The Ninth Constitution of the Bright Grievances (4,000 words)

Of course, although it is said to be a steam-powered battleship, but the steam-powered battleship does not have to be steel, the main material of these warships will be mainly wood for the time being, after all, the development of steel battleships in this era is simply self-defeating - first of all, material limitations, although today's Datang has undergone Li Zhen's desperate development, but it is subject to the development of the times, and now the annual steel output is only 100,000 tons, only 100,000 tons of steel, let alone a 10,000-ton battleship, How many can you build even if it's a thousand-ton warship? Especially now that various constructions are also being carried out within the Tang Dynasty, there are many places that need steel, even if steel warships can really be built, the imperial court will not be able to give too much steel to the navy, and it is too luxurious to build with steel in this era.

In particular, the quality of Datang's iron ore is too poor, and if you want to carry out large-scale steel smelting, you have to wait until Australia is developed.

Secondly, it is a technical problem, with the current technology, the steel battleship can barely be made, but don't think about the construction speed, it is already thankful to be able to produce one in three years, and because there is no electric welding technology, the built are all riveted battleships, and the quality is very unreliable. With this time and effort, if it is made of wood, even the fleet can get several for you, with these wooden warships, Datang may be able to conquer several countries and occupy a large territory, why compete on steel battleships?

It is said that half a step beyond the times is a genius, and a step beyond the times is a madman, but there is another way to interpret this sentence, that is, half a step beyond the times can make you a master, but one step beyond the times is to kill yourself, don't when your steel battleship has not yet become popular, other countries have already caught up in the technology of wooden battleships, that is the real gain outweighs the loss. So if you have this time to make steel battleships, it's better to make more wooden battleships.

Of course, the steel battleship is of course wanted, and Li Zhen has never given up research in this area, and even made a small warship a few years ago, and the test effect is very reliable, but if you want to develop these steel giants on a large scale, to be honest, it is very difficult - after all, the model is the model, the real thing is the real thing, and the two sides are not the same concept at all.

Especially in this era, Datang's warship technology is already the top in the world, although the wooden battleship is not as good as the steel warship, but for the time being, it is enough, and even if Li Zhen has not lit the steam engine, the wooden warship can even be used for at least another hundred years - in this era when other countries do not even have artillery, and naval warfare is more based on broadside warfare, as long as the gunpowder technology is not leaked, Datang alone with artillery technology is enough to dominate the sea for a hundred years.

Therefore, of course, the steel battleship is to be developed, but it is not necessary, at present, it is only necessary to study it slowly in your spare time, not to mention that the wooden steam battleship is not without benefits, that is, the density of wood is much smaller than that of steel, and the speed of a wooden battleship of the same size must be far greater than that of a steel battleship - although the strength of wood is far less than that of steel, a wooden battleship with the extreme speed mode turned on can only run one round trip at most, and then it can almost enter the shipyard, but in an emergency, It's still very useful.

Getting back to the point, Cheng Chuliang saw that Li Zhen didn't eat him, so he shifted the topic to Liu Renliang's head: "Your Highness, don't you know how angry Liu Renliang is now-the matter of him wanting to order a super battleship has already been rumored, if he really lets him build this ship, then his Yuezhou fleet will really ride on the head of all the fleets of our navy and, Your Highness, he is going to isolate himself from the navy......"

Li Zhen said impatiently: "You said so much, didn't you just want me to refuse his proposal?" You're too villainous, aren't you? ”

"What? I didn't think so-Your Highness, you really underestimate me, am I Cheng Chuliang the kind of person who stabs me in the back? Cheng Chuliang said righteously: "I mean that since you have to treat this matter fairly, since Liu Renliang can build super warships, we can't lag behind." ”

Li Zhen said angrily: "Nonsense, the reason why people do this is because people are rich, do you have money?" ”

"Isn't that still you?"

"So you hit the idea on the head of this palace?" Li Zhen was angry, these people were really becoming more and more lawless, and they all dared to calculate themselves.

