1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 104 Contrast between China and the West
If the goal can be achieved just by chanting slogans, then the time-traveling group with a large amount of talking resources should have dominated the world long ago.Whether it is manpower or coal, neither is something that can be obtained by smashing a table or a bench. Even if everyone knows that Annan's domestic situation has an opportunity to take advantage of, there is no way to reach out immediately.

"What about the boats? There are only a few boats we can move. Are they all sent out to transport coal?" Ning Qi poured cold water on the emotional Tao Donglai: "From Hongji Port to Sanya, even if it is a straight-line distance by sea. There are also more than 200 nautical miles. If it is the Fuchuan Guangzhou Ship we captured, the one-way voyage would take four to five days at the fastest. Counting the time for loading and unloading cargo at both ends, it would be very smooth to run back and forth in about half a month. Those two ships have a displacement of less than [-] tons, so how much coal can they load even if they are all sent out? If we only need to load dozens of tons of coal after half a month’s trip, won’t the cost of our hard work be too high?”

"How is the shipbuilding project of the Ministry of Shipping going?" Tao Donglai, who had regained his composure, asked Yan Chujie.At present, the most closely related to the Ministry of Shipping is the Ministry of Military and Police. In fact, more than half of the sailors trained by the Ministry of Shipping are under the name of the Ministry of Military and Police. Moreover, the functions of the Ministry of Shipping are also assigned to the Ministry of Military and Police during wartime. Command this one.That is to say, for quite a long period of time in the future, the boundary between the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy will not be very clear. The sailing ships of the Ministry of Shipping, which usually serve as freight or patrol missions, may become troop carriers or even gunboats in wartime. .

"It went well. I went to the shipyard to see it the day before yesterday. The ship being built now is basically an enlarged replica of the captured Haicang ship. The design displacement is 200 tons. The keel has been laid. The boat material has been prepared enough, and Yue Zhiyun said that if the human resources can be fully guaranteed, then the boat will definitely be launched before the end of the year." Seeing that no one spoke, Yan Chujie continued: "I know you all think this The speed of shipbuilding is too slow, but the problem is that we only have a dozen or so professional shipbuilders, and the largest ship they have ever built is only [-] materials, with a displacement of more than [-] tons. I also want several thousand tons of artillery Battleships, but the current scale of the shipyard simply cannot be realized, and it is even impossible to start building two ships at the same time."

"For a two-hundred-ton ship, can the guns we built now be able to board the ship?" Tao Donglai grasped the information in Yan Chujie's words very keenly.

"There is no problem getting on the ship, and the gun mounts have already been made. However, the artillery can only be arranged on the deck, and the number should not be too many, otherwise it will affect the operation of the sails and make the ship less stable. Shipping The Ministry’s opinion is four to six, and the exact number will be determined after testing after being launched into the water. If it is a larger caliber artillery, this number will have to be lowered.” Yan Chujie said with some regret.

Having a navy composed of gunboats has always been the expectation of the Military and Police Department. Although after several months of hard work, the problem of putting cannons on board has finally been overcome, but the embellishment of only a few small-caliber artillery obviously cannot make Yan Chujie This gigantic cannonist was satisfied.Even so, it will take several months to realize it, so it is no wonder that Yan Chujie feels regretful.

"Can't we build several decks to arrange artillery like a western-style sailing ship?" Ning Qi suddenly felt a little regretful after asking this question. Doesn't this way of asking directly show that he is a novice in this regard?
Sure enough, Yan Chujie immediately cast a look of contempt: "Ning Qi, you don't know about this. The structure of Chinese-style sailboats is very different from that of Western-style sailboats. There is no way to set up a full-hole gun deck."

The hull shape of Chinese-style sailboats is very different from that of Western-style sailboats. For example, the shape of Fuchuan ships is wide at the top, and the cross-section of the hull is very similar to the V-shape of modern ships. Arranged on the top deck.Since the lower part of the hull is equipped with watertight compartments one after another, and the area is already small, it is impossible to arrange more artillery.When Zheng Chenggong conquered Taiwan, the main warship Daqingtou was about ten feet long, more than two feet wide, and eight feet in draft. Such a big blessing ship was only equipped with two large-caliber artillery at the bow and stern.And the largest three-masted gunboat he used was twenty feet long, eight Hongyi cannons, and forty thousand-jin Flang machines. This kind of firepower still couldn't be compared with Western warships. Go up and suppress your opponent.

