"Definitely, Weichen doesn't dare to deceive Your Majesty, please rest assured." Wei Bao said hurriedly.

"It's not that I'm not worried, I listen to the people below, or I make unfounded mistakes, and I treat me as a fool for my good, and I have to listen to them for everything. It's either flattery, or it's all about what I like to hear, and I can't come up with a way to deal with it. I've been tired of it for a long time, and I'm afraid that Wei Aiqing will be like that if she has been an official for a long time in the future. Zhu Youxiao looked at Wei Bao expectantly.

Wei Bao knew that Zhu Youxiao was talking about the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party.

"Your Majesty, please relax, no matter how young you are, Wechen will remember this afternoon, and you will remember what Your Majesty said to Wechen! Weichen must know everything about His Majesty, but I am afraid that sometimes His Majesty will listen to some words that are not pleasing to his ears and make His Majesty unhappy. Wei Bao said.

"Never! Wei Aiqing is also relaxed! I promise you that I will not blame you for whatever you say! Zhu Youxiao said: "What I need to listen to is the truth. ”

Wei Bao nodded in agreement.

More than an hour later, Zhu Youxiao's bottom was completed.

Because Zhu Youxiao didn't make a ship as big as Wei Bao, Wei Bao was twenty to one ratio, Zhu Youxiao was fifty to one, and the length of the ship only needed one meter, so it was much faster.

Zhu Youxiao's more than a dozen wooden planks at the bottom of the boat were put together and tightly fitted, and he was very satisfied after seeing it himself.

"Wonderful, it's wonderful, Your Majesty's craftsmanship is really magical, and people can't imitate it." Feng Quan exclaimed.

Wei Zhongxian and Kebaba were also very popular, and the two also praised the game, which made Zhu Youxiao laugh.

On the other hand, Wei Bao is still selecting materials and doing the most basic work.

Wei Bao was not impatient, and while doing things, he also talked with Zhu Youxiao about the origin of the Manila galleon.

From the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century, it was the era of "great geographical discoveries" and the "Age of Discovery" in world history.

The Portuguese Vasco da Gama bypassed the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, entered the Indian Ocean, occupied Goa, a major trading town on the west coast of India, and Malacca, the throat of east-west ocean communication, to the southeast coast of the Ming Empire.

With the support of the King of Spain, the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus discovered the "New World" of the Americas.

The Portuguese Magellan turned to Spain because of his disappointment in Portugal, and through the Spanish king's support, Magellan bypassed the southern tip of America and entered the Pacific Ocean, reaching the Philippine Islands and the coast of China.

Merchants in both countries have made trade with China a priority, or rather an important channel for making huge profits.

The Spanish government stipulated that the colonies were allowed to trade only with their overlords and not with any other country, and that trade between the colonies was also forbidden.

Trade between the colonies and their overlords was monopolized by a small number of merchants granted by the royal family, and was mainly concentrated in the port of Seville. The port of Veracruz was designated as a "monopoly port" in the colony.

In April 1565, Spain invaded the Philippines, and in June of the same year, the galleon "San Pablo" was sent to Acapulco, on the south coast of Mexico, to open the Pacific route connecting Asia and the Americas.

Since then, the trade in galleons between the two places has become more and more frequent.

The galleon sails north from Manila in June by the southwest monsoon, travels eastward along the "Kuroshio" in the North Pacific, and finally arrives in Acapulco, with a journey of more than 10,000 nautical miles and a duration of about 6 months (the return journey is a direct voyage along the ocean current, which lasts about 3 months).

The Manila galleons of Spanish merchants transported Ming Dynasty goods from the port of Yuegang in Fujian Province to Mexico, Peru, Panama, and Chile in the Americas.

After the Manila galleon arrived at the port of Acapulco in Mexico, it held a grand market in the local area, and the cheap and high-quality raw silk and silk of the Ming Dynasty were very popular and very popular.

Its impact was so great that the local silk weaving industry tended to decline.

In 1600, the Spanish colonial authorities imposed restrictions on local sericulture farmers, cutting off the supply of local silk, and a steady stream of imported Ming silk supplied raw materials for factories in Mexico.

The waterway, which stretches from Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico in the east to Manila in the Philippines in the west, is known as the Manila galleon trade.

In the original history.

The galleon was built in Manila by Chinese craftsmen hired by the Spaniards, with a load of about 300 tons, and was one of the most advanced ships in the world at that time, comparable to the Daming treasure ship.

