1890 King of Southeast Asia

Huang Suqing had studied female rings for several years and had a certain cultural foundation. After simple skills training, she became a plantation manager.

Huang Zhengfang and the fourth sister Huang Hudie went to school in the town every day. Because they had no problem with literacy, they could go to the third grade after taking arithmetic courses, but now they are all in the first grade.

On New Year's Day in 1897, Huang Suqing, who received her first month's salary and New Year's benefits, bought a cream cake and celebrated with her brothers and sisters to celebrate the new life.

For Liu Yiming, this is also a day worth celebrating.

"Are you really pregnant?" Liu Yiming touched Zhang You's belly with his hand, with a look of surprise.

Liu Yiming was a father for the first time in his two lives, and his emotions were complicated and unspeakable.

"Why did I lie to you? Take it away!" Over the years, Zhang You has completely understood her straight husband.

"Do dad and the others know?" Liu Yiming hugged Zhang You and asked softly.

"I haven't told you yet. I just found out. The doctor said I have a cold uterus. No wonder I got pregnant. I thought I couldn't have children. I didn't dare to tell you..." Zhang You sobbed in grievance. She had been married for a few years. In the first two years, Liu Yiming thought she was too young and didn't let her have children. She was under a lot of pressure in the past two years.

"By the way, I can't work for the time being. The doctor told me to take good care of the baby..." The original words were that once you are tired, it is easy to miscarry.

"Then don't work. By the way, we both have no experience. Why don't you call mom and we will do it together..."

The news of Zhang You's pregnancy spread quickly, and congratulatory people came one after another. Liu Wanhua also ended his position as the most idle person in the Ministry of Education and ran back to take care of his daughter-in-law.

…………

On January 24, 1897, after the annual summary meeting, Liu Yiming sat in the office with dark circles under his eyes.

Xu Hui pushed the door open and walked in, saying in a teasing tone: "Hey~ Isn't this our new dad? The meeting is over, why are you still here? It's almost dark."

Liu Yiming smiled bitterly and ignored Xu Hui's ridicule.

Usually, Liu Yiming always looked relaxed, focusing on industrial development and the construction of the Corps, leaving all the chores to Xu Hui. His current state of depression really resembled Xu Hui.

Now is the time for a chance encounter. After Zhang You got pregnant, the couple didn't feel anything, and Liu Yiming also took good care of her, and then he was driven out.

Father Liu's disdain was very direct: "You are clumsy, don't be an eyesore here..."

Mother-in-law was more tactful: "You are a big shot, so don't worry about the family affairs..."

But everyone knows the mood of pregnant women. Zhang You is unhappy when she doesn't see Liu Yiming every day. When Liu Yiming appears, he has to be disliked, so he can only have a tryst secretly. My wife and I have been having a tryst secretly for five years after marriage.

After a month, Liu Yiming went to bed late and got up early, and he had two dark circles under his eyes.

Liu Yiming adjusted his face and took out a thick book.

Liu Yiming smiled at Xu Hui: "Come on, we have to find out the name of the ship today!"

Xu Hui moved his feet uncomfortably. I just came to laugh at you, how could I be drafted?

Liu Yiming saw Xu Hui leaning his body and shouted: "Don't run! This is business. In addition to the three patrol ships, I plan to start building two more battleships."

Yang Tao and Zhao Jiaxing, who walked to the door, were startled and pushed the door open: "Really, Prime Minister?"

Liu Yiming nodded with a dark face. It's time to get off work, why do you come to him?

Yang Tao pushed Zhao Jiaxing away: "Prime Minister, the Army's logistics department is still short of several hundred trucks, the artillery lacks tractors, and there are new machine guns and recoilless guns. Can you consider it a little bit?"

Liu Yiming nodded: "Trucks and tractors have been approved, and a small number of weapons have been approved for training. We will not make large-scale equipment for the time being."

Nanhua wants to improve the Army's response speed. Because it cannot increase the number of the Army on a large scale, it can only improve the Army's strength in this way.

Xu Hui was a little confused and even more worried: "We already have two quasi-10,000-ton cruisers in service, three will be in service soon, and six medium-sized cruisers have been launched, as well as dozens of destroyers under construction or in service, and hundreds of torpedo boats. Do we still need to continue to increase the size of the Navy?"

Zhao Jiaxing also recovered from his excitement. Liu Yiming said to build, not order, "and we have never had experience in battleships, whether manufacturing or using..."

Even the three quasi-10,000-ton cruisers that have just ended the experiment and are waiting to be commissioned are also hiring a large number of European and American shipbuilders, especially a large number of Italians.

Liu Yiming shook his head. This kind of thinking is unacceptable and must be corrected.

"Our cruisers correspond to second-class battleships. Their armor and firepower are weaker than second-class battleships, but their speed is stronger than second-class battleships. Usually, it is enough to deter countries like Britain and France. After all, we have no fundamental conflicts, and the chance of a war is not great.

But second-class is second-class after all. We have technical advantages, but it is still second-class. The biggest role of large battleships is deterrence, just like when the Chang'an arrived in Hawaii, the United States evacuated without saying a word."

After thinking about it, considering that there is really no experience, it is the first time to build a large warship, even if there is a battleship, it is better not to be too arrogant.

