Emperor Su He followed the current and adjudicated the dispute between the army and the navy.
From the look in the eyes of the military generals to the civilian officials, he knew that the conflict had shifted.
The dispute between the army and the navy is an internal conflict within the military.
Once they realize that they are likely to be tricked by civil servants, they will put aside their internal conflicts and deal with the outside world in unison.
The military generals of the Great Hua Empire, unlike other dynasties, could serve as the leader of an army even if they were illiterate.
In the Great China Empire, if you want to command an army, in addition to having extremely high military management capabilities, you also need cultural literacy.
These generals are all familiar with what happened in history.
We know that once the imperial court reaches an era of peace, the civilian officials will definitely suppress the military and seize power from the military.
Emperor Su He was also happy to see irreconcilable conflicts between the military and civilian officials.
As the founding monarch, he had unparalleled prestige, and neither the military nor the civil servants dared to disobey his ideas.
His descendants did not have such prestige. They had to use imperial power and various systems to control the civil servants and the army.
Emperor Su He announced another important matter before dissolving the imperial meeting.
The court officials and the prince will go to Qinhuangdao Military Port in seven days to participate in the commissioning ceremony of the Great China Empire's first battleship.
When the admirals heard the news, they beamed with joy.
The navy will use this country-defending ship to shock everyone in the empire.
The army general didn't want to go, but he had to go.
The civil servants were just a little curious. They also wanted to see what kind of warship it was. The construction cost of a warship was as high as millions of taels of silver coins.
…………………………
4344 (1647 AD), September 5th.
In the Forbidden City Palace, the eldest prince Su Shu went to his mother's Kunning Palace to pay her respects.
Su Shu was wearing a loose dress. After years of education, his childishness had faded from his face.
He came to the Queen Wang Wenjun, knelt down and said, "My son, please pay my respects to the Queen Mother."
"Shu'er, please wake up quickly." Wang Wenjun said happily.
As his son grew up, he left Kunning Palace and lived independently.
Wang Wenjun has very limited time to see his son every day.
After Su Shu sat down, he said: "Mother, my son will go to Qinhuangdao Military Port with his father tomorrow to participate in the commissioning of the empire's first battleship.
To participate in this matter, what can I do?"
Su Shu would not tell his teachers or attendants what was on his mind.
As a prince who wants to compete for the crown prince's position, if he doesn't speak his mind well, he will be out of the game a long time ago.
The only person he could trust unconditionally and give him advice was his mother-in-law Wang Wenjun.
The queen mother's position as queen has always been as stable as Mount Tai, which shows her superb skills.
The Great China Empire did not have the Confucian ethical code to maintain.
Queen Wang Wenjun immediately dismissed the maids from Kunning Palace and arranged for her confidants to stand at the window.
She pushed the screen to cover the table where she sat.
There is a copper brazier on the table, as well as two pens and a stack of paper.
Queen Wang Wenjun took the pen and paper and wrote words on the paper.
[Shu'er has the support of civil servants behind him, and the second prince Su Lei has the support of the army behind him.
This is all the maternal support behind the prince.
The most important situation for Shu'er now is to obtain the support of the military.
The modern imperial navy has a strong position, and it would be best to have the support of the navy.
Even if we cannot win overt support from the military, we must try our best to win over the military’s objection to Shu’er becoming the crown prince.】
After Queen Wang Wenjun finished writing, she handed it to her son Su Shu.
After Su Shu read the contents on the paper, he immediately threw himself into the brazier.
Partition walls have ears, especially the emergence of machines such as phonographs, which made everyone realize that sound is very unsafe.
It is indeed very troublesome to communicate through writing, but it is the most confidential way.
Su Shu read the words written by his mother and analyzed the pros and cons in simple words.
His weakest point now is that he has no military support behind him.
Those shrewd generals in the military will not place bets until things are clear.
Su Shu wrote down his questions on paper.
【What should mothers and sons do? 】
Queen Wang Wenjun responded: [Shu'er, this is a good opportunity.
The best support you can get from the military is that you have military status.
If you offer to join the army, your father will never refuse.
Shu'er joined the army, and the queen mother was afraid that some forces would stir up trouble in the dark and involve you in several losing battles, which would damage your prestige.
But if you join the battleship, you won't have such worries.
Relying solely on strength, a battleship will never lose at sea.
Battleships are the face of the navy, and the navy will never let battleships lose. Any naval battle it participates in will definitely win.]
Su Shu was extremely excited. This strategy by Queen Mother Wang Wenjun completely solved the problem he was facing now.
【Mother, my son and I understand.
