The time soon came to February of the fifth year of Hongwu, and the situation in the north became more and more tense, and the atmosphere of war became more and more intense, and there was a tendency to break out. In order to support the Northern Expedition of the imperial court, the people from all over the country have donated generously, and those who have money have contributed powerfully, in short, the people of the Great Jin Dynasty are united in their hearts, and they swear to die to sweep away the Hu people in the north.

On this day, Sima Shu hosted a banquet for Zhu Zheng, the secretary of the Admiralty, in the Imperial Garden, and the two chatted while eating, talking about the future of the navy. ”

After five years of development, the Great Jin Navy now has a total of more than 350 ships of various kinds, including five fourth-class battleships, 20 fifth-class battleships, and the rest are all lucky ships of various classes.

"Back to Your Majesty, from last year to now, shipyards around the country have ordered ten fourth-class battleships, twenty-two fifth-class battleships, and eighty armed commercial ships." Zhu Zheng reported.

After several years of development, Dajin finally established the world's largest shipbuilding industry system today. There are 10 large shipyards run by the government and private sector alone, and there are countless small and medium-sized shipyards. In addition, there are more than 10,000 technicians who have graduated from college, more than 100,000 technicians have been trained, and there are 300,000 ordinary workers and other auxiliary workers, all of which have provided a solid foundation for the rapid development of the navy.

"Your Majesty has one more happy event."

"What's the matter?"

"The two third-class battleships of the Laoshan Shipyard and the Donglai Shipyard will be launched for sea trials at the end of this month."

"What? It's true? Sima Shu almost didn't jump up, these days he has been busy preparing for the Northern Expedition and almost forgot about the affairs of the navy. The two battleships were twin sister ships with the same design. Sima Shu had seen the drawings, and according to the design, these two battleships were the first three-deck battleships in the Great Jin Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, what will be the names of these two third-class battleships?" Zhu Zheng asked another key question, the name of this naval warship is very particular, but it is not something that can be taken as you want, and it must be planned in a unified manner. For example, in the Great Jin naval system, the Fuchuan battleships were all named after numbers, while the fourth-class battleships were named after ports and cities, such as the first fourth-class battleship - Weihaiwei.

"Let's name it according to the name of the prefecture, well, let's name these two ships 'Ryukyu' and 'Torai'. In the future, when the battleships of the second rank entered service, they were named after the state. As for the first class battleships, they were called the Emperor class. ”

At the end of the fourth year of Hongwu. The Dajin naval project has ushered in a new glory. The three-deck sail battleship, which has been designed and developed since the first year of Hongwu, has finally achieved a phased victory and stepped onto a new level.

At the beginning of December, the No. 7 dock of Laoshan Shipyard took the lead in completing the first three-deck warship. The first ship of the 3rd class battleship was named the Gun-class Ryukyu. The just-completed battleship USS Ryukyu had ninety-four guns. A giant warship with a tonnage of more than 2,000 tons. When the whole navy saw these two battleships, everyone became excited, and only then did everyone know what a real battleship was.

The county-class battleship was planned to be a three-class sail battleship. The total length can reach 74 meters, the hull length is up to 42 meters, the draft is 7 meters, the displacement can reach 2,200 tons, the average speed of the three masts is 6 knots, the three-tier gun deck does not include the open-air deck, the bottom layer is equipped with 26 36-pound ship-borne heavy guns, the second deck is symmetrical and the left and right are equipped with 28 28-pound ship-borne heavy guns, the third deck is equipped with 28 28-pound shipborne heavy guns, plus the mast guns, the stern guns and the 12 24-pound shipborne guns on the top deck for broadside battles, The ship has a total of 94 large and small shipboard guns, and a total of 716 sailors, musketeers, etc., which is simply a mobile battery.

The four-masted soft sail and the double foremast are boldly designed to enhance the wind capacity and increase the speed. The mainmast is hung with five crosssails, the rear mast is hung with a triangular longitudinal sail, the diamast is hung with a seven-sided triangular steering sail, the bow of the ship is sheared, the ram angle is large, the high freeboard is designed to prevent waves, the stern is trapezoidal, and the guns are equipped with ninety-four guns.

The county-class warships had not yet been tested in actual combat, so after the completion of the "Ryukyu" and "Dongrae", the Imperial Admiralty temporarily approved the construction of only four other warships, namely "Hanoi", "Gwangneung", "Jincheng", and "Nanyang".

The remaining four warships were all built at the Laoshan Shipyard, about a year later than the construction of the Ryukyu, and were expected to join the Dajin Naval Combat Sequence in the summer of the sixth year of Hongwu.

The colonial war of the empire did not stop because of the Great War in the North, and the construction of the navy never fell. In order to hide people's eyes, the Great Jin Dynasty has begun to set up the Third Fleet of the Great Jin Navy.

The two latest warships cost a total of 4,500 fine logs from the Ryukyu Oshima Island, and a new technology was adopted, which was to steam the wood to "steam and soften" the wood, and then bend it into the required curvature, so that it would not corrode easily when it became cold and hard. These two ships have been in the shipyard for more than two years, and the total number of manpower invested is more than tens of thousands, which is really not costly.

