Chapter 348: Failed?

Everyone looked over in unison.

Liu Zheng followed up excitedly: "Surround them but do not attack, wait for me!"

Then, he dove headfirst into his own room.

"Second brother, what are you..."

Xie Zhen was startled; how had Liu Zheng suddenly become so obsessed?

Jiang Xuan and the others laughed heartily: "Your Highness, Prince of Shu, no need to worry, this is perfectly normal. The young master must have had another one of his brilliant ideas..."

"Brilliant ideas?"

Xie Zhen scratched his head; was there such a thing? He blinked; could it be that the Glider was also one of his second brother's brilliant ideas?

This was too terrifying, right?

Sure enough.

The next day, the mighty Yinzhou fleet arrived at Yongan Port, fifty miles away at a safe distance. Then, it came to a halt.

This immediately stunned the Jingzhou Navy on the Yongan side.

What was the meaning of this?

Not coming over to fight?

Fifty miles was indeed a safe distance in naval warfare. Because in naval warfare, the distance between ships was quite particular. These fifty miles were enough to gradually stretch out the Jingzhou Army's thirty-plus Tower Ships, and as a result, the logistical supply force of the last ship would struggle to keep up.

Therefore.

The position where the Liangzhou Army was stationed made the Jingzhou Navy at Yongan Port afraid to move out lightly.

"What's the situation?"

Xie Chen couldn't help but run to Yongan Port, climbing high to watch the Yinzhou fleet fifty miles away from afar.

"Haha, Your Highness, this Liangzhou Army must be afraid!"

"That's right, who dares to fight my Jingzhou Army on the water?"

"Your Highness, rest assured, no matter what tricks they are playing, we will kill one if one comes, and kill a pair if a pair comes!"

These Jingzhou naval commanders laughed arrogantly, one after another.

Xie Chen also smiled with relief: "If so, it seems this Prefect Liu is going to meet his doom at Yongan Port!"

At this, the Jingzhou Navy was jubilant, even beginning to curse from across the water, sending ships out to carry out various harassments and provocations against the Liangzhou Navy.

However...

No matter how they provoked, the Yinzhou Army on the Liangzhou side made no move at all.

Not a sound was heard.

And at this time.

Liu Zheng had dove headfirst into his room.

He brought many wine bottles—that's right, it was basically impossible for an ancient army to have no wine. Liu Zheng did not have excessive demands regarding this; the only military order was that drinking was absolutely forbidden during wartime. But for those marching on the water, because he was worried that these landlubbers would suffer from seasickness or other forms of acclimatization, Liu Zheng was still quite humane.

He allowed many bottles of wine to be brought on board, which created these many wine bottles.

So...

What did Liu Zheng want to do now?

It was simple!

A simple compressed air Engine! And then, what did he want to do? That's right, he wanted to make the first Torpedo in this world!

This idea...

Was indeed a bit crazy.

But Liu Zheng believed it was achievable. Because in later generations, the first torpedo was invented by Luobiusi, and it was driven by a compressed air engine; in simpler terms, it used a steam engine to drive a propeller.

Although...

This type of torpedo had low speed, short range, and poor control, and later, because of these shortcomings, the torpedo was not put into use. However, in the 19th century that followed, Huaithehe successfully developed the first torpedo.

That torpedo drew on Luobiusi's invention, using a compressed air engine to drive a single propeller for propulsion, and controlling the torpedo's depth through a hydraulic valve that operated the horizontal rudder at the tail of the torpedo. At the time, the torpedo's speed was only 11 kilometers per hour, with a range of 180-640 meters, and there was no device to control the torpedo's direction.

Because its shape resembled a fish, it was called a "torpedo," and based on Huaithehe's name (which translates to "white"), it was named the "Whitehead Torpedo." Almost simultaneously with Luobiusi and Huaithehe, the Russian inventor Yalishandaluofusiji also developed a similar torpedo device.

Having said so much.

It actually wasn't important.

The most important thing was that Liu Zheng now wanted to tinker with this simple compressed air engine. A wine bottle, but at this time, a glass syringe was needed, which was very difficult to replace with other things. Fortunately... the wine bottles on this ship came in various sizes, and there was one that was relatively uniform from top to bottom...

At this time, one only needed to make a wooden piston.

OK, the glass bottle and the piston bottle were ready.

This piston bottle was used as a cylinder, while the wine bottle served as an air storage tank, equivalent to the boiler of a Train, and then Liu Zheng would use a tube to pump air into the bottle; the stored compressed air provided power to the cylinder, equivalent to the steam produced by a boiler.

The air distribution mechanism used a patch to squeeze a tube; the deformation of the tube would open or close the Air Circuit, and a black iron wire was the connecting rod to pull the iron sheet, which was then connected to the single propeller...

At this time, it was the most critical part.

