Dominate the Country

In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Jiangnan Shipyard on Changxing Island was heavily guarded. Every worker who went to work had to accept the strict inspection of the sudden arrival of the guard army before entering. The workers were not afraid of the army's entry and inspection. Instead, everyone's face was filled with excitement and excitement, as if it was the New Year. The entire factory area was cleaned up early, the window glass was wiped again and again, the trash cans were replaced with new ones, and the street lamp poles were repainted. Everything was brand new.

All this was just because of the emperor's visit. Chen Ming would come here soon because of the large iron ship that had been built on the shipyard slipway.

Yes, a large iron ship, this is the first in China and the first all-iron large ship in the world-a steam paddle steamer. And a very obvious point is that there are no conspicuous large wheels on both sides of the hull of this ship. This is a propeller ship.

After so many years of research, the propeller has evolved from the original five blades to the current three blades, and from the initial blind 30-degree inclination angle to the current preliminary series formula. These are the experiences summarized from repeated failed experiments.

The propeller was invented a long time ago, and the reason why it failed to compete with the paddle wheel is its propulsion efficiency. The propulsion efficiency of the propeller depends not only on the number of blades, but also on the shape design of the blades. Now a series of experiments are proving the relationship between them. The lessons learned from countless failures have also made the experts of Chen Han Ship Design Institute know that the main factors directly affecting the performance of the propeller are the details that cannot be directly observed by the naked eye.

For example, the diameter of the circle connected to the tip of the propeller blade is usually larger, the higher the efficiency, but the diameter is often limited by draft and output speed; if your output speed is low, a blade that is too large cannot be driven, which is like a small-displacement engine driving a large truck, there is no play.

Then there is the number of blades, which has now been finalized as three blades. Four blades are not impossible, but the efficiency is not high.

Pitch, the distance the propeller moves forward after one rotation, refers to the theoretical pitch; this is very important and was initially ignored by the research institute. It includes slip rate, the difference between the actual distance the ship moves forward after one rotation of the propeller and the pitch ratio;

Add a pitch ratio, the ratio of pitch to diameter, which is generally between 0.6 and 1.5; generally speaking, high-speed light-loaded ships select a larger value, and low-speed heavy-loaded ships select a smaller value;

Failure is really the mother of success. If it weren't for the failure of experiments over the years, how could the ship institute have gained so much experience?

Of course, more than one propeller steamship has been built, and many experimental ships are propeller ships. Although propellers are now officially put into use, there are still many problems with propellers that experts need to continue to overcome. For example, the terrible vibration on wooden hull ships, the wear of propeller shaft bearings below the waterline, propeller shaft seals, the durability of thrust bearings, etc.

But these problems are not what Chen Ming needs to consider. He is an emperor, not a shipbuilding expert or scientist. Now he only has an all-iron propeller steamship named "Zhang Qian".

This ship carries the fruits of years of painstaking research in China's shipbuilding industry, whether it is its all-iron ship structure or its thrust system. So Chen Ming wants to come and see it in person. On the day when this ship is launched for trial, he will board this iron ship in person.

In order to manufacture this ship that is completely different from the past, Jiangnan Shipyard has set up a special department, and it took two years to complete the task.

If the big iron ship in front of him can achieve all the goals of manufacturing it, then this newly formed but powerful department will be completely separated into a branch of the shipyard, because all the information about the manufacture of this big iron ship is confidential and needs to be covered up.

The entire Jiangnan Shipyard has as many as 20,000 workers, but the manufacturing team in front of him has less than 1,000 people, and half of the workers are technical backbones drawn from other shipyards. The real strength is really extraordinary.

Chen Han's new-style education has been developing for decades. With a large amount of money invested every year, coupled with social donations, the education funding in recent years has easily exceeded 1 billion yuan every year, and has already moved towards the 1.5 billion mark. Basically, every township has many primary and secondary schools, and every county has not only high schools, but also vocational high schools and technical schools. The number of students in the country is 30 million.

The country's literacy rate has greatly improved, and the quality of the people has greatly improved. This is specifically reflected in the workers. For workers in enterprises such as shipyards that require high quality, literacy is the most basic skill, and calculating numbers is also the most basic requirement.

This department, which gathers thousands of elites in China's shipbuilding industry, will definitely leave a strong mark in the history of China's shipbuilding in the future.

The idea that studying does not necessarily require one to become an official has long been engraved in the minds of the general public. For example, students who graduate from higher education institutions are hired with high salaries by shipyards, steel mills, machinery factories, weaving mills and other factories. Although they are not as respectable as officials, the high salaries are a good way out for these children who generally come from poor families.

The Jiangnan Shipyard is on such a tight alert today, of course, because the emperor is coming to inspect the shipyard in person, but there are also reasons for the Jiangnan Shipyard itself. The first all-iron propeller steamship they built in China will also be launched today, and the latter is still a secret and cannot be widely announced.

It is better to be safe than sorry. If this big iron ship can't run, wouldn't it be embarrassing? If this big iron ship sinks into the water, it will be even more fatal.

Therefore, the workers here are both happy and proud, but also a little bit nervous.

They are the creators of this big iron ship, and they must have confidence in this big iron ship, but no one dares to guarantee it, right?

"Your Highness, I see you. Long live the Emperor."

