Daming Military Empire

Chapter 153 Sail Battleship
The first batch of talents has been cultivated, and Zhu Cijiong can finally consider the issue of shipbuilding. When it comes to shipbuilding, the first thing he thinks of is Zheng He's voyages to the West. The Western countries paid tribute to their ministers and sent Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, to lead a huge fleet to the Western Seas seven times. How powerful and majestic the Ming Dynasty was at that time.

It is said that the largest treasure captain in Zheng He's fleet is 44 feet four feet long and 151 feet wide. Converted to the current length, it is 61 meters long and 333 meters wide. What is the concept?For comparison with modern ships, the largest Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is 77 meters long and [-] meters wide. Well, the wooden boat is so big, I don't know if it is realistic.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong doesn't need to consider the unrealistic problem of Zheng He's treasure ship, because he doesn't need to build such a super giant ship with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons. It is 70 meters long and 20 meters wide, and its displacement is only about [-] tons.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the shipbuilding technology was indeed the most advanced in the world, but Zhu Cijiong didn’t know whether Ming’s shipbuilding technology had degraded after more than 200 years. To build warships, the issue must be clarified, so he asked the oldest Xu Guangqi Bi Maokang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Industry, called to the imperial study to find out the situation first.

These two are his confidantes, so naturally there is no need to beat around the bush when talking to them. Zhu Cijiong asked directly: "Men, I want to build a batch of warships that are 21 feet long and [-] feet wide. I don't know if my Ming Dynasty can build them now." ?”

Xu Guangqi took a look at Bi Maokang when he heard the words, and saw that he was very calm and didn't show any embarrassment, so he replied: "Your Majesty, according to my current shipbuilding capabilities in Ming Dynasty, such a large warship can be built, but it takes a lot of investment. Big and time-consuming, I don’t know why the emperor suddenly thought of building a battleship?”

Zhu Cijiong was very happy when he heard that there was no problem with shipbuilding. As for the costly problem, with the Armada at that time, he was afraid that he would not be able to get it back!Naturally, he didn’t need to hide his ambitions in front of his most trusted confidants. He patiently explained: “Master, you are familiar with Western countries, you should know the Netherlands. Now they have thousands of warships and tens of thousands of merchant ships. One of the most powerful nations on the seas! You say that if we don’t hurry up and build warships, how will we make the barbarians submit and restore our glory to the kingdom of tomorrow?”

Xu Guangqi was shocked when he heard this: "Ah, there are so many. It seems that they have been established for less than 50 years. They have been able to build so many warships and merchant ships in just over 40 years!"

Zhu Cijiong sighed: "Yes, they have developed to such a strong level in just over 40 years. If I, Da Ming, don't catch up, the whole world will be divided up by them, and Da Ming is likely to become their target. You must know that the Netherlands has already Occupied our treasure island, if it wasn't for Jiannu, I would have wanted to deal with them a long time ago."

Xu Guangqi nodded solemnly, and tried to ask: "I wonder how many warships the emperor wants to build at one time?"

Zhu Cijiong looked at Bi Maokang, hoping: "Of course, the more the better, I wonder how many warships like this I can build next year?"

Hearing this, Bi Maokang quickly cupped his hands and said, "If you want to build such a large warship, you must rebuild the dock. It has been a long time since I, Ming Dynasty, have built such a large warship. The dock of Nanzhili Bao Shipyard has been abandoned. How many large docks can be used."

Zhu Cijiong immediately shook his head and said: "It can't be built in Nanzhili. New warships need to be equipped with a lot of artillery. It's very inconvenient to build guns here and ship ships over there. Let's just build a shipyard in Weixin City, Tianjin. How many warships can be built in a year?"

Bi Maokang replied embarrassingly: "Uh, it's not a matter of the size of the shipyard. There are less than [-] shipbuilder households registered by the Dushuiqing Bureau of the Ministry of Industry. It allows ten large docks to start building ships at the same time, and the waterway of the docks is generally about one mile, and can only accommodate five such large ships at the same time, and ten docks are fifty."

Zhu Cijiong said without hesitation: "That's fifty ships. I'll draw the sketches for you in two days. Immediately gather people and start work as soon as possible."

When Bi Maokang heard the words, he was rather embarrassed and said: "Your Majesty, the cost of building a ship is quite high. The construction of the dock will cost at least 30 taels. If all 10 shipbuilders are recruited to work, the monthly salary will be nearly 20 taels. There are also various materials and transportation losses, which cost at least [-] taels a month, which the Ministry of Industry cannot bear."

How could it be possible for your Ministry of Industry to pay for it? Zhu Cijiong said directly: "You don't have to worry about the money issue. I will write a memorial later. I will allocate 300 million taels to you first, and we will talk about it when it is not enough."

Bi Maokang was finally relieved, the money problem was solved, then there would be no problem, so he resigned from Xu Guangqi with gratitude.

After the two left, Zhu Cijiong immediately began to draw sketches. If a 70-meter-long warship was completely disassembled and drawn into parts diagrams, it would take a year or two to draw them. Fortunately, Ming's shipbuilding technology It is already very developed, so he only needs to draw an approximate size, how many sheets to use and how to connect it. It is estimated that those craftsmen who build ships are more familiar than him, so there is no need for him to draw them.

