Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 433 Scientific Research Breakthrough
"Brother, who is that Lu Xiangsheng? How could he have stolen my sister's heart?"
Unlike Zhu Huijuan who was at Fangshan School and could be called back easily, in recent years, except for Zhu Youdong who had to come back to serve as regent, Zhu Youxiao spent most of his time at the Binhai Shipyard in Tianjin Port. Therefore, he entered the Qianqing Palace the day after Zhu Huijuan returned to the palace.
Then the first thing he said after meeting Zhu Youxiao was to ask about Lu Xiangsheng.
"Hey, the people working down here really can't control their mouths."
"Brother, don't worry. I didn't get the news from the eunuchs or the palace maids. My sister-in-law told me. When I entered the palace just now, you were discussing with Cao Huachun, and I was called to Kunning Palace by my sister-in-law."
"I see. Well, Lu Xiangsheng is a capable man. If Huijuan really marries him, at least he will not let her down in terms of talent."
"That's good. Over the years, my elder sister has gradually become able to take charge of the textile materials laboratory in Fangshan. With such an ambitious and outstanding woman, it would be difficult for a man to deal with her if he lacks talent or ambition."
"You are right. Huijuan can like a commoner, but she will never marry a commoner and become like everyone else. Therefore, this commoner must be ambitious and have talents that can be cultivated, otherwise I will not marry Huijuan to him."
After the two brothers finished talking about Zhu Huijuan, Zhu Youdong twitched his lips and said, "Since you have already met your sister-in-law first, you should also know why I called you back this time, right?"
"I was just about to ask for forgiveness from you, brother." Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly, "Brother, I don't want a princess for the next one or two years, so you can take care of my elder sister's affairs, and please hold off on my matter for now."
"Hmm..." Zhu Youdong tilted his head to look at Zhu Youxiao, and said with a smile: "Can you explain it in more detail? I can also explain it to the Queen Mother and your sister-in-law."
Zhu Youxiao stood up and saluted solemnly: "Brother, the development of the ironclad ship has reached a critical stage now, and I don't want to be distracted by other things."
"Hmm? Ironclad ship?" When Zhu Youxiao said this, Zhu Youdong was stunned for a moment: To be honest, he was too busy recently, and in his subconscious, he always felt that it would take a long time for the ironclad ship to become a reality. So he didn't pay attention to it all the time. When he heard Zhu Youxiao say this, he immediately remembered: Since May of the 46th year of Wanli (1618), when the State Council decided to start developing the ironclad ship, it has been nearly two years now.
"Brother, the ironclad ship development plan two years ago was divided into two groups. The designers of Group A were from the Power Laboratory of Fangshan School, and the leader was Grand Marshal (Xu Guangqi). Because you were not satisfied with the design of Group A, you asked me to organize Group B. The members of Group B are basically all craftsmen from Binhai Shipyard. However, in terms of power, we still have to rely on the Power Laboratory.
After receiving the task assigned by his brother, Chendi and the masters of the shipyard spent nearly a year to finalize the drawings. At the same time, in September last year, the ship steam turbine of Fangshan Power Laboratory was completed. Then Chendi pulled this new machine to the shipyard for experiments. It turned out that the propeller could not withstand the kinetic energy of the steam turbine at all. Therefore, Chendi began to think about cooperating with Fangshan's Material Laboratory to develop a propeller with stronger bearing capacity. But the progress of materials science is not something that can be achieved just by saying it? So the result was never satisfactory. Later, the masters of the shipyard said, why don't we use gears to slow down the turbine, and when it is finally transmitted to the propeller, the speed can be completely reduced, so that the propeller can withstand... Hey, this idea is great. So Chendi has been leading the craftsmen to develop a variable speed gearbox in recent months. This thing needs to be redesigned, and after the drawings come out, the processing precision requirements are also extremely high. Therefore, Chendi must squat in the shipyard every day, and he didn't think about the wedding at all, and he didn't have time to deal with it. "
"Thank you for your hard work." After all, he was not an engineering student, so Zhu Youdong didn't understand most of what Zhu Youxiao said . However, he could feel that his younger brother really devoted himself to the design and manufacturing of the Ming warships.
"How's Group A's progress?"
