East China Sea.

The two giant ships were slashing the waves and heading for Japan. The Tokugawa Mitsuba Aoi flag hanging on the mast clearly marked the ownership of these two giant ships.

It was the Tokugawa family who decided to search the government treasury, the poor households, the withdrawal of music, and the province of the palace, the two ironclad ships specially ordered by the French for the Tokugawa shogunate navy!

That's right, it's the Ironclad!

Although a large amount of wood materials were still used in the construction of the ship-side cannon-type ironclad, the entire hull was wrapped with a layer of wrought iron armor of 100-120 mm. As sister ships of the same type, the two battleships are both 77.8 meters long and 17 meters wide, with a full-load displacement of 5,700 tons. The boilers they carry can provide them with 2,500 horsepower and allow the battleship to gallop across the ocean at a speed of 13 knots.

Its firepower is thirty-six fifty-pound guns, all of which are supervised by France. They are of excellent quality and can fire explosive shells with wooden fuzes, that is, flowering shells. For wooden warships, there is unparalleled destructive power.

When the shogunate's special envoy, Tadashi Mizuno, arrived in France, the ambitious French emperor Napoleon III had just won the Crimean War, and he had no prestige for a while. The French emperor, ambitiously opened the French colonial era again.

In order to develop a vast colony, France must have more powerful and advanced warships. The experience of the naval battle of Sipno told him that the widespread use of explosive shells greatly reduced the survivability of wooden warships in naval battles.

Based on the need to ensure the defense of naval ships, ironclads were finally put on the agenda.

The French took the lead in designing the Glory side cannon-type ironclad ship. When the drawings of the ship appeared in front of Mizuno Tadashi, Mizuno said nothing.

purchase!

In fact, at this time, no country in the world has built a substantial ironclad ship. The French also crossed the river by feeling the stones, and the construction of the Glory has a considerable experimental nature. In France, although Napoleon III, the ambitious emperor, supported it, there were also opponents.

Well now, it's great. It's not a good thing to meet a Japanese who is taking advantage of it and is willing to pay for the test of the ironclad for the French.

The ironclad orders of France and Japan were signed immediately. According to the French design, the construction of the three ironclads started almost at the same time. One is the French test product, which is the Glory. The remaining two were used by the French to train their hands and sold to the sister ships of the Tokugawa shogunate.

When Tokugawa Keifuku attended the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne in London, he saw hundreds of British Royal Navy warships of various types arrayed at sea to be inspected by Queen Victoria. The endless battleship group opened his eyes to Tokugawa Keibao, and also made him still young, full of longing for giant ships and cannons.

After learning that Mizuno Tadashi had ordered two warships from France, Tokugawa Keifuku also rushed to Paris in person to meet with Napoleon III and asked Napoleon III to pay attention to the friendship between France and the Tokugawa shogunate and to build two powerful ships for the shogunate. battleship.

Gu Yan

The French, who secretly wanted to once again suppress the British in colonization, were entrusted by the Tokugawa shogunate, and the construction of the ironclad ship was progressing rapidly, and it only took more than a year before and after.

When the Anzheng mission to Europe returned to France from Russia, the ironclad was actually built. But it is impossible for the ship to sail back to Japan by itself. Fortunately, the shogunate has dispatched hundreds of naval cadets over the years to study in Britain and France. So Mizuno Tadashi ordered these shogunate students to board the ship for training in the following time.

Together with the French hired crew, familiarize yourself with the conditions of the two battleships. After the envoy's visit to the United States is over, they will return to China together from France.

Everyone in the shogunate navy knows that a 2,000-ton Xianlin pill came to the shogunate, and no one in the shogunate would open it for a while. After watching for a long time, everyone finally boarded the ship and used it. Now that I see two giant ships of more than 5,000 tons, I am really surprised and happy. The surprise is whether they can bring such a big ship back to Japan for the shogunate, and the happy thing is that they will serve on the world's first-class warships in the future.

Napoleon III, who was entrusted by Tokugawa Keifuku, and who also had a close relationship with the Tokugawa shogunate, opened the door for the two warships. Not even the shogunate asked the shogunate for all the training expenses while in law. Anyway, the cooperation between the two parties will not only facilitate the French to actually understand the performance of this early ironclad ship, but also accumulate experience for the next step to continue to improve and build more advanced ironclad ships.

After the embassy returned to the Azores from the United States, the members of the shogunate's embassy boarded two battleships owned by the shogunate and sailed back to the Far East.

Coincidentally, the French special envoy Gero, on the order of Napoleon III, cooperated with the British army and prepared to continue to fight against the Qing Kingdom. It was to allow the two shogunate battleships, as well as the students on the battleships, to have the opportunity to sail in formation with the fleets of the British and French powers.

Don't underestimate the fact that sailing in formations on the sea, being able to command the fleet to leave the port safely and then arrive at the destination safely, is a profound knowledge. In a country that lacks warships, there may never be such an opportunity in a lifetime. If the two warships of the Shogunate and students can encounter a large-scale warship formation sailing across the ocean, let's have fun.

Because it was a hybrid of steam engines and sails, the fleet sailed very fast. Along the way are the colonies of Britain and France, which can quickly supply coal. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com drove all the way to India, and the entire fleet was considered to have stopped, and it was easy to rectify.

They are about to attack the Qing Kingdom. Whether it is the British Earl of Elgin or the French Earl of Gros, both of them actually hope that these two warships of the shogunate can participate in the battle.

The battlefield is the best place to test new weapons.

Through actual combat, you can understand the advantages and disadvantages of ironclad ships. As great powers and colonial empires, Britain and France are actively developing their navies. There are now four ironclad ships in the world, one is the French Glory, the other is the British Warrior, and the remaining two are the ships of the shogunate.

It is impossible for the ironclad ships of Britain and France to go to the Far East to participate in the war, so they can only wait for the Fudge Shogun to play in person and see what is real.

The shogunate's envoy, Tokugawa Keifuku, was fooled by the two for a while. Fortunately, he was a sensible person. The shogunate emptied the warships purchased by the family, how could it be used as a test product for foreigners. Even if the two men broke their tongues, Tokugawa Keifu did not agree.

Elgin and Ge Luo almost promised to give the shogunate a loan of several million more, seeing that Tokugawa Keifu was really firm. Then they gave up, and they led their troops to attack the Qing Kingdom, while the shogunate's envoys returned to Japan in ironclad ships.