From the Huangpu River, you will enter Taihu Lake.

After five years of excavation and construction, the river channel has become very wide, with an average water depth of 20 meters, which can accommodate four 10,000-ton warships at the same time.

The expansion of this river channel was personally ordered by Li Weiguo for two purposes: First, to completely open up the waterway transportation between Taihu Lake, Hangzhou Bay and the Yangtze River, and to promote the economic development of the Sanwu region. The second is military purposes, so that the large main warships of the East China Sea Fleet can sail into Taihu Lake for high-intensity military training.

As for why the East China Sea Fleet did not conduct military training at sea, but instead ran into the inner lake, it seems a little incredible, but if we think of the current international situation, it is not difficult to find the mystery.

Since the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Naval Division and the Hunan Military Division, the operational objectives of the East China Sea Fleet have shifted from the civil war to the level of foreign wars.

Whether it is a large shallow turret ironclad ship built by Jiangnan Shipyard, or a similar ironclad ship built by other shipyards, it is in the stage of strict secrecy, and the outside world only knows that large warships are built in the dock, and even the British and French militaries never expected that Li Weiguo's shipyard can already build a 7,000-ton large ironclad ship, which has surpassed France's shipbuilding capacity, and is very close to the 9,000-ton Warrior ironclad ship, Britain's highest ship-building masterpiece.

It is important to know that although Britain and France are allies, whenever France is one step ahead in naval warships, the British navy always takes a big stride to overtake it. For example, France was the first to build an iron-hulled wooden steam battleship, the Napoleon, and Britain then built a stronger and more iron-hulled wooden battleship, completely suppressing the French navy militarily. When France tried to be the first to build the ironclad ship Glory, Britain immediately started to build the ironclad ship Warrior, which had a larger tonnage and more powerful firepower, and then a large number of seven or eight thousand tons of ironclad ships were launched, always suppressing the French Navy.

On the contrary, when the French Army was greatly expanded, the British Army was not targeted.

This means: Britain's requirements for naval power are absolute, that is, no country in the world is allowed to threaten or surpass Britain in terms of naval power. The British Navy and even its ally the French Navy are always on guard, not to mention that Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet is keeping an eye on it day and night, trying to find an opportunity to fight with the East China Sea Fleet one day and wash away the shame of the naval battle of that year.

It is precisely because of this delicate and tense international naval relationship that since Li Weiguo knew that there would be a war with the British Navy, he would definitely come up with various countermeasures, first of all, to hide his strength. Therefore, the ironclad ships in the shipyard were secretly launched, secretly tried at sea, and secretly delivered to the East China Sea Fleet for training.

The open sea is clearly exposed. Because the warships of the British Navy cruised around and occupied the supremacy of the coastal seas. Therefore, the new ironclad ships of the East China Sea Fleet can only be trained inland in anticipation of unexpected results.

Connecting the Huangpu River to Hangzhou Bay, as well as the Alcatraz military base, Taihu Lake is currently the best training ground for the East China Sea Fleet.

After Li Weiguo left the Jiangnan Shipyard, he took a boat directly to the Alcatraz base, and accompanied by Navy Commander Lin Jiyun and Chief of Staff Li Weijun, inspected the entire East China Sea Fleet and personally observed the Navy's trial single firing training.

The waters south of Alcatraz Island. In recent years, it has been a no-sail zone, and it has been set aside as a live-fire training ground for the Navy.

On the lake, four ironclad ships with shallow heavy turrets were firing live ammunition.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I saw a series of twin-mounted 305-millimeter guns firing mournfully, and 80 or 90 kilogram shells roared towards a target ship several nautical miles away from the lake.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shells exploded with a bang. Huge columns of water tens of meters high instantly burst out on the surface of the water, blooming in all directions like fireworks.

"Why does that target ship look familiar?"

Li Weiguo saw it through the binoculars, so he asked casually.

Lin Jiyun replied: "That was the former Dingyuan battleship, which was heavily damaged in the fierce battle with the Taiping Army Naval Division in Yanziji. It was a second-hand old ship bought from the UK, and it has lost its value to continue to serve. Originally, it was going to be sold to the shipyard for dismantling, but later the prince ordered the navy to conduct live-fire training. A real battleship was used as a target ship, and the ship remained. ”

On the side, Li Weijun added: "Today is actually the day when the new Dingyuan ironclad ship is named, so let's have a live-fire target shooting, and the four ironclad ships achieved the best results, and they were named Dingyuan." ”

Li Weiguo nodded, he knew this. The naming rules for warships were set by him personally, and in the future, the capital ships of the East China Sea Fleet and even the Chinese Fleet will be named after the Yuan and Hai numbers.

Specific to the far name of Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Jiyuan, Jingyuan, Laiyuan, Pingyuan, Weiyuan, a total of nine. There are also nine Haizi names, namely Haiqi, Haitian, Hairong, Haichen, Haiyue, Haidai, Haihuan, Haiyang, and Haihai.

