Rebirth of South America as King

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In March 1880, Han Guo ’s shipbuilding consultant, French ship expert Falmand declined to stay in the country repeatedly, along with more than 20 ship experts whose contracts had expired, and returned home. In the following half year, Li Mingyuan ordered Han Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs abroad searched for suitable ship experts in Europe to replace the vacancies left after Dalman's departure. In mid-September 1880, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs successively moved from Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. More than ten experts were selected and submitted to Li Mingyuan for a final decision.

The main combat areas of the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy are in the Mediterranean Sea. In order to meet the needs of war, the warships built by the two countries also have short-range and slow speeds. The United Kingdom and France had military conflicts with the Han country, and For fear of the reasons for the uncontrollable naval power of the Han Dynasty, he likes to keep his own hands. Li Mingyuan is worried that even if he invites ship experts from both countries to the homeland, they will not wholeheartedly teach Han homeland technicians to improve the level of ship construction.

Excluding the British, French, Austrian, and Italian countries from the alternatives, in October 1880, Li Mingyuan finalized the candidates for foreign ship experts, and appointed Kraugern, a ship engineer at the Volvo shipyard in Germany, as the Han country. Han navy consultant.

Kraughn was born in East Prussia in 1840. He has nearly 30 years of ship building experience. He once led the construction of Ariadne-class iron armored ships and Leipzig-class iron armored ships. He is a ship expert with rich construction experience. In order to express the importance of the Han country and invite him to serve in the Han country, the government has paid a high salary of 24,000 won per year, which is more than ten times higher than the salary standard of ordinary ship experts.

Thanks to the abundant preparations made in advance by the Han country and communication with the German government, Kraugen accepted the invitation from the Han country and immediately led a technical team of about 100 people to set off for South America.

In November 1880, Kraugen also held the position of Chief Supervisor of the Royal Shipyard. In February 1881, he proposed four improvements to the locally-built 1350-ton light cruiser. After the implementation of each one, the construction of the 1350-ton light cruiser was implemented. The cycle time was shortened by 20 days. At the same time, after the construction process and procedures were slightly improved, the service life of the 1350-ton light cruiser also increased by about half a year.

Kraughen showed his professional and technical ability. No one paid ten times more than ordinary experts. Afterwards, he saw the high-paying Kraughen team make a result. Li Mingyuan continued to appoint him as a naval ship. Ship Director, who is awarded the honorary rank of Colonel, specializing in warship construction and warship technology evaluation.

While the shipbuilding work on the Han mainland was progressing steadily, changes in the external situation interrupted Li Mingyuan's initial naval development plan.

The Argentine War ended in 1879, and the Brazilian empire was divided into two. Although the Chilean Republic government harvested new territories from Peru and Bolivia in four or five provinces, it also lost Patagonia in the western Andes, and its homeland security was affected. It shows the threat of Han from both land and sea.

In order to safeguard local security, the Chilean government continues to use the sale of saltpeter, copper, iron and other minerals, in addition to continuing to build permanent fortifications in the Temuco area near the Han-occupied area and deploying about 7,000 army soldiers to guard the local area. Abundant funds for resource acquisition, ordering armored ships from the United Kingdom in large numbers. In November 1879, the Chilean government ordered two cruise ships with a displacement of 2400 tons from the Portsmouth shipyard in Britain. In April 1881, upon strong application by the Navy, the Chilean government Two more two 6,700-ton battleships and one 3,000-ton armored cruiser were ordered from the British side.

According to the construction schedule given by the British, in early 1884, all three iron armored ships were completed and delivered to the Chilean government. Chile will become the largest naval power in South America. At the same time, it will occupy about three-quarters of the original Brazil. In the region, the Republic of Brazil, which has core cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, has inherited most of the debt originally left by Brazil, and has received support from the British government. It has also invested a large amount of borrowed funds to develop army and naval armaments, and plans to expand its armaments. After the expansion was ready, a war was waged against the Brazilian empire to complete the reunification of Brazil.

