Chapter 453: The Giants' Final Battle Begins

Chapter 453: The Giants' Final Battle Begins

Chapter 453: The Giants' Final Battle Begins

World's Fair Stadium, Philadelphia.

The huge airship "Kongming" stopped directly in the center of the stadium.
A large number of reporters rushed over and set up their cameras.

Yung Wing, dressed in a suit and tie, was the first to walk down the gangway. He waved to the reporters frequently, and immediately the spotlights came on.

Following closely behind was Yung Wing's daughter, Rong Hui, president of Hailing University, honorary president of Oxford University, executive dean of Xiaoxiangya Science Academy, and leader of Hailing Middle School baseball team.

Rong Hui's appearance caused cheers and killed more films of the reporters.

Later, the 25 players of Hailing Middle School Baseball Team, the champions of the Guangdong, Guangxi, Liangjiang and five-province middle school baseball league, plus a chef, team doctor, coach, handyman and more than people got off the airship.

The teenagers were full of vigor and vitality, with their heads and chests held high. They were wearing sportswear, with the handles of baseball bats sticking out of the backpacks behind them, and they looked around the big city of Philadelphia with curiosity.

Philadelphia was the first place to be called the "world factory". There were 141 carpet factories here, employing 2000 employees. The average annual income of its 300 carpet weavers was US$, equivalent to more than taels of silver.

This income is on par with that of the workers in the Hailing factory, so Shao Quanzhong is not exaggerating when he says that every family in Hailing can afford a car worth 300 oceans. It is just a worker's annual salary.

The American airship started late and there was no dedicated airport, so the airship stopped directly in the center of the stadium.

This large stadium, which can accommodate 20 people, was prepared for the opening ceremony of the Philadelphia World's Fair.

Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the European war, the Philadelphia Expo originally scheduled for May this year was postponed indefinitely. Now this stadium has become the venue for a friendly baseball match between Chinese and American middle school students.

Historically, in 1876, Yung Wing brought more than one hundred American schoolchildren to visit the Philadelphia World's Fair.

Now, Yung Wing was visiting as the Foreign Minister, and he did not bring with him schoolchildren who had never seen the world, but rather the proud young men of the great summer who were accustomed to the grand scenes of Hailing and looked down upon the appearance of Philadelphia.

While the war in Europe was raging, the two great powers of China and the United States were taking advantage of the situation to rise, and the peaceful and friendly exchanges here were in full swing.

The next day, 20 people watched the China-U.S. baseball game, which lasted for half a month.

Not only will more than a dozen Federal Middle School teams play friendly matches with the Hailing Middle School team, but the newly formed National Baseball League will also send a team to play a coaching match with the visiting guests.

Cheers were heard from the stadium. Not far away, in a low-key business hall, several gentlemen were having a secret conversation.

At the entrance of the guild hall stood the statue of Lucifer that Shao Quanzhong was very familiar with.

The speaker was the society's new master, John Pierpont Morgan.

"Gentlemen, the European war has made everyone rich. Our society's American branch has already loaned out $200 billion in high-interest loans to Europe."

"But there is a country that earns more than us."

"Most of our income comes from finance, but they took this opportunity to achieve the comprehensive industrialization of the country."

"Daxia's production capacity has surpassed that of the Federation. If we only consider industry, it is far ahead. Their number of industrial workers will soon exceed 100 million. This is not good news."

"Our respected Eastern Lord has gained too much. We need to curb their momentum."

"But, Your Excellency, our technicians, scientists, and craftsmen are still implementing President Johnson's policy of aiding the Qing Dynasty."

"Yes, so President Johnson is no longer suitable to lead the Federation. This time we have to push Hayes to the position and change the Federation's national policy."

"Europe is already broken, and we have to prepare for future competitors."

"But—Johnson's reputation is at its peak, and he is very vigilant. The assassination will not succeed."

"So I called everyone here. No matter what, Hayes must take office. We have to work hard for this. I believe that everyone will do more than just assassinate and buy votes, right?"

"Aren't the people who count the votes paid by everyone here?"

The economic size of Daxia has aroused the vigilance of the other side of the ocean. The huge ship of the Federation is ready to turn the rudder to deal with the arrogant Shao Quanzhong.

…………

Zhanjiang Shipyard is home to many naval stars, including Liu Buchan from Cadiz, Lin Zengtai from Istanbul, and Governor Liao Rong, three naval giants of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Also invited were Admiral Ding Ruchang of the Beiyang Fleet, Admiral Li Chengmou of the Pacific Fleet, and Admiral Wu Changqing of the South China Sea Fleet.

Zeng Xiaoyi, who had not been on board for a long time, also followed Shao Quanzhong.

The four newly built Sachsen-class battleships here were successfully launched and are ready to be outfitted.

The modification was based on the gun placement of the British newly launched 10,000-ton ironclad ship HMS Indomitable, which was basically the same as the Dingzhen II ship in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This is basically the most advanced ironclad ship in the world, except that its tonnage is not as good as the Indomitable.

