You must know that the difference between Japan's national strength and the Manchu Dynasty at that time was not one or two points, and this advanced gunpowder gave it such great ambition and confidence, which shows that gunpowder played a huge role on the battlefield.

The Chinese Empire is much stronger than the original Japan's national strength, although the United Kingdom as an opponent is also stronger than the original Manchu Qing Dynasty, but one is a naval battle at home, the other is thousands of miles apart, and the two are offset, and the current situation, the Chinese Empire is far better than the original Japan's victory. What's more, in addition to the coordinated operations of the coastal defense and the army, doesn't the navy say that there is another secret killer weapon?

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan said to Luo Outline and Xu Shou: "Didn't the Admiralty and your Military Science Department say that three submarines have also been developed, what is going on?" ”

Luo Xuan immediately said excitedly: "Back to Your Majesty, it's true!" The Admiralty dispatched several ship experts from the Military Science Department to organize a special trip with colleagues from the Dengzhou Shipping Bureau to tackle the submarine mentioned by His Majesty, but they have not been able to solve the sealing problem. Later, I overheard an Irish Navy staff officer say that there was a young Irish teacher named John Holland who had been studying submarines and tried to build a small submarine, although it failed, but it almost succeeded. So we immediately invited it to the Dengzhou Ship Administration Bureau to participate in the research and development of the submarine, thanks to His Majesty Hongfu, after many attempts, finally succeeded! ”

Then Luo Xuan said: "Your Majesty, that thing is too delicate, Wei Chen can't figure it out, let's let Lord Xu report it." ”

Seeing that Feng Yunshan agreed, Xu Shou said: "Your Majesty, the Dengzhou Shipbuilding Bureau has built a total of 3 submarines, of which the first one and the smallest one are test ships, which are just single-person submarines and have little military value, not to mention."

The other two are submarines that can accommodate about 10 people. The total length of the submarine is about 12 meters, and the hull is based on a large steel plunger type steam boiler, from which two halves are broken along the longitudinal axis, and a long strip of tread pads is inserted in the middle to increase the cabin space. The entire submarine requires eight soldiers to operate it at the same time, seven of whom are responsible for rotating the hand-cranked crankshaft to drive the propeller in the water to move the ship forward, while the eighth person is responsible for operating the steering and floating of the submarine.

The float is achieved by the submarine's two pressurized water tanks located at the bow and stern ends of the submarine, and the submarine can be lowered by opening the valve to let the water flow into the submarine from the outside world, or by using a hand-cranked pump to discharge the water in the cabin to the sea bell to make the submarine float. In addition, the submarine has additional iron ballast inside, which is screwed onto the bottom of the hull, which is used in case of emergency, and if necessary, the crew can release the ballast from the cabin by loosening the exposed bilge nut to obtain additional buoyancy. ”

Feng Yunshan was a little shocked, this idea, there was actually a submarine, it was incredible. It's just that he was a little puzzled, can the submarine of this era be used as an attack warship: "Xu Aiqing, how long can these two submarines you said stay underwater, what is the speed at which they are advancing, and most importantly, what is its means of attack?" ”

Xu Shou hurriedly nodded and responded: "Your Majesty is really an expert, and you have asked the most important question!"

These two submarines can dive about 20 meters underwater at most, and the speed under the water is very slow, and the maximum speed is only 1 knot. On the water, it is powered by steam and can reach 4 knots. The main attack method is to launch mines, a total of two mine triggers, one is in front of the side, and the other is directly above, both of which are relatively primitive contact iron mines. An iron rod is attached to an iron rod with a fuse device, and the tip of the iron rod is designed with a spike, which can be easily pierced into the side wall or floor of the target ship by means of a mechanical trigger and ramming, and when it has completed its attack from the target, the submarine retreats away from it, and at the same time pulls the trigger and detonates the gunpowder. It is only because the submarine carries only a few mines, and once the launch is complete, it must leave immediately and return to the mothership to reload the mines. The effectiveness of the attack is poor. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded after listening, in this era, it is already very good to be able to design such an attack method! It happened to coincide with the successful production of yellow gunpowder and nitroglycerin explosives, and with the power of such explosives, it was really possible to cause serious damage to enemy warships. Even, even the most advanced ironclad battleships of this era, they are not real ironclad ships, but steel plates wrapped around the vulnerable ship, but only protect the part of the hull that floats on the surface of the water, and even the side planks at a distance of one or two meters from the water surface are not protected, let alone the bottom plate of the hull.

Therefore, the submarine invented at this time can be described as a history-making weapon, and with the addition of powerful gunpowder, Feng Yunshan is really confident that he will deal a hard blow to the enemy, that is, the British fleet that is now raging in the Indian Ocean.

"Xu Aiqing, did these two submarines attack the warship during the sea trial?" Feng Yunshan asked uneasily.

"Back to Your Majesty, during the sea trial at Dengzhou Port, I took an old 60-ton fishing boat as a target, dived into the water 1 kilometer away, and spent an hour and 20 minutes to burst the bottom of the target fishing boat and sink to the bottom of the sea." Xu Shou replied: "The combat effect is not very ideal, mainly because of the slow speed, and the time delay is great. In addition, black powder was used at that time, so the power of gunpowder was relatively poor. If the new and most powerful nitroglycerin gunpowder is used, it should be more powerful! ”

Feng Yunshan was somewhat satisfied. In this era, even the gasoline internal combustion engine has not been invented, let alone a power device such as a battery, so it is already the limit to rely on artificial shaking as the forward power to have such an effect.

Thinking of the upcoming naval battle in the Indian Ocean, Feng Yunshan was a little looking forward to it: after suffering for so long, he couldn't bear it for so long, originally waiting for the latest batch of warships to come out, and then using shore fire guns to consume some of the British Navy's warships, and waiting for the Chinese Imperial Navy to gather enough warships before the decisive battle, but he didn't expect to wait until these two killer weapons came out.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan directly asked Luo Xuan: "King Xinzhong, I approve of the battle plan of your Admiralty. But now the main forces of our Chinese Empire's naval power have withdrawn from the Indian Ocean, leaving only a few fast ships to maneuver around the Bay of Bengal and the island of Ceylon with the British fleet.

In India, except for Ceylon, Calcutta, Rangoon and other places, the rest of the places have also been reoccupied by the British army, and those Indian princes have rejoined the British, and the situation is already very critical. If it is delayed any longer, it is likely that even Penang, Malacca, Singapore and other places in the Malay Peninsula will be captured by the British.

I wonder how your Admiralty's warship forces are being assembled? Now that the time is ripe for a decisive battle, it's time to prepare for a showdown with the British in the Indian Ocean! ”

Luo Xuan said repeatedly: "Your Majesty, Weichen has had it, and it is the fault of Weichen and the Admiralty that has caused the empire to suffer an unfavorable situation!" Now that the main warships of several major fleets have basically been assembled in the vicinity of Saigon, plus the two submarines in Dengzhou and the batch of TNT yellow powder in Shengjing, the time for a decisive battle has come. ”