The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 476 Too Far From Heaven, Too Close To Me
Villa Clara is located in central Cuba and is the agricultural trade center of Cuba, famous for its sugar and tobacco cultivation.

In the courtyards of several mud houses on the outskirts of Santa Clara, the capital of Villa Clara, several black people were sitting there enjoying the cool air.

One of them turned his head to look at the locked door and said, "It's a pity that his fingers were cut off, otherwise we could have sold him to the plantation."

“Chinese people are very valuable now!”

"We can't sell him to the plantation for 10 silver dollars! And a lot of our people died... We have to make up for the losses." Another person snorted.

"Will those people really use 10 silver dollars to redeem him?" the man asked again with some concern. He had no idea how much 10 silver dollars was, he just knew it was a large sum of money.

An astronomical figure.

"We'll find out soon enough!"

"By the way, he said he's American? And he has a boss?"

When they said this, the others all smiled sarcastically, expressing their contempt from the bottom of their hearts.

The Chinese man who was arrested shouted that their boss would definitely take revenge and that they would definitely be in trouble.

But this is Cuba, not America.

Some of them have guns. Would they be afraid of a Chinese boss far away in the United States?

More than an hour later, someone came back quickly and said excitedly, "They agreed!"

“But they said they needed to raise money and would have to wait for a while for the transaction, about half a month.”

When they heard the other party agreed, the black people in the yard jumped up, their faces full of excitement.

This is 10 silver dollars!
With this money, many people in their organization could have food to eat, and they could also buy a batch of guns and bullets from middlemen.

……

"Remember, you have to make them understand one thing. Cuba is far from heaven, but very close to me!" Chen Zhengwei said while sitting in the office, smoking a cigar.

The sun poured in from the side window, shining on the left side of his body.

Half of the body is filled with light, while the other half is in shadow.

"Brother Wei, I will make them understand!" Situ Ye, who was dressed in hunting clothes, said excitedly when he heard Chen Zhengwei's words.

Brother Wei always speaks so majestically.

Chen Zhengwei stood up and picked up his coat: "I'll take you downstairs!"

"Brother Wei, are you going to send me downstairs? I feel a little uneasy, as if I will never come back!" Situ Ye said.

"I want to go to the shipyard!" Chen Zhengwei kicked him.

As soon as the two men went out, others immediately followed and almost surrounded Chen Zhengwei.

When they got downstairs, Chen Zhengwei patted Situ Ye on the shoulder and said, "Be careful!"

"Brother Wei, I know! Cuba is not our place after all."

Chen Zhengwei nodded, got on the carriage and headed to the shipyard.

Situ Ye took his people to Oakland and took a train to Houston from there.

Schultz, Rong Jiasheng and others had set off two days ago to go to Houston to take stock of the situation and also to arrange ships for Situ Ye and others.

"Boss!" Seeing Chen Zhengwei coming, Peter Donahue immediately took him to the office.

Then someone was called in to look for the designer.

When Chen Zhengwei arrived at the office, he saw a number of drawings nailed to the wooden board against the wall. They were the design drawings of an iron steamship.

It lists dimensions and various data, as well as drawings of the various parts of the ship and even a large number of mathematical formulas to calculate the resistance of the water and the force applied when the ship fires.

Chen Zhengwei lost interest after just one look.

Soon, the Donahue brothers and several designers came over.

"Boss, we have designed two new types of battleships!"

"Two?" Chen Zhengwei raised his eyebrows: "Tell me about it."

"Nowadays, the navies of many countries use two to four large-caliber main guns, supplemented by a varying number of small-caliber auxiliary guns."

"Boss, you mentioned this as well. The main guns are more powerful and have a longer range. And because the bow is firing at the enemy, the area affected is smaller. The recoil is also borne by the entire ship from bow to stern, preventing it from capsizing."

"So we designed a small warship with a displacement of only 500 tons and two main guns. Its biggest advantages are flexibility and speed."

The designer took out a stack of drawings and placed them in front of Chen Zhengwei, introducing them.

"Using the latest steam engine, this small warship uses a single-masted sail and steam power, and its maximum speed can reach 27 knots... Although the number of guns is small, using two 152mm main guns, it can also open the steel hull!"

"In my imagination, this type of warship will fight like a wolf pack, relying on speed and flexibility."

"Of course, its weakness is endurance..."

Listening to the designer's introduction, Chen Zhengwei was not very interested at first.

He likes the bigger ones that are intimidating enough.

At least it should have a displacement of more than 1000 tons, right? You know, the displacement of the Warrior is more than 9000 tons.

What can a battleship with a displacement of 500 tons do?
To tickle someone? Even if it has four main guns... the main guns are not big enough.

However, he soon realized a problem. This type of warship, because its speed and flexibility far exceeded that of large and medium-sized warships, could actually be used for another purpose.

Torpedo launcher!
Because of its high speed and high flexibility, it can more easily approach large warships. The torpedo he is currently developing far exceeds the torpedoes of various countries currently used in terms of range, speed, accuracy and power.

Therefore, it can be used as a main tactic for multiple small warships to quickly approach with torpedoes and then fire.

As for this type of ship, due to its low carrying capacity and poor endurance, it is only suitable for coastal combat. However, as long as it moves with the fleet and the transport ship is responsible for fuel supply, this problem can also be solved.

"I'll ask the designer from the weapons factory to come and talk to you in a few days! If your design is adopted, you will get a large dividend!" Chen Zhengwei thought for a while and said.

Recently, the torpedo development at the weapons factory has been quite good.

The range can reach more than 2000 meters, and the steam propulsion system is not difficult. The only problem is to ensure stability through the outer shell and maintain accuracy with a gyroscope, which requires a lot of experiments to obtain sufficient data.

