The Australian Revolution of 1828

While Li Guochen was stabilizing the order of Danpasa, Han Qingyun, located in the Hanyang Governor's Mansion, received a piece of good news from the shipyard: the 600-ton steam paddle steamer that had started construction three years earlier had been officially completed.

This good news is undoubtedly amazing and has given a strong boost to the developing Hanyang!

Four years ago, in order to promote the development of Hanyang and facilitate trade, the Governor-General's Office converted the 3000-square-meter shipyard into the Hanyang Shipyard.

Therefore, over the years, Han Qingyun has recruited many Chinese boatmen who know about Western ships from Lanfang, Batavia, and the mainland.

Although these shipwrights came from different places and had difficulty communicating in their languages, making it slow for them to get along, they progressed rapidly through years of night school study and exchanges on shipbuilding technology.

Originally, they could only build armored shopping malls of about 800 tons, but now they can even build steam paddle steamers of 600 tons.

While paddle steamers were indeed in poor condition at sea, even worse than sailing ships of the time, their development represented an accumulation of shipbuilding technology and laid the foundation for the development of steamships (propellers). They were by no means merely decorative.

The development of steamships has been a very long process, following its historical trajectory. In the last half-century, there have been three different versions and several different periods.

Shipbuilding technology itself is not something that can be achieved overnight; it requires continuous accumulation of technology.

The earliest version is that inventors at the time wanted to replace human labor with steam engines; that is, in 1769, the Frenchman Chofleigh installed a steam engine on a ship.

However, the steam engine it was equipped with was rudimentary and cumbersome, and it was powered by a set of ordinary wooden oars, resulting in a very slow speed and failing to demonstrate the superiority of the steamship.

Fourteen years later, in 1783, Joefly built the world's first steamship, the "Boroscafi," but after only 30 minutes of sailing, the steam boiler on board exploded.

And so, the steam-powered ship project was abandoned.

The second version of the steamship was the paddle steamer.

In 1802, Englishman William Simington used Watt's improved reciprocating steam engine to build the world's first steam-powered paddle steamer, the Charlotte Dundas.

The Charlotte Dundas was a 30-foot (approximately 9-meter) long wooden-hulled ship with a steam engine designed by Simmonton mounted in the center, which propelled a paddle wheel at the stern.

After its completion, the steam-powered paddle steamer was launched on the Forth-Clyde Canal in Scotland and successfully completed its trial voyage, marking the birth of the steam-powered paddle steamer.

However, the advent of steam-powered paddle steamers was a blow to tugboat owners, who vehemently opposed them, arguing that they would generate large waves.

The first steam-powered paddle steamer was thus nipped in the bud.

However, while the east side is dark, the west side is bright.

In 1804, American John Stephenson built the world's first steamship with a propeller. Because the steam engine that propelled the propeller had too low a speed, he believed at the time that a propeller was better.

Subsequently, John Stephenson built another steamship, the Phoenix, in 1807. The ship sailed from New York along the coast to Philadelphia for a trial voyage, but was interrupted by a storm.

In July of the same year, another American, Robert Fulton, designed and built the steamship "Clermont," which had a displacement of 100 tons, a length of 45.72 meters, and a width of 9.14 meters.

The Clermont was a paddle steamer powered by a 72-horsepower steam engine that propelled the paddle wheel through the water, allowing it to move smoothly across the river at a speed of 4 kilometers per hour.

After the successful trial voyage, Robert Fulton made further improvements to the "Clermont" paddle steamer, enabling it to reach a top speed of 8 kilometers per hour.

The Clermont paddle steamer was a success, becoming the world's first steam paddle steamer.

The third version of the steamship was not seen until 1839.

The Englishman Henry Wimster built the Archimedes, the world's first steamship powered by a propeller. This propeller demonstrated its superiority and was thus quickly adopted.

In 1849, France built the Napoleon, the world's first battleship powered by a steam engine, which became a pioneer of steam-powered battleships in the navy.

During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, Russia's new high-explosive bombs annihilated the Turkish wooden ships, while British and French steamships routed the Russian wooden ships.

This battle solidified the dominant position of steam warships in modern navies.

