Struggle in Russia

This is still a ship whose keel ribs and hull are made of pure iron. If it is built with tougher steel, there is still room for optimization of the ship's structural weight. From this point of view alone, steel ships are much superior to traditional wooden ships.

Not only that, from the perspective of the material itself, it is an inevitable trend for steel to replace wood. Counting from the age of great navigation in the 16th century, teak and oak have been widely used in shipbuilding in Europe for 300 years.

Such a long period of time basically cut down all the large trees that can be found in Europe and America. So much so that at the beginning of the 19th century, countries had to rack their brains to collect trees in order to continue building large ships.

In the beginning, whole large trees could be used, and then smaller trees of decent quality could be used to splice them together. Finally, in the 1840s, there were no larger qualified woods, so we could only continue to use scattered pieces of wood to piece together a little bit. .

If it weren't for the industrial revolution that improved shipbuilding technology and improved the performance of iron auxiliary materials, the lack of suitable wood would directly lead to the inability to build large ships in Europe.

It is precisely because of this that ships pieced together in this way inevitably pay a heavy structural weight price. After all, the structural strength of the entire section of material is completely different from that of the combined material. The latter must be reinforced with auxiliary materials, and auxiliary materials must add more weight.

Steel does not have this problem. It is inherently stronger and more resilient than wood, and as long as there are large steel factories that can produce structural components of almost any length you want, there is no risk of shortage of materials.

Even steel ships are more economical to build and maintain than wooden ships. According to a comparative study by the British in 1848, the hull cost of the Dover iron ship was 4,816 pounds, which was only slightly higher (4,257 pounds) than the wooden ship Redneck of the same displacement. However, the average annual maintenance cost for the first 8 years of an iron ship is 58 pounds per year, while the latter is as high as 131 pounds.

This is data from the 1840s when there were few iron ships. The more developed the steel industry, the lower the construction cost of iron ships, while wooden ships will become more and more expensive.

Of course, all of this is based on the need for a well-developed steel industry. If it looks like a bird like Russia, it's better to take a nap, let alone iron boats, even wooden boats are not very good.

"So, the current top priority industry is to develop the iron and steel metallurgy industry. There is not enough cheap enough steel, and everything is empty talk. Our long-term national policy in the future should be based on steel!"

Li Xiao came to such a conclusion without a doubt, which made Lazarev and Bellingshausen a little dizzy - aren't we discussing the issue of shipbuilding? Why have they all risen to the basis of national policy? Is this appropriate?

"Of course it's suitable!" Li Xiao waved his hand heavily,

"Steel will become more and more important. In the future, shipbuilding will require a large amount of steel, and pure steel ships will require thousands of tons of steel, but how many ships can be built with my country's annual iron production?"

Without waiting for Lazarev and Bellingshausen to reply, he added: "There is also the railway, which will also greatly change the form of warfare. It also requires a lot of steel. Even in the future, our rifles, our All the cannons need steel, without a sufficiently developed steel industry, how can we support all of this?"

Lazarev and Bellingshausen were lost in thought. Indeed, steel is becoming more and more important. As Li Xiao said, the artillery used to be copper cannons, but now when they went to England for inspection, they found that the British were using iron cannons more.

The barrel wall of the British iron gun can be thinner and lighter, but it can accommodate more propellant and launch heavier shells. These all show that steel is indeed becoming more and more important.

Lazarev asked: "My lord, what do you want us to do?"

The old man's words hit the nail on the head. Li Xiao told them that these must have a purpose, and Li Xiao's purpose is also very simple: "Your Excellency, steel is really important. But our country doesn't realize this at all, and there is no such thing in China. There are modern steel plants to speak of, but our opponents are making rapid progress and will leave us farther and farther in the future!"

"I have also raised this issue before, but my words were so light that I didn't pay any attention to it. You two have great reputations. If you can speak on this issue, it will definitely attract the attention of the Ministry of the Army, the Ministry of the Navy, and His Majesty..."

Both Lazarev and Bellingshausen nodded. In this regard, they do have a natural advantage over Li Xiao, and they are willing to promote this point.

"In the near future, we will advise His Majesty to build a large iron factory!"

This made Li Xiao heave a sigh of relief. He was really worried that the burden of Russia's industrialization would fall on his shoulders alone, so he really couldn't carry it. With the help of Lazarev and Bellingshausen to speak, it can somewhat start to work, at least much better than him singing a one-man show alone.

"Your Excellency, I heard that you are opposed to Grand Duke Constantine's naval innovation plan, especially against his expansion of the construction of steam ships? Why is this? I can see that you are not very supportive of steam ships? Why are you against it?"

Facing Bellings Gaojin's sudden question, Li Xiao smiled wryly, and expressed all his worries.

"From all aspects, it is not a wise decision to blindly expand the construction of steamships. Especially when all the conditions in our country are not met, there will be a lot of hidden dangers in such recklessly built ships. Once these hidden dangers break out , will definitely give people who oppose steamships a lot of excuses, in that case..."

Lazarev took a deep breath and asked quickly, "Is Grand Duke Constantine's factory really that bad?"

Li Xiao could only say: "If you don't believe it, go and see for yourself. With all due respect, I'm not optimistic!"

Lazarev and Bellingshausen looked at each other, and basically believed Li Xiao's words. If this is the actual situation, then Grand Duke Constantine's plan is too foolish, it will ruin their elder brother's reputation for two nights.

"Let's check it out in the near future. If it is true, then his plan really needs to be re-evaluated, and it is not appropriate to act rashly!"

Talking here, both parties are quite satisfied. If it weren't for the fact that the two old men had to go to the Winter Palace to face the Holy Spirit, they would have held Li Xiao to hold a candle night talk. When parting, Lazarev still reluctantly confessed:

"Your Excellency, please compile your comments into a book as soon as possible, and I will review them in detail. In addition, regarding the anti-rust paint test you mentioned earlier, I will start to produce the finished product as soon as possible. With the two of us here, there is no one in the Admiralty. Dare to stop you, finding a few iron ships for comparative experiments is a piece of cake!"