The rear cabin is where the flywheel is driven, and every time Xie Hong sees this, a wonderful feeling will appear in his heart. 【】

Gears, screws, chains...... With the sunlight streaming through the cabin, these parts have a metallic sheen, which always evokes Xie Hong's memories of the workshop and the machines in the workshop.

In fact, when these transmissions were first conceived, Xie Hong made skates for Zhengde to play with, and he also considered bicycles at that time.

At that time, because there were no rubber tires, he gave up the idea, but he still tried to make related parts, but unexpectedly, in the end, these things were applied to the ship, which made Xie Hong feel that the world was very wonderful.

Of course, seeing this, he is more proud in his heart, with screws and gears, boring machines and other mechanical equipment will be far away? If you wait for yourself to create that epoch-making thing, you should be able to loudly announce that the Ming Dynasty has officially entered the industrial age!

…… Although that's just in the bud.

This cabin is usually empty, and in essence, a flywheel battleship is still a sailboat. As an acceleration device, the flywheel is mainly used in the battlefield, and when the wind direction is extremely unfavorable, it needs to be powered by the flywheel.

When Xie Hong arrived at the rear cabin, there were three people here, and the two dressed in short clothes Xie Hong knew each other, and they were sailors on the ship. These sailors were all recruited from the vicinity of Jinzhou, there were not many people on board, and after sailing together for so long, Xie Hong basically knew each other.

The other person was an old man, and the judgment of his age was made when Xie Hong had already approached and saw his face. If you don't look at the face, just look at the back, most people should think that this is a middle-aged strong man.

His back was very straight, his hands were still gesturing from time to time, sometimes he would stop to think, his eyes were even more intense, he did not have the demeanor that is common in craftsmen, but he was a little similar to those purple-robed and jade-belted scholars in the court, the same spirit, the same full of confidence, and only the bronze skin exposed his identity.

"I've seen Master Hou." Seeing that Xie Hong had arrived, the two sailors hurriedly saluted. Xie Hong doesn't pay much attention to etiquette, like monkeys, those border soldiers have long been used to it, and they are usually casual, but these Jinzhou Wei sailors haven't gotten used to it yet, and when they see Xie Hong, they are all very respectful.

"It's okay, this Master Dai has been here for a long time?" Xie Hong asked softly.

The old man looked distracted, and he didn't pay any attention to Xie Hong's arrival, and didn't make any reaction. Xie Hong didn't seem to be fake when he saw his demeanor, so he didn't bother him and asked the two sailors directly.

"It's been a quarter of an hour since I was wandering around the cabin, and then suddenly it was quiet, and it was what it is now. The two of them were afraid that he would cause sabotage, so they had been following behind, but in addition to reaching out to look, the old man was also quite honest. ”

"Hmm." Xie Hong raised his eyebrows, and he was even more curious about this shipbuilder Dai Ziyan.

The classification of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty was not as strict as in later generations, and many people were multi-skilled, such as Zeng Jian. Most of the shipwrights who build ships in Port Arthur today are also carpenters who have changed careers, and it is very common for them to bypass the class.

However, there is still a relatively large gap between the skills of shipwrights and the technology of these mechanisms, which is why Xie Hong must also participate in it after the establishment of the School of Physics.

Because this way of learning things is actually the general term of the entire natural science, before finding a suitable leader for a specific subject, Xie Hong can only put all the contents together and then grasp it.

In fact, the Faculty of Physics teaches the most and most miscellaneous things, the main ones being mechanics and tectonics, and the rest, such as mathematics, which is also called arithmetic, is actually taught.

It's just that Xie Hong's own level is not high, and he can only be enlightened in this regard, and if he wants to make achievements, he can only wait, anyway, as long as he promotes it effectively, all kinds of talents will naturally emerge.

Xie Hong's observation is very keen, he found that when the other party looked at the teleporter, his brows were furrowed very tightly, his eyes were hesitant, obviously he was also observing and evaluating, this was what made him most curious, it seemed that the old shipwright in front of him seemed to be a special case like Uncle Zeng.

"It's considerable, it's a pity, alas, it's just a pity......" I don't know if it was the end of the observation, or because of the reaction caused by Xie Hong's arrival, Dai Ziyan suddenly sighed, and was still amazed at first, but when it came to the last sentence, he shook his head again and again, and the words turned into regrets, as if he had found some flaws.

"What did you say?" Scarface and the two sailors were furious, whether it was Xie Hong's previous achievements or the flywheel battleship itself, they had already proved his attainments at the pinnacle of technology, where could anyone question it?

"It doesn't matter." Xie Hong stretched out his hand to stop Jiang Bin, and asked the old shipwright with interest: "Since you have seen the mystery in it, why don't you talk about it in detail?" ”

Dai Ziyan turned his head and glanced at Xie Hong, and said with a faint expression: "Housheng, you built this boat?" ”

"Sort of." Xie Hong did the main design, as well as the internal transmission device, and the details were actually perfected by Wang Yun, but there was no need to explain these things to outsiders, he also nodded and responded.

