Starting from the next day, Liu Hai led the Nanyang Navy to begin rigorous training.
These trainings not only require strict training on the shooting accuracy of each gun, but also require cooperation among the warships to reorganize the formation in case they are disrupted by other enemies.
Liu Hai attaches great importance to this point. In modern naval battles, forming a battle line and conducting artillery attacks is the most important magic weapon for winning.
The current main force of the Nanyang Navy is seven cruisers including the cruiser Jiangsu.
Among them, the only newer cruiser is the Jiangsu, while the Nanchen and Nari are also relatively new cruisers.
The two cruisers Nanchen and Nari were manufactured by the German Vulkan factory. They were completed and launched on December 12, 1883 and January 8, 1884 respectively. Each cost 270,000 taels of silver.
The hull is made of steel, with a displacement of 2,200 tons, a length of 76.96 meters, a width of 10.97 meters, and a draft of 5.49 meters. It is powered by a horizontal reciprocating steam engine, 4 boilers, a main engine power of 2,400 horsepower, and a speed of 15 knots ("Nari" 13 knots).
), carrying 500 tons of coal, 40 tons of fresh water, and a staff of 184 people.
The weapons are: 4 8-inch Armstrong cannons, 4 4.7-inch Armstrong cannons, 2 37mm Hotchkiss 5-barreled machine guns, 4 4-barreled God machine cannons, and 1 Gatling gun.
Although the three cruisers Kaiji, Jingqing, and Huantai were built relatively late, they were built by Fujian Shipyard. Due to technical reasons, these three warships are all made of double wooden hulls with iron ribs and equipped with sails.
Rigging.
However, the firepower is not bad. They are equipped with 2 8.2-inch guns ("Jingqing" and "Huantai" were changed to 3 190mm guns), 7 4.7-inch guns, and 2 14-inch torpedo tubes (the first ship "Kaiji"
"Not equipped with torpedo weapons).
Their displacement is equivalent to that of Nanchen and Nanrui, but due to the hull structure, their defense is very poor and they can no longer keep up with the requirements of modern naval warfare.
The last cruiser, the Baomin, was designed by Fujian Shipbuilding and built by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. It was a smaller version of Nanchen and Nari, with a displacement of less than 1,500 tons.
Compared with other warships made in China, the defense has been greatly improved, but the firepower has dropped to a new level. There are only 2 150mm Krupp cannons, 6 120mm Krupp cannons, and 37mm Hotchkiss 5
It has 4 cannons.
The most important thing is that as a cruiser, its economic speed is only nine knots and its top speed is only 14 knots. It is not as good as the Kaiji and other cruisers that are larger than it.
As for some other gunboats, they are simply not allowed to participate in the decisive battle on the sea.
Now on the surface, it seems that the Nanyang Navy has a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, which is not too small.
After a careful analysis, apart from the armored cruiser Jiangsu, which can take the lead, the only two cruisers that can barely cooperate with it are the Nanchen and Nari cruisers made in Germany.
With this little military strength, if you still want to compete with the Beiyang Navy, that is simply a cannibalistic dream.
You must know that the Beiyang Navy currently has, in addition to two German-customized ironclads, six new cruisers, which are known as the Eight Great Distant Ships.
What's more, there are many self-produced cruisers, and these cruisers are not vegetarian.
Liu Hai also saw the gap between his Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy, as well as other emerging navies in the world.
In order to prevent this gap from widening, the strength of the Nanyang Navy should be increased next, so that the purchase of new warships becomes imminent.
But when Liu Hai thought about it, if he were to purchase warships from a foreign country, once he was blocked, he might end up like the Beiyang Navy that suffered a total annihilation.
Li Hongzhang's principle of running the army was that building is worse than buying. Liu Hai did not want to be controlled by others, so he made up his mind to build a shipyard first and try to build a new type of cruiser.
As for the lack of technology, it is not a problem at all. It would be too wasteful to just leave a think tank as big as a modern country and not use it.
As for the fact that there is no production line, that is even more nonsense. Hyundai's Xia Kingdom is known as the world's factory. If you need anything, go to Hyundai to buy it, and you are afraid that you won't be able to buy it.
After Liu Hai made up his mind, he immediately took action. He handed over the training of the Nanyang Navy to Liu Yu and put him in charge. The entire Nanyao Navy was called training.
To be honest, Liu Hai is really far behind Liu Yu in terms of naval command. Liu Yu is a biochemical man who has been instilled with the consciousness of command and combat through a super brain, and he is also installed with a biochip. The computing power of this biochip
, it is not something that the human brain can compare to.
After Liu Hai made these arrangements, he went to the Mobil Company in the public concession again.
As soon as Matt Grimes saw his God of Wealth arriving, he quickly and enthusiastically connected his bangs to his office.
What followed was a busy meal, including tea and snacks. He completely regarded his bangs as the God of Wealth.
