Chapter 635 Asking for a Monthly Pass on the New Continent
On the high mast, the white sails painted with sun and moon patterns were filled with wind. The huge wind power turned into the driving force for progress through the sails and masts and transmitted to the streamlined hull. This is the latest work of the Mingdu Shipyard, which belongs to the Shipyard Department of the Ming Dynasty. The original design and sketch were proposed by Chen Dexing himself. After repeated trial and improvement by teachers and students of the Naval Academy Shipyard and technicians from the Mingdu Shipyard, it took three and a half years to build the first ship, named "New World".
This is a long-distance sailing ship for trans-Pacific navigation. In order to pursue higher speeds and better stability, the New World has been carefully designed and adopted low freeboards and fewer superstructures to achieve stability, while lowering the center of gravity to facilitate the installation of taller masts. The height of the New World mast reaches about three-quarters of the length of the hull, and the area of the sail is particularly large.
In order to reduce resistance as much as possible, the sailing ship adopts a large aspect ratio of 1:5, and the hull looks very slender and looks like an inland oar. The bow of the "New World" is sharp, extending forward like half a pair of scissors, and the waterline surface is slightly concave, which can be lifted up during navigation and split the waves; the rear gradually becomes thinner and has a certain slope, and together with the streamlined hull forms a minimum resistance body.
A mast extending forward is also installed along the bow of the ship that extends forward. Four sail cables are pulled up between the mast and the foremast, and a spinnaker is hung; on the foremast, main mast and rear mast, there are huge cross sails, and the width of the sail surface is much greater than the width of the hull. The cross mast is even extended outside the hull, and there are sail cables hanging between each mast, pulling up a spinnaker. The combination of cross sail and spinnaker allows the sailboat to accept the wind blowing from all directions.
That’s right, this is a scissor sailboat. It is the pinnacle of human use in the history of sailing. This scissor sailboat can have a speed of up to 14 knots!
Of course, the New World, which appeared six hundred years ahead of schedule, did not have such high speed. The speed of this sailboat is at most 11 knots and 12 knots. Because the sailboat was built too heavy.
In order to improve navigation safety as much as possible, and also to carry artillery, the hull of the "New World" is very strong. Steel parts made of Nanfen steel are even used in the riveted part of the keel to increase the degree of firmness.
Therefore, the "New World" is a very "heavy" scissor sailboat, and its size is also quite large. If calculated using traditional Chinese load-bearing stones, this sailboat is a large ship of 5,000 stones.
According to the standards of the Ming Navy, this means that the sailing ship can carry 5,000 stones (about 300 tons) of supplies or cargo. If the hull weight and the arms carried with the ship are taken into consideration, the displacement of this sailing ship is likely to exceed 1,500 tons!
In the era of sail battleships in later generations, battleships with a displacement of 1,500 tons were considered very powerful warships. In 1637, the first generation of the British sail battleship "King of the Sea" had a displacement of only 1,700 tons. The ship was equipped with as many as 100 artillery pieces and was the king of the sea in that era.
Although this "New World" only carries for forty-four four-inch long cannons, it is enough to bring overwhelming maritime power to the Ming Navy. After all, in the current world, only the two Chinese countries, the Ming and Song Dynasties, have truly useful artillery, and the latter's naval power is so weak that it is the extreme regiment training mode, which seems not very suitable for the navy.
The "New World" was only completed in July and was incorporated into the Beiyang Fleet as soon as it was launched, and was designated as the ship of the Ming Emperor. It is now carrying the No. 1 figure of the Ming Empire. It is surrounded by several escort sailing ships.
In a spacious cabin, there was a thick and soft banquet, and a rectangular low table in the middle was placed on a few side dishes, a few plates of snacks, some fruits and soju.
Liang Chongru gently turned the white porcelain cup in Dehua (Dehua County, Quanzhou) in his hand, and the rich aroma of wine emanated from the cup, mixing the fresh air from the sea, making people feel elated.
This is a kind of mellow wine that Liang Chongru had tasted. He felt a little drunk after drinking it a little. Compared with it, the best wine in the Southern Dynasty was as light as water.
Liang Chongru sipped slowly, completely intoxicated by the mellowness of the wine...
It was the tenth day after Chen Dexing ascended the throne and became emperor. The reason why he met Chen Dexing in the Tiandao Palace in Yanjing was because Hojo did not carry the Japanese emperor's letter in real time. It was useless to bring the national letter, because Chen Dexing would not recognize the Emperor of Kamakura. Therefore, Hojo could only meet Chen Dexing informally in real time, and it was not appropriate to place it in the Tiandao Palace. In the name of the Lord of the Tiandao Sect, there was nothing left.
When the meeting was about to end, Liang Chongru submitted Jia Sidao's handwritten letter, so he was able to go south with Chen Dexing.
