Under the supervision of the Dagukou Banner Army, the goods transported from Beijing were unloaded from the sea ships, loaded onto the Cao boats, and sailed to Tianjin on the Ziwei River.

The preparations for the upcoming voyage kept the Beiyang Military Government busy, and all kinds of raw materials sent to the Military Government from the canal were continuously processed into usable armaments in the Beiyang Ordnance Bureau.

"There's not much time left, how about giving you a long vacation and going back to your hometown in Fujian?"

In the backyard of the Beiyang Yamen, in Chen Mu's mansion, the heroic Yang Tingxiang was invited by Chen Mu, "You have been at sea for more than a year, and you should have been allowed to rest for a while, but the Eastern Expedition is imminent, and the fleet needs you to lead the way, go back now, and wait for the final preparations of the military government to be completed in a few days, and then you will set off - I heard that you have been eating and living with craftsmen in the Beiyang Shipyard recently?" ”

Speaking of which, since the arrival of the Nanyang Beijing transport ship, it was colliding with the Beiyang Expedition Matter, Chen Mu has not taken care of Yang Tingxiang, and when he suddenly remembered to inquire, he heard that Yang Tingxiang has been drilling in the Beiyang Shipyard.

The name of Beiyang Shipyard is very large, and the positioning of Chen Mu's shipyard is also very large, and it is a shipyard specializing in building warships with more than 1,000 materials.

As early as the beginning of the establishment of the factory, a group of skilled old shipbuilders were transferred from Xiangshan, Nanyang and other places, and many craftsmen and apprentices were recruited with forced labor to build 12 dry docks up to 18 zhang long.

However, in the end, the construction time is still short, and the construction of the 12 Chihai-class warships has just begun, and the materials required for this kind of large ship are far beyond ordinary ships, and it is expected that the earliest launching time will be the end of this autumn, and if the winter is not early, it will be delayed until the next spring.

"Xia Guan thanks Chen Shuai for his kindness, but he would rather stay in the shipyard until the fleet sets sail." Yang Tingxiang had a calm and unhurried temperament, took a small sip of the porcelain tea bowl, and then looked at Chen Mu and said: "This voyage to the West, I have been adrift at sea for a year, and I have been planning new warships for the most time, and Chen Shuai also knows it." ”

Saying that, Yang Tingxiang smiled introvertedly, and said: "I studied the warship department in the Navy Lecture Hall, my father and brother are all craftsmen, and the ancestors who were fortunate enough to enter the palace as a long history because of their superb craftsmanship, I deeply felt the distress that craftsmen do not know military affairs and soldiers do not know craftsmanship, and I want to design a warship shape system for the imperial court that is more suitable for today's naval warfare." ”

More suitable, the warship shape of today's naval warfare?

"Jun Zan thinks that the shark boat is no longer suitable?"

Sai Donkey Gong suddenly sympathized with Ge Lao and Qi Shuai, and he often looked like Yang Ting, or even in the same tone, in front of Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang, and proposed his own improvements.

Really...... It's not likeable!

"Chen Shuai thought a lot, what he meant was not that the shark ship was no longer suitable, on the contrary, on the way to the west, he saw many Fanyi ships, their country was poor and close to the sea, and they could only rely on the sea to get what they needed, even so, the shark ship was not weaker than any kind of ship shape seen below."

"Since Chen Shuai, the Yi Shui Division has been the navy, making Zhenshuo's general artillery and shark ships, weak fireships and heavy artillery battles, firing volleys of longitudinal guns, and all the attackers are broken, and it is an excellent warship of the first class in the world."

Chen Mu listened slowly, in his heart, the shark ship may not be so good, but for Da Ming, it is an epoch-making standard warship that changes the form of naval warfare.