The galleon trade began in 1565 and ended in 1815, with a round trip every two years.

This trade was in effect the exchange of gold and silver from the Americas for products from Asia, especially China.

Galleons carried Asian goods to Mexico, from Acapulco to other places on large wheelers, and some of them were even transshipped to Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

On the return journey, the galleons brought back Mexican silver dollars, ingots, cocoa, wool and other local products.

Because of the low price and high quality of Asian products, Spanish products were once crowded out in the Americas.

In order to protect Spanish commerce, King Philip II decreed in 1593 that the Manila galleon trade was restricted, stipulating that no more than two galleons could reach Mexico per year, each with a load of no more than 300 tons.

As a result, the Manila galleon trade entered a period of commercial restrictions that lasted for two centuries, and in the second half of the 18th century, the Spanish economy withered and was forced to open the port of Manila, and the galleon trade declined.

In October 1813, the Spanish crown decreed the abolition of the galleon trade.

The 250-year-old galleon trade promoted economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides of the Pacific, and through trade, crops such as maize, tobacco, peanuts, and tomatoes from the Americas were introduced to China and Asia.

Oriental culture, especially Chinese arts and crafts, has had a great influence on the culture of the Americas.

Economically, Manila was the meeting point of two important economic activities in the 17th century: the massive inflow of silver from the silver mines of Spanish America, and the full-fledged manufacturing business of the Chinese. In any given year, one or two Spanish galleons would cross the Pacific Ocean from Acapulco to bring silver from the Americas to Manila to buy Chinese silk, Chinese and Indian cotton fabrics, and other fine consumer goods that were in great demand in the Americas.

The Spaniards despised the natives, but there was no way to deal with the bright-minded Chinese.

Based on economic considerations, they had to take advantage of the advantages of the Chinese who were good at doing business, providing them with daily necessities and making huge profits.

After the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, cotton cloth brought from the Ming Dynasty soon became a daily necessity for the local indigenous people.

In 1591, the Governor of the Philippines of Spain discovered that the local indigenous people no longer grew cotton and woven cloth because of the use of Chinese clothing, so he ordered that the indigenous people were prohibited from using Chinese clothing silk and cotton cloth.

In 1592, the governor reported to the King of Spain that merchants from the Ming Kingdom had bought Philippine cotton and had shipped cotton cloth from China in the blink of an eye.

Cotton cloth has become China's largest commodity in the Philippines.

Similarly, in the 1680s, Chinese silk threatened the sales of Spanish products in the Americas.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Mexicans wore silk more than cotton. By 1637, the situation had become more serious, and the silk weaving industry in Mexico was made from Ming Dynasty silk, and Mexican native silk was basically wiped out.

Peru, which is close to Mexico, was also a huge market for Ming Dynasty silk, and the price of Ming Dynasty silk in Peru was only one-third of the price of Spanish products.

The silk of the Ming Dynasty not only flooded the American market, seized the sales of Spanish silk in the Americas, and even bypassed most of the world and exported to Spain, where it directly destroyed the production of silk in Spain.

The economic and financial consequence of the Manila galleons was that the Ming Empire had a trade surplus with any country by virtue of its unrivalled manufacturing and exports of silk, porcelain, etc.

Thus, just as India was always short of silver, the Ming Dynasty was the most important net importer of silver, importing American silver to meet its currency needs.

American silver was either imported into China via Europe, West Asia, India, Southeast Asia, or shipped directly to China by Manila galleons departing from Acapulco.

China was often the main source of goods traded by galleons, and for the people of New Spain (Mexico and its vicinity), galleons were Chinese ships, Manila was a transshipment between China and Mexico, and Chinese silk cargo, the most important commodity of galleon trade, used it as a distribution center to cross the Pacific.

The Spaniards in Mexico talked about the Philippines as if they were talking about a province of the Chinese Empire.

Whether it is the Macao-Goa-Lisbon route, the Macao-Nagasaki route, or the Yuegang-Manila-Acapulco route, the commodities exported by the Ming Empire at that time were mainly raw silk, silk, and cotton cloth, while only a small amount of spices were imported, Portugal and Spain were always in a trade deficit, and China was always in a trade surplus.

The imbalance in trade caused the other party to have to pay huge amounts of silver currency. Therefore, this trade is called "silk-silver convection" or "silk-silver trade" by foreign scholars.

