Daqin Engineers

The wheel warship was a warship that was only available in the Song Dynasty.

Song Shi’s record of this ship is: “When a wheel hits the water, it advances like flying.”

In fact, it uses wheels equipped with blades instead of paddles, so it is called "wheel warships" and is also the ancestor of modern ships.

Cang's nickname "Little Luban" was really not for nothing. The prototype ship of "Wheel Warship" was made the next day.

Wei Wei and the soldiers looked at the weird warship parked on the Bian River in a daze. After a while, Wei Wei asked:

"Lieutenant, this ship... why don't you see the oars?"

Shen Bing replied:

"The wheels are wood pulp."

Wei Wei asked in surprise:

"But that wheel..."

"Subordinates only hear that wheels can make carriages travel on land, but they have never heard that wheels can make warships move forward in water."

"School lieutenant..."

Shen Bing knew what Wei Wei wanted to say. He thought Shen Bing was confused, but Wei Wei didn't say it because he didn't dare to be presumptuous.

Shen Bing smiled and said:

"Zuo Xiaoweidan said it's okay, you don't need to be so polite between you and me."

"In the future, if Shen Bing calls Lieutenant Zuo an old thief, please don't take it to your heart."

Wei Wei replied:

"Of course, of course!"

Strange to say, Wei Wei felt a little more relaxed when he heard the words "old thief".

Because this is a bit like a joke among friends.

During this period of time, Wei Wei has always regarded himself as a defeated general. He was even worried about what he said. He was worried that he would accidentally incur a murder and even hurt 200,000 old men and their families.

At this moment, seeing Shen Bing's attitude, my heart relaxed slightly.

Just as Wei Wei breathed a sigh of relief, he saw Shen Bing raising his head to the craftsmen in Cang:

"Why don't you wait to get on the boat to try?"

There was a hint of fear in Cang's eyes instantly:

"Lieutenant, but I can't wait for a boat, if I fall into the water..."

Shen Bing asked:

"Are you waiting to step on a waterwheel?"

Cang nodded:

"I have stepped on it!"

Shen Bing asked again:

"Isn't this wheeled warship made in the style of a waterwheel?"

"How can you not step on a warship if you can tread a water tanker?"

Cang was speechless in an instant. The wheeled warship did indeed look like a waterwheel. The difference was that the waterwheel stomped on the keel to divert water while the warship drives the wheels to rotate.

Cangmoto still wanted to make excuses, but after thinking about it, how could he be afraid of water if he wants to enter the water?So I had to pluck up the courage to take a few craftsmen aboard.

However, when several carpenters stood on the wooden poles and stepped on the stepping poles with the support poles, the wheels gradually turned and the warship moved forward slowly.

Then the wheels turned faster and faster, and the speed of the ship was getting faster and faster, and soon it was shuttled back and forth on the river like a fish.

Cang still yelled with excitement:

"School lieutenant, I'm waiting for the boat!"

"This boat doesn't want to be so easy. If you step on it, go fast, if you don't step on it, go slow..."

"With the helm, you can control it freely!"

This scene shocked Wei Wei and the soldiers on the shore.

You must know that they are soldiers of the Wei state with dense water nets, and many of them are boatmen.

Although it's not difficult to steer a boat, it's not as simple as this. A few people who don't know how to steer a boat can sail fast by climbing on the boat.

Among them, Wei Wei was particularly shocked.

He originally said that this warship without wooden oars could not move forward, and did not want to not only move forward but also get on board much faster than the wooden oars warship.

Look at the carpenters on the boat. There are no more than seven people. Only four of them step on the wheels and one is at the helm, while the other two are shouting.

In other words...this wheel of warship can be controlled by only five people?

Wei Wei looked at Shen Bing in surprise:

"Captain, this..."

"Excuse me for being stupid, why can this wheeled warship fly in with only five people?"

Shen Bing explained:

"Just because they pedaled with their feet instead of paddling with their hands!"

Wei Wei couldn't help but "Oh", and he secretly said that this is probably the so-called "arms can't twist the thighs".

But if it is really said, it is not so simple.

If you are rowing, it is difficult to use the strength of your hands even if you do your best (about 100 Jin in modern times), and even if you can use such strength, it will not last.

But stepping is different.

Stepping doesn’t require sideways force like rowing. It only needs to step up and use the weight of the body to press down the wood... This is obviously more labor-saving and easier to maintain.

This is more conducive to the long voyage of the warship.

Moreover, because only five people can be controlled, they can replace each other with rest, so there is a lot of manpower redundancy.

But if you count it, the number of people is actually not that big, because the old warship needs five people to steer because the helmsman needs someone to cover.

And if the helmsman is shot by the enemy, he must be replaced in time.

These people can't be saved in the wheel ship.

A comparison is that fifteen people are compared to nine people.

Wei Wei thought about it and nodded in praise:

"This boat is great!"

"If only nine people are needed to control, I wait for each ship to have 16 people in combat."

"The enemy has only ten combatants, and this combat power is far different."

You must know that most of this water battle is to shoot arrows with each other. If there are more people, there are more arrows, and more arrows represent strong combat power, so this fight...

Of course Shen Bing knew this.

And Shen Bing knows more than this.

Where is this just a simple question of combat effectiveness.

If the old warship requires fifteen people to operate the ship, these fifteen people will become the enemy’s target, and once one of these fifteen people is shot down, they must be replaced by people...

So before long, the old warship will have a serious problem due to lack of manpower:

If you are fighting, you can't operate the boat normally, so you can only stop and wait for death.

If you use a boat, you cannot fight, you can only fight without fighting back.

No matter which one you choose, you are dead, that is, you have lost your combat effectiveness.

The wheel warship is much more flexible in this regard because of the greater redundancy of manpower.

There are also the benefits of combat space:

Old-style warship oarsmen had to occupy positions on both sides to paddle, which would cause great trouble for combat personnel.

The power of the wheeled warship, that is, the wheels, are distributed at the bow and stern. The crew is not only safer, but also frees up all the middle parts for combat personnel.

More importantly...

Wheels are fast.

Four people on a boat can reach the speed of an old warship. What if eight people on a boat?

Isn't it the same speed as a dragon boat?

If there are several factors on the battlefield that can determine the outcome, speed is definitely one of them.Whether it is on water or on land.

It's just that the ancients didn't realize this, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

However, Shen Bing was not very satisfied with the warship. He called back Cang and his party who were having fun in the water, and then measured the position of the wheel with a branch, and said:

"Move the axle down an inch."

"Bold the wheel guard."

Cang was a little puzzled:

"But Lieutenant, the wheels don't need to be thickened when hitting the water..."

Shen Bing only glared at him, and Cang did not dare to say anything.