I want to be emperor

Chapter 761
In the new development plan of the Great Chu Empire Navy, the number of Yingtian-class battleships as the core of the fleet will not be small. A construction plan for up to six ships of this class has been drawn up, and construction of three ships has already started. Among them, the construction progress of Yingtian The fastest, and it is expected that the hull construction and outfitting will be completed next year.

If all goes well, the outfitting will be completed in the 31th winter of Chengshun and various sea trials will be carried out. By the [-]st year of Chengshun, the ship should be delivered to the Navy and enter service.

However, although the Yingtian-class battleship is very important, the high cost of construction doomed this large-tonnage battleship to not be the mainstream of the Great Chu Empire's navy.

In the previous strategic planning of the Great Chu Empire's navy, the number of ocean-going warships was to reach [-], but many admirals still believed that battleships were indispensable in naval battles.

Therefore, in the earliest navy plan of [-] battleships, the number of battleships is very large, at least hundreds of ships are required, and the remaining [-] ships are cruisers and frigates.

But now, even the stubborn battleship faction in the navy thinks that a hundred battleships is too exaggerated and unnecessary...

The reason for such a change is that when the navy proposed the plan of [-] warships, the navy’s front-loaded rifled guns had not yet entered service, and the Chu Empire’s navy, which used smoothbore guns, did not have the same firepower as the indigenous navies of various countries. The battleship opened up the essential gap.

When both sides are using smoothbore guns, it means that the combat distance is only 300 meters or even closer.

In this case, a battleship with a larger tonnage and a larger number of artillery has become an indispensable force in naval warfare.

This is also the strategy and tactics adopted by the Great Chu Empire Navy for many years, that is to build a large number of battleships to serve as the core of naval warfare. As for cruisers and frigates, these two things are actually used to perform escort and miscellaneous tasks. , The thin hull and the scarce number of artillery can't bear the responsibility of the main force of naval warfare.

But after the current rifled gun appeared and performed extremely well in the Indian campaign, this situation changed.

The biggest change is that with the service of rifled guns, the warships of the Great Chu Empire Navy can extend the combat distance at sea from 300 meters to more than 500 meters, or even thousands of meters.

When shelling targets on the shore, it can even be extended to a distance of two to 3000 meters or even farther.

During the Indian campaign, the cruiser Busan used its 150mm front-loaded rifled gun, increased the elevation angle, and shelled targets on the shore 4000 meters away, and the hit rate was quite impressive.

This means that the auxiliary battleships in the Great Chu Empire Navy equipped with front-loading rifled guns, that is, cruisers and even frigates, have the ability to efficiently damage the enemy's main fleet.

The problem of too few naval guns will be compensated by front-loaded rifled guns with longer effective range, higher hit rate, and greater explosive power.

The problem that the hull is too thin and lacks protection will be covered up by the superior maneuverability brought by one's own steam engine and the long range of the front-loaded rifled gun.

To put it simply, after the admirals combined their own steam engines and front-loading rifled guns, almost all admirals could have a scene in their minds: their own warships could safely face off at a distance of several hundred meters. Even enemy ships thousands of kilometers away carry out continuous shelling, and use steam engines to keep the combat distance between the two sides within a certain range at all times, so that the enemy cannot catch up or escape, thus forming a battlefield situation of unilateral hunting.

Under such circumstances, the protection capabilities of cruisers and frigates are dispensable...

Because the enemy cannot approach, let alone cause effective strikes on one's own warships.

In this way, the large number of various cruisers and frigates in the Great Chu Empire can directly act as the main battleship of the navy after being equipped with front-mounted rifled guns, and carry out devastating strikes on any enemy ships.

Then the problem came, since the cruisers and frigates are enough to destroy the enemy's main warships, then the first-class battleships with larger tonnage, stronger firepower, thicker armor, and higher cost... Where is their tactical positioning? ?
It's very unfortunate... The battleships have lost their original tactical positioning, and they can't find a new tactical positioning.

Now the navy is arguing whether to build a large-tonnage first-class battleship...

Six Yingtian-class battleships, this is already the result of the efforts of the generals of the old battleship faction, otherwise, according to the views of the generals of some of the more extreme cruiser factions in the navy: if you want a shitty battleship, just get a big one A bunch of cruisers and you're done.

