Zheng Sen did go to Taiwan, and the reason was indeed as Liu De said, he was indeed going to attend the commissioning ceremony of the sister ship of the "Endeavour". But this is just a ceremonial event www.biquge.info and the sister ship of the Endeavour, the Dreadnought, is almost indistinguishable from the Endeavour in its own right. When Zheng Sen went to the Beigang Shipyard, he was actually more concerned about a few inconspicuous-looking ships.

"Major General, this is the river warship we designed and built according to your requirements." Fabio pointed to a boat and said to Zheng Sen, "This is a warship used in the Yangtze River." Major General, I designed this boat based on the hydrographic data we have obtained, as well as the traditional Chinese design of sand boats. The Yangtze River has a very good water depth all the way to Nanjing and even all the way to Hubei, so I designed this boat to be a little bigger than ordinary inland river boats. In terms of weight, this type of ship is already very close to a sea ship. Of course, there are still a lot of shoals in the Yangtze River, in order to make it more convenient to move in the river, I refer to the sand boat, and designed it as a flat-bottomed boat, so that even if it is set up with full artillery, the draft is only a little more than half a xun (depth unit, one xun is equivalent to about 1.8 meters). ”

Zheng Sen nodded, but asked again, "What about speed, sturdiness and flexibility?" Zheng Sen is very familiar with the sand boat that this boat refers to. The sand boat is the most common river and sea general transport ship in China, with a heavy load and a shallow draft. It's just that because it's a flat-bottomed boat, and it's also a square head, it's relatively slow. Moreover, as a dual-purpose vessel, the seaworthiness of this type of vessel, especially the ocean-going sailing performance, is also very problematic. When the fleet of the Yuan Dynasty went on an expedition to Japan, it used sand boats, but it was hit by a typhoon in Japan and the whole army was wiped out.

"Major General, unlike sand ships, this kind of ship is pointed, which increases the cost, but also increases the speed. It's just that after all, this is an inland river vessel, and a flat-bottomed boat, and the water contact area is large, the speed is indeed not fast, we have carried out relevant tests in the offshore and Jinjiang River sections, the highest speed is only five knots, under normal circumstances, it can also have a speed of about four knots, a little slower than the Fu boat. There is no comparison with the battleships you are used to, Major General. Unless you allow us to use soft sails, Rear Admiral, such ships have reached their limits in terms of speed. Fabio said with a sigh. He knew that Zheng Sen had always had high requirements for the speed of the fleet, and even did not hesitate to cut off the firepower of the warship with a big axe for the sake of speed. So when he said the shortcomings of this kind of ship in speed, he was very worried, which would make Zheng Sen dissatisfied.

"Oh, faster than a normal sand boat, right?" Zheng Sen asked.

"Of course. If you use a soft sail, you can go a little faster. Fabio said.

"Don't think about soft sails, it will reduce the agility of the boat." Zheng Sen shook his head and said, "For river ships, flexibility is more important than absolute speed. "In inland waterways, the wind is more affected by the topography and changes its direction more frequently than at sea. And the river itself is narrow, and ships cannot do it as they do at sea. Take advantage of the wind by changing course and taking a zigzag route. The only way to take advantage of the uncertain direction of the wind is to turn the sails. And this requires the use of traditional Chinese hard sails.

The so-called hard sail refers to the sail with a skeleton between the canvas, this kind of sail has a fixed shape, can easily rotate around the mast, and is also more efficient per unit area than a soft sail. In this way, it is possible to "make the wind on all sides" without changing the course of the ship. In inland rivers with narrow waterways, this is much more flexible to use.

Of course, the disadvantage of hard sails is also very obvious, that is, the sails are too heavy. The wooden skeleton greatly increases the weight of the sail, making it difficult to make the sail very large and hang high. While the hard sails are more efficient when sailing, the Tessie softfitters are able to get more power and speed with a larger sail area.

"By the way, how effective is a hard sail with baleen as a skeleton?" Zheng Sen suddenly remembered his invention again, and hurriedly asked.

