There is no doubt that Los Angeles is a new, trendy and special city for all visiting French people, and the city may not be as artistic and humanistic as Paris, but even the French cannot deny that the city is full of simplicity and beauty. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThey don't know what this style was called modernism in later generations, but they think it's very different from European architecture.

Another thing that amazes the French about the city's architecture is the number of high-rise buildings in particular. When the city of Los Angeles was first built, it was filled with a large number of wooden two- and three-story small dormitory buildings, but in recent years, when all kinds of building materials are complete and the construction industry is developed, the height of the dormitory building has become six floors, and even some taller buildings have appeared, such as the Los Angeles commercial building, a total of 20 floors, many companies have offices here, in the eyes of the French, this "glass tower", is already a very amazing existence.

When the French came to Los Angeles, they immersed themselves in all kinds of things. The French with discerning taste buds are keen to taste the food of Datang, and some people are crazy to shop in various stores of Datang, buying everything from pencils to coffee pots and luxury beds. Datang goods are expensive in France, and most of them are rare things that the French have never heard of or seen, and many of them are particularly easy to use, such as the flower water that Vice Admiral de Olivier now rubs on his body, which is more effective against mosquito bites, and the taste is fragrant and intoxicating.

In fact, Mr. Vice Admiral had been visiting Datang for a week, and he and his colleagues were either in and out of various malls and buying anything they could see. Or taste special food in one of the Datang hotels. They even rode on horseback to hunt in the countryside. Fishing in the offshore waters on a speedboat made by the Tang Dynasty - this is a bit of a pleasure.

The people who can come to Datang on business are basically nobles and wealthy officials and merchants, maybe the goods of Datang are unattainable for the poor people of France, but for them it is extremely cost-effective, after all, most of them have been slaughtered by Spanish second-class dealers.

So much so that some modern people who see the French who are crazy about shopping, eating, drinking and having fun can't help but have a sense of déjà vu when Chinese tyrants went abroad to buy luxury stores and spend a lot of money.

President Zhao Daling has a list on his desk. In a week, the amount of consumption by this group of French people in Los Angeles has exceeded 300,000 Tang Yuan, which is still the situation that they did not stock up a large number of goods and wanted to sell them, basically for personal consumption. This can't help but make Zhao Daling wonder whether he should also open up the tourism industry in Datang to stimulate consumption or something. However, there are too few people like French tyrants, and it takes two months to come to the west coast of North America from Europe, even if it is a cruise ship with better conditions in Datang, it is a torturous thing.

Fortunately, these French people still know what they are doing in Datang. Vice Admiral de Olivier, Mr. de Olivier, after a week of playing. Shi Shiran followed the person in charge of the Long Beach Shipyard of the Datang Military Industrial Enterprise to their office to discuss the purchase of Datang warships by the French Navy.

In order to win this business, the people at the Long Beach Shipyard are also very attentive. Because to obtain this order, it is not only necessary to come up with an effective shipbuilding program at a price that satisfies the French, but also not to be too advanced in terms of performance, otherwise the cabinet will definitely not be willing.

The Long Beach shipyard was an experienced warship builder after all, and they quickly cobbled together a design for the 3,000-ton ironclad cruiser.

Intuitive name, this type of warship has a tonnage of about 3,000 tons, and there is nothing innovative about the ship, and it is a decent ironclad ship in the second half of the 19th century. She will use a 4-cylinder horizontal reciprocating steam engine, capable of producing 1200 horsepower, which will propel the battleship to a sea speed of about 12 knots. In addition to the two large chimneys, the ship will retain three masts, which can also be pushed by the wind. The hull will be covered with a layer of vertical armor that is very thin enough to break with a single shot using conical armor-piercing shells, but it shouldn't be much of a problem to withstand solid shells. There was no armor in such important places as ammunition depots in the cabin, and there was no horizontal armor. In terms of armament, a weakened version of the rifled guns of two calibers, 76 mm and 155 mm guns, was used, and the designers tastefully named this series of guns after the president, which became the Daling gun. Although the caliber is similar to that of the Yangwei class used by Datang, due to factors such as the design of the body barrel and other components, the casting process, and the low chamber pressure caused by the use of only black powder, the firing range of the Daling 76 mm gun can only reach 800-1200 yards, and the range of the 155 mm gun has just reached 2000 yards. And since both of the above guns were front-loading guns, the rate of fire was not fast.

