The end of 1858 was a busy year for Lin Haijiang, as two of the four battleships returning from Prussia had already attracted the attention of the British, French, Russian, Dutch and other European powers, and the Dutch, in particular, sent ships to follow them for hundreds of nautical miles.

In the newly built 30,000-ton dock of the Old Port Shipyard, Lin Haijiang looked at the four warships that had recently returned to China in a daze, in order to have better warships to compete with the great arms race in Europe at this moment, Lin Haijiang provided many designs of the Dreadnought class and the monarch class to the Prussian side.

After the rigorous work style of the Prussians, the four ships that returned to China have become almost perfect works of art, the streamlined hull can have a more flexible swing angle, the low building bridge and the rear half to the chimney, the front and rear two stages of the main gun layout, wide and low waterline, all of this is already the design concept of the modern hull, Lin Haijiang very much at this moment is to change the combination of those Prussian technical engineers who provided him with design drawings.

The two largest of them were manufactured by the Prussian Hamburg shipyard, with a standard hull length of 138 meters, a waterline length of 112 meters, a width of 25.5 meters, a draft of 5.8 meters, a standard displacement of 7,800 tons, a full load displacement of 8,600 tons, and six Burgunse cyclone ramjet boilers, four large vertical reciprocating three-rise return steam engines, two-shaft dual-line propulsion, a single engine with a horsepower of 4,700 horsepower, a maximum coal load of 1,200 tons, a maximum combat speed of 15 knots, and a cruising range of 2,750 nautical miles [10] knots.

The ship has a crew of 660 people and has four twin 360 mm 20 times caliber Krupp latest main guns, which are located in a fully enclosed diamond-shaped armored enclosure mounted on the bow of the ship.

Twenty rapid-fire secondary guns with a large elevation angle of 128 mm were arranged on the left and right sides of the hull, and the multi-caliber secondary guns were canceled and the concept of single-caliber secondary guns was adopted.

The original Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships were renamed the Loyalty and Rigor training ships, and were officially handed over to the Imperial Chinese Naval Academy in the old port.

The other two fast armored cruisers with a standard displacement of 4,700 tons also used six Burguns cyclone ramjet boilers, four large vertical reciprocating three-rise return steam engines, two-shaft dual-line propulsion, and a single engine with a horsepower of 4,700 horsepower, so that the speed has reached the absolute significance of the era speed of 18.5 knots.

If Zhenyuan and Dingyuan still have the meaning of small horses and carts, then these two ships are definitely models of large horses and carts.

The two ships were named Fu A and Fu B, and the new boilers and steam engines of Fu A and Fu B can be said to be the top configuration of this era, and it can even be said that they are completely wasteful, and they are installed on armored cruisers with the power system of the capital ship? This directly led to the Fu A, Fu B internal space is extremely narrow, the layout is complex like a labyrinth, once the hull is shot and fired, it is troublesome to rescue, although the later period has undergone some pattern adjustments, but on the whole it is an unreasonable design, for the sake of a single pursuit of speed and gave up protection and fire isolation, so the configuration can only be said that Prussia is also practicing their theory.

It's just that the victim of this attempt has become Lin Haijiang, although Lin Haijiang is very dissatisfied with the design of Fu A and Fu B, but he is very interested in Krupp's latest 128 mm large elevation angle secondary gun, this kind of artillery has not been included in the production model in the Old Port Artillery Factory, the Old Port Artillery Factory still produces 100 mm Krupp secondary guns, in order to unify the caliber, Lin Haijiang has contacted the Prussian side, In addition to artillery, he also ordered 30 sets of six-seat Burgunsi cyclone ramjet boilers and large vertical reciprocating three-rise reflux steam engines for replacement and backup of ships such as Zhiyuan.

Lin Haijiang's large number of ships and accessories, artillery, rifles, and military supplies ordered in Prussia had already made the Prussians' pockets bulge, and the Prussians, who had already swollen their pockets, began one of the worst habits of their nation, that is, they began to frantically invest in the development of armaments by gathering the strength of the country and the nation.

The Prussians followed Lin Haijiang's suggestion and focused on the development of the army and the equipment training of large-caliber artillery units, and 12 of the 17 ironclad ships with a tonnage of more than 7,000 tons started by the navy were all ordered by Lin Haijiang.

