Zhu Cixiang is no longer interested in marrying hundreds of beauties with outstanding figures. It is perfectly fine to exchange some girlfriends for his subordinates from foreign friends.
The launch of battleships is just that. After the eighth-level "Scharnhorst" was built, the ninth-level "Bismarck" and the tenth-level H39 "Hindenburg" are not far away.
As the performance of fighter aircraft continued to improve, by around 1800, the world would be dominated by aircraft carriers, and the era of battleships would be gone forever, unless ship-borne anti-aircraft missiles could be installed.
At least not yet, Zhu Cixiang believes that the best birthday gift for himself is not a new battleship, but a flying killer weapon!
Maybe it's not very powerful right now, and it's a bit exaggerated, but this kind of weapon will eventually become the development trend of the future arms race, and that is ballistic missiles!
In order to celebrate Emperor Haojing's 90th birthday, the scientific research team of the Academy of Sciences at a test site in the northwest worked overtime and finally completed the test launch of the "Beifeng" ballistic missile this year.
The prototype of the "Beifeng" ballistic missile is the V2 missile, with a total launch weight of nearly 15 tons. However, due to problems with the internal structure and rocket fuel, the missile's range is currently only more than 100 kilometers.
However, both Zhu Cixiang and project chief engineer and consort Sun Yunqiu believe that as long as fuel and component technology are continuously upgraded, the missile's range can be gradually increased.
Sun Yunqiu was asked to go to the northwest to supervise work. At first, a certain emperor's sister was very unhappy, but after all, her arms could not twist her thighs, and the prince-consort himself strongly agreed.
Compared with all kinds of women, Sun Yunqiu thinks missiles are more fun!
To say the least, at least it doesn’t cost a kidney!
The Ming Dynasty has long developed two cruise missiles, the "Scud" and the "Tomahawk", but the original versions were all primitive rockets made by the British.
The "Beifeng" ballistic missile is a copycat of the V2 missile. From the beginning, it was beyond the reach of those two defective products.
Zhu Cixiang himself is not very interested in things with a range of only a few kilometers. No matter how much he upgrades, he can't become V2!
So he started anew and directly asked the Prince Consort to be the person in charge of the project.
There is no requirement for speed. Even if it takes fifty years, it will be possible.
Of course, a certain emperor still looked down on these people from the Academy of Sciences.
It only took less than twenty years for the "Beifeng" ballistic missile to successfully take to the skies!
Because the paint on the outside of the experimental projectile was painted in a black and white mosaic, this powerful missile was called "black and white impermanence" by scientific researchers!
The warhead can carry one thousand kilograms of TMT and can blast a large crater seven to eight meters in diameter and three meters deep at the point of impact.
What makes the enemy feel a little relieved is that the accuracy of "Black and White Impermanence" is also very "impermanent"!
The project team successively test-fired 100 "Beifeng" ballistic missiles in five batches, with the farthest distance being more than ten kilometers from the established center of the circle.
The average accuracy is about five kilometers, which is definitely not good as a fixed-point killing weapon.
Anyway, there is no need to mass-produce this weapon in the near future, so Zhu Cixiang doesn't care.
The working principles of the "Beifeng" ballistic missile and the V2 missile are exactly the same. After manual ignition, all operating processes are completed by the mechanical computer inside the missile.
Navigation is controlled by a gyroscope. After the mechanical computer is started, it is responsible for calculating the distance to the target and cutting off the fuel supply before approaching the target to ensure that the missile can hit the target.
The V2 missile also has radio as an auxiliary helper. Ming Dynasty's current technology cannot reach this level.
Radios already exist, but missiles fly farther than the radio's radius...
Zhu Cixiang believes that in about ten or twenty years, the range of the "Beifeng" ballistic missile will be infinitely close to that of the original version.
In the short term, such as within the last thirty years, there should be no country in the world that dares to challenge the Ming Dynasty's hegemony.
Even if there is one or a few people looking for death, the Ming Dynasty King's Division can turn it into a pile of ruins with just the air force and armored forces!
In view of this, the research and development plan for the "Beifeng" ballistic missile should be advanced according to the original schedule and must be done in an orderly manner.
The plan to imitate the V1 cruise missile is also advancing simultaneously, and due to the relatively low technical content, the development speed is much faster than the ballistic missile project.
But just like the V2, the hit accuracy is also extremely "touching", even though this thing is also equipped with a gyroscope and a mechanical computer.
