These words are convincing to the overseas Chinese representatives, and one by one excited inexplicably, these words also pointed out the direction of struggle for the overseas Chinese delegates present, everyone thought about it carefully, yes, the Chinese people live very hard here, often bullied by white people, why do you still fight to the death for a little profit? Why can't we put aside our grievances and unite to fight against the United States and fight for our rights?

At this time, the secretary Xiao Gao hurriedly walked over and muttered a few words in Xiao Zhenlei's ear, Xiao Zhenlei smiled when he heard this, looked at everyone and said happily: "Ladies and gentlemen, I just got the news that the US House of Representatives has finally passed the proposal to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the House of Representatives has also made a formal apology for the harm that the Chinese Exclusion Act has caused to the Chinese people!" ”

"Woo woo-" Some people couldn't help crying loudly when they heard the news, and many more were full of tears, and at this moment, everyone applauded at the same time.

A few minutes later, after the applause stopped, Xiao Gao said to Xiao Zhenlei: "President, President Wilson of the United States has called personally, hoping that you can wait for him in Los Angeles for three days, and he will come as soon as possible to sign an alliance with you and see you off!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and said, "Since the itinerary has been set, don't change it!" After finishing speaking, he turned his head to Zhang Jian and said: "Mr. Ji Zhi, tomorrow we will go first, I will appoint you as the presidential plenipotentiary envoy to be responsible for the signing of the alliance with the United States, and other relevant staff will stay and wait for the alliance and some cooperation agreements to be signed before you return, what do you think?" ”

Zhang Jian said: "The president has an order, and he should obey it." We will live up to our mission! ”

"Well, in that case. Then it's decided! ”

On the morning of 13 May, Xiao Zhenlei left Zhang Jian and some other officials to sign an alliance and a series of agreements on cooperation projects with the US side. He led the other officials to return to China first.

This return is different in terms of the fleet, four warships ordered in the United States a few years ago have already arrived in the port of Los Angeles a few days ago, and this time they will return home with them.

These four battleships are two New York-class battleships and two battlecruisers, and now these four ships are Chinese, and the names have to be changed, the battleships are called Qinhuang-class, which are called Yingzheng and Yingsi, respectively, and the battlecruisers are Hanhuang-class, which are Liu Che and Liu Xiu.

New York-class battleships. The United States began construction in 1911, and only two ships were built in the original history, namely the New York and the Texas, but due to Xiao Zhenlei's purchase, two more ships were built, which are the Ying Zheng and the Ying Si.

Due to Xiao Zhenlei's requirements, the armament of the two battleships of the Qinhuang-class was somewhat different from that of the New York and Texas, the main guns on the New York and Texas were five twin-mounted 356-mm 45-caliber guns, while the main guns on the Qinhuang-class were four triple-mounted 356-mm 45-caliber guns. Installed on the front and rear central axis, the number of turrets decreased, while the number of main guns increased. The secondary guns were also replaced, and the New York and Texas were loaded with eight twin 127mm guns. On the two battleships of the Qinhuang class, there are two triple 203 mm guns and two triple 155 mm guns, which are installed on both sides of the front and rear central axis of the ship. To balance the forces on the hull, in which 155-mm guns were installed in the bow position to deal with approaching cruisers. Although the number of guns has decreased, the power of these secondary guns has more than doubled. More firepower than the vast majority of battleships.

At this time, the American shipyards did not have the technology to cast triple guns, but in order to meet Xiao Zhenlei's needs, the owners of the American shipyards did not hesitate to pay a lot of money to hire commercial spies to steal the construction technology of the triple gun turrets from Britain, and this technology was also bought by Xiao Zhenlei from the American boss for the construction of the six cruiser naval guns.

The two battleships of the Qinhuang class should have torpedo tubes according to the original design, but according to Xiao Zhenlei's requirements, remove the torpedo tubes, and increase the power of these saved body tonnage, in Xiao Zhenlei's view, the battleship basically did not use torpedoes, and the installation of torpedo tubes on the battleship is purely a waste of tonnage, it is better to save and increase the power, and the maximum speed of the two battleships of the Qinhuang class after increasing the power is 22 knots, which is one section higher than the two battleships of the New York.

