In the second year of Xingqian, on the sixth day of the fourth month, the rain passed and the sky was clear, and the wind and the sun were warm.

On this day, in front of a store on Linhe Road in Shanghai County, there was a crowd of cars and horses, and there was a large stream of guests, including local officials of Shanghai County, local gentry and wealthy businessmen, and of course, newspaper reporters.

In a burst of lively firecrackers and congratulations, Zhu Mingkun, surrounded by everyone, hung a signboard engraved with "Huangpu Shipyard" in front of the door.

For Daming, this is an extremely ordinary day, and for Shanghai County, this scene marks the emergence of the first real shipping company in Shanghai County.

Five years later, the Huangpu Shipping Bureau has developed into a medium-sized shipping enterprise with 26 sailing ships, and has opened up many Nanyang routes, for Daming, there are hundreds of such shipping companies. He wasn't ranked at all.

If it weren't for the coincidence, I'm afraid no one would have noticed the Whampoa Shipyard.

In the seventh year of Xingqian, just into the early summer, there was not a trace of clouds in the clear blue sky, an old tree in front of the gate of the Zhu family outside the city had no young leaves, and the big black dog under the tree was lying there sticking out its tongue, and the guests walked in front of it, and they didn't bother to look up.

This guest is from Nanjing, and he is a son of the local Xu family, but he is a branch of the distant gate, but even so, because the Xu family is a local wangmen, how many officials in his family are in the court, and the person who came is called Xu Ziyue, he is wearing a student shirt, and he is sitting there with a respectful expression. On the other hand, Zhu Mingkun shook a paper fan in his hand, like an idler who went to drink tea and go to dinner.

In the past few years, under Zhu Mingkun's careful management, the ships of the Huangpu Shipping Bureau have become more and more day by day, and the business is getting better and better day by day.

This Xu Ziyue is a student of Nanjing Guozijian, and logically speaking, he should be studying in Nanjing now.

Is there a lack of silver?

No, even if the Xu family is a side branch, they are still living a peaceful life, they won't have no money to study, even if they have no money, how can their Xu family ask him?

Zhu Mingkun's heart was full of doubts, but even if he didn't understand the other party's intentions, he also met this young man in person.

Actually, he Zhu Mingkun may be rich, but in Shanghai, he is nothing, if the big names of the Xu family come back, he is lucky enough to see them, he will also rush over, as for the nephew of the Xu family, the one in front of him is also a future bachelor.

Maybe it's a big shot in the future.

"I don't know if Xu Gongzi came to the door on this matter, but what's the matter? If there is something that needs the help of the little old man, the son will say it bluntly. ”

Zhu Mingkun said with a smile.

He had already planned in his heart, if the Xu Zi in front of him was worse than the money, he would take a hundred taels of silver to fund him, it was to subsidize, not to borrow, of course, if he wanted to borrow, then he could borrow more. Subsidize...... It's a hometown!

"Actually, this time I came down to meet Master Zhu, and I really have something to ask for!"

"Oh, what's the matter?"

I don't think there's anything to worry about!

"Actually, this matter, speaking of which, is also related to the arrival of Master Zhu."

Xu Ziyue looked at Zhu Mingkun and said.

"I don't know if Master Zhu has heard of trains."

"Trains, of course I've heard of them."

Zhu Mingkun nodded and said.

"Isn't it the car with the steam engine? I heard, don't we Nanzhili also have to build railways? ”

Zhu Mingkun, who is engaged in shipping, naturally knows about trains, and even regards trains as his biggest competitor - half of his ships are multi-pulp ships running in the Yangtze River!

"Master Zhu knows, in fact, the steam engine can also be installed on the ship!"

"A steam engine can be mounted on a ship?"

Zhu Mingkun was surprised.

"Why can't it be loaded on a ship? If it can be used on a train, it can definitely be loaded on a ship! ”

Xu Ziyue then continued.

"This time I came down to visit Master Zhu, I hope that Master Zhu's Whampoa Ship Bureau can fund the construction of the first steam ship in the world!"

The construction of the first steamship of the Ming Dynasty will go down in history.

Almost subconsciously, Zhu Mingkun realized the benefits, but what puzzled him was why he was found, after all, he was not the only ship merchant in the Ming Dynasty.

"Because it's Shanghainese!"

This answer did not surprise Zhu Mingkun. In these years, everyone always values nostalgia.

However, Zhu Mingkun still asked a little strangely.

