1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 147

The compressed biscuits are not available on the market; they are a special food exclusively for the military, and were developed under the supervision of Major General Dai Mingde of the Joint Logistics Department. Production is currently limited, and the girls had never even seen them before. After tasting them, they all said they were excellent.

Only Liu Ting and Wang Xiaoman truly loathed this stuff. Every time they went on a business trip, they would receive a large bag of it as provisions for the journey, which was considered a great perk from the Joint Logistics Department. However, after eating it so often, they grew to find it extremely tiresome.

After exchanging food, the atmosphere in the carriage became much more relaxed. During the conversation, Liu Ting learned that these four were all young ladies from wealthy families in Guangzhou. After graduating from high school, they chose to travel during the summer vacation. It was obvious that they were not short of money.

Even Liu Ting felt the pinch of the sleeper tickets, but they didn't seem to care. They were all carrying backpacks, which were obviously expensive, and filled with various canned goods, clothes, medicine, and other items.

The girl with the oval face is named Huang Yun. Her family owns a textile factory. The other three girls also come from families that are either in business or hold government positions. This makes sense, as children from poor families or even ordinary business families cannot afford such travel expenses.

Moreover, they were not the kind of girls from ordinary families who dared to travel long distances together; it was truly audacious.

Liu Ting didn't say much about his personal information, only that he was a soldier who worked in Beijing and often traveled on business.

Liu Ting could still chat with these girls about some interesting military anecdotes and publicly available military information. Although it wasn't anything top secret, it was enough to fool a group of inexperienced young women.

Huang Yun seemed particularly interested in Liu Ting, and she was very bold. She dared to joke and tease Liu Ting after knowing him for only an hour or two.

When it was lunchtime, none of the girls left the carriage. They took out canned food and boxed lunches prepared by their families and began to eat. Although they were brave, they were not stupid. They would not leave the carriage to go outside, and someone would pick them up at the final stop. They avoided contact with strangers throughout the journey.

Liu Ting and Wang Xiaoman declined the girls' invitation and went directly to the dining car to eat. It wasn't that they were embarrassed to be kept by women, but rather that they simply couldn't stand canned food.

Canned food is a high-end consumer product for ordinary people, but for a department like the Joint Logistics Department that is in charge of logistics, it is something so common and boring that they don't want to bother with it at all.

Although the food in the dining car wasn't very good and was expensive, at least it was hot, which was better than anything else.

Chapter 243 The falling flowers are willing, but the flowing water is heartless.

"Sir, that young lady seems to have a thing for you."

"She's quite beautiful, and comes from a wealthy family. If you marry her, you'll be living a life of luxury."

Inside the dining car, Liu Ting and Wang Xiaoman sat facing each other, with Wang Xiaoman talking incessantly as she ate.

The National Defense Forces have a strict hierarchy, but that's only in formal occasions and during combat. In daily life, no officer continues to put on airs, and they all eat together.

The military tradition of eating from the same pot in Chongshan was personally established by Zhao Yan, and no officer dared to put on airs higher than the head of state.

Liu Ting was also an officer who did not come from a military academy. He treated his subordinates as colleagues and disliked putting on airs.

But being teased by the orderly, he couldn't hold back any longer: "Hurry up and eat yours. If you don't want to eat, then go back to the carriage and eat canned food with those girls!"

Wang Xiaoman obediently shut her mouth. Some things are best left unsaid; continuing to advise would only annoy people. Her superior was over thirty and still single, and Wang Xiaoman was only saying these things out of concern.

A meal consisting of three dishes and a soup cost only one yuan and fifty cents. That amount of money would be enough for four meat dishes and five vegetable dishes outside, but that's the price of food on the train.

The train slowly traveled across the fields, with bright sunshine on both sides of the railway. A summer breeze rippled through the rice paddies, and the open windows brought in the fragrance of rice and a refreshing coolness.

The train, traveling at a moderate speed of over fifty kilometers per hour, walked to the train connection point after dinner, lit a cigarette, and quietly watched the scenery outside the window.

The summer breeze stirred his slightly gray hair and also unsettled his heart.

He turned his head and looked at his reflection in the glass behind him. A weathered old lieutenant colonel appeared before him. He was only a thirty-five-year-old lieutenant colonel, while Huang Yun was a vibrant seventeen-year-old high school graduate. He came from a poor background, but she was a rich heiress.

"Alas, people say Luoyang is a brocade of flowers, but I came when spring had not come!"

Liu Ting put on his peaked cap, dusted off his sleeves, and dismissed those unrealistic ideas from his mind.

After returning to the carriage, Huang Yun noticed that Liu Ting smelled of smoke, but she didn't say anything. Many passengers lit cigarettes directly in the carriage, and Liu Ting's ability to avoid smoking with women was a plus in the eyes of the girls.

