"Mowgli?" Li Yongchang frowned, "There are only three ships, it seems to be too thin, right?" There are quite a few warships in the U.S. Navy,"

"There are not many soldiers." Li Yongji said, "Naval warfare is different from land warfare, the number of people and the number of ships are not an advantage, the key is firepower, ship speed and protection."

The firepower of these three ships can be comparable to that of an entire fleet, and the speed is the first in the world, not to mention the protection, all steel ships, the artillery of other countries in this era may be able to smash the electronic equipment on these three ships, but if you want to sink it, I am afraid it will be quite difficult. ”

Indeed, at this time, naval warfare is, in the final analysis, based on firepower, speed, and protection, and of course, there is also a cost-effective problem.

Although Li Yongji's three ships are only obsolete goods for the Chinese Navy to use decommissioned frigates with little maintenance and modification, the three points of firepower, speed and protection are definitely black technology like cheating in this era.

If nothing else, just the same firepower is enough for these three ships to become a deterrent weapon. With the ship's 100-mm automatic cannon, it can fire effectively at a distance of 12 km, and at this distance, no other country, not even the British, has a weapon that can reach such a firing range.

In fact, the current artillery technology can already project shells up to 10 kilometers away, but that is of little practical significance, because it is the longest range, and there is basically no accuracy at all. Even if the shit luck hits your own battleship 10 kilometers away, it is not powerful, and it is basically impossible to penetrate your own steel battleship, because it can hit such a long-distance artillery, the caliber is not large, and it can basically only be a solid bullet, it cannot be an explosive bomb.

On the contrary, the 100-mm automatic cannons of the three ships. Not to mention the firing distance and speed, not to mention the power of the shell, simply compared to the fire control radar and the visual observation system, you can easily sink the enemy's ironclad ship or sail battleship within a range of 10 kilometers!

After all, this is a gap of more than two centuries, and it is also a gap between two centuries of rapid development of science and technology.

It is precisely because he knows the sharpness of his weapons and knows that artillery alone is enough to win. Therefore, Li Yongji dismantled the missile, torpedo, and mine system in order to pursue the greatest cost performance.

You must know that the price of artillery shells is relatively cheap, but the price of missile torpedoes is very high, and against the warships of the 19th century, the use of missiles and torpedoes is too wasteful, and it is very not cost-effective.

Of course, Li Yongji knows this, but it doesn't mean that Li Yongchang also knows that as an authentic person in this time and space. Although Li Yongchang is also an eye-opening Chinese, in terms of warships, he still stays at the stage of the Western powers' strong ships, even if he has defeated the Russian fleet. Still hasn't turned the corner.

In other words, the First Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy defeated the Russian Expeditionary Fleet, because Li Yongji had been trying to keep it secret during the battle, for example, none of the captured crew sailors were let go. Instead, they were all sent to dig coal and build roads, so that the outside world has not known much about the truth of that naval battle.

It is precisely because the secrecy work is done so well that not only foreigners do not understand. Even Li Yongchang didn't quite understand what was going on in the middle, but he couldn't think of it as a victory with just a few ships in the First Fleet.

Therefore, for the naval battle of Dongsha Island, Li Yongchang's thoughts are the same as most speculative people, that is, his family set up an ambush in advance, lured the other party to the Dongsha Island, and then used roadbed artillery to catch the other party off guard, or used mines or something during the period, anyway, the reason why he was able to win was nothing more than a sneak attack.

These people's ideas are very marketable, because they insist on one thing, that is, if the Russian fleet is defeated head-on, why don't they hype about the course of the battle afterwards, but hide it? Even those captives were not spared, even if they were diplomatically passive because of this.

In fact, it is precisely because the actual situation of the naval battle of Dongsha Island has not been announced to the public so far that the Russians are not reconciled to lose.

On the contrary, the British are different, after all, the British have received a PS photo sent by Li Yongji, on which there are a large number of ironclad ships. However, the British were not completely frightened, although they would not be able to distinguish the authenticity of the content of the photo, but they believed that with China's strength, it was absolutely impossible to produce so many ironclad ships.

