The Datang Daily also reported that, with the exception of the Jiangnan, the Datang Navy had initially completed the steamization improvement work, and more than half of its capital ships had been successively modified with steam engines.
The current Datang Navy is fully capable of forming a huge steam fleet for expeditions. At the same time, this huge fleet is not affected by monsoons, wind directions, etc., and can move freely in any sea area around the world and at any time!
Such a huge steam fleet is enough to crush any enemy sea power that dares to resist!
In fact, this time Datang Navy also boasted a little in publicity!
Although the Datang Navy has carried out a large-scale steam engine modification project, in fact, so far, it has not completed more than 50% of the workload. On the one hand, the Datang Navy has too many ships.
The production of military shipboard steam engines is limited, and the output is only so much a year. It is impossible to complete the modification in just two or three years.
Even if we take a step back and say that there is no problem with the production capacity of shipboard steam engines, the Navy does not have to worry about combat readiness duties and other tasks, nor does it need to consider the number of slipways, but the Navy does not have so much funds for a short while!
How can I change it if I don’t have money?
These days' ship-borne high-power steam engines are very expensive, right?
The power system equipped on the Jiangnan uses four coal-fired boilers, twin three-bar steam engines, and twin propellers for propulsion. The total output power reaches 700 horsepower. This power output is higher than the original design target of 600 horsepower.
It's a hundred horses bigger.
However, although the total power has increased, the Navy is still very dissatisfied because their initial design plan was to use multiple coal-fired boilers, a single steam engine, and a single propeller propulsion plan, and the output power was to reach 600 horsepower.
.
It is a pity that so far, although the Royal Institute of Technology has completed the research and development of four-cylinder steam engines, and the technology of three-cylinder steam engines is very mature, the success of research and development does not mean that it can be produced, and it can be produced.
How many three-cylinder engines can be built is also a question.
At present, among the four major domestic steam engine manufacturers, only the Navy Steam Engine Factory can mass-produce high-power three-cylinder steam units. It has the largest volume and weight, and is also the largest single-machine product, with a single-machine power of 350 horsepower.
As for the other three major manufacturers, their three-cylinder steam engines are not very efficient, and the single-machine power is less than 300 horsepower.
However, the Naval Steam Engine Factory also spent a lot of money and commissioned a number of domestic machinery and equipment manufacturers to design and build various large-tonnage production equipment for them to produce all kinds of huge parts and components.
Such production equipment did not exist before. If you wanted to build it, you would have to start from scratch, which would cost a lot of money.
After these production equipment for naval steam engines are developed, it is estimated that larger three-cylinder steam engines will be produced. Conservative estimates suggest that the power of a single engine can soar from the current more than 300 horses to more than 1,000 horses.
What currently restricts the development of Datang's ship-based steam engines is not the theoretical technology of steam engines. These theoretical technologies have long been defeated by the Royal Institute of Technology. What currently restricts the development of ship-based steam engines is mainly production equipment.
If the production equipment is not good enough, the steam engine produced is not large enough, so the power will naturally not be as high.
After all, if you want to increase the power of a steam engine, the simplest way to eliminate steam is to increase the steam pressure or volume.
Increasing the steam pressure is more difficult, but simply increasing the volume is much simpler.
The Jiangnan uses the latest shipboard steam unit from the Naval Steam Engine Factory, with a total output of 700 horsepower. This power output is enough to allow the Jiangnan to sail without relying on sails.
This will give you a huge tactical advantage in combat.
But what outsiders don't know is that the Jiangnan's coal consumption is also huge, and because the steam unit it carries is huge, and the hull uses a lot of steel, and the sail system and naval guns have to be retained, this allows the Jiangnan to
There is not much tonnage to carry coal.
The coal it carries can only sustain the Jiangnan's voyage for more than a thousand kilometers at most.
More than a thousand kilometers is a very low value for a capital ship engaged in ocean warfare. This means that if it purely uses sails, the Jiangnan will not be able to maintain continuous combat for too long.
Of course, today's steam ships in the Tang Empire, except for a few ships that are powered by pure steam engines, most of the other steam ships retain sails.
During daily navigation, sails are still the mainstay, and steam power is only used to assist navigation, mainly when entering and leaving ports.
Only when a battle breaks out, the steam engine will be the main power, allowing the battleship to achieve a higher speed regardless of the wind direction!