If it is said that the Chilean government ’s expansion of the navy ’s actions will take time to verify, but the Republic of Brazil ’s strengthening of the navy ’s strength and its intention to reunite Brazil ’s behavior is an intolerable existence on the part of the Han nation.

Han is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the development and expansion of the country is only on the north side. If a unified Brazil appears in the north of Han, it will undoubtedly seal the expansion of Han.

The South American market is too small to allow only one large country to exist, and the actions of the Republic of Brazil and Chile have clearly hindered the development plan formulated by Li Mingyuan for the Han country.

For this reason, when the German side passed Kraugen and expressed its willingness to build a battleship of the same level as the Qing Dynasty Dingyuan ship for the Han country at a suitable price, Li Mingyuan decisively expressed his intention to purchase the ship, and enough The ship incident was linked to the reorganization of the Navy and issued internal discussions with the Navy.

"His Majesty, before 1878, the Imperial Navy had a total of six main battleships, three of which were captured from the Brazilian Imperial Navy. One was severely damaged and was dismantled and dismantled in November 1879. The other two were due to their age. It was damaged many times in naval battles. According to the opinions of ship experts, it is expected to retire from service in January 1883. If three iron armored ships are removed, only two main naval iron armored ships will be purchased from the French Mediterranean shipyard. With a displacement of 3,200 tons, even if the four 1,350-ton light cruisers independently built and produced by China are counted, the strength of the navy is less than half that of 1878.

Therefore, the minister requested his Majesty's approval to restart the ship purchase plan and add new warships to the navy to respond to the maritime threats of Chile and Brazil. "

The annual development report was over, and more than 20 main naval officers gathered in the Temple of Zhongji, and Chen Sen, the commander of the First Fleet, represented the crowd first.

"If the Navy has any suggestions for the ship purchase plan, let's put it forward first, and everyone will discuss it."

"The minister heard that the minister of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang, ordered two large battleships from Germany. Therefore, the minister thought that although my Dahan and Manqing were not in the same position, since Manqing was determined to buy a giant armored ship, my Han country could not be left behind.

The minister believed that the court should order one to two battleships from the German state, and two to three 4,000-ton Shanghai defense ships. In this way, the local maritime security side would not be threatened by Chile and Brazil. "

"What's your opinion?"

"Iron armored ships are the most important weapon of the country. They are indispensable. Ministers agreed with General Chen."

"Everywhere in the country, money is spent, and every penny is valuable."

Li Mingyuan explained unquestionably and continued, "The other two railway ships in service, one with a displacement of 6,500 tons, and one with a volleyball capacity of 3,500 tons. Although they were more than 20 years old, when the Brazilians bought them, they were pitted by the British. There are a lot of irrational designs on the ship, but it is too wasteful to retire from service after one or two years, so let the German ship engineers think of a way to carry out a major repair of the two iron armored ships. To fight for two more armored ships to serve for two or three more years, at least until 1886, and then retire from service, and then serve as a training ship for the naval officer school for training new naval officers and soldiers, what do you think? "

"Your Majesty is wise."

After a compliment by more than 20 officers and generals, Chen Sen respectfully tempted, "Will your Majesty approve the question of purchasing a new ship?"

"It is imperative to add new warships to the Navy, but the plans you have submitted for ship purchases need to be changed."

Li Mingyuan nodded in agreement and gave everyone a positive answer.

"Since we must vigorously develop the navy, we must not just add large warships, communications ships, frigates, supply ships, and transport ships. All these auxiliary ships are needed.

Li Hongzhang just placed an order for two battleships this year at the Volvo shipyard in Germany. One month ago, the Germans took the initiative to come to the door and wanted to build two more warships of the same level and sell them to us. One is Use the same construction drawings and docks to reduce construction costs. The second is to use the warships sold to us to raise the reputation of the German shipbuilding industry and expand its market share in the world.

