Just when King Yapian of the British Empire, Wei Zhongtang, and Lord Duke were discussing at Windsor Castle, they were going to launch a war against the Ming Empire, which loved peace and only wanted peaceful development. Zhuge Weidao was standing on the bridge of a huge battleship, looking at the boundless sea around him.
This is no longer the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean, but the sea area that the Ming Dynasty himself called the "Ming Dynasty South Ocean".
The so-called Nanyang of the Ming Dynasty roughly includes the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Karimata, the Gulf of Siam, the South China Sea, the Java Sea, the Sulu Sea, the Sulawesi Sea, the Makassar Strait, the Maluku Sea, the Banda Sea, and the Sahara Sea. Wu Hai, Luzon Sea and other large sea areas have been owned by the Celestial Empire since ancient times! Although some of these sea areas are temporarily occupied by Western imperialism, after the upcoming world war (which has actually begun) is over, Western imperialism will flee in disgrace.
Looking out from the bridge where Zhuge Weidao was, the sea surface of Ming Nanyang was like a piece of blue, shiny silk and satin, undulating layer by layer in the sea breeze. When the weather is fine, when the sun shines, your eyes are filled with light.
The sea of Nanyang is dotted with islands of all sizes, each with green jungles and white beaches. Every island seems to be full of life. And all of this, as far as the eye can see, is the Ming Dynasty’s sea, Ming Dynasty’s island, and Ming Ming’s sky! Standing on the bridge, looking at the beautiful scenery of the Ming Dynasty's ocean, islands, and sky all day long, I really never get tired of it.
The sea area that Zhuge Weidao's warship was passing through was not on the merchant ship route, so in addition to a thousand-ton destroyer following closely, some old-fashioned motor sailing ships could occasionally be seen passing by. Those motor boats and sailing boats were cargo ships and passenger boats that traveled between the small islands in the Nanyang of the Ming Dynasty. If there was a favorable wind, they would hang up their white sails like clouds and sail with the wind, which looked poetic.
Just when Zhuge Weidao wanted to recite a poem but didn't know how to recite it, Guan Tianpei's voice suddenly rang out.
"Are you envious? Do you like it? You want it very much, don't you? If you want it, just tell me...Brother, I will report to the superiors and transfer you to the Nanyang Fleet as a deputy admiral and admiral of the battle patrol unit. From now on, this military The King Chu battlecruiser is your flagship, and this battlecruiser is much stronger than the airships and wooden planes of the Aviation Command!"
It turns out that Guan Tianpei’s new position is the admiral of the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Navy!
This Nanyang Fleet is the main fleet of the Ming Navy. Its strength cannot be compared to the Persian Gulf Fleet, even the two major fleets, the Beiyang Fleet and the Home Fleet.
Successive admirals of the Nanyang Fleet later served as the highest naval positions such as Minister of the Navy and Chief of Naval Staff! Apart from Guan Tianpei, there are only three founders of the Nanyang Fleet, Liu Guoxuan, Chen Yonghua, and Chen Shangchuan, and Guan Tianpei is the fourth!
But what really attracted Zhuge Weidao, who originally took a Nandao-class passenger ship to return to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, and set off northward with his wife Natalie and personal maid Ali at Wenlai Military Port was not his old boss. A new official took office. Guan Tianpei, the admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, is the battle cruiser Wuzhong King that he is currently riding on, which has just been assigned to the Nanyang Fleet!
The Wuzhong King is the first ship of the "Hachung King" class. It is a battle cruiser with a certain experimental nature equipped with oil-fired boilers and steam turbines, with a standard displacement of more than 20,000 tons.
While the British were going all out to build the Victory class, the Huangdao Shipyard of the Ming Dynasty Jiangnan Heavy Industry, whose shipbuilding speed was also not slow (the Ming Dynasty does not have a 997 now, but can work in three shifts), was also rushing to the construction site day and night to build this 20,000-ton giant. The ship was repaired. While Zhuge Weidao was busy fixing the Persian Gulf, this 20,000-ton giant ship, which had been kept secret until now, had completed sea trials and been assigned to the Nanyang Fleet. However, this ship was not stationed in Port Wenlai, the home port of the Nanyang Fleet, but was hiding in Port Crocodile on Palawan Island.
