I want to be emperor

Since the successful sea trial of the frigate Jiangning demonstrated the feasibility of the iron-ribbed wooden-hull ship, the Great Chu Empire Navy has fully implemented the large-scale construction and service plan of the iron-ribbed wooden-hull ship without hesitation.

After all, the source of raw materials for iron-ribbed wood-hull ships is completely controllable. To get rid of the key iron-rib materials, you only need to spend money to expand production, and you can have as much as you want.

With the current wrought iron output of the Great Chu Empire exceeding [-] tons a year, it is more than enough to meet the wrought iron demand of the navy.

It’s not like when building pure wooden boats, when you have money, you can only build slowly, because there is a serious shortage of ship rib materials, and it can’t be solved in a short time.

In addition to the source of materials, the construction cost and life-cycle cost of iron-ribbed wood-hull ships are also lower than those of pure wood-hull ships.

Building a wooden battleship requires a lot of precious and high-quality wood, and the cost of materials alone is very high.

After a large number of wrought iron materials are used, although the current price of iron products is not cheap, but with the further increase in production and the further maturity of the process, the price will inevitably continue to decline.

This can be seen from the mass production orders of the first batch of frigates. The first batch of frigates ordered by the Navy is twelve ships, and the ship type is improved from Jiangning.

The standard displacement is expected to be 550 tons, including guns and sails.

The total price of the twelve ships is one hundred and one hundred thousand Chu Yuan, and on average, the unit price of each ship is more than 600 Chu Yuan.

This is even less than the previous estimate of [-] Chu yuan.

And this is only the first batch of orders. Strictly speaking, the price is relatively expensive, and the subsequent second batch of orders will inevitably be cheaper.

In addition to frigates, the Great Chu Empire Navy also designed and built cruisers and battleships of iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships.

Compared with the previous wooden warships, these two ship types are very different.

First of all, the tonnage should be larger!

The designed first-class cruiser Quanzhou-class cruiser has a standard displacement of [-] tons. This tonnage was placed in the Great Chu Empire in the early years, and it was properly the tonnage of a third-class battleship. It is also the standard of battleships.

The tonnage of the newly designed battleships is also larger, and the tonnage of the newly designed third-class battleship Tianjin class reached [-] tons.

The first-class battleship is even more terrifying. The first-class battleship that is still under design will have a displacement of more than [-] tons.

This is also an inevitable route for the development of warships, that is, the continuous enlargement of warships. This was the case in the era of wooden warships in the past, and it is also the same in the era of iron ribs and wooden shell ships.

A larger hull can improve the stability and navigation performance of the ship, and it can be equipped with more and larger artillery.

Of course, it is not so easy to build a larger hull, which is also a great challenge to shipbuilding technology. If you want to build a pure wooden battleship, it is not impossible to build a battleship of three or four thousand tons, but The difficulty will be very high, and the cost will be very scary.

However, if a large number of wrought iron materials are used, it will be much easier to build such a large-tonnage warship, and the cost can be effectively controlled.

In addition to the larger tonnage, the new generation of iron-ribbed wooden-hull warships also have two more obvious features.

One is that almost all superstructures have been cancelled, even the poop building has been cancelled, and the whole ship looks flat.

The purpose of canceling the superstructure is to lower the center of gravity to deploy more large-caliber artillery. In addition, it is also related to the changes in the tactical philosophy of the Great Chu Empire Navy.

That is to pay more attention to the role of naval guns than before, trying to directly use naval guns to eliminate opponents in naval battles, instead of continuing to fight gangs as before.

What I want to explain here is that a tall superstructure has a relatively large advantage for jumping gang operations, after all, it can allow sailors to fight from a height.

The superstructure was lowered, and even eventually canceled. This development is also the development of artillery technology. The main combat method of naval warfare is the process from jumping gang combat to naval gun combat.

Therefore, the cancellation of the superstructure in the new generation of warships is also directly related to the second obvious feature.

The second obvious feature of the new generation of warships is the unified large-caliber artillery!

