The Goddess-class battleships and two real British East India Company armed merchant ships sailed into Malacca under the British flag, and the Dutch would have treated the British with more respect, and their colonies had to salute the British flag when they passed through the English Channel.

Philby paid a large tax in Malacca, and the fleet returned to the capital on the coast of the South China Sea through the strait. In fact, the Confederation and the British did not deceive the Dutch, and at Malacca, the Confederation had not yet paid the rest of the ship, and the ownership of the warship was indeed the British East India Company.

Kim Philby spent a total of 400,000 taels of silver in England, half of which was paid for by the Federation for raw silk and other goods, and half from the credit of the British East India Company. The arrears of 200,000 yuan were only paid off by the Federation, and 100,000 taels were left unpaid for immigration and the purchase of shipyard materials and personnel. The federal finances have been very tight, and the deficit caused by the expansion of the army means that the order has an additional 100,000 taels of tasks this year.

Compared with the two test-built ships in Taipei, the Goddess class has the same keel and the stern is more prominent. It was less than half a meter deeper, increased the load by more than 300 tons, added an extra layer of gun deck, and loaded larger and more guns. On the whole, it is still a small boat carrying a cannon, the underwater ship is wider, and the handling, speed and seaworthiness are not good. Due to the width of the hull, the reloading speed is not fast. The main gun deck is low above the water, and you can only cats in the harbor in high sea conditions.

Order, in fact, doesn't like this kind of warship very much.

But now there is no choice, and the navy urgently needs to replace the big ships. The three Goddess-class ships are short-lived, and they can immediately form a combat force with a complete crew and naval guns.

Ash. Phoenix's flat-deck battleship is still on the slipway in Taipei, and it will also be verified and improved in actual combat after launching. Now only the well-established European ship type can be chosen. The Spaniards were also this kind of ship, they had to take care of the cargo, shorter and fatter, and the British were better than the salted boats, which were longer and better in terms of overall performance.

In order to save money and disguise the warship as an armed merchant ship to pass through the Strait of Malacca, Kim Philby only equipped the ship with half of the guns, and the missing naval guns needed to be produced locally.

Orderly: "When will the cannon be in place?" ”

"The cannon foundry promised me that the casting of the naval gun would be completed within 5 months."

"Well, tell them they must finish it before the north wind comes."

The navy does not like iron cannons, which are prone to exploding.

Due to cost control reasons, a large number of frigates and notification ships equipped with iron cannons are a helpless choice.

Although the iron cannons produced from Sanya's high-quality iron ore were already of better quality than most iron cannons, Sterling still refused to equip the cruiser and above with iron cannons when the conditions were met.

In addition to the two long-class training ships, the Nanhai and Raphael are now bronze cannons. Recently, Taipei has steadily exported more than 300 tons of copper ingots to the mainland every year, and the copper stock is enough to install copper cannons on three new ships.

Collingwood: "Archon, maybe you'll have to reassure Holrain, the Army's plans to expand the Bronze Field Artillery are being postponed again. ”

"Leave the problem of the army to me, and you take care of the battleship."

Sterling nodded, "I plan to concentrate the guns of the three ships on the Laxis for training, so that when the guns are complete, the battleship can form combat effectiveness as quickly as possible." ”

"Good."

Collingwood: "Archon, how are you going to explain to Hallren that we're using the gunmetal we planned for the Army?" ”

"The Army's mission this year is to defend the three colonies of the mainland, Houjiang and Kuching. The Spaniards may be on our doorstep during the northerly season, and I think Holrenne understands the importance of naval priority. The army only guarded the ports and fortresses, and the iron cannons could make do with it. Shou Xuan sighed, he also understood that it was difficult to appease the army by explaining alone, and he must have to pay something else.

Philip: "Consul, Taiwan is also building ships, and Maiden and the French want to build an oak fleet, and they may not be able to send us more copper." ”

Taiwan does not produce iron, and the iron ingots transported from Sanya are particularly insufficient to make guns, knives, and farm tools, and their cannons are all made of copper.

The Spaniards threatened the shipping routes between the mainland and Taipei, and Taiwan became a de facto independent colony. Maiden worked hard to colonize, and grain production and cotton cloth production increased. Rice is now mainly transported to Taipei in private trade. Their sisal and other crops can be used to meet the rigging needs of shipbuilding, and the canvas is partially solved by self-produced cotton fields, and the majority is purchased by the Dutch in Tainan.

The strategic material links between the mainland and Taipei are now mainly transactions between iron, tin, lead, saltpeter and the more than 300 tons of copper and gold. Local support for Taiwan is decreasing, and in addition to copper, Taiwan is also a currency to maintain economic development and purchase materials from abroad. At this time, it is difficult for a strong man to blindly ask Maiden to increase the delivery of more copper ingots to the mainland.

