Chapter 319 Apple God

【The Wuya Tower Ship is also called the Sui Wuya Warship today.

This type of tower ship originated in the Sui Dynasty. It was named Wuya because of its five-story building. The ship is 55 meters long, 15 meters wide, 2 meters deep, and 30 meters high.

This is a very typical ancient Chinese warship. The top floor attic is used for observation and command, and the lower four floors are used for soldiers.

During the Sui Dynasty, there were relatively few threats at sea, and they were basically small boats. Therefore, the initial firepower setting of the Wuya Tower Ship was basically to deal with light enemies.

Each floor has a parapet arrow slit, allowing soldiers to shoot the enemy with bows, and the main means to deal with enemy ships is the slapping pole.

Its principle is also very simple. The slapping pole is like a large mast with a huge stone on it. When fighting, once the rope is released, the huge stone will naturally fall and directly smash the enemy ship.

Then the soldiers on the deck turn the capstan, use the pulley system to pull up the slapping pole again, and then they can aim and slap again.

The first version of the Wuyalou ship had six groups of slapping rods on the front, back, left and right. When fighting, it would directly rush into the enemy fleet, and the six-pronged slapping was said to be extremely powerful.

Imagine being like a big bug, it was quite funny.

When the Tang Dynasty inherited this kind of warship, it was not good to leave such a large ship empty, so it simply placed big killers such as winch crossbows and catapults on the tower ship, and this kind of warship was qualified to be called a warship.

According to the documents that can be found today, the first crossbow that could fire multiple crossbow arrows at a time appeared at the end of the Warring States Period. At that time, it required many people to use a winch to wind the string.

The bed crossbow first appeared in the Han Dynasty. There is nothing to say about this thing, it just highlights the powerful brick flying.

The craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty combined the crossbow and the bed crossbow into one, and improved the single bow arm of the Han Dynasty bed crossbow into multiple bow arms, so the Tang Dynasty winch crossbow was born.

This is a giant crossbow placed on a vehicle and can be moved at any time. The bow is opened by a winch. There are one main and six secondary arrow paths on the crossbow arm. The main arrow path is equipped with giant arrows, and the secondary arrow path has slightly smaller arrows. After pulling the trigger, seven arrows are fired at the same time. The range is 700 steps. One step of the Tang Dynasty is about 1.55 meters, and the range of the winch crossbow is about 1,000 meters.

Compared with the big killer like the winch crossbow, the catapult of the Tang Dynasty is very simple, still a very traditional pulling type, that is, a simple lever system.

The wooden pole has a stone on one end and people pull it on the other side. Although it is inefficient, it is cheap.

These two things, plus the rockets of the Tang army, can be regarded as a dimensionality reduction attack on the Japanese army, so it is not surprising that they can win a big victory.

However, it is a pity that the Song Dynasty inherited these things from the Tang Dynasty and only made improvements, lacking fundamental innovation.

The Eight Oxen Crossbow is an improvement on the bed crossbow and winch crossbow, with an increase of 500 meters in range.

The only improvement on the catapult was the weight of the loaded stone. Its highest masterpiece was the seven-pointed cannon, which required more than 200 people to pull and could throw a 64-kilogram stone bullet to 100 meters.

The energy conversion and energy loss in it can only be said to make people cry, and its practicality is also questionable.

The result was that the craftsmen found by the Mongols from West Asia made a casual change, and the Huihui Cannon was directly blasted into Xiangyang City and destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty.

But in fact, at that time, the counterweight catapult of the Huihui Cannon was not new in the West, and it was a compromise product of Arab craftsmen.

Not to mention that the West already had classic torsion catapults at that time.

If you really want to see the reform, you have to look at the Ming Dynasty, which directly changed the cannon into a cannon and played with gunpowder. 】

In the imperial garden of Bianliang, Zhao Kuangyin's face was a little heavy.

Squatting beside him, he used a small jade axe as a pen to draw the appearance of this Huihui Cannon on the ground.

After staring at it for a while, Zhao Kuangyin stood up and used his foot to wipe out the simple lines of the Huihui Cannon.

Zhao Guangyi next to him wiped off the extra expression on his face, full of sincerity:

"Brother, I will take charge of the general's work and supervise the supervisor, and I will definitely share your worries!"

Zhao Kuangyin looked at his brother, and finally put his left hand on his shoulder:

"It's enough to have a heart. Now you only know a picture, and the civil engineers don't understand it. Why do you want to go?"

Zhao Guangyi lowered his head slightly, looked at the jade axe in his brother's right hand, and followed his advice and stopped talking.

Sitting back on the stone bench, Zhao Kuangyin slowly came up with an idea in his mind.

One skill can make a country prosperous, and one skill can break a city. Perhaps those merchants who trade with foreign races should be strictly prohibited from bringing craftsmen to make magic tools.