This situation also continued into the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for nearly two and a half centuries, and a large amount of silver from the Americas and Japan flowed into China, becoming a unique scenery in the global trade at that time.

In the 16th, 7th, and 8th centuries, silver was transported annually by galleons from the Americas to the Philippines, sometimes as much as four million dollars, sometimes as little as one million dollars, but most often two or three million dollars.

The Manila galleon represents a special circulation route.

A new diversion of silver from the Americas began in 1572, when the Manila galleon crossed the Pacific Ocean and connected Acapulco, Mexico with Manila, the Philippines, and the silver was used to collect silk and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty in China, fine cotton cloth from India, and precious stones and pearls.

He believes that this long-distance trade has a huge impact on the economic development of China's southeast coast.

After Japan was closed to the outside world in 1638, the merchants of the Ming Kingdom, who were engaged in foreign trade, participated in the trade of silk and silver with the Japanese archipelago as well as the Dutch merchants, if not more effectively than the latter; They received silver from Acapulco in Manila by galleons; The Ming Empire always sent people out to do business, and the craftsmen, merchants and goods of the Ming Dynasty of China penetrated into every corner of the Nanyang Islands.

Since China's exports of commodities such as raw silk, silk fabrics, cotton cloth, porcelain, etc., mainly from the Taihu Lake basin and the southeast coastal areas, the inflow of huge amounts of silver capital has undoubtedly stimulated the vigorous economic development of these regions and the increasingly complete market mechanism.

Before the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the economic level of Jiangnan, China, was ahead of Europe.

From 1500 to 1800, the "East in economic globalization" was the center of the world economy.

Before the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the economic center of the world was not in Europe, but in Asia, especially China.

Of course, it is impossible for Wei Bao to say what happened after 1625, he only said what happened before 1625.

Zhu Youxiao exclaimed: "I have only seen this kind of galleon, but I don't know so much about it, Wei Aiqing is really knowledgeable, not only knows about Daming, but also knows so many things outside of Daming." ”

"Wechen likes to listen to the chatter of businessmen from all over the world, and it is not uncommon to know from it that His Majesty has been in the palace for a long time, and many news have been isolated. In the future, if Your Majesty wants to know anything, Weichen will definitely say everything to Your Majesty. Wei Bao smiled slightly.

Zhu Youxiao was overjoyed when he heard this, and nodded approvingly to Wei Bao.

Wei Zhongxian was again convexing in his heart, secretly thinking that if you tell the emperor about the big and small things outside the palace, then the power in your hands will be greatly reduced!

Wei Zhongxian's control of the government completely relied on Zhu Youxiao's laziness, and every time he took advantage of Zhu Youxiao's carpentry work to the most energetic and unhappy.

If Wei Bao was by the emperor's side every day like today, what would it be?

But Wei Zhongxian was anxious that now that Wei Bao had connected with the emperor, it would be very troublesome to break Wei Bao away from the emperor.

Wei Zhongxian also seriously considered for the first time the matter of getting rid of Wei Bao or sending Wei Bao to other places as an official.

After another hour, Wei Bao finally finished the bottom of the boat, which was five meters long and one meter wide.

"Very good, just the bottom of this boat can be used as a real ship, Wei Aiqing, do you want to go into the water and give it a try? If you can prove that the water is not leaking, you will have already won Feng Aiqing. Zhu Youxiao said.

Wei Bao said with a smile: "It's too simple to win Lord Feng, it's definitely too late to make all the hulls today, Weichen will add another steam engine, wait for the water to let the bottom of the boat run to the other side of the lake, let Your Majesty see the effect first." How is it? ”

"Okay, okay." Zhu Youxiao slapped his hands happily and said, "If you can let the bottom of the boat run to the other side of the lake, I will reward Wei Aiqing again!" Wei Aiqing can put forward whatever she wants. In addition to the official position, because Wei Aiqing is too young, fifteen years old, Zhengwupin is already in the end, and he can ask me for a piece of land! I also gave Wei Aiqing another 100 taels of gold! ’

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Wei Bao quickly knelt down and kowtowed, and at the same time glanced at Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian naturally knew that what Wei Bao wanted was Weijiazhuang.

Wei Bao said with his eyes: Grandpa Wei, this is really none of my business, right? His Majesty himself proposed it, I can't help but seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right?

Wei Zhongxian was expressionless.