Palawan Island was taken back by Zheng Chenggong during his southern expedition to Luzon. Although the South Luzon Islands to the east of Palawan Island were not taken back at the same time, they have always been a Spanish colony. But after the end of the Age of Sail, it was no longer a node for the large sailing trade. After the collapse of the Spanish Empire's colonial rule in Mexico and South America, the Spanish power had actually withdrawn from the Southern Luzon Islands, and they only loved peace. The Ming Dynasty did not occupy it, but allowed the local Chinese-Spanish mixed-race families in Southern Luzon to establish self-government and maintain the name of Spanish territory. However, the local politics, economy, military, education, etc. were already controlled by the Ming Dynasty. Down.
The reason for doing this, apart from the fact that the Ming Dynasty was relatively "cowardly", was mainly because Southern Luzon did not meet the conditions for becoming a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty - it was too poor! We still need to work hard to develop the economy, so that we can become a vassal for the Ming Dynasty!
Moreover, the Spanish Bourbon dynasty, which was so poor, was not willing to let go easily. Instead, it asked the Ming Dynasty for 10 million silver dollars in "traitorous money"... Spending 10 million to buy a poor country will have to pay millions back every year. If you come out with subsidies, what is this but taking advantage of?
Therefore, Southern Luzon maintained the status quo of Spain, while the Ming Empire controlled politics, economy, military, education, etc., and became a candidate vassal state.
In this case, the Sulu Sea became the actual inland sea of the Ming Dynasty. The Wuzhong King was based at Crocodile Port in Palawan Island, so it would be difficult for outsiders to discover it.
However, Zhuge Weidao is not an "outsider". He used to be a member of the Armament Commission and is now the admiral-designate of the Naval Aviation. After taking over as admiral, he will naturally become the Naval Armament Commission, so the Wuzhong King is not a secret to him.
In addition, according to the plan, the hull design and power system of the Wuzhong King will also be adopted by the Ming Dynasty's first fleet aircraft carrier.
Zhuge Weidao, the admiral of HNA, should come and take a look.
So Guan Tianpei simply sent the Wuzhong King on a training mission to T Bay, and boarded the ship with Zhuge Weidao. Since Natalie and Ali did not have the corresponding authority, they could only take a passenger ferry to Twan Island to meet Zhuge Weidao.
However, this 20,000-ton battle cruiser is not Zhuge Weidao's "dish". What he really wants to command is an aircraft carrier formation.
Seeing that Zhuge Weidao did not show much interest, Guan Tianpei began to introduce this cutting-edge battleship that had just been commissioned.
"The standard displacement is 20,000 tons; the full load displacement is 24,200 tons; the ship size is 182 meters * 24.8 meters * 8.2 meters; the armor protection is 165 mm for the side main armor belt, 30 mm for the main deck, 55 mm for the deck around the turret, and 40 mm for the lower deck , the main turret has 175 mm of armor on all sides, the top of the turret is 75 mm, the turret base is 175 mm, the maximum armor of the conning tower is 250 mm, and the top and bottom of the conning tower are both 75 mm. In addition, the sides adopt a cambered armor design, and there are Lightning protection barriers and armor steel plates are also all surface-hardened steel!
The Wuzhong King is powered by: 16 kerosene mixed-fired steam boilers and 4 steam turbines. The maximum output power of the main engine exceeds 42,000 horsepower and uses four-axis propulsion. The endurance at a speed of 10 knots can reach 7,000 nautical miles, and the maximum speed is 24 knots!
The armament of the Wuzhong King is: 8 twin-mounted 300mm 45-caliber artillery; 16 100mm 45-caliber rapid-fire cannon; 16 20mm anti-aircraft cannon; 2*4 530mm bow underwater Torpedo launch tubes, 2*4 530mm side underwater torpedo launch tubes..."
"Wait a minute," Zhuge Weidao heard the strange configuration and looked back at Guan Tianpei, "Zhong Yin, how come our battlecruiser is equipped with so many 520mm torpedo tubes? This time it can launch 16 520mm torpedo tubes Torpedoes, is this still a battlecruiser? Isn’t this a battlecruiser torpedo boat?”
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