Cheap and easy to use!
The cost of a 2000-ton battleship is enough to build three cruisers of more than [-] tons.

And a larger number of cruisers means that the navy has greater flexibility when sending ships to perform missions overseas. It will not be as tight as it is now to deploy warships. When some places encounter situations that require warship support, They have to be transferred from far away places.

This chaos within the navy and the disputes among the various factions eventually led to a great change in the navy's current shipbuilding development plan compared to before.

According to the navy's new round of cost planning, six Yingtian-class battleships will be built in succession in the next few years, but the number of Jinzhou-class cruisers and subsequent improvements built during the same period has reached as many as 24.

The number of cruisers built is not only far more than battleships, but even more than twelve new frigates.

Because the navy, after the practice of the Indian campaign, believes that the tonnage of a frigate of about [-] tons is still too small, its navigation performance is too poor, its endurance is not good, and it is more difficult to perform ocean-going missions.

Considering the cost of nautical performance and battery life, warships performing ocean-going missions should be between [-] tons and [-] tons. If they are small, they will not perform well, and if they are large, they will be too expensive.

The full-load displacement of the Jinzhou class is [-] tons, which happens to be stuck at this level.

This is why the Jinzhou-class cruisers were built on a large scale.

As for the frigate, we still need to continue to build it, but the tonnage is further enlarged to about [-] tons... This tonnage is actually the tonnage of the third-class battleship of the Chu Empire Navy in the early days. Well, it is also the tonnage of European navies at the same time. Approximate tonnage of the battleship.

This kind of frigate of more than 500 tons is said to be a frigate, but it is actually a low-cost small cruiser. It is planned to be stationed overseas for a long time to various bases, relying on the nearby activities of each base to perform patrol and escort missions within a certain range.

As the construction plans for new and various types of warships are launched one after another, the modification of many old warships in the past will also continue.

After all, as long as the old warships are replaced with front-mounted rifled guns, the combat effectiveness of the old warships can be greatly improved. Naturally, the navy will not continue to use smoothbore guns foolishly.

However, front-mounted rifled guns are also more expensive, and replacements also require cost, so not all warships can be replaced. Basically, only warships with steam engines installed at the beginning of construction can be replaced, and the age of the ship is even lower. new enough.

As for some of the original pure sail warships modified with steam engines, the steam warships are originally excessive products because of their relatively large limitations, so this time they will not be replaced with artillery, but will be retired one after another.

As for the pure sail warships that have not been modified with steam engines before, let alone, there is no discussion about retiring directly...

And some battleships after refitting with firepower will also be adjusted according to their performance. For example, a large number of first-class battleships with two to three thousand tons before will be refitted with firepower and converted to cruisers.

Some early cruisers of more than 1000 tons were downgraded to frigates.

According to the Navy's internal plan, it includes new construction and modification of existing warships, that is, new warships equipped with steam engines and front-mounted rifled guns.

After 35 years of Chengshun, the Great Chu Empire Navy will have 4000 new battleships, mainly eight Suzhou-class battleships with a full load displacement of more than [-] tons, and the Hantian battleship with a full load displacement of [-] tons. There are six Yingtian-class battleships with a full load displacement of [-] tons, and six new battleships to follow.

The number of new cruisers has reached about one hundred, of which the main force is the Jinzhou-class cruiser and subsequent new cruisers. The number is expected to reach about fifty, and the rest are some old cruisers of about [-] tons. A cruiser converted from an old battleship.

The number of frigates will reach nearly one hundred, including about [-] newly built frigates, and about [-] frigates refitted from existing frigates, some cruisers, and even third-class battleships.

In other words, by the 35th year of Chengshun, the number of new warships in the Great Chu Empire Navy is expected to reach about 220.

Of course, this is only the number of new ocean-going warships, and does not include some existing ones. However, there is no modification plan. The old warships that continue to use smoothbore guns will still have a large number of these warships, and they will undertake second-line and third-line duty and training. mission, followed by decommissioning as the age of the ship increases.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the navy has also submitted a new construction and modification plan for offshore inland river gunships. It plans to build a variety of offshore submersible gunboats with a displacement ranging from hundreds of tons to a thousand tons, which are specially used for offshore inland rivers. Used for deployment in overseas colonies.

