Chapter 31: Inventions and Creations
The length of this straw skimming ship is about 25 meters, the width is about 10 meters, the depth is 4 meters, the displacement is close to 400 tons, the load is more than 300 tons, the ship has 12 bulkheads, and the ship is divided into 13 independent cabins. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
This is the biggest feature of China's Fuchuan, although the multi-sealed cabin structure increases the difficulty of manufacturing, but greatly enhances the safety of navigation, even if the ship hits the reef, it is difficult to sink, because more than half of the sealed cabins are too low to enter the water.
The ship has three masts, with the main mast 21 meters high, the head and tail masts 17 meters and 13 meters high respectively, and is made of teak.
Huang Sheng carefully admired this sea ship of his own, it seems that the chief soldier Ma Shilong really put his mind into it, and several sailors also praised this good ship.
Huang Sheng asked the sailors many questions separately, also to deepen their understanding of them and choose a future captain among them.
The sailors also have the meaning of comparing with each other, knowing everything and saying everything, Huang Sheng has a general understanding of the speed of sea ships in this era.
In later life, he had more contact with the shipbuilding industry, and once received many orders for casting iron anchors for large sea ships. Behind his small blast furnace is a small shipyard run by a friend, and I have seen a lot of drawings of ships in later generations, and I can still remember some of the basic structures.
Speed determines everything, and I just have a way to speed up the No. 3 Fu ship, the simplest and most effective way is to increase the wind surface, the method is simple, and the investment is controllable.
Now the West is widely using soft sails, they can design and produce pulley sets, improve the take-off and landing of the three-masted hard sails, increase the work efficiency of sailors, and then add seven or eight soft sails, of course, the speed will be increased a lot, the most important attention here is the balance of the hull.
Then take the time to add another sealed cabin to the ship's wide stern, the underwater part of which is made of copper, and the surface is tin plated to increase the resistance of the copper part to seawater corrosion.
The two copper propellers are made by hand and driven by gears.
This adds a lot of motivation, and Huang Sheng's idea was inspired by a kind of human-powered boat that tourists hired when they visited Hangzhou's West Lake in later generations. Everyone pedals with their feet to drive the paddle wheel, and the boat can sail smoothly.
He also designed and built something like a bicycle chain to drive the gears, so that the sailors sat in a position like a bicycle seat, and everyone pedaled hard at the same time, and the big gear drove the small gear.
A group of eight to twelve people exert force at the same time, and the power generated by the propeller through the propeller shaft can completely increase the speed of the boat, which is more than three times more efficient than paddling the oars by paddling and rocking the oars by hand.
Twenty laborers to drive the propellers can produce more than sixty experienced paddlers rowing power, which is not only multiplied by efficiency, but also requires no training at all, as long as strength.
They can also do the job of adding power to the boat with little effort and comfort. The pulp and oars used in the sea ships are too cumbersome, the sailors are too hard to control, and not everyone can row it, so it consumes manpower in vain.
Huang Sheng named his first sea vessel, 'Guangning', which means not forgetting the homeland of the Ming Dynasty that Liaodong was invaded by Jiannu.
Back at home, Huang Sheng instructed the family to erect two horizontal bars in the yard, and went up to demonstrate the belly around the bar, telling the seasick people to practice diligently. If they are still seasick, they will not be able to take them with them in the future.
Black Tiger and Huang Mingli are in a hurry now, they know that they are so seasick that they can't stand on their feet, where is there any combat effectiveness, they don't have the combat power to fight, is it because they are impatient to die?
Of course, the adults won't bring themselves, since the adults said that as long as they fainted, it would be much better next time. So what are you waiting for, practice!
In the following days, there were almost no people on the horizontal bar, and the disadvantage was that they were always dizzy, always knocking things over, and the loss of the bowl at home doubled.
Huang Sheng asked Gu San to find many craftsmen to add soft sails to his 'Guangning'. Gu San is his own person in the eyes of the craftsmen, and he goes to inquire about whose skills are good and whose skills are great.
Soon, many good craftsmen on Juehua Island were recruited by him, and everyone worked hard for Huang Sheng, because this adult not only ate and drank, but also had four taels of meat every day, and his wages were settled every day and never in arrears.
Gu Shanhai took a few blacksmiths who knew the roots and three craftsmen who processed jewelry, and followed Huang Sheng to invent and create at home.
Huang Sheng used his own steel to manufacture some parts and gears of the transmission chain, so that these parts that he personally handled became the standard, and then found those ingenious craftsmen to refer to the samples to produce the quantity he needed.
