Near noon, a newly built wooden boat was parked in a dry dock in a shipyard on the south bank of Dahu Lake in Badong, Huangzhou. The new hull was covered with red paper everywhere, looking very happy.

This is a standard-sized "Huangzhou ship", with a pointed head, flat bottom, double brig, and cross sail.

The sail is a canvas sail, with a watertight compartment made of keels (wooden), ribbed, pulley rigging, and a large winch to facilitate lifting of sails.

The cargo capacity is 1,000 hu, as for the cost... As long as the ship owner is good at doing business and is not lazy, he can make a profit by running a few more round trips between Xiyang and Guangling. As long as the ship is maintained normally, the service life is more than ten years.

Along the dock, a group of relevant personnel were conducting a grand launch ceremony. The owner and the owner of the shipbuilding yard were preparing to take everyone to burn incense to pray to a Buddha statue, praying that the Buddha would bless the ship with peace and safety.

Someone lit a bonfire and threw bamboo into the fire to burn firecrackers. A golden roasted pig was carried up to the Buddha statue, and many tributes were placed next to it.

The owner of the boat and the owner of the field bathing and changing clothes each held three incense sticks in his hands and bowed respectfully to the Buddha statue, and then the others also held the Buddha statue.

Everyone prays sincerely to the Buddha, praying that the Buddha will bless everyone to make a fortune.

As the government navy repeatedly swept the water bandits, the Yangtze River shipping became safer and more prosperous. The busy shipping industry developed rapidly, allowing more and more people to make money by relying on this job.

Nanyang Trading Company and Beiyang Trading Company have "more and more orders, and the demand for goods in various parts of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is increasing. The good profit prospects have allowed more and more ship owners to engage in long-distance transportation (shipment).

They borrowed loans from the Rixingchang and other counters, purchased ships, hired sailors, and expanded the fleet in order to bring more profits to themselves.

The shipbuilding industry in many big cities along the Yangtze River is booming, and many fishermen who had struggled to survive have also accepted employment as crew members, followed the fleet to sail to the distant Guangling to gain a long experience.

You even have to go into the sea, go south or north along the coastline, and work hard to gain a good "money" journey for yourself.

Ships sailing on rivers are risky, while sailing is even more risky. Therefore, shipping practitioners pray to the Buddha with great devout prayer, praying that the Buddha will bless everyone with peace and wealth.

The ceremony was over and the most critical time came. The workers opened the water valve and began to inject lake water into the dry dock. As the water level rose, the new ship floated up steadily. Everyone stared at the hull, fearing that something would go wrong.

After the water level in the dock was flush with the water level outside the lake, the new ship floated steadily on the water surface. With a call, the lock of the dry dock opened, and there was no obstacle in the dock and the lake surface.

The man-powered tug slowly tow the huge new ship out of the dock, waiting for the new ship to successfully enter the lake, and cheers burst out on the ship and on the shore.

The new ship slowly sailed towards the lock of the river under the tow of manpower. The owner and the boss looked at the shimmering lake on the boat, the river view far away on the south side of the embankment, and the little sails on the river, I felt refreshed and happy.

Suddenly, a roar came from his ears, which made the owner and the boss look pale: Could it be that the ship is leaking?

The crew members were also very nervous. Everyone looked in the sound, but found that the roar did not come from inside the ship, but from outside: on the lake about a hundred steps away to the north, a car was sailing, and the sound was from that ship.

There was a small boat in front of the ship, which seemed to be a human tug. At this time, the cable was unbuttoned and the ship began to sail on its own.

Vehicles and boats are very common types, but everyone still thinks something is wrong with the ship because it is equipped with two large chimneys, and thick smoke is constantly emitting at this time.

Since there is a chimney, there must be a boiler on the boat. The roar should be the movement of the boiler on the boat.

Steam pumps are common in Huangzhou, and people are not surprised. But now I see a car and a boat with boilers installed on it, so I don’t understand it very much.

The owner looked at the slowly moving ship in the distance and asked the accompanying staff: "What is the boiler installed on the boat? Are you afraid of water leakage, so you have to pump water?"

"Who knows, these kinds of boats are often circling on the lake in recent years." The boat yard staff said disapprovingly, "I don't know what they mean to install boilers on this ship. They often explode. It's really..."

"Explode... Explode!" The ship owner was startled when he heard this. Although it was hot summer, he felt a chill on his back, for fear that the ship would explode in a while and would cause the new ship he had just bought to suffer.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's a long distance, and that's what happened before."

The staff at the yard looked like they were not surprised: "This year, as of yesterday, these types of vehicles and ships have never exploded. Most of them suddenly stopped and couldn't move. They had to tow other ships."

"But, from the sound, the boiler on the boat seemed to be very hot, so I don't know if it would explode..."

......

The steamship called "Experiment No. 15" has a hull covered with red paper, a huge pig's head hung on the bow, and an incense table fixed on the bow deck. In front of the fixed Buddha statue, there is also a fixed incense burner with incense inside.

There is also a roasted suckling pig in front of the Buddha statue, and the residual heat is not over.

Many people gathered in front of the incense table, holding the incense in their hands, praying devoutly to the Buddha statue:

"Buddha, don't explode the boiler..."

"Blessed by Buddha, don't leak water..."

"Buddha blessed, the experiment went smoothly..."

The hand on the wall clock pointed to 1:30 in the afternoon. Half an hour had passed since the experimental steamship activated the steam power. Before one o'clock, the experimental steamship sailed to the lake with a man-powered tug.

This half hour is the "preheating time" of the steam boiler, and the output is less than 40%.

With the ignition to the steam output, the preheating for a total of one hour will be preheated. The four steam boilers on the ship are operating normally, the transmission device is operating normally, and the paddles are operating normally. Therefore, you must sail under full output state to confirm whether the newly designed steamship is qualified.

The qualified standard is that this experimental steamship can sail for eight hours without any problems, will not leak, the boiler will not explode, and the transmission mechanism will be fine.

As for navigation speed, as long as you can move, it doesn’t matter how fast you can walk.

It seems simple to implement, but it is difficult to implement. For technicians, they have experienced countless failures over the years, but they still cannot realize this simple requirement.

The above requests are reduced again and again, just like a father who is anxious to tell his son that he is a marriage to set the requirements for the woman for the matchmaker, from the beginning of being a lady of a family and a good match, all the way to "female, living".

But even so, it is still difficult to create a steamship with practical prospects.

People need shame and bark. The technicians who spend a lot of money every year are trying to overcome this technical difficulty. I don’t know how many people have been able to last for many nights. Everyone worked together to formulate a brand new technical plan and put it into practice, which led to the current song “Experiment No. 15”.

Everyone’s only hope is that the ship can sail for eight hours without any problems.

I have done everything I should do in technology, and now I have to burn incense and pray, pray to the Buddha's blessing, and bless the experimental steamship to be successful.
Chapter completed!