I want to be emperor

In the spring and March of the 18th year of Chengshun, Songjiang Prefecture, an important economic center of the empire and a shipbuilding center.

At the huge Songjiang Naval Shipyard Wharf, many senior generals of the Imperial Navy gathered in it. They will participate in the launching ceremony of the first iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship of the Great Chu Empire.

In addition to the generals of the navy, there are also a few army generals and guard generals who were invited to come to reflect the so-called concerted efforts of the three armies...

It's just that the generals of the army and the guards are just school officers, and they haven't even sent a general. It can be seen that the so-called concerted efforts of the three armies is just empty talk.

Your navy has made a big toy, and you still want people from my army or guards to give you a stinky foot?
Think beautiful!
Being able to send a school officer over there at will is enough to give you enough face for the Navy.

In this regard, the navy is also very happy... In fact, the show has succeeded when inviting the army and guards to participate in the launching ceremony of the Jiangning.

As long as the invitation letter is sent over, the people in the navy will be very happy if they can see the angry faces of those soil turtles in the army or the group of guards who have no eggs, but stinky farts every day. .

For many naval generals, there are not many things that are interesting and satisfying in their long service careers, and seeing the army deflated is definitely the most important one, followed by seeing the guards deflated... …

Therefore, although the representatives of the Army and the Guards on the side looked like they had eaten a fly, a group of high-level navy officials were in a very good mood, and they were all surrounded by a person in civilian clothes.

This civil servant is not an ordinary civil servant. Ordinary civil servants are not qualified to appear on such an important occasion.

This middle-aged civil servant is Shi Yongzhen, the deputy director of the Secretariat of the Imperial Academy and the lecturer of the Imperial Academy.

The Deputy Director of the Secretariat of the Imperial Academy is his real job, the Minister of the Imperial Academy is his official title, and the fourth rank is his grade.

Such an important minister of the empire can't be said, but he is definitely a close minister of the emperor!
Because the Hanlin Academy is the emperor's private secretarial institution, in the huge Imperial Academy, apart from the three people who are the head of the academy, the bachelor of the lecturer, and the bachelor of the attendant, there are four attendants and four attendants.

And the attendant lecturer and attendant attendant are actually the people who accompany the driver on a daily basis and serve as the imperial secretary... For example, when Luo Zhixue went out for inspection, the person on duty carrying bags and pouring tea by his side was one of the eight lecturers. up.

At the same time, the Son of Heaven often asks people from the secretariat to act as angels to go out for inspections, condolences and other activities on his behalf.

Shi Yongzhen's appearance here today is to participate in the launching ceremony of the Jiangning frigate, the first iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship of the Great Chu Empire.

So today, Shi Yongzhen is not a civil servant, but an imperial envoy!

It is precisely because of this that a group of high-level naval officials, including Admiral Zheng Zhilong, the commander of the Beijiang Fleet, surrounded Shi Yongzhen and listened to Shi Yongzhen's speech respectfully.

In fact, it was not listening to Shi Yongzhen, but listening to Shi Yongzhen conveying His Majesty's speech.

"I have to say that the iron-ribbed wood-hull ship was able to spread out so smoothly, and the Jiangning was built and launched so quickly. Your ship administration department, especially the shipbuilding department, has put in a lot of effort. This is very good and needs to be maintained. !”  …

Although Shi Yongzhen is only a lecturer of the Imperial Academy, he is not considered a high-ranking scholar in the Imperial Academy. After all, there are bachelors of lecturers and bachelors of attendants, not to mention a bachelor in charge of the imperial council minister.

But today, he is not just an individual, he also came here on behalf of the emperor.

This is also the reason why he was able to speak in a condescending manner to a group of high-level naval officers.

Because he does not represent himself today, but represents the emperor!

These words are not his words, but His Majesty's oral instructions conveyed on his behalf.

No, even the commander of the Beiyang Fleet nearby, Admiral Zheng Zhilong, seemed to be listening carefully.

Because Shi Yongzhen's next sentence is: "The development of the navy must continue to promote the development of technology, use science and technology to build more advanced warships, and more advanced tactics to control and defend the empire's seas and protect the empire's overseas interests!"

"But we must not forget that no matter how advanced weapons are, they need people to use them. Therefore, while we are developing science and technology and manufacturing advanced weapons, we must not fall into the trap of weaponism."

"No matter when, loyalty and courage are indispensable and the most important!"

"It's a good thing that today's iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship has been produced, but the ship is there, and how to dig out and bring out its combat potential requires the concerted efforts of all the naval lords."

Shi Yongzhen said a lot...but none of these words were his own words...all of them were the words of His Majesty Luo Zhixue, he was just a heartless repeater...when he spoke, he still held a A manuscript, I glance at it from time to time...