Pure steam power has poor endurance, which is a problem with the current steam battleships of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, most of the steam warships that have been refitted by the Tang Navy are actually only equipped with two-cylinder steam engines, and the power of a single engine generally does not exceed 200 horsepower.
Only a very small number of them were equipped with three-cylinder steam engines, and including the Jiangnan, there were only about a dozen of them.
This is because in recent years, the four major steam engine manufacturers in the empire have been able to mass-produce only two-cylinder steam engines. The naval steam engine factory only completed the mass production of three-cylinder steam engines last year, and other manufacturers do not yet have this capability.
Those early steam engines had smaller power, poor endurance, and many faults and various problems.
It is sufficient to use it as an auxiliary power during wartime, but if you want to use it as the main power, don't expect it.
However, the Navy will naturally not speak out publicly about many technical details to make the public worry. It just needs to be nice and what people are willing to hear. Some technical details can only be known internally within the Navy, and there is no need to disclose them to the public.
So what people see is that the Tang Dynasty Navy has a huge steam fleet, and it can fight for the empire at any time in all major territories!
At the same time, the Army was not to be outdone. It also stated that the Army's millions of troops would serve His Majesty at any time. Malacca is a tiny place. If the Army randomly sends a division, it can be captured in three to five days. On the first day
Preparation, fire test on the second day, general attack on the third day, closing on the fourth day, and ending all battles on the fifth day. This is the Malacca combat plan promoted by the Army to the outside world!
Well, the Army is also bragging. If it randomly sends a division, it can take Malacca in five days. It is too underestimated by the Portuguese.
If the Army sends a main infantry division over, it is naturally possible to capture Malacca, but it will definitely take more than five days. The setting up of artillery positions and material preparation alone are estimated to take more than five days.
You know, the Portuguese are not fools. They have known the danger of Malacca for a long time. For more than ten years, they have spent a lot of effort on the defense of Malacca in order to prevent the Tang Empire from attacking Malacca.
They forcibly recruited local indigenous people for many years to build cities and forts in Malacca. In particular, they learned the bastion defense system of the Tang Empire and built Malacca into a huge bastion.
If Malacca was just an ordinary colonial port more than ten years ago, then now, Malacca is a typical military fortress!
The Portuguese stationed more than 3,000 native troops in Malacca all year round, in addition to more than 5,000 indigenous troops.
It is worth noting that most of these indigenous troops came from various Portuguese colonies such as India or North Africa. They were recruited and trained by the Portuguese and then equipped with guns and other weapons. Their combat effectiveness cannot be judged by ordinary indigenous troops.
of.
In addition to eight thousand ground troops, the Portuguese also stationed a large-scale fleet in Malacca, with several battleships over a thousand tons and even more smaller battleships.
In a real fight, although it was impossible for the Portuguese to hold Malacca in the face of the almost overwhelming military superiority of the Tang Empire, no matter what, they would not be unable to hold it for five days.
However, by belittling the enemy and promoting oneself, it is helpful for the people to build confidence in the military.
When people think that the Portuguese military power is just scum and vulnerable to the imperial military, they will not have any worries.
While the final publicity campaign was in progress, the Empire's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also completed the tasks entrusted to them by the Holy Emperor!
When the Malacca shelling incident first broke out, they immediately submitted a protest to the Portuguese and asked the Portuguese to hand over the murderer who caused the trouble to the Tang Empire. At the same time, in order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again in the future, they requested
The Portuguese evacuated all military forces in Malacca, destroyed the forts, and demolished the bastion walls!
At the same time, the Portuguese were required to compensate the Empire for the losses caused by the Malacca bombardment. The specific amount was 10 million yuan, part of which was to compensate for the cost of ships and goods, part of which was military expenses incurred by the Tang Navy for rescue activities, and part of which was personnel pensions.
The expenses also include the indirect expenses incurred by the Tang Empire due to this matter.
In short, they used various names to collect the compensation amount of 10 million yuan!
Finally, the King of Spain was asked to apologize to the Tang Empire in the form of a formal diplomatic document, and to send the Crown Prince of Spain to Jinling City in person with the letter of apology, where he would kneel before the Emperor of Tang Dynasty and present the letter of apology.
In order to prevent similar incidents from happening again, the crown prince of Spain will be held hostage in Jinling City until the current king of Spain dies and returns to the country to inherit the throne. The crown prince will also be sent to the Tang Empire to be held hostage.
To put it simply, there are four items: compensation, withdrawal from Malacca, an apology from the King of Spain, and a pledge by the Spanish Crown Prince to Jinling.