"Sister Zhuzhu, our emperor can't be driven crazy by the council, right? Since he came back from the war, he has become more and more strange every day. Normally he threw away the dregs when he took his medicines, but now I found out that he secretly hid them and stuffed them into a small copper bowl to eat. There is always a choking smell on his body, and I feel uncomfortable looking at him. Those people in the council are too unconscionable, why should they force him to die, who doesn't die when they fight, and his brother is also dead. Hong Tao's action startled Bo Zhu and Senya, looking at the back of the walking like a fly, Senya was a little vague, she felt that Hong Tao had been very abnormal recently.

"Don't think about it, he's not taking medicine at all, it's all a lie. He had a smoking thing in his mouth called tobacco, which was something that he smoked and played with in his spare time, and he tried it for me, I didn't like it, it was very choking. Don't go outside and talk nonsense about the affairs of the council, our emperor, it's a good thing not to drive others crazy, and he is not afraid of those people in the council at all. I guess he's gone to Qi Zu again, he's been figuring out how to build a ship these days, and he seems to have figured out a way. "Bo Zhu knows Hong Tao more deeply than Senia, and Hong Tao has also told her many things.

Bo Zhu did guess correctly, Hong Tao thought of a way to make the length and width ratio of the sailboat larger, but he was not sure if it could be done, and he had to ask Qi Zu to know. This has to start with the railway. When Hong Tao inspected the mine a few years ago, he found a problem that seriously affected production, that is, transportation. The copper mine in Jinhewan is in the upper reaches of the Jinhe River, about a kilometer away from the river, and it is all mountain roads. The excavated ore had to be carried on the back of a person to a boat near the river. It's the distance of this kilometer. Reduced ore production a lot. Because even if it is dug up. Without too many manpower, it could not be transported, so it could only be piled on the edge of the mine and carried slowly, which took up a lot of labor.

Faced with this problem, Hong Tao thought of a solution, which was to lay the track with hardwood, and then use a small wooden rail car to push it out. This would make it much easier to transport the ore, and without adding additional manpower, it would be possible to reduce the number of slaves responsible for carrying the ore by two-thirds, and send those two-thirds of the slaves to the mines. This has nearly doubled the yield.

When discussing with Qi Zu how to build this wooden track, Hong Tao talked to him about the railroad track, half-seriously and half-jokingly. According to him, if you can turn the hardwood track into steel, then you don't have to replace the wooden track every once in a while, the steel rail can be used for a long time, and the resistance is much less. As for how the rails were made, Hong Tao didn't know, he hadn't seen them. But he knows how another profile of a similar shape that can also replace light rails can be made: I-beams.

When he was an intern in college, he spent time in Shougang's rolling workshop. Moreover, it is a profile workshop, which has learned how to heat treat the rolled I-beam with the master. Rolling equipment Hong Tao has nowhere to go. It wasn't something that could have been made in the thirteenth century. However, Hong Tao has a local solution to solve the problem, which is to rely on the forging hammer to process the preheated steel ingot, which is equivalent to the preliminary roll forming billet, and then put it into the mold for a short section of forging, and finally you can obtain the required steel profile.

However, when it came to the rails, there was no open-hearth steel in Jinhewan, and Hong Tao left this matter behind him after he finished his addiction. Although Qi Zu had already written down everything he said, and asked a few times about the specifications of I-beams, he never took it seriously. Even if Qi Zu can get the I-beam out, what about the locomotive? Relying only on manpower to push the minecart away, the difference between steel rails and wooden rails is really not too big, and even wooden rails are more economical and efficient.

Because wood processing is much easier in this era, playing with steel rails is a laborious and costly thing. A steel ingot with suitable hardness is turned into a steel rail after dozens of preheating and forging, and this material alone is enough to buy a large ship of good hardwood.

But now Hong Tao suddenly remembered this matter, if Qi Zu had studied this technology and indeed succeeded, then it would be possible for him to obtain a larger model of I-beam. If the hardness and toughness of these I-beams are suitable, coupled with good heat treatment, they are riveted one by one, this is not a steel keel across the era! With a keel of sufficient strength, its new flagship can be built longer and more detailed. Even if the weight of the hull cannot be reduced, relying on the right ship type, it can still make a large ship of several thousand tons run the speed of a cruiser of several hundred tons!

