Chapter 337 Tornado-class second-class sail battleship

[Today's first update]

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In the two docks of Tianjin Wei Shipyard No. 7 and No. 8, two huge warships are being renovated.

That's right, they are the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, two sail battleships.

After their return, the Admiralty immediately sent them to the dock of the Tianjin Wei Shipyard for renovation.

The renovation process was limited and mainly focused on the modification of the artillery system.

Previously, two battleships were armed with British and French artillery. According to European naval standards, the three-tier gun deck was configured for 60-pounder, 30-pounder, 18-pounder, and 9-pounder guns.

In accordance with the requirements of the Imperial Admiralty, all the European breech guns equipped with the Dingzhen Second Ship were replaced with naval Shenwu cannons developed by the Empire itself.

But due to the fact that the difference between the weight of European artillery and the weight of imperial artillery was obvious, in order not to change the center of gravity of the battleship, it was necessary to undergo rigorous calculations and tests before the guns of the corresponding weight could be replaced.

Guns under 30 pounder had little effect on battleships, and the Reich could replace them with 150 mm or 130 mm guns.

However, the weight of the 60-pound cannon could not be ignored, although it could be replaced by a 200-millimeter caliber Shenwu cannon, but it could not be replaced according to the original proportions.

Previously, the Dingyuan had 100 guns, including 20 60-pounder guns, 10 30-pounder guns, 30 18-pounder guns, and 40 9-pounder guns.

After the replacement, the Dingyuan had 32 200 mm 20 times the caliber Shenwu cannons, all of which were installed in the third gun deck, with 16 guns on the left and right. The second gun deck is the longest part of the hull, and 40 150 mm 20 diameter Shenwu cannons are installed, and 20 on the left and right. Four of them are in the bow arc area and have open forward fire. The first-floor gun deck is equipped with 28 130 mm 20 caliber Shenwu cannons, with a symmetrical layout, 14 on the left and 14 on the left.

Because the Europeans were too narrow in the design of the gun deck, the height between the gun decks was somewhat low, and the personnel had to bend down and bow their heads when walking. Although Europeans were generally taller than Chinese, even then, the height inside the gun deck was not enough, and the Imperial soldiers had to walk with their heads down.

After the replacement of the fire system, the renovation of the two battleships was completed, and with the filling of the dock, the balance of the battleships was not affected.

The locks were opened, and the Dingzhen No. 2 ship was sent out of the dock, and after some sea voyages and fire tests, it was incorporated into the Pacific Fleet, of which the Dingyuan was used as the flagship.

The craftsmen and technicians who returned from Europe were concentrated in the Tianjin Wei Shipyard, and the work of renovating the Dingzhen No. 2 ship was also completed by them.

After the renovation of the Dingzhen 2nd ship, according to the requirements of the Admiralty, the Imperial Navy needed to build its own first-class battleship.

However, the Imperial Admiralty had too many requirements for its own first-class battleships, and it was best to integrate the technical experience of the existing Sea Lion-class and Beigumo-class battleships into the first-class battleships, and it was best to be able to properly integrate the Soaring Eagle-class battleships.

This was too demanding for the technicians, and in the end the Admiralty and the technicians reached a compromise whereby the first-class battleship was not completely sure that it would be postponed and try to build a second-class sail battleship as needed for the actual use.

Thus, the blueprint for the design of the Tornado-class second-class sail battleship was introduced. For this purpose, the Admiralty allocated 1.5 million silver dollars to the Tianjin Wei Shipyard as scientific research funds, so the first test ship of the Tornado-class second-class battleship was approved for construction.

By this time, the imperial government had absorbed a great deal of experience in shipbuilding. In particular, the Luzon Zhaojia shipyard could provide a large number of shipwrights and technicians who built large Spanish warships, and before the workers who studied in Europe did not return, the empire already had some experience in building large ships, and large Galen transports were built a lot, and a lot of experience was accumulated.

At the same time, the construction process of the Nuwa-class transport carriers is also nearing completion, and although the huge transport carriers are in the oriental style, the shipbuilding technology is similar, and it can also provide guidance and experience for large Western battleships through guò reverse reasoning.