"The afterlife is terrifying." Dai Ziyan sighed again, "In terms of the ship itself, I can only marvel at the old man, let alone being old, even if it was the ancestor back then, he never thought that the car and ship could be transformed like this...... It's amazing, it's amazing! ”

"It's just a transmission device, no matter how ingenious, the old man is a layman, and it's just a lively look." After sighing for a long time, Dai Ziyan's words changed, but he asked Xie Hong: "Whether it is Jiangnan today, or even during the Yongle period, most of the sea ships built by the Ming Dynasty are square in shape, and they are born in the future, do you know why?" ”

"Probably to stabilize the surname, right?" Xie Hong was not sure to say his guess, in terms of appearance, the most significant feature of the treasure ship is the square, in the information of later generations, it is said that the treasure ship is more than 40 zhang long and 18 zhang wide, and it is not wrong to describe it as Fangzheng.

"Yes, stable and resistant to wind and waves, and the loading capacity should be large enough, which is the original intention of the design of the treasure ship, but now it is a little different......" The old man asked with a wry smile: "In addition to the square, the characteristics of the lucky ship, but also add a shallow bottom, hehe, do you know why?" ”

"It's to make it easy to enter the port." What else can it be for? The lower the center of gravity of the boat, the more resistant the boat is to wind and waves, and only those boats that sail on rivers will try to make the bottom of the boat as shallow as possible in order to avoid running aground.

In addition to not knowing how to do this, there is of course only one answer, and that is to enhance the adaptation to the port.

Of course, Jiangnan people will not be ignorant, although the docks and fleets of the imperial court are deserted, but the private sea trade is thriving, which can be proved by Xie Hong's harvest of robbery, so the reason can only be the one he said.

"Yes, in the early years of Yongle, the world has not been peaceful for a long time, the Tatar invasion has withered the Central Plains, and many technologies are lost, so the construction of the treasure ship is also explored from the beginning, and in the end, although it was successfully completed, but in fact, the ability of the treasure ship to sail is to be discussed, but it doesn't matter......" Speaking of the story of those years, the old shipwright is also a face of reminiscence and longing.

"The ancestors of the Dai family once participated in the construction of the treasure ship, and after several voyages, they also realized the problem, and put forward suggestions for improvement to the peak, which were also accepted and even ...... But who would have thought ...... Alas! ”

Dai Ziyan first remembered, and then became excited, but in the end, it ended with a long sigh, he was still unfinished, but Xie Hong knew what he wanted to say.

The sea ban was an evil policy that interrupted the process of Chinese civilization exploring the world and expanding outward.

It is true that treasure ships are not suitable for long voyages, especially those across the oceans. However, judging from the information of later generations, Zheng He's fleet reached many places, crossing the Indian Ocean to Africa, crossing the Java Sea, the Banda Sea and the Timor Sea to reach Australia, and there is even a theory that Zheng He's fleet reached the Americas.

These sources appear to be contradictory and cannot be used as empirical evidence.

But Xie Hong didn't think so, he who had seen the real level of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, he could say an answer with certainty: that is, in the decades of development, the Ming Dynasty's sea ships were also constantly improving, and by the end of Zheng He's voyage, it is likely that there had been sailing ships suitable for long-distance voyages and similar to the concept of modern ships.

Whether there is or not, it is difficult to verify from later generations, the sea ban and the destruction of Zheng He's charts, coupled with the text prison of the later generations of Tatars, completely annihilated the truth in the long river of history, leaving people only amazement.

However, from the words of the old craftsman in front of him, Xie Hong's conjecture was confirmed.

At that time, there were far more than one or two docks for the construction of sea vessels, and each place was full of famous craftsmen. After decades of seafaring and seven voyages back, will there be no improvement in the seagoing vessel?

Xie Hong really doesn't believe that with the greatness of Chinese civilization, as long as he is determined to forge ahead, there is nothing that Chinese people can't do, and what can be regarded as a trivial matter of transforming sea ships?

You must know that the Yongle Year is a great era led by a generation of heroes! In that era, the scholars who suppressed the progress of the times were far from reaching the point of covering the sky with one hand.

"Actually, if you don't count the mechanisms inside, I have seen the old man, although what I saw was not a real thing, just a figure in the ancestors' notes, but in general, it was not bad...... But he didn't expect that in his lifetime, he would really be able to see such a sea ship, and even if the old man died soon, he would be able to close his eyes. Dai Ziyan's voice was a little choked, but his tone was full of pride.

"Then what else do you say about the pity? Isn't it old and confused? Jiang Bin muttered a little dissatisfied, still haunted by Dai Ziyan's words.

"It's a pity." The old man shook his head, still holding on to his original words.

"Then you should say, where is the pity, what is the pity?" Scarface was a little angry and yelled.

Xie Hong was about to be stopped, but it could be seen that Dai Ziyan seemed to have something to say, and he was also very interested, so he simply let Jiang Bin confront the old man.

(To be continued)