In 1607, the Kingdom of England established Jamestown, the first colony in Virginia in North America, and in the decades that followed, Jamestown was filled with joys and sorrows.

The saddest of all were famine and disease, from which the vast majority of migrants died in the first few years.

The most frightening thing was the haunting attack of the surrounding Indians, and the revenge of the Jamestown colonists against the revenge of the Indians lasted for almost a hundred years.

The most horrific thing is that people who completely transcended the limits of human nature in the years of hunger and unbearable hunger, and these historical records have long been not limited to rumors.

And the most annoying thing is the fire that cannot be prevented.

Captain Smith, Jamestown's earliest leader, witnessed a fire that occurred in early 1608. The fire inadvertently caused by the colonists, who had only been settled for less than half a year, burned down most of their dwellings and supplies, leaving very few people alive.

Captain Smith briefly wrote in his diary: "I have come to think that it is safer to live in a desolate Indian ghetto than this stockade. Fools often shoot their guns here, while others often burn down their yards at night. ”

400 years later, Captain Smith's views on social security in the United States are still no different than they are today, and the front pages of news across the country are still dominated by two elements: guns and fires.

But Captain Smith's spitting was not enough to describe Jamestown's intimate relationship with the fire: the fire of 1612 nearly razed Jamestown to the ground; In 1622, during the First Bohattan War, Jamestown was once again ignited by the neurotic militia, and half of the city was cohew, and a large amount of tobacco waiting for European shipments was burned; In 1676, a man named Bacon in Jamestown launched an armed rebellion against the Governor of Virginia, and Jamestown was again destroyed by fire and never recovered. Eventually, it fell and withered.

……

Wednesday, October 22, 1642.

The river island where Jamestown is located has become more and more severe due to land subsidence and flooding caused by river erosion in recent years, and if it were not for the extensive application of cement building materials and wetland drainage engineering technology from Huamei, I am afraid that many neighborhoods would have to be abandoned. In the past year, in addition to the Virginia Home Rule Council and some older immigrant families, more people have moved to Hampton Town at the mouth of the James River, and Jamestown has shown early signs of decline.

It was already night, and the halls of the Zemstjöm were still lit with candles and crowds. About 40 representatives of wealthy people from various Virginia colonies or farms gathered to argue fiercely about the newly arrived harvest season of cotton, tobacco and other agricultural products.

"Gentlemen, after the loss of indentured servitude, we should no longer give up our right to set prices for tobacco! We should unite and send representatives to the American Congress in China, and we must negotiate! Or talk to London again. ”

"Monsieur Chauvin is absolutely right, otherwise in five years we would not have lost less of our export profits on tobacco than His Majesty King (Charles I) had taken from us! It's safe to say that the decision we made six years ago was terrible! ”

At the agitation of a short man. More than half of the well-dressed tobacco planters complained as if they had had enough of the embarrassment of dying, and some even regretted their decision to choose local autonomy.

"But we still get much cheaper goods from them than in Europe, especially food, weapons, clothing and medicine. And tariff preferences for cotton exports have not diminished. If they shift tobacco price concessions to the goods we need, or remove other export tariff preferences, we will not be able to change the end result, but will cause discontent among the population. ”

A thin, middle-aged man in neat clothes stood up. Clearly oppose the uncontrolled situation in the hall now.

"Mr. Fellner, I have heard that your estate has been converted to cotton, and that the cotton mill in the Hamptons is your property. You certainly don't have to worry about the lives and deaths of the tobacco planters in Jamestown or the entire Virginia colony. Maybe in a few years, you'll be standing here as a Chinese American and flaunting the choices you've made. ”

Another stocky man sneered, which drew a chorus of condemnation.

"This is in line with the original agreement, we should accept their opinion, end the indentured slave contract, allow more people to enter the factory, and adjust Virginia's economy to the right place."

"You know, to keep harvesting a pound of tobacco would take up far more land than cotton, unless we could buy more fertilizer, but obviously we could grow our own food instead of that. We should not cling to tobacco, otherwise we will have to fight the Baohatan forever because there is not enough land, which is absolutely unrealistic. ”

Fellner pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his cheeks, the closed hall making him feel very uncomfortable.

