The trial voyage of the ironclad ship lasted only two hours from departure to return.

About half of the coal in the fuel bunker was consumed, but because Kim Young's advocacy was good, the huge bunker only had 20% of the material.

Zhu Qizhen made a rough calculation, if the warehouse is fully loaded, theoretically, the battery life can reach ten hours, that is, twenty hours.

This does not take into account the use of sail power, if you take it into account, the range can be increased by at least 30%.

Overall, the trial was a success.

Although in the process of sea trials, there are still some problems, for example, some rivets at the joints of the iron sheet are loose, when the four boilers are started together, the temperature of the boiler room is too high, and other small problems are recorded one by one, after the docking, the shipyard craftsmen will repair and improve as soon as possible.

Zhu Qizhen was very satisfied, because he witnessed the launch of the first ironclad ship of the Ming Dynasty.

The body of steel, powered by steam, is enough to crush any ship of this era.

Looking at the giant ship in front of him, he sighed in his heart, it was worth it no matter how much money he spent!

For others, it's more of a shock.

However, Zhu Qizhen knew too well the importance of this ship.

The Age of Discovery has begun to kick off, and the birth of ironclad ships marks that the navy of the Ming Dynasty is about to rule the whole world.

Since then, there will never be Columbus, Magellan.

There will never be that sun that never sets again...... If there is, the sun never sets!

"Jin Ying!"

"The slave is here!"

Zhu Qizhen stared at the giant ship with his eyes tightly and asked, "How long will it take for the comprehensive overhaul to be completed?" ”

"This ......"

Jin Ying hesitated for a moment, and then said unsurely: "It is estimated that it will take a month." ”

"A month?"

"Probably, maybe...... Twenty days is fine......"

Zhu Qizhen asked again: "Are you sure it will take twenty days for these questions?" ”

Jin Ying wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Even if the slaves and craftsmen don't eat or sleep, at least they have to ...... Half a month! ”

Zhu Qizhen was dissatisfied: "There are so many problems that need to be dealt with, how can you be sloppy?" I'll give you a month, and after a month, a full load of sea trials! ”

Jin Ying breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out that she was wrong.

"Slave obeys!"

When the accompanying officials learned that the emperor had suddenly decided not to leave, and that he would have to wait for a month to conduct another sea trial, he suddenly couldn't sit still.

In particular, Cao Yi, the political envoy of Zhejiang, and Zhang Chun, the prefect of Ningbo, did not have any preparations at all, because the holy driver inspected Ningbo on a temporary basis, without any advance notice.

I thought that the ironclad ship was successfully trialed, and the emperor should return to Beijing, but now he is not leaving.

In desperation, the two discussed a countermeasure overnight, first of all, to pick up important reports on the achievements of the Zhejiang Political Envoys, especially the Ningbo Mansion, since the New Deal.

So, here's the problem, now the biggest achievement is the shipyard, which is the ironclad, but the two of them don't know anything about the ironclad at all.

Because Ningbo Shipyard is directly under the imperial court, whether it is site selection, factory construction, or recruitment...... Including large and small personnel appointments, all procedures do not go through the Ningbo Mansion at all, and all are directly appointed by the imperial court.

In other words, Ningbo Mansion has such a large shipyard, and the imperial court has been allocating money vigorously, but Ningbo Mansion can only watch with its eyes and can't intervene at all.

If in the past, the imperial court allocated 30 million taels of silver, how could the Zhejiang political envoy have to eat millions of taels, and then, the Ningbo Mansion will eat a few million taels, after layers of peeling, when it arrives at the shipyard, it is good to have half of it left.

But now, whether it is Cao Yi or Zhang Chun, I haven't seen a tael of silver!

What's even more infuriating is that the people in the shipyard don't bird them on weekdays, and they never visit them during the New Year's holidays.

These two people are Jinshi in the Yongle period, after four dynasties, and have dealt with countless people, where have they suffered such a loss, so they began to find ways to use their power to make stumbling blocks for the shipyard.

For example, don't you need to buy steel and wood, then I'll add a business tax!

Don't you want to hire a large number of workers, and I will issue a restraining order to the people.

Also, to feed so many people, you must purchase a lot of materials on weekdays, so I will talk to the local merchants and remind you, will they dare to sell you things in the future?

In short, if you don't take me seriously, I will definitely not make you feel better.

In this way, the shipyard did encounter a lot of trouble, but these people seemed to lack a string in their heads, and they actually organized a group to come to the prefect's yamen to discuss the law.