Shi Yongzhen was a little relieved when he finished talking in the manuscript!

Immediately afterwards, he put away the proud face that surpassed everyone just now, smiled again and said to Zheng Zhilong and other naval officers: "The above is what Your Majesty said when I met the saint!"

"Your Majesty has great expectations for the navy!"

Seeing that the oral order was read out, Zheng Zhilong and the others also relaxed. From this moment on, they could talk freely, instead of pretending to listen carefully as before...

After everyone chatted, it was almost time for the launching ceremony. Immediately, Zheng Zhilong invited Shi Yongzhen to come forward to watch the ceremony, and he personally presided over the launching ceremony.

Looking at the Jiangning frigate ahead, Shi Yongzhen also sighed, the construction plan of this ship is faster than expected.

Chengshun didn't have relevant plans until 15 years ago, and Chengshun officially started laying the keel in the summer of 16, but it only took more than a year to complete the construction. This progress can be said to have exceeded Shi Yongzhen's expectations.

As the deputy director of the secretariat in charge of naval affairs in the Imperial Academy, Shi Yongzhen also has some understanding of the progress of warship construction and service.

A wooden sail frigate with mature technology and smooth supply of raw materials will take almost a year to build.

This is a wooden frigate with mature technology and smooth supply of raw materials.

However, this Jiangning frigate is the first iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship of the Great Chu Empire. Both technology and raw materials require a lot of problems to be solved. It has been possible to complete the main body construction and launch in more than a year. It falls very fast. …

In this process, it is not necessary to guess that the Navy must have paid a lot of money.

Shi Yongzhen guessed right. The reason why the Jiangning frigate could be built so quickly is inseparable from the strong support of the navy... Except for the internal affairs of the navy such as the internal battleship design, the navy participated in the whole process of the construction of the battleship .

For example, in order to solve the problem of supplying iron ribs, the Navy has repeatedly coordinated with the main suppliers of iron ribs, namely Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company and Daye Heavy Machinery Company, and asked them to solve technical problems and provide materials as soon as possible.

He also took the lead in solving numerous technical problems for Songjiang Naval Shipyard, the shipyard in charge of final assembly.

The technical difficulty of building an iron-ribbed wood-hull ship with a mass of several hundred tons and using a large amount of iron materials as a supporting structure is much more difficult than building a pure wooden ship before, and many technologies need to be overcome one by one.

Not to mention these difficulties, let’s talk about money expenditures. The navy has actually invested no less than 40 yuan for this Jiangning frigate, or to build an iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship... This price is comparable to the current price of a first-class battleship It's almost there.

The latest first-class battleship of the Great Chu Empire, the No. 43 ship of the Guangzhou-class battleship, the Yangzhou, was purchased by the navy at a price of 600 Chu yuan. This thing is a big guy with a standard displacement of more than [-] tons!

The latest third-class battleship in service, the Kunming battleship with a displacement of more than 600 tons, has a navy purchase price of only 26 Chu yuan.

And what about the Jiangning frigate?This thing is actually only more than 500 tons... It is the tonnage of a serious frigate in the navy, and its tactical positioning is only used for miscellaneous tasks.

It is also a frigate. The latest Daye-class frigate Jiayuguan has a displacement of more than 450 tons and a cost of only [-] Chu yuan.

But the Jiangning ship cost 10,000+... This price far exceeds the normal price of a frigate!
The reason why it is so expensive is purely because most of the expenditure is spent on technology research and development, and the real construction cost is not so much.

According to the estimates of the Naval Department, if the subsequent construction of iron-ribbed wood-hull ships is continued, a series of technology research and development costs previously invested will be evened out, and the average cost of iron-rib wood-hull ships will be greatly reduced.

If the research and development cost invested in the premise is not considered, and only the simple construction cost is considered, although the price of mass-building Jiangning-class frigates is higher than that of pure wooden ships, it is not much higher, and the cost of each warship can be reduced to ten. Around Wan Chuyuan.

Regardless of the fact that one hundred million Chu Yuan is tens of thousands more than the 550 of the Daye-class frigate... But you must know that the tonnage of the Jiangning-class frigate is actually larger. This is a frigate with a standard displacement of 450 tons. The latest improvement of the Ye class frigate is only [-] tons.

Tonnage, in the age of sails, is firepower, protection, and cost.

Therefore, the larger the tonnage, the higher the price.

In terms of average cost per ton, the hull cost of an iron-ribbed wooden hull ship is actually not much more than that of a pure wooden warship. …

Except for the cost of the hull, the cost of naval guns and sails are almost the same. After all, they all use the same set of things, so there is no difference.

