Chapter 323 is deceived and kidnapped

[Today's second update]

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On March 17 of the first year of Shenwu, the Kingdom of England, an island nation in the Atlantic of Europe, ushered in the most exciting moment. Tens of thousands of British flocked to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to join the Chinese there in watching the launching of the first-class sail battleship Zhenyuan.

On the dock track, the battleship Zhenyuan looked like a married girl, with a huge red flower, and the hull was surrounded by various ribbons, fluttering with the sea breeze.

Today is the launching ceremony of the battleship Zhenyuan, and at this moment, 133 officers from the Pacific Fleet are standing on the foredeck of the battleship in a square formation wearing the white officer's dress of the Imperial Chinese Navy, wearing large caps, leather boots, white gloves, and sabers at their waists.

The battleship Zhenyuan was equipped with 800 officers and men, and the other 666 sailors were dressed in neat white naval sailor uniforms and tuxedos, and they gathered around the battleship in a straddle posture, looking down on the people below from the high battleship.

A total of 1,632 officers and men came with Yang Chen, and the remaining 832 officers and men were waiting to accept the battleship Dingyuan. Therefore, they can only wear ceremonial clothes now, and look up at their comrades above with others below, their eyes are full of envy, but their hearts are looking forward to the early launch of the Dingyuan battleship.

King Charles I of England came to Portsmouth in a rare way, because he was in a good mood and successfully suppressed the rebellion of the Scottish people. Although his ship Sea Sovereignty had not yet been completed, he was a little jealous that Yang Chen could get the Zhenyuan first. But when he thought that the battleship Zhenyuan was far inferior to the battleship Sovereignty at Sea in terms of decoration, his mood immediately turned cloudy.

At the beginning, in order to save the cost of building ships and complete the Zhenyuan ahead of schedule, Deng Haonan gave up the meticulous carving of the Zhenyuan. These fine carvings are flashy in Deng Haonan's opinion, after all, the Zhenyuan battleship is used for fighting, not to mention the cost of so many carvings, once it is broken, it is extremely distressing.

At this time, the battleship Zhenyuan had a simple and simple appearance, but that person dared to underestimate her combat effectiveness? Equipped with 100 guns of various types, it is also a first-class warship in the whole of Europe.

At nine o'clock in the morning, after the British king's ramblings, the battleship Zhenyuan had been pushed to the edge of the orbit.

At this moment, the mast of the Zhenyuan turned to the front, and a long rope was laid down on its head. British shipyard workers dug up a bottle of wine buried under the tracks, tied it to a rope, and handed it to Yang Chen.

After the other party's explanation, Yang Chen knew that this was the British shipbuilding rules. When building a battleship, a bottle of wine was buried at the sea's orbit. This bottle of wine was just left on the first day of the keel and was buried underneath until the day the battleship was completed and launched, and then tied to a rope, and the person who took over the ship used it to pay tribute to the gods and bless the ship with peace and security.

Yang Chen held it in his hand and felt the pressure soaring, hoping that the Zhenyuan could be safe.

"Years of peace"

With Yang Chen's loud shout, he violently sent the wine bottle out. I saw that the wine bottle was pulled by the rope and smashed into the bow of the battleship Zhenyuan in the direction of Yang Chen's thrust.

Bang

The bottle smashed into the bow hull, and the people around it burst into applause.

With the applause of the people, the battleship Zhenyuan was hit by the wine bottle and slowly slid along the track to the sea. Soon, the stern of the ship entered the sea first, and then slowly the bow of the ship also entered the sea safely. Under the traction of inertia, the battleship Zhenyuan drove more than a hundred meters away from the dock and slowly stopped on the sea.

The launch was successful

Thunderous applause rang out again

At this time, the British side officially handed over the battleship Zhenyuan to Yang Chen. Originally, it would have been necessary to test for a few more months before handing it over to Yang Chen, but after Yang Chen's request, the test work was completed by the Chinese personnel themselves. However, during the time of Yang Chen's test, if there is any unqualified quality, it will all be borne by the British side.

Looking at the mighty posture of the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the British were envious. For most Britons, this is the first time they have seen the mysterious empire of the East. In the eyes of the British and most people in Europe, the Chinese Empire was a first-class power, and even if this country went to Europe to build warships and learn shipbuilding technology, it did not dispel their subconscious, but because they thought that this mysterious country dared to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, it was more admirable.

Charles I asked the Admiral Blake, who was next to him, "How do I feel that their navy is pleasing to the eye and imposing?" But I can't say how different it is from our navy."

Blake felt the same way, but he saw it much more than Charles I, and he noticed the difference at once.

"Your Majesty," Blake replied, "Their navy soldiers are all professional, and only the officers of our navy are professional, and you feel better than our navy when you see them, but you haven't seen them in naval battles, so you can't say why."

Charles I nodded, and Blake continued: "This is because their sailors are professional, and the sailors also wear standard military uniforms, which are uniform and orderly, giving people a sense of not being angry and arrogant. ”

It was then that Charles I understood why he had such thoughts.

