Rebirth of the Qing Empire

The new aircraft is a development type of all-metal agricultural aircraft. The biggest improvement is to change the original biwing layout into a more capable upper single-wing layout, with a greatly increased appearance and named it "Tengyun".

The machine has a more powerful, lighter weight and less fuel consumption, with a wide enclosed cockpit equipped with heating equipment, advanced remote radio communication/navigation equipment and complete

Flight instrument. Since it mainly flies in airspace below 4 kilometers, no oxygen supply equipment is considered. The maximum speed exceeds 300 kilometers per hour and the range reaches an astonishing 2,300 kilometers. In addition to one pilot, 3 people can also ride in the cockpit.

Passengers or transport hundreds of kilograms of cargo.

In the spring of 1902, the "Tengyun" aircraft was first used by the Taiyuan postal department to transport express mail. Later, in actual use, it was found that "Tengyun" was safe and reliable, with good performance. It immediately began mass production and developed into a large number of models.

The product series is widely used in postal services, air transportation, forest fire prevention, geological exploration, topographic surveying, natural disaster monitoring, search and rescue, agriculture and other aspects in both places.

Of course, the development of aviation industries in the two places cannot be separated from the support of aviation bases. After the system construction and development in recent years, Ningwu Aviation Base has established a complete set of scientific and reasonable pilot and ground staff training systems and management, and operation methods.

, owns its own airport, coaching aircraft and flight instructor team, as well as complete communication, navigation, work and living facilities, and has established a large-scale aircraft maintenance base and logistics support base, which are already quite professional in all aspects. Therefore, with this aviation base

As a standard, two new aviation bases were built in Taiyuan and Aihui.

Because the Shanxi-Heilongjiang route is too long, the "Tengyun" aircraft flies at the most economical cruise speed, and it takes 10 hours a day. Such a long flight is a very harsh test for both the aircraft and the pilot.

Anyone who solves this problem in this way: Four suitable railway stations were selected along the Jinhei Railway, and small air stations with simple grassland airports, basic logistics support facilities, and staff and internal security forces were established, for

The "Tengyun" aircraft provides take-off and landing services. This divides the long distance into 5 short distances ranging from 300 to 600 kilometers. The flight time of each section is no more than 3 hours. Both the pilot and the aircraft can get it well on the way

Long-distance flights are much easier.

Subsequently, Kang Fan also established his own air stations in the Beijing South Exit Base and Tianjin base respectively. The difference is that these two air stations are purely military facilities.

Based on the "Tengyun" aircraft, Kang Fan and the engineering and technical personnel of the aircraft factory improved and designed a special military reconnaissance type. In order to make it easy to distinguish, it was renamed the "Chasing Wind" reconnaissance aircraft.

The "Break Wind" reconnaissance aircraft has been changed to a cantilever-type single-wing layout, and it is still a fixed landing gear equipped with a fairing. The cockpit has been changed to a front and rear double seat, and the size has been reduced. A single installed at the observer position in the rear cockpit of the aircraft is located in the observer position of the rear cockpit of the aircraft.

The Type 02 aviation machine gun is a watcher, and the rear canopy cover must be opened when firing. When firing, it needs to flexibly shoot in all directions with the help of a circular movable gun frame, which has initial attack and self-defense capabilities.

The Type 02 aviation machine gun is improved from the Type 96 general-purpose machine gun. The most obvious difference in appearance is that the barrel of the Type 02 machine gun has a porous air-cooled steel sleeve, and the barrel has also become a fixed type.

On March 1, 1903, the first truly aviation unit formed an army at the Ningwu Aviation Base and was equipped with 6 "Bifeng Zhuan" reconnaissance aircraft. Half a year later, the expected number of equipment reached: 24, stationed in Ningwu respectively. , Aihui Aviation Base and Beijing South Exit and Tianjin Base Air Station are under the jurisdiction of the local garrison General Staff.

Tianjin's shipbuilding industry is a core industry that Kang Fan has always attached great importance to. In recent years, it has been placed in priority development, with emphasis on capital, equipment, technology, manpower and other aspects. With Shanxi's machinery manufacturing industry With the growth of Tianjin's petrochemical industry, Tianjin's shipbuilding industry has received strong support from industrial sectors such as metallurgy, machinery, chemical, electrical, and petroleum. The pace of development has been significantly accelerated, and the design, development and construction capabilities of various ships are becoming increasingly developed.

After entering the 20th century, a series of small and medium-sized ships designed and built by Tianjin Shipyard using new diesel engines as powered by new steel welded hulls have matured performance. Their advanced concepts, technology, technology, materials, equipment, etc. The steam engine ships in contemporary times are rapidly out of date. The prosperous Tianjin shipbuilding industry has also driven the coordinated development of industries in various parts of Shanxi, gradually forming a manufacturing system dominated by shipbuilding, with the industrial foundation for establishing a strong navy in the future.

