Riyige has been poor since he was a child, and he is diligent and studious. www.biquge.info He was particularly interested in shipbuilding and piloting, and later became a young captain officer in the French Navy. In January 1862, in Shanghai, Igo met with the British and French consuls and Wu Xu, the Qing Su Songtai Dao, to discuss the defense of Shanghai and deal with the Taiping army. In May, Riig took part in the capture of Ningbo. In July of that year, the Japanese and Italian governments, together with the French naval officer Le Boulevton, recruited 1,000 Huayong (later increased to 3,000) to form a Sino-French mixed army, named "Changjie Army" (also known as "Xinyi Army" and "Huatouyong"). The French officer served as the instructor, and the Japanese and Italian gees served as the assistant commander, assisting Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Zhejiang in the Qing Dynasty, to suppress the Taiping army, thus establishing a good personal relationship with Zuo Zongtang. In 1863, Zuo Zongtang began to contemplate the establishment of a shipbuilding factory, and often discussed shipbuilding matters with Riyige and another French officer, Dirkbei.

Zuo Zongtang started a modern shipbuilding industry without an industrial base and technical personnel in China, and could only rely on foreign help. At that time, China was in a very disadvantageous position in foreign exchanges, and Zuo Zongtang advocated that foreigners should be paid well and hired to serve China. In the implementation of the factory construction plan, Zuo Zongtang resolutely opposed the British intervention and resistance to their attempts to control, but wanted to win the support of the French government through the Japanese and the Dirk monument. The British were very annoyed by this, and spread rumors that the Japanese and Italian were trying to involve France in a risky plan with China, which caused French policymakers to fear that "the failure of the shipyard's adventure would bring trouble to France." Not only did they not support the plans of the Chinese shipyards, but they even wanted to remove the Japanese and Dirk from their official posts. Japan and Italy argued that cooperation with China would be in France's interest through a variety of channels. He first won the understanding and support of the naval community, and then went directly to the French Emperor Napoleon III. Napoleon III had a strong interest in the Sino-French cooperation of the Harbourmaster, and specially received Riyige and others, "ordered the superintendent to handle it attentively, and to show grace, to convey to the ministers of the ministries, and to consult the admiral stationed in China, to take care of it at any time", and awarded medals as a reward. Through a series of activities of the Japanese and Italian government, the French government changed its attitude of not supporting the Chinese shipyard, and agreed to participate in the work of Fujian shipbuilding in an official capacity, and allowed the dispatch of technical personnel and the export of machinery and equipment.

The Harbour Master appointed Ri Yige as the chief superintendent, not only because he had a good personal relationship with Zuo Zongtang and the first Harbour Master Shen Baozhen, but also because he "knew the Chinese language very well, and was also familiar with etiquette and workmanship, and did not need to rely on words and things and words on translation", but more importantly, he was a "Frenchman who was willing to maintain cooperation with China at that time, rather than adopting a hostile attitude". Although he was born in the French navy, he did not show much colonialist color in his dealings with Chinese officials, and he was very enthusiastic about his work, which was very appreciated by Zuo and Shen, so he was appointed as the chief superintendent, and another French officer with a higher rank than him, Dirk, was appointed as the deputy superintendent. There is an express agreement between the Harbour Master and the Japanese Italian Government that all foreigners must obey the orders of the highest person in charge of the Chinese side of the Harbour Master. "We have come to work for the Chinese government, and we have not renounced our rights as French subjects, but we are no longer looking for those conditions (i.e., consular jurisdiction) of the French who have usually settled in these countries." This attitude precludes the possibility of foreign personnel employed by the Harbour in the early days of the Harbour Master's unequal treaties at the time.

As the chief superintendent of the shipyard, the company faithfully fulfilled its duties and worked diligently, and in the initial period of the shipyard, the company went to France and Southeast Asia to purchase machinery and equipment and various raw materials. He personally recruited the first batch of foreign craftsmen from France to work in China. He took charge of all kinds of affairs, dispatched them in a proper manner, and fully implemented the contract terms of "package manufacturing" and "package education". Riyige handled a large number of procurement, recruitment, contracting projects and other funds, so that the accounts were clear, and no misappropriation or ingenious acquisition was found. Of course, the fact that the Japanese and Italian have always had the status of a French naval officer at the same time has indeed inevitably led to a situation in which a large number of the shipmaster's files and intelligence are in the hands of the French side.

Riyige introduced Shen Baozhen to four new foreigners, one of whom was the engineer Dash Bo of the Rochefort shipyard in France, Lin Yizhe knew that this Frenchman was actually the first real shipbuilding expert owned by the shipmaster, and also the first chief engineer of the shipyard.

Shen Baozhen welcomed the four new senior foreigners and gently exhorted everyone.

"Lord Shen has been to the riverside just now, right?" Ri Yige noticed the dirt on Shen Baozhen's official boots, and said, "As you can see, the timber for the construction of the slipway is being prepared in the past few days, and the timber is ready, and it will be ready to start soon." ”

"Mr. Dash Dash brought the drawings of our 'First Steamship.'" Riyige invited Shen Baozhen to the hall, and Dashibo came to a large table with a roll of drawings, unfolded the drawings, and Riyige invited Shen Baozhen to come forward to watch.

Lin Yizhe stood beside Shen Baozhen and carefully watched the drawings of the "No. 1 Steamship" brought by French shipbuilding experts. These drawings are supposed to have been drawn up by the same Mr. Dashborough at the Rochefort shipyard after he had been hired by the Chinese.

