The lower reaches of the Yellow River are basically east-west, and it is September at this time, and the wind on the river is not strong, but there is no need to sail on the Yellow River, and it is only possible to rely on the river to flow eastward.

It's just that the speed of the river is very slow, and the short distance of 700 miles from Guide to the sea actually took three whole days.

Three days later, it entered the East China Sea with a northwesterly monsoon. The ships of the flotilla raised their sails and sailed like arrows from the wind on the sea.

The ship where Su Baiyi was located was the largest sealed ship, and it was also the flagship of more than 20 ships in the entire fleet.

"No need to sail!" Su Baiyi stood on the deck and said to the sea: "Flag language, let the second ship go first with the fleet, and we will follow later." ”

The second ship is a great fortune ship, although it is not as big as Su Baiyi's flagship, it is also a head taller than ordinary ships, and it is Hou Fangyu and Gu Zhong who preside over the second ship.

After the sea made people wave the flag, the fleet gradually moved away, leaving only the big ship floating aimlessly on the sea.

After a while, a dozen workers on the flagship came up from the cabin below, walked up to a large boiler, and began to light the torches.

Guo Cheng, who was like an iron tower, walked slowly to the deck, looked at Su Baiyi and asked, "My lord, why did our ship stop?" ”

Su Baiyi asked someone to bring a Taishi chair and put it at the front of the deck of the big ship, sat on it and crossed Erlang's legs, while watching the scenery of the blue sea and blue sky, he squinted and said, "Wait a minute, this fire will burn in a while." ”

"Don't you need a big sail?" Guo Cheng asked.

"No!" Su Baiyi waved his hand and said: "Our boat was modified by Lord Wang himself, and it is equipped with two turbines driven by the power of water and fire, hehe, have you heard of the train?" ”

"I heard!" Guo Cheng's eyes lit up, and he said in a low voice: "The adult's hand is skillful, I originally came to Guide Mansion to fight Luo Rucai, but in the end, Luo Rucai didn't hit it, but let me see the train." That day, Chaozong and I went to the East Garden for a trip, hehe, don't say it, just that little train, carrying me and Chaozong, and a group of old and young masters, ran forward suddenly, and the strength was great. ”

"It's the same as the train, with the same mechanism!" Su Baiyi narrowed his eyes and said: "The thing was installed by Wang Zheng, but Ben Du doesn't know what the driving force of this thing is, so let people give it a try." First, you can find the shortcomings in time and turn back to let Lord Wang improve, and second, of course, train sailors. ”

As he spoke, Su Baiyi got up from the Taishi chair, stretched out his finger and pointed to the wide surface of the East China Sea and said: "This sea is vast and immense, and the sailors are also familiar with the waterways here. ”

Mechanical power and pure wind power are different, and the operating system is also different. Su Baiyi had the intention of training, and it was much better to practice more in the quiet near sea than in the rough sea.

So the sailors got busy.

The pot burner, the shouting shout, and a small leader commanding on the deck, he was originally the lookout of the ship, and the position should be the deck of the bow of the ship, but when I saw the big boss sitting at the front of the deck, he felt very weak, and he could only stand on the side of the ship to command.

Su Baiyi also seemed to notice that something was wrong, and waved his hand to let Guo Cheng move the chair to change places and make way for the lookout.

After some tossing, the water in the boiler also boiled, and the water vapor pressure in the pressure cooker became more and more intense.

Because of the large weight of the ship, the power of the steam engine propelled behind is limited, and the pressure in the boiler is not very stable now, so the ship moves very slowly and slowly.

Su Baiyi looked at it, if you have to compare, it is equivalent to the speed of human walking.

Guo Cheng next to him laughed, pointed to the scenery on the shore not far away and said to Su Baiyi: "Lord Governor, Lord Wang's craftsmanship is not very good, this is too slow, it is better to sail quickly." ”

Su Baiyi snorted coldly and said, "You know an egg." Then he asked, "Why don't we make a bet?" ”

"Ah...... What to bet on? As soon as Guo Cheng finished speaking, he seemed to remember something, and quickly waved his hand: "No, no, no, adults will win every time they gamble, and the last general will not dare to bet." ”

Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he had heard it in the streets and alleys of Guide Mansion.

Su Baiyi's more famous bet was played three times in total.

For the first time, he won 6,000 taels of silver from the prefect of Guide Prefecture, and at that time he was just a small Mr. Wenzheng Academy.

The second time, in front of Emperor Jingshi, he won 10,000 taels of silver from Tang Ruowang, the Qintian Supervisor, at that time, Su Baiyi was still Tang Ruowang's subordinate, and the small Liupin Zhongguanzheng.

The third time, that is a big deal, I heard that it was at the auction of railway shares, that time it was Su Baiyi who made a bet with the Fushe in the name of Yuyuan, and won 3.5 million taels of silver directly.

That's three hundred and fifty, ten thousand!