"I'll just say that the navy of the British Empire defeated the Spanish Armada, so our naval officers and sailors should be more powerful than their naval officers and men, and it turns out that it is only because of the clothes."

Blake said: "But Weichen is still very high for their officers and soldiers, perhaps because of the uniform. The navy sailors of the Imperial Navy were also issued with uniform uniforms, and the provincial navy made people laugh at the navy as a beggar's team."

Charles I nodded and said, "You can start arranging it, but the distribution of military uniforms requires the sailors to pay for it themselves."

“……”

Blake almost fainted, and secretly said that Charles I was too stingy. However, in order to increase the prestige of the navy, Blake decided to issue uniforms to the sailors.

Although Blake saw some gaps, he did not see the essence. The navy of the Chinese Empire was professional, but in the British Navy, except for the officers who received the national salary, the other sailors were recruited by the people, and the salaries were almost none, and they all belonged to soy sauce. When there was no war, the warships could not move at all, because the sailors had gone out to do other work. This is also one of the main reasons why in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the British Navy was attacked by the Dutch Navy and suffered heavy losses.

After Yang Chen took over the battleship Zhenyuan, he immediately set out for sea trials, with 100 guns and a huge battleship with a length of 70 meters sailing on the sea surface of the English Channel, majestic.

The Zhenyuan was designed to have a maximum speed of 10 knots, but during the sea trial, it actually ran at a maximum speed of 11 knots under the full speed wind, which really made the officers and men of the ship happy for a while.

Perhaps this is because there is some error between the "speed of the Chinese Empire" and the "speed of the British", or because the new warship has just been used, and the speed will naturally be slow after a period of time.

The overall structure of the battleship was tested normally, except for the battleship, which was several times larger than the cruiser used by the Pacific Fleet, with a high mast and a long hull. Of course, the British man-made Zhenyuan resembled a fat caterpillar, with a very round bow and a large belly, not as sharp and broad as in the Empire.

Although there were some differences in the shape of the battleship, the officers and men quickly adapted to her, and there were no problems in operation except for the visual changes.

However, when the officers and soldiers tested the artillery, they were a little uncomfortable. It turned out that the Zhenyuan was using British naval guns. The naval guns of the British and the Ares guns used by the Pacific Fleet differed greatly.

Most of the British's naval guns were bronze cast front-loading smoothbore guns, with large butts and short barrels, and they were basically powerless at a range of more than 500 meters. The reason is that the British Navy stipulated that naval guns should fire within 300 meters, so the design of naval guns was adjusted accordingly, in order not to waste shells and gunpowder, so the barrel length of naval guns was reduced when casting, and it became a short and thick mallet.

The Imperial officers and soldiers have been practicing the Francophone cannon imitated from the Portuguese, which is a rear-loading smoothbore gun. Moreover, the barrel of the gun is long, and the firing distance can be within 800 meters, and the enemy ship's hull can be effectively damaged within 500 meters.

At the same time, the British could not fire the second cannon immediately after the cannon was fired, and the chamber had to be cleaned first. However, the God of War artillery used by the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet did not have this restriction, and it was only necessary to replace the sub-guns to achieve continuous fire.

This change forced the officers and soldiers to learn the British way of firing artillery. Fortunately, the British are still very face-saving about this. At Yang Chen's request, the British Admiralty selected some outstanding gunners, sailors and officers from the British Navy to help on the Zhenyuan.

Because the British had a good face, they selected very outstanding officers and men to come as instructors, so as not to let the officers and men of the Chinese Navy underestimate them. In this way, the officers and men learned a lot of exquisite techniques from the British Navy. During the exchange, the British officers boasted about how they had defeated the Spanish Armada back then. From the conversation, these British people soon leaked some secrets of the British Navy, and let the officers and men of the Chinese Empire know more about the British Navy.

Time passed day by day, and soon the naval officers and men led by Yang Chen learned and mastered the British Navy's gun handling and ship skills. With the continuous bribery and praise, the British officers even taught their tactical movements in private, so that Yang Chen and other officers and men knew the tactical situation of the British Navy well.

Soon, in May, the battleship Dingyuan was successfully launched at the French Senazaire Naval Shipyard. Yang Chen led another 832 officers and men to take over the ship. Similarly, Yang Chen also took his own sea trials. But this time, Yang Chen had the experience he had gained from the British, and he also asked some French naval officers to help block the instructor.

The French did not worship the East as much as the British, after all, France's interests in the East were too low. But the French didn't want to offend the superpowers in the East, so they took good care of Yang Chen, and as long as it wasn't a confidential matter, they would tell each other.

The French had a different tactical mindset than the British. The British like to shoot at the crest of the waves, while the French like to shoot at the valley of the waves. The British did not care about the upwind, they would fight regardless of whether the enemy was in front or behind. And the French care about the upwind direction, because the French feel sorry for the battleship, and if they occupy the upwind direction, they can run away at any time if they can't beat it.

