When the Jinghai sailed to the open sea of Weihaiwei, Liu Se @wolf's pride instantly exploded. Because the largest warship in the guard that came to greet him was nothing more than a fortune ship with a displacement of less than 500 tons. Not to mention a group of researchers, even any layman can come to a simple conclusion after looking at the appearance of the Jinghai and the other party, these two ships are not on the same level at all!

Although it is a test ship, although in Jiang Tian's eyes, the Jinghai can only be regarded as a large frigate, but after all, this is a large ship with a displacement of nearly 2,000 tons, and it has not seen many such large warships in the sea of China for nearly three hundred years, as for the second ship under construction, it belongs to the level of a dreadnought in this time and space, no matter from which indicator, as long as these two ships appear in Europe, they can cause panic in the entire white world. However, these are all later words, and the first person to panic at the moment is not the foreign devils, but the officers and soldiers of Weihaiwei.

"The last general, Li Xiuyuan, see my lord!" A middle-aged uncle who was not wearing armor climbed the net rope from the side of the board and boarded the Jinghai, and then knelt down in front of Jiang Tian in his robe.

Jiang Tian didn't know him, but he knew that this was the commander of Weihaiwei, so he still helped him according to the rules of officialdom: "General Li, please get up, the regular generals of this dynasty don't have to kneel down to the civil officials, let alone on this sea, they don't have to care about those false courtesies." ”

Li Xiuyuan hurriedly got up and stepped aside, but his head was still lowered and he looked at the deck under his feet and replied: "What did the adults say, don't say that you are a member of the first rank of the dynasty, and you also supervise and supervise the construction of warships in your position, that is, you can build such a mighty warship, and the general will naturally obey it." ”

This sentence sounds like flattery, but it is actually Li Xiuyuan's heart's words, when the Cangshan ship patrolling the sea brought back the news that Jiang Tian went to Weihaiwei with the Jinghai, he has been looking forward to seeing this civilian official who has never been to sea but has placed the navy in a very high position. As a commander of a theater of operations, he is naturally qualified to contact Jiang Tian's theory of sea power, since he read a masterpiece in the staff officer's explanation, this old sailor who has little culture but has fought with the sea for half his life has been completely convinced, he can hardly believe that a person who has never worked in the navy can write such a profound article, and has insight into sea power is the heavenly opportunity of sovereignty, once a coastal country loses the right to control its own territorial waters, it is equivalent to losing sovereignty. He still figured out this point with reference to Qi Jiguang's anti-Japanese resistance and the later attack on Beijing by Emperor Tianjuan, but he failed to form a systematic and clear concept in his head, until the birth of "The Theory of Sea Power", his vague views became clear in an instant.

Zhang Huan, who was standing on the side, didn't have any imperial skills at this time, so he didn't feel anything wrong with a general who admired a civil official so much, and this civil official was also his teacher. On the contrary, Wu Yuan was sweating for Jiang Tian on the side, you must know that there must be the emperor's spies on this ship, if there is a malicious complaint, it is not good.

Jiang Tian didn't think so much at this time, there was only a group of researchers left on the deck in addition to the necessary sailors, and he was proudly explaining some of the characteristics of this ship at this time: "General Li, please see, this is the outline gun I designed, four on each side, a total of eight turrets on both sides, with a water-immersed ammunition box and sliding track inside, and it is only equipped with a 75 mm bronze cannon, the length-diameter ratio barely reaches 20 times, and the range of launching solid bullets on land will naturally be two or three miles, on this sea...... I can't guarantee accuracy in less than 300 meters. ”

Li Xiuyuan followed behind resignedly, no matter whether he understood it or not, anyway, the sound of admiration never stopped. In fact, although he didn't know terms such as the aspect ratio, he saw the advantages of this kind of ship gun, because the flying clipper ship itself had a low side, and it was impossible to open the window to place the gun in the lower cabin, and it was impossible to set up a gun tower like the Cangshan ship to install two small cannons, so the only way to put the gun on the deck was to put the gun on the deck, but when it rained, the gunner was also easy to be killed by the enemy. It also blocks the erosion of gunpowder by rain, and even better, the ammunition box is encased in a water jacket, so even if an enemy shell hits, it may not cause the ammunition to explode. This kind of design may not be able to be imagined even by him who has been fighting all year round.

