1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2433
The main improvement of the Warrior-class warship compared to the Majestic-class warship is that it has two powerful offensive and defensive weapons, the rotating turret and the iron armor.The two rotating turrets on this ship replaced the old-fashioned warships that deployed a large number of artillery on both sides of the ship. The firepower output seemed to be greatly reduced, but the ordnance department equipped this warship with more powerful weapons. The new type of artillery, coupled with the more convenient operation of the rotating turret, has actually significantly improved the accuracy and strength of naval gun strikes. Even if there are only two front and rear firepower points on board, it is enough to ensure that its combat effectiveness is better than traditional sail warfare. Boat.

In the original history, warships with such a front and rear turret layout actually appeared in Britain in the 19th century. The cruisers "Yangwei" and "Chaoyong" purchased by the Beiyang Navy in the Qing Dynasty were both bow and stern. Each is equipped with a large-caliber artillery layout, and auxiliary guns are also installed on both sides of the middle of the hull.However, the Warrior-class warship is a technical verification ship, and the ordnance department does not have the ability to do it quickly, so the tonnage of this ship is limited, and it is far less mature than the British ironclad ship in terms of power equipment, hull structure, and firepower configuration. The space is still very large.

Even so, for shipyards with inexperienced construction experience, the relatively complex structure of the hull, such as the rotating turret, is still a technical difficulty with a certain threshold.Moreover, considering the existing sea transportation conditions, it is difficult to complete the assembly of the fort in Sanya before shipping it over. Zhoushan Shipyard can only try to assemble a bunch of parts received on the ship by itself.If this difficulty cannot be overcome, then naturally there will be no talk of building a warrior-class warship in Zhoushan.

Zhang Qianxiang bowed and replied: "Before I came to Zhoushan, I actually participated in the preliminary development of the Warrior-class warship, so I know a little about its structure. This should not be a problem for me. If there is any doubt , you can also consult with my father by telegram, it should be all right."

In the end, Zhang Qianxiang didn't talk too much, leaving three points of room for maneuver, so that if there were problems during the construction process, it would be difficult to explain to the superior.

How could Tao Donglai fail to notice the cunning hidden in Zhang Qianxiang's words, but in his opinion, this is harmless. Zhoushan Shipyard has delivered so many warships to the Navy in the past few years, which means that at least the technical foundation is not bad, and The father and son of the Zhang family have all worked for Haihan for many years, and there is no need to question their loyalty.

"Let's work out the construction plan first." Although Tao Donglai didn't let go, he still decided to give Zhoushan Shipyard and Zhang Qianxiang a chance. Arranging for Zhoushan to build another Warrior-class warship is also a good idea.

Hearing the words, Zhang Qianxiang quickly bowed and thanked Tao Donglai for his suggestion. Shi Diwen, who was next to him, was also quite relieved to hear this statement, thinking that this was already a good start.The next problems that need to be solved are basically shipbuilding technology, and in Shi Diwen's opinion, it is much simpler than applying for a construction permit and raising project funds.He believed in Zhang Qianxiang's ability. If a warrior-class warship could be built in a year or two, the strength of the East China Sea Fleet would be further improved.

In any case, it is a good thing to improve Haihan's military strength. As long as the conditions are ripe and the planning is proper, Tao Donglai will definitely not embarrass the Zhoushan authorities.Of course, the most important point is that the Zhoushan authorities are willing to bear the construction and follow-up costs of this warship by themselves. After all, as long as the funds are not considered, the approval process will naturally be much easier.

When leaving the shipyard, Shi Diwen also specifically told Zhang Qianxiang not to reveal Tao Donglai's identity to the outside world, lest the outside world know his itinerary.Zhang Qianxiang didn't dare to be negligent, and responded repeatedly, but he was secretly happy in his heart.He is currently working in Zhoushan, although the salary is really good, but if he wants to go up in the future, he must make some achievements that attract the attention of the high-level. If he can successfully win the opportunity to build a warrior-class warship in Zhoushan , may become another milestone in his career.

