Wentang

Chapter 814 Naval Program
Gaozu number?What Gaozu, you can know it is Tang Gaozu with your toes.

"Bang." Li Shimin kicked Yue Shan.

"Hey, why do you kick people in public? Do you want to lose the face of a saint?" Yue Shan complained.

"Bastard, I not only beat you, but I also want to kill you and let this ship be called Yueshan, and let people come and step on you every day." Li Shimin said angrily.

"Uh, that's not what it means. This ship is to protect Datang, and it's called Gaozu..." Yue Shan quickly explained.

"Shut up, I'll throw you into the water if you mention Gaozu again." Li Shimin shouted in a low voice.

"Okay, okay, don't talk, don't talk." Yue Shan said hastily.

Although the people in the distance didn't know what they were talking about, seeing Li Shimin kicking him, they were full of envy and hatred towards Yue Shan.

They wanted to hug Li Shimin's thigh and shout: Saint, do you still want to kick someone?I have a lot of flesh on my body to kick comfortably.

"Then let's change to another naming method."

"No need, I already know how to get it."

"what?"

Li Shimin said domineeringly: "I am going to name the warship after famous mountains, great rivers, rivers and lakes. The most powerful battleship is named after the mountain, driving..."

"Destroyer."

"Yes, the destroyer is named after the peak."

"Where is the frigate? You can't use stones."

Li Shimin glared at him, as if he thought he was talking too much: "The frigates are named after rivers and lakes, so it's clear at a glance."

Yue Shan was very surprised. He didn't expect Li Shimin to master the method of naming warships of different levels so quickly, and even thought of the system name.

Although the rivers and lakes seem to have no hierarchical relationship with the mountains, it is enough to know what is going on in your heart.

The one named XX Mountain is the most powerful battleship, the one on XXX Peak is a destroyer, and the one on XXX River and XXX River are all frigates.

In fact, it is quite clear at a glance.

Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said proudly: "How about the naming method I thought of? It's better than your so-and-so number."

Yue Shan cupped his hands and said, "The sage is wise, I am convinced."

"Haha..." Li Shimin laughed happily.

After laughing, he asked again: "Now, what is your second naming method?"

Yue Shandao: "We name the administrative divisions, the battleships are named after the roads, the destroyers are named after the states, and the frigates are named after the counties."

Li Shimin pondered for a while and said: "Your naming method is more convenient than Mingchuan Dashan, and the level is clear at a glance."

Yue Shan didn't expect him to say that, so he hesitated and said, "Although I want to be modest, but... well, it is indeed clearer to name it by administrative division."

Li Shimin: "..."

"No way, who made me a saint, I can name it with whatever I want."

Yue Shan: "..."

"Well, who made you a saint, you have the right to be willful."

"Haha..." Seeing his depressed appearance, Li Shimin laughed heartily: "There are all of them. From now on, this ship will be called Chang'an."

Yue Shan: "..."

Although the others didn't know the reason, who dared to stand up against the emperor who had spoken in person?They all responded in unison, and then praised the meaning of this name.

Especially the generals of the navy, they were so happy, they wished they would put on a show when the enemy was right in front of them.

Yue Shan quietly said to Li Shimin: "This is the first ironclad warship. The technology is not very mature yet, and more powerful warships will be built soon."

"In a few years, this ship will become the worst in the main fleet. It's too embarrassing. There is no need to use the special name Chang'an so quickly."

Li Shimin has a different opinion: "As you said, a warship is already behind before it leaves the dock, and the next one will always be stronger. There will never be the strongest warship in the world."

"But the world's first ironclad warship will never change. No matter how powerful the future warships will be, the Chang'an will always be the number one and the beginning of everything."

Yue Shan said in admiration: "Sage is wise, it's my fault of thinking."

Next, Li Shimin, who was very interested, personally visited every corner of Chang'an.

When he visited the fort again, he also raised the same question, why the ship is so big, but there are fewer cannons.

Then the professionals gave him a detailed explanation. Although there were many cannons in the past, due to the carrying capacity of wooden warships, large-caliber cannons could not be installed, otherwise the recoil would shatter the hull.

The previous cannons did not have scopes, and the hit rate was low... Combining various reasons, they had to install a large number of small-caliber cannons, and close the distance to deal damage based on density.

