My Daming New Empire

Page 645

In addition to the Xinjiangkou Navy, in the capital Zhu Zhanji also set up the Jiajiang Navy, the Shogunate Landscape Division, the upstream Jiangning Navy, the downstream Zhenjiang Navy, and the Yangzhou Navy.

These six naval divisions have a total of more than 3 people, plus the local canal sailors who are still in charge of the three naval divisions, the total number has reached 5.

Before the new young army was trained, this force was the most reassuring to Zhu Zhanji besides Habayashi Wei.

There are not many first navy personnel going to Dongzhou, mainly the second navy personnel.Moreover, the personnel who went to Europe with Zhu Zhanji will basically not be called this time, and those who have not been to sea are selected to go.

The two commanders of the fleet are dominated by Hou Xian and supplemented by Yi Xin. There are also a lot fewer internal supervisors accompanying the fleet this time, because in America, there are not many tribes that can do business with Ming.

Moreover, the purpose of the Ming Fleet's expedition this time is mainly to plunder and conquer.

Wang Jinghong actually wanted to go out, but Zhu Zhanji didn't let him go out.Zheng He is now in charge of the navy and cannot do without him.At present, the only general who can manage a large fleet is Wang Jinghong.

Zhu Di's westward expedition, if everything goes well, it's okay, but if the battle is unfavorable, he is the only general who can make Zhu Zhanji feel at ease.

From Daming to the Persian Gulf, these tens of thousands of miles of sea routes are safe, and there must be someone who is completely trusted to be at ease.

Therefore, Wang Jinghong must stay in Daming. Zhu Di's safety is more important than exploring Dongzhou.

Hou Xian has now been stationed in the Xinjiangkou Navy. Like him, Yi Xin has been honestly preparing for the fleet to go to sea in the capital for the past few months, and dare not be distracted by his Zhonglianbo mansion.

This is also a smart move, otherwise, Zhu Zhanji would directly cut him before he became a Zhonglian uncle.

Sunan has been promoted to the defense after returning because of several minor achievements during the sea trip.And Duan Renzhi, who had a shitty luck, discovered a big gold mine when he was in Nanzhou, and with a few minor achievements, he was promoted to the head of Qian when he came back.

Ma Dezhong didn't have Duan Renzhi's luck, nor did he have the stability of Sunan, because he didn't experience any major battles, didn't make many meritorious deeds, and didn't get promoted.

But because of the case of the Kong family, Zhu Zhanji thought his case was more important in the process of forcing the Confucian government to bow his head, so he remembered his credit and promoted him to the position of chief executive.

Now they are all generals under Niu Zhuang, because Niu Zhuang knew that Zhu Zhanji treated the three of them differently, so he specially brought them to welcome Zhu Zhanji this time.

Chapter 75 Exploring Dongzhou

Today's great voyage, after Zhu Zhanji has produced a world map, the most important issue is the weather.

Today's wooden sailboats are severely affected by monsoons, and they are even more afraid of encountering violent storms.

It is normal for a strong wind to break the mast, damage the sails, or even hit the rocks and sink directly.

This trip to East Continent is far more important to Zhu Zhanji than South Continent (Australia), West Continent (Africa) and Europe.

Because Nanzhou is isolated overseas and is closer to Central Continent, it can become an important source of resources for Ming Dynasty.

Although Xizhou is also rich in resources, it is the birthplace of the virus. Although the miasma research team headed by Zhonghezi has been able to effectively overcome the miasma in the Indochina Peninsula, the virus is still powerless against the miasma in central Africa.

But America is different, there are more resources there, from the northernmost Alaska to the southernmost Tierra del Fuego, there are countless resources.

Gold, silver, steel, copper, coal, bauxite, oil, the reserves here are almost the largest in the world.

In addition to mineral resources, there is also the largest area of ​​cultivated land in the world, which can provide countless grains.

More importantly, if Ming Dynasty obtained the Americas, it would directly cut off the opportunity for Europeans to colonize.

Without the resources of the Americas, Europeans can only nest in their corners and live their miserable lives.

The development of Europe is inseparable from the resources of the Americas, and it is impossible for them to develop only with the resources of Europe.

This is the most important step for Ming to become the hegemon of the world.

Of course, Zhu Zhanji will not tell Hou Xian and the others about these things.For Daming, peppers, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are not the most urgent thing, the most urgent thing is rubber.

Before the spread of American rubber, the development of world industry will be severely restricted.

Not to mention the wheels, just for the various machines produced by Daming, because there is no rubber seal, the damage rate of the accessories has always been high.

He came to the Xinjiangkou Navy today, apart from meeting Hou Xian and the others, the main reason was not to cheer up the crowd, but for the latest steam engine sailboat.

Daming had already developed the steam engine three years ago. Apart from experiments in mechanical processing, the steam engine was mostly used as a water pump for coal mines.

Installing the steam engine on the car was proposed by Zhu Zhanji only recently, but installing the steam engine on the ship has always been under experimentation.

Today, the river boats of the Ming Dynasty have been made into pedal paddle steamers through mechanical linkages.This kind of paddle wheel, which is connected to both sides of the ship through mechanical linkages, works much faster than oars and poles after the roll-on wheel is lowered into the water.

The steam engine is installed on the ship and directly connected to this paddle wheel, and the effect is also very good.

Through the adjustment of the gear ratio, the steam engine ship not only has various gears, but also drives backwards.

Sea boats are different from river boats because most river boats are flat-bottomed and only need a simple device to stabilize the action of the rollers.

However, a sea-going ship needs to counterweight below the water surface to stabilize the center of gravity around the water level. This requires a deep ship bottom to allow the center of gravity of the hull to move down.

At this time, it will be much more troublesome to install the steam engine and use the steam engine to drive it.

But no matter how troublesome the installation is, it is not as good as the invention of the steam engine, not to mention the simple sealing and transmission structure.

Now, among the fleet that went to sea, there are twelve sea ships equipped with steam engines.

Seeing the steamships in front of him, although the deconstruction of the steamships is still very simple, the efficiency is not very high, and the style is very different from the steamships in his memory.

But when the main structure has been completed, the rest are small details, just improve it slowly.

For example, the current steam engines are not very large, and they are not installed in the belly of the ship. Instead, four small steam engines are installed at the back of the deck, and each steam engine is responsible for the rotation of the rollers in one direction.

By adjusting the speed of steam engines in different directions, large sea ships can be adjusted in direction and speed.

Under the guidance of Zhu Zhanji, the main body of these steam engines is like the coal-fired boilers of later generations, and the main fuel has also been replaced by anthracite.

Zhu Zhanji got on the steamboat and let the first-class warship sail upriver about ten kilometers on the Yangtze River.

Although he was sailing against the current, his speed had already exceeded ten knots, and when he returned, he was even more than fifteen knots along the current.

This speed is amazing, exceeding the top speed of most sailing boats.

But at the same time, the cost is also extremely astonishing. To drive such a large ship, the four boilers need to burn almost two tons of coal per hour.

In addition to the efficiency value, the key is that the blades of the rollers are easily damaged, and the transmission shaft is easily stuck and other small problems.

It is conceivable that for a long time, the role of sails cannot be replaced.

As for the ironclad ship, it is still a dream.

Using iron sheets, including wood, is not impossible to make ironclad ships, but the current refining technology is not up to it, and there are many impurities in the steel, which is easy to rust.

Seawater is inherently highly corrosive. The current paint and steel may corrode in less than two years in seawater.

The plankton in the sea will also spit out acidic substances, which are more corrosive to the hull.

If these problems cannot be solved, the ironclad ship will only be in the experimental stage forever.