Similarly, he also heard what Yang Tingxiang meant, and people must have found a problem before saying this, so he simply said: "But? ”

Yang Tingxiang smiled embarrassedly, seeing that Chen Mu was not in a hurry, and said: "But the shark boat is still suitable for offshore warfare, whether it is a small shark boat with 100 materials in the hands of fishermen in Fujian and Guangzhou, or a big shark ship with 500 materials, or a larger Chihai class, Liuding Liujia class, the limited deck size is equipped with more artillery...... There were few sailors on board, the cabins were overcrowded, and there were no cargo holds. ”

"A Chihai-class battleship can be equipped with 20 to 40 guns, carrying a force of one or even two hundred households, the ship carries only enough food and water for 15 days, the cabin is small but more soldiers have to be squeezed in, the limited powder tank is full of shells and gunpowder, and there is no space on the ship."

"In the South Seas, fifteen days of sailing is sufficient for the fleet to patrol the coast, and from the South Seas, Sulu, Luzon, and Borneo can be sailed, and all parts of the route can be replenished, which is more suitable; However, every time there is a long voyage, it is necessary to prepare grain ships, such as this Eastern Expedition, I heard that the military government will prepare three 400 grain ships for each hundred households. ”

"More grain ships, more good captains, and the risk of a larger ship drifting, but fortunately, there is also the advantage of more guns; But that was when the ships were equipped with five-pound Zhenshuo guns in the past, and now the enemies we are facing are the big ships of Xiyi and Portuguese, and most of the time the five-pound guns can no longer penetrate the hull of the enemy ships. ”

"When the Chihai-class battleships are equipped with forty ship guns, more than half of them are five-pound guns, and even many two-pound small cannons; If it is replaced with a ten-kilogram cannon and a five-kilogram cannon, it can only be equipped with eight ten-kilogram guns and eighteen five-kilogram guns, and if it is replaced by a 20-kilogram heavy cannon cast by our artillery foundry and mixed with a ten-kilogram gun, it can only be equipped with six heavy artillery and twelve ten-kilogram cannons...... This was not because the ship could not fit, but because there was no room for more shells in the hold. ”

General Zhenshuo used thirty-three times the diameter, which was itself long and heavy, and the larger the shell, the heavier the shell, the heavier the artillery.

Chen Mu nodded slowly, Yang Tingxiang grasped the key to the shark ship's strong combat effectiveness, because their ship sacrificed cargo and the reason why the artillery was relatively smaller.

"What you say makes sense, after all, when designing the shark ship, we only had two-pound guns and five-pound guns, and the development was too fast - what are your plans, let me see."

On the map of the Spanish ship brought back by Yang Tingxiang, the large ship, which is roughly estimated to be 3,000 to 4,000 materials, is only equipped with more than 30 guns, but those 30 guns are different from the 40 guns of the Chihai ship, and the largest heavy gun in the bow is 6 inches in caliber, and according to the Ming system, it is a heavy gun that uses more than 40 catties of shells.

Even if it is an ordinary bow gun, it can still be compared with the twenty-pound heavy cannon of the Ming Dynasty.

However, perhaps because of the almost annihilation of the Battle of Linlai, the Spaniards did not seem to have learned the lesson of the broadside salvo, and their most important thing was still the bow gun.

"The ship diagram has not yet been designed, but the general direction is already there, mainly to increase the width of the waterline and the cargo compartment, reduce the number of sailors, reduce the number of artillery, increase the weight of artillery, and toilets." Yang Tingxiang smiled as he spoke, and said, "There is no toilet on the ship, and the corridor outside the ship of the Westerner ship is very good, which can be used to arrange a few toilets, which can effectively improve the environment for long-distance sailing." ”

At this moment, the duty Wu Ben entered the hall and reported: "Dashuai, Du Qianhu is back." ”

Du Qianhu is Juniper, he led the family Ding Guanju Qianhu, and was sent by Chen Mu to Beijing to inquire about the news of the DPRK and China.

After getting Chen Mu's permission, after a while, Juniper entered, glanced at Yang Tingxiang, and whispered to Chen Mu.

"Shuai Ye, the old father, has passed away."