Ironclad ships don’t have this problem anymore, they can install large-caliber cannons, and the hit rate of the new cannons has also been improved qualitatively with the addition of scopes.

Now it has become a reality to smash the enemy's warships with a cannonball more than ten miles away, and there is no need to install so many small-caliber artillery.

Now the iron-clad warships are exclusive to the Datang family, and other countries are all wooden-hulled sailing warships.

During the war, use a cannon to name and destroy the enemy's large wooden hull ships, and the remaining small ships don't need to fire cannons, just drive the ironclad ship directly to run over it.

The ram of the battleship is specially made, and the armor is also [-]mm thick, tearing apart a wooden ship is like tearing paper.

Invincibility is all-round.

Moreover, the lack of firepower of battleships will be supplemented by destroyers, and there will even be special arsenal ships in the follow-up. The cooperation of multiple ship types is a complete naval fleet.

To put it bluntly, in a naval formation, battleships are specially called to attack the enemy's main battleship.As long as the capital ship is knocked out, the remaining ships are meat on the chopping block.

Only then did Li Shimin let go of his obsession with quantity.

Then the warship sailed for a symbolic distance on the Weishui River, and the visit was considered to be over.

On the way back, Li Shimin suddenly asked a question: "Can you send the iron-clad ship to the Sassanian side for a deterrent?"

Everyone else was a little moved.

Yue Shan hurriedly said, "I'm afraid it won't work now."

Li Shimin asked, "Why?"

Yue Shan said: "An iron-clad ship is different from a wooden-hulled sailing ship. It needs coal as fuel. If the fuel it carries runs out, there will be nowhere to look for coal in the vast sea."

"In case of damage, it will be difficult to repair, and special tools and parts are needed. Now only the Dizhou Shipyard is capable of repairing ironclad ships."

"If you want ironclad ships to run across the ocean, you must first build supply points in key places. At least you don't have to worry about fuel anywhere, and secondly, you can perform simple maintenance and repairs."

"The more advanced something is, the more dependent it is on logistics. Before a complete logistics support system is established, it is best not to leave the ironclad ship far away from Datang."

Everyone was disappointed. It seems that it will take some time to wait for the ironclad ship to exert its power.

After returning to the palace, Li Shimin immediately summoned the Privy Envoy, the General of the Navy, the Minister of the Ministry of War and others, and issued several orders.

The first one is about the naming of the navy's future main warships, and Daozhou County is determined to be the naming level.

If there are other special warships, you can consider naming them after famous mountains, great rivers, rivers and lakes, and the rest of the small ships are named after numbers.

Although everyone didn't know why the emperor had to name every ship, they all knew the benefits of this naming, so it was unanimously approved.

The second order is to order the expansion of Liaodong Shipyard, Quanzhou Shipyard, and Guangzhou Shipyard so that they also have the ability to build ironclad ships.

Everyone is not surprised about the expansion of the shipyard. After seeing the ironclad ship, they hope to build a few more ships than anyone else, but what is strange is Li Shimin's next order.

"The Liaodong Shipyard is under the jurisdiction of Donggong, the Dizhou Shipyard is under the jurisdiction of the Museum, the Quanzhou Shipyard is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and the Guangzhou Shipyard is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry."

"This... dare to ask the saint, why do you want to do this?" Li Ji asked everyone's doubts.

"In the past, the jurisdiction of the shipyard was not clear. The local government could manage it, the navy could manage it, and the Ministry of War could also manage it. Having multiple branches was not conducive to management and long-term development." Li Shimin said:
"For the healthy development of shipyards, it is necessary to find a permanent management for them."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, do we mean that?What we want to ask is why the four shipyards are assigned to the four departments, but the Privy Council and the Navy Headquarters are excluded.

But it is inconvenient for Li Ji and others to ask this question.

It was Changsun Wuji who asked for them: "The battleship is for the army, and I think it is better to let the Privy Council and the Navy Yamen participate in the management."

Li Shimin said: "I know what you want to say. The shipyard should be handed over to the Privy Council and the Navy Headquarters for management. If it doesn't work, it should also be handed over to the Ministry of War. Why should it be assigned to the East Palace, the Museum, and the Ministry of Industry."

Everyone nodded, indicating that we meant it.

