"Woo-"

"No problem, the locomotive has a horsepower of 1,000, the total efficiency can be 8 percent, the locomotive weighs 20,000 catties, the empty car is 150 miles per hour, the full load speed is 60 miles, and it can pull 130,000 catties of weight except for 26 carriages."

"The fourth version of the steam engine became a ......"

In the early morning of the first day of the fifth lunar month, when Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao were still taking refuge in the Dading Palace, Wang Zheng and others from the Armaments Institute carried out round after round of experiments outdoors under the bright sun.

After more than three months of experimentation, all the problems of the fourth version of the steam engine were solved, and the steam locomotive that was put on it also showed far more ability than Wang Zhengyi expected.

Looking at the steam locomotive that kept running on the ten-mile railroad track in the new test site of the Armaments Institute, Wang Zheng couldn't help but clench his fists, but he also knew that it was useless to run fast, the important thing was whether the imperial court could afford it.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he asked the doctor next to him:

"How much coal is consumed per mile?"

He didn't ask how much water was consumed, because where the train was going, there would be no shortage of water in most areas.

In the face of his inquiry, Dr. Hanlin also flipped through all the data he had written down, and finally looked up and responded to Wang Zheng:

"Each horse consumes eight catties of coal, and one hour consumes eight thousand catties of coal."

"Okay, good ......" Hearing this data, Wang Zheng finally applauded.

When Zhu Youjian brought Zhu Ciran to them in February, the steam engine weighed 30,000 catties and the speed was only 50 miles per hour, while the steam locomotive needed 10,000 catties of coal per hour, and could only pull 12 carriages and more than 60,000 catties of goods.

After further solving the problems of air tightness and thermal efficiency, the power of the fourth version of the steam engine increased instantly, especially in terms of load, and the effect was instantly doubled, reaching the level of steam locomotives in the West in 1830 two hundred years later.

If such a version of the steam locomotive was used to pull people, it could carry 600 to 850 passengers in 20 carriages in 20 carriages for nearly four hours and 220 miles in one go, while ensuring coal and water.

If it is used to transport grain, or to transport gunpowder and artillery, then he can pull 100,000 catties of goods.

If the 100,000 catties are grain, it is enough for 3,000 soldiers and horses to eat for ten days, and if it is gunpowder, it is enough for 600 artillery pieces to fight for two hours.

Of course, more importantly, if it is used to transport troops, it can take the Beijing-Jiayuguan railway planned by Zhu Youzhen, and transport more than 600 fully equipped soldiers to Jiayuguan in six days.

If multiple trains depart at the same time, it only takes 50 trains to depart one after another, and ten battalions and more than 30,000 soldiers and horses can be sent to Jiayuguan in six days.

What is the concept of more than 30,000 soldiers and horses?

You must know that the Dzungaria, which gave the Qing Dynasty a headache, had only 40,000 troops, which was not as good as Lin Dan Khan in the late Ming Dynasty and Alda Khan in the late Ming Dynasty.

The Ming army can continuously deliver millions of catties of materials to Jiayuguan in six days, and there is no need for further trains, even if the Ming army walks to the Tianshan Mountains on foot, it will not be as embarrassed as the Qing army using mules and horses.

"The fourth version of the steam engine is ready for mass production! Steam locomotives can also be put into production, but steam locomotive ships still need time to experiment. ”

"You can't just experiment with small rivers, you have to open a branch by the sea."

Many thoughts flashed through Wang Zheng's mind, and with these thoughts, he rushed to the Military Research Institute with a book full of experimental data.

"Meng Hou! Good news! Stuff got out, you take a good look at this! ”

Stepping into the military research institute, the moment he saw Bi Maokang, Wang Zheng couldn't help but said loudly the research results of the industrial research institute.

When he ran towards Bi Maokang, he also noticed that Bi Maokang was working on a multi-barreled musket similar to the "Thunderbolt" with a group of people.

"The fourth version of the steam engine came out?"

was shouted by Wang Zheng, and Bi Maokang looked at him and asked without thinking.

After all, at present, Wang Zheng is mainly responsible for steam engines and steam locomotives, steam engine ships, and internal combustion engines with only a little principle.

"Once you get it out, it can be put into production, as long as you continue to detect the failure rate and failure points in the subsequent production, and then improve it."