The two Hanhuang-class battlecruisers had the same tonnage as the Qinhuang-class battleships, both of which were 27,000 tons, and they sacrificed some of the armor tonnage to increase the power plant of these saved tonnage, and the power of the two battlecruisers reached 65,000 horsepower, and at the same time the design of four 533 mm caliber torpedo tubes was canceled, and the power plant was increased, and the speed reached 28 knots, which was 0.5 knots faster than the Japanese Kongo.

In terms of firepower, they were also equipped with four triple 356 mm guns, five triple 203 mm secondary guns, four triple 76 mm guns, and no torpedo tubes.

In Xiao Zhenlei's view, it is a great loss for a battlecruiser to go head-to-head with a battleship, after all, the thickness of the armor cannot withstand the shelling of the battleship, its main role is to slaughter the cruiser and destroyer, and the battleship basically has to run, but the pursuit of the cruiser can be without scruples, and use torpedoes to deal with the cruiser that is escaping at high speed, and the probability of hitting is pitifully small, so it is better not to have a torpedo, and install a torpedo on the cruiser and torpedo boat, In fact, before and during World War II, the great powers basically modified battleships, and one of the most important ones was the elimination of torpedo tubes, which showed that torpedo tubes were a waste of tonnage and space on battleships and battle cruisers.

The fleet left the Los Angeles dock, Xiao Zhenlei and others stood on the side of the ship and waved goodbye to Zhang Jian and others standing on the dock, and after a while, the fleet became farther and farther away from the dock, until the figure could not be seen clearly, Xiao Zhenlei left the side of the ship and said to Sa Zhenbing: "Let's go, take a look on this battleship!" ”

"Okay, President, I'll introduce you!" After Sa Zhenbing finished speaking, he led the way in front and introduced the various armaments and protective facilities on the Yingzheng battleship and the situation in the cabin below deck for Xiao Zhenlei and others.

Coming to the turret position of one of the 356 mm main guns in the front of the battleship, some naval soldiers saw Xiao Zhenlei and others coming and immediately stood on the side, Xiao Zhenlei stepped forward and touched the protective armor on the turret. He climbed up again and touched the steel of the barrel, and finally walked down and asked one of the soldiers, "How do you feel about this battleship?" ”

The soldier saw Xiao Zhenlei and asked him. Some excited and a little excited, he hurriedly said: "Report to the president." This battleship is so energetic, it is very enjoyable and powerful when firing guns, we have conducted test guns during sea trials, and in the case of hits, an old ship of more than a thousand tons will be killed with one shot! ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and asked, "Is the gun chief of this turret here?" ”

A young man in his twenties stood up and saluted: "Report to the president, my name is Sun Yaozhong, and I am the gun commander of this turret!" ”

"What do you think of the fire control system on this battleship?"

Sun Yaozhong said: "Report to the president, when I was still in the East China Governor's Palace, I was sent to Germany to study. After a period of internship in the German Navy, I found that the fire control system on this battleship was still too primitive, and the precision range dù could not be compared with the fire control system on German ships! Based on my research and comparison, I have found that the fire control system on naval ships in the world today is the most advanced in German ships."

Everyone was anxious when they heard this, and the admirals knew that the fire control system was related to the hit rate of the ship's guns, and if the fire control system was not good, then it would definitely suffer in the battle, and it took more than two years for these four warships to be completed. After spending so much money, can't you compare it with the Western powers when you buy it back?

Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly asked: "You tell me in detail!" ”

"Yes, President!" Sun Yaozhong immediately elaborated on his research and findings.

After listening to it, everyone understood that after entering the new century. With the increase in the power of naval guns and the increase in range, the distance between the warring parties has exceeded 5,000 meters, and simple sights cannot meet this long-range needs. As the commander of the gunner, who directly commanded the artillery fire, he urgently needed a new method that could quickly determine the distance, course and speed of the target, and it was very soon. The first fire control system consisting of gyroscopes, optical instruments and slide rule was born.

A gyroscope is a must-have, it is used to solve the primary problem of shooting. Because it is impossible for a battleship to stop in an engagement. Even if you stop shooting, the impact of wind and waves will inevitably cause the hull to sway, affecting the accuracy of artillery shooting. The function of the gyroscope is to determine a horizontal reference plane, detect the deck tilt caused by the horizontal and horizontal swaying of the hull before firing, and correct its effect on gun shooting, so that no matter how the hull sways, the naval gun can shoot from the horizontal plane. Various optical instruments are the key to the fire control system. No one in the battle could measure the actual distance between the hulls with a tape measure, and the gun commander could only read the distance and specify the angle of the gun through the guò optical instrument; At the same time, observing the impact point and determining the position of the next salvo, the early slide rule only needed to determine the appropriate elevation angle and the amount of advance, so high-precision optical instruments in this period were very important.

