At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 356

The trial voyage of the iron-clad ship only took two hours from departure to return.

About half of the coal in the fuel warehouse was consumed, but due to Jin Ying's good opinion, only [-]% of the coal in the huge warehouse was prepared.

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 has not yet calculated the use of sail power. If it is considered comprehensively, the battery life can be increased by at least [-]%.

Overall, this test flight was very successful.

Although there were more or less problems during the sea trial, for example, some rivets at the seams of the iron sheets became loose, and when the four boilers were started together, the temperature in the boiler room was too high, and other small problems All were recorded one by one. After docking, the craftsmen of the shipyard will repair and improve it as soon as possible.

Zhu Qizhen was very satisfied, because he witnessed the launch of the first iron-clad warship of Ming Dynasty.

With a body of steel and steam power, it is enough to crush any ship of this era.

Looking at the giant ship in front of him, he kept sighing in his heart, it was worth the money!

For others, it's more of a shock.

However, Zhu Qizhen is too aware of the importance of this ship.

The era of great voyages has begun, and the birth of the iron-clad ships marks that the Ming Dynasty's navy is about to rule the entire world.

Since then, there will never be Columbus or Magellan.

There will never be that sun never sets again... If there is, it will also be Daming!

"Kim Young!"

"The servant is here!"

Zhu Qizhen fixed his eyes on the giant ship and asked, "How long will it take for the comprehensive overhaul to be completed?"

"This……"

Jin Ying hesitated for a moment, then said uncertainly: "It will probably take a month."

"One month?"

"Probably, maybe... 20 days is also possible..."

Zhu Qizhen asked again: "Are you sure it will take 20 days for these questions?"

Jin Ying wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Even if the slaves and craftsmen don't eat or sleep, it will take at least... half a month!"

Zhu Qizhen was dissatisfied and said: "There are so many problems that need to be dealt with, how can you be sloppy? I will give you a month, and after one month, you will have a full-load trial voyage!"

Only then did Jin Ying heave a sigh of relief. It turned out that he was wrong.

"The slaves obey the orders!"

When the accompanying officials learned that the emperor had suddenly decided not to leave and had to wait another month for another trial voyage, they couldn't sit still.

In particular, Cao Yi, the governor of Zhejiang, and Zhang Chun, the prefect of Ningbo, had no preparations at all, because Shengjia's inspection of Ningbo was a temporary initiative without any prior notice.

I thought that the iron-clad ship's sea trial was successful, and the emperor should return to Beijing, but now he is not leaving.

In desperation, the two discussed a countermeasure overnight. First of all, they would report the important achievements of the Chief Minister of Zhejiang Province, especially the achievements of Ningbo Prefecture since the New Deal.

So, here comes the problem, the biggest achievement now is the shipyard, which is the iron-clad ship, but the two of them don't know anything about the iron-clad ship at all.

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

That is to say, Ningbo Mansion maintains such a large shipyard, and the imperial court keeps allocating money, but Ningbo Mansion can only watch it helplessly, and can't intervene at all.

If in the past, the imperial court allocated 3000 million taels of silver, how could the chief envoy of Zhejiang have to eat several million taels? Next, the Ningbo government will eat another few million taels. Half is fine.

But now, neither Cao Yi nor Zhang Chun have seen a tael of silver!
What's even more exasperating is that the people in the shipyard don't care about them on weekdays, and they never visit them during the holidays.

These two were Jinshi during the Yongle period. They had dealt with countless people during the four dynasties. How could they have suffered such a loss, so they began to think of ways to use their power to trip the shipyard.

For example, don't you need to purchase steel and wood? Well, I will levy business tax!

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

Also, to feed so many people, you must purchase a lot of supplies 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 it easier for you.

As a result, the shipyard did encounter a lot of trouble, but these people seemed to have no strings in their minds, and even organized a group to come to the magistrate's yamen to ask for an explanation.

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

Are people from the Academy of Sciences so arrogant?
Don't you know whose territory this is?

Therefore, Zhang Chunyi did not do anything, and directly detained the Hanlin and craftsmen of the shipyard for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Just when the conflict between the shipyard and the Ningbo government was in full swing, the imperial court issued an order to send Jin Ying, the former eunuch in charge of ceremonies, to guard Ningbo for too long, and to be the governor of the shipyard.

This time, Zhang Chun finally became honest.

The emperor sent all the most trusted eunuchs around him, what does that mean?
It's better to let him go, I really can't afford to offend him!
Since then, the shipyard and the Ningbo government have never interfered with the waters of the river, and Zhang Chun has never intervened in the matter of the shipyard. Now the emperor is patrolling 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 far greater than that of Ningbo Prefecture, and the magistrate himself has completely become a decoration.

This is not easy to do...

He found Cao Yi overnight and began to discuss countermeasures.

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

Cao Yi was in the same mood as him. Although Ningbo Mansion was far less famous than Hangzhou Mansion in Zhejiang, the Emperor was not interested in Hangzhou. factory, accompanying the craftsmen around the boat every day.

"Don't ask me what to do. When the imperial court ordered the establishment of the shipyard, you were a stumbling block to others. Now you know how to be afraid?"

Zhang Chun said helplessly: "Master Cao, why did you say such a thing? Those things... I have reported to my lord even in the humble position."

"What did you say?"

Cao Yi became anxious, and hurriedly said: "You mean, the things you did were ordered by the old man?"

"This... humble job doesn't mean that..."

Zhang Chun cursed secretly in his heart, what an old fox, he would leave himself completely when something happened.

Cao Yi narrowed his eyes and said, "Nowadays, that eggless Jin Ying will definitely sue you in front of the emperor. I advise you to be fully prepared!"

