The sea was so vast that even the lookouts, who stood at the top of the fleet, could not see the end of the sea.

The huge fleet sailed out of the Lingding Ocean and continued southward, in the open and boundless sea, only to feel the endless majesty and vastness, and in an instant, the narrowness, crowding, and noisy of the city were all thrown out of the sky.

The sea is so vast, and human beings are so small. It is now the fleet carrying tens of thousands of southbound soldiers, on the golden sea of the water and sky, like a few snow-white feathers, drifting and drifting leisurely. It's insignificant compared to the thick surface of the water.

The turquoise sea surface is like a large curtain that will shine brightly, and the sea water fluctuates, and the waves roll in layers, as if this curtain is slowly undulating. When the sun shines, the eyes are full of gold.

The sailors on the ship do not enjoy the so-called sea and sky scenery, perhaps they are used to it, but only notice the direction of departure, the rock coke under the ship, and the change in the weather. Fang Tianding, Wang Yin, and Fang Jie will watch and appreciate it, seeing that the blue and the distant sky are connected, like a slowly rising blue continent, shining with the luster of ancient glazed tiles, widening the vast and infinite space.

With the monsoon send-off, in less than a month, the fleet has arrived from Guangzhou to Zengmu Island. As the southernmost military base of the Nanyang Naval Division in the South China Sea, this place is actually a great good. First of all, the area of Zengmu Island is not small, and its land is the size of a county in the Central Plains. Secondly, the terrain here is flat, with high temperatures, rainfall and lush vegetation throughout the year, so it is natural that agriculture can also be developed on a large scale. The third is that there are no typhoons raging here. That's a rare few. The southeast coast suffers from typhoons every year, but although the island is in the middle of the sea, it is located in the equatorial windless zone, so there is no typhoon intrusion, and the natural environment is relatively safe. Last but not least, it is located 1,200 miles from Temasek in the south, 800 miles from Tsangmu Shoal in the east, about 4,000 miles from the mainland in the north, 400 miles from Borneo Island in the east, and close to the Malay Peninsula. As a sub-port of Temasek's home port of the South Seas, it is very necessary and reliable.

Because today's naval warships are not modern ships, a strong naval division not only has a large number of surface warships, but also needs a dock port where they can dock and recuperate. From Temasek to mainland China, the Great Island of Greatmother is a strategic point.

Small islands dot the north and south of the Great Great-Mother Island, and a few small sailing boats come and go from the islands. Later, the great-mother island was called Natuna Island, and it was only the main island of the Natuna Islands, and there were more than 200 small islands around it, large and small, and different.

However, even on the smallest island, coconut palms may grow here, and Great-Mother Oshima has long received orders from the country, and has been going all out to store all kinds of supplies in the last two months. From sun-dried sea fish to coconuts, the sailors stationed on Zengmu Island and the Chinese on the island are like ants moving, emptying the islands.

Many of the small islands are lush with coconut groves, white beaches, blue seas and blue skies, and the beauty seems to be a picture. However, after being swept away by sailors and residents, a sense of vicissitudes that could not be concealed hit the face.

And at the same time that Fang La's army arrived on Zengmu Island, a group of Qi gunboats also gathered. Although most of them are sea sharks and sea Jiao-class gunboats, they are still invincible.

Among the gunboats, a unique sailboat called Fang Tianding and the others looked sideways. It was a soft sailing ship that had a certain resemblance to the spinnaker of the Heavenly Square, and its slender hull was completely different from that of the Oriental fortune boats. A three-masted schooner that uses a mixture of a crosssail (soft sail) and a spinnaker. That is, the big cake that Emperor Lu had drawn for the generals of the Navy Division a long time ago.

After racking his brains, with the dhowcraft craftsmen and drawings provided by Lu Jiala, the manufacturing drawings of the new sailboat were worked out on paper last winter. And after hard work in the first half of this year, in June, the experimental ship Donghai was officially launched.

This is a sailing ship that is ahead of the world, and Emperor Lu doesn't know that the specific level of this "Donghai" can be compared to which era of sailing ships in the West, but it is really completely different from the lucky ship.

First, the handling of a soft sail is completely different from that of a hard sail.

Chinese sails are generally woven with fine bamboo strips or pampas leaves, the advantage of hard sails is high overall efficiency, simple operation, can rotate around the mast, can fully use the wind in all directions, that is, the so-called "wind from all directions", the hard sail per unit area and soft sail compared with the hard sail for the use of wind power is much greater than the soft sail. However, the defect of the hard sail is that it is too heavy, the larger the sail, the heavier the sail, and some large ships even "cannot move without hundreds of people", of course, now with movable pulleys and pulley sets, this has been a big problem. However, this problem has always limited the further development of China's shipbuilding industry, and the sail area of China's hard sailing ships is much smaller than that of Western ships with soft sails.

Another point is the force of the hard sail on the mast, the height of the mast should not be too high, otherwise the strength of the mast will be affected. Therefore, the mast of Chinese sailing ships is much lower than that of Western sailing ships, and the mast of the square sailing ship is composed of 3 or 2 independent masts through the mast, the mast is high, and some even reach 3/4 of the length of the ship, and the later warships also have additional wing sails, and the area of the sails that can be hung will far exceed that of Chinese sailing ships, so the advantage in speed is also significantly better than that of China. And if it weren't for these two points that limit the practicality of the hard sail, the soft sail would not have any advantage over it.

