The first thousand five hundred and forty-six chapters of the navy
But even though she was unhappy, she didn't do anything else. After all, it was just a department store. If this was changed to some other big event, Queen Mother Bai would probably go crazy.
It is said that the reason why the Bai family has been doing well in these years is simply because Li Xuan, the nephew, has taken good care of her. If Bai Yunqi and other Bai family members had counted on Queen Mother Bai, they would have starved to death!
Li Xuan's first inspection in Shanghai was the Zhili Textile Bank, because this bank is a representative of private banks, and its overall strength is also the third in the country, second only to the Royal Bank and the Imperial Development Bank. Their headquarters are also located in
Due to the close distance to Shanghai, we first went to the headquarters of Zhili Textile Bank during this inspection.
Then the second stop was the Shanghai Department Store next door. On the one hand, it was close, and on the other hand, Bai Yunqi invited Li Xuan to take a look.
My uncle's face had to be given, not to mention that Li Xuan was also very curious about department stores in this era.
So I just went to have a look.
After visiting the department store, Li Xuan was also amazed by the courage of the Bai family. This entire building is located on Yanjiang Road, the most prosperous and core trade area. The next door is basically the headquarters of major companies, and
The Bai family actually uses it as a department store. The annual rent for this building alone costs hundreds of thousands.
As for ownership, there is no need to ask. It naturally belongs to the Shanghai Terminal Company. All the land on the east and west banks of the Huangpu River, within 20 kilometers from north to south, and within three kilometers along the coast, belongs to the Shanghai Terminal Company.
Moreover, the policy is fixed and cannot be sold, but can only be rented out. Therefore, although there are a large number of company headquarters along Yanjiang Road, those buildings are also extremely luxurious, but in fact, these buildings all belong to the Shanghai Terminal Company.
Shanghai Terminal Company is not only the largest and only port service provider in Shanghai, it is also the largest landlord in Shanghai. Every year, it receives a lot of mercy just for collecting rent!
Entering the department store, Li Xuan wandered from bottom to top, looked carefully, and even pretended to buy a few items. During the whole process, he discovered that the Bai family still had some business talent.
This department store does a good job. It buys all high-end products, which are expensive and have a complete range of products, including all kinds of luxury accessories.
After visiting this department store, Li Xuan took people to visit several other famous companies on Yanjiang Road, but these companies only have their headquarters here, such as Jiangnan Textile Company.
But their production bases are generally in industrial areas, not trade areas.
After shopping in the morning, Li Xuan took a group of people to the shipbuilding base of Jiangnan Shipyard in the afternoon, preparing to see the navy's new generation battleship Malacca and preside over the ship's commissioning ceremony.
This shipbuilding base is located in the North Bank Development Zone. It is the third shipbuilding base of Jiangnan Shipyard in Songjiang Prefecture. The other two are not in Shanghai, but in Jiading County next door.
However, this shipbuilding base in the North Bank Development Zone is the earliest, largest, and most mature shipbuilding base in their Jiangnan Shipyard. It not only builds a large number of civilian ships, but also builds a large number of warships.
Among them is the Navy’s new generation battleship Malacca.
However, when entering the North Shore Shipbuilding Base of Jiangnan Shipyard, before even seeing the Malacca, Li Xuan first saw a disabled ship lying in the dock of a shipyard next door, with only the skeleton left after being dismantled.
of large hulls.
Needless to say, Li Xuan knew that this was the battleship Hebei that broke the navy's heart.
Since the 19th year of Xuanping, the Tang Navy has ushered in the steam era. Today, most of the navy's warships are steam ships, especially the battleships, which are all steam warships.
However, starting from the 19th year of Xuanping, the navy actually did not build too many new capital ships. Eight years later, only eleven ships were built, and one of them was scrapped, and two were half-baked.
There are only eight battle-worthy steel battleships.
And these eight battleships are still the first-generation Jiangnan-class battleships.
As the Tang Empire's first steel battleship designed to be equipped with a steam engine and wrought iron armor from the beginning, it was very sensational at the time, and the use effect was also very good, and the navy was quite satisfied.
Therefore, the Navy first built six basic models in one go, and then built two expanded and improved models with the same basic design but a tonnage of 1,800 tons.
A total of eight Jiangnan-class battleships were built, both basic and improved.
However, although the Navy is relatively satisfied with the Jiangnan-class battleships, the times are developing and technology is advancing. Therefore, in the 22nd year of Xuanping, the Navy had already started construction of a new generation of battleships within the Navy.
After all, the navy's new generation of cruisers at that time had a tonnage of more than a thousand tons. As the main force of the fleet's decisive battle, the Jiangnan-class battleship had a tonnage of only 1,500 tons, which was even lower than the tonnage of many merchant ships.
This made the Navy very dissatisfied.
