I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 291 Shipbuilding
After reacting, he stood up abruptly, came to the treasure ship, confirmed his thoughts, watched for a long time, and finally couldn't help but say,

"Your Majesty, is there something missing in the middle?"

Li Tian said in his heart, "Zheng He is indeed a rare talent in Ming Dynasty and even in the whole world. You can see the mystery of this thing with just a few glances."

I couldn't help giving him a thumbs up, and said happily,
"Uncle Bao, you are really astute, and you can even see this. You guessed right, there is indeed a very important thing missing, this thing, I call it a 'steam turbine'!"

When the word steam turbine came out, not only Zheng He was stunned, but even the other cabinet ministers were full of question marks.

"What chicken, steam chicken, is that a new dish! Is it possible that a ship needs to be driven by a chicken? This joke is not funny!"

It was also the first time Zheng He had heard of such a thing, but after all, he was a person who had really experienced big storms, and soon calmed down.

"This is the first time our family has heard of what Your Majesty said. I don't know what kind of god it is. It can actually drive such a big treasure ship. You must know that if the treasure ship is fully loaded, even thousands of people may not be able to pull it. what!"

Zheng He thought that Li Tian didn't understand the size of the treasure ship, so he explained it to him.

Li Tian smiled, and handed him a blueprint that he had drawn a long time ago.

That drawing is the prototype of the original steam engine that Li Tian settled on after studying more than ten models with the coppersmiths in the palace during this half a year.

All he had was a cylinder with a little stove thing on one end and a bunch of connecting rods or something on the other.

Although it is still very rough, it can basically be done, using steam to slowly drive the connecting rod to rotate.

When Zheng He saw this kind of thing for the first time, he didn't understand it for a while.

Li Tian explained to him from the side,

"When the water is boiled, it will produce steam,...if we block both ends, the steam can't go out, so we can only follow the specially opened passage....

I put an impeller baffle here, the steam that has nowhere to go, after being squeezed to a certain extent, it will push the impeller to rotate, and after the impeller rotates, it can drive the connecting rod to rotate...

At that time, we only need to connect the connecting rod with the four paddle wheels on the treasure ship, and then the paddle wheels can be driven to rotate, and the treasure ship will naturally be automatic without wind. "

While Li Tian was explaining to Zheng He, Yang Shiqi and others also gathered around to watch.

But after watching it for a long time, they couldn't understand why the water vapor had such a strong force to push the impeller made of pure steel.

But Zheng He is different. He has been floating on the sea all year round. Even though he doesn't quite understand the specific principles of the steam engine, he has a personal experience of how powerful the power of water is.

Leaving aside the principle, just relying on the connecting rod to drive the four paddle wheels on the hull to rotate, this item is enough to amaze Zheng He.

The more he watched, the more excited he became, and finally he slammed the table and shouted loudly,

"Okay, okay, that's a brilliant idea!"

Then he turned his head and excitedly said to Li Tian,

"Your Majesty, if this thing can really be combined with this treasure ship, it will be a groundbreaking move. I am afraid that the matter of sailing will enter a new realm."

Li Tian quickly grabbed the excited Zheng He, and said slowly,

"Uncle Bao, please sit down and listen to me slowly."

How excited Zheng He was, you can clearly understand from the palm that shook the Huanghuali table with a handprint just now.

Li Tiansheng was afraid that if he couldn't control himself, he would have a cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction or something, and the loss would not be worth the gain.

Hastily continued,

"Uncle Bao, I'm still researching this thing, and it's still unknown when I'll see the finished product!"

Zheng He heard that this thing has not yet started to be built, and immediately said excitedly,

"Your Majesty, leave this thing to the old slave. The old slave promises to make this thing within three months."

Zheng He was so excited that he called himself an old slave without even talking about our family. It can be seen that his mood has been messed up. Li Tian laughed,
"To tell you the truth, Uncle Bao, this little thing isn't too complicated, but when the water is boiled, the pressure it has to bear is no small matter.

Ordinary copper and iron will not work, so the key positions must be forged from fine steel. "

When he heard that fine steel was actually needed, Zheng He was dumbfounded, and even Yang Shiqi and others were embarrassed.

Without him, fine steel is too expensive and too rare.

As far as they know, a skilled craftsman can only forge tens of kilograms of fine steel even if he does not sleep for a month.

But to make a steam engine as big as a treasure ship, the amount of steel needed is at least a few thousand catties.

At this time, if Daming gathered all the manpower and material resources, he would be able to gather so much fine steel in one month.

But this is only what a boat needs. If it is a thousand or ten thousand, wouldn't it be an astronomical amount of refined steel.

Even if everyone in Daming didn't eat or drink for a year, it probably wouldn't be able to make it together.

Seeing that they were so embarrassed, Li Tian couldn't help telling the truth in order not to dampen their enthusiasm.
"Don't worry, I have already made arrangements for the refined steel. I believe that within two months, I will have thousands of kilograms of refined steel."

"Is this true, Your Majesty?"

"Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, you can ask Jiang Bao and Wang Fu. They saw it with their own eyes!"

After getting Wang Fu's affirmation, Zheng He became excited again.

"Your Majesty, leave the matter of shipbuilding to the old slave. The old slave will definitely live up to His Majesty's entrustment."

Li Tian smiled and said,
"I asked Uncle Bao to come here today. In fact, I want to leave it to you at this time, and to others. I don't feel at ease."

After finishing speaking, he turned to Yang Shiqi and the others and said,

"This matter is of great importance. Once it is completed, it will represent more than just a few more ships. It will open a new chapter in history."

"I really hope that you and the others can work together to get this matter done."

Seeing what Li Tian said so solemnly, Yang Shiqi and others hurriedly got up, cupped their hands and said,

"Only following His Majesty's orders, the ministers and others dare not refuse."

Li Tian nodded and said,
"I know that several voyages to the West, although it is a good thing to show our country's prestige, have actually consumed a lot of supplies, so I am going to go all out to build ships at this time.

I'm afraid it will attract criticism from many courtiers, and I don't bother to explain it to them, so Lai Shiqi and you will deal with it for me. "

When Zheng He heard this, he said with a murderous look on his face,
"This is a major event that benefits the country and the people. If anyone dares to speak too much, His Majesty does not need to do anything. The old servant will wring their heads off in person."

(End of this chapter)