Although Jiang Tian regretted the bronze cannon that was temporarily used, when he walked to the bow of the ship, he stretched out his hand and pointed to the weapon base that could rotate 360 degrees, but immediately changed his proud expression: "In my opinion, this thing can be regarded as the trend of future naval warfare!" ”

As soon as Jiang Tian's words fell, the weapon operator who had been standing at his post immediately took action, opened a cover hidden in the bow of the ship, and several people worked together to install a weapon platform with an iron shield on the pedestal, and pulled out two main combat weapons from under the other cover, one was an improved version of the large-caliber Thunderbolt, and the other was a metal rocket invented by Jiang Tian. This iron frame with a shield is designed as a kind of universal platform, whether it is equipped with a six-barreled thunderbolt, or a rocket of various calibers on the rack, it can shoot well at 360 degrees, and due to the rapid disassembly design, the weapon is easy to replace, and the shield is made of five-millimeter-thick galvanized steel plate, and the surface is also painted with thick paint, as long as it is not hit by enemy artillery, this thickness of steel plate can withstand most damage.

In order to demonstrate the performance, under Jiang Tian's instructions, the sailors first put a burst of thunderbolts on the sea in the distance, and the six-barreled muskets fired in turn to stir up a splash on the sea surface, and after the six guns were exhausted, the deputy immediately replaced a new gun with a full load, and the weapon compartment was always equipped with ten of these six-barreled guns, and the barrels of the guns were not idle, and after the other sailors removed them, they were immediately reassembled for operation, and theoretically as long as the personnel were not killed or injured, they could be fired continuously. Jiang Tian also thought about changing to a more tubular design like an organ gun, but first, there were a large number of Thunderbolts made in the pre-Ming Dynasty in stock, and secondly, the multi-barreled bullet disc was too heavy for Chinese sailors, and on a fast and mobile warship, it may not be able to accurately reload the heavy bullet disk, so he retreated to the second best thing and switched to the Thunderbolt, but fortunately, this kind of firepower can already kill an opponent on the East Asian sea in seconds.

As for the rocket launcher is the focus of Jiang Tian's careful design, a shelf made of iron bars, which can be loaded with four standard 70 mm individual rockets, the launcher can be fired both single-shot and continuous, the warhead currently has arson bombs and anti-detonation bombs two options, generally speaking, when the enemy is received at a medium distance, two arson bombs and two anti-explosive bombs can be used, and a combination of one arson bomb and three anti-explosive bombs can be used when the enemy is connected at close range, anyway, the rockets are stored in the water-sheathed ammunition box under the zài deck, How to use it together is voluntary.

Li Xiuyuan watched as the sea surface 300 meters away was ignited by a rocket, and the special ratio of arson agent could burn on the water surface, and the splash of the scattered shrapnel made the sea surface feel like a boiling pot. Not to mention that he is a layman who has never seen a new weapon, even those researchers in the research institute who know the parameters of the weapon are frightened by this shocking scene, no wonder Jiang Tian thinks that with this kind of weapon, he will basically rule the sea, in an era when the artillery bombardment must be close to the face to face to be accurate, a swarm of rockets flying from three hundred meters away is enough to destroy a strong navy. Liu Baokai, as a person who has seen the army's rockets hit targets, has seen hundreds of rockets fired at every turn, so he naturally will not be frightened by this kind of petty fight, but he feels more and more that he should change his career to enter the navy, if nothing else, just so that he can bully all the enemies at sea with an advanced warship, this kind of abusive pleasure is by no means an ordinary enjoyment.