Among the later generations, the concept of unified heavy artillery did not only exist in the era of steel battleships in later generations. In fact, it existed in the era of sail wooden shells and front-mounted smoothbore guns, probably in the 30s and [-]s...and continued to rifled guns until large-scale application.

Therefore, you can also regard the unified heavy artillery as the final firepower layout in the era of smoothbore guns before sailing...

Based on this concept, the Jiangning-class frigates built in batches have six 130mm medium-barreled cannons and six 130mm short-barreled cannons as their main guns.

The basic idea is to replace the previous 100mm and 115mm long barrel cannons with larger caliber 130mm medium and short barrel cannons.

The initial velocity of the shell is no longer pursued, but the end kinetic energy of the shell and the charge of the shell are pursued.

The artillery with a larger caliber naturally has a larger grenade charge, so that the explosion power is also greater, which can better kill the enemy's deck personnel and damage the sail.

A small frigate of more than 500 tons is equipped with twelve 130mm naval guns. This was unimaginable in the past, and even saying it would be considered treasonous...

But in fact, these seemingly larger caliber artillery, because the barrel is not long, the actual weight is similar to the previous 115mm cannon, 100mm cannon, or even lighter, plus the new ship type cancels the superstructure, The center of gravity of the hull is more stable, so equipping these large-caliber artillery will not affect the stability of the ship.

The concept of unifying the firepower layout of large-caliber artillery is not obvious on frigates, but it has been fully implemented on the newly designed and built third-class battleship Tianjin.

The artillery layout on the Tianjin is that the lower deck is equipped with 28 170mm long-barreled cannons, the middle deck is equipped with thirty 170mm medium-tube naval guns, and the upper deck is equipped with sixteen 170mm short-barreled naval guns.

The main guns of the entire ship are all 170 mm... if converted to the weight of European projectiles, it is 32 pounds.

And there are as many as 74 doors!

Once this firepower breaks out in battle, it will be very terrifying.

At the same time, after the unification of the large-caliber naval guns, the logistical aspect has also become simpler. Because the calibers of these main guns are unified, the calibers of the shells are also unified.

At the same time, daily training is also more convenient.

The Navy is very much looking forward to the Tianjin-class battleship, because this thing not only has stronger combat effectiveness, but also has better protection capabilities, and it is not expensive... The purchase price of one is only about 28 Chu yuan, which is an improvement from the previous Jinling-class third-class battleship The price of the model is actually comparable.

Not only to adopt a unified large-caliber artillery layout in new warships, but the Navy also intends to gradually improve the firepower layout of existing warships.

The improvement method is very simple, just change the artillery.

基本原则就是战列舰采用170毫米舰炮，为此需要把150毫米加农炮换成170毫米中管火炮，115毫米或100毫米加农炮换成170毫米短管火炮。

The first-class cruisers of more than 150 tons use [-]mm caliber artillery.

However, second-class cruisers and frigates under [-] tons, as well as large offshore gunboats, small offshore patrol ships, inland river gunboats, etc., are unlikely to have a unified caliber because of the large number of ship types and complicated missions. modified.

In short, equip larger caliber naval guns as much as possible to better exert the lethal power of grenades.

In this wave of major innovations in naval gun firepower, several naval gun manufacturers were also stunned by the massive orders...

The frenzied navy plans to purchase 170 of the 170mm medium-barreled naval guns and [-]mm short-barreled naval guns in one go!
It is used to build new battleships and refit old battleships.In addition, there are a large number of orders for 150mm naval guns and 130mm naval guns.

The sudden order for naval guns has made several domestic weapon companies that produce naval guns extremely excited, and each of them is trying their best to compete for orders.

The three major naval gun manufacturers, Hantian Arms Company, Jiangnan Arms Company, and Guangdong-Guangzhou Arms Company, fought bloody battles for orders for new naval guns.

