In addition, it can be regarded as an opportunity to practice, so that there will be no situation where you have too much ambition and too little skill. You may know how to build an advanced battleship, but you cannot actually do it. After you have some experience, it will be easier to do it again.
Generally speaking, the transformation of the original Fuchuan mainly involves iron-cladding and the installation of a steam engine, which is fairly difficult; however, this and the construction of a new and truly iron-clad battleship are completely different concepts.
Ship type design, seaworthiness, power system, propulsion system, artillery layout, artillery improvement, etc., it was simply impossible to develop it by yourself during the late Ming Dynasty.
However, Emperor Chongzhen had the golden finger of Liu Weichao, so that was a different matter.
In the original history, the world's earliest steam-armored battleship was the British armored ship HMS Warrior. Because it did not participate in any naval battles, it was well preserved.
When the ship uses steam power for propulsion alone, the fastest speed can reach 14 knots. When using steam engines and sails for propulsion at the same time, the speed can reach 17 knots. However, the speed of ordinary sail warships is only 8-9 knots. The speed difference is very obvious.
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Compared with previous battleships, which only had armor plates fixed on the wooden hull, the Warrior's armor was riveted with bolts and nuts. A single armor plate weighed 5 tons and was 5 meters long and 3 meters wide.
Including the 14mm armor of the hull, the total armor weight of the entire ship reaches 1,310 tons. Needless to say, its protective capabilities are the strongest.
Liu Weichao sent all the data about the Warrior armored ship to Emperor Chongzhen, and there were also improvements, such as propellers. In the original history, ship propellers were not slowly invented and improved until the 19th century.
However, Liu Weichao could directly select the propeller design drawings that had been transformed and proved to be excellent in history and sent them to Emperor Chongzhen for work.
No, the propeller he gave to Emperor Chongzhen was made in China and was called Guandao propeller. Its advantage was not only that it increased the speed of the ship, but most importantly, it vibrated. The noise was low, which greatly reduced the impact of vibration.
In terms of artillery, like the model battleship, there is only one layer of artillery instead of using Western multi-layer artillery. However, these artillery are all front-loaded rifled artillery. In the era of Emperor Chongzhen, rifled artillery did not exist.
On the bow deck, there is also a turret equipped with two cannons, the kind that can rotate, which makes up for the shortcomings of the artillery in this era that are all side-firing.
With the addition of so many advanced technologies, one can imagine the amount of manpower, material resources, and time it would take to successfully build the first true iron-clad steam battleship on this plane.
It would be too slow to build these from the beginning!
Only now can we transform the existing Fu Chuan into a steam paddle-wheel battleship for emergency use. Once we have the confidence to build a truly invincible battleship, we can take our time.
At this time, Sun Chuanting was stunned as he listened to Emperor Chongzhen's introduction.
No way, this was beyond his imagination.
So, after he came to his senses, he immediately proposed that he wanted to see the new warship with his own eyes.
Before, he felt that knowing the enemy was not enough, but now, even knowing the enemy was not enough!
Of course, Emperor Chongzhen had no objection to this and allowed him to leave the capital and go to the Tianjin Shipyard.
Sun Chuanting was so impatient that he immediately took the train to Tianjin without even waiting for the next day.
Early the next morning, he rushed to Tianjin.
To be honest, Sun Chuanting was a little dumbfounded!
In his impression, Tianjin is just an acropolis, consisting of Tianjin Wei, Tianjin Left Guard and Tianjin Right Guard.
When the Jianlu plundered the capital, they openly returned to the north from Tianjin. Thousands of Tianjin defenders hid in the city and trembled. Even the Jianlu looked down on Tianjin at all. They were so poor.
It's just a place, and I don't even have the motivation to fight.
But now, what Sun Chuanting could see was a large city with countless buildings.
But this is not correct. As for the city, it has city walls. But this Tianjin has no city walls. The area is large. Although it is not as big as the capital and Nanjing, it is not much different from the Ming Dynasty city.
Seeing Sun Chuanting's shocked look, Fang Zhenghua, the eunuch of the Military War Bureau who accompanied him, smiled and introduced: "Tianjin is now the largest cargo port in the south, with a large number of dock laborers gathering here to make a living, and merchants from all over the world.
Shops were opened here one after another, and their families followed, so the population increased."
After a pause, he continued: "In addition, there are at least more than 10,000 craftsmen in the Tianjin Shipyard. Their income is higher, and they attract businessmen from all over the world. There is also a navy stationed here.
The army is also stationed nearby, and slowly it has grown to this size. If nothing unexpected happens, there will be more and more people here in the future!"
Hearing this, Sun Chuanting was very surprised and asked: "There are more than 10,000 people in the shipyard alone?"
When Fang Zhenghua heard this, he smiled and replied: "This is only what our family knows. Starting from this year, the shipyard will be completely taken over by science and technology uncles. We don't know, but we estimate that now there are only a few more people."
