Zhao Erdao: "Childe, how much redemption money do we have to collect from these prisoners before we are willing to release them, and how much do those thieves have to collect from them?" ”

Li Xiang smiled happily: "Hehe, I haven't discussed this matter with others yet, let them do it for a year and a half first, and then I will see, and now I can't say how much redemption money I want to collect." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Okay, let's quickly load the machine, go to the river and walk a few laps and then compete with the big ship to see which boat goes faster. ”

In fact, it is said that the final assembly of the machine is just to check the installed steam turbine again, and test the flexibility of the steam turbine, gear, and propeller after the steam burning of the three deep tripods is enough. After declaring that there was no problem, the three shells of the steam turbine were riveted together. Then wrap all the places that are easy to burn people with a thick cloth woven of 'non-gray wood', and tie it firmly and compact. There weren't a lot of things, and more than 20 people did everything in a little more than an hour.

The wind on the river was a bit strong today, and the whistling northwest wind blew waves more than a foot high, slapping heavily on the side of the ship. From time to time, gusts of wind whipped the water from the waves onto the upper decks, some of which splashed into the main deck from the patios, and then slowly flowed back into the river through small round holes in the side of the gunwales. The water in the river made the sailors scramble, and they hurriedly covered the powder kegs and covered the 'tiger squat cannons' with tarpaulins.

This time, the sailors who went out of the river with the ship had planned to fire a few more cannons to enjoy themselves, but they had to consider themselves unlucky when they encountered such weather, so they tightly closed the square windows of the few new guns opened on the side of the ship, so as to prevent the river from pouring into the main deck of the ship from the square windows only seven feet high from the river surface and wetting the gunpowder and 'tiger squat guns'.

I don't know if it's because the fire didn't burn big enough, or because of some other reason, the ship that was sailing against the wind did not advance but retreated.

An hour passed, but the wind was not necessarily stronger, but the ship was blown back faster and faster, and it was already more than ten miles away.

Li Xiang, Zhao Er, and a few sailors didn't know why this was happening, but they just shouted for a dozen boatmen to add coal to the furnace and turn on the steam switch to the maximum. No matter how they behaved, they saw that the two gears were still spinning slower and slower, and finally they simply stopped moving.

Li Xiang asked the boatmen to fill some fresh water into the deep ding with a pressurized water pump, and sat on the board of the boat and couldn't help thinking: "What's the matter, the wind is not very strong today, why are there three cauldrons with a capacity of more than 500 liters of water, and their steam can't push this small boat?" The propeller is too small, probably not. The one-foot-eight-inch diameter propeller is too big, and if it turns fast enough, the thrust generated should be enough to propel the boat. ”

"Speed!" Li Xiang shouted: "By the way, the key is in the issue of speed." Just now, the steam pressure in the three pots was not enough, so the force sprayed on those spoons was insufficient, and the maximum force was not exerted, and of course the propeller could not rotate. Ha, take a rest first, wait until the wind is a little lighter, and then try him, I don't believe that even such a powerful machine can't move this little warship in a light wind. ”

The helmsman in the stern helm, with the help of four assistants, laboriously pressed the sailor's direction according to the direction indicated by the fire commander to call out the left and right deflection angles of the rudder.

Li Xiang tied Zhao Er and his waist together with a rope, and supported each other to walk into the helm tower, so as not to be accidentally swept into the river by the wind and waves. He saw that the dozen or so people inside were all nervous, and he couldn't help but get nervous in his heart, and said secretly: "It turns out that it is still so troublesome to operate a boat on the river in this era, and there is still some slight power in the Neijiang. No, I, Li Xiang, can't take this kind of risk, even if I want to go out of the river to do business and fight in the future, I must first make the boat safer before I can go, otherwise, it's better not to take risks. ”

During this period of time, Zhao Er either went to the boat with Li Xiang every day to help with some work of repairing iron parts, or was driven by Li Xiang to train on the river to increase his adaptability. I didn't vomit anymore, but today's wind and waves were too big, and I couldn't help but start gagging.

Li Xiang hurriedly took out a piece of ginger from his satchel and stuffed it into his mouth, and shouted: "Hold back, don't think about being on a boat, just swing on a few big trees, and it will be fine." ”

I don't know if it was the ginger that worked, or if he really thought of swinging on the tree, Zhao Er really stopped vomiting.

The boatman in command in the helm tower saw that the boat sailing against the wind not only did not take a step forward, but was blown farther and farther away from Wuyu by the wind, and his face turned white with fright, and he hurriedly said to Li Xiang: "My lord, let's go down and stop the boat, I'm afraid it will be ...... if it continues like this I'm afraid it's going to ......."

Li Xiang knew the taboo of sailing on the river, and hurriedly said to the boatman: "Now the biggest person on the boat is you, if you think that we are not suitable to try the machine again, make the decision that you think is the most appropriate, and you don't need to ask me." ”

As soon as the boatmaster heard Li Xiang's words, he shouted a few words loudly, and dozens of boatmen on the ship acted in unison, some ran to the stern bilge to stop the machine, and some ran to the bow of the ship to put down two new four-legged iron anchors.

Li Xiang also pulled Zhao Er and stumbled to the rear bilge where the machines were installed, he was afraid that the people who used these machines would not extinguish the furnace with three deep tripods in time after turning off the steam, and it would be dangerous to keep burning.

It wasn't until he saw through the hazy fog that Zhao Er and more than a dozen shirtless boatmen were huddled in a corner, clinging to the wooden railing used for handrails on the bulkhead, that he breathed a sigh of relief.

The ship had been blown away from the dock by the wind, and as far as the eye could see from the hatch probe on the river, there was a tumbling wave of waves crashing against his own boat, shaking the ship of a hundred tons of displacement up and down.

It's still a little smaller, but if you can make a catamaran for the next generation, it will be much more stable.

"This kind of wind is not strong, based on the experience of the villain walking on the river for seven or eight years, there is basically no great danger, and adults don't have to worry." Li Xiang's ears heard the strong Chongqing accent of the leading boatman: "In the past, the villain also worked on a ship that was only 500 years old, and the walls of the ship were only double-layered, and it could withstand such a big wind and waves. Now our warship is a three-layer clamping siding, and the newly placed four-legged 'iron cat' on the ship is a hook for the anchorage into the river, which can be said to be very stable. ”

Li Xiang was not completely relieved by the Zhoushi's words, and in order to divert his attention, he asked the Zhoushi about their experience.

Only then did I know that this boatmaster was originally from Wushan County, Chongqing, called Wujiang. Ten years ago, Qingyuan Mansion, who followed his family to sell cattle to Liangzhe Road, was robbed by pirates near Taohua Mountain in Changguo County, and had no choice but to make a living by boating. He returned to Chongqing a few months ago and was attracted by the news that Li Xiang was recruiting sailors. (To be continued.) )