Chapter Seventeen Wireless Telegraphy

  Parsons' surrender was expected by Yang, and as for the details of cooperation between his Yang's Steamship Company and the other party, it would be enough to send a telegram directly to Ericsson and let him take charge. Anyway, if the joint venture partner is Yang's Ship Power System Company, he also has shares in it, and Boss Yang himself has important things to do.

  He took the opportunity to come to Newcastle and first fixed his cruiser with Armstrong Shipyard, he had already spread the news yesterday that he would act as an agent to purchase a latest-style cruiser for the Chinese Navy here, otherwise Armstrong Shipyard wouldn't have given him such face, either by holding welcome banquets or sending beauties to his bed.

  To know that he is now a translator at the Chinese Embassy, and also has a small shipyard, the British are even more familiar with the internal struggles of the Qing Dynasty's officialdom. If such a person were to obtain an order for a high-priced cruiser in some special way from home, subcontract it to Armstrong Shipyard at a low price, and then divide the difference with certain courtiers, this matter can be said to have a grasp of more than 60%. Therefore, Armstrong Shipyard is indeed very important.

  "Firstly, the length of this cruiser should be around 130 meters, with a main engine power of no less than 15,000 horsepower. The front and rear dual-mounted main guns must use enclosed turrets, and there must be waterline armor and a central citadel. The speed cannot be lower than 25 knots." Boss Yang is now dissatisfied with the Blanckenburg-class cruiser, he finds that he can build one himself using the things in his hands.

  "This is impossible, Mr. Yang. These are the standards of an armored cruiser, and there's hardly any difference with ironclad ships. A warship with 15,000 horsepower can't even reach 20 knots, let alone 25." The shipyard manager, Woolf, shook his head without hesitation, thinking to himself that Yang Feng was ignorant and just spouting nonsense.

  "You can make the armor a bit thinner, right? No need to be too thick, just one or two centimeters of permeable steel plate will do." Boss Yang said with a smile.

  Woolf almost spat out his coffee, this guy looked at Yang Feng with an unbelievable gaze, although he knew that this business was to swindle the Qing government's money, but damn it, you don't have to be so blatant about it. With less than one inch of armor, what's the difference between your ship and an unprotected cruiser? With that thickness, not to mention six-inch cannons, even two-pounder anti-torpedo guns can't withstand it.

  "Mr. Yang, I must remind you that such a warship is not capable of participating in naval warfare." Woolf said with deep meaning, implying: "Brother, I know you're fooling your emperor, but don't be so blatant about it. You should at least pretend to be serious. What if there's really a battle and someone sinks you with one shot? I think you won't have a good outcome either."

  "No problem, this thickness is completely fine. With this kind of thickness, can the speed of this cruiser exceed twenty-five knots?" Yang asked curiously.

  "You should say no less than twenty-five chapters," said Woolf with certainty.

  "If we add a few hundred tons of weight, can the strong pressure ventilation exceed twenty-three sections?" Yang Feng asked again, this data is very important, he would not take an armored cruiser with one centimeter thick armor to single out Kii, he plans to build it afterwards and then weld ten centimeters thick tank armor steel plates on the outside of the original armor, his shuttle machine has several thousand tons of this stuff.

  This is much more solid than the best surface carburized iron-nickel alloy armor now, with such armor those Japanese high-explosive shells would not have any harm.

  "Since that's the case, this issue is settled. Next, let's discuss the artillery. First, the front and rear dual-mounted main guns don't need to be too large in caliber. Your six-inch rapid-fire guns are perfectly fine." Yang Feng said.

  "Mr. Yang, isn't this caliber too small? You should understand that the caliber of a cannon represents strength nowadays. For a large warship like this, even if it's not a 12-inch cannon, at least a 10-inch cannon would be reasonable, and even an 8-inch cannon is a bit small." Wolff was almost driven to collapse by him, and he nearly grabbed Yang Feng's neck and asked: "Big brother, what are you trying to do?"

  Less than an inch of armor on him can tell that this guy is going to bury them in the pit, but since you are going to bury people, you have to do a good job on the surface, get two 305mm main guns, and let your emperor look at it with dignity, what's the point of getting a few 152s?

  "No problem, I still have faith in your company's quick-firing guns. The four 6-inch main guns must all have enclosed turrets." Yang Feng said nonchalantly.

  "Is the turret armor also one inch?" Wolf asked cautiously.

  "Right, one millimeter or even a centimeter will do!" Old Master Yang said with certainty.

  Alright, Woolf has given up on this ship already, as for the rest of it he doesn't want torpedo tubes, doesn't want 2-pound and 1-pound quick-firing guns, these are no longer worth asking about.