The Tornado-class second-class sail battleship has a total length of 69 meters, a width of 14 meters, a draft of 7 meters, a mainmast height of 52 meters, and a standard displacement of 1,500 tons.

The Tornado-class second-class battleship has a long-to-width ratio that follows the proven technology of the SeaLion-class third-class battleship. However, the Tornado-class battleship was an over-experimental battleship for the Imperial Navy to build a first-class battleship, so it was necessary to break through the limitations of a third-class battleship and add a layer of gun deck to increase its number of guns from seventy-two to eighty-six, meeting the firepower standard of a second-class battleship.

Therefore, the addition of a gun deck increased the displacement of the battleship to about 1,500 tons, the corresponding draft increased by more than one meter, and the main mast of the sails that provided the power was also increased by a section, reaching fifty-two meters, which was close to the mast height of the second ship in Dingzhen.

Not much has changed in the shape of the hull, except for the addition of an additional layer of gun deck height, and the waterline belt has been raised by one meter.

The three-tier gun deck had a higher center of gravity compared to the double-deck, which was difficult for the engineers, who changed the bottom ballast to an inverted V-shape, increasing the draft at the bottom of the hull and moving the ammunition magazine down. Since the ammunition depot was loaded with shells and gunpowder, one-third of the weight of the battleship was brought by shells. The downward movement of the powder magazine caused the center of gravity to move down a lot, which brought a very high degree of stability to the hull. At the same time, the gunpowder is stored underneath, which is not easy to be fatally attacked, and it can be filled with water into the watertight compartment next to it to eliminate the possibility of explosion.

Killing two birds with one stone, it solves the problem of the center of gravity and the safety of ammunition.

The outer hull is still designed with a high freeboard wave protection and a trapezoidal stern. It is equipped with 86 Shenwu cannons, 30 200-mm 20-caliber guns, 32 150-mm 20-caliber guns, and 24 130-mm 20-caliber guns. Symmetrical layout. The battlement building is in the center, with a capacity of 640 people. Under full speed wind, the maximum speed is 12 knots, the standard speed is 11 knots, the normal cruising speed is 8~9 knots, and the endurance is 12 months.

The tornado-class second-class sail battleships began laying keels at the Tianjin Wei Shipyard at the end of last summer, and it is expected that the hull launching will be completed in the fifth year of Shenwu, and the installation and outfitting of weapons will be completed in the summer of six years. It is expected that after another year of sea trials, it will finally reach the service mark at the end of the seventh year of Shenwu or the beginning of the eighth year of Shenwu.

Although there are thousands of craftsmen and technicians who have returned from their studies, the Empire still has a long way to go before it can truly build a first-class battleship on its own. With the experience accumulated in Europe over the past 200 years, it is still difficult to absorb it all at once. And it takes more time to actually build what you have learned. With the developed shipbuilding technology in Europe, a first-class battleship would take three years or even longer to complete, not to mention the naval industry of the Chinese Empire, which had just learned to walk, and it would take great effort to learn to run.

Deng Haonan was well aware of this, so he suspended the armed expulsion of the Dutch, because Deng Haonan did not want to use all the energy of the Dutch against the Chinese Empire, but hoped that the Dutch would use their energy to deal with Britain, France and Spain in Europe.

In the fourth year of Shenwu, compared with Europe at this time, the war against the Habsburgs formed by England, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and the Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire entered the most difficult moment.

The withdrawal of the Kingdom of Norway has given the alliance a big drop. The sudden infighting between Denmark and Sweden left the alliance without the military support of Sweden, a powerful country. The second dissolution of parliament by King Charles I of England made the rebellion against Charles I break out again in the country, and Britain had no time to take care of the affairs of the European continent, and the navy had the intention of containing the Spanish Navy, but because Charles I had been misappropriating naval funds to prepare for the civil war, the navy was unable to contain the Spanish Navy. The Netherlands continued to resist the invasion of the Spanish army in the Netherlands on land, and the navy was powerless to maneuver with the Spanish Armada.

