My Imperial Advisor is ChatGPT

Chapter 118 The Floating City of Steel: Propeller Warships

A naval exercise is underway off the coast of Langya.

The first-generation steam warship of the Qin Dynasty, the "Weihai," is moving forward at full speed. It is a traditional paddle steamer with huge waterwheel-like wheels hanging on both sides of the hull, splashing the seawater and making a loud "splashing" sound, like a big duck thrashing wildly in the water.

The "Weihai" was poised to ram a target ship ahead.

However, an accident occurred.

A surge of water crashed in from the side, causing the "Weihai" to veer sharply to one side. One side of the massive paddlewheel was submerged too deep in the water, while the other side spun freely in the air. Immediately afterward, a sickening metallic twisting sound rang out—the paddlewheel on the suspended side, due to its excessive speed and uneven stress, had actually broken its drive shaft.

"Boom!"

The massive paddle wheel broke off and crashed into the sea, sending up a spray of water ten feet high. The "Weihai" instantly became a one-legged duck, spinning around in place, emitting black smoke, looking as awkward as a lost old man.

From the sea-viewing platform.

Ying Zheng put down the telescope in his hand, his face darker than the bottom of a pot.

"This is the 'sea overlord' you've been talking about?" Ying Zheng pointed at the iron lump still spinning in place. "If a real war broke out, wouldn't it break its own legs before the enemy's cannonballs even hit it?"

Standing to the side, Xu Fu (the current Director of the Maritime Bureau and Honorary Commander of the Navy) wiped away cold sweat: "Your Majesty, this...this was an accident. Paddlewheel ships do have weaknesses; they are vulnerable to waves, prone to breaking down, and take up space, with limited space to mount many cannons on their broadsides..."

"Then change it," Ying Zheng said coldly. "I don't want ducks, I want sharks. I want ships that swim underwater, whose legs are invisible to everyone, yet they move incredibly fast."

Wang Jianguo (Chief Scientific Advisor) stepped forward at the opportune moment, holding a wooden bathtub in his hand.

"Your Majesty, I have already made preparations."

Wang Jianguo placed the bathtub on the ground, with two small toy boats floating in it.

One boat has wheels (paddle wheels) hanging on both sides, and the other boat has a small spiral (propeller) hidden under its stern like a windmill.

"Your Majesty, please take a look." Wang Jianguo wound up the clockwork.

The paddle steamer sped forward, splashing water everywhere.

The propeller boat, however, darted away silently with a "whoosh," its speed noticeably faster, leaving only a white trail behind it.

"What is this?" Ying Zheng squatted down and curiously fiddled with the small leaf hidden underwater.

"This is called a propeller," Wang Jianguo explained. "The principle is actually the same as Archimedes' pump (a water-lifting tool), except it's used in reverse. It has a deep draft, so it's not afraid of waves; it's hidden at the stern, so it's not easily hit by cannon fire; and most importantly, it's highly efficient."

"Moreover," Wang Jianguo pointed to the small spiral, "with it, we can build real 'all-steel warships.' We won't have to worry about the ship being too heavy to push."

Ying Zheng stretched out his finger and stirred it in the water, feeling the pushing force.

"Interesting." Ying Zheng stood up, shaking the water off his hands. "Wang Jianguo, I'll allocate you 100,000 tons of steel. Build me a huge one. I want a Xianyang city that can float on water."

The Qin Dynasty Royal Shipyard has now become a huge nest of steel monsters.

Thousands of craftsmen worked tirelessly day and night, red-hot rivets flying through the air, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of coking coal.

In the very center of the dock lay a suffocatingly large object.

It is 120 meters long and 20 meters wide.

What's most jarring is that it has no keel (made of wood), no mast, and no sail. It's entirely made of riveted black steel plates, resembling a giant, skinned steel whale.

This is the first all-steel propeller warship of the Qin Dynasty - "Invincible Qin" (the name was given by Liu Bang, which is rustic but auspicious).

Zhao Gao, the overseer (the unlucky fellow), was standing by the dock, his legs trembling like cotton being fluffed.

"Chancellor Wang..." Zhao Gao tugged at Wang Jianguo's sleeve, "This thing... it really floats? It's a lump of iron! Millions of pounds of iron! If you throw it in water, wouldn't it sink to the bottom with a 'plop'?"

"This is the law of buoyancy, Lao Zhao," Wang Jianguo patiently explained (though he knew it was pointless). "As long as the weight of the water it displaces is greater than its own weight, it will float. An iron basin can float on water, and so can an iron boat."

"But..." Zhao Gao looked at the armor plate, which was two inches thick, "This is too thick. If it sinks, won't this be a giant iron coffin? And it's sealed, so we won't even be able to retrieve the body."