Well... and I have to take a few more looks and remember this so-called twist... what catapult.

Zhao Kuangyin made a note in his heart that he should find a few good painters among the eunuchs, otherwise it would be unsafe to remember it by himself.

As for this younger brother... Zhao Kuangyin didn't count on him.

How could he not know what his younger brother was like?

...

Kong Ming was very excited in the Chengdu government office.

Now, with just a charcoal pencil, he could also draw the pictures of the later generations' examples vividly, which made Pang Tong envious.

Kong Ming was almost a jack of all trades, he knew it.

When he was in Nanyang, he had seen copying calligraphy, playing the zither, painting, etc., and even swimming in the river several times when the weather was hot.

At that time, Pang Tong was amazed at Kong Ming's seemingly endless energy.

And now, watching Kong Ming take out a thinned stone bar and compare it to paper, he drew a picture of a trebuchet on the paper in a few seconds.

Then he had the leisure to change the brush, dip it in ink and write the words "torsion trebuchet" neatly, Pang Tong suddenly felt a little frustrated.

"What do you think of this thing, Shi Yuan?"

Awakened by Kong Ming's question, Pang Tong silently adjusted his mentality and went over to take a closer look. He soon saw the secret:

"The power of this trebuchet all depends on the material of the twisted rope."

Pang Tong thought about it and felt that it would not be easy to replace this part with crude hemp rope.

"And compared to that... pull-type trebuchet."

Pang Tong pointed his finger and expressed his opinion: "Each has its own advantages and disadvantages."

"After all, this kind of towed cannon is easy to make and operate. It only requires a few iron parts and can be set up by three or five soldiers in just a moment."

"And this Western cannon is more sophisticated and may be inconvenient to carry. And if the twisted rope is to be used effectively, it may have to be beef tendon or rubber rope."

After the rise of engineering in Gong'an County, the critical parts of some large equipment required something soft but tough, like beef tendon.

Kong Ming and his wife spent a lot of effort, and finally developed peach gum as a substitute, but peach gum was also rare and expensive.

Sighing and shaking his head, Kong Ming also smiled and said:

"I don't know how the West solves this problem."

As for the racket, everyone in the Chengdu government office could understand it at a glance.

After all, there are many things like this pulley in the hydraulic mills all over the country, and there are even more gears.

Gong'an County even had a gear workshop early on, making auspicious gold (bronze) gears and iron gears for engineering utensils.

For this reason, Kong Ming also thought of several ways to improve the racket, and planned to draw it up and send it back to Jingzhou.

Although this racket shaft has many limitations, just like the pull-type trebuchet, it is easy to make, cheap, and has a simple and durable structure.

The giant crossbow on the ship is like this torque trebuchet. It is easy to use but requires real-time maintenance and is expensive.

Thinking about this, Kong Ming remembered the word productivity.

Whether the items made by the craftsmen are useful or not depends on the actual use. Just like the armored cavalry, it is powerful, but now there is insufficient productivity to install it on a large scale.

The same goes for this torsion trebuchet. The small torsion rope will stump them.

This scientific journey of materials research has only just begun.

I wonder when I can find a perfect substitute for beef tendon and peach gum?

Kong Ming added a new worry.

…

Yan Lide and Yan Liben in the Ganlu Hall became excited again.

This thing was of great use in the Tang Dynasty, and Yan Lide was the best at it.

Yan Lide has never felt that serving as a supervisor has been as easy as it has been in the past two years.

Stronger armor, better horse gear, excellent warships, useful ordnance, later craftsmanship concepts, improved painting techniques, and buildings all made Yan Lide feel like a treasure.

The most important thing is that compared to the fiercely competitive generals, there are capable civil servants.

Now there are only two brothers of the Yan family who can create a craft.

Previously, Yan Lide and Yan Liben planned to let their son Meng Menyinhao enter the official career, but now the two brothers discussed:

No matter what career you enter, it is better to study painting skills and learn craftsmanship.

If you can become a great craftsman, you will have a lot to do in today's Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin took a deep breath and stood in front of the map, looking at Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula.

As an excellent commander, he now understands that with this new artillery blueprint, it may be difficult for the small town in Liaodong to hinder the Tang army.

Goguryeo can be broken at any time, and the peninsula can be entered at any time.

But after defeating him, how to make him a Tang genus for the rest of his life is the problem.

Now that he can choose, Li Shimin, as the emperor, hopes to avoid future troubles forever.

After all, the various things seen on the light screen are the best lessons.

The general's careless deployment of troops caused Tang to become alienated in the land of Baekje. Although Liu Rengui violently conquered the country later, Li Shimin saw no sign of the conflict subsided.

Sooner or later, the suppressed conflicts will break out one day. This is what Li Shimin came to understand after seeing the embarrassing way "he" handled the situation in East Turkestan.

