The sky is clear, the blue waves are rippling, the east of the south of the Ming Dynasty, about ten miles away from the coast, a rather large fleet is slowly moving forward.

There are more than 50 ships of all sizes in this fleet, among which there are more than 20 tall and tall fortune ships, at this moment, more than 20 fortune ships are lined up in an array of arrows, and there are more than 20 auxiliary ships of various types around them to protect their wings, which looks magnificent.

On the Daifuku ship at the beginning, Zhang Bin looked at the sparkling sea in front of him, and his brows were about to wrinkle into a Sichuan shape.

The sea breeze is too light these days, and the wind direction is not right, and the whole fleet is like a group of turtles crawling on the sea!

The speed of this sailing ship is quite obviously affected by the force and direction of the wind, and if it is downwind and the wind is strong, a two-masted sailing ship like the Daifuku can easily reach a hundred miles per hour.

If the wind direction is not right, even if the wind is strong, it is difficult for the speed of the ship to exceed 50 miles per hour.

If it's against the wind, it's over, and it's good not to go backwards.

Like now, the wind is small, the wind direction is not right, the speed of the ship is probably more than ten miles in an hour, Dengzhou Wei to Dongfan Jilong Port can be more than 3,000 miles, when you come to the wind, the wind is strong, five days to arrive, but, go back a little troublesome, according to this speed, at least a month!

For a month, just so delayed at sea, Fujian's main civil and military generals were almost all taken with them, Yuegang, Dongfan, and even an official above the third grade, at such an important time, will there be a problem, it is really anxious!

Just when Zhang Bin was anxious, a wheel suddenly appeared on the sea in front of him.

Looking at the wheels that swam flexibly on the sea, he suddenly remembered the steamers of later generations, if only there were ships, hundreds of miles an hour would not be a problem at all, and there was no need to care about the direction and force of the wind at all!

Isn't a steamship and a steamer just a ship with wheels, the first steamer seems to have wheels similar to wheels, and Zhang Bin seems to have seen it somewhere else.

Nowadays, the wheels are driven by manpower, that is, when a person steps on the wheel axle on the boat, the rowing wheel similar to the wheel will slowly rotate, and the wheel can be driven flexibly on the sea surface under the impetus of the rowing wheel, and there is no need for wind power at all.

If a steam piston was used instead of a man's foot to drive a rowing wheel, wouldn't that be the most primitive steamer!

Thinking of this, Zhang Bin immediately said excitedly: "Quick, recruit a wheel to come over." ”

Zhang Bin's mood in the past two days is not very good, Xie Zhenggang is worried because of this, at this moment when he saw Zhang Bin smiling, he suddenly felt that the whole person was energetic, Zhang Bin's voice fell, he immediately shouted to the herald flag bearer on the mast: "Quickly recruit a wheel to come over." ”

The flag waved, and soon, a wheel boat approached Zhang Bin's Dafu boat.

Zhang Bin immediately ran to the side of the boat and shouted, "Quick, move the ladder here, I want to go over and have a look." ”

Xie Zhenggang waved his hand, Zhang Cha and Zhao Ru immediately ran over with a staircase, and soon, the two of them worked together to stretch the staircase out of the side of the ship and put it on the wheel deck below, two people on each side, holding the stairs tightly, and then making all the proper gestures at the same time.

Seeing this, Zhang Bin immediately went down the stairs to the wheel, Xie Zhenggang hurriedly climbed down, and even Bi Maokang, who was sitting on the deck of the fortune boat basking in the sun, couldn't help but be curious, ran over with a smoke, and climbed down.

What is the Governor doing here?

Zhang Bin did not explain, but walked directly into the cabin.

At this time, there were two sailors in the cabin, and they were slowly stepping on the pedals, so that the wheels kept in line with the speed of the ship.

Zhang Bin looked at it carefully for a while, then stepped forward and said to one of the sailors: "You come down and let this official try." ”

The governor had an order, and a soldier naturally did not dare to disobey, and as soon as his words fell, the soldier jumped off the pedal with a swish and stood respectfully aside.

Zhang Bin followed his example, held the horizontal bars on both sides, raised his foot to step on the pedal, and stepped down hard.

I didn't even step on it!

Seeing this, the little soldier hurriedly and carefully explained: "My lord, stand up and press down with the weight of your body, you don't need to make much effort." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he immediately suspended his other foot in the air, and slowly loosened the strength of the support on his hand, and sure enough, the foot pedal moved.

