I want to be emperor

Chapter 1096 The Resurrection of All Things

After Prince Luo Jian arrived in Tianjin, he began his inspection trip.

However, with this kind of inspection that was fully open to the public and accompanied by reporters from the North Korean newspaper to take photos and report on it, in fact, nothing real could be seen... Everywhere the prince went, even the roads the motorcade passed, were guarded by patrols on both sides, and all the way. Road closures.

If it weren't for the negative impact, local officials would have decorated the road with lights and streamers.

Some of the cold-proof measures inspected were also prepared by the local government long ago.

But this is actually not important. The prince's inspection this time is to show that the empire's top officials attach great importance to the coming cold wave... When others come over, this pressure has been passed on to the local officials in several northern provinces.

Even if it is just to avoid being criticized, local officials will go to great lengths to do relevant work well.

So it doesn’t really matter what you saw, where you went, or whether you found any problems.

It is enough that the signal is delivered to the place.

And this has indeed played a certain role. A few days ago, the telegram that the prince went to several northern provinces to inspect the cold prevention work has been delivered to many northern provinces. In order to welcome the inspection, the local government mobilized almost all the manpower that could be mobilized in just a few days. Material resources are fully prepared to welcome the arrival of a large-scale cold wave.

As a result, when a large-scale cold wave swept south from Mobei, Monan and other regions, although it brought lower temperatures than previous years and large-scale snowfall and blizzards, the damage caused was controllable.

Even the most important railway transport ensures access.

The North China Railway Company of the Dachu Empire Railway Corporation has also prepared various battalion-level measures in advance based on its experience in the past years, such as dedicated snow-plowing locomotives, various snow melting agents, and a large number of personnel to patrol the railways. Patrol along the line and resolve problems as soon as they are discovered.

At the same time, various local anti-cold measures were quickly put in place. Many local governments even entered disaster relief mode in advance, distributing coal, charcoal, cotton-padded jackets, quilts and other cold-proof materials to vulnerable groups such as lonely elderly people in advance.

Under such circumstances, when the cold wave brought strong cooling to the northern land and the heavy snowstorm lasted for several days, although it seemed serious, the actual losses caused were relatively limited... Of course, it is impossible to have no losses, and there are always some accidents. , and some economic losses are unavoidable, but they are all within controllable range.

And these are the results that the prince and the empire's top officials hope to see.

After the northern land ushered in a cold wave, the Yangtze River also ushered in a cold wave... This time is also the peak of the Spring Festival, and a large number of people take trains, ships and other means of transportation.

Fortunately, the road transportation in the Dachu Empire is not very developed these days... There are very few cars of all types, and there are not a large number of private cars that will drive long distances on the road. Otherwise, such a large area of ​​snowfall and frost in many places It may lead to multiple and serious automobile traffic accidents.

But trains and ships will not be affected much...especially the trains these days are still powered by steam engines, not electric motors. As long as the railway in front is not covered with particularly thick snow, then the power of steam engines is also very heavy. The train can forcefully drive all the way through, but at most it will be slower. Not to mention that there are many dedicated snow removal trains to patrol and clear the excessively thick snow in time.

Therefore, the transportation along the Yangtze River has not been affected by this large-scale extreme cold wave... but agriculture has been greatly affected.

Because the temperature is too cold, and the area along the Yangtze River is an important agricultural production area, where a large number of various economic crops are planted, many of these economic crops have been affected.

But overall it is controllable... In fact, the economic losses further south will be greater, because the temperature drop in southern provinces is more severe than in the same period in previous years.

For example, in southern Jiangxi, Guangdong, parts of Guangxi and southern Chunan, although the temperature after the cold wave is much better than that in the northern provinces, it is only a few degrees below zero at most...compared with the northern provinces where the temperature can often be several degrees below zero or even more than ten degrees. In comparison, that's much better, but the problem is... these places are all southern provinces. Many places have not seen snow for hundreds of years, let alone several degrees below zero.

In normal times, although these places were colder during the Little Ice Age than later generations, most years are still relatively normal... This also means that many economic crops in these places are not cold-tolerant, even some tropical crops.

Then these economic crops were hit hard by the snowfall and frost weather during this great cooling in the south.

Almost all the tropical fruit trees planted by many fruit farmers were destroyed and all were frozen to death...

