Fuzhou.

What an amazing city it is.

China's first modern steel plant, power plant, steam engine factory, and shipyard were born here, and it is also the cradle of the Chinese Navy and one of the cradles of the modern army.

Hu Chuyuan likes this city and has a special atmosphere.

He took his family and came to the Fuzhou Shipyard Yamen again, still living on the beautiful Pingding Mountain, and still the familiar Shipmaster Yamen.

Since 1884, the Minister of Shipping of Fuzhou has not been set up to read, and for the time being, Mei Qizhao, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, is concurrently in charge, and the person who really controls it is Hu Chuyuan.

Revisiting the old place, Hu Chuyuan thought a lot, and also thought of the large-scale raid launched against him by Shibusawa Pingdong in Fuzhou.

Shibusawa Heito...... It's like a person who has disappeared, and the world has evaporated.

I don't know why, Hu Chuyuan is convinced that this person will continue to hide in China, but he has changed his identity.

After arriving in Fuzhou, Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything, just visited various factories in Mawei to make sure that everything was developing according to his design.

Fuzhou has two modern warship factories, one is the old Mawei shipyard and the other is the Luoyuanwan shipyard, the latter of which started late, but its own port and dock conditions are better, and the current scale is larger.

After arriving at the Mawei Engine Wheel Boiler Factory, which was located in Fushan Woli, Hu Chuyuan saw a new type of steam turbine.

The scale of this plant is the largest in Asia, founded by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Machinery and Wheel Bureau and the Jiangnan Commercial Bank Heavy Industry Bureau, with six branches, more than 20 French-style large workshops, each of which is 100 meters long, and can also be said to be the most profitable factory under the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Yamen, selling more than 600 diesel engines, steam engines and supporting boilers every year.

In this day and age, this is a truly high-tech industry.

In order to keep secrets, the new steam turbine production workshop is arranged in a farther and more remote area, with strict sentry posts around it, and the entire Mawei Shipbuilding District is a military center, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering, so the confidentiality of information is not a big problem.

In the newly established two mutually supporting workshops, two steam turbines more than 20 meters long are being produced, the noise in the workshop is very loud, and more than 100 technicians are also busy.

The workshop is equipped with high-power lamp rows for lighting, which can also facilitate the factory to produce in three shifts 24 hours a day when needed.

Walking out of the workshop, Hu Chuyuan didn't rush to say anything.

He had been thinking about it in his heart.

In front of him was the office building of the engine wheel and boiler factory, so he took people in first to rest for a while.

After entering the office, Hu Chuyuan asked the idlers and others to withdraw first, leaving only Zheng Qinglian, the person in charge of the engine factory, Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao, the other two chief engineers of the Shipping Bureau, and Wu Zhengbing, the shipping master.

After a moment of precipitation in his heart, Hu Chuyuan and the four people asked: "At present, in the world, what is the level of steam turbines?" ”

Several people did not dare to speak for a while.

Now it's different, Hu Chuyuan is a first-class member of the imperial court, and his real power is second only to Prince Gong, the minister of the military aircraft foreman, and he is nominally weak to Prince Su Longqin, the prime minister of foreign affairs, so he naturally has to be more careful when speaking in front of him.

Everyone peeked at each other, and then looked at Zheng Qinglian in unison.

There is no way, Zheng Qinglian is an expert in this area.

Zheng Qinglian could only bite the bullet and Hu Chuyuan and said: "Back to the senior minister, although our steam turbine research work is relatively early, but after all, there are some deficiencies, in the eighth year of Guangxu, we and the Swede Laval bought his technology patent, to make up for some of our defects, and ten years ago, through the Wanqi Technology Bureau to buy the British Parsons reactionary steam turbine patent. In the twelfth year of Guangxu, Xiaguan also hired the American Curtis and the Swiss Zorle to secretly work on new multi-level reactionary patents in our bureau. ”

Hu Chuyuan asked: "How much horsepower steam turbine are you building now, and can you use it?" What is the level of the UK and France? ”

Zheng Qinglian said: "At present, the best steam turbine technology is still us, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, but we have three leading technologies, one is boiler fuel technology, that is to say, others are coal-fired boilers, we are oil-fired boilers." The second advantage technology is the combined impulsive and reactionary two-group steam turbine, and the third is the multi-speed control of the two-group blades. Of course, our expenses over the years have also been greater than others, and it has cost a lot of money just to buy other people's patents and prototypes......! ”

When it comes to money, they are apprehensive.

Over the years, they have indeed spent a lot of money.

Hu Chuyuan didn't care, and asked, "In terms of use, it should be practical, right?" ”

Zheng Qinglian said: "We have always tried to use it on warships, and we specially built two test ships to secretly test in Sandu Aoli. Let's ...... now. A more stable one can build 1,700 horsepower, in comparison, taking the Jiangwei-class frigate as an example, it can only install two steam engines with 1,200 horsepower, but in the same space, we can install two steam turbines with 1,700 horsepower, and the thermal efficiency is also higher. The Type 03 steam turbine we are building now is mainly used for the Chunyu-class ironclad ship, and a prototype ship will come out by the end of the year. ”

Spring rain level.