The train journey from Guangzhou to Wuchang took two days and one night. Along the way, water and coal had to be added and passengers had to get on and off. The speed was incredibly slow compared to the high-speed trains a century later, but for this era, it was a phenomenal speed, covering thousands of miles a day.

Several girls became quite familiar with Liu Ting. They said they were going to Wuhan together to watch the first martial arts tournament and wanted to invite Liu Ting to come along, but Liu Ting had his own mission and could only decline.

Huang Yun wanted to ask Liu Ting for his contact address, but Liu Ting didn't say much. He only said that he was an officer in charge of logistics at the Ministry of National Defense and gave his name, just to make a friend. As for deeper thoughts, Liu Ting felt it was unrealistic, so he didn't want to get too involved.

When the train arrived at Wuchang Station, it was late at night. Huang Yun was sleeping soundly with her head on Liu Ting's shoulder, but Liu Ting knew it was time to part ways.

He gently helped the girl to bed and laid her down to sleep, then quietly left with Wang Xiaoman.

However, what he didn't know was that after he left, Huang Yun lay on the sleeper berth and cried quietly; she was just pretending to be asleep.

The falling flowers were willing, but the flowing water was indifferent. Liu Ting had no interest in exploring the young girl's sentimentality; there were more important things waiting for him to do.

After leaving Wuchang Railway Station, Liu Ting went straight to the dock. He would have to take a boat to get to Shanghai, which was the fastest way to get there.

The People's Republic of China has the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway as its main north-south artery, but there are few east-west railway lines, except for the Longhai Railway, which is currently under construction.

The east-west railway line in the south is still in the planning stage, namely the Shanghai-Kunming Railway.

The national highway connecting Wuhan and Shanghai has been completed, but even the generals of the Ministry of National Defense are not allocated a dedicated car, let alone a lieutenant colonel like Liu Ting who can only dream of having one for business trips.

The main east-west transportation artery in the southern region is still the Yangtze River, where boat travel is cheap and fast.

Inside the passenger terminal at the dock, Liu Ting stayed up until dawn. After dawn, he bought a ticket and boarded a 3,000-ton Yangtze River inland passenger ship, which was steam-powered and would reach Shanghai in just two or three days, traveling very quickly downstream.

After boarding the ship, Wang Xiaoman was still thinking about the girls she had traveled with on the train the day before. Liu Ting didn't say anything, but he was also very annoyed.

The two men leaned against the ship's railing, smoking. A large crowd had gathered at the dock to see them off. The passenger ship was full of more than two thousand people who were about to embark on their journeys eastward. Their relatives stood on the dock, reluctant to part with them.

Amidst the tides of this great era, countless people leave their homes every day to seek opportunities in unfamiliar lands.

"dudu~"

The passenger ship sounded its horn and began to weigh anchor and set sail. The massive hull slowly left the dock and drifted along the river.

"Sir, look over there!"

Wang Xiaoman has excellent eyesight; he spotted a beautiful figure amidst the dense crowd at the dock.

Liu Ting also looked in the direction Wang Xiaoman was pointing and saw the figures of the four girls on the dock. The one standing in front was Huang Yun, who was waving a handkerchief and shouting something loudly.

Unfortunately, her voice was eventually drowned out by the noisy crowd. Liu Ting waved to her with a relieved smile on his face.

At this point, no matter what they say, the other person can no longer hear them.

In this era, travel is slow and long, and sometimes a parting may mean never seeing each other again in this lifetime.

But Liu Ting felt there was nothing wrong with it. He had met many girls in his life, but he had missed them all. When he was in the United States, a congressman's daughter had taken a liking to him, but he eventually chose to return to China.

After missing out on so many things, you get used to it, and being alone is fine too.

July 11, 1911, Shanghai.

Dark clouds filled the sky, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and torrential rain poured down like a waterfall, while a fierce wind swept everything away.

Shanghai is experiencing typhoon season again, with frequent strong winds and torrential rains.

A black Jetta sped through the rain. While the driver drove, Wang Xiaoman, sitting in the passenger seat, had to frantically crank the handle to operate the windshield wipers and clear the rainwater from the windshield.

This is the latest Jetta model from Tongda Power Company. It has been equipped with a new headlight system and taillights, as well as seat belts and windshield wipers. The rearview mirrors have also been changed from flat mirrors to curved mirrors.

A radio was also added next to the driver's seat, and the powertrain was upgraded, with the transmission changed from three-speed to six-speed, including one reverse gear and five forward gears.

This is Tongda Power's new flagship product after expanding production. They also paid some price to obtain many authorizations from the Beijing Patent Office, such as seat belts, rearview mirrors, headlights, taillights, and windshield wipers, all of which require patent authorization to be installed in their cars.

Of course, the price of this car has also risen accordingly, reaching more than 2,100 yuan. This is the final price after government subsidies and tax breaks, which is quite expensive.

