ps: Thank you to my classmate, Stewed Cabbage and Radish, for the 2,000 starting point coin reward for your support!
"Otherwise, the purchase of warships from Western powers is the idea of Han officials such as Li Hongzhang, and the Manchu Qing court is not necessarily willing to spend huge sums of money to support the purchase of armies. Therefore, I believe that the idea of purchasing warships led by Han officials such as Li Hongzhang may be able to be supported by the Manchu Qing court.
recognition, but the development of the navy will inevitably be restricted, and it will be difficult to get the full support of the country like the Japanese navy."
The Manchu Qing government's performance in the two Opium Wars not only caused contempt for small Western countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, but also gave rise to ambitions in Japan and North Korea.
In 2016, a natural disaster occurred in North Korea. A large number of North Koreans fled across the Tumen River to Yanji, Hunchun, Dunhua, Helong, Wangqing, Antu and other places. The next year, the North Korean government first asked Northeastern officials to return North Korean refugees. A few months later,
He also changed his tune and claimed that the approximately 40,000 square kilometers of territory occupied by North Korean refugees, including Yanji, belonged to North Korea and demanded that the Qing government return it.
Faced with the ambition shown by North Korea, the Qing government only built a boundary marker on the border and did not impose any punishment on North Korea.
North Korea is a small country with few people. Although it has ambitions to expand its territory, it does not have the strength to match its ambitions. After Japan's overturning war, the country has achieved reunification. At the same time, after ten years of reform and reform, Japan has a certain degree of external expansion strength.
It was precisely after Huang Yurun learned about Japan's development in recent years that he asserted that the Japanese navy was the formidable enemy of the Manchu navy.
"Since Mr. Huang attaches great importance to Japan's navy, how does Mr. Huang think Han's naval strength compares with Japan's after China receives three ironclad ships?"
Before Wang Zhengyi immigrated to South America, he was just an ordinary person with some martial arts skills. It was difficult to distinguish the real strength comparison between the Manchu and Japanese, so he asked another question.
"The tonnage of the domestic navy's main ships is lower than that of the Japanese navy, but in terms of comprehensive combat capabilities, the Han navy and the Japanese navy should be equivalent in strength."
Ten years ago, by ordering two ironclads from the United Kingdom and three ironclads captured from Brazil, the Han Navy had a higher tonnage of main warships than Japan at that time. However, it lost two ironclads in the naval battle with Brazil. The Han Navy's
The number of main ironclads dropped to three, and Japan continued to purchase new ironclads during the Meiji Restoration, gradually surpassing Han in terms of tonnage of main ironclads.
At the end of 2015, Japan customized three new ironclad ships from the United Kingdom. Subsequently, Han State launched its ship purchase plan again and placed an order for the French Mediterranean Shipyard to build two ironclad ships. Although Han State customized two new ironclad ships, they were affected by transportation immigrants.
Due to financial pressure, the Han Navy's capital ship tonnage was still surpassed by Japan.
The conversation between Huang Yurun and Wang Zhengyi ended quickly due to their different opinions. At the coastal port of Xinjing in Han Dynasty, a brand new ironclad ship was sailing out of the dock.
"This ironclad ship is 64 meters long, .5 meters wide, has a draft of 4.5 meters, and has a displacement of 135 tons. It uses four three-stage expansion steam engines to power the boiler. It has dual-shaft propulsion, a power of 2600 horsepower, a range of 15-16 knots, and an endurance of 15-16 knots.
5ooo nautical miles/knot,
The coal bunker normally carries 25o tons of coal, and the maximum coal load is 3oo tons."
A golden-eyed foreigner talked incessantly in front of Li Mingyuan.
"Sir Falmang, I believe in my own vision and your ability, but now is the time when the ironclad ship is leaving the factory. Your introduction to the performance of the ironclad ship will be discussed later."
"Your Highness, believe me, I won't let you down again this time."
Jin Yangren resisted the urge to continue the introduction and promised seriously.
"Well, we can start now." He nodded and ordered.
"Yes, Your Highness." Falman bowed respectfully to Li Mingyuan, then turned around and directed the technical shipwrights on the armored ship to inspect the armored ship.
"The No. 1 boiler is running normally, the No. 2 boiler is running normally, the sealing of the left shipyard is normal, the main gun is turning normally, and the ammunition is loading normally."
The technical boatman loudly reported the performance test results of the ironclad ship one by one, which made Li Mingyuan a little nervous.
The 1860s to the end of the 19th century was a period of exploring the performance of ironclad ships. During this period, many new technologies for building ironclad ships appeared. Only a small number of these technologies were proven to be reasonable technologies in the process of building warships, and the rest were retained.
Most of the technology, along with the failed experimental ships, was either dismembered as scrap or sold to other countries as export warships, and finally eliminated along with the warships with defects.
As a shipyard technician of this era, the Frenchman Darman improved a new type of marine steam engine - a three-stage expansion steam engine, and was lucky enough to be favored by a big investor.
Two months after applying for a patent for the three-stage expansion steam engine, a South American company purchased Dalman's patent at a high price and invited Dalman to use the three-stage expansion steam engine technology to build ironclads in South America.
Out of a fancy for his improved technology, and of course the rewards offered by the other party were attractive enough, Darman used his connections to recruit more than 40 people from several shipyards in France who were willing to follow him to South America to try their luck.
A skilled boatman, he arrived in Han Dynasty on a merchant ship and then started working for Li Mingyuan.