This is a new type of destroyer designed by Bai Laoyi for Fuzhou Shipmaster, and the whole idea is still led by Hu Chuyuan, and Bai Laoyi and Wei Han are responsible.

After the end of the Sino-French War, the French Admiralty and the French people had a very bad attitude towards him, believing that he was bribed by the Chinese, not only built very good warships for the Chinese, but also concealed a lot of key information.

Hu Chuyuan spent a lot of effort and money to take him and his family out of France, immigrate to California, and let him continue to serve as the chief engineer of the Oakland shipyard.

In line with the principle of using practice instead of raw time, at the end of 1887, after he gradually passed the most difficult moment, Hu Chuyuan hired him with a large amount of money and invited him back to Fuzhou Shipyard Yamen to serve as the chief consultant and chief designer.

At present, he and Wei Han are responsible for the design of the main warships of Fuzhou Shipbuilding, such as the Fuzhou-class first-class ironclad ship, the Chaowu-class second-class dome cruiser, the Zhenjiang-class defense ship, and the Huyong-class gunboat.

The renovation project of the three ships of the Saint-Zenard class of France and the new Chunyu-class third-class light ironclad ships are also his handiwork, including a number of warships ordered and produced by the Fuzhou Shipmaster in Britain, Germany and the United States in the past few years, as well as the six warships ordered by the Fuzhou Shipmaster on behalf of the Beiyang Naval Division, all of which have his painstaking efforts.

Bai Laoyi is supervising the construction of the Chunyu class at the Luoyuanwan Shipyard and cannot return for the time being.

Spring rain level.

Thinking of this, Hu Chuyuan stood up and said, "Let's go, seeing is believing, let's go to Luoyuan Bay to see the Spring Rain Ship." ”

He said let's go, let's go.

No one dared to complain, the hurried, wind-washed banquet was temporarily put on hold, and the group accompanied him to continue to the Luoyuan Bay Shipyard by boat.

Luoyuan Bay, which is also a magical place, was once regarded as the best deep-water harbor in China, a world-class deep-water port.

The overall size of Luoyuan Bay is slightly smaller than the bays of Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco, and it is difficult to rank among the three deep-water ports in the world, but it can still be in the top five.

As a military port, this is simply the largest in the world.

At this time, Luoyuan Bay also belonged to the military garrison area, and without the approval of the Fuzhou Shipping Administration, foreign ships and individuals were not allowed to intervene, and even local fishermen were transferred out of the most secret "Aoli Military Region", and no one was allowed to intervene within a radius of 20 kilometers.

In order to prevent foreign countries, especially those who have sent people to peep through telescopes in the surrounding mountains, two naval divisions and land battalions are stationed in the entire surrounding area, which are specially responsible for conducting investigations.

In the past two years, the Fuzhou Ship Administration secretly detained at least 20 people, saying that they did not say a word, and the French did not speak, so these people were kept in Mawei Prison, and the British negotiated several times.

Everyone is full of curiosity, fear, and vigilance about Luoyuan Bay in the Qing Empire.

Hu Chuyuan's Xinyangwu cruiser slowly sailed into Aoli, in this mysterious bay within the bay, as if there is another kind of scenery, around the bay corner, the sea water has become extremely calm, in the far bay suddenly appeared a modern industrial base, moored a large number of warships.

Surrounded by the shade of mountains, the pale silver sand beach is pure and beautiful, the water is turquoise and quiet, and the blue, white, and red warships are lined up like giants, anchored in the orderly military port.

It was getting late, and the twilight of the military port was even more gorgeous at this moment.

The three major naval divisions have their own characteristics and are not unified with each other, and the battleships of the East China Sea Division uniformly use dark blue paint, supplemented by red and white.

The golden-red glow fell on the sea, reflecting the warships, and it looked particularly beautiful.

The Yangwu slowly stopped, Hu Chuyuan walked down from the Banqiao with the accompanying officials, the telegram had already been conveyed here, the commander of the East China Sea Division, Ye Zuqi, the chief soldier Deng Shichang, and the army battalion chief soldier Ye Bojun gathered at the port to greet them, along with Wu Dezhang, the supervisor of the Luoyuanwan Shipyard, and Bai Laoyi, the technical chief adviser of the Fuzhou Shipyard.

are all old acquaintances, and Hu Chuyuan is quite happy to see everyone.

He smiled and arched his hands, but everyone was nervous to meet together, there was no way, now he is a big official in the imperial court, and this is about to be capped.

Hu Chuyuan asked everyone to get up and go back to the camp of the water division first.