Western-style sailboats do not have watertight cabins, and are far inferior to Chinese-style sailboats in terms of anti-sinking performance. The solution for western designers is to use a large number of ribs and thicken the hull, thereby making the entire hull more compact. sturdy.The hull section of a western-style sailing ship is U-shaped, and the bottom is large and the top is small. The wide gun deck at the bottom is used to arrange the artillery with the heaviest gun body and the largest caliber. It can also be stabilized, and the narrow top deck can also reduce the contact area when the two ships approach hand-to-hand combat.Such a hull structure also determines that the weight and quantity of artillery that a Western-style sailboat can carry is much greater than that of a Chinese-style sailboat.

In terms of the armed forces at sea during this period, the combat effectiveness of Western-style sailboats indeed surpassed that of Chinese-style sailboats by a lot.But in terms of design concept alone, the Chinese style sailboat is far ahead of this era.Hundreds of years later, modern warships finally adopted the hull design of Chinese-style sailboats, relying on watertight cabin technology to increase their resistance to sinking, and the arrangement of artillery is also similar to that of Chinese-style sailboats of this era, with only a small number of large ships on the deck. Caliber artillery as the main firepower.From the perspective of the evolution history of warships, Western sailing battleships are more like a funny design that went the wrong way.It is a pity that the ingenuity of the Chinese is limited by the level of shipbuilding and artillery at that time, otherwise the sea power comparison between the East and the West may not be so disparate.

Of course, the time travelers who brought Zenith Star technology to this era will definitely change the course of history. Advanced shipbuilding concepts and weapon manufacturing technology will definitely greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of Chinese sailboats, but this change will take a long time. Time to realize it slowly, at least for now, the people who travel through can only hope that the shipyard can build their own armed merchant ships as soon as possible.As for the construction of warships, that is not something that can be achieved now.

After listening to Yan Chujie's introduction, Ning Qi said angrily: "Then we will have to avoid white-skinned sail warships at sea for a long time to come? If we don't build steam iron-clad warships, won't we be able to defeat them at sea?" them?"

"That's not necessarily true." Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "Western-style sailboats do have their natural advantages in design in this era, but their disadvantages are also obvious..."

Western-style sailboats need to use a lot of high-quality wood as ribs, which directly leads to the fact that the cost of Western-style sailboats of the same tonnage is much higher than that of Chinese-style sailboats.The soft sails used by western-style sailboats require higher masts and more sailors, which invisibly increase the cost of sailboats.The most terrible thing is that the power that the Western powers can invest in the Far East is very limited, and the firepower advantage of Western-style sailing ships is not enough to make up for their disadvantages in numbers, especially when facing East Asian opponents who are good at fighting on the water. The disadvantage caused by the gap in the number of sailors will become more prominent.

"Wait!" Ning Qi interrupted Yan Chujie's introduction and said, "The ship-borne artillery of this era can hit a few hundred meters at least, so how can they be helpless in the face of jumping gangs?"

"It's true that it can hit hundreds of meters, but it doesn't mean that it can still be accurate when it hits hundreds of meters. Shipborne artillery in this era doesn't have any sighting and fire control systems. It all depends on the gunner's intuition and Experience." Yan Chujie patiently explained: "Furthermore, two fists are hard to fight with four hands. They are really surrounded by hundreds of ships. How many ships can be sunk even if there are guns? This is not a Michael Bay movie. The stuff is blown up directly, and even if it hits a lot of times, it’s just a hole in the hull of the ship. It’s not so easy to sink a ship, and more depends on luck.”

The sea battles in this era are indeed as Yan Chujie said, the solid bullets fired by the artillery are hard to completely sink a large warship, and most sea battles are still like the scenes in "Pirates of the Caribbean". Using artillery to bombard the ship planks and blood flying across the board, it looks extremely lively, but in the end it is still necessary to rely on jumping to fight to solve the opponent.

Although the British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada by artillery in the Great Battle of the West in 1588, which began to change the ownership of maritime hegemony, the inefficient combat method of jumping gangs still continued at sea. For quite a long time, until the Battle of Trafalgar in the early 19th century, when the British navy led by Admiral Nelson defeated the French navy under Marshal Napoleon, the port battle still played an important role in this great battle.

"No matter how powerful it is, it can't be worth the word 'many'. The Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch and British who have come to East Asia now, how big is their fleet? They also suffered a loss on the coast of Ming Dynasty. And We have so many advanced technologies on hand, it is only a matter of time before we can build warships with more efficient combat performance." Yan Chujie is full of confidence in his own technical reserves, and is not too worried about the fleets of Western powers.Of course, there is another reason why he can be so confident, that is, Sanya is not located on the current main trade routes in Southeast Asia, and it is almost impossible to encounter merchant ships or warships from the West. Naturally, nothing will happen There was conflict at sea.

(End of this chapter)