Ke Baba gently pushed Wei Zhongxian's arm and said softly, "How happy do you see Wei Bao coaxing His Majesty?" Your Majesty hasn't been happy for a long time. This Wei Bao is really capable. ”

Wei Zhongxian snorted in his heart, but there was still no reaction on the surface, which made Kebaba a a little unhappy.

After getting the emperor's promise, Wei Bao worked even harder, and immediately asked the eunuch to fetch all kinds of small materials he wanted to make a steam engine.

It's not difficult to make a simple steam engine, and Wei Bao has tried to make many of them.

The reciprocating steam mechanism is exquisitely constructed, and the parts are linked together during operation.

The cylinder of the steam engine made by Wei Bao was a large bucket, and Wei Bao personally sealed the bucket with an iron plate.

The piston is made of thick cardboard, and the internal structure of the manifold is clearly visible, highlighting the beauty of the harmony.

Water steam is poured into the steam engine, which can drive the steam engine, which is made of different materials, to run quickly.

The cylinder is cut into a disc with a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the iron pipe made by Wei Bao, which is used as a piston.

It is not possible to completely close the tube, but it can be roughly the same as the inner diameter of the tube and can be easily slid through the tube. A small hole with a diameter of about 10 mm is drilled in the center of the disc.

A small hole with a diameter of 10 mm is drilled into another small piece of wood, and from this small piece of plank, a round thick paper piston is combined with a connecting rod made of a wooden rod with a diameter of 10 mm, and the round thick piece of paper is made perpendicular to the wooden connecting rod.

Zhu Youxiao saw that Wei Bao was doing something strange, so he curiously stopped the work in his own hands, sat aside, and watched Wei Bao work intently.

"Wei Aiqing, not only are you proficient in carpentry, but you are also very good at blacksmithing?" Zhu Youxiao said: "I have always wanted to learn blacksmith work, but unfortunately there is no suitable place to be a blacksmith shop in the palace. ”

Wei Bao said with a smile: "If Your Majesty needs ironware, you don't have to use a blacksmith shop, what kind of ironware materials Your Majesty needs to use in the future, you can tell Weichen, Weichen draws the drawings and lets the blacksmith make them." ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded: "Carpentry often has to cooperate with blacksmiths, and it is used in many places. ”

Wei Bao then used two wooden boards to make the bracket of this cylinder, one of which drilled a small hole with a diameter of 12 mm, and drilled a small hole with a diameter of 15 mm next to it; The other can be drilled with a small hole with a diameter of 12 mm.

The paper piston and the wooden connecting rod are placed in the glass cylinder, and the wooden connecting rod extends from the 10 mm diameter hole in the wooden board support, and then the cylinder is tightly connected to the wooden support, so that the paper piston is sealed in the cylinder.

After gluing the wooden support to the wooden board base, and the connecting rod with a diameter of 10 mm is pierced through the hole in the wooden support, a small support standing upright on the base should be erected, and the upper end of the small support has a hole with a diameter of about 12 mm to accommodate the other end of the connecting rod.

The main function of the shunt box is to use the reciprocating movement of the mouth-shaped wooden frame to change the passage of air, so that the air can change the path of flow, and can reciprocate the paper piston in the cylinder.

A total of five wooden planks were used to make the diverter valve box.

One is below, with one hole with a diameter of 15 mm drilled in the upper half of one of the planks on both sides, and three holes with a diameter of 15 mm in the lower half of the plank on the other side.

Then use two planks to glue the front and back, and drill a small hole with a diameter of 10 mm in one of the planks.

A 15 mm diameter hole is drilled in the upper half of one of the planks on both sides, and three 13 mm diameter holes are drilled in the lower half of the other plank.

Drill a small hole with a diameter of 10 mm in one of the front and rear planks.

The box should fit exactly the size of a wooden frame in which to slide. When the wooden frame of the mouth shape is on the left side, the air flow is pushed through the right side hole through the right side pipe, and then the air is introduced into the mouth frame in the distribution box through the left hole, and then discharged from the middle hole.

When the wooden frame of the mouth font is on the right, the process is reversed.

The box is to accommodate exactly a wooden frame with a mouth shape sliding in it, and the mouth frame is connected to another 10 mm diameter connecting rod, which is pierced through a 15 mm diameter hole in the wooden board in front of the box, and after penetration, the other end is also accommodated by another vertical bracket with a small hole drilled in the top.

