Chapter 311 Building a strong industrialized vassal
The strength of the British Empire originated from the first industrial revolution. After the second industrial revolution, Europe began to enter the real starting era. Now Chen Cao has traveled through time and begun to create his own industrial revolution. Compared with now The European giants in the small English country were two centuries ahead of schedule, more than two hundred years ahead of them.
Once the internal combustion engine created by Zhang Lin comes out, it will greatly improve the production and creation capabilities in various fields. This is why Chen Cao will make an exception and promote Zhang Lin to an engineering academician and give him a third-class baron.
Cao Shiyun, the pioneer and leader who created steam turbines under Chen Cao's advice, is now the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in the Ming Dynasty. His classmates at the same time have now made considerable achievements in various fields.
As for the oil refinery standing in Puxi, Shanghai, production has truly entered the motor-driven era.
The newly appointed Petroleum Minister Xie Xiance was personally recommended by Bi Maokang. Xie Xiance, whose ancestral home was in Shanxi, used to work in the refining of fierce oil at the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing. Since joining Chen Cao's shogunate, he has been responsible for the strong oil used by various armies.
"Your Majesty, the oil factory in Shanxi has been sealed off by the northern court. The oil wells in Shaanxi are inaccessible due to Yang He's seizure by the Xi'an Prefecture. There are still about 15 tons of oil in storage;
Based on the calculation that one ton of crude oil produces 300 kilograms of gasoline and 500 kilograms of diesel oil, these fifteen tons of crude oil can produce at most 4,500 kilograms of gasoline and 7,500 kilograms of diesel oil. "
Nowadays, the fierce fire oil used by the Songjiang clan's armies is a diesel product.
"Now the Engineering Academy and several colleges are using more and more oil. This measure can be used in less than a month at most."
Chen Cao, an oil-producing country around the world, generally knows that since Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492, it has now been occupied by European countries. The crude oil production in the Americas is not a small amount. Chen Cao feels that he needs to expand the American continent in the future. The mainland was completely occupied, making it a true territory of Ming China.
What is now facing Chen Cao is the shortage of crude oil. Even the countries in continental Europe have no idea about the use of crude oil. Before the internal combustion engine was completely invented, crude oil could only be used as lighting lamps after being crudely refined.
As for the oil in the sea, with the current technology, we can only stare at it.
Among the five major oil fields of later generations, the most convenient one that Chen Cao can now get his hands on is probably the Zhongyuan Oilfield located in Henan.
"How is the development of the oil fields in Kaifeng, Puyang?"
Xie Xiance replied: "Back to my lord, I just sent an exploration team to Puyang last month and summoned local refugees to help find it. So far, there is no news."
Chen Cao would never tolerate the idea of building an industrialized powerful vassal state, but was completely blocked by the oil barrier.
"Go back and immediately summon the commanders-in-chief of the four major fleets of the navy to come to the Governor's Yamen to see me."
Deng Guang, Commander-in-Chief of the East China Sea Fleet, Chen Maoxiu, Commander-in-Chief of the North Sea Fleet, Chen Yongsu, Commander-in-Chief of the South China Sea Fleet, and Pang Zhifan, Commander-in-Chief of the Coastal Defense Fleet, sat around a round table and stared at a large map of the world in silence.
A moment later, Chen Cao asked Chen Yongsu: "Can all the family members of Professor Taixi in our Songjiang Domain come over?"
Chen Yongsu stood up and saluted: "Back to the prince, according to the prince's instructions last year, all the family members of Tang Ruowang and other professors have been brought here before September this year. They all live in Qingpu County now."
"How many warships are available in the South China Sea Fleet now?"
It was rare for Chen Cao to summon the commanders and chiefs of their four major fleets in person. Now he suddenly asked Chen Yongsu about the military preparations of the South China Sea Fleet. It is very likely that there is a battle to be fought.
So he replied loudly: "One newly launched 12,000-ton all-iron flagship warship, six 5,000-ton iron-clad warships, twenty-five 3,000-ton three-masted soft-sailed warships, and another 1,500 There are 40 ton horse ships, 60 800 ton wolf warships, and nearly a hundred additional ships of various types. Our South China Sea Fleet has a total of about 300 warships."
The all-iron warship was a newly built warship at the Longjiang Shipyard after it was moved to Shanghai. It was also Chen Cao's request. After Cao Shiyun developed the steam turbine, the power of this all-iron warship was the steam turbine, and its speed could reach every At fifteen knots, it only takes twenty-four days to sail from Shanghai to England, while a three-masted soft sail warship takes thirty days.
"With more than 130 warships, do you have the confidence to defeat the armed men of the Dutch East India Company who occupied the Xuanwei Division in the Old Port?"
Facing Chen Cao's inquiry, Chen Yongsu said with a serious smile: "I thought no one could resist the giant cannon on the armored warship."
Chen Cao's goal is the Middle East, that country where "with a piece of cloth above my head, I am the richest in the world", he will first send troops to occupy the two coastal countries of Yemen and Oman, and then attack Saudi Arabia to take over the world's largest oil-producing country. The blood and lifeblood of the world was controlled by the Ming Dynasty.
Now these Arab countries are composed of the Kingdom of Heaven, and their capital is the holy city of Mecca.
Although Tianfang Kingdom is large, its shortcoming is its backwardness. Even now, muskets are just decorations. The real war is still the Muslim knights riding Middle Eastern war horses and camels.
"What did you think when you passed by Tianfang Kingdom?"
