In May of the third year of the Holy Road, the whole country was tossed, and what enjoyed it was the Whampoa Shipyard where Xiao Sheng personally sat down.

The team of this shipyard is all from the previous Xiluo Shipyard, and like the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau, it belongs to the Ministry of Industry of Shangshu Province and is directly managed by the Privy Council, and is a genuine "state-owned military enterprise". Three dry docks are more than 30 zhang long, which can accommodate the four or five thousand large ships of Zheng He's era, and two larger dry docks are under construction. For these five dry docks alone, the imperial court invested millions of taels of silver.

Compared with the Whampoa Shipyard, the Hong Kong shipyard under construction is a little less large, and although there are many dry docks, they are all small and medium-sized to build and repair ordinary naval vessels.

At this time, there were two warships squatting in the three dry docks of the Whampoa Shipyard that had not even been erected, and the captured "Royal September" was also lying quietly inside. Looking at the scene in front of him, Xiao Sheng admired his fourth brother's forward-looking vision, if he hadn't built such a large dry dock before, how could he renovate the trophies and build his own big warship at the same time.

Mao Bin, the master craftsman of the Huangpu Shipyard, was originally the master craftsman of the Fujian Official Shipyard, but he praised the Spanish battle column in front of Xiao Sheng, and admired the shipbuilding technology of the Spaniards so much that Xiao Sheng was annoyed in his heart, what a problem, no matter how good it is, isn't it still caught by us!?

As a technical person, Mao Bin didn't care: "It turns out that the artificial ship of Europa is made of iron and wood to fit the keel!" In the past, Zheng He went to the West and used up the old coastal wood as keel, and then we Chinese wanted to build big ships, but we were all subject to the lack of whole materials that could be used as keels. Although there is also a method of assembling the keel, the trick of the rice is not very familiar. Now that I have mastered this method, I want to build a big ship, and I am no longer limited by the whole material! ”

With Mao Bin's explanation, Xiao Sheng also suddenly realized that the Eastern and Western shipbuilding techniques have their own strengths, and this battle ship is regarded as a treasure and has too great significance to the Chinese shipwrights.

But Xiao Sheng was still shocked: "Don't dismantle it!" There's a big war after that, and you have to rely on it to support the table. ”

In the distance, the two docks are double-deck battleships, but they have not even built their keels, and they are still in the demonstration design stage.

Mao Bin agreed, and said disapplausively: "We will not be a foreigner." Figure out the doorway of foreigners, how can the big ships we build be stronger than foreigners! ”

Xiao Sheng also believed this, but time was pressing, so he only hoped to repair this battleship, replace it with his own artillery, and build two of his own battleships within a year, plus other improved battleships, and the battle team that the Spaniards might come.

Mao Bin patted his chest and made a guarantee, and when he learned all kinds of methods from this battleship, he would build the other two battleships, which would be a gesture. Since the preparation of the Whampoa Shipyard a few years ago, we began to accumulate wood, and now there is no shortage of wood.

After the establishment of the country, Yinghua relied on Nanyang teak, but still raised wood in the country.

For this reason, a ban was even issued on timber such as iron power wood to be classified as materials for warships, which must be purchased by the imperial court, and it is illegal for the people to use it for themselves, and the ship will be dismantled, and people will be imprisoned.

Pulling the naval personnel who returned to China with him, Xiao Sheng threw himself into a new round of warship design and planning. The navy suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Yinglie Bay, but it also gained a lot of money. Not only limited to the war, but also has a clearer understanding of its own positioning and the needs of warships.

Earlier, the system of the Sea Carp, Haiao and Sea Shark three-class warships withstood the test in the Battle of Yinglie Bay, but also exposed many flaws. After reading the battle report, Li Xian also gave Xiao Sheng some advice.

Combined with the points raised by His Majesty the Emperor and his own summary, as well as the situation that a major war may be ushered in in the next year, Xiao Sheng proposed a new naval plan.

The Sea Shark was the most successful design of the Anglo-Chinese Navy, and without four Sea Shark ships, it simply could not entangle the Spanish battleships. However, the firepower of the Sea Shark ship is still too weak, the strength of the hull is not enough, and the combat power of the board is also insufficient.

Within a year, it is impossible for the Anglo-Chinese Navy to build many battleships, so it can only continue to use the Sea Shark ship as the main force, and even rely on the Sea Shark ship as an anvil and the precious battleship as a hammer. At the same time, the high-speed design of the Sea Shark is also conducive to the Anglo-Chinese Navy cruising the entire South China Sea.

The shipwrights of the Whampoa Shipyard also joined in the design as consultants. Master craftsman Mao Bin believes that the design of the Sea Shark ship was still too conservative before, for example, for fear of overload, only 20 catties of artillery were loaded, and the number of guns was also small. The Spaniards this battleship was less than half as large as the Sea Shark, but it was loaded with more than fifty guns, among which there were. A 5,000-pound bladed cannon. And the Yinghuazhou 30-pound cannon weighs only 4,000 catties. , Xiao Sheng stopped the construction of the follow-up Sea Shark ship and asked the Whampoa Shipyard to renovate the design. One is to raise the freeboard, adopt an inward tilt ship type, and the other is to replace the 30-pound gun. The gun deck was still equipped with 20 guns, and the upper deck was planned to be equipped with 20 pound guns, but a naval officer suddenly mentioned that the most important thing in naval operations at the moment was to smash the hull of the enemy ship. In the previous naval battle of Yinglie Bay, the range that could really effectively damage the enemy ships was within twenty or thirty zhang, and the longer distance seemed meaningless. The 20-pound guns used by the navy are all army guns that pursue range, but they are not suitable for the navy. Xiao Sheng patted the case and said: "I mean, our twenty-pound cannon always feels that the strength is insufficient, it turns out that it was pitted by the army!" ”

Putting aside the spirit of belittling the army, the experience of the Anglo-Chinese Navy is unconsciously moving closer to the British Navy in the future. That is, heavy artillery, short artillery, relying on the speed of their own ships, and striving to inflict maximum damage on the enemy within a distance of several hulls. The weakness of the board can only be compensated for by the operational principle of avoiding the side as much as possible.

