Now that the internal combustion engine has begun to appear, there will be more categories in the development direction of weapons, and it is no longer enough to rely on Fang Xiaoyu and Xu Shouchang and a few others, so Fang Xiaoyu decided to set up a weapons laboratory to specialize in the development of various weapons of the Navy and the Army.

Fang Xiaoyu personally served as the person in charge of the weapons laboratory, and with Fang Xiaoyu, who is familiar with the laws of weapon development, this laboratory will design more and better weapons without any detours.

Holland began to design new submarines based on diesel engines, and Li Zhonggong was brought in by Fang Xiaoyu to start the preliminary research of tanks and aircraft, especially the independent suspension system of tanks, in addition to Fang Xiaoyu's special construction of the world's first wind tunnel for aircraft testing.

Deng Jiaxiang began the development of TNT explosives and white phosphorus incendiary bombs, Tesla began to pre-develop electric transmission devices for warships and tanks, and the artillery research laboratory led by Zhang Hui contracted artillery research in both the navy and the army.

In the current Zhonghua Ling science and technology department, Fang Xiaoyu has built a perfect structure in terms of civil science and technology, and with the support of Xiaofeng's technology, even if Fang Xiaoyu doesn't care about it, he will operate with high efficiency.

This time, Fang Xiaoyu set up the structure of the military research department again, so that the scientific research department of the Chinese Collar will be officially improved, and even if it is separated from Xiaofeng's help in the future, there will be no problem, and it will still be one of the few large-scale research institutions in the world.

In March 895 of the Taiyuan calendar, Fang Xiaoyu began to build five battleships and ten cruisers for the St. Martin Empire in the major shipyards in the territory of the Lanfang Empire.

Now the best battleship in the world is recognized as the 'Lanting' class of the Chinese Territory, and if they sell this kind of warship to the St. Martin Empire, it will pose a great threat to the Boston Empire.

In order to avoid military passivity, the Boston Empire decided to use a campaign to inflict heavy losses on the navy of the Saint-Martin Empire and hit the Saint-Martin Empire hard, and a conspiracy against the Saint-Martin Empire quietly unfolded.

The Federal Republic of Central and South Africa is a federation of countries, which is a national alliance composed of six small countries, namely Mara, El Salva, Honduras, Nigara, Costa Rica, and Chiapas, in order to protect themselves, with its capital in Salva City.

The Union of Central and South China is located at the intersection of the two continents of the north and south of the New World, bordering the Empire of St. Martin in the south and the Kingdom of Moss in the north, which is the boundary between the north and the south of the New World, and is also the narrowest part of the entire New World, with a land area of less than one million square kilometers.

Due to the weakness of the Central and Yugoslav Federation, the empire of Boston and St. Martin did not want to expand the war indefinitely and damage their own economic interests.

In order to limit the war to the mode of naval warfare, both sides also recognized the neutral status of the Central and Southern Alliance and regarded it as a buffer zone, so the Central and Southern Alliance has been relatively stable for so many years, and there are not many domestic standing armies, or even no navy.

In July 895, the St. Martin Empire received information that the Boston Empire had sent its Storm Ocean Fleet to escort a division of land to the Confederation of Central and South China, and that after occupying it, it would dig a canal in the narrowest part of the entire continent so that its two oceanic fleets could cooperate with each other. The news was like a bolt from the blue, and Augustus I was very alarmed.

The Saint-Martin Empire has always been in a weak position, and the reason why the two sides have been able to maintain the balance of power is that in addition to the support of the Western Continent powers, another advantage is the geographical advantage.

Because the sea in the north of the Boston Empire was covered with snow all year round, there were many icebergs, and there was no route to go with, so its two oceanic fleets could not work together. The Empire of San Martín relied on the southern straits to allow the two oceanic navies to work together, so as to maintain the balance of power.

Once the Boston Empire can also concentrate all its fleets, its naval strength will far exceed the nightmare of the St. Martin Empire, and at that time, the St. Martin Empire's navy will be destroyed.

Knowing the seriousness of the situation, Augustus I immediately ordered the main fleet to maneuver to the Storm Ocean coastline of the Confederation of Central and Southern China, ready to intercept the landing of the Boston Empire at any time, and at the same time, the two divisions of the army were on the border of the Confederation of Central and Southern China.

Marshal Dinant is searching for the enemy in the stormy ocean with the main fleet of the Empire of St. Martin, which concentrates the entire navy of the Empire of St. Martin, including eight ironclads, eleven cruisers, forty-one wooden warships of various types, and a large number of supply ships.

This time, their mission is to stop the Bostonians from transporting troops to the Confederation of Central and South China, and they are to find the Boston Empire's Storm Ocean Fleet and try to sink the troop carriers it guards.

The Storm Ocean is different from the gentle sea surface of the Eastern Ocean, where the wind is always high and the waves are fast, so the warships serving in the Storm Ocean have a characteristic, the hull is wide.

The stability of such a warship is relatively high, the hull roll amplitude is small, and the gun can have a higher hit rate in large waves, but this design also brings a disadvantage that the speed is slower, the steering is difficult, the deck is attacked by a large area, and the structural strength is reduced.

The fleet of the Saint Martin Empire is all short and stubby ships unique to the Storm Ocean, except for the factor that the main body of the Saint Martin Empire is fighting in the Storm Ocean, the Saint Martin Empire cannot build warships by itself, and the purchase from the countries of the Western Continent is also one of the reasons.

Because of the purchase of warships from the countries of the Western Continent, the other party will naturally not redesign for the Saint Martin Empire, and needs to build the existing ship type of the country, and the countries of the Western Continent are located on the east coast of the Storm Ocean, so they are naturally all short and stubby ship types.

At this moment Marshal Dinant was sitting on such a stubby warship. This flagship is a 'Sibai'-class ironclad ship purchased by the Saint-Martin Empire from the Saar Empire five years ago.

This kind of ironclad ship abandoned the waterline armor belt that was popular in the western continent at that time, and instead adopted the ironclad armor of the armored fort type that concentrated on the defense of key areas, which optimized the armor composition, reduced the weight, and greatly increased the speed.

The turrets of this kind of warship are also very distinctive, because the western continent pursues a bow engagement strategy that is different from the way of engaging the Chinese consulel, and the placement of the turrets along the central axis makes it impossible for the front and rear turrets to turn to the bow or stern at the same time to attack.