"Mr. Ferner, that is ours, they have cheated us out of a qiē, forced down the price, and made His Majesty the King of London lose trust in us. Moreover, the U.S. Congress in China has refused to allow us to retain full Virginia autonomy after our annexation, and only allows local council elections to be held in accordance with their rules, and they will appoint officials, which is completely unacceptable! I sent someone to London to explain this qiē to His Majesty the King. ”

A sickly old man stood up, his words causing the vast majority of those present to ponder, and it seemed that he had considerable prestige in the Virginia Autonomous Council.

After a few minutes of silence, someone began to nod in agreement, and then more and more hands were raised.

"Mr. Ferner, this is the decision of the majority of the Dominion Parliament, do you want to continue to reserve your opinion?" The stocky man with heavy dark circles looked triumphantly at the few silent men in the corner like a victorious raccoon.

"You don't see the fact that the Hamptons are thriving, and that the shipyards, lumber mills, pulp mills and cotton mills that are being invested in will be getting orders that we never imagined would make up for our loss of tobacco pricing power...... What they need is really just an attitude on our part, what they need is the sincerity of our real integration into that country, and you are only for the sake of tobacco profits, for your own power, not for the sake of the entire Virginia Dominion. ”

Fellner stood up, weakly dropped his sweat-wiping handkerchief, turned and walked out of the hall, followed by the few who shared Ferner's opinion.

"Huh. Hampton? It's already occupied by a bunch of Americans, who are using the indebted civilians and indentured slaves to cheat us out of our labor so that we have nothing! They moved or moved in many inexplicable people at will, but prevented the Dutch from importing black slaves into Jamestown. ”

"Unless they cede half of the shares of the Hampton Shipyard and Pulp Mill to us, it doesn't make any sense! But what did they do, they would rather give to the poor devils than sell them all to us! ”

"Get out of here, don't come back!"

"Traitor to Virginia!"

"Long live King Charles!"

Amid vicious invective and ridicule, the doors of the Dominion Assembly closed again, and the indignant members of the Autonomous Assembly of Virginia were filled with righteous indignation. The topic of how to re-enter into a series of status agreements with the English royal family began to be intensively discussed.

Fellner stood on the edge of the dock with a pale face, squinting his eyes and looking up at the moon in the sky, a self-deprecating sneer on his lips.

"Mr. Fellner, have you booked your ticket?"

At this moment, a young European man suddenly appeared beside Fellner out of nowhere, with a bright smile like a sunny smile on his face.

"Mr. Raymond? What do you ......?" Fellner seemed to have known the young European businessman in front of him for a long time, but was surprised that the other party actually appeared in front of him late at night.

"Looks like you've failed again......" Raymond glanced at a large building deep in town, and the smile on his face became a stranger, "You should know." My Government is very interested in Mr. Ferner's position. ”

"Yes, I will leave on time tomorrow, and I hope to talk to Your Excellency the Speaker of the Parliament and Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

Fellner was a staunch advocate of Virginia's annexation to Huamei, but from a few years ago. He faced considerable resistance in the Virginia Dominion Legislature. The biggest reason is that those people are the owners of tobacco plantations in Jamestown, and after the tobacco industry and the use of indentured slaves and black slaves were severely suppressed, the dissatisfaction was the heaviest.

Virginia's Emerging Cotton Industry. The basic control was in the hands of ordinary freedmen or Chinese American investors, and the managers hired were even former indentured slaves of the Jamestown plantation. The gorgeous merchant Raymond in front of him is a young indentured slave who escaped from Jamestown to Huamei Gangneung City eight years ago on the sloop of the USS Cornwall.

"You can't say more. Nor can it change the stupid paranoia of some people. They are too attached to their old life to know how to benefit from the new environment, and they are doomed to be eliminated. Raymond pulled out a cigarette and lit it, and what he said left Fellner a little puzzled.

