Dajin Kingdom, Bagua City, Wuji Palace.

Fat Daoguang was in his upper study at this time, holding a photo of a little girl, looking at it carefully, and commenting while looking at it: "The little girl is quite cute, round and jade, and it looks a little. By the way, what is her birth date? ”

"Back to the emperor, she was born at 4:15 a.m. on May 24, 1819 in the Western calendar, and she is a little rabbit."

The answer to Emperor Daoguang's question was Daikin's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Qi Shan, who returned to China to report on his work. Look, this ambassador's job is so good that he even inquired about the birthday of the future Queen of England. I also know that Victoria is a little rabbit!

Daoguang squinted, pinched his fingers and counted where, frowning as he calculated: "There are quite a lot of children and grandchildren of the little girl, but. A little Kefu, whoever wants to marry her may not live long. I have to tell Nikolai about this, he has two sons now, and the youngest son, Konstantin, is still young, just over a year old. ”

"Your Majesty," He Shen on the side asked, "Then is she with you?" ”

Fat Daoguang nodded, "That little Zhuge is not wrong, she and I are a little bit compatible. This Victoria is really good! ”

Speaking of this, Fat Daoguang frowned, this little girl seems to be really a little self-restrained. Be careful!

Thinking of this, Fat Daoguang didn't continue to dwell on this matter, but changed the conversation and asked Wu Fax: "What did King Nicholas I of Pingxi say?" How much can we help him? ”

"Back to the emperor," Wu faxed, "Nicholas I promised to give us 5 million rubles, and another 5 million after the deed is completed." ”

Fat Daoguang stroked his beard and muttered: "10 million rubles is a lot, but can you take this job?" It's not going to mess up, is it? ”

"Your Majesty," Wu Fax smiled, "I can't smash it. The Rakshasa Army is the first in the world, and the strength of the Black Sea Fleet should not be underestimated, and the Turks are not opponents at all. ”

Fat Daoguang asked again: "Can you ask for more?" ”

Wu Fax shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, now is not the time to add money. If the Turks resist stubbornly and the Rakshasa army advances slowly, it is not too late for us to increase the price. ”

Daoguang nodded, "That's right, it's really not the time to increase the price." ”

He said leisurely: "If Constantinople changes hands, the beacon fire in Europe may be great, and then I will personally bring a large army into India, and go to meet that Victoria for a while, and see who can defeat whom!" ”

When the ambassador to the United Kingdom, Qi Shan, heard this, he reminded with a smile: "Your Majesty. Princess Victoria now resides at Kensington Palace in London, not in India. ”

Daoguang smiled: "It's better not to be there!" He then glanced at Wu Fax, "Go and tell Nikolai, and I'll say I agreed!" ”

"Minion Command!"

Shanghai, Jiangnan Heavy Industry, Changxing Shipyard.

In the corner of the huge shipyard. In the four 30,000-ton dry docks that are connected together, four small 15,000-ton battleships are lying quietly in the dock. Suddenly, the turbid waters of the Yangtze River rushed into the dock along the half-opened gates, and the waterline continued to rise along the bottom of the battleship.

These four battleships still chose a white paint that is quite eye-catching on the sea surface, after all, it is not wartime, there is no need to consider the problem of camouflage color, and it is the most important thing to show the world the great military might of the Ming Navy battleships.

It's night, and under the light of searchlights, the four battleships reflect a dazzling light like four metal monsters about to sail into the ocean. In particular, the six brand-new box-like angular turrets give people an incomparably powerful sense of coldness and majesty.

Zhuge Weidao, who had just returned to the Ming Dynasty, was now sent to Shanghai to supervise the launching of these four battleships as a member of the Naval Armaments Committee and Committee.

He was now standing on the bridge of one of the battleships, looking at the three turrets below—one in the bow and the other two on either side near the bow. The same three turrets were also installed on the stern and on the side decks of the ships near the stern.

Each turret was equipped with a twin 240 mm 45 caliber Taiping Seven-Year naval gun – a fairly new gun just by looking at the model number. And in this era, it is just the time when metallurgy, cannon casting, observation and sighting and other technologies are advancing by leaps and bounds, and it is two generations of artillery that is two years away.

And this 240 mm is almost seven or eight years newer than the 305 mm gun that the Hongwu Emperor class was equipped with before! It can be said that there has been a great improvement in all aspects, the only inferiority is that the caliber is 65 mm smaller.

But at a time when armor-piercing shells had not yet appeared, and at the same time various high-quality armor steels were emerging one after another, it became very difficult to penetrate the armor belt of battleships with shells, and it was not necessary to wash the deck.

So these 12 240-mm guns are much stronger than the original 4 305-mm guns.

As soon as he thought of the "cheap and good" of this Hongwu Emperor modification, the corners of Zhuge Weidao's mouth hooked slightly.

Although the Daming Navy is now developing better 20,000-ton battle cruisers, 30,000-ton battleships.

In addition, there is also a hero level that is also derived from the Hongwu Emperor level.

But this does not mean that the Hongwu Emperor-class battleships that have already been built or are under construction can be dispensed with. After all, the hull of the Hongwu Emperor class is not small, and the standard displacement is over 15,000 tons.

Of course, there is a lot of room for improvement in such a large ship.

Moreover, in the Ming Navy, there are as many as ten Hongwu Emperors in active service, and they are all new ships with a very short service life. Of course, it is impossible to throw away and recreate new ...... That's too tyrant!

In addition, in the docks of major shipyards, there are six Hongwu Emperor class ships under construction!

This Hongwu Emperor class is a real dumpling ship!

Therefore, while designing the hero class, the plan to upgrade the existing and under construction Hongwu Emperor class is being made.

Moreover, looking at the more advanced hero class, it is actually a foreign trade ship, and the cheap and high-quality Hongwu Emperor class improved type II (will also be called the Han Hongwu Emperor class) is the own model of the Ming Navy.

If all these eighteen Hongwu Emperor class ships are rebuilt and built, then the strength of the Ming Navy can be improved by leaps and bounds!

Of course, the international situation is already a bit tense. Moreover, at the same time, it is not only the Hongwu Emperor level owned by the Ming Dynasty that is being rebuilt, but also all the Emperor levels of the Rakshasa Kingdom...... They may soon be engaged in a battle with the fleet of the British Empire, so they must hide their strength.

Therefore, this Hongwu Emperor changed to the second type, which is still a top-secret project.

As a top-secret project, they could only be built in dry dock. Including outfitting, it had to be done in the dock, and even the launching had to be carried out at night!

And after launching, the four battleships will be immediately towed to Jiaozhou Bay, the home port of the Ming home fleet, where they will complete the final months of testing.

After these four battleships leave the Changxing shipyard, one of the four 30,000-ton dry docks originally used to accommodate them will usher in a new top-secret project.

The 20,000-ton battlecruiser, which has been in preparation for a long time, will begin construction here.

It will only take two years at the earliest, and the first fully oil-powered battlecruiser with steam turbines will be ready for testing.

If a battlecruiser of this type can pass all the tests. Then, the first aircraft carrier of the Ming Empire can almost start designing!

When Zhuge Weidao thought of the aircraft carrier, the dock filling had already been completed.

All four battleships floated on the surface and, with the help of tugboats, began to move towards the river little by little......

At the same time, in the distant Gulf of Riga, Nicholas I was standing on a high place, watching from afar the huge formation of ships Catherine the Great, Peter the Great (Hongwu-class, not rebuilt), Admiral Orlov, Alexander I and other ships slowly sailing away from the port and finally disappearing into the vast sea.