Nine great distances and nine seas will be formed as the main ship lineup of the Chinese fleet, nine is the number of poles, take nine nine to one, the meaning of the unification of the world, the word far sea is to show the ambition of the navy to dominate the world.

Once these 18 names are put into service, they will continue to be used and irreplaceable in the future, regardless of whether they sink in battle or retire at the end of the war.

As for the naming of other warships, there are no hard and fast rules, and they can be retained or removed from use.

"Is the power of 305-mm shells so great?"

Li Weiguo suddenly discovered a problem, the explosive power of the artillery shells seemed to be weaker, according to his experience, the explosive power of the navy's 305-mm artillery shells was enough to stir up a huge wave more than 100 meters high.

Lin Jiyun didn't react, but Li Weijun immediately understood and immediately explained.

"Lord Qiqi, the charge of our 305-mm artillery shells is only 45 kilograms, plus the weight of the steel of the warhead, it has reached more than 90 kilograms, which is already the limit of artillery, although it can increase the charge and weight of the warhead, it will seriously affect the gunner's firing speed, and even dangerous situations."

Lin Jiyun suddenly understood, and hurriedly added: "The previous No. 4 test ship was too heavy because of the shells, which caused it to fall several times during transportation and loading, and one of them exploded accidentally, sacrificing more than a dozen excellent gunners. ”

Li Weiguo nodded, this is understandable to him, after all, the larger the caliber of artillery, the heavier the shell. Both transport and reloading are huge puzzles that cannot be done by non-strong gunners.

"It would be nice if there was an automatic loader!"

Automatic loader?

Lin Jiyun and Li Weijun were both stunned, and then showed joy, and hurriedly asked, "Lord Wang, but is it a machine that can automatically reload?" If we really have that machine, it will definitely greatly increase the rate of our artillery fire. ”

Li Weiguo smiled slightly, nodded, and said, "This is natural, and then this king will say hello to the Machine Bureau and strive to develop it as soon as possible." ”

"Thank you, Lord Wang!" Lin Jiyun, Li Weijun and others hurriedly thanked them. The expression was excited, but they knew that the prince in front of them was powerful, and there seemed to be no machine that he couldn't invent.

The automatic loader was not difficult to solve, the crux of the problem was the need for a steam engine to provide power, which required a redesign of the steam delivery line, extending to the ammunition depot under the turret. Now that the design of the No. 5 and No. 6 ships has been finalized, and most of the eight warships have been or are close to completion, they naturally cannot be changed. As for the No. 7 and No. 8 ships on the slipway, they were also designed and finalized, and construction began. It's not cost-effective to want to change the pipeline. Only when a new warship is launched in the future will it be possible to consider re-modifying the pipeline and installing an automatic loader.

However, Li Weiguo didn't want to discourage Lin Jiyun and Li Weijun's enthusiasm, and seeing that the two of them were so happy, he had to accept it first, as for the future. Then we'll talk about that later.

Continuing to watch the live firing, the four 7,000-ton ironclad ships opened fire fiercely, and the hit rate continued to increase, and the entire target ship was already in flames. It sank completely in less than twenty minutes.

According to the rules, Li Weiguo named the ironclad ship with the highest hit rate as the Dingyuan. As for the other three ironclad ships, they have also been named after Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan, Weiyuan and so on. Become the lead ship of the East China Sea Fleet.

Li Weiguo summoned the officers and men of the whole fleet and made an impassioned speech, and the officers and men immediately screamed one by one, and confidently prepared for a big battle with the British navy.

"You may face the most powerful and advanced 9,000-ton ironclad ship of the British Royal Navy, do you have any confidence?"

Lin Jiyun and Li Weijun glanced at each other, and they both said proudly: "Don't worry, the prince is full of confidence, and we will never embarrass the prince." ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said: "That's good, the big war is not far away, that is, it is a matter of a month, you should hurry up and train the troops, if you have any requirements, as long as it is within a reasonable range, this king will try to meet you." ”

Lin Jiyun and Li Weijun were overjoyed when they heard this, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Thank you for your kindness!" We should swear to serve the king! ”

Later, Li Weiguo inspected Alcatraz Island, focusing on the large-scale nitrogen factory, because this factory plays an immeasurable role in the vigorous development of the fertilizer industry and the livelihood of the economy, and it is also very important for Li Weiguo's military industry.

Therefore, at this time, Nobel has completed various industrial production plans for nitrification slag under the suggestion of Li Weiguo, and large-scale nitrification slag production equipment has begun to be secretly installed, which is about to detonate the world action drug revolution.

The biggest contributor to all this is the large-scale nitrogen plant, because the nitrogen plant can produce nitric acid and ammonium products on a large scale, so that the nitrification residue can achieve industrial production and reduce the cost on a large scale.

