The Qi people have been researching ironclad ships for almost twenty or thirty years, that is, after the initial application of steam-powered ships, they began to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to carry out feasibility studies on this.

It is said that the idea of researching and building ironclad ships originated from some prospects and ideas for future science and technology at a meeting of the imperial academy attended by Emperor Taizu in the ninth year of the Han Dynasty (1679).

His Majesty Emperor Taizu said that although steel is less buoyant than wood, it sinks when it enters the water. However, if steel is built into a hollow structure with a hollow inside, its weight will be much smaller than that of solid iron of the same volume, and the buoyancy will increase. It is important to know that any object in water is subject to the buoyancy of water, and the buoyancy increases as the volume of the object immersed in water increases. According to the principle of buoyancy, which has been summarized over the years, it can be concluded that the buoyancy experienced by an object in the water is equal to the gravitational force of the water it displaces.

If the gravity of the water discharged by a ship made of steel is sufficient to balance its own gravity, then a ship made of steel can theoretically float on the water.

In order to verify this statement, His Majesty Emperor Taizu also had an iron pot made on the spot and successfully made it float in a basin of water.

In the tenth year of Hanxing (1680), an 8-meter-long barge "Iron Shark No. 2" built with all iron plates was laid down on the Daxing River (now Brisbane River, Australia), and successfully sailed for more than ten kilometers under the towing of a steam tugboat.

In the sixth year of Shaoning (1691), an iron ship with a displacement of 70 tons and equipped with steam power "Iron Shark 9" was launched in Daxing Military Port, and along the coastline, it sailed smoothly to Yingzhou (now Newcastle, Australia) in the south, indicating that a new chapter in the history of human ship development was opened.

Subsequently, the tonnage of the steel ships launched in the experiment gradually increased, 200 tons, 500 tons, 800 tons ......, to the seventeenth year of Shaoning (1702), Daxing Special Shipyard has been able to successfully build a displacement of 1,100 tons of "big guys".

However, at this time, the lack of steam power affected the continued increase in the tonnage of iron ships. There is no way, the weight of the things made of steel is not light, and if it is filled with goods, it will be difficult to have enough power for the steam engine.

The earliest steam engines used by Qi were all atmospheric piston type, but it had a fatal flaw, that is, it was too inefficient.

A little analysis shows that when the atmospheric piston steam engine finishes a power stroke, the temperature of the cylinder wall remains relatively low. At the beginning of the next stroke, a large amount of high-temperature steam pours into the cylinder, but the first thing they do is not to push the piston up, but to condense on the cold cylinder wall, and at the same time heat up the cylinder wall, so that a large part of the heat painstakingly burned by coal is not used to do work, but is wasted in the form of heating the cylinder wall. And this is destined to the efficiency of the atmospheric piston steam engine will not be too high.

Later, through continuous refinement and redesign, the engineers tried to separate the cylinder from the condenser, and the two were connected by a pipe with a valve. When the piston reaches its highest point, the valve also opens, but the next process is completely different from what happens in an atmospheric piston steam engine: the expanded steam pours into the condenser, where it cools down and condenses, creating a huge negative pressure – which in turn causes the remaining steam in the cylinder to be pumped into the condenser.

As a result, a local vacuum is also formed in the cylinder, and the piston moves downward under atmospheric pressure. However, since the cylinder walls are not sprinkled with cold water, the steam that is then rushed into the cylinder does not condense on the cylinder walls at all, and only needs to concentrate on pushing the pistons. In this way, the efficiency of the steam engine was increased to three times.

However, the efficiency is still too low.

Even if the steam engine was further improved later, so that the piston moved up and down by steam, the efficiency of the steam engine still did not improve. Not only is the power insufficient, but it also consumes a lot of coal.

Experts and technicians at the Royal Academy of Sciences' Institute of Power wondered if the problem was the steam flowing into the condenser.

Imagine that if we removed the condenser of the steam engine and let the expanded steam go directly into the atmosphere, what would we see?

Actually, this picture is not difficult to imagine.

Older steam locomotives did not have condensers, and the steam coming out of the cylinders would be sprayed directly to the sides of the body. Therefore, we can see on the railway, a huge locomotive roaring towards it, rumbling across the tracks, while panting for air, and the front of the locomotive dragged two white mist rushing out of the distance.

