open sea

Chapter 1098 Centralization
It was a coincidence that Xu Guangqi stayed with the emperor. Now he still holds the official position of the steam bureau of the Ministry of Industry, but he no longer goes to work in the steam bureau, but stays in Tsinghua Park.

This ship is the result of his work. The ship was manufactured by the Xiangshan Shipyard of Nanyangwei Xiangshan Qianhu. It was manufactured in accordance with the emperor's requirements and according to the shape of the common people's cargo merchant ship.

In order to get it ashore, the Steam Bureau specially built two heavy 24-wheeler carts.

The reason why there are two is because the first flatbed cart can't be used, so the second cart was built with the board completely matching the shape of the bottom of the boat, and this big guy was transported to the Steam Bureau.

In order to reform, the Steam Bureau also transferred a warship instructor and three students from the Guangzhou Mansion Lecture Hall.

The modification is also very complicated. In order to put the Type-A Huode Xingjun inside, they almost disassembled and reassembled the whole ship. The labor loss in the middle is enough to buy two more ships like this.

Strictly speaking, this bird boat is different from the dozen or so small steam boats swimming in the Jinshui River in the Forbidden City.

The size and shape are exactly the same, and they sailed all the way from the offshore. The current change is nothing more than to measure the use of the emperor in the big lake of Tsinghua Garden, and remove the mast and sail.

As long as the mast and sail are installed, the ship can sail from Tianjin to Xiangshan again.

"Forty-two miles in an hour, five hundred miles a day, is there such a fast ship in the world?" The emperor folded his arms, stepped on the ship, touched it, and said: "Then it transports goods from Tianjin to Songjiang Mansion, as long as Six days; from Songjiang Mansion to Nanyangwei, it only takes six days, and within one month, the goods from the north can be sent to the south, and then the goods from the south can be sent to the north?"

"Yes." Xu Guangqi nodded and said: "The bird boat has a big belly and a deep draft. Originally, a single ship could carry 40 dan, which is more than [-] catties. After installing a steamer, it can still carry [-] catties. , The speed of the ship is bound to be slower.”

"Your minister estimates that in addition to the rations on board and the water and coal used for the steamer, with a load of thousands of loads and a three-masted long sail, it should still be able to sail offshore at this speed." That's what he said, but Xu Guangqi was obviously not very confident himself. , Said: "If your Majesty thinks it has less cargo, the Steam Bureau can make a bigger steamer, or buy another one. I think there are still two more steamers in the ship."

Wanli shook his head, seemingly dissatisfied with Xu Guangqi's remarks, and said, "Three small boats are not as big as one big boat, and three small boats are not as good as one big boat."

As he said that, the emperor pointed to the deck below his feet, and said, "It's not the fault of the steamer or this imperial ship, it's that we made the ship too small, and the ship was too big to load people, cargo, and steamer. It's all easy to say."

Suddenly the emperor sighed, with a sad face on his face: "Oh, but no matter how big this boat is, I won't be able to see it."

"Fortunately, I am wise and powerful. I punished this garden first, and then went to war against Wuliangha Sanwei and Tuman. Only then did I have the opportunity to go out of the palace for military training. After all, it is a long way to go to Beiyang. Is it right for the ministers of the court?" I will be allowed to see the sea."

"This is already the largest boat shape that Tsinghua University can run on."

As he said that, the emperor made the iconic gesture of resting his hands on the sky: "I feel aggrieved when I think about it. Inheriting the virtues of my father and ancestors, the Ming Dynasty killed the old enemy Spain at the beginning of my accession to the throne, intimidating the Portuguese and barbarians. I proclaimed it three times and comforted it six times, riding on a god to proclaim virtue all over the world, but I couldn’t even take a big boat, huh! It’s so annoying.”

The emperor hammered the side of the ship helplessly, raised his feet and walked towards the poop, and said as he walked, "After the ship stops, it will take half an hour to start again?"

"In half an hour, according to the time on the clock, the cylinder is from cold to hot, and it is 47 minutes from ignition. If it is just to stop the ship and start again, it will be [-] minutes."

Xu Guangqi has been with the emperor for some time, and the emperor's character is easy to understand, but many times he feels that he can't keep up with the emperor's unconstrained ideas.

