"Free Trade" did not open completely like the British on the first day it entered the Port of London. This is also natural, because the ship has just arrived in London, there are always things going to be busy. And something really happened. For example, a certain French navy chaplain who left a warship ashore met a reporter, and then the reporter asked: "Pastor, what do you think of the French station girls on the streets of London? Street girl?" The priest was taken aback.

Then that afternoon, an evening paper published this news: "As soon as the French navy chaplain came ashore, he rushed to ask if there were any street girls in London."

Of course, no one cares what this kind of tabloid says. Besides, Pastor Shunjun finds a street girl, subsidizes her and saves her soul. That is also a very good thing, not a big deal.

Although the "Free Trade" was not officially open for visitors on that day, it was a closer look. As long as it did not board the ship, no one would take care of it. Therefore, some people gathered around to observe the boat.

In this way, a question about the "Free Trade Number" was immediately resolved, that is, why the Free Trade Number has such an outstanding defense. Although the steel plate of the "Free Trade" is painted with a dark brown paint, it looks like a wooden ship board from a distance, but at such a close distance, it is almost reachable by reaching out. In terms of distance, the difference between those external steel plates and ship plates can still be easily seen.

"It turns out that the iron plate is really plugged in." An agent of the Sixth Investigation Section couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the "Free Trade Number" nearby. In order to understand the secrets of the ship's defense, the Sixth Investigation Section has sacrificed several colleagues. Now they sacrificed their lives and couldn't get the secrets, and now they are placed in front of them, and they can be obtained without paying any price. This is really... really makes people doubt life.

"Considering the French's advantage in steelmaking, maybe these are steel plates, right?" A British navy officer also looked at the "Free Trade" while thinking.

Of course, in the first day, there were only so many secrets that the British could learn. On the second day, the first group of guests boarded the deck of the "Free Trade". Almost all of this group were officers from the British Navy. Among them were officers in command positions and many technical officers.

Generally speaking, these officers are very, very rule-abiding. Basically, without the permission of the master, they will not stretch out their white-gloved hands and touch the French warships everywhere. . Although later in some British newspapers, such as "reach out and touch the dust on the cannon", these lie to demean the French and encourage themselves, but to be honest, the British Indeed, he did not stretch out his hand indiscriminately.

But when it comes to asking questions, the British are not polite. They ask any questions, and they don’t suffer anyway. To their surprise, the Frenchman who accompanied them actually answered most of the questions.

"Captain Zola, I noticed that there are external armor plates hanging outside the'Free Trade'. I want to ask, are these armor plates wrought iron or steel?" asked a British officer with the rank of major on his shoulders. Tao.

"It's steel." Captain Zola replied.

"Then I can ask about its thickness, and how do you ensure that they will not suffer serious corrosion problems when they are sailing?" The British military major asked again.

"I can tell you the thickness of the steel plate. It is about 20mm. As for the issue of rust prevention, this belongs to the technical secret of the'Lorraine Steel Company'. We don't know it. If you want to know these things, you can go to them. To understanding."

Then, led by the French, they walked into the gun bay of the "Free Trade".

"Gentlemen, this is the gun bay of the Free Trade. Our ship is a steam-powered warship. Therefore, compared with ordinary warships, we have two more power bays and coal bays that take up a lot of space. This makes our gun bay relatively small, because the number of cannons that can be equipped is relatively small.” Captain Adrian, the gunner in charge of the introduction, explained, “But this is not a problem, because we are equipped With the world’s most advanced and powerful rear-mounted rifled steel gun, our firepower is actually stronger than that of ordinary warships of the same tonnage."

"Captain, you just introduced that you are using a breech gun?" Another British Navy technical officer asked quickly.

"Yes, it's a breech gun, which makes our cannon fire several times higher than a normal front-mounted gun." Captain Adrian replied.

"So, can I take a closer look at this cannon?" the technical officer asked again.

"Surely, we French have no need to keep our friends secret. Even if you are interested, you can simulate the firing process for yourself under the guidance of Captain Adrian." Captain Zola said in that tone. As sincere as France and Britain are really friends.

The British would naturally not let this opportunity pass, so a few British officers hurriedly asked: "How to simulate?"

"I need ten people to form a temporary gun crew." Captain Adrian said, "then I will guide you through the entire action."

The British got together and discussed it a little bit, and ten people were selected.

"Captain, now we are all your subordinates. You can give us orders." A British lieutenant colonel said to Captain Adrian.

The gun group in front of him is definitely the highest-rank gun group that Adrian has ever seen, and there is no officer in the entire gun group below the rank of school. Adrian felt that after returning this time, he had new materials that he could brag about.

Adrian called these "members of the artillery group", took them to the side of the cannon, and briefly explained to them the structure of the cannon and the way it was loaded. He found that these guys' understanding ability was quite good, and he could understand it almost at the first hearing, and he didn't know where it was better than the boys under him.

But when it was actually done, Adrian immediately decided to take back his previous thoughts, because one of these British officers was too far apart from the boys under him, and that was the coordination of muscle strength and movement. These British officers who served him temporarily as gunners were all technical officers. They knew artillery well and were experts. But they are experts in the study of cannons, not those in the operation of cannons, so the breech gun that should have a faster firing rate is actually slower than the front gun under their operation.

But everyone knows the reasons for this result. The British officers present also came to the conclusion in their hearts: It may be a little bit more to speed up four or five times, but it is really possible to speed up three or four times.

When these "members of the artillery crew" finally loaded the training ammunition into the cannonball, closed the bolt, and completed the simulated launch, and then returned to the queue of visitors, a colonel whispered to a "gunner" "Asked: "Did you see the structure of the rear cannon clearly?"

"As you can see, the structure is not too complicated, but there may be a certain degree of difficulty in the craftsmanship, and the cost will be much higher." The "gunner" replied, "But considering that one gun can be used as three guns. , I think it’s worth it.”

"Considering the saved space, even if it can only be used as 1.5 guns, and the price will be three or four times higher, it is worth it." Another "gunner" also interrupted.

Of course, the reason why the British think that the rate of fire increased by four or five times is bragging. The reason is also very simple that the training ammunition used by the French is divided into pieces. But in fact, these guns can use fixed-load ammunition that reloads faster.

After visiting the cannon, the French took them to the bottom layer of the warship, which was actually below the waterline. Here is another thing worth showing off to the British, the steel keel of "Free Trade".

The British people who came to visit were all experts. When they saw the steel keel, they immediately came to a conclusion: “As long as the French can produce enough steel, it’s really easy to burst the fleet. Because the most important thing is. The material restrictions have been broken."

This is also the last visit for these British people. Another British officer asked if they could see the steam engine, but this request was immediately rejected by Captain Zola: "No, there are many secrets in the steam engine."

"Isn't that we are friends, shouldn't there be secrets between friends?" an Englishman quipped.

"Ah~lightnovelpub.net~ In theory, this is indeed the case." Captain Zola replied, "If there are only navy items in there, that’s true, but there are also business secrets of our private enterprises. For them, except for customers, everyone else may be a future competitor. So..."

So the British shrugged and the incident passed. In fact, the British have seen enough things today, and they have exceeded their expectations.

"The French are actually not great. The key is that there is more steel." After getting off the ship, a British technical officer couldn't help but said, "Really, how much steel does this ship use? Don’t use steel as steel, it’s just wrought iron. It’s too extravagant to use this way!"

"Their steel anti-rust technology, who of you understands it?" someone asked.

"It seems to be painted?"

"The armor plates on the outside may be, because those armor plates can obviously be disassembled and replaced. But what about her keel? Can only paint prevent rust?"

"We have to step up research on this."