Chapter 263: Impractical Sextants

"Hehe, third brother, don't be afraid, this thing is a kind of machine developed by Dean Zhao, you only need to add water and charcoal to it, this machine can run, and then generate huge power, this kind of machine is called a steam engine, and this kind of train is just a use of a steam engine.\\" Li Su said, introducing Zhao Yifan beside him to Li Ke and others. Although Yifan is just a girl, she is the president of the Dengzhou Academy of Sciences, and in Li Su's eyes, the other party is more important than the entire Dengzhou City.

The three brothers Li Ke were very surprised when they heard this, turned their heads to look at the rumbling steam locomotive, and then looked at the petite Yifan, which really couldn't compare to the big guy who came from this girl's hand.

Speaking of which, the speed of this train is really slow enough, just now I saw the train rushing out of the grove, but I waited for a while, and the rumbling train arrived at Li Yu's side. However, the train did not stop, but directly passed them and turned around, and then stopped.

"Third brother, seventh brother, eighth brother, how about we go up and take a ride together?" Li Su smiled and invited, this train has been running for many days, and there has been no big problem, plus the speed is slow, there should be no danger, so Li Su wants to take it in person to try the feeling.

"So what are you waiting for? I'll go first! Li Zhen was impatient to wait for a long time, and as soon as she heard Li Zhen's words, she was the first to rush up. Because they knew that Li Su and they were going to take it, so today's train did not take other people, and when Li Su boarded the carriage to take a look, he found that the layout of the carriage was very similar to that of the bus in later generations, and rows of wooden stools were fixed in the car, although it looked a little simple, but it could allow more people to sit down.

Li Su and the four of them took the lead in boarding the car, and each found a seat by the window to sit down, accompanied by Lu Hong and Zhao Fu's father and daughter, Li Su also wanted to invite Yang Jun and Cai'er to come, but he took into account Yang Jun's illness and couldn't be too stimulated, so he didn't invite him to come, although Cai'er was very interested, but she knew that her father couldn't go, so she also stayed in the city to accompany her father.

After everyone sat down, with a whistle, the train finally started slowly. Li Su had long been accustomed to all kinds of motor vehicles in his previous life, so he naturally didn't feel anything. However, Li Ke and Li Zhen felt very novel, and they were excited as the train slowly accelerated, and even ran to Li Su to ask about the working principle of the steam engine, after all, in their opinion, it was amazing that the machine that could run without manpower and animal power and only rely on drinking water and eating charcoal was amazing!

Although Li Su doesn't know much about machinery, it is enough to fool Li Ke about them, so he talked about the working principle of the steam engine and the difficulties encountered when he asked Yifan to design and make the steam engine.

However, in the process of the train moving towards the port, Li Su found an extremely interesting phenomenon, such as when the train was moving forward at full speed, a few people would suddenly run on the cement avenue parallel to the railroad tracks, and quickly catch up with the train, grab the carriage door and want to get on the train, but they were driven down by the palace guards at the door.

Seeing this situation, Li Su laughed, Yifan has just said that usually this train goes back and forth between Dengzhou and the port, and it is free for people to ride, it is estimated that these people are the same as usual, take a hitchhike, after all, although the speed of the train is slow, but at least it is a little faster than walking, and it can save some effort.

It's just that when Yifan saw this situation, his face was slightly red, as the main designer of the train, the speed of the train is only a little faster than a person walking, let alone the speed compared with the horse-drawn carriage, the only thing that is stronger than the horse-drawn carriage is that as long as the train does not break down, plus enough fuel and water, it can never stop running.

After taking the train to run back and forth between Dengzhou and the port, Li Su praised Yifan and encouraged the other party to make persistent efforts to improve the speed of the train, and for Yifan to propose a plan to build a steam engine ship, Li Su also immediately approved, and also proposed that it could be modified on the basis of the car and ship, first, the car and ship are more suitable for using steam engines as power, and second, the Datang car and ship are also relatively small, and the modification is relatively simple.

For Li Su's suggestions, Yifan carefully wrote them down, and also discussed some details with Li Su, although Li Su could not help specifically, but he could provide some novel ideas, as well as the future development direction of the steam engine ship, and these are exactly what Yifan needs.

"Subordinate Wei Gong, see Your Highness!" In the main hall of the Qi Palace, Wei Heizi, who was in charge of the Dengzhou Ship Design Institute, saluted Li Su respectfully. In addition to the two of them in the hall, Zhao Fu was also here, and in Zhao Fu's opposite position, there were seven or eight young people standing.

"Dean Wei doesn't have to be polite!" Li Su said with a smile. Since Wei Gong sat as the president of the Ship Design Institute, he has become a leading figure in the shipbuilding industry in Dengzhou, and no one dares to call Wei Heizi's nickname anymore.

