Chapter 977 1066 I Will 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 the parts and uses of 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 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 that 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. If the number is piled up, it will be many, hundreds of them. Doors are no problem either.

These are incomparable to our Ming warships.

Admiral Yu renovated the bird ship to build 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 when the 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, force 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.

"Hey."

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. It was divided into two layers. The first layer was made of 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 before when he talked about the border wars, 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 gunpowder inside from the muzzle into it, tamped it down 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 speaking, 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 control over fire igniters. Since 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 certificates 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 the wooden balls stuffed into them actually have no lethality. Although it may still hurt if it hits a person directly on the skin, but if it hits people 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 and said that if there were any righteous ministers who saw this scene, they would definitely scold him, "a treacherous villain" and "a jester".

"Well, I know."

The little emperor naturally knew what the palace feared most, that is, a fire, so he also kept Wei Guangde's reminder in mind.

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

In fact, the textbooks specially compiled by Zhang Juzheng for Zhu Yijun are actually just to his taste.

It should be said that the academic performance of the little emperor Zhu Yijun is relatively good among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

In the real history, the huge changes in the middle and late periods of Emperor Wanli and the early period must be said to be related to the huge pressure when Zhang Juzheng was alive, and the huge contrast between his appearance and his appearance after his death.

Although Zhang Juzheng was not an unforgivable person, in order to overthrow Zhang Juzheng, the anti-Zhang group really brought some dirty things among the civil servants to the table.

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

Perhaps, the confrontation between the inner and outer courts in the middle and late periods was also due to this.

Especially after Emperor Wanli calmed down, knowing everything the civil service group had done to the Zhang family, for the sake of face, he chose not to say anything, but to respond directly with actions.

Trying to move the silver from Changyingku back to the inner court fully reflects his distrust of foreign officials.

Not long after, the eunuch hurried in from outside, holding a bamboo tube-like object in both hands.

When the fire starter was in hand, Wei Guangde pulled open the lid and blew a breath at the half-hidden spark on the fire starter, and the spark quickly turned into a ball of flames and burned.

"Your Majesty, should I do it or you do it?"

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

The fire starter can be said to be the ancient version of a lighter.

The production of the fire starter involves a variety of materials and processes, and each step in the middle demonstrates the wisdom of the ancients.

Soak potato vines in water to make them thick, take them out and flatten them, soak them again, add cotton and reed tassels and beat them again, dry them, add saltpeter, sulfur, rosin, camphor and other flammable substances and various spices, and finally fold them into long flat tubes or twist them into ropes to convert these raw materials into combustible sparks.

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

According to the "Qingyi Lu" of the Song Dynasty, in the early Song Dynasty, someone soaked pine wood strips in sulfur to make a kind of wood strip that could ignite fire. It burned violently when it came into contact with friction. At that time, it was also called "Yinguangnu", and later it was called "Huocun Tiao" and sold on the market.

In the Ming Dynasty, this thing was also called "Fazhu". In terms of working principle, this thing can be regarded as an ancient match. Compared with modern matches, the only difference between Fazhu and modern matches is that the element "phosphorus" is not used.

"I will fire the cannon."

The little emperor excitedly snatched the fire from Wei Guangde and used the flame to ignite the fuse behind a cannon.

"Bang."

With a crisp cannon sound, the wooden ball hit the wooden box in front.