prosperous age

Chapter 977 1066 Let me fire

Yu Dayou wanted to vigorously develop the navy, but he faced many difficulties.

With the financial support of the Jiangnan provinces, there is no shortage of money. The main shortage now is actually wood for shipbuilding.

Although the navy has been stationed on Dongfan Island, it still takes a long time to process the harvestable wood to the extent that it can be used for shipbuilding. This is the key to restricting the development of the Ming Navy.

Moreover, Yu Dayou is also dissatisfied with the ships currently built by the Daming Shipyard. The main reason is that after seeing Western-style sailing ships, he is dissatisfied with the partition and sealing layout under the hull, but it severely limits the number of artillery pieces the warship can carry.

Artillery cannot be arranged in the cabin, but can only be arranged on the deck. For the navy, this is undoubtedly a very fatal flaw.

At this time, in the Wenhua Hall, Wei Guangde had already taught the young emperor Zhu Yijun to disassemble the upper part of the double-decker gunboat to reveal the lower deck hidden inside.

It must be admitted that the craftsmen of Ming Dynasty are really ingenious.

A precise warship model, except that most of the parts are carved out of a single piece of wood and then spliced ​​together through a mortise and tenon structure.

As long as you master the splicing sequence, you can easily disassemble and assemble the ship model.

And by assembling such crafts, it is actually an exercise for children's memory and imagination.

Of course, there is no such statement now.

However, children are always happy with such activities. They like such hands-on activities very much, and they are still in the "classroom".

Especially Zhu Yijun now, he is carefully observing Wei Guangde's actions of dismantling the ship model and keeping them in mind.

According to the memory of the last time Wei Guangde presented the ship model, after Wei Guangde disassembled the ship model, he would ask him to put it together with his own hands.

At that time, Wei Guangde kept telling him the uses of each part of the ship model when he was taking it apart.

One method can solve all problems. With the experience of Fuzhou, Zhu Yijun can roughly guess what parts are and what their uses are for the disassembled gunboat model.

Therefore, Wei Guangde did not continue to explain this time.

After the upper deck was dismantled and the lower deck was exposed, Wei Guangde stopped what he was doing and smiled at the little emperor: "Your Majesty, there is no need to continue to dismantle it. You should still remember the structure of the Fuchuan. The inside of the hull is full of the same."

"Well, I remember that a few days ago I took apart the model of the Fortune Ship and looked at it for a while."

The little emperor nodded and smiled, and then asked with some confusion: "Master Wei, you mentioned earlier that the Yi people's ships are better than our Ming ships.

But I remember when you gave me the Fuchuan model, you said that the lower compartment design was very advanced, and the Yi people didn’t understand the joints at all.

But now why do you say that my Ming ships are not as good as the Yi people?"

"Your Majesty still remembers that Ming Dynasty's ships are divided into cabins with partitions. There are actually many benefits to this design, that is, after the hull ruptures, seawater will not flood a cabin through a breach, which is equivalent to sealing. Only damaged compartments will be filled and nothing else will be left.

I think this kind of design was not thought up by the ancients when they were building ships. In order to build a strong ship, they should have followed the design of the house and used this method to increase the strength of the structure and make the ship stronger.

As for painting and sealing, that should be an afterthought.

Not to mention ancient times, even today, when ships sail on the sea, familiar channels are fine, but in unfamiliar channels, who knows where there are reefs, and the ship will be hit, so I say this structure is very good.

But for this reason, large artillery cannot be installed in the cabin, such as the Hongyi cannon and missiles currently used by the navy, but the Fran cannon can be installed.

The Yi people's ships have no such partitions inside and are interconnected, so their cabin is a whole and can install large artillery. Even if the cabin has several floors, it can install several layers of artillery. The number stacks up, hundreds of them. Doors are no problem either.

These are incomparable to our Ming warships.

Admiral Yu renovated the bird ship and built it into a double deck, which was a last resort because our cabin could not be modified at all. "

Wei Guangde gave the little emperor a detailed explanation, but Zhu Yijun also had more questions.

"Master Wei, the Yi people's ships can travel thousands of miles from the Yi people's country in the west to our Ming Dynasty, and they don't use such a hull structure, so how did they do it? Can the craftsmen of my Ming Dynasty also follow the instructions? Can you make it?"

the little emperor asked.

"Now Admiral Yu has asked people to learn the Yi's method of building ships, but this is more complicated. It will take some time for me to master it, and I have to do it step by step. First try to build small ships, and then build big ships.

As for their structures, the entire hull frame structure of the Yi people's sailing ships is a rib structure, while our Ming sailing ships use transverse bulkheads as the structural method. As for this rib structure."

