Emperor Chongzhen once again took the eunuch of the Silijian, the assistant minister of the cabinet, the ministers of the six ministries, the governors of the Five Army, and all the instructors and students from the Naval Martial Preparation School of the Capital, and took the train to Tianjin City.

In addition, there are the future princess Catherine and Anders, the plenipotentiary representative of the Portuguese king.

The reason why it is so popular is of course because there are major things.

The place where Emperor Chongzhen took them was not in Tianjin Port, but a newly built Tianjin shipyard with a little road away from here.

Near this shipyard, there had been military martial law. A large number of people followed the emperor into the shipyard.

Catherine, who was following behind, was very curious. Seeing that the crowd was whispering when she arrived at the shipyard, she quickly asked Anders: "What are you doing? Why is it so grand?"

It has been more than a year since Katherine came here. She was thirteen years old, which happened to be the fastest age to learn things. In addition, she was smart. She not only could speak the Ming Dynasty's Mandarin, but also was familiar with the customs of the Ming Dynasty, and even tried all the famous dishes in the capital.

Yesterday, she was informed by Anders. Judging from this attitude, she understood that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty was a very busy person, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty were also very busy. If there were no particularly important things, they would definitely not have gathered in this shipyard.

Of course, Catherine also knew that since she was here in the shipyard, she must have come to see the new shipbuilding. But what she wondered was that there was any new shipbuilding that could cause such a big sensation?

When Anders heard her question, he whispered: "You only pay attention to the clothes and food of the Ming Dynasty, and don't care about political affairs! This is the shipyard headed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I heard that the king of the sea has been built!"

Hearing this, Catherine couldn't help but pout and said a little unhappy: "Didn't you tell me to abide by the customs of the East? I've known this Eastern woman is not allowed to interfere in politics, so why do I care about politics?"

After saying that, her thoughts jumped fast, and remembered what Anders said, and immediately asked: "What is the king of the sea? Is it a giant sea warship?"

Before Catherine came to the East, Britain built the largest warship in Europe in 1637, the famous "Sea King".

The ship has three decks, equipped with 102-104 guns. There are 11 anchors, each weighing 2 tons. There are more than 800 sailors, the largest shell has a net weight of 60 pounds, and the shells with a volley weigh one ton.

Such a warship is enough to shock just by seeing it, so this ship is called the "King of the Sea".

At this time, when Catherine heard about the king of the sea, she naturally thought of this British warship at the first time.

But Anders heard this and shook his head and said, "Even a giant sea warship, even the British Sea King, cannot be called the king of the sea! I guess it should be something else!"

When Catherine heard this, she was about to ask again, when she suddenly saw something in the corner of her eyes, she didn't have time to ask. She quickly looked at it and saw a big chimney coming from the sea in the distance.

"Steam engine?" she said as soon as she saw it, "It's a steam engine ship!"

Steam engine ships are no longer rare. At least there is a steam engine-driven paddle wheel on the Grand Canal of Beijing. At the beginning, Catherine felt it was very fresh and didn't know how many times she ran over to see it. Therefore, when she saw the iconic large chimney, she immediately understood.

After saying that, she looked at the Emperor of Ming Dynasty standing in front of her, and his future husband, pointing at the steam engine that was driving over, and what she said, it seemed that she was still quite excited.

So, Catherine turned to Anders and asked, "Can you just look at the steam engine ship? This... is also considered the king of the sea?"

Judging from the observation, this steam engine is not big!

Anders did not answer her immediately, but turned to look at the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, then frowned slightly, then turned around and looked at the steam engine ship coming from a distance.

After a while, he suddenly spoke, "Can it be because the entire ship is covered with iron?"

The reason for saying this is because Anders saw the steamboat reflecting a metallic luster under the sun.

It is rare to have a warship wrapped in iron, but it can be understood. At this level, it would not attract the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to bring senior civil and military officials to review together, right?

After saying that, he suddenly felt something strange and hurriedly added: "His Princess discovered that the speed of this warship, under the combined action of the power driven by the steam engine and the sails, seems to be faster!"

Catherine was reminded, and after a closer look, she nodded and said, "It's just a little faster, it's nothing, right? And seeing that this warship is not big, there must be not many artillery equipment, how powerful can it have. Just this, can it also be called the king of the sea?"