These two three-tier three-deck battleships can be regarded as real battleships, in the past, double-deck battleships were just a kind of heavy cruisers, and in the future, these two types of battleships will be the main warships of the Great Jin Navy.

Hearing that these two third-class battleships had finally been successfully built in more than two years, Sima Shu was of course surprised and delighted. This not only means that there is a huge helper on the sea route of the Northern Expedition, but also means that the Dajin Naval Exhibition has reached a new level. The 3rd class battleship has been successfully built, but are the 1st and 2nd class battleships still far away?

After nearly five years of development and accumulation, the Admiralty believes that it is impossible to equip the first and second class battleships on a large scale in the future naval ranks, mainly because they are too expensive. On the contrary, the third-class battleships are "cheap and high-quality", which just meet the needs of the navy, and in addition, armed merchant ships have always been the key development direction of the naval exhibition.

Armed merchant ships can not only engage in trade activities, bring great wealth to the Great Jin, but also have good firepower and combat effectiveness, and can even play a cameo role in the navy. After all, the ocean is so big, no matter how strong the Dajin Navy is, it can't avoid it, and many times it still has to rely on merchant ships to protect their own safety, and armed merchant ships can just adapt to this role.

"Your Majesty now has a new problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Your Majesty, since the main force of our navy gradually went south to the South Seas, the countries around the South Seas have begun to be ready to move, panicked, and some countries of the Indochina Peninsula that have eaten the gall of bears and leopards, coveting the gold on Luzon Island, have begun to frequently harass our merchant ships, especially the Champa country, which has become independent from our dynasty, and the navy has demanded that this lost territory be recovered as soon as possible." As soon as Zhu Zheng's words fell, Sima Shu couldn't help frowning.

Sima Shu didn't have much affection for the Cham people, but at the moment the focus of the imperial court was still on domestic unification, and even if he wanted to teach the Cham people a lesson, he would have to wait until the navy was freed up after the success of the Northern Expedition.

"In this way, we will send more armed merchant ships and some warships to the south, and keep our Nanyang trade routes open for the time being, and we will bear with the provocation of the Champa Navy Division first." Sima Shu thought for a while and said.

Zhu Zheng wrote it down, but he knew that this forbearance was only temporary, and his lord was not a benevolent person, hundreds of thousands of people were killed by the Hu people in Guanzhong and the natives of Sanhan, and the 'white-eyed wolf' Zhancheng people directly infringed on the interests of the Great Jin Dynasty, and when the emperor freed his hand, it would definitely be a violent beating.

In the first month of the fifth year of Hongwu, Sima Shu came to Weihai Weijun Port again, today there are two main warships in service of the second fleet of the Great Jin Dynasty, and the second fleet currently has two third-class battleships, fifteen fourth-class battleships, and thirty-two five-class warships, including one hundred and sixty-seven warships of various kinds, which are the mobile forces of the absolute sense of the Great Jin Dynasty, bearing the burden of ocean-going operations and defending against the enemy in the country.

On January 8, the fifth year of Hongwu, it was a relatively extremely sunny day, only a few seagulls were flying on the calm sea, and the distant land seemed to be gray, as if it had been cut off from life.

The deep blue water seems to be brewing a crisis that does not exist! Sima Shu, accompanied by Zhu Zheng and other admirals, stood on the bridge of the Weihaiwei together, and the two black spots that had appeared in the distance made Sima Shu's heart uneasy. The two county-class three-deck battleships slowly slowed down and fell anchor, and Sima Shu immediately beckoned the Weihaiwei to come up.

And at this moment, Sima Qian looked at the rows of ship-borne heavy guns on the deck, and his saliva flowed on almost every part of the turret, "Okay, good, very good, the navy finally has its own sharp weapons." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, with such a powerful warship, the minister has the confidence to sweep across the South Seas!" Zhu Zheng and the others were also very excited, the combat effectiveness of the three-deck battleship has increased a lot compared to the double-deck, and the number of artillery pieces alone has increased by more than 20 compared with the previous battleship.

"What is the South Sea, there are still large uncharted seas to the west, east and south waiting for you to explore. The navy must keep in mind: sea power is sovereignty! Your responsibility and task is to safeguard the maritime interests of our Great Jin Dynasty, and in the future, I hope that where there is a sea, there will be the presence of our Great Jin Navy, and where there are islands, there will be ports where our Great Jin Navy docks. I hope that the whole world will be filled with the dragon flag of my great jin! ”

"The navy will live up to His Majesty's hopes!" Zhu Zheng and others were also enthusiastically said by Sima Shu, and they expressed their loyalty to him.

After visiting the launching ceremony of the new warships of the Dajin Navy, Sima Shu immediately began to prepare for the Northern Expedition. While directing the cabinet to step up the preparation of various logistical materials, Sima Shu urged the military service under the Privy Council to formulate a battle plan.

In terms of logistical preparations, Sima Shu did not need to do it himself, and the cabinet and various ministries were responsible for it, but he was indispensable in formulating battle plans. Every day, Sima Shu had to go to the Military Affairs Department to discuss with many soldiers and revise it several times, striving to come up with a perfect battle plan. (To be continued......)