Daming 1805

Chapter 226 No matter how expensive it is, you have to buy it
England, London, [-] Downing Street.

British Prime Minister William Pitt and all cabinet members held a meeting to discuss the issue of Yinzhou's counter-insurgency operations.

Admiral Nelson, Admiral Wellesley, also attended the meeting.

But with the current situation in Britain, neither of their commanders is happy.

When Wellesley was negotiating in Cape Xiyang, he felt that he didn't want to go to Yinzhou next time to suppress the rebellion.

Now the prophecy has been directly fulfilled, and it is even worse than I imagined.

If it was simply going to war, Wellesley and Nelson would not worry too much.

The problem is that one's own opponent holds hostages.

When it comes to the battlefield, whether to let go and attack, and whether to use any form of combat plan are all headaches.

The main force on the scene is still being reorganized, but the news from the front line is not good.

At the beginning of today's meeting, Prime Minister Pitt said to his companion in a deep tone:
"The Canadians have crossed the Ohio River west of the Appalachian Mountains and are attacking Kentucky and Tennessee."

The explosive bad news broke out, and there were a lot of exclamations in the conference room.

Wellesley almost stood up straight away:

"Your Excellency, is the news true? When did this happen?"

Pete handed Wellesley a telegram:
"It was discovered by Daming's immigration and security forces, and it was passed on to us after a long circle.

"Da Ming took the initiative to share this kind of news with us, obviously he did not support Napoleon's independence."

Wellesley looked at the content of the message and muttered in a daze:
"According to the people of Daming, this happened almost a week ago.

"There is no news from the eight southern states of the United States...

"The actual situation now may be worse than we imagined.

"We must use the fastest speed to arrange a group of military commanders to go there.

"Otherwise, by the time our local troops land, Napoleon may have already conquered the entire United States!"

Pete asked with a serious expression:
"Yes, I think so too. Can Lord Wellesley lead a group of officers there ahead of time?"

Wellesley nodded directly and said:
"This is my duty as a royal soldier of the kingdom, and I will organize people to leave as soon as possible.

"In addition, has Daming responded to the import of flying machines?"

Pete looked at Foreign Minister Grenville, who also took out a telegram and handed it to Wellesley.

Wellesley read a few sentences and exclaimed again:

"It's too expensive, [-] silver bills for locally assembled products, and [-] for imported products from Daming!
"According to the information I have learned, the price of general-purpose small civilian aircraft in Ming Dynasty only costs [-] to [-] silver bills.

"The price has directly doubled several times, and it is only the most basic experimental aircraft..."

With a somewhat aggrieved mood, Grenville said in a firm tone:
"There is no doubt that Daming does not want to sell us the plane, and there are two possible connotations of this kind of unwillingness.

"One is that we don't care about our market, and the other is that we don't want to leak aircraft-related technology.

"In the past few decades, our major Western countries have been chasing and imitating Ming's technology.

"In order to avoid being quickly cracked and imitated, Daming has stricter and stricter controls on the export of high-tech equipment.

"Airplanes are obviously also listed as key equipment for control.

"Just to avoid us using their embargo as a reason to declare their patents invalid in the UK.

"It is only then that such an export plan that strictly controls the quantity, scale, cycle, and such a high price is given."

Wellesley was silent for a few seconds, with a somewhat helpless and distressed expression, and at the same time said with certainty:

"I think even if the price is so high, even if the delivery starts in half a year, we have to buy it.

"Actually, thinking about it from another angle, the half-year delivery period is actually not particularly long.

"I don't think our craftsmen will be able to imitate the plane that Prince Dashi applied for a patent in half a year.

"At least in terms of reliability, controllability, engine maintainability, and production technology, it is impossible to do so.

"That aircraft can already be used for military reconnaissance and small-scale targeted air attacks.

"As for the plane we tried to make ourselves, Mr. Nelson and I have already seen it, and it can only barely fly.

"I propose to order at least ten, at least to have a more mature reference for our craftsmen to imitate."

Many of the surrounding cabinet ministers were taken aback, and Grenville asked subconsciously:

"Your Excellency Wellesley, do you mean that we should buy this kind of experimental aircraft that costs [-] silver bills and can only be delivered in half a year?"

Wellesley nodded with a melancholy expression, and Nelson next to him also expressed his approval:

"I also agree to buy, at least a batch, so that our craftsmen can learn from it."