Guo Cheng felt a sudden slap in his heart, his small fist slowly beat his big chest, and muttered to himself in shock: "Fortunately, I didn't bet, let alone three and a half million, it is three hundred and fifty taels of silver, which is not a small amount." ”

"What did you say?" Su Baiyi glanced at him and said with a smile: "If you want to bet three hundred and fifty taels of silver with me, um, although it is a little less, it is acceptable, is it idle anyway?" ”

"No!" Guo Cheng waved his hand again: "My lord, you can bypass the last general, three hundred and fifty taels, that is the last general's seven or eight years of money." ”

Su Baiyi smiled and said, "If you don't gamble, you won't gamble, look at you are also a fourth-grade official now, just that little bit of talent, aren't you fierce when you kill the enemy on the battlefield?" Seeing Guo Cheng's face full of smiles, he said again: "Look at this ship, although it is slow now, when the air pressure in the boiler is stabilized, and the ship runs, it will be faster, and there is no need to sail to catch up with the fleet in front, and it will only take half a pillar of incense." ”

Guo Cheng stood on tiptoe and looked forward, the huge fleet in front of him had disappeared from sight at this time, although he didn't dare to bet with Su Baiyi, but he didn't think much of Su Baiyi's words in his heart: This will be kung fu, those fleets have already run away, and a stick of incense can catch up with the fleet in front, unless Chaozong and they deliberately stop.

Su Baiyi naturally didn't know Guo Cheng's thoughts, so he pulled the Taishi chair, and the chair instantly turned into a reclining chair, and he simply slept on it and basked in the sun with his eyes closed.

Guo Cheng didn't take it seriously at first, but when three minutes passed, his face suddenly changed.

Soon!

The ship was a lot faster.

There is a wind blowing in your ears, and in just a few breaths, it is almost to the point that your cheeks are windy?

It's okay, it's okay.

Guo Cheng glanced at Su Baiyi, who was basking in the sun with his eyes closed, secretly patted his small chest, and said: "Look at this speed, it is estimated that they will catch up with the court in a while, if you really bet with adults, this time Lao Tzu will be miserable." ”

Two steam engines were installed at the back of the big ship, one on the left and one on the right, which could not only propulsion at the same time to increase the driving force of the ship, but also turn one off and one for steering. However, the boiler used in both steam engines is the same, and the power is not affected.

This time, the steam engine is driven by three cylinders, and the power and speed are much greater than the previous one-cylinder drive, although the specific power cannot be determined, Su Baiyi knows that it is no problem for this kind of large steam engine to be installed on the ship.

The big ship is getting faster and faster, and gradually, it has exceeded the limit of the sail speed.

Su Baiyi laughed and got up from the chair, looked at the blue sky, the deep blue sea, and the dolphins that jumped up from time to time on the bow of the boat, and nodded with satisfaction.

I have been in Daming for nearly a year and a half, I have done a lot of things, earned a lot of silver, and today I finally got on the driving force of the vehicle that does not belong to this era, and this feeling is not only proud, but also gratifying.

This is the beginning, the beginning of mechanical power.

If he had not been there in history, the beginning of this mechanical power would have been 148 years later, and the location would not have been on Chinese soil.

But here he comes, and that's all about to change.

From then on, I smiled at the world, and only I looked at the world.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, the fleet!" Guo Cheng pointed ahead, and could already faintly see the sails of the fleet.

Su Baiyi naturally saw it, and he smiled and said to the lookout at the bow of the ship: "It's about to catch up with the fleet, why don't you quickly deviate to the left, otherwise what if you rush into the fleet?" ”

The lookout hurriedly took the bullhorn and shouted below: "Deviate to the left." ”

Because the flotilla is still far away, there is no need to turn, it is only necessary to deviate the flagship slightly to the left and pass next to the flotilla.

The quickest way to turn is to turn off one of the steam engines, so that the whole ship is unevenly stressed, and thus deflects in the water; However, when deviating from left to right, it is not necessary, as long as the rudder at the stern is controlled and the rudder body under water is slightly deflected, the hull can deviate on a small scale.

Guo Cheng noticed that after the lookout shouted, the direction of the whole ship really deviated slightly to the left, and when it quickly caught up with the fleet in front, it happened to pass by the edge of the fleet.

Hou Fangyu, who was on the second boat, looked at this huge guy who didn't have a sail on it, but was speeding all the way in smoke, and said dumbfoundedly: "This is a ship without sails, sir, it's really made." ”

"yes!" Gu Zhong next to him sighed, what he did was sea business, so he could naturally see the benefits of this ship at a glance, so he said to Hou Fangyu with emotion: "Lord Xiaohou, the boat built by Mr. not only does not use sails, but it is also fast, but this is not the most important thing." ”

"Oh?" Hou Fangyu said: "Then what is so strange about this ship?" ”

Gu Zhong said: "Since we don't use sails, we are naturally not restricted by the monsoon, and there is no problem of headwinds and tailwinds, unlike when we go to the South Seas, we have to wait for the monsoon." With this kind of ship, it will be more convenient to travel between Daming and Nanyang countries by sea, and the cost of transportation alone can be saved by more than three times. ”