As Zhu Jingyuan spoke again, the reception room where the Ministry of Works had just relaxed fell into a strange atmosphere again.
Many Ministry of Industry officials at the scene could not help but mutter in their hearts:
Your Highness, don’t you have too many ideas, and the span of these ideas is also too large, from land to sky to ocean?
Are these thoughts that have been accumulated over the years, brought out in one go today? Why don't you come and pick it up separately?
Zou Bingtai himself even thought, is this how you use the imperial decree that His Majesty gave you to do things conveniently and make all ministries cooperate?
But no matter what they thought in their hearts, no one said anything on the surface.
Old Shangshu Zou Bingtai reacted quickly and said to a green-robed official next to him:
"Mr. Wang, you are in charge of warship design in the Ship Department. Please answer His Highness Jingyuan's question directly."
The subordinate agencies of the central government offices such as the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War are the "Department of Cleaning Officials", and each department is responsible for a separate type of work.
When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, the construction of treasure ships was assigned to the Water Department. After the restructuring of Renwu, the Ship Department was established separately.
The chief official of the Qing Li Department is "Lang Zhong", who is in the fifth rank, and Zuoerguan is the "chief officer", who is in the sixth rank.
The Ship Division designs and builds not only warships, but also other types of civilian and commercial ships.
Ship Department officials who are specifically responsible for battleships may not be the best battleship designers, but they are definitely the ones most familiar with the current battleship design direction.
Zhu Jingyuan, who prefers the navy, is also very curious about this shipbuilding chief executive and looks forward to discussing warship design with him.
So Zhu Jingyuan sat upright and looked expectantly at the middle-aged official opposite.
I saw Chief Wang slightly arching his hands towards Zhu Jingyuan, briefly introducing himself and then asked:
"Wang Lai, the head of the Ship Department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, would like to ask what type of design His Highness refers to by the fully equipped main gun battleship?"
Zhu Jingyuan explained naturally:
“Just don’t install sub-caliber artillery, use all the current mature main guns of the largest caliber, at least three, preferably four twin-mounted turrets.
"At the same time, a unified fire control and firing command center is used to centrally direct the firing of all main guns. Has anyone mentioned this design?"
Director Wang Lai nodded directly and said:
“It is true that some craftsmen have proposed similar designs, but most craftsmen believe that this design of a full-caliber main gun is too radical.
"The Military Aircraft Department and the Metropolitan Governor's Office also believe that sub-caliber artillery combat cannot be completely avoided in actual combat."
Zhu Jingyuan looked as if this was the case. After a brief consideration, he took the drawing tool on the table again:
“The main battery turrets can be designed so that the latter one is one step higher than the previous one and stacked like stairs to save ship space and armor scale.
“Use a group of three to four main guns to fire volleys to determine and correct the shooting elements, and then use volleys in turns to engage in battle at a distance of more than ten kilometers.
"Then it is best to use a steam turbine with a speed of at least 20 knots and cover the main deck with horizontal armor to defend against long-distance shell falling strikes."
Director Wang Lai looked at Zhu Jingyuan's picture and exclaimed in surprise:
"Your Highness's idea is indeed ingenious. The idea of long-distance calibration of multiple guns can also be tried and reasonable. Steam turbines will definitely be gradually used on battleships.
"But the design of the fully equipped main gun is considered by everyone to be too radical..."
"I know radical!"
Zhu Jingyuan directly interrupted Mr. Wang:
"But now I ask you to design it like this, complete it as quickly as possible and start construction, and build a ship as quickly as possible to test the effect..."
Wang Lai was immediately stunned. His Highness was discussing with everyone so politely before. Why did he become so unreasonable now:
"But Your Highness..."
Zhu Jingyuan stopped looking at Wang Lai, looked directly at Zou Bingtai and said:
"Da Sikong, even if I come up with the imperial edict, this matter must continue to be implemented like this. When it is actually built, everyone will definitely be happy with the choice now."
Zou Bingtai was also a little confused. He didn't expect that Zhu Jingyuan suddenly changed his personality, so he instinctively tried to persuade:
"Your Highness, the gold, silver, materials, time, and labor spent on building battleships are simply not the same as flying machines.
"Besides, His Highness is not a master of warship design. I think it is better to be on the safe side..."
However, Zhu Jingyuan still said very resolutely and decisively:
"It is because the construction of warships costs so much that I ask that the construction of this new type of warship be started directly.
“If it’s not worth a few dollars, we will definitely choose to do the same thing as the flying machine and verify the effect first.
"But the battleship matter cannot be delayed. After this kind of battleship is built, all the old ships will be eliminated, even if they are new ships that have just been launched.
“Building one old battleship is a waste of resources, including cruisers, which will also use this design in the future.
"Only by directly stopping work and starting to build new warships can we truly save the court's resources."
Faced with Zhu Jingyuan's sudden toughness, Minister Zou Bingtai of the Ministry of Industry and several subordinate officials were helpless.
The official from the Ministry of Industry looked at Zou Bingtai, and Zou Bingtai looked at Zhu Jianyan. The meaning was obvious. Your Highness, can you please advise your children?
However, all princes are knowledgeable about military matters. Through the design and use of the armored shield vehicle, Zhu Jianyan already had confidence in his son's military talent.
The design and usage of the dreadnought described by my son are worth trying in my opinion.
Zou Bingtai and other officials from the Ministry of Industry should have similar views, but shipbuilding is a big project, and they are accustomed to pursuing stability.
So at this time, Zhu Jianyan took his son's side after a little consideration:
"Da Sikong, I think what Jingyuan said makes sense. We might as well try building this kind of warship..."
Zou Bingtai suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He looked back and forth in everyone's faces several times, and finally decided to keep things official:
"Do you want to ask His Majesty for instructions? As usual, when a new warship design plan is started, His Majesty has to confirm it. However, we usually ask for instructions after the design is completed."
Zhu Jianyan knew this rule, so he had nothing to say:
"Well, let's go ask Father for instructions."
Zhu Jingyuan didn't know this kind of rule, but it was understandable for the emperor to make the final decision when building a ship.
But Zhu Jingyuan was worried about how he could convince the old emperor...
To others, you can forcefully push the imperial edict, but to the emperor, you can only persuade.
Although I feel a little unsure, I have reached this point and I can only give it a try.
So Zou Bingtai first called the General Affairs Department and asked the emperor if he was free now.
At the same time, I explained as briefly as possible that the two princes, Zhu Jianyan and his son, proposed a new battleship design idea, and they disagreed with the shipbuilding department and needed the emperor's decision.
The Secretary of General Affairs first went to ask the emperor, and then quickly replied here, asking Zhu Jingyuan and others to wait at Wuying Hall, and the emperor would be there soon.
