1890 King of Southeast Asia

The military parade was not very interesting. It was basically just repeating what had already been done. The biggest highlight was that the troops participating in the parade had a unified uniform.

With all the strength of Semarang and Surabaya concentrated on production, the monthly output was only 1,200 sets. They were handmade, which sounded very high-end, but it was normal for the size to be a little off. Fortunately, the quality was acceptable.

The army used dark green military uniforms, a set of clothes, pants, hats, shoes and socks. Except for the shoes, everything else was dark green. Because there was no time to get yellow rubber shoes, they could only be replaced with leather boots. Even with a few ventilation holes, it was still not breathable, but it was still okay for military use. The most important thing was that it was handsome!

The navy used white dresses, and the casual uniforms were indigo military uniforms, but they were only on paper and had not been produced yet. The sailor shirts were also not so convenient to print and dye, so they had not been selected. The navy also expected the army's dark green T-shirt, but now it was a white shirt.

There were 100 army squares, 100 navy squares, and the police were in black uniforms, also 100 people, carrying long guns.

The difference between the artillery and the ordinary army is that the shoulder straps are red, while the army is yellow and the medical soldiers are white. The navy is black, and Liu Yiming applied the shoulder strap system of his previous life, which is convenient, fast and clear.

The artillery is the most touching. He borrowed horses everywhere and gathered eight good-looking horses. He pulled the 150 gun borrowed from the navy. The gun carriage was borrowed from the artillery platform. Except for the people, they were not artillerymen.

Pulling a 150 gun, he slowly drove across the road in front of the stands.

Although there is some sadness behind the story, the effect is very good!

There is a saying that big is good, more is beautiful! The 150 land artillery is a heavy artillery no matter what era it is. The long and thick tube is the most inspiring.

So that the artillery cheered the loudest from the appearance to the departure.

Ma Baoguo is a good guy, a native of Surabaya, a third-generation immigrant. His grandfather came to Java at the beginning of the century and earned a family business.

He was born to like playing, and he didn't work, so he lived off his family. Fortunately, his second uncle Ma Bangde was a small official of the Dutch, who guarded the plantation for him, so he didn't have to worry about food and drink.

After Sishui was conquered, Liu Yiming decided to gather all the strength of Sishui, the most important of which was manpower. Under this background, he was also called to join the army, but he was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and was finally sent to the construction team.

"Dog, look at how thick the pipe is. This cannon must have destroyed a house?" Ma Baoguo said to his good brother beside him. Oh, it's time to go.

"Black pot, you don't know this! You were not there when the inner city was attacked. My second uncle's third uncle's grandson, my cousin, was outside the city at the time. When the cannon was fired, three houses were destroyed, all made of stone!" Liu Xun said. His name is the source of his nickname.

"Really? Isn't this invincible?" Ma Baoguo exclaimed, and then increased the power by half and passed it to others, "Hey, have you heard? Gouzi's cousin plays with this cannon. That guy knocked down five houses with one shot..."

After the artillery, there were various workers' teams, militia teams, and then representatives of the people.

Basically, our military parade model was followed, but with less training and fewer people, it looked like something was missing and messy.

Bang bang bang!

There were no salutes, so fireworks were used instead. The celebration lasted for more than an hour and ended with fireworks. At the same time, there was a seven-day holiday for the whole country to celebrate! Let people celebrate on their own. The government relaxed the supply of materials and added many novel industrial products, such as chocolate, daily chemical products such as soap, etc.

………………

Half a month had passed since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the middle, Liu Yiming took the time to spend New Year's Day with Charles. At that time, he remembered that December 25th was Christmas, but on that day, the South China Army entered Batavia.

On January 15, 1891, the merchant ship carrying hardened armor arrived at Portsmouth three days ago. After preliminary testing, the British determined that the performance of the No. 001 hardened armor was qualified.

Then, the pending design drawings were sent to Charles. Of course, they were just schematic diagrams, which were sent to the Straits Settlements by telegraph line fax. Due to the long distance, it was forwarded several times in the middle, from Suez to Ottoman to India to Indochina, and due to technical reasons, the printing was not very clear. But the schematic diagram is enough.

On January 15, Charles's home.

"The complete design drawings of the warship cannot be accommodated in this room. These design drawings cannot be circulated randomly. In addition, you should be in a hurry, so I made the decision and sent a few schematic diagrams, which basically meet your requirements. Take a look." Charles said to Liu Yiming while holding a roll of drawings.

Liu Yiming didn't understand it very well. He took a rough look. At this time, ships, especially warships, have been subdivided into many compartments, and non-professionals can only scratch their heads.

So Liu Yiming mainly looked at the parameters and weapon layout.

In general, it meets Liu Yiming's requirements. In terms of armament, it uses 9.2-inch twin-mounted guns, one at the front and one at the rear. The secondary guns are four twin-mounted 150mm rapid-fire guns on the side, arranged in four corners. After squeezing a certain amount of space, the middle part is more compact. In order to maximize safety, the armor thickness of the middle deck has been increased to 2 mm.