"Your Highness!" Wei Gong stood up after hearing this, and at the same time looked at the seven or eight young people next to him suspiciously, guessing the origin of the other party.

"Dean Wei, I invited you and Zhao Beijia at the same time this time, the first is to introduce you to these new colleagues." Li Su said, stretched out his hand and pointed to the seven or eight young people next to him, "These are all the senior disciples of Taishi Ling Li Chunfeng, the one led by him is named Xie Chun, and this one is named Hua Guang......."

Li Su introduced these seven or eight young people, and after Li Chunfeng successfully developed the sextant, he sent Xie Chun's disciples to Li Su, and asked them to follow Li Su to Dengzhou, mainly to teach the use of the sextant, as for how to teach, that is Li Su's problem.

However, the last time Li Su came to Dengzhou, Xie Chun and these people did not stay, but followed him to Taiwan, the reason for this is mainly to use a sextant to measure the latitude and longitude of the major ports along the coast, and made a record one by one, and even when Li Su was in Taiwan, Xie Chun and these people continued to go south by boat, and continued to measure in the area of Guangzhou, almost all the important seaports were measured, these data are very useful, and these data will also be compiled into the teaching materials when teaching the use of the sextant in the future.

After introducing the people, and then the two sides saluted, then Li Sucai continued: "When Li Taishi Ling came to Dengzhou, I once asked him to help design an instrument, which is used for maritime positioning, it can be said that as long as there is this kind of instrument, there is almost no need to worry about the problem of sea trek!" ”

"Maritime locator instrument! Your Highness, is there such a sharp weapon in this world? As soon as Li Su's words fell, Zhao Fu and Wei Gong were both taken aback. One of them is a master shipbuilder, and the other has been an official at the beach for many years, so they naturally know the seriousness of losing their way at sea, but they didn't expect that they could even solve the instrument of sea positioning?

"Hehe, don't be surprised, the two adults don't have to be surprised, I heard the teacher say that this kind of sextant was proposed by His Royal Highness, and then developed by the teacher and others for more than a year, and it took countless efforts to make it, and after our test, the positioning effect of the sextant is excellent, although there may be a certain error, but it is within an acceptable range!" Xie Chun, the leader, said with a warm smile.

Among Li Chunfeng's several disciples, Xie Chun is the oldest, and he is also highly talented, and he has learned Li Chunfeng's skills the most, so he is usually the leader.

"Sextant? What an amazing thing! As soon as Wei Heizi heard that it was proposed by His Royal Highness the King of Qi, his eyes immediately lit up, and there was no longer any doubt in his heart. When he was still in Chang'an, Li Su asked him to help make two ship models, and these are the Galen ship and the Fu ship, so he has always admired Li Su's ability.

"Your Highness has such a magical instrument, can you let the lower officials take a look?" Zhao Fu also knew that Li Su knew very knowledge, but he was very curious about the sextant in his heart, and wanted to see what was so magical about this thing?

"This is easy, Xie Chun, you should have it on you, take it out and let Zhao Beijia take a look, and by the way, teach him how to use it!" Li Su said with a smile.

"Yes!" When Xie Chun heard this, he immediately took out a palm-sized sextant from his arms, and then walked over to let Zhao Fu and Wei Gong watch it carefully, and also explained the principle and usage of the sextant.

And when Zhao Fu and Wei Gong saw this fan-shaped sextant, they really found that the shape was a little complicated, and then listening to the series of professional terms that Xie Chun said, the two of them were dumbfounded all of a sudden, because they didn't understand it at all. Among them, Wei Gong is just that, he was originally a craftsman, and he knows a little bit about arithmetic, but astronomy and the like are much worse. And Zhao Fu was born in the imperial examination, and he was also involved in arithmetic and astronomy, otherwise he would not have given birth to a daughter as smart as Yifan, but even so, he could only understand four or five percent, which made Zhao Fu's old face a little unbearable.

Seeing Zhao Fu's ashamed face, Li Su smiled secretly in his heart, in fact, the use of the sextant is not difficult, and he can learn it quickly with Zhao Fu's foundation, but he doesn't understand some basic concepts, such as the concept of latitude and longitude, etc., if he doesn't understand these, he naturally can't understand what Xie Chun is talking about.

Although he only understood four or five percent, Zhao Fu also understood the importance of the sextant, but this also made him think of a question, so he bowed down to Li Su and said: "Your Royal Highness, this sextant is good, but if you want to operate, you need the other party to know astronomy and arithmetic, but take my Dengzhou as an example, there are thousands of registered ship owners, but those who have the basis for using the sextant are estimated to be less than one thousandth, so is this thing too impractical?" ”

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