Wang Zheng handed his booklet to Bi Maokang, who also looked at the contents of the booklet and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

After all, Wang Zheng is still an official and scientist in the category of people's livelihood, and he does not know the role of steam locomotives in the military.

It can be said that for the current Ming Dynasty, the role of the steam engine in the military is far greater than the people's livelihood.

"Okay, good ......" Like Wang Zheng, Bi Maokang also said hello three times in a row.

"This matter must be told to His Highness immediately, and let people hurry up to tell His Highness the data in the booklet!"

After coming back to his senses, Bi Maokang handed the book to a doctor next to him, and the doctor hurriedly went to do it when he heard this.

When he went to run errands, Wang Zheng looked at the musket on the table that resembled a "thunderbolt", and couldn't help but be curious:

"It's ......"

"Huh this?" Bi Maokang turned the handle of the musket, and then the barrel of the gun turned with it, and he also explained to Wang Zheng:

"This is an improved version of the firearm modeled after Mr. Tsuneyoshi's Thunderbolt, and the subject is the "Multi-barreled Hand-cranked Machine Gun" left by His Highness."

"Multi-barreled hand-cranked machine guns?" Wang Zheng frowned, and then stepped forward to take a look, but he was not interested in any of this, and just looked at it and withdrew his gaze.

"What's the use of this multi-barreled hand-cranked machine gun?"

Wang Zheng didn't understand, so he asked Bi Maokang, and under his inquiry, Bi Maokang also explained.

In fact, it was the Ming Dynasty that first studied multi-barreled muskets, and the first to invent multi-barreled muskets was the famous general Qi Jiguang.

When Qi Jiguang was stationed in Jizhen, in view of the problem that the Mongolian cavalry liked to face and guerrilla, he deliberately invented the multi-barreled musket "Five Thunder God Machine".

This multi-barreled musket has three-eyed, five-eyed, seven-eyed and other systems, which can provide dense firepower, with a maximum range of 120 paces, but an effective range of only 50 paces, which is a sharp weapon for suppressing the Mongol cavalry.

When the five Thor machines are used, they generally shoot in groups of two people, one person stands, turns the barrel, and one person aims to shoot.

Each barrel has a crosshair on its muzzle, and in the blink of an eye, it can be fired in turns, roughly equivalent to the revolver of later generations.

It played an important role in the war against the Mongols and the War against the Japanese and the Korean War, the most famous of which was the Battle of Pyongyang, when the Japanese general Konishi Yukinaga led the main force of the Japanese army to resist stubbornly and was hit and injured by the five thunder machines used by the Zhejiang soldiers, causing Li Rusong to capture the city of Pyongyang in one fell swoop.

As for the Thunderbolt, it is an improved version of the Five Thunder God Machine, which was invented by Zhao Shizhen, an expert in late Ming firearms.

The gun is equipped with five guns, and after the soldiers use it, they turn 72 degrees after each shot to fire another tube, and after all five pipes are fired, the front end of the gun can shoot fireballs to incinerate the enemy soldiers.

In addition, the barrel is equipped with an iron medallion as a shield to block some stray arrows.

In the fourth year after the successful development of the five-tube thunderbolt, Zhao Shizhen invented an improved version of the "thunderbolt", which can reach up to 18 tubes after this improvement.

After the improvement was successful, Zhao Shizhen once again improved the thunderbolt that could fire 28 to 38 bullets in a row, but this kind of multi-barreled thunderbolt was like the Lumi gun, electric gun, rocket slip and other firearms developed by Zhao Shizhen, and was not supported by the financially exhausted Wanli court.

After Bi Maokang got the project drawings and principles of "Hand-cranked Machine Gun", he even took Zhao Shizhen's "Artifact Spectrum" and developed it little by little according to the principle.

After the development of the firing gun, he devoted himself to the research and development of grenades and hand-cranked machine guns, but no matter what, it was not very satisfactory.

"What's the problem?"

Wang Zheng looked at the hand-cranked machine gun developed by Bi Maokang and asked puzzledly, while Bi Maokang said to the doctor next to him:

"Reload, show first."

"Yes," the seven or eight doctors said, and immediately began to take a paper bullet that was placed not far away.

This type of bullet is used in the head, and the bullets wrapped in oiled paper in the back are filled into the barrel of the eighteen-barreled hand-cranked machine gun.

