower half is open, the upper half is retracted, and it can also flexibly adapt to the increase and decrease of wind force, which is convenient for application! ”

"I see!" Shangguan Xi nodded beside him.

"You understand it after listening to Your Majesty, I already understood it!" Zheng Yong sneered at this time.

"Zheng Dutong misunderstood, I understood what I said, but I understood the truth of what His Majesty said. Of course, the fewer sailors used, the better, and the most physically demanding heavy work of sailors is to collect sails. His Majesty changed it in this way, which greatly saved manpower, reduced costs, and generated more profits. Shangguan Xi said with a smile.

"You're such a profiteer, you can figure out the money for everything!" Zheng Yong was so angry that he pointed his finger at his nose and said.

"I am a businessman, of course, I must be ......in business, business, business, business," Shangguan Xi avoided his fingers, not to be outdone.

"Alas!" Watching the two laughing, Zhao Hao smiled and sighed. In fact, what Shangguan Xi said was exactly what he said, and it was the American cargo ship owner who took the lead in making the suggestion, also out of consideration of labor costs. And the battleship happened to be short of manpower, so the battleship has always maintained an ancient four-story layout and has not made changes. Nowadays, it seems that the saying that profit drives innovation makes sense.

"Since Your Majesty knew that big ships could be navigated on the sea in all seasons, why didn't you build them earlier, so that we can travel back and forth to Western countries several times a year, and we can also earn more money!" The two quarreled a few words, seeing that the emperor smiled bitterly and was silent, he quickly put away his disrespectful attitude, and Shangguan Xi Shili asked.

"There's a reason for that. First, the vessel has a deep draft and is suitable for cruising in the ocean, but it is not suitable for offshore navigation. Second, at the time of Qiongzhou, the task of our naval army was mainly to fight, to resist the enemy north of the strait, and there was no time to send merchant ships to the four seas; Third, the timber used in this ship needs good wood, and Qiongzhou is narrow, there are not so many good timber for us to use, and the price of good timber is expensive, which is also difficult for our dynasty to afford. Therefore, there was no need for it, and there was no continuation, so it dragged on. Zhao Yu said, but in fact, he knew that the main reason was lack of money.

"At present, our DPRK is vigorously developing maritime trade, trading with various countries, and after finding the origin of incense medicine, it will obtain huge profits, and I am worried that I cannot afford to build this kind of fast boat. The little one thinks that His Majesty should put it into practice as soon as possible! Shangguan Xi said.

"Well, you're right. But if Zhou Xiang is here, it will not be as easy as you say, you must know that a ship cannot be built as long as you have money, even if there is a ship sample, it must be decomposed layer by layer, redesigned, and it will have to go through sea trials before it can be put into use. In addition, this kind of fast ship operation is very different from today's sea boats, and it still requires the training of sailors, which takes time, and it can take up to two years. Zhao Yu nodded and said with a smile.

"Oh, it's going to take another two years!" Shangguan Xi listened to it and said with some disappointment.

"However, you can put in the preparations." Zhao Yu said, "Didn't you find a lot of good wood suitable for shipbuilding in Nanyang Zhufan, and the price was low. However, the merchant ships returning from the West can only trade a limited amount of cargo, and many ships return to Hong Kong empty, so you can load timber and transport it back to China for shipbuilding, which also solves a lot of problems. ”

"Yes, yes, the quality of the wood from Nanyang is excellent, and the quantity is very large, and the price is cheap. The little one is really stupid, why didn't he think of this, if he carried some back by the way, wouldn't he be able to make a lot of money! Shangguan Xi regretted it when he heard it, and said in great pain.

"You will brag and boast that you are an unworldly genius. I don't know where you are worse than Your Majesty, and Your Majesty's ability to make money is probably out of your reach. Zheng Yong and the two may have been used to bickering during the lonely journey, and they didn't forget to take the opportunity to be sarcastic.

"Don't be joking, how dare I compare with Your Majesty, who in the government and the opposition doesn't know that Your Majesty invented the method of drying salt when he was still dying, and sold the salt to Meng Yuan at a high price, so that the Xing Dynasty has survived the financial crisis, and can accumulate strength to recover Jiangnan. Shangguan Xi gave salutes again and again, and praised willingly.

"Your Majesty, if the fast ship is built, remember to equip it with the Imperial Navy first, then we can fight the four seas and destroy Meng Yuan." Zheng Yong's purpose in attacking him was only to take the clipper under his command, and he knew very well what it meant in battle if a warship could sail against the wind and be extremely fast.

"Hey, I'm afraid I'll let you down. This ship is not suitable for use as a warship! Zhao Yu smacked his teeth when he heard this, and said a little helplessly.

"Your Majesty, why not?" Zheng Yong asked anxiously after hearing this.

"You see, in order to increase the speed, this kind of ship has a slender hull design, a tall sail mast, and the recoil force generated by artillery firing is very easy to cause the hull to tilt, so it can't be used as a warship, if it's just to transport troops, it can also be used!" Zhao Yu pointed to the warship and said.

"This ...... Your Majesty, we can carry ballistas, so there will be no recoil. And Your Majesty is only eight buckets high, and you can also redesign one! Zheng Yong thought for a moment, but still didn't give up......