Even the wealthy Jiangnan Gun and Cannon Bureau was only willing to purchase a little over fifty vehicles. It was only because Liu Ting, the director of the Equipment Bureau of the Joint Logistics Department, came that the Gun and Cannon Bureau sent a Jetta to pick him up.

The black car continued to break through the rain, its tires splashing high into the water as it drove over the road, arriving at the shipyard without any obstruction.

"Director Liu, thank you for your hard work!"

"I feel really bad that you had to come all this way."

As soon as the car door opened and Liu Ting got out, a naval lieutenant commander came forward to greet him with an umbrella.

Liu Ting replied politely, "It's my duty. Have I not yet asked for your guidance?"

The officer introduced himself: "My name is Chen Shaokuan, a naval lieutenant commander. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Liu Ting laughed and said, "So it's Major Chen. I know your name. You're on the list of captains for this batch of new destroyers. You have a bright future ahead of you!"

"I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed! It's all thanks to the trust of our superiors." Chen Shaokuan held up his umbrella and extended his hand, saying, "Director Liu, it's windy and rainy outside, let's go inside first."

Chen Shaokuan was very respectful, after all, he was only a major, while the other party was a lieutenant colonel and a senior officer, holding the very important position of Director of the Technical Equipment Bureau of the Joint Logistics Department.

His superior, Major General Zheng Shiyan, had warned him that Liu Ting would be promoted to colonel next month, and without the signature and approval of the Joint Logistics Department's Technical Equipment Bureau, many things in the equipment field could not be done. Zheng Shiyan instructed Chen Shaokuan not to offend Liu Ting.

One of Liu Ting's missions in coming here was to attend the delivery ceremony of the Navy's first domestically built destroyer. The first batch of destroyers under the Starry Sky Project has completed sea trials and is ready for delivery.

The construction of the Navy's new destroyers has been almost named the "Starry Sky Class" project, named after the ancient Chinese Twenty-Eight Mansions, which correspond to the seven mansions of the Azure Dragon, the seven mansions of the Vermilion Bird, the seven mansions of the White Tiger, and the seven mansions of the Black Tortoise.

The first phase of the plan was to build seven Azure Dragon-class ships: Horned Wood Dragon, Kang Golden Dragon, Di Earth Badger, Fang Sun Rabbit, Heart Moon Fox, Tail Fire Tiger, and Winnowing Basket Water Leopard.

After the completion of the Azure Dragon-class ships, the Navy will learn from the experience and summarize the gains and losses, and continue to build the Vermilion Bird-class ships, advancing step by step, and pursuing more perfect progress with each class.

The construction of the Qinglong-class destroyers was undertaken by five major state-owned shipyards: Jiangnan, Mawei, Dalian, Qingdao, and Guangzhou. Among them, Jiangnan Shipyard was responsible for the construction of the two destroyers, Jiaomujiao and Kangjinlong, and was the first to be completed and delivered.

The remaining five destroyers will also be delivered in succession within this year, forming the first ocean-going fast destroyer fleet of the Chinese Navy.

As one of the captains of the first seven new destroyers, Chen Shaokuan was selected by his superiors to take on an important task, which means he has a bright future. As long as he does not make any mistakes and does his job well, he will eventually become a backbone of the navy.

Chen Shaokuan also attached great importance to this warship delivery. In order to ensure that it would pass the Joint Logistics Department's inspection smoothly, he even took the initiative to run out and hold an umbrella for Liu Ting.

The two arrived at the shipyard dock, where a large crowd of people from the military and the shipyard had already gathered. The most important figures were Rear Admiral Zheng Shiyan, the Director of Naval Equipment, and the CEO of the Jiangnan Gun and Cannon Bureau.

One is a rear admiral in the navy, and the other is a department-level official who heads a state-owned enterprise.

The level of the ships was even higher than Zheng Shiyan's, but this was their territory, and the navy owed the Jiangnan Gun and Cannon Bureau a lot of favors in order to build these two destroyers!

"Director Liu is here! We've been waiting for you for a long time!"

"With Director Liu here, everyone's here!"

Liu Ting didn't dare to put on airs and quickly greeted, "Good day, Commander Zheng. I'm sorry I'm late and have taken up everyone's time."

Zheng Shiyan laughed heartily: "Haha, good things come to those who wait. You've come all this way for our navy's sake, no need to apologize, we're the ones who should apologize!"

"Come and see our navy's new vessel! What a beautiful warship! It's hard to believe that we built it ourselves!"

At the dock amidst a sudden downpour and a fierce wind, two elegantly designed and sleek destroyers are moored, marking the full debut of the domestically built destroyers in front of everyone.

What's most eye-catching about this destroyer isn't its tonnage or size, nor its guns or armor; its biggest highlight is its structural layout.

