Xiao Zhenlei's order of two cruisers of more than 3,000 tons at the Jiangnan Shipyard and the China Merchants Steamship Bureau greatly stimulated the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, and Fujian was also under Xiao Zhenlei's rule, and the principal of the Shipping Administration Bureau immediately came to Shanghai to find Xiao Zhenlei, hoping to get orders. The Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau once built ironclad ships of more than 2,000 tons and all-steel warships, which was a shipbuilding experience that neither the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau nor the China Merchants Steamship Bureau had ever had. Xiao Zhenlei thought about it and agreed to let the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau also build two cruisers of more than 3,000 tons, and the weapons were provided by the Zhenhua Artillery Factory.

After the order was placed, the three shipyards immediately started to work, and while the design drawings of the battleships were still being designed, the three shipyards immediately began the work of expanding the number of shipbuilders, expanding the docks, and adding shipbuilding equipment. You must know that the construction of a warship of several hundred tons is completely different from the construction of a warship of several thousand tons, and the machinery required is also different, and a hydraulic press is needed when building the hull, and sometimes a large hydraulic press is used, for example, Jiangnan Shipyard is the first enterprise in China to use a 10,000-ton hydraulic press.

Six cruisers were ordered from the three major shipyards, this is for them to practice, as long as these six cruisers are built, the performance is not much lower than the powers, with the experience of building large ships, it will be much easier to build them in the future, after all, everything is difficult at the beginning, as long as you take this first step, the road behind will be much easier.

(The news of China's self-construction of its own cruisers soon became known to the Great Powers, which particularly aroused Japan's vigilance, and Japan's actions against the East China Governor's Office followed.) Especially the peeping and infiltration of the three major shipyards have also been carried out, Xiao Zhenlei has long known that after the news spreads, it will definitely attract these rich wolves. Therefore, he had already ordered the military to take over the security and defense work of these three shipyards, and at the same time asked Wang Yaqiao to send special personnel to the three shipyards to carry out counter-espionage work. At the same time, it is also necessary to send more manpower to strengthen the work of intelligence gathering on Japan, and we must not always be beaten passively, and the way to attack is to take the initiative.

At the same time, the Japanese side also accelerated the action of supporting Yuan Shikai, and wanted to use Yuan Shikai's hand to fight Xiao Zhenlei, but at this time Yuan Shikai was only the interim president, and his status was not very stable without a formal congressional election, and Lao Yuan did not want to stimulate Xiao Zhenlei too much at this time. After all, Xiao Zhenlei's hands are too strong and strong, and he is not sure.

Lao Yuan didn't want to stimulate Xiao Zhenlei, it didn't mean that Xiao Zhenlei watched Lao Yuan grow stronger, his hand had already reached into the Beiyang Army, Wang Yaqiao's Iron and Blood Operations Section had already started to rebel and buy the middle and lower-level officers of the Beiyang Army two years ago, but Yuan Shikai didn't know it yet.

When the three major shipyards had already started their preparations, Xiao Zhenlei had already come to the aircraft factory, which had been built for more than a year, and Feng Ru had been working here for a year. For more than a year, he has been working as a design and manufacturing instructor for aircraft.

Feng Ru accompanied Xiao Zhenlei into a tall aircraft manufacturing workshop, which was built very large and could assemble and manufacture parts and components for ten aircraft at the same time. There are a total of ten such workshops, and now only this one workshop is in use, and the other nine workshops are idle. However, there are many employees working in this workshop, and once a large number of production and manufacturing are required. It can form a manufacturing capacity in a short period of time and make use of all ten workshops.

Everyone else is busy around a brand new aircraft skeleton. On the other side of the skeleton of this aircraft is a ready-built plane, a steel plane, which has a cockpit and a cockpit, unlike the rudimentary aircraft that Feng Ru designed and built before.

Feng Ru took Xiao Zhenlei to the plane and introduced: "President, you see, this is an aircraft that we have recently designed and manufactured, the skeleton of the aircraft is made of steel, and the skin is also made of steel, which is much better than the planes we made before and now made abroad in terms of protection and sturdiness!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei slowly circled around the plane, this is the earliest propeller aircraft, the propeller is in front of the nose, the volume is not very large, and the shape is estimated to be a better aircraft in this era, after all, aircraft research in the United States and Britain has just begun, and other countries have not even paid attention to it.

Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Has this plane flown test?" How's it going? ”

Feng Rudao: "It has been tested several times, the aircraft engine is 120 horsepower, the fuel tank can fly 160 kilometers with full fuel, the speed is 130 kilometers per hour, and the maximum ceiling is 2,200 meters. ”

Xiao Zhenlei touched his chin and said, "How is the progress of the Aircraft Engine Research Institute?" ”

"They're working on a new engine, and they've got some eyebrows!" Feng Ru said.

