January 18, the twenty-fourth year of the Great Ming Dynasty (1642), Tianjin Port.

The mist in the winter morning slowly dispersed, and the figure of a huge warship gradually appeared on the sea.

This battleship, named after Yu Tonghai, the founder of the Ming Dynasty Navy, finally officially entered the Ming Dynasty Navy today after more than two years of intense construction.

"Brother Imperial, Privy Yan, General Inukai, this battleship Yu Tonghai has a standard displacement of 1.3 tons and a full load displacement of 16,500 tons. It has two turrets at the front, two at the back, one and three turrets, and six 305mm main guns. This gun is named after the Army

It is so huge that the Navy calls it Longxiang. It has a diameter of 30 times, a single gun barrel weighs 32 tons, a single shell weighs 420 kilograms, and a maximum range of 10,000 meters. If the gunner operates it skillfully and properly, the maximum rate of fire of the main gun can be

Achieving one shot every two and a half minutes.

In addition to the main gun, the ship also has six 150mm secondary guns and forty 35mm machine guns. In terms of defense, key defensive measures are adopted. That is, thickened armor is used under the waterline, in the command tower, turrets, etc. In some areas

Less important places, cut armor...

The ship has 90 officers and 720 sailors. The maximum speed is 15 knots. If cruising at 10 knots, the maximum sea self-sustainability is 60 days, enough to sail directly to the Americas. In addition to using steam engines for power, the entire ship is also equipped with

There is a generator. There are no problems with lighting and ventilation inside the ship. The brightness of the searchlight is sufficient for sailing at night. In the sea trial at the end of last year, a record of eight hours of continuous sailing at a maximum speed of 15 knots was set at night..."

"Well... General Inukai, how are you? Are you satisfied?"

"Satisfied, of course I am very satisfied with this battleship. But when I think about such a good battleship, it will be sent to America just after it is commissioned. In my heart..."

"Hahaha, General Inukai doesn't have to be like this. Thanks to everyone's help recently? The shipyard has money. Isn't that right? In addition to laying down the keel of the battleship Cao Sanxi, the imperial court itself funded the construction of the Deng Zilong and Yu Dayou.

? Construction has also begun. Is it soon? In two years at most, I will give you three more battleships."

"Huh? Your Majesty, I have a heartfelt request."

"speak."

"What if in two years' time? I am still serving as the commander of the mainland fleet? At that time, I would like to use the Deng Zilong or Yu Dayou as the flagship."

"Huh? Hahaha, you guys, are you okay? Just as you want."

After the monarchs and ministers sang in harmony, Zhu Youdong waved back, and Zhu Ciyi stood over.

"Are you really going to leave?"

"Father, my son has been back from America for more than a year. He has married his first wife and has a legitimate son. As a royal family, the tasks that should be completed have been completed. My son really can't let go of the five years of hard work in America, so? Please still ask.

Father, please rest assured. Father, as long as I and Mr. Sun drive Cromwell away from the American continent, I will definitely come back as soon as possible to fulfill my orders."

"...That's all, then you can go. Well? Sun and my eldest grandson He Mo will stay in Beijing. So? Your mother and your grandmother will also be with you."

"Yes? My son thinks so too."

"Okay, in that case, I will hand over this support fleet to you to command this time. Tomorrow, you will take the Yu Tonghai, Fuguo, and Guiguo to patrol south. Accept Zheng He at the Changsha Shipyard

and two other heavy cruisers. Then General Inukai will allocate five destroyers to you. You lead these eleven battleships to escort the three divisions of the army to America. After arriving there, military matters,

Sun Chuanting is still in charge, and you are not allowed to interfere."

"Yes, I obey your orders."

"After your support fleet leaves, apart from sending transport ships to deliver some munitions, I probably won't send an army here for three to five years. You do your best in America and try to come back as soon as possible. As my eldest son, you

, it’s necessary to go out for experience. But it’s not good to stay out for a long time.”

When Zhu Youdong said these words, Zhu Ciyi's eyes flashed with a strange color, but he quickly concealed it: "Father, don't worry, within three to five years, with the cooperation of Mr. Sun, I will at least complete South America."

Dedicated in front of my father’s case.”

Zhu Ciyi made preparations for the voyage by himself. Zhu Youdong, under the guidance of Zhu Youxiao, entered the chief designer's office of Binhai Shipyard.

"Huh? Yu Xiao, what does your office smell like? Why doesn't anyone come to clean it for you?"

"Hey, brother, please forgive me. Sometimes I forget the time when I'm drawing. It's not uncommon for me not to take a shower for a month or two, and it's also common for me to smoke a lot every day. So the smell in this room is really weird.

.As for letting people clean it? Brother Huang, there are so many drawings in this room, who dares to come and clean it? Brother I don’t dare to let people come in to clean it."

"Hey, you guy. That's all. Open the window and let some air flow."

After the two brothers sat down, Zhu Youdong tapped the table with his fingers habitually: "Just now you told me that there is a five-year shipbuilding plan. Tell me, what do you specifically envision?"

"Before I report this plan to my royal brother, I would like to know first how long it will take for our Ming Dynasty's internal combustion engine to come out?"

"Well, my brother asked Fu Shan and Zhu Kuiyou to lead a team to conduct research and development. However, even if this thing is made, it is impossible to build a gas turbine suitable for large warships within five years. At most, it will be a small internal combustion engine as a

The torpedo’s engine just makes the torpedo go faster.”

