After Li Chiqi left, Wen Desi hurriedly convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee, and everyone looked at each other in response to Li Chiqi's concerns -- this matter is really hard to say. No one can guarantee that such a thing will not be possible.

"How about we discuss it?" "Should we postpone the voyage for a few weeks and put the ship in the dock and refit it?" Let's just set off. ”

"That will take at least another month!" Wang Luobin has also done a ship model, and he is very clear about the performance of the ship, and the installation of power, whether it is a propeller or a paddle wheel, involves the problem of changing the structure, and there are a series of processes to be explored and mastered, and it is optimistic to say that a month is still optimistic.

"I don't know much about ships," Ma Qianzhu came first to recruit the "pusher" before continuing to express his opinion, "It's safer, naturally I modified the engine to go out, at least I have insurance for personal safety." After all, the traverser is our number one asset. Otherwise, increase the ship's firepower a little more, 56 and a half for one person, and add a few cannons. ”

Wen Desi's thought of Ma Qianzhuan was also a simple solution. A dozen 56 and a half fired together, and the density of fire was comparable to that of a machine gun.

"A semi-automatic rifle is good, but. . . There are only about thirty people on the Zhenhai at most, unless everyone is a sharpshooter, otherwise they will be beaten by seven or eight boats, and one will die. Chen Haiyang expressed concern, "To ensure that the enemy artillery is out of range, the 56 and a half and SKS have to fire at a distance of 400 meters, and it takes considerable training to fire at this distance to hit the target. ”

"Rockets!" Li Yunxing proposed his own solution. "Our Shiyan rockets have been initially successful, with an effective range of more than 600 meters, with just a simple launcher-"

"Meaningless," Chen Haiyang disagreed, "Fire. Arrows and bullets are almost the same as bombarding surface-shaped targets on the shore, and hitting point-shaped targets on the sea is basically setting off fireworks. ”

Discuss and discuss, on how to increase the Zhenhai number foolproofly. On the issue of firepower, no one has come up with a safe plan.

"We're all stupid!" Lin Chuanqing, the captain of Zhenhai, patted his head and shouted. Get up, "What is the power of the ship on Dengyingzhou?" ”

"Diesel paddle carrier!" Wang Luobin remembered. The so-called paddle machine is. Outboard motors are standard equipment on sailboats. This is a modification that does not require much effort, and two diesel paddle carriers can be mounted directly on the stern of the boat. Delivering 50 horsepower is a breeze. And there is no need to enter the dock again, the modification work is done directly on the waterline.

"It consumes diesel." Ma Qianzhuo is more heartbroken by the blood of the industry.

"Do you want to change it to a gas engine?"

"Forget it, there's a big fart on the boat. Don't bother with this. The enemy didn't come, you all gave me carbon monoxide poisoning, and there is no hyperbaric chamber here. Ma Qianzhu snorted, this is also a choice that has no choice.

"It doesn't work much diesel." Lin Chuanqing said, "It's a hybrid." Sails are used in peacetime, and diesel engines are used when you want to fight and flee for your life. Luck haode may not be useful. ”

The next day, some of the supplies on the ship were unloaded, and the crossing people of the mechanical department climbed onto the ship and installed two diesel paddle engines with a power of 17KW. During the installation process, they discovered a new problem: the Zhenhai has a displacement of 170 tons, and the waterline is much higher than that of the Dengyingzhou with a water line of 70 tons, and the propeller cannot enter the water.

Fortunately, this problem is not difficult for the maniacs who learn machinery, since the length is not enough, we will give you a length. However, it was soon discovered that simply lengthening the drive rod resulted in a much higher vibration and no longer the strength.

"It would be nice to have a paddle machine in two portholes in the aft stern below deck, so that the length would be suitable." Someone has suggestions.

"Yes, yes, but you have to move the hull." Wen Deji looked at it for a long time, "I have to avoid the ribs of the ship, and I can only make holes in the shell plates." ”

After the porthole is opened, the two paddle machines are installed on the special iron fixed frame, and the frame is firmly fixed on the bottom deck, the porthole is too close to the waterline, it is easy to splash water when driving at high speed, and the machine is also easy to be damaged in the seawater environment for a long time, so the paddle machine adopts a retractable propeller, and only puts it down when it is used, and closes the porthole when it is not in use.

After testing, when using a paddle carrier, the speed can easily reach 8 knots in a windless environment. However, in moderate sea conditions, the splashing is heavy when driving with the porthole open, and it is necessary to use a pump to continuously pump water. For this reason, the machine factory has made a set of sealing window guards for use when driving, and tries to plug the gaps around the machine when the portholes are open. The second test of water ingress is still present, but it is within acceptable limits.

The entire refit and testing was completed in two days, and the unloaded cargo and supplies were reloaded onto the ship, this time with an additional few hundred liters of diesel, enough to escape if necessary. The expedition was also given some modern guns.

