[Today's first shift, the second shift will be in the middle of the night, if you can't wait, wash and sleep first! ] O(∩_∩)O】

In the first year of Tongzhi, the northern land ushered in the first snow of the new year, and the people who had been busy for a year could finally stay on the kang at home and have a peaceful meal with their wives and children.

Deng Haonan was in charge of government at the beginning, and a series of things made him busy.

The territory of the Ming Empire is vast, but it also has the most things.

Beginning in October of the eighth year of the Apocalypse, due to the implementation of the policy of rest and recuperation throughout the country, refugees and rioters from the previous provinces returned to their places of origin one after another, so that the census could be carried out.

Due to the institutional relationship of the Ming Dynasty, in order to avoid paying taxes, the princes and nobles, local officials, and large landowners controlled many of the people under their control to conceal or even fail to report. The registered population in the seventh year of the Apocalypse was more than 53.75 million, and the actual population should be greater than this number.

Deng Haonan needed exact population figures in order to carry out various reforms.

Therefore, in October of the eighth year of the Apocalypse, Deng Haonan ordered the household department, the official department and the criminal department to start the census. To this end, Deng Haonan allocated a special fund of 500,000 taels to the census organs as funds.

In March of the first year of Tongzhi, the population census of half a year was completed, and after it was finally summarized in the household department, the population increased by more than 13 million compared with the registered population.

But there's still a lot of moisture here. At the height of the Ming Dynasty, the population approached the 100 million mark. However, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, natural and man-made disasters and wars were frequent, and the population dropped sharply. Due to the official document issued by the imperial court to distribute land according to population, many underground black people surfaced, and when the census was conducted, more than 13 million people were added. At the same time, in order to get more land, many local gentry made false reports on the population, resulting in the census producing water.

This figure has some moisture, but it can already be used as a criterion for governance.

However, managing a population of more than 70 million, not counting the population of North Korea and other colonies, the twists and turns of punishment and prison alone are piled up, which really gives Deng Haonan a headache.

Fortunately, Qian Qianyi, the first assistant of the cabinet, was more diligent, and Deng Haonan didn't need to worry too much, and Deng Haonan was not disappointed when the Donglin Party took power again, and the court machine was able to operate normally.

However, the Daming region is too extensive, and the climate of the Xiaoice River continues to affect the northern hemisphere, making the Daming Empire continue to have natural disasters.

Almost every day, disasters in various provinces were reported, urging the imperial court to allocate all funds for disaster relief.

No, just after the first month of the first year of Tongzhi, the courtier Ma Maocai reported: "Chengdu earthquake, roaring like thunder, 12 times in a row, the house shakes, the rooster barks, the river rises and the water is red, the landslide city falls, and several soldiers of the Suchenglou battalion are crushed. Songpanwei (now Songpan) shook twelve times a day, and the sound was like thunder. The Xiaohe camp (i.e., the Xiaohe Guard, Thousand Households) earthquake on the same day, a landslide, the city collapsed 120 zhang, and several soldiers and civilians were crushed. On the same day, Chongqing Prefecture, Bishan, Guang'an Prefecture, Cangxi, Jingxian, Weiyuan and other cities were all shocked. ”

Deng Haonan has to approve these disasters every day, and his head is buzzing every day.

However, fortunately, last year's overseas trade made a lot of profits, and the fiscal deficit was filled after the year-end settlement, which suddenly reduced Deng Haonan's financial pressure and could cope with these natural disasters.

However, the huge fiscal deficit caused by the recuperation will become higher and higher, and other expenditures will continue to be reduced. In particular, military expenditures have shrunk the most, and although more than 1.5 million troops have been dismantled, saving a large amount of expenditure, it has still affected the navy's expenditures, resulting in a 10 percent reduction in naval expenditures.

The ten Beiyun-class fourth-class battleships that had already started construction could be commissioned in three months, which made Deng Haonan very happy. It's just that the development process of the Xiangying-class test ship Xiangying is a little difficult, and even difficult to deliver.

This is mainly due to the fact that the flying scissor bow and steel hull need a hydraulic press to forge it, but the hydraulic press needs a steam engine to power it, and although the craftsmen can draw inspiration from the records of the treasure book, theory and practice are two different things, and it takes time to merge.