Naturally, compared with the various naval guns now equipped by the British, the Daling gun is in a leading position in any performance. Therefore, when de Olivier saw these data, he couldn't help but applaud, saying: "If this kind of battleship can become the glory of the French navy, let it be a 'glory-class' ironclad cruiser." ”

I have to say that history sometimes has amazing coincidences, the first type of ironclad ship developed by the French in the 19th century for the purpose of ocean-going warfare is called the glory class.

D'Olivier decided that France needed this ship, so he asked, "How much does it cost to sell for such a ship?" ”

With a smile like a spring breeze, the manager of the Long Beach Shipyard stretched out five fingers and said, "Five million Tang Yuan." ”

De Olivier almost stumbled, after many days of shopping in Los Angeles, he already knew what the value of the Tang Dynasty currency, Tang Yuan, was valued, and if only converted to gold and silver, 1 Tang Yuan was equal to 3. 4 livres, and the purchasing power is very good, he shouted: "Five million Tang Yuan, that's 17 million livres, even if His Majesty wants to build a super battleship, that is, the price of 3 million livres, such a battleship actually costs 17 million, it's crazy, it's ridiculous!" ”

The Super Battleship is actually a first-class battleship, but it has more gun emplacements and can reach as many as 122 guns.

Of course, the manager knew that the price had more than doubled, but he said calmly: "According to you, a super battleship built by France itself is three million livres, so one Glory-class is almost the price of six super-sail battleships, so do you think six super-sail battleships can defeat one Glory-class?" ”

De Oliveer stopped talking, he was not stupid, he was clear about how the Tang people used kite flying tactics to kill the British Royal Navy in the Atlantic, although the Glory-class cruisers were lagging behind the first-generation battleships of the Tang Dynasty in terms of performance, but the performance advantage still existed, with the ability of speed, artillery and defense trinity, it was also possible for the Glory-class to overturn six super battleships. Moreover, De Olivier is very good at calculating, a super battleship needs only 1,000 crews, six is nearly 6,000 people, these sailors eat, drink, Lazar and pay are all invested by the navy, and a Glory-class cruiser only needs more than 400 people to be able to operate, and the remaining money of the sailors alone is quite a large amount.

The manager of the shipyard instigated: "Mr. Vice Admiral, think about it, if you have so many powerful battleships and lead some ordinary sail warships, no fleet of the British Royal Navy can defeat the French Navy, and the French Navy can comprehensively suppress the British Royal Navy at sea, without the Navy, the British will not be able to protect their overseas interests, at that time, the colonies will not be able to take what France wants?" ”

De Olivier couldn't help but nodded, the strength of the British Royal Navy was something that no Frenchman could ignore, although as a vice admiral of the French army, De Olivier would not verbally admit that the British were stronger, but he knew that if it really pulled to fight, the French Navy would lose a lot. Moreover, although the French navy recovered some vitality after the Seven Years' War, its strength on the books is still relatively limited.

Now is a great time for the French, not only to be able to reap the shame of the British but also to reap some substantial benefits after the North American War of Independence, and the fact that the British have been challenged in the Indian colonies. As long as Britain is overwhelmed again by war, then it will not be difficult for France to realize its dream of dominating the European continent and the world's colonies.

The pattern of Europe after the Middle Ages is nothing more than that Britain is strong and France is weak, or France is weak and Britain is strong, and the contradictions between the two sides that have been fought for centuries are not easy to resolve.

Although the price of the Glory-class cruiser was indeed too expensive, it was of great significance for the revival of the French navy, and de Olivier himself already wanted to buy it, but for such a big matter, he also needed to bring the design and quotation back to Paris, and it was up to Louis XVI and the French government to decide.

Looking at the expression of the French vice admiral, the manager already knew that he would push the French army to buy this type of battleship. However, what made him somewhat troubled was that because the Tang Navy was still purchasing Liberty Wind class and Pinghai class warships, the Long Beach shipyard could not come up with any production capacity to manufacture warships for the French, and the shipyard had already discussed internally outsourcing some work to the private West Coast shipyard, that is, Zhang Jinkai's shipyard. This will inevitably affect the profitability of the Long Beach shipyard, but there is no way to do it.

However, the navy is the happiest, a glory-class is sold, and the net profit is a Pinghai-class cruiser, this knife is willing to slaughter the French, and the Datang Navy can also benefit a lot, with the hospitality of the French, the Datang Navy can fill at least two more Pinghai-class cruisers into the ranks. (To be continued.) )