After listening to Sun Yaozhong's introduction, Xiao Zhenlei said: "It's not to blame the Americans, the fire control system on their own warships is like this, it seems that these four battleships have to replace the fire control system when they drive back to improve the hit rate!" In addition, it is necessary to install sonar systems and radar systems, and air and sea radars must be installed, although due to the limitations of technical reasons, the radar system cannot be combined with the fire control system for the time being, but at least it can play a role in early warning, other people's planes and ships have not yet appeared in the line of sight, we have discovered others first, which can win fighters and preparation time, and greatly improve combat effectiveness and combat effectiveness. ”

Sa Zhenbing affirmed when he heard this: "Yes, what the president said is extremely true, and my country will continue to increase investment and research in military science and technology, even if we have these big warships, but the internal structure of a warship with a fire control system like this is not advanced enough!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Okay, since we know this, we must pay enough attention to it, and try our best to catch up with the powers, but we can't be too hasty!" ”

"Yes, President!"

Next, Xiao Zhenlei asked the soldiers of each turret on the ship to conduct a drill of artillery operation and firing, and he and the officials watched from the sidelines, because they were still in US waters, they could not fire artillery casually, so as not to cause misunderstanding by the US authorities, so they only conducted a drill and did not fire live ammunition.

In the course of the exercise, the soldiers were divided into several parts, and the artillerymen were in the turret to operate the turret, some were responsible for loading shells, some were responsible for locking the bolts, some were responsible for firing the artillery, some were responsible for calculating, some were responsible for aiming, and some were responsible for calibrating the artillery to fire Zhuyuan, which was the division of labor among the soldiers in the turret.

There are also sailors responsible for transporting shells outside, there is a special conveying system and lifting system for transporting shells, and there are special soldiers in charge, you must know that the volume of 356 mm caliber naval gun shells is not small, and the weight is not light, the distance from the ammunition depot to the turret is not close, there must be a conveyor and a lifting system, and the shells transported over cannot be placed casually, there are special soldiers responsible for taking care of the shells, and there are also special soldiers responsible for handling the shells that slide out of the barrel after the cannon is fired, so as not to cause accidents due to negligence, You know, the power of these naval artillery shells is no joke.

In addition to these, there is also a special team responsible for firefighting, once the war starts, the ship cannot be completely missed, if there is a hit, the fire brigade must immediately send people to extinguish the fire and extinguish the smoke, so as to avoid the spread of fire and the thick smoke to affect the operation, but also to prevent the fire from detonating the shells.

Xiao Zhenlei saw that the soldiers of the fire brigade were carrying buckets, and some were holding wet quilts and clothes, so they were going to use these to extinguish the fire and smoke? Xiao Zhenlei pointed to those fire fighters and said: "The fire fighting effect is too poor, find a way to order some water pressure equipment and high-pressure water guns for the ship, the water sprayed out of the water cannon after pressure will definitely have a much better effect on extinguishing the fire than these manual fire extinguishing and smoke extinguishing, and the high-pressure water cannon can rush far away, and it can also attack the approaching enemy ship and affect the enemy ship to launch torpedoes."

Sa Zhenbing slapped his thigh and said happily when he heard this: "President, this is indeed a good way, it must be solved immediately after I go back, who is that, write down this matter, and remind me anxiously when I go back!" ”

His adjutant hurriedly agreed: "Yes, General!" ”

In addition to the sailors in charge of firefighting, there is also a logistics maintenance team, once the ship is shot and affects the operation, the logistics maintenance team comes in handy, especially when the ship is hit by the enemy ship's torpedo, to find a way to urgently repair the penetrated hull, to avoid a large amount of seawater pouring into the hold, if it is impossible to repair the gap at that time, it is necessary to close the watertight tank near the hit site to prevent the water from penetrating into the other cabins and affecting the navigation and stability of the ship, and then pump out the light into the seawater in the cabin.

There is also a unit on the ship, that is, the Marine Corps, and every warship must be equipped with such a unit, the number of which cannot be too large, and it must be strong in combat, which is the armament to protect the internal security of the warship, and at the same time, it can also carry out landing operations and attacks. (To be continued......) R1292