It was already dark, and a group of light European-style four-wheeled carriages, escorted by a small flag cavalry, was on their way.
Chen Xi opened the small sliding window from the back of the seat. He urged: "Master, hurry up and drive. You must be there in the morning, otherwise you will miss the launching ceremony."
"Miss Chen, you can't go any faster. The roads here are too bad. If you damage the wheels, you really won't be able to catch up." The driver who was sitting in front quickly turned around and explained.
Chen Xi sighed helplessly. It's all my fault. I spent all night doing experiments yesterday and finally finalized a set of instruments. As a result, I forgot about launching the cruiser.
After sleeping all morning, I woke up and remembered that the steam engine team had already packed their luggage, and everyone in the team was waiting for me. I don’t know what happened, but the dean never came.
Chen Xi was like a rabbit with an arrow in the butt. He hurriedly got up and put on his clothes, even giving up washing up. I asked the maid to grab some clothes and daily necessities to put in the box, and then hurried to the parking lot in the front yard.
As soon as they arrive, everyone gathers for a roll call. After making sure that everyone is present, they set off immediately.
The steam engine team was stunned. The dean, who usually wore exquisite makeup, came over with disheveled hair and sleepy eyes at noon today.
"It's going to be over, it's going to be over. I don't know if it's too late." Along the way, Chen Xi muttered and urged to speed up.
If we get to the pier and the ship leaves, it will be a big joke.
There are two marine steam engines from the Power Research Institute on the ship. It’s unreasonable not to sell your own products.
Moreover, these two steam engines, drive shafts, gearboxes, and propellers are all trial products. God knows what could go wrong. When running at full speed, oil leaked out, the shaft broke, or the propeller fell into the sea. Who knows.
Without his own technical team on board, the captain would probably go crazy with worry.
The Navy has never served such high-end gadgets. In the past, it was all dependent on sails.
Early the next morning, Yang Fan got up, stretched, opened the window, and got some fresh air. He stayed in a bungalow in the factory area last night. The air is very good in the morning of Daming, and the birds are chirping.
"Hey, why is there a convoy coming?" Yang Fan was surprised to see a group of carriages, escorted by cavalry, rushing into the yard in front.
Those poor horses were foaming at the mouth from exhaustion. As soon as the car stopped, they immediately fell to the ground and could not get up.
Then, Yang Fan was surprised to see Chen Xi coming out of the car with disheveled hair. It was obvious that she had not slept well after a bumpy night in the car. He was still carrying a big box in his hand. Probably her clothes and toiletries. The two maids who came down from behind were unloading luggage from the car.
When Chen Xi saw Yang Fan looking at him from the opposite side, he groaned and quickly covered his face. The master actually saw me in such a ghostly state. So ashamed.
Yang Fan touched his nose awkwardly, thinking that this little girl wasn't coming. He guessed that there might be something going on in the laboratory that made him unable to leave. Unexpectedly, we arrived an hour before launching into the water.
The convoy consisted of fifteen carriages, in addition to light carriages and caravans. Contained inside are the tools and supporting spare parts for this steam engine repair. A large number of engineers and workers were also getting off the bus. It seemed that everyone was tired after traveling all night.
Yang Fan walked over and said, "I thought you weren't coming. Why are you in such a hurry."
Chen Xi said sheepishly: "I stayed up all night doing experiments last night and forgot about it."
After saying that, he stuck out his tongue in embarrassment.
Yang Fan shook his head helplessly, completely confused.
"I asked the kitchen to bring breakfast over. Let everyone wash up and eat first. You don't need to participate in the launching ceremony. I will arrange dormitories for you to catch up on your sleep first. The sea trial will start at two o'clock in the afternoon. I will call you then. Just get on the boat." Yang Fan said.
When Chen Xi heard this, he immediately nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. She was too sleepy to open her eyes.
Chen Xi said quickly: "I won't eat any more. Let's go to sleep first. Master, is this your room? Lend it to me."