In order to protect the safety of its increasingly growing fishing boats, cargo fleets, and open areas along the river and coastal areas, better perform channel surveys, marine inspections, combat smuggling/drug trafficking/pirates, rescue wrecked ships and crew members along the coast of China, protect What is more important is to reserve key technologies and qualified personnel for the future naval reserves. With the help of the United States, Kang Fan formed the Tianjin Maritime Police Force, referred to as the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is located on the east coast of the Tianjin base. It has a professional maritime school and other professional institutions. It has hired American instructors to teach and participate in management to train professionals for the Tianjin Coast Guard troops and future naval forces. At the same time, Tianjin shipbuilding Large patrol ships and light patrol boats developed and produced by the factory also began to be delivered to the coast guard forces one after another. In May 1902, the coast guard forces formed and completed officially carried out their mission.

The patrol ships of the Coast Guard troops are improved and designed based on the "free wheel" produced by Tianjin Shipping Company in batches by Tianjin Shipping Company, strengthening the hull structure, enhancing wind and wave resistance and endurance, and are equipped with advanced radio communications/navigation. Equipment, hydrological measurement equipment, fire fighting equipment, rescue equipment, medical equipment and related professionals, and a Type 96 general-purpose machine gun with bulletproof steel plate protective cover is equipped with necessary attack and defense firepower. It can be equipped with 12 sections The cruise speed is continuously operated at sea for 20 days and nights, and the maximum speed can reach 25 knots in urgent tasks. Due to the emphasis on improving the living conditions and living environment on the ship, the coast guard team members can perform for a long time in various coastal areas of the Qing Empire with relatively comfortable conditions. Mission. At first, the mission was only carried out in the Bohai Sea. Later, with the increase in the number of ship equipment, the patrol waters gradually expanded to the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. After all the nine patrol ships in the plan were equipped, the patrol waters were finally expanded to the South China Sea. At this point, the mighty figure of Tianjin Coast Guard can be seen in the entire territorial waters of the Qing Empire.

The near-shore patrol boats used by the coast guard force and the new patrol combat speedboats equipped by the Heilongjiang Border Defense Force are in the same series. The difference is that the displacement has increased significantly, and the personnel transport cabin has been changed to special items such as additional communication, navigation, fire fighting, and rescue.

The cabin of the equipment is equipped with a Type 96 machine gun, which is more suitable for nearshore patrol and defense, search and rescue tasks.

In addition, the various types of auxiliary ships of the Coast Guard troops have gradually increased from scratch, such as tugboats, cranes, dredgers, etc., and are rapidly forming an offshore paramilitary force with all-round maritime control functions.

The uniforms of the coast guard troops are the same as those of the Shanxi police troops. The coat color is changed to sea blue in winter and sky blue in summer, and white shirts and black soft-soled lace-up leather shoes. All ships in the army are painted in white upper layers.

The building and blue hull, the bow and stern are sprayed with white Chinese and English words "Da Qing Tianjin Coast Guard" and are hung with the Qing Huanglong Banner, which is easy to identify.

Tianjin Coast Guard Headquarters are responsible for commanding and coordinating the actions of all personnel and ships. Through advanced and complete radio communication networks, the headquarters can establish contact with coast guard ships operating in any sea area of ​​the coast of the Qing Empire, while undertaking daily marine management tasks.

Provide free humanitarian services to various civil ships from all over the coast, from their own country and from foreign countries.

Later, the new maritime search radar developed by the Ministry of Electrical and Optical Industry successively equipped the ships belonging to the Coast Guard troops, so that the Coast Guard troops can detect long-distance targets regardless of day or night, and are not blocked by fog, clouds and rain.

, The search ability of the whole day is a revolutionary progress in this era where search and listening are still mainly based on the human eye and human ears, and it also revolutionized the way the coast guard forces perform their tasks. It shows that it is extremely

The imaginary quick response ability, all-round service ability and high quality of personnel have quickly won wide respect in the international maritime transportation industry and is well-known.

As early as 1898, Kang Fan started to develop submarines with Mei Xiang's classmates. After exploring several test boats, he accumulated a lot of valuable experience. The pace of designing and building submarines by himself was accelerated. Kang Fan summoned his classmates.

We held a meeting and asked everyone to design and build new submarines and torpedoes by themselves before 1904.

"Why must it be before 1904?" A classmate asked Kang Fan in confusion.

Kang Fan replied: "In order to catch up with the Russo-Japanese War that year."

The students immediately understood, and they were all ready to go, all with a courageous expression.

At the meeting, the principle of clarifying the division of labor according to the different majors of the students, each with its own focus, and arranging their own work without fixed time, and secretly carrying out the work. In the following years, all the work has been carried out step by step at the Tianjin Shipyard.

.After five years of research and experiments, in September 1902, the first batch of three new submarines and 12 new torpedoes designed and built by themselves were finally successfully manufactured at the Tianjin Shipyard, and then secretly conducted extensive and systematic experiments.

The test sea area covers almost the entire Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. The results are exciting, and the performance of submarines and torpedoes exceeds the design value. Kang Fan then named it: "Jiaolong" class submarines and "harpoon" torpedoes.

