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Chapter 1013 Halftime 2
"What's the point of Guangda? The British flagship is several times larger than the Qin-class, but it still turned into a piece of broken wood. The bigger the ship, the harder it is to operate, and the larger the impact area. It's useless. The materials of a Han-class ship are equivalent to two and a half Qin-class ships, but two Qin-class ships are not necessarily inferior to one Han-class ship."

After listening to Setel's advice, Jie Ji couldn't help it. After all, she was the commander-in-chief of the Indian Ocean Fleet, and she couldn't let her subordinates talk nonsense in front of the emperor. If any of her words were heard, it would affect the future development direction of the navy.

"It seems that you also have ideas about warships. Tell me in detail, what kind of warship do you think is the best?"

Of course, Hong Tao would not let Setel influence the design ideas of the warship, but that did not prevent him from listening more to the opinions of the naval generals. After all, they were the actual operators and must have a say.

"Students feel that the Qin-class's tonnage is sufficient, and if it is to be enhanced, it should focus on seaworthiness, speed and maneuverability, and there is no need to pursue the size and tonnage of the hull.

Instead of building bigger warships, we should think more about naval guns. If we can have naval guns with greater power, longer range, and higher hit rate, even if we install fewer of them, we can improve the combat effectiveness.”

Jie Ji did not hide her incompetence, nor was she afraid of touching the emperor's sore spot, and immediately spoke out everything in her mind. It was not empty talk, but seemed to have been carefully thought out.

"That's different. Take today for example. If our ship also has a displacement of more than 800 tons and is equipped with more guns, the hit rate will definitely increase. If the sea conditions are worse, the large ship will be less affected, and the small boat may not be able to shoot normally."

But his suggestion was immediately opposed by Setel, and it was not just empty talk. There was also a naval battle that had just ended as an example, which was very convincing.

"You have only handled naval guns for a few days. Don't jump to conclusions if you don't understand. The roll of a ship is not linearly related to its tonnage, but is a function of the size of the stabilizer and the height of its center of gravity.

Besides, do you know how much it costs to build a large-tonnage warship? You only care about the prestige, but have you ever thought about how much more money the court and His Majesty will have to pay?"

Being refuted in person by a subordinate, no matter how good-tempered Sister Ji is, she can no longer tolerate it, and immediately started a full-scale confrontation mode. Regardless of whether what he said was accurate or not, this thought alone is enough to make her half a handsome man, and she thought very comprehensively.

"... Never mind. I just want to win the battle. His Majesty once said that doing your job well is the greatest way to be loyal to your king and your country!"

In terms of eloquence, Settle may not be inferior to him, but in terms of knowledge reserves and comprehensiveness, he is far behind. He was so embarrassed that his face turned red, but he couldn't find any reason to refute and could only shout slogans.

Jie Ji was not only a graduate of a professional school, but also a professional among professionals. The students of the Haihu Division could only take the textbooks prepared by the emperor himself, and could hear the emperor's lectures once or twice a month. The Cuju team listened to the emperor's lectures every day, and could ask questions immediately if they didn't understand anything.

In the words of later generations, the teachers are different. In addition to professional knowledge, the Cuju team will also receive traditional education in the inner study room and be exposed to government affairs to a certain extent, which is a knowledge blind spot that is difficult for Haihu students to touch.

In addition, Jieji worked her way up from a navigator and gunner to a commander of a land warfare commander, a standard amphibious officer. She also experienced the replacement of several generations of navy equipment from scratch, and her experience is not something that can be learned by reading alone.

Young officers like Settle had certainly learned more systematically than their seniors, but they also had less experience. They had never used a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon, and could not personally experience how much the update of weapons could improve combat effectiveness.

"Okay, it's good to discuss the problem, don't argue about it personally. What you both said makes sense. Big ships must be built and naval guns must be upgraded. Don't frown. I'm not trying to smooth things over. This is inevitable. You have just become familiar with the Indian Ocean and have not yet entered the real Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Compared with the Indian Ocean, the winds and waves in these two oceans will be stronger and the sea conditions will be more complicated.

The construction of any weapon is not imagined out of thin air, nor is it omnipotent. It must be targeted. The purpose of the Qin-class warships is to cruise in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, protect the safety of ports and shipping routes, and eliminate pirates.

Its tonnage is sufficient for use in these waters, and any larger size would be a luxury. But if it is used in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, its seaworthiness is far inferior to that of the Han class. The Han class is only barely usable, and if you want to sail across the oceans, you have to build a larger warship.

As the ships get bigger, they need to be equipped with larger caliber guns. This is inevitable. But that is a matter for the future. Before the Europeans catch up with similar technology, the equipment of the Imperial Navy will not be fully upgraded. "

Hong Tao did not intervene in the argument between the two naval generals until they showed signs of developing into personal attacks, then he stepped in to put an end to the topic.

Regarding the construction of the navy, research and development has not stopped in the past ten years, and a specific model has been produced, but it has not been put into service. As for the reason, the General Staff and the Navy Staff are not very clear, because the order not to put it into service came from the emperor, and no specific explanation was given.

Today, Hong Tao revealed some reasons to the naval officers present. It was not a funding issue or a model issue, but a purpose issue.

He believes that the current naval equipment is sufficient to gain an advantage in confrontation with the navy of any country. There is no need to spend a lot of money to build more advanced warships and naval guns, and the scale should not even be expanded.

Because the Ming Empire has no plans to enter the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for the time being, the navy’s only current mission is to firmly control the areas surrounding the South China Sea and Indian Oceans and protect every shipping route and every port.

Food must be eaten bite by bite. The Ming Empire does not yet have the ability to attack on all fronts. When it will have this ability depends on its control over Asia and the level of domestic productivity.

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In the past ten years, in addition to trying his best to assimilate each occupied area, Hong Tao also made an economic development plan for the Ming Empire.

If we want to feed more than 100 million people while maintaining military superiority, agriculture alone is definitely not enough, and maritime trade is still not enough.

The current maritime trade can only be described as a primary model, mainly focusing on the export of raw silk, silk, cotton cloth, white sugar, cocoa powder, sugarcane wine, whale oil, leather products, porcelain, and tea, supplemented by glassware, steel tools, and chemical products.

Among them, the planting and extraction technologies of raw silk, silk, cotton cloth, white sugar, cocoa powder, sugarcane wine and tea are relatively easy to copy. It is impossible to rely on them to dominate the market for a long time. Machinery and chemical products are the future development direction.

But in this era, machinery and chemical industry are also considered labor-intensive industries, requiring a large number of young and strong people to work full-time. So many young and strong people go to work in factories or serve in the army, so who will go to farm?

(End of this chapter)