Outside the wharf of Zhejiang Dinghai Naval Port.

At this time, it is already a calm seascape in autumn, the typhoon season has completely passed, and the inside and outside of the dock stackhouse are heavily guarded. Heavily armed sailors have blockaded the port. Some coolies dressed in coarse cloth were carrying coal to the six odd-looking ships docked at the quay, amid the shouts of the sailors.

The appearance of these six warships can only be described as ugly. There are no tall masts, no white sails, no ropes as dense as spider webs. There were only a few straight chimneys, and the gray smoke was rising feebly into the blue sky. As soon as the sea breeze pulled, the wisps scattered.

The hull of the six warships was also very strange, the sides of the ships seemed to be lower, like inland river vessels, and the buildings above the deck looked like black inverted iron boxes. This "box" occupies almost the entire deck, and there are two water wheels in the stern, and from a distance, it looks like a large box floating on the water, with these two chimneys and two water wheels. At the beginning and end of the "box" there are also two blue background gold sun and moon flags fluttering - this is the military flag of the Ming Navy. On the bow of the ship is also a dragon-shaped bow mark. Floating on the gray sea.

On the side deck of one of the ships, there was also a row of gangships, ten of them, all open, with a black hole cannon sticking out of it. Both were 32-pounder cannons weighing 2.75 tons, cast in bronze rather than steel. Although steel-cast artillery has appeared in the Ming Army, because the casting of steel is higher than that of bronze, even Lan Fangxing has only mastered the casting process of a 12-pound steel howitzer, and cannot make a 24-pound bronze cannon at all. Therefore, these ironclad ships can only continue to use bronze cannons.

Two officers in blue navy uniforms were walking on the top platform of the ironclad ship with its portholes open. Whisper from time to time. From time to time, they argued loudly.

These two people are Tong Haifeng and Feng Ziye, who are considered by Zhu Jishi to be the rising stars of the Ming Navy. The two have always disagreed on the choice of naval guns for the ironclad ship. Tong Haifeng fancy the power of the cannonball. It is hoped that the Hodchsky blaster will be adopted. The destructive effect of this shell, filled with starch explosives, on a wooden-hulled warship was staggering. According to experiments conducted by the Admiralty, a 32-pound Hodchsky blasting bomb was enough to inflict devastating damage on a specially reinforced Canton ship! Can be sunk with one shot! However, this kind of Hodchsky explosive shell has a big drawback, it cannot be made into rifled artillery shells. Because the fuse of the blaster will go out in high-speed rotation!

However, if a 32-pounder bronze smoothbore gun was used to fire a Hodchsky blaster, the range of the cannon was too short to pose a threat to the wooden deck of a third-class battleship within 500 yards. If the maneuverability of these ironclad ships is higher, this disadvantage can be ignored. However, the speed of these six "Dinghai" class ironclad gunboats was too slow, and once the enemy ships raised their sails and maneuvered, they were likely to be unable to catch up.

Therefore, Feng Ziye proposed to use the Vilvis hexagonal cannon with a high degree of range and accuracy. This is a kind of quasi-rifled artillery, invented by the British engineer Vilweiss in 1840, because the inner diameter of the barrel of this type of cannon is hexagonal, commonly known as hexagonal cannon. The warheads and kits are also specially made hexagonal shapes, which are very expensive, and they cannot be reloaded with explosives, and there is no way to use chain bullets designed to attack the sails. This cannonball is an iron lump, although the range is long, although the accuracy is high, but the power is very insufficient. The Russians' third-class battleships may not sink even if they have dozens or hundreds of rounds.

As a result, within the Admiralty, the vast majority of staff officers did not support the use of hexagonal guns. But Feng Ziye still felt that at least two doors should be installed on each ironclad ship. Even if it can't be used to fight battleships, it can also deal with enemy batteries.

Just as the two were talking, a group of carriages and horses came from afar, and the hooves of the two Western carriages were clanging. In the Ming army, there was not much pomp and circumstance, and there were no flashy things such as top horses, official rank plates, and umbrellas. However, if you can ride in a carriage and gallop in the Dinghai Naval Port, you must also be a high-ranking official of the Navy, if the level is not enough, the guards outside the military port will not let you go.

The two Western carriages were followed by a team of knights, which was very eye-catching. It's not that there are few people riding horses in the military port, but their clothes are too fancy and bells and whistles, and they are not the style of the Ming cavalry at all, or even the style of the Central Plains.

