In the fifth year of Chongzhen, on the morning of July 18.

Harbour City, seaside shipyard, dock A.

A peculiar wooden-hulled boat, sitting on a concave rail in the middle of the dock, has a length of 95 meters, a width of 12 meters, a cross-skeleton structure with a wide bottom with stabilizer fins, and a maximum draft of 4.5 meters.

The empty weight is 900 tons.

Full load displacement 1850 tons.

The deepest first impression of the ship is that its superstructure is very simple, except for a stout round pillar, and there is no mast and sail structure of a traditional seagoing ship.

There is also a large four-bladed propeller at the bottom of the boat.

As for what it relies on to drive on the sea, as a power, it is naturally a three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine that Xu Yuan custom-purchased from modern society.

The volume of this steam engine is not large, the volume of the boiling water boiler, chimney, pipes, and three-cylinder engine is 75 cubic meters, and the total weight is less than 50 tons, but it can produce a maximum of 7,000 horsepower driving power and 50KW power generation.

It can fully drive this thousand-ton wooden ship, and when it is fully loaded with cargo, it still runs at a speed of nearly 20 knots (faster with no load).

The fuel used is processed into high-heat anthracite with the size of soybeans, and under special circumstances, high-pressure oxygen-rich air can be introduced into the boiler combustion chamber, so that the power of the steam engine can be increased by 15% and the speed can be faster.

However, its economic speed is about 15 knots, the maximum load of coal-fired warehouses is 250 tons, and the maximum economic range is not less than 3,500 nautical miles (1 nautical mile = 1.852km).

Because this cargo ship built for the purpose of carrying cargo, has not yet undergone actual sea trials, and the specific performance parameters are unknown, but in the modern society, Xu Yuan found the private power research institution, put forward its own needs, promised to provide 30 million research and development funds, and after the development of a steam engine with performance standards, it will purchase more than 100 units at a price of not less than 2 million / unit.

The power R&D team of only seven people, all of whom are top talents with doctoral degrees, only spent half of the R&D funds in just three months, and put the three-cylinder steam engine with the performance standard in front of Xu Yuan, and introduced it to his big customer:

"Boss, your goal is to output no less than 5000 horsepower drive power in the case of the weight of the entire power system does not exceed 50 tons, to be honest, this goal is set low, we have achieved the maximum power output of 7000 horsepower + 50KW power generation power under the condition that the weight does not exceed the standard, and in addition to the economic working state of 5000 horsepower, to achieve thermal efficiency of 30%, boss, you don't think that 30% of the thermal efficiency is low, many low-end diesel engines are also this thermal efficiency, With the help of various mathematical optimization software, we have been continuously optimizing to the limit. ”

"Compared to the antique steam engine of one or two hundred years ago, how far ahead is your steam engine?" Xu Yuan asked.

"Don't insult our hard work with that garbage!"

The leader of the R&D team said with a wry smile: "One or two hundred years of steam engines, the thermal efficiency is at most 3%, and it is 10%!" But what era is it now, the steam engine we make, the parts are processed by CNC machine tools, the accuracy has been ten microns, the performance of alloy materials, the quality of lubricating oil, the quality of bearings, sealing rings, pipeline valves, all have been improved by many orders of magnitude, we also have professional software to optimize, computer optimization for ten minutes, which is equal to the evolution of those antique steam engines for a hundred years, don't compare, there is no comparison between the two. ”

"Good! I want to place an order for 300 steam engines, but can you give a better price? Xu Yuan nodded.

Burst~!

The leader squirted out a sip of tea, and the whole person was completely stunned, the steam engine, a power equipment that had long been eliminated, bought 300 units at once, which is far beyond the scope of hobbies, right?

However, after discussing with the team members, he set a price of 1.5 million per set, because the manufacturing cost is only about one million, and the profit margin will be higher when the output goes up in the later stage.

"Deal!" Xu Yuan happily signed a subscription contract with them.

And when leaving the power research institution, the seven doctoral-level talents sent Xu Yuan out of the door with great enthusiasm and reluctance, and Xu Yuan was furious by their burning eyes, which was not like the eyes of big customers, but the eyes of big dogs.

But no matter what!

The power problem is solved.

Secondly, there is another important feature of this large cargo ship, named 'Haihai No. 1', which cannot be seen only from the surface.

That's sturdy.

It is much stronger than ordinary wooden boats.