You know, if there really are so many ironclads, what else is hidden? Directly put it out, scared the navies of various countries to death, and fart.

Therefore, the British speculated that most of these ironclad ships were flashy fakes, most likely counterfeits of wooden ships with ironclad armor, not to mention artillery, and perhaps had to be dragged away, so they did not have actual combat capability at all.

However, so many ironclad ships are indeed very shocking at first glance, so they speculate that the naval battle of Dongsha Island is not good because these "looks" were ambushed in advance, and then there were a few real ironclad ships mixed in, and then, the Russian fleet was frightened when it saw that it was surrounded by so many ironclad ships, and felt that it could not be done, so it surrendered.

That's right, this is the opinion of the British upper echelons such as Prince Albert, and they feel that they are eighty or nine percent sure, after all, one or two can be inferred based on the subsequent actions of the Chinese.

The British Admiral once said that if the Chinese really had so many ironclad ships in the photos, then there would be nothing to do with their British Empire, and if they drove a few of these warships, the world would be theirs.

But in fact, even Britain has produced so many ironclad ships with the strength of the whole country, and how can China produce so many ironclad ships even if it has the support of American capitalists? So the final conclusion is, it's all fake! It's just a trick of the Chinese.

Not to mention, the speculation of the British has helped Li Yongji a lot, allowing his advanced weapons to continue to hide, but on the contrary, this has also made Britain have less scruples about China.

In short, Li Yongji has decided to let the First Fleet stay in China to protect the coast, and as for himself, he will lead the newly established Second Fleet and lead these three cutting-edge warships to create a new miracle in American waters.

"Now that you're here, do you want to take a look at the ship?" Li Yongji asked. "Would you like to see the shooting scenes of these ships?"

"Of course." Li Yongchang smiled, "You brought me here, isn't this what you did?" ”

Nodding, Li Yongji didn't say anything, but let the carriage speed up and came to the mooring point of the three ships as fast as possible.

After that, Li Yongji and Li Yongchang both boarded the Suzhou frigate, and then, together with the other two frigates, set fire to anchor and left the berth. I went outside for a stroll, and by the way, I fired a few shots, first, to continue to use it as shooting training, and secondly, to let Li Yongchang personally feel the firepower of the ship.

The shooting scene was quite shocking, or rather, at least shocked Li Yongchang.

This time, there was only 100-mm fire from naval guns, three ships, six guns. With an average rate of 180 rounds per minute, separated by 10 kilometers, it fired continuously at more than a dozen target ships in the target sea area, causing a large splash and explosion.

These 180 rounds. It is the number of shots of the six guns combined, and on average, it is equivalent to 30 shells fired by one gun, and the rate of fire is not extreme. This is done to ensure accuracy and reduce wear and tear on the barrel. Because the damage to the barrel of the gun is very large.

However, just this scene is enough, so that Li Yongchang can truly experience what is going on.

After only three minutes of fighting, the shooting drill was over, and then they came to the vicinity of the target ship to observe the shooting effect, and the results were very surprising, a total of 12 target ships spliced together with wooden planks and fixed with iron anchors were all destroyed, effectively verifying the accuracy of the shooting.

The high rate of fire, high accuracy, and such strong power made Li Yongchang realize that with these three ships, he might really be able to run rampant, at least compete with the Americans.

In short, after watching the shooting demonstration of the cutting-edge warship, Li Yongchang was greatly relieved and no longer had too many worries about Li Yongji's trip to the United States.

After that, Li Yongchang re-entered the imperial political arena as the head of the Senate, but specifically, he was no longer responsible for the specific administrative affairs of the country, but mainly ran the domestic royal enterprises, and maintained the economic operation of the imperial enterprises without traveling.

As for Li Yongji, at the end of February, he announced that he would close the Yonghua Palace and no longer meet visitors, but in fact he quietly boarded the Suzhou, and then led the entire Second Fleet to quietly set off from Jiaxing Military Port.

