June 1828, 10 Downing Street.
A key cabinet meeting was being held in the small conference room of the British Prime Minister's official residence.
Prime Minister Duke Wellington and his cabinet members each had a large stack of "ship PPT" placed in front of them. When the Ming Empire was engaged in "heroic sales" all over the world, the major shipyards and warship designs of the British Empire Teachers are also working overtime on "PPT".
Today's Great Britain is not the old imperialist country that will decline gracefully in the future, but a dynamic empire on which the sun never sets. Although her industrial scale and technological level are far behind those of the Ming Dynasty, this does not mean that the British do not work hard. The gap in scale and level is caused by factors such as population and golden fingers!
And knowing that it is not as good as the Ming Dynasty, the sun never sets on the empire, of course, the only thing to do is to work harder on 996 - now there is no eight-hour work system and weekends. In England, people work hard 12 hours a day, even child labor is no exception! If I didn’t believe in God and had to set aside one day for worship, it would be 997.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty has an 8-hour work system plus four holidays per month (the first, second, fifteenth, and sixteenth day of the Lunar New Year), and there are also many other miscellaneous holidays.
With the efforts of a large group of 996 engineers and designers, and with reference to the design drawings and technical parameters of Ming Dynasty's "Heroes", in early June, the Duke of Wellington finally received the latest "dumplings" from the British Empire. "ship" plan.
By the way, the new battleship project that invited a large group of "friendly countries" to jointly develop it is actually a cover to paralyze its opponents. What the British Empire needs is "dumplings" that can be made immediately, not "future dumplings" that cannot be made in five years. ”, because time is running out for the British Empire.
Three years of preparation, five years of normalcy. No day can be wasted!
"15,600 tons of standard displacement, 6 twin 9.2-inch turrets, 24 3-inch rapid-fire guns, 2 1.85-inch rapid-fire guns, 36 anti-aircraft machine guns or carrying guns, 5 18-inch torpedo tubes, maximum speed of 18 knots, Equipped with 15 coal-fired boilers and a vertical triple-expansion steam engine, the main engine has a maximum power of 16,000 horsepower. Is this a monarch-level modification plan?"
The Duke of Wellington put down the pile of information in his hand and looked at the Lord of the Navy, Viscount Palmerston, to ask.
"Yes," Viscount Palmerston said, "All the Sovereign-class ships already in service and under construction will be renovated according to this plan, and we will also build a new batch of battleships of this class. The Navy Ministry hopes that all 20,000-ton class battleships can be built. The battleship's dock and slipway can complete the construction of a Monarch-class hull or a major hull modification before starting large-scale construction on our imitation Hero-class. Although this class of battleships are not as good as the Hero-class in all aspects, they are stronger. Yu Daming's Hongwu Emperor class is enough to defeat the Haohan class in a naval battle. If it fights the Hero class, it should be possible to defeat one Hero class with 2 Sovereign Kais, so the Navy believes that it is very cost-effective to build a large number of Sovereign Kais. Maybe in the future You can reorganize the imitation hero and the monarch into a high-low combination."
"Very good, that's good!" The Duke of Wellington nodded and continued to look through the information. "Hey, why is there no information about the Haohan-class armored cruiser? Is this a heavy artillery cruiser?"
First Sea Lord Lord Nelson frowned and said: "Duke, according to our original plan, the main task of the armored cruiser is to break diplomatic relations. We expect that war will break out in India, North America and Australia. The Ming Dynasty will take the initiative to attack On one side, their huge army will come across the ocean on warships and merchant ships to compete for new living space for their growing population. And we will lure the enemy deep, and then attack their sea lines of communication, while the main fleet hides And wait for the opportunity to fight to defeat them.
This requires the equipment of battleships with strong firepower and protection, as well as high-speed interception cruisers. Since we are at least one generation behind the Ming Dynasty in terms of battleship hosts, we cannot design battleships with strong speed, protection, and firepower. We can only have The choice. The speed of the engagement-breaking cruiser is obviously more important than firepower and armor. Therefore, shipbuilding experts from the Navy Department recommended building a heavy artillery cruiser with a standard displacement of 10,000 tons, equipped with at least four 9.2-inch main guns, and capable of running a maximum speed of 23 knots using 18,000 horsepower of coal-fired steam power.
