This is the second time the two have met!

When he met Shi Si again, Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but sigh at the strangeness of fate. When he met last time, he had just joined the Zheng army and only held Jiangyin. Now, in just two months, he has been the Jianghuai Strategic Manager. Although he is not as powerful as Hong Chengchou's "Five Province Strategic Manager", he can be said to have heavy troops in his hands compared to the hard-core traitor who is the number one in Tianzi, who is not in charge of the innate army!

In troubled times, military power is the greatest reliance!

Perhaps, Zhu Mingzhong never felt that he was a warlord, but his influence on the saying "the power comes from the barrel of a gun" since childhood made him believe that compared to other things, military power is the most practical!

Moreover, he was confident that with the addition of 50,000 strong Tshang Dings, the current Zhongyi Army was powerful. If it weren't for the Zheng army that his subordinates could not be changed, he would probably have the capital to be on par with Zheng Chenggong now. Of course, this idea was just a flash. In this era, the most taboo thing was the subordinate's betrayal of the head coach. In any case, Zhu Mingzhong, who was rewarded by Zheng Chenggong, had long been branded with the Zheng family, and this brand was not so easy to remove.

When Zhu Mingzhong sighed at the change of fate, Shi Si also looked at the young and strange general in front of him who was more legendary. In his opinion, if the legend of this general was passed down to Europe, it would definitely cause a sensation in the whole of Europe that had never been seen before. I wonder how many women would be fascinated by his heroic deeds.

"Shi Shi see General Zhu."

While Shi Shi bowed according to Chinese etiquette, Zhu Mingzhong greeted him and said with a smile.

"Shishen, we meet again, how about it? Is the journey going smoothly?"

When thinking about that type of ship, Zhu Mingzhong naturally thought of Shi Si whom he met in Guazhou. Although there were many craftsmen in Qinghe, they were only good at building Chinese-style ships and had no knowledge of European ships at all. Traditional Chinese ships were not suitable for naval battles in the artillery era. Among all, only Shi Si, an adventurer from England, knew how to build European ships. It was precisely because of this that he invited him to Qinghe, and naturally he had to pay some price - transferring a thousand acres of land outside Nanjing to Gan Hui, which was the price code of Shi Si and others.

"Thanks to the general's concern, the journey went very smoothly. I have not yet congratulated the general on his great victory in Jiangbei!"

Although he has been in China for many years, the Chinese spoken by Shi Shi is still a bit stiff even though it is very standard.

"Thank you for your congratulations!"

Zhu Mingzhong was not willing to be polite to him, but directly expressed his intention to invite others.

"I heard that you have recently drawn some drawings and made models in Nanjing. How about it? Have you brought them all?"

Shi Si had long been prepared for all this. Since he learned that Zhu Mingzhong was the young general he saw on the river bank, he knew that his dream would become a reality here.

After a while, Zhang Di helped Shishi show a wooden sailing model, which was the "Srup Ship" mentioned by Zhu Mingzhong.

"As you mentioned, this "Srup ship" is just a small ship, it is widely used in Europe for offshore trade and patrol operations with the colonies. The ship is designed for speed and flexibility from the bow to the stern. Its hull is generally about 80 feet long, usually only one, occasionally with two masts that are tilted backwards, one to two side sails and a pair of large inclined main sails, from a distance, it looks like the dorsal fins exposed by a shark when swimming on the water. Whether crosswind or downwind, this ship can achieve a huge sail area to push the hull forward. Its iconic long bowsprit is like a sharp sword stabbing straight ahead, and the large area of ​​bowsprit sails on it provide excellent steering and upwind navigation performance..."

When Shishi talked about the advantages of the "Srup Ship", Zhu Mingzhong just looked at the model with a smile. Compared with a cruise ship equipped with dozens of guns, this small warship with a displacement of about 100 tons is most suitable for him. In the transformation from the navy to the navy, this small warship has a low cost, fast construction speed, simple operation, and is more suitable for the training of new recruits.

"A large Srup ship with a displacement of 100 tons can carry about 100 fully armed sailors, and can carry up to 14 cannons. It perfectly interprets the principle of "those who can run past me cannot defeat me, and those who can beat me cannot run past me" that is, it can quickly catch up with the escaped merchant ship and force it to surrender, and it can sail far away when a stronger enemy emerges from the horizon..."

When Shi Shi explained the advantages of this warship, Li Chenggan, the left army admiral of the navy, Pan Ziqin, the right army admiral, and Wang Anmin, the central army admiral, looked at the small model and looked a little complicated. For Li Chenggan and Pan Ziqin, they had no requirements for warships, but for Wang Anmin, who had seen large seaships in Nanjing, what he thought was a large seaship like the Zheng family army.