The reason why he is so sneaky is mainly for the sake of influence, after all, Li Yongji is now the emperor, and his every move is highly watched, and before he really declares war on the United States, if he leads the fleet to California in a bright and bright manner, it will definitely cause unnecessary trouble.

This time, Li Yongji did not take a high-speed yacht, but took a real battleship, and the main reason was the fuel problem.

You must know that even the most powerful Suzhou has a maximum range of only 3,000 nautical miles, and it is absolutely impossible to drive directly from Jiaxing Port to Los Angeles, and in fact it is barely even possible to drive to Hawaii, so if there is no Li Yongji's mobile warehouse, it is impossible to achieve a real voyage.

This is different from speedboats, which have been modified to carry more fuel, so that they can go directly from Shanghai to Los Angeles.

However, the battleship is different, and the battleship also carries a large number of naval personnel and a lot of ammunition and materials, even if it can greatly reduce the amount carried because of Li Yongji, but it is definitely not comparable to a specially modified high-speed yacht.

It is okay to carry a large number of supply ships and a large amount of fuel, but in that case, the speed cannot be improved, and the performance of 38 knots cannot be displayed, so Li Yongji must board the ship to be responsible for the supply of materials for the whole army.

In fact, the three 1,000-ton high-speed supply ships are mainly for show, not to arouse the suspicion of others, and there are not many supplies on them, in order to naturally reduce weight and increase speed.

These three supply vessels are all wave-piercing catamarans, which are not only able to withstand greater wind and waves at sea and sail more steadily, but also have a larger deck and volume, which can carry more cargo while ensuring the speed of the ship.

This kind of catamaran supply ship with a displacement of about 1,000 tons has a total deadweight of only 400 tons, and the net deadweight is only 300 tons, excluding fuel, food, drinking water, crew and other materials, that is, it can only carry more than 200 tons of supplies.

Although the carrying capacity is average, the speed of this type of ship is super fast, with a maximum speed of 40 knots, so the main purpose is to accompany three warships, which is why the speed is so high.

Theoretically, if 80 percent of the tonnage of these three supply ships were used to carry fuel. Then it is possible to ensure that the entire fleet will go directly from Jiaxing Port to Los Angeles, but the speed will definitely be affected, and it is impossible to continue to move at full speed, and can only use an economic speed of 18 knots.

However, with Li Yongji here, there is no need to think about these, as long as the conditions allow, it is right to sail at full speed.

All boats are equipped with modern navigation equipment, such as gyrocompass, night vision equipment, sonar navigation and collision avoidance systems, etc., as well as experienced navigators. It was guaranteed that the fleet could sail at an average speed of 32 knots on the most suitable routes.

The weather was also quite good, it was the end of February, and the Pacific Ocean was the mildest time of the year, with almost no typhoons and no strong winds and waves, which allowed the entire fleet to move at high speed without any fears.

In this way, after 13 days, Li Yongji's fleet arrived at the port of Los Angeles, in terms of the size of the fleet. In this era, it can be said that a record was set for high-speed sailing. Of course, if this speed is put in modern society, it is not much outrageous, and the sea ships departing from the port of Shanghai in modern society. When you arrive in Los Angeles, it usually takes between 11 and 15 days, so Li Yongji's speed is according to modern society. It's not too fast.

Since they had been notified by radio in advance, the people of the Chinese settlement in Los Angeles still had some knowledge of the arrival of this fleet. It's just that I didn't know that Li Yongji came over in person.

When Wu Tingfang, who stayed behind, came to greet him with the high-level officials of the settlement, he was immediately startled when he found that Li Yongji had actually appeared, and subconsciously knelt down.

"Get up." Li Yongji waved his hand, and then lowered his voice and said, "I'm coming in secret, and you don't want to delay the big event, right?" ”

Hearing Li Yongji say this, Wu Tingfang waited for the high-level officials of the settlement to get up, and then Li Yongji nodded and immediately asked Wu Tingfang to take him to the Los Angeles Governor's Mansion to rest.

