Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 222 Self-built Small Ironclad Warship

ps: Thanks to Xiaobaicaidunmogu for the 2000 Qidian coins reward!
"Otherwise, the purchase of warships from Western powers was advocated by Li Hongzhang and other Han officials. The Qing court was not necessarily willing to spend a huge sum of money to support the purchase of warships. Therefore, I think the proposal of Li Hongzhang and other Han officials to purchase warships may be recognized by the Qing court, but the development of the navy will inevitably be restricted and it will be difficult to get the full support of the country like the navy of Japan."

The Qing government's performance in the two Opium Wars, in which it suppressed internal rebellions with a tough stance and gave in to external aggression, not only caused contempt from small Western countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, but also aroused ambitions from Japan and Korea.

In 1869, natural disasters struck Korea, and a large number of Korean people fled across the Tumen River to Yanji, Hunchun, Dunhua, Helong, Wangqing, Antu and other places. The following year, the Korean government first asked the Northeast officials to return the Korean refugees. A few months later, it changed its words and said that the square kilometers of territory occupied by Korean refugees in Yanji and other places belonged to Korea, and demanded that the Qing government return it.

Faced with the ambitions shown by North Korea, the Qing government simply erected a boundary marker on the border and did not impose any punishment on North Korea.

Korea was a small country with a small population. Although it had ambitions to expand its territory, it did not have the strength to match its ambitions. Japan, on the other hand, had achieved national unification after the Tokugawa shogunate war and the Meiji Restoration in 1878. In addition, it had a certain strength for external expansion after the ten-year Meiji Restoration. It was precisely because Huang Yurun understood the development of Japan in recent years that he asserted that the Japanese navy was the biggest enemy of the Qing navy.

"Since Mr. Huang attaches great importance to the Japanese navy, then what do you think of the naval strength of the Han Kingdom compared to that of Japan after Japan receives the three ironclad ships?"

Before Wang Zhengyi immigrated to South America, he was just an ordinary person with some martial arts skills. It was difficult for him to distinguish the true strength comparison between the Qing Dynasty and Japan, so he turned and asked another question.

"The tonnage of the main battleships of the Chinese navy is lower than that of the Japanese navy, but in terms of comprehensive combat capabilities, the Chinese navy and the Japanese navy should be equally strong."

Before 1870, by ordering two ironclads from Britain and capturing three ironclads from Brazil, the Han Dynasty Navy had a higher tonnage of main warships than Japan at the time. However, after losing two ironclads in the naval battle with Brazil, the number of main ironclad ships of the Han Dynasty Navy dropped to three. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan continued to purchase new ironclads and gradually surpassed the Han Dynasty in the tonnage of its main ironclad ships.

At the end of 1875, Japan ordered three new ironclad ships from Britain. Afterwards, Han Dynasty started the ship purchase plan again and placed an order with the French Mediterranean Shipyard to build two ironclad ships. Although Han Dynasty ordered two new ironclad ships, due to the financial pressure of transporting immigrants, the tonnage of the main battleships of the Han Dynasty Navy was still surpassed by Japan.

The conversation between Huang Yurun and Wang Zhengyi soon ended due to their different views. At the coastal port of Xinjing in the Han State, a brand new ironclad ship was sailing out of the dock.

“这艘铁甲舰长64米、宽9.75米、吃水4.57米、排水量1350吨，以四座三级膨胀式蒸汽机为锅炉提供动力，双轴推进，功率2600匹马力、航速15-16节、续航能力5000海里/8节，
The normal coal load in the coal bunker is 250 tons, and the maximum coal load is 300 tons..."

A blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner talked incessantly in front of Li Mingyuan.

"Sir Farmand, I believe in my own judgment and your ability, but now is the time for the ironclad ship to leave the factory. Your introduction to the performance of the ironclad ship will be given later."

"Your Highness, believe me, I won't let you down this time."

The blond foreigner resisted the urge to continue the introduction and made the promise seriously.

"Well, we can start now." He nodded and ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness." Farmand saluted respectfully to Li Mingyuan, then turned around and directed the technical sailors on the ironclad ship to inspect it.

"Boiler No. 1 is running normally, boiler No. 2 is running normally... the seal of the left shipyard is normal, the main gun is turning normally, and the ammunition is loaded normally..."

The technical ship workers loudly reported the performance test results of the ironclad ship one by one, which made Li Mingyuan a little nervous.

The period from the 1860s to the end of the 19th century was a period of exploring the performance of ironclad ships. During this period, many new technologies for building ironclad ships emerged. Only a few of them were proven to be reasonable technologies and retained in the process of warship construction. Most of the remaining technologies, along with those failed experimental ships, were either dismantled as scrap or sold to other countries as export warships. Finally, they were eliminated along with those defective warships.

As a shipyard technician of this era, the Frenchman Darman improved a new type of marine steam engine - a three-stage expansion steam engine, and was fortunately favored by a big money sponsor.
Two months after the patent application for the triple-stage expansion steam engine was submitted, a South American company purchased Darman's patent at a high price and invited Darman to South America to build ironclad ships using the triple-stage expansion steam engine technology.

Out of his appreciation for his improved technology, and of course not excluding the possibility that the remuneration offered by the other party was attractive enough, Darman used his connections to recruit more than 40 skilled sailors from several French shipyards who were willing to follow him to South America to try their luck. They arrived in Han on a merchant ship and began to work for Li Mingyuan.