"The Privy Council cannot directly control ordnance manufacturing. This is the law of the Tang Dynasty, so the shipyard cannot give to the Privy Council and the Navy."

"The reason why not all of them are handed over to the Ministry of War is to prevent corruption. I know that corruption is inevitable, but it won't be all bad if it is divided into four managements."

Only then did everyone understand what was going on, and they all said: "The sage is wise, and I admire him."

Li Shimin continued: "What kind of warships the navy needs in the future, you can propose the standards and hand them over to the four shipyards, and let them find a way to realize them."

"Of course, the four shipyards can also study warships by themselves, and tell the Navy and the Privy Council the design parameters, so that they can decide whether they need it or not."

"In this way, ships can be built in a more planned way, instead of depending on the preferences of three or two people as before."

There is another point that Li Shimin did not say that in the future, the four shipyards will compete, and whoever designs a better, more powerful ship with a more reasonable cost will order the warship.

Urge them to research brand-new shipbuilding technologies, otherwise all the orders will be given to others, and you can only eat leftovers if you want to participate.

But now only Dizhou Shipyard has the experience of designing and building large-scale ironclad ships—it was completed with the support of Dizhou Academy. Under such circumstances, it would only be counterproductive to let them compete.

For a long time to come, what is needed is cooperation rather than competition. No matter who designs an advanced warship, it will be handed over to the four shipyards for construction.

Wait for their strength to grow, and then let their own side compete.

But all these are plans for the future and cannot be said in advance.Otherwise, these people will start competing immediately, and will not stop until they kill each other.

As for whether Datang needs so many ironclad ships... there is no doubt about it.

Compared with the current level of technology, the earth is too big, and at least a few hundred battleships can complete the rule.

Coupled with supporting destroyers, cruisers, maintenance ships and other ships, this number will be very large.The four shipyards are fully engaged, and it is impossible to complete the construction task without decades.

There is no need to worry about money and resources. With more than half of the earth supporting the Datang family, it is impossible to have enough resources.

Of course, this is a plan for the next few decades or even hundreds of years. Right now, we just need to formulate the standards and lay a good foundation, and then we can slowly follow the plan.

The third order is to build extensive supply points on the route to provide logistical support for the Datang Navy's ocean-going operations.

Naturally, this order was passed unanimously.

……

After that, half of the Tang Dynasty took action, busy for the Western Expedition, the expansion of the shipyard, and the construction of the supply point.

The happiest thing is the museum, which was an embarrassing department at the beginning.Relying on the railway to smoothly integrate into the administrative system of Datang, his identity has been recognized by everyone.

Now there is another shipyard, and it is the only shipyard that can build ironclad ships, which means that they are getting more and more attention from everyone.

The East Palace, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry were also very happy. It would be a waste of time for one more department to expand its authority. Anyone would be happy to change it. They immediately began to take over the expanded shipyard.

Doing so will inevitably cause some confusion, but they are all labor pains that must be experienced for standardization.

Relatively speaking, the disturbance to Dizhou Shipyard was the least, because it was the museum that took over.

Behind the museum is Yueshan, and there is Yueshan behind the Dizhou Shipyard. The two parties originally belonged to half of their own family.

The handover of work was smoother, and the handover was completed without affecting the production efficiency of the shipyard as much as possible.

What really affected them was the brain drain. They had to assign part of the talents who designed and built ironclad ships to the other three shipyards.

But fortunately, they have a strong family background and a close relationship with Dizhou College, so they won't be hurt.

Other shipyards are also learning from the experience of Dizhou Shipyard, knowing that they cannot design ships without the support of the academy.You have Dizhou Academy, and we also have an academy here.

As a result, several academies closer to the sea became lively, especially the eight major academies of the Yueshan Department became popular.

Of course, the shipyard mainly contacted the Eight Great Academies, because they were the only ones who had a dedicated Gewu Academy and had enough talents in science and engineering.

Even if other academies want to participate, there is no way.

What Yue Shan didn't expect was that this would actually promote the development of the science departments of the Eight Great Academies, making the science and engineering departments mature faster than he planned.

Therefore, demand is the real driving force for development.

It is useless to spend a lot of effort if there is no demand. If there is a demand, it only takes a little effort to succeed.

(End of this chapter)