Zhang Chun has been an official for 28 years, and it is the first time he has encountered such a situation.

Are the people who came out of the Academy of Sciences so arrogant?

Don't you know whose territory this is?

As a result, Zhang Chunyi did not stop doing anything, and directly detained the shipyard Hanlin and craftsmen for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Just when the contradiction between the shipyard and the Ningbo Mansion was in full swing, the imperial court issued an order to send the former eunuch Jin Ying, the eunuch of the Zhangyin, to serve as the garrison of Ningbo for too long and the governor of the shipyard.

Now, Zhang Chun is finally honest.

The emperor sent all the most trusted eunuchs around him, what does it mean?

It's better to let people go, I really can't afford to mess with them!

Since then, the shipyard and Ningbo Fujing water do not interfere with the river water, Zhang Chun has never asked about the shipyard, and now the holy driver patrols Ningbo, but the emperor does not even ask about local government affairs, and rushes into the shipyard.

Zhang Chun suddenly realized that he might have miscalculated!

In the eyes of the emperor, the importance of the shipyard is much greater than that of Ningbo Mansion, and his own prefect has completely become an ornament.

That's not going to be easy......

He found Cao Yi overnight and began to discuss countermeasures.

The emperor finally came once, what a great opportunity, if you can't seize it, it will be difficult in the future.

Cao Yi was in a similar mood to him, although Ningbo Mansion was far less famous than Hangzhou Mansion in the whole of Zhejiang, but the emperor was not interested in Hangzhou, not only did he have to stay here to prepare for the second sea trial, but he even lived directly in the shipyard and accompanied the craftsmen around the ship every day.

"Don't ask me what to do, when the imperial court ordered the establishment of a shipyard, you made people stumble, and now you know that you are afraid?"

Zhang Chun said helplessly: "Why did Lord Cao say this, those things...... The lowly positions have been reported to the adults. ”

"What did you say?"

Cao Yi was anxious and hurriedly said, "You mean, all the things you did were instructed by the old man?" ”

"This ...... That's not what it means to be humble......"

Zhang Chun scolded in his heart, he was really an old fox, and he would leave himself clean when something happened.

Cao Yi squinted his eyes and said: "Now, that eggless Jin Ying will definitely sue you in front of the emperor, the old man advises you, you must be completely prepared!" ”

"I'm about to ask Master Cao, how to prepare?"

Zhang Chun was very panicked, at that time, he didn't stumble on the shipyard, and even detained those Hanlin and craftsmen who came to ask for an explanation, now that they have the support of the emperor, will they still have good fruits to eat?

Cao Yi looked at him with disdain and said, "Do you want the old man to teach you everything?" ”

Zhang Chun had a bitter face and said, "There is really no way to do it, and I ask Master Cao for guidance." ”

Cao Yi sighed helplessly and said, "Do you remember that when the factory was built, there was a human life?" ”

Zhang Chunmeng's eyes lit up, at that time, he secretly instructed some ruffians to go to the shipyard to make trouble, and the two sides clashed.

Originally, this matter was over, but three days later, one of them, Niu Dabao, had an argument with someone on the street, was hit on the head with a brick, and died on the spot.

This eucalyptus is an ordinary fight and brawl, excessive killing, how can the beating family have some background, and it is also a famous family in the local area, so he sent Zhang Chun five hundred taels of silver, wanting to settle this matter.

Zhang Chun didn't pay attention to it at first, Niu Dabao was a street gangster, with no family, no relatives and friends, and he died.

Mengdi, he suddenly thought that three days ago, Niu Dabao had gone to the shipyard to make trouble and had a conflict with people.

I'm worried that I can't find the stubble of the shipyard, isn't this coming!

So, the next day, someone sent a paper to cry out for Niu Dabao.

For this incident, the shipyard had to apologize and compensate a large amount of silver, Zhang Chun finally found an opportunity, where was he willing to let them go so easily, therefore, he must insist on severely punishing the real murderer and repaying his life with his life.

This eucalyptus continued to ferment for a long time, until Jin Ying's arrival, Zhang Chun was jealous, and then it was hastily settled.

Yes, if you want the wicked to sue first...... No, how did I become a wicked person?

Zhang Chun shook his head and threw out the strange idea.

In short, you must start first, and it is better for me to sue you than for you to sue me.

Regarding the cause of Niu Dabao's death, the shipyard didn't know the details at all, and always thought that it was at a loss, well, it was said that the shipyard relied on the emperor's favor to oppress the people in Ningbo Mansion, and also caused a lot of death......