"Don't worry, it has watertight compartments." Wang Jianguo patted the cold steel plate. "Even if it leaks a few holes, it won't sink."

Just then, Xiang Yu walked over.

Xiang Yu is now the commander of the Marine Corps. He's shirtless, staring at the steel behemoth with fanaticism in his eyes.

"Good stuff!" Xiang Yu slammed his hand on the hull of the ship, making a loud "clang" that made Zhao Gao's ears ring.

"This thing is so tough, wouldn't it be incredibly fun to ram ships with it?" Xiang Yu gestured, "Just drive right over there and smash those Roman wooden ships to pieces!"

"General Xiang," Wang Jianguo sighed, "this is a battleship, it's for guns, not for bumper cars. But... if you really want to ram it, no one can beat you."

To verify the propeller's power, Wang Jianguo specially arranged a tug-of-war competition.

In the water-filled dock.

On one side is the old-fashioned paddle steamer "Weihai" (which has been repaired).

On one side is the "Experimental" tugboat, which is equipped with a propeller.

The two ships were stern to stern, connected in the middle by a thick steel cable.

"start!"

At a command, both ships simultaneously went full speed ahead.

The paddle wheel of the "Weihai" frantically pounded the water, creating a tremendous roar and towering white waves that seemed to devour everything.

The "Experimental Ship" only showed gusts of current at its stern and its hull sank slightly, appearing quite ordinary.

However, a shocking scene unfolded.

The imposing "Weihai" was being dragged backward by that inconspicuous little boat! No matter how fast its paddle wheels spun, it couldn't stop itself from being pulled towards the other boat little by little.

"Amazing!" exclaimed the surrounding craftsmen. "That little spiral has incredible power!"

Seeing this, Zhao Gao finally removed his hands from his eyes: "It seems... this iron turtle really does have some tricks up its sleeve."

The launching ceremony is scheduled for the third day of the third lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head.

On this day, Langya Port was completely surrounded. Not only were there the people of Qin, but also many foreign "merchant ships" (actually spy ships) spying from afar.

Titus, a secret agent of the Roman Republic, is hiding on a merchant ship carrying olive oil, holding a monocular telescope.

"The Qin people have gone mad," Titus noted as he looked around. "They've built a huge iron box. No sails, not even masts. How does this thing move? By oars? How many slaves would that kill?"

In his mind, a ship must have a sail. A ship without a sail is like a bird without wings.

However, the next second, his quill pen fell to the ground.

"Ughhhhhh!!!"

A piercing whistle rang out, louder than the simultaneous roar of a hundred elephants.

Suddenly, thick black smoke billowed from the three enormous chimneys on the back of the steel behemoth, shooting straight into the sky like three black dragons.

Immediately afterwards, the heavy "iron box" moved.

It cut through the seawater, and the waves cleaved by the bow reached several meters high.

There was no billowing of sails, no oarsmen's shouts, only a dull rumble coming from inside.

"It...it moved by itself?" Titus was terrified, his face pale. "This is witchcraft! The Qin people have kept monsters in their ships!"

The "Invincible Qin" slowly sailed out of the port, its speed increasing.

Standing on the bridge, Xu Fu gripped the helm, feeling the vibrations beneath his feet. The sense of power was completely different from that of piloting a sailboat. A sailboat follows nature, using the wind to move; this ship, however, was defying nature, cutting through the waves.

"Hard to left!" Xu Fu roared.

The massive hydraulically powered rudder at the stern rotates.

The massive hull drew an elegant yet domineering arc across the sea.

"Awesome!" Xu Fu laughed. "Now this is what sailing a ship is all about! Before, that was like flying a kite!"

To demonstrate military power, Ying Zheng ordered a live-fire exercise.

Target: An abandoned old-style warship from six countries, located five kilometers away (tall, imposing, and entirely made of wood).

On the foredeck of the "Invincible Qin" ship, a huge twin-gun turret slowly rotated.

This is the 305mm main gun designed by Wang Jianguo. Although it is still a muzzle-loading rifled gun (the breech-loading gun is still attacking the venting ring), its power is already enough to destroy the world.

Inside the turret, a hydraulic loader pushes shells weighing several hundred kilograms into the gun barrel.

"Target locked! 5,000 meters away!" the observer shouted.

"Fire!"

"boom!!!"

With a deafening roar, the entire warship shifted sideways by a meter. The immense recoil stirred up the surrounding seawater.

Two bright orange fireballs shot out from the cannon muzzles, the shells piercing the sky with a piercing whistle.

A few seconds later.

