1890 King of Southeast Asia

"Commander! Good news!" Early in the morning, Liu Yiming was rubbing his waist when Xu Hui rushed in with a red face.

"What's the matter? You are so happy." Liu Yiming rubbed his waist. Last night, Zhang You cried and shouted but refused to surrender. This girl is too crazy!

"The ship built by the shipyard has successfully completed the sea trial. We can also build ships, and it is the world's first ship powered by diesel! The effect is said to be very good!" Xu Hui said with a smile.

"Oh? Such a big thing, why did you tell me now?" Liu Yiming stood up.

Shipbuilding was not very surprising. Although the equipment of the shipyard could not be installed, Sishui could originally build a thousand-ton merchant ship. During this period, the shipyard was tinkering with the modification of those unfinished small boats. Liu Yiming also knew it.

But diesel power, it took 20 years to get the first pure diesel-powered ship. Before that, it was just a heavy oil boiler to boil water.

"Let's go and take a look." Liu Yiming's waist pain was gone immediately. Being able to produce ships would greatly promote the development of heavy industry.

The shipyard dock is not in the same location as the commercial dock, but it is not far away.

At this time, a ship that is slightly larger than a naval gunboat and is wide and flat is docked at the dock. A group of technicians are excitedly recording data in notebooks.

"Is this ship modified?" Liu Yiming quietly interrupted the conversation of a group of professionals.

"Yes, the hull of this ship is a wooden boat that was idle in the shipyard. It originally had a steam engine, but it was taken away by the power plant and was not completed." A technician flipped through some records and said without looking up.

"You are not from here, right?" The technician suddenly raised his head and asked Liu Yiming.

"Oh! I'm from the Ministry of National Defense. I heard that you have a ship that does not use a steam engine. Come and take a look." Liu Yiming wanted to take a peek at the technician's notebook, and the technician closed the notebook with a "snap".

"Hey! This is our latest model of engine, using the diesel engine produced by our Sishui Engine Factory, which can provide 200 horsepower to drive this 320-ton wooden boat, and it can run 11 knots without load." The technician said to Liu Yiming proudly.

"You told me directly? Aren't you afraid that I'm a spy?" Liu Yiming said a little upset without seeing the record book.

The technician was dumbfounded, and then turned to look at the guards around him. The technician went out and there were guards on guard.

"Are you stupid or am I stupid?" The technician said.

"Okay, I took a photo of the Ministry of National Defense to inspect the practicality of this ship. Did you see it? That's your boss's boss, the Minister of Industry and Commerce. Take me to the ship to have a look." Liu Yiming said.

This time Liu Yiming specifically asked Xu Hui to stop the factory director, otherwise he would participate in this matter in a formal way, and Liu Yiming really wanted to conduct a complete inspection of the ship's power, after all, it has surpassed twenty years.

"Let's go! I'm not afraid that you're a spy. You can't understand the things inside if you're not professional. By the way, what's your education?" The technician glanced at Xu Hui, whom he knew, and then turned around and took Liu Yiming to the ship.

"Me? I went to a middle school run by the Dutch, but I didn't go any more." Liu Yiming said.

The original owner went to school late. Not long after graduating from middle school, before he confirmed whether to study abroad, he was beaten half to death by the natives...

"How can it be a middle school? It must be a church school." The technician curled his lips. The Dutch founded it, and except for the Dutch, all other schools are church schools.

"What's your name? Tell me about this ship." Liu Yiming said without too much entanglement.

"Me? I'm just a technician. This ship is fully loaded with 320 tons. Because it is a wooden ship, it looks bloated, and it also affects the speed. It is an experimental model. Because it is a steam ship, the boiler room and steam engine are vacant, and the loading capacity and range are greatly improved." The technician said.

"How far is the range?" Liu Yiming asked with concern.

"The fuel consumption is set at 80 liters per hour. Because it is an experimental ship, two fuel tanks are installed, with a total of 10,000 liters of oil. Theoretically, it has a range of about 1,300 nautical miles. If a special ship is designed for diesel engines and the coal bunker is changed to an oil depot, it will definitely be different, but..." The technician was very interested when talking about making special ships, and finally hesitated.

"But what?" Liu Yiming asked.

"We only tested the empty load, not the full load test." The technician said.

"Why not test it?" Liu Yiming asked.

"For the hull, we just replaced the steam engine with a diesel engine. After losing the steam engine and boiler, the center of gravity of this ship is a little unstable, and the power consumption loss of the transmission system is too large. The same engine has 170Kw when tested in the power plant, but here it can only barely run 200 horsepower." The technician sighed.

Maybe he is used to it, or maybe he likes the feeling of coaching people outside the industry, the technician continued.

"If we load the cargo rashly, the center of gravity might be even weirder. I'm not surprised that the ship sank. Fortunately, it's a wooden hull and its weight is not large." The technician walked through the cabin and wanted to take Liu Yiming to the engine to have a look.

"I saw you were recording it before. Can you show it to me?" Liu Yiming asked.