Because the keel used is not the common iron plough wood, pine or camphor wood, but the marine aluminum alloy from the 5052 mark of the modern society, and then through the welder, the aluminum alloy material is welded into a complete set of keel, which is not only lightweight, but also greatly improves the strength of the hull structure, far exceeding the traditional wooden keel structure.

In addition, aluminum alloy also has the characteristics of not easy to corrode and long service life.

But there are also shortcomings, the purchase price of 5052 aluminum alloy is more than 20,000 tons, and it costs more than 50 tons to build a 'sea No. 1', and this set of aluminum alloy keels costs more than one million yuan for a single material.

Moreover, the melting point of aluminum is low, and once a fire occurs, it is easy to burn, and even produces a combustion effect, bringing a lot of potential safety hazards.

From the perspective of cost performance, Xu Yuan should purchase a batch of marine steel beams, steel can also be welded into keels, the degree of solidity is also very high, the important thing is that the price of marine steel is only more than 4000 / ton, much cheaper than aluminum alloy, fire is not easy to burn, higher safety.

Even so, after Xu Yuan's comparison, he still chose aluminum alloy.

The reason is very simple, steel is easy to rust and corrode at sea, and it is generally scrapped in twenty or thirty years, aluminum alloy is expensive, but it is corrosion-resistant, and it is no problem to use it for fifty years, and the crew is easier to take care of, and there is no need to fight with rust for a long time.

"The Sword Comes"

As for fire hazards, aluminum alloy is flammable, but it is also much more fire-resistant than wood, right? In ancient societies there was no need to care about this at all, all wooden boats were flammable! Aluminum alloy keel boats can be hoisted!

So.

Aluminum alloy keel + three-cylinder steam engine + wooden hull.

Whether the specific performance of such a combination, the patchwork of 'Haihai No. 1', is good or bad, higher than expected or lower than expected, must be answered in practice.

"Let's start in the water." Seeing that everything was ready, Xu Yuan spoke.

"Yes, open the gates and get into the cabin!" The head of the shipyard, Gan Zhiyan, said loudly.

"Open the floodgates!"

Buzz~

After the movable gate was opened, a large amount of seawater poured into the dock of A, quickly overflowed the base of the rails at the bottom, and then continued to rise, soaking the bottom of the ship, until the waves wet the vicinity of the empty waterline, the first large cargo ship in Xujiazhuang, which took more than three months to build, Haihai No. 1, was officially launched and floated in the dock.

Then there were the engineers and sailors who boarded the ship - they were all selected from among the ancients and then trained, of course, far less than the talents of modern society, but they were barely enough.

Under the traction of several small tugboats, Haihai No. 1 slowly undocked, entered the port, and then immediately entered the sea trial stage - yes, the pace is so fast, because the internal structure of Haihai No. 1 is not complicated, and there is no such and such sophisticated electronic equipment, the most important test is the performance of the power system.

And Xu Yuan did not get on the ship to participate in the sea trial this time, and after attending the launching ceremony, he went back, as the owner of Xujiazhuang, he had too many things to deal with.

Therefore, this has become a regret of Zheng Cai, Xu Yuan, the owner of Xujiazhuang, this legendary figure, is said to be born in the thirty-first year of Wanli (1603), one year older than Zheng Zhilong (Zheng Zhilong was born in 1604), both of them are very young and promising, but the cause of Xu Zhuang is greater, the power is stronger, and the future prospects are more bright and ambitious!

If he is lucky enough to meet this adult in person, he Zheng Cai is willing to kneel down and be loyal, or even worship as his father-in-law, even if the age difference between the two is less than ten years, but he Zheng Cai is also very happy to call such a heroic figure a father.

However, as a visitor, he boarded the Sea Voyage 1 and participated in a one-day sea trial.

Zheng Cai's whole person was completely stunned, stupid, and all the common sense in his head was subverted.

Is this speed the speed that a sea vessel can run? How does it feel like flying?

This stability is the ability of a seagoing vessel to have stability in the waves? It doesn't seem to be any different from standing on land.

There are also the power facilities on the ship, the living environment of the crew, the advanced navigation system, etc., all of which make him wonder if this is the dragon palace or fairyland of sailors - sorry for his limited education level, he really can't think of a better adjective.

Then, he made a big decision.

Join Xujiazhuang!

No matter what the cost, you must join Xujiazhuang's fleet, even if you become a traitor and an enemy of the Zheng group, you will not hesitate to do so!