However, Lin Haijiang also successfully made two big deals, that is, he sold a total of 39 ships of various types captured by Britain, France, and the Netherlands to the shogunate.

It's just that the shogunate can't pay this astronomical amount of ship goods for the time being, and the current Tokugawa shogunate is simply too many lice and is not afraid of biting, a large number of rifled front-loading rifles, six-pounder guns, instructors' training fees, etc. are all arrears, and the repayment method is to use the minerals and taxes in the hands of the daimyo who disobeyed the Tokugawa shogunate in various places as collateral.

The two feudal domains of Satsuma and Changzhou have become frightened birds, they originally thought that with such powers as Britain and the United States as the backstage, they could sit back and relax, but how did they know that the power of the Nanyang forest and sea frontier is so great? In just half a year, the Tokugawa shogunate not only surpassed the British and American Far East fleets in size, but also trained a new army of more than 30,000 men and more than 200 large and small artillery pieces.

What frightened the Satsuma and Choshu feudal domains even more was that the famous mountain silver mines, Tada iron mines, and Inan copper mines under their jurisdiction were all handed over to the Chinese Empire by official documents issued by the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Chinese Empire had the right to mine for 99 years, and could be requisitioned from the two feudal domains of Satsuma and Choshu as military port garrisons.

The angry and frightened Satsuma and Choshu feudatories can only rely on the second group of negotiators they sent to the old port at this moment, and they have learned the lesson of the failure of the first negotiation, because they did not see Lin Haijiang himself at all in the last negotiation, and only got a reply, I don't talk to the ugly pig's head!

The negotiator Ozawa committed suicide by seppuku on the way back, all because the other party disliked his ugly appearance, so this time the Satsuma and Choshu feudal domains sent representatives who were not ugly, because they knew very well that the real black hand behind the Tokugawa shogunate was Lin Haijiang, the governor of the Chinese Empire, and without Lin Haijiang's support, the tens of thousands of new troops of the Tokugawa shogunate would run out of food and pay at any time.

In the conference room of the Zhenyuan ship, Lin Haijiang looked at the tail gun of the Zhenyuan ship and the Dingyuan ship that was slowly leaving the port in the distance from the porthole, and was excited, in Lin Haijiang's view, this is the real warship, 360 mm 20 times the caliber twin Krupp main gun, 1-2 rounds per minute combat rate of fire, using a hinged flat-loading ammunition system, when the main gun armor is fired, the muzzle of the B 1 gun is flattened 90 degrees to fill the ammunition pack, and the twin main guns work alternately, launching the 328 kg warhead to 22 kilometers away.

From Lin Haijiang's point of view, the 360 mm main gun has been fully able to equip the battlecruiser, and its huge future makes up for the shortcomings of its slow rate of fire and poor accuracy, but this type of gun is Krupp in accordance with the information, ideas, precautions, etc. provided by Lin Haijiang, and the turret was split according to the test firing, and there is no actual combat experience, and only its 20 times the body tube has gone through as many as 39 processes, and it has failed many times in processing. The engineers and mechanics of the Krupp plant worked hard day and night to achieve great success, and the 2,000 workers and 129 technicians and would-be engineers who studied at the Krupp plant in the old port played an irreplaceable role in the overall assembly of metallurgical processing and machining.

Needless to say, such a powerful cannon already represented the crowning achievement of Prussian industry and manufacturing.

These weapons, which were supposed to be at least twenty years later, were actually created? For Lin Haijiang, it is equivalent to seizing the commanding heights at the tactical level, under the same tonnage of protective armor thickness, you can't penetrate me, and I can completely destroy you, what kind of initiative is this?

Lin Haijiang's Zhenyuan and Dingyuan are different from the two ships of the Beiyang Fleet in history, although Lin Haijiang's two ships were born twenty years earlier than the historical Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships, but they are much higher than the two ships in terms of surname and protection, and the reason is very simple, that is, Lin Haijiang is willing to spend money, and Prussia is also willing to give him the best things.