"Good wine, good wine!" After a sip of the wine, he shook his head and praised a few words as if he was still willing to finish his feelings. Then he put down the wine glass and bowed to Chen Dexing, who was sitting on the top, "I would like to thank the saint for giving such a fine wine."
Chen Dexing smiled and said, "This is a wine made by several students from the Chemistry Department of Mingdu Tiandao Academy. It is called Zikui Yin."
This is distilled liquor! The alcohol content is naturally extremely high, and it may have reached fifty degrees, which is similar to the liquor in later generations. In the textbooks of the Chemistry Department of Tiandao Academy, there are methods and principles for preparing distilled water. A female student named Su Zikui owns a winery at home, so she purifies the liquor by distillation and obtains high-purity liquor, named Zikui Drink, and also registered the patent "Chen Li" Scholars and Industry Chapter, which has specifically stipulated "patents". The Ministry of Commerce of the Ming Dynasty also formulated the "Patent Law" based on this, and has been submitted to the Consultation Conference for approval, and Chen Dexing also signed and approved it.
There is no doubt that the girl named Su Zikui and her classmates will soon become rich. Because the Ming Dynasty now implements a "salt, tea and wine monopoly", all wineries must purchase a monopoly license for purchase of a monopoly license in order to make wine for sale. The characteristics and craftsmanship of the brewed wine must also be indicated on the monopoly license, and there is almost no room for large-scale stealing of wine patents.
These role models who became rich because of innovation and scientific research are exactly what Chen Dexing needs. In fact, Chen Dexing had known that there was distilled liquor for a long time, but he did not make the money, but gave it to Bill Gates and Jobs of China in this era.
If you want to encourage more people to devote themselves to scientific research, religion alone is not enough. There must be real and huge commercial interests. Based on the same principle, Chen Dexing clearly knows how to remove sulfur and phosphorus from iron ore, but he does not point it out. Instead, he hopes that the technical talents of Tiandao Academy and Nanfen Iron Store will discover it themselves and then make a big profit...
"Purple Sun Drink..." Liang Chongru looked yearning, "If the poet Li Bai got this fine wine, there would definitely be a few more famous works in the world that have been passed down from generation to generation!"
Chen Dexing frowned slightly. Could it be that the value of distilled liquor is not as valuable as Li Bai's poems? If high-purity liquor is refined, alcohol can be obtained. This is a powerful tool for disinfection and sterilization. I don't know how many lives it can save!
He shook his head, put his mind back, and smiled and said, "Liang Yifu, there are many more purple acres on my 'New World' number. You can bring one or two hundred altars to Lin'an and give some to Jia Sidao and Liao Yingzhong. When I first started in the army, I had no less care and promotion, so I expressed my feelings. If possible, I would also give some to the Supreme Lord of Song, which is the intention of the Imperial Concubine, and then tell them about my intention to let the Imperial Concubine inherit the throne of Song."
It is not surprising to send Zi Kui Drink to Jia Sidao and the Supreme Emperor Zhao Yun. Although the dispute between Chen Dexing and the Southern Song Dynasty could not be reconciled, he still tried to be a gentleman's fight. During the holidays, he would send envoys to greet Zhao Yun, and the etiquette he should have never been short.
However, letting Zhao Lin'er be the future queen of Song was beyond Liang Chongru's expectations. He thought that Chen Dexing would either kill all the Song Dynasty, or follow the precedent of the Tang Dynasty, retain the country of Song Dynasty, and let the Song Dynasty's monarchs and ministers find a family and country overseas.
But unexpectedly, Chen Dexing made such a move, and wanted Zhao Liner and his wife to be the king of the Song Dynasty. This was somewhat difficult to deal with.
Liang Chongru asked tentatively again: "Sage, how big is the temporary territory of Song State? Is the queen in Songdu? "
Chen Dexing smiled and said, "There are so many fiefs in the state of Song that will naturally be known after the battle... The state of Song is a powerful country with 300,000 or 400,000 troops, and has the foundation for raising soldiers for three hundred years. I think it will not be defeated without fighting, and it will always last a year or two."
This is to weaken the Song Dynasty to a certain extent before considering suppressing it!
Liang Chongru had already had some, so he smiled and continued to test, "If Grand Master Jia surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, can he continue to rule Liangzhe Road?"
Chen Dexing said lightly: "The rich land of the two Zhejiangs, the population and wealth are equal to that of the northern land. How can I entrust it to others? If Jia Sidao is willing to obey our Ming Dynasty, he can be granted a prince if he stays in China."
Jia Sidao is not young anymore, and he can basically not build a country when going overseas. Moreover, his two sons are of no use, so he probably won't be able to build a country even if he goes out. So Chen Dexing did not mention the matter of Jia Sidao's enthronement.
Liang Chongru nodded slightly, "What about Fujian Road and Guangdong Road?"
Chapter completed!