The old-fashioned warship in the distance didn't even have time to let out a mournful cry before it simply "disappeared".

It wasn't just punched through, it was shattered.

The 305mm high-explosive shell tore the wooden hull into countless fragments upon impact. The once towering ship was reduced to a pile of matchsticks floating on the sea.

"..."

There was a deathly silence on the viewing platform.

The hands of the Roman spy Titus trembled as he looked at the still-smoking sea, feeling as if his soul had been shattered.

What are Rome's most powerful quinquefossors compared to this thing? Toothpicks?

"This...this is not war at all," Titus wrote in despair. "This is the judgment of God. The age of sails is over."

On the bridge, Ying Zheng lowered his binoculars, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Do you see that, Li Si?"

"I saw it, Your Majesty." Li Si wiped his sweat. "Too...too cruel. But I like it."

"This is the truth." Ying Zheng pointed to the still-smoking cannon barrel. "From now on, when you reason with those barbarians, use this. This is called 'caliber is justice, range is truth.'"

Although the "Invincible" is very impressive, it also has a side effect - seasickness.

Although it was large, it rolled very badly in the waves because it lacked the damping effect of sails and had problems with the center of gravity in the early hull design.

This is the famous "roly-poly effect".

At this moment, Zhao Gao, who was inspecting the engine room in the lower deck, was vomiting violently while holding an iron bucket.

"vomit--!"

Zhao Gao's face turned deathly pale, and he felt as if his intestines were about to come out.

"This...this is hardly the Invincible..." Zhao Gao muttered weakly, "This is clearly the 'Shake It Up'...I'd rather patch up the leaks in the airship than sway around in this metal can..."

The engine room crewman beside him (one of Xiang Yu's men, known for his excellent physical condition) chuckled as he shoveled coal, "My lord, your health isn't what it used to be! This is nothing! I heard from Chief Minister Wang that we'll be going to the deep ocean later, where the waves are three stories high!"

"The depths of the ocean?" Zhao Gao rolled his eyes in despair. "Just kill me... really..."

On the deck, Wang Jianguo was explaining a new concept to Ying Zheng.

"Your Majesty, the significance of this ship lies not in how many wooden boats it can sink," Wang Jianguo said, pointing to the vast sea, "but in the fact that it doesn't have to rely on the whims of the heavens."

"In the past, ships couldn't move without wind, and they had to stop if there was a headwind. So we could only sail in coastal waters, which is why we were called the 'Yellow Water Navy'."

"But this ship can go anywhere as long as there is coal and water. No matter the wind or rain, it can project the will of the Great Qin to the other side of the earth."

"This is called—the Blue-Water Navy."

Ying Zheng was deeply moved upon hearing this.

He walked to the bow of the ship, leaned on the railing, and the sea breeze made his sleeves flutter.

"Little G".

[Yes, Brother Zheng.]

"I used to think that building the Great Wall and protecting my home was enough. But after we got airships, I felt that the sky also belonged to me."

Ying Zheng pointed to the deep blue sea beneath his feet.

"Now, I feel that this sea is also my pond."

"That's right, Brother Zheng," Little G joked. "71% of the Earth's surface is water. If you only occupy land, you're just an 'island lord' at best. Occupy the oceans, and you're the 'world's ruler.'"

"The length of the ball..." Ying Zheng smiled, "I like this word."

He turned around and gave an order to Meng Tian behind him.

"Meng Tian".

"Your subordinate is here!"

"Send the order: I want ten more ships like these. No, a hundred."

"I intend to establish the 'First, Second, and Third Task Forces of the Great Qin Dynasty'."

"From now on, wherever Great Qin merchant ships go, they must be escorted by warships. Anyone who dares to touch even a hair of Great Qin goods..."

Ying Zheng patted the 305mm main gun next to him.

"Use this to explain the laws of the Qin Dynasty to them."

Sunset.

The "Invincible Qin" slowly returned to port.

The setting sun dyed its steel body gold, and black soot drew a long trail in the sky.

Behind it, the wreckage of the smashed wooden target ship was slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea with the rise and fall of the waves.

That was more than just the sinking of a ship.

That was an entire era—an era of sails, wooden hulls, and boarding combat—that helplessly came to an end amidst the roar of steam and steel.

The old fisherman on the shore looked at the smoking behemoth, sighed, and threw his wooden oar onto the beach.

"The world is changing."

In the dead of night at Xianyang Palace, Li Si was drafting a new edict:

"Several Decisions on Establishing Naval Bases in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Western Ocean".

The first one is:

"Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the land, all people are subjects of the king. From now on, the color of the sea will mark the borders of the Great Qin."