"Taipei needs to independently get immigrants from the three southeastern provinces of China, and Maiden's strings are so tight that we can't ask for more. ”

Philip spread his hands: "I agree, Archon. Maiden runs Taiwan and has to independently complete the arduous task of opening up new territories. In fact, if he had a choice, I wish he could keep the copper for himself. ”

Sterling pointed to the slipway outside the window, "We have started construction of 3 new Goddess-class battleships, and 1 70-gun Tier 3 ship. I don't even mention the army, if I don't rely on Taipei, how can the shortage of copper ingots be solved? The amount of Japanese copper imported into the South Seas every year was not enough for even the guns of one battleship. ”

Coutinho: "How long will it take for our battleship to be launched?" ”

Philip sighed, "Three years. ”

"Why does it take so long?"

"The designers from England insisted that after the battleship keel ribs were assembled, they would be left to dry on the slipway for one year. The result is a warship that lasts longer. ”

In addition to drying the wood more thoroughly, the slipway for 1 year also has some complex stress problems. The shipbuilders at this time did not know why, but they could observe that this would improve the performance and longevity of the battleship.

Order: "Three years will not work, we only have one and a half years, and we must complete it before the north wind comes next year." ”

Sterling was surprised: "That would drastically shorten the life of the battleship." ”

"Gentlemen. We need money to expand our army, and the money comes from immigrants, and immigrants need more merchant ships, and merchant ships need more warships to defend the shipping routes. It's always this cyclical state, and it's a bottleneck for each other. People are the most important factor in breaking through the ceiling. Next year is the most important year for us to obtain immigration, and the country cannot wait. Those ships must be put into service as soon as possible. ”

Collingwood was a little regretful, "Archon, the construction of these four warships has used up our existing reserves of dry teak. Over the past few years, frigates and notification ships have been launched non-stop, and we have managed to save up so much teak. ”

The navy must not only have capital ships, but must also have a large number of light warships to ensure the coverage of combat missions, and light warships are also indispensable.

Philip: "If next winter is a critical point in time, can you keep that Tier 3 ship?" The workers did not have a good grasp of the big ship, and it was difficult to complete it in the first place. ”

No one asked why next winter was a critical time, and they were used to something.

Shou Xuan thought about it for a moment and agreed, "Okay, but you guys have to make sure that the three Goddess-class ships are ready for battle." ”

Sterling rarely insisted on dissent in the face of order, "In that case, I will urge the shipyard." ”

Although the generals agreed, they still had regretful expressions on their faces. 1 tier 4 battleship needs at least 900 teak, and it is really not cost-effective to build a battleship with a service life of only 7,8 years.

Order: "Gentlemen, the goddess is not too good design, she just meets our needs. As long as there is enough manpower, we can cut more teak, and the navy will have better warships in the future. ”

Collingwood: "Well, I only have one question, what about gunbronze?" We have already used up our reserves, and Taipei will send us more than 200 tons of copper this year, but this is not enough to cast the guns of three warships. ”

Orderly: "There is copper in Kuching. Thomas smashed 1 medium-sized gold mine and 1 large gold-copper mine in Kuching. ”

Raheem Sterling: "Kuching is closer to the mainland, if only it could meet our needs, then the problem of the army's field artillery can be solved." ”

Shou Xuan smiled, "I will solve the mineral problem in Kuching, you don't have to worry." ”

In the first two years, the copper mines in Kuching had to cut down trees by hand to make charcoal for copper smelting. The commissioning of the Lupa Valley Coal Mine will save this part of the manpower. In order to build a large production capacity as soon as possible, the largest investment in the Lupa Valley coal mine was the purchase of black slaves from the British. Shipped from East Africa across the Indian Ocean to Asia, the price of a black slave was very expensive, the unit price of a black slave was 15-30 pounds, between 50 taels and 120 taels of silver, and the average price reached 80 taels per person. This is 10 times higher than the price of getting immigration from Chinese mainland. In the whole of Asia, only the Federation would buy 1,000 black slaves at one time, and Zheng Chenggong didn't have the ability to do it at all.

The initial working conditions in the Lupa Valley of Borneo were extremely harsh, and the black people were highly resistant to tropical diseases and had a high survival rate in the coal mines, which was a necessary investment if the coal mines were to be put into operation as soon as possible. With blacks and prisoners of war to complete the initial work, and new immigrants this winter, Kuching's minerals are expected to rise next year to fill the gap in the navy.

Open the Navy's shipbuilding manual in an orderly manner.

The shipbuilding manual records several classes of frigates and notification ships, as well as auxiliary vessels such as armed merchant ships.

The middle volume is an all-sail battleship, divided into 6 classes.

Tier 6 ships do not have a lower gun deck, only 1 deck gun, but use a 3-masted full-sail outfit, which is between a frigate and a Tier 5 ship. The Navy currently has two 6-tier ships, the USS Melville and the USS Keelung. The low cost of the 6th class ships makes this cheapest fully equipped sailing ship withstand some low-intensity combat missions.

The trial ships Brenshire and Hyperion are the first self-built all-sail warships of the Navy, and the main cruiser with a one-story continuous gun deck and open-air deck guns, which is classified as a Class 5 ship.

The Goddess class has 2 layers of continuous gun deck and open-air deck guns, and is classified as a 4-tier ship.

The 70-gun battleship on the slipway also had 2 layers of continuous gun decks, classified as a 3-tier ship.

The current design of Tier 4 and Tier 3 ships is not satisfactory, and there is room for improvement, which needs to be corrected by data obtained from actual combat.