Steel Dynasty - Chapter 282

[Chapter 282 Voyage!]

Running around Bowen College and the palace every day, another new year passes quickly.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Qingzhou’s government agencies basically resumed normal operations.

The common people can enjoy the New Year until the fifteenth day of the middle lunar month, but Xiao Ming cannot be intoxicated and think about danger while living in peace. This is what he always reminds himself.

Xiao Ming taught the course on maritime positioning for a month, during which he also taught how to test the speed.

After a month of theory, Xiao Ming decided to let Yue Yun and others practice.

“Your Highness, all the naval guns are now on board. The mission of our military workshop has finally been completed.”

At the Xiaoqinghe Shipyard, Chen Qi watched the last naval gun being hoisted onto the ship and breathed a sigh of relief.

During the Chinese New Year, the military workshop was never idle. All the craftsmen worked day and night to finally deliver all 150 naval guns.

Counting from the time Xiao Ming went to Cangzhou, the naval guns were produced for a total of three months, with an average of fifty guns produced per month.

Similar to the city defense guns at the top of the city, the naval guns are heavy guns and are classified as 32-pound guns in Qingzhou’s artillery standards. Moreover, 60% of the shells on board this time are normal solid shells, and the remaining Forty percent were grapeshot.

According to Xiao Ming, grape bombs are actually naval artillery shells, specially used to bombard opposing ships.

Zhang Liang looked at the Galen ship and the artillery on the ship and said to Yue Yun: “Yue Yun, you must be more careful when you go out this time. It cost 300,000 taels of silver to build this Galen ship. This is not a ship.” , this is silver.”

Chen Qi added: “That’s not all. Each of the naval guns on board this time weighs eight or nine thousand kilograms. The cost of each cannon is around five thousand taels of silver. This is one hundred and fifty. The door is only 750,000 taels of silver.”

When the two said this, Yue Yun suddenly sweated on his forehead. He looked at Xiao Ming: “Your Highness, look at the two of them, how can I sail Galen’s ship to sea? “

What they said is true. These three Galen ships cost more than one million taels of silver. Yue Yun, you can’t do anything wrong when you go to sea. Remember your mission is not to fight, but to explore. Although our ships are small, But the important thing is to be flexible. If you run away, others won’t be able to catch up. “It’s impossible for Xiao Ming not to feel distressed at all.

Because the sea is much more dangerous than that of Dayu. In Dayu, he is a prince, so some people give him face.

When we get to the sea, who cares if this is the battleship of the Seventh Prince of the Chongqing Kingdom? When Yue Yun and others can come back, he will have to burn incense.

But nevertheless, he had to do it.

Because in the Age of Discovery, whoever mastered maritime hegemony controlled trade routes.

Now that the Silk Road on the road has been cut off by the Ottoman Empire, and there are barbarians in the north, it is impossible for him to trade through this road, and at sea, he may use his own advantages to monopolize the trade routes in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

As long as there is a dumping ground for goods, Qingzhou’s industry can thrive.

The three of them all said this. Yue Yun treasured his Galen ship more and more. He said: “Yes, Your Highness, Yue Yun has remembered it.”

All the gunboats were on board, and everything on the three Galen ships was ready. At this time Xiao Ming and Yue Yun boarded the Qingzhou, the flagship of Galen’s ship.

This time he will follow Yue Yun along the Xiaoqing River to the outlet of Bohai Bay, and then from the outlet to Dengzhou. Through this route, Yue Yun can practice his navigation knowledge.

Zhang Liang boarded the ship immediately. The Xiaoqinghe Shipyard will be managed by his son, and he will go to Dengzhou to take charge of the Dengzhou Shipyard.

After all, Xiao Ming Naval Base was located in Weihaiwei, southeast of Dengzhou.

Many people must be familiar with this place, because the Battle of Weihaiwei was part of the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War.

Weihaiwei is bordered by the Yellow Sea on three sides in the north and southeast, facing the Liaodong Peninsula in the north, and facing the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands in the east and southeast. Its geographical location is very dangerous.

Once Xiao Ming established a firm foothold in Weihaiwei, Xiao Ming would have blocked the southward route of Korea and Japan, and could face the Ryukyu Islands directly.

At the same time, the location of the naval base in this place, as the name suggests, is also for a personal emotional plot. The dignity that was once lost here is now what he wants to find again.

“Let go of the sails.”

A loud chant came to mind on Galen’s ship, and the sails on the mast poured down like a waterfall.

Then the strong wind blew up the canvas, and the first mate immediately took the helm and controlled the Galen ship to leave the dock driven by the wind.

The Galen ship behind followed the flagship and pulled anchor and set sail.

The water surface of the Xiaoqing River is wide. The Galen boat sailed eastward along the lake. In less than a day, it arrived at the outlet and saw the wide ocean. At this time, Xiao Ming said: “Start the drill.”

Yue Yun nodded .

He nodded and shouted: “Start the drill.”

At this time, the flag bearer in the suit immediately stood at the stern of the Galen ship and shouted a series of flags to the Galen ship behind.

The Galen ship behind saw the semaphore, and the captain who put it on immediately began to instruct the navigator to measure the dimensions and calculate his position.

On the Qingzhou, Yue Yun took out the quadrant and recorded the position of the stick’s reflection on the quadrant. He immediately started calculating with formulas and took out the form Xiao Ming gave him.

Because he had already recorded it once when he was in Qingzhou, and calculated again this time, he quickly figured out his location, “Your Highness, we are at the 53rd degree north latitude, and we have traveled ninety-seven nautical miles from Qingzhou.”

Half an hour later, Yue Yun told Xiao Ming the data he had obtained.

Xiao Ming nodded. When they were in Qingzhou, Yue Yun’s calculated latitude was 49 degrees north latitude. Now they walked diagonally for a while.

Then he calculated again, and it was basically the same as Yue Yun’s calculation.

He was already satisfied with this result. After all, in this era, instruments had errors and could not be so accurate. It was already amazing to be able to roughly figure out his position.

When Yue Yun left, Xiao Ming also gave him the longitude and latitude map he drew. According to the map, Yue Yun could basically figure out his current geographical location.

After measuring the longitude and latitude, Xiao Ming said: “Speed and time.”

The crew on the ship immediately took action, and a sailor quickly opened the hourglass.

This was the latest handover in the glass house. The sand flowed out and the timer started. At the same time, another sailor threw into the sea a triangular plank tied with a rope, holding the hemp rope wrapped in the spindle in one hand.

At this time, the triangular plank was floating on the sea. As the ship sailed forward, the ropes knotted at equal distances were continuously untied from the spindle and passed through the seaman’s palm.

“Stop!” After waiting for a while, Yue Yun suddenly shouted, and a crew member immediately stopped the hourglass.

The sailor in charge of the rope counted the knots and reported a number. Yue Yun then calculated the number of knots that passed through the palm of his hand during the hourglass time.

After some calculations, Yue Yun said: “Your Highness, the current speed is eight knots.”

(End of this chapter)