After a while, Li Anmin, Zhang Wei, Ma Jiang, Ma Tao, Tang Zhiqiang, Qin Shuige, Guan Chao, Du Haipeng, Xu Muchen, Yang Tianhua, Feng Guohua, Zhang Zheng, Xu Dawei, and Liu Quansi of the Marine Corps, and Wang Faren of the Intelligence Department entered the conference room.

As the captain of the Zhenyuan ship, Feng Guohua is naturally extremely proud, Ma Jiang and others are also red-eyed, Feng Guohua can be regarded as finally getting out of the head, Yang Tianhua, who is also smiling so much, is also one of the targets of everyone who coaxed to ask for a treat, Yang Tianhua, who has always lived a relatively frugal life, actually made an exception and took out a roll of silver and said with a smile: "I don't drink much, and the money is handed over to my mother, and I will use it to marry my daughter-in-law later, this is my private money, everyone takes it to the bar!" ”

Yang Tianhua's hand made Ma Jiang present very depressed, drinking is actually just to have a good time, everyone is basically single, and they really don't take money seriously in terms of their income.

Liu Quansi and Xu Dawei were transferred from Guangzhou, so they were not familiar with this aspect, but the two ships Zhenyuan and Dingyuan gave them two extremely strong confidence and courage.

After a while, Lin Haijiang saw that everyone was almost talking, so he said loudly: "Okay, no, I haven't talked enough to give you time to chat, so let's let the staff master Zhang Wei announce the battle sequence!" ”

The conference room immediately became silent, and everyone who was still laughing before put away their smiles, and after tidying up their military appearance, they sat on their chairs without smiling.

Zhang Wei looked around and saluted: "I have studied in Prussia for three years, returned to China two months ago, and is now the chief of staff of the General Staff Headquarters of the Chinese Imperial Navy. ”

As soon as Zhang Wei's words came out, all the people present immediately stood up and said in unison: "Please ask for instructions from the capital!" ”

Zhang Wei opened the wax-sealed operational documents and said loudly: "The Zhenyuan ship is the flagship of our empire's First Fleet, the Yang Tianhua Dingyuan ship, the Ma Jiang Zhiyuan ship, the Xu Muchen Weiyuan ship, the Guan Chao Jiyuan ship, and the Ma Tao Jingyuan ship formed the first strike formation, and the fleet commander Lin Haijiang Metropolitan Governor, Deputy Commander Ma Jiang, and Chief of Staff Li Anmin are responsible for providing artillery cover for the Marine Corps that has been in battle before landing. ”

Zhang Wei paused for a moment and continued: "Zhang Shengfu A and Qi Guobin Fu B, Du Haipeng Laiyuan, Qin Shui Ge Pingyuan, and Tang Zhiqiang Fuyuan are the second strike formation, Fleet Commander Tang Zhiqiang, Deputy Commander Du Haipeng, and Chief of Staff Zhang Wei are responsible for covering and guarding the outer line in the fleet's landing operation, and the Marine Corps Liu Quansi and Xu Dawei are under the unified command of Zhang Zheng, and the established combat plan is implemented, and Wang Faren of the Intelligence Department cooperates. ”

"All of them!" After Zhang Wei announced the order, he roared loudly: "Ming said that on January 1, 1859, it was said that the name of our Chinese Empire was justified, and the Metropolitan Governor Lin Haijiang officially resigned from the post of Metropolitan Governor and became the head of the Chinese Empire, and set 1859 as the first year of the Chinese Empire. ”

Oh, my God! Except for Wang Faren, who knew in advance, the rest of the captains and generals were all kept in the dark, and they thought that the celebration they were preparing was for triumph, but they didn't expect it to be the day they had been looking forward to.

Lin Haijiang smiled and let everyone calm down: "The diplomatic note of the empire has been prepared, and at the same time as attacking Hainan Island, it is also the time for us to break with the Qing court, for the survival of the nation, for the sake of the people of the world, this battle is inevitable for us!" ”

On January 1, 1859, the old port can be described as a beautiful wind, but it did not last long, because this season itself is the southeast air flow and the northwest air flow often collide, after the downpour, the air is more fresh, the continuous light rain makes the people waiting for the celebration be wet for a while, the original prepared fireworks and firecrackers can not be ignited, Wang Dongxu has an idea to let all the old port batteries and warships release empty bombs.