"When Brother Huang said this, Brother Chen understood." After standing up and giving a solemn salute, Zhu Youxiao said: "Brother Emperor, Brother Chen's five-year shipbuilding plan is divided into the following three steps. First, increase the number of ships.

Shipyards. In our Ming Dynasty, there are only two shipyards in Binhai and Changsha that can independently build 10,000-ton warships. However, after many years of operation, these two shipyards have a large number of skilled technicians and workers. What I mean is to use these two shipyards.

Some of the skilled workers were dispersed to the Zhaoqing and Funing shipyards. From then on, the two shipyards in Changsha and Binhai mainly built large warships and large transport ships. The construction of medium and low-tonnage warships was handed over to the two shipyards in Zhaoqing and Funing.

.”

"This is professionalism, okay, I agree."

"Thank you, Brother Emperor. Now I will talk about the second step, building ships. According to Brother Chen's estimation, after the four major shipyards start to operate effectively, as long as the raw materials and funds are supplied, these four shipyards can complete 80,000 tons of ships every year.

The construction of ships.”

"Eighty thousand tons?" Zhu Youdong did a quick calculation in his mind and said: "That is an annual investment of about 42.4 million silver dollars?"

"It's almost the same price. Brother Huang, do you think there's any difficulty?"

"Brother Wei, let me be honest with you. As for the money, you can still get it if you squeeze it. But you also have to think about it. Once the warships are built, the navy's military expenditure will also increase significantly...

Now, I am planning to expand the Ming Dynasty's standing army divisions to fifty. This is a daily cost of 40 million. If there is a war, this cost will be doubled.

The current annual expenditure for the Navy, including the five Marine Divisions, is about 37 million. If the new tonnage is 80,000 tons per year, then, in addition to the annual shipbuilding cost of more than 40 million, the annual military expenditure will

At least another five million."

"Brother Emperor." Zhu Youxiao, who has always admired and admired Zhu Youdong, became tougher this time: "Thanks to the trust of Brother Emperor, I have also served as a supervisor for several years. If Brother Chen is not a bad person,

, my current annual income in Ming Dynasty should not be less than 400 million, right?"

"Last year, due to the cutoff of maritime trade in the South China Sea, there were only 360 million. This year, the war has stopped, and the Americas can provide part of the output, it should be 480 million."

"Then what's wrong with the emperor? The military expenditures for the navy and army together are less than one-third of the imperial court's annual revenue, right?"

"Youxiao, how come you are cheating on Brother Wei? You have said that you have been a prisoner of the country. How come you don't know that our Ming Dynasty has a great business, with a lot of income and a lot of expenses. The imperial court

In the civil service system, their salaries plus administrative expenses will generally consume 25% of the income. Education and medical care will also consume 25%. This means that half is gone. Then there is infrastructure construction, which generally accounts for 25% of the annual investment.

15% to 20% of the imperial court's annual revenue, followed by 30% of the military expenditure. On the surface, it seems that together, the imperial court still has a surplus. But in fact, in the past few years, which year has there been no natural disasters? In the past five or six years,

, in which year is there no war? Military expenditures account for 30% of the imperial court's expenditures, that is a state of peace. Once there is a war, it will be immediately overturned!"

"Brother Imperial, I know that the imperial court has been in difficulty in recent years. But in the next few years, except for the wars in the Americas, haven't the other places basically stopped? I read the newspaper from the day before yesterday, didn't I say that the imperial court

Have you signed an armistice agreement with the Ottomans?"

"Well, it's true. The Ottomans had a good plan and sent 20,000 Sipaxi to coerce the Uzbeks and Turkmens to invade our Xinjiang and Mongolia. Huh, if all these people are annihilated by our Ming army, what will happen to their country?

The conservative forces in the country were greatly weakened. The Turkmen and Uzbeks were unable to threaten Persia under their control. In such a situation, the Grand Vizier would wake up laughing even if he slept. Therefore, after we helped him kill these people

Most of the time, what reason did he have for not signing the armistice agreement?"

"So, Brother Emperor, the court's revenue and expenditure should be back in balance now, right?"

"It's not that easy. In the past, we had India. Although we didn't collect taxes at that time, it was a market of more than 100 million people. But what do we have now? Half of South America? Three or four million people.

?There is such a wide Pacific Ocean? So... Hey, brother Wei also knows that to recapture India, the navy always needs to take the lead. Go on, how do you arrange the 80,000 tons added every year?

"

"Well, what I want to say is that starting from next year, two new battleships will be added every year, which is 30,000 tons. Then four new heavy cruisers will be added every year, which is 20,000 tons. For the rest, some destroyers will be added to supply supplies.

Ships and so on. In this way, in five years, our Ming Dynasty will have ten battleships and thirty heavy cruisers... Only then will we have enough strength to fight against the Western pirates in the Indian Ocean!"

"..." After a long silence, Zhu Youdong nodded: "What you said makes sense. If you want to have new financial resources, you still have to rely on the navy to get them. So, what's your third step?"

"Of course we need to improve the maintenance capabilities of each port. Brother Emperor, our Ming Dynasty must have complete repair shops capable of repairing battleships in Hawaii, Lima, Singapore and other places. Otherwise, if the warship is injured, it will have to be pulled back.

Maintenance from the mainland will delay the fighter plane."

"Okay..." After a longer silence, Zhu Youdong raised his head and said: "Although it is very difficult, I will still find a way to get enough money for you. I hope you will work hard and give me one in five years."
Chapter completed!