In the rolling heat wave, there were a bunch of officials standing respectfully on the port wharf, as if they were waiting for some big man to come.

This time it was bigger than the one in April, not only were there more flags in the port, but there were also more officials on the docks.

Even, even the secretary of the Ministry of Industry and the deputy prime minister of the cabinet, Bi Maokang, stood there respectfully, with an expectant expression on his face.

The entire Ming Dynasty can make Bi Maokang wait like this, and it is the current emperor and the prime minister of the cabinet who believe in Wang Zhu Youzhen.

Xinwang Zhu Youzhen seems to be busy to death all day, and the possibility of him coming to Dongfan is obviously not very large, and the only thing left is that it may be the current emperor.

It was indeed Zhu Cijiong who came, he heard that the Nanda Construction Shipyard had been renovated, and the first ironclad battleship had been debugged and was ready to go to sea, so he couldn't help but run over.

The ironclad battleship is the foundation of the Ming Empire's domination of the sea, and he naturally can't wait to see the majesty of the ironclad warship at sea.

At about the end of this day, the huge Daming finally arrived in the inland waters of the Taijiang River, accompanied by the equally huge treasure ship Beihai and fifty super battleships.

What is different from the past is that this time, Zhu Cijiong did not get off the ship, and only the Daming docked in the entire fleet, and the other warships were neatly lined up outside the port, as if they were about to leave.

Bi Maokang had also been informed that after the Daming docked, he immediately led a group of officials to the deck on the suspension ladder.

After the monarch and the ministers saluted, the Daming changed and put away the suspension ladder, slowly turned around, turned out of the port, and slowly walked in the direction of the shipyard.

At this time, the sea area near the shipyard had been blocked by the forty super battleships of the North Sea Fleet that had arrived in advance, and the coast was also covered with officers and soldiers of the First Legion of the Praetorian Guard.

Obviously, Zhu Cijiong was afraid that an enemy spy would discover the secret of the ironclad battleship, so he specially ordered someone to fence this place.

The other warships of the North Sea Fleet escorted the Daming on which Zhu Cijiong was riding, and soon came to the periphery of this circle, and the battleships that formed a semicircle on the sea surface immediately spread out to both sides, giving way to the Daming and Beihai into the circle.

With a wave of the flag, the ninety super battleships of the North Sea Fleet began to form again, and soon a larger arc was formed, with the Daming, Beihai and the newly built super battleships in the center in the middle.

At this time, Zhu Cijiong was standing on the bow of the Daming, carefully examining the steel monster in front of him with a telescope.

I have to say that the military level of the Ming Dynasty has reached the extreme of this era, and the entire ironclad battleship is integrated, with sharp edges and corners, like a steel giant lying prone on the sea, without the slightest flaw.

The appearance seems to be no problem, I don't know what the function is, Zhu Cijiong looked at it for a while, then put down the binoculars, and said to Yang Geng, who was standing on the side: "Let's start." “

Yang Geng gave a standard military salute and said loudly: "The last general will obey the order." “

Then, he ordered the standard-bearer beside him: "Order, start testing the strength of the armor of the ironclad battleship." “

When the standard-bearer heard this, he immediately began to wave the order flag in his hand, and the flag-bearer on the mast in the middle of the deck of the Daming also followed him with the same flag.

Soon, two super battleships burst out of the periphery and sailed towards the ironclad battleship in the middle.

Zhu Cijiong raised the binoculars again and looked at the ironclad battleship in the middle, at this time, the soldiers on the deck of the battleship had already begun to run towards the ironclad cabin embedded in the middle, and soon, the deck was empty.

After the two super battleships came to the two sides of the ironclad battleship and crossed two or three miles away, the gun doors on the side of the ironclad battleship were opened one after another, and one cannon quickly exposed the muzzles, followed by a roar, and hundreds of shells flew directly to the ironclad battleship in the middle.

The angles of the guns on both sides of the super battleship were very small, and the shells fired basically did not have any arcs, and they smashed straight into the sides of the ironclad battleship.

Due to the distance, Zhu Cijiong did not hear the sound of the cannonballs hitting the armor on both sides of the ironclad battleship, but from the telescope, he could clearly see that all the shells that hit the ironclad battleship were bounced to the side after hitting the armor, and then fell into the sea, and there were no cracks or holes on the surface of the ironclad battleship, but small nests were left, just like smashing it on the iron plate with a hammer.

The roar continued to sound, and the shells from the super battleships on both sides also continued to smash into the ironclad battleship in the middle, and after five rounds of shells, the ironclad battleship was already standing there, and there were no obvious scars on both sides, as if it had not suffered any attack.

With such a strong defense, it seems that ordinary shells can no longer hurt the ironclad battleship.

Zhu Cijiong thought that the armor strength test was over, but he didn't expect that the two super battleships did not retreat, but exchanged positions with each other, and then the gun doors on the other side of each side also opened.

Didn't they all attack five rounds, why do they still attack?

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but raise his binoculars and looked at the ironclad battleship in the middle again.

At this time, the gun doors on both sides of the ironclad battleship were all opened, and the muzzles of the guns were also exposed from the holes in the middle of the gun doors, and it was obvious that the ironclad battleship had entered the attack state.

However, the ironclad battleship did not fire, it was the super battleships on both sides that fired.

Another roar sounded, hundreds of shells flew towards the ironclad battleship in the middle again, and another wave splashed, countless shells fell into the water, and the ironclad battleship still didn't seem to have any damage.

Zhu Cijiong deliberately observed a smashed running position, the running position of the ironclad battleship is completely different from the running position of the wooden battleship, there is still armor in the gun door, but a round hole slightly larger than the barrel of the ship's gun is opened in the middle, and then a straight slit of about an inch is exposed above.

In other words, even if a shell hits the gun position, it will be bounced away, and it will not be smashed into the ship's hold at all.

Judging from the effect, the defense capability inside the gun door is also okay, but a few of the guns are obviously shrunk in after being hit, which is harmless, but I don't know if the gunner inside was injured.

After five rounds of shells, the super battleships on both sides still did not retreat, but turned around and aimed their bows at the ironclad battleship.

Immediately after, there were several more roars, and it was obvious that the Shenwei cannon in the bow of the ship had fired.

This time, the shell did not shoot directly, but smashed into the deck of the ironclad battleship in an arc.

The decks of ironclad battleships are not iron, they are still wooden.

This is because the deck is exposed to sunlight, seawater slamming, salt corrosion and other harsh environments all year round, and must also meet many requirements such as anti-slip, anti-deformation, heat insulation, etc., in this era, it is not possible to make steel plates that fully meet these requirements, so only wooden boards can be used.

The planks were obviously not able to stop the shells, and soon, there were several places on the deck where the chips were hit!