The Factory Director's Unusual Behavior
On the deck.
Quan Yi and the others could see the smoke from the exhaust pipes becoming thicker, and the humming sound from the deck planks beneath their feet growing louder.
Huo Wu, however, was looking at the few crew members standing still on the deck with a strange expression.
She whispered, "Xiao Yi, this ship doesn't have any sails. Does it rely on the Steam Engine to turn the paddles on both sides?"
Quan Yi smiled mysteriously, "Don't worry, you'll see soon enough."
Jiang Jun walked to the center of the deck and gripped the circular ship's wheel.
After a moment, three rapid blasts of the air horn came from inside the ship's cabin.
Jiang Jun's eyes focused, and he shouted loudly, "Set sail!"
Then, he quickly turned the ship's wheel.
At that moment, the entire wooden ship vibrated slightly, and the ship slowly moved away from the shore in Huo Wu's astonished gaze.
"Wow! What principle is this based on?"
Huo Wu's jaw dropped in surprise. She shook Quan Yi's arm repeatedly, wanting Quan Yi to tell her the secret of this seagoing vessel.
Quan Yi couldn't resist Huo Wu's coquettishness, so he led Huo Wu and the others to the stern of the deck.
He walked directly to the stern, reached out and pointed to the surface of the water behind the ship, saying, "Look closely here, and you'll understand how the seagoing vessel moves."
Huo Wu, Quan Yue, and Quan Li leaned out, looking at the sea. They saw a rapidly rotating black shadow beneath the clear seawater, creating ripples.
"Could it be that the Steam Engine is turning such a small device?"
Huo Wu said in disbelief.
It's no wonder Huo Wu was surprised, because a rotating metal blade was connected to the stern.
Moreover, this device was too small compared to the entire ship. Intuitively, it was hard to imagine that such a small device could propel the huge ship forward.
Quan Yi explained, "This is called a Propeller.
It's a device that can rotate the water flow during rotation, thereby propelling the ship forward.
The power of the Steam Engine turns the Propeller, which in turn propels the ship forward.
This is the principle behind the Steamship's movement."
Quan Yue didn't seem surprised, but Quan Li looked at the Propeller at the stern with a look of astonishment, revealing a surprised expression.
Driven by the Propeller, the ship quickly rushed out of the Shipyard's channel.
As time passed, the Propeller's rotation speed increased.
At this moment, the weather was clear, and there was no wind at sea. However, standing on the deck, everyone could feel the breeze brought by the speed blowing on their faces.
"So fast!"
Huo Wu had been on seagoing vessels before and had her own understanding of their speed.
Generally, in the absence of wind, the speed of a seagoing vessel is almost zero.
However, now, the seagoing vessel they were on rushed into the vast sea at an extremely fast speed from the moment it set sail.
Quan Yi also felt the breeze and calculated the speed of the Steam seagoing vessel.
The average speed of a sailboat is about ten knots, which is roughly eighteen kilometers per hour.
The speed of this Steam seagoing vessel, however, had already exceeded that of a sailboat by a factor of one.
Reaching twenty knots, which is thirty-six kilometers per hour.
Don't underestimate the difference of only a dozen kilometers, if multiplied by time.
The gap between the two will become larger and larger.
Moreover, sailboats are severely affected by the weather. In the same amount of time, the time that sailboats can sail at their best speed is very short.
In contrast, as long as Steamships have enough fuel, they can maintain a stable speed for a long time.
In this regard, the two types of ships will create a huge gap.
Moreover, this is not even the ship's limit.
The boiler in the cabin had just been heated and had not yet reached its maximum speed.
You should know that the Steam Engine was forged from Soul Guidance Metal refined by Quan Yi himself.
Due to the addition of the extraordinary element of Soul Power.
The strength of the Steam Engine even exceeds the level of its predecessor.
The Soul Guidance Metal forged by Quan Yi has extremely high strength and toughness. At the same time, this metal is mixed with the Ultimate Fire attribute, which enhances the power of the flame.
This greatly enhances the performance of the Steam Engine.
The combination of the Steam Engine and the Propeller was a product that only appeared in the early 19th century in its previous life.
It is a device that appeared after several generations of upgrades.
Its appearance has an overwhelming advantage over sailboats at this stage.
Quan Yi and others returned to Jiang Jun's position.
"Young Master, I wonder how this ship is performing?"
Jiang Jun looked at Quan Yi expectantly.
Quan Yi did not hesitate to praise him, and directly gave a thumbs up.
"With this ship, the Quan Family's sailing time in the future will be reduced by at least half.
However, I would like to ask, how long does it take to build such a sea ship?"
Jiang Jun said: "It took us more than three months to build this ship.
However, more than half of the time was spent on research and design.
The time actually spent on shipbuilding was very short. The most important power unit can be replicated extremely quickly under the Production Line controlled by the blacksmith.
Instead, too much time was spent on hull construction."
Quan Yi nodded thoughtfully.
Then he looked up and casually asked: "Then how long would it take to convert an existing hull into a Steamship?"
Jiang Jun did not answer quickly, but paused slightly before replying: "Our Shipyard has nearly a hundred existing sea ships.
Since the overall framework of the ships is similar, the modification is not difficult.
If we want to convert all the ships into Steamships, it will only take a year."
Quan Yi turned to look at Quan Yue and said, "Father, it seems that we can convert the sailboats into Steamships first.
This will greatly reduce our time."
Quan Yue nodded in agreement: "Okay, I will promote the transformation of the ships."
The time Quan Yi mentioned here is actually the time for the development of the island.
"However, while transforming, don't forget the manufacture of iron ships.
The transformation of wooden ships is ultimately a transition. In the future, we will still need harder and larger sea ships.
Factory Director Jiang, I hope you can keep this in mind."
Quan Yi said this to Jiang Jun.
Jiang Jun's body shook inexplicably after hearing this.
His face was slightly bitter and he said, "Yes, I respectfully obey the Young Master's orders."
Seeing Jiang Jun's face darken slightly, Quan Yi became more certain of his judgment.
He said: "Factory Director Jiang, I think you should have also seen the potential of iron ships from my drawings.
However, in the past two or three months, you have found a compromise solution in another way.
This is certainly commendable, but can I assume that you have not focused your energy on the research of iron ships?"
One clue that supports Quan Yi's view is that Jiang Jun did not choose to modify the existing wooden boat. Instead, he remade and designed a wooden Steamship.
As for why he would do such a thing,
Quan Yi also had a speculation in his heart.
That is, the manufacture of iron ships would require more blacksmiths to participate.
The workers who originally made a living by building wooden sailboats would lose their livelihoods.
Perhaps Jiang Jun represents the interests of this group of shipwrights.
The sea ship had sailed to an uninhabited sea area, completely away from the land.
However, Jiang Jun felt an extremely heavy atmosphere, which made him break out in a cold sweat.
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