Although he only needs to draw a simple sketch, there are many parts of a battleship. He can't just draw the shell, he still needs to draw something inside.Zhu Cijiong drew one after another, which is called a ghost drawing talisman. While drawing, he suddenly thought of a problem and fainted. No one has been arranged to make this naval gun yet!
A first-class sailing battleship can have [-] naval guns, and [-] ships can have [-] naval guns. With the current production capacity of Wang Gong Factory, it is impossible to make so many naval guns in a year, let alone What's more, these naval guns are breech-loaded and equipped with flintlocks, which are completely different from field guns. They need to be redeveloped. Zhu Cijiong hurriedly asked Cao Huachun to call Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing to discuss.

Not long after, Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing came together, and they changed from their usual hurried appearance, appearing rather leisurely and contented. Zhu Cijiong couldn't help asking curiously: "Hey, aren't you always busy? Why are you so relaxed today?"

Sun Yuanhua immediately cupped his hands and said: "The emperor is wise, let the students of the Firearms Academy go to study on the spot. They are worthy of being scholars. They learn quickly. Now they are familiar with the principles and manufacture of guns and cannons. If you have anything to do, just leave it to them. , so Weichen finally has a little leisure time."

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong said with relief: "Well, yes, it seems that they are all talented in Western learning, but the development of firearms cannot be generally classified into one category. You should teach them in accordance with their respective specialties. If you have a lot of experience, you train them to manage artisans; some people are very enthusiastic about the principles of guns and artillery, so you train them to develop new firearms; All the students have become all-rounders, and it is beneficial to their development if they are subdivided, so you should pay more attention to this point in the future."

Hearing the words, the two felt it for a while, couldn't help but looked at each other with admiration, and praised in unison: "The emperor is wise."

Zhu Cijiong waved his hand and said with a smile: "These are trivial things, and you will gradually understand them as you teach them. I asked you to come here this time to discuss the production of naval guns with you."

Sun Yuanhua couldn't help asking curiously: "Dare to ask the emperor, what kind of gun is a naval gun?"

Zhu Cijiong patiently explained: "Naval guns are the artillery equipped on warships. Now there are many warships in the West equipped with dozens or even hundreds of artillery pieces. They call them battleships. I am also planning to produce such battleships." I have already asked Bi Maokang before, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce can produce about [-] first-class battleships a year, and this class of battleships needs to be equipped with [-] pieces of various artillery pieces. Now Wang Gong The factory will definitely not be able to produce so many, so I want to build a new factory to specialize in the production of naval guns."

Song Sun Yuanhua was shocked when he heard the words: "A warship needs 5000 cannons, and fifty ships need more than [-] cannons!"

Zhu Cijiong nodded, then took out a blank piece of paper, drew a sketch, pointed to the drawing and introduced to them: "This naval gun is different from the field gun used by infantry. In order to facilitate loading, it must be breech-loaded. , just like this, it is a bit like the Franco cannon, but the sub-barrel is stuffed in from the back. The front main gun barrel is directly cast into a small front and a large through-tube, and the inner wall is polished before installing. One back cover, fix the back cover with two bolts, pull out the bolts to take out the sub-gun barrel inside. Also, the ship is constantly moving at sea, so you can't use matchlock to ignite the fire, or wait until your matchlock burns the enemy ship They are not in the original position, so the hit rate is too low, so it must be made into a flintlock, just like a new type of flintlock.”

The two looked at the sketch and nodded frequently. This breech-loading gun and flintlock machine are nothing. The Francois cannon is a belt tube. They are very familiar with it. As for the flintlock gun, they are more familiar with it. Just a little bigger, basically no difficulty.

Seeing that they had no doubts, Zhu Cijiong took out the map of Tianjin Weixin City, pointed to a small square in the middle and said: "I plan to build a new artillery factory here, mainly to manufacture the mother tubes, sub-tubes and shells of naval guns. As for the flintlock machine, too many machine tools are needed, so let’s make it in Wang Gong’s factory, what do you think?”

The two looked at each other in embarrassment, and finally Song Yingxing said: "Your Majesty, it is not difficult to make a naval gun. The key is that there is no one. If I leave, what will Wang Gongchang do?"

Zhu Cijiong thought about it for a while, then stared at Sun Yuanhua and said, "Chuyang, I can only let you work hard, bring [-] students and [-] skilled craftsmen there, and recruit another [-] craftsmen. Recruit, how many people are needed, your Ministry of War will issue a transfer order, and I will approve it for you."

The personnel were all settled, and the two of them had no more problems, so they both resigned and went back to prepare the personnel and machine tools.

After everything was arranged properly, Zhu Cijiong let out a sigh, sat down and continued to draw the sketches of the battleships, and as each sketch was born in his pen, he seemed to see the first batch of sailing battleships of Ming Dynasty jumping out of the paper, heading towards the sea, and sailing into the distance .

In the era of maritime hegemony, Da Ming has finally caught up!
(End of this chapter)