In Deng Haonan's view, Daming's industrial manufacturing capacity can completely build a steam engine, and what is lacking is the concept. The technicians learned from the book and began to imitate the steam engine. However, the problem lies with Deng Haonan, who overjudged the adaptability of the Ming people, and directly gave orders to the technicians, and the first thing to develop was a steam engine that could directly provide power.

As a result, technicians are asked to draw the whole picture when they have just been exposed to the tip of the iceberg of new science, which is undoubtedly equivalent to making children not learn to climb and run first. As a result, the steam engine that the technician forcibly made according to the gourd painting scoop was useless, and could not drive the hydraulic press at all.

In order to cater to Deng Haonan's taste, the Naval Engineering Department also patted its chest to ensure that the development of the Xiangying-class battleship was smooth, and when the hydraulic press did not pass the test, it used manpower to manually build the flying scissor bow and steel hull needed for the battleship.

In this way, it not only consumes time and effort, not to mention a lot of money, but also delays the practical application process of the steam engine. In the beginning, craftsmen could build iron-hulled ships of more than ten tons by hand, but when it came to two-hundred-ton iron-hulled ships, it was very difficult to build them manually, and finally they stagnated on four-hundred-ton hulls, and no amount of manpower could be used to build them.

Development reached an impasse, and the planned timeline was delayed. The Admiralty wanted to severely punish the officials of the Engineering Department, and Deng Haonan knew that he was too hasty to cause the trouble, and finally helped them intercede and show mercy outside the law.

A qiē was overturned and restarted, starting slowly from the real theory of the steam engine.

In fact, the invention of the steam engine did not come from Watt in the nineteenth century. In fact, the steam engine is not a high-tech technology, but the person who discovered it came too late.

The world's first steam engine was invented in the 1st century by the ancient Greek mathematician Heroof Alexandria of Alexandria, but it was nothing more than a toy.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty (1643), French physicist Denis Papen built the first working model of a steam engine after observing steam escaping his pressure cooker. At the same time, Samuel Moran also proposed the idea of the steam engine, but it was during the Thirty Years' War in Europe and the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, and the results of their invention were buried by the government, either intentionally or unintentionally, and were not made public until long after the war ended.

It was not until 1698 that the early industrial steam engines built by Thomas Seville began to be adopted, and he made his own contribution to the development of the steam engine. By 1807, Robert Fulton was the first to successfully use a steam engine to drive a steamer.

Watt was not the inventor of the steam engine, which had preceded him, the Newcomen steam engine, but it was large in coal consumption and inefficient. Using scientific theories, Watt gradually discovered the problem with this steam engine. From 1765 to 1790, he made a series of inventions, such as the split condenser, the setting of an insulation layer outside the cylinder, the lubrication of the piston with oil, the planetary gear, the parallel motion linkage mechanism, the centrifugal governor, the throttle valve, the pressure gauge, etc., which increased the efficiency of the steam engine to more than three times that of the original Newcomen machine, and finally invented the steam engine in the modern sense.

From the end of the 16th century to the late 17th century, the mining industry in England, especially the coal mines, had developed to a considerable scale, and it was difficult to meet the requirements of removing groundwater from the mines by manpower and animal power alone, and there was abundant and cheap coal as fuel on the site. The need for reality prompted many people, such as Papan, Safrie, and Newcomen in the United Kingdom, to devote themselves to the exploration and experimentation of "lifting water with firepower".

The original vacuum steam engine was used to pump water out of the mine. Newcomen's steam engine introduced steam into the cylinder, the valve was closed, and then cold water was sprinkled into the cylinder, creating a vacuum as the steam condensed. The air pressure on the other side of the piston pushes the piston. A rod deep into the shaft is attached to drive a pump in the mine. The movement of the piston of the steam engine is transmitted to the piston of the pump through this rod to pump the water out of the well.

The first huge improvement was the separation of the cylinder from the condensation cylinder with a valve in pass. Watt invented this improvement in Birmingham. This improvement increased the efficiency of the steam engine. The next improvement is to automate the operation of the valve.