Bi Maokang then motioned for Wang Zheng to stay away, and several doctors took up the wooden whistle and blew it after aiming the barrel of a loaded gun at the firing pin.

"Beep-"

The shrill sound of wooden whistles spread throughout the Military Industry Research Institute, and two hundred paces away, several doctors began to emerge from the corner, insert wooden signs in the firing spot, and then quickly evacuated.

"Shoot!"

"Bang-bang-bang......"

An older doctor gave the order, and the younger doctor began to pull the trigger.

The firing pin fired the firing charge behind the warhead, and the warhead came out of its chamber with a flash of fire.

Immediately afterwards, the assistant doctor began to turn the barrel, and this multi-barreled musket was set up by Bi Maokang to snap on, as long as the first barrel was aligned, the subsequent seventeen barrels would be snapped one by one.

As the barrel snapped on, the shooting doctor pulled the trigger again.

In this way, this combination of machine guns and thunderbolts began to fire at a uniform rate of fire every three seconds.

When the eighteen rounds were over, the two doctors began to use a tiny brush to clean the eighteen barrels before refilling them.

This process took about half a cup of tea, and this long time instantly neutralized the firepower of the eighteen consecutive shots in front of it.

Originally, eighteen bullets were fired in less than a minute, which was enough to be proud of this era, but the time to clear and reload after that instantly changed the gun's rate of fire from eighteen rounds per minute to eighteen rounds in six minutes.

You must know that the firing pistol developed by Bi Maokang can already reach a firing rate of 8 to 12 per minute.

Therefore, such a firearm is a chicken rib in anyone's eyes.

"Why don't you focus on one barrel and then string all the bullets into a bullet belt, as Your Highness has written?"

Wang Zheng glanced at the content of the topic on the table, and then asked questions.

"Can't do it......" Bi Maokang shook his head: "If it is done according to the topic, the firing charge of the bullet must be wrapped in a copper cartridge case, and the power of gunpowder is insufficient, and the technology of the cartridge shell is also insufficient." ”

"Wouldn't it be better to study it from the source? Let's start with gunpowder...... "Wang Zheng put down the project drawings.

"Alas......" Bi Maokang sighed:

"That's all it can be......"

After that, he continued to take his doctors to conduct other research according to Zhu Youzhen's topic, and Wang Zheng could only shake his head when he saw him like this and returned to his industrial research institute.

The two did not know how terrifying the firearms they discussed were for the army of this era, and the discussion ended without a hitch.

However, while they were discussing, Tang Qi of the Armaments Institute went to Yanshan with the stationery with the data written on it.

Out of Mentougou, Tangqi is in front of the hot roadbed construction site, tens of thousands of workers from Mentougou to the gate of the capital.

The original post road looked like an alley in front of the roadbed of the government road and the railway.

Tang Qi glanced at it a few times, and then continued to ride his horse towards Yanshan.

Along the way, he changed horses without changing people, and after six hours of running, when he finally sent the expedited to Dading Palace in Yanshan County, it was already midnight.

Wang Chengen didn't wake Zhu Youzhen up, because the two brothers only went to the mountains to hunt during the day.

After spending the night smoothly in this way, when Zhu Youzhen woke up, Wang Chengen arranged for Yang Yuan to love them and prepare to help Zhu Youzhen bathe, and at the same time, he handed Zhu Youzhen the expedited dispatch of the military garrison.

The content on the paper is similar to the content of the data researched by the Armaments Institute, and Zhu Youzhen said after seeing it:

"In the future, when the news of the Armaments Institute is delivered, it will be handed over to me as soon as possible, no matter what I am sleeping or doing."

"Yes......" Wang Chengen obediently responded, but he also knew that Zhu Youzhen was not angry.

"The cost is two thousand three hundred taels, which is ...... more than the previous one"

Zhu Youzhen saw the price of the locomotive, frowned slightly, and only sighed, but then looked at Wang Chengen and said:

"How's the construction of the six steam engine factories going?"

"At present, the factory has been erected, but the machine needs to wait for Mr. Armaments Institute to produce ten industrial steam engines, and then use these industrial steam engines to make new industrial steam engines."

"The previous situation given by the Armaments Institute is that if ten industrial steam engines are manufactured and craftsmen are manufactured, six factories will probably be able to be fully loaded into the factory in three years, and the expected production volume will be reached in four years."