As a result, the emperor must be disgusted, and perhaps even lose interest in ironclad ships.

Besides, it's a big toy, it looks overbearing, but what's the use?

With so much steel and wood, and what kind of steam engine, the cargo capacity is not as good as that of a treasure ship, isn't it just to please the emperor?

So, Zhang Chun wrote a letter overnight and personally sent it to Zhu Qizhen's bed.

It's just that Zhu Qizhen has been soaked in the shipyard for the past few days, and Zhang Chun can't wait for anyone, so he has to leave the song behind and go back to wait for news.

-----------------

"What is the reason for these rivets to come loose? In other places, can you guarantee that there will be no loosening? ”

"Back to the emperor, most of the ships are hot riveting, very strong, during the trial, perhaps due to the vibration of the hull, resulting in the resonance of some rivets, this is the loosening of the trip."

Zhu Qizhen nodded, the Academy of Sciences has even studied resonance now, and it seems that the knowledge reserves in his stomach are a little insufficient.

For example, what is a hot rivet?

Why doesn't hot riveting loosen?

Under the explanation of the craftsman, he understood that the original hot riveting is to drill holes in the two steel plates that need to be connected, and then burn the rivets red, after passing through the holes in the steel plates, hit the rivets with a mold, and quickly form the rivet head, and when the rivets cool down, they will use thermal expansion and cold contraction to automatically connect the two steel plates more tightly.

In this era when there is no welding technology, hot riveting is the main means of completing hull splicing.

I have to sigh that the wisdom of human beings is really unimaginable, only unthinkable, nothing can be done.

"The Emperor's ......"

Yuan Bin suddenly came up, and it seemed that he had something to report.

Zhu Qizhen waved at him, then came to a small warehouse, closed the door, and asked, "Is there news from Shi Heng?" ”

"Back to the emperor, General Shi sent a letter saying that the treasure of the thief Wanyan Gunaha has been found, and it is on Jeju Island."

"Jeju Island...... The territory of the Korean state? ”

"Nominally, it belongs to the Korean state, but more than ten years ago, it was bought by the then Jianzhou Wei with a lot of money, and later it became the nest of Wanyan Gunaha, and all the money he earned through smuggling over the years was hidden on that island."

Zhu Qizhen sank his face and said: "Tell the Korean State that this island now belongs to the Ming Dynasty, and go and find out how many shady things they have done behind my back, I will find them to settle down!" ”

"Yes!"

Yuan Bin nodded, and said, "The minister also found out one thing. ”

"What?"

"When the minister was looking through the list of Yan Gu Naha's fellow parties, he found a person named Niu Dabao."

"What...... Treasure? ”

"It's a gangster named Niu Dabao."

"Bastard?"

Zhu Qizhen was even more puzzled, Wanyan Gunaha was a scheming person, how could he be in the company of gangsters?

Yuan Bin replied: "According to the confession, Wanyan Gunaha once found many such gangsters and went to the shipyard to cause trouble. ”

Zhu Qizhen was a little puzzled, so he asked, "Why is this?" ”

Yuan Bin thought for a while and said, "When General Shi got these confessions, he didn't dig deeper, so he put all the thieves to death, but the minister thought it was ...... There seems to be something wrong with this. ”

Zhu Qizhen also felt that there was a problem, why did Wanyan Gunaha find a group of gangsters to make trouble in the shipyard?

What is his purpose?

Is it just to add to the obstruction of the imperial court?

If that's the case, why not engage in some sabotage?

For example, get some gunpowder and blow up an important workshop.

Wouldn't it be even more able to slow down the progress of the ironclad?

Trouble...... What's the use?

Yuan Bin's face was extremely cautious, and he said: "The minister has a conjecture, I don't know ......."

"Speak!"

"Yichen's understanding of this person, he must have a plan for doing things, and the biggest secret of Ningbo Shipyard is the ironclad ship!"

After Zhu Qizhen heard this, his face became heavy, could it be ...... Is this going to steal the ironclad?

No, a 10,000-ton giant ship, how did he steal it?

Could it be...... Stealing drawings?

"What's that treasure, is it still alive?"

Yuan Bin shook his head lightly and said, "It's dead." ”

Zhu Qizhen sighed helplessly and said, "Shi Heng, this guy, I let him not stay alive, but he is really obedient!" ”

Yuan Bin said again: "Your Majesty, Niu Dabao died two years ago. Previous Chapter Table of Contents Bookmark the next chapter