Cheng Chuliang looked like he took it for granted: "Otherwise, why do you think I want to talk so much nonsense with you?" ”

"......" Li Zhen was so choked that she almost didn't come up and smoked it, this bastard really dares to say anything.

"Don't think about it...... Don't even think about it. Li Zhen categorically vetoed: "The navy palace has been handed over to the state, if you have a problem, you can find the state to solve it, public is public, private is private, don't expect this palace to take out a penny from your hands." ”

"Oh, what else is there between public and private?" Cheng Chuliang continued to play the scoundrel: "I heard my father say, Your Majesty recently faintly revealed the news that you want to Zen position, and then Your Highness will be the emperor, at that time you are rich all over the world, what is yours in the world, what is yours is the world, is there any difference?" ”

"What's the difference?" Li Zhen was angry by his shameless words, and snorted coldly: "You can tell your father if you have the ability, his inner treasury also has a lot of money, can you try to see if he will allocate money from his inner treasury to build a ship for you?" ”

"Then forget it......" Cheng Chuliang stopped talking, and wanted Li Shimin to pay for him to build a ship, not to say whether he had this qualification, just to say that Li Shimin had no money in his hands, a few years ago, there was a little problem in the national economy, the treasury was empty, and the household department had been crying poverty to him, Li Shimin did not take his own treasury to subsidize it outside, and he has not recovered until now.

What's more, the Tang Dynasty has now recovered, and even more prosperous than in the past, it is conceivable that once Li Zhen succeeds to the throne, the foreign war will start soon, no one knows when this war will be fought, how much money will be spent, and it is good to have a little more money in the emperor's inner treasury, in case of emergency, and even if Li Zhen rushes his private property into the inner treasury in the future - although this is unlikely, after all, although the inner treasury is known as the emperor's private money, but the inner treasury also has a name called the reserve treasury, once the treasury is empty, the emperor needs to take money from the inner treasury to fill the void in the treasury. Since Li Zhen is so clear about the division between public and private, of course he will not let his money become a reserve treasury.

Cheng Chuliang is not unclear about these truths, but he is still unwilling - just like he said, once the super battleship project of the Yuezhou fleet is implemented, then the status of the Yuezhou fleet with super warships is bound to increase greatly, although it will not far surpass the rest of the fleet, but it will definitely surpass the rest of the fleet.

After all, the Yuezhou fleet itself is one of the most effective fleets in Datang, and its status is already above the rest of the fleets, and it doesn't matter if the status is a little higher now, but Cheng Chuliang can't stand it.

You must know that the Quanzhou fleet and the Yuezhou fleet have been competing, neither of the two sides has been convinced of anyone before, whether it is combat merits or earning ability, no one is worse than the other, but now the Yuezhou fleet is because of a warship, it is a head above them? How does this make the Quanzhou fleet, which has always had contradictions with the Yuezhou fleet, deal with itself?

So even if he knew that it was impossible, Cheng Chuliang still found Li Zhen and wanted to fight a little autumn breeze - even if Li Zhen didn't give money, at worst, he would let Li Zhen pass their super battleship plan. Before he came, he had already discussed with his subordinates that even if their Quanzhou fleet ate soil for a period of time in the future, they must get the super battleship out, and they must not let the Yuezhou fleet surpass them.

"Don't worry, this palace has not passed Liu Renliang's super battleship plan." Li Zhen saw Cheng Chuliang's depressed face, and couldn't help but smile and speak.

"Huh?" Cheng Chuliang raised his head suddenly and looked at Li Zhen in surprise: "Didn't pass?" Why? ”

"How so? It's not that it didn't pass, it's just that this plan was postponed by the main palace. Li Zhen's family Cheng Chuliang looked surprised, and explained with a smile: "As for the reason, you also know the ...... of the steam engine."