In the general camp of the East China Sea Division in Luoyuan Bay, Hu Chuyuan also asked about the current situation of the East China Sea Division, but he only asked what the specific information was, and there was a detailed summary of information every month, and he knew it very well in his heart.

The spring rain level is urgent, 24 hours overtime, three shifts in turn.

Hu Chuyuan simply had a dinner party to catch the wind and wash the dust, and asked Wu Dezhang and Bai Laoyi to take him to the dock to watch the spring rain.

Luoyuan Bay has five docks, one of the 8,000-ton class, two of the 5,000-ton class, and two of the 3,000-ton class, and a new dock of 10,000 tons is being built, which is a very large standard among warship manufacturers.

The supporting steel, machinery and equipment are mainly provided from Fuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, and the shipyard itself also has a number of supporting machinery and steel workshops.

The design displacement tonnage of the Chunyu-class second-class light ironclad ship is 2,480 tons, because the design margin is relatively large, and the actual tonnage is about 2,600 tons.

The four incandescent light rows in the dock have been lit up, illuminating the dock as bright as day, and the mechanics of the second shift have entered the workshop one after another, and some are still changing shifts, which looks a little busy and messy.

In the dock, the Chunyu has completed the manufacture of the hull, is hoisting a new type of steam turbine, and more than a dozen new 120 mm caliber tube repellent rapid-fire guns are also parked in the warehouses on both sides, which are produced by the Fuzhou Machine Gun Factory.

At the upper dock, the Thunderstorm is laying the keel.

From the middle of 1886, the relevant technical demonstration was held under the auspices of Wei Han, and from the end of 1887, Bai Laoyi returned to Fuzhou Shipbuilding, and the Chunyu class officially began the design and large-scale test work, and built a prototype ship in advance to carry out various technical tests.

This class of warships has many new features, first of all, in terms of design ideas, it is a replacement for light dome cruisers, and at the same time undertakes many tasks such as mine clearance, mine clearance, torpedoes, etc., and has a stable artillery output capability.

For this reason, from the very beginning, it can only be an ironclad ship with low ironclad defense capabilities, that is, a light ironclad ship specially proposed by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding. Secondly, it must use the four technologies of nickel steel, steam turbine, fuel oil, and rapid-fire guns at the same time, and in the torpedo setting, it must also use the gas torpedo that is being tested.

Because the number of shipborne artillery is still relatively large, and the functions undertaken by shipborne personnel are many and cumbersome, all artillery must adopt electronic control technology, and the work of artillery loading must be simple and reliable, which restricts the use of artillery with a caliber of more than 150 mm, because the shells are too large, and the ammunition supply mechanism is too complex and slow.

In the design, the Chunyu class has four torpedo launchers, twelve 120 mm rapid-fire guns, and the main gun is a 150 mm twin rapid-fire gun, all of which use a half-gun emplacement to reduce the weight of the armor.

Another feature of the Spring Rain class is the square tail, not the fish-shaped tail.

Because its tonnage is a small class among ocean-going ships, the use of a flat-tailed type is conducive to the stability of the hull, and it is also conducive to the arrangement of steam turbine engines, but the problem is that the hull cannot be reversed like other ironclad ships, and can only rely on better turning surnames to achieve maneuverable combat on the sea.

The design idea of the square tail was proposed by Hu Chuyuan in February 1888, for which Bai Laoyi and Wei Han were forced to conduct long-term model tests, and finally determined that the square tail did have more advantages, especially to make the ship's center of gravity move backward and achieve better maneuvering and turning.

On the basis of small tonnage, this can also greatly increase the utilization rate of the hull.

In 1886, the Carnegie Materials Laboratory completed the nickel steel test, and in 1887, the Auckland Military Factory and the Carnegie Laboratory completed the test of six different types of nickel-chromium steel, and declared the patented technology in Europe and the United States.

In 1888, Harvey, a metal materials engineer at the Carnegie Laboratories, proposed a new low-pressure oil mist jet cold die-casting technology on the basis of the original military cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel, which greatly improved the strength and toughness of nickel-chromium steel.

The advantage is that the defensive effect of 10-inch HAWE Hydraulik is equivalent to 11-inch cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel, which is equivalent to 12-inch Krupp and British Armstrong cold-pressed nickel-pressed nickel steel, 13-inch French nickel steel, and 15-inch British mixed steel armor.

Moreover, in the latter cases, except for the earliest British mixed steel armor, the hardness of the steel is strong enough, but the toughness is insufficient, and the toughness of HAWE steel is just right.

At the beginning of 1889, the manufacturing process of HAWE Hydraulik Steel was introduced into the Fuzhou Iron and Steel General Plant, and at present, it mainly imports chrome ore from the United States, and extracts its own nickel and manganese in Huizhou and Yingtan, Jiangxi.

The steel used in the Chunyu was purchased from the Auckland shipyard, while the Leiyu already used domestic HAWE steel supplied by Fuzhou Iron and Steel General Works.

(To be continued)