"Oh my God! It's on fire! ”

Suddenly, one of the militiamen on the dock shouted, and Fellner turned his head to look at it, and his face turned pale.

At night, the building of the Dominion of Virginia was on fire. The flaming red flames lit up the surrounding streets, and thick smoke poured out from the cracks in the buildings, and the streets were quickly filled with men, women, and children who had escaped from the surrounding houses, many of them still tightly wrapped in sheets.

"It's a pity, there was another fire, I don't know how many people will be able to escape...... They probably didn't know it yet, the English Civil War had broken out, and no one could count on London, and no one knew whether it would be the king or who would have the final say in a few years. Raymond looked at the fire in the distance as if he were enjoying the view, the light and shadow of the flames swaying back and forth on his face, "Mr. Fellner, Jamestown is old, and the Virginia Dominion Council needs fresh blood, you should lead everyone to take responsibility." ”

"Has war broken out......

Fellner seemed to understand something, and slowly turned sideways and walked in the direction of his home, as if the fire had nothing to do with him at all.

An hour later, several dark shadows arrived in a grove on the bank of a river, where Raymond was sitting on a rock looking at the sparkling water, smoking alone.

"Second Lieutenant, the operation was successful, and none of them came out." Three agents from the Department of Defense's Military Intelligence gave a military salute to their leader, and one of them handed a letter to Raymond.

"Yes, this is a joint letter from Ferner and several other friendly gentlemen. The entire Virginia Dominion Local Council, now they are left with the right to vote......"

Raymond pocketed the letter and breathed a sigh of relief.

……

The next morning, while Jamestown's militia was still laboriously clearing through the rubble after the fire. A special launching ceremony is being held around a dry dock of the Beiyang Shipbuilding Group in the western district of the distant Huamei Manchester City.

Hundreds of bottles of bright red wine were being poured into the rising water level of the dry dock under the excited shouts of a group of shipbuilders, and a medium-sized merchant ship with a metallic hull gradually floated in the splashing water. The surface of the hull, from head to stern, is lined with dense rivets, dividing into clearly visible rectangular pieces.

This is the first experimental civil iron-hulled merchant ship in Huamei that took a year to build, and the riveting workers of the Beiyang Shipbuilding Group, who have been trained by building inland iron barges in large quantities through Guò for several years, have put too much effort into this merchant ship named "Conch".

The Conch has a full load displacement of 1,840 tons and a maximum cargo capacity of 800 tons. It belongs to the general merchant ship of medium and offshore waters and inland waterways. In order to reduce the construction cost, only a mature 1,200 horsepower triple steam unit with a maximum speed of 14 knots and a maximum range of 5,200 nautical miles at 10 knots was adopted. Although in terms of tonnage, the Conch is just an inconspicuous little thing in the current Huamei large-scale updated civil ships, but its unique iron hull and experimental nature, the cost of comprehensive R&D investment is very large, and the final cost reaches 400,000 US dollars, which is twice as high as the price of the national standard 1500 with a maximum cargo capacity of 1,500 tons.

The conch's hull is made of an all-wrought iron plate riveted structure. The average thickness of a ship's hull is only 20 mm, which is much thinner than the average wooden hull of a civilian merchant ship of more than 150 mm, but the actual strength is not the same. Since it has been used for mass processing of standard parts of wrought iron sheets. It is also much easier to maintain damage in the future.

The fly in the ointment is that because the processing cost of wide forged steel plates is really high, at present, only small wrought iron plates can be manufactured, and the number of riveted hulls is extremely large. The overall stability of the structure remains to be verified for a long time.

The current Conch is only a completed hull, and it will take two months of outfitting work to actually start. It is then towed back to the dry dock to be painted with a more stringent marine paint with more stringent anti-corrosion indicators. Later, we are waiting for the sea trials, which will last for several months.

In order to support the research and development of iron-hulled ships, not only General Industry Group and North Industries Group have invested a lot of technical energy, but even Xinhua Chemical Group has to spend a lot of scientific research funds for the painting of ships with higher anti-corrosion requirements. The most important thing is that only half of these funds are provided by the Congressional Commission of Science and Technology, and the rest are all self-raised by enterprises.

