After identifying the treasures captured by the Eastern Captives, Zhang Lianfang had not yet completed the sorting work, and received instructions to go south to Nanjing. After arriving in Nanjing, I found that there was such a feast, and 3,000 pieces of rare antiques that could be called national treasures were selected by the best of the best, packed and sent to Beijing to fill the National Museum. The rest of them were selected and sent to the palace for the emperor's daily use or as a reward to the ministers.

After screening the two items in this way, there were still seven or eight thousand pieces of rare treasures, and another two thousand pieces were selected and placed in the Fengtian Hall for the meritorious heroes to choose. The remaining "defective products" will be placed in Fengtianmen and auctioned by these shareholders, even so, it really opened everyone's eyes.

Shen Tingyang is not a person who has never seen the world, but it is still a little unbelievable to see so many treasures. Under the recommendation of Zhang Baosheng, he took a five-foot-high sheep fat jade elephant, the whole body can not find a flaw, the carving has a strong Western Regions style, it is the Jiajing period Hamiwei tribute to the imperial court, I don't know how to fall into the hands of Lingbi Hou, absolutely rare in the world.

There are not many people in the entire Fengtian Palace, and there are obviously not many heroes who are qualified to come in. In fact, although the civil official system of the East Palace is becoming more and more important, the military generals are more advantageous in this problem of eating meat and drinking soup. Most of the people who came in to pick up treasures before were military generals.

Shen Tingyang claimed the treasure, and naturally an internal official wrapped it for him and sent it to the pavilion. He could sit down and have a cup of tea with Zhu Cihong and talk about the problem of sea vessels. Zhang Baosheng's task was completed, so he was naturally willing to stay outside to watch the cultural play, and at the same time to see how those local tyrants who spent a lot of money were gluttonous at this feast.

"What happened to our ships now?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Shen Tingyang replied respectfully: "This project has been sent to Jingshi University and Technical College, and the sailor has allocated another 3,000 taels for the project fund, but no progress has been made. However, the chief instructor Shi Lang had an idea, but Wei Chen felt that it was a little out of line with His Royal Highness's original intentions. ”

"Oh? Let's hear it. Zhu Cihong can't help but look at this Kangxi platform hero differently.

According to Shi Lang, the Tessie ship type is indeed suitable for artillery strikes, and can be built as a gunboat. I have a heavy load on the ship. Wave-resistant, just enough to be used as a supply ship. When the time comes, the sailors will be dispatched to perform their own duties, and there is no need to make a type of ship that has both. Shen Tingyang said.

Zhu Cihong was indeed unwilling to give up the Fuchuan ship type.

The development of ships in later generations was not the Taixi gunboat, but the Fubune ship type. Don't look at it as just a ship type problem, it actually affects the accumulation of the number of skilled workers. A big problem that directly affects the quality and speed of the construction of a country's warships. And this problem is not far away, even if Wang Zheng and others are slow, there should be steam-powered ships in a hundred years, and at that time, the ship type can have a great advantage.

"What do you think of Wumei Gong?"

"The minister thinks that what Shi Lang said has merit." Shen Tingyang paused and said, "If my sailor is only in the South China Ocean for fifty years, even the lucky ships are enough. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Cihong was a little puzzled, it was Shen Tingyang who said that the lucky boat should be replaced, but now it is he who says that it is enough.

Shen Tingyang hurriedly explained: "Now the Taixi ship is not as good as my Huaxia Fu ship in naval warfare, mainly because we have more ships and the other ship is less. No amount of artillery could prevent our fleet from approaching hand-to-hand combat. Whether it is the crushing of a large ship or the boarding of sailors, our army naturally has an advantage. The minister specially asked someone to inquire in Guangzhou, and now the number of Taixi ships coming to our dynasty is getting smaller and smaller, and they can't form a large fleet to sail thousands of miles for a while, so the minister thinks that fifty years will be enough. ”

Zhu Cihong has also obtained data on this, Spain banned the flow of gold and silver out of the country, and the Taixi merchant ships dropped from forty-nine ships per year in Longqing to one or two ships today. Trade was almost cut off. Judging from this data, the inflow of silver in the Ming Dynasty has slowed down a lot in recent decades.

"Fifty years later. It's time for a big iron ship made of all-body bodies. Shen Tingyang's spirit perked up: "As long as our sailors can be equipped with large iron ships, they are not afraid of Taixi's naval guns, and they still use the shape of a lucky ship, with a heavy cannon on it, which can not only resist waves, but also be able to fight in close combat." It can also be bombarded with heavy artillery, and it is not afraid of the Tessie gunboat at all. ”

"Your assumption ......" Zhu Cihong was a little speechless: Is this what it looks like after traveling to two hundred years?

The cannon of the giant ship does sound very tempting, but with the technical ability of the Ming Dynasty, is it possible to forge a qualified steel keel?

"It's Song Yingxing's design." Shen Tingyang explained.

Zhu Cihong breathed a sigh of relief: "Then ignore him for now, he still wants to build an aerial fortress." ”

"But the minister thought. If the state has abundant public funds, it is indeed possible to build such an iron ship. Shen Tingyang said.

