The sun rises and sets, and five days pass in the blink of an eye.
Su He's trip in Tangshan Mansion is coming to an end.
He has been inspecting the heavy industry in Tangshan Prefecture these days.
They range from steam engine factories, arsenals, train factories, three acid and two alkali chemical plants, to small factories that produce screws.
Su He inspected the entire heavy industry chain. Every link in the industrial chain is important.
He saw various factories in Tangshan Prefecture working hard and working hard, and tens of thousands of workers working together to support Tangshan Prefecture, a heavy industrial center.
Tangshan Prefecture's steel and weapons production gave Su He the confidence to launch a larger-scale war.
Tangshan Prefecture is close to the capital, so the reported data is not discounted.
Heavy industrial centers in other places are only 50% of what they look like on paper.
The industrial strength of the Dahua Dynasty can also support the Dahua Dynasty in ensuring domestic stability while sending out troops to dominate the world.
On the last day of the trip, Su He led the civil and military officials to Qinhuangdao.
This is a county under the jurisdiction of Tangshan Prefecture. It has the largest shipyard in the north of the Great China Dynasty.
Minister of the Navy Li Qingmu was on the carriage and asked expectantly: "Your Majesty, the warship we are about to see is the warship that Your Majesty said will change the future of the navy."
Su He nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, the Academy of Sciences has developed propeller technology.
Workers at Qinhuangdao Shipyard now have a thorough understanding of propeller technology.
The newly built iron armored steam sword is not very powerful, but the potential of this warship can already be seen.
The impression it gives me is that of a transition from a matchlock gun to a breech-loading gun.”
When Li Qingmu heard what Emperor Su He said, he felt itchy in his heart and wanted to see the warship clearly as soon as possible.
What kind of warship is it?
Emperor Su He gave it such a high evaluation.
This warship has not been reviewed by the Navy and is probably still a technical experimental ship and cannot be mass-produced.
Li Qingmu only hoped that this warship would be included in the list when he was still the Minister of the Navy.
It was comparable to a warship that had changed from a matchlock gun to a breech-loading gun. He didn't want to miss this warship, which would be a lifelong regret.
Li Qingmu felt that the speed of the carriage was too slow, and he wanted to reach the shipyard immediately.
Su He and his party soon arrived at Qinhuangdao Shipyard.
Its scale ranks third in Dahua, only the Xiamen Shipyard in Fujian and the Guangzhou Shipyard in Guangdong.
These two shipyards, which can build giant ships of 10,000 tons, are stronger than the Qinhuangdao Shipyard.
But ordinary people don't know that Qinhuangdao Shipyard is the closest to the capital and can receive technical support from the Academy of Sciences.
Its technical strength is the strongest among all shipyards.
Qinhuangdao Shipyard has built a test boat with a propeller, but other shipyards have not yet mastered this technology.
Wen Tao, general manager of Qinhuangdao Shipyard, and Wu Lue, chief engineer, were waiting at the gate of the factory.
When they saw Su He and his party arriving, they immediately bowed and saluted.
Su He saw them bowing and then saluting. He waved his hands and said, "Don't pay too much attention to etiquette. I came to Qinhuangdao Shipyard just to get your report."
Major breakthroughs have been made in propeller technology, and ironclad steamships have been built."
Su He saw that they wanted to introduce technology in front of the door, and he directly ordered: "This is a shipyard, let's go and see the built iron-clad steamship.
No matter how nice it sounds, it's not as good as seeing the real thing."
When Wen Tao heard what Emperor Su He said, they immediately approached the shipyard. There would be many opportunities to perform in the future, so there was no need to be too impatient.
Near the Qinhuangdao Shipyard, there are many shipyards building warships.
The carriage passed by these docks and could be seen through the carriage window.
The shipyard here is specifically responsible for manufacturing warships, and soldiers are stationed around it.
Qinhuangdao Shipyard also has a dock for manufacturing civilian ships.
To facilitate confidentiality work.
Military docks and civilian docks are far apart and are managed by different personnel.
Li Qingmu saw that these shipyards were manufacturing warships of various specifications.
Among them was a battleship of the same level as the Guangwu Emperor battleship. Instead of just one battleship, three were built directly.
He looked at the hulls of these battleships, all covered with a layer of silver-white steel plates.
Li Qingmu asked in surprise: "The stainless steel plates we saw at the steel plant a few days ago will be used on these ships.
The battleship Kwangmu Emperor attacks the Dutch coastal defense batteries.
It was directly hit by five or six artillery shells, but none of them penetrated the outer iron shell, effectively protecting the lives of the naval personnel on board.
The battleship Guangwu Emperor can exert its full strength, which is also an important force guarantee for us to quickly deal with the Dutch.