Wei Guangde thought about it and simply drew it on the paper. After all, similar structures were rare in the Ming Dynasty, and it was difficult for Wei Guangde to explain. He could only give the little emperor an intuitive feeling through drawing.

In fact, Wei Guangde has never seen the structural diagram of a Western large sailing ship. However, through Yu Dayou's letters, he mentioned the characteristics of the Yi ships, and combined with Wei Guangde's understanding, he basically understood the main structure.

The keel at the bottom of the Yiren sailboat is like a human spine, and the ribs installed on the keel are like a human chest. This creates a huge internal space where decks can be stacked layer by layer.

When a simple picture of a ship frame was drawn, the little emperor could understand it despite Wei Guangde's rough painting skills.

"I understand, no wonder there is such a big difference in the loaded artillery."

The little emperor murmured in his mouth, and then said: "Master Wei, could you please tell Admiral Yu that after my Ming craftsmen master the Yi's method of building ships, they will also make a ship model and send it to me. I will build it myself." A barbarian boat."

Although it was a ship model, Wei Guangde could clearly see that there was not much difference between the ship model and the real ship, so in the heart of the little emperor, he could already be regarded as a master shipbuilder, and he could command the craftsmen to build a big ship.

Of course, it is better to make something that looks like a boat without considering safety.

Because Wei Guangde didn't know that at this time, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty had actually mastered some basic algorithms and knew the aspect ratio, stress and other methods of building ships. They didn't just randomly build the ship and splice it together.

Wei Guangde didn't understand this, so naturally he wouldn't say it.

So now in the little emperor's mind, he is already an expert in shipbuilding, the kind of person who can speak eloquently.

"Your Majesty, you can take a look at the artillery on this ship."

At this time, Wei Guangde suddenly said again.

"Artillery, isn't it just a model?"

The little emperor said in confusion, but his hands were not slow and he had already picked up a small cannon and looked at it.

"what."

When he got it in his hand, the little emperor was surprised and couldn't help but make a sound.

Then he looked carefully at the barrel, and soon noticed the small hole in the back of the barrel.

"Master Wei, can this cannon be used?"

"Haha. Admiral Yu had someone make it out of pig iron. This cannon can really fire."

Wei Guangde said cheerfully, "It's just a matter of listening. For safety reasons, gunpowder must be used in accordance with the standards."

While talking, Wei Guangde took out a small box from the bottom of the ship model box and opened it. The inside was divided into two layers. The first layer was filled with small cloth lumps wrapped in silk. Next to it were small wooden balls and some longer ones. of lead wire and a purge bar.

"Your Majesty, do you want to give it a try?"

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Okay, Master Wei, show it to me quickly." Zhu Yijun suddenly became interested. The firearms used by the Ming army had been mentioned by Wei Guangde when he talked about the border war, but he had never seen them with his own eyes.

Now that I have the cannon model, I naturally want to see the effect.

So, Wei Guangde took the Hongyi cannon from the little emperor's hand and started playing with it.

He opened a silk bag and poured all the small amount of gunpowder inside from the muzzle into it, tamped it with a pipe, then stuffed a wooden ball into it, and poked it a few times with the pipe.

While doing this, he explained to the little emperor the reason for doing this. Wei Guangde used a blunderbuss to shoot birds when he was a child. The loading of firearms these days is similar, so the whole loading action is very smooth.

After completion, insert a piece of lead wire into the gun barrel through the opening at the back, and say: "This is considered loaded.

There is usually a brazier next to the gun emplacement, in which charcoal is burned, and carbon sticks are used as fire starters.

When launching, adjust the angle, aim at the enemy, light the fuse and launch. "

After saying that, although the ammunition had been loaded, there was no fire starter around them, which stumped them for a while.

"Go look for it and see if there are any fire discounts."

Wei Guangde ordered the chamberlain next to him.

"Mr. Wei Ge, this is a fire trap"

The chamberlain who was stopped was in a bit of a dilemma. The palace had very strict controls on things that could ignite fires. Because most of the palaces were made of wood, they were extremely afraid of fires.

Wei Guangde asked him to find something to ignite the fire, but it was hard for him.

It's not that the palace doesn't light up the lights at night, but there are special eunuchs in charge of them.

"Just go find me if I ask you to. Why are you so long-winded?"

Seeing the waiter dilly-dallying, the little emperor shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Yes, yes, slave, go right away"

"Go to the Cabinet. If there are fire seals there, just tell me what I said."

Wei Guangde knew that it would be troublesome to ask this chamberlain to find the eunuch in charge of firearms, and it might even spread to the ears of Feng Bao and the empress dowagers of the two palaces.