At the same time, this high-speed heavy-gun cruiser must also carry more coal to ensure that it can persist long enough in the waters behind enemy lines. Therefore, the limited tonnage of this warship must give priority to the needs of the artillery and its servo system, power cabin and coal cabin, and the requirements for armor protection cannot be too high. "
"But how much coal does this ship need to carry to ensure that it can operate behind enemy lines for a long time?" The Duke of Wellington continued to ask.
"2,000 tons," Earl Nelson said, "we hope it can run 15,000 nautical miles at an economic speed of 10 knots. At the same time, we will also modify a group of East India sailing ships to serve as armed supply ships behind enemy lines. In addition, We will also design and modify a group of fast merchant ships to serve as supply ships and camouflaged raiders behind enemy lines."
"Sounds good!" Duke Wellington nodded, "But the names of Junquan Kai and Fake Hero are too informal. I think the first ship of Junquan Kai can be called the Indomitable (after the Battle of Jiyin Waterway) The name of the HMS Indomitable, which was later sunk), symbolizes the perseverance and rebirth of the Royal Navy! And the imitation Hero-class lead ship can be named Victory. It will be the new generation of Royal Navy Victory! I hope that when the new generation When a large number of Royal Navy Victory-class ships are put into use, it will be the time when our British Empire wins victory against the powerful empires of the East!"
Beijing, Xishan Palace.
Today was a good day for Zhuge Weidao and Natalie, who had just returned from Rakshasa, to enter the palace to bid farewell to Queen Mother Zheng. Entering the Xishan Palace with them was their son Zhuge Yangbo. Zhuge, who grew up drinking "imported milk", looks much older than an ordinary one-year-old baby. He walks with a swagger, is very imposing, and speaks clearly.
"Little Bobo, come here, come to Aijia and let Aijia hug you. Aijia really likes you."
Empress Dowager Zheng had a special affinity with Zhuge Weidao's second son. When she saw the little guy strutting in, she kept calling him forward.
And the little guy Zhuge Yangbo looked at the beautifully dressed aunt in front of him with indescribable kindness. However, he still looked back at his mother Natalie and shouted: "Mommy. That little mommy is beautiful!"
"Little Mommy" is the name Zhuge Yangbo used to call Nalandili and Daheikong. Now he is actually using it to call Empress Dowager Zheng. What a childish thing!
Zhuge Weidao quickly said with a straight face, "Boy, don't talk nonsense, that's not my little mommy, that's..."
"It's the godmother! I am little Bobo's godmother!" Queen Mother Zheng glared at Zhuge Weidao, then called Zhuge Yangbo, "Little Bobo, come here quickly, the godmother will give you a big red envelope."
It was a big red envelope, but it was thin. There was only a check filled with 30,000 silver yuan!
Zhuge Yangbo was immediately happy when he saw the red envelope. No matter what his father said, he just said "hehehe" with a smile and went straight to the red envelope. Oh, he went straight to his godmother. He was like a spirit. The little devil!
Zhuge Weidao looked at Natalie helplessly and said in his heart: "Look, this little Bobo is much smarter than the big boy you gave birth to. That boy is stupid and walks and talks slower than his brother. , When I was a kid, I was slow to grab milk bags. I guess grabbing red envelopes is not as good as Xiao Bobo."
While Xiao Bobo was chewing the red envelope with his teeth, Zhuge Weidao, Natalie, Queen Mother Zheng, and Zheng Guoxian, who had just been elected as an "official" (a member of the official party of the Zheng family), were already seated separately. .
I don’t know whether her younger brother joined the Zheng family’s core group or met her biological godson. Empress Dowager Zheng seemed to be in a particularly happy mood today. Her face seemed to be smiling when she spoke, “My dear fellow, I’m sorry. I heard that you once suggested opening more countries overseas to give more opportunities to the unsatisfied children of the eight aristocratic families, is this possible?"
"It is true," Zhuge Weidao nodded, "Sister Yuhuan, what do you think of this number?"
"Okay!" Zheng Yuhuan smiled and glanced at his brother Zheng Guoxian.
"Brother Daozi," Zheng Guoxian said, "What kind of system should these newly opened countries implement? Is it a kingdom, a republic, or a federal state? If it is a kingdom, what is the surname of the king?"