In the end, Gu Shanhai, who has recently mastered the minimum accuracy of these parts, accepted them one by one, and rewarded the craftsmen who can produce qualified products. Since the wages are paid every day, the craftsmen with high quality can get nearly one penny of silver a day.
This kind of income is incredible, and no workshop in Daming can give nearly three taels of silver a month's salary when the craftsman is full of meat and rice. The enthusiasm of the craftsmen was quickly stimulated, and they all took the initiative to work overtime and work hard.
Huang Sheng instructed several masters among the craftsmen to make a steel crossbow and three steel bows from a few spring steels, which were not complicated, mainly because it took some time to make the steel wire for the crossbow strings.
The Ming Dynasty already had a wire drawing technology, but it was used to draw gold wire and silver wire to make jewelry, and almost no one pulled the steel wire, and the craftsman Zhang Laifu took his son to spend three days pulling out the thin steel wire that Huang Sheng needed, and then twenty were wound into a strand to make an ideal steel bowstring.
Zhang Laifu looked at the completed works, these three bows are indeed very beautiful, and the matching steel arrows are also very sharp, but ......?
He muttered in his heart, since he followed Lord Huang and felt that life was extremely comfortable, the adults were kind and pleasant, and they were very good to all the humble craftsmen, everyone was happy to be able to do things for adults, Zhang Laifu didn't want to see his beloved adults disappointed, and he decided to remind adults.
Huang Sheng has already started to train Huang Dongshan, Gou'er, Lu Chengzu, and Gu Shanhe to play Lu Migong, and they are all equipped with goggles.
Shooting guns is the same, can be the Lu Mi gun accurate, and then practice using the flintlock rifling gun in the future will get twice the result with half the effort, and it will also reduce the scrap rate of the gun, anyway, if the Lu Mi gun is broken, it can be taken to the Ming military warehouse in exchange for a new one.
Zhang Laifu, who usually speaks little, took the initiative to come to him with a bow and crossbow in his hand to talk about things, but it was very strange, and Huang Sheng immediately met him.
Zhang Laifu saluted respectfully, and Huang Sheng had already canceled kneeling in his home, but he couldn't cancel the sense of dignity and humility, and he still had to salute.
Zhang Laifu said: "My lord, it's good that you have made such a strong bow and a hard crossbow, but unfortunately you don't have the divine power like Yue Wumu, I'm afraid you can't pull it away!" It turned out that this master knew how to think, and he had tried the hardness of the bow, thinking that it would be difficult to calmly open the bow and release the arrow with manpower.
Huang Sheng took the back of the bow that had been completed and had not yet been put on the bowstring and looked at it, Zhang Laifu They really put their hearts into it, it was like a work of art.
Huang Sheng said: "It's okay, I'll add some pulleys, even Gu Ling'er can open such a bow and crossbow, are your pulleys ready?" ”
"Shi Jincai is responsible for making pulleys, your lord, you are hearted, his craftsmanship is very good, and he is serious in his work, and he will not make mistakes. It's just that he is now going to the seaside pier to install pulleys on our 'Quang Ninh' ship. Zhang Laifu said.
After another three days, Huang Sheng calibrated the completed strong crossbow in his yard, which was completely imitated according to the military crossbow of later generations in his memory, even the scope was decent, or a sentence, the handmade product could not be mass-produced, and it was relatively precise, and it could not be used by the peasants who put down the hoe.
Calibration, lubrication, and correction are all very important, and you have to do it all over again after using it a few times, it's a bit similar to guitar tuning, where it's tight and where it's loose, it's completely up to feeling, it's more complicated than a flintlock rifling gun, but it's not something that the illiterate can easily master.
Huang Sheng only got one, and it was for his own use. I can only shoot a gun, what if a large army of the enemy is nearby, and the enemy must be eliminated in front of me?
Shooting is completely looking for death, and the sound of gunfire will reveal one's position and attract all nearby enemies, so a big killing weapon such as a pulley steel crossbow will come out.
Huang Sheng hugged the grass and beat the rabbit, and prepared three stainless steel pulley bows for Huang Mingli, Huang Mingdao, and Black Tiger by the way, but the other two people were fine, so I don't know if the thick man Black Tiger can master the care and maintenance of such a new weapon.
The three of them were overjoyed when they saw these three unheard of and unseen steel bows, and they were itchy for a while, and they all roared to try the bow.
