Boarding the "Zhiyuan" ironclad ship with a displacement of 8,000 tons, Rong Lu, E Antai, and Chang Guixiang were like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden - they were dazzled, and this ironclad ship like a steel giant gave them great visual impact and shock.

Completely ironclad ironclad, closed swing turret, pure steam power, what shocked them even more was that the rudder, anchoring, rotating armor, loading ammunition, pumping and lifting the ship's dinghy, etc., were all machine-operated, and the lighting of the battleship was also electric lights that they had only heard of.

After visiting up and down, after the initial excitement and curiosity passed, Rong Lu and the three of them were in a very complicated mood, not only shocked and proud that Yuan Qi was able to build such a large and advanced ironclad ship, but also worried about the Beiyang Navy Division and the imperial court, after all, this ironclad ship was not something that a sail warship could compete with at all.

Back on the deck, facing the sea breeze and feeling the fast speed of the battleship, the expression on Rong Lu's face changed again, this speed is not comparable to the sail battleship, it can be said that this ironclad ship has crushed the sail battleship in all aspects, he couldn't help but sigh: "The world is different!" ”

It was indeed a world of difference, and E Antai hesitated for a moment before asking, "What is the speed of this ship now?" ”

Wang Hongjun, captain of the 'Zhiyuan', replied: "Now is the maximum speed, fifteen knots. ”

Fifteen knots! E'antai sighed secretly, it is really terrifying that such a behemoth can reach this speed without relying on the wind and is completely powered by steam, there is no doubt that this speed will constitute a fatal blow to the sail warship in a naval battle, even if you want to escape, you can't escape!

"With continuous improvement, the power of the steam engine will continue to increase." Wang Hongjun continued: "Our prince said that fifteen knots is just the beginning, and the speed of large warships in the future can reach at least twenty knots, and within ten years, sail warships will inevitably be completely eliminated and completely withdraw from the stage of history!" ”

Knock out all the sail warships in ten years? Yuanqi has such a powerful ironclad building ability? Rong Lu didn't believe it in his heart, but he didn't think about it deeply, after all, just these two giant steel warships were enough to form a sufficient deterrent to the Beiyang Navy Division and the imperial court!

"I've always heard about ironclads, and today is an eye-opener." E Antai said with a smile: "The ironclad ship has rough skin and thick flesh, and the speed is also fast, and the clumsy and heavy work is basically machine-operated, which can be said to comprehensively crush the sail battleship, and this sail warship should indeed be eliminated ......." ”

As he spoke, he glanced up at the two thick chimneys on the deck that were emitting black smoke, then looked at the fully enclosed rotary turret, and asked tentatively, "Can the new guns make up for the lack of firepower?" ”

Captain Wang Hongjun glanced at him and said, "The power of the main gun is huge, even the power of the secondary gun is far greater than that of the sixty-eight-pounder gun, which can completely make up for the lack of firepower." ”

E'antai is interested in Yuanqi's new artillery, and wants to see it with his own eyes, but he is naturally not satisfied with this answer, the power of the naval gun is huge, and it is obvious that the power of the main gun must be extremely huge from the muzzle caliber and the length of the gun body and the huge shells of the naval gun.

After hesitating, he smiled and said: "The power of naval guns is undoubted, but the speed of naval artillery shelling is slow, and the firepower of more than a dozen naval guns is inevitably weaker. ”

Hearing this, Guo Zhongmu smiled and said: "There is a chance for General Rong to observe the new artillery, let's go to see the prince first, don't let the prince wait for a long time." ”

Qingdao Port should be a closed and deformed port city, which is not only the base of the Yuanqi Dinghai Fleet but also the Yuanqi military base, the biggest feature is that there are many factories and many workers, in addition to military factories, there are also many spinning mills, clothing factories, shoe factories and other civilian factories dominated by female workers, which are specially opened in order to balance gender.

Because of the great importance attached to the shipbuilding industry, Qingdao Port has developed very rapidly since the establishment of the port in the early years of Xianfeng, and in the past 20 years, the obscure small fishing village has developed into a port city with a population of more than 200,000 and is extremely prosperous and wealthy, even the capital city of Laizhou is also prosperous and rich here.

However, Yuanqi has always adopted a lockdown and isolation policy for Qingdao, and even for Laizhou Prefecture and Jimo County, which are close at hand, Qingdao seems very mysterious, like an isolated paradise.

With the rapid development of Qingdao, especially the rapid rise of the shipbuilding industry, the number of times Yi Zhishu came to Qingdao has gradually increased, and in recent years, he has come to Qingdao almost every year to stay for a few days, one is to guide the direction of the construction and design of ironclad ships, and the other is to show the importance of Qingdao.