Tomorrow I will try my best to become a naval officer on a battleship.】
Su Shu clenched his fists, he finally found a way to break the situation.
He has been in the Navy for several years, and after gaining a military background, everything will be easier to do after that.
…………………………
Early morning on September 6th.
Emperor Su He brought the prince, civil and military officials and representatives from all walks of life.
They boarded the train and headed to the Qinhuangdao Shipyard, one of the Navy's largest shipyards in the northern empire.
The first battleship verification ship was built at Qinhuangdao Shipyard.
The verification ship was launched a few years ago and has gone through a long period of research and development of power system and weapon system.
The pinnacle masterpiece of industry in this era was finally produced by the Great China Empire.
Emperor Su He was very excited along the way. He talked with his ministers about the benefits that the powerful imperial navy would bring to the empire.
After more than ten speed improvements, the speed of steam trains now far exceeds that of horse-drawn carriages.
Apart from the noise, the riding experience in a train carriage far exceeds that of a horse-drawn carriage.
The speeding train drove directly into the Qinhuangdao Shipyard.
Qin Shanshui, the commander of the Qilin Guard, was responsible for security issues. He immediately led the Qilin Guard soldiers off the train and guarded every direction.
Emperor Su He saw that it was already dark, and everyone was already dizzy from taking the train for a long time, and some of them were unable to sleep.
He waved his hand and ordered: "Let's all disperse! Go to the hotel in the shipyard to stay."
Civil and military officials and representatives from all walks of life immediately showed relaxed expressions on their faces after hearing Emperor Su He's instructions.
They found a place to stay and prepared to have a solid sleep after eating.
Early the next morning, it was September 9th, the day when the battleships entered the queue.
Cabinet minister Qian Mingyi accompanied Emperor Su He and said with emotion: "September 9 is the day when His Majesty ascends the throne, and everyone celebrates this day.
Today, there is another happy event, the empire's first ironclad battleship has been commissioned.
This means that the world's naval history has opened a new page."
Governor Feng Sanqiu stood nearby and looked at Qian Mingyi with squinting eyes.
This sentence was obviously meant for him to say. The civil servant was so good at speaking that he took away all the words that belonged to him.
Feng Sanqiu said honestly: "This is a congratulatory gift brought by the entire navy to His Majesty.
The ironclad battleship was chosen to be commissioned on this day just to celebrate this happy day."
Emperor Su He smiled and talked about this matter with everyone.
The addition of the battleship was indeed a gift from the navy, but he was very happy.
The addition of battleships is of extraordinary significance to the Great China Empire.
This marks that the Imperial Navy of Dahua is at least several decades ahead of its enemy in technology.
Before other countries had armored battleships, the Imperial Navy of Great China was the overlord of the world.
The Imperial Navy of Great China can protect the people of the empire and earn profits anywhere in the world.
The group of them walked to the port of the shipyard and saw a huge warship with a silver-white metallic light in the distance, moored at the port.
The designer and chief engineer of the ironclad battleship, Weihai Hou Liu Guangsheng, led shipyard representatives to greet him.
They bowed collectively to welcome the arrival of Emperor Su He.
Emperor Su He said with a smile: "Pingshen, Mr. Liu Hou, please introduce the situation of the battleship to me and all my dear friends."
Liu Guangsheng walked to Emperor Su He and looked excitedly at the huge warship in front of him.
The armored battleship is the pinnacle masterpiece of his life.
Liu Guangsheng believed that if he could build an armored battleship, it would be enough to leave his name in Qing history.
"Your Majesty, this is the top-of-the-line warship we have spent nearly a thousand tons of steel to build.
The battleship has a displacement of 5,000 tons and is 96 meters long from bow to stern.
On both sides of the warship, three triple 350 mm caliber artillery pieces are installed.
There is a 300 mm caliber gun at the bow and stern of the ship.
All artillery on the warships have been prepared for the Empire's latest artillery aiming system.
Artillery can use the artillery aiming system to ensure that artillery shells still have a high hit rate ten kilometers away."
Emperor Su He listened to Liu Guangsheng's introduction to the basic situation of the battleship.
He didn't know much about battleships, but just looking at the paper data, battleships were already very powerful.
Grand Governor Feng Sanqiu reminded: "Your Majesty, the commissioning ceremony of the battleship is about to begin.
Your Majesty has not yet named this battleship."
Emperor Su He had already prepared for the name of the first armored battleship.
The naming rules for ironclad ships are named after the mountains and rivers of the empire.
"The first battleship was named Taishan.
You will be at the top of the mountain, and you will have a panoramic view of the mountains and small mountains."