The wooden frame of this mouth type is the shunt air valve, when the wooden frame of the mouth type is on the left, the air flow can be guided, from the right hole of three holes with a diameter of 15 mm, through the right side tube, push the piston, and then the air is introduced into the mouth type wooden frame in the shunt box through the left side tube and through the left hole, and then discharged from the middle hole; When the wooden frame of the mouth font is on the right, the process is reversed.

Finally, the top of the wooden box is closed, so that people can see the movement of the wooden frame in the shape of the mouth.

Next, a two-tuning fork-shaped connecting rod must be made.

To reduce weight, the two tuning fork linkages need to be drilled with additional holes.

The two tuning fork-shaped connecting rods, with simple wooden bearings and wooden sheaths, connect the connecting rods of the piston and the connecting rods of the glyph-shaped wooden frame, respectively.

The flywheel can be made with thick paper, and the flywheel is fixed on the wooden shaft with a small piece of wood on both sides of the flywheel, and the wooden shaft is mounted on the bracket by two ball bearings, and the two cranks and the crankshaft are glued on both sides of the shaft, and the two cranks are clamped at a right angle of 90 degrees to each other.

The two pronged connecting rods were then connected to the crankshafts on the two cranks, and the steam engine was completed.

"Your Majesty, now you can put the bottom of the boat down into the water, and after lighting the fire, this steam engine will be able to run on its own in a few moments, and generate enough force to drive the bottom of the boat to the other side of the lake on its own." Wei Bao said to Zhu Youxiao.

Although Zhu Youxiao didn't believe it, he was still very cooperative, and said in surprise: "Then hurry up and light the fire, hurry up and start, right?" I've never heard of a boat that no one rows, and that the boat can move on its own? What's more, you don't have anything on the bottom of the boat, and you don't have sails, and if you do, you can use a little bit of wind. ”

Wei Bao smiled slightly, and while lighting the fire, he winked at the emperor, "Your Majesty, a moment is the time to witness a miracle!" ”

"It's just a fool's dream, no one needs to row a boat? Don't use sails either? Just this big bucket you made can make the planks run on their own? Feng Quan couldn't help but sneer: "Lord Wei, if the boat can't run on its own, is it considered that I have won?" ”

In fact, the bottom of the boat built by Wei Bao is so strong that there is no water leakage after launching, and it is already Wei Bao's win.

However, Wei Bao was very generous, "Yes! If my boat can't reach the other side, even if you win, what's the matter? ”

"This is what Master Wei said yourself, Your Majesty, you want to testify for Weichen." Feng Quan hurriedly said.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, secretly surprised, Wei Bao is really so sure?

Under the iron bucket was a stove filled with charcoal, and the fire soon became vigorous.

The charcoal in the palace is all good charcoal, which burns quickly and has no smoke.

After a stick of incense, the simple steam engine made by Wei Bao was moving.

The water vapor enters the steam engine through a single hole in the upper half of the other side of the manifold to push the piston, and the steam engine begins to turn.

It's still Wei Bao who controls the speed.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that the ship will sail to the opposite shore on its own and the momentum will be too strong, so I will reduce it a lot, otherwise, if it is a real ironclad ship, it will be more than three times faster than the fastest fast horse at full speed! From Tianjin Wei to Nanzhili, it only takes more than three days! With dozens of such ironclad ships, there is no need to worry about pirates hijacking grain on the Daming Sea, and there is no problem with grain transportation from north to south. In the future, the construction of river channels does not need to be mainly based on transportation and dredging, but only needs to dredge the confluence to prevent flooding. Wei Bao said.

"Is it really that amazing?" Before Zhu Youxiao's words fell, he suddenly hugged his mouth and shouted: "Ah! The boat really moved on its own! ”

Wei Zhongxian, Ke Baba, Feng Quan, and a group of palace maids and eunuchs who were deeply trained and could not speak at will couldn't help but exclaim loudly at this time.

The bottom of the ironclad made by Wei Bao is running on its own.

Wei Bao was surprised by everyone, but he looked bland, this kind of scene had long been expected by Wei Bao.

"A boat that runs on its own, this is really a boat that can run on its own." Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but stand up, and stomped his feet vigorously: "It's amazing!" Wei Aiqing, this is simply amazing! How did you do that? ”

Wei Bao secretly wondered, isn't this simple?