Previously, it was only inlaid with iron plates, but the battleship Guangwu Emperor had a very high level of defense.
Unless he was hit by a cannon at close range, the shells would not be able to penetrate the iron plate at all.
Now that it is replaced with stainless steel plates with better defensive properties, I believe that the enemy's front-loading artillery will not be able to penetrate the armor at all.
This kind of battleship is the battleship of our navy.
When other battleships are retired, they will all be replaced by this kind of warship."
Wen Tao was very happy when he heard Navy Minister Li Qingmu say this.
If the Navy wants to replace warships, it can purchase a large number of warships from shipyards, and they can also make a lot of money.
Wen Tao explained from the side: "Master Li, the steel plates on the outside of the battleship are the most common steel plates.
These ordinary steel plates corrode very quickly on the sea. Our shipyard has optimized the design and turned them into modules that are easy to load and unload.
The steel plates are stored in warehouses during peacetime and installed on both sides of warships during wartime to defend against enemy attacks."
Li Qingmu was eager to try. He wanted to go inside these unfinished battleships and observe the details of the battleships.
He asked: "We have plenty of time. Let's first visit the shipyard to build ordinary battleships."
Su He said: "We don't need to waste time watching these conventional warships.
Many people can memorize the data of warships.
The shipyard also has rich experience and there will be no mistakes in building this kind of warship.
I came here specifically to watch the iron-clad steamships today."
When Wen Tao heard Emperor Su He speak, he did not dare to neglect.
He immediately urged the carriage to speed up and led everyone to the dock as quickly as possible.
They quickly arrived at the pier and got off the carriage. Everyone saw a ship parked on the sea in the distance.
Navy Minister Li Qingmu has just learned the basic information about this ship. It is an ironclad steamship.
Li Qingmu could understand the performance of some ships by analyzing them literally.
Iron armor, as the name suggests, must be a ship completely covered with iron armor.
Steam ships are easier to guess. They should use steam engines to drive the ships forward, instead of relying on sails.
When he heard the word propeller just now, it should be driven by this new mechanical device.
Li Qingmu speculated that this should be due to the maturity of paddle wheel technology.
It solves the problem that the paddle wheel is easily damaged and can be used on warships.
The propeller should be a variant of the paddle wheel machine.
They came to the edge of the pier, where the view was very good and they could see the details of the ship more clearly.
Li Qingmu saw only one small boat on the sea. It was only more than ten meters long and was the size of an ordinary fishing boat.
This small ship is so small that the smallest destroyer in the navy is far larger than this ship.
It is about the same size as a clipper ship used for communication, and in the navy it can only be used for communication.
The ship has no masts or sails, and there is a large chimney in the middle of the ship, which is now emitting black smoke.
Li Qingmu took a closer look. His eyes widened and he looked at the ship in disbelief. He was so excited that he couldn't speak.
Cabinet Minister Wei Shiming shouted loudly at the same time: "How is this possible? It is actually a ship made of steel.
How steel can float on water is incredible and counter-intuitive."
Wei Shiming shouted out, and the civil and military officials following the team all stared at the ships on the sea with wide eyes.
This ship looks small, but its features are outstanding.
The entire ship is silver-white, completely stainless steel in color.
A huge iron lump floating on the sea shocked everyone.
The most critical point is that this ship has no sails and no paddle wheels on either side of the ship.
In everyone's mind, ships without sails and paddle wheels cannot sail on the sea.
Wei Shiming said excitedly: "Manager Wen.
I saw that this ship was emitting black smoke. It should be burning coal and using steam to drive the ship.
Why didn't I see the paddle wheels on both sides of this ship?
I just heard His Majesty talking to you about propellers.
Is the propeller another breakthrough in paddle wheel technology that can be hidden inside the ship?
Does this boat need oars to row?
The big iron ship floating on the sea is already unexpected.
If it really uses oars to row, even if it uses a steam engine to drive the paddles, it will not be as convenient as a paddle wheel."
Wei Shiming asked with a confused look on his face. He looked at the integrated steel ship and couldn't find where the paddles were.
Wen Tao and Wu Lue looked at each other. Wen Tao was good at management and Wu Lue was good at shipbuilding.
They chose Wu Lue to tell the story about the propeller.
Wu Lue began to explain the principles of propellers.
He took out a fan-like model.
"Everyone has seen a hand-cranked fan. Several iron leaves are deflected at a certain angle and can blow out wind when rotated.
If connected to a steam engine, the wind generated would be enough to blow people away.
The same is true for a ship's propeller, which can push the current in the water.
The ship can move forward by the force generated by pushing the water flow.
The principle of this technology is very simple, but in order to really push the ship forward, many hurdles need to be solved."