"Oh, Your Highness is planning to use the steam engine on the ship? This is really good, I will say that this kind of idea can be realized, our Xiaocheng is simply too talented, one is accurate, if Your Highness can really build this ship in the future, the first one must be equipped with me. Cheng Chuliang naturally knows the steam engine, although there is no suitable sealing material for the steam engine because of the lack of rubber over the years-but this kind of suitability does not mean that the effect is not good, in fact, there are some materials in Datang that can temporarily replace rubber, and the effect is better than rubber, for example, after Li Zhen just made the steam engine eight years ago, he replaced rubber with fish glue.

In addition, after the combination of several precious glues from Persia and the local glue of Datang, the sealing effect of the products made is even far more than that of rubber, the only problem is that the price of this glue is too expensive, after all, the main material is shipped from distant Persia, and the production wave is scarce, even in Persia is very scarce, so the cost is very expensive. Although Li Zhen has collected at any cost, he has only made less than ten steam engines from this magical glue over the years.

But these less than ten steam engines brought a huge change to Datang's industry - although before the steam engine, Li Zhen also designed hydrodynamic machinery, but compared with steam power, hydrodynamic power is too backward and inefficient. However, after the steam engine came out, the efficiency alone was enough to be worth ten water-powered steam engines. In addition, the power of the steam engine is higher, and it may take more than 100 times to achieve the desired effect if a fast iron ingot is hammered with a hydrodynamic hammer, but if it is built with a steam hammer, it can be successful in three or five strokes.

Later, after the appearance of this steam engine in Lingnan, many people have visited it, including various talents in the navy, who have great interest in this kind of steel monster that can produce huge power - and Cheng Chuliang once put forward a hypothesis at that time, if this kind of steam engine can be put on the warship, the power it produces will bring great changes to the development of the warship, and it may even become a mainstream in the future.

Although Li Zhen didn't say anything at that time, he praised Cheng Chuliang's astuteness, because later generations have proved many times that steam is the future of ships, even in the case of various new energy sources emerging in later generations, steam engines are still the mainstream.

Because the steam turbine has the advantages of high power and low maintenance cost, while the gas turbine has high speed and fast acceleration, but the output power is not as large as the steam turbine, so for large ships that require high speed, the steam turbine or steam turbine-dispersed motor-motor power system is still a good choice - of course, the steam turbine at that time has evolved many times, both in power and efficiency far beyond the earliest steam engine.

But no matter what, the future of the steam engine is bright, there is no doubt about this, especially Li Zhen's earliest design drawings with very mature technology, even if they are used for a hundred years, they will not lag behind, as for whether future generations can carry out further development on the new drawings after a hundred years, Li Zhen does not care - if the descendants are really so wasteful, then they deserve to be destroyed.

Li Zhen smiled and affirmed Cheng Chuliang's guess: "You guessed right, the future is the era of the steam engine, especially on the ship, because with the popularization of the steam engine, the tonnage of the warship will gradually increase, and now you look at the 1,000-ton and 2,000-ton warships that already feel very huge, but what this palace can tell you is that once the steam engine can be moved to the ship, then the tonnage of the warship is likely to break through to more than 10,000 tons, that is the real giant beast of the wilderness, and now these so-called giant ships are simply babies in front of them." ”

"Is there really a warship that big?" Cheng Chuliang asked expectantly, and couldn't help but think in his heart: If you can sit on such a warship, how majestic it must be? If he could have such a warship as a flagship, it would be worth his life, and when he thought of this, his saliva flowed out.

In any era, the navy has a giant ship complex, in short, the bigger the ship, the better, the bigger the ship is more majestic - even in the World War II period, obviously the performance of the aircraft carrier has been proven, but some admirals know that the aircraft carrier is the natural enemy of the battleship, but because of the giant ship complex, they have been unwilling to accept the aircraft carrier (the dispute between the aircraft carrier faction and the battleship faction), this situation lasted until the late stage of World War II, the aircraft carrier gradually replaced the status of the battleship, but until the end of World War II, the battleship has been active on the sea battlefield. Even in the eighties, battleships were in decline, aircraft carriers had completely replaced battleships, and some countries still had battleships in service (the USS Missouri even lasted until the nineties before it was completely decommissioned).

(End of chapter)