Long-range ballistic missiles imitating the A10, which are much larger than the V2, and various types of anti-aircraft missiles are also being developed intensively.
For the current technology of the Ming Academy of Sciences, it is much easier to manufacture large missiles than small missiles.
The "Beifeng"-II ballistic missile has an expected range of more than 1,000 kilometers and is definitely an epoch-making super weapon.
More importantly, the larger the missile, the greater its range, and the greater the research and development funding it will receive.
Neither the missile nor nuclear programs require funding from the imperial court. All funding problems were solved entirely out of the emperor's own pocket.
The Academy of Sciences only needs to hire more people. All members of the project team, from the person in charge to the craftsmen, must be kept strictly confidential.
If you leak this priceless top secret, you will have to bear the consequences...
As a price for confidentiality, everyone involved in the project will receive a minimum monthly salary of twenty silver coins, and will also be provided with food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Basically, you don’t need to spend any money to work at the base. All supplies are free, unless you want to open a small stove.
In fact, except for those with special tastes, everyone does not need to open a small stove.
In addition to breakfast, you can eat meat for lunch and dinner, and the food standard for each person is up to one pound of fish or meat.
Every weekend or holiday, there are dinner parties at the base, where chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, and fish will appear on the table.
The latest movies released in Beidu will also be sent to the northwest base as soon as possible to relieve everyone's boredom.
For those who are more interested in scientific research, everyone hopes to obtain more computers with more advanced performance.
There was nothing a certain emperor could do about it. Ming Dynasty's Moore's Law was quite lagging behind.
Including nuclear and missile projects, in a short period of time, we can only make do with seemingly the most advanced computers...
These two projects are both high-tech and sophisticated. Not only does Zhu Cixiang have to pay for them himself, but he also definitely does not plan to sell them overseas as soon as possible.
Whoever has the ability can develop it on his own, and Ming Dynasty will never interfere!
Perhaps the European Emperor Louis XIV had this vision, but the conditions in his pocket did not allow it.
It is very expensive to keep a large number of drying buckets working continuously. If Zhu Cixiang was not rich and wealthy, he would not be able to afford to do this.
Ironclad ships are constantly being exported, but that is just a cash-out project.
Not only can it enrich the pockets of the imperial court and Zhu Cixiang, but it can also continuously squeeze the pockets of the other party.
If the other party cannot accept the high price of the large ironclad ship, Zhu Cixiang can also reduce the price and promote it, and also allow loans and barter.
All in all, a certain emperor tried every possible means to get his target customers to spend money to buy ironclad ships.
It’s okay if you really can’t afford an ironclad. We also have fighter jets, bombers, fuel tanks, light machine guns, and submachine guns for sale.
It’s no exaggeration to say that there’s something for you or your opponent…
Don't you buy it?
OK!
I will directly sell a ship or ten ships of arms to your old enemy!
If countries other than the Ming Dynasty continue to participate in arms races and use all the spare money in their pockets to purchase advanced weapons, wouldn't it be possible to achieve world peace?
Without the support of the Ming Empire, the treasury does not have enough money, and the opponent is still increasing its military strength, the war will probably not be fought.
Without paying the soldiers, they can't afford much food and grass. Even if a head of state is very ambitious, he will still have some scruples and throw in the towel.
This is not an exaggeration, just do a calculation and calculate it according to the war time of one year.
Sending 100,000 troops, the average salary per person per month is five silver coins, which is 6 million silver coins per year for 100,000 soldiers.
Including the arms and food, it would be tens of millions. Even if it is just this, we may not be able to win...
It is almost rare to find someone like the Ming Dynasty King Master who can achieve his tactical goals within half a year.
The Ming army's ability to move vigorously and resolutely was entirely based on the fact that the entire army was mechanized and its firepower was maximized.
If you don’t have money to buy advanced weapons, you can only fight slowly. It is not uncommon for a war to last two or three years.
Especially after seeing the outstanding performance of the Ming army in the two wars of annihilating Donglu and Boli, I believe that some people in Europe who are ready to move will temporarily stop for a while.
After all, no one wants to follow in the footsteps of Augusta National so quickly, and take the initiative to become a city lord without being the head of a country...
At the banquet celebrating his birthday, Zhu Cixi also publicly stated that Ming Dynasty was basically satisfied with the current world situation.
The implication is that as long as everyone here does not mess around, the Ming Dynasty King Master will not attack again to beat someone who is disobedient.
Later, after acquiring the territory in southern Brazil, the new Inca Emperor Polo also agreed with this statement of strategic allies.