However, the use of high-explosive shells in this battle rendered wooden warships unable to withstand the increasingly powerful bombardment, leading to the development of ironclad warships.

Based on steam warships, steam ironclad ships with steel armor began to appear. In November 1859, France built the world's first steam ironclad ship, the "Glory," which was equipped with 100 side guns and had a displacement of 5000 tons.

Due to the French threat, the British Royal Navy was forced to "respond."

Planning for the development of armored warships began in 1856, and in 1857, the draft of armored frigates was successfully completed. In early 1859, the Royal Navy chose to build two ironclad patrol ships, and in 1861, it was decided to develop a fully armored fleet.

In 1861, HMS Warrior, Britain's first ironclad battleship, was launched and incorporated into the fleet.

During the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, ironclad warships clashed for the first time, and the unarmored (wooden-hulled) battleships of the sailing age were clearly at a disadvantage.

After this battle, wooden-hulled warships were replaced by ironclad warships, which became the most powerful ships in the world.

It can be said that, tested by war, steam-powered ships became the only direction for the development of the times. However, this development process was extremely long and involved many hardships and obstacles.

This shipbuilding technology requires generations of accumulation to achieve a certain level of technical sophistication before it can be mastered and developed for future breakthroughs. It's not something that can be accomplished simply by producing a steamship design this year and then building it and deploying it in naval warfare next year.

It was precisely because he understood the difficulties in developing steamships that Han Qingyun disregarded the advice of various government departments and insisted on promoting the research and manufacture of steamships.

While the technological gap in steamships is still relatively small, we can gradually catch up.

If we had waited until the 1950s when steamship technology matured and then started developing steamships, we would have not only missed an era, but Hanyang might not have even gained any benefits and would have become a price to pay for the times.

Of course, the manufacturing process inevitably involves a waste of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, but this is understandable. The important thing is that through this process, a group of modern shipyard workers who understand steam technology can be trained.

The talent pool in Hanyang can be accumulated generation after generation, and the technology of steamships can naturally be acquired as well.

As for money, that's not a problem at all; Hanyang has no shortage of money.

As long as Hanyang can withstand the subsequent British attacks, and cheap laborers are continuously brought in from the islands of Southeast Asia, it can achieve financial wealth by mining gold and silver mines within its borders.

Furthermore, in Han Qingyun's series of plans, steamships are the most important link in Hanyang's economic industry.

Due to its remote geographical location, Hanyang has a severely flawed economic structure. Apart from its abundant mining and animal husbandry resources, which have seen significant development, other industries are at a significant disadvantage.

According to the general development logic of industrialized countries, their industries should start with light industry, especially "clothing" among the clothing, food, housing and transportation industries.

Looking at the development of Britain, the textile industry was of paramount importance, but its development also had its crucial factors:

Firstly, the raw materials are inexpensive;

Secondly, an abundant labor force;

Third, a sufficient consumer market;

Hanyang cannot meet any of the above three conditions.

Because the soil and temperature conditions in Hanyang are simply unsuitable for cotton cultivation, there's no way to obtain cheap raw materials. As for the wool textile and leather industries produced by the pastures, they could be developed, but their potential is limited.

Furthermore, Hanyang lacks an abundant labor force. Currently, Hanyang's mining industry needs to import labor, and its industry needs to supplement its workforce with immigrants from the mainland, so it simply cannot be said to have a sufficient labor force.

As for the consumer market, that's even more difficult.

Have you not seen how the British searched everywhere for markets, even going to war for them? Given Hanyang's current strength, what makes it think it can compete with the British for markets?

Without cheap raw materials, abundant labor, and a sufficient consumer market, the light industry and textile sector would be impossible.

For these three reasons, the fact that Hanyang lacks manpower, raw materials, and population cannot be effectively resolved, which means that industrial development has already lost at the starting line.

Limited by numerous factors, Han Qingyun thought long and hard and could only seek a suitable path for Hanyang's development among the financial, construction, shipbuilding, military, transportation, and mining industries.

These industries can all be linked to immigration and labor. As long as there is a continuous flow of immigration, loans, and jobs, an internal economic cycle can be achieved.

As for future economic crises, they can be resolved through external economic cycles once military and population growth has increased!