"Why can't you see the paddle wheel on this ship?" Polina looked around, then asked.

"Paddle wheel? How can we use such a backward design? Joseph said disdainfully.

"If there is no paddle wheel, how can you get water? Do you use reciprocating levers to paddle? "If that's the case, it seems to be beautiful." ”

"This ...... Polina, maybe you should get a little bit of an education in math and physics, too. Joseph shook his head, "Our boat uses propellers. This is a kind of underwater propulsion equipment, which is much more efficient than the paddle wheel, and the general wind and waves will not let it out of the water, and the enemy's artillery will not be able to hit it - the stupid paddle wheel of the British, I don't know how clever it is! ”

"Professor Bonaparte's propeller is indeed a great design." Fulton said sincerely, "I really didn't expect that there would be such a way of propulsion, and it is indeed much more efficient than the bright wheel." ”

"Actually, it's very easy to think of this." Joseph immediately installed the big-tailed wolf, "Actually, this design was first derived from the water turbine planned by Zeus. The design of the hydro turbine was actually developed from the windmill. Mr. Fulton, you know that many processes in physics are reversible processes, and since a windmill can be blown by the wind, then turning the opposite windmill can blow the wind; Hydraulic turbines can rotate under the impact of water, so the turbines that rotate in the opposite direction can push the water flow. So you see, it's not a particularly difficult design. However, the problem of water seepage of the propeller shaft is much more complicated to solve. ”

A smug smile immediately appeared on Fulton's face, and the problem was solved by the joint efforts of him and several other engineers. Of course, it is not completely solved, the water seepage still has to seep water, but the speed of water seepage has been controlled to a certain extent, plus a small pumping machine, you can completely solve the problem.

Fulton led a few men to the flat deck at the bow of the ship. There are chairs and parasols. There was also champagne on the table.

"Professor, as soon as you give the order, the sea trials can begin." Fulton said.

"Okay." Joseph stood at the bow of the ship in high spirits, waved his hand, and said, "Forward!" Advance! Our goal is the sea of stars! ”

The boat shook slightly, and slowly left the dock. It sailed west for a while, quickly overtaking several other ships it encountered along the way, and then turned around and sailed east against the current.

"How fast can this boat be?" Polina asked.

"The Fool could theoretically run to about thirteen knots." Fulton replied.

"What? How could this ship have such a strange name? Polina was taken aback.

Fulton glanced at Joseph, who was expressionless. He would not say that he had chosen this strange name, but that he had chosen it only because in a text he had studied in his previous life mentioned Fulton's steamship, which was called "Fulton's fool", but it was a great success.

Considering that some of the traditional cultures he learned in the big Eastern countries in his previous life mentioned that it is easy for children to be raised by a cheap name, and considering that "Fulton's Fool" was not the first steamship, but it became the first steamship to achieve great success, Joseph felt that this traditional superstitious saying might really be true...... So he gave the ship the strange name "Fool".

But Joseph would never admit that he had chosen the name. So when Polina asked the question, he didn't say anything at all.

"Ah, on the subject, yes...... That's it...... When we were naming it, we kept arguing and finally ...... In the end, I decided to simply flip through the dictionary to decide, and then I turned out the word. But everyone has already decided that no matter what comes out, they will use whatever they turn out, and if a man is a husband, he should be trustworthy when he speaks, and if he says that he will use whatever word is turned out, then he will use this word, so it was decided. Fulton explained that he was stumbling at first, but the more he said it, the more it looked like it, and when it came to the end, he almost believed it himself, well, that's what it was.

By this time, the boat had turned around and began to accelerate against the current. In the countercurrent state, the advantages of this boat become even more obvious. It puffed up smoke and quickly left one sailboat after another behind, and in a short time returned to the place where it had started.

"This ship is so fast. Is this their top speed? Polina asked again.

"No, today is an official sea trial, and as for the experiment of high-speed sailing, it will not be carried out today." Joseph replied.

In fact, in the "unofficial sea trials", high-speed cruising tests have already been carried out. However, high-speed testing increases the boiler pressure, and increasing the boiler pressure increases the risk of boiler explosion. So, of course, such an experiment cannot be carried out today.

The success of this trial could not have come at a more critical time, as Ireland had reached its most critical moment.

