Chapter 42: Plunderer

  Mr. Yang didn't go to receive his territory right away, otherwise he would be crushed by the respected Sheik. He returned to London with full ceremony, dressed in a Pasha uniform, looking like a kindergarten kid showing off new toys.

  A majestic white cloth wrapped around his head, with a feather tucked in, wearing a large white cloak embroidered with gold and silver, a golden belt around his waist, a small curved dagger made of yellow gold at the navel, one hand holding a staff with two bunches of horsehair, and the other hand holding an Ottoman girl veiled, this guy's appearance made his friends who came to welcome him at the dock drop their jaws.

  In the following days, Yang Feng Pasha wore his full dress and brought the little female slave given to him by His Imperial Majesty of the Ottoman Empire, making a big show in London, spreading the news that he had been appointed as the Governor of Kuwait throughout Europe. His goal was to make Europeans have a deep impression on this point: Mr. Yang Feng, a respected scientist, writer, entrepreneur and medical doctor, has been appointed by the Ottoman Emperor as Pasha and awarded his own territory.

  In this way, after grabbing Kowait, it becomes a legitimate right to defend itself in public opinion. If another tribe occupies its own territory, it must be beaten. Anyway, ordinary people will not know what is going on behind the scenes.

  After showing off enough, it's time to get down to business. First of all, his armored cruiser is finally completed. This ship, which can be compared to an unprotected cruiser, was built according to his requirements and did not have any delivery ceremony or even a trial voyage in the open sea with no one around. With 15,000 horsepower driving its 3,100-ton displacement, it easily broke through 27 knots on the empty sea surface. After forced ventilation, its power soared to over 20,000 horsepower, and its speed approached 30 knots, even able to catch up with the nearby Parrotfish.

  This speed made Yang Feng very satisfied, he had calculated that even with the addition of alloy armor and a 130mm cannon, the total displacement would not exceed 4,000 tons, which was enough to surpass Kiyoshimo in terms of speed.

  After the cruiser completed its trials, it did not return to Armstrong's shipyard but sailed directly to Gothenburg where external belt armor and central citadel would be installed. As for internal deck armor, it was not considered necessary as it would add weight, and with the external belt armor in place, there was no possibility of vertical attacks from above, making the inner line of defense less significant.

  Due to dissatisfaction with the performance of Armstrong's 152mm quick-firing gun, Yang Feng later canceled his fore and aft twin main guns, but like the side, they reserved a rotating gun position, so next, a 130mm cannon still needs to be installed. As for the turret, it can be added by itself after completion. In fact, this cruiser will use the same caliber main gun throughout, with two each at the front and rear, five single-mounted guns on one side of the hull, using semi-open turrets, a total of 14 130mm cannons. As for the secondary guns, they are naturally dual 37mm high-angle guns. These modern artillery pieces still have a range of over 7 kilometers when used with ammunition made in this era, which is already comparable to battleship main guns. Six seats on this cruiser are sufficient, also using semi-open turrets.

  After sending away his own cruiser, Yang Feng then went to visit the three 500-ton diesel-powered destroyers under construction. Two of them belonged to the Yang Shipyard and were being built here at the same time. The other two high-speed destroyers designed by Yang Feng himself were also under construction in Sweden. Those two were completely built with a World War II-era design, and welding technology was widely used for the first time. If the two from Armstrong Shipyard could exceed 35 knots, it's estimated that those two would exceed 38 knots.

  After visiting the destroyer, he gave Armstrong's company another problem. He wanted Armstrong Shipbuilding Company to build six new-style merchant ships for him within a year and a half, with flat bottoms and speeds of no less than twenty knots.

  "This is impossible, Mr. Yang! A three-thousand-ton inland river flat-bottomed boat, even with two diesel engines added, would absolutely not exceed fifteen knots." Woolf tried his best to persuade the guy to give up his crazy idea.

  "Then add three more, over 20,000 horsepower should be enough, right?" Yang Feng said discontentedly.

  "That's possible, but for a merchant ship to travel at such speeds across the open ocean would be trouble. No flat-bottomed ship has ever exceeded fifteen knots, and we don't even know what kind of problems will arise," said Woolf.

  "In that case, I'll provide the drawings and you just need to build according to them." Yang Feng thought for a moment before saying this. His computer still had the complete design drawings of an ocean-going landing ship, if not, he would have given these guys a discount, after all, it was originally prepared for landing on the Ninth Continent Island, but the size was not as large as this one, also with two 7,000 horsepower diesel engines, and the total tonnage was over 2,000 tons, and the speed could only reach 18 knots.