The Los Angeles Governor's Mansion is the military and political yamen of the Chinese settlement in Los Angeles, which integrates administrative, judicial, and military functions, and is also the residence of Li Yongchang in the past, so it is normal for Li Yongji to ask to go there.

In the process of Wu Tingfang taking Li Yongji to the Governor's Palace, the black-clothed intelligence bureau personnel behind Li Yongji immediately stopped other high-level officials, and then carefully instructed them, basically to keep their mouths tight, and that today's affairs could not be said, in short, the emperor's arrival in Los Angeles must be kept strictly secret.

There is still some distance from the port of Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Governor's Palace, so you have to take a carriage, and Li Yongji simply took a carriage with Wu Tingfang, and asked about the situation here by the way.

Although Li Yongchang also introduced the situation here, Li Yongchang prefers to go deep into the front line to put on a show, so the specific administrative processing is handed over to his staff group, and Li Yongchang's staff group is headed by Wu Tingfang, so he asked Wu Tingfang to definitely not run.

"Due to the continuous immigration, we have a group of people coming in almost every month, and so far, there are 200,000 and 2,000 Chinese in the entire settlement." Wu Tingfang said, "Among these 200,000 people, eighty percent are men, that is to say, there are at least 160,000 strong men, and they are basically soldiers, and the military system is also implemented, so it is relatively simple in terms of management." ”

"What is the configuration of soldiers and civilians? How many full-time professional soldiers are there? Li Yongji asked again.

"Since we are a settlement, most of the people have to work, so there are only 10,000 professional soldiers. These 10,000 people are elite, mainly as mobile troops, concentrated in the barracks near the Governor's Palace, and are not dispersed, in fact, the Governor's Palace we are going to is in the middle of the barracks.

In addition, in the port of Los Angeles and in the fixed posts near the settlement, there are also professional soldiers, and there are also mobile patrols, which are cavalry, half professional and half militia, in order to maintain security around the settlement. ”

"Well done." Li Yongji nodded, "The strength of the force is to be used in a centralized manner, it is a good way for you not to disperse the troops, it seems that you are still very level." ”

"Your Majesty has won the prize." Wu Tingfang said, "This is all the idea of His Royal Highness the Righteous King. ”

"Huh." Li Yongji smiled and continued, "What is the living situation in the settlement? ”

"In the beginning, we made a fence out of wood around the perimeter of the Los Angeles settlement, mainly to guard against wild beasts and robbers." Wu Tingfang said, "Later, after more and more people, we began to burn cement and red bricks to build walls, and now we have used cement, red bricks and clay. A fortress was built. Because most of the walls of this fort are made of red bricks, the locals call our fort the Red Fort...... Ah, you see, there it is. ”

Following Wu Tingfang's fingers, Li Yongji looked through the car window, and sure enough, he saw a small square city in the distance, which looked red, but it was worthy of the name of the Red Fort.

"Are 200,000 people living in the Red Keep?" Li Yongji asked.

"Not exactly." Wu Tingfang said, "There are mainly 10,000 professional garrisons in the Red Fort, as well as other craftsmen and some family members. The total population in peacetime is less than 30,000. Others, however, live scattered around the Red Keep to facilitate farming or road construction, and only retreat to the Red Keep in case of emergency. You see, the wheat fields, the ponds, and the farms around here are all made by people from outside the city. ”

"Well, I saw it." Sure enough, Li Yongji saw a large number of artificially cultivated fields around the castle. Although there are no things planted because of the solar terms, it can still be seen that the scale of these boxy fields is not small.

In addition to these reclaimed fields, there are also places that are fenced. You can still see a lot of cattle and sheep in the fence, which should be the so-called livestock farm.

Between the fields and farms, there are many Chinese-style houses, which are lined up one after another. At first glance, it is the residence of the farmers.

"In terms of agricultural production, we are organized according to militarized production teams." Wu Tingfang continued, "Simply put. We divide people into production teams, each production team has 100 people, the leader is the team leader, and then based on the production team of 100 people, scattered around the production area.

To put it simply, we divide the land around the Red Fort according to its proportion and use, and contract it to production teams free of charge, and each production team that contracts its own land is a small settlement.