Recently, the Irish Independence Army (ISA) has just repelled a new round of sweeps by the British. And in the counter-sweep, no small results were obtained. For the first time, the Irish Independence Army (ISA) demonstrated its ability to attack the fortifications in this counter-sweep, using a special explosive projectile in battle, which made almost all of the defenses that the British had previously equipped for those stations furnished.

This so-called "explosive projectile" is actually the "flying thunder cannon" used by a certain eastern army in later generations.

Using a large iron cylinder, filled with propellant, and then stuffing into an explosive bag about the same size as the caliber, and then igniting, the explosive package can be ejected nearly 200 meters.

The 10-kilogram bag of explosives fired by this thing was so powerful that the walls of the British military station looked like papier-mâché in front of it. Of course, this thing has a limited range, and if it is daytime, the defenders can effectively prevent the installation of the Irish Independence Army's "explosive projectiles" by firing rifle volleys. (This thing needs to dig a hole in the dirt, then set the canister in it, and adjust the angle.) ）

But the cunning Irish would take advantage of the cover of night to quietly place and camouflage the "explosive projectile" at night close to the wall of the British military station. At dawn, they made an attack to attract the British defenders to the wall on this side, and then ignited the "explosive projectile" to let the British troops who came in a hurry fly into the sky with the city wall.

Relying on this thing, the Irish, who came out of the side, quickly captured several vital military stations with a speed exceeding the British estimates, and even approached Dublin at one point. However, the British still maintained a fairly strong mobile force in the rear, so the British army immediately mobilized reserves to launch a counterattack.

The 1st Division of the Irish Independence Army encountered 1,000 British troops who rushed to the rescue near a military station more than 60 kilometers from Dublin. The battle ended with the retreat of the Irish Independence Army, which numbered about 1,000 men, but the casualties on both sides were not much different. The British suffered more than 200 casualties, while the Irish casualties were probably higher, but not more than 400. Naturally, such a result shocked the British.

Although the British troops who fought against the Irish in this battle were mainly new recruits, they were regular troops after all, and they were better equipped with various weapons for frontal combat. And they also had cavalry, which should be able to inflict great damage on the Irish when they retreated. But even then, they didn't manage to take advantage of the encounters with similar numbers. The cavalry, in particular, when they were pursuing the Irish, fell into the ambush circle of the Irish's broadsword mines, and lost almost a hundred men in one guy. This result gave the British a real sense of the growth of the power of the Irish rebels.

In the base area, the Irish Independence Army, with the cooperation of the rebels, constantly attacked the "security forces", and the British troops who carelessly kept a distance from friendly forces, constantly used black guns, first shot to lure the British to chase, and then used broadswords to ambush their tricks to bully the British and black dogs. As a result, although there were no large-scale battles on the base area, the daily losses of the British army and the "security forces" were not small.

If it had been before, the British would have retreated at this time. But this time, the British gritted their teeth and continued to support it. Because the British found that the weapons and ammunition in the hands of the Irish rebels began to run out of supplies. Especially in recent days, there have been few reports of troops being attacked by broadsword mines. There are also far fewer reports of the use of thunder cannons by the Irish Independence Army on the flank. This shows that they don't have much French goods in their hands.

"I know that our military losses are not small, whether in the non-security zone or in the security zone. But this time, we have to grit our teeth and persevere. Now that the enemy's strength has receded, as long as we hold out a little longer, they will be finished. Now it's up to whomever better. And the more resilient side will win the whole of Ireland. The Duke of Norfolk said to his men in the beautifully decorated conference room of the Governor's Palace.

"Now, our struggle has also reached a critical moment, we must persevere, persistence is victory. We now have a shortage of supplies, especially weapons. This is indeed a problem, but without the new weapons sent by the French comrades, we cannot fight the enemy, we cannot defend our base areas and the people in them? Now, on the one hand, we must economize on weapons, and on the other hand, we must also improve the efficiency of the use of weapons, so that every bullet can destroy an enemy, and on the other hand, we must also use as many captured weapons as possible and use self-made weapons to strike at the enemy.

Now we are difficult, but the enemy is no less difficult. As long as we hold on, we can see the dawn of victory......" said Russell, pulled up his trousers and barefoot in the swamp camp, to the Independence Army soldiers gathered around him.