Not to mention these areas on the mainland, even Qiongzhou Island is particularly unlucky to have its second cold winter in hundreds of years...

Qiongzhou Island has not experienced several snowfalls or frosts in the past hundreds of years, but it experienced one last year. Some local counties and towns suffered particularly heavy economic losses due to frost, and then it happened again this year!

Two consecutive years of extreme cold have stunned local officials, local farmers and even fishermen in Qiongzhou Prefecture... This is a tourist destination to escape the cold. Every year, a large number of people from northern provinces come here to spend the winter and bask in the sun. God actually brought widespread frost to Qiongzhou Island for two consecutive years, which defies common sense.

This resulted in patches of coconut trees and betel nut trees freezing to death in some areas of Qiongzhou Island, and a large number of fish cultured in coastal farms and fish ponds on land also froze to death.

The economic losses caused by this may be nothing in the entire empire, but for local counties and towns, especially for individuals, it is a disaster.

This year's extreme weather has caused something very strange to happen in the empire... That is, in this large-scale extreme cold wave, those who have suffered the greatest losses are not only facing the cold air of Siberia and belonging to the unavoidable Mobei and Monan regions, It turns out to be Guangdong on the southern coast (Qiongzhou Prefecture also belongs to Guangdong)...

Although heavy snowfall hit large parts of North and Central China, the actual economic losses suffered were not much.

This situation made Luo Zhixue, who was based in Jinling, speechless... The extreme climate of the Little Ice Age was so unusual that it was hard to guard against!

At first, he thought that several northern provinces might face great losses. As for the southern coastal provinces, even if it is colder, the problem will not be too big... After all, even in winter, many people in these places still wear short-sleeved clothes... You It was said that there would be heavy snowfall and widespread frost, but no one believed it...

This is why he sent the prince to inspect several northern provinces, but who would have thought that the severe cold in the northern provinces may seem to be severe, but in fact it is about the same as in previous years, and even the crops that are still grown in winter in those places in the north are not. Most of them are also relatively cold-resistant... People in the north still think that snow will bring good harvests.

But what I didn’t expect was that not only would it snow in several southern provinces, but there would also be such large-scale frosts...

This situation is also very helpless... Even if you know it in advance and want to make preparations, there is actually no good way to avoid it... After all, you can't dig out all the economic crops in the mountains and fields and put them in an insulated room, right? .

Not to mention now, even future generations will find it difficult to deal with this situation.

What the empire can do now is to recover some losses as much as possible and carry out targeted disaster relief at the same time.

The large-scale cold wave has not yet passed. Jinling has already issued an announcement that areas affected by the cold wave will be exempted from local agricultural taxes. At the same time, the affected areas will also receive special relief funds from the empire.

At the same time, the local government is required to provide one-to-one assistance to farmers and enterprises affected by the disaster, and provide corresponding policies and assistance... Let the farmers and enterprises affected by the disaster come out as soon as possible to avoid falling into bankruptcy.

After dealing with this cold wave and its subsequent effects, the fifty years of Chengshun have passed, and the Great Chu Empire has ushered in the fifty-first year of Chengshun.

With the arrival of spring, everything recovers, major companies start operations one after another, and various economic activities that have been stagnant throughout the Spring Festival are reactivated.

The Great Chu Empire has once again erupted into a powerful super empire... Trains are speeding, ships are cutting through the wind and waves, factories are emitting thick smoke and machines are rumbling, and skyscrapers have resumed construction, increasing their height at an alarming rate.

This scene stunned the diplomatic envoys from several European countries who had just arrived in Songjiang...

Even though they had been to South Africa, Colombo and Singapore before, they had basically served as diplomats in Cadiz, where the European governor was stationed. They had initially seen the power of the Great Chu Empire, and they were also very fond of the Great Chu Empire. The Chu Empire has some basic understanding.

But comparing these understandings with what we actually see now... there is a huge difference! At the intersection of the Yangtze River Estuary and the Huangpu River, many large sea-going ships are moored at the docks on the riverside... Passenger ships or cargo ships of tens of thousands of tons abound, and there are even several significantly larger behemoths docked at the docks. superior.

In fact, they have seen these two 10,000-ton giant ships... and even sat on them. This time when they came to Jinling City to take office, they came here on the 10,000-ton ocean liner of the Dachu Empire as diplomats.