Strictly speaking, the naval thinking of the two countries is very different, mainly due to the naval warship guides of the two countries. As Deng Haonan said, the British warships are not as strong as the French, which Yang Chen can see clearly on the Dingyuan. The Dingyuan battleship and the Zhenyuan battleship are basically the same configuration, but the Dingyuan battleship was built half a year longer than the Zhenyuan, and they are all high-standard warships.

After Yang Chen inspected and compared the two battleships, he believed that if the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were fired at each other, under the same firepower, the Zhenyuan would be sunk first.

Of course, the bigger feature is that on the French man-made battleship Dingyuan, although the naval guns are also front-loading smoothbore guns, the French use iron cannons, which can be seen that the French are no worse than the Chinese Empire in terms of iron smelting level, and are in the leading position in Europe.

The Dingyuan was faster than the Zhenyuan, and under the careful construction of the French, the Dingyuan battleship reached a maximum trial speed of twelve knots at full speed, which was more than one section faster than expected. The Dingyuan had a faster cruising speed than the Zhenyuan, because the French built warships with long hulls, not as round heads as the British, and all used advanced cross-balanced rudder technology, and the British had always relied on their long, straight rudders.

The reason why Deng Haonan built battleships in both countries and sent craftsmen to learn shipbuilding technology was mainly because he wanted to integrate the technology of Britain and France. Because the shipbuilding technology of their two countries will become the mainstream shipbuilding technology in Europe in the next ten years. Deng Haonan took their technology back to China, and then removed its dross and extracted its essence and integrated it into his country's existing shipbuilding technology.

The trial time passed quickly, and two months later, after strict inspection, there were no quality problems with the Dingyuan. The two warships were returned to the dock for final verification by the shipwrights of the two countries before being officially delivered to the Imperial Chinese Navy a week later.

So far, the two ships of Dingzhen have all completed the handover.

After nearly a year of trading, Li De sold out all the goods as early as a month ago. As a result of this trip to Europe, the Pacific Trading Company made a net profit of 213 million silver dollars. Among them, Li De took out 13 million silver dollars to purchase European goods, ready to be shipped back to Yadong to make a big profit, and the rest were all melted down into gold bricks and silver bricks to bring back to China.

The goods purchased include the specialties of European countries, and even European animals, which are loaded live in cages and sent to the ship. However, only a small percentage of these animals make it to their destination. Most were unable to adapt to long-distance voyages and died. Of course, there are also many animals that are slaughtered by the crew for meat, which is very common.

Science in Europe at this time was developing rapidly, much faster than Deng Haonan expected. Li De knows Deng Haonan's hobbies, and every time he returns to China, Li De must do what he likes and bring back a lot of foreign gadgets to Deng Haonan.

This time, Li De arrived in Europe, and Deng Haonan specially asked him to purchase more European scientific research and exploration toolbox equipment, and it was best to turn more scientists back to China.

When Li De was in Europe, the most sensational topic in the scientific community was that the astronomers Zuqi and Bathory used large telescopes to measure the surface streaks of Jupiter and draw a map of Jupiter.

Li De thinks that Deng Haonan should be interested in astronomy, after all, when he becomes an emperor, stargazing is a must. At this time, Kepler, who was upright in the Holy Roman Empire, died, and all his scientific research achievements and instruments, including the astronomical telescope and other astronomical calculation instruments he developed, were all purchased by Li De.

And Li De was worried that Deng Haonan would not use these equipment, so he spent money to hire Zuqi and Bathory at a high price. Zuqi is single and would love to go to China, but Bathory doesn't, he has family. There was no way, Li De had to kidnap his family first, and then Bathory had to follow Li De angrily.

There are many European scientists who have been kidnapped, except for Li Degan, it is Yang Chen. However, Yang Chen was obviously more careful than Li De, Li De only kidnapped the scientists and scholars themselves, while Yang Chen took away the families of the scientists and scholars who were kidnapped, along with all their books and experimental tools, and even their pets.

In this way, even if these scientists and scholars are kidnapped to China, they will be able to stay with their families and will soon be calm.

Li De knew that what Deng Haonan wanted was nothing more than the level of scientific and technological knowledge in Europe. So far, scholars in the Chinese Empire have translated Western works that have only been brought to China by Western missionaries, and their knowledge is limited. For this reason, Li De paid for it, Yang Chen came forward, and the libraries of various countries were not less, and millions of books were purchased, some of which were even novels from a certain country, but because the people sent by Yang Chen did not know them, they also bought them back. These books basically contain the knowledge of human geography and science and technology industry in Europe over the past two hundred years, and they cost nearly 10 million silver dollars to fill two entire cargo ships.

As soon as Qiē was ready, the European merchant fleet of the Pacific Trading Company bid farewell to Europe and sailed back to China.

The caravan went with seventy ships of various kinds, and when it returned, it became more than a hundred. Most of the additional ships were passenger ships full of people, and in addition to craftsmen who had studied in England and France, there were also European talents who had been deceived and taken out to kidnap tickets. There are also some European businessmen who want to do business in China, as well as European tourists who visit China.

The fleet entered the Atlantic Ocean mightily, while Yang Chen commanded two battleships and twenty frigates to take on the task of escorting the caravan.

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