Since the Crimean War, Western countries have begun to pay attention to and build ironclad ships, and after the Battle of Lisa in the American Civil War and the Austro-Prussian War, ironclad ships have temporarily emerged to show the unattainable advantages of sail warships, and Western countries have set off a boom in the construction of ironclad ships.

However, countries around the world are still in a stage of testing and exploration of ironclad ships. It can be said that we are in an era of conflict between the old and the new, with various technologies and ideas squabbling over the development of the navy and the design of ironclad ships, and the constant alternation of new technologies with mature old technologies, such as the conflict between sails and steam engines, the entanglement of breech guns and breech guns, the difficult trade-off between broadside guns and bow guns, and so on.

The ironclad ships built by naval powers such as Britain and France at this stage were basically broadside salvo ironclad ships and retained sails, which had obvious characteristics of the transition from sail warships to steam steel warships.

For the development trend of ironclad ships, Yi Zhishu can be said to be extremely clear, and naturally spare no effort to guide and avoid Yuanqi from taking detours in the construction of ironclad ships, it can be said that at this stage, Yuanqi is at least ten years ahead of Western countries in the design of ironclad ships!

However, except for Yi Zhishu himself, no one can realize this, after the launch of the two giant ships with a displacement of 8,000 tons, 'Zhiyuan' and 'Jingyuan', the controversy surrounding the naval guns continued.

In the conference room of the Qingdao Shipyard Research Institute, Guan Youling, the director of the ironclad ship, opened the folder and took out a piece of information and said: "This is the relevant information of the Lord Clyde-class Lord Ryder and Lord Wharton, which were completed by England last year...... Please also ask the big shopkeeper to take a look.

The Lord Clyde class was armed with 24 7-inch front-loading rifled guns, of which 20 were located on the sides of the main deck, two at the forward of the main deck, one at the rear of the main deck, and one on the upper bow deck.

Comparatively speaking, the number of guns of our two warships is somewhat dwarfed, and once engaged, they will inevitably be at a dis......advantage. ”

After picking up the information and reading it carefully, Yi Zhizhi said: "Our naval guns are rear-loading ....... ”

"The British Navy's naval guns were also installed in the rear-loading guns before, and they only began to return to front-loading guns three years ago." Guan Youling said slowly: "According to the feedback collected from the data, the British Admiralty believes that the front-loading gun has the advantages of cheaper, safer and more mature. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Our naval guns also have the problem of not keeping up with the output and serious jamming, and cracks in the gun body also occur from time to time. ”

After lighting a cigarette, Yi Zhizhi slowly spoke: "The front-loading gun is backward, even if it is cheaper, safer, and more mature, we must resolutely abandon it, the output cannot keep up, the shell is stuck, and cracks appear, these situations let the military factory find a way to solve it, and we can't let the battleship accommodate the naval gun!" ”

"Big boss, it's not too late to replace the artillery technology when it's mature." Guan Youling said with a wry smile: "With the current configuration of the battleship's naval guns, it is likely that it will not be able to match the main ironclad ship of the British Navy, and I am worried that it will affect the plan of the big boss to expand into the Persian Gulf." ”

"Don't worry, metallurgical technology and artillery technology are constantly evolving." Yi Zhizu said confidently: "It is expected that next year, the breakthrough progress in artillery technology will be achieved, and there is no need to toss back and forth in order to accommodate the naval artillery." ”

After a pause, he slowed down his tone and said: "The relationship between naval guns and ironclad ships is the relationship between a spear and a shield, and with the development of ironclad ships, naval gun technology will inevitably develop with them, otherwise it will not be able to penetrate the armor of ironclad ships."

The development trend of naval guns is getting bigger and heavier, and they should all be large-caliber and high-caliber giant guns in the future, and with the maturity of artillery rejection technology, the firing speed of artillery will become faster and faster, which is destined to make ironclad ships not need as many guns as sail warships. ”

Hearing this, Guan Youling no longer argued, and said: "The one who listens to the big shopkeeper." ”

Before the words fell, Zhao Liewen walked to the door and said, "Big shopkeeper, the 'Zhiyuan' has entered the port." ”

After looking at the table below, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon, and Yi Zhizhi said: "Arrange for them to stay first, and I will invite them to a banquet in Canghai Garden at five o'clock." ”

Seeing Yi Zhi, he stood up, and Guan Youling hurriedly said, "Big shopkeeper——。 As he spoke, he took out another piece of information, "This is the latest torpedo information ........" ”

Torpedo! This is another powerful weapon of the ironclad ship in addition to the naval gun! However, at present, the value of torpedoes has not yet been reflected, and the navies of Western countries are not very interested in torpedoes, and perhaps only Yi Zhifu will pay special attention and attention to torpedoes.

