The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 248 Secret Organization
In fact, the torpedo designed by the empire at this time is not the torpedo that Jiang Tao knew in his previous life.

In the previous life, the predecessor of the torpedo was a kind of "pole mine" born in the early 19th century. The pole mine was fixed on the bow of the small boat with a long pole. enemy ship.

In 1864, Captain Lupius of the Austro-Hungarian Navy installed the engine on the strut mine, and used the compressed air in the high-pressure container to drive the engine piston to work, driving the propeller to make the mine body attack the enemy ship in the water.However, due to the low speed, short range and ineffective control of the boat, Lupius' invention was not put into use.

British engineer Robert Whitehead, who participated in the above-mentioned development work, successfully developed the first torpedo in 1866.The torpedo borrowed from the invention of Lupius, using a compressed air engine to drive a single propeller, and controlling the depth of the torpedo by manipulating the horizontal rudder plate at the tail of the torpedo through a hydraulic valve.At that time, the speed of the torpedo boat was only 11 kilometers per hour, and the range was 180-640 meters. There was no device to control the direction of the torpedo boat.

In 1904, American E. W. Bliss invented the first thermodynamic torpedo (also known as steam gas torpedo) with a heat engine instead of a compressed air engine, which increased the speed of the torpedo to about 65 km/h and the range of 2740 meters .

By the beginning of World War I, torpedoes were recognized as the primary weapon of ships after artillery.During the First World War, 1153 million tons of transport ships were sunk by torpedoes, accounting for 89% of the total tonnage of transport ships sunk; 162 ships, accounting for 49% of the total number of ships sunk.During the Second World War, the total tonnage of transport ships sunk by torpedoes reached 1366 million tons, accounting for 68% of the total tonnage of transport ships sunk; the number of ships reached 369, accounting for 38.5% of the total number of ships sunk.

This is one of the places where Jiang Tao is jealous, so a few years ago, Jiang Tao proposed a plan to develop torpedoes.

After several years of experiments, there are already some eyebrows.

However, the torpedoes designed by the Empire designers are somewhat similar in principle to the rockets. The new torpedo body is shaped like a cylinder, and the head is conical to avoid too much resistance to navigation, but it is conducive to brutally smashing the bottom of the ship.

The entire torpedo is divided into three parts. The front part is the mine head, which is equipped with explosives and fuzes. The top of the fish head is a steel column protruding from the mine head by three centimeters. It is only as thick as a little finger. In fact, it is part of the trigger device. As long as there is a violent impact, it will retract into the fish head, rub the fire to ignite the fuze, and then detonate the explosives. It takes 0.5 seconds from triggering to explosion, but it is difficult to press it in manually;
The middle part is the torpedo body, which is equipped with thrusters and other power devices. It is similar to the flight of rockets. As long as the gunpowder in the middle part is ignited, the entire torpedo will fly straight out of the torpedo tube, relying on the reaction force of the gunpowder explosion, but It will not blow up the mine body in the middle and ignite the explosives in the mine head.

The rear part is the fish tail, which is shaped like four wings and controls the balance of the entire torpedo.The movement of torpedoes in water is affected by both gravity and buoyancy: if gravity is greater than buoyancy, a torpedo launched horizontally will move obliquely downward like a stone; if gravity is less than buoyancy, it will move obliquely upward like a hydrogen balloon.To make the torpedo aim at the target and move in a certain direction, the buoyancy and gravity must be equal in magnitude, and the relationship between gravity and buoyancy can be adjusted by choosing the volume of the torpedo properly.Therefore, the volume of the torpedo is an important technical indicator.

But now the torpedo has been successfully tested, with a diameter of 150 mm, but the effective range is only 500 meters, and the cost is high. A torpedo costs 1200 silver dollars.

However, after testing, the hit rate of the torpedo launched within 300 meters is above 50.00%, and the misfire rate is also very high, around 13.00%.

As long as today's wooden warships are hit, there is almost no possibility of survival. However, this torpedo has a disadvantage. If it cannot successfully penetrate the bottom of the ship, it may explode outside the ship, and its effect will be much weaker.

Moreover, the bottom of today's battleships is almost covered with copper skin. After testing, torpedoes can break through the copper skin of battleships within 200 meters. If countries strengthen the thickness of the hull, the power of the new torpedo will drop a lot.

However, at least in recent years, there are still some uses. If three torpedoes can be exchanged for a cruiser, the empire will make money. Of course, the empire's scientific researchers are making further improvements and research and development.

That's why Jiang Tao asked the torpedo to be installed on the clipper warship first, but it won't be needed this year.

……

There used to be more than a million people in the Forbidden City and its surrounding areas, but when Kangxi escaped from the customs, all the people were forced to relocate, making this place a sparsely populated place.

Since the Great China Empire moved its capital to Beijing, the Forbidden City has once again become the political, economic, and cultural center of the empire. At this time, the Forbidden City and its surrounding areas have a permanent population of more than 200 million.

Now the south of the city is a special place for buying and selling. It is really crowded and lively. As long as you have silver dollars, you can buy anything. Of course, buying and selling people is illegal.

Jiang Tao often goes to Weifu for private visits in his spare time, and he is very pleased to see this.

