Zhejiang, Jiande Arsenal.

After all the craftsmen of the Jiande Arsenal and all the academicians of the Academy of Military Sciences worked hard for more than half a month, the first small steam engine designed by Stephen was officially born.

As Wang Pu said, after having an iron boring machine and a lathe, the whole processing process becomes very fast and smooth, first pouring the mold, pouring all the steel components required by the steam engine, and then boring, turning, grinding, drilling and other processing procedures, and finally assembly.

To supply steam to the steam engine, Stephen also designed and built a small boiler.

However, in order to reduce the difficulty of processing and speed up the processing, Stephen's steam engine was designed to be very small, and the output power was also very limited, so it is more appropriate to call it a steam engine model than a small steam engine, but in any case, the first steam engine was finally built.

On the day of the demonstration, Wang Pu and all the academicians of the Academy of Military Sciences came, and the two hundred students of Yangming University and all the craftsmen of the Jiande Arsenal and the nearby mountain people also rushed over from the four miles and eight towns, and surrounded the open space from a distance to watch.

Under the expectant gaze of people, Stephen walked out of the laboratory with the model of the steam engine he personally designed and supervised, and saw Stephen holding the steam engine in his arms, Wang Pu couldn't help but smile, Stephen's appearance was like holding a child who was only half a month old.

The surrounding onlookers also saw clearly that the main body of this model of a steam engine was about a foot long, and its height and width would not exceed four inches at most, and there were several criss-crossing iron pipes, which looked quite strange.

Wang Pu was somewhat disappointed in his heart, and there was no hope for industrial production from this model, but after all, this was the first steam engine in the real sense, and Wang Pu couldn't ask for too much.

Stephen was followed by two students, one of whom was holding a cylindrical object, which seemed to be a simple boiler specially designed and made for steam engines, saying that the boiler was actually a fully enclosed water pot, and then there was an extra valve on the iron pipe connected to the outside world.

Another trainee was holding a crankshaft linkage mechanism that converted the reciprocating motion of a steam engine into rotational motion.

Stephen carefully placed the model of the steam engine in his arms on the demonstration table, connected the simple boiler and the connecting rod mechanism successively, and then asked the students to add charcoal to the stove of the simple boiler to make a fire, which burned for half an hour, and when everyone was a little impatient, Stephen slowly unscrewed the valve connecting the boiler and the steam engine.

"Poof......

A stream of hot steam erupted from the exhaust port of the steam engine, and then the round wheels on the connecting rod began to slowly rotate, and the students and craftsmen gathered around the open space immediately cheered, and Wang Pu's eyes couldn't help but have a trace of inexplicable look.

Stephen smirked and kept widening the valve.

As the valve increases, the frequency of the steam engine's exhaust is getting faster and faster, and the rotation speed of the round wheel of the connecting rod mechanism is getting faster and faster.

The surrounding trainees and craftsmen went completely crazy......

The steam engine has finally been developed!

Although it is only a useless model, although it is not yet possible to produce it industrially, the first real steam engine has appeared anyway, and the next steam engine is only necessary to continuously improve and perfect this steam engine to increase the output power......

Wang Pu believes that it will not be long before industrial steam engines will appear!

It won't be long before the power of the machine tool of the Jiande Arsenal can be changed from water power to steam engine, or it won't be long before there will be a new ironclad ship powered by a steam engine in the naval ships of the Ming Empire, or it won't be long before there will be rails and trains on the territory of the Ming Empire, and the connection of the entire empire will be closer!

The change that the steam engine will bring to the empire will be revolutionary!

That night, the entire Jiande Arsenal was plunged into a carnival.

In order to celebrate the birth of the first steam engine, Wang Pu even invited the best troupe from Jiande County to perform a series of performances to comfort the academicians, students and craftsmen for their hard work in the past half a month, but when everyone was carnivaling, Wang Pu was not much interested, and he couldn't wait to call Song Yingxing to his office.

Wang Pu was anxious for the Academy of Military Sciences to develop the steam engine, and the driving force was the ironclad ship!

Wang Pu knew that the great voyage of the West was in the ascendant, and the fleets of European countries were sailing to every corner of the four oceans, discovering a new continent rich in resources one after another, and it was the great Age of Discovery that created the glory of modern European history, and now Wang Pu has the opportunity to rewrite history, how could he let the Ming Empire pass by with the Great Voyage?

