(It is set to be born decades earlier, giving the old man an era that belongs to him.)
A soldier has never won a battle in his life, but he can be praised by the world and regarded as a military model.
This sounds incredible, but it is true, because he has not sorry for the country.
This naval admiral Sa Zhenbing, who spanned the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and New China, is a true portrayal of that magnificent era.
When the Sino-Japanese War was defeated and the entire sea became a paradise for the enemy, this veteran of the Qing Dynasty was unable to reverse the situation. He could only pass on what he had learned throughout his life to his younger generations and wait for the country to be defeated and established.
But that is another time and place.
At this time in Xinxiang City, Sazhen Binggajiwo was rushing home with a newspaper under his arm and fried dough sticks and soy milk in one hand.
A few months ago, he left the Sa clan in Fuzhou with his parents and his newly married wife Chen, and went out to sea with the fleet with a large amount of gold and silver.
It happened that the British fleet was blockading Australia, and the family was trapped in Xinxiang, so they simply settled in Xinxiang.
During this period, Daming's actions opened his eyes.
As soon as he got home, Sa Zhenbing saw Chen busy checking the account books. He massaged his wife's shoulders clumsily while looking at the account books curiously.
Sa Chen's Watch Shop, July shipment order...
With the victory of the Ming Dynasty, the blockade of Australia was lifted, and the backlog of goods of various trading houses returned to the sea.
The more than 300 pocket watches that Chen bought from the Daming Supply and Marketing Cooperative were sold out instantly. Most of the buyers came directly to Xinxiang to purchase goods, while some also placed orders through letters.
Chen sorted out the shipping orders, looked at the port's merchant ship sailing timetable, and prepared to arrange for employees to board the ship with pocket watches.
The travel expenses are naturally paid by the buyer.
Mrs. Chen slapped away a pair of hands that were becoming increasingly dishonest, and said coquettishly: "In broad daylight..."
"Hehe~"
Sa Zhenbing chuckled and stuffed a fried dough stick into her mouth.
Just when the two of them were tired, there was a knock on the door.
Sa Zhenbing had no choice but to give up and open the door to see who was coming.
Outside the door were two soldiers in navy uniforms with several medals hanging on their chests.
"Is this the Sazhen Bing family?"
"Yes, I am Sa Zhenbing."
"This is a recruitment order from the General's Palace. Please consider it."
The two soldiers handed him a letter, saluted and left, leaving Sa Zhenbing in a daze.
This is a special recruitment order, signed by the emperor himself, and stamped with the seals of the General's Office and the emperor.
Sa Zhenbing silently returned to the dining table. Mrs. Chen took a bamboo knife and sat next to her, with a worried look on her face.
"Ms. sir..."
"Don't worry, it's a special call-up order, which is a good thing."
As he spoke, Sa Zhenbing used a bamboo knife to carefully pry open the seal from underneath. After all, it was a joint letter between the General's Palace and the Emperor, and it was still very collectible.
There are three cards and four photos in the letter.
The recruitment order from the General's Office, the emperor's letter, an introduction to the First Fleet of the Ming Navy, and four photos of Dingyuan-class battleships.
In addition to Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the new battleships are named Laiyuan and Jingyuan, both of which are giant ships with a displacement of over 7,000 tons.
There is only one main content of the letter, which is to recruit Sa Zhenbing to join the First Fleet of the Ming Navy.
…
Xinxiang Military Port Shipyard.
Zhu Zaiming visited the shipyard accompanied by Xu Qi, Shen Yulong and others.
Thanks to the construction of chemical plants, steam engine plants, artillery plants, etc., Zhu Zaiming started thinking about large-scale construction.
It was planned that the First Fleet would consist of four battleships, four cruisers, four destroyers and two supply ships.
After ordering two more Dingyuan-class battleships from the system, Ming Dynasty ran out of money again.
After replenishing the weapons and ammunition of the 1st Division and replenishing two battleships of the Navy, the Ming Dynasty treasury had less than 2 million silver coins left.