On this day, all the concubines were clamoring to go shopping in the south of the city. Jiang Tao lamented that whenever the concubines went shopping, the emperor of his majestic Dahua Empire actually became the bag carrier. One of the secrets of the Ouchi bodyguards who secretly protect the emperor and concubine.

At this moment, the cabinet minister Cheng Zhang and others all ran over with serious expressions.

Jiang Tao secretly laughed, and finally he was relieved. The concubines stamped their feet and left angrily.

Cheng Zhang immediately handed over a memorial.

Did something big happen?
Jiang Tao read it quickly, and his face immediately changed. The governors of Shaanxi, Yunnan, and Sichuan have all posted a memorial in the past month. Follow suit.

If the local officials and the army hadn't taken the initiative to advance private military pay and family wealth for emergency relief, the crisis would have been overcome, and the consequences would have been disastrous.

This is not only a matter of Huaxing Bank, but also concerns the credibility and prestige of Dahua Empire.

Moreover, the empire was at war with many countries at this time, and the country was in turmoil, and the soldiers in front had no intention of fighting.

This is definitely a rumor.

Jiang Tao was taken aback. Nowadays, everyone in the empire has food and clothing, a rich life, and everyone, old and young, can rely on them. You can’t even find beggars on the streets and roads, because beggars will be arrested, and those who are really unable to live will be supported by the state. If it is delicious Those who are lazy and not productive will be interrogated by the government. If they have bad deeds, they will be sent to reform through labor.

Although the methods were somewhat harsh, they greatly improved public security and dispelled the unhealthy atmosphere among the people.

But there are still people looking for trouble!

Jiang Tao sullenly asked calmly, "What's the cabinet's opinion?"

"According to the investigation of the local government and the police station, it was found that this was caused by an organization called "Tiger Fighting", trying to disturb the place. So far only some minor characters have been arrested. After interrogation, those who did not want them to confess were all silenced. Up to now, even the head of the other party doesn’t know.” Cheng Zhang said with some concern, and added: “And the other party also participated in the looting, regardless of success or failure, they quickly fled far away, almost without trace.”

It seems that these people are very cunning, and they are targeting me, because my previous nickname was Black Tiger, who are they?

The other party is looting, is it accumulating capital for rebellion?
Jiang Tao thought about it for a long time, but he didn't think of a good way to deal with them. He directly said seriously: "The cabinet must investigate this matter strictly. First, the local defense and police stations must increase their efforts to suppress bandits, and send a batch of guns to the local area. Increase the attacking capabilities of the garrison and the police force. Well, one of the four quarters of the garrison has Mielu guns, and one-fifth of the police force has Mielu guns. Well, forget it, the caliber of the Mielu blunderbuss equipped by the police force is reduced to make it lighter, so it doesn’t need to be so powerful, after all, it is used to deal with bandits in the country, and the gun is called the Huaxing Two Years Rifle.”

Wei Donglai had a different opinion, and said sternly, "Your Majesty, since the breech-loading rifles have many advantages, the previous Mielu blunderbusses are good, but have many disadvantages, why not replace them all with single-shot breech-loading muskets?"

Jiang Tao originally meant that he did not want the police force to have such powerful firearms. The police force is an anti-riot force, targeting the citizens of the empire. Seeing this, he had no choice but to say: "Now we are modifying the Milu gun to make it a trap and then reload the gun. That's all, no need When the production line is opened again, they will directly equip the newly modified Mielu guns, which can save some silver dollars, and the newly produced revolver rifles will be equipped with sharpshooters first."

Now the military factories of the empire are producing revolving lances and revolving rifles. There is not much difference between revolving rifles and revolving lances, except that the barrel is lengthened and a bayonet is added, and the handle is somewhat different. With rifling, the effective range reaches 200 meters, and the maximum range is more than 300 meters. The whole gun weighs 8.5 catties, and the caliber is also 9 mm. The whole gun is made of good steel except for the handle, and the bayonet is 1.7 meters long. It's 90 silver dollars each.

The empire is now manufacturing this gun in large quantities, with a monthly output of 12000. As for the previous Mielu gun and Mieqing musket, the production has been greatly reduced.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Jiang Tao nodded, and said again: "Second, the other party chose to be in a marginal city. The rich or those who have a lot of wealth must be investigated, and the cabinet will cooperate with the commoner guards, black tiger guards and other elites to deliberately spread some false news, set up traps, and lure snakes out of their holes. I want to see who is holy?"

"Well, the other party looted the goods, which means that the other party has a large number of people. Ministers should be cautious."

After all, Jiang Tao was born as a bandit and won the world. He is most afraid of his colleagues. He is going to call the special forces back to investigate the suspicious forest.

Huang Zongxi was very resentful, and suggested: "Your Majesty, no matter how strict the organization is, sometimes it will show its feet. The Emperor will summon the world and offer high rewards to these thieves, and there must be something to gain, but these thieves are completely in vain, so the Emperor does not need to worry. "

Jiang Tao nodded, and said seriously: "Okay, everyone, go down immediately, and be sure to take precautions before it happens."

"According to the order!"

Cheng Zhang, Wei Donglai and others responded in unison.

(End of this chapter)