Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 372 The tuition fee is 400 million (first update, please subscribe)
Nanhua needs a "Great Eastern" project of its own!
This sentence was not said by Li Xuelin, but what Zhu Xianhai said when making the decision to build a 21-ton round, using "major projects to promote the development of national science and technology", not to mention that it is very common in China in the [-]st century, even on the other side of the ocean Midi has a similar example - the "Apollo Moon Landing" project is an example of promoting the overall technological progress of the Midi Empire through major engineering projects.

And in this day and age?
In this era where the first industrial revolution and the second industrial revolution meet.Although there are not many examples of such key engineering projects promoting the development of national science and technology, they are not without exception.

The most well-known example is the "Great Eastern", but it was not a successful example-the shipyard closed down, the shipowner went bankrupt, and even the "Great Eastern" was sold to Nanhua at a low price.

In this sense, the "Great Eastern" was a failure, and even its meaning was ignored intentionally or unintentionally for a long time.

No one realized it until the 20th century. Although the "Great Orient" was a commercial failure, technically speaking, it made the British shipbuilding industry progress for ten years, becoming an existence far ahead of European countries, and later For nearly a hundred years, the British shipbuilding industry has been leading the world, and all this is because of the rewards of a seemingly failed business case.

It was the "Great Eastern" that made Britain's world-leading shipbuilding level for a century.

Li Xuelin is well aware of this, because he has heard the marshal mention this kind of key engineering projects to promote technological progress more than once. Not to mention other things, there are many similar key projects in the navy.

Of course, judging from the present, what new types of artillery, high-power steam engines, and new types of boilers were promoted in the past.There is definitely no way to compare such key projects with the "Great Eastern".

"The Navy needs a "Great Eastern" project of its own!"

After taking Li Xuelin's words, Luanda said solemnly.

"Right now, for us, we have only two options, either we follow the British footsteps and learn from them, forever, at least for the next twenty years, or we take advantage of this era of change, through technology We need to leapfrog the British, catch up with the British, or even surpass them technically, and make up for the numerical disadvantage through technological superiority. Now, we only have these two options.”

These two choices are also the choices of many latecomers. Most of the time, those backward countries will choose to be followers rather than surpassers.

But in Luanda's view, Nanhua must choose to be a transcendent, only in this way can he surpass the UK in the future.

Holding a teacup in his hand, Li Xuelin did not interrupt Luanda's eloquent talk.

"What are our current technological advantages? The first is our triple-expansion steam engine. There was no similar engine until recently in the UK, and we have been using it for many years. The second is our Krupp cannon, which has extremely high performance. Excellent, it can be called a military weapon. The third is our steel armor. In the past we had the best composite armor, but now we have the best nickel steel, and our boiler technology is no worse than that of the UK. Mr. Li, the warship is made of What is it made of?"

The answer is so simple that anyone can answer it.Not only because Luanda has already mentioned it, but more importantly, in the past few years, the key projects of the Navy's propulsion are precisely these.

"Armor, artillery and steam engines, boilers!"

Frowning, Li Xuelin shook his head again and said.

"These are just a few elements that make up it. It doesn't mean that you can build a battleship with them. You also need..."

"It still needs to be integrated!"

Before he could finish speaking, Luanda interrupted him and said,
"I'm talking about integration, integration in the true sense, gathering all our strengths, all technological strengths, and integrating these world-leading technologies. They have always been there, just staying there, waiting for us Put them together."

Integrate!

If these technologies can be integrated on state-of-the-art warships, it is certain that the navy will have a powerful first-class battleship.

But building a battleship is such a simple matter. Can a battleship be built just by integrating these technologies?
Battleships are big guys ranging from seven to eight thousand tons to as many as tens of thousands of tons.The complexity and difficulty of his engineering far exceeds that of any warship Nan Hua has built in the past.

Staring at the thoughtful Li Xuelin for a while, Luanda went on to say:
"If we can integrate them together, then we will have the most advanced battleship in the world, Chief Li, the most advanced!"

"It is also possible that, like the "Great Orient", it is immature or even failed. Don't forget that we have made so many improvements to the "Great Orient". We replaced the new type of propeller, replaced the engine, and……"

After talking halfway, Li Xuelin stopped talking, and he already knew the answer in his heart. Since they can transform the Great Eastern, why can't they build it?

"Although to a certain extent, the "Great Orient" is immature, at least, the "Great Orient" is trying—carrying a crazy grand goal—to challenge the engineering difficulty that is several times that of the top shipbuilding level at that time. It is a brilliant and respectable attempt. And this is exactly what we need to try, Chief Li, through this attempt, even if it fails, I think it will benefit us endlessly!"

"You mean to pay the tuition!"

Li Xuelin stared at Luanda and asked.

"As you said, a [-]-ton combat ship costs at least two million yuan. Such a large amount of money is used as tuition fees. Who can afford this tuition fee?"

When he said this, Li Xuelin was still looking at Lu Anda, he just looked at him directly, staring at him without blinking!
"Mr. Li, the tuition fee is worth it. Any latecomer who wants to catch up with the leader must make a new attempt and have the courage to pay the tuition fee. The tuition fee may seem expensive, but even if it fails The benefits are endless, at least we have gained experience in failure, and at the same time we will make certain technological progress, just like the "Great Eastern", Russell's shipyard went bankrupt, Brunel's reputation was ruined, but the entire British shipbuilding industry But benefit from it immensely!"

Facing Officer Li's gaze, Luanda emphasized,
"However, if we succeed, the Navy will have the most powerful warships in the world! At least have warships that can rival the British battleships. Why did our fleet not play a role in this war? Because our fleet Too weak! Therefore, we must build a powerful navy through such an attempt!"

"You mean, build the navy by paying tuition fees?"

Looking at Luanda, Li Anlin said:
"We can use this money to buy warships from the UK, and I can tell you that now we have plans to buy combat ships from the UK. If we have this money to pay for tuition, we might as well use it to buy warships. After all, even if we carry out It will take three years to try, the navy can wait until three years, and then consider building a battleship after four years!"

Hearing this, the corners of Luanda's mouth drooped, he looked at Li Xuelin, and muttered:

"Buy? Just by buying, can we buy a powerful fleet? We need to buy warships, which is also the best way to increase our strength. However, Mr. Li, in the end, we still need to build large-scale fleets by ourselves. Warships. If we do it now, we can win at least a few years. Isn’t this a good time to shorten the gap between us and the British?”

Staring at the puzzled Luanda, Li Xuelin laughed: This guy is really young, he may be a designer, but that's all.

"Get out your plan!"

"what?"

"Take out your plan, don't you want to build a large battleship? I'm going to Buenos Aires, and the timing of your arrival is just right. Now the Navy..."

Li Xuelin laughed again.

"Thanks to other people's funding, the Navy is very rich, and we are fully capable of paying the tuition fees!"

"However, it's not enough for you to just convince me. You also need to convince the commander-in-chief. Empty words are useless! Come up with your plan. As long as you can convince the commander-in-chief, let alone the tuition fee of two million, it will be four million. The navy can also afford the tuition fees!"

(End of this chapter)