"Mr. Qianhu, the four-wheeled and big carriage you mentioned are also available in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, this thing has been in China in ancient times, but it is not a rare thing." After hearing Li Xiao talk about his own ideas, Wu Liang replied with a smile.

"Oh. Is that?"

Li Xiao did not expect that the four-**** carriage that was first produced in southern Northern Europe during the Renaissance was already made in ancient China. Wu Liang's faint sentence surprised him.

Wu Liang was right, in fact, four-wheeled and large horse carriages are not rare things. This thing appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. A bronze four-wheeled carriage model was unearthed from the Qin Mu cemetery in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and it is now in the Li County Museum in Gansu. However, the four-wheeled carriages at that time had only one purpose: when the kings of various countries died, they were used to transport coffins.

"Mr. Li, I, the Ming Dynasty, now has four-wheeled carriages, but it is difficult to popularize them. Can you tell me why?"

"Could it be that the road is limited?"

"That is, as far as we know below, the four-wheeled carriage in our Ming Dynasty can carry forty or fifty stones, and is pulled by horses or mules. The horses drawn must be six or eight, and these four-wheeled carriages are slow to drive and easy to damage. They stop when they encounter rivers, mountains, and winding paths. They stop when they encounter winding paths. They are not as simple as two wheels, so they are difficult to popularize." (People who are interested in research and research can see "The Heavenly Works of Boats and Cars" for details)

Looking at Wu Liang's sincere look, Li Xiao fell into deep thought.

The reason why four-wheeled carriages failed to be widely popularized in ancient times was mainly due to the geographical conditions of China's mountainous and river networks and the lack of rough road construction technology.

Because this kind of four-wheeled carriage has no rubber air cushion on its pure wooden wheels to buffer, it requires good road conditions to quickly and easily walk. Therefore, in history, this kind of four-wheeled carriage can only walk on official roads, so it is quickly replaced by two-wheeled cars that adapt to simple potholes, mountain roads and cheaper cost two-wheeled cars or even unicycles.

However, this kind of two-wheeled car is clumsy and slow, with poor design. Two mules or horses are pulled, and a cart can be pulled at most ten stones of grain, making it difficult to load twenty stones, and generally only have a load of more than two thousand kilograms. The transportation efficiency is really too small.

However, the human-powered unicycle is the most popular type of car in China. It is said that the unicycle was invented by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms. When Li Xiao was young, he was seen in the countryside and used for more than a thousand years. It is conceivable how strong his vitality is. In film and television dramas, such a scene is common. The male owner fled with a belt on his shoulder, and the woman, children and luggage were sitting in front of him. The cart was pushed on the ridges and the canals. The cart was creaking and walking forward. During the Republic of China, the unicycle had rubber tires and had more load-bearing. It was easy to push three to four hundred kilograms a cart. It was no problem to walk fifty or sixty miles a day. In the later Liberation War, this unicycle showed its strength. Marshal Chen Yi said that the victory of the Huaihai Battle was a victory launched by millions of people with small cars.

However, when encountering difficulties, he gave up the four-wheeled carriage concept, but instead could only use the original two-wheeled carriage or even a unicycle. Li Xiao was really unwilling to accept it.

In world history, the Russian Empire crossed Siberia from Europe and conquered to the Far East. On the vast and deserted land, there was no trace of humanity, so there were no roads. The Russian mercenary Cossack Legion, from the European boundaries to Central Asia and Siberia, were all trampled under their feet and finally fought to the Heilongjiang River.

War and immigration have never stopped in the history of Russian expansion in the past few hundred years, including the later reign of the huge empire. In the entire Russian Empire, there were large four-wheeled carriages everywhere in the fields of Mercedes-Benz. Whether it was harvesting, migration, or supporting the expansion of war, the role of carriages was actually above cannons and muskets. After all, without logistics, gunpowder, bullets and supplies could not fall from the sky.

In a sense, it was the four-wheeled carriage that galloped around to create the Russian Empire, which was called an ancient beast by the British.

The Russians can do it with four-wheeled carriages, but why can't Li Xiao and his subordinates do it? There is no such reason.

Because the biggest advantage of a four-wheeled carriage compared to a two-wheeled carriage is that it can significantly increase the load capacity of the carriage.

The four-wheeled structure of a four-wheeled vehicle makes it possible for the horses pulling the carriage to be used as a fulcrum to bear the carriage’s bearing capacity. It can simply provide tension, thereby greatly improving the load loading effect. According to calculations, if only double horses are pulled, the load load can be increased by at least nearly five times.

The difficulty of popularizing four-wheeled carriages was not only difficult to move on the road at that time, the four-wheeled carriages used in the Ming Dynasty now have one of the biggest disadvantages, which is the difficulty of turning.

The fundamental reason why there are no four-wheelers in ancient China is actually not a road problem, but the Chinese did not solve the steering problem of four-wheelers. The Chinese four-wheelers simply installed four wheels on a fixed frame, making it difficult to turn, resulting in very little practical value. This extraordinary problem has not been solved by the Chinese for thousands of years.

