Daming Military Empire

Chapter 678 Inspecting Dongfan and testing the battleship

In the east in July, money is flowing like fire, and the heat wave hits people. In the roiling heat wave, another group of officials stood respectfully on the port pier, as if they were waiting for some important person to arrive.

This time it was even bigger than the one in April. Not only were there more flags in the port, but there were also more officials on the pier.

Even Bi Maokang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet, stood there respectfully, with expectant expressions on their faces.

In the entire Ming Dynasty, the only one who could make Bi Maokang wait so long was the present emperor and cabinet minister Xinwang Zhu Youjian.

Xinwang Zhu Youjian seems to be busy all day, the possibility of him coming to Dongfan is obviously not high, and the only possibility left is the current emperor.

It was indeed Zhu Cijiong who came. He heard that the Nanda Construction Shipyard had been remodeled and the first ironclad battleship had also been commissioned and was ready to go to sea, so he couldn't help running over.

Iron-clad warships were the basis for the Ming Empire to dominate the sea, so he couldn't wait to see the glory of the iron-clad warships on the sea.

At about the end of the day, the huge Daming finally arrived in the Taijiang Inner Sea, accompanied by the equally huge treasure ship Beihai and fifty super battleships.

Different from the past, Zhu Cijiong did not disembark this time, and only the Daming ship docked in the entire fleet, while the other warships lined up neatly outside the port, as if they were about to leave soon.

Bi Maokang had also been notified a long time ago. After the Daming ship docked, he immediately led a group of officials to board the deck on the hanging ladder.

After paying respects to the monarchs and ministers, the Daming put away the hanging ladder, turned around slowly, turned out of the port, and headed slowly towards the shipyard.

At this time, the sea area near the shipyard has been blocked by forty super battleships of the North Sea Fleet who arrived earlier, and the coast is also covered with soldiers from the First Legion of the Praetorian Guards. The sea in front of the shipyard has been surrounded by a huge circle , In the middle of this circle, a dark warship stood proudly, looking so hideous and terrifying.

Obviously, Zhu Cijiong was afraid that the enemy's spies would discover the secret of the armored battleship, so he specially ordered people to surround the place.

Other warships of the Beihai Fleet escorted the Daming, which Zhu Cijiong was on, and soon came to the periphery of the circle, and the warships forming a semicircle on the sea spread out to both sides, allowing the Daming and Beihai to enter the circle.

After waving the command flag, the ninety super battleships of the North Sea Fleet began to organize again, and soon formed a larger arc, with Daming, Beihai and the newly built super battleships in the center.

At this time, Zhu Cijiong was standing on the bow of the Daming ship, carefully observing the steel monster in front of him with a telescope.

It has to be said that Daming's military industry level has reached the pinnacle of this era. The entire iron-clad warship is integrated, with sharp edges and corners, like a giant steel beast lying prone on the sea, without the slightest flaw.

The appearance looks fine, but I don’t know how the function is. After looking at it for a while, Zhu Cijiong put down the binoculars, and said to Yang Geng who was standing by: "Let's start."

Yang Geng performed a standard military salute, and said loudly: "The last general will obey the order."

Afterwards, he ordered to the standard bearer beside him: "Order, start testing the armor strength of the iron-clad battleship."

Hearing this, the flag bearer immediately started waving the command flag in his hand, and the flag bearer on the mast in the middle of the deck of the Daming also followed him to play the same flag.

Soon, two super battleships came out from the periphery and sailed towards the iron-clad battleship in the middle.

Zhu Cijiong raised his binoculars again and looked at the iron-clad battleship in the middle. At this time, the soldiers on the battleship deck had already started to run towards the iron-plated cabin in the middle. Soon, there was no one on the deck.

After the two super battleships came to the two sides of the iron-clad battleship and traveled two or three miles away, the gun doors on the side of the iron-clad battleship opened one after another, and the guns of each door quickly exposed their muzzles, followed by a roar, and hundreds of them fired. The shells flew directly towards the armored battleship in the middle.

The angles of the artillery on both sides of the super battleship are very small, and the shells fired basically have no arc, and they just hit the sides of the iron-clad battleship straightly.

Due to the long distance, Zhu Cijiong did not hear the sound of shells hitting the armor on both sides of the iron-clad battleship, but he could clearly see from the telescope that all the shells that hit the iron-clad battleship were bounced aside after hitting the armor , Even after falling into the sea, there were no cracks or holes on the surface of the armored battleship, but small dimples were left, just like hitting the iron plate with a hammer.

The roar continued to sound, and the shells from the super battleships on both sides continued to hit the iron-clad battleship in the middle. After five rounds of shells, the iron-clad battleship was standing there, with no obvious scars on both sides, as if it had not suffered any attack.

Such a strong defense, it seems that ordinary shells can no longer damage the armored battleship.

Zhu Cijiong thought that the armor strength test was over. Unexpectedly, the two super battleships did not retreat, but exchanged positions with each other. Immediately afterwards, the gun doors on the other side of each also opened.

Didn't it take five rounds of attacks? Why are they still attacking?
Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but raised his binoculars and looked at the iron-clad battleship in the middle again.

At this time, the gun doors on both sides of the iron-clad battleship were all opened, and the muzzles of the artillery were also exposed from the holes in the middle of the gun doors. It was obvious that the iron-clad battleship had entered an attack state.

However, the armored battleship did not fire, and it was the super battleships on both sides that fired.

There was another roar, and hundreds of shells flew towards the iron-clad warship in the middle again. There was another wave of spray, and countless shells fell into the water. The iron-clad battleship still seemed to be undamaged.

Zhu Cijiong deliberately observed a running position that was hit. The running position of the iron-clad warship is completely different from that of the wooden warship. There is armor inside the gun door, but there is a gun barrel in the middle. A slightly larger round hole, and then a straight seam of about an inch is exposed above.

In other words, even if the shell hits the gun position, it will be bounced away, and it will not hit the ship's cabin at all.

Judging from the effect, the defensive ability inside the gun doors is also good, but a few of the guns shrank back after being hit, which is harmless, but I don't know if the gunners inside were injured.

After five rounds of shells, the super battleships on both sides still did not retreat, but turned around and aimed their bows at the ironclad battleship.

Immediately afterwards, there were a few more roars, obviously the Shenwei cannon on the bow of the ship fired.

This time the shell was no longer aimed directly, but hit the deck of the armored battleship with an arc.

The deck of the armored battleship is not iron, but wooden.

This is because the deck is exposed to harsh environments such as sun exposure, seawater slamming, and salt corrosion all year round, and must also meet many requirements such as anti-slip, anti-deformation, and heat insulation. Steel plate, so only wooden planks can be used.

The wooden boards obviously couldn't stop the shells, and soon, there were several places on the deck where the bullets were shot, and sawdust flew everywhere!
(End of this chapter)