Prime Minister Pete hesitated for a few seconds, gritted his teeth and nodded:

"Buy it, first buy a batch of ten."

Grenville was stunned for a few seconds:
"Wait a minute, Daming also made a request that the half-year delivery deadline is not calculated from the date of placing the order, but from the date when we issue the patent for the flying machine.

"That is to say, if we don't issue a patent, they will never deliver, and the normal patent approval process will take months, or even a year to complete..."

Pete froze again:
"Daming really asked for that? Can these two things be connected?"

Grenville nodded:

"Prince Dashi clearly stated this request."

Pete gritted his teeth again:

"Then give them the patent immediately."

It seems that he doesn't want to discuss more on this topic. It seems that discussing this topic can make Pete feel angry.

So Pete pressed the topic directly:

"Okay, let's continue talking about Yinzhou, Grenville, you go to Yinzhou with Lord Wellesley.

"Try to get Adams and his sons out of trouble, just follow the plan we discussed in our previous meeting.

"In the area north of Virginia, set up a Grand Duchy of New York, which can set its own tariff ratio.

"As long as Adams can draw a line with Napoleon, we can even make Adams Grand Duke of New York.

"Let Adams become the monarch directly, instead of being someone else's courtier as he is now.

"As long as they put back Queen Charlotte, Prince Frederick, Princess Amelia."

Grenville didn't really want to go to Yinzhou to negotiate, but whoever let himself be the foreign minister could only take over this job.

Then Pete looked at Wellesley and Nelson again:
"Regarding matters related to war preparations, do you two have any special requirements?"

Wellesley spoke first:
"I don't have any special requirements other than everything being as fast as possible."

Nelson also sighed and said:
"Our requirements are the same, to form and assemble troops as quickly as possible, and everything else is the same as before."

Pete nodded directly and said:
"Okay, then everything has been done early, if you two have any needs, you can directly ask me, and I will arrange as many people as possible to cooperate.

"Please organize the team to set off as quickly as possible, we are now competing with the monster Napoleon for time!"

Today's cabinet meeting is almost over here.

Trade, negotiations, and military matters all have a general direction.

But at the end, after listening to Pete's promise, Wellesley couldn't help but add:
"I hope that there will be armored combat vehicles available, and combat aircraft available to participate in the next war, but it seems that this is not possible for the time being."

Nelson also said with emotion as if chatting:
"We originally planned to transform an armored cruiser and put flying machines on board.

"Your Excellency Hood and I are already researching and trying to design a ship specially equipped for aircraft operations, but it's too late now.

"Our battleships, which all use the same large-caliber main guns, have already begun to be designed, but they have no chance to participate in this war.

"The timing of this war is very special. This is an old-style war on the threshold of a new era..."

Pete nodded slightly, approved of Nelson's guess, and at the same time thought subconsciously, and made a deeper judgment:

"This should be the strategy of Napoleon and Adams, who deliberately launched a coup at this point in time.

"Airplanes, chariots, these complex mechanical equipment of the new era, if fully popularized, the combat effectiveness of the main force of the imperial court will be subversively improved.

"But at the same time, the requirements for military logistics will also be greatly increased. Rebels like Adams and Napoleon are mostly unable to maintain these equipment.

"Before this ebbs and flows, there will be a huge gap between the combat capability of the imperial court's main force and the combat effectiveness of local rebel forces like them.

"After these mechanical equipment are fully popularized, they will have no chance to rise up..."

Wellesley also echoed:
"In classical times, with a pitchfork and a hoe, a peasant could kill a lowly lord.

"When a knight has mature plate armor, he can survive the siege of a group of peasants.

"Smokeless gunpowder and steamships enabled the Central Dynasty to conquer and directly rule distant frontiers.

"Once armored fighting vehicles and aircraft mature, we should be able to suppress any insurgency.

"Napoleon and Adams should want to conquer America before we reach Yinzhou."

Pete suddenly thought of something, sighed rather melancholy and said:
"This is the last chance for Napoleon and Adams.

"And the world war that just ended may also be our last chance to challenge Ming.

"The gap between us and Daming may become wider and wider in the future."

Both Wellesley and Nelson were military generals, and they had already thought of this in their hearts.

But they didn't express it directly.

Now Pete directly solved this possibility, and the scene fell into continuous silence.

There is no bright future for the United Kingdom.

As long as Da Ming doesn't collapse from within, he will always have the energy to easily suppress the entire world.