After finishing his work, Matt Grimes asked Liu Hai why he was here, "Mr. Liu, you want my oil, which will arrive in the port soon. Is it because of the oil issue that you came here this time?"
"Yes, and no."
"I don't understand what Mr. Liu means?"
"Besides the oil issue, there is one more thing that I need Mr. Matt's help with."
"Mr. Liu, please tell me what you want as soon as possible. As long as I can do it, I will do my best."
"Mr. Matt is really a happy person. To be honest with Mr. Matt, I need to order a large amount of iron ore now. I wonder if Mr. Matt can help."
Matt Grimes breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Liu Hai's request. He thought Liu Hai was going to make some embarrassing request, but it turned out that he just wanted to buy iron ore.
"It turns out that's just it. Don't worry, Mr. Liu. As long as you tell me the quantity, I can transport it to Shanghai from all over the world."
When Liu Hai heard this, he was satisfied. The strength of Mobil Company should not be underestimated. As long as these capitalists are rich, they can do anything for you.
"The quantity I want is relatively large. I need 1 million tons of iron ore in the first batch, and I will need at least 5 million tons of iron ore every month. If my customers are satisfied, I will increase the purchase volume.
"
Matt Grimes is a little hesitant now. With such a large purchase volume, who is the customer behind these bangs?
Which country's steel industry needs such a large-scale import of iron ore.
Liu Hai looked at the other party's troubled expression and immediately said in disappointment: "If Mr. Matt is not capable, then I will have to go to the British. I seem to have heard that the British have the largest colony in the world and the richest mineral resources.
"
As soon as Matt Grimes heard that Liu Hai was going to find the British, he immediately reacted, I don't care who he wants to sell the iron ore to, as long as he can make money, he will do anything.
If the people at the headquarters knew that he had lost this big deal, they would definitely tie him to a stone and sink him into the Pacific Ocean.
"Mr. Liu, please be patient! I'm just thinking about where to import iron ore for Mr. Liu. And Mr. Liu, the United States is the country with the richest mineral resources in the world. You don't have to worry about not having enough iron ore at all.
"
"I don't know, what's the price?"
Matt Grimes glanced at his bangs awkwardly, and finally hesitantly said a number.
"$10 per ton."
When Liu Hai heard about this price, he immediately exploded. Is there any need for people to live in this world? If this price were followed, Liu Hai would have simply bought iron ore in modern times and sold it in the Qing Dynasty.
When Liu Hai left the current plane, he had already heard that the price of iron ore was in the range of 80 to 100 US dollars.
On the surface, it seems that Liu Hai purchased iron ore from the Qing Dynasty plane and has now made 10 times the profit.
Just think about it, during the Qing Dynasty, the US dollar was linked to gold. After more than 100 years of inflation, the real value of the US dollar has dropped by at least 100 times.
If you buy iron ore at this price, Liu Hai will be bankrupted.
"Absolutely not. I want such a large quantity, and I continue to need iron ore. This is a big deal, and you can't do this."
Matt Grimes didn't want to offend Liu Hai. He thought for a moment and then said: "How about this. Mr. Liu temporarily asks me to send a telegram to the United States to ask specifically how much discount I can give Mr. Liu."
After hearing this, Liu Hai felt that this could only be the case. It seemed that he had to wait for a few days in the Qing Dynasty plane. How could he get the exact price and bring it back to discuss with Zhang Tao in the modern world.
Liu Hai left Mobil Company in despair. It seemed that the first task assigned to him by the country was about to fail, but he couldn't blame himself. The price of iron ore here was really too high.
Matt Grimes moved very quickly, and within a few days, he came to Liu Hai's residence in person.
As soon as Liu Hai saw him coming, he knew that the other party had asked about the price of iron ore, so he hurriedly welcomed Matt Grimes into the living room.
After both parties took their seats, Matt Grimes said straight to the point: "You know some things. Our company does not produce iron ore, but we still have huge business partners in the United States. My headquarters has made arrangements with the business partners.
Contact us. The price they quoted us is six dollars CIF."
After Liu Hai heard this, the other party had already given the final preferential price, which was only six dollars including shipping, which was already very low in this era.
But Liu Hai is still not satisfied. At this price, he seems to have to spend twice as much time with her.
So Liu Hai could only say helplessly: "I'm really sorry, the price is too high, and there is really nothing I can do. It seems that we have failed in this transaction. Let's talk about oil now."
Matt Grimes. When he saw Liu Hai changing the subject, he knew that the other party still couldn't accept the price, but the price was already very cheap. This was because Mobil Corporation lowered the price because Liu Hai had a treasure under his hands.
As for the price, Mobil has actually compensated for the shipping cost.
Matt Grimes remembered the order from the headquarters to him in the telegram, so he could only quickly stop Liu Hai and continue: "If Mr. Liu thinks the price is still high, we can use bartering."