Two 700-ton ironclad ships drove up to the sides of the Covenant, and suddenly the gun windows were fully opened.

João IV's eyes widened as he watched the twenty-four-pounder guns rolled out of the two ironclad ships' broadside.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Rumble! Boom Boom! ”

The gun embrasures of the two ironclad ships fired sequentially from front to back, and fired their cannons in salute the Covenant.

Raphael shrank and hid under the planks.

Even João IV was so flustered that his face turned white.

It took a long time for him to determine that the two high-flying warships on the left and right were firing a salute.

It wasn't that the King of Portugal didn't understand the etiquette of the sea - by this time the rule of firing a gun salute had spread in Europe and gradually became a rule. It was really because the Europeans had the element of showing off their might when they invented this salute, and at this time, João IV and his party were shocked by the momentum of the ironclad ship, so they panicked to the point of being at a loss.

The interpreter on the Covenant walked over and said with a smile: "Your Highness the King, this is a salute to welcome Your Highness!" “

João IV breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the Covenant had not been torn to shreds by the ironclad's flowering shells.

Raphael also stuck his head out from behind the plank, looking with some horror at the two ironclad ships that passed by the Covenant. The diplomat was really frightened just now, and the horror on his face could not be dissipated at this time.

A small steamship quickly approached and guided the Covenant into port. The Covenant was led by a small boat and sailed into the channel of the Dagu Wharf.

João IV smiled self-deprecatingly, raised his monoculars, and looked at the pier in front of him again.

After looking at it for a while, he turned to the translator and asked, "Interpreter, what do those iron shelves that are next to each berth on the dock do?" “

The translator smiled and said, "Your Royal Highness, that's a pulley crane!" “

The interpreter pointed to a steamer loading to the east of his field of vision, and said, "Your Highness, you see, the iron frame is equipped with bearings, and it can easily rotate from side to side. With the combination of pulley block and hemp rope, heavy cargo can be lifted from the dock and loaded into the cabin. “

João IV was stunned and took a closer look at the "cranes".

What is Bearing?

He saw some workers operating the iron shelves.

There were four large iron hooks hanging under the pulley on the iron shelf, and after the goods on a carriage were hooked by the port workers with iron hooks, the workers sitting on the iron shelf lifted the goods with a slight pull of the pulleys. Then the iron frame spun around and carried the cargo hoisted by the pulley block onto the ship.

João IV looked at it for a long time and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Obviously, such a method of loading ships is ten times more advanced and ten times more efficient than the method carried by Europeans on their shoulders. It only takes three workers to carry a huge cargo box that can be carried by more than a dozen people.

João IV looked at it with a telescope for a long time, and couldn't help but ask again: "Why is all the goods on the Dagu dock in tin boxes?" Those tin boxes all seem to be the same size? ”

The translator smiled and said, "Your Highness, that's called a standard container. “

"Standard containers?"

"Yes, Your Highness. When the goods in Tianjin leave the factory, they must be transported from the factory to the wharf, and after being loaded from the wharf to the seaport, they will be transported to the destination by ox cart and horse-drawn cart when they leave the port. If the container is not sealed, it will take much effort to load, unload and pile up along the way, and it is easy to make mistakes and cause the goods to be lost. “

"King Qi promotes standard containers in one town and nine provinces. The container is two meters long, one meter wide, and one and a half meters high, exactly three cubic meters. No matter what kind of goods it is, all of them are loaded into containers and then transported, so that when changing the means of transport, there is no need to disassemble and load and unload, and the containers can be directly transported onto the ship. “

"And now we have one town and six provinces in the cargo hold of ships, railways and even horse-drawn carriages, the width of which matches the size of the container. The cargo hatch of a ship is just enough to lift a container, and the cargo hold of a train is exactly the size of eighteen containers. The carriage of a horse-drawn carriage is often exactly the length and width of a container, so it is much easier to transport goods. “

João IV was stunned when he heard such an introduction.

This mode of transport is amazing.

In Europe, it was still the transporters who made a variety of wooden boxes of different sizes to pack the goods. These wooden boxes often waste space on the transport vehicle due to their different sizes. With a fixed-size box like a container, the cargo will be placed just on the carrier without wasting a trace of space.

With containers, it is very convenient for goods to change modes of transport. All kinds of pulley cranes only need to match containers of the same size. Otherwise, the crane cannot match the size of the wooden box, so it can only be moved by people.

Moreover, the wooden boxes of Europeans will be thrown away after two or three uses, and they will be deformed and broken after long-term use. And Li Zhi's container is made of steel, painted on the outside, and can be used for several years.

I'm afraid it can be used for more than ten years.

This is definitely a great initiative for the transportation industry. How did Li Zhi, the king of Qi, come up with such a great rule?

João IV stood on the deck of the ship, sighing and admiring, but he did not know that the container system was the most basic rule of logistics in later generations. Li Zhi couldn't have made it easier to improve the efficiency of the transportation industry in one town and nine provinces.

The Covenant docked on the pier and João IV stepped down the gangway.

The first thing João IV saw when he disembarked was the flat quay road paved with cement.

Concrete roads are now a common thing in Tianjin, and now Li Zhi has begun to use asphalt paving on key roads. Still, for Europeans who had never seen cement, they were shocked by the wide road that was countless times smoother than the stone pavement.

João IV stared at the gangway for a long time with wide eyes before he managed to contain his surprise and continue walking.

Receiving João IV on the docks was Cai Huaishui, the head of the state-run factory.

Cai Huaishui bowed to the King of Portugal and said, "Your Highness has worked hard all the way, first follow me to the Tianjin Acropolis and rest in our inn for one night." “

João IV hurriedly agreed and boarded the carriage prepared for him by Cai Huaishui.

As soon as the carriage drove away, João IV realized that something was wrong.

The carriage was also too smooth, with almost no bumps on the flat concrete road.

Although concrete roads are much flatter than stone roads, wood tires are far from achieving such a comfortable driving feeling. João IV was horrified and wanted to stick his head out to look at the wheels of the carriage, but he was too embarrassed to do so because of his identity.

Cai Huaishui looked at Joao IV's face and said with a smile: "Your Highness, this carriage is equipped with rubber tires. ”

João IV looked at Cai Huaishui with a shocked face and asked, "Are you talking about Brazilian gums?" ”

Cai Huaishui smiled and said, "That's right, Your Highness, after the Brazilian gum is transported to Tianjin, it becomes a material with excellent elasticity after special processing. With this material, our carriage can greatly reduce bumps, make the passengers in the car more comfortable, and make the cargo on the car safer and more stable. ”

Joao IV's eyes widened and he glanced at Cai Huaishui a few times.

Can Brazilian latex be used to make carriage wheels?

He suddenly couldn't help himself and stuck his head out of the car window.

Sure enough, he saw black rubber tires, spinning rapidly on the flat concrete road.