When the British cabinet held a meeting in a depressing atmosphere, the Daming Jiangnan Shipyard was in a state of festoons and festoons these days.

Zhu Zhongliang, the Supreme Emperor, took his Supreme Empress together to visit Jiangnan.

After retirement, Zhu Zhongliang can walk around more casually.

The shipyard also did what it liked, and invited the Supreme Emperor to participate in a series of ceremonies.

Daming's first aircraft carrier, Dinghai, has finally completed the main construction process, and it's time to launch.

The ship can continue to be built in the dock, or it can be launched and towed to the dock to continue construction.

It can continue to be built in the dock, or it can be launched into the water and dragged to the dock to continue construction.

Since the Supreme Emperor is here, of course he has to go directly into the water at this juncture.

Dinghai is a light aircraft carrier with a displacement of 25 tons and a maximum speed of [-] knots.

A complete full access deck was laid directly from the start of construction.

The integrated design of the slightly outwardly inclined starboard island and the chimney is used.

Except that the hull itself is still a traditional armored cruiser design, the superstructure has moved towards the optimal design of World War II.

To people of this era, it was a very strange ship.

But at the same time when the plane started to be promoted and advertised, everyone will suddenly realize it when they see it.

This is a mobile airport.

Then there are two new cruisers built last year, Chongqing Fu and Jinan Fu.

Dreadnought cruiser Chongqing Fu.

The full-load displacement is 15600 tons, and the maximum speed is 30 knots. The main weapon is four triple-mounted 160mm naval guns, four double-mounted 120mm secondary guns, and two quadruple-mounted 520mm torpedo launchers.

Cruiser Jinanfu.

The full-load displacement is 6800 tons, the maximum speed is 30 knots, the main weapon is three double-mounted 160mm naval guns, four double-mounted 80mm secondary guns, and two quadruple-mounted 520mm torpedo launchers.

The appearance of the two new cruisers is very similar to the dreadnought high-speed battleship, so they are called dreadnought cruisers.

From the main gun to the auxiliary gun, all adopt closed multi-mounted turrets, and the main gun is still a backpack structure.

This can be said to be a very radical cutting-edge design in this era.

Both also used bulbous bows and square sterns, and were also equipped with seaplane handling equipment.

As the first new type of warship to be built, the simple image has a strong impact on relevant personnel of the navy.

These two cruisers have now completed all outfitting and can be directly commissioned and given an official hull number.

However, the two ships still need to continue testing in the future, and the hull number can be awarded after all the tests are completed.

But now that the Supreme Emperor is here, he also held the service ceremony together.

Next are two new destroyers, Weihaiwei and Jinzhouwei.

The Weihaiwei small cruiser, or large destroyer.

The full-load displacement is 3500 tons, and the maximum speed is 32 knots. The main weapons are three double-mounted 120mm naval guns and two quadruple-mounted 520mm torpedo launchers.

Escort destroyer Jinzhouwei.

The full-load displacement is 1800 tons, and the maximum speed is 22 knots. The main weapons are two single-mounted 120mm naval guns and one quadruple-mounted 520mm torpedo launcher.

The construction of the two brand-new destroyers was the first to be completed due to their smallest hull size.

Up to now, most of the test items have been completed, and the hull number can be directly awarded for official service.

Now that the Supreme Emperor is here, two destroyers and two cruisers are put into service at the same time, and the new aircraft carrier is launched directly.

In addition to the newly launched, completed and serviced warships, there are also newly started warships.

The aggressive target exploration aircraft carrier with a full load of [-] tons was designed and completed at the end of last year.

Zhu Jianyan placed an order for two ships at a time, both of which were built by Jiangnan Shipyard.

Jinzhouwei Shipyard is responsible for two [-]-ton battleships.

These four new ships started cutting steel plates directly after the shipyard started construction at the beginning of this year.

Today, the Supreme Emperor came over and held the ceremony of laying the keel in advance.

Ceremonies for a total of seven new ships at different stages took place on the same day at the same shipyard.

The whole shipyard was very lively for most of the day.

These seven new ships, together with the Battleship Intrepid which is being renovated at Jinzhouwei Shipyard, and two [-]-ton battleships that have also been cut with steel plates, a total of ten and eight types of battleships, basically plan the future of Ming Dynasty. Surface combat ship system.

In the next ten years at least, the new types of warships that Ming Dynasty may need in the future can basically be upgraded and modified on the basis of these eight types of warships of different sizes.

(End of this chapter)