It's mid-March again, the willows in the south of the Yangtze River are green and the apricot flowers are red.

Renault stood by the dock and watched the first South China Sea-class warship launch, his mood was slightly turbulent. This was his fifth year in the Great Chu world.

In the middle of last year, the first fleet landed in Hongzhou, and the second fleet landed in Wuyang Mansion in two months and eighteen days. One month and eight days, the Raft Island invaded Hanzhang and Dali, and twenty-one days a month and twenty-one days a month, the third fleet reinforced Wuyang Mansion.

Before coming here, he had just received the latest battle report, and the remnants of the fourth Austrian fleet arrived at Wuyang Mansion.

Although the Austrian army is coming in a fierce manner, it actually does not put too much pressure on Da Chu. After a few months, the Austrian army of more than ten to hundreds of thousands of people has landed. With the familiarity of the Austrian army's combat methods, the one hundred thousand troops can no longer bring more pressure to Da Chu.

Of course, the situation in Da Chu is still very bad. With the reinforcements of the two fleets, the front line of Wuyang Mansion has expanded outward for 300 miles, more than 600,000 Austrian troops, and nearly one million Da Chu coalition forces are relying on the river, and countless battles are fought every day.

With Wuyang Mansion as the center, it has become a veritable meat grinder, causing two continents with a population of hundreds of millions to bleed continuously.

The situation in Chunjiang Prefecture, Hongzhou was very good and there was no reinforcement. Although the first fleet of Lei Army brought enough food, grass and ammunition, after nearly a year of consumption, it was already at the end of its strength. Not only did it suffer heavy casualties and retreated back to Chunjiang Prefecture, but it was also difficult for the Austrians to be replenished due to the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness of the Great Chu.

In the Eastern War Zone, the number of coalition forces has been reduced to 300,000, and it can still easily suppress the Lei army. According to the Ministry of War, this Austrian army can be annihilated in at most three months.

The real trouble comes from the Austrian Raft Island. Those Austrian civilians with bare hands and a large number of people brought ten times the pressure on the Great Chu coalition forces than the Austrian army.

Nature is the best sieve. All the old, weak and weak, and those who are not strong in their hearts are buried in the sea. Anyone who can land is a desperate person.

In the Liaodong region, millions of soldiers have been buried, and the attitude of the Ministry of War is still quite pessimistic. Because after the two raft floating islands, four more raft floating islands landed on Hanzhang.

The raft floating island Ao people, known as the Ao people, have a total population of more than 7 million, which is similar to the total population of Hanzhang Island. The problem is that most of these more than 7 million Ao people are young and strong.

Nowadays, the Ministry of War of the Great Chu has extremely limited understanding of Han Zhang. Secret spies cannot enter and exit Han Zhang, so they can only rely on airships to reconnaise at high altitudes. In a few months, the number of airships lost exceeded fifty.

It is said that Han Zhang is like hell, looking down from the air, with countless smoke and blood flowing into a river. Compared to the regular battlefield where Da Chu advances and retreats, there is like the end of the world, with no rules, laws, and even human nature disappearing.

Renault speculated that it was the Ao people's reconnaissance fleet that was wrong, and the real ocean current should have drifted towards Hanzhang Island. After all, when the Ao people opened up sea routes, they used the fast ships. They followed the exploration of the ocean currents and used sails. When the raft floated on the island, they really depended on the fate of heaven and could only drift with the ocean currents.

Shaking his head and looking at the South China Sea-class warship in front of him, Renault felt a sense of pride in his heart. It took him only five years to build a 100-meter-long ironclad ship, which was enough to be proud.

In fact, the one who can achieve such achievements is not Renault, but the four craftsmen, Xiaoman, Mozi, Zhang Tan and Luo Ning.

What Renault could tell them was just the right direction, and what was really implemented was these four, as well as the Craftsman Camp Laboratory, and nearly 100 experimental research teams.

Compared with Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the South China Sea class has changed a lot. The hull structure, self-balancing structure, watertight cabin structure, divided into decks, center of gravity adjustment, power cabin layout, fuel cabin layout...

From Renault's perspective, this first South China Sea-class warship had reached the level of World War I. Not only the warship itself, but even the naval guns on it reached a similar level.

"Sir, please name the first South China Sea-class warship." Zhang Tan and the other four came to Renault with a blushing face. This warship was full of their efforts. It has been a year and a half since the first experimental ship.

Renault adopts a wheel construction strategy, constantly building shipyards and new ships, as long as the manpower and technology can keep up, there will be as much as possible. After all, guarding Shengong City, there is no need to worry about materials. Now the area of ​​Shengong City has been expanding again and again, and the straight line length of the city wall exceeds three miles.

"Who does the most work for this warship?" Renault asked. He had already seen it on the ship before. Although it was still simple, it had already made him quite satisfied.

Renault believes that the key to this battle between Aochu is to control the sea power. As long as you can effectively intercept the fleet and raft islands of the Ao people on the sea, even if the number of people has reached tens of millions, it can be eliminated sooner or later. What you are afraid of is that the Ao people have endless support.

The destruction of the Austrians, and the Austrians had reasons to fight to the death, and the Great Chu coalition was far from as strong as it seemed, without any pain in the skin. Who would like to fight to the death?

