On the slipway, Li Weiguo and the accompanying civil and military officials looked up at the tall all-steel battleship hull, and their expressions were extremely excited.

"It's all made of special steel?"

"W-how?"

"It's incredible!"

The civil and military officials were amazed, in their eyes, it was already a miracle that China was able to build ironclad ships and defeat the British Navy, and they never imagined that warships could be built entirely of special steel.

"This battleship needs to be at least more than 10,000 tons, and it is all built of special steel, which is too extravagant!"

"Yes, in the past, more than 10,000 tons of special steel were enough for the imperial court to build weapons for hundreds of thousands of people, and they were all peerless divine soldiers."

Hearing the civil and military officials sighing incessantly, Li Weiguo smiled slightly, and a sense of pride rose in his heart, all of this was created by him, which was enough to be proud.

"Xu Shou!"

"The minister is here!"

Li Weiguo pointed to the huge battleship and asked, "How long will it take for this new battleship to be completed?" ”

Xu Shou replied: "Your Majesty, this battleship, as a Type 39694 test ship, was developed and built after the completion of the Zheng He test ship in Guanghua's third year, and now it has been built for more than three years, and it is currently about to conduct a live-fire test on the hull structure, so it is expected that it will take another year and a half to complete." ”

"It's going to take so long!" Li Weiguo frowned slightly, in order to resist the huge military pressure of the British Navy, he decided to let the former dreadnought battleship on the stage of history in advance, but according to the current progress, it is still a little slow.

Li Weiguo planned to equip the navy with nine all-steel dreadnought battleships in five years, and if the British navy attacked again, they would suffer another big loss.

But now it seems that the construction of the test ship has been taking three years. It will take another year and a half to test, so there are only three and a half years left before the final finalization starts mass construction, and it will be very difficult to complete the naval expansion plan on time after five years.

In fact, Li Weiguo was concerned about chaos and ignored a very important factor, that is, although the first all-steel experimental battleship took four and a half years. That is just to test the hull structure of the all-steel battleship, after all, it is the first time that China has built an all-steel battleship, compared with the previous wrought iron ironclad ship, the material strength and weight of the new battleship have changed significantly, and it is necessary to carry out strict design and calculation, and structural testing and other links, which naturally consumes time, but if the test ship is completed, it will not be necessary for mass production to take so long.

Xu Shou saw that Li Weiguo was worried. He immediately explained: "Your Majesty, the overall design and layout of this test battleship follows the design of the Dingyuan-class ironclad ship, and it will not be troublesome if it is just to replace the wrought iron material used in building the ship with special steel materials. The problem was that the ministers and others experimented with the latest construction method on this new battleship, replacing the previous riveting method with a welding method, so the construction time was increased. Your Majesty is assured that the Imperial Navy has entered the next five-year expansion period. Time is limited, if circumstances do not allow. The ministers will immediately abandon the welding method and use the traditional riveting method to build ships, which will not affect the overall situation. ”

It turned out that this was the case, and Li Weiguo understood why the construction of this all-steel test ship had not been completed for three years, and it would take another year and a half, after all, welding is a new thing, and it is far less mature than riveting technology.

For this day and age. Welding technology is a black technology, which belongs to the black technology brought by Li Weiguo.

According to historical development, the earliest welding technology in ancient times appeared with the application of metal. But the welding methods in ancient times were mainly cast welding, brazing, and forging welding. The iron-bladed copper Yue made in the Shang Dynasty of China is a cast and weldment of iron and copper, and the fusion line of copper and iron on its surface is meandering. Good bonding. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many coiled dragons on the bronze pedestal of the drum in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, which were welded together in sections. After analysis, the composition of the used is similar to that of modern soft brazing metal.

Swords made during the Warring States period were made of steel with a steel blade and wrought iron back, and were generally made by heating and forging welding. According to the book "Heavenly Creations" written by Song Yingxing in the Ming Dynasty, copper and iron were heated together in ancient China, and knives and axes were forged and made; Sprinkle yellow mud or finely sieved aged long-walled soil on the joint, and calcine the large anchor in sections. In the Middle Ages, in Damascus, Syria, forged and welded weapons were also used.

Ancient welding technology has long stayed at the level of casting welding, forging welding and brazing, and the heat sources used are furnace fire, low temperature and energy concentration, which cannot be used for the welding of large cross-section and long weld workpieces, and can only be used to make ornaments, simple tools and weapons.

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that Davis of England discovered two high-temperature heat sources that could locally melt metals, arc and oxyacetylene flames, and it was not until 1885 that Bernaldos of Russia invented carbon arc welding tongs, and it was not until 1900 that thermite welding appeared.