In the masterpiece "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", the painter Zhang Zeduan painted many four-wheelers, all of which are typical four-wheelers that cannot be turned. This type of car was used from ancient times to the early 1950s in modern China. Four narrow iron-hung wooden wheels were installed on the frame, pulled from three to four cows, and the steering of the car was four cows pulled hard by force. (To be precise, it was to solve the steering problem by ruts. The wheels pressed the road surface very deep into two ditches, and the wheels rolled in the ditch. Qin Shihuang's car was the same rail for this convenience.)

This rough and simple four-wheeler has been seen by people from northern rural areas born in the 1940s. It is said that during the Great Leap in 1958, this kind of car seriously affected the advanced nature of the socialist leap in 2008 and seriously affected the glorious image of the Great Leap in 2008. This kind of stupid four-wheeler finally eliminated, which had a bit of a black humorous flavor.

So now to summarize the problems, two key problems that Li Xiao has to solve are: one is the problem of difficult roads and the other is the steering problem of four-wheelers.

The previous question is currently unavailable to change, but he can solve this problem by avoiding the importance and negligence. This is because the carriage and horse carriage business that Li Xiao plans to carry out is all carriage transport between cities, and basically it is not a problem to walk on such four-wheeled carriages. Now that the stupid four-wheeled carriages in the Ming Dynasty can be used, there is naturally no reason why the new four-wheeled carriages he has developed is not allowed to go. Li Xiao will not carry out carriage delivery activities in the countryside, so he avoids walking rugged roads and mountain roads as much as possible.

The second question is that Li Xiao, who came from later generations, knew that the reason why the Western four-wheeled carriage operated smoothly was because of the invention of the bogie. The most innovative design of the steering four-wheeled carriage that appeared in the West was that the first two wheels were installed on one frame, the rear two wheels were installed on the other frame, and the rear frame was connected by a vertical shaft on the front frame, which was actually a combination of two two-wheeled cars. Through this breakthrough design, the four-wheeled carriage finally successfully entered the stage of history and performed its own brilliant plays in world history.

The four-wheeled carriage in the West took decades from its production to its finalization, and it was constantly improved until the 19th century. There has never been a thing that can be successful in this world casually.

Li Xiao made up his mind to do what he should do. If he always looks forward and hesitates, he will only accomplish nothing.

"Mr. Wu, the four-wheeled carriage I want to make is different from the existing four-wheeled carriages in the Ming Dynasty. It must be able to turn easily in order to pass the test and conduct experimental research first. I do not seek to be perfect in one step." Li Xiao finally concluded.

He then called the blacksmith Zhang Tongzhu and the firearm chief Zhao Jie and drew a sketch of a four-wheeled carriage based on the memories of later generations.

Zhang Tongzhu and Zhao Jie looked at the picture in front of them and both felt like they were eye-opening.

They saw that the carriage painted by Li Xiao had a long body, with the front guard plates high in front and low in the rear, and the front guard plates were inlaid with wooden boards and nailed seats, and there were footworks below. Two layers of boards made the coachman's seat. Under the coachman's seat is the front wheel, with a long rod and two side guards connecting the front wheel. This is the connecting rod. The two front wheels were not fixed on the wooden frame like the previous carriage, but were connected with the connecting rod with the middle roller. The long connecting rod was fixed on the disc-type front axle. The part connecting the shaft and the body were combined with the front wheel suspension, so that the suspension of the front wheel would turn as a whole when the mule and horse turned.

When Li Xiao was drawing, he was also thinking about the steering principle of the four-wheeled horse painting. Li Xiao believed that the four-wheeled carriage was quite similar to the cars of later generations. When turning, the two front wheels must be tilted in one direction to turn smoothly. In this way, when the traction force in the current side changes direction, the shaft changes the direction of the axle through the axle bush, which makes the wheel rotate in the same direction of the traction force, realizing the steering of the four-wheeled car.

This is a common sense that ordinary people in later generations know, but it makes the Ming Dynasty craftsmen feel very fresh at this moment.

"This is the sketch of this car. This official requires that the four-wheeled car you have developed must be able to flexibly turn and be easy to use. If it is just a copy of the existing four-wheeled carriage in the Ming Dynasty, it will be of little significance." Li Xiao talked happily.

"Sir, this Thai four-wheeled carriage pattern is really fresh, but it has also inspired me a lot. Please wait patiently for a while, and we will definitely make the samples as soon as possible." Zhao Jie reported solemnly.

"Don't worry, Lord Li, I will try my best to cooperate with President Zhao." Zhang Tongzhu also attached to each other.

"Well, I hope you can make it as soon as possible. This four-wheeled carriage is the key to whether the carriage and horse shop we are about to set up can run smoothly. I will ask you two. If you have any material needs, you can propose to Wu Zanhua and let him start to solve it." After Li Xiao said that, he bowed to the two of them.

Seeing that Li Xiao valued him so much, the two were very excited and thought more and more that they must do the job that Li Xiao told him.

"Two, how long will it take to try to prepare samples according to this official's plan?" Li Xiao couldn't help but remind him in the end.

Zhao Jie discussed with Zhang Tongzhu for a while, and Zhao Jie said: "Sir, we will prepare this car within one month as soon as possible."

"Okay, after the system is completed, I will be rewarded with great rewards!" Li Xiao said with a laugh.
Chapter completed!