"It's not as simple as you see." Zhu Cihong is not good at technical skills, but at least he knows a few key nodes: "The first is whether the steel is usable." If it is too hard, it will easily break, and if it is too tough, the hull will be deformed. The second is to forge the keel, how big a dock do you have to use? Is it possible to do so today? Again, Is the hull riveted securely? At the end, the hull is heavy, even if it is built, what power will it be used to drive it? ”

"Your Highness, there is a college of the Engineering Institute of our Naval University that has put forward the idea of using steam as the driving force, which is said to be similar to the steam pump, but it is slightly more complicated." Shen Tingyang said in a low voice.

Zhu Cihong regrets that he is not from a science and engineering background, and only has a general outline of the development of technology. However, in the choice of paths, he has incomparable objectivity, at least knowing the advantages and disadvantages of various technical routes. Fortunately, as the crown prince, he didn't need to invent small bits and pieces such as pressure gauges himself, and he could solve them by giving tasks and throwing money.

"You can talk to the prince about this, if you all have the will in this regard, you might as well set up a task force to tackle the problem together." Zhu Cihong said.

Shen Tingyang has never forgotten that advanced tools can bring huge returns. Therefore, the more frequent his contacts with Wang Zheng became, and the more he could feel the power of this called "Technique". Now his hometown in Chongming also uses the substitution farming invented by Wang Zheng, and at the same time, some children and nephews have thought of replacing manpower with water power.

If the power of steam could be imposed, fewer people would be needed to cultivate the land in the future.

- The freed manpower can be used to cultivate more land......

Shen Tingyang fantasized about the great world where everyone was perfect, and he smiled very happily.

Zhu Cihong ended his brief meeting with Shen Tingyang, and was also aroused by the real ironclad ship, which aroused the ambition of a young man. Nowadays, the so-called iron ships have only been made by the Japanese, which is to use iron sheets to cover the outside of the wooden ship with a layer of armor, and the actual effect is very limited, and it can only take advantage of the collision of ships.

If the hull can be cast from real steel, it will be insoluble for the current solid bullet. In this way, even if you don't have a heavy gun, as long as you drive over and collide, you will hit the other party.

It's all about power, steel, and forging capabilities.

Nowadays, the highest embodiment of Daming's forging ability is Qianjun anchor. The forging process is to first forge into claws and then forge them on the anchor body.

The large anchor of about 1,000 catties needs to erect a wooden shed, many people tighten the iron chain of the anchor on the wooden frame, lift the anchor body and rotate, repeatedly heat the hammer forging, and at the same time use "Chen Jiubi soil" to do the "mixture" of forging, so as to reduce the melting point of iron oxide scale and ensure the quality of forging.

Is there a big difference in the difficulty of forging a keel and forging an anchor? Is it a cross-generational gap, or can it be completed by simply throwing money at the scale and expanding the scale?

Is the supply of steel sufficient? Now Xu Jiafu is in charge of the steel plant, and he can indeed complete the task, but the research and development progress of new steel grades has not been optimistic, and whether there is suitable steel also needs the support of experimental data.

The last is the power source, how many years, more than ten years, or hundreds of years did it take for the invention of the steam engine?

Zhu Cihong listed these problems one by one on paper, and finally gritted his teeth and did the only thing he could do: throw silver.

The total value of assets contributed by the relatives of Nanjing was more than 30 million taels, of which 5 million taels were used to relieve the famine and increase the scale and speed of grain imports from Vietnam. Of the remaining 25 million taels, 20 million taels were set aside as a reserve for the Imperial Bank's exchange point in Nanjing.

"At the last five million taels, let the ministries report additional budgets, projects, or topics." Zhu Cihong said: "Wholesale as appropriate." ”

Lu Suyao finally had a feeling of raising her eyebrows, and the pupils of her eyes were full of silver ingots with white flowers. She believed that this time, the official letter issued by the Sheren Section would not be disliked.

All the departments that received this letter were all in deep pain after being excited. When they learned the total amount of five million taels, they knew very well that their budget was enough to be approved, but after getting the money, it meant that they had to hand over the corresponding progress report, which was not a disguised increase in the workload.

However, Zhu Cihong finally knew that if he wanted to let the horses run, he had to give the horses grazing, and he had directly allocated a sum of money from the mantissa of the harvest as a year-end bonus for Chongzhen's nineteenth year.

Although it was three months late, the amount was not small. The proportion of officials in the entire East Palace system who received year-end bonuses was 100 percent, and those who had made outstanding achievements in the original officials also received bonuses. The total bonus amount is as high as 130,000 taels, which can be called the most generous reward since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

"What's the use of giving me three thousand taels?"

Song Yingxing got his bonus slip and informed him that he had three thousand taels of silver in the account of the Ming Imperial Bank. This is because Song Yingxing successfully solved the hot air balloon problem, so the prize amount ranked among the top three in the entire Jingshi University. However, Song Yingxing was not happy, he asked for not 3,000 taels, but 300,000 taels.

"Instead of spending money on a steam engine, let me make that thing from my dreams." Song Yingxing said: "It's definitely much more useful than a steam runner!" ”

Wang Zheng was really helpless by Song Yingxing, so he had to say: "You can report it and talk about it." ”

Song Yingxing had the approval of the sacrificial wine, and immediately prepared materials to report, which also leveraged Zhu Cihong's further southern tour. (To be continued......)

PS: Ask for a monthly pass, ask for a recommended ticket~~! Yesterday I received more than 100 monthly passes, but I was still overtaken, and today I continue to ask for support~~~~!