  But when Yang Feng said he didn't want secondary guns, Woolf couldn't help but remind him that four main guns were not enough in any case.

  "Of course, I don't really want to give up the secondary guns. You know that I am still the chairman of Bofors and we are about to test a new 130mm cannon at Bofors, so I plan to use this thing as the secondary gun. Your company must reserve ten ear platforms on both sides of the ship's hull for me, with rotating gun positions, semi-open turrets, and ammunition supply systems." Yang Feng said, planning to install ten of his 130mm cannons, in addition to the forty already on the aircraft carrier. These big guns would be wasted if not used, and he couldn't bear to sell them to others, so it was better to install them on warships. The only problem was that there were no shells for these guns, which would have to be produced separately, reducing their firepower. Otherwise, he would even consider using this gun as the main cannon.

  However, he also had a solution to the firepower of the artillery. It was nothing more than putting some effort into the shells, and adding a soft cap with a delayed fuse should be enough. Besides, the Japanese didn't have any warships with thick armor either.

  Even with the range and rate of fire of a 130mm field gun, even using the propellant of this era, it would be enough to use bullet rain to trample them at long distance, let alone close-range steam-powered torpedo direct kill.

  Yang Feng's warship was thus settled, and as for the tonnage, he didn't have any requirements. With his one-inch armor and the reduced weight of the cannons, it was estimated that it wouldn't exceed 4,000 tons. In fact, Wolf's estimate was 3,500 tons, which would leave enough room to add more armor later on. At that time, even two layers of 20cm thick tank alloy armor could be welded onto important positions, and it was estimated that even the Dingyuan's 305mm main cannon could be withstood.

  So Mr. Yang returned to London with a satisfied heart, now waiting for Li's reply, but at this time it was a wired telegram, which needed to be transmitted from London station by station to China, and then transmitted back station by station, taking more than a week round trip, so he might have to wait a few more days, but this also reminded him that he had missed something very important.

  Wireless telegraphy, I'll put Marconi and the others in their place. This year, I'll sell wireless telegraph machines all over the world, so you won't have to fight over patent rights anymore. Thinking that he had snatched another rice bowl from Edison, Boss Yang couldn't help but laugh with joy.

  As for how to make a wireless telegraph machine, it's not that difficult. Even if you don't use a beautiful girl's face, Boss Yang himself can assemble one. A old spark transmitter is not a problem for a third-rate college student who has participated in a wireless interest group when he was young and foolish. Although there weren't many components to choose from at the time, it could still be made by oneself.

  In the following days, Boss Yang threw himself into the cause of invention with great enthusiasm, and even forgot to reunite with Lin Luoke after being apart for over a month.

  A week later, on the lawn of the Yang estate, a dozen or so London plutocrats, including two members of the House of Lords, gathered in the autumn sunshine to gaze at a strange machine set up among them.

  "What is this thing you've made?" Lin Heli asked curiously, looking at the crude spark transmitter he had built with the help of several engineers from General Electric. He was so eager to show it off that he had already rushed to apply for a patent before it was even finished, and today he had specially invited some friends from London to come and demonstrate it.

  "A brand new era, the era of wireless communication." Yang Feng whispered into her ear, his arm wrapped around her slender waist.

  He's going to make this thing not just some amateurish Marconi-level invention, this stuff is directly used for high-power cross-sea communication. Just when he was demonstrating the telegraph machine in London, an employee of General Electric had already taken a receiver to over 100 kilometers away in Calais, France.

  "Alright, dear, say something." Under the gaze of those friends, Yang Dalao pulled Lin Luoke's small hand and said.

  "Huh?" Lin Huo looked at him in confusion.

  "Go ahead and say something," said Yang Feng.

  "That, that bird is very beautiful." Lin Huo Ke said, looking at a small bird on the lawn.

  "Alright, that bird is beautiful." As Yang Feng's hands tapped away at the keyboard, radio waves pierced through the air at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second, transmitting to the Calais telegraph office, where a group of invited guests watched as the receiver trained by Yang Feng immediately transcribed the Morse code into long and short lines on paper, then quickly read out the meaning of the telegram by referencing the adjacent cipher book. The sentence was then transmitted back to London via telegraph, and half an hour later, a noble member of Parliament among the guests at the Yang estate received a telegram sent from Calais by a French parliamentary member.

  "That bird is very beautiful." He read out the contents of the telegram with a stunned expression, and all the guests were shocked. Yang Feng couldn't be faking it, he couldn't use his fiancée's reputation as a joke, which means this machine can transmit signals wirelessly to nearly two hundred kilometers away without using wires, what if this was on a warship?