I have more than 100 pounds, and the whole body is pressed down, which is equivalent to more than 100 pounds of force, why is this pedal so tight?

He stepped back and said to the little soldier, "You go on, and the officer will take a look." ”

The little soldier hurriedly stepped on it, skillfully shaking his body, and slowly stepping on the pedal.

This is the combined force of two groups of wheels, the resistance of the water should not be so great, Zhang Bin looked to the side along the rotating axle, and soon, he found the problem.

It turns out that the place where the axle is fixed is two iron hoops that are slightly larger than the axle, which is equivalent to hard grinding, and there is no bearing, and the resistance is naturally large!

To output hundreds of pounds of force, but also to push the axle to rotate quickly, how big a steam piston.

This is definitely not good, not only the resistance is large, the wear is also quite serious, the light people step slowly, it is estimated that the axle in the middle of the grinding for a few months has to be replaced, otherwise it will be worn off, if it is a steam piston driven high-speed rotation, it is estimated that it will be worn out in a few days, and the bearing must be made.

The bearing structure is actually not complicated, and in the workshop of the foundry factory in Yuegang, I am afraid that a sample can be made in one day, but this is on the ship, what should I do?

Anyway, being idle is also idle, simply, make a wooden model first, and then stare at the workshop for a day.

Zhang Bin remembered that this fleet was generally accompanied by skilled carpenters, because the fleet sailed on the sea, there was no guarantee that there would be no problems at all, if a ship suddenly had some small problems and needed minor repairs, and there was no carpenter, it would be troublesome, and it was very likely that the ship would have to be thrown down, so the larger fleet would be equipped with carpenters.

He directly asked Xie Zhenggang beside him: "Little Sixth Uncle, do you know which ship the carpenter is on?" ”

Xie Zhenggang nodded and said, "I know, it's on the third Fu ship behind." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he immediately waved his hand and said, "Okay, tell Zhang Cha and Zhao to come down, and let's go to the third fortune boat." ”

When Xie Zhenggang heard this, he hurriedly ran outside to say hello a few times, and soon, Zhang Cha and Zhao Ru climbed down the stairs, and put the stairs away and placed them on the deck.

At this time, Bi Maokang couldn't help but ask, "Shuangquan, what are you doing here?" ”

Zhang Bin said mysteriously: "I want to make a good thing, and you will know when I make it." ”

When Bi Maokang heard this, he rolled his eyes, and was very disgusted with Zhang Bin's behavior of hanging people's appetite.

The fleet is moving forward, and even if the wheels stop here, the third lucky ship will soon sail over, and this U-turn will be there, and it will naturally arrive in a while.

The staircase was erected, Zhang Bin quickly climbed up, and the commander of the ship was already waiting on the deck.

Zhang Bin stepped forward directly and asked, "What about the accompanying carpenter, take the official to him to have a look." ”

The general manager bowed his hand, said obediently, and immediately took Zhang Bin to the middle cabin.

As soon as Zhang Bin raised his legs, he suddenly saw the flintlock pistol on the shoulders of the sailors on duty on the deck, and he immediately ordered: "Let someone carry a box of flintlock bullets." ”

What the hell does this governor want to do, one moment he wants to go to the carpenter to see, and the next moment he has someone carrying a box of bullets, it is like a brain convulsion.

However, no one dared to be angry, so he did what he told without hesitation, who called someone the governor, you have to smoke with him too!

Soon they came to the cabin of the accompanying carpenter, which was quite spacious, and was filled with all kinds of wood and tools, squares, logs, planks, stakes, faders, chisels, planers, saws, axes, and so on, just like a carpenter's workshop.

There was not just one carpenter, but three, an old man with two strong men, who seemed to be a family, and they were all standing there respectfully.

Zhang Bin asked the old man directly: "Do you have paper and pen?" ”

The old man hurriedly pointed to a table next to him and said, "Yes, it's there, please use it." ”

Zhang Bin walked up directly, sat on the bench in front of the table, took out a piece of white paper, drew two circles with a pen, and then asked the old man: "Can you make such a wooden hoop, just like a bracelet with a thin edge." ”

When the old man heard this, he quickly nodded and said, "I can do it, I can do it, my lord." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, Yixi immediately asked, "How long does it take to do two?" ”

The old man thought for a moment, and then said, "If it's the size of a bracelet, it's about a quarter of an hour." ”

A quarter of an hour? How is it possible, are you a human or a machine?