But these dozen or more giant ships of 10,000 tons are moored on the shore, and large ships are entering the Huangpu River all the time. These situations have never been seen before.

As the first super city of the Chu Empire, Songjiang City is also the most important industrial center, financial center, and material transfer center. There are very huge ships that come and go here all the time. Here, a giant ship of more than 10,000 tons They are all relatively common, and even giant ships of 20,000 to 30,000 tons often appear.

This is because the home ports of many super-ocean luxury passenger ships of more than 20,000 tons currently in operation are all located in Songjiang City.

In addition, there are some special large-tonnage cargo ships... For example, the ocean-going tankers built in recent years are generally very large.

The Jianghe series oil tankers ordered and operated by Pacific Shipping Company have a deadweight tonnage of more than 8,000 tons... This refers to the deadweight tonnage, not the full load displacement. If the full load displacement is calculated, it actually reaches more than 15,000 tons. ...But it is a veritable 10,000-ton oil tanker.

And this thing is not just one or two ships, but dozens of them, transporting crude oil all over the world.

In addition, there are oil tankers with larger tonnage. Royal Petroleum Company invested its own money to build and commissioned the three giant oil tankers operated by Jiangnan Shipping Company, with a deadweight tonnage of 12,000 tons and a full load displacement of 20,000 tons. The decks of the ships alone The length reached more than 160 meters!

Among contemporary large-scale ships, the largest and most dazzling ones are not warships or cargo ships, but ocean-going luxury cruise ships... The top-notch ships are all loaded with more than 30,000 tons, and they run extremely fast. With a speed of more than ten knots, the typical representative is the Royal Princess.

Next, there are large oil tankers... These oil tankers specialize in transporting crude oil, in order to reduce transportation costs and also to meet the increasingly huge demand for oil transportation... Today's oil tankers are quite large, and the tonnage of the batch is relatively large, with full load tonnage. Generally, they are more than 20,000 tons, followed by a large number of oil tankers loaded with more than 10,000 tons.

Next, there are ordinary cargo ships... Ordinary cargo ships are actually not very large... There are relatively few cargo ships with a full load of more than 10,000 tons, and more are actually cargo ships with a full load of less than 10,000 tons, and a large number of main transportation forces are even five Freighters of about 6,000 tons are generally slow in speed, and quite a few of them are old ships. Even if they use steam engine power, they also use mechanically powered sails to reduce transportation costs.

As for warships... The warships of the Dachu Empire Navy have always been inferior to those civilian ships in terms of tonnage... The Tianjin-class battleship, the top battleship currently in service in the Dachu Empire Navy, has a full load displacement of just over 16,000 tons. On the Royal Princess Faced with his huge size, he is just a little brother...

There are only two such top-notch Tianjin-class battleships in the Chu Empire Navy... They are regarded as treasures by the navy. Since the end of the global voyage, they have been used as hotels in naval bases for a long time... Occasionally going to various port cities to do it Open day for the public to visit.

As for going overseas to perform military missions... that is simply impossible...

The battleships that actually perform various military missions are actually second-class battleships of the Dachu Empire Navy, such as the South Africa-class battleships. However, these seven- to eight-thousand-ton second-class battleships actually rarely perform actual combat missions. Most of them are in Serve as the flagship of each fleet, or form a separate battle formation for use as a strategic deterrent.

The real battles are actually small and medium-sized warships such as cruisers and even frigates, offshore patrol ships, and inland river gunboats.

Because even if it is a second-class battleship, there are not many in the navy... This damn thing is also quite expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars, such as the improved model of the South Africa-class battleship, and the new generation of second-class battleship that adopts the high-freeboard turret design concept. Waiting for the battleship Colombo class, the cost of the first ship reached 1.85 million.

This thing is also very expensive, so the number of ships to be built is not very large. It is estimated that only about eight ships of this class of ships and subsequent improved models will be built. Including the previous eight South Africa class second-class battleships, the total is only about eight ships. There are only sixteen ships.

Don't think that sixteen new second-class battleships are a lot...in fact, they are not even enough to replace the old battleships one-for-one.

