The firewood in the furnace of the boiler was ignited, and with it, the coal on the surface, and black smoke rose from the chimney of the Thousand Miles Ship.

The boatman unties the tied cable and lifts the anchor at the same time.

At Lotte's command, the roar of the steam engine drove the paddle wheels on both sides of the hull to start rotating, lapping the river and slowly leaving the dock, while the boatman steered the rudder, and the hull slowly accelerated and slid towards the river.

"This ship is so stable!" Shakuchi shouted from the side.

"Master Hou is really a wonderful idea, in this life, I haven't seen a boat that can be driven without manpower and animal power, let alone sat on it!" While looking at the waves slapped by the paddle wheel, and looking at the embankment where the two shores retreated, Yang Zhihao said happily.

Wu Song was also surprised, and said: "I'm afraid that the carpenter's grandfather will lose the reincarnation of the class, and he can't make such a delicate thing!" ”

Lotte didn't care, just ordered: "Fast, speed up again, Ben Hou wants to see what the maximum speed of this thousand-mile ship is!"

For this trial voyage, the Xiong steward had already made full preparations, and said to Lotte: "Master Hou, there is a bend in front of this river, and there is a straight channel for more than ten miles to the east leading to the Bianhe River after the bend, as long as you get there, it is not too late to accelerate." ”

These people have long wanted to try the voyage, but the heart estimates that the rebellion in the southeast has subsided, and it is only a matter of time before the Hou Ye returns to Biandu, the first is not in a hurry, and the second is not in a hurry, and the second is not sure where there will be hidden dangers, so it is better to check it carefully first, and it is not too late to conduct a trial voyage when the Hou Ye returns to Biandu.

It has been two months since the transformation of the Qianli ship, and in addition to testing the reliability of the boiler and transmission system, and opening the boiler a few times, this Qianli ship has not yet had a real sea trial.

Lotte wanted to be faster, but the bear steward and the craftsmen didn't think so, and after the bend in front, he hurriedly passed the quick order to the cabin, and the apprentice in charge of adding charcoal in the cabin was busy adding charcoal desperately, making the furnace pressure higher, and the speed reached the extreme.

The speed is getting faster and faster, and the noon weather in April is already hot, but standing on the ship, the wind of the fast sailing of the ship makes everyone feel very cool.

The sound of the white water of the paddle wheel, and the black smoke of the chimney rushing into the sky immediately attracted the attention of the people on both sides of the embankment, and they stood in front of the shore to watch, the thousand-mile boat is not a new object in the Great Song Dynasty, many people have seen it, but no one has ever seen such a special thousand-mile boat, which can spew flames and smoke like a monster, and what is even more amazing is that the speed of this thousand-mile ship is far from being comparable to other thousand-mile ships, and the speed is more than twice as fast in the past.

In addition to the amazement, there were pedestrians riding donkeys on the embankment who looked at this fast-moving thousand-mile boat and became competitive, patting the donkeys under the seat and running with the thousand-mile boat. Everyone has good intentions, looking at this fast-moving thousand-mile boat, many horseback riding and bull riding people also can't help but join in the race.

Lotte, who was standing on the bow of the boat, couldn't help but laugh when he saw such a scene, is this the speed and excitement of the Great Song version?

Gradually, all the livestock on the shore that were racing with the thousand-mile boat gradually slowed down because of their physical strength, and some even did not walk because of fatigue no matter how the owner whipped them, while the thousand-mile boat still sailed like flying.

Eyes on the back of the ship and seeing this scene, Lotte knew that after tomorrow, the news of the thousand-mile ship would spread in Biandu.

At this time, the craftsman in charge of the engine room hurriedly reported: "Master Hou, the steam pressure of the boiler is close to the maximum, if you continue to accelerate, it will cause the boiler to explode!" ”

"Slow down!" Lotte nodded, and then asked, "How much coal is left in the cabin?" ”

The craftsman hurriedly replied: "If you go back to the Hou Ye, the coal in the engine room has only used more than sixty catties from ignition to now. ”

"How far is it from the dock of the annex to here?" Lotte asked.

The bear steward next to him hurriedly replied: "If you go back to the Hou Ye, it took less than three quarters of an hour to get out of the dock and get here, and it took about more than ten miles of water!" ”

According to the artificial foot drive of the thousand-mile boat, an hour in the gentle river can travel about 20 miles, the speed of travel is comparable to the speed of people walking on land, the steam engine of the thousand-mile ship in half an hour can travel 20 miles, this speed in the Great Song Dynasty can be described by the word "amazing", in the cost is also greatly better than manual.

Steward Xiong said excitedly: "According to this calculation, this thousand-mile ship can travel more than forty miles every hour on the stable water!" ”

In ancient times, an hour was two hours in the later generations, and two hours could travel more than 40 miles, which was not an ordinary slowness in the eyes of later generations. But in the Song Dynasty, it can almost be described as traveling thousands of miles a day, you must know that Su Xun died of illness, and the brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe sent their father's coffin back to Shu from Biandu for burial, which took more than ten months before and after. If there is such a steam engine to propel a thousand-mile ship, it is along the Yangtze River against the current, and the boat will rest during the day and at night, at most it will not be more than a month.