Note that this is rushing out of the way. Sometimes it even sprays on the bushes on both sides of the railway, like a jet of water shot out by a sprinkler truck on either side.

Obviously, after passing through a steam engine, the energy of the steam has not been completely drained, and this energy flows into the condenser along with the steam that rushes out of the cylinder, that is, "runs away". And this part of the energy that runs away could have continued to push the engine and generate power.

Thinking of this, I finally got to the point.

Since the steam that rushes out of the cylinder still contains energy, we can naturally let this steam continue to drive the engine, through one cylinder, two cylinders, three cylinders, until the energy contained inside is infinitely close to the initial energy of water.

Well, that's how the triple expander of later generations worked.

In a three-expansion steam engine, steam flows through three or four cylinders instead of one. After three stages of expansion work, it is obvious that the energy in the steam is further used effectively. To put it in layman's terms, the steam flowing into the condenser is squeezed out so much that it can't even rush through the pipes as it does in a single-cylinder steam engine.

Of course, if you want to continue squeezing the remaining energy of the steam, you can have another engine behind the low-pressure cylinder, but since the pressure of the steam is already quite low, it is unlikely to be able to push the piston effectively, so the usual option is to connect a steam turbine in series, which does not require much vapor pressure to turn.

As a result, the application of steam engines in Qi has risen to a new height. Against this background, the real ironclad came into being.

In the tenth year of Taiping (1715), with the advancement of technology and the development of steam power, a newer and more powerful war weapon of the navy was born - a pure steel warship with a displacement of 1,800 tons, the "Zhongshan", was launched.

This ironclad ship was designed as a steam propeller battleship, with a length of 32.5 meters, a hull width of 9.2 meters, and a thickness of 255 mm armor plates on both sides, which could withstand the 50-pounder and 68-pounder guns of the European navies of this period, and could also resist explosive ordnance.

In addition, 180 mm thick armor plates are arranged around the conning tower for protection, which is absolutely the world's best in terms of protection alone.

Although the armor increased its defense, it introduced a huge weight change in the center of gravity, which made it impossible to arrange guns on multiple decks like previous sail ships. Therefore, the "Zhongshan" simply eliminated the multi-deck guns, and initially installed a total of 18 150-mm breech-loading guns on both sides.

The ship's steam engine is single-shaft propulsion, with an installed power of 1,200 hp and four boilers. At the same time, there are two auxiliary sails on board, designed for a maximum speed of more than 16 knots – something that has never actually been achieved. During sea trials, it also ran only a maximum speed of 11 knots.

After more than two years of experimental voyages, the entire hull was improved many times, and then it was officially put into service in the 12th year of Hanxing Taiping (1717) and was part of the home fleet.

In the following two years, the Qi Navy issued an order to the Daxing Special Shipyard for two ironclad ships, one of which was named "Su Shen" with a displacement of an astonishing 4,000 tons.

In terms of tonnage alone, this ironclad ship can beat all warships in the world. After all, even at this time, England, France and Spain were just beginning to study how to produce large warships of more than 2,000 tons, and they were still struggling with the materials of the ships, and had to go to the New World to find a way.

At this time, less than 3,000 tons was basically the limit of wooden ships, and no matter how big it was, there would be more than two difficulties. One is that it is difficult to find the kind of wood that is completely transparent and has the right strength, and even if it is found, it may not be long enough to build a wooden boat that is too big. The second is the problem of structural strength, which is more unsolvable, after all, the strength of wood is inherently incomparable, and when the ship is sailing in the sea, the force of each part is very large, and if the strength is not good, the structure of the ship is easily damaged by great damage, and even falls apart on the spot in bad weather.

These two difficulties basically determined that the displacement of more than 2,000 tons was the limit of wooden ships in this period. No matter how big it is, it is neither safe nor economical - the daily maintenance cost is too high, it is better to use steel!

The Qi people realized this after building several iron ships of about 1,000 tons one after another, so even if there was already an iron ribbed wooden shell technology that could build large wooden ships of more than 3,000 tons, they were not built on a large scale. They would rather build a medium-sized wooden ship of more than 1,000-2,000 tons, which is the most economical and reasonable ship of this size in Qi country, which is extremely rich in timber resources (Weiyuan Island and Dongzhou region have a large number of high-quality ship materials).