At this time, there is also a need to purchase warships at home, so since the Germans have opened up economic conditions, we must not waste this opportunity.

Buying a battleship is buying, and buying two battleships is also buying. The local sea area is vast. The single main battleship was a bit monotonous. It was simply ordered two large iron armored ships at one time, and then discussed with the Germans in advance. The Germans dispatched ship experts to start construction of two armored ships with a displacement of about 3,500 tons in 1884. cruiser. "

"Whether the construction plan of the two battleships needs to be changed a little, Colonel Kraughn proposed a week ago. He believes that a double 305 mm is installed on the front and back of the Saxon-class battleship. Main gun, the effect may be better. "

The performance indicators designed by the German Voltaire shipyard for Dingyuan class battleships are:

The length of the ship is 94.5 meters, the width is 18 meters, the draft is 6 meters, the normal displacement is 7,335 tons or 7,430 tons, and the full-load displacement is 7,670 tons. The power is two horizontal three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, eight round coal-fired boilers, power 6200, speed 14.5 knots ("Zhenyuan" is 7200 horsepower, speed: 15.4 knots), endurance is 4500 nautical miles / 10 knots, each with a searchlight of 8,000 candlelights and 20,000 candlelights, each with 3 generators (" "Zhenyuan" provides 70 kilowatts of electricity for 2 generators. The total armor weight is 1461 tons. The armor on the waterline is 14 inches (365mm) thick, the armor is 12 inches (305mm) below the waterline, the thickness of the 305 gun base is 304mm, the thickness of the gun shield is 15mm, and the commander tower is 203mm thick. The coal carrying capacity is 700 tons, the maximum coal carrying capacity is 1,000 tons, and the establishment is 329-363 people.

Each port and starboard is equipped with a double turret, hydraulic power, each gun weighing 31.5 tons, calibre 305 mm.

2 Krupp 150mm breech auxiliary guns (one each for 艏 and 艉, each with a weight of 4.75 tons, 35 times the caliber), 4 75mm Krupp guns, 8 37mm five-barrel Haggis machine guns, There are two 57mm and 47mm Haggais rapid-fire guns, three 14-inch torpedo tubes (one on each side, one on the stern, and 21 torpedoes), plus a total of 22 main guns.

In the future Sino-Japanese War, the performances of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan exposed design flaws. Therefore, Li Mingyuan asked the opinions of ship experts such as Kraugen and combined with the opinions of future generations, and decided to strengthen the number of Dingyuan ships' artillery and enhance the attack performance of warships.

"The performance of the warships designed by the Germans for the Manchurian government was not suitable for the local navy, and some changes were needed."

Li Mingyuan replied, "After discussions between Colonel Kraughn and the local ship experts, the improvement suggestion is to change the position of the main gun and install two high-power 305 mm guns on the front and back of the ship to make the warship mobile attack. Expanded perspective,

The main mast is located in the middle of the armored ship, separating the two sets of twin main guns to avoid mutual influence of the muzzle wind.

The number of bow and stern secondary guns increased to four, with four single-mounted 210 mm guns, eight 155 mm Krupp guns, eight 75 mm howitzer guns, and eight 37 mm rapid-fire guns. …………

The improved battleship has 32 guns of various types. Compared with the prototype iron armored ship, its weapon performance and quantity are more advantageous. In actual combat, the attack on enemy warships will be stronger. "

The improvement plan proposed by Li Mingyuan was not much different from the situation that Claugan disclosed to the admirals. After Chen Sen, Li Han and others heard all of them, they all responded, and no one raised objections.