"Humble job is about to ask Mr. Cao, how should I prepare?"

Zhang Chun was very flustered. At that time, he was a lot of stumbling block to 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 fruit to eat?

Cao Yi looked at him with contempt, and said, "Do I have to teach you everything myself?"

Zhang Chun said with a bitter face, "I really can't do anything about the humble job, so please ask Mr. Cao to give me some advice."

Cao Yi sighed helplessly, and said, "Do you still remember that when the factory was built, there was a murder case?"

Zhang Chun's eyes suddenly brightened. At that time, he secretly ordered some local hooligans to go to the shipyard to make trouble, and the two sides clashed. Unexpectedly, the gang from the Academy of Sciences was really fierce, and even beat up those local hooligans and ran away.

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

This case was just an ordinary fight and violent murder. However, the family of the assailant had some background and was also a well-known family in the local area. He sent Zhang Chun 500 taels of silver in order to settle the matter.

Zhang Chun didn't take it seriously at the beginning. Niu Dabao was a street gangster with no family, relatives or friends, so he died as soon as he died. Let Wu record it as a sudden illness, and the case was closed.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that three days ago, Niu Dabao went to the shipyard to make trouble and had conflicts with others.

I am worried that I can't find the stubble of the shipyard, so this is coming!
So, the next day, someone sent a paper of pleadings to appeal for Niu Dabao's grievances.

For this matter, the shipyard had no choice but to apologize and pay a large sum of money. Zhang Chun finally found an opportunity, and he was willing to let them go so easily.

This case continued to ferment for a long time, until Jin Ying's arrival, Zhang Chun was a little apprehensive, and then hastily closed the case.

That's right, I want the villain to sue first... No, how did I become a villain?

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

In short, I have to act first. It is better for me to sue you than you to sue me.

Regarding the cause of Niu Dabao's death, the shipyard didn't know the details at all, and always thought it was in the wrong, um, let's say that the shipyard relied on the emperor's favor to bully the people in Ningbo Mansion, and even killed people...

As a result, the emperor felt disgusted, and perhaps even lost interest in ironclad ships.

Besides, that thing is just a big toy, it looks very domineering, but what's the use in reality?
With so much steel and wood, and what steam engine, the cargo capacity is not as good as the treasure ship, isn't it built just to please the emperor?
Therefore, Zhang Chun wrote a memorial overnight and sent it to Zhu Qizhen's bed in person.

It's just that Zhu Qizhen has been in the shipyard for the past few days, and Zhang Chun can't wait for anyone, so he has to leave the memorial and go back to wait for the news.
-
"What is the reason for the loosening of these rivets? In other places, can you guarantee that there will be no loosening?"

"Returning to the emperor, most of the ships are made of hot rivets, which are very strong. During the sea trial, perhaps due to the vibration of the ship's hull, some of the rivets resonated, and then they came loose."

Zhu Qizhen nodded. The Academy of Sciences has even studied resonance. It seems that the knowledge reserve in his stomach is not enough.

For example, what is heat riveting?
Why won't hot riveting loosen?

Under the explanation of the craftsman, he realized that hot riveting is to drill holes in the two steel plates that need to be connected, and then heat the rivets red. The head is formed, and when the rivet cools down, it will use thermal expansion and contraction to automatically connect the two steel plates more tightly.

In this era without welding technology, hot riveting is the main means of completing hull splicing.

I have to sigh that human wisdom is really unimaginable, only unexpected, nothing impossible.

"emperor……"

Yuan Bin came up suddenly, 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 any news from Shi Heng?"

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

"Jeju Island... the territory of North Korea?"

"Nominally it belongs to the North Korean country, but, more than ten years ago, it was bought by the then Jianzhou Wei with a lot of money, and later it became Wanyan Gunaha's lair. Over the years, the money he earned through smuggling , are all hidden on that island.”

Zhu Qizhen lowered his face and said: "Tell North Korea that this island now belongs to Daming. Also, go and find out how many shady deeds they have done behind my back. I will ask them to settle the matter." !"

"Yes!"

Yuan Bin nodded, and said, "I also found out one more thing."

"What's the matter?"

"When I was looking through the list of Yan Gunaha's accomplices, I found a man named Niu Dabao."

"What... treasure?"

"It's a gangster named Niu Dabao."

"Bastard?"

Zhu Qizhen was even more puzzled, Wanyan Gunaha is a very scheming person, how could he be with gangsters?

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

Zhu Qizhen didn't understand, so he asked, "Why?"

Yuan Bin thought for a while and said, "When General Shi got these confessions, he didn't dig deep enough and executed all the rebels. However, I think... there seems to be something wrong with it."

Zhu Qizhen also felt that there was a problem. Why did Wanyan Gunaha invite a group of gangsters to the shipyard to cause trouble?
What is his purpose?
Is it just to block the 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 slow down the progress of the ironclad ship?
Trouble... What's the use?
Yuan Bin looked extremely cautious, and said: "I have a guess, I don't know..."

"speak!"

"From what I know about this man, he has a plan for what he does, and the biggest secret of Ningbo Shipyard is the iron-clad ship!"

After Zhu Qizhen heard this, his expression became heavy. Could it be... this guy is planning to steal the iron-clad ship?

No, how did he steal the [-]-ton giant ship?
Could it be... Stealing blueprints?

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

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

Zhu Qizhen sighed helplessly, and said: "This guy Shi Heng, I told him not to leave him alive, but he is really obedient!"

Yuan Bin said again: "Your Majesty, Niu Dabao died two years ago."

(End of this chapter)