After the outbreak of the Qi-British War, the Qi navy had three ironclad ships, but it did not send any of them to Europe with the expeditionary fleet.

Because, on the part of the navy, there is still some debate on whether to send ironclad ships to the battle. Many admirals believed that allowing the ironclad ship to sail thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean to such a distant theater of operations to carry out combat missions was worried that the ironclad ship would have unpredictable breakdowns, certain difficulties in maintenance, or the risk of being captured by the English navy in the event of an unfavorable war situation, thus losing the secret of the ironclad ship.

Moreover, the large number of sail warships alone was enough to constitute an overwhelming technical advantage over the English Navy, and there was no need to send these "big killers" at sea.

On the other hand, they believe that if they can't engage the enemy and prove their actual combat effectiveness, whether it is a sail warship or an ironclad battleship, it has spent so much national money, and if it cannot fight the enemy and prove its actual combat effectiveness, but it is only a "big toy" for the navy to show off, then what is the point of building it? Is it to be used as a strategic deterrent?

This kind of sharp weapon at sea should be sent out to the battlefield to withstand the test of actual battle. Although these ironclad ships have fully demonstrated their tremendous power in previous naval exercises, they are not data obtained on the real battlefield after all, and they lack sufficient convincing.

In April last year, when the crown prince Qi Weiyuan, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor, was reviewing the navy at Jianye Military Port, he was full of praise for the performance of several ironclad ships, and also mentioned this sentence, "The sharp weapon of a great country should be used to deter the emperor and make it fearful of power and virtue."

Lu Zongxuan, the chief of the navy and the hussar general (admiral) who was accompanying him, heard this, and looked at each other with several admirals, and they all said yes.

By August last year, the Navy had formed the Second Task Force Expeditionary Fleet, which was preparing to go to Europe to support the First Task Force Expeditionary Fleet that had been dispatched earlier. The entire fleet is composed of 12 capital warships, 1 fresh water supply ship, 1 ammunition supply ship, and 1 coal carrier, and in the combat sequence, there is the ironclad ship "Liying" with a displacement of 2,500 tons.

After assembling at Guizhou (present-day Perth, Australia) in October last year, the fleet crossed the Indian Ocean after a short rest, and arrived at Changning, Qianzhou (present-day Durban, South Africa) on 22 November last year.

The fleet stopped at Changning Port for more than a month, and after carrying out the most comprehensive maintenance of all ships, including the ironclad ship "Liying," it set sail on 15 January this year and embarked on a journey to Europe. The fleet was accompanied by three armed transport ships, carrying 1,500 Indian servants and armed villagers from Qianzhou.

The fleet traveled north along the west coast of Africa, arriving in Portuguese Angola on 12 February.

Under the strong military deterrence of the Qi state, the Portuguese colonial authorities in Angola announced that they would abandon their resistance and allow the Qi people to control the two important ports of Luanda and Bengola, and accept the temporary rule of the Qi people over the region.

After a more than a month of anchorage in Angola, the fleet continued northward to sweep through the Portuguese and English trading posts and slave camps on the west coast of Africa.

On 2 April, a light cruiser cruising forward reported spotting a medium-sized English fleet sailing at sea. The Second Task Force Expeditionary Fleet of Qi State, which got the news, immediately lined up in battle, slightly estimated the speed and course of the opponent, left several supply ships and transport ships behind, and pounced directly.

Although the ironclad ship "Liying" has a large tonnage and no sail assistance, its speed is no less than that of the accompanying sail warship. After three successive test firing of shells, which had sailed approximately parallel to the English battleship "St. George", six broadside guns had already come into range, and the soldiers loaded their ammunition and waited for the gunner's order to fire.

"Shoot!" The gunner, seeing that the command platform had given the signal for free fire, immediately waved his arm and ordered the gunner to fire at the enemy ship.

Soon, the six broadside guns opened fire one after another, and instead of using explosive shells, they chose solid conical shells. After being fired through a rifled cannon, the shell spun at high speed and flew forward with a sharp and piercing whistle.