The "Jiaolong" class submarine has applied the latest achievements made by Shanxi industry in recent years in high-performance alloy steel, batteries, diesel engines and electric motors, optical and electrical equipment, as well as forging and welding processes, combined with the use of modern water droplets suitable for underwater navigation.

Low resistance linear shape, advanced structural design and manufacturing process, etc., their performance can only be described as "incredible" when viewed from a contemporary perspective. The boat is propelled by medium-speed diesel engines when sailing on the water surface, with a maximum speed of 12 knots and a battery life of 5,500.

Nautical miles/8 knots; battery-motor propulsion during underwater navigation, maximum speed of 16 knots, 400 nautical miles/4 knots. The surface displacement of the submarine is 1050 tons, and the underwater displacement is 1200 tons. The maximum safe diving depth exceeds 200 meters. The first equipment

6 torpedo launchers, which can carry 18 "harpoon" torpedoes.

The performance of the "Holland" submarine, which was finally officially accepted and put into service by the US Navy on October 12, 1900, represents the most advanced level of contemporary performance: surface displacement 58 tons, speed 8 knots; underwater displacement 67 tons, speed 5 knots;

.The maximum diving depth is 30 meters. The armed forces are 457 mm torpedo tubes, a 203 mm pneumatic explosive cannon and a rifle. Compared with the two, the height is clear.

The "harpoon" type torpedo has a diameter of 533 mm, a length of 6 meters, a weight of 1,300 kilograms, and a shell made of aluminum alloy, with a maximum speed of 46 knots and a range of 6 kilometers. Due to the use of high-performance gyroscopes, depth fixing devices and rudder systems,

Battery-motor-propelled propeller, a warhead with 350 kilograms of high-energy mixed explosives, has high torpedo attack accuracy, no track, hidden whereabouts, and huge power.

The most advanced British "white-headed" torpedo in contemporary times uses a cold-powered drive device with compressed air as the energy source. It has slow speed and obvious tracks, and is easily avoided by enemy ships, which is far from reaching the legendary reliability and terror.

After possessing the "harpoon" torpedo, the torpedo boat that Kang Fan had been looking forward to was able to be built naturally. The patrol combat speedboat that had been successfully used in the Heilongjiang Border Defense Force and the Coast Guard Force for many years was installed.

After the "harpoon" torpedo tube and new radar, it became a truly powerful near-shore combat speedboat, named the "crocodile" class torpedo boat.

The "Crocodile" class torpedo boat is equipped with a high-speed diesel engine specially developed and produced for light ships. The maximum speed exceeds 40 knots and the maximum range reaches 300 nautical miles. There are 12 staff members, and the left and right sides of the boat are equipped with a "harpoon" torpedo torpedo on each side of the boat.

The launch tube is equipped with a Type 96 machine gun behind the bridge and on both sides of the stern of the boat.

The successful self-built of new submarines and torpedoes is a major project that comprehensively tests Shanxi's overall industry, scientific and technological strength and Tianjin's shipbuilding industry level. After this experience, a large number of outstanding engineering and technical personnel and industrial workers have been trained and created, and more importantly,

It allows Mei Xiang’s students to master the rich scientific knowledge beyond the present and gain the opportunity to comprehensively apply it to the integration of complex systems. A series of new technologies, new materials, new equipment, new processes, etc. developed in the process are military and civilians.

It is widely adopted in other fields, laying a solid foundation for the future development and production of larger and more complex advanced mechanical products.

With these two advanced naval combat weapons, the coast guard forces have the means to effectively counterattack the naval powers in the nearshore. Based on this, it is determined that in the future, submarines, speedboats, light cruisers, and new military aircraft will be the main ones.

The offshore combat equipment system will not develop heavy artillery, thick armor and expensive contemporary ocean navy main combat weapons such as battleships and battle cruisers.

After the new submarines and torpedo boats were produced, qualified personnel were selected from the coast guard forces to form submarines and torpedo boat troops. The training work was immediately carried out in full swing, and the training area was temporarily limited to the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. Because in this sea area, the coast guard forces were in line with the

The survey and exploration work in waterways, hydrology, seabed topography, etc. has been relatively sufficient, which can provide more detailed data for the coast guard combat troops and is conducive to training.

Kang Fan personally supervised the training work. After nearly a year of trial sailing, training, improvement and improvement with the coast guard officers and soldiers, he finally formed reliable combat capabilities for new submarines and torpedo boats.

In October 1903, after the completion of the military port in the Tianjin base, all three new submarines and nine torpedo boats immediately began to prepare for duty and were responsible for training new crew members. The patrol area was still limited to the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and the key defense area was the Bohai Sea Strait.

, closely monitor the Russian fleet stationed in Lushunkou.

In early 1904, Tianjin Shipyard began to focus on building the "Jiaolong" class submarine, the "crocodile" class torpedo boat and the "harpoon" type torpedo to form a certain equipment scale before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and be prepared to participate in the war. At the same time, the new type

The development and design of cruisers and military aircraft have also been carried out one after another, but these two new weapons cannot be completed no matter how fast they progress, because the war is about to break out.