"Those people are ......" Tong Haifeng stopped arguing and raised his hand to point at the knights, "Are they Japanese?" ”

"It's Japanese." Feng Ziye nodded, "When Concubine Shu entered the palace, I saw people dressed like this on Yingtianfu Street, you see, they still have long knives stuck in their waists!" ”

"Could it be that Concubine Shu is here? She's the Queen of the Ryukyus, right? ”

"Then let's hurry down and meet you."

Tong Haifeng and Feng Ziye are not the kind of characters who are arrogant and arrogant, and they don't even pay attention to the noble concubine. The two hurriedly got off the "Dinghai" and stood on the dock to greet them respectfully. However, out of the carriage were the Minister of the Navy Wang Dehu, the commander of the Navy's Nanyang Fleet, Xue Dingyue, and a Japanese man dressed in samurai costumes, and there were two circles of cross symbols on his clothes, much like a target for shooting.

"Mark the captain of the Dinghai ironclad gunboat, Tong Haifeng. Greetings to Lord Wang, Lord Xue! ”

"Mark Feng Ziye, captain of the ironclad gunboat Chongming. Greetings to Lord Wang, Lord Xue! ”

Both of them raised their hands and saluted, looking a bit like Nazis, but the French military salute in the Napoleonic era was like this, and they were brought to the Ming army by French military advisers, even the navy.

Wang Dehu is still the same black and autumn-like appearance, he has not seen a little white after six years on the shore, he also raised his hand with a smile, and then kept the Japanese beside him: "This is Shimazu Tadadayo, the younger brother of the lord of the Satsuma Domain in Japan, and he was also sent by the Japanese shogunate to participate in the battle to recover the Ryukyus." ”

Then he pointed to a handsome young samurai who had dismounted from his horse: "This is Komatsu with a sword and a clean sword, and the navy of the Satsuma Domain." ”

"Navy...... Hang? "Tong Haifeng and Feng Ziye don't quite understand, and they don't know if Lu Dao means to hang up?

"It's the officer in charge of the navy, and the secretary of the navy has the same meaning." Wang Dehu explained with a smile. "The Ryukyu Kingdom was originally the territory of the Satsuma Domain, so this time the shogunate sent people from the Satsuma Domain to attack the Ryukyus with us!"

Hearing this, Tong Haifeng hurriedly asked, "Lord Wang, can you attack immediately?" ”

Xue Dingyue on the side took over the topic: "The emperor's telegram and the order of the Admiralty have arrived, and the Nanyang Fleet will attack tomorrow morning!" Are your ironclad detachments ready? ”

"The ironclad detachment has been looking forward to this day for a long time!" Tong Haifeng replied loudly.

"That's good, on behalf of the Admiralty, this official wishes you a smooth journey and a triumphant song as soon as possible, and the emperor is still waiting for good news."

Wang Dehu smiled lightly, and his tone was also light, quite a general's demeanor. He turned to Shimazu and said, "Mr. Shimazu, those six black ships are the steam ironclads I told you about, they are powered by steam engines to drive water wheels, and the hulls are wrapped in steel armor, and no artillery can move them now. However, they were too slow to run on the sea, so they could only let the battleship drag them to the Ryukyus. ”

Shimazu Tadōkyo stared at the ironclad for a long time before he nodded and said, "Lord Shangshu, are our people going to Ryukyu on the ironclad?" ”

This time, the Shimazu family was ordered to send out 300 samurai, not to fight, but to lead the way. Their Satsuma clan ruled the Ryukyus for more than 200 years, and their roots are still there! Emperor Zhu wanted Ryukyu to be stable, and they were really indispensable for their assistance. Fortunately, Tokugawa Akiko is now Japan's "Queen Mother of the West", and she solved this trivial matter in one sentence. Shimazu had no choice but to pinch his nose and send his younger brother to lead the way for the Ming army, while also being responsible for managing the civil affairs of the Ryukyus after the Ming army occupied the Ryukyus.

"No, you don't take the ironclad ship, you take the Daming, the flagship of our Ming Navy, to the Ryukyus." Wang Dehu pointed to a third-class battleship not far away, which was about 2,000 tons and said with a smile, "This official and Chief Xue will also take this Daming to Ryukyu together." (To be continued......)