Considering the difficulties in the supply of ribs for wooden ships...the difficulty of building large-tonnage hulls and other factors, even if the price of iron-ribbed ships is slightly more expensive, the navy is willing to support them vigorously.

After all, wooden boats, sometimes you can’t build them even if you have money... because you don’t have so many qualified ship rib materials in a short time.

The iron ship is simple. The steel company does not have much steel, but it is definitely more than enough for the navy to build ships... The steel industry of the Great Chu Empire, which has a production capacity of [-] tons of wrought iron, has more than enough steel production capacity for the navy!

After all, the warships of the Navy are actually quite small... The frigates are only four to five hundred tons, the cruisers are only eight thousand to one thousand tons, and the main third-class battleships are only about 500 tons. As for the first-class battleships, there are only one digits, and it was only more than [-] tons.Moreover, these warships are not all steel structures, but only part of the load-bearing structure, mainly ship ribs, and beams are made of wrought iron.

A frigate of four or five hundred tons can't use four or five hundred tons of iron...

The supply of raw materials is stable, and the follow-up maintenance is simpler and more convenient. After the subsequent use of steel materials, the ship can be made bigger earlier. This is the root cause of the navy's heavy investment in iron-ribbed wood-hull ships.

A frigate of [-], the navy said it can accept it, and the follow-up will definitely be to build large-scale iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships, not only frigates, but also cruisers and even battleships.

As for the specific ship type and the follow-up design, it depends on a series of test data after the Jiangning frigate was launched.

The launching ceremony of the Jiangning was very smooth. After launching, engineers from Songjiang Naval Shipyard, Hantian Arms Company and many other companies carried out follow-up sail and weapon installation.

It is worth noting that the sails of the Jiangning are equipped with the latest type of gaff sails, and there is no superstructure in traditional warships...

Contemporary warships, including other warships in the Great Chu Empire Navy, will have a poop, but it is lower than the early ships, but there are still...

But on the Jiangning frigate, there is no such thing as a poop... The entire upper deck is straight.

This kind of sail and deck layout is actually based on the advantages of private merchant ships. In the past two years, a series of new merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire have basically all flat decks and upper edge girder sails.

The advantage is to increase the protection performance and avoid casualties caused by the damage of the superstructure during the battle. In addition, the cancellation of the superstructure can also lower the center of gravity, reduce the self-weight, and then be able to deploy more artillery or increase protection.

This new design idea was absorbed by the Ship Administration Department, and then began to be applied to the Jiangning. If the effect is good, it will quickly spread to other ship types.

The Jiangning frigate is a test ship, and the new technology it tests is not only an iron-ribbed wooden shell, but also a straight deck and new sails.

Even naval guns had an entirely new type of naval gun, a large-caliber short-barreled but muzzle-loading smoothbore gun that fired solid shells. …

The navy believes that anyway, the combat distance at sea is only a few hundred meters, and what solid shells need to kill the enemy is kinetic energy... Kinetic energy can not only be obtained by increasing the barrel of the artillery and increasing the ejection speed of the shell, but also by increasing the shell weight to obtain.

This is the Navy's "Low Velocity Reload" program!
The idea is that instead of throwing a small flimsy projectile at the enemy ship at a very fast speed, it is better to throw a large iron lump at the enemy ship at a slower speed...

And here, thanks to the series of mechanical theories proposed by the group of physicists at the Royal Institute of Technology, the people in the Navy took advantage of the opportunity to propose the concept of terminal kinetic energy.

Experts from the Naval Administration Department believe that the key to the power of a solid shell lies in the terminal kinetic energy, that is, the kinetic energy possessed by the shell when it hits the enemy.

In this way of thinking, low-speed heavy flicks are obviously more advantageous than high-speed flicks, and at the same time, the cost is lower!

After all, in the manufacturing process of artillery, the larger the caliber, the higher the cost. At the same time, the longer the barrel, the more difficult it is, and the higher the cost. In this process, the cost of a long barrel is twice as high as that of a large caliber!
Especially the navy's cannons, which are more than [-] times or even [-] times the diameter at every turn... The cannon of this kind of long-barreled artillery is very difficult.

Relatively speaking, if the caliber is simply increased, the cost will be much lower and the weight will be much lighter.

A typical example is a series of short-barreled howitzers, which seem to have a large caliber, but are actually much cheaper... The Army even directly assigns 115mm light howitzers to infantry regiments, and as a matching regiment-level long body What is a tube cannon?It's a 65mm field gun!
If the low-velocity heavy artillery plan is adopted, the navy will be able to equip larger-caliber naval guns within the limited tonnage of ships... and not only artillery that can fire howitzers, but also naval guns that can be used to fire solid shells!