Britain's first all-steel battleship in history, the Sovereign, that is, the former dreadnought battleship, was completed by using advanced electric welding technology, because if it was relatively easy to build an ironclad ship with traditional steel nails riveted wrought iron, it was very difficult to build an all-steel battleship, and Britain completed the feat of the former dreadnought battleship with its strong industrial strength and electric welding technology.

However, it is only the sixth year of Guanghua (1871), more than a decade before electric welding was introduced, but the Chinese naval shipyard has already begun experimenting with electric welding to weld special steel on this all-steel experimental battleship.

All this is the black technology brought by Li Weiguo, when he came to the Jiangnan Shipyard six years to inspect the test ship Zheng He ironclad ship at that time, he saw that the workers picked up the sledgehammer and riveted the red-hot steel nails one after another into the iron armor of the battleship, sweating like rain, it can be said that every time a steel nail is smashed in, he is tired and out of breath, and the riveting part will be loose at every turn, and the steel nail and the wrought iron are often repelled and fall off, and the iron plate has to be replaced again for riveting, which is time-consuming and costly.

So, Li Weiguo thought of the electric welding of later generations, the principle was not too complicated, plus there were already power plants at that time, the petrochemical industry had also made great progress, and the industrial production capacity of carbon arc welding and oxyacetylene flame had been possessed, so Li Weiguo mentioned it to Xu Shou, Hua Yufang and other relevant technicians, but he didn't expect it to become a reality.

In fact, what Li Weiguo didn't know was that if someone else talked about this matter to arrogant people like Xu Shou and Hua Yufang, he would definitely be taken on deaf ears, but Li Weiguo was different. Even if he doesn't use his status as an emperor, just the ability to perfectly predict all kinds of advanced technologies and things over the years is enough to impress people like Xu Shou, as long as it is something that Li Weiguo said can be made, they are not ambiguous, and immediately start researching.

Thereupon. Electric welding has been on the stage of history more than ten years in advance, and just in time for the advent of the era of all-steel battleships, and then riveting special steel with steel nails will be very difficult and not firm, but the use of electric welding can just solve this problem.

It can be said that the emergence of electric welding is at the right time, which is like a long drought and a rain for the Chinese Navy to build all-steel battleships.

Ask why it's happening. Li Weiguo was immediately happy.

"It is very important that the welding technology must be kept secret, and that the Western powers cannot be probed for at least 15 years."

"Your Majesty rest assured, Weichen knows that the relevant workers who use electric welding are under close monitoring and will never let this technology leak out."

Li Weiguo nodded, the dock used to build the test ship was already heavily guarded, and the workers and their families were working and living in the area. There is no contact with the outside world, so as long as it is strictly monitored. will not divulge the secret out.

Previously, the technical parameters of the Weiyuan-class shallow-water heavy gunship and the Dingyuan-class ironclad ship were not leaked, which caught the British off guard and made the British suffer a big loss, which in turn proved that the secrecy work here was still in place.

Hua Yufang left for a while, then returned and reported to Li Weiguo: "Your Majesty. The armored test site has been prepared, please move and visit it. ”

Li Weiguo nodded slightly, the purpose of this visit is to see the armor protection capability of the all-steel battleship, and to see if the former dreadnought battleship can withstand the anti-shelling and fish-ray attacks.

This is very important, because Li Weiguo has a bold guess. If the British come to provoke at sea again, if the Fifth Hip War breaks out again, the British Navy must suffer a big dumb loss.

The range was conducted at the Alcatraz military base in Taihu Lake, which has become an enclosed body of water for testing weapons and equipment by the Chinese Navy.

After Li Weiguo led the officials to take their seats, Hua Yufang personally commanded the live-fire test, and Xu Shou explained to Li Weiguo.

"Your Majesty, it is now a five-kilometer live-fire armor-piercing test, using the 305-millimeter naval guns currently equipped with the Navy's capital ships, and using a D-type armor-piercing projectile, which will reach its maximum kinetic energy at a distance of five thousand meters. The two test targets are one of the wrought iron armor used in the current naval capital ships, and the other is the special carburized steel armor used in the test battleships, and the penetration power will be tested at a distance of 5,000 meters to compare. ”

Li Weiguo nodded and signaled to start.

There was a cannon bang, and the 305-mm cannon fired, and the sound was like thunder, and several civilian officials who came to this scene for the first time were suddenly startled, and some of them were so frightened that they sat on the ground, which immediately provoked the ridicule of other officials.

