Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 168 Bai Chu’s prophecy, firearms dispute

On the surface of the Bohai Sea, a giant ship is moving slowly.

This is the first large warship built by Bai Chu Shipyard. Now that the naval training is considered fruitful, Bai Chu plans to take these people out to sea.

After all, if you have never seen the turbulence of the sea, how can you become a warrior on the sea, riding the wind and waves?

Nowadays, the giant ship is traveling very smoothly on the rough sea. From a distance, it looks like a huge beast, constantly rising and falling on the sea.

The giant ship designed by Bai Chu has barely reached the standard of a large battleship, with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons. It can be said to be the most advanced battleship in the world today.

However, Bai Chu has not yet developed a steam engine, so the power of the ship can only be driven by wind.

There are a total of five masts in the front and rear of the battleship. Except for the smaller mast at the front, which is hung with a triangular sail, the other four large masts are all hung with huge horizontal sails.

The biggest feature of this kind of horizontal sail is its strong wind-eating ability and sufficient power.

The jib is more flexible. Keeping a jib allows the giant ship to turn slightly at the most critical time.

Now, under Bai Chu's order, the four giant sails were fully opened and moved forward at full sail, allowing the originally huge warship to sail very quickly on the Bohai Sea.

"Sir, this battleship is so perfect."

Zheng He stood next to Bai Chu and felt the sea breeze blowing on his cheeks. He felt that the speed of this battleship was beyond his imagination.

Zheng He was ordered by Zhu Di to build ships in Tianjin. The ships he built were incomparable to the giant warship at his feet.

Today, this battleship carries more than 3,000 soldiers, but it still looks extremely empty on the deck.

Zheng He felt that if the ship was fully loaded, it could carry at least another three thousand troops.

In other words, one battleship can carry six thousand troops. This is clearly a mobile bunker.

As long as there are five such ships on the sea, Ming's army can appear anywhere on the sea at any time.

Thinking about this situation makes Zheng He excited.

You know, with the current combat power of the Ming army, an army of 30,000 is enough to sweep through some of the surrounding small countries.

"Sir, I think we can bring more navy with us next time we go on an expedition. In this way, our army's military capacity will be extremely prosperous."

Bai Chu smiled and said nothing.

The reason why he wanted to build the battleship so big was not to make room for the navy.

You must know that in future wars, strength is king, and any fear comes from insufficient firepower.

Bai Chu made the battleship huge and even divided the battleship's deck into three layers for this purpose.

Nowadays, muskets and artillery are not yet mature, and these firearms cannot yet be used in naval battles.

But it can't be done now, which doesn't mean it can't be done in the future. Bai Chu's idea is very simple, which is to increase the power of firearms in the near future, and then deploy these firearms on the giant ships overtime.

The deck is right.

There is so much space on the deck that more artillery pieces will be placed on the deck in the future.

Thinking about the future, when hundreds of artillery roared, a glimmer of light flashed in Bai Chu's eyes.

Firepower is king.

On the sea, no matter how many soldiers there are, as long as you blow the opponent's warship into powder, the opponent will have only one ending, and that is to be buried in the sea.

Thinking of this, Bai Chu couldn't help but mention Zheng He and said:

"Zheng He, naval battles are different from land battles."

"The number of people in land battles may have a huge effect." "But in naval battles, the most important thing is long-range attack weapons. As long as the long-range attack weapons are strong enough and there are enough, the enemy will be defeated when they approach you. Sink and be buried in the belly of a fish."

"So, don't worry about the number of soldiers. You should focus on how to enhance your long-range strike capability."

Hearing this, Zheng He had a thoughtful look on his face. After pondering for a moment, he said:

"But sir, if there are more people on our battleship, then our crossbows will become more. Isn't this also a way to enhance our long-range strikes?"

Bai Chu sighed in his heart, this is the gap in knowledge.

Zheng He had never seen the true power of firecrackers and artillery, and he would not understand that artillery was the god of war in the future.

In this era where cold weapons are still the mainstay, who would have thought that firearms would be the mainstream of future development.

"Zheng He, you should have seen firearm handles? What do you think of firearms?"

Zheng He nodded and said:

“Firearms are extremely powerful, but they also have many shortcomings.”

"The most important thing is that firearms cannot be used in rainy weather."

"We are at sea, surrounded by sea water. Once the gunpowder is wetted by sea water, our firearms will be completely useless."

"So I believe that although firearms are powerful, they are not suitable for use at sea."

“What you said makes some sense, but it’s not entirely correct.

Bai Chu expressed his agreement at first, but then expressed his thoughts:

"Although firearms still have many shortcomings, everything is constantly improving from invention to use."

"Firearms naturally follow the same principle."

"The firearms at the beginning were extremely crude. Gunpowder was tied to the bow and arrow, and then the gunpowder was ignited as the power of the arrow to kill the enemy. This was called a rocket."

"But look now, rockets are gradually being replaced by fire mirrors and artillery."

"Although there are still many flaws in the fire system and artillery, these things will gradually improve during the war."

"You can't use firearms on ships today, so you shouldn't just throw them away completely, you should find ways to improve them."

"Because in the future, firearms will be the most important means of combat at sea."

Zheng He, you must pay close attention to this and find ways to improve firearms so that these firearms can become important weapons of great powers at sea. "

"Not only firecrackers, but also artillery, which will also be moved to warships in the future."

"Think about how many miles away from the enemy, you can sink the opponent's ships. At that time, your navy will be rampant on the sea."

Zheng He was enlightened after being reminded by Bai Chu. He was about to continue asking about firearms when suddenly a voice came from the watchtower:

"Sir, several unidentified ships have been spotted ahead."

Hear sounds.

Bai Chu, Zheng He and others all looked at it.

A few black spots vaguely appeared in the distance, getting closer and closer.

Zheng He murmured doubts:

"How can there be a ship on the sea at this time?"

The black spots were still moving in their direction.

Bai Chulong's eyes widened and his sight moved closer, and he saw four large ships sailing on the sea.

(End of this chapter)