It was late after visiting the shipyard, and it was already dinner time to take the carriage back to Shi Diwen's mansion.After dinner, the two of them came to Shi Diwen's study again, ready to read all kinds of news just received today.

These transcribed messages are divided into two stacks and placed on Shi Diwen's desk. On the left are newspapers, telegrams, documents, etc. sent from overseas, and on the right are various local written reports and documents.

"Mr. Tao, you can review this pile of news from other places for me first? I have to deal with these messy things in the local area." Shi Diwen didn't see him either, so he pushed these documents to Tao Donglai before.

Tao Donglai did not refuse. Although he was away on a business trip, he did need to keep abreast of recent major international and domestic events.The various ruling regions of Haihan will use telegrams to announce recent major events in their jurisdictions, and some events that are not so time-sensitive will appear in newspapers in the form of press releases.When Tao Donglai was in Sanya, he had to deal with more information than the pile of documents in front of him every day.

The incident that has attracted the most attention in Haihan recently is naturally the refugee wave caused by the war in Shandong.Haihan is a country that implements the perennial introduction of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty as a national policy. All levels of the country are very concerned about immigration affairs. As soon as the news of Shandong came out this time, all regions with conditions are trying their best to organize materials. and transport capacity, trying to transport immigrants back from Shandong to supplement the local population.

Tao Donglai flipped through it casually, and found that half of the telegrams sent to and from various places were related to this.And more than half of them are local refugee news released by the colonial authorities of Fushan County, Shandong Province.For example, in a telegram released this morning, the Fukuyama civil affairs department announced that there were still more than [-] people in the local refugee camp. Immigration Status There are more than [-] people who left the local area by boat, and most of them were transported to the south to settle down.

The content of another telegram is about all kinds of materials that are urgently needed in Fushan County, such as food, medicine, labor tools, quilts, tents, etc. The telegram clearly states that the immigration ships that can provide these materials to the local area will be prioritized as appropriate. Immigration transshipment.Of course, if you are not conscious enough, you may not be rejected by the local area if you go north with an empty ship to load immigrants, but you may have to wait for other immigration ships that meet the "priority" standard to complete operations before picking up the omission.

The news in the newspaper is relatively plain, and the content is mainly about the events that happened in Hainan Island and the surrounding areas. Of course, a certain amount of space is used to report the transshipment process of Shandong refugees.But the news that the newspaper can get is basically released by the official civil affairs department, and then it is printed as an article, which has no timeliness at all.

Of course, most of these publicly released news came from high-level instructions. For example, regarding the recent operation of transporting a large number of war refugees from Shandong, newspaper articles called it "rescuing thousands of Li people from fire and water." "If Haihan hadn't rescued and resettled these war refugees, tens of thousands of refugees would have died of hunger and cold.But now these refugees are sent to other places for resettlement. All the expenses are borne by Haihan. They will be under the protection of Haihan Army in the future, and they will no longer face the danger of war spreading to their homes. This is simply a living Bodhisattva who saves the suffering up.

Since most of Haihan's citizens are from Ming Dynasty, such an article can easily resonate with the public.After joining the Haihan Kingdom, the living conditions of the vast majority of people have indeed improved significantly compared to before. They must have a positive attitude towards the official immigration policy, and under the guidance of public opinion tools, they will understand these immigration measures as national strength Strong performance.

If Da Ming can’t do something, I, Haihan, will do it. If Da Ming can’t save people, I, Haihan, will rescue them.Which is strong and which is weak can be seen only from the attitudes of the two countries towards war refugees.

Shi Diwen is not as relaxed as Tao Donglai. What he is looking at now is all kinds of local reports and official documents, but he is not finished after reading them. Many contents require his opinions and instructions, so it is very troublesome. .

The main recent local affairs are actually related to immigration.Immigrant ships going south from the north to Taiwan Island and other places will stop at Zhoushan for supplies, and all kinds of materials needed must be organized locally.In addition, with regard to the resettled immigrants in Zhoushan recently, the figures given by Shi Diwen to Tao Donglai were somewhat discounted.