After all, the navy of the Great Chu Empire needs to go deep into the inland areas of overseas colonies, transport supplies for the frontline army along the river, escort immigrants, merchant ships, etc., so there has always been a large demand for inland river gunships.

Today, there are more than 40 gunboats active in India, which are used to support army operations and escort merchant ships, but this is not enough... After all, the Indian peninsula is extremely large, and there are many rivers in the period.

It’s just that the Great Chu Empire has a relatively strong control over Bengal, which is the outlet of the Ganges River. In order to control the outlet of the Ganges River and the Bengal area, the Great Chu Empire dispatched inland river gunboats to patrol and escort here all the year round. Of course, cover is inevitable. Army combat.

Just to maintain the lower reaches of the Ganges River and the estuary, the local Bay of Bengal Squadron of the Great Chu Empire Navy has twelve offshore inland river gunboats, which perform missions all year round.

And many other places on the Indian peninsula actually need a lot of inland gunboats.

In addition to the Indian Peninsula, there are also a large number of places in the South China Sea that also need offshore inland river gunboats...

This also led to a very embarrassing situation. When overseas, the ocean-going fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy was extremely powerful, and it strongly controlled more than half of the Indian Ocean and the entire Western Pacific.

However, due to the lack of a sufficient number of offshore inland river gunboats, the control over offshore and inland areas is not very strong.

The navy of the Great Chu Empire does not lack ocean-going warships, but what it lacks is a large number of offshore and inland river gunboats.

This embarrassing situation is actually a kind of conflict caused by the great Chu Empire's national strength and strong external expansion, but the navy's internal strategy has not been adjusted in time, and the core goal is still to seize sea control.

For a navy that competes for sea dominance, the focus of construction must be ocean-going warships, and ocean-going warships are large in tonnage and deep in draft, and it is difficult to fight deep inland along rivers.

It is the inland river gunboat with a very shallow draft that undertakes this task.

It wasn't until recently that the Indian peninsula often complained about the lack of inland river gunboats and urged reinforcements for more gunboats. Only then did the gentlemen in Jinling City realize that the inland river gunboats were not enough.

That's why we urgently launched a construction plan for offshore inland river gunboats, planning to build a batch of gunboats first, and then pull them to the Indian peninsula for emergency.

Anyway, the tonnage of this thing is small, and the technical difficulty is not difficult. Just build a hull, install a steam engine, and equip a few front-mounted rifled guns. Several medium-sized shipyards can do it.

The construction plan of offshore inland river gunships is also one of the reasons for reducing the number and living space of frigates below the kiloton class.

The Navy of the Great Chu Empire used to be overseas and lacked inland river gunships. When fighting deep into inland rivers, they often used those frigates with relatively small tonnage, such as those frigates with a displacement of five to six hundred tons and seven to eight hundred tons. Although these ships were ocean-going vessels , but because the draft is relatively shallow, it can barely run into the river to fight.

But after all, it is not an inland river gunboat, and its performance in all aspects is not satisfactory.

Now that there are more plans for offshore inland river gunboats, these small-tonnage frigates lack even more reason to exist.

At the same time, inland river gunships, he can not only have inland river gunships, but also offshore gunboats...or more precisely, offshore patrol ships. The Great Chu Empire Navy has always had this type of ship, but it was very inconspicuous before. That's all.

However, some offshore patrol ships with relatively large tonnage cover part of the tactical role of frigates: offshore patrol and escort!
With the cruiser on top and the offshore patrol ship on the bottom, the small-tonnage frigate was very uncomfortable. In the end, the navy simply repositioned the frigate in the ocean-going fleet: a small cruiser with a displacement of about [-] tons. Act as a low-cost replacement for the new large-tonnage cruiser...and then use it for ocean-going miscellaneous purposes.

As for the task of offshore patrol, it was completely abandoned and handed over to the new offshore patrol ship.

At the same time, the Navy has improved and expanded the performance and tactical positioning of offshore patrol ships, so that offshore patrol ships have a certain performance of going out to sea to replace the role of frigates in the past.

This formed the specifications and positioning of Chengshun's various naval warships after the 30s.

A battleship of more than [-] tons, known as the main force of the fleet's decisive battle, is actually useless with a high probability placed on the dock...

