Unlike Pang Tianshou, who looked farther away, Wang Chengen finally got rid of suspicion in this big case. And when Xiao Xuan met, he didn't seem to show much complaint: "The slave doesn't know too much of the truth, but she just knows: no matter what kind of thing the saint does, he actually has a benevolent heart that cares for the people of the world and disregards personal interests, after all, it is to let the people of the whole world eventually live a prosperous life, and even sacrifice some of their own interests for this." The slave and maid hoped that the saint would not give too much of a list. If that's the case, maybe the slaves and maids will be able to get His Majesty's trust in the future, but this will eventually make the new army that has enlightened the people's wisdom feel uneasy... The enslavement is willing to live as an ordinary commoner for the rest of his life, and does not demand too much wealth... Wang Chengen said flatly.

Xiao Xuan was silent for a long time, if it was in the past, the eunuch group was indispensable for the imperial power. But for those who have evolved into a new dictatorship, this is largely a burden. For the sake of the new people's hearts, he can't continue the three palaces and six courtyards on the bright side, so he naturally has no soil for the old-style eunuch group.

"In that case, I don't have to force it. However, it was a bit too much to let the old people of the Shindi live like ordinary people. People all over the world say that eunuchs are greedy for money, but isn't this a reasonable compensation? Cheng En rest assured. Those who have contributed to the cause and paid a huge price for themselves. Not to mention too much power, at least the fine clothes and food, and the free life, I will still give protection... ”

In the old days, there were not necessarily too many people who were truly loyal and loved the emperor, even in the founding group. I am afraid that even Mr. Jiang, who has a lot of personality cults among the members of the Three Youth League, cannot be compared. Today's Xiao Xuan has many people who can sincerely "cult of personality" in the volunteer division and even in the teaching brigade. At least in his own life, the significance of the eunuch group is no longer as important as it used to be.

This big case that happened around him also made Xiao Xuan wake up: although there is no war for the time being, it is by no means a time for him to relax and rest now, and after a lot of news from the foreign intelligence channels of the Military Intelligence Department came, it also made Xiao Xuan realize that a new round of war may not be too long before it comes. You should go and see at least the preparation of the tools of water warfare.

Most of the battles led by Xiao Xuan before were land battles in the northern environment. However, in order to finally march into the south of the Yangtze River, or even just fight in the area from Xuzhou to Yangzhou, a decent naval division is indispensable.

Xiao Xuan also proposed a lot of "utopian equipment" when he wrote history in the past, and when he was barely subsisting on a household registration, he also proposed a lot of "utopian equipment", such as human-powered propeller ships. After experiments in the laboratory pool, the propeller system does have a propulsion efficiency far exceeding that of a human paddle or even a paddle wheel. However, many things are easy to think about, but not easy to do. The axial direction of the propeller is transversely rotating. In order for a person to spin with effective lower limb pedaling force, it is necessary to use gears and chains, and even if the technical difficulty is simpler than that of a bicycle, it is by no means easy to mass-produce under the conditions of this era. Not to mention the difficulty of processing propeller wooden blades, it is by no means as easy as I imagined.

What's more: if the propeller ship were to be used only as a fireship-like self-detonation attack when necessary, the cost would be too great. In the end, it took a lot of cost and price to barely make a dozen or so human-powered propeller boats with iron hulls, iron chains, and steel gear rotation devices for Xiao Xuan's own breakthrough escape under special circumstances. Each ship costs thousands of taels. This is secondary, and the more important thing is that the cost of manpower and man-hours is too huge.

In the end, it was the less complex "wheel boat" that appeared from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Two Song Dynasty eras, which was more reliable under the technical conditions of this era. The craftsmen did not encounter too many technical bottlenecks when they were mass-producing and manufacturing. This wheel boat can be rotated in the same direction as the pedals, without the need for gears and chains, and is easy to climb by hand. Xiao Xuan then understood why in modern times, some places in the south still used paddle wheels when they already had propeller devices. The convenience of such a vessel on the technical threshold is not comparable to that of a propeller boat.

The speed of paddle steamers is only faster than that of human paddling under the same circumstances, but according to the test, if ordinary officers and soldiers without any special training are arranged to race with a large number of professional oarsmen with considerable advantages in special strength, it is only roughly the same or has a greater chance of winning.

And there is a problem in order to ensure the efficiency of paddle wheels "wheel boats", which cannot be built very large. Otherwise, the tonnage of the same manpower will be excessive. In order to make a small boat that is not too big also have enough combat power and protection. Xiao Xuan, who has at least half of the northern plastering area, is not stingy. The hull armor can be more worked, so that the opponent's heavy arquebus, which can be installed on a canal boat, will not be easily threatened. At the same time, in order to further strengthen the speed of navigation on inland rivers, a lot of thought has been put into imitating some modern speedboats.

Many craftsmen felt a sense of accomplishment in the newly made small "armor-clad wheel boats", and they were even reluctant to use such boats as fireships when necessary. Of course, Xiao Xuan also opposes excessive waste of material resources when the family foundation is not very thick.

"I think it's to be able to increase the effectiveness of the enemy when you are able to engage enemy ships at close range at night. The attack method of fireship or blasting does not necessarily require the mother ship to do the blasting lifting herself. We can design a kind of 'front mineboat' with less resistance in the water and a push rod to intercept. In this way, when carrying out fire attack or blasting tasks, their own safety may also be guaranteed. When necessary, it is not necessary to take rocket boosts within a range of ten feet... ”

This is actually the way Xiao Xuan has been thinking for a long time: if he encounters an enemy ship, if he wants to achieve the goal more efficiently, he can only use this more dangerous approach blasting attack method. As for dealing with small ships of the same kind or similar size as the enemy, a little investment and reform in firearms may be able to achieve good results.

In this way, when the scale of more than 200 "armored wheel boats" with a scale of 100 materials at any cost gradually took shape, it also gave Xiao Xuan a lot more confidence in fighting against possible opponents in the internal waters.

(End of chapter)