Two years ago, Feng Ru won first place in the first airplane flight competition held in the United States, when he flew a plane with a speed of 65 miles per hour and a ceiling of 700 feet, and in the course of a year, he improved the performance of the plane several times.

Xiao Zhenlei climbed onto the plane to take a look, touched the skin and steel frame structure of the plane, and said: "The research on the engine is still ongoing, so can we start with the plane itself now?" Although the all-steel structure is strong, what if other lightweight materials are used? Able to improve the performance of the aircraft? For example, replacing steel with aluminum? Or the inside of the aircraft is not called light but strong wood, and the outside is wrapped with a layer of aluminum alloy skin, which can greatly reduce the weight of the aircraft itself, and then find a way to develop a new type of fuselage material after the performance of the engine is improved in the future."

Feng Ruyan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded: "This is a good way, but to use this alloy material, you must also help the steel company, after all, this involves metallurgical industry technology!" What kind of wood to use, I'll think about it, or I have to make a family out and test it."

Xiao Zhenlei asked Yan Guoliang, director of the aircraft factory: "How many test pilots do you have here now?" Can you arrange a flight for us to see? ”

Yan Guoliang hurriedly said: "There are twelve test pilots, of course you can see the test flight if you want to, I'll arrange it now!" , President, please come with me."

So the group came to the test flight site outside, and a test pilot was assigned by Yan Guoliang to drive the plane out of the workshop and onto the runway

As the aircraft engine roared more and more, the speed of the aircraft became faster and faster, the engine spewed out thick smoke, and slowly climbed up after flying more than 100 meters.

"Good, good, good!" Xiao Zhenlei applauded happily and said continuously: "Yes, yes, what is the name of this test pilot?" Good flying skills! ”

Yan Guoliang hurriedly said: "It's called Gao Zhiyuan, I came in when the aircraft factory was established, and it has been a year since the test flight, and there have been more than 200 flight sorties!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Very good, such talents should be vigorously cultivated, and more important people should be given, and when we set up an air force in the future, we need such talents!" ”

"Yes, the president's instructions, we take them to heart!"

Ten minutes later, the plane flew back again, and began to hover over the test flight site, and began to descend after making some simple movements in the sky, perhaps practicing more times, and landing was relatively stable, it seems that this Gao Zhiyuan is not too much of a flying talent.

Xiao Zhenlei asked Yan Guoliang to find Gao Zhiyuan to give a few words of encouragement, which also made Gao Zhiyuan, the test pilots, very excited and motivated.

On the way back from the test site, Xiao Zhenlei asked: "Once the performance of the aircraft can meet the requirements of combat, how can you solve the problem of carrying weapons on the aircraft?" ”

Yan Guoliang said: "President, we have considered this problem, and have set up a special department to study, called the Institute of Aircraft Weapons, our researchers believe that under the current conditions, if you want to make the aircraft form combat effectiveness, the only way to carry a heavy machine gun on the aircraft, if you use a rifle, not only the firepower is too small, but also a waste of the aircraft, if you use a heavy machine gun, you can operate the aircraft and launch the heavy machine gun by the pilot at the same time, but we found through the test, Heavy machine guns can only be lethal if they are mounted under the front of the aircraft, but there is one problem that cannot be solved, which is very difficult for our researchers."

Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Is it that the aircraft propeller is blocking the firing range of the heavy machine gun?" If a bullet is fired, the bullet will inevitably destroy the propeller of the aircraft? ”

"Uh, President, you, how do you know?" Yan Guoliang was shocked.

Xiao Zhenlei smiled: "Isn't this obvious? The blades of this propeller are so long, it will definitely block the fire of the heavy machine gun when it rotates at high speed! Well, I've come up with a way to solve this problem, but it's up to you to figure out how to do it, and I'll only provide you with research directions."

Yan Guoliang hurriedly said, "President, please speak!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei said: "When the machine gun is firing, because the blades of the propeller rotate at high speed, it is easy for the bullet to hit the propeller blades, so we must find a way to let the bullet pass through the gap between the blades of the propeller, can we make a coordination device?" Stop firing when the blades of the propeller form a line with the barrel of the machine gun, which avoids hitting the blades, but the shooter must pull the trigger, otherwise the machine gun will not be able to fire! ”

Yan Guoliang's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said: "The president's opinion should be feasible in theory, but how to make these coordination devices is a problem, I will go to the research institute to tell them this theory later, and let them study it in this direction to see if it is feasible!" (To be continued......) R1292