It is certainly not an easy task to settle thousands of refugees in a small place like the Zhoushan Islands in the short term.Fortunately, the financial situation of the Zhoushan authorities is good. As long as they are willing to spend more money, whether it is supplies or housing, they can still get a relatively proper solution.

Of course, Shi Diwen does not need to personally direct the specific resettlement work, but he must grasp the relevant progress, how many people have been resettled, what materials are still urgently needed, and whether each township still has remaining resettlement capacity. to make the next decision.Therefore, in the face of the boring figures listed in these official documents, he had to digest them slowly to ensure that the information he had had would not be greatly deviated.

After two cups of tea, Shi Diwen finally finished processing the official documents at hand, and he could talk to Tao Donglai about the results of today's visit.

"The current trade environment in Zhoushan is not easy to come by, and it is also a very important window for foreign trade for our country, so the Executive Committee hopes that the environment here can be kept as stable as possible, just like the Pearl River Basin in these years. But I This time I came here, I feel that your thoughts seem to have changed recently, I hope this will not affect the local trade environment." Tao Donglai trusted Shi Diwen, so he did not beat around the bush, but directly explained his thoughts.

The "change" Tao Donglai mentioned naturally means that Shi Diwen is trying every means to organize joint military exercises, and hopes to build more advanced warrior-class warships in Zhoushan.Tao Donglai knew very well that the cost of these measures was not small, and Shi Diwen was willing to use Zhoushan's local finances to bear these expenses, which is enough to show that he has some ideas and plans for military expansion.

Of course, Shi Diwen also voluntarily mentioned before that he hopes to make some necessary preparations for taking over the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in the future, and use as strong force as possible to deter the local government of Ming Dynasty into submission, so as to avoid the huge losses caused by large-scale wars at the local level .

However, whether such an approach will affect the current stable situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Shi Diwen seems to lack a corresponding judgment, and this is what Tao Donglai is worried about.

"I can't say that there is no risk 100%, but I still insist that compared with the benefits we can get in the future, the risks we are taking now are worth it." Shi Diwen explained: "We have indeed gained through trade. There are many benefits, but if we want to control the market and make the situation develop in a direction that is beneficial to our country, then I think force and deterrence is still necessary. We must first control the situation in reality, and then we can get what we want on the negotiating table in the future The outcome of the fight is up to us to decide whether to fight or not, and we can’t leave too much room for choice for Da Ming. You may think that my current thinking is a bit radical, but this is also my true thinking all the time.”

"It's indeed a bit radical, but I personally like it." Tao Donglai didn't mean to object to Shi Diwen, but he still wanted to let the other party understand the current problem: "However, these ideas and plans of yours may not be obtained. The approval of the executive committee. You must know that the executive committee attaches great importance to the trade role of Zhoushan area. After all, the trade volume here has accounted for [-]% of my country's foreign trade. No one wants the trade environment here to fluctuate. And These ideas of yours may have a negative impact and even affect the relationship between the two countries."

"But the task you want to complete this time going north may also affect the relationship between the two countries." Shi Diwen said a little unconvinced: "This is also the decision of the executive committee, right? This is a double standard!"

Tao Donglai was not angry because of his accusations, and explained to him patiently: "The situation in the north has a greater impact on our country, so we have to deal with the affairs in the north before it is Zhoushan's turn. If the situation in the north really affects Regarding the relationship between our country and Ming Dynasty, then your actions in Zhoushan are just pushing the boat along the way, and there will be no problem. But you can’t make the first move here, because it may make Daming misunderstand our country’s attitude towards the situation in the north.”

Shi Diwen thought for a moment in silence, and then said again: "Mr. Tao, you mean to let me wait and see for a while, and wait for the conclusion of the northern affairs, and then see if I can adopt the proposal I proposed in Zhoushan. These measures?"

Tao Donglai nodded slightly and said, "Exactly. If the order is wrong, the result may become very bad. Be patient and don't act too hastily."

(End of this chapter)