The twin-mounted turrets, two forward and one aft, along with the long forecastle, flared bow, sleek hull shape, and square stern, are all features being shown to the world for the first time.

The German chief engineer in charge of the construction process, accompanied by a group of Chinese assistants, came forward and introduced the destroyer's performance specifications to everyone.

After numerous revisions, the fully-fledged destroyer that was finally built, launched, and put into service perfectly met everyone's expectations, and even exceeded them.

The standard displacement of the destroyer is 3,080 tons, and the full load displacement is 3,950 tons, just 50 tons short of breaking the 4,000 mark.

The power system consisted of four heavy oil high-pressure steam boilers manufactured by the Jiangnan Gun and Cannon Bureau Power Plant, paired with two Hercules-3 steam turbines, which could output 38,000 horsepower and drive the destroyer to a top speed of 30.3 knots.

This is all thanks to the destroyer's outstanding shape design, which is so in line with hydrodynamics that it achieved unexpected speeds with limited power output.

In terms of armament, it is equipped with three twin-mounted 130mm/L45 naval guns. The navy originally requested the use of 50-caliber guns, but later found that 50-caliber guns were too expensive, and 45-caliber guns were sufficient and much cheaper, so they compromised.

The torpedo uses a triple 533mm torpedo launcher, two on each side. The torpedo technology was imported from Germany, but it was manufactured domestically. The effective range of the torpedo is about six kilometers, but if the torpedo speed is reduced to thirty knots, it can reach about twelve kilometers, but this is not very significant.

The ship is 121.4 meters long, 12.3 meters wide, and has a draft of 4.2 meters.

In terms of armor protection, there's not much to say. Apart from the conning tower and turret having 35-100mm of armor protection, the rest of the parts are completely exposed.

Another major feature of this ship is its exceptional endurance. At low speeds, it can cruise for approximately 5500 nautical miles, making it a typical ocean-going combat vessel.

Chapter 244 Small Battleships

The Navy chose to deliver the equipment during terrible weather, but there was really no other way. In those days, there were no weather forecasts or satellite weather warnings. With typhoon season approaching, it was either windy or rainy. The Navy couldn't wait any longer and decided to take it on and carry out the mission first.

Moreover, this is a warship, not a civilian ship. If it can't sail when it encounters a little wind and waves, how can it be expected to fight a war?

The navy urgently needs a warship capable of high operational efficiency and long-range deployment. Long-range training has been put on the agenda. The Beiyang Fleet used to send warships around the world, but the current People's Liberation Army Navy can only stay at home, which is really inappropriate.

The old ships left over from the Beiyang Fleet are all unusable and have been used as training vessels, subjected to extreme training. In recent years, they have all entered a period of frequent breakdowns, and the Navy has no intention of spending money to refurbish them. At most, they will be repaired and patched up to last a few more years.

The navy has pinned all its hopes on the new ships; those products from the era of unprecedented and fearsome ships would only be suicide missions if they were sent out.

"Congratulations, General Zheng, your navy has now entered a new era."

Lieutenant Colonel Liu Ting offered his heartfelt congratulations to Zheng Shiyan. Although the new destroyer's tonnage and armor were not as large as the main force of the former Beiyang Fleet, it had made revolutionary progress in speed, firepower, and fire control.

To put it bluntly, if the navy had had two more Star-class destroyers in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, perhaps the defeat wouldn't have been so devastating. Winning would have been impossible, but at least the defeat would have been more respectable.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the new destroyers have small guns; their firepower is by no means small. The 130mm naval guns have a very high rate of fire, and as long as the loader is competent, firing more than a dozen rounds per minute is not a dream.

The most lethal weapon was the shells. The navy's shells were so extravagant that even the Germans were astonished. They even equipped destroyers, which were small vessels, with armor-piercing shells made of tungsten alloy warheads. Moreover, they were capped armor-piercing shells, which could penetrate the protection of even armored cruisers within an effective range of ten kilometers.

The maximum armor penetration depth reached an astonishing 114 mm, which amazed everyone at the test range. Of course, this is the ideal data. In actual combat, half of that would be about right. At least, it would not have much of a problem to penetrate the deck and unprotected areas with high trajectories.

"This is not only progress for the navy, but also progress for the country as a whole. The navy is finally able to equip itself with domestically produced main warships. In the past, it was difficult to build even gunboats, but now we can build destroyers of three to four thousand tons. It's not easy."

Zheng Shiyan was also filled with emotion, saying that the greatest achievement of the late Qing Dynasty was building some gunboats with imported parts, and all other ships relied on imports.

Warships of three to four thousand tons, even destroyers, are considered main battle ships by many veteran naval officers. It should be noted that the Dingzhen and Zhenyuan warships only have a displacement of eight to nine thousand tons.

"Huhuhu~"