Su He watched Wu Lue deliberately use concise language to introduce the situation of the propeller.
Propeller technology was what Su He reminded He Miao, who developed the paddle steamer.
He gathered the efforts of several teams from the Academy of Sciences and made breakthroughs in special steel to master propeller technology.
He Miao taught Qinhuangdao Shipyard, propeller related technology.
He immediately went south to Xiamen and Guangzhou and brought propeller technology to the factories in the south.
After everyone listened to the principles of propeller technology, they finally understood the power core of this steel ship.
Wu Lue heard many people asking about the situation of the ship. He saw everyone's surprised eyes and explained the issues that everyone was concerned about.
"This boat is made entirely of stainless steel, abandoning traditional wood.
In order to test how long it takes for stainless steel to corrode completely, we did not paint the ship.
Normal ships are painted with a layer of anti-rust paint on the outside, which can extend the service life of the ship.
The law of buoyancy is in primary school textbooks and everyone should know it.
The buoyant force of an object is equal to the weight of the water displaced.
Even if the steel is thrown directly into the water, it will sink to the bottom of the water, as long as the internal space is large enough and enough water is displaced.
When the buoyancy force far exceeds gravity, they will also float on the water.
This boat can float on the water because the buoyancy force is greater than gravity.
The propeller can already provide enough power, so the ship does not have a sail.
How does it operate? I'll let this ship demonstrate it."
After Wu Lue asked Emperor Su He for instructions, he waved the signal flag in his hand, and the armored steamship anchored on the sea immediately started moving.
The whistle sounded, the continuously burning boiler began to add coal and pressurize, and the valve to the steam engine was also opened.
The steam engine drives the main shaft and drives the propeller to rotate at high speed.
The propeller behind the stern rotates at high speed, pushing the iron-clad steamship to move quickly in the ocean.
People on the shore saw that this steel ship was very flexible and sailed quickly on the sea.
There was a surge of water behind the stern of the boat, forming a wave trail.
Minister of the Navy Li Qingmu looked at the performance of this armored steamship and said excitedly:
"Great, this is great, this is the warship our navy needs in the future."
Li Qingmu looked at the performance of the armored steamship, and he immediately agreed with what Emperor Su He said some time ago.
Ironclad steamships were the future of the navy.
The iron-clad steamship moves very fast and has all-steel armor.
It uses steam engines to travel at high speeds in the ocean without the help of wind power.
A warship is freed from the force of the wind and can go on an expedition at any time.
The only disadvantage of current ironclad steamships is that their tonnage is too small. As long as shipyards can produce cruiser-sized ironclad steamships.
This kind of warship will definitely become the overlord of the sea.
Even the most powerful naval gun in the current navy cannot break through the defense of such an armored warship in a short period of time.
Su He was very satisfied when he saw the iron-clad steamship which was very stable on the sea.
The development of propeller technology is very bumpy. Ships have just been equipped with propellers and often spin in circles at sea, unable to control the direction at all.
When propeller technology matures, the service life of the propeller limits this technology.
Until breakthroughs were made in the smelting of special steel, wear-resistant steel was manufactured.
Only with the emergence of propellers that can be used continuously for two or three months has the application of propeller technology become possible.
Su He praised: "Okay, that's great. Your Qinhuangdao Shipyard has successfully built the first iron-clad steamship. This will be recorded in history."
When Wen Tao and Wu Lue heard Emperor Su He's praise, they were both very excited and the future was bright.
Wu Lue immediately waved the command flag and ordered the armored steamer to return to the dock.
The ironclad steamship turned smoothly and quickly drove back to the dock.
Su He led the civil and military officials to board the armored steamer docked at the pier.
They personally came to this ship made of pure steel.
Navy Minister Li Qingmu tapped the stainless steel deck and hull with his hands.
He said excitedly: "The entire ship is made of steel. If we can build a larger-scale iron-clad steamship, our navy will be invincible in the world."
Wu Lue, chief engineer of Qinhuangdao Shipyard, said regretfully: "Master Li, your idea cannot be realized in a short time.
Nowadays, the power of marine steam engines is too small.
Steam engines are inherently large, occupy a lot of space, and have insufficient power.
After our experiments, we can now only push such a large ironclad steamship.
Only when steam engine technology makes a breakthrough and can drive warships with larger tonnage can we build real ironclad ships."
When Li Qingmu heard this reason, he could only wait with regret.
Su He saw Li Qingmu's disappointed expression and said with a smile: "We should be happy, the armored ship represents the future.
As long as this technology continues to advance, China will not fall behind others.
Even if we don’t see the day when the armored ships are commissioned, we can still leave a solid family fortune to future generations.”