  Now that he has said so, Woolf also has nothing to say. Now Yang Feng is in a good position, and whatever he wants will do. If the three destroyers about to be launched can really reach 35 knots, this Chinese will become the target of pursuit by all powers, countless shipyards will compete for cooperation with him, Armstrong Shipyard does not want to lose its future, so it must tie itself to Yang's Power System Company.

  However, the drawings Yang Feng brought back still gave Wolfe a fright. He wasn't an idiot, and this thing was obviously not a merchant ship at first glance. It was clearly a large troop transport vessel for inland use. Combined with Yang Feng's requirement that it be suitable for ocean navigation, it wasn't difficult to guess the purpose of these six ships.

  Especially this special ballast tank design on the ship makes people feel even more eerie.

  "This is a merchant ship," Yang Feng said in a tone that brooked no argument. "I say it's a merchant ship, and it is."

  "Alright, he said a merchant ship is just a merchant ship." Woolf chuckled and nodded in agreement. Why a merchant ship would need to reserve four gun mounts, have an internal division into three layers of decks, and even have a large opening hatch at the front, were questions he didn't need to ask. After all, building this kind of ship wasn't difficult; it was just a big iron box with a propulsion system added on. Although the construction period of one and a half years was a bit tight, for the Armstrong company, it wasn't a big deal.

  The landing ship was finalized, and Yang Feng set off for Sweden. Since the armored deck of the parrot shell needed to be transported, he drove alone this time. After arriving in Gothenburg, he loaded several hundred tons of steel plates at night before entering the port. These steel plates were pre-cut and could be directly riveted on after arrival. However, even so, it still caused a lot of trouble for his shipyard workers, as they were too hard and didn't have drill bits that could drill into them. Yang Feng had to get them special tungsten alloy drill bits.

  At the same time as installing steel plates, artillery also began to be installed. The entire project was completed under his personal supervision in just two months. Everything was installed, even the two yellow dragons on the bow of the ship. This armored cruiser finally sailed into the sea with a complete posture. Its displacement increased sharply to 3,800 tons, and its normal speed dropped to 24 knots at most. After forced ventilation, it reached more than 27 knots, which can be said to be sufficient.

  Apart from the speed test, the artillery was also tested. After using shells made by Bofors, the maximum range of the 130mm gun decreased to 15 kilometers. Although the reduction is large, it is still an invincible existence in this era. In fact, until World War II, this caliber and range were still very good. Because of the large number of side-mounted guns, during a side battle, nine guns could be used at once, plus the advantages of firing speed and range, which was enough to crush the Kagero and Yubari.

  A satisfied Yang Da Boss once again used his most vulgar name to christen the cruiser, with three Chinese characters for "Plunderer" made of pure gold inlaid firmly on the ship's body.

  Just as the cruiser's refit was completed, Bofors' 75mm gun and torpedo also finally completed, of course this completion is not truly complete, because some parts still need to be supplied by beautiful female portrait, especially steam-powered torpedoes, almost a third rely on beautiful female portrait.

  The Bofors version of the 75mm gun has a range of up to seven kilometers and can fire at a rate of up to fifteen rounds per minute, which is a terrifying number, several times faster than the best Krupp 75mm field gun currently available. The range is also much farther than that, but the weight is almost the same, it can be said that it is simply a revolutionary miracle. The success of this artillery piece has driven Bofors' engineers to near ecstasy.

  Previously only selling handguns and rifles, one could say that Beretta's business was not bad, but with this cannon, it can almost be said to have made it a king of the arms industry.

  As for the steam-powered torpedo, it's almost unbelievable. Mr. Yang personally operated it and launched a torpedo from the tube on the deck of the Parrot Shell, accurately hitting the Marauder which was speeding 4 kilometers away. Of course, this torpedo wasn't loaded with explosives.

  At this moment, everyone was stunned. Such a range, such speed, and such accuracy were all against the sky. It can be imagined that the emergence of this torpedo will have a huge impact on naval warfare. Of course, the most important thing is how much wealth it will bring to Bofors Company. As for poor Mr. William White, I'm afraid he will go bankrupt.

  This result was well within Yang Feng's expectations, so he didn't show too much excitement. In fact, this guy is now gazing at the East with greedy eyes, everything is ready, and he should go fulfill the sacred duty bestowed upon him by His Imperial Majesty Osman.

  Carrying big guns to fulfill.