The six steam engine factories represent 600 large high-pressure steam engines, 1,800 industrial steam engines and 6,000 agricultural steam engines per year.

However, everything is difficult at the beginning, the factory does not say that there is money and people can immediately produce in full production, it still needs time to accumulate machines.

"Prepare slowly, and when the Beijing-Gate Railway and the Beijing-Tianjin Railway are opened, I will immediately see these two railways put into use."

"Yes......" Wang Chengen hurriedly responded, while Zhu Youzhen continued to look at the information in his hand.

The advent of the fourth version of the steam engine represented not only the explosion of steam locomotives, but also the progress of various machines such as steamships and tractors.

[Estimated 9,000 material steam engine ship data: the speed is about 60 miles per hour, the load is 5 million catties, the estimated horsepower is 2,000 horsepower, and the consumption of 16,000 catties of coal and 120,000 catties of water per hour. 】

[Estimate: 9,000 steam ships can load 2 million catties of coal, endurance of 7,600 miles, and carry 3 million catties of goods at the same time, and the cost of the ship is about 24,000 taels]

The steam ship needed a lot of equipment, so the cost of the 9,000-material ship was several times higher, which Zhu Youzhen could understand very well, but he found that there was an error in Wang Zheng's estimate.

Thinking of this, he walked out of the bedroom with the data paper and walked to the study with his hair scattered.

Wang Chengen has been following behind, his eyes and hands quickly stepped forward to grind the ink, and after grinding, he took out the brush commonly used by Zhu Youzhen and handed it over, and Zhu Youzhen also sat in his place, took out a blank book, and wrote his own suggestions in ink.

He found that Wang Zheng did not design a water circulation and water collection system for the loading capacity of steam ships, nor did he use water as a fuel reserve.

Perhaps Wang Zheng and others felt that people did not need to worry about water at sea, but Zhu Youzhen knew very well that the current fourth version of the steam engine could not use seawater.

Daming crossed the "reciprocating steam engine" and entered the "multi-expansion steam engine", and the internal pressure of this steam engine is very high, if seawater is used as steam power, then seawater will leave a large number of impurities after combustion, and finally cause the explosion of the steam system.

In this case, Daming needs to have a "desalination system" on board the steam vessel.

This system is not difficult, it is nothing more than boiling seawater in the stove on the ship, generating water vapor while heating the seawater, and then cooling and condensing to obtain pure water, which has long been the experience of daily life in the East and the West.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen's proposal to Wang Zheng and others to study steam engine ships was that the ship needed to prepare a device to burn seawater and collect water vapor, and set aside one-third of the load to store pure water and reduce the weight of coal.

The endurance is 7,500 miles, which is a bit excessive for Daming.

For Zhu Youzhen, there are only a few supply routes for steam ships, from Daming to the south of Yingzhou, and then to the north of Yingzhou, and then along the warm current to the Gulf of Alaska in North America for replenishment, and finally to San Francisco and Los Angeles to end the journey and embark on the way home.

One million catties of coal needs to burn eight million catties of water to reach a range of 3,800 miles, while the wooden ships of the Ming Dynasty can only carry five million catties.

One-third of the ship can only meet the operation of the steam engine for 12 hours, so it is necessary to make a water vapor recovery device, with a "seawater desalination" device, which can basically meet the ship's voyage of 3,800 miles.

However, in this way, only 2.5 million catties can be used to carry people and goods.

After writing this part, Zhu Youzhen stopped writing, and after holding his forehead and exhaling, he glanced at the estimate of the tractor.

There is no big problem with the estimate of the tractor, the original weight of two thousand catties has been reduced to 1,300 catties after repeated tests, and the cost price has been reduced to 130 taels after repeated tests, plus the performance optimization of the steam engine.

Wang Zheng believes that if the weight of the tractor can be reduced to 1,000 catties, the cost will be reduced to 100 taels, but the horsepower of the tractor will be reduced sharply, and 12 hours a day may not even be able to cultivate 15 acres of land.

After reading it, Zhu Youzhen thought it was unnecessary, because he was already very satisfied with the data of one hundred and thirty taels and twenty acres of land a day.

At present, what Daming has to do is not to set up many topics that require a lot of energy, but to leave him to the Armaments Institute to solve some relatively simple topics first.

One hundred and thirty-two steam tractors can cultivate 300 acres of land day and night during the busy farming period of half a month.