As the Germans have become impoverished by the war, they have stopped investing in the Zhanjiang Shipyard. The Zhanjiang Shipyard has now become wholly owned by Daxia, and the original German experts have all become Daxia citizens.

In the shipyard, newly graduated undergraduate and graduate students have joined the design team, and those with doctorates have not yet graduated.

After presiding over the launching ceremony, Haiqi's captain Deng Shichang became the admiral of the fleet consisting of four modified Sachsen-class ironclad ships.

Zeng Xiaoyi went ashore and was transferred to the Planning and Investment Committee as the director of the Statistics Bureau, and Deng Shichang became the captain of the Haiqi.

The Nanyang Fleet, once the second-largest fleet in the world, has disappeared. For several years, Shao Quanzhong only had the Haiqi as his fleet.

Now Daxia finally has a navy, and its main warships include four Saxony modified ironclad ships and a steam-sailed ironclad cruiser Haiqi.

Of course, there are dozens of thousand-ton auxiliary ships parked at the Zhenjiang Shipyard, and a large number of thousand-ton transport ships have been requisitioned by the Planning Commission and temporarily turned into merchant ships.

Liao Rong was the commander of the Daxia Navy appointed by Shao Quanzhong, but he also served as the Governor of Hong Kong and the admiral of the British Far East Fleet. At present, Deng Shichang, the admiral of the small fleet, is acting as the admiral of the navy. Anyway, there are only five warships in total, so not many officials are needed to manage them.

So many big men from the Daxia Navy gathered together, not just to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the launch. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Liao Rong hosted a technical seminar for Daxia Navy officials, and Shao Quanzhong attended as an observer.

Liao Rong was the first to speak. "After our Saxony-class modification adopted the gun-position technology of the Indomitable, its combat effectiveness has been improved, but there is a shortcoming. There is no room for improvement."

"The Indomitable is a 10,000-ton ship. With this arrangement, there is plenty of room to increase firepower. We are just a 7,000-ton ironclad ship, and the gun positions are full. That's it."

"So I think these four warships are transitional products. We should not build the same type again. Our next step should be to build 10,000-ton ships."

"Recently, our shipbuilding technology has improved. The French have already shared their nickel-chromium alloy steel technology with us. The British have begun exploring new technologies for arranging artillery along the central axis, but the British have no money to build ships now, so they are just talking about it on paper."

"We want to be the first to build the latest warships and make the current warships obsolete! Here are several designs by the Zhenjiang Shipyard. Please give your opinions."

……

The naval leaders expressed their opinions based on their own maritime experiences in recent years and enthusiastically put forward their requirements for the new ships.

Shao Quanzhong knew nothing about naval technology and was confused by what he heard. In short, the Minotaur-class mode of firing from the broadside was completely outdated.

Shao Quanzhong knew that for warships that fired from the side, water would flow into the gun ports when the sea was rough. Therefore, all new warships now had their guns placed in the middle of the deck.

Then everyone discussed high freeboard or low freeboard, and Shao Quanzhong was confused.

High freeboard is good, of course, because the wind and waves can't hit the ship. But if the freeboard is high, the center of gravity is high, it is not easy to balance, and the gun position cannot be built with too heavy armor, which is dangerous in battle.

Looking at the several new ship design drawings hanging on the wall, the admirals argued fiercely.

Shao Quanzhong didn't understand the technology, but he knew how much it would cost to build a new 10,000-ton ironclad ship. It cost more than one million taels of silver to build one ship.

It was only now that Daxia had money that it began to ambitiously prepare to build new warships that even the British had never built.

Sometimes, new warships are delayed not because of a lack of creativity or technology, but because of a lack of budget, and the delay can often be as long as twenty years.

In the end, everyone reached consensus on most issues.

The new 305-ton ship will have nickel-chromium alloy all-steel armor, two sets of twin 10mm breech-loading main guns arranged on the central axis, 150 16mm secondary guns, 47 7mm rapid-fire guns, and torpedo tubes.

The focus of the dispute is whether to have high freeboard, unprotected open-air guns, or low freeboard, with armor added to the gun positions.

Finally, layman Shao Quanzhong made the decision to build three ships with high freeboard and one ship with low freeboard, in the ratio of three to one, as agreed by everyone, so as to experience the advantages and disadvantages in actual training and combat.

It will take several years for four 10,000-ton warships to be built at the same time, but once the new ships are launched and put into service, they will immediately eliminate all other warships and have unparalleled combat advantages. This is certain.

The naming rights of the warships were given to Liao Rong, who named the first ship "Sovereignty" according to British custom. This meant that Shao Quanzhong was willing to succeed in his bet between the north and the south and become emperor.

Daxia's navy has sufficient funds, and the fearless navy is about to be launched.

.........

Three days later, Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing. As soon as he entered Qiao Garden, Aunt Qiao ran over quickly and said, "Oh no, Marshal. Madam Maria has fainted."

what?
"Just received news that Russian Tsar Alexander II was assassinated."

(End of this chapter)