The first thousand six hundred and twenty-four chapters, one millimeter and one rifling will not wor
With the successful construction of the telegraph line between the palace and the Guards barracks, Sun Xuekun also became a big attraction during this Spring Festival. When attending the Spring Festival state banquet, many senior executives and dignitaries took the initiative to come and chat with him.
Sun Xuekun naturally knew why this happened. It was just that even if he wanted the telegraph company to install the telegraph line for them as soon as possible.
Sun Xuekun also promised one by one, saying that he would install telegraph machines for them as soon as possible after all the equipment was supplied. However, this would only happen as soon as possible, at least half a year later.
Because the several sets of telegraph equipment currently available to telegraph companies are actually experimental equipment taken from the Royal Institute of Technology. As for factory-produced equipment, it is probably best to wait until the middle of this year to get it.
The laboratory at the Royal Institute of Technology is capable of continuing to develop a few sets on a small scale.
But basically there is no need to expect it to be used again. The professors at the Royal Institute of Technology are not working for you. Their time is precious. How can they have time to hand-make a few telegraph machines for you?
The reason why the several sets of laboratory equipment were taken away before was because these equipment were used in the palace. The Royal Institute of Technology knew that this was also a place to highlight its achievements, so it was so generous.
But they only needed this initial result and the emperor could see the actual results of the telegram.
As for large-scale production and line laying, it is none of their business at the Royal Institute of Technology. That is the business of people like Sun Xuekun.
Around the Spring Festival, the empire's top military and political officials were collectively flooded with telegrams. When discussing matters, they would always bring up the telegrams unconsciously.
For example, at the end of the New Year, Li Xuan held a northwest strategy meeting before the imperial army, discussed the current situation in the northwest, and asked the army to strengthen its offensive next year and strive to reach the Caspian Sea as soon as possible.
After the meeting, the relevant content was naturally sent to Tumi Province so that the army generals who were presiding over the war in Central Asia would know that the Holy Emperor was paying attention to the war in Central Asia.
Naturally, the relevant content was sent by train. At this time, some people in the Army lamented that it would be great if a telegraph line was also set up along the Northwest Railway. It would not take so many days to deliver instructions.
It can be delivered on the same day.
And when they said this, they also habitually forgot that in fact, being able to use trains to deliver messages is already a huge improvement. Before the opening of the Northwest Railway, the delivery of messages could only be relayed by horses at the post offices along the route.
Woolen cloth.
In order to deliver a 500-mile express, I don’t know how many horses have to be exhausted.
If the emergency documents are denser, they can completely collapse the system of the stations along the way.
Before the opening of the Northwest Railway, what the Postal Department was most afraid of was the Army's annual competition. Those Army generals were as crazy as they could deliver goods five hundred miles a day and rush them. And the top Army officials in Jinling City were also free.
My balls hurt, even the most serious matter would take five hundred miles to be expedited.
As a result, at this time of year every year, people in the Post Office are in a state of panic, and no one knows how many horses are killed.
Now that we have the railway, it is finally better. At least we don’t need horses to run, and we can make trains.
But people are like this, always hoping for something better to use.
The same goes for the Army.
On the other hand, the Navy is relatively calm. Although this wired telegraph is also a good thing for their Navy, especially when someone proposes that submarine cables can be laid in the future for transoceanic transmission, the Navy will also be able to reap considerable benefits.
But even so, their navy still wants wireless telegraphy.
At the end of last year, they had already awarded a large research and development contract to the Royal Institute of Technology to support the research and development of wireless telegraphy.
But when it will be done is still unknown.
As for the Army, although it has also heard about wireless telegraphy, it does not go to sea. It is also possible to use wired telegraphy on land. At most, it will take a lot of trouble to directly send it to the front line.
At the same time, I saw that the Navy was already doing its best to support wireless telegraphy. I originally wanted to sit back and watch the Navy struggle. When wireless telegraphy was developed, the Army would directly pick the peaches. Wouldn't it be wonderful!
Just like the steam engines of those days!
In fact, the Army did not invest much in the research and development of steam engines at that time. It was the Navy that was doing the research and spending a lot of money.
But after the advent of the steam engine, their army also benefited from it. Railways, coupled with river and coastal transportation, doubled their army's mobility and supply capabilities.
It is said that at an internal meeting of the Army, when discussing whether to follow up on the investment in wireless telegraphy, a certain Army major general proposed to imitate the steam engine project of that year and just wait to pick peaches without investing money. Hao Bainian, Li Chunjing and other big guys scolded him on the spot.
It collapsed!
Very good and promising!
The navy knew about it and had heard about it. Several navy bosses were so angry that they wished they could just pull up the battleship Guangdong and sail to the edge of the Yangtze River to bombard the Army Privy Council.
It is a pity that the current Guangdong is missing two turrets and guns, and only has a bare hull!
Therefore, the Navy was too lazy to pay attention to the army's idiots, and concentrated on the research and development and construction of the Guangdong battleship.
Time is not waiting for me. You must know that the hull of the Guangdong has been completed after three years of construction, but there are no turrets and naval guns.
In addition, after the Guangdong, the hull construction of the 10,000-ton giant ship named Luzon is also progressing relatively quickly, and it is estimated that it will be completed this winter.
But even the Guangdong did not have turrets and naval guns available, let alone the Luzon.