The Huang family's yard is now relatively large, and the original residents have built a vegetable garden in it, Huang Sheng is not willing to let his family waste time on growing vegetables and eating by himself, so he leveled the ground out as a training ground on the day he came here.
The farthest distance was fifty paces, Huang Sheng asked the three of them not to be busy with their hands, let them carefully see how they adjusted the crossbow's crosshair, and then kept shooting, and after continuous adjustment, they were basically able to hit the bull's-eye with every shot.
The more Huang Mingli looked at them, the more surprised they became, they couldn't imagine that there was such an accurate bow and crossbow.
Obviously, when he first started shooting, the crossbow arrows shot by the adults couldn't even touch the target, but every time he fiddled with the nuts of several adults on the crossbow, he became more and more accurate.
Huang Sheng told them the steps of how to use the stainless steel pulley bow, and the three of them immediately couldn't wait to practice, and as expected, after an hour, Huang Mingli and Huang Mingdao mastered the trick and jumped happily.
Huang Mingli said: "My lord, this bow is so good, I shot thirty arrows in a row. I didn't feel it at all, and every arrow was stuck in the wooden target, and I couldn't pull it out with my hands. ”
"Yes! Oh, yes! Such a steel bow is much more powerful than the Jiannu step bow! Fifty steps can break three layers of armor. And we can shoot continuously, Jiannu and we will suffer a big loss in shooting, they have exhausted ten heavy arrows, and they can't shoot at all without resting. Huang Mingdao couldn't put down the bow and arrow in his hand, he exclaimed.
The black tiger was already sweating profusely, he couldn't adjust the accuracy of the bow and arrow in his hand at all, and shot more than a dozen arrows, all of which were crooked, but they didn't hit the target.
He was anxious and said, "My lord, you can help the little one take a look, the small one may be broken." ”
Huang Sheng doesn't know how to shoot arrows, but these three bows have been tested in person, and there is no possibility of damage.
He said to Huang Mingdao: "Mingdao, give him yours, this kid is too stupid, if you don't need such a bow, forget it, let's use the Jiannu step bow in the future." ”
Huang Mingdao gave his adjusted bow and arrow to the black tiger, took his and fiddled with it for a while, then tried firing, adjusting it again, and trying it again, after more than a dozen arrows were shot, the arrows hit the bull's-eye again.
And the black tiger took Huang Mingdao's bow and arrow, shot more than a dozen at once, all of them hit the bull's-eye, and grinned, but unfortunately the good times didn't last long, he didn't know what to move, and then he began to be uncertain again.
This honest man knew that he was in trouble again, so he hurriedly begged Huang Mingdao for help, staring at Huang Mingdao's movements without blinking.
Huang Sheng said: "Black Tiger, everyone has their own strengths, you may not be able to play such a delicate thing, if this bow can't be used, forget it, I'll see if others can master it quickly." ”
The simple black tiger was shocked by such a powerful bow, and he already loved it in his heart, and when he heard that the adults were ready not to panic himself, he held the steel bow in his arms and refused to let go.
Said: "My lord, how can it be done, the small arrow shoots well, and now with such a strong bow, it is even more powerful, you can rest assured, even if the small one does not eat or sleep, he will have to think this thing through." ”
The reason why Huang Sheng chose the Black Tiger to use the steel pulley bow was because his riding and archery skills were unmatched in his own family, and he was willing to make up his mind to study it, of course, he had to give him a chance.
He nodded and said, "Okay, you think about it well, Huang Mingdao you also have to teach him well." But if you still can't do it, don't force it, such a bow is very troublesome to maintain, and it has to be calibrated almost every time. ”
Black Tiger knew that there were only three such bows, and he was really afraid that the adults would think that he was stupid and gave the bows to others, so it was obvious that Li Dagang and Han Kuan were eager to try it.
He hurriedly said: "My lord, the black tiger is not afraid of trouble, you see, after ten days and a half months, the little one will definitely be able to be handy." ”
Li Dagang quipped: "Black Tiger, I can't see it, just let it be made to me!" I promise to be like the Huang Mingli brothers, and I will find my way out in a few hours. ”
The black tiger held the steel bow tightly and said: "Don't think about it, it's okay to want the black tiger's life, but there is no way to bow it!" My lord has long said that my black tiger has the best riding and shooting, and he will give me a good bow. Wait and see! ……。 ”
In the days that followed, the Black Tiger Demon was stunned, and every day he was winding the bar, shooting arrows, and even sleeping with his stainless steel pulley bow, saying that he wanted to be mixed with the bow.