The torpedo developed by British engineer Robert Whitehead uses a compressed air engine to drive a single propeller to propel it, and the horizontal rudder plate at the tail of the torpedo is controlled by a hydraulic valve to control the depth of the torpedo. The speed of the boat is only 11 km / h, the firing range is 600 meters, and there are no devices to control the direction of the torpedo boat. A similar torpedo device was developed by the Russian Aleksandrovsky.

After reading the information, Yi Zhishu pondered for a while before saying: "I can't control the direction, the speed is not fast enough, the range is not enough, and there is no practical value." ”

Guan Youling said: "As long as you can control the direction, you can launch ..... powerful at close range." ”

"Don't worry." Yi Zhizhi smiled: "I am very optimistic about the prospects of torpedoes. ”

At the wharf of the military port, Rong Lu was still shocked until he sat in the four-wheeled carriage, and there were more than ten ironclad ships of different sizes moored in the port, the smallest displacement was one or two thousand tons, although the big one was not as big as the 'Zhiyuan' they were riding, and it was estimated that it was also four or five thousand tons of displacement, far from being comparable to the third-class sail warships, and he guessed that they must have been built by Qingdao Shipyard over the years, so to speak, as long as Yuan Qi is willing, he can form an ironclad fleet at any time.

After a while, he said softly: "There are so many ironclad ships, and there is not even one outside, and they are really hidden deep enough." ”

"It's not for the imperial court." E Antai said softly: "It should be to prevent Westerners from understanding the details of the Yuanqi Navy." ”

That's right, the strength of the Yuanqi sail battleship is far beyond the reach of the Beiyang Naval Division, there is no need to hide these ironclad ships, Rong Lu nodded, secretly surprised by the background of Yuanqi, and also surprised by the huge Qingdao City, originally he thought that Qingdao Port was nothing more than a small port, but he didn't expect it to be so prosperous and lively, and the scale seemed to be much larger than the average city, but it was just a little scattered.

Looking at the scenery outside the window, E Antai hesitated before saying: "I heard from them before, saying that the residents here are basically retired officers and soldiers....... ”

All retired officers and soldiers? Rong Lu paused for a moment, and said in a lost voice: "You mean this is a military city?" His face was a little pale, Yuan Qi actually quietly established such a huge base in Shandong! If you really turn against the imperial court, you can form an army of tens of thousands of people here at any time, which I am afraid no one expected.

Canghai Park is in the southern suburbs, covering a vast area, beautiful scenery, even surrounded by a beach, on the beach, easy to be content and comfortable lying on the deck chair to enjoy the afterglow of the sunset, a little farther away a group of cooks are busy grilling seafood on the beach.

At five o'clock, Zhao Liewen led Rong Lu and the three of them over quickly, and when he saw Yi Zhicontent, he seemed to be asleep facing the sea, Zhao Liewen hurriedly stepped forward and whispered: "Big shopkeeper, they are here." ”

After glancing at the three of them, Yi Zhizhi sat up, and the three of Rong Lu had already stepped forward a few steps forward and bowed heavily, "Xiaguan and others will meet the prince." ”

"No need to be polite." Yi Zhishu glanced at Rong Lu and said with a smile: "Today is not a formal banquet, there is no need to be formal, sit, be casual." ”

Rong Lu had long understood that Yi Zhicontent didn't like red tape and officialdom, so he immediately got up and said, "Thank you for your sitting." Saying that he sat down generously, E Antai and Chang Guixiang hesitated whether they should sit down, and Zhao Liewen already smiled and said, "Let's go and help barbecue seafood." ”

After the three of them left, Rong Lu got up again, "The grace of the prince's support, the lower officials are unforgettable." ”

Rong Lu, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, is indeed recommended by Yi Zhishan, which is a real grace of support, Yi Zhishu groaned slightly, and then said: "It's not a promotion, this king is a recommendation for the country." ”

Rong Lu listened to it, and hurriedly said: "How can the lower official be virtuous, he has to enter the eyes of the prince." ”

"All the people recommended by this king are the pillars of the country." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "I believe that I won't look away this time." ”

Pillars of the nation? Expectations of him are so high? Rong Lu's heart was hot, and he hurriedly said: "The next official will live up to the love of the prince." ”

"Sit down." Yi Zhizu said slowly, and when he sat down, he asked, "What is your impression of Qingdao?" ”