Smaller 37mm guns and Maxim heavy machine guns are arranged in places that do not affect the firing angle of the guns. Twelve long-barreled 37mm rapid-fire guns and eight Maxim heavy machine guns that fire 43mm bullets are self-defense weapons, which are much less than other warships, but the main battleship will not act alone.

In terms of power, according to Liu Yiming's requirements, twelve single-head cylindrical boilers, three horizontal triple expansion machines, and four-axis propulsion were installed, which is expected to provide horsepower. Liu Yiming also specifically requested the use of high freeboard. The huge power system can ensure that the center of gravity of the hull will not shift, especially when there is no blind stacking of weapons.

"By the way, speaking of this, Sir William White proposed a new idea to reduce the power system. The water tube boiler is too large and can't reach twelve at all. And eight is not enough to provide enough steam for three triple expansion machines, so Sir William replaced it with a cylindrical boiler for you. It is also very efficient. The empire's warships, including the latest warships, also use this." Charles said.

"What new idea?" Liu Yiming knew that William White, the designer of the Yoshino, was also one of the most famous warship designers at the moment, and was preparing for the construction of the Sovereign-class battleship.

"Reduce the power system, adopt dual-axis propulsion, replace the twelve-inch guns, and thicken the armor." Charles said.

"Wouldn't that make it an ironclad ship?" Liu Yiming said in surprise, "But what I want is a cruiser, an armored cruiser!"

"That's fine, but to be honest, the British Empire is not willing to sell a 9,000-ton armored cruiser!" Charles said, "You have to add some things."

"Armor technology? No problem, we are even developing better production technology, and we can also cooperate with the British Empire, but it is not included in this transaction." Liu Yiming understood Charles' words at once.

"It's good if you are willing. To be honest, I'm really afraid that you can't figure it out." Charles said with a smile.

"What's the matter? It's a win-win situation!" Liu Yiming looked righteous.

"But with a displacement of 8,700 tons, can it be loaded?" Liu Yiming asked Charles with the design drawing.

"If it is a warship of the same level as the British Empire, the armament can be upgraded by one level. And you cancel the ram, torpedo and other weapons." Charles did not answer directly.

"The design speed is 20 knots!" Liu Yiming said, looking at Charles.

"Don't get excited. There is also a high-pressure ventilation speed that can reach 21 knots. This is the fastest warship in this era!" Charles said hurriedly. After all, the required speed was not reached.

Liu Yiming did not speak, because with the improvement of mechanical technology, the actual horsepower is often higher than the expected horsepower. In particular, Liu Yiming knew that with the improvement of boiler technology and the use of three-expansion machine, the horsepower can at least maintain the output of normal horsepower.

Moreover, the British high-pressure ventilation is very abnormal. The first ship of the Sovereign class, the Sovereign, has a designed horsepower of 9000 and an actual horsepower of 9661. The high-pressure ventilation is full power horsepower and lasts for three hours, but the result is that the water pipe ruptures and the transmission system overheats and fails.

Under normal conditions, it is no problem to exceed 20 knots. The full power should be able to reach more than 22 knots. The faster the ship is, the more horsepower is required. Just like the same 10,000 tons, it only takes 10,000 horsepower to run to 16 knots, and 100,000 horsepower to run to 30 knots.

The ship is 3 meters long, 8 meters wide, 6 meters deep, with a displacement of 8,700 tons and a full load displacement of 9,300 tons. Two large chimneys are arranged one after the other in the middle of the hull, with double masts, one after the other, and the lifeboat is placed next to the chimney. The advantage is that it saves space, but the disadvantage is that the lifeboat will be dark after a while.

The endurance is expected to be 8,000 nautical miles/11 knots, with a coal load of 860 tons and a maximum coal load of 1,100 tons.

The freeboard has been increased, an extra deck has been added, and the sailor's cabin is more spacious.

"Okay, when can it be built?" Liu Yiming said after reading it.

"It is expected that the complete construction cycle will be completed in two and a half to three years. I think it is better to worry about whether there are qualified naval officers than to worry about this!" Charles said.

"I hope to send overseas students." Liu Yiming said bluntly.

"Okay!" This is also Charles's purpose. In order to exert enough influence on this fleet, this is very important, otherwise Britain will not hand over such a force to South China.

"I have long guessed what you want. I have found a hundred places for you. They can join various naval academies and train officers. At the same time, I have secured three hundred sailors for you in the Indian Fleet and the Straits Settlements Fleet." Charles said.

"Can't there be more? I hope there are four hundred officers, otherwise it's too few. I have six warships that need officers, and there will be patrol fleets later. You know, there are too many islands in the Dutch East Indies." Liu Yiming threw out a bait.