"The effect is not bad, at least it is much lighter than the wooden skeleton." Fabio smiled, "And these skeletons perform well in all kinds of weather, but after all, they are still heavier than pure soft sails." And it still can't be made big. So overall, the performance gains are limited. Unless silk is used for sails. To be honest, inland waterway vessels still rely on oars a lot of the time. So Major General, I prepared a layer of oarsmen at the bottom of the boat, where the oars could be extended to ensure a short period of speed. This, of course, came at the cost of a decrease in the strength of the ships, especially the ability to resist shelling, and the fact that the bottom was oarsmen, and the artillery could only be on the upper deck, which again created problems with the center of gravity. At the same time, due to the problem of structural strength, it was difficult to prepare heavy guns on the upper gun deck, and only six-pounder guns could be used at the moment. One river warship that could be armed with 12 6-pounder guns. ”

Zheng Sen's idea of using whale baleen to make a stiff sail skeleton actually originated from the corsets and large skirts of later generations in the West. When making these things, which are better than the Chinese "three-inch golden lotus" in terms of tossing women, the Europeans also need a material that is both tough and elastic, relatively lightweight, easy to care for, will not easily deform, and mildewed or something to support the corset and large skirt. European craftsmen at the time thought of the tough baleen. Zheng Sen felt that since whale baleen could be used to make a skeleton for a big skirt or even a parasol, Zheng Sen proposed the idea of using whale baleen to make a hard sail skeleton. Now it seems that this trick is also of limited use. However, there were a total of 12 guns, and the firepower of 6 6-pounder guns on each side made Zheng Sen quite satisfied. Although such firepower is hardly worth mentioning at sea, it can almost be walked sideways in the river.

"It's a good boat." Zheng Sen said, "It's just a little bigger." Let's see if you can get another river warship that is smaller enough to fight in the canal. ”

"Major General, your will is an order." Fabio replied.

……

After making Harvey and the others wait for another three days, Zheng Sen returned to Anping again.

During the negotiations, Harvey and others raised the difficulty of accepting that the Chinese had so many privileges, and directly expressed their opposition to the Zheng family's attempt to set up a tribune in Manila.

"Any foreigner's territory in Spain shall be subject to the laws of Spain, and shall not be higher than it. I can assure you that the protection of the Chinese by the laws of Spain, the tribunes, and some of the requirements attached to them are completely unnecessary. Harvey said.

"If plunder and massacre are protection, Spanish law does protect the Chinese. And I think we've been very kind. We have not asked your country to cede land, nor have we asked for troops to be stationed in your territory to protect our Chinese who have been massacred by your army. A benevolent victor like us is hard to find. Zheng Sen said.

"That is, if you want me to say, Arsen, we don't have to talk to them at all, we will first transport tens of thousands of people up, and then we will dig a big trench around Manila in one go, and build two or three more forts, and then we can wait for the Spaniards in Manila to starve to death. Then the whole of Manila will be ours. Zheng Cai interjected.

"Let me remind you that Spain has suffered only a minor setback, and that we are willing to negotiate solely because of our love for peace, and that Spain could have organized an armada, which has always had thousands of cannons, to turn the tide in one fell swoop, if the need had been." Borgdao.

"Armada?" Zheng Sen smiled contemptuously, "You're talking about the fleet that was just beaten in the naval battle with the Dutch. Of course, even if they are defeated, the remaining warships, if they can all get here, can indeed have a great impact on the situation of the war. But Mr. Borg, don't fool us, we all know how much of a fleet Spain can support in the Far East. Besides, as far as I know, the Catalans have made another revolution, haven't they? I think that both the Dutch and the French are looking forward to your country forming a powerful fleet and going to the Far East, tens of thousands of miles away, to gamble with us on the fortunes of the country. I have heard that your army, once mighty, is no match for the French army, and that you can only survive on the Pyrenees. If at this time, your fleet comes to us, the logistical problems after crossing the Pyrenees will no longer be a problem, and perhaps Spain will have to change to a Bourbon king. What do you say? I also fully understand why your country is now in a hurry to negotiate peace with us, and your country now needs more money to support the war in Europe, especially after the great defeat at sea. ”

Clearly, Zheng Sen knows more about the situation in Europe today than Harvey and Borg had anticipated. Since bluff intimidation is useless, if you don't want the negotiations to break up again, you can only give in for the time being.

"Major General, I think you may have listened to the exaggerated propaganda of the Dutch people." "Of course, considering the unnecessary losses suffered by the Chinese in the previous misunderstanding, we can agree to give them some financial compensation, tax incentives," Borg said. In order to rebuild mutual trust between the two sides, I suggest that the two sides can set up offices in North Port and Manila, and that any matter involving the citizens and expatriates of the other side should be reported to each other and cooperate with each other. If you must hope that we will give the Chinese people the corresponding rights, then we also hope that our citizens can also obtain the corresponding rights in the areas under your control. You also know that a treaty that is based on equality can only last. ”