Because these naval guns do not mean any new type of naval guns, they are all naval guns with mature technology, and compared with the 170mm cannon, the technology is simpler than the short-to-medium barrel artillery, so there are no technical problems.

The only thing that can be compared is quality, production capacity, delivery time, contacts and the most important price.

When the navy purchases so many naval guns, they don't just place an order casually. Instead, they place many small orders and let each manufacturer bid for them.

Although at least the three major weapons companies have the R&D and production capabilities of large-caliber naval guns to support multiple manufacturers, the Navy will definitely not give all orders to one of them in the end, but all three will have it.

But the problem is the distribution ratio of the order!

If one of them takes 80.00% of the orders, the other two can only take [-]% of the orders. What is the difference between this and a bid failure.

In order to avoid becoming a loser, the three major naval gun and weapon companies are all struggling.

Compared with the three major arms companies fighting for orders for naval guns, several domestic warship shipyards are much calmer.

Especially Songjiang Naval Shipyard, people don't worry about orders at all. It used to be, it is now, and the future is likely to be...

Not because they are the sons of the navy, but because their technology is the best... In terms of shipbuilding technology, Songjiang Naval Shipyard has always been at the forefront.

Their berth has never been idle, and they have always been producing naval warships.

Especially for battleships and battleships, the orders placed by the Navy are not even based on their own needs, but based on the production capacity of the Songjiang Naval Shipyard...

As long as they have production capacity, the Navy will place orders directly.

In addition, the same is true for Guangzhou Shipyard!
Because so far, only these two shipyards can build battleships of more than [-] tons, and other shipyards can't do it!

Of course, this is limited to battleships, and there are more options for cruisers. There are at least five shipyards in China that can build them.

As for frigates of several hundred tons, offshore patrol ships, inland river gunboats, various transport ships, medical ships and other auxiliary warships, there are even more shipyards that can build these warships.

After the era of iron-ribbed wood-hull ships, because the construction technology of this type of ship is different from that of pure wooden warships, so far only the Songjiang Naval Shipyard has been able to mass-produce it, while the Guangzhou Shipyard is still undergoing technical upgrades. , although it can also undertake orders, but the output is not enough.

So... the Songjiang Naval Shipyard is calm now.

However, it is hard to say how long this situation can last. The construction technology of iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships is either difficult or not.

It is difficult to say, because a large number of wrought iron parts are not easy to deal with!
It's not difficult to say, because these parts are made by other heavy machinery factories, and have nothing to do with the shipyard... What the shipyard does is actually an assembly job.

This is also the reason why Luohua Shipyard has focused on the iron-ribbed wooden hull ship!

It's all assembly work. If the Songjiang Naval Shipyard opposite can do it, their Luohua Shipyard can also do it.

What, you mean a technical problem?
Well, the technical team of Luohua Shipyard came from Songjiang Naval Shipyard... The technology of these two companies comes from the same source, and their theoretical level is actually similar.

More problems are equipment problems. After all, processing and installing a large number of iron parts is different from processing and installing pure wood parts.

But equipment is something that can be bought with money. Even the top-notch large-scale machine tool equipment is now sold by Hantian Machinery Company. There are tens of thousands of units, and the price is clearly marked. Do you want it or not...

In addition, Luo Hua Shipyard is also thinking about purchasing a batch of high-horsepower steam engines to drive various large-scale equipment.

After thinking about it internally, they felt that the iron-ribbed wooden-hull ship was capable. Although the investment was a bit larger, the market would also increase after it was produced.

The most important thing is that Songjiang Naval Shipyard, the leader in the shipbuilding industry, and Guangzhou Shipyard, the second largest shipyard, are both engaged in iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships. As the fourth largest shipyard in China, Luohua Shipyard is also very necessary to follow up with new technologies in a timely manner. .

After making up their minds, Luohua Shipyard invested in technical equipment upgrades, and at the same time carried out early marketing promotion, looking for armed trading companies such as Nanyang Trading Company to sell iron-ribbed wood-hulled armed merchant ships.