In the earth-shaking cannon, Lin Haijiang, who was dressed in a navy blue generalissimo uniform, walked to the front of the stage and solemnly pressed his hand on the constitution of the Chinese Empire.

What Lin Haijiang is preparing is to read talents, so that he will not be stupid enough to add boredom obstacles to himself, Congress? He threw all the houses into the Pacific Ocean, and that's what it means to read a talent.

Lin Haijiang solemnly raised his left hand and swore an oath: "I swear!" He was inaugurated as the first head of the Chinese Empire and the generalissimo of the army and navy, dedicated to the public and the people! Restore the mountains and rivers of my Han family, peace and war at home, invasion from outside, treat the people well, and may the moon shine on my Chinese people......"

Lin Hanlin and his wife stood silently on the viewing platform behind Lin Haijiang, the old couple was so excited that tears blurred their eyes, they have always been proud of their son's achievements, and today their son even pulled the flag and set off a cannon to overthrow the Qing Dynasty?

If Lin Hanlin would have been disdainful in the past, he said no when the long-haired thief rebelled, but he was full of confidence in his son, the long-haired thief rebelled in Guangzhou, his son swept away, the invasion of English and French soldiers was his son's peace, and the invasion of the two countries into Gyeonggi was also solved by his son, in Lin Hanlin's eyes, Lin Haijiang has become an omnipotent person.

Maybe his son can really end this Qing Dynasty, Lin Hanlin has the bottom of his heart, his son's steel giant ship even foreigners hold their breath and build it at home, let alone the Qing Dynasty, at least take a step back and say that the territory is still stable.

Also standing on the viewing platform was Shen Tianfu, who was so regretful that his intestines were almost green, and when Lin Haijiang took the oath, he whispered blame Shen Yilan for why he hadn't taken Lin Haijiang down? Shen Yilan was angry but her face turned red and said, "He's not always in the old port, can you take one down and show me?" ”

Shen Tianfu hurriedly said: "I want to take him down, it's only to blame if he doesn't shoot me, daughter!" You're going to do your best! Look at that foreign girl in uniform, you are the queen's material! ”

Cluna, who was standing next to Shen Tianfu's father and daughter, held back a smile and whispered: "You can't be called the queen, you have to be called Mrs., Your Excellency is a scholar of the political axe, and his wife should be called Mrs., and this set of bright blue uniforms is prepared for officials of the Public Works Bureau and the Commerce Bureau, and the respected lady is not needed." ”

Cluna's words made Shen Tianfu's father and daughter stunned at that time, Shen Yilan stomped her feet and ran away, Lin Hanlin glanced in this direction, and Shen Tianfu hurriedly hugged a smile.

The only foreign envoy present at the ceremony was the Prussian plenipotentiary von Von Brown, who had come to inspect the ceremony. Count D'Will, as well as engineers such as Padino and Alem.

After the oath was taken, Lin Haijiang ordered people to remove the constitution, and said in a dignified voice: "Today may only be an insignificant day for history, and it is also an insignificant day for countries all over the world, but for our Chinese nation that has experienced hardships, today is a memorable and proud day. For the people of Li who can shine in the sunshine all over the world, today! From now on, we will shed our blood and sacrifice for this, without complaint or regret. ”

Lin Haijiang paused for a moment and continued: "Please remember that our struggle today is not for ourselves, but for our next generation, as well as their children and grandchildren, at that time, the Chinese Empire was vast and powerful, and the people of the world would be greatly respected in any corner of the world, and people all over the world were crazy to be able to obtain the nationality of the Chinese Empire, so that our next generation would not be threatened by the clouds of war, and let them live happily!" I have a good wish, and for the sake of this ideal and goal, today we will fight a bloody battle against all enemies who stand in our way, whether they come from outside or from within. ”

Lin Haijiang waved his arm vigorously and said: "Crush all our enemies, completely destroy them from the spirit to the **, so that the sun can shine on the corners and flutter the flag of the empire, that flag must be dyed red by blood!" The Chinese Empire will surely stand tall in the East, and the Chinese nation will surely stand tall among the nations of the world! You will witness the rise of the Chinese Empire! ”

(To be continued)