Moreover, Goguryeo and the Central Plains were destroyed from the time of Guangshen to the prince's ruling faction Li Shi.

In the past few decades, there have been several large-scale military attacks, more than a hundred battles? The hatred and conflict between the two sides are so extreme. How to solve it?

Therefore, Li Shimin had a relatively pessimistic attitude towards Datang's experience in Liaodong.

As for Silla, the Tang Dynasty eliminated the obstacles on the peninsula.

Li Shimin was thinking a lot, but at this moment he felt that Liaodong was not as rich as the grassland tribes in terms of wealth and good warfare.

However, the complexity of the conflicts is more than ten times higher than that of other grassland tribes.

It is easy to open a frontier, but it is difficult to open a frontier for all ages in China.

But... Li Shimin smiled:

Because it is so difficult, I must do it!

[Battle of Baijiangkou Liu Ingui was able to flatten and round the Japanese troops at will. In addition to the physical gap, the lead in knowledge level was also very important.

Just like the Japanese army's onboard charge against the Tang army did not happen as soon as the head was hot.

According to the Japanese's own records, they observed the sky during the Battle of Baijiangkou and believed that the wind direction was favorable to them:

The Japanese ships sailed with the wind, but the Tang army was unable to move against the wind. Even though they had strong ships but could not move, what was there to fear?

But what the Japanese couldn't understand was that despite the fact that the wind was against them, the Tang army was still able to sail towards the Japanese army after the fight, and eventually surrounded the Japanese warships.

This is actually not complicated. When the ship is heading against the wind, as long as the angle of the ship and the sail is adjusted to maintain an angle of 35 to 45 degrees from left to right, the ship can sail against the wind in a zigzag pattern.

When the wind blows on the curved sail, because in the ideal fluid, the greater the flow rate, the smaller the pressure, the sail decomposes the force formed by the wind and obtains a forward force.

That is the Bernoulli effect, which is clearly stated in high school physics textbooks and is also very common in life, so it is not difficult to understand.

Although our ancestors did not understand this, they still summed up the experience of sailing, which is generally known as the method of sailing against the wind.

The Japanese country neither understood nor understood it, and the result was that they were counterattacked by the Tang army, and they launched rockets at will at the upwind vent, which clearly arranged the Japanese army.

Therefore, if you peel off the coat of the Battle of Baekgang, you will find that the Japanese army and the Tang army have obvious gaps in all aspects from social system to the quality of soldiers, from the level of craftsmanship to the level of knowledge.

Therefore, the Battle of Baekgang is essentially a victory of civilization level.

However, when it comes to the Tang army's naval battle, it is inevitable to remind people of the absence of China in the Age of Navigation, which is unavoidable.

Some people believe that China invented the compass, but the compass attracted robbers. This statement cannot be said to be incorrect, but at least it can be said that it is not reasonable.

In fact, the origin of civilization and science is a collection of countless low-probability events, which is a standard current result.

For example, the West wrote "Elements of Geometry" in 300 BC. This mathematical work proposed the axiomatic idea in an epoch-making way. Starting from definitions, postulates, and axioms, it used logical rules to forge a rigorous axiomatic deductive system, analyzed, summarized and concluded mathematical knowledge, and finally organized the messy mathematical and geometric knowledge into a rigorous scientific system.

Since there are such advanced theoretical systems and axiomatic ideas, has Western mathematics begun to develop greatly?

Of course not.

Even with this advanced book, the progress of mathematics and science in the West is still very slow. It was the Arab Empire that really advanced modern science by a big step.

After the demise of Sassanid Persia, the influence of the Arab Empire expanded to Central Asia. This land could enjoy the achievements of Eastern and Western civilizations at the same time. During hundreds of years of peace, Arab mathematics began to develop rapidly.

Papermaking in the East laid the foundation for the Arabs, and the Western "Elements of Geometry" became the guiding theory of the Arabs. Then, astronomy knowledge was obtained from India, which created brilliant mathematical achievements in the Arabs, and was exported back to the West after the decline of the Arab Empire.

These knowledge, together with the transparent lenses that began to appear in the West in the 11th century, promoted the budding of geometric theory and optical theory, and all of the above finally led to the Renaissance in the West.

But until this time, the East and the West could still be said to be civilizations in different directions, and what really opened up the generation gap between the East and the West was that the West finally produced a scientific Confucius-like figure:

Apple God, Sir Newton.

Let’s not talk about Sir Newton’s other achievements for the time being. His most important achievement in navigation was to propose a model of the sextant. The British Navy finally successfully manufactured the octant based on this theory.

As a result, humans no longer need to rely on astrology or coastal geography to determine their position on the ocean, and can safely sail on the ocean.

Only then did the era of maritime hegemony officially begin, and the East really began to fall behind.

And the compass is just a trivial link. 】

Sorry, I have a lot to do at work today... Friends who watch LOL should know.