Therefore, Wang Pu wanted the Academy of Military Sciences to develop a steam engine, and after the steam engine model was successfully developed, Wang Pu couldn't wait to talk to Song Yingxing.

The navy of the Ming Dynasty was originally extremely powerful, the fleet of the Ming Dynasty during the Yongle Emperor had sailed to the east coast of Africa, and it was rumored that the fleet of the Ming Dynasty had appeared on the west coast of South America across the Pacific Ocean.

It is an indisputable fact that until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the navy of the Ming Dynasty was first-class in the world at that time!

Even after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Zheng clan, who retreated to Taiwan, repeatedly defeated Spain and the Netherlands, the naval hegemons of the Western world at that time, in naval battles.

Although the current Ming Dynasty is still in the midst of internal and external troubles, the Jiannu in Liaodong and the Tartars in the desert have not yet been conquered, and the rebels in Shanxi and Sichuan have not yet been pacified.

However, the current Ming Empire is no longer the Ming Empire when Emperor Chongzhen was in power, the current Ming Empire has a united and efficient cabinet team, and there is an incomparably powerful central army.

With the current economic strength of the Ming Empire, it is fully equipped to vigorously develop the water division!

However, Wang Pu didn't want to simply copy the powerful Ming Sailors of the Yongle Emperor, and spent a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to simply copy the nine-masted treasure ships, eight-masted horse ships and seven-masted grain ships of the Yongle Emperor, but also covered these ships with thick armor to create an unprecedented ironclad fleet beyond the times!

In fact, Wang Pu really wanted to build a pure steel structure of the ironclad ship, but unfortunately the welding technology of this era was too backward, it was impossible to weld the overall hull, so Wang Pu had to retreat to the next best thing, covering the original wooden hull with armor, the ironclad ships of the West in the early industrial revolution were not the same?

Of course, even if it is only covered with a layer of armor, such an ironclad will become extremely heavy, and of course the sails alone cannot drive the ironclad, but the appearance of the steam engine has made it possible!

Compared with wooden sailing ships, ironclads have incomparable advantages, ironclads have continuous and sufficient power, completely unaffected by monsoons and ocean currents, and the penetrating surnames of the oceans are far from comparable to sailboats! In addition, the ironclad ship powered by the steam engine has a faster speed, and once it encounters at sea, the sailboat will not be able to escape the pursuit of the ironclad ship at all!

It is no exaggeration to say that in front of the ironclad fleet, the wooden sailing fleet can only wait to be killed, if the Ming Empire has an ironclad sailor, it can become the overlord of the ocean again overnight, and Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England, these Western European maritime powers will become vulnerable!

Of course, advanced ironclad warships alone cannot make the Ming Empire become a naval power overnight, in order to build an invincible sailor, in addition to advanced ironclad warships, a large number of excellent sailors and a large number of excellent officers are also needed! Wang Pu was very lucky, the Ming Empire at this time was far from falling, and the Ming Empire at this time happened to have a large number of excellent sailors and a large number of excellent sailors.

Therefore, for Wang Pu, everything is now ready and only the east wind is owed!

As long as an ironclad fleet is created, the Ming Empire can have an invincible maritime division overnight, and from then on, the Great Voyage has nothing to do with the Europeans, and the Empire has nothing to do with the English, the ocean can only be the ocean of the Ming Empire, and the Empire can only be the Empire of the Han nation!

A sound of broken footsteps suddenly woke Wang Pu from his contemplation, and when he looked up, he saw that Song Yingxing had already walked in.

Wang Pu hurriedly got up, respectfully waved to Song Yingxing, and said loudly: "Old Song." ”

"Hey." Song Yingxing hurriedly shook his hands and said in a panic, "Master Hou, don't dare to be this, don't dare to be." ”

"Old Song, you can afford it!"

Wang Pujie bowed to Song Yingxing firmly, and then asked Song Yingxing to sit down.