The technician didn't say anything, but handed the record book to Liu Yiming.

"Here it is. Let's compare them." Liu Yiming was flipping through the record book when he heard the technician's voice.

"Is this the engine? I know something about it. The original model doesn't seem to be like this." Liu Yiming turned around the engine.

"You are looking at the initial version, the laboratory version, which is very advanced in theory, small and light, but the power is not only low, but also the reliability is not good. After many twists and turns, the second generation was made to power the factory. Did you know this?" The technician couldn't stay idle when looking at the engine, and began to disassemble it, as if he was doing maintenance.

"Is this also?" Liu Yiming asked. In front of him was an engine similar to the one used in submarines in movies and TV dramas. It can be seen that there is more than one cylinder, and the appearance has the appearance of a modern diesel engine. It is just very large, about the size of a pickup truck.

"This should be considered the fifth generation, and some modifications have been made, but the reliability is still average. After the new machine tool was obtained, the cylinder problem was solved, but the whole system had minor problems. However, it is very convenient to repair and minor problems are easy to solve." The technician looked at Liu Yiming with a slightly expectant look.

"The advantages of diesel engines are undoubtedly, I will make a report, and I believe the plan will be implemented soon." Liu Yiming nodded. Don't look at the stupid, big, black and rough appearance of this thing, but its advanced level is unmatched by the West.

Liu Yiming was serious. There are many coal resources in the Southeast Asian islands, but Java Island has only a small amount. It needs to make steel, generate electricity, and support the coal chemical industry. The foreseeable future gap is not small.

"Xu Hui, you keep an eye on the shipyard. Li Ziyao is doing a good job in the industrial park. You can let him continue to try. If possible, you can let him look after the industrial park in Batavia." Liu Yiming discussed with Xu Hui when he came back.

"What should we do with the shipyard? It's something I haven't learned yet!" Xu Hui said helplessly.

"Give them the greatest convenience and some pressure at the same time. We are an island country and cannot lack ships. After the equipment is mature, we can build the first-class Nanhua ships. Small boats are enough for short-distance transportation and develop slowly!" Liu Yiming said seriously.

"There are too many departments involved in this matter. Only you can regulate it. Those who are capable should do more work!" Liu Yiming encouraged.

The shipyard business is not something that can be done in one go. Three months have passed, and the first batch of shipyard equipment purchased by Liu Yiming has just set sail from the United States. The cargo ship will cross the Atlantic Ocean, pass the Cape of Good Hope, and cross the Indian Ocean before it can reach Java. Industrial construction cannot be rushed.

"However, should we start digging the dock in advance?" Liu Yiming muttered to himself while holding various documents.

"Hello, this is Liu Yiming, connecting with Wang Linhai from the Production and Construction Corps." Liu Yiming thought for a while and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Commander, what instructions do you have?" After a long while, Wang Linhai answered the phone.

"Are the prisoners who built the road in the Construction Corps?" Liu Yiming asked.

"Yes! After the road was built, all places handed over the prisoners to my Corps. Currently, there are 270,000 healthy prisoners." Wang Linhai's memory is still so good.

However, Liu Yiming remembered that there were more than just these few prisoners at the time.

"Pick some people out, there is a project that requires people." Liu Yiming said.

"Yes!" Wang Linhai went to make arrangements.

"Xu Hui, it's me, Liu Yiming. I plan to dig a few docks. Anyway, the equipment for the shipyard will be here soon. What do you think? Hello! Hello?" Liu Yiming smiled bitterly as he listened to the busy tone on the phone.

"Oh, who should I find?" Liu Yiming took out the roster to see who is suitable for this.

Dinglingling~

"Hello?" Liu Yiming answered the phone.

"Commander, this is Yang Tao! Officer training and recruit training are completed, and the reserve framework has been built. I want to ask about the next task." Yang Tao's voice came from the phone.

"Hey! Can you work on the construction site?" Liu Yiming threw the roster casually.

"Highway? I supervised the highway from Semarang to Batavia, but it has been repaired?" Yang Tao asked in confusion. I haven't heard of any projects recently? Railway? Isn't it that there are not enough people yet?

"It's like this. The Surabaya Shipyard has built the most advanced ship in the world, an experimental model." Liu Yiming said.

"Oh?" Yang Tao didn't know much about ships, but he knew the most advanced ones.

"Isn't the shipyard coming soon? Go to Batavia and expand the dock. Be more far-sighted and build it on a scale of more than 10,000 tons. It will be more convenient for us to build warships in the future." Liu Yiming seemed to be deceiving a child.

"But I don't know how to do it!" Yang Tao said in surprise. I'm in the army!

"Who knows how to do it? I know how to do it? There are not many professionals in the whole Nanhua. If you don't know how to do it, you can learn it! It's decided. I'll watch Sishui and you watch Batavia. At least two 10,000-ton docks are needed." Liu Yiming said.

Not only shipbuilding, but also two 9,000-ton warships need dock maintenance. When they can't be maintained, they have to go to Singapore, right? Die Qing Zhengtong is in Nanhua?