After contracting their own land, the production team could not do it by its own temperament, but had to produce according to the unified plan of the Governor's Palace. Generally speaking, we in the Governor's House follow the principle of making the best use of the land we have.

For example, if there is fertile land near a river, you can open up paddy fields to grow rice, and if there is a shortage of water nearby, you can build canals and grow wheat. If the land is not fertile enough, grass is planted for farming. In addition, in order to make comprehensive use of land, we also dig ponds near paddy fields for aquaculture, and strive to achieve the principle of combining paddy fields, aquaculture and animal husbandry, so as to produce more output on the least amount of land, so as to intensively cultivate and reduce the area of personnel scattered.

By doing so, people outside the city do not have to travel far from the city and can be protected by the Red Fort in time, thus maximizing the security of the settlement. ”

"Collective work and unified planning, the method is not bad." Li Yongji nodded, "Then what is the distribution, in terms of output distribution, how do you distribute it?" ”

"In terms of output distribution, we are implementing a rent-collecting model." Wu Tingfang said, "Farm tools, seeds and fertilizers are all provided by our Governor's Palace, and the production team of 100 people only needs to receive materials according to their needs, and then make a blank slip."

After that, after the production team has produced something, 30% of the harvest is handed over to the governor's palace, and the rest is left to the production team, and the specific distribution is determined by the production team. Of course, in the early stage, they also have to deduct 10% of the cost of agricultural production materials, generally for three consecutive years. In other words, within three years, they have to pay 40% every year. ”

"Are you saying that the production team has the final say on what is left behind, who is it, captain?" Li Yongji asked.

"No, no, no, the captain is only responsible for coordinating disputes, and in wartime as the captain, as for the means of production and how to distribute income, it is not the captain who has the final say, but the production committee." Wu Tingfang said, "Every production team has a ten-person production committee, and these ten people are all team leaders who lead ten-people.

When distributing materials, the ten team leaders will discuss collectively, and after discussing the distribution results, they will be made public and voted by all members of the production team. In other words, the distribution result is discussed by the group members, but whether it is passed or not must be voted on by all members. If two-thirds of the votes are passed, they will be distributed according to this rule, and no more than two-thirds of the votes will be passed, and even if they are not clear, they will have to be re-discussed and re-formulated.

The reason for this is to be fair, because although they are all production teams of 100 people, some of them are hardworking and some are lazy. In this way, the hard-working people will get more, and the lazy people will naturally have less, which is called more work and more rewards. ”

After a pause, Wu Tingfang said: "Actually, we have no choice but to do this, because almost all of our 200,000 people are militarized organizations, and they are forcibly assigned to small groups, not traditional families, so we can only do this." ”

"That's pretty good." Li Yongji nodded, "Is there any difficulty?" ”

"It's okay to say otherwise, the key is the lack of women." Wu Tingfang said, "At present, even the smallest production team of 100 people can eat well, and everyone has a gun, so there is no problem in terms of safety." However, it is almost all men here, and there is a lack of women. So, we had to buy or buy a group of women to be in the army. Prostitute, comfort these strong men. However, the price of these women is too high, and most of them are local natives, and the quality is too poor, but even so, it is a drop in the bucket, so it is best to transport a group of women over. ”

"Okay, I see." Li Yongji smiled, "As for women, it's not impossible to ship it from China, but it's not something that can be done for a while, so you still have to do it in other ways." ”

"Anything else, buy it?"

"No, no, no." Li Yongji narrowed his eyes, "It's too expensive to buy, let's grab it." ”

"Rob?"

"Yes, rob women." Li Yongji said, "There are also white settlements nearby, there are also many white women, and further afield, there are also many white settlements, and even more women in San Francisco." We're about to go to war with them, and in that case, there's no problem with snatching women. ”

"But if we rob a woman, we will suffer morally."

"Morality is." Li Yongji smiled, "Besides, we can say that those women went with us voluntarily, well, anyway, as long as we win, aren't the words just with us?" (To be continued......)