Seeing Zhang Bin's face full of disbelief, the old man hurriedly beckoned his two sons to bring two wooden frames with wheels from the corner, and introduced: "The villain has a wooden spinning top here, and it is very fast to make round things." ”

Wooden spinning top, what is it?

These two shelves are a bit like the kind of manual lathes that Wang Zheng said, the problem, there is no turning tool on it, just a bare shelf, a runner, how to process round things?

However, Zhang Bin did not continue to ask, he was the governor, how dare a carpenter deceive him, people said that it would work, it would definitely work.

At this time, the two soldiers had already come over with a box of flintlock bullets, Zhang Bin immediately asked them to open the box and put it on the ground, and then he stepped forward, squatted on the deck and carefully rummaged in it for a while, turning out ten of the roundest and smoothest flintlock bullets.

Then he asked the old carpenter, "Is there anything that draws circles?" ”

The old carpenter hurriedly turned around and took a simple compass from the tool rack and asked, "Is this what your lord said?" ”

Zhang Bin nodded, then took out a blank piece of paper and said to the old carpenter, "Draw a three-inch circle on it." ”

When the old carpenter heard this, he skillfully adjusted the simple compass, and then turned it on the paper, and with a brush, a circle came out.

I don't know if it's a special charcoal or an ink stick or something on the compass, the lines drawn are simply as thick as ink, Zhang Bin nodded with satisfaction, and then carefully spread the flintlock bullets evenly on the circle, and after placing eight of them, he said to the old carpenter: "The official wants to make two bracelet-like wooden rings to clamp these eight bullets, you probably measure it, draw two circles." ”

The old carpenter nodded, made a serious gesture, then took out a blank piece of paper and drew three circles with a brush.

Zhang Bin took a bullet and gestured, it was just right, he couldn't help but admire: "Master, it's good, this circle inside is a little bigger." ”

The old carpenter immediately drew a circle on it again, Zhang Bin took the bullet and gestured again, then nodded and said, "Well, it's so big, let's make two." ”

The old carpenter took the log and asked, "My lord, how tall and thick do you want to be?" ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he hurriedly picked up the bullet and looked at it, and then estimated: "It's about one inch high, three points thick, it's almost enough, it doesn't need to be so accurate." ”

The old carpenter nodded, drew two lines directly on the log, and then said to a strong man: "Second son, hurry up and saw." ”

When the strong man heard this, he hurriedly took the log, took the saw, and sawed it quickly.

Soon, a log like a wooden cake was sawed out.

The old carpenter took the log cake, fixed it on a stool, picked up the planer, brushed and planed for a while, and the two sides of the log were smooth and smooth.

He took out the compass again, drew two circles on it, and then took out a chisel and a hammer, and with a few clicks made a hole in the circle inside, and chiseled out the extension.

At this time, this wooden circle is already six points similar to what Zhang Bin requested.

The old carpenter fixed the ring to the runner again, and then took out a special little planer, and then said to another strong man, "Boss, turn it hard." ”

When the strong man heard this, he hurriedly put his hand on the wheel and spun it quickly.

The old carpenter took the planer and skillfully scraped it on the wooden ring, and after scraping the outer ring, he changed the fixed way to scrape the inner ring, and after hanging it, he used a special oil stone to grind a few times, and soon a wooden circle like a handicraft appeared in front of Zhang Bin.

This old carpenter is so powerful!

Zhang Bin took the wooden hoop and looked at it for a while, good guy, it's just like a jade bracelet, it's so beautiful.

Soon, another wooden circle was also made, Zhang Bin put the two wooden circles on the table, one inside and one outside, and then picked up a bullet and put it in, explaining: "A circular groove is opened in the middle of the two sides, about three centimeters deep." ”

Soon, the old carpenter dug out two more grooves as he requested.

Zhang Bin placed the two wooden rings on the table again, placed eight flintlock gun bullets in the gap between the two wooden rings, and carefully plucked the bullets evenly, and then explained: "Two baffles should be made on both sides, and small wooden blocks should be nailed in the middle of these bullets to prevent them from squeezing together, understand?" ”

The old carpenter looked at it carefully, then nodded and said, "The villain understands." ”

Then he took a wooden plank, drew two circles on it, and then handed it to the strong man with the saw, urging: "Second son, hurry up and see it out." ”

When the strong man heard this, without saying a word, he took the plank and sawed it up quickly along the circle drawn on it.

The cooperation of this family is simply like a cloud of water in the same industry, which is pleasing to the eye!