A cruiser between [-] tons and [-] tons is said to be an auxiliary battleship, but in fact it will become the absolute main battleship of the navy, undertaking almost all combat tasks such as fleet decisive battles, reconnaissance, and escort.

A frigate between [-] tons and [-] tons is said to be a frigate, but it is actually a small cruiser, which moves with a cruiser or a battleship, and does things like that.

Offshore patrol ships ranging from hundreds of tons to more than 1000 tons are responsible for offshore patrols in local waters, and offshore patrols, escorts, naval gun diplomacy, and inland river patrols and operations when necessary.

Inland river gunboats ranging from dozens of tons to more than 1000 tons are specially used for rivers and lakes. Warships with very shallow drafts are used for garrison, patrol, escort, deterrence and other tasks in inland rivers and lakes in frontiers or overseas colonies. .

The above five types of combat ships will become the main development direction of the Great Chu Empire Navy in the next few years, and there is a high probability that it will continue until Chengshun for about 40 years.

Because the Navy's development plan for this development plan is two periods, each period is ten years.

In the Qingdao Naval Base, Luo Zhixue listened to a series of reports and plans for the future development of the navy, inspected and visited the battleship Hantian, and inspected the live-fire training of a fleet of the navy.

After staying in the naval base for three days, Luo Zhixue continued his journey on the imperial special train.

The imperial special train first went west, and after returning to Jinan, it added coal and water. However, Luo Zhixue did not get off the train.

On the way, Luo Zhixue also met local officials at the train stations they stopped, or got off the train for a simple inspection, but the time was very short.

After all, after going north this time, Luo Zhixue's next inspection focus will be Tianjin, not Dezhou and other places along the way.

On July 29th, [-]th year of Chengshun, Tianjin Railway Station.

The railway station was completely blocked early in the morning, and all trains were suspended. There were a large number of guards wearing dark blue double-breasted military uniforms, carrying a flash cap percussion rifle, and wearing black hard-top military caps with small brims Army soldiers completely blocked the entire railway station, with one person at a distance of several meters, and surrounded the entire railway station.

At the train station at this time, there were only a group of local civil and military officials from Hebei Province and Tianjin Prefecture who had obtained permission to meet him.

At about noon, everyone suddenly raised their heads and looked south along the railway line. They saw a white mist appearing in everyone's sight from far to near. Along with the white mist, there was also the sound of train wheels hitting the rails. the sound of.

Immediately, all the civil and military officials who had been waiting in the train station all morning cheered up and came to the platform.

But the arriving train was not the imperial special train they imagined, but a military train. When the train arrived at the station, a large number of Guards soldiers with live ammunition came down from above. They were soldiers of the [-]st Guards Infantry Regiment.

After communicating with the Second Guards Infantry Regiment, which arrived in Tianjin ahead of schedule and performed security tasks, they strengthened the security of the train station and all aspects along the way.

Nearly 2 guards accompanied Luo Zhixue on the northern tour, but not all 2 stayed with Luo Zhixue, but were divided into three parts. Do security work.

The Second Guards Infantry Regiment arrived in Tianjin three days ago, and conducted a security check on the railway station and the inspected area, and arranged for alerts.

And at the same time, in fact, the Third Guards Infantry Regiment had crossed Tianjin and went to Youzhou City for security work.

Only the 8000st Guards Infantry Regiment, the [-]st Guards Cavalry Regiment, and Ruo's army and other troops, about [-] people will always accompany them.

The Second Guards Infantry Regiment and the Third Guards Infantry Regiment, after strengthening their firepower and reconnaissance forces, took turns going out to be responsible for the security of the cities along the way.

As for armed personnel such as local army forces and patrol police, they can only be responsible for peripheral security work, and cannot carry live ammunition. All nearby garrisons are prohibited from moving to minimize risks.

As for ordinary people... Except for a few selected representatives who have passed the security review of the Internal Affairs Department of the Imperial Academy, ordinary people cannot even get close to Luo Zhixue within 1000 meters.

When Luo Zhixue came out to inspect, he still cared about his own life. Even though he had brought great changes to the land of China in thousands of years, Luo Zhixue still knew that there were still a lot of people who wanted to assassinate him...