After all, the emperor was young and had no autonomy in anything.

Fortunately, although the cabinet is in the palace, it is relatively self-contained. There are also night clerks at night, and fires are made to keep warm in winter, so they have their own fire storage.

After the fire in the 40th year of Jiajing, the wooden corridor that originally connected the cabinet and Huiji Gate was completely demolished, completely cutting off the East Pavilion from other buildings in the palace.

While the chamberlain went to get the fire certificate from the cabinet, the young emperor Zhu Yijun took another Hongyi cannon and began to load the cannon like Wei Guangde did before.

The movements were very jerky, but I remembered the general steps and didn't need Wei Guangde's reminder.

Wei Guangde watched silently, only reminding him to push Yanshi with a little force when using the rod.

Because the action was simple, Zhu Yijun quickly completed the loading of an artillery piece by himself.

The amount of medicine used is very small, and there is actually no lethality when stuffed with wooden balls. Although it may still hurt if it hits a person directly on the skin, but if it is hit on clothes, you should not feel any force. .

The reason why a wooden ball is added to plug the muzzle is actually to hear the sound. If nothing is plugged, the explosion sound after lighting the fuse will not be loud. This is why firecrackers are tightly wrapped in paper.

The closer the acquaintance, the louder and crisper the pop.

"Let's do this for now. If your Majesty wants to play in the future, you must pay attention to safety, especially when using fire. It is best not to play in the palace, but in the garden."

Wei Guangde laughed on the side and said that if any justice minister saw this scene, he would definitely scold him, "treacherous villain" and "fool".

"Yes, I understand."

The little emperor naturally knew what the palace was most afraid of, which was water leakage, so he kept Wei Guangde's reminder in mind.

Now is the best time for the little emperor to learn. In fact, he can learn anything quickly, as long as he is willing to study hard.

In fact, the teaching materials specially compiled by Zhang Juzheng for Zhu Yijun were in line with his taste.

It should be said that the academic performance of the young emperor Zhu Yijun was relatively good among the previous Ming Dynasty emperors.

As for the Wanli Emperor in real history, the huge changes in the middle, later and early stages were probably inseparable from the huge pressure Zhang Juzheng was under when he was alive, and the huge contrast between his predecessors and his successors after his death.

Although Zhang Juzheng is not a heinous person, in order to bring down Zhang Juzheng, the Zhang Group really brought all the dirty things in the civil service to the surface.

Although it did ruin Zhang Juzheng's image in front of the emperor, it also deeply stimulated Emperor Wanli, so he had some opinions on the civil service group.

Perhaps, the opposition between the inner and outer courts in the middle and later periods was partly due to this.

Especially after Emperor Wanli lost his anger and knew everything the civil service group had done to the Zhang family, for the sake of face, he chose not to say anything but to directly respond with actions.

Trying to move Chang Yingku's money back to the inner court fully reflects his distrust of foreign ministers.

Not long after, the waiter hurried in from outside, holding something like a bamboo tube in his hands.

When the fire seal was in hand, Wei Guangde opened the lid and blew on the half-hidden sparks on the fire seal, and the sparks quickly turned into a ball of flame and burned.

"Your Majesty, shall I come or shall you come?"

Wei Guangde asked with a smile, holding the fire seal in his hand.

Huozhezi can be said to be the ancient version of lighter.

Making Huozhezi involves a variety of materials and techniques, and each step demonstrates the wisdom of the ancients.

Soak potato vines in water until thickened, take them out and beat them flat, then add cotton and reed tassels to the soak, beat them again, dry them in the sun, add nitrate, sulfur, rosin, camphor and other flammable substances and various spices, and finally fold them into long flat pieces. Cylinders or twists into ropes convert these raw materials into flammable sparks.

In ancient times, there were not only lighters, but also matches.

According to records in the "Qing Yi Lu" of the Song Dynasty, in the early Song Dynasty, someone soaked pine wood strips in sulfur to make a wood strip that could ignite fire. It would burn violently upon contact and friction. It was also called a "light-drawing slave" at that time. Later, it was It is called "Huo Cun Tiao" and is sold in the market.

In the Ming Dynasty, this thing was also called "Fa Zhu". In terms of its working principle, this thing can be called an ancient match. Compared with modern matches, the only difference between Fa Zhu and modern matches is that it does not use the element "phosphorus".

"I'll fire the cannon."

The little emperor excitedly grabbed the fire certificate from Wei Guangde's hand and used the flame to light the fuse behind an artillery piece.

"boom."

There was a crisp sound of the cannon, and the wooden ball hit the wooden box in front.

(End of this chapter)