For this reason, the Navy has already received a lot of criticism. In the imperial study room meeting, the Army openly accused the Navy of rushing in, wasting His Majesty's money and food, spending millions to only get one hull, and then said that our Army is so good and has not done anything.
What was a flashy thousand-ton steam tank was transformed into a small but practical fifty-ton steam tank.
Even the cabinet was dissatisfied with the Navy's shipbuilding plan, which was such a waste of money but Mao didn't even get a cent. This was not a small sum.
The two ships, the Guangdong and the Luzon, have already spent a total of more than three million, and it is foreseeable that they will continue to be spent, and in the end I am afraid that even five million will not be enough.
After spending such a huge amount of money, it would be okay if we could see results, but the key point is that we won’t see any results.
Some people have already compared these two ships with the failure of the battleship Hebei back then, saying that the Navy squandered millions of dollars on the battleship Hebei, but in the end not even a hair was recovered. Not only did such lessons not be learned, but it was intensified.
The Guangdong and Luzon numbers were also launched.
A giant ship of 10,000 tons sounds nice, but your navy should take it out for a walk!
Even the Army maliciously said that many of the millions invested by the Navy had gone into the private pockets of some generals in the Navy!
Even many well-informed people in the private sector know this shit about the Navy!
"Go out and listen, what are people saying about us? They say someone in our navy has stolen money!" Dong Quankun, commander of the navy's home fleet, complained to many colleagues in the naval headquarters.
"We can't continue like this. If we continue like this, I'm afraid it will seriously affect the reputation of our navy!" Dong Quankun sighed and said: "The enrollment situation of Haixuetang this year is not optimistic!"
"Among the top ten graduates of the Royal Youth Military Academy, only one chose to apply for our Hai Academy, while the others all went to the Martial Arts Academy. This is simply a shame, a great shame!"
Dong Quankun looked at a group of colleagues with their mouths closed and frowning, and slapped the table with his hands: "Gentlemen, we can't continue like this, otherwise those bastards from the Army will sit on top of our heads and shit!"
After saying that, he turned his head and looked at the new head of the Navy's Ship Administration Department: "Old Wang, you can't build ships for a day or two. Just give us an accurate answer as to when we can see the Guangdong shelling the Privy Council!"
Wang Haiqing, who only took over the Ship Affairs Department of the Naval Command in October last year, pressed his hands: "Senior, don't be angry, come on, take a drink of water and slow down!"
"Don't drink!" Dong Quankun threw his hand away!
Seeing Dong Quankun like this, Wang Haiqing and several others, including Anping, the director of the Naval Military Command Department, and Qiu Liang, the director of the General Staff Department, were also speechless.
Although Dong Quankun's military rank is the same as theirs, that of admiral, he is much more senior than him.
When the Navy was first established in the Tang Dynasty, Dong Quankun joined the navy and was among the first batch of naval officers in the Tang Dynasty. He participated in the Qiongzhou Naval Battle, the Portuguese Haojing Naval Battle, and later fought against the Ming Navy along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang.
After the war of unification, he was already a commodore.
He has always held an important position. After the navy was restructured a few years ago and the three administrative fleets of the Home Fleet, the Pacific Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet were established, he served as the commander of the Home Fleet.
This person is also the oldest active general in the Navy.
This is not to say that the Navy does not have senior officials with more seniority than him. For example, Admiral Bao Yifen is still on active duty, but he has long since ceased to hold actual positions and holds the title of Deputy Envoy of the Naval Command.
As for the current actual naval admirals, even the current Chief of Military Command and Chief of Staff, they are all far behind him in terms of age and qualifications!
These people took turns to dissipate Dong Quankun's anger, but Dong Quankun still talked about the Guangdong and Luzon ships.
In this regard, Wang Haiqing from the Ship Administration Department also considered it for a while before saying: "Now there are no problems with the hull and power parts of these two ships. The hulls are both mature craftsmanship, and as for the steam engines, the problem was solved last year.
, the Guangdong is already equipped with the latest large-scale steam engine, with a total of six thousand horses, and the steam engines required by the Luzon are also ready."
"Even for the turret, today's technical problems have actually been solved. The Guangdong is currently equipped with a set of electric turrets. Shanghai Electric Company is working overtime to develop the follow-up turrets. Although the production speed is not fast, it is still
It can be done.
"The problem now lies in this naval gun!"
"Everyone knows that the 300mm breech-loading gun test at the Shanghai Gun Factory failed last year, and now it has to be pushed back to a new beginning. In this case, there is no hope of keeping up with the service speed of the Guangdong!
"
"There are also voices now saying that a backup plan can be launched to equip a front-loaded rifled gun of the same caliber, or a 200mm breech-loaded gun. We have technical reserves for both types of artillery. If we want to equip them, how much will it cost?
It only takes a month to complete the final design and install it!”
"The actual combat effectiveness is not much worse than that of a breech-loaded cannon!"
But as soon as he said this, Dong Quankun burst out: "Fart, is this a matter of combat effectiveness?"
"This is a matter of reputation for our navy!"
"Back then, our navy promised to His Majesty and all the people that the new ships would be equipped with 300mm breech-loading guns. Now you have replaced them with front-loading guns or 200mm small guns. How do you want the world to see our navy?"
"I don't want the face of more than 100,000 officers and men in our navy!"
"The 300mm breech-loading gun we agreed on needs to be a 300mm breech-loading gun, even one millimeter or one rifling will not work!"