"The strategy is that this ship is too small. According to the following figure, our army does not build a Dafu ship..."

Before Wang Anmin could finish his words, Shi Shi immediately retorted.

"Your Excellency Admiral, you don't understand that since the artillery appeared on the sea, the situation of naval warfare has changed. China's ship type is not suitable for naval warfare at all!"

As a ship engineer, Shi Shi has inspected Chinese sea ships more than once, and naturally has a good understanding of the advantages and shortcomings of Chinese sea ships.

"Although China's seacraft is built at a fast speed and low cost, Chinese sailing ships still have their own inherent shortcomings, just like Chinese hard sails belonging to the category of sails, with high wind efficiency; they can rotate around the mast, can face the wind, and can be used in both tailwind and crosswind. Because of the support bones, the sail quality requirements are very low, and even if many holes are broken, it doesn't matter. The operation is relatively simple. When lifting the sail, the crew does not need to climb up and down on the mast, especially the sail is particularly convenient, and it is very safe to use in harsh sea conditions. Moreover, the wind-eating ability of the hard sail per unit area exceeds that of the soft sails in the West, but due to the material of the hard sail The material problem causes the area of ​​the sails to be impossible to compare with Western sails. For sails with the same heaviness and the same area, the hard sail has a large advantage and a much lower cost. However, the sail area of ​​soft sails is generally very large and the mast is high, which offsets this advantage. However, the sail is large and the pole is high, which also causes the mast to be easily broken. Therefore, the masts of Western sails have reinforced cables to stabilize the masts, but this makes the sails unable to rotate around the masts, so the efficiency of Western cross sails is very low under cross wind, but this can be solved by using desails. In general, the total area of ​​sails in Western sails defeats the efficiency of the unit area of ​​Chinese sailing ships,..."

When it comes to the efficiency of sails mentioned by Shi Shi, whether it is Li Chenggan, Pan Ziqin, or Wang Anmin, they are also confused. Zhu Mingzhong is very clear that as the ship grows bigger, the advantages of Western soft sails become more and more obvious, while Chinese hard sails show their various shortcomings.

"However, the most fundamental problem of Chinese sailing ships is the gun position and defense. However, the cause of these two problems is one reason, which is the unique water barrier design of Chinese sailing ships. Because each water barrier needs to be opened for personnel and cargo to enter and exit, the deck is divided, which limits the deck area. Moreover, since there are partitions for compartment to support the structure, either ribs are not used or very few are used when constructing, while sailing ships in European countries do not have compartmental spaces because there are no compartmental spaces.

To support the structure, it is necessary to use a lot of ribs, especially warships, with almost one connected to one. These ribs up to more than 20 inches thick provide a good defense effect for warships. Some warships even use 30 inches and thicker ribs, which makes the shells of the 12-pound naval gun not even cause decisive damage to the ships at a distance of 300 yards, and cannot penetrate even when close-range shooting is not enough. Therefore, the ratio of warships sunk in European naval battles is very small, and most of them are often captured."

Zhu Mingzhong naturally had a certain understanding of what Shi Si said. It was precisely because he knew the shortcomings of Chinese sailing ships that he invited Shi Si over. However, he also noticed that his three naval admirals had become less beautiful, and seemed to be very dissatisfied with Shi Si's belittling Chinese sailing ships so much.

Zhang Di, who stood beside Shi Si, looked at the three people with an unhappy expression. When he first discussed Chinese ships with Shi Si, his face was also ugly and he was also unwilling to believe all of this. But in the end, he had to face the fact that Chinese ships were indeed not suitable for naval warfare, nor were they suitable for naval warfare in the artillery era.

It is precisely because of this that Zhang Di would learn from Shi Si about Western ships and understand the construction and use of Western ships. Although he did not think that the Northern Expedition of the Qing Dynasty needed Western warships, from Shi Si's words, Zhang Di knew that there was a broader world outside of China. Perhaps, one day, China would also send its own warships to the West. That kind of warship could never be the kind of Chinese ship with only four-inch "thin plates". It should be a warship with a large amount of rib-strength reinforced hull like Western ships. Only in this way can it be invincible in the confrontation with Western warships.

"Hmph, Mr. Shi, as you say, Chinese ships are simply not worth mentioning in your eyes!"

Wang Anmin sneered that although he did not know Western ships, he was not willing to belittle Chinese ships so much. Zhu Mingzhong still didn't say anything about his subordinates' rebuttals. He knew that these people might not be able to accept these for the time being, but in the end they would understand that Chinese ships were not suitable for naval battles in this era.

"No, Lord Admiral!"

Shaking his head, Shi Si said affirmatively.
Chapter completed!