Chen Yongsu has been there, and his dark skin was tanned on the Middle East sea: "Tianfang merchants are rich, they are good at doing business, and they have fought against pirates along the Tianfang coast in their humble jobs, but they used old-fashioned weapons, and only some pirates There are matchlocks and handguns that we have eliminated for several years."
"How many troops do you think it will take to conquer Tianfang Kingdom?"
Chen Yongsu never expected that Chen Cao's goal was Tianfang Kingdom, a country with a vast territory and mostly yellow sand. He left with his fleet only half a day after he landed ashore: "What does the prince mean...to attack Tianfang Kingdom?"
Chen Cao was silent for a while, then firmly said: "Yes, attack Tianfang Kingdom..."
Chen Yongsu took a breath. Although he only passed by Tianfang Kingdom, he learned from the guide at the time that the country was huge and had many soldiers: "Your Majesty, it is completely feasible for our South China Sea Fleet to occupy the Gulf of Oman in Tianfang Kingdom, as long as But once we land, we’ll need a lot of troops.”
Chen Cao thought of the hundreds of Europeans who massacred tens of thousands of Native Americans. Under the attack of new rifles and artillery, the cavalry and infantry of the old era could only suffer the massacre.
"How many people do you think we'll need?"
Chen Yongsu was embarrassed, how did he know: "Maybe it needs one hundred thousand, or maybe it needs two hundred thousand. Tianfang country is too big, the border is too long, and the humble position is not very clear."
Chen Cao knocked on the round table. Everyone present knew that this action was a dangerous signal. Sure enough: "Send the order to mobilize all the Tianxiong Army units and allocate troop transport ships from each unit of the three major fleets except the South China Sea Fleet. If there are not enough, let Longjiang Shipyard stopped all warship construction and built all troop transport ships, with the South China Sea Fleet as the main force to attack Tianfang Kingdom;
All students from the fourth phase of the Army Military Academy and the first phase of Huangpu went with the army. In addition, Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai were assigned to participate in military affairs. The entire army set out in May this year to attack Tianfang Kingdom..."
"yes..."
After the matter of mobilizing the South China Sea Fleet to attack the Tianfang Kingdom was decided, the entire Songjiang Domain entered the moment of full mobilization. The ten divisions of the new Tianxiong Army began to assemble urgently, and various departments began to rotate. Commander-in-Chief Lu Xiangsheng and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Sun Chuanting were transferred back from Hangzhou. The first two divisions took the lead and captured Xuanwei Division in the Old Port as the transit base for the South China Sea Fleet. The rest of the divisions went there soon after.
The ultimate goal of attacking Tianfang Kingdom and seizing oil is to strengthen the army and the vassal state. Only in this way can we lead the Ming Dynasty to the top of the world and make the Ming Dynasty a powerful country that the world looks forward to.
Three days later, Chen Cao went to the arsenal again and met Song Yingxing and Bi Maokang.
"Your Majesty, according to your drawings, we have produced this minigun. However, after the test firing, up to fifty bullets were fired. The barrel was all red and had to be cooled with water."
Something is better than nothing.
The development of machine guns is in progress, but now the attack on Tianfang Kingdom is imminent. Sun Chuanting has already set off first, and Lu Xiangsheng will leave in a few days. However, there are only two divisions of Kangxing rifles urgently equipped for Tianxiong Army, and Chen Cao had to equip them. All the Kangxing rifles of a given Wujun division were transferred to the Tianxiong Army.
For this reason, before the advent of the machine gun, the development of the Maxim minigun was immediately put at the forefront.
Now the steel-making technology and steel manufacturing industry of the Songjiang Domain have become extremely developed. The Ming Dynasty, which was already ahead of the world in iron-making technology, has further distanced itself for at least a hundred years. The thousand-layer steel machine gun is still unable to do anything. To reduce the burning intensity of gunpowder, the barrel will turn red after fifty rounds of bullets, which is the limit.
"There is a lot of sea water in the Gulf of Oman, so we can only make do with it and give them emergency production of a hundred miniguns in three days..."
Chen Cao left Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing hurriedly without giving Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing time to complain. In three days, he had to work overtime and stay up all night to barely complete the task.
Bi Maokang looked at Song Yingxing with a wry smile: "Go and pass the order. Let all the resting workers return to the factory. All departments will start manufacturing from now on. Later, you and I will send someone home to inform you that you won't be going back for the next three days."
When Huang Chunyao came back from Huating and learned that Chen Cao had ordered an attack on Tianfang Kingdom and that the leading troops had already set off, it was too late to dissuade him.
Chen Cao knew Huang Chunyao's thoughts and said: "The financial resources and food accumulated by the foreign trade company in the past few years are enough to fight a war. As long as Oman and Yemen in Tianfang Kingdom fall into my hands, Saudi Arabia will be in my palm. After descending to the holy city of Mecca, we will use Arabs to control the Arabs and seize their oil resources. Our Ming Dynasty will become the overlord of the world in the future."
Huang Chunyao knew Chen Cao's ambition, so he recognized the matter clearly, and said: "This is the only way, but the Tianfang people are difficult to deal with, so the student still thought that the prince would send more troops to go with him."
"The Tianxiong army has nearly 200,000 people, and they are more than capable of attacking and prodding. However, the navy is now empty. There are only warships from the North Sea Fleet and the East Sea Fleet. If the northern court finds out, will Zhao Tianlin come for a sneak attack? If so, , I can only protect myself, and counterattack is not enough, so I try not to take any action this year, just to cultivate and recuperate..."
