Dominate the Country

James Cowall, the British Ambassador to China in Nanjing, received an urgent report from David McEvoy, the consul of the Shanghai Consulate. They saw a very strange steamship at the mouth of the Yangtze River in Shanghai. The ship had no sails. There are no paddle wheels on both sides, it should be a propeller, but its speed is not even a little higher than the propeller boats once made in Britain. It is completely the 'normal' speed of a ship. In other words, the Chinese have made breakthrough progress in propeller research.

What shocked Korver even more was that David McEvoy said that the entire exterior of the ship shone with a metallic sheen.

The Chinese did not completely wrap the hull and deck with copper, like some British warships. The exterior of this ship was also painted, so it was unlikely to be copper, and it was more likely to be iron.

Although the density of copper is higher than that of iron, it does not mean that copper is harder than iron. Navy copper is more for corrosion protection. And with the financial resources of the Chinese, it is impossible for them not to be able to get even this little copper. David McEvoy prefers that it was an iron-hulled ship, or an ironclad ship.

In the UK, some people have already proposed this idea. Wrapping a layer of iron armor on the surface of the ship will inevitably provide good defense against rockets and artillery shells. But as a result, the ship's speed would be too slow. Even if it is a powerful first-class sailing battleship, if it is covered with iron armor with a thickness of only one centimeter, the load on the ship will increase by more than 200 tons after the entire project. And this armor doesn't just hang up and it's done. In addition to the armor, the hull also needs to be lined with wooden boards. If the thickness of the armor is one centimeter, the thickness of the lining wooden boards must be at least three centimeters, or even four or five centimeters. Of course, the most basic point is that since the armor is already installed, how can it be only one centimeter thick?

Can armor with a thickness of one centimeter protect against rockets or artillery shells?

The penetrating power of the hexagonal cannon is very powerful.

Therefore, if a ship really needs to be armored, it must weaken the area below the waterline to increase the thickness of the armor above the waterline, especially the side of the ship.

If the armor thickness on the side of the ship increases, this will affect the use of the uppermost gun emplacement. Ships cannot make the mistake of being top-heavy. The result of the British discussion was to remove the artillery on the upper deck. Therefore, the ironclad ship is very controversial within the UK!

Both the pro-party and the opposition parties have many supporters.

Ironclad ships are still a topic of discussion in the UK. Have the Chinese already developed them?

Besides, the Chinese replaced the paddle wheel with a propeller, which was a landmark advancement for steamships. The British still have a long way to go with this, with no end in sight. This is the difference.

Korver knew that his future intelligence focus needed to shift to that aspect. Instead of being tireless about the Chinese financial figures, it would be better to focus more on this iron-hulled ship.

"Bang bang." There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Korver threw the intelligence in his hand on the table and covered his face with his hands. It is not easy to obtain intelligence in China. The person who came was his secretary Bloom, a very handsome young Englishman.

Bloom's voice also sounded. "Sir, here is today's newspaper."

Korver didn't take his hands away from his face, he felt helpless now.

Bloom did not turn around and leave, but said: "Sir, I think it is necessary for you to take a look at today's newspaper immediately."

Both "Zhongyuan Daily" and "Military Daily" reported the news of the "Chengtian" in large sections. This is an all-iron propeller steamship, the first in the world.

Korver felt like he was being punched in the heart. Just now he was thinking about how to peek into the secret of the propeller steamer, but now the Chinese have announced it themselves. It has a displacement of 1,500 tons and a full load of 4,200 tons. Its cargo capacity is 20% higher than that of a wooden ship of the same tonnage. Its cost is similar to that of a wooden ship of the same tonnage. However, its speed is as high as 9 knots, and its ability to handle catastrophic disasters is significantly higher than that of a wooden ship. Iron steamship...

This means that the Chinese technology has truly matured. The reason why they don't hide it is because they want to thoroughly promote this kind of ship to the public.

"Your Excellency, you also need to take a look at the fifth page of "Zhongyuan Daily"..."

Bloom once again reminded that the Chinese's tricks are really one link at a time. The news of iron ships has just been announced here, and new patented inventions in the steel and metallurgical industry have been vigorously promoted over there.

Although everyone knows that the launch of iron ships will inevitably stimulate the development of the steel industry. But the British did not expect that China would be so powerful.

China's steel technology has always led the world, and its output naturally ranks first in the world.