One qiē was extremely detrimental to the anti-Habsburg coalition, which was on the verge of disintegration. Although France finally couldn't help but send troops, which added some self-confidence to the alliance, the French army faced a joint attack by the Spanish Army and the Holy Roman Army on land, and instead of turning the tide of the war, it was occupied by the combined forces of the two countries, and 300,000 French troops were surrounded near Paris and resisted hard.

The two camps fought in Northern Europe, Western Europe, and Central and Southern Europe, but Eastern Europe was not calm, and the Russian Empire was blocked by its eastward expansion, so it turned to the south to fight the first Russo-Turkish war with the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the two sides mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to fight fiercely in Ukraine.

The whole of Europe is in the chaos, while the East Asia tends to be calm, after the governance of the Chinese Empire Shenwu the Great, the land of China has been restored to vitality, although natural disasters still continue to cause trouble to this ancient land, but the imperial court's auxiliary policies and relief policies have been implemented in a timely manner, so that these natural disasters can not cause * man-made disasters, the society up and down the country is stable, and the country is peaceful and peaceful.

If the prosperity of the capital is talked about the magnificent architectural style, then the Forbidden City of the imperial city, as well as the rows of mansions and mansions of Beijing officials in the inner city, can be regarded as the most magnificent.

But if it is lively, then you can only see it when you go out of the imperial city, the inner city, and the outer city.

Although the empire abolished many rigid hierarchies, in the capital Beijing, it was still the same rigid pattern, and ordinary people and merchants could only gather in the outer city and the suburbs of Beijing.

Compared with the Beijing city of the Ming Dynasty, after the establishment of the Chinese Empire, the Daming Gate was changed to the Zhonghua Gate, and then the central axis running through the Beijing City was extended from the original eight kilometers to 12 kilometers, and the part within the palace was removed, and the others were changed to Shenwu Street. Shenwu Avenue starts from Zhonghua Gate and leads to the outer city, and extends for four kilometers, becoming the longest and most prosperous city street in the world. The outer city of Yongding Gate was widened, and together with Zuo'anmen and You'anmen, it was expanded four kilometers to the south, and then the outer city wall was newly built. In this way, the outer city wall of Beijing was expanded from the original 28 li to 64 li.

In this way, the area of the outer city was tripled, and it could accommodate more common people.

And this Shenwu Street has also become the most prosperous street in the empire, ordinary people and businessmen have set up shops on both sides of the street, and the housing prices in the capital have fallen rapidly.

After a day of shopping on the street with Concubine Xiang, Deng Haonan returned to the palace in a happy and heavy mood.

Happily, with his unremitting efforts, the country prospered and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.

What is heavy is that under the prosperity and stability, there are still some undercurrents surging. Some details that had not been paid attention to before suddenly broke into Deng Haonan's mind.

"Still thinking about that beggar?"

Seeing that Concubine Xiang was sullen, Deng Haonan guessed that she was still angry with the beggar.

Originally, Concubine Xiang saw a beggar begging along the street and wanted to do something charitable, so she gave the beggar a gold coin. Unexpectedly, the beggar did not want gold coins, but coins. Concubine Xiang was angry, she had never seen such a person, and she didn't give him gold coins when she was angry.

Who knew that Concubine Xiang wanted to get back the gold coin, but was yelled at by the beggar to grab the money, attracting countless onlookers. Onlookers don't know whose gold coin it is, but the gold coin is in the beggar's bowl and is clearly the beggar's. So they accused Concubine Xiang of being too unkind to rob the beggar's money.

Concubine Xiang was wronged and angry, so she took out her purse and let people know in public that it was full of gold coins. At this time, the onlookers saw that there were hundreds of gold coins in the money bag, and they knew that it was the beggar who framed them.

Unexpectedly, at this time, the beggar suddenly reached out and grabbed the money bag, grabbed the way and fled.

Deng Haonan, who was staring at the beggar on the side, suddenly rushed to catch up, and Concubine Xiang then shouted to catch the thief.

For a while, Shenwu Street suddenly became lively. The beggar ran frantically in front of him, dodging left and right, and Deng Haonan and Concubine Xiang chased after him all the way. The three of them chased after me in the crowd, and suddenly the street was in a mess.