"Your Excellency, don't you know that the wooden rails of the mine have been replaced with steel rails the year before last? I think you should stay on the South Shore for a while, don't go out in a boat all the time, with you here to personally guide us, our research will be much faster! For example, the steam engine, with your guidance, Wen Xiaoqi's kid does more in a month than I do in a year, and now he has become my master! ”

When Hong Tao found Qi Zu and asked about the I-beam, Qi Zu had to show him his merits happily, but complained. Who could believe that the head of the Imperial Metal Group and the inventor of the cannon was a landlubber, not only had he never been to sea, but he was also full of disgust with the sea, except when he was caught.

"Minister Qi, don't complain to me, in all fairness, I have come to you the most, and you have the most drawings in your leather pocket, so you can't let the emperor squat in front of the steelmaking furnace all day. Don't say I don't do it, and the Imperial Council can't do it either! We are good partners, I make the idea, you make the product. Your territory is in the metal group, my goal is the sea of stars, no contradictions! Listen to what you mean, the I-beam has come out? Tell me, how big can you get? This is a big matter of imperial honor, and I will wait for your steel to build my new flagship. ”

Regarding Qi Zu's complaints, Hong Tao's ears were almost calloused. The old man always wanted to tie himself to his office and be ready to ask questions. This is 100% impossible, if he is willing to do this job, then it will not be his turn!

"It's a new ship again, when will the kind of train you told me about that can pull hundreds of thousands of pounds of goods on the rails and travel thousands of miles a day be built?" As soon as Qi Zu heard that Hong Tao was going to build a new ship, his resentment was even heavier. At the beginning, Hong Tao promised a lot of benefits in order to fool him into research and development, but even Hong Tao himself forgot what it was. But the speaker has no intention of listening, and Qi Zu remembered it for him.

"Hey, hey, hey...... Trains, the technology is not very mature, when will you and Wen Xiaoqi make that steam engine capable of driving a row of looms, let's talk about the train. You are a person who understands, if that thing can't even carry a few looms, and expect it to be able to pull hundreds of thousands of pounds of goods and run away? The road has to be taken step by step, the steps are too big and it is easy to fall on your head, do you say this reason? "It doesn't matter if you can't think of it, Hong Tao has this broken mouth with a rotten tongue, and a craftsman like Qi Zu who only knows how to ponder things and rarely speaks for a day is a spirit.

"Nacheng, this is what you said, you remember, don't fool me with any state secrets when the time comes! At present, the I-beam has only been made ten centimeters high, but that thing is a hard work, as long as there is enough time, you want to be one meter high, no problem, it is nothing more than the difference between fast and slow. How can shipbuilding still use I-beam, do you want to go to the ship to lay rails? Qi Zu talked about his profession, and his momentum was three points, which is why Hong Tao came to ask him, if he changed to someone else, he wouldn't even care.

"Don't brag to me, it's still one meter high, where can you get such a big mold? I don't need that tall, 40 centimeters is enough, but I have strength and toughness. If it's too brittle, it's too soft, and it's not too thick. With the current capabilities of the Imperial Metals Group, how many meters can the longest section be? "They are all from playing skills, and Hong Tao can easily distinguish that the sentence in Qi Zu's words is true and that sentence is exaggerated. The height of the I-beam is not too important, thirty or forty centimeters high, it is a big deal to rivet two pieces together as a keel. However, the length of each section must be sufficient, too short will increase the riveting interface, the weight will be multiplied, and the meaning of replacing the giant wood with steel as the keel of the ship will be lost.

"I don't know for sure, the rails are all three meters long, and they are too long to transport. But I think 10 meters should be fine, how long do you need to be? As soon as Qi Zu talked about technical details, he no longer ran the train with his mouth full. He is still very conservative in this regard, and would rather say less than much, in case he can't do it, then he is more uncomfortable than being pointed at and scolded.

"Of course, the longer the better! If you get me a 100-meter-long one, I will immediately call you godfather, and let you live the addiction of being a relative of the emperor! Since Qi Zu said that he could do it, Hong Tao was relieved. Ten meters long is not short, all by semi-manual forging, too long profiles are simply impossible, how to preheat is a big problem. A keel is riveted with five or six I-beams, and then the ribs are supported, the strength should be enough, and the weight is acceptable.

"Well, you're going to run again, aren't you? Are the rifled guns you mentioned before the expedition still in production? If you want, hurry up and let the Ministry of Defense place an order, and if you are not in a hurry, I will withdraw the production line. Now there are too many orders for artillery, and in addition to stock, I have to temporarily rush to produce a batch of new guns. "Hong Tao's mouth is ineffective against Qi Zu, he only listens to the technical aspects, and ignores everything else. And every time Hong Tao starts to fool people, he just wants to run, and finally catches the emperor once, Qi Zu resolutely can't let Hong Tao go easily, and there are many things that have to be asked clearly.

(To be continued.) )