After hearing this, Anders was a little embarrassed and quickly explained: "I added the title of King of the Sea. The general meaning is that the warships will be more powerful!"

After hearing this, Catherine said "Oh", then looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, and said to Anders in a low voice: "Actually, our Portuguese warships are not bad. Not to mention other things, just the combat power at sea, if the number of fleets is the same, I believe that we, Europe, will be stronger!"

After hearing this, Anders quickly looked around and then responded in a low voice to Catherine: "Your Highness, you are going to marry the emperor. According to Dongfang, you should marry the chicken and follow the chicken and follow the dog and follow the dog. Well... that's probably what it means! If you still think that you are not a native of the Ming Dynasty, life will be very sad! Your Highness asked you to marry the Dongfang far away. If you know that you are not a good person, you will blame yourself."

Catherine heard it and opened her mouth, but finally didn't say anything. She turned to look at her future man, then nodded and said, "Okay, I understand."

No matter what, she has only been in the Ming Dynasty for more than a year. It is a bit reluctant to say that she has completely forgotten Europe and has put herself into the identity of a Ming Dynasty person. After all, her appearance is really different!

Just as they were chatting, the steam boat was already a little close, and began to lower sails and slow down, slowly stopping towards the shipyard.

At this time, Anders saw it more clearly and couldn't help but say in surprise: "Why does this warship have only two artillery guns?"

It is obvious that this warship only has artillery at the bow and stern of the ship, and there are no artillery positions on both sides of the ship. What role can just two artillery play in naval battles?

He was thinking that Emperor Chongzhen had already boarded the steamship under the guidance of the prince and others. The Ming army soldiers and responsible craftsmen on the ship had already stood on the deck to greet him.

Stepping on the deck, Emperor Chongzhen stepped on it hard, listening to the sound, and said with a smile: "It's not bad, how about the protection ability?"

"Brother, except for a very small part of this warship, the rest are made of iron." The prince said excitedly, "After two improvements, the balance and protection of this warship have met the requirements. My son dared to guarantee that if he encounters a Western warship head-on, he will definitely be caught off guard!"

Building a steel warship is not that easy. Even though the Ming Dynasty accumulated rich shipbuilding experience, the steel warship was the first time. Therefore, from the beginning of the wooden ship wrapping iron sheet, we were exploring to build a steel warship. Even at this time, we still did not have the ability to build a warship that was all steel.

Moreover, shipbuilding is extremely expensive. If it weren't for the fact that the Ming Dynasty is rich and the treasury is rich, it wouldn't have withstood years of experimentation.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard his words, he nodded and said, "I also need to know the shortcomings after the actual voyage!"

After saying that, he turned to look at the captain and told him, "Come and answer me!"

"Abide by the order!" The captain heard it and quickly agreed, and then replied: "The warship was not fast under the old steam engine. Later, when the improved steam engine was replaced, the speed was much faster. Even in the state of falling sails, the speed was not slow. The only disadvantage was that even if the ship had stored coal as much as possible, it still could not last at sea for too long. Therefore, the ship still had to rely on the wind."

Emperor Chongzhen naturally knew that the improved steam engine he mentioned was actually sealed with rubber instead of silk, which increased airtightness and increased efficiency. As for the source of rubber, it was proposed to the Portuguese for the first time, and this time Portugal brought it with them when they sent their princesses here.

Nowadays, large-scale planting has begun in Nanyang. It is expected that in the near future, such improved steam engines will replace all the current mainstream steam engines.

At this time, listening to the captain's introduction, Emperor Chongzhen probably understood that the steel warships driven by steam engines did not have the ability to produce large-scale and equip the navy.

First, steam power needs to be improved;

Secondly, the steel warships that can be built are still a little smaller. When the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty become more mature and can build large steel warships, then the famous battleships can come out in the future.

If a battleship built with steam-driven and steel was really built, the Ming Dynasty would be invincible at sea, and instead of relying on its numerical advantage as it is now.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was not satisfied with the warship, but Zheng Zhilong, who then entered the Naval Martial Preparation School of the warship, was excited to touch everywhere, as if the warship was his!

Regarding this battleship, he knew there were three major killers.

First, steel is the body, so that the protection ability is extremely strong;

The second is steam-powered driving, which can sail in a state of headwind;

Third, the cannon is a rifled cannon with a very long range and high accuracy.
Chapter completed!