"But what's the difference between a steamship and an ordinary ship?"

"You can travel thousands of miles a day, and you don't need someone to paddle!"

That's enough!

This understanding is all that is needed.

"Half of the business of the Huangpu Ship Bureau is in the Yangtze River, and the navigation in the Yangtze River often relies on multi-pulp ships, multi-pulp ships need a large number of pulpping hands, if you can switch to a steam engine, it will definitely reduce the cost of river navigation, and there is a steam engine that allows the ship to travel thousands of miles a day on the river."

Xu Ziyue deliberately emphasized the benefits of steamships, and in his opinion, merchants were more inclined to profits, and as long as there were enough benefits, they would definitely be willing to build steamships. Of course, this is just an experiment, but everything always starts with an experiment.

Without hesitation, Zhu Mingkun thought for a moment, then looked at Xu Ziyue and asked rhetorically.

"So how long does it take to build a steamship, and how much does it cost?"

Compared with time, Zhu Mingkun was more concerned about the latter, and soon he finalized to support Xu Ziyue to build a steam ship, and was willing to spend 5,000 yuan.

5000 yuan!

This money is not much, but to build a 35 fathoms long schooner, excluding artillery, that is, about 1,000 yuan, if it is built in Taiwan or Nanyang with ordinary wood, it may only cost about 600 yuan (tael), and the price of multi-oared boats sailing on the Yangtze River is also similar.

The 5,000 yuan includes the construction and improvement of the steam engine, of course, it also includes the re-study of the structure of the merchant ship, after all, the vibration of the steam engine is likely to cause damage to the structure of the ship, so the structure of the ship itself using the steam engine must be strong enough.

Because of this, the seemingly huge amount of 5,000 yuan was spent in less than three months. Even when the cost was exhausted, not even half a ship was built. Of course, Zhu Mingkun was extremely dissatisfied with this, but under Xu Ziyue's persuasion, he invested another 3,000 yuan to continue the research.

In fact, when investing the 3,000 yuan, Zhu Mingkun himself knew that he got on the thief ship - it was easy to go up, but it was difficult to go down. Even the 3,000 yuan was just the beginning, and finally after the fourth recovery of the investment of 1,800 yuan, the construction of the steamship was included in the plan, and by this time, he had invested more than 10,000 yuan.

Just after the fifteenth day of the first month of the eighth year of Xingqian, thousands of Nanjing people gathered on the bank of the Yangtze River and gathered at the Xiaguan wharf, where most of them were talking and talking about steamboats. In the past few days, the newspapers have been so busy with the steamship that almost every newspaper has devoted a significant amount of space to the news.

The idea of a steamship is not new, and even before the steam engine should be used on the railroad, there was talk of the possibility of the steam engine being used in ships. This is certainly possible, but there are still many problems that need to be solved.

The problem is how to apply the kinetic energy of the steam engine to the ship, this problem is also very easy to solve, and the car and ship give people inspiration. The chariot ship is a paddle steamer that was driven by human power in ancient times, also known as a wheel ship. The car and boat are improved and designed on the basis of the oar, the oar uses hand power, and the car and boat use foot force, and the car and ship have two wheels, and the boat is "followed" by manpower to make the ship move forward.

In fact, in the Yangtze River, in addition to the multi-pulp boat, you can also see the "wheel boat", those boats and multi-paddle boats, sailing in the rivers of the Ming Dynasty, but unlike the multi-pulp boat, it can not sail in shallow water, and can not enter the sea, can only be used in large rivers and lakes.

When designing the power system of the steamship, Xu Ziyue did not hesitate to choose the wheels of the wheel and improved it on the basis.

"Well, no problem."

On the small pier, when Zhu Mingkun looked at such a 25-fathom-long steamship, his heart was full of mixed flavors.

It cost more than 10,000 taels of silver to build such a ship. What hurt him the most was that the ship could only carry more than a thousand stone cargo.

The gains outweigh the losses.

But it can't be said that at least this time, everyone in the world knows that the steamship was built by the Whampoa Steamship Bureau, and even Zhu Mingkun has an idea that if the steamship is successful, he will change the name of the Whampoa Shipbuilding Bureau to "Whampoa Steamship Bureau", because this steamship is a steamship.

"Mr. Zhu, don't worry, I've tried it several times before!"

Xu Ziyue pointed to the paddle wheel next to the boat and explained.

