Sun Quan was in a good mood these days. Cao Rui sent him an envoy. The name was to wish him new year, but in fact he proposed further alliance, hoping to cooperate with Sun Quan to fight a big war in Xiangyang.
The 30,000 Shu troops in the mausoleum were killed, and then during Cao Wei's attack, Sun Quan attacked Chengdu. The two armies advanced together to destroy Shu and divide the world.
What excited Sun Quan the most was that Cao Rui's envoy hinted that as long as Sun Quan was willing to accept this plan, Cao Wei could not express his position on Sun Quan's proclaiming himself emperor. Not expressing his position would be acquiescing, and he would not attack with troops, even if it was just a pretense.
.
Although Cao Rui refused to admit that Sun Quan was the emperor, Sun Quan understood that this was the biggest concession he could make, and it was enough. Being able to avoid being attacked on both sides was the outcome Sun Quan hoped for most. Now that Wei and Shu are fighting, he
He is the safest one. As long as they don't join forces, no one can defeat him.
Compared to Zhuge Liang's delay, Sun Quan was more satisfied with Cao Rui's decisive concession. Sun Quan therefore placed Fei Yi under house arrest, preparing to force him and Zhuge Liang again, hoping that Zhuge Liang would also give in and recognize his status immediately. In this way,
He can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight again.
Just when he was making his wishful thinking, Zhu Huan came angrily and reported the news he got from Fei Yi to Sun Quan.
Sun Quan was stunned for a moment: "Is it true? Could it be a plan?"
Zhu Huan said angrily: "Your Majesty, let me tell you that Cao Rui is not Cao Pi, and he is not someone who gives in easily. Cao Wei has not sent an envoy for so many years. There must be a conspiracy to send someone suddenly this time."
Zhu Huan's attitude was very disrespectful, but Sun Quan was used to it and knew that his loyalty was no problem. Sun Quan ignored him, turned around and asked Zhuge Ke and Yang Di: "What do you think? Is this Cao Rui's trick, or is this a trick?
Fei Yi’s lies?”
Zhuge Ke cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, no matter it is Cao Rui's trick or Fei Yi's lie, we cannot believe it easily. I think it is better to send someone to find out the news first. If Cao Wei is indeed building a warship, then we
You can’t help but be on guard.”
Yang Di also agreed with Zhuge Ke's opinion. Sun Quan pondered for a long time, but still couldn't make a decision. While he sent people to inquire about the news, he wrote to Lu Xun and informed him of the new intelligence department that had just appeared. Let's see what his opinion is.
As Zhuge Ke said, no matter what the reason is, as long as Cao Rui is building warships, the threat to Jiangdong is far greater than the threat to Shu Han, and Sun Quan has to guard against it.
Five days later, Sun Quan received the news, confirming that Cao Wei was building a warship, and the person in charge was Ma Jun, who had just played a major role in Tongguan. In addition to Ma Jun, Xiangyang also saw the battle flag of Xiahou Ba, which can further confirm that Cao Wei
They are sending more troops to Xiangyang. It is impossible to tell whether they are targeting the Shu army or the Wu army at Fangling.
Sun Quan was furious and immediately made an appointment with the envoy from Cao Wei. When the envoy from Cao Wei came, Ma Jun had not arrived in Xiangyang. He did not know about it at all. When asked by Sun Quan, he was speechless and denied it. It's okay that he didn't deny it.
His denial further confirmed Sun Quan's suspicion. Sun Quan roared and kicked the envoy out, and wrote a strongly worded letter asking Cao Rui what was going on.
Immediately afterwards, Sun Quan received a reply from Lu Xun. Compared with the fierce reaction of Sun Quan and others, Lu Xun was much calmer. He analyzed that even if Cao Rui was building warships, Cao Wei was still not our army in water warfare.
opponent, so it is unlikely to target our army in the short term, but it may target the Shu army. Therefore, our best countermeasure is to remain vigilant, not to react excessively, and wait for the further development of the war situation.
After reading Lu Xun's reply, Sun Quan felt a little regretful. But it was just a little regretful. He still couldn't let go of Cao Wei secretly building warships. Water warfare was his advantage, how could he let Cao Wei take the lead?
Besides, the Shu army had a few broken ships, and Cao Wei's Xiangyang Navy alone could handle them. If there were no other conspiracies, why would they suddenly build warships?
In any case, because of the warship incident, the newly heated relationship between Wei and Wu came to a standstill. Sun Quan watched every move of Cao's army in Xiangyang with vigilance.
While Sun Quan was trying hard to guess what Cao Rui wanted to do, Wei Ba was working day and night in Fangling to refit the warship. He removed the oars on both sides of the warship and installed huge wheels. Half of these wheels were on the water, and some were on the water.
Half of it is underwater. As long as it appears on the battlefield, it will be discovered by the enemy. Therefore, in order to protect the technical secrets as much as possible, Wei Ba installed a platform on the wheel. This platform stretches out from both sides of the ship and is equivalent to a city wall.
The horse face on it can not only cover the wheels and protect the main body of the warship, but also allow soldiers to jump on it and fight the enemy at close range. From a balance point of view, this is equivalent to widening the warship and increasing its balance performance.