"Xiaoman." Mo Zi said. In fact, he and Luo Ning also made a lot of efforts. However, Zhang Tan was because he was older, he was far less time and energy than they had spent.

"That's called Xiaoman." Renault's name was still as bad as ever.

"Yes." Xiaoman looked happy. Such glory can only be found in Shengong City. The Ministry of Works will not care whether you are a craftsman. All the credits are from Shangguan. They have something to do with you, a craftsman?

"How many ships are built in the South China Sea class?" Renault asked.

"A total of twenty-eight docks are under construction at the same time, and nine ships are the main ones, and the rest are waiting for it." Xiaoman is a shipbuilding craftsman, and he is responsible for both the docks and the shipbuilding.

The so-called main construction refers to everything that is ready and under construction. Shipbuilding is the highest level of Da Chu's industry. Although Da Chu's technology tree is still far from that, the South China Sea-class warships are still simple, but they are much stronger than wooden ships.

Renault has prepared sufficient manpower and materials, and has divided into three shifts to rush work day and night. It is considered fast to be able to launch a Nanhai-class ship in half a year.

It was a last resort to the method of making a wheel. Renault knew that the Great Chu needed a large number of iron-clad ships, and he had no time to improve the warships better.

No matter which level of iron-clad ship it is, it is actually similar, including hull, cabin, power cabin, weapon, in Renault's view, such a warship is too rough and has absolutely no products. According to the laws of the state, who dares to let it go into the water?

Renault can't take care of so much, as long as it can be used, as long as it can be put into the water, as for the leak, please make up for it slowly. If the problem is too big, use it while changing it.

The South China Sea-class warship has a displacement of 5,800 tons, a three-boiler power system, two-unit main gun three and twelve secondary guns.

This is a real cannon, using split ammunition, the main gun has a caliber of 120 mm and the secondary gun has a caliber of 80 mm. The main gun has a range of 20 miles and the secondary gun has a twelve miles.

"Three days of trial voyage, if there is no problem, support the Lanbing Fleet immediately." Renault said that in the past six months, Renault has added 18 Zhenyuan class and 32 fat men to the Lanbing Fleet, giving the Lanbing Fleet nearly 30 warships and more than 50 supply ships.

Not only can it ensure the supply of the Tiger King Army, but it also began to blockade the sea area and carried out the mission of attacking the fourth fleet of the Austrians, destroying and sinking hundreds of Austrian warships and more than 300 transport ships. It was not until the shells were exhausted that it had to leave.

Relying on the iron-clad ship, Lan Bing ventured forward and fired in close shots one mile away to achieve such a result. On average, a few shells could sink an enemy ship and deal a heavy blow to the Austrian Fourth Fleet. Almost half of the troops were wiped out on the sea.

Seeing such a battle, Chu Ren was certainly moved. Almost all the ship workers he could find were sent to Shengong City. Hundreds of dry docks had been built on this coastline, but unfortunately the manpower was still insufficient.

Of course, Chu Ren also wanted to ask the Ministry of Works to build ships, but it was useless. Not only did he lack technology, but he also didn't have so much fine iron. Now, 70% of the weapons used by the frontline soldiers came from Shengong City. The Ministry of Works could not even build warships, let alone use fine iron to build warships.

"Sir, General Shi's airship has arrived." Huya said softly.

"Well, let's go, we will meet this General Shi." Renault knew about Schlossie's arrival a month ago.

The Divine Worker Navy destroyed countless enemies, and there were iron-clad ships scattering across the sea. How could Da Chu not know such a big thing? What Chu Ren thought in his heart was that others didn't know. Shi Luohua, the general of the South China Sea Navy, thought for more than ten days, but still couldn't help but come to him personally.

The Southern Navy lost more than half of the naval battle last year and had lost its ability to naval battle. If the Austrian fleet had not been rushing to escort more Austrians to land, the past six months would be enough for them to destroy the Southern Navy.

As a general of the Southern Navy, Shi Luohua really couldn't help it.

Duke Dingguo, General Jinghai, and General Shi Luohua, the general of the Southern Navy, looked pale and had no worries. He was in his forties. In fact, he was over 70 years old. Don’t think that he was very old. On the contrary, as a master, it was just the same age as seventy.

"Please give Lei Shi'an."

"Please Song Xian'an."

Although Shi Luohua has a large number of titles, he is a first-class and powerful figure in Da Chu. He is very important in front of Chu Ren. But in front of Ren, he is quite polite.

This kind of politeness is no longer the hypocritical politeness when Renault was in Luo City. After all, at that time, Renault had nothing to be respected by others except for the title of a secret master.

You are a secret master and you are amazing. As long as I don’t offend you, there is nothing to ask for on your head anyway.

Now it’s different. Master Lei is no longer just a secret master, but more importantly, Master Lei is the master of the master of the master. He has a word and is very important. Although he never speaks, as long as he says, his weight in Da Chu is probably even heavier than His Majesty Chu Ren.

"General Shi is polite, sit down and talk." Renault naturally would not put on airs. He could find ways to create better weapons and ships, but he always had to use them.

The Shengong Army is just an experimental force, and he does not want the Shengong Army to become the main force against the Austrians.
Chapter completed!