These early vacuum steam engines had limited efficiency, but they were safer because they had lower pressures and contracted inwards rather than exploding outwards in the event of material damage. Their efficiency is limited by external air pressure, cylinder deformation, efficiency and condensation capacity for combustion and boiling. The theoretical maximum efficiency is limited by the relatively low boiling temperature of water at ordinary atmospheric pressure. The use of high-temperature and high-pressure steam has brought a huge increase in the efficiency of the steam engine. But this steam engine is much more dangerous than a vacuum steam engine. The explosion of the boiler and the machine caused many major accidents. The safety valve brings a big improvement here, and in case of excessive pressure, the safety valve is deflated and depressurized. But true safety can only be guaranteed by the experience and safety rules of construction, operation and maintenance.

Imperial University employs many scientists from all over the world, including Saverly, a recent graduate of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Saffley was an Englishman who had come to the Netherlands to study. He came from a family of miners, and his father worked as a foreman for a mining company in London. In England, the steam engine was already in use at this time, but it was not popularized and not well known to the world. Unfortunately, Saffory had seen steam engines as a child and was more interested in them. Forced by life, he chose to come to Daming to pan for gold. The Ming people started too late in science, and only began to learn Western science and technology on a large scale in the late Wanli period, but a simple steam engine required a lot of knowledge to cooperate, and the technicians of the Engineering Department had a very low level of education and urgently needed to learn.

As a result, the Admiralty had to go to the Imperial University for teaching, because most of the lecturers here were knowledgeable foreigners.

Saffley was interested in the steam engine, so he was happy to help, and he asked for a job with the Naval Engineering Department.

Historically, this Saveri was the first to improve the steam engine, and the improved steam engine was used for more than 100 years before it was improved again by Watt.

With the help of Safri, the full cooperation and support of the Imperial University, the Guozijian, and the Admiralty, four months later, on April 4 of the first year of Tongzhi, the Naval Engineering Department finally made the world's first practical steam-powered engine, which was named Hercules I.

Hercules I did not refer to the design of the steam engine in the Treasure Book, because Saveri could not read the description in the Yongle Canon. However, the craftsmen did not succeed in imitating the records of the Yongle Canon, so they had to find another way to improve on the steam engine made by the British.

It fills an egg container with steam, then closes the inlet valve, and sprays cold water on the outside of the container to condense the steam inside the container to form a vacuum. Open the water inlet valve, and the underground water is sucked into the container through the water inlet pipe by atmospheric pressure; Close the inlet valve, reopen the inlet valve, and press out the water in the container through the drain valve by steam pressure. When the water in the container is emptied and filled with steam, close the inlet and drain valves and re-spray the water to condense the steam. This repeated cycle, with two egg containers working alternately, can be continuously drained.

With the drive of the Hercules 1, the hydraulic press is finally up and running. At this time, the craftsmen discovered that the huge role of the hydraulic press is simply beyond the ability of manpower. The five-hundred-ton stamping hull was quickly completed with the help of a hydraulic press.

As a result, the Naval Engineering Department quickly modified the 500-ton stamped hull, installed keels and sails, and then conducted sea trials to record the number of jù and accumulate experience and test numbers for the construction of the Xiangying-class battleship.

It was only then that Yiqiē turned back on track.

However, the Hercules 1 steam engine was quite bulky and consumed a lot of coal. The Xiaonanshan Naval Test Base could not hoard enough coal to serve this big guy, so with the approval of the Admiralty, the Xiaonanshan Naval Base transferred the scientific research work related to the Xiangying-class battleship to Tianjin Wei. First, Deng Haonan hopes to see the progress of research and development frequently, and secondly, Tianjin Wei can provide more scientific research sites and coal nearby.

Deng Haonan specially commended the Naval Engineering Administration for the successful development of the Hercules No. 1 steam engine. At the same time, Saffley and other Imperial University teachers who participated in scientific research were also awarded medals and generous awards.

After the success of Hercules 1, the craftsmen really understood the principle and function of the steam engine with the help of Saffory. At this time, the craftsmen of the Naval Engineering Department looked back at the records on the Yongle Canon, only to find that the steam engine in the above record was more advanced.