"The Germans gave Li Hongzhang a price of 1.42 million silvers per battleship, and the price on the local side was not much different from that of the Manchu dynasty. It was 2.86 million won for each armored ship, but we did a package business with the Germans. In addition to the two battleships and the two armored cruisers prepared to start in 1884, we also need to purchase a communications ship, an ocean-going supply ship, a shipyard with medium-sized ocean-going transport ships, plus 700 naval officers and 300 The training costs of shipbuilding experts and technicians, etc., combined, the total cost should be around 8.6 million won, which is converted into silver, which is about 4.3 million. "

Li Mingyuan reported the total budget for the ship purchase project, and Chen Sen, Li Han and others in the palace were very excited.

"Your Majesty, the Pacific immigration transport route is of fundamental importance to the country. The minister requested that two battleships and two armored cruisers in the order be assigned to one each to the second fleet to ensure the safety of immigration routes."

"The Atlantic coast is the national strategic center. The assembly of two battleships is more deterrent in the Atlantic. The minister requested that all two battleships and two armored cruisers be deployed on the Atlantic coast."

The issue of warships had just been worked out, and Li Han and Chen Sen were fighting over the allocation of warships.

"There are frequent earthquakes along the Pacific coast. The naval ports in Yishui Port (Monte Port) and Baisha Island (Qiloe Island) have insufficient infrastructure and temporarily do not have maintenance and repair tasks for large battleships. Therefore, after the construction of the warships, the two battleships Allocated to the first fleet, two armored cruisers, one delivered to the first fleet to receive and the other to the second fleet. "

"But the total tonnage of the Chilean Navy far exceeds that of the Second Fleet. If the current fleet size is used, once the war breaks out, the Second Fleet is not an opponent of the Chilean Navy at all."

Li Han explained.

"If a war breaks out, the war in the direction of Chile is mainly entrusted to the Army. The navy's task is to disrupt the maritime supply line of the Chilean army while preserving its own strength, contain a portion of the Chilean navy's strength, and do not need to assume the task of confronting the Chilean navy. "

Li Mingyuan added, "The Pacific direction is also the focus of the country's future development. It is limited to national strength and can only tilt naval forces toward the Atlantic. However, construction work in the Pacific direction will not stagnate ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ at the latest 1885 In 1949, when the ordered armored ship arrived on the mainland, the government would transfer the 3200-ton Victory (one of the two cruisers ordered from France) from the first fleet and allocate it to the second fleet. At the same time, Xinjing Shipbuilding The 1350-ton light cruiser built by the three major shipyards, including Xinghe Shipyard, Xinghe Shipyard and Royal Shipyard, will give priority to the second fleet.

Military school and naval officer graduates will be assigned to the Second Fleet, but the construction of ports and bases along the Pacific coast must also keep up with the progress. Infrastructure construction in Yishui Port and Baisha Island must be accelerated. Construction of naval bases in the Polynesian Islands should be accelerated. The plan should also be carried out quickly. If there are problems in terms of manpower and material supply, they can be premised, so that when difficulties are encountered later, they cannot be resolved in a timely manner. "

"The minister intends to establish a warship maintenance shipyard on the island of Pahiti in the Polynesian Islands to provide warship maintenance and maintenance tasks for the South Pacific Fleet."

"Can it be approved, is there anything else?"

"When Minister Chen boarded Easter Island, I heard that the island was formerly densely wooded and rich in flora and fauna. Later, the local indigenous people multiplied too much and felled the trees too much, which led to soil erosion and soil degradation on the island. Locally collected plants of the same type as palm trees and oak trees on the island and transplanted them to the island to improve the island's natural environment so that the island can provide more food and supplies for island guards. "

Marine Corps Commander Feng Guoan asked for instructions.

"The waters around Easter Island are rich in rainfall. If the local damaged vegetation can be restored, the supply pressure of officers and men stationed on the island will be greatly reduced."

Li Mingyuan agreed, "remind the garrison on the island and the people who have previously migrated to the island to control the population and livestock on the island, and not to let the cattle and sheep eat the vegetation on the island excessively."

"Yes, the ministers understand."