Seeing these advanced points of the Jinghai, Li Xiuyuan began to worry about the purpose of Jiang Tian's trip, because he received an order to cooperate with the Jinghai to conduct a simulated naval battle, which is commonly known as an exercise. The original order did not force him to use any tactics for many warships, so although he had seen the No. 1 ship once, and knew that the opponent's mobility was far above his own, but if he relied on the strength of the crowd, his own flagship was in charge, and a group of small boats such as Cangshan and centipedes rowed at high speed to approach, and then used the tried and tested arson tactics against Yangyi, he should still have the strength to fight. However, when he saw that the ship not only had many guns (compared to the Chinese warships), but also had a moving battery in the bow and stern that was frenzied to deal with small boats, he had to wonder how he could turn the tide.

So after saying a lot of flattering words, he invited Jiang Tian and others into Weihaiwei, and the proper routines such as picking up the wind and washing the dust were naturally indispensable, but behind the scenes, he and his subordinates studied strategy and tactics all night. Jiang Tian could also guess his careful thoughts, and besides, many researchers were in a state of seasickness, so in order to better record the number of ships, he was happy to rest for a few more days. Although the two of them had a tacit understanding of hanging up the battle exemption card, Zhang Huan couldn't wait, he had long wanted to see the difference between this warship and the traditional warship, and he wanted to know what the revolution in the style of naval warfare in Jiang Tian's mouth looked like, so he could only turn to Wu Yuan to ask Jiang Tian to see if he could start the exercise as much as possible.

After several sleepless nights, Li Xiuyuan went to Jiang Tian with a seemingly effective battle plan: "I only feel that although there is a huge difference in the number of days of hard work, I still have the strength to fight, so I ask my lord for permission to exercise tomorrow!" ”

Looking at Li Xiuyuan, who had some confidence, Jiang Tian didn't know what tactics he had thought of to win this exercise, but he didn't care what the result was, the purpose of this exercise was not so much to verify the combat capability of the new ship, but to explore a new form of naval warfare, so without a large number of exercises to support, it would be useless for him Jiang Tian to copy the experience of later generations.

"Since General Li is in the chest, then the official will promise you to start the show tomorrow!"

Strange to say, although the wind was not small the next day, it was not so big that the waves were not suitable for going to sea, and it was a good day for the late autumn when the sky was high and the clouds were light and suitable for exercises. Because the two sides did not use live ammunition to shoot at each other during the exercise, Jiang Tian and a group of people were able to crowd on the Jinghai to watch the excitement, but even so, there should still be some protective measures, especially Zhang Huan and others were also on the ship, so it was inevitable that a few circles of sandbags or a circle of shields would be piled up on the stern of the ship, and it was said that there should be a real combat atmosphere.

After these security work was done, the Jinghai finally set sail in the wind and waves, saying that it was mainly because of the side effects of the slender ship, Li Xiuyuan's flagship, the fortune ship that was much smaller than the Jinghai was more stable, especially it also took a group of younger brothers to set up a murderous position, which was indeed more powerful than the Jinghai alone. Jiang Tian knew that when it came to combat capability, the sailors on his ship who had just begun to adapt to the new equipment were really not the opponents of the old water ghosts who had been soaking in the sea all year round, and their advantage was only that the advanced level of equipment was more than a generation behind the other side, so how to give full play to their strengths and avoid being approached by the other side was the key to the entire exercise. So he, the temporary captain of the ship, began to issue orders.

"Raise the sails, accelerate and open the distance, the fire of the enemy ships mainly comes from the old Franc cannon, first open a distance of more than a thousand meters!"

No one will be surprised by this order, since their biggest advantage is speed, then it is necessary to open the distance to prevent being surrounded, but in order to be realistic, although it will not be loaded with live ammunition, the barrel of the gun still has to be filled with propellant, which is to demonstrate the real situation of naval warfare to the greatest extent, and according to the current sea conditions, the hit rate of both sides has been reduced to one percent, that is to say, only one of the 100 shells can be counted as hitting the target. Not only the sailors on the ship, but even the researchers were wondering how they could achieve victory when the enemy was outnumbered and the hit rate was low.