However, the sale has not been successful yet. The navy itself came to the door. They asked that the Luohua shipyard had finalized the iron-ribbed wood-hull ship, and had a clear timetable. The upgrade of technical equipment will be completed by next fall. After production, without further ado, orders for two first-class cruisers and six frigates came directly.

It also said that you are building it first, and I still have orders after it is finished... Even if you have passed the technology and have a corresponding large-tonnage dry dock, there are also orders for larger-tonnage battleships!
It can be seen from this that the navy's desire for iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships...

However, Lee's Iron & Steel, the third largest shipyard in China, was a little slower to respond. They had actually noticed the changes in the shipbuilding industry and knew about the appearance of iron-ribbed wood-hull ships.

They also want to follow up in time... But some time ago they invested hundreds of thousands of funds to acquire Wuhu Machine Tool Company, and continued to invest huge sums of money in research and development of technology, improvement of production lines, etc., although the investment was quite a lot Part of it is a mortgage loan, but it also temporarily uses a large amount of their own cash flow.

And the loan has to be repaid!
Before the machine tool business of Lee's Iron and Steel Company turned a profit, it was difficult for them to invest huge sums of money to follow up the iron-rib shipbuilding technology in the first place.

After all, it costs a lot of money to upgrade technology... Not to mention the various technological breakthroughs and research and development, the mechanical equipment alone is not cheap.

Hantian Machinery Company is very black-hearted... The high-end top-level large-scale machine tools cost tens of thousands of units, and the cheap ones cost tens of thousands, which is more expensive than that broken steam engine.

If you want to upgrade a large shipyard, at least you need to build three or five top-level large-scale machine tools. The price starts from [-]!
If you want to play more downstream, you have to match some small and medium machine tools, and then match it with a steam engine and so on.

In the end, the cost of equipment purchase alone will cost upwards of 15!

In addition to other technology research and development costs, you can't even play smoothly if the whole set is less than 20.

The current cash flow is a bit tight. Lee's Iron and Steel Company, which has to repay its debts every month, will not be able to spend 20 yuan for a while.

But the iron-ribbed wood-hull ship is the future technology direction. If you don’t do it, you won’t be able to do it. The technology will be completely backward in a few years. By then, let alone keep the position of the third largest shipyard in China, it is estimated that the top five will not be able to keep it...

I am short of money, but technology upgrades also cost money, what should I do?
What else to do, continue to introduce strategic investors to raise funds!

In the past ten years, why Lee's Steel has been able to develop so rapidly, and why the Lee family's shares have dropped from the previous 100% to the current 15.00% is because Lee's Steel has repeatedly introduced strategic Investors, to solve the funding problem ah!

The news that Li's Iron and Steel was going to introduce strategic investors immediately detonated the high-level business circles in the Great Chu Empire!
Li's Steel Manufacturing, this is the largest private enterprise in the country. It owns the largest production base of agricultural tools and cooking utensils in Guangdong and Guangxi, the largest daily hardware factory in the southern region, the third largest shipyard in the country, and just acquired the first in the country. Two major machine tool factories.

In addition, there are a lot of messy supporting industries.

Moreover, Lee's Iron & Steel is not only huge, but the most important thing is that they also make money!

Needless to say, their shipbuilding business, all kinds of iron products they started, including cooking utensils, agricultural tools, and daily hardware tools, are sold well in China and widely exported.

One of the products can be said to have been purchased or directly owned by at least half of the domestic households.

That is the sewing needle... The first blockbuster product of Lee's Steel Daily Hardware Factory is the seemingly inconspicuous sewing needle.

Known for its high quality and low price, it not only sells well in China, but also sells well all over the world. It was even brought back to Europe by Dutch and other European businessmen for sale.

With a number of superior products, Li's Iron Manufacturing, which has many competitive products, is recognized as the mother machine that lays golden eggs in the industrial and commercial circles of the Great Chu Empire...