When Liu Guangsheng heard the name of the Taishan ship, he shouted loudly: "The auspicious time has come, and the commissioning ceremony of the Taishan ship has officially begun."
Only when everyone got close to the Taishan Ship and watched such a huge warship up close could they experience its huge sense of oppression.
Liu Guangsheng represented the shipyard as the builder, and Feng Sanqiu represented the navy as the receiver.
The two parties carried out the handover work, and the naval officers boarded the Taishan ship, took over the entire warship, and sounded the whistle.
The battleship line-up ceremony was completed, and the captain of the Taishan ship, Li Pinglang, officially made great achievements in Europe.
As the naval general who best understands ironclad tactics, he is credited with annihilating hundreds of enemy ships.
Li Pinglang competed all the way, leaving behind those with strong backgrounds, and became the final winner.
Emperor Su He's smile never stopped.
"My dear friends, let's board the Taishan ship together to see the empire's most important industrial crystallization, the navy's weapon of national sovereignty."
Everyone walked through the gangway and came to the deck of the Taishan ship.
Ironclad ships are a new thing, and the Navy has just accepted them not long ago.
Others have only heard of ironclads in newspapers; they have never seen an ironclad.
He could see the steel deck and the huge artillery on both sides of the Taishan ship. Everyone was shocked.
"The deck is made of steel. No wonder a warship is so expensive. It's just that the cost of so much steel is not low."
"This kind of cannon is so scary. It's the first time I've seen a cannon with such a large diameter.
Just look at the cannonballs. This cannonball is bigger than me, and it’s very scary to look at.”
"Just looking at the battleship's thick chimney, you can tell that the battleship's steam engine must be very powerful.
To be able to drive such a heavy warship, steam engine technology is the most precious technology."
Emperor Su He was touring on the deck of the Taishan, and he was very satisfied.
Just look at the nine artillery pieces on both sides of the Taishan. They are three triple artillery pieces.
Triple artillery, which means that only one artillery sight is needed for three artillery guns.
Even the armored cruiser couldn't withstand the salvo fire of the three cannons.
Emperor Su He looked at the thick armor of the battleship. It was also thicker than the thin-skinned armor of the cruiser.
The original intention of building battleships was to deal with the ironclad ships that other countries might develop, so that the Imperial Navy of Great China could maintain its leading position.
Emperor Su He knew that future battleships would only need to continue to iterate, expand the tonnage of warships, and use more advanced artillery.
Before the advent of airplanes and aircraft carriers, battleships would rule the entire ocean.
The Great China Empire would be at least hundreds of years ahead in developing battleships.
Emperor Su He called Feng Sanqiu and said: "Only when the Taishan ship is in motion can it show its formidable power.
Let the Taishan ship go to the shooting range and show its strength."
When Feng Sanqiu heard Emperor Su He's instructions, he immediately beamed with joy.
He had long wanted those civil servants to see the power of battleships.
Let these people take a look at whether the cost of a warship worth millions is worth it.
The boiler of the Taishan ship was opened, and the completely crushed coal was blown into the boiler through the blower.
Pulverized coal is fully burned in the air, generating huge heat, allowing the boiler to produce a large amount of steam.
People on the deck watched raging black smoke rising from the Taishan ship's boiler.
They have all been informed that the Taishan ship is about to head to the shooting range.
They are waiting for the moment when the Taishan ship shows off its power.
Emperor Su He asked Liu Guangsheng: "Now the country has been competing for coal and fuel oil. What kind of fuel is used for the Taishan ship?"
He knew that oil really wanted to wait for its big development. That was when the internal combustion engine appeared. Now, pouring oil directly into the boiler and letting it boil water would be overkill.
Liu Guangsheng explained: "Your Majesty, not only the empire, oil is unevenly distributed around the world, and its extraction is still very troublesome.
Coal is available in most places and is relatively easy to mine.
In the absence of generational differences in fuels such as petroleum, all important warships burned coal.
In this way, it will be much more convenient for warships to replenish fuel in various places.
We have also used many technical means to make coal-burning boilers more efficient."
Emperor Su He nodded and said: "Coal is indeed widely distributed now, so it is a good choice to choose this direction.
But we cannot give up on fuel technology and we must continue to explore it.”
Emperor Su He's intention was very clear, mainly to build coal-fired boilers, while oil-fired boilers should continue to be explored.
Whichever scientific researcher comes up with an internal combustion engine, the Great China Empire will make a lot of money.
Battleships have only one drawback, and that is that they start very slowly.
After a long wait, the Taishan ship finally started, driving slowly on the sea, getting faster and faster, heading towards the shooting range. (End of this chapter)