Shao! Fortunately, the artillery and the like used on the warships are from our company, otherwise, they would all be coordinated by the shipyard, and it would probably be even bigger!"
Sun Chuanting became silent after hearing this.
He was a civil servant and read a lot. He had also read that during the founding of the People's Republic of China, shipyards were very prosperous. The Nanjing Shipyard alone covered an area of more than a thousand acres. They were just wooden warships, not like
Such complex warships as described by Emperor Chongzhen.
It seems that even if today's Tianjin Shipyard is not as good as Nanjing Shipyard in its most prosperous period, it will definitely surpass it in the future.
Sure enough, when he arrived at Tianjin Railway Station, he discovered that there was a separate railway track that went to the shipyard. Ordinary people could not ride on it. According to the explanation of his colleague Fang Zhenghua, this was used to transport supplies. Otherwise, it would be impossible to rely on it alone.
In terms of manpower, the distance is too far and it is very inconvenient.
As for Sun Chuanting, it goes without saying that you can take the train here directly to the shipyard.
He discovered that the shipyard was divided into two parts, the inner and outer, which were separated by military guards.
Song Yingxing received the news of Sun Chuanting's arrival, came out to greet him, took him to visit the entire shipyard, and also asked the navy stationed here to give Sun Chuanting a drill.
At this point, Sun Chuanting truly understood what a steam paddle-wheel warship was, how it was different from previous warships, and what the real armored warship that Song Yingxing was currently developing would look like!
If you just explain these new battleships verbally, you may not be able to truly appreciate their power. Only by seeing them with your own eyes can you truly understand them. Even though Sun Chuanting didn't actually understand naval warfare, he could still feel it.
He stayed at the Tianjin Shipyard for two days and got to know all aspects before returning to the capital and immediately went to the palace to see him.
Just after the salute, Sun Chuanting reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I think that the previous plan was extremely inappropriate and we must not wait for the enemy to attack!"
Of course Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to his opinion, so he asked with great interest: "Please tell me and listen to it!"
Sun Chuanting said very seriously: "Although Tianjin has a powerful navy stationed, Tianjin is now a very prosperous place. Not to mention the shipyard alone, nothing will happen. Therefore, Wei Chen thought that we could not let
The Japanese navy bypassed Shanhaiguan and attacked from the sea to avoid accidents and harm to Tianjin."
Emperor Chongzhen introduced to Sun Chuanting that the plan of the Jianlu and Japanese countries was to attack Shanhaiguan at that time, but the main force would be transported by the navy to bypass Shanhaiguan and attack the Gyeonggi area. Their initial plan was also to let Zheng Zhilong attack at Shanhaiguan.
In this crucial battle, he rebelled and stabbed the imperial court.
At this time, after listening to Sun Chuanting's words, Emperor Chongzhen asked with great interest: "How do you think this war will be planned in the future?"
"Take the lead in attacking and defeat them one by one!" Sun Chuanting immediately responded, "Order Wu Sangui's troops to make a big noise to attract the Japanese to continue sending as many troops as possible to Korea. Subsequently, the imperial court sent an expeditionary force to attack the Japanese mainland and attract the Japanese to Korea.
The army returned to the defense and sank the Japanese army at sea, thus minimizing losses."
"Secondly, in order to prevent Jianlu from sending troops to assist the Japanese army in encircling and suppressing Wu Sangui's troops, Shanhaiguan was ordered to threaten Haizhou on the front line, forcing Jianlu to dare not divide his troops."
"Thirdly, as for the Mongolian tribes, we cannot wait for them to make a move. We can have the northern frontier troops take the initiative to attack. If they can destroy a tribe, they can conquer a tribe. If they are not used by the court, they cannot be used by the captives.
Reduce the pressure on northern Xinjiang in the future, and even threaten the rear of the built captives through the Mongolian grasslands!"
"..."
Sun Chuanting was indeed a leader in fighting wars. When facing Emperor Chongzhen, he immediately started talking, explaining in detail the strategic layout of the enemy and ourselves, and emphasizing the important role of the court's initiative.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen did not agree immediately. Because what Sun Chuanting said so far was all considered from a military perspective, and Emperor Chongzhen had to consider everything.
Such a large-scale war, apart from anything else, forming an expeditionary force to conquer Japan is a big deal. The number of soldiers, warships, food, military pay, ordnance, etc., are not small sums. If the entire war is fought, it will be even more
It's not a small amount anymore.
In order to conquer the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really spent all the money from the treasury and levied taxes. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, although the Western Han Dynasty reached a very powerful period, it began to decline from then on.
And Emperor Chongzhen is now determined to be the captain of the ball, so he cannot only focus on the current enemy. The vitality that Ming Dynasty finally recovered cannot be lost in one battle.
Therefore, regarding Sun Chuanting's strategic proposal, he just asked Sun Chuanting to write a specific strategic memorial, and then found a time to initiate a video communication with Liu Weichao.