However, torpedoes can be used in combat in the foreseeable future.

It would also be a good idea to design a special torpedo boat.

The designer was in a good mood when he saw his design was recognized.

Then another design was placed in front of Chen Zhengwei, which was the highlight of the day.

A cruiser design with a displacement of 4100 tons.

95 meters long, 14 meters wide, 6.2 meters draft, steam and sail power, two steam systems, twin propellers. The full speed of the ship is 23 knots with sail and steam propulsion combined, and 21 knots with steam power alone. The thickness of the armor belt is 4 inches.

Four 4 mm breech-loading guns are used as the main guns.
8 152mm breech-loading guns serve as secondary guns.

"We have learned a lot from the Warrior, but these things still need to be gradually transformed into experience."

"We have adopted many new designs on this ship, including the shape and the angle of the guns. We can build one ship first, find problems during the construction process, and correct them."

Thanks to the Warrior, they gained a lot of experience from that battleship, so they boldly adopted a new design this time.

"How long will it take?" Chen Zhengwei asked.

"At the fastest, it will take ten months!" said Peter Donahue.

"Okay!" Chen Zhengwei thought about it and nodded.

That's the trouble with the navy; it takes a long time to build a ship.

You can build a cruiser first, and then wait for the weapons designers and shipyard designers to finish discussing, and then design and build two torpedo boats.

Discover problems in the process.

"Also, design a new transport ship! The original transport ship is too slow!" said Chen Zhengwei.

"There are already some clues!" Peter Donahue said immediately.

"That's right! I think you will become the best shipyard and designer in the entire United States! That is, unless there are any big mistakes!" Chen Zhengwei didn't know much about these things and had no intention of learning. He could only listen to what they said.

Instead of asking him to study mathematics, aerodynamics and shipbuilding, he might as well learn swimming.

After looking at the design drawings, Chen Zhengwei was quite satisfied. Then he went to the dock to see the warships where cannons were being installed.

The surface of the Warrior's hull looked as if it was brand new; all the paint had been repainted and the air was filled with the smell of paint.

Especially after the cannons were installed, the ship became full of majesty.

The already huge ship is now even more oppressive.

"Boss, do you want to change the name?" asked Peter Donahue.

"No need!" Chen Zhengwei waved his hand and said he was ready to take action. The world's first battleship, why should the name be changed?

If they were kept out of the loop and didn't know the ship had changed hands, they might have thought it was the British attacking if they had sailed over there.

And he liked the name very much, too.

It's probably the feeling that other people's wives are always better.

Come to think of it, this is really someone else’s wife…

Chen Zhengwei's mind was full of thoughts, and when he thought of this, he suddenly burst into laughter.

After a tour around the shipyard, Chen Zhengwei returned to Chinatown and stayed there for two days before taking Anna on a boat to Los Angeles.

Anna has wanted to go and see it for a long time.

"The weather here is so nice, I love it here!" Anna became excited as soon as she arrived near Los Angeles.

Few people would dislike a place with sunshine all year round.

"If you like it, find a place and build a house! The whole Los Angeles belongs to me, and you can even build a manor if you want!" Chen Zhengwei was lying on a lounge chair on the deck basking in the sun. He was only wearing shorts, revealing his muscles as strong as a bear.

Unlike those bodybuilders, his muscles are not well-defined and full of edges and corners.

At first glance he seems a little fat, but if you look closely you will find that with every move Chen Zhengwei makes, the outline of his muscles can be seen faintly under his skin.

When he pushed hard, the muscles beneath his skin felt like plates of steel.

Li Xiwen looked at Chen Zhengwei's huge body, then looked at his own skinny body, and then went to the side to touch his cannon and become autistic.

This is a Ter-class gunboat.

Although not comfortable enough, it is majestic enough.

"That's what you said!" Anna was wearing a long dress and holding down the hat with beautiful feathers on her head to prevent it from being blown away by the sea breeze.

When Chen Zhengwei arrived at the dock, his men came to pick him up.

This place has now become a large construction site, with mountains of materials everywhere and workers coming and going.

There was dust everywhere.

"Where is Yung Wing?" Chen Zhengwei asked.

"I just saw him in the city... and now I don't know where he has run off to. I've sent people to look for him!" said the henchman.

More than half an hour later, Yung Wing finally arrived, covered in dust and mud.

"boss!"

By the way, he glanced at Anna with some curiosity. It was the first time he saw her.

He had met Lin Changning before and was struck by the beauty of the proprietress.

This blonde woman has a sweet and lovely appearance.

However, it is normal for my boss, at his age and with this kind of personality, to have more female confidants.

"You've only been here for over a month, how come you've become so dark?" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"The sun here is much more powerful!" Although Yung Wing was dark and thin at this time, he looked full of energy, as if he was ten years younger and full of energy.

"Let's talk in the carriage. It's all fucking dust in here!" Chen Zhengwei spat twice to the side. He felt the dust had all gone into his mouth, and his nose also felt uncomfortable.

"Boss, if you come here now, it must be like this. There is not even a good road in the whole of Los Angeles now." Yung Wing said with a smile.

Leaving the dock, you can see that the ground is full of dug ditches, and there is only a small path full of gravel for carriages to pass.

"We are re-repairing the sewer system... All of this needs to be repaired and re-paved..."

"If the boss wants to stay here tonight, he can go to the Hollywood Hills. There are still a few houses left there."

"Okay!" Chen Zhengwei nodded.

In the Hollywood Hills, several wealthy people built villas there for vacation use, and now they are all in Chen Zhengwei's hands.

……

When Chen Zhengwei was in Los Angeles, an incident in the United States once again attracted everyone's attention.

The trial of the black child shot and killed by police in Louisiana has finally begun.

(End of this chapter)