"According to the design requirements put forward by His Excellency the Governor (referring to Zuo Zongtang), the ship will be heavily armed, will be equipped with ten guns, and will also have an enlarged cargo hold, with a cargo capacity of up to 260 tons, and equipped with a high-powered vertical steam engine......"

Listening to Dashbo's explanation and Riyige's translation, Shen Baozhen nodded again and again, and Lin Yizhe couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he heard that this steamer was equipped with such a large cargo hold.

The detour of the shipyard site can not be taken, but the detour of the ship type is afraid that it cannot be avoided.

Lin Yizhe knew that these Frenchmen were actually very dutiful and did what the governor of Zuo had planned. If it weren't for the guiding ideology of "dual-use of arms and business" put forward by Zuo Zongtang, the French would not have designed it like this.

The Harbour Master's plan stipulates the construction of 11 150-horsepower steamers and five 80-horsepower steamers modeled after the foreign "Gunboats" (small gunboats) within five years from the date of the opening of the Shipyard. In this construction plan, Zuo Zongtang not only demanded that the steamship adopt the "foreign warship style", but also emphasized that the large steamer should carry one million catties, and the small steamer should carry three or four hundred thousand catties, and that it was both a soldier and a businessman, and at the same time there was no specification for the technological sophistication of the steamer built, as long as it was a steam steamer, the defects could be said to be very obvious.

Zuo Zongtang's decision on shipbuilding and employing people at that time was actually very abrupt. Because Zuo Zongtang felt a strong stimulus. In 1864, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, who supervised Liangjiang, successively appealed to the Qing Dynasty government and requested to set up a factory in Shanghai to build their own steamships, that is, the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau. Although he was able to ascend to the throne of officialdom step by step by being supported by Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang was resentful of the Zeng brothers because Zeng Guofan reserved the great merit of capturing the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to his brother Zeng Guoquan, and turned against him. For Li Hongzhang, he also regarded him as a great enemy because his subordinate Huai army once crossed the border into Zhejiang when pursuing the Taiping army. At this moment, Zeng and Li opened a shipbuilding factory in Shanghai, and they could create the first in China when they saw it, which greatly stimulated Zuo Zongtang. Zuo Zongtang was anxious to establish the shipyard, largely because of the dispute with Zeng Li.

There is no doubt that Zuo Zongtang's idea of founding a shipyard and building his own steamship should be fully affirmed, but at the same time, we must also see the limitations of the times that he cannot get rid of. Out of the consideration of saving money, Zuo Zongtang positioned the function of the steamship to be built as "both a merchant and a soldier", and he did not understand the essential difference between a warship and a merchant ship. Moreover, Zuo Zongtang's assumption of the maintenance expenses after the cause of the ship is even more unrealistic. He believes that "after the ship is completed, it is advisable to load commercial goods, so as to catch thieves and protect merchants, and collect fees for the benefit of labor, and it seems that there is no other way to raise funds for repairs", that is to say, according to Zuo Zongtang's original idea, there is no special maintenance fund for the ship built by the shipmaster, and the maintenance of the ship and the salary of the ship's personnel must rely on loading commercial goods to make money and maintain. In fact, this idea is simply not operational. These deficiencies have had a great negative impact on the development of the Harbour Administration since then.

Zuo Zongtang's idea of "dual-use of arms and business" can only be said to be a good wish, but after all, it is only a wish, and it is inevitable to focus on the design of warships, such as the vertical steam engine used by the French for the "No. 1 steamship" can be said to have both advantages and disadvantages, the advantage is that the vertical steam engine is more space-saving, and it is more valuable for commercial purposes that need to leave a lot of space in the ship to arrange the cargo hold. The disadvantage is that the vertical steam engine was mainly used by merchant ships at that time, and the height requirements for the installation position in the ship were large, which would inevitably cause the freeboard of the warship to be heightened, and then the broadside of the warboard was bombed in large areas, and the probability of being shot was also high, and there were many drawbacks in the use of gunboats. Judging from the characteristics of the French designed ship with a larger hull, a vertical steam engine, a cargo hold capacity of 260 tons, and the engine room and cargo hold occupy almost two-thirds of the space in the ship, the proportion of merchant ships in the design of the "No. 1 steamship" seems to be too large, but as a merchant ship, the cargo volume is too small and lacks competitiveness. Therefore, such a ship seems to be able to be used for both military and commercial purposes, but in fact, it is a mistake for both military and commercial purposes.

Lin Yizhe temporarily put aside the idea of changing the fate of the "No. 1 steamship", listened carefully to Dasbo's explanation, and memorized the relevant technical data in his mind.

After Dashibo finished explaining, Lin Yizhe already had an idea in his heart.

Shen Baozhen was obviously very satisfied with Dashbo's explanation, and he was about to open his mouth to praise, but Lin Yizhe, who was beside him, opened his mouth first.

"I would like to ask Mr. Dusbo, what kind of ship is this ship? Cruising clippers? Gunboats? ”

Lin Yizhe didn't wait for Riyige to translate for him, and he immediately repeated it in French, which he was not very proficient in. The reason why he asked questions in official language first was so that Shen Baozhen could hear his questions clearly.

Listening to Lin Yizhe's questioning, Dashbo and Riyige and the surrounding shipping officials all showed a look of astonishment.

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