"Then start building one, just as an experiment."

Zhao Jiaxing wanted to give himself two big slaps, the battleship! He lost a battleship with just one sentence!

Zhao Jiaxing said seriously: "Prime Minister, I actually think that this matter can be discussed..."

Yang Tao was thoughtful: "The first time, there will definitely be flaws. It's better to build one first and test it!"

Zhao Jiaxing stared at Yang Tao with wide eyes, his face full of disbelief.

Xu Hui nodded: "It is indeed possible to make a test ship, just as a technical reserve, there is still a surplus in the trade surplus, and we can allocate funds."

Liu Yiming waved his hand: "This time, no funds will be allocated, but naval bonds will be issued."

"Bonds?" Everyone present was surprised.

Liu Yiming nodded, "Yes, bonds will be issued by the central bank. If everything goes well, stock trading and futures markets can also be established, but they must be strictly controlled and abnormal fluctuations will be dealt with seriously. In a word, you can eat interest and dividends, but forget about speculation."

This is the result of Liu Yiming's careful consideration. Industrial development cannot only look at the state machine. Liu Yiming can guarantee that the direction is right, but blind success is not a good thing.

Many technologies are obtained unintentionally, and even some failed products have been used successfully in different fields. Liu Yiming's practice of forcing things to grow will do more harm than good in the long run.

Because Liu Yiming's knowledge is limited, just like the information does not involve turrets, it is completely the people of the gun factory who have worked in various factories and integrated the existing technology of Nanhua.

There are many such cases. The development of technology is systematic. Liu Yiming has more advanced technology, such as radar system, but Nanhua cannot manufacture it. It only has the composition of the radar system, and there is no instruction manual for manufacturing from screws.

Xu Hui nodded: "How much is appropriate to issue in the initial stage?"

Liu Yiming grinned and said, "The cost of three quasi-10,000-ton cruisers is 16 million. The battleship will issue 10 million. More will be discussed later. Five-year naval bonds, interest rate 5%, printing as exquisite as possible, can only be purchased with identity certificates."

Battleships are too expensive, and it is a waste to make pre-dreadnoughts, but Nanhua has not figured out the subsystems of dreadnoughts, so it is impossible to leave them empty.

Issuing naval bonds is not because there is no money, but to let Nanhua participate in the navy. A little interest can be exchanged for discussions about the navy in Nanhua, which is a sure profit!

"Since we are here, let's study how to name it!

It should reflect the generosity of a great country, the might of the warship, and the history and culture of China. It can't be petty. It's better to be representative and constructive. Come on, come on..."

Liu Yiming narrowed his eyes and smiled as he took out several thick books, including history books, poetry collections, novel collections, essays, etc.

"This time, we don't require naming it after a city, and we can't name it after an ancient capital. In the future, we will only name the main battleships after ancient capitals. After the Changluo class is retired, the name will be sealed until the next class of battleships is launched."

A group of people heard so many requirements and cut off the rule of naming after the capital, and they were all confused for a while.

When naming the Jiaolong class, Liu Yiming tortured everyone in the same way and almost tortured them to death.

Xu Hui suddenly thought: "How about using the names of the four sealed Jiaolong-class ships? Jiaolong belongs to water, and dragons swim in the sea, isn't that perfect?"

Zhao Jiaxing looked desperate, while Yang Tao looked eager.

Sure enough, Liu Yiming shook his head: "No, no, I still have a use for Jiaolong-class ships, not here."

Zhao Jiaxing scratched his head after hearing this. Could it be used on a medium-sized cruiser? But this is not enough! Another ship has to be added?

However, Liu Yiming did not explain. He planned to use it on a submarine. Currently, Nanhua has no submarines, so they are temporarily sealed.

The four discussed until dark, and Yang Tao was numb. God knows why he, an army officer, should participate in the naming of the navy?

"Then it's decided! Name the large secondary battleships after the famous rivers and mountains in culture. The first batch will be called the Five Mountains class, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan."

Although it was decided, Liu Yiming was a little unhappy. Only three ships took up more than half of the quota of the Five Mountains. If two ships were not unified later, Liu Yiming would be very unhappy. There was nothing he could do about it. Let's leave it like this for now.

………

Just after the New Year, on February 1, 1897, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan were magnificently docked at the Sishui military port.

With a gray-white paint job and three main turrets, at least from the outside, the Five Mountains class was full of a sense of crossing the times.

"Fire a salute!"

Bang! …

The lengthy commissioning ceremony lasted for a long time. Finally, the Navy Commander-in-Chief Zhao Jiaxing pressed the button. On the three warships, the waiting soldiers were lit up with red lights, and they hurriedly manually untied the curtains.

203, 204, 205, three hull numbers are revealed, 201 and 202 are Chang Luo.

Beep~

Long whistle, fireworks flying.

The grand scene is for filming, dozens of cameras record this scene, the video tape will soon be sent to Nanhua and Dieqing, the role of publicity, Liu Yiming will never forget.

I originally wanted to save the manuscript, but I was afraid that you didn't like the first two chapters, so I decided to add more at 7 o'clock.

Thank you brothers for your support!!!