Inside the Sky Pavilion

Candlelight flickered and sandalwood swirled.

After six years of development, a large number of talents have emerged in all aspects of the Red River Valley, especially in the economic field, and the Chinese are good at doing business to the fullest.

As long as the general direction is well controlled, according to the strong inertia of the economic development of the Red River Valley, the future can be brilliant.

Now, the number one priority on Li Fushou's mind is the future direction of Shangri-La.

It's useless to talk to your subordinates about this kind of thing, and they can't get involved.

Relevant circumstances

When Li Fushou was on Shangri-La Island, he had already formed a detailed report, which was sent to Zheng Canghai, the head of Europe, through an ocean freighter to Europe, and Zheng Canghai personally went to the residence of the Duke of Victor to present the documents in person.

If there is no delay, it will take two and a half to three months on the road.

Whether it succeeds or not, there will be news at the end of May.

Fushou could not have pinned all his hopes on Lord Duke Victor, who was only one of the 28 dukes of the British Empire, and could not have made a statement in London, and there were also political enemies and oppositionists, so he had to be prepared for both.

While waiting for a response from London, on the one hand, prepare to beat the dog stick on the other.

Today's Netherlands belongs to the embarrassing situation of sliding from a second-rate European power to a third-rate power, not to mention Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and other European powers, even compared with Spain, Norway, Finland, Poland and other second-rate powers, the Netherlands does not have the upper hand.

It's not for any other reason, it's just because of the small population!

The population of the Netherlands is about the same as that of Australia, with 3.65 million in 1870 and a maximum of about 3.8 million 10 years later, which could not be higher.

In the past ten years, the Dutch have not been idle, there have been many large and small colonial wars, they are fighting with the British in South Africa, and they are fighting with the French in Mozambique, almost one by one, and the population growth rate is extremely slow.

Then again; The rotten ship still has three nails

The newly rising forces of the Red River Valley wrestled with the Dutch East Indies colonists alone, and the future is worrying if they say a word that is not optimistic!

This is the most formidable enemy the Red River Valley has ever encountered.

The timing of Li Fushou's intervention in Shangri-La Island was very clever, the South African War was in the ascendant, the British Imperial Army suffered setbacks on the battlefield for many years, and Downing Street easily set off a wave of public opinion against the Dutch.

In this public opinion environment, a British colonial Earl of Queensland claimed to have discovered and possessed the Shangri-La Islands, a tradition inherited from the Age of Discovery, and was easily sympathetic and supportive.

Here's the problem

Even with London's support, will the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet take substantive measures, such as sending a small fleet to Shangri-La Island, to assert sovereignty?

How fast will you move?

Even if London was determined to defend the interests of the Earl of Queensland, the Far East Fleet's slowness and inaction would complicate the Shangri-La issue.

Last spring

The Royal Far East Fleet stationed in Calcutta encircled and suppressed the Spanish pirates, and he didn't care at all, which made Li Fushou's heart cool by half.

The East Indies are the heart and soul of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and once the matter is made public, think about it with your toes, and the Dutch will attack as quickly as possible, forming a chaotic situation where you have me and I have you.

This is not a situation that Li Fushou wants to see, he sighed and felt the heavy pressure in his heart.

Come to the table and sit down

Li Fushou picked up a budget proposal, which was a budget for the Queensland Coast Guard to purchase eight additional Seagull-class frigates, which was expected to be completed by the end of the year if the appropriation was to be made in the second quarter of 1881.

A batch of 4 ships, the construction period is about 5 months.

Hongshan Shipyard can deliver the first batch of four additional Seagull 1 frigates in August ~ September, and the second batch of four ships of the same type can be delivered by the end of the year.

Then by the end of 1881, the Coast Guard would have 16 Seagull cruisers, just in time for the current complex situation.

Li Fushou signed the budget bill, which will be voted on in parliament in the near future and submitted to Governor Frank for signature and implementation.

Annexed to the bill, there are provisions on increasing the Coast Guard personnel, training and mission allowances, which will be passed by the state legislature.

Li Fushou casually opened another document, on which was written the design draft of the Seagull II cruiser.

After arriving on Shangri-La Island, he learned from the pain and commissioned Sir Joe Neville, a famous British ship design expert, to comprehensively improve the design of an ocean-going frigate based on the basic design of the "Seagull".

In terms of design language, compared with the rigor and pragmatism of the Germans, this type of ship reflects the majestic side of the British ship design experts, and the foundation is very profound.

The design displacement of the Seagull II is 1,770 tons, an increase of 843 tons compared with the prototype of 960 tons, and an increase of 570 tons compared with the 1,200 tons required by Li Fushou.

Sir Joe Neville proudly proclaimed in the design papers;

His outstanding design is irrevocable, irrefutable, and objectionable, and the final payment of £2,000 is to be paid in full.

The master of ship design is so arrogant, and the British Royal Navy's new ironclad battleship "Indomitable" is from the hand of Sir Joe Neville.