The money must be retained for the construction of new factories.
Zhu Zaiming thought about it and finally set his sights on the British Empire.
There are still more than 110,000 prisoners in Sydney, who consume huge amounts of food every day. Even if they are given a lot of work, they cannot create much value.
Therefore, the Ministry of Rites sent a diplomatic note to the East India Company stationed in India.
"Your Majesty, counting the time, the East India Company should have received my letter from Ming Dynasty. I think I will receive a reply in half a month."
After all, it was the early 19th century, and long-distance transmission of messages had to rely on sea-going ships. Even flying boats would take at least half a month.
In the letter, Zhu Zaiming's request was quite "kind".
All 110,000 captives were ransomed as navy soldiers, totaling 6 million Ming silver coins.
Food expenses, medical expenses, venue rent, etc. are converted into 2 million.
War compensation was 32 million silver coins.
Ceded the British South Sea colonies.
All those who come to China for business can only buy and sell in Luzon.
…
There are hundreds of clauses, large and small, and the bottom line is that ransom and compensation cannot be compromised.
As for the colonies, Nanyang is right in front of Australia, very close. Does Zhu Zaiming need the consent of Great Britain?
At this time, the First Fleet of the Ming Navy was intensifying its training while clearing out the British warships in Southeast Asia.
After the northward strategy formulated by the cabinet is completed, the entire Nanyang will be controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and the east-west trade will be monopolized by the Ming Dynasty.
By that time, the navy would blockade the Yangtze River estuary and prepare for the landing at Jinling.
At this time, Xinxiang Shipyard gathered more than 300 skilled craftsmen from the entire Ming Dynasty, more than 2,000 apprentices, and 30,000 indigenous workers, and the large-scale construction plan could barely proceed.
Xu Qi pointed to the dry dock being excavated and introduced.
"From a long-term perspective, the shipyard has planned four 100,000-ton dry docks and four 40,000-ton dry docks. Currently, only two 40,000-ton dry docks have been constructed.
We have used a large number of steam engines for mechanical assistance. It is expected that the main body of the ship will be completed in two months, and the battleship will be built in October this year. "
Speaking of battleships, Xu Qi's face flushed with excitement. He took out several general drawings from his leather satchel.
There are top views and side views of cruisers and destroyers.
Xu Qi said: "After planning and drawing by the Ministry of Industry, the cruiser built by the Ming Dynasty is a fortress class, with a displacement of 4,000 tons, equipped with 120 80mm guns, and a speed of 7 knots.
The Dongfeng-class destroyer has a displacement of 1,500 tons, is equipped with 8 80mm guns, and has a speed of 9 knots. "
Zhu Zaiming did some research and found that it was in the form of side guns on early ironclad ships. Influenced by sailing battleships, the artillery was arranged on both sides of the ship.
After the Ministry of Industry conducted a systematic study on the Dingyuan-class battleships and combined with the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty, it was a foolish dream to develop a steam-powered rotating turret.
Although the steam engines manufactured by the Ming Dynasty were ahead of the times, their power was still insufficient. There was no extra power to provide main gun turrets weighing hundreds or even thousands of tons.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry simply built an iron-clad battleship with side guns.
As for artillery, although artillery factories have also developed breech-loading cannons, metal custom-loaded artillery shells cannot be mass-produced because mercury fulminate is currently available, so solid shells can only continue to be used.
Therefore, the combat power of the cruisers and destroyers of the First Fleet of the Ming Navy seriously does not match the Dingyuan class.
Zhu Zaiming's idea is to let the shipyard practice first.
After receiving the compensation, the warships will be updated for the first fleet. Some of the updated warships will form the second fleet, and some will be sold to regain blood.
While Zhu Zaiming was busy building the shipyard, the war between the Ming and the British also radiated to the whole world through Nanyang.
The Eastern Lion in Napoleon's heart was the first to awaken in Australia.
An era belonging to the Ming Dynasty and an era belonging to the future Navy Marshal Sa Zhenbing has begun.