After saying that, he winked mischievously.
He opened his eyes and ran directly in front of the suitcase. He ran to the window, kicked off his shoes, and like a big maggot, he crawled into Yang Fan's bed before he folded the quilt and fell asleep.
Yang Fan was stunned. Chen Xi, this girl, what kind of trouble is this?
Then she smiled bitterly, it must have been Xiao Niangpi who asked her to come. If he had not borrowed her courage, that woman would have dared to get under his bed without his wife's consent. So many people are watching.
But no one on the steam engine team gossiped. In their view, the dean is originally the master's person. It was given to me by His Majesty, so there is nothing to gossip about. As if they hadn't seen it, everyone dispersed and went about whatever they should be busy with.
Some unloaded equipment and parts and directed shipyard workers to transport them to the dock outside the shipyard. Waiting to be launched into the water and loaded onto the ship. Some took out the steam engine technical manual for this trial voyage and quickly became familiar with it. Others are talking about the problems they may encounter during today's trial voyage.
After all, they are all landlubbers, and none of them has ever been to the sea. Although the machines were designed based on the cruiser's design drawings, they didn't know if there would be any problems.
They knew next to nothing about ships. Fortunately, the shipyard sent master shipbuilder Qiao Dongyang and dozens of apprentices to participate in the design and coordination before the equipment was completed.
At this time, Ding Dongmei Hezheng and Qiao Dongyang were discussing the problem of the power transmission shaft.
"Mr. Qiao, this is the first time Xinghe Iron Works has processed such a long transmission shaft. I stared at it forged with a water hammer, but I still had no idea. I was afraid that it would not be precise enough and it would get stuck." Ding Dongmei said.
"I'm not worried about the drive shaft. As long as it doesn't leak, it's not a big problem. In my opinion, sealing is the big problem. After all, the drive shaft and propeller are both installed underwater. If there is water leakage, the ship will sink." Qiao The old man said.
Because the steam engine is placed in the middle bottom compartment of the ship, mainly to balance the center of gravity, a drive shaft more than thirty meters long is needed, which passes horizontally through several cabins at the back and goes out from the butt of the ship to drive the propeller. This destroys the watertight cabin mechanism and is afraid of water leakage.
"The sealing solution provided by the master uses extruded oil-impregnated asbestos rope. The master said that this solution is reliable, but the wear is severe and needs to be replaced once a year. At the end of the year, I will go to the dock at the end of the year, scrape the bottom of the ship, and repair it when replacing parts. Maintenance. Don’t worry, Dean Chen Xi personally sent someone to keep an eye on it during the installation. There won’t be any problems.”
Mr. Qiao nodded and said: "I have never built this kind of steam-powered ship in my whole life. Especially the propeller, which is more than five feet in diameter and is made of two tons of bronze. It looks so golden. .It’s really a big deal. How much does it cost?”
After all, copper is money, and this thing is not cheap.
Ding Dongmei smiled and said: "I have a lot of copper ingots in my hands. The dean knows it well. Don't worry, it's hard to say for other departments. As long as we need it, we can report it directly to my wife and we can usually get it approved. There are some in the Xincheng warehouse. It's more than 12,000 tons. Even though Madam is keeping a close eye on it, no one is allowed to touch those copper ingots. Oh, breakfast is here, old man, let's talk later, my stomach is already growling with hunger."
The master craftsmen of the shipyard came pushing the carts. Tables and chairs are set up here for the experts from the Power Research Institute to eat. Yang Fan also came and sat down, preparing to eat with them. Yang Fan doesn't choose food, he can eat whatever the workers eat.
The technical team is composed of engineers with the best skills selected from the Yang Fan system. The technicians are all students who were suddenly trained by Yang Fan's system. They learned about high school level math, physics, and chemistry at a blitzkrieg. Then I started to follow Chen Xi on tasks and experiments while learning.
I don’t usually have many opportunities to see the master, so everyone suddenly became excited. They were all excited to be able to sit and eat with the master.