Now, this hen is about to introduce a new round of strategic investors. Many large domestic companies or financial institutions with strong capital are gearing up to take the opportunity to buy shares in the company in order to make money by paying dividends. By the way, wait for the value of the shares to increase.

Even Hantian Machinery Company came over and said: I have money, so let me take a share...

This left everyone in Li's Iron and Steel Manufacturing speechless... Brother, we are direct competitors. I just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to compete with you in the machine tool market.

But Hantian Machinery Company said that competition is competition, and cooperation is cooperation... Besides, my shareholding is not your subsidiary Lee's Machine Tool Company, but your parent company 'Lee's Steel'.

But...before Li's Steel made a reply, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce immediately rejected it... What kind of Huayi joke are you talking about? The largest machine tool company in China and the second largest machine tool company want to have a strategic cooperation?You think we are stupid, if this allows you to form a strategic cooperation, the domestic machine tool industry will not be dictated by you, forming a de facto monopoly.

Don't even think about it!

Although there is no formal anti-monopoly law in the Great Chu Empire, many policies of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce are to encourage healthy competition, and several anti-monopoly administrative documents (non-laws) have also been issued.

Under such circumstances, if you monopolize the market through technology research and development, then people have nothing to say...

After all, the purpose of patents is to allow technology research and development manufacturers to obtain the monopoly of patented products in the early stage, and to encourage manufacturers to carry out technology research and development through the high benefits of patented products.

But if you try to engage in malicious competition and monopoly through capital means such as investment and acquisitions, or through methods of destroying the market such as low-price dumping.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is going to beat you!

Not to mention Hantian Machinery's naive plan to break into the enemy's interior, let's talk about the normal progress of Lee's Steel Manufacturing in introducing strategic investors.

Lee's Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. is going to enter strategic investors, which has attracted a lot of attention. Among them, Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company is the most concerned manufacturer.

Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company, formerly known as Guangzhou Iron and Steel Works, and the main personnel actually come from a large number of local iron-making workshops in Foshan that were officially integrated in the early years.

However, just a few years after the Guangzhou Iron and Steel Works opened, due to the lack of high-quality large-scale iron ore and coal in the local area, ironmaking has not been able to develop. It can only rely on some small iron ore and charcoal industries around the Pearl River system.

In terms of scale, it is naturally much stronger than the Foshan iron industry in the Ming Dynasty, but it is also limited.

After the discovery of iron ore in Qiongzhou Island, the investment in the Qiongzhou Iron and Steel Branch Plant, and the introduction of coal from the Annan Guangning Coal Mine, the Guangzhou Iron and Steel Plant began to improve and truly entered industrial scale production.

Later, the Ministry of Industry integrated these iron and steel industries, and Guangzhou Iron and Steel Works, Qiongzhou Iron and Steel Works, and several other small iron and steel plants in Guangdong were merged into Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company.

And Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company has always been the main raw material supplier of Lee's Steel, and the strategic cooperation relationship between the two parties is very close.

Now that Lee's Steel is going to attract strategic investors, Guangzhou Iron and Steel also hopes that the two parties can further strengthen the relationship, and directly implement this relationship into the shares, so as to completely bind such a super large customer as Lee's Steel.

In addition to Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company, another company that is very interested in Li's Iron and Steel Company is the Dachu Commercial Bank. This is a government-run bank that has only been established for more than five years. one.

However, Dachu Bank did not intend to directly use depositors’ funds to invest in industries. This is a serious violation of regulations...

Dachu Commercial Bank's plan is more special. Their plan is to let Lee's Iron and Steel Company split the shares used to absorb investment into fragmented shares, and then hand them over to them to promote to various target customers in order to obtain higher profits. For the unit price and more funds, Dachu Commercial Bank collects handling fees from them.

This plan has attracted the attention of Lee's Iron and Steel Company, not for anything else, because paying the same amount of shares in this way can raise more funds, and scattered small shareholders don't have to worry about them causing any trouble to the company's operations.

Similarly, this plan also attracted the attention of the Central Bank of the Great Chu Empire, a financial regulator.