After several rounds of testing, a technician soon collected the average data, handed it to Xu Shou and explained it to Li Weiguo.

"Wrought iron armor was pierced through 10 layers, a total of 300 mm!"

"Special carburized steel armor was penetrated by 7 layers, a total of 210 mm!"

Hearing this result, Li Weiguo suddenly smiled and said, "The gap is obvious!" ”

Xu Shou hurriedly said: "Yes, Your Majesty, with the same strike resistance, 300 mm wrought iron armor was originally needed, but now only 210 mm of special carburized steel armor is needed." A difference of 90 mm, the volume and weight will be greatly reduced, and the saved displacement can be used to carry more coal to increase endurance, or to increase the number of artillery to increase firepower, increase the number of boilers to increase speed, the benefits are very great. ”

Li Weiguo nodded, feeling very satisfied, but he still asked.

"What kind of armor is currently used by the British Navy, and has it been tested?"

Xu Shou nodded and said: "I did an armor test on the captured British battleship before, and under the same conditions just now, the armor of the British battleship was penetrated by more than 11 layers, close to 350 mm thick. ”

Li Weiguo was slightly surprised: "So the British are not as good as us in terms of wrought iron and iron armor?" ”

Xu Shou said with a smile: "That's true, so in the Battle of Huangyan Island, the British didn't lose unjustly at all." ”

"I love to hear that!" Li Weiguo laughed and was very happy.

Next up was the Fish Ray test, where the two Fish Ray boats were tested on wrought iron armor and special steel, respectively, within the effective range.

Soon the results came out, wrought iron armor was penetrated by 500 mm, and special carburized steel armor was penetrated by as much as 340 mm.

Li Weiguo suddenly smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that neither our warships nor the British warships can stop the attack of Yulei!" ”

Xu Shou explained: "Your Majesty, we use our own fish radium, and the caliber has increased a lot from the previous 450 mm, reaching 533 mm, just like a 533 mm cannon. Theoretically, only armor with the same caliber thickness as the artillery can be blocked, and at present, only the empire has fish radium, although other countries have also begun to study it, but their use of hey medicine is definitely not as good as our fish radium using ladder NT. ”

Li Weiguo agreed: "Our advantage is indeed great, but we must continue to maintain the lead, because the Western world is very strong, and if we slack off, we will be overtaken by them and fall into a situation from which we will never recover." ”

Xu Shou bowed and said: "The minister is taught, and he will never dare to slack off!" ”

After watching the armor test, Li Weiguo visited the artillery system and power plant of the new warship.

The artillery system that the new battleship will carry is a great improvement over the previous Dingyuan-class ironclad ship, which is still a double-mounted turret shape, but uses the latest automatic lifting machine, and the artillery does not have to spend more effort to carry the shells. The shells are automatically fed into the bore directly from the ammunition depot under the main gun, and the artillery only needs to reload the number of cartridges as needed.

At the same time, the barrel of the new main gun adopts chrome plating technology, which further increases the rifling life, from the original 150 rounds to 200 rounds.

As for the power system, the reciprocating steam engine was still used, and there was not much improvement, because the technology had reached a bottleneck.

However, Li Weiguo still gave instructions and told Xu Shou, Hua Yufang and other relevant personnel about the concept of the steam turbine system, which made them very excited and said that they would start research as soon as possible.

Invisibly, Li Weiguo revealed another black technology, once it is successfully developed in advance, it is enough to scare friends from all over the world.

Li Weiguo's current southern tour was not only to inspect the new battleships, but also to learn more about the infiltration of Western spies into the Jiangnan shipyard.

In this regard, Xu Shou and others have already made a report, but when Li Weiguo personally summoned the front-line personnel of the intelligence department and the police department of the capital to understand the situation, he couldn't help but feel shocked.

It turned out that Western spies not only infiltrated, but also carried out brutal killings while stealing military intelligence. In addition to China's intelligence and police officers, engineers, scientists, skilled workers, and even many ordinary people were also affected, killing and injuring hundreds of people.

In these things, the local government reports good news but not bad news.

Li Weiguo realized the bloodiness and cruelty of the spy war on the second battlefield, and also realized that many of his black technologies had aroused the fear and voyeurism of the entire Western world.

As a result, Li Weiguo convened several imperial meetings and exhorted the Homeland Security Bureau, the National Police Agency, and the China S.H.I.E.L.D. to work closely together to crack down on espionage agencies against China at home and abroad, and to win the second battlefield is as important to the country. (To be continued.) )