The Ouchi guards, who had been secretly following and protecting, also woke up from their dumbfounded eyes at this time and chased after each other, but a large group of people were rampaging on a street, so it was not lively.

Deng Haonan saw that he was about to catch up with the beggar, but when the beggar saw that he could not escape, he immediately scattered the golden gold coins on the ground, which immediately caused the people to rush wildly, blocked Deng Haonan's pursuit, and soon disappeared in the sea of people.

And Deng Haonan and Xiangfei were soon surrounded by the hawker owners who were beaten up, demanding compensation for the damages. At this time, Deng Haonan and Concubine Xiang were penniless, and they were embarrassed for a while.

In the end, thanks to the arrival of more than a dozen Ouchi guards, they raised money to compensate the losses of the common people before they stopped. Because they didn't want to make trouble in Shuntian Mansion and expose their identities, Deng Haonan and Concubine Xiang had no choice but to suffer a dumb loss and return to the palace in a huff.

"No, I have to find the beggar and beat him up, otherwise I won't be able to swallow this breath."

Deng Haonan saw that Concubine Xiang was angry, and it was not easy to persuade him, after all, this incident made him, the emperor, very faceless.

"I promise you, I will catch that beggar and beat him hard to relieve your anger"

"That's pretty much it"

Concubine Xiang then said a lot of ways to punish the beggar severely, and Deng Haonan rolled his eyes upwards when he heard it, and secretly said that if he offends a villain, he must not offend a woman, I don't know which great philosopher said the famous words, but now it seems that this is really the case.

Deng Haonan had no choice but to agree again and again, and then coaxed Concubine Xiang to go back to rest.

The next morning, after discussing some things with the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, Deng Haonan remembered yesterday's events.

"Where is Shuntianfu?"

"Wechen is in"

Zhang Zeming, the prefect of Shuntian, came out of the ranks, and Deng Haonan asked a series of questions about the security of the capital, and Zhang Zeming reported them truthfully one by one.

"From your mouth, I know that the people of the capital are peaceful and prosperous, the road is not forgotten, and the night is not closed, you should be the first to take the credit"

Zhang Zeming hurriedly said happily: "The great rulers of the capital dare not take credit, but it is actually caused by the emperor's wisdom and martial arts."

Deng Haonan nodded and asked: "Because of my wisdom and martial arts, there were beggars in the capital yesterday who first picked and chose when begging, and then accused the alms of stealing, and finally openly robbed in public."

Zhang Zeming was stunned for a moment, then his legs weakened, and he knelt down with an ordinary sound.

"Wechen don't dare"

"Of course you don't dare" Deng Haonan slapped the dragon chair and said angrily: "I came out yesterday-"

The little sixth son next to the "emperor" saw that Deng Haonan was going to propose the matter of the palace, so he hurriedly interrupted him and whispered: "You can't mention the matter of the palace."

Since the emperor was high above and the ministers were below, separated by a distance, Xiao Liuzi's words could not be heard clearly below.

Deng Haonan was too angry just now when he remembered what happened yesterday, and he almost shook out the matter of leaving the palace. If the civil and military officials knew that the emperor left the palace without permission, then it would definitely be a chatter and persuasion, and the imperial history platform and the historians would also talk nonsense for a few days.

Deng Haonan coughed dryly and said, "I listened to the report of the chamberlain yesterday, Xiao Liuzi, you tell them what happened."

Xiao Liuzi was stunned, but he didn't expect Deng Haonan to push him down.

Fortunately, the food king's Lu took care of the king's worries, and Xiao Liuzi had already learned the situation from the inner servant, so he added fuel and vinegar to explain the situation, but replaced the person with someone else.

"How can such a thing happen?"

Shoufu Qian Qianyi suddenly pouted his beard, taught Shuntianfu a lesson in the court, and then apologized to the emperor, saying that he was not using people properly, and asked the emperor to punish him.