The terrain determines that such a heavy and immovable tractor can only be used in the Great Plains, and it is very difficult in Yunnan, Guizhou, Liangguang, Fujian and Zhejiang.

What Zhu Youzhen wanted to do was to build a factory for production first, and at the same time use troops for the construction of the northeast.

After the destruction of Jianyu, tractors were used to develop the Northeast and the old port.

Don't think about North China and Northwest China, the Northeast is at most bitter cold that leads to a decrease in crop yields per mu, but North China and Northwest China are in a severe drought and no harvest.

There are nearly 600 million acres of undeveloped plains in the northeast of Daming, and the steam engine is used to develop the local area, and the old port is developed at the same time, so that Daming can have two granaries in the south and the north.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, 40 million people reclaimed nearly 200 million mu of cultivated land in 60 years with their hands.

The low-temperature grain yield of Xiaoice River is not hindered, even if the mu in the Guannei produces two stones and the northeast produces seven buckets, then the northeast can use tens of millions of mu of cultivated land to feed the north.

It has been ten years since Zhu Youzhen laid out the northeast, and the population of Liaodong has further increased to 7 million.

At a time when arable land in eastern Liaodong is already very tight, immigrants will disrupt the area, and if you want to release them to the Great Plains to the north, you must first address the potential military threat there.

Once the Ming Dynasty used the tractor in Liaodong, carried out propaganda, and then destroyed Jianyu, and then drove the village north to distribute the tractor, and exempted the policy of Tian Fu, then there was no need for Zhu Youzhen to rush away, and the people would choose themselves.

In three years, it is enough for the more than one million households in Liaodong to give birth to hundreds of thousands more.

If you don't move, you have to follow in the footsteps of land annexation, and when the family has children and their lives deteriorate, they will naturally go north.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen felt that 6,000 agricultural steam engines were a bit less.

"It's still not good to have production capacity, so I can only wait for time to get ......"

With a sigh, Zhu Youzhen handed the written recital to Wang Chengen: "Send it to the Armaments Institute for Wang Zheng, and send people to build a ...... in Tianjin."

Zhu Youzhen paused, and then said:

"The construction of the "Daming Ship Research Field" was assigned to the management of the Armaments Institute, and the local Dagu battalion was mobilized to garrison. ”

"Yes......" Wang Chengen saluted, and Zhu Youzhen continued:

"Bicycles, pocket watches, clocks and other factories can speed up, and after the industrial steam engines of the steam engine factory are manufactured, the first batch will be sent to these factories, and then sent to the Nanchang Weaving Bureau."

"In addition, prepare for the new policy, set up a new sanitation bureau in the Ministry of Industry, and set up a Lang Zhong to be responsible for managing the world's sanitation workers."

"Sanitation workers are responsible for cleaning the county, and the daily wage is calculated according to the minimum in each locality, recruiting some old women and old people to clean the streets, according to one percent of the total population of each county."

Zhu Youzhen had long wanted to solve the problem of urban sanitation, but he had no idea what to do in the southern city of Beijing.

Later, after the addition of soldiers and horses and officials, they have been in charge of the city's sanitation, which is a bit distracting.

Many old women are the main force of the family's small workshop, and if the Ming Dynasty uses the fourth version of the steam engine to the market, it will undoubtedly affect their livelihood.

Industrialization has to go, but the livelihood of the people must also be taken care of.

Recruiting sanitation workers at the lowest wage to solve the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of old women and men is a policy that benefits the people from Zhu You.

Even if the wage is very low, after all, there is a bite to eat, and the sanitation workers in the Ming Dynasty did not have so many kinds of garbage to deal with, most of them were dirt, feces, oil paper and other things, and the work was not difficult.

Zhu Youzhen sent someone to ask some lonely and widowed old people in the Beijing Nursing Home, and most of them didn't want to eat the bowl of relief porridge from the imperial court, but no one was willing to hire them when they left the nursing home, and they had nowhere to go if they wanted to work.

At present, the drought has retreated for three years, and Zhu Youzhen still has two and a half years to solve some social problems.

"The slave and maid quit ......"

In the face of Zhu Youzhen's idea of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau, Wang Chengen didn't say anything, and directly retreated.

After he retreated, a copy of the note was sent to the capital and various parts of the armament institute......

The second estimate is around 8 p.m

(End of chapter)