The three-stage expansion steam engine is a relatively mature technology. After learning from his intelligence officer Ma that Darman was selling his patent, Li Mingyuan commissioned a French company to take over the ownership of the patent from Darman in the name of Han's Xinjing Shipyard, and at the same time reached an agreement to hire Darman to build warships for Han.

After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in order to end Germany's occupation of French territory, the French government paid billion francs in compensation to Germany.

The value of 5 billion francs is equivalent to more than 700 million francs of silver, which is far higher than the indemnity paid by the Qing government to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

Although France had a developed financial industry, taking out a sum of 5 billion francs in a short period of time still dealt a heavy blow to the domestic economy. In order to ease domestic economic pressure, the French government accelerated its colonial expansion in Asia, Africa and other places after the Franco-Prussian War, and temporarily relaxed its control over foreign capital, allowing foreign capital to enter France. The purchase of the three-stage expansion steam engine and the recruitment of some French technical shipbuilders by the Han State were also completed in this context.

"Your Highness, do you think the foreigners will succeed this time?" Li Han, commander of the First Fleet of the Han Navy, asked while the performance monitoring of the ironclad ship was in progress.

"Dalman has improved it four times, and it should be successful this time."

Li Mingyuan stared at the ironclad ship and replied.

"The foreign devils have failed four times. If they fail again, this armored ship will be useless.

Your Highness, if the test fails again this time, do you think we should suspend the shipbuilding plan and buy an ironclad ship directly from Britain?"

The first small ironclad ship built by the Xinjing Shipyard of the Han State not only cost more than those of Britain, France and other countries, but also failed four factory inspections. Therefore, in Li Han's eyes, building warships by oneself was very uneconomical, and it would be more convenient and affordable to purchase warships directly from Western countries.

"Purchasing warships from Western countries is a stopgap measure. Only when China is able to build its own warships can the country's maritime security be guaranteed. Li Han, you are the commander of the First Fleet. Don't just focus on the gains and losses of one or two small ironclad ships. You must learn to consider issues from the perspective of the long-term development of the navy."

Li Mingyuan watched Dalmang with a trace of sweat on his forehead, paused for a moment, and then said, "Dalmang did contribute to the construction of the ironclad ship. The main reason for the unsatisfactory performance of the ironclad ship is that the Chinese shipbuilders were not skilled in shipbuilding technology. Once they have practiced a few more times, the effect will be much better."

"Your Highness, why is this iron lump so difficult to build? Xinjing Shipyard and Xinghe Shipyard employed hundreds of foreign technicians, and we also sent more than 200 shipbuilders to shipyards in Germany, France, and Britain to learn shipbuilding technology. How come we can't even build a small ironclad ship after so many years of hard work? I really don't understand how foreigners can build an ironclad ship as big as a mountain."

"The technology to build ironclad ships is not easy to learn. Foreigners have 20 to 30 years of experience in building ironclad ships. It takes them one to two years to build a medium-sized ironclad ship. The Han country has only been learning to build ironclad ships for seven or eight years. Now they can build a gunboat of 700 to 800 tons, which is a good achievement."

Li Mingyuan gradually regained his confidence when he saw that the technical inspection steps of the ironclad ship had been completed to about two-thirds.

He smiled and said, "Ironclad ship technology is developing very quickly. As long as the country continues to increase its support for shipyards, it won't be long before the navy will be able to operate ironclad ships built entirely by domestic shipyards."

"Your Highness is right." Li Han replied in a low voice, not daring to complain anymore, and then concentrated on following Li Mingyuan to watch the ironclad ship inspection process.

"…Armor thickness 0.27, horsepower 2600, speed 15 knots, ironclad ship performance meets the standard!"

Half an hour later, the last test was completed. Darman excitedly ran to Li Mingyuan and said excitedly, "Your Highness, it's a success! The three-stage expansion steam engine is running well, and all the performance of the ironclad ship has met the standards!"

"Very good, very good!" Li Mingyuan said repeatedly.

After being happy, he immediately asked the other party, "When can the construction of the second small ironclad ship with a displacement of 1350 tons be started?"

"A month later, the first ironclad ship will be delivered to the navy after sea trials, and the second ironclad ship of the same class can be built!"

"Your efforts will be richly rewarded. Later, I will have someone hand over the reward money to you according to the agreement. In the next six months, I hope you can fulfill the last item of the agreement and arrange the handover of Xinjing Shipyard."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will do my job well."

Dalman bowed to Li Mingyuan and said, suppressing his excitement.

"Yes, I have great confidence in your character."

Li Mingyuan nodded, looking at the other party's face, he could not suppress his joy, and tried his best to keep him. "Would you consider staying in Han for two more years? I will give you better treatment."

"I have gained considerable wealth and lived a meaningful life here with Your Highness. Now the technicians of the Xinjing Shipyard have mastered the technology of building small ironclad ships. They can replace me, and I also want to return to France and start a happy life with the wealth bestowed by Your Highness."

"I respect your choice. If you change your mind and want to stay in Han, you can report it to the person in charge of Xinjing Shipyard at any time, and he will report the situation to me."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. If I need money, I will consider returning to Han to work for Your Highness again."

(End of this chapter)