No matter what age, whether you are doing well or not, as a ruler, you must have the consciousness of being assassinated!
It's not about how well you do...it's about how you can't please everyone!
No matter how good the development is, you will hurt the interests of certain people... For example, the anti-corruption kills a corrupt official, and the corrupt official has relatives and friends who want to take revenge or something, or life is not satisfactory, and the brain wants to do something big when it gets hot Honest man.

With hundreds of millions of people in the Great Chu Empire, not a few wanted to kill Luo Zhixue.

In addition, Luo Zhixue himself is afraid of death, so Luo Zhixue always pays attention to his own safety during his previous trips. This time, he brought the entire First Guards Division and other auxiliary troops with him on the northern tour. The total force has 2 Ten thousand people.

In addition to Luo Zhixue's special imperial train for this northern tour, there are actually a large number of ordinary trains, including trains for officials and a large number of military trains carrying soldiers from the Guards.

Columns carrying soldiers from the [-]st Guards Infantry Regiment arrived one after another, and then the soldiers of the regiment got off the train. After strengthening the security in the train station with the [-]nd Guards Infantry Regiment, another train arrived.

This time, a large number of imperial guards, hundreds of imperial guards got off the train station, directly took over the security work nearby, and assigned manpower to check around.

They not only inspected the train station, but also some people went out to conduct risk investigation along the route planned for the imperial carriage.

The officials waiting at the train station saw the Guards soldiers at noon, and after waiting for more than an hour, a large number of people stood sore and weak, and then they waited for the imperial guards.

After the imperial guards finished the security investigation, they fired a signal flare towards the rear, only then did they see another train entering the train station.

This time, there were two passenger trains that were more luxurious than ordinary passenger cars. However, the trains did not stop directly at the platform, but passed over the platform where a large number of officials were waiting, and ran to the open space on the platform ahead to stop.

These are officials who accompany them to handle various affairs, including a large number of civilian officials and a group of military officers.

These people will form the center of the Great Chu Empire on the northern patrol road, handling various imperial affairs anytime and anywhere.

Immediately afterwards, a special train arrived!

The reason why this train is special is not only because it is more luxurious, but also because there is a huge dragon emblem on the front of the train!

This is the imperial special train in the narrow sense!
The imperial special train slowly entered the station, and accurately stopped in front of the platform for passengers to board and unload.

However, the crowd did not see Luo Zhixue and many important officials immediately, but saw dozens of guards wearing double-breasted military uniforms, revolvers pinned to their waists, and a waist knife behind their backs.

These people got off the imperial train under the leadership of a middle-aged imperial guard, and then stared at the surroundings.

The leader of the middle-aged imperial guards, the commander of the imperial guards, had sharp eyes and kept scanning the crowd in front of him. Whether it was the local officials who greeted him or the guards soldiers who arrived one step earlier, they were all the objects of his scrutiny.

He stood and watched in front of the imperial special train for five or six minutes before turning around and returning to the carriage of the imperial special train.

Two minutes later, an official from the Ministry of Ethics and Education was seen alighting from the imperial special train, followed by a group of people holding a royal guard of honor. This person stood more than ten meters ahead.

It was at this moment that everyone saw Luo Zhixue get off from the compartment of the imperial train, surrounded by seven or eight ordinary Hanlin Academy officials who were actually personal imperial guards.

But everyone just took a look, because at this time the officials of the Ministry of Rites and Education had already sang: "Your Majesty has arrived, and all the ministers bow down!"

A large group of people immediately took three steps forward, the civil servants knelt on both knees, and the generals knelt on one knee.

The officials of the Ministry of Ethics shouted again: "Get up!"

Everyone got up.

kneel!
Up!
kneel!
Up!
Going back and forth like this three times, after knocking down three times and prostrating nine times, the leading governor of Hebei, Xia Jialiang, raised his head slightly, and saw His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Chu Empire who was looking at them with a kind smile on the front: Luo Zhixue!

Immediately bowed, trembling slightly, with a choked voice, said: "I haven't seen Your Majesty for five years, and I am worried day and night. Is Your Majesty's dragon body safe?"

Luo Zhixue glanced at him, the old man's play has been acted out... He said that he hadn't seen Worry Zhen's body for five years, was he just complaining that he hadn't been summoned back to Beijing for five years, and felt wronged!

But in the crowd, they could only smile: "I'm safe!"

(End of this chapter)