Many battleships built in the 1930s have reached the end of their service life, and their technology cannot keep up. Many of them are either open-air turret battleships or low-stem turret battleships, which can no longer meet the needs of the contemporary Chu Empire Navy to control the land from the sea. needs.

Although these warships can still be used after repairs and repairs, the cost-effectiveness of their use is not cost-effective. It is better to directly build a new generation of high-freeboard turret-type warships for replacement use. In this way, the comprehensive use cost and combat effectiveness will be even higher.

Therefore, the Navy has already started planning this matter after the Tianjin-class battleships entered service... It's just that there are too many battleships that need to be replaced, and they can't rush it for a while, so they have to take their time.

It is worth noting that after the two Tianjin-class battleships were put into service, the Navy took a few years to slow down. The Navy, which felt that it had taken a breather, began to build a new generation of battleships again.

The tonnage is larger, the main gun is more powerful, and the protection is better. Of course, the price is also more expensive!

It also uses the rapid-firing, faster 200mm main gun on the Colombo class as the secondary main gun. Therefore, this new generation battleship is a relatively special battleship. It has two different main guns...

The reason why two different main guns are used is also a choice due to technical limitations... The Navy wants to install more main guns on the warships, preferably 300 mm main guns... But the current 300 mm main guns Although the power of the gun is good, the rate of fire is too slow. In actual combat, it often takes several minutes to fire...

However, the new 200mm main gun of the Colombo class uses rapid-fire gun technology, which greatly increases the rate of fire... In actual combat, it can quickly send a large number of 200mm shells to the enemy's head.

Because of this excellent main gun, the Navy once wanted to build a warship fully equipped with a 200mm rapid-fire main gun. It would be 17,000 to 8,000 tons, and then install a dozen 200mm main guns... The amount of ammunition delivered must be fierce...

However, although the 300mm main gun has a slow rate of fire, and although the theoretical rate of fire is good, it may not be able to fire a single round for several minutes during actual maneuver operations. However, if this thing is used to attack stationary ground targets, such as attacking enemy coastal defenses, The fort is very useful for bombarding coastal cities and the like... After all, it is a 300-millimeter large tube, coupled with a 300-millimeter large artillery shell. One shell can destroy an indigenous fort.

The navy is always unwilling to give up the powerful power of this 300mm naval gun.

On the one hand, they want to retain the large 300 mm tube to obtain powerful single gun power.

On the other hand, they want to use a 200mm caliber rapid-fire gun to obtain a large amount of ammunition delivery.

As soon as these two needs were combined, the top brass of the Navy slapped their heads: I want the big pipe, and I also want the rapid-fire main gun... I might as well use both at the same time.

In the end, a somewhat nondescript North America-class battleship with secondary main guns appeared.

Not to mention, this thing is actually the best choice that the contemporary warship designers of the Chu Empire can make based on the current technical conditions.

As for a further fully heavy-gun battleship... it's not that no one has thought about it, let alone that there is no corresponding design... In fact, the original plan was to install five triple-mounted guns, with a total of sixteen 200mm rapid-fire main guns. The plan is this unified main gun design... However, it was abandoned because the triple turret technology of the large-caliber artillery was immature, and there was no way to solve many technical problems such as unified fire control for the time being.

It's not that the hull design capabilities are not good, but that the technology these days is still limited. The Chu Empire has not yet come up with a battleship with a unified main gun that can fire volleys. Even if it is reluctantly installed with the same large-caliber main gun, in fact, each turret will fight separately. To fight...

There is no stimulation of war, and there is no arms race... The research and development of various military technologies needed for the empire's warships is actually relatively slow...

Not only is the technological advancement of battleships slightly slower, but the same is true for some of the army's equipment... Generally speaking, the technological research and development of military equipment of the Dachu Empire cannot actually keep up with the technological research and development of civilian products... and even a lot of it The technological progress of military equipment is due to the technological breakthroughs made by civilians, and military equipment was used belatedly.

This is true for military vehicles, and it is no exception for military ships.

Some civilian ships are thinking about using steam turbines for power generation on ships. They have conducted many experiments and obtained very dazzling speed data, but there is no movement from the navy yet... There is no special reason. , simply because the current steam turbines are too expensive. How can any steam engine be cheap and easy to use?

Steam turbines are affordable for contemporary luxury cruise ships, but that does not mean they are affordable for battleships...