Recently, he found a trick to cater to the holy will—to put the idea further: "If your majesty wants to transport this kind of ship to and from the coast of Daming, it is necessary to set up ship coal stations at the ports of Weihai, Songjiang, Quanzhou and other places along the way. Stop the ship to add water and coal, and board the ship for machine repair.”

"Ship Coal Institute? Who else knows your idea? As long as you don't have it, don't tell anyone."

Wanli looked at Xu Guangqi, who was already sitting at the helm, and said very seriously: "This is a trend. Steam locomotives will surpass horse-drawn carriages and become the most important utensils for land transportation, but because of their high cost, ordinary people will not be able to use them for a while. , people will still mainly use donkeys, horses, cattle and mules to pull carts, and only for bulky goods will some people use steam locomotives.”

"However, the trains on the track are limited. I think that even if the track is repaired, the best role is to be managed by the government. Like the telegraph, ordinary people pay some fees and can use it for long distances."

"Steam engine ships are different. Although their cost is high, their voyage time is short, and merchants are more likely to make profits. As long as this kind of ship runs on the sea, people will rush to buy it, so don't tell me... this ship, It's mine, do you understand?"

Xu Guangqi didn't understand.

This bird boat is the emperor's driving in Tsinghua Garden. It is obvious, so do we need to talk about this kind of thing?
"I'm not talking about this ship, it's a steam engine ship, which belongs to me." Sitting on the helmsman's seat, the emperor's eyes lit up, and said: "The main users of steam engine ships are sea merchants, and sea merchants are very rich. If you sell some random goods of the Ming Dynasty overseas, you will get ten times a hundred times the profit, and I can use it to enrich the internal treasury, and the court officials don't take it seriously, this is my chance."

"I want to take advantage of the fact that the north is still fighting, and take the steam bureau out of the engineering department and hand it over to Si Li... to Jin Yiwei." It seems to think that Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng are wearing a pair of pants. Obviously Jin Yiwei's old father-in-law is more trusted, the emperor Said: "There is also the ship coal station you mentioned. Don't worry about it. When I find a way to get Shanxi's coal into my hands, the merchants in the province will drive up the price of coal."

"I tell you this because I trust you, don't tell anyone."

Xu Guangqi, Xu Guangqi didn't know what to say, and finally bowed down: "Your servant must never dare."

Why did the emperor of his family keep thinking about putting the things in his left pocket into his right pocket?

Xu Guangqi really couldn't understand, is there any difference between the household treasury and the emperor's internal treasury?
In the eyes of the emperor, it is really different.

"Some things are destined. Qi Shuai took back Wuliangha Sanwei. I want to build a railway for them and use Huodexingjun to transport luggage. The big green dragon loaded with Huodexingjun on the railway will eat coal. In the future, the steamship that will run in the sea They also need to eat coal, so there must be railways to transport coal.”

"Qi Shuai pacified the three guards. The court wants to stop this battle, but I can't let it stop."

The emperor enjoyed the sweetness of the war. During the war, the bureaucratic system of the imperial court restrained each other due to their different starting points. Everyone could only revolve around him. He was the one who made the final decision on all decisions, and he only had one Absolutely correct starting point - giving [-]% support to Qi Jiguang who is fighting on the front line.

In this kind of support, the imperial power is becoming more and more important.

"This battle will not stop, keep fighting, Wuliangha Sanwei will fight the local barbarians, after the local barbarians are over, I will see whether I will bow my head, and wrap my head around him to continue fighting, the north will fight, the northwest will fight If you want to fight, you also want to fight in the northeast, there are the best forests for shipbuilding, and there are countless iron ore and coal mines... I am the one."

The emperor closed his eyes, lost in his imagination, and the last words were almost uttered in a sleepy voice, which made Xu Guangqi almost think that the emperor had fallen asleep happily.

Suddenly, he saw the emperor's eyes widen, and hurriedly said: "Forget it, forget it, let someone take my hat from the school field, it will be cold to death when the wind blows, by the way, don't forget to let Lu The king reported the depth of the blunderbuss hitting the log target... I will send Qi Shuai a batch of prefabricated barrier walls, anti-bow and arrow fire blunderbuss, and they can be used when they are moved to the place."

(End of this chapter)