It was a coincidence that Xu Guangqi stayed with the emperor, and now he still has 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 is made by the Xiangshan Shipyard of Nanyang Wei Xiangshan Qianhu Institute, in full accordance with the emperor's requirements, according to the common people's commonly used freight merchant ship shape, sent to the Beiyang Dagu mouth, into the Haihe River all the way to the steam bureau.

In order to get it ashore, the Steam Bureau made a special trip to build two heavy twenty-four steamers to support the carts.

The reason why there were two of them was because the first flatbed cart could not be used, so the second boat was built with a flat plate that completely matched the shape of the bottom of the ship, and this big creature was transported to the steam bureau.

In order to renovate, the Steam Bureau also transferred a warship science instructor and three students from the Guangzhou Prefecture Lecture and Martial Arts Hall.

The transformation was also very complicated, in order to put the Type A Huo De Xingjun inside, they almost disassembled and reassembled the entire ship, and the labor cost in the middle was enough to buy two more such ships.

Strictly speaking, this bird boat is different from the dozen or so steam boats that cruise in the Jinshui River in the Forbidden City, and this is a boat that can really be used in large rivers, near the sea, and even in the far sea.

The size and shape are exactly the same, and they sailed all the way from the near sea, and now the change is nothing more than a measure of the emperor's use in the great lake of Tsinghua Garden, removing the mast and sails.

As long as the mast sail is installed, the ship can also sail back to Xiangshan from Tianjin.

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

"Yes." Xu Guangqi nodded and said: "The bird boat has a large belly and a deep draft, originally a single ship can carry 4,000 quintals of cargo, or more than 400,000 catties, and it can still carry 400,000 catties after loading the steamer, but the more cargo it loads, the slower the speed of the ship is bound to be." ”

"The minister estimated that in addition to the coal used for the ship's rations and steamers, it was still possible to sail offshore at this speed if it carried thousands of loads of goods and loaded three-masted sails." Having said that, but obviously Xu Guangqi himself was not very confident, and said: "If Your Majesty thinks that it has less cargo, the Steam Bureau can make a larger steamer, or add another one, and the minister thinks that there can still be two more in the ship." ”

Wanli shook his head, looking dissatisfied with Xu Guangqi's words, and said: "Three small ones are not as big as one, and three small boats are not as good as one big ship." ”

As he spoke, the emperor raised his hand and pointed to the deck under his feet, and said: "The mistake is no longer the steamer or this imperial ship, but we have built the ship too small, the ship is too big, and it is easy to say that it is easy to load people, cargo, and steamers." ”

Suddenly, the emperor sighed, and his face was full of sadness: "Alas, but no matter how big this ship is, I can't see it." ”

"Rao is my wisdom and martial arts, first punished this garden, and then started a war against the Wuliang Ha Sanwei and the barbarians, so that I often have the opportunity to go out of the palace on the grounds of military training, after all, it is a long way to go to Beiyang, and the ministers of the DPRK and China will not allow me to see the sea."

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

Saying that, the emperor made a signature two-handed gesture: "Thinking about it is also aggrieved, inheriting the legacy of my father and ancestors, the Ming Dynasty beheaded the old enemy Spain at the beginning of my accession to the throne, and subdued the Portuguese Yi to be small in this generation. It's annoying. ”

The emperor reluctantly hammered the side of the ship, raised his feet and walked towards the stern, and said as he walked: "After this ship stops, will it take half an hour before it can start again?" ”

"Half an hour smaller, according to the time on the clock, the cylinder from cold to hot, from ignition, is forty-seven minutes, if it is just stopped and then opened, it is eighteen minutes."

Xu Guangqi has been with the emperor for a while, and the emperor's personality is easy to understand, but many times he feels that he can't keep up with the emperor's whimsical ideas.

Recently, he found a trick to cater to the divine will - to put his thoughts farther: "If Your Majesty wants to make this kind of ship go back and forth to the coast of Daming, you need to set up ship coal stations in the ports of Weihai, Songjiang, Quanzhou and other places along the way, and be in charge of stopping ships to add water and coal, and boarding and repairing." ”

"Ship Coal Station? You think this idea, who else knows? It's fine if 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 to become the most important utensils for land transportation, but because of its high cost, ordinary people will not be able to use it for a while, and the people will still mainly use donkeys, horses, oxen and mules to pull carts, and only bulk goods will be used by steam locomotives." ”

"But the track is limited, and I think that even if the track is repaired, the best role is to be managed by the government, like the telegraph, and the people can use it for long distances when they pay some fees."

"The steam engine ship is different, although it is expensive, but the voyage time is short, and the merchant is more profitable, as long as this kind of ship runs on the sea, people will soon compete to buy it, so don't say it...... This ship is mine, do you understand? ”

Xu Guangqi didn't understand.

This bird boat is the emperor's royal ride in Tsinghua Garden, obviously, does this kind of thing still need to be said?

"I'm not talking about this ship, it's a steam engine ship, it's mine." Sitting in the helmsman's position, the emperor's eyes lit up, and he said: "The main users of steam engine ships are maritime merchants, maritime merchants are very rich, and the Ming Dynasty will have ten times a hundred times the profit of casually selling some goods overseas, and I can use it to enrich the inner treasury, and the officials of the court do not take this seriously, this is my opportunity." ”

"I'm going to take advantage of the fact that there is still a war going on in the north, and I'm going to get the Steam Bureau out of the work department and hand it over to the celebrants...... Give it to Jin Yiwei. It seemed that Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng were wearing a pair of pants, obviously Jinyiwei's old father-in-law was more trusted, and the emperor said: "There is also the ship coal station you mentioned, this is not in a hurry, wait for me to find a way to get the coal from Shanxi into my hands, and the merchants of the province will raise the price of coal." ”

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

Xu Guangqi, Xu Guangqi didn't know what to say, and finally simply bowed down: "The minister never dares." ”

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

Xu Guangqi really couldn't understand, is there any difference between the household treasury and the emperor's inner treasury?

In the emperor's opinion, it was really different.

"Some things are destined, Qi Shuai recovers Wuliang Ha Sanwei, I want to build a railway for them to use Huo De Xingjun to transport baggage, the big green dragon with Huo De Xingjun on the railway will eat coal, and the steamships running in the sea will also eat coal in the future, so there must be a railway to transport coal."

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

The emperor tasted the sweetness of the war, in the course of the war, the bureaucratic system of the imperial court restrained each other due to their different starting points, everyone could only revolve around him, and he was the one who made the final decision on all the decisions, and he only had an absolutely correct starting point - to give Qi Jiguang ten percent support to the front-line combat.

In this support, the imperial power grew day by day.

"This battle will not stop, keep fighting, Wuliang Ha Sanwei will fight the barbarians after the recovery, and then see if I will bow my head after the barbarian fight, and continue to fight with him when I bow my head, the north will fight, the northwest will fight, and the northeast will also fight, there are the best forests for shipbuilding, and there are countless iron ore mines...... I'm me. ”

The emperor closed his eyes, lost in his own imagination, and his last words came out almost in a dreamy voice, making Xu Guangqi almost think that the emperor had fallen asleep happily.

Suddenly, he saw the emperor's eyes widen, and hurriedly said: "Forget forget forget, let someone bring my hat on the school field, the wind blows and it is cold, by the way, don't forget to let King Lu report the depth of the gun on the log target...... I want to transport a batch of prefabricated barrier walls for Qi Shuai, anti-bow and arrow fire-proof guns, which can be used when moved down to the place. ”