The director of the shipyard is a general and is affiliated with the General Logistics Department. Chen Ming bought most of the shares of the shipyard from Chen Jigong and others in the past 20 years. Now 60% of the shares are still in the hands of the court. Chen Jigong and others may still have a few points of shares, and the remaining thirty points of shares are mixed in the stock market.

The director and dozens of senior staff of the shipyard greeted Chen Ming at the door. There were also several official bosses in Shanghai and local garrisons.

"My dear ministers, you have worked hard. Get up." Chen Ming has been smiling since he set sail from Nanjing to Shanghai. If Chen Ding had not come back yet, he would have taken Chen Ding to Changxing Island to take a look.

The director of the shipyard is surnamed Huang, Huang Baozhou, but he is not from the Huang family, but a Shaanxi native. He was able to sit in his current position not because he had a great background behind him, but because he worked hard step by step, and he walked out of it solidly.

Before coming to the shipyard, Huang Baozhou worked hard in the machinery factory, steam manufacturing plant and military equipment bureau for 20 years. He was awarded the Red Star Medal of the military industry system many times, and was awarded the Gold Medal of Loyalty and Diligence by Chen Ming himself. This is the highest reward that a civilian can get. He is a real talent honed bit by bit in the military industry system.

"The emperor has entrusted this important matter to me, and I naturally dare not be negligent in the slightest."

Although Huang Baozhou is not the first-line person in charge of the manufacture of this large iron ship, and he still needs to take care of the huge Jiangnan Shipyard, he is the first person in charge of this project. He participated in the manufacture of the large iron ship from beginning to end. For the recent sea trial, he naturally has more confidence and grasp of the large iron ship than others.

"Good." Chen Ming praised and made a promise: "If the big iron ship succeeds, you will be the first to win the merit, and you will have a place in Chengtian Hall." Chen Ming would not confer a title on Huang Baozhou for such a merit, but if the test of today's all-iron propeller steamship succeeds, he will definitely erect a large statue of Huang Baozhou on Changxing Island.

The so-called "Chengtian Hall" was a new measure that Chen Ming came up with after thinking about it after he built the Martyrs' Shrine - a memorial to the heroes who died in the war.

This Chengtian Hall is located on an island in Xuanwu Lake, and hangs portraits of the meritorious officials of the Chen Han Dynasty from the beginning of the army to the founding of the country.

This is a great encouragement for the civil and military nobles of Chen Han.

Before, the emperor built the Martyrs' Shrine and asked the princes and princesses to worship every Qingming Festival. The specifications were very high, and the emperor himself went to worship every three or five days. It can be said to be very grand. But this glory does not belong to them. The living people like them have no share. The appearance of Chengtian Hall tells them that what they have been looking forward to is finally here.

Why don't men take Wu Gou and take over the fifty states of Guanshan.

Please go to Lingyan Pavilion for a while. How can a scholar be a marquis?

Li He's poem has inspired countless people to make achievements for thousands of years. The names of the twenty-four heroes in Lingyan Pavilion are also well-known in China. Who would not envy and envy those stories that have been passed down through the ages? But this matter can only be done by the emperor himself. The ministers can't urge the emperor, right?

Chen Ming understood it anyway. Although it was a little late, at least when Chengtian Hall was built, many founding heroes of Chen Han had not died.

Soldiers are soldiers, and nobles are nobles. This is different. Chen Han is not the Red Dynasty, and it cannot be covered by a monument.

In history, the eleven meritorious officials in the Qilin Pavilion of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were the first to be painted portraits of meritorious officials, which had a great influence on later generations, although not every emperor was qualified and willing to do this.

The painting of the twenty-eight generals in the Yuntai by Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty [not Emperor Guangwu] was more famous than the eleven meritorious officials in the Qilin Pavilion, and then the Lingyan Pavilion of Emperor Li Er, the twenty-four meritorious officials were famous and passed down through the ages; then there was the Zhaoxun Pavilion in the second year of Baoqing of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty, which included Zhao Pu, Cao Bin, Xue Juzheng, Shi Xizai, Pan Mei and others, also twenty-four people, but compared with the twenty-four people in the Lingyan Pavilion, they were unknown.

The Ming Dynasty had the Temple of Meritorious Officials, the Qing Dynasty also had the Zhaozhong Temple, and the old man Qianlong also built a Ziguang Pavilion himself. If history is not changed and continues, the Republic of China built the Martyrs' Temple (which is quite well-known) and the New China built the Martyrs' Cemetery, which are all in the same vein.

Now, Chen Ming also built a Chengtian Hall in accordance with the will of heaven!

It’s just a pity that the requirements of this Chengtian Hall are much stricter than the Zhaozhong Temple of the Qing Dynasty Tartars. The requirements of the outer hall are not particularly strict, and many meritorious officials can hang their portraits there, but the requirements of the inner hall are very strict, even the prime ministers such as Liu Dezhao, Pang Zhenkun, and Wang Huizu are not qualified to go up.

As soon as Chen Ming said this, the civil and military officials behind him and the civil and military officials of Shanghai who were present looked at Huang Baozhou with envy and hatred. Although it was unlikely that Huang Baozhou could enter the inner hall, it would be a great honor to be hung in the outer hall.