If there were rubber bands, it would be best. Obviously, Liu Zheng didn't have any. But he could use highly elastic steel wire to make a spring... because the piston was pushed outward by the gas, and at the same time, the spring was stretched; when the piston moved inward, it relied on the spring to pull it back.

Yes.

It was indeed very complicated.

And many materials were sourced on the spot. Liu Zheng had to admit that this was the most headache-inducing and frustrating development project he had faced since crossing into this world.

It took a full three days. Only then did the compressed air engine barely take a rudimentary shape.

Next...

Was the explosive part of the torpedo. This didn't need much explanation; this time, along with the Yinzhou fleet and the Glider, what had come to Yongan was naturally barrel after barrel of Quelehuoduo.

This thing was Liu Zheng's peerless magic weapon now.

Whoever uses it knows!

To detonate the Torpedo, one can only use the most primitive Method, a delayed detonation...

Five days in a row.

Five days and five nights.

Xie Zhen was completely bewildered, grabbing people to ask: "Is your Young Master always like this?"

"Ah? Does he never sleep?"

"This, this, this, how can his body handle this?"

"Oh my, hurry and go brew a pot of soup for your Young Master!"

"Oh my, my brother..."

This left Liu Zheng feeling both amused and frustrated, but he had to admit that having such an elder brother who cared about him was truly a wonderful thing.

As for the others, they were already used to it.

Every time this Young Master Liu developed a new gadget, he would lock himself in his room for seven days and seven nights; this was considered short.

"Done!"

Sure enough.

On the seventh day, Liu Zheng let out a cheer.

Xie Zhen had been waiting at the door for a long time and hurriedly trotted over with chicken soup, saying with concern: "Brother Zheng, drink some first, drink some."

Liu Zheng was amused and frustrated; over these days, he had come to understand Xie Zhen's personality—if you didn't drink it, he wouldn't be happy—so he took the bowl of chicken soup and gulped it down.

"Young Master, what kind of object has come out this time?"

"Is it fun?"

"Can it really destroy that Jingzhou navy?"

The others all looked curious.

Liu Zheng laughed and said: "Just follow me, Jiang Xuan!"

"This subordinate is here!"

"Go cut down a tree, let it float on the water, and push it far away, the further the better! Remember, the tree must also be as thick as possible!"

"Understood!"

Jiang Xuan was used to assisting Liu Zheng with research, so at this moment, he didn't ask any questions, took a few people, and trotted off.

Afterwards.

A large tree was cut down by them. Although Liu Zheng hadn't slept for seven days, he was still very excited, but he didn't forget to have the Liangzhou Army seal off the scene. Just kidding, this was the first Torpedo in this world. If this thing were discovered by the Scouts of the Jingzhou Army, it wouldn't be able to achieve the effect of a Surprise Unit victory.

Liu Zheng actually didn't want the principles of the Steam Engine to appear in this world too early...

However, sometimes, these things are not something one can control.

The current Longyan Dynasty was actually equivalent to the Ming Dynasty of later generations. During this period, the world stage was still very lively. Some things would appear regardless of whether Liu Zheng deliberately suppressed them or not. The Renaissance in Europe had already begun, and even the First Industrial Revolution would likely arrive soon.

Blocking is not as good as diverting.

The course of history is just like this, what else can be done?

So this time, Liu Zheng didn't intend to hide anything anymore. Just do it!

This simple compressed air Engine was, in reality, a prototype of a Steam Engine.

"Is it a li away yet?"

Liu Zheng looked at the tree getting further and further away and asked.

This type of simple Torpedo could reach a range of over one hundred to five hundred meters. He directly chose five hundred meters, which was one li!

Xiao Qi took a look and nodded: "It's about there, Young Master, what exactly is this..."

Liu Zheng laughed: "Just watch."

The simple Torpedo in his hand was simple in every aspect, which couldn't be helped, as everything was sourced on-site... so it looked a bit incongruous, but he himself knew the power of this thing.

He carefully placed the simple Torpedo into the water.

Because it was a Torpedo, it was of course impossible to use fire for ignition.

What he used was piston ignition.

He took a deep breath.

Aiming at the direction of the large tree, he shouted: "Go!"

He suddenly pulled the cord.

And so.

A group of people watched with their own eyes as that thing, like a large fish, moved forward rapidly in the water; this speed was, in their eyes, fast to the extreme.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Liu Zheng was also quite nervous at this moment.

One li.

One li...

He actually wasn't sure in his heart whether this Torpedo could reach the distance of one li.

Fortunately.

It only took two minutes!

That's right, just two minutes!

Boom!

That Torpedo slammed into the tree.

Then...

And then...

The whole group was dumbfounded.

What happened?

That's right.

Nothing happened at all.

Liu Zheng had a face full of black lines.

What the hell is this?

Did he miscalculate the time?

Over there, it was completely silent...