Song Yingxing sat down a little crampedly, and suddenly found that Wang Pu actually placed his "Tiangong Kaiwu" on the table, Wang Pu smiled slightly, held the page of "Tiangong Kaiwu" and said with a smile: "Song Lao, your book only briefly describes treasure ships, horse ships, grain ships and other sailor ships, but I don't know if you know the processing technology of these ships?" ”

As soon as he talked about academic issues, Song Yingxing's expression immediately became natural, and he said eloquently: "During the Wanli period, the old man worked as a supervisor in the Zhenhai Shipbuilding Bureau for several years, and he also had a slight study of the shipbuilding technology and the structure of various ships of the sailors. ”

Wang Pu waved his hand and said with a smile: "Old Song, suitable wood and skilled craftsmen can be found slowly, now I want to ask you another question, can you cover the sides of the nine-masted treasure ship, the eight-masted horse ship and the seven-masted grain ship with thick iron plates to resist the artillery fire of the enemy ships?" ”

"Covered with thick iron plates?" Song Yingxing was stunned at first, and then shook his head, "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible." ”

Wang Puxiao asked, "Why is it impossible?" ”

Song Yingxing smiled bitterly: "It's easy to put thick iron plates on the side nails, but in this way, the weight of the warship will be greatly increased, the nine-masted ship, the eight-masted ship and the seven-masted ship are originally huge, if you want to cover all the surfaces with iron plates, how many iron plates do you have to make, and how much weight does it add?" How big sails does such a bulky warship have to hang to ensure speed? It's hard, it's so hard! ”

"Don't we already have a steam engine?" Wang Pu smiled, "Why don't you put the steam engine on the nine-masted, eight-masted and seven-masted ships?" When the time comes, we will use the steam engine as the main driving force, the sail as the auxiliary driving force, the sail in peacetime, and then the steam engine when fighting the enemy ships, what does Song Lao think? ”

"Steam engine?" Song Yingxing couldn't keep up with Wang Pu's thinking, opened his hands and made a round shape, and said in a comfortable voice, "Just such a gadget that Stephen fiddled with?" I'm afraid I can't even drive a small sampan, let alone a seven-masted, eight-masted and nine-masted ship. ”

"Hahaha......" Wang Pu laughed, "Old Song said that the first steam engine built by Stephen was small, but the steam engine he built later was big enough, if he could build a steam engine the size of a house, would you be able to drive a nine-masted ship?" If one steam engine can't be towed, then what about two, three? ”

"This ......"

Song Yingxing's expression moved, and he fell into contemplation, and only after a long time did he whisper, "Master Hou, Stephen can really build a steam engine as big as a house?" ”

Wang Pu said solemnly: "Of course you can." ”

Song Yingxing measured it carefully, and said solemnly: "Master Hou, you can try it." ”

"It's not a try, it's a must!" Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "Old Song, tomorrow you will leave for the Zhenhai Shipbuilding Bureau, if there are experts in the Academy of Military Sciences who are familiar with the shipbuilding process, you had better bring them with you, and after you arrive in Zhenhai, you will take over the Shipbuilding Bureau in an all-round way, what wood is needed, how many craftsmen are needed, how much land is needed, how much silver is needed, how many manpower is needed, you can directly ask the cabinet, and the cabinet will unconditionally support your work!" ”

From Wang Pu's tone, Song Yingxing heard an unprecedented eagerness, and it could be seen that Wang Pu was very eager to rebuild a powerful sailor.

Although Song Yingxing didn't know why Wang Pu was so eager, he was obviously infected by Wang Pu's emotions, and slowly stood up, his old face also showed unprecedented solemnity, and said: "Master Hou, the old man doesn't dare to boast, but this seven-masted ship, eight-masted ship and nine-masted ship wrapped in iron armor must be built for Hou Ye no matter what, even if Lord Yama ticks the name of the old man on the book of life and death, the old man will hold on until the day when the ironclad ship is built!" ”

Wang Pu kicked his right leg, saluted Song Yingxing with a standard military salute, and said solemnly: "Old Song, please!" ”

Song Yingxing turned around and left, but when he walked to the door, he stood again, turned around and said: "Master Hou, if you want to build an ironclad warship as soon as possible, it is best to recover Liaodong as soon as possible!" Because to build a seven-masted ship, an eight-masted ship and a nine-masted ship need towering giant trees, such giant trees are only two places in the entire Ming Dynasty, except for Guizhou, that is, Liaodong, Guizhou's wood is not as good as Liaodong's wood and the road is difficult, it is difficult to transport, Liaodong's wood is of high quality and can be transported by sea, therefore, the old man thinks that it is best to use Liaodong's wood. ”

……

(To be continued)