It can only be said that the Chinese are too advanced, and the technology does not match the times. Otherwise, in addition to the sailboats built for the sake of remembrance, modern sailing ships have long been the world of hard sails - fully computer-controlled hard sails made of all modern materials such as aluminum alloy.

Lu Qian felt that this matter was similar to the watertight compartment. The latter is also too advanced, although the Chinese ship has far more safety than Western ships, but this also makes Chinese sea ships rarely use ribs, the strength of the hull is supported by the partition of the watertight compartment, so the performance of Chinese ships in terms of sinking resistance is far better than that of the West. However, it is precisely because of the extensive use of watertight compartment technology by Chinese ships that the hull is not strong enough in the lateral direction to carry the recoil of a large number of artillery fires. Moreover, hull structures such as Fufune and Guangchuan simply cannot be adapted to the all-purpose artillery deck of the West.

Today's gunboats of the Qi Army's naval division do not see discomfort, this is because the shipboard guns are still very light, and the three-catty guns and five-catty guns weigh more? No matter how unsuitable the Fu ship is, it will not be impossible to carry this little cannon.

It's just that the ten-pound cannon is really not suitable for the Fu ship. This has been proven by the facts.

This is also the biggest reason why the Donghai was quickly completed and launched after the drawings were finalized, because even Emperor Lu paid special attention to this matter.

In the Battle of Jinzhou last year, Fuchuan told Lu Qian this bleak truth with a bloody reality, and Emperor Lu realized that his previous thoughts were a little too optimistic. He also thought that the lucky ship + artillery could make China dominate the sea for hundreds of years, but the reality was a cup.

It can be said that the potential of the Fu ship, which is not suitable for carrying artillery more than ten pounds, is very limited. Upgraded from a five-catty cannon to an eight-catty cannon, and then upgraded to a ten-catty cannon, the Fuchuan-type gunboat reached its peak, and this reality was too much for Emperor Lu to be injured.

If so, the painting cake is no longer a simple painting cake, but a must be required by Emperor Lu. The kind of warship with a slender hull, dexterous and high-speed, and a gun deck with as many as one, two, and three layers running through the front and back had to be built. Because this is the guarantee of China's maritime hegemony before the advent of steam civilization.

With such sail warships, China's hegemony over the ocean will be unshakable.

The Donghai is not large, with a load of 2,000 materials and is insufficient, and it will be a small ship with a displacement of 300 tons in later generations. However, it was equipped with eight ten-pound cannons and eight twelve-catty cannons, and there were eight tiger squat cannons, and the firepower was so powerful that the Fuship-type sea dragon ships did not have. It is extremely fast, and the U-turn is agile and light. It's just that the operation is troublesome, and the fault is not that the Qi army has previously dispatched a group of sailors to practice on the dhow, and the Donghai is launched, and no one can start it.

Using the operation of a Chinese-style sailboat to play Western-style sailing is to really capsize.

Meng Kang completed a major task and could go home comfortably and lie down.

This has one and two, and the experimental ships in the future can be built one after another, and the more they are built, they can always check and fill in the gaps, so that the new sailing ship can be upgraded more perfectly. Naturally, this is going to take a long time.

Emperor Lu was not in a hurry, and the sailors were not in a hurry, because they could be sure that the Fuchuan-type gunboats could still dominate the ocean for a long time.

When more and more artillery appeared in the Qi army's navy and army, this weapon must not be kept secret. Even the gunpowder is the same. There are too many people who know this secret, and the secret is not a secret.

But this process is important for a hundred and eighty years, isn't it? This is not the information age of the 21st century, and news can spread far as it will be as fast as it will be.

Ruan Xiaoqi got off the East China Sea, as a living Yama who was not afraid of heaven and earth, Ruan Xiaoqi was quite obsessed with the East China Sea. Because he had never seen a warship as fast as the Tokai, especially when the wind was downwind, the speed of the Tokai could throw the Fubune three streets away.

It's not that this sail warship is an experimental ship, and the ownership belongs to the Ship Division, and he has to treat this ship as his own.

Fang Tianding looked at the Donghai from a distance, and a flash of amazement and longing flashed in his eyes. This kind of warship with high speed and firepower is completely the only weapon to dominate the ocean, but it is a pity that he knows that this kind of ship Lu Qi is impossible to give them.

Just like that artillery, you won't see a single one in the arms trade between Lu Qi and Fang La's army.

Fang La had already sent blacksmiths and coppersmiths to secretly make cannons, and they had not seen cannons before, and they had very simple shapes, just a thick iron pipe sealed at one end, and gunpowder was placed in it. This is very simple to say, but any craftsman who has cast a bell can theoretically make a cannon. But the reality is very touching......

"It's going to take a little bit of effort."

Fang Tianding believed that Emperor Lu's cannon was also experimented with little by little, and if the latter could do it, they would definitely be able to do it. (https:)

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