Therefore, the craftsmen gradually improved the existing Hercules No. 1 steam engine, and constantly added the technology recorded in the book, and finally finally built the steam engine recorded in the canon three years later.

But that's all for later.

At present, after the Naval Engineering Administration has the Hercules One, the hydraulic press can be used, and the progress of the Soaring Eagle-class battleship can finally be restarted.

However, there are still a lot of problems with the Falcon-class battleships. For example, how to lay the wooden keel of the iron-hulled battleship, how to rivet between steel and hardwood, how to calculate the displacement of the iron-hulled battleship, how to ensure the center of gravity after installing the superstructure, how to install the artillery system, etc., a series of problems arise, and it will take a long time to completely solve them.

Fortunately, Deng Haonan has stopped urging them. At the same time, Deng Haonan is now financially constrained, so there is no more money to spend on technology, so the development process of the Xiangying-class battleship will become very long.

In order to replace the problem that the Xiangying class could not be put into service for a short time, the Admiralty decided to develop another class of third-class sail battleships.

This was thanks to the help of the Zhao family in Manila.

Due to the destruction of the Philippine fleet, the Dutch East India Fleet bombarded Philippine port towns, resulting in the destruction of the ports and the collapse of the Spanish shipyards.

A large number of laid-off shipyard workers flocked to the Subic Zhao family shipyard, and Zhao Chuanfeng, the head of the Zhao family, has been silently supporting Deng Haonan. Although Deng Haonan has never married his daughter until now, but now that Deng Haonan is the regent of the current dynasty, Zhao Chuanfeng will not be unstammered. At the same time, Zhao Chuanfeng knew that the Liao Wangfu still reserved the position of the third lady for his daughter Jiu'er, so this was a reassuring pill for Zhao Chuanfeng, so that Zhao Chuanfeng's family could continue to work for Deng Haonan.

Subic Shipyard absorbed a large number of Spanish shipbuilding designers and craftsmen, so that the Zhao family shipyard could build large warships.

Knowing that Deng Haonan had always had a headache on the issue of large warships, the Zhao family specially sent these Spanish designers and excellent shipbuilders to the Longjiang Shipyard.

With this group of manpower, the Longjiang Shipyard was able to design large warships.

To this end, the Admiralty specially organized a battleship design competition, and outstanding battleship designers were rewarded with 50,000 taels of silver.

These Spaniards are all money-loving, and originally planned to hide it, but when they heard the bonus of 50,000 taels, their eyes suddenly lit up, and they all took out their housekeeping skills and carefully designed their most proud works.

In the end, 50,000 taels of silver was awarded to the Spaniard Catla, who designed a third-class battleship with a displacement of 1,200 tons, which coincided with the requirements of the upcoming program of the Admiralty.

Based on Katra's ship design drawings, the Naval Engineering Administration's technicians made improvements, and the new first class battleship was born.

The Sealion-class third-class sail battleship has a total length of 69 meters, a width of 14 meters, a draft of 6.2 meters, a mainmast of 49 meters, and a standard displacement of 1,280 tons.

In order to help the development of the Xiangying class, the Sea Lion class also uses four-masted Western soft sails, and the double foremast is boldly designed to enhance the wind draft. Increase speed. The mainmast is hung with five crosssails, the rear mast is hung with a large triangular sail, and the diamast is hung with a seven-sided triangular steering sail. In this way, the design of the four-masted sailing battleship was first used on the Sea Lion class, which allowed it to gain experience in design and sea trials in preparation for the success of the Soaring Eagle class in the future.

The vertical elliptical bow of the ship, considering that against small ships in naval battles, most captains prefer the upwind downward pressure ramming tactic, so the Sea Lion class is designed with ramming angles.

The 6.2-meter draft design makes the Sea Lion-class battleship suitable for deep-sea operations, and based on this, it adopts a high freeboard wave protection design and a trapezoidal stern. Equipped with seventy-two Apocalypse seven-year God of War guns, double-deck guns, and symmetrical layout. The battlement building is in the center, with a capacity of 440 people. At full speed, the maximum speed is 14 knots, the standard speed is 11 knots, the normal cruising speed is 9 knots, and the endurance is 6 months. V