Deng Haonan waved his hand and said: "You can't cover the noodles with points, in general, Shuntianfu is still doing well, even in the era of singing and dancing, it is inevitable that some such things will happen." ”

At this time, Zhang Zeming hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you for your kindness, and Weichen will track down the perpetrators."

Deng Haonan nodded, his goal had been achieved, and it was much better to let Shuntianfu track down the perpetrators than to let the Ouchi guards intervene in the investigation.

As Xiao Liuzi shouted and retreated, the civil and military officials shouted long live and immediately retired.

As soon as he returned from retreating, Deng Haonan received a report that Wang Chen was commanded by the Fusi of Beizhen to ask for a meeting.

After some courtesy, Wang Chen mentioned yesterday's incident.

"Have you investigated?"

"Emperor Qi" Wang Chen said respectfully: "Weichen is investigating this matter recently"

Deng Haonan nodded and asked, "So this beggar is still a habitual offender?" ”

"Back to the emperor, I don't know how simple it is for a repeat offender"

Deng Haonan was stunned for a moment and motioned for Wang Chen to continue.

I only heard Wang Chen continue: "Weichen received information half a year ago that a new force appeared in the rivers and lakes, which made all the major sects of the martial arts unpeaceful. Recently, this force has begun to infiltrate the vicinity of Gyeonggi, and the various sects in the north have been frequently harassed by it. ”

Rivers and lakes? Martial arts?

Deng Haonan had these two terms in his head, both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Did you find out what forces it was?"

Wang Chen shook his head and said: "The other party is well-organized, and Weichen has sent people to infiltrate more than once, but they have all failed, and until now I only know about their peripheral activities."

Sending someone to infiltrate, that is, undercover, Deng Haonan knows this, undercover is not so easy. A real undercover agent, especially infiltrating a large organization, does not take two or three years or more to break into the core of the interior.

"I don't even know the name of the other party, it's really a bit mysterious," Deng Haonan asked: "It's just, what is the connection between this mysterious organization and yesterday's beggar incident?" ”

Wang Chen said: "That beggar's name is Peng Cong, he is the elder of the three bags of the beggar gang, and now Weichen has learned that Peng Cong took his disciples to collect coins everywhere, and then handed them over to that mysterious organization."

Beggars? Even the three bags of elders came out

Deng Haonan was very surprised, and then remembered that the other party only needed coins at the beginning, and he was indeed very suspicious at that time.

"What are they collecting coins for?"

Wang Chen replied: "At first, Wechen also wondered, but recently Wechen learned the news that the other party melted the coin and cast it into molten steel to create a new weapon."

"What? Melted coins to make weapons? ”

Deng Haonan's eyes suddenly widened, it was so unforgivable that he actually destroyed the imperial currency and even minted weapons privately, which was a heinous crime.

"Privately casting weapons, they want to rebel?"

"Returning to the emperor" Wang Chen said: "At present, there is no evidence that the other party rebelled, but the disciples of the Jianghu Sect have always carried weapons. After the other party melted the coin, they obtained the finest molten steel, and the weapons cast from the high-grade molten steel were extremely sharp, equivalent to the level of weapons used by the Imperial military. ”

Deng Haonan nodded, he naturally knew the level of imperial weapons and equipment, take the saber used by the black armor spirit cavalry as an example, the cavalry was engaged, and when the horse of the black armor spirit horse slashed the sabre used by the Manchurian cavalry back then, it could be cut lightly, which was simply taken advantage of in the battle. It is precisely because the imperial army has this advantage in equipment that Deng Haonan ordered the empire's smelting technology to be strictly sealed, and the flow of steel into the civilian sector requires strict review, and the military weapons are coded, and it is strictly forbidden to flow into the civilian.

With the advent of the era of national peace and security, although the iron-smelting technology of the people has also been greatly improved, it is still far from being comparable to the imperial military. And the people naturally know that the weapons used by the imperial army are advanced, but they are just out of reach. With the completion of the financial reform and monetary system reform of the empire, a large number of coins flowed into the private sector, and these coins were all minted in high-strength stainless steel in order not to give private imitation opportunities.

The other party actually melted the coins from the new ones to make weapons, which really surprised Deng Haonan. E