.
After the modification was completed, Wei Ba and Feng Jin got into the cabin to take a closer look. Wei Ba was familiar with the use of wheels. Whether it was a water mill, a repeating ballista, or a thunderbolt chariot, the winding device was all implemented with wheels. The wheels can
Variation is achieved through different radii, increasing the torque and reducing the required force. More importantly, the wheel moves in a circular motion, which is more efficient in doing work than linear motion.
This may be the reason why Chinese philosophy admires the circle.
After checking every detail of the warship, and looking at the Feng family members who were shirtless even in the middle of winter, standing at their posts with their chests held high, Wei Ba said to Feng Jin: "It seems that you have done a good job.
Preparation for battle.”
Feng Jin nodded happily: "No, I just hope to go into battle earlier." He beat the bulging chest of a soldier beside him: "Listen, this is the sound of the war drum urging us to go into battle."
Wei Ba couldn't help laughing and looked around: "Well, let's first see if this warship can achieve our goal and increase its speed."
"Try, try, I've wanted to try for a long time." Feng Jin said impatiently.
"Okay, let's draw up a test plan first."
"You still need a plan?" Feng Jin was surprised and his eyes widened: "Can't we just move the boat and see how it goes? What other plans are there?"
Wei Ba didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Wenju, I'm not telling you, your thinking is too simple. Just move the boat? Then are you going to sail a mile or two to see the fastest speed, or are you going to try a three or five?
A long distance of ten miles?”
Feng Jin rolled his eyes and had nothing to say. Although he knew something about warships, when it came to the process of industrial experiments, he was far less familiar with Wei Ba. Don't talk about him, even if Zhuge Liang came, he might not consider it as well as Wei Ba.
Ba Zhouquan. This is not because Wei Ba is smarter than them all, but because Wei Ba has experienced mature industrialization processes, design, development, testing, and delivery. Each process is the accumulation of countless people's efforts and the result of countless successes and failures.
What is slowly tempered is not something that anyone can come up with in a flash of inspiration.
Compared with scientific research, industrialization does not actually emphasize genius, but relies more on collective wisdom.
Under Wei Ba's accusation, they quickly drew up a detailed test plan. Feng Jin fainted when he saw those charts and would rather go inside the warship than stand next to Wei Ba.
The first test began, and the content was sprint speed. Since there was no prepared timing tool, Wei Ba decided to use a reference object and let a standard-configuration Meng Chong move together for comparison. With an order, the two ships started at the same time.
, the rowers on Meng Chong shouted in unison, and working together, Meng Chong rushed out like a swordfish, leaving the armored ship behind two hulls in the blink of an eye.
Wu Yi, who came to visit, frowned and hesitated to speak. However, he glanced at Wei Ba and saw that Wei Ba had no reaction, so he suppressed his uneasiness and continued to watch.
After two or three breaths, the armored ship began to move. The huge wooden wheel was covered, and the rotation of the wooden wheel could not be seen. However, the rolling waves overflowed from under the cover, stirring the river water, and the warship began to move forward slowly.
After three or five breaths, the warship began to accelerate. Although the distance between it and Meng Chong was still getting farther and farther, the speed of its acceleration still surprised Wu Yi.
"Can it be so fast?" Wu Yi looked at the armored ship that was trying to catch up. He was so surprised that he pulled out a beard, which made his face twitch in pain.
"It should be faster." Wei Ba looked at the warships going away and flew up: "General, let's follow them and see how they turn."
"Okay!" Wu Yi also became excited. He took the reins of the horse from the guard, got on the horse, and galloped side by side with Wei Ba. From time to time he glanced at the two warships chasing each other in the water in the distance. He believed that Wei Ba
As Ba said, after all, this is the first time the ship has been tested and the sailors are not familiar with it yet. Once they become proficient, the speed may be further improved.
In fact, at this level, he was very satisfied. He looked at Wei Ba. Although Wei Ba was talking to him, he did not look at him from beginning to end. His eyes were fixed on the two boats in the water.
, muttering one or two words to himself from time to time. Seeing that Wei Ba was so focused, Wu Yi not only was not angry, but secretly sighed. This young man is not only extremely smart, but also has rare concentration and hard-working spirit. He has Zhuge Liang.
He has great strength, but also has a heroic spirit that Zhuge Liang does not have. His achievements in the future will definitely be extraordinary. It seems that the decision to support him was the right choice. Maybe the Wu family can really rise with his help.
Wei Ba didn't know what Wu Yi was thinking. All his body and mind were on those two ships. The armored ship failed to catch up with Meng Chong. The speed was only about 70% of the Meng Chong ship, but this speed was already very good. If
Not surprisingly, under ideal conditions, it can be twice as fast as an armored ship using oars, and a conservative estimate can be two-thirds faster.
Speed is the basis of surprise. With speed, Wei Ba has the capital to use surprise.
Wei Ba raised his fist to his nose, sniffed it gently, and showed a satisfied smile on his lips.
Ma Jun, I admit that you are a smart man, but can you have technical resources like mine and power and freedom like mine?
——————
Monday, please recommend votes, please monthly votes! Lao Zhuang was so nervous about recommendations that he had no choice but to ask for your help.