"The steam engine has also been checked, there is no problem, this paddle wheel has also been checked, in fact, it is not much different from the wheel, but the wheel is driven by manpower, relying on people to step on the wheel axle on the ship, and turn the wheel under the impetus of the rowing wheel, and it is to change the manpower to a steam engine, and the same as on the train, rely on the transmission shaft to rotate the paddle wheel......"

It's so simple, it cost me more than 11,000 taels of silver!

Thinking that this money could build more than a dozen ships, Zhu Mingkun's heart suddenly ached. Even when leaving, I looked at the steamship with large ironwood wheels on the side, and thought to myself.

"It's really not good, just stay in Zhenjiang as a tugboat, and you can always come back......"

When Zhu Mingkun left the small dock in a carriage, Xu Ziyue, who was on the deck, and the mechanics, captains and others on the ship were making the final inspection for this open voyage. At this time, Xu Ziyue's expression was a little excited, in the past few years, Daming has produced a large number of new inventions. From steam locomotives to steam ships, this is an inevitable process, and in the past year, many people have been working on it, and even some are experimenting.

It's an invention race, and everyone wants to invent the steamship before anyone else. And now, Xu Ziyue believes that he has won the race.

As far as he knew, even the steamship design team of Qinghe Academy still hadn't built a steamship, and this "Thousand Miles Ship" was the Ming Dynasty, and it was also the first steamship in the world.

"Boiler fire!"

With an order, the ignition in the boiler was ignited, and while the firewood was burning, the sailors who shoveled coal began to shovel coal into the boiler, and the iron chimney in the center of the hull began to spit out black smoke, and soon the temperature in the boiler increased, and the steam pressure continued to increase.

Half an hour later, after reaching the furnace pressure that could drive the steam engine, the captain of the ship's rudder tower looked at Xu Ziyue and asked.

"Master Xu, it's time to set sail."

"Set sail!"

Xu Ziyue's tone seemed a little excited, and he even walked to the side of the helm tower to let the people on the shore see him.

Under the roar of the steam engine, the pulp of the ship "Thousand Miles Ship" rowed along the river, slowly down the river, and the speed of travel was constantly accelerating.

"It's coming, it's coming!"

The people gathered on the bank of the Yangtze River, when they saw the sailless clipper sailing on the river, pointed to the boat and shouted loudly.

Even from a distance of several miles, they could see the steamer, not because it had no sails or pulp, but because of the peculiar shape of the hull, and there was a chimney in the middle of the ship that was spewing soot, and what other ship could smoke but a steamer?

The officials, lords, and gentry of Nanzhili on the viewing platform all stood up one after another when they looked at the steamship that was getting closer and closer, and their eyes were full of surprise and curiosity.

"This ship is so fast!"

"No, I think it's faster than a pulp boat."

"When the centipede boat is used up to the strength of the man, the ship uses a steam engine, as long as there is coal and water, it can sail day and night, and it will definitely be able to travel thousands of miles in a day......"

While people were discussing with each other, as the owner of the "Thousand Miles Ship", Zhu Mingkun's expression was very proud, and he said to the people around him from time to time.

"You see, there is the flag of my Whampoa Ship Bureau on that ship......"

If before, Zhu Mingkun was still a little painful because of the expenses of this steamship, then now he is only proud in his heart.

After all, the first steamship of Daming was owned by his Whampoa Shipyard!

Even his name Zhu Mingkun can enter the sight of His Majesty the Emperor, of course, there is also the Whampoa Ship Bureau, no, it is the Steamship Bureau, and it will be called the Steamship Bureau from now on.

Perhaps, I may also be a "knight".

Sealers!

It has always been the dream of the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, and the military is different from the "honor", the officials and gentry have the opportunity to be awarded the title of "Gongshi", which is borrowed from the title of the Han Dynasty, and is generally awarded to people who have contributed to social causes, which is an honorary title. Although it cannot be hereditary, it makes the gentry of the world all flock to it, wanting to obtain the title of "public scholar", but the annual quota is very limited, and the whole Ming Dynasty is only a hundred. Only those who have made special contributions to social causes can become entitled.

"This should be considered a special contribution......"

When Zhu Mingkun's heart was full of expectations, Xu Ziyue was extremely proud, put himself on a steamship, and sailed past the Xiaguan wharf.

The "Thousand Miles Ship" sailed into the city of Nanjing at a speed of 20 miles per hour without sailing, and the masses on both sides of the strait cheered for this scientific miracle.

In the first month of the eighth year of Xingqian, to a certain extent. Daming really entered the age of steam.