back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 355 The Battleship Completed
On the fourth day of August in the third year of Hongxiang, the first new warship was born.A new type of warship with a completely different design from popular vehicles and ships, with keels, watertight compartments, and porthole windows of unknown purpose.Whether such a design can gain an advantage in water warfare, these old shipwrights are not optimistic.

Losing the speed of the vehicle and ship, how to get close to the enemy ship and engage in hand-to-hand combat?Is it necessary to rely on a warship equipped with a bed crossbow, or a trebuchet, to attack the enemy ship from a long distance?Except for large trebuchets, bed crossbows can't do much damage to huge enemy ships.No way, in this era, the understanding of water warfare is that the opponent cannot be defeated by long-range attacks.To solve the opponent, you must approach the enemy ship with speed and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

The speed of loading stone bombs on the trebuchet is too slow, and loading too many stone bombs will slow down the speed of your own warship.In the water battles of this age, speed is life.Otherwise, vehicles and boats with the fastest acceleration in a short period of time will not be very popular.The bed crossbow may not necessarily achieve great results.The arrow attack is nothing more than trying to consume as much as possible before hand-to-hand combat.

No way, if they know that there is a long-range weapon that can destroy enemy ships with a few hits, then they won't think so.This weapon is called a cannon.This is a cross-age weapon, certainly not something they could have foreseen.

When the first new warship was built, the Quanzhou Shipping Department and the Local Supervision Department handed in the memorial at the same time.Five days later, Lu Chengqi, who was in charge of the Chang'an Palace, received news of the launch of the warship at the same time.

After reading the memorial, Lu Chengqi laughed out loud.It happened that Xu Chongguang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, came to see him, and Lu Chengqi summoned him without hesitation. Before Xu Chongguang could speak, he showed him this memorial.

Xu Chongguang saw that it cost 300 million coins to build the first warship, and he smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, don't you need to show this matter to the old minister?" In Xu Chongguang's view, the initial investment was only 300 million coins. If the new type of warship can't be built, it really can't be justified.

Probably during this period, apart from the merchants who realized the huge benefits of maritime trade, even Xu Chongguang, who was more enlightened, did not think that investing money in the endless shipbuilding industry would bring any benefits.

But Lu Chengqi's eyes were full of mountains of gold and silver.With ocean-going ships, you can explore the world. If you can reach the American continent, which generation of emperors can compare to this feat of expanding the territory?

Even for ocean-going trade with foreign businessmen, the tariffs received by the shipping department must be astonishing.In official history, the Southern Song Dynasty almost regained its lost ground in a corner south of the Yangtze River.If Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, was afraid that Yue Fei would really regain the lost land of the Northern Song Dynasty and welcome back the second emperor, perhaps history would have been rewritten.The Southern Song Dynasty was able to support such a short period of time, relying on sea trade.It can be seen from this that the benefits of this ocean-going trade are huge.Even though the sea is very risky, under the temptation of huge wealth, there are not a few people who take risks.

The only regret is that this new type of warship must be equipped with artillery in order to exert its power.Now everything is ready, only the east wind is owed.Tang Xun and Su Song can only say that they are accumulating experience in casting cannons.I don't know how much steel was wasted, but it can be molded into artillery, but it can only hit more than one mile, which is not as good as a bed crossbow.

This was far lower than Lu Chengqi's expectations. The casting of cannons was progressing slowly. In this era of low iron and steel smelting technology, even with small blast furnace technology, it was still difficult to solve a series of problems such as gun chamber pressure, gun body air bubbles, and air leakage.

However, in a short period of time, it is already very remarkable to be able to accumulate cannon casting technology.Lu Chengqi also knows that in this time and space without the accumulation of technology trees, to achieve this step is already a manifestation of the wisdom of the ancients of the Chinese nation.If you want to go further, you have to establish an industrial system in order to mass-produce artillery.

Lu Chengqi knew that this matter should not be rushed, because he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry.Meals have to be eaten at a bite, and the road has to be walked step by step.Establishing an industrial system requires a long-term process.Even the most rudimentary industrial system requires the accumulation of a whole generation.This is still in the case of Lu Chengqi, the "prophet", pointing out the way forward. If there is no Lu Chengqi, let alone the industrial system, even the Hongxiang rifle will take at least 500 years to take shape.

Sighing regretfully, Xu Chongguang said, "Since the warship is ready, when will the Liang Shanshui bandit be wiped out? The memorial to the cabinet from the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, when it comes to the issue of food and payment for the forbidden army, the treasury is already a little supportive." Can't stop."

Lu Chengqi was very puzzled: "Didn't the autumn harvest just come in? How could it not hold up? Besides, the commercial tax is collected once a month. In Jingzhao Mansion alone, there may be 300 million yuan, right?"

Xu Chongguang smiled wryly, he doesn't know Chai Migui if he is not in charge, Lu Chengqi is completely like a shopkeeper who throws his hands away, and he leads a group of cabinet ministers and ministers to solve any problems, and he only wants one result.Although he obtained the coveted power of the prime minister, the already weakened prime minister's power was not enough for Xu Chongguang, and he was a little dissatisfied.But he also knew that the previous prime minister had too much power, which inevitably aroused the emperor's suspicion.Nowadays, the prime minister's power is dispersed among the six ministries, the cabinet, and the Privy Council, which is in line with the emperor's rights and interests.This is something that can't be helped, in the struggle between prime minister and imperial power, the imperial power that occupies the majority is definitely the victor.As the loser, there is no other way but to accept fate.Unless someone rises up to rebel, but now that the world in Dashun is peaceful, how easy is it to rebel?

This idea just passed away, Xu Chongguang understood that his power was obtained by relying on the imperial power, and he looked very powerful on the surface, but as long as the emperor no longer trusted him, he could use any excuse to dismiss him at any time. Consequences of over-centralization of imperial power.Xu Chongguang is a sensible person. He knows that as long as he does his job well and gains the trust of the little emperor, with the "inertia" of the little emperor, he will definitely not let a capable minister "retire and return home" easily.In other words, it shouldn't be a problem for him to be the chief assistant of the cabinet for ten years.

"Your Majesty, this is the income and expenditure statement submitted by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Please read it through your Majesty." Xu Chongguang took out a memorial that had already been drafted and handed it to Lu Chengqi.

Lu Chengqi finally found out that this was the account book recorded with the double-entry bookkeeping method he "invented", and it should have been supervised and audited by the professional accounting personnel of the Supervision Department. Looking at the time, it was the account book before August of the third year of Hong Xiang .

Spreading out the long memorial, the various income and expenses are clear at a glance, and Lu Chengqi, who is used to keeping accounts in traditional characters, can understand it.It's just that the more I look at the back, the more I feel that the money is not enough.

In the past three months alone, the imperial army has already consumed 600 million coins.Among them, 300 million guan were paid for food and salaries, and the other 300 million guan were allocated for the first payment for the construction of new warships.

(End of this chapter)