Chapter 639: Attack from the bottom of the sea (fifth update, please subscribe)

Just as Emperor Zhu was facing the newly produced tanks and talking about airplanes with anticipation, what he didn't know was that the test flight of the airplane had failed again.

“The engine is too heavy!”

Once again, in an open space with strict confidentiality measures dozens of kilometers away from Nanhua, the plane glided for hundreds of meters like a car, pushed by its propeller, but just couldn't fly.

Li Lin said a little annoyed.

"If the engine was lighter, it would definitely fly!"

In fact, in the past few years, Li Lin and his colleagues have conducted hundreds of flight tests - glider flight tests - in this test site called the "Power Test Laboratory."

As early as three years ago, they used a car to tow a glider, and the human-controlled glider repeatedly detached from the towing device and flew successfully, flying about 500 meters from the first free flight. They then continued to improve the glider and flew it in the air more than 2,000 times, with the longest flight distance of 1,350 meters.

This achievement may seem ordinary, but it was absolutely amazing in that era. After all, at the same time, other aviation pioneers in the world were flying gliders, but they only flew a few hundred meters.

"The engine is a problem, and our design may also have problems."

Like Li Lin, Feng Kai conducted scientific research and experiments on the glider's flight principles, air lift, wing angles, fuselage shape, rudders, elevators, landing gear, etc. through thousands of test flights.

It was their efforts that elevated flying from an adventurous attempt to a scientific exploration, and even analyzed the structure of the aircraft from a scientific perspective.

"A glider is a type of aircraft that uses wings to generate lift in airflow. The lift of a single wing is not as good as that of a double wing. What if we add another wing?"

Feng Kai's suggestion made Li Lin shake his head.

"This is unrealistic. Adding wings will still increase the weight. If the weight of the plane increases, it will definitely be more difficult to make it fly. The most important thing now is to reduce the weight of the engine and increase the power. At the current weight, it is basically a piece of iron lead and will definitely not be able to fly..."

It's not just that it can't fly up to the sky! It must be like a piece of iron. Even if it flies up a few meters, it will fall directly down.

Li Lin stared at the biplane and couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. After all, they still hadn't built a plane that could fly.

Is it true that the plane can’t fly?

Does this mean that only airships that use hydrogen to take off can fly into the sky?

If it weren't for the success of the glider, he really didn't believe that airplanes could fly, but gliders can indeed fly!

“The engine must be too heavy!”

Once again, in the hangar, staring at the engine that was improved based on the car engine, Li Lin frowned.

"How can I make it lighter?"

While talking to himself, Li Lin thought of a material.

“What if we use aluminum for the engine?”

"Use aluminum? You're crazy! Aluminum is more expensive than silver!"

Feng Kai immediately said with a little excitement. He thought of the aluminum necklace his wife had just bought, which was a metal more expensive than silver, and he could use it to build an engine.

It's just a bit - wishful thinking!

"Using aluminum to build an engine is like using silver to build an engine! Is that possible?"

"I know it's unrealistic, but is there any metal that's lighter than aluminum? Apart from aluminum, I really don't know what else can reduce the weight of the engine."

Of course, what they didn't know was that in another world, the Wright brothers also faced such a problem at the beginning. However, at that time, the price of aluminum was already very cheap. After hundreds of days and nights of hard work, they finally developed an aluminum cast cylinder engine with light weight and good stability, which provided reliable power for the first flight.

Flight is only possible with reliable engines.

But now, aluminum is really expensive!

Even if dozens of tons of aluminum were produced every year in the secret factories of the Ming Dynasty, they were used for export in exchange for funds. In the past few years, aluminum can be said to be a contributor to the rise of the Ming Dynasty's industry!

The funds obtained from various aluminum jewelry and aluminum plates were turned into tens of thousands of machines and tens of thousands of tons of ships.

Aluminum is so expensive nowadays, it is definitely unrealistic to use it to build engines.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang certainly didn't know about all this. After leaving the "Red House Fort", he took the royal train back to Yingtian. On his way back, he naturally visited Nanhua, Nanyuan and other places. By the way, he also inspected the navy's submarine force. Compared with torpedo boats, submarines are the real killer of the Ming Dynasty. After all, the Ming Dynasty's naval power is far less than that of Britain!

Even if we just prepare for war and build a dozen or twenty warships, the gap between us and Britain is still huge.

Besides, how could Emperor Zhu not know the saying that it takes ten years to build an army and a hundred years to build a navy? The army of the Ming Dynasty is now an elite force that is at the forefront of the times and is even in the lead, but the navy... is really not good enough!

Over the past ten years, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Ming navy is a hungry baby compared to that of the British navy. To let such a baby fight against a tall and strong man is just courting death!

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty needs its own trump card.

The killer weapon is the submarine!

A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty’s submarine had secretly attacked at the mouth of the La Plata River and successfully sank the Argentine Navy’s "May 25th" ironclad ship. But this was not the biggest gain. What was the biggest gain?

Of course, it was the gold and silver coins from the Argentine treasury on the ship. That amount of money was as much as 50 million!

Even now, the navy still uses that windfall to expand its capital. According to the plan formulated at the time, the navy received 40% as a naval construction fund for the development of the navy. The "Nanhua" ironclad ship was built using that naval construction fund.

"How about it, Liu Qing, now that the Type 002 submarine is in service, what do you think?"

Standing in the secret base of the submarine force, Emperor Zhu asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, if I have any ideas, I'm afraid it's still a matter of tonnage. Although the Type 002 has a displacement of 200 tons, which is twice as large as the Type 001, it is still too small to carry out long-distance operations. If you want to carry out long-distance operations, you have to build large submarines. Otherwise, the submarine force can only act as assassins in the near sea, but not as assassins on the seabed in the deep sea!"

Assassin, this is how Liu Tiansheng described the purpose of submarines. Why “Underwater Assassin”?

no way.

The record of sinking the ironclad ship "May 25th" was so brilliant, and the profit was tens of millions of silver dollars. How could it not be brilliant?

Moreover, after this battle, Liu Tiansheng, the chief officer of the submarine force, knew very well that when the outside world was unaware of torpedoes and submarines, the greatest role of submarines was to act as "underwater assassins", taking advantage of the enemy's unawareness of their existence and launching sneak attacks on them when they were unprepared.

As long as the attack is successful, the strength gap between the Ming Dynasty and the British Navy can naturally be made up!

Looking at His Majesty who seemed to be in deep thought, Liu Tiansheng said.

"Your Majesty, would you like to go inside the boat and take a look?"

(End of this chapter)