Li Xiuyuan, who was in the distance, looked at the faster and faster Jinghai and sighed, although he had long known that he could not take advantage of the speed, but he was not even as good as the other party in terms of acceleration, but fortunately, he also understood that as long as the other party did not want to escape, then he had to turn around and shoot at himself, with such a low hit rate, he had enough opportunities to start an encirclement.

It may be the old experience, although Li Xiuyuan knew that the main guns of the Jinghai were arranged on both sides, but he didn't take these guns too seriously, and he didn't expect that the Chinese warships would use the common broadside shelling in Europe, so when he dispatched troops to wait for the Jinghai to come back, he found that the ship drew a beautiful arc on the sea, and cut horizontally to the front of his fleet, and then saw four shining fireballs, which was a sign of the opponent's cannons, if it was in a real naval battle, Immediately after that, four iron bumps would fall from the sky, but at this moment, Li Xiuyuan was just worried that Jiang Tian would insist on saying that he had hit one or two shots.

Jiang Tian used a standard T-shaped position, he calculated that Li Xiuyuan, who had no heavy cannon and no bow gun, could only be beaten and could not be repaid, but because of the requirements for the hit rate in advance, the first round of shelling did not get any results, but he was not in a hurry, he missed once or twice, and the number of times the cannon was fired was too much, and there was always a time to hit. So he ordered the sails to be lowered, maintaining a slightly higher speed than his opponent, and always firing at the front of the opposing fleet.

When Li Xiuyuan saw the Jinghai lowering its sails, he almost didn't scold. Because he felt that it was an insult to himself, as if people could win against him without having to go all out. But he is not a fool, and immediately after the anger, he found that things were not good, first of all, although there seemed to be a large number of people on his side, he could not close the distance between him and the Jinghai, the distance of three hundred meters was not far, but the Jinghai was stunned by his incredible maneuverability and never entered the firing angle of his artillery, which is not counting, except for the first shelling, it is now obvious that the opposite side has prioritized the attack on those rowing clippers. Just as he thought, Jiang Tian originally intended to grind the other party to death with mobility, but the pervert @ wolf reminded him that although his side has an advantage, there is only so much gunpowder, and he always has no ammunition when he is in a fight. So he decided to take a risk, first of all, to deal with the clippers that used both pulp and sail.

Due to the reason of weapons, China's naval battle formation at this time has not yet adopted a line formation, but is held in a group or lined up, mainly to prevent the opponent's warships from circling behind its own side and flanking it in front and rear, and at the same time to protect the flagship in the center. In Jiang Tian's eyes, this formation became an opportunity, Jinghai slowly accelerated, after avoiding the range of the opponent's main gun, spotted a peripheral Cangshan ship, and then quickly sailed into a firing distance of three hundred meters, the sailors on this small boat were originally very happy to see the other party take the initiative to give up the advantage of long-distance artillery bombardment, ready to fight an artillery battle with the Jinghai, but before he could fire a few more guns, a flag message came: Your ship was hit by a rocket and caught fire, and now it is decided to withdraw from the exercise sequence!

Li Xiuyuan, who also saw the flag, knew that the other party was not cheating, even if the fire rate of the Franc machine gun was faster, but it could only rely on luck to hit the opponent at a distance of 300 meters, and the people could directly cover the Cangshan boat with a large number of rockets launched in a short time, and it was only at this time that he realized that the plan he thought could drag the other party into the melee seemed to be unrealizable. But his nightmare was not over, just when some arsonists in his fleet were rowing desperately while the two ships were shooting at each other, and finally approached the Jinghai, another flag message conveyed a clear message: the arsonist ship was injured by the thunderbolt and could not get close. Li Xiuyuan couldn't calm down at this time, because when he was about to turn around and pursue the Jinghai, the other party immediately used his firepower again with his excellent speed.

According to the assessment of the exercise headquarters set up on the Jinghai, the Jinghai sank a total of five enemy ships and damaged the enemy's flagship. Just when everyone was lamenting that a lone ship was actually maneuvering with more than a dozen enemy ships on its own, and it was not falling behind, in fact, Jiang Tian was dissatisfied with this result in his heart.