The Jiangning frigate is also the first test ship of this new type of low-speed heavy-bomb artillery.

So you will see that the Jiangning frigate with a standard displacement of 550 tons is actually equipped with several 150mm short-barreled naval guns.

This is a typical small boat carrying a cannon... However, there is no unstable center of gravity, because although this kind of artillery fires a large caliber, the barrel is short...

The high-level navy has high hopes for the Jiangning, and various new technologies are piled up.

Because of the large number of requests, and various technical preparations were made in advance, the Jiangning soon completed the installation and deployment of sails and weapons.

Two months later, Jiangning began its first sea trial!
This time the sea trial mainly tested ordinary sailing data, and the test results were quite good. The new sail was applied to the battleship, which made Jiangning's speed higher than that of traditional frigates.

At the same time, although the hull structure is still the traditional U-shaped structure, but the bow adopts a new wave-cracking bow, coupled with the function of the new sail, its speed is quite good.

The new sail outfit also brought Jiangning better sailing capabilities against the wind, which is very important for a warship, because when a battleship is engaged in a battle, it is necessary to seize the T prefix, but sometimes in order to seize the T prefix head, you need to sail against the wind and so on. …

In the case of frequent maneuvers of warships in battle, if the ability to sail against the wind is excellent, it will bring greater tactical advantages to the warship.

In the routine sailing test of the first sea trial, Jiangning handed over very good test data, and then Jiangning carried out the second test to test a series of relatively demanding items, including the maximum speed, large Sail under load, and test data when facing high sea conditions.

The test was also successfully completed, and the third test that was carried out at the end was mainly based on live ammunition testing, mainly to test some data of short-barreled heavy guns.

And the test results are very good!
The killing effect of this short-barreled heavy gun is very good at medium and short distances. This excellence is also relative to its tonnage and the traditional 115mm cannon.

After all, the large caliber of the tested artillery was 150 mm. A cannon of this caliber is the main gun of a thousand-ton cruiser and the main artillery of a battleship.

Through actual comparative tests, naval gunnery experts discovered a series of very interesting situations.

That is, in long-distance combat, large-caliber cannons are responsible for the main damage, and at medium and short distances, large-caliber short-barreled heavy artillery is obviously more powerful than small-caliber cannons.

Especially in the battle within a hundred meters, the large-caliber shells fired by the short-barreled heavy artillery are much more powerful than the shells fired by small-caliber naval guns.

Then the naval gunnery experts raised a question: "Large-caliber cannons are used for long-distance combat, and short-barreled heavy guns are used for medium and short-distance combat. So what is the point of small and medium-caliber cannons?"

With this question in mind, naval gunnery experts proposed a brand new concept, that is, whether the current combination of robes of different calibers can be matched with long and short artillery of the same caliber.

This is the "unified caliber naval gun plan" proposed by the Gunnery Division of the Navy's Ship Administration Department in June of Chengshun's 18th year.

The researchers of the Gunnery Department of the Ship Administration believe that the artillery that can be equipped with a warship can be equipped with a single-caliber naval gun. These single-caliber artillery can greatly simplify logistics and training, and at the same time bring greater combat effectiveness. .

As for the weight and center of gravity, it can be controlled by the barrel length of the naval gun!

They made an idea, that is, in a first-class battleship with hundreds of artillery, the main artillery is equipped with 170mm naval guns.

The lower deck continues to be equipped with a typical long-barreled 170mm cannon, the 150mm cannon on the middle deck is replaced by a 170mm cannon with a medium barrel length, and the 115mm cannon on the upper deck is replaced by a short-barreled 170mm howitzer .

A large number of 170mm naval guns with uniform caliber and different barrel lengths will make this first-class battleship a real monster of firepower!

Moreover, such a change will not affect the center of gravity of the ship, because the weight of the artillery has not changed... The weight of the short-barreled 170mm artillery will not be heavier than the 115mm cannon...

This proposal from the Gunnery Division of the Navy's Naval Administration Department has aroused huge discussions within the Navy, and even Luo Zhixue has heard about it...but Luo Zhixue is not very interested in it.

They are all front-mounted smoothbore guns, and they are still not the same after changing... Even though the combat effectiveness has improved, there is no qualitative difference, so Luo Zhixue also let the navy to toss.

As for the changes in naval guns that Luo Zhixue really cared about... it wasn't muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, but rifled guns!
The breech-loading rifle is definitely not available now, what Luo Zhixue is counting on is the front-loading rifle... Unfortunately, he has not been able to do so, otherwise he would have pushed the naval gun to be rifled.