Therefore, beginning in the 22nd year of Xuanping, the Navy designed a second type of steel battleship, the Hebei-class battleship, a behemoth with a standard displacement of 3,800 tons and using many new technologies.
The ship officially started construction in the 23rd year of Xuanping and was completed last year in the 26th year!
But the fate of this battleship is very sad. Although the Imperial Navy is not too satisfied with the Jiangnan-class battleship, it does not have many complaints. On the contrary, it is quite satisfied. It is just that the times have developed and the Jiangnan-class battleship has gradually fallen behind.
That's all.
However, the navy is full of resentment about this Hebei-class battleship.
Because in order to pursue advancement, they adopted pure steel hulls, pure steam engine power, steam rotating turrets, and many of the most advanced designs of breech-mounted rifled guns for the first time. Even when Li Xuan saw these designs, they were
Very satisfied.
Because of the many characteristics mentioned above, it almost marks that the warships of the Tang Empire have entered the true modern era of steel warships.
For this reason, Li Xuan was very happy back then.
However, the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is skinny.
As a new generation battleship of the Navy, the technology is said to be one era ahead of the Jiangnan class battleship, with a standard displacement of 3,800 tons. The Hebei, which uses a series of new technologies, looks very wonderful.
But the facts have once again proved that taking too big a step will cause trouble!
The pure steel hull caused a huge increase in weight, and there was not much space and weight to accommodate a high-power steam engine. In the end, the ship's speed was only a pitiful seven knots, and the expected ten knots could not be achieved at all.
A lot of sail warships are not as good as that.
As for the steam rotating turret, problems occurred every three days. The steam-powered rotating turret was not easy to use at all. Not only did it have problems every three days, but there were also several steam leakage accidents, one of which caused a serious accident.
suffered heavy casualties.
As for the powerful breech-loading rifled gun that was previously boasted by the people from Jiangnan Weapon Company, the Navy is also full of resentment!
This thing is extremely expensive. Each one costs more than 10,000 yuan. If you equip it with a few more of these cannons, it will be enough to buy a cruiser. In addition, this kind of artillery cannot also be used as old-fashioned cannonballs, so you have to order special new cannonballs.
!
Moreover, the rifling of this thing is like paper. After a few shots, the rifling will be worn away.
But these navies have tolerated it. After all, the breech-mounted rifled gun is the navy's dream. The gun is powerful and accurate. It is expensive, but it is not durable. It doesn't matter if the navy has money, so it is a big deal to spend money.
But it's okay if it's expensive and not durable, but the Navy can't stand it if something goes wrong.
Due to severe design flaws, only one Hebei-class battleship was completed, which is why the subsequent construction plan was hastily stopped.
The fate of the first ship Hebei was also very tragic. The ship was outfitted and completed basic sea trials. After being delivered to the Navy, the Navy conducted three live-fire trainings. Well, there were three live-fire trainings in total, but problems occurred all three times.
.
During the first training, a barrel explosion accident occurred, and dozens of gun crew members in the entire turret were collectively wiped out.
After more than a month of repairs, it went out for sea trials again, and when testing training bombs, a large-scale steam leak occurred in the steam rotating turret, causing more than 20 officers and soldiers to be scalded to death by high-pressure steam.
At that time, the Navy was already very dissatisfied, but warships costing hundreds of thousands had already been built, and the new technology was definitely risky, so the Navy endured it, repaired the steam turret, and went to sea for the third time to conduct live ammunition trials.
test.
The result was good, this time the navy was completely pissed off!
During the training, a 48-pound front-loaded rifled gun on the Hebei exploded. Not only did the chamber explode, but it also caused the ammunition to explode. The violent explosion destroyed the turret and nearby buildings.
The Hebei was blown up and paralyzed!
This incident caused a great shock to the Navy!
After the follow-up investigation and various treatments, it is needless to say how many people were unlucky. Anyway, several naval generals were forced to transfer to the reserves because of this time.
Let’s talk about the Navy’s follow-up treatment of the Hebei. The Navy directly sold the bombed and paralyzed Hebei battleship as scrap metal, and then it was purchased by a ship-breaking company, dismantled and sold as scrap steel. Now it has been dismantled in half, leaving only one
The skeleton was seen by Li Xuan.
The Navy is too lazy to even repair this piece of shit!
Of course, the reason why the Navy just threw it away was because the damage to the Hebei was so serious that the money needed to repair it was enough to build a new one!
The battleship Hebei started construction in the 23rd year of Xuanping, and the hull construction was completed in March of the 25th year. Then many problems were discovered during the outfitting. The outfitting and basic sea trials were completed in March of the 26th year and entered the battleship.
It was put into service. It was decommissioned in September and sold, and dismantling began in October. The official service period was six months, and four months of this service period were spent in the shipyard for repairs!