"The battle alarm superior notice, "Enemy, cruiser formation attacks me 1"

On the morning of October 2, the flagship Weiyuan of the Pacific Fleet, which had just entered the Arabian Sea, sounded a rapid alarm. The officers and soldiers of the ship quickly ended any activities in their hands and ran to their respective positions in a fast and orderly manner. A thrilling "encounter battle" began...

"Report the situation!"

In the dispatch room, a ship attendant responsible for communication picked up the phone and pressed the digital button "3" representing the reconnaissance room of the Mainmast View Tower to inquire about the enemy situation.

"Discover Russian enemy ships and do tactical maneuvers. The target position of the enemy ship is 035, the course is 335, the distance is 5,500 meters, and the speed is 16 knots."

The latest reconnaissance report from the reconnaissance room came from the phone, describing the position, speed, and course of the enemy ships very accurately.

On the bridge, the ship servant informed the bridge staff of the enemy situation. Then the bridge staff of the bridge reported the enemy situation to the fleet commander Lin Jianzhang without moving.

Commander Lin Jianzhang immediately judged that the enemy ship was not good and issued an order.

"Rise the battle flag! Fighting speed! Fighting preparations for the first level of the entire fleet!"

With Lin Jianzhang's order, several ship servants in the dispatch room picked up the phone and issued the highest order of the fleet headquarters to various departments. The deck sailors of the Weiyuan deck quickly raised the battle flag, and the main gun removed the cannon suit. As the air was driving, the main gun turret made a squeaking metal friction sound in the rotation, and the muzzle turned to the direction of the battle. The officers and soldiers on the rapid-fire cannon positions also quickly adjusted the muzzle to the direction of the battle, and all the battles were ready to be completed within five minutes. Finally, the boiler was supercharged after receiving the order in the turbine room, and the warship immediately entered the combat speed.

"Report the situation in various departments!"

"All main guns are ready!"

"All the guns are ready!"

"All rapid-fire guns are ready!"

"The pipe wheel is normal!"

"The investigation is normal!"

As all the normal reports of each department were passed back to the general dispatch room, the bridge staff finally informed Lin Jianzhang that everything was normal and that they could fight.

All the officers of the headquarters stared at Lin Jianzhang, and saw him stretching out his right hand and drawing half a circle to the right.

Captain Lin Yi immediately ordered: "The right rudder is full, and the port side is ready for artillery fire!"

The flagship Weiyuan quickly turned right, and the port side artillery shells were loaded.

"Full the rudder right!"

As the warship turns right and completes maneuvering, it forms a favorable horizontal position of the "t" character for the "enemy ship". At this time, the enemy ship position parameters that are constantly corrected from the reconnaissance room are converted into artillery firing elements under the correction of the main gun captains at all levels.

"The port fire is ready!"

The bridge staff turned to Lin Jianzhang, and saw Lin Jianzhang nodding in agreement, so the bridge staff immediately ordered.

"fire!"

The order issued the "Weiyuan's two single-barrel 240mm Ghana main guns and a single-barrel 240mm main gun in the port ear table are fired first.

Bi Dongdong!

Three Ghana shells weighing 1 kilogram rushed out of the barrel and whistled at an enemy ship 5,000 meters away in a nearly straight trajectory.

Boom boom boom boom!

Three huge water columns up to 100 meters were raised on the sea surface, and the shells exploded nearby an enemy ship.

Immediately afterwards, the port side of the Weiyuan port was 4 437-inch 45-caliber rapid-fire guns, 3 57mm Haqia single-bar rapid-fire guns, 2 47mm Haqia rapid-fire guns, and 5 25mm machine guns opened fire, and shells shot at an enemy ship like raindrops. In an instant, "the enemy ship, huge waves suddenly appeared on the nearby sea surface, and the sea water boiled instantly.

At the same time, "other ships of the Pacific Fleet also carried out firepower strikes on their respective "enemy ships." Suddenly, gunfire sounds roaring on the sea. Smoke filled the sky, and countless huge water columns soared into the sky, and waves shot into the air. Under the refraction of the sun, dazzling rainbows flashed out.

"Correction of elements and correct orientation."

Soon, the observers in the interrogation room analyzed the bounce points of the first round of artillery bombardment and corrected the location of the enemy ship and the parameters of its own artillery fire.

Dongdongdongdongdongdong!

20 minutes later, the Weiyuan hit the enemy ship for the sixth time on the "enemy ship, firepower volley". This time, the bounce point hit 1 enemy ship more.

"Report, the enemy ship was sunk!"

"The alarm is lifted!"

Obviously, this is not a practical battle, but a routine exercise.

On the bridge, Lin Jianzhang listened to the battle situation reported by various departments. During this exercise, the combat response time of the ships in the entire fleet was shortened again, and the alarm entered the combat state in less than three minutes. The coordination and combat capability of the officers and soldiers of each ship was greatly improved, and the dispatch was orderly. The most important thing was that the artillery firing speed and hit rate of each ship increased significantly. Theoretically, the time to sink the enemy ship was shortened from 2 hours when he left the UK to about 20 minutes now.

Looking at this gratifying result, Lyons congratulated Lin Jianzhang and said: "Congratulations to Commander Lin." According to the current training progress, after you return to China, the combat effectiveness of the fleet will reach 80% of the British Navy."

It seems so proud and proud to be able to reach 80% of the combat effectiveness of the world's most elite British navy. However, Lin Jianzhang did not smile too much, he just smiled faintly.

This result was actually because each ship had a large number of British naval consultants, as well as a large number of excellent British sailors and gunners. They were already very good, so it was normal to do this level.

"If all of us were naval soldiers from our own country, if they could reach 80% of the combat effectiveness of your Royal Navy, then I would be even happier."

Lyons smiled and said, "With the current quasi-alliance relationship between our British Empire and your country, under the training of our outstanding instructors, I believe your navy will have such a day!"

"I hope what you said can come true!"

Lin Jianzhang smiled slightly, and he knew very well that the Qing and British countries are now in the Mi-month period because of their joint dealing with Russia. But as his boss Wang Chenhao told him before leaving Britain, when the Qing and Russia competed for the best and bad luck, and when Russia withdrew from the Far East to fight for hegemony, the Qing Empire was Britain's number one strong enemy, and what replaced the Mi-month period was the contradictions and confrontations from the country to the basket, and even war.

Taking advantage of the Qing-English mi period, we will seize the time to introduce advanced technologies and talents from the UK, absorb and learn the advanced tactics and combat experience of the British Navy, and build a Chinese navy that does not rely on the UK and can be comparable to the Royal Navy. This is Wang Chenhao's political lesson to Lin Jianzhang, and it is also the burden that Lin Jianzhang has to bear for a period of time.

After the Pacific Fleet set sail and returned to China from the Portsmouth Military Port in England, it has been arriving along the way. The Pacific Fleet conducts military exercises every once in a while. The training time is uncertain, sometimes it is clear during the day, sometimes it is dark at night. The training environment is also diverse, sometimes it is in a calm environment, sometimes in a strong and windy weather.

Although there are only more than a thousand naval officers and soldiers on the fleet who are their own people, and the others are all hired British people to operate, it is undeniable that through military exercises in various environments, more than a thousand naval officers and soldiers on our side have learned a lot of knowledge and experience from the British that they cannot learn from textbooks. These experiences are very valuable. In the future, these more than a thousand officers and soldiers will serve as naval seeds."

Cultivate more naval military talents for the Chinese Navy.

, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again

Wang Chenhao has been in the United States for two months. During these two months, Wang Chenhao planned a series of money-making actions here, filling his American bank vault with gold bars, bonds and banknotes.

With the matchmaking of Geddener, Wang Chenhao met with the US arms giant Pittzellingen many times. The two held a series of consultations on the stock issue of Carnegie Steelite and reached a series of cooperation agreements.

Before this, Wang Chen ordered Tang Shaoyi to investigate Pitt's background.

Pete is a 59-year-old man, but has a wife of Li Liang who is just over thirty. Pete's three daughters are all born to his late wife because of the disagreement between his daughter and stepmother. The first two daughters were soon married, and now the third daughter, Luo Shier, is left, and she will also face a political marriage between wealthy families.

Pete owns two large arsenals in the United States, one is the New York arsenal and the other is the Navy arsenal in Philadelphia. The New York arsenal began during the Civil War and became one of the large arsenals for the U.S. Army’s weapons and equipment supply. The Philadelphia Navy arsenal was established by the Zellingen family to develop naval equipment manufacturing. The arsenal mainly provides ship-based weapons and equipment for the U.S. Navy shipyard in Philadelphia.

However, because the United States has not had a war for a long time, the arsenal business is not easy to do. For these reasons, Pitt is preparing to intervene in the hottest steel industry, and Carnegie is planning to pay $800 million to his $2 billion worth of Carnegie Steel Stock," which gave Pitt an opportunity.

The Zellingen family used their in-law relationship to unite the First Banner Consortium and the Cleveland Consortium to buy Carnegie's shares, but at this moment, both First Banner and Cleveland are small consortiums. It is the limit for them to be able to afford $100 million, because their company itself has to operate, and it is difficult for them to maintain their own shares after buying Carnegie's shares.

Even if the Celingen Consortium sold two arsenals, it could only raise $200 million. With the 200 million funds provided by the First Banner and Cleveland Consortium, it is only enough to buy half of the stocks. Pitt's rival Morgan is also interested in acquiring Carnegie's shares and is currently actively raising funds.

Behind the Morgan consortium is the support of the Rosscailder family, it won’t take long for Morgan to get 800 million dollars independently. So Pitt is trying to get ahead of Morgan for family interests and personal grudges.

In the United States, Morgan is powerful, and not many banks are willing to help Pitt and Morgan fight. But now it is different. A well-funded American bank suddenly appeared in New York, USA.

And it is the only bank that does not operate under the will of Morgan. This has ignited hope for Pitti. He hopes to get help from Bank of America, and marriage is the main means of joint between consortiums.

Although Pitt knew that Wang Chenhao already had a wife, at the instigation of Mrs. Pitt, Pitt chose to marry his youngest daughter Losier to Wang Chenhao. Wang Chenhao said that even if he didn't need to marry, Pitt was worried that if Wang Chenhao reselled the stock to others halfway, Pitt would lose his say in the board of directors. Therefore, Pitt firmly demanded a marriage, and he would only be relieved after the marriage.

Luo Xier is gentle and has a beautiful appearance. He is also from a noble chaebol. Wang Chenhao cannot find a reason to refuse her. The key is Luo Xier's own view. Luo Xier is not disgusted with Wang Chenhao, and is even full of curiosity about Wang Chenhao, so he does not object to marrying Wang Chenhao for something small.

Wang Chenhao still has a lot of things to be dealt with in China, so the sooner the joint acquisition of Carnegie stocks, the better.

So, Wang Chenhao nodded in agreement, and held an engagement ceremony with Luo Shier on August 6, 1896 under the witness of the three major families. As for when to get married, Wang Chenhao needs to seek the opinions of his wife Li Youyi. Of course, for Wang Chenhao, if Li Youyi agrees, he will enjoy the blessing of the people. Even if he disagrees, Wang Chenhao thinks it is no big deal. Having a beautiful woman is actually enough, and one more is just to satisfy his vanity.

Since among the witnesses were US President Cleveland and Consul General Tang Shaoyi, the two of them had enough weight as witnesses of engagement, Wang Chenhao and the three major families finalized the contract to jointly acquire Carnegie Steel Company.

What Wang Chenhao wants is the world's top technical team of Carnegie Steel. As long as he has this technical team, his Zhili Steel Company can have the ability of a world-class steel company in a short period of time, which will directly defeat the monopoly of the great powers on China's steel and enter the international market.
Chapter completed!