As a result, the Sea Shark ship was transformed into a type of 1,600 materials (1100 stew), carrying 20 30-pound guns and 16 30-pound short guns, which can truly be called a super cruiser warship. Because it is too different from the previous Sea Shark ship, it was renamed "Jianghe class". The six newly built ships were the "Beijiang," "Xijiang," "Dongjiang," "Lianjiang," "Zhujiang," and "Xiangjiang."

The Haiao was evaluated by the navy as ineffective, and the original ingenious design of both transportation and combat did not please after all. Ran fast enough, did not protect enough, and suffered the heaviest losses in the Battle of Yinglie Bay. Therefore, the navy abandoned the Haiao ship and replaced it with small guns, and also reduced the number of guns, and used it as a transport ship.

Referring to the captured Spaniard cruisers, Xiao Sheng determined the new design of the "Fu class". Returning to the special sea-making ship type, equipped with 20 20-pound guns and 12 short-barreled 20-pound guns, it only seeks to overwhelm Europa's general frigates, cruisers and gunboats. This text is provided by Qihang Dagger Qishen

The merits of the sea carp ship in this battle, everyone dare not ignore it, perhaps the background of the Anglo-Chinese Navy is actually in the small ship tactics, and the use of small ships is the most handy. Everyone felt that there was no need to make a big move on the sea carp level, but Xiao Sheng still felt that taking the little sea carp to fight was just a last resort. Talents, although the sea carp ship is small, the captain, helmsman and other positions are readily available, but in the naval battle, it is a consumable that can be destroyed with one shot, which is too unworthy:

In order to be able to participate in the war, the sea carp ship must also have a certain degree of damage resistance, so the navy still proposed a type of "super sea carp" design, which is later known as the "state and county level". Increase the size to more than 600 ingredients (400 stews), thicken the plank, and also shrink the upper deck to form an inward tilt boat shape. Only eight twelve-pound guns were installed, and at the same time, a fierce fire oil combat zone was designed in the bow of the ship to be protected by iron plates, so as to fully develop the Spitfire method and become a type of melee assault ship that would be feared by enemy ships.

In the end, the two-inch cannon that was regarded as a scrap by the navy, but became the last straw that crushed the opponent's fighting spirit in the Battle of Yinglie Bay became a hot topic. If you don't discuss it, Li Shi directly criticized Xiao Sheng for ignoring the two-inch gun, which made Xiao Sheng feel a lot of pressure.

Guan Fengsheng, who made a special trip to the Whampoa Shipyard and participated in the design of the new ship, helped Xiao Sheng relieve this pressure, saying that the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau was now gathering all its manpower and material resources to concentrate on a topic proposed by Li Xian earlier, and not only was it unable to study rifled guns, but it also had no time to rebuild the original two-inch guns.

Everyone asked curiously, what kind of mess is that, and it actually worked the entire Foshan Manufacturing Bureau?

Guan Fengsheng whispered: "Hundred catties of cannon ..............."

There was silence in the conference room, and it took a while before the sound of gasping sounded, a hundred-pound cannon!?

Guan Fengsheng made a correction: "To be precise, it is a two-hundred-pound cannon." ”

Everyone can't wait to faint, two hundred pounds of cannon!? That means that the whole cannon will cost more than 30,000 catties, what kind of giant cannon will it be!

Xiao Sheng sighed and nodded: "Indeed, if you want to smash the stone fort of the Spaniards, you can't do it without such a big cannon." ”

All the admirals were excited, pestering Guan Fengsheng to ask about various details. Not only is it curious about what such a big cannon looks like and how powerful it is, but also because this cannon is closely related to the future situation of the navy. The sooner Manila is built, the sooner Manila can be defeated, and the sooner Manila is breached, the lower the chance that the Spaniards will send a large fleet to the South Seas. After all, Manila was the largest support point for the Spaniards in the South Seas, and without this, the supplies of the Grand Fleet would be gone, and the Spaniards would not dare to take such a risk.

Guan Fengsheng said that when Li Shi led the army to Wuchang City earlier, he gave such an explanation to the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau. At that time, Li Xi felt that the existing artillery, including the thirty-pound cannon, would also be difficult to gnaw at a fortified city like Shangwuchang, so a truly indestructible cannon was needed.

At that time, it was only a pre-research project, but now facing the San Diego Castle in Manila, the progress has naturally accelerated, so that the entire manufacturing bureau has invested in this inheritance.

Guan Fengsheng said: "The cannon is almost ready, but when it can be sent to the city of Manila, it depends on when our Buddha Governor can surround Manila." ”

Speaking of the Luzon land battle, and speaking of Jia Hao, who established the name of "Buddha Governor" in Jiaozhi, Xiao Sheng smiled and said: "That Buddha, once he moves King Kong Fury, his means are more ruthless than our Wu Ya, who is known as the Demon Governor. ”

On May 30, 90 miles northwest of Manila, on the Reshendes River, with the Red Army on the west bank and the Spanish Army in yellow and black uniforms on the east bank, Jia Hao said to hundreds of prisoners with a blank face: "Go and build a bridge, if you don't go, you will die." ”。