"Theirs uses a piston steam engine to drive the paddle wheel, which is totally different from my brother's. It is expected that the finished product will be available in the first half of next year at the latest. As for my brother, it will take at least three years!"
After saying this, Zhu Youxiao raised his head again and said, "But brother, as long as the ship here is finished, it will definitely be able to beat Group A!"
After all, he is still a teenager. Zhu Youdong was not angry when he heard Zhu Youxiao belittling his opponent unconsciously: if a 15-year-old boy spoke in an old-fashioned way, saying that his opponent was very powerful and he should give in, he would only feel sad.
"Okay, let's do this. As for your marriage, put it on hold. Go and do something that interests you first. It just so happens that once your eldest sister's marriage is finalized, it will cause a lot of controversy. It's just right for you to hide in Binhai for the next two years."
"Brother, what do you mean by this?"
"I am planning to change another ancestral law. From now on, as long as the princess's consorts have real talent and knowledge, I plan to let them serve as officials or join the army."
"Hiss~" Zhu Youxiao took a light breath and said, "Enfeoff the princes with real power and give the son-in-law an actual official position. Brother, are you going to support the power of the royal family?"
"Well, I have a lot to do in the future. In this Ming Dynasty, it is not enough to have only civil officials, military generals and eunuchs. The power of the royal family should also be released appropriately. Even for the nobles, as long as the sons of the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons are not too useless, I am willing to give them a chance." After saying this, Zhu Youdong patted Zhu Youxiao's shoulder helplessly: "Yesterday, when Lu Xiangsheng heard that I wanted him to be my brother-in-law, he was actually in a dilemma. Alas, if I don't give the son-in-law real power, my royal daughter can't think of marrying into a good family! Of course, you also know that I am definitely not making such a reform simply for Huijuan's marriage. But in any case, with this change, Huijuan's happiness will be more guaranteed."
"Brother, that's right. In that case, my future princess may be chosen from the female students of Fangshan School. I hope that my husband and I can devote our lives to the design of warships for the Ming Dynasty."
"Hahaha, that's fine. Speaking of which, you can tell Huijuan now and ask her to keep an eye on you at school."
"Hehe, brother, this is still too early. I have already made up my mind. I will never consider my marriage until the ironclad ship is launched."
"Well, there's no need to be so far-fetched about this matter. Anyway, I understand your thoughts, so let's put the marriage on hold for now."
…
When Zhu Youxiao was reporting to Zhu Youdong on the development of the ironclad ship, dozens of miles away was the gunpowder laboratory at Fangshan School.
At this time, there were more than 20 laboratories set up in Fangshan School. The firearms laboratory was in charge of Zhao Shizhen, and the person in charge of the gunpowder laboratory was Sun Yuanhua.
As a bomb maniac in the Ming Dynasty, Sun Yuanhua had conducted bomb experiments over the years, with some successes and some failures. The price of failure was naturally a broken statue, broken fingers, and becoming a disabled person.
However, the damage to his appearance was not a big deal for Sun Yuanhua. In recent years, the firearms laboratory had been far ahead, and the designs of breech-loading rifles and breech-loading cannons had been completed. The materials laboratory also produced qualified gun barrels and gun steel. All the problems were concentrated in the gunpowder laboratory: smokeless gunpowder!
The only thing that matters to Sun Yuanhua is that he is holding back the entire Ming Dynasty's military industry.
Now, with wrinkles all over his facial skin, he once again walked into the laboratory.
"February 28, 1620, 10:00 am. Start recording and prepare to start the 1028th experiment of smokeless gunpowder research. According to the results of the 1027th experiment, this experiment will once again use nitrocellulose and ammonium nitrate as the main ingredients, and add the saturated ketone that has just been developed. After that, dissolving, filtering, drying, and purification will be repeated...
At 11:26 am, the purification was completed. A total of 1.3 grams of new substance was obtained. Put it into the crucible. Ignite it! Ignite it! "
Following Sun Yuanhua's order, an assistant wearing thick protective gear trembled and lit the little bit of white powder. Then, a cluster of bright flames flashed violently, and then quickly returned to silence.
"Check, there is no residue in the crucible! No residue at all! The combustion is extremely fast and violent, and there is no residue at all!"