As early as the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty four hundred years ago, China's national tax records show that the iron output reached more than 19.57 million kilograms, or more than 9,700 tons. During the Jiajing period, the iron output of Guangdong Province alone It has reached more than 3,000 tons and is exported to Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Java, Luzon and Cochin.

During the Qing Dynasty, iron production developed further, but this could not stop the rapid progress of Europeans. In the middle of the last century, not only the iron production of Britain, Russia and France exceeded that of China, but also that of Prussia, Austria, Sweden and other countries. Little by little, China has been left behind.

By 1800, Britain's steel production had exceeded 200,000 tons. Although this output could only make up for the output of a small factory in a town in the future, it far exceeded China in the original time and space. It was a very brilliant number in this era. Britain's own steel production was higher than the total steel production of all countries in the European continent, and the steel production of the whole of Europe was less than half of that of China.

Now more than ten years have passed since 1800. The British steel production has increased from 200,000 tons to over 300,000 tons, but China's steel production has increased from nearly 1 million tons to more than 1.5 million tons.

It can be said that China's steel production accounts for two-thirds of the world's total.

Such an output can be said to be able to fully meet China's own needs in this era, and it can also be exported to India and its vassal states in large quantities. Even in the past few years, China's steel prices have fallen sharply. If it weren't for the war and the construction of the railway, China's steel industry would not have the glory of 1.5 million tons.

But now that the iron ship has come out, the balance of steel supply has been broken again.

China's shipping industry is very developed, especially the development of the entire American continent in the future. The speed directly depends on how close the transportation connection between China and the United States is. It is conceivable that the big iron ships will have a huge impact on the original shipbuilding industry in the future.

Even if the country will not release propeller ships for a while, large iron ships with engine and sail hybrid power can also be available. With the current market demand in China, there is no need to think about it. Those big iron ships will inevitably be launched like dumplings.

Therefore, the output of 1.5 million tons of steel seems to be huge, but it is far from enough compared to China's own needs. Chen Ming psychologically feels that in the next ten years, China's steel production must reach at least 5 million tons to barely be enough.

Don't think this is a false head. You must know that the construction of railways is not only in China. Japan, Siam, the Seven Khanates also need railways, and those vassal states and vassal states in America also need railways.

These railways are like the tendons in the human body. When the railways run through the east, west, south and north, it is equivalent to the Ren and Du meridians in the human body, which will be a qualitative improvement. It can make the economic development of various countries go to high speed, and also make the central control of various countries over local areas reach a new stage.

But the gap of 3.5 million tons of steel production cannot be completely made up in one year.

After Chen Ming and his team returned to Nanjing, under the advice of the emperor, the cabinet formulated a five-year development plan. Starting from the next cabinet, China's steel production needs to rise step by step and steadily. From the current 1.5 million tons/year, to the initial 2 million tons/year, from 2 million tons/year to the future 3 million tons/year, 5 million tons/year.

In addition to steel production, this plan also comes with the number of domestic steam engines, the length of new roads, the length of new railways, the tonnage of new coal, the tonnage of new shipbuilding, etc.

This is a huge plan. And the carrier of all the goals of this plan is China's steel production.

To complete this five-year plan, the most important key lies in the development of the steel industry. Without steel, the construction of ships, railways, and steam engines cannot be completed. And doubling the steel production at least in five years is not a small pressure for the cabinet.

China's steel industry is not as good as Britain's. The latter has a smaller total volume, while the former has an industrial value of up to 1.5 million tons. This will increase from 1.5 to 300, and I don't know how many large, medium and small steel mills will be eliminated.

When Chen Ming made this plan, he didn't think he was so radical. This number is not outrageous. It took the British forty years to increase their steel production from just over 200,000 tons in 1800 to 800,000 tons/year in 1840, but the British are a complete market economy, and China still has a strong government. Moreover, the British steel production of 800,000 tons in 1840 soared to 2.56 million tons in 1850. It increased more than three times in ten years, and further increased to more than 6 million tons in 1870.

Why is this?

It's all about technological progress.

The rapid growth of British steel production in the original time and space was all due to technology. China's conditions are far better than those of Britain in this regard. The fact that the patent law has been maintained for so many years has laid a solid foundation.

The cabinet took the opportunity to announce several new inventions of the institute, including the oxygen and alkali blowing converter technology.