For Lotte, a person who has the soul of the future generations, he was obviously not very satisfied with the performance of a ship that could only travel more than 20 miles per hour, and shook his head: "It's still slower, if you increase the power of the steam engine, can you increase the speed of the ship to less than 50 miles?" ”

"Master Hou, the speed of this ship is not slow!" Seeing that Lotte was dissatisfied, Steward Xiong was stunned, and hurriedly explained: "Master Hou, there are many rivers in my Great Song Dynasty, but most of them are relatively narrow, and there are many places where the riverbed is shallow. ”

Xiong Guan said well, the canal in ancient times is different from the canal of later generations, most of the canals in later generations are re-widened after the establishment of the Celestial Empire, whether it is the Bianhe River or the Tongji Canal, or the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal dug in the Sui Dynasty, the river is quite narrow with the later generations, and the narrow place of the river can often only run two ships side by side, especially in the south of Zhejiang, many rivers in later generations still maintain the original appearance of ancient times, and you can imagine how narrow the luck in ancient times was.

After seeing the width of Yun He, he naturally knew that what Steward Xiong said was reasonable, Lotte nodded and continued: "Don't care about the river, Ben Hou asked you if you increase the power of the steam engine, can you increase the speed of the thousand-mile ship to less than fifty miles?" ”

"If you go back to the Hou Ye, if you increase the power and volume of the steam engine, the speed of the thousand-mile ship will naturally reach fifty miles at the first hour!" Steward Xiong hurriedly replied, and hesitated again: "Master Hou, it's just that this can't be achieved overnight!" ”

Lotte nodded and said, "As long as it can be reached, time, Benhou can wait; Silver money, Le will not be stingy! ”

"Master Hou, he has never missed research funds, and he has never treated us badly!" Steward Xiong said busily.

A group of craftsmen also hurriedly said: "The villain will definitely do his best to live up to the expectations of the Hou Ye!" ”

"You have also seen that if the thousand-mile ship driven by a steam engine is made, it will be a major event for the benefit of the country and the people, and even affect the national fortune of my Great Song Dynasty!" Lotte said with a very solemn expression, and arched his hand to the craftsmen: "Le, please everyone!" ”

Hearing Lotte say this, a group of craftsmen hurriedly bowed and said: "We are all taking the salary of the Hou Ye, and everything is what we should do!" ”

Steward Xiong looked thoughtful, and reminded from the side: "Master Hou, the two sides of the Qianli Boat need to be driven by paddle wheels, and ordinary ships take up a lot of space, and it is easy to collide with other ships in narrow waterways, and Qianli Boats can't drive in shallow water......

"You don't need to worry about this matter, Le has already found a way to solve this problem!" Lotte waved his hand and said a question that surprised all the craftsmen: "Le wants to know how much power of the steam engine is needed to propel a large ship carrying more than 4,000 materials!" ”

"Four thousand?" Hearing Lotte say this, all the craftsmen were shocked, and they couldn't close their mouths in surprise.

The bear steward next to him hurriedly asked: "Master Hou, as far as the villain knows, such a big ship is a sea boat for going to sea!" ”

"You're right!" Lotte nodded and said bluntly: "Le wants to make a steam engine for a large ship with 4,000 materials for going to sea!" ”

Steward Xiong thought for a while and said: "Master Hou, although the little one has never been to the sea, it is said that sailing on the sea is even more complicated, the sea sailing ships carry not much fresh water, in addition to human consumption, the daily water consumption of the steam engine is also very large, and the salt of the seawater is corrosive to the boiler of the steam engine......

"You don't have to worry about this, you can get fresh water by distilling seawater in the boiler of the steam engine, and you can paint the boiler to prevent rust!" Lotte waves.

Steward Xiong thought for a while, felt that what Lotte said was reasonable, and continued: "Master Hou, the canal is narrow, and it can't sail a big ship of more than 4,000 yuan at all, so it can't build a big ship to go to sea in Biandu; In addition, according to the villain's estimates, the weight of the steam engine that can drive a large ship of 4,000 materials is also amazing, and we are afraid that it will take up a lot of load to be installed on the ship, and it is likely that the gains will outweigh the losses, and there is nowhere to supply ...... the vast sea! ”

After a pause, Steward Xiong continued to analyze: "Master Hou, a thousand-mile ship driven by a steam engine travels more than forty miles per hour, but this is only a light load and a water with a gentle flow without wind and waves. ”

Hearing this, Lotte nodded silently, obviously the two situations that Steward Xiong said had to face up to and think about a solution.

The first one mentioned by Steward Xiong is easy to solve, as long as the shipyard is located by the sea; This second article is complicated, and it is clear that the most primitive single-cylinder steam engine cannot meet the requirements of navigation at all, and to put it more thoroughly and directly, it is that the thermal efficiency of the steam engine is underutilized.

In silence, Lotte tried to think of a solution, and suddenly remembered that many modern scientists in later generations found that the power and heat utilization rate of a single-cylinder steam engine were insufficient, and in order to solve this problem, a multi-cylinder method was adopted to increase the power and heat utilization rate of the steam engine.

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