"Haha, very interesting American!" After listening to a guard's narration, Desai couldn't help laughing.

The arrival of the time traveler has completely rewritten the history of the development of ships in this parallel world. The unknown Papan Feiqi actually completed a voyage across the strait with a steamer, which advanced the original history by almost 28 years.

When the guard Girlovsky sent someone to invite him, Desay had just finished his official duties. The interested French marshal ordered the adjutant Major Mardan to invite General Rusty and the staff members to collectively rush to the Tejo River to experience the latest contemporary steamships. However, many people were not very interested in this, including Colonel Croix, the second-person of the staff. The deputy secretly complained to General Rusty, saying that he had to deal with too many documents.

The Chief of Staff shrugged and replied helplessly: "My friend, you should complain to Marshal Desai, not me."

The main force of the troops will go to central Portugal tomorrow, and the entire staff seemed extremely busy. From one to four places, they not only had to convey the various strategies and tactics that the staff proposed and commanders approved by the commander to the commanders of each division and brigade in detail and accurately, but also had to be responsible for the internal affairs of the troops, military supplies, artillery and ammunition.

The conversation between the chief and deputy chief of staff, despite the small voice, Desai could still hear it clearly. He turned around and said, "Gentlemen, there was a proverb in the far east: sharpening a knife takes time, but not delaying cutting wood. It means that you can speed up your work by making full preparations in advance. Later we will see that it is an epoch-making shipping revolution. Apart from the Mercedes-Benz trains on land, nothing is more military-strategic than steamships. It will directly cause earth-shaking changes in the logistics of war. Once certain conditions can be met, it is not a delusion to challenge the British Empire's maritime hegemony in the future!"

The latter sentence obviously belongs to Desay's long-term strategy, which may be far away. So at present, he values ​​the strong endurance of steamships, especially in the surging waves and restless Baltic Sea. The violent Baltic Sea is different from the docile Mediterranean Sea. Due to the multiple factors of ocean currents, hurricanes, ice floes and heavy rain, traditional sailing ships cannot sail all-weather, but steamships can travel against the wind and their speed can be maintained at more than 8 knots (8 nautical miles per hour).

Theoretically speaking, in the war against Russia two years later, as long as the Polish legion to which Desai belonged was not far away from the coastline, the army could obtain military supplies from the naval fleet anytime and anywhere, transfer wounded soldiers to the rear, and even carry out raids from the sea. Of course, this also requires a major premise, and the Russian Baltic fleet must be destroyed.

Although the superiors have ordered a nine-man regiment to formally form a powerful fleet that can navigate the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea with the former 4,000 French sailors of the Mediterranean United Shipping Company. However, Desai, who was born in the army, has always lacked enough confidence in the future war with the Russian Navy. The reason is simple. Since the First US War, the French Navy has never won a real victory on the sea.

At the same time, the Russian Navy still maintained its unbeaten record since the Ushakov era. Of course, this premise was that the Russians never challenged the maritime hegemony of the British Empire. Desay was not a naval professional and could not overwhelm the damn Russians strategically and tactically, but as a time traveler, he knew that advanced steel warships could defeat the backward sailing ships.

However, with its current technological capabilities, being able to cover the surface of a steam warship with hard iron sheet to resist shell bombing is already a shocking move (in fact, the iron-covered wooden ship has appeared long ago, but it is not very successful). This involves the actual output of domestic steel plants, the technological innovation of iron cannons, and especially the powerful power provided by ship steam boilers.

...

20 minutes later, when Desai and his group boarded two small wooden boats and boarded the Sirius, thick black smoke was emitted half an hour earlier with the chimneys on the steamboat. With the command of Captain Papan Feich, the whistle sounded, and two huge paddle wheels on both sides of the left and right sides of the ship began to rustle, slowly pushing the Sirius to sail on the wide Tejo River. Unlike the traditional towering and flat traditional sails, Sirius adopted a new pointed wedge bow to reduce the forward support.

Desai did not choose the cab as his first stop to visit, but in the high-heat power boiler room. There, he saw several boatmen using shovels to continuously send coal into the burning boiler with a huge roar; the boiler leader needs to concentrate on looking at the counters, power instruments, gas pressure gauges, and throttle valves. From time to time, he would loudly remind his companions who shoveled coal to add fuel to the boiler and maintain the cruising power of the steam engine; occasionally, the boiler leader would shout at another crew member not far away, allowing the latter to release the excess steam urgently to prevent the high-pressure boiler from suddenly explode...

It seemed that it was too close to this dangerous guy with purely artificial control. Desai was frightened. After only two minutes, he accepted the request of the owner of the Fitch ship and led a group of followers back to the deck. On the wide and clean front deck, officers could sit leisurely on benches, drink coffee, enjoy the warm sunshine and gentle wind; or walk to the side of the boat and enjoy the beautiful scenery and customs on both sides of the Tejo River with great enthusiasm.

At this time, Captain Papan Feich was standing beside Desai, and he was diligent in introducing the rich financial owner: "Dear Prince, my Sirius is definitely the most advanced two-mass steamship in all European countries. It is 54.3 meters long, 7.8 meters wide, 5.6 meters deep, and a load capacity of 703 tons. It is also equipped with a high-pressure boiler developed by Watt Company with a main engine power of 400 horsepower... Even if we are going upstream along the Tejo River now, Sirius can always maintain a minimum speed of 10 kilometers per hour. Of course, the ship must be prepared to burn sufficient coal, because every day's navigation consumes 25 tons of Welsh white coal."

From this passage alone, Desai believed that Papan Feich had done his homework in advance, and the careful ship owner converted all the British units into legal standards. However, Desai was still not very satisfied with the work efficiency of the Sirius.

The superior immediately interrupted the ship owner's endless commentary and then proposed his ideal steamship. He said: "Mr. Feich, the steamship I need must be suitable for the Baltic Ocean with complex conditions and harsh climates, so the displacement should be about 5,000 tons, 80 meters long, 18 meters wide, at least 8 meters deep, and a mixed speed of 13 knots. If as a warship, the ship's shell needs to be covered with a layer of 10 cm thick iron armor, the equipped boiler can produce a power engine of 2,500 horsepower, can carry 600 tons of media, 40 cannons, the personnel quota is 500, and can carry cargo... Can it be met?"

Hearing this, Papan Feich felt a little anxious. His initial wish was to buy the Sirius a good price to relieve his heavy debts. However, the big money owner who had been invited through hardships seemed not very interested in this latest steamship in Europe, so he proposed a steam iron armored ship that he seemed unable to build.

Desai looked up at the American, as if he knew the other party’s suffering, and then signaled the accompanying adjutant to take out a check from his briefcase, put it on the coffee table beside him, and gently pressed it with a clean cup bottom. Desai said, “Mr. Fitch, if my wish can be realized, this £10,000 check will be used to purchase your Sirius. If the answer is no, please turn the bow immediately and return to the starting point of the arrival.”

After 10 minutes of deep contemplation, Papan Feiqi resolutely picked up the 10,000 pound check on the table. He solemnly promised: "Your Highness, I can build this steamship, oh, no, it is a steam ironclad ship, and achieve the various technical parameters you mentioned, such as displacement, length and width, shape depth, mixed speed, etