Chapter 1141: Striking Eastward

Jinghai County.

When the Ross delegation came toward Great Song, Zhao Xu was right here, observing the launch of a new batch of Ironclad Warships.

Compared to the first batch of Ironclad Warships, the construction period for this second batch had been shortened by about two months.

Firstly, this was because after building the first batch of Ironclad Warships, there were mature supporting construction facilities in place.

Secondly, it was because after Great Song mastered power generation technology, the Shipyard also underwent relevant electrical upgrades, and now it uses a large amount of electrical equipment.

However, because the Thermal Power Plant in this place, Jinghai, is still under construction, the Shipyard is using its own Steam Engine Generator Set.

"Including the Jinghai Shipyard, we can deliver a total of forty-eight Ironclad Warships to the Navy by the end of this year; the Navy's Sailing Warships will soon be phased out." On the coast, Chen Shou looked at the twelve Ironclad Warships sailing from the Dry Dock toward the sea, his face full of smiles.

After a pause, he revealed a look of regret, "It's just a pity that our Sailing Warships have only been in service for a few years, and they are already being phased out."

Although he said this, he was happy in his heart.

Because this meant that Great Song's shipbuilding industry was changing with each passing day.

At present, besides Ironclad Warships replacing Sailing Warships, Great Song's Steam Merchant Ships are also replacing traditional Sailing Merchant Ships.

If one goes to the banks of the Jin River to look, one can see Steam Merchant Ships coming and going.

Besides inland rivers, the sea surface is also full of Steam Merchant Ships.

They continuously transport Great Song's industrial products to other countries and bring back cheap raw materials.

"Hahaha..." Chen Shou's words made Zhao Xu laugh. He said, "This is called 'out with the old, in with the new.' Besides, these Sailing Warships haven't even been retired yet and there are already buyers. We used them for a few years and sold them at the original price; no matter how you look at it, it's a profit."

The Sailing Warships replaced by the Ironclad Warships were naturally snapped up by vassal states like Gaoli and Dongying.

Although these countries are all vassal states of Great Song.

But there is no harmony between them; rather, they have their own conflicts.

Therefore, in order not to suffer losses in conflicts, they are all trying their best to arm themselves.

And the firearms, Artillery, and Warships phased out by Great Song are naturally hot commodities for them.

At the same time, from Great Song's perspective, it is not a good thing for the vassal states to be united in private.

Great Song only needs to mediate when they are at each other's throats; in daily life, just turning a blind eye is enough.

"Director Chen, our Emperor has never suffered a loss." Zhou Yi was also there at this time.

Hearing this, he also laughed.

The three chatted and laughed for a while. After the Ironclad Warships disappeared from view, Zhao Xu said to Zhou Yi, "By the way, how is the cooperation plan between you and Qin Shan's Azure Dragon Army going?"

Last time, after he put forward the next three major strategies for Great Song, he had Zhou Yi and Qin Shan plan the second strategy given to them: the Indian Restoration Plan.

"Replying to the Emperor, we have already finalized the next action plan." Zhou Yi was well-prepared and took a map out from his bosom to unfold it.

After collecting his thoughts, he said, "We are prepared to approach North America from two directions simultaneously. The first is the Hawaii Islands the Emperor mentioned, and the second is here."

Zhao Xu looked over and nodded.

The location Zhou Yi pointed to was none other than the location of the contemporary Alaska Peninsula.

"According to intelligence, the current North America is divided into two parts. The northern part is called Quebec, which is currently a colony of Britain, and south of Quebec is the Sam Country, which is independent from Britain," Zhou Yi said slowly.

Clearing his throat, he continued, "Since our Great Song supports the Indian Restoration Movement, this movement must inevitably spread across the entire North America, and even South America. Therefore, the subordinate and Qin Shan discussed establishing two strongholds in Hawaii and here to provide shelter for the Indians and attack from the north and south."

"Very well." Zhao Xu did not negate the result of the discussion between Zhou Yi and Qin Shan.

The Indian Restoration Plan was a general plan to begin with.

Since he handed it to the two of them, they could just do it however they felt comfortable.

"Then in six days, the subordinate will allocate six Ironclad Warships to cooperate with Steam Troop Transport Ships to seize Hawaii." Seeing Zhao Xu agree to his plan, Zhou Yi could not help but become excited.

The subsequent entry of forty-eight Ironclad Warships into service made his confidence swell immensely.

To him, the ocean was now the backyard of the Great Song Navy.

From now on, their Navy would completely shift from a defensive posture to an offensive one.

They would take back the islands on this sea occupied by Xitu Guo one by one.

For instance, the islands between Great Song and Hawaii are already entirely under the control of the Great Song Navy; not only have supply points been established, but there are also garrison troops.

In the future, there will be more and more such islands, spreading across the entire ocean, providing guarantees for the long-distance voyages of Great Song's naval Warships.

After discussing this matter, Zhao Xu instructed Chen Shou to continue with the next batch of shipbuilding plans.

According to his idea, the number of this batch of Ironclad Warships should reach about three hundred and sixty.

Because for a very long time, these Ironclad Warships would not be phased out and would be the only main battle ships of Great Song.

As for the next generation of Warships, they would be the big-gun, giant-ship types from the First and Second World Wars; traditional Steam Engines would no longer be able to power them.

What is needed is a steam turbine.

The craftsmanship for this thing is very complex; without several years of technical accumulation, I am afraid it cannot be produced.

But as long as it is produced, it will be revolutionary for both Warships and Power Plants.

Even contemporary Warships and Thermal Power Plants use steam turbines—one for providing power and the other for generating electricity.

As for why build so many Ironclad Warships? The reason is also very simple.

He judged that the Xitu Guo, having lost their naval advantage, would soon pick up their pirate trade again to threaten Great Song's maritime trade routes.

These Ironclad Warships are meant to protect the routes.

After all, in the next few years, Great Song's trade will expand to North America, South America, Zhongtu countries, and the Black Continent. The wider the range of Great Song Merchant Ships' activities, the more Warships will be needed for patrols.

After staying in Jinghai for the morning, Zhao Xu took a Steam Locomotive back.

On the way to Yancheng, he looked through the carriage window at the wheat fields covered in snow on both sides and the commoners passing by.

Although the food, clothing, housing, and transportation of these commoners were much better than before, they were still far from reaching his ideal goal.

He had once told Liu Fu that he wanted every child in Great Song commoner families to receive a good education, be able to eat eggs and milk in the morning, and have meat at every meal on weekdays.

Currently, only the commoners of Yancheng had reached half of this goal; the majority of Great Song commoners had not yet reached it.

The reason for this is that although Great Song has developed, it has not yet developed comprehensively.

Nowadays, the Great Song no longer has any enemies capable of threatening its homeland.

Thus, he will next utilize every means to build the Great Song into a super-developed nation of this era.

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