Although Ibrahim did not get Moravia, he received partial compensation in Bessarabia and the Caucasus, and at the same time retained his original territory of Hungary, so he had no objections.
In addition to consolidating his control over the Iberian Peninsula, the Apennine Peninsula, and the newly acquired Rhineland, the European Emperor Louis XIV also owned two large territories, French West Africa and French India.
Since participating in the Second European War had almost emptied the treasury, Louis XIV no longer planned to help an ally who did not give him peace of mind.
Leopold understood Zhu Cixiang's hint, and his Holy Roman Empire had also acquired a large amount of land that originally belonged to Poli.
But in his heart, he could not let go of the fact that he had not recovered Hungary, so that the Ottoman army could still invade Austria at any time, threatening the security of Vienna.
Another point is that the Holy Roman Empire has no overseas territories. Almost all the territory outside Europe has been divided up by the Ming Dynasty, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and India.
He could try to win over Louis XIV and William III, but those two were not fools and would not offend the emperor of the Ming Empire for their own sake.
The land area of the Holy Roman Empire was not as large as that of a vassal state under the Ming Empire.
This is no exaggeration at all. The entire south of Congo has been occupied by Nicholas Zheng Zhilong's army.
Nowadays, Zheng Zhilong has become a local bully in southern Africa.
Not to mention the 200,000 troops, there is also a large fleet of hundreds of ironclads including four level seven ironclads (King) and four level six ironclads (Blücher).
Invading Zheng Zhilong's territory from land will be violently attacked by Zheng's air force.
If we attack from the sea, Zheng Zhilong's fleet will all be sent to feed the sharks before we even see the coastline.
If we look at Zhu Cihong's and Zheng Zhilong's fleets separately, Zheng Zhilong's fleet is stronger than the French Navy and ranks second in the world!
Now Zheng Zhilong has retreated to the second line and no longer directs battles. The military aspect has long been handed over to his eldest son Zheng Chenggong.
In terms of combat, as the emperor's disciple, Zheng Chenggong, who received the emperor's true biography, was more brave and skilled than his father.
From the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, to southern Africa, and then all the way to northern America, they fought without defeat.
Zheng's army of 200,000 is small in terms of size, but it is definitely an elite division.
Taking into account the production reasons of the vassal state, Zheng Chenggong also adopted the reclamation model.
The total strength of the navy, army and air force is only 200,000 in peacetime, and reserves are called up during wartime.
Within the territory of the vassal state, all men between the ages of fifteen and fifty are required to enlist in the army unconditionally during wartime.
Men who are too young or too old, even if they join the army, are only responsible for the second line. Frontline battles are all handled by men of appropriate age between twenty and thirty-five years old.
As Africa's largest hegemon, few people dare to care about it, not to mention that Madagascar is an overseas territory of the Ming Empire.
Not only are there naval and air force bases there, but there are also two permanent marine brigades stationed at the north and south ends of the island.
Once something happens to the Nandi vassal state and the Zheng family and his son are unable to deal with it, the Ming army can directly send troops to intervene.
There may be people who dare to provoke the Zheng family, but few people in the world dare to slap Zhu Cixiang in the face.
The main reason why Zhu Cihong bought the island of Madagascar was to use the island as an outpost to monitor southern and eastern Africa at any time.
The reason for the small garrison was to reassure Zheng and his son that he had no intention of taking over their territory.
What's more, it is very expensive to maintain overseas garrisons, and the farther away from the homeland, the more expensive it is.
Zhu Cihong gave special approval to allow the garrison on the island of Madagascar to support themselves in their spare time.
Part of it is farming and part of it is fishing. Without delaying both, the garrison can also be fed and drunk.
This is understandable. Unless the food is canned, it will be rotten at the destination.
The coastal areas of Africa are extremely rich in fishery resources, and it would be a pity if the garrison did not take advantage of them.
The food for most of the troops stationed overseas is pretty good, especially for the soldiers at navy and air force bases. Basically, there is no shortage of meat.
The Zhengs and his son came to celebrate Zhu Cixiang's birthday, and the starting gift was 666 great white shark fins!
A certain emperor was not very interested in this thing, but because of his face, he had to reluctantly accept it.
In addition, there are ivory vests, horns made of rhinoceros horns, etc.
In terms of ingredients, perhaps a few boxes of sea cucumbers would be more nutritious.
After all, after eating that stuff, you can go without for ninety minutes...