The three-stage expansion steam engine is a relatively mature technology. After obtaining the patent from Darman for sale from his intelligence officer Manali, Li Mingyuan appointed a French company to acquire it from Darman in the name of Xinjing Shipyard of Han Dynasty.
He obtained the ownership of the patent and reached an agreement to hire Damang to build warships in Han Dynasty.
After the Franco-Prussian War in 10 years, in order to end Germany's occupation of French territory, the French government paid an indemnity of 5 billion francs to Germany.
The value of five billion francs is equivalent to more than 700 million francs in silver, which is much higher than the compensation paid by the Qing government to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894.
Although France has a developed financial industry, spending up to 5 billion francs in a short period of time still caused a major blow to the domestic economy. In order to alleviate domestic economic pressure, the French government accelerated its colonial expansion in Asia, Africa and other places after the Franco-Prussian War.
On the one hand, it temporarily relaxed controls on foreign capital and allowed foreign capital to enter France. Han's purchase of three-stage expansion steam engines and the recruitment of some French technical shipwrights were also completed under the background of that time.
"Your Highness, do you think the foreign devils will succeed this time?"
While the performance monitoring of the ironclad ship was in progress, Li Han, who served as the commander of the First Fleet of the Han Navy, asked.
"Dalman has improved four times and should be able to succeed this time."
Li Mingyuan stared at the armored ship and replied.
"The foreign devils have failed four times. If they fail again, this armored ship will be useless.
Your Highness, if this test fails again, do you think we should suspend the shipbuilding plan and directly buy an ironclad ship from the UK?"
The first small ironclad ship built by Han Xinjing Shipyard not only cost more than Britain and France and other countries, but also failed four factory inspections. Therefore, in Li Han's eyes, it is not cost-effective to build a self-built warship, and it is better to buy it directly from Western countries.
Warships are convenient and affordable.
"Purchasing warships from Western countries is a stopgap measure. Only if the country can build warships on its own can national maritime security be guaranteed. Li Han, you are the commander of the First Fleet. Don't just focus on the gains and losses of one or two small ironclads. You must learn to
Consider the long-term development of the navy."
Li Mingyuan used his peripheral vision to look at Dalmang with a trace of sweat on his forehead. He paused for a while and then said, "Dalmang did his best in building the ironclad ship. The main reason for the unqualified performance of the ironclad ship is that the Chinese shipbuilders who built the warship are not skilled.
Once they practice it a few more times, the effect will be much better."
"Your Highness, why is this iron lump so difficult to build? Xinjing Shipyard and Xinghe Shipyard employ hundreds of foreign craftsmen. We also sent more than 200 shipwrights to the German, French, and British shipyards to learn shipbuilding.
Technology, how come we have been busy for so many years and can’t even build a small ironclad ship? I really don’t understand why foreigners can build an ironclad ship as big as a mountain.”
"The technology of building ironclads is not so easy to learn. The foreigners have twenty or thirty years of experience in building ironclads. They now need one or two years to build a medium-sized ironclad. The Han Dynasty has just learned to build ironclads for seven or eight years, and now it can
Building a gunboat of seven to eight hundred tons is considered a good achievement."
Li Mingyuan saw that the ironclad ship's technical inspection was about two-thirds of the way through, and gradually regained his confidence.
He smiled and said, "Ironclad ship technology is developing rapidly. As long as the country continues to increase its support for shipyards, it won't be long before the navy will be able to operate ironclad ships built entirely by domestic shipyards."
"Your Highness taught you a lesson." Li Han replied in a low voice, not daring to complain anymore, and then followed Li Mingyuan attentively to watch the inspection process of the ironclad ship.
"The armor thickness is o.2, the horsepower is 26oo, and the speed is 15 knots. The performance of the ironclad ship meets the standard!"
Half an hour later, the last inspection was completed. Damang ran to Li Mingyuan excitedly and said excitedly, "Your Highness, it's successful! The three-stage expansion steam engine is running well, and all the performances of the ironclad ship are up to standard!"
"Very good, very good!" Li Mingyuan said two sentences in succession.
After feeling happy, he immediately asked Xiang Xiang, "When can the construction of the second small ironclad ship with a displacement of 135 tons start?"
"One month later, the first ironclad ship will be delivered to the Navy for sea trials, and the second ironclad ship of the same class can be built!"
"Your efforts will be generously rewarded. Later I will ask someone to hand over the reward money to you in accordance with the agreement. In the next six months, I hope that you can fulfill the last item of the agreement and arrange the handover of Xinjing Shipyard.
.”
"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will do my job well."
Damang bent down and saluted Li Mingyuan, suppressing his excitement and said.
"Yes, I have full confidence in your character."
Li Mingyuan nodded, looking at the uncontrollable joy on the other party's face, he planned to make his last effort to retain the other party and said, "Would you consider staying in Han for two more years? I will give you better treatment."
"I gained considerable wealth and lived a meaningful life with His Highness. Now the technicians at Xinjing Shipyard have mastered the technology of building small ironclads. They can take my place. And I also want to return to France.
, use the wealth bestowed by His Highness to start a happy life."
"I respect your choice. If you change your mind and want to stay in Han, you can report it to the person in charge of Xinjing Shipyard at any time, and he will report the situation to me."
"Thank you for your highness's kindness. If I need money, I will consider returning to Han to work for your highness again."