The design commission for the Seagull II cruiser from Australia was Sir Joe Neville's extra money in his spare time, almost completely overturning the original design, completely ignoring the employer's rigid tonnage requirements, and showing off his talent wantonly.

The bow of the Seagull II has been changed from the original sharpened design to be rounded and plump, and the shape is similar to the pocket version of the bow of the "Indomitable" battleship.

Sir Joe Neville stated this in the design paper;

The sharp-cut bow design is suitable for shallow offshore water, which has a certain effect on increasing speed, but the rich experience of the British Royal Navy shows that the plump bow is more suitable for sailing in the stormy waves of the Atlantic, and has a good wave pressing effect, suppressing the bow waves, and curbing the roll effect.

Moreover, the plump bow can effectively expand the deck area, which is crucial for a battleship to output firepower.

Li Fushou deeply agreed with this paragraph, he personally experienced the pain of the strong roll of the ship, the longitudinal undulation of the waves is just that, coupled with the strong roll is almost life-threatening, seasickness vomiting in the dark......

On top of that, the Seagull II adds the latest stabilizer fin design.

This is the latest design and development of the British Empire, and it is also applied to the Indomitable ironclad battleship, and that alone is worth the price of the ticket.

Seagull II has a design displacement of 1,770 tons, a main scale of 103 meters long, a width of 108 meters, a draft of 32 meters, a design capacity of 68 people, a speed of 21 knots, and a range of 5,800 kilometers.

It is powered by four state-of-the-art reciprocating steam engines with single-shaft drive.

main armaments; The two German-made 239 mm main guns in the bow of the ship are arranged in a pannial arrangement, and the four 120 mm secondary guns on both sides of the hull are equipped with 8 steam torpedo tubes, which are more ferocious.

Evaluate it overall

Due to the use of four expensive reciprocating steam engines, Li Fushou's most important ship speed could still maintain 21 knots, at the cost of the Seagull II corvette.

Cruisers generally only consider firepower and speed, not protection, and in the face of 200-ton torpedo boat fire, they can also severely damage the cruiser, and it is meaningless to blindly strengthen protection.

Compared with the basic Seagull, the Seagull II has nearly twice as much firepower, an extended range of 62, a greatly increased ocean-going performance, and a much more expensive cost.

The cost of the Seagull II was £1.02 million, and the design tonnage increased by 843, soaring by one and a half times.

Things are good, but they are too expensive!

Li Fushou pinched his teeth suddenly, this thing is not ordinary expensive, but very expensive.

Because the Red Hill Shipyard could not produce it, at least the technology for the production of stabilizer fins was not available, and it had to be produced at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where British shipbuilding was strong, and the technology was not transferred.

The British are like that, they make you hate it but you can't help it.

The Seagull II will definitely not be discussed in the Queensland Parliament, and it will definitely blow up the nest.

can make Li Fushou, the richest farmer in Australia, feel expensive, you can imagine how unreliable this thing is in the eyes of white Queensland parliamentarians.

In the light of the moment, there is no real threat in Australia, and there is no need for such an expensive toy.

Today, news is still blocked

Even if it spreads, it won't help, the Earl of Queensland occupies Shangri-La Island, it's his own business, why let Queensland pay for it? And it's so expensive.

The construction of 4 Seagull II frigates at this price is enough to build an 8,000-ton steam ironclad battleship in the United Kingdom, which is a second-class battleship according to the standards of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, and its power and deterrence are different.

This situation is like a group of children, and it is impossible to be more powerful than a strong youth.

Li Fushou had to pay for it out of his own pocket, he repeatedly considered it for a long time, hesitated between 2 and 4, and finally made up his mind to place an order for 4 ships.

Dropping the pen, Li Fushou was so distressed that his face twitched.

Building a navy is really a gold-swallowing beast!

The 410,000 pounds will be spent, and the follow-up ship operation and maintenance, artillery shell supply and training, and personnel maintenance expenses will be spent continuously, and it will not be less than 4~50,000 pounds per year.

The premise is; There will be no high-intensity war.

With this money, half of the Sydney Bay Bridge can be built, and Port Moresby can be built into a town of 100,000 people, which can meet all the infrastructure needs.

It was spent with such a big stroke, which made Li Fushou heartbroken, and the landlord's family had no surplus grain!

The advantage is that the Seagull II design is very advanced, and this destroyer can be used for 40 years or more, which is quite cost-effective from this point of view.

The cruiser is different from the ironclad battleship of the sea battleship, that thing is not weak at all, it can only become fat to be sent to the door.

Cruisers generally carry out low-heat skirmishes and war missions, and are used to patrol maritime borders, maintain law and order, and combat piracy, smuggling and other crimes.

The speed of the Seagull II at 21 knots, even if it is used for 20 years, is not lagging behind, and after coping with the current crisis, it is really not necessary to sell it for money!

From this point of view, Li Fushou feels much better.

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