Four of the six shells missed, skimmed the deck and landed in the sea on the other side, one hitting one of the opponent's gun windows and destroying one of their guns. Another shell hit the side side, breaking a large hole in its hull. The shells that had drilled through the hole were still castrated, and after wiping half of the body of an unlucky sailor, they finally plunged headlong into the reserves in the hold, and then the kinetic energy was consumed and completely immovable.

The Englishman looked at all this in disbelief, and could not believe that the broadside hull could be pierced so easily. You know, the side hull of this battleship is 16 inches (about 32 centimeters) thick, how can it be pierced so easily, it is almost like paper paste.

Is this still a solid bullet?

How can a solid bullet be so powerful?

The hearts of the English were filled with fear.

The baptism of fire of the "Liying" continued. I saw that six more shells were coming, this time only two missed, one hit the bow superstructure, still neatly penetrated the wall, and then destroyed several pieces of furniture in the room in a row, only then did it run out of kinetic energy and hit the wall on the other side. One shell hit the deck, knocking out two sailors in quick succession, before falling into the sea on the other side, while the other two shells hit the hull on the side of the ship, creating two horrific holes. Unfortunately, one of the holes is located near the waterline.

The English sailors in the bilge rushed over in a frenzy, taking everything they could get their hands on to plug the breach. The salty sea water poured in frantically, wetting everything nearby, and a large amount of goods were soaked in the water, but no one was distressed anymore, and everyone's attention was attracted by the crack in the waterline, and they tried in every possible way to block it.

Another sharp whistling was heard, and a 120-mm conical shell tore through the hull and plunged into the bilge. The sea rushed in, as if trying to annihilate everything here, whether it was people or goods.

Another group of English sailors rushed over, armed with cotton, skins and even spare sails to seal the huge hole. The man-powered pumps were also in operation, and the sailors tried their best to slowly drain the sea water that had poured into the bilge.

"Hehe, it seems that against a wooden ship without any armor protection, the power of a linear cannon and a solid conical projectile is really huge, and the effect is no worse than an explosive bomb." After seeing the results of the battle through the binoculars, Xiong Jichang, the captain of the "Liying" and the captain (lieutenant colonel) of Linglu, said with emotion.

That's right, after the pointed warhead is fired from the rifling gun, it rotates at high speed, generating huge kinetic energy, and when it hits the wooden hull, it can almost easily break a gap, which is much more powerful and efficient than a spherical projectile that completely relies on kinetic brute force to break through the gap.

This is the power of rifled guns!

"In the future, smoothbore guns should be eliminated." The first mate, Captain Xuanjie (major) Yin Yanjun said softly.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

As he spoke, the "St. George" launched a fierce counterattack, and at least six shells hit the side of the "Liying", but the heavy armor gently bounced the incoming shells, leaving almost no damage to the hull except for a few bullet marks.

According to the perverted requirements of the navy, the "Liying", which was equipped with iron armor in important parts, had the ability to protect the enemy batteries from close range, so it was even more fearless in the face of the artillery counterattack of the English warships.

Relying on its rough skin and thick flesh, the "Liying" was only more than 100 meters away from the "St. George", which was almost the position of the battleship fighting bayonets. After withstanding two rounds of artillery fire from the opponent, as if enraged, when the hull was about to miss the "St. George", another salvo was fired, this time all hits, one hit the bridge, I don't know if there were casualties, and the rest of the rounds all hit the side hull, creating two holes above the waterline and two holes below, and the sea water poured into it even more turbulently.

The "St. George" had a hole in the hull on one side of the ship, and the water at the bottom of the cabin was already up to people's knees. The barrels that had been destroyed by Qi shells also fell to the ground, floating and rolling on the water, making the sailors who were busy rescuing them even worse.

Finally, realizing that it was impossible for them to save the ship, they all rushed to the deck, scrambled to untie the lifeboat, put it into the sea, or threw down the barrels, and jumped into the sea one by one.

The speed of the "St. George" was already very slow at this time, and it probably would not take a few minutes for the ship to sink completely to the bottom of the sea.

The "Liying" dropped the sinking English battleship, spewed smoke and pounced on her next target.

(End of chapter)