……

Most of the people who attended the launching ceremony of the Conch were engineers or mechanics from the Beiyang Shipbuilding Group, but at the front of the crowd, there were still several men in naval uniforms, one of whom was Sun Yang, the chief of staff of the Navy wearing the rank of rear admiral.

"How? All iron-hulled, if you are tempted, how many ships will the Navy come to play? You Qi held the board under his arm, and smiled and pointed to the Conch that was slowly moving out of the dock, as if he was already thinking about the Navy's eight-year expansion plan.

"It looks like a feeling, but I don't care if I say it, I'll talk to them later. However, you also know that Lao Wang (Wang Tiehammer) and Lao Zhang (Zhang Chunrui) are very taboo to use these guinea pig technology, and the all-iron shell structure should be more mature. I'm not here today because I'm not interested in that. ”

As he spoke, Sun Yang also patted the briefcase in his hand lightly, and only praised the conch in front of him. At present, he is more concerned about when the design work of the "Nuwa-class second-class light cruiser" that the Beiyang Shipbuilding Group will start building for the navy in the spring of 1644.

The Nuwa-class second-class light cruisers, with a standard displacement of 3,400 tons and a full load displacement of 4,250 tons, are the top priority in the Navy's eight-year expansion plan. After fierce debate within the navy, in order to adapt to ocean-going operations, increasing the tonnage and combat effectiveness of individual ships became the winning plan. But in this way, the cost will also rise, and the number of ships built must be greatly reduced, and the original plan of building 24 capital warships in eight years will eventually be simplified to the construction of 10 large light cruisers. The freed up funds can build more logistical auxiliary ships, which is also the decision of the research group led by Zhang Chunrui after careful consideration.

The Nüwa-class second-class light cruisers were planned to be built eight in one go to replace the Republic-class and Hua-class frigates that were retired one after another after 1650. The last two remaining ships are the first class light cruiser with a full load displacement of more than 5,000 tons, which is scheduled to start construction in 1647, and the old name of the enterprise-class sail frigate, which has been retired for more than ten years, will be reused.

The Nuwa-class will be the first quasi-ironclad ship to adopt the "hull film" process. The hull is divided into two layers: the outermost layer, the surface layer of the hull, is 30 mm wrought iron plate armor; The second layer, consisting of two layers of elm planks 50 mm thick each, crisscrossed with two layers of shell material firmly combined by a riveting process, with a total thickness of 130 mm.

This kind of hull armor is the most typical composite structure in the early stage of the development of ironclad ships, which takes into account the advantages of the strength of wrought iron armor and the toughness of wood, and is essentially a compromise transition means for wood-hulled ships with additional armor. Although the processing hours of the hull are longer due to problems such as the maturity of the riveters, the total cost will definitely be lower than the 380 mm thick oak hull of the Princess or Peace-class third-class light cruisers as the processing cost gradually decreases and the worker proficiency increases.

In addition, the Nuwa-class second-class light cruisers will also be equipped with steel rifled 150-mm heavy naval guns and 100-mm rapid-fire guns that are about to be developed by the North Industries Group, becoming the first main warship of the Navy to adopt the new rear-loading rifled naval guns. From then on, the rear-loading Wisworth hexagonal rifled guns, which had been equipped for more than two decades, would be withdrawn from the Navy one after another.

In the face of Sun Yang's euphemistic statement, You Qi, who is nearly 50 years old, seems to have some psychological preparations, and no longer complains in front of the other party like when the Manatee was built, but just chuckles with confidence.

As for the design of the Nuwa-level, You Qi has chosen to take a back seat and only do phased guidance and review work, and most of the specific design work will be handed over to a group of engineers who have worked hard to train the group for more than ten years. In fact, in this regard, the state-owned Qingcheng Shipbuilding Company has long been ahead of the curve, and the current national standard 1500 dry bulk carrier, the initial design stage has a lot of newcomers involved, giving the new generation room for growth as soon as possible. (To be continued......)