The fleet departed from Bopu, and their route was to go west, circumnavigating the entire Hainan Island, to get a general idea of the island's coastal topography and products.

It was the first time that most of the crossers had tried to sail on such a small boat. No matter how much he implements the principle of comfort, he can't compare with the modern ships of the original plane. Not long after the Zhenhai went to sea, some people began to get seasick, and after half a day, almost all the crossing people were seasick, and the bulwarks were crowded with the crossing people who were scrambling to hand over the public food to the sea. Zuihou they couldn't vomit anything, and one by one they vomited exhausted, and they were helped back to their bunks by the sailors and soldiers, sighing. Only the people of the special reconnaissance team and the navy have already adapted to it because of long-term training.

"Vomiting on the side of the gunwale! That's right, you're right! Pull the rope and fall down to be hopeless! Lin Chuanqing scolded a guy who was vomiting, and he personally steered the stern of the ship. The Zhenhai is operated by a Western-style steering wheel, with gears and wire ropes for transmission, and the rudder is very light and agile to handle. In order to be safe, the Zhenhai uses a double backup system, in addition to the main steering wheel on the stern platform, there is also a backup rudder wheel inside the stern to prevent the ship from being unable to operate after one failure.

Here, Mondstadt actually looked bleak Kao on the railing of the stern, looking like he couldn't die. He also clutched a sextant in his hand.

"Kao, you're also a seafarer?" Lin Chuanqing said disdainfully.

"We were on a thousand-ton ship when we were interns—" Mondstadt retorted, "how did I know we would one day come on a boat like this?" ”

Lin Chuanqing said: "Hehehe, you just lack exercise at sea. You see, other girls are better than you. ”

"It's not better—" Mondstadt tried to continue, but ran to throw up again.

This level of sea conditions is certainly nothing to Li Huamei. When she got aboard the Zhenhai, she was expecting to see something new that would surprise her—just as she felt when she boarded the Holy Ship that day. But when she got on the ship, except for the arrangement of the gun emplacements in the front and rear, the whole ship was no different from the European-style brigs she had seen, except that it was more comfortable to live in. As for the two delicate small cannons, according to her opinion, it was better not to have them, and the most shells that were fired were 6 pounds, and the number was small. The Hangzhou still has 14 guns, large and small.

She didn't know that the Weishenme Australians were going to let the fleet sail around the island of Hainan Island. Hainan Island was quite familiar to maritime merchants and pirates, especially the coastal harbors. Almost all of them can be temporarily moored for shelter and repair, and fresh water can be replenished. But that's not all there is to the island. The island's resources were largely uninteresting - neither silk nor porcelain was produced, nor was there any goods of interest to the maritime merchants. It's too poor, there are too few people, and there's nothing to sell. Australians are so interested in it, what is it for?

She looked up at the man who was at the helm, with a Chinese face and gray hair. He wore a tight-fitting gown with blue and white stripes horizontally alternating horizontally, which was worn almost completely by the people here, almost completely fitted, without a collar and with short sleeves. He stood firm on the stern, with a nonchalant look on his face, a real SEADOG.

"What is this?" She found the fan-like instrument in Mondstadt's hand.

"Sextant." Mondstadt's eyes were dazzled by seasickness.

"Sextant?" Li Huamei intuitively knew that this was an astronomical measuring instrument. But she had never seen it before.

Mondstadt was speechless. She simply shoved the instrument into her hand and threw it up to herself.

Lin Chuanqing steadied the helm handle and said, "This is an instrument for measuring latitude." ”

"Really?" Li Huamei took it in her hand curiously and looked at it, "It's like a quadrant?" ”

"Hehe, I don't know what a quadrant is." Lin Chuanqing smiled, "I haven't played it." You're probably talking about the ancestor of the sextant, right? ”

Li Huamei was puzzled: "Ancestor? ”

Lin Chuanqing realized that he had made a mistake and said vaguely: "This is definitely better than your quadrant." ”

It was now the early 17th century, and the English navigator John Brown of the late 16th century used the English navigator John Brown in their voyages. The quadrant used by Davis to measure the latitude of the Earth while sailing. The quadrant, or "rod projector", is rarely seen today, but it was the greatest seafaring invention of the 16th and 17th centuries. The principle of its operation is simple. Instead of trying to see the sun, as is required when using a astrolabe or a simple quadrant, the navigator used a shadow projected onto the scale with a stick, the position of which indicated the height of the sun so that the latitude could be calculated. Voyagers achieve the best results when using the Davis Quadrant on calm seas and when the deck is stable. Because its calculation is simple and accurate, the calculation of latitude can be accurate from just staying at the number of degrees to being accurate to the minute. It soon replaced the instruments of the past, such as astrolabes and star plates.