At this time, the explosive power of one kilogram of nitrification slag was far greater than that used by the European powers, almost dozens of times the difference. However, the production cost of the two is almost the same, and when Li Weiguo's army is all reequipped to use nitrification slag, if the European and American powers still use hey, it will only be abused.

Everything was in Li Weiguo's plan, which made him very happy, and he had a sense of control.

Maybe that's the fun of the superiors!

After completing his visit to Alcatraz Island, Li Weiguo returned to Shanghai the next day.

At this time, martial law was already under martial law in the whole of Shanghai, and groups of soldiers went to the streets to investigate, as if they were searching for someone.

Li Weiguo smiled slightly, guessing that his plan had already begun to be implemented.

"The criminal minister Wu Yong sees my king!"

Wu Yong suddenly knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty to Li Weiguo in front of everyone.

Li Weiguo pretended to be surprised and said, "What's wrong with you?" Hurry up! ”

Wu Yong couldn't afford it, and explained: "Lord, the criminal minister is sorry for the prince, the top-secret document sent by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was stolen by his subordinates, and the minister is guilty of death!" ”

After Wu Yong's explanation, Li Weiguo and others immediately understood that a top-secret document that had just been sent to the General Staff Headquarters from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was just in time to get off work, and Wu Yong took it home after reading it, but it was unexpectedly stolen by a subordinate in Wu Yong's mansion.

"What?" Li Weiguo suddenly jumped up angrily, and said angrily: "Bastard, you Wu Yong is also an old man who has followed this king for many years, why are you so careless, I don't know the severity, can you take the top-secret documents home?" If this document falls into the hands of the enemy, will not the king's family be known to the people? You're putting this king in danger! ”

Wu Yong kowtowed and said, "The minister is guilty of death!" ”

Li Weiguo said angrily: "Since you yourself said that it was a capital crime, then the king will fulfill you, come and pull Wu Yong out and shoot him!" ”

Shoot Wu Yong?

It's a joke!

Wu Yong has followed Li Weiguo for many years, and has been with Li Weiguo since he first served as the commander of Chongming County.

Chen Jingnan, Fu Xuexian, Rong Hong and others who rushed to hear the news hurriedly persuaded each other, but Li Weiguo did not give up, and mercilessly ordered the guards to drag Wu Yong out and prepare to be executed on the spot.

"Please calm the king's anger!"

"Please, Lord Kane!"

"Please for the sake of Lord Wu's many years of following the prince's great achievements, spare him this time!"

The civil and military officials knelt on the ground to plead for mercy, and the common people outside the palace quickly gathered when they learned that Li Weiguo was going to kill Wu Yong.

"The family has a family law, the state has a national law, Wu Yong leaked the top secret of our army, and he deserves to die. Whoever dares to intercede for Wu Yong again, this king will kill him first! ”

Li Weiguo was furious, and casually took out his Golden Desert Eagle, with a resolute attitude of God blocking and killing God and Buddha.

At this time, Chen Jingnan suddenly said: "Your Majesty, even if the minister risks death, he must say a fair word for Wu Yong!" ”

"You don't have to say it!" Li Weiguo snorted coldly, and raised his hand to shoot.

Bang!

Chen Jingnan was shot in the chest, blood splattered, and he died on the spot.

"Whoever dares to intercede again, it will be like Chen Jingnan going down!"

The civil and military officials suddenly turned pale with fright, what is this situation, His Royal Highness King Wu has eaten gunpowder today, why is it so ruthless, even if you kill Wu Yong, after all, Wu Yong did leak the top secret, and he was innocent of death, but Chen Jingnan just pleaded for mercy and was killed before he finished speaking.

Bang!

There were gunshots outside, and soon the guards came in to report that Wu Yong had been executed on the spot.

This-this, the civil and military officials were suddenly messy, and no matter how powerful their brains were, they were not enough in an instant.

Wu Yong died, Chen Jingnan died in vain, and even if he pleaded, he would not come back, so the civil and military officials kowtowed to the ground one after another, not daring to plead anymore. They all know Li Weiguo's temper, since even Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan killed them mercilessly, let alone them.

"This king is in a very bad mood, don't bother this king these days."

After speaking, Li Weiguo strode away, leaving behind the civil and military officials who knelt on the ground.

"The prince has changed, how can he be so ruthless!"

"yes, I didn't expect that either!"

"This is a self-shutting off arm! Is the prince crazy? ”

"I hope it's just that the prince is in a bad mood and loses his sense of proportion before killing Chen Jingnan and Wu Yong, otherwise it's really chilling!"

"Hmph, the young man is ambitious, and he is inevitably arrogant!"

Everyone muttered as soon as you said it, shaking their heads and sighing bitterly. Some felt incredible, some felt that they could finally get ahead without being pressed by Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan in the future, and some were disappointed in Li Weiguo and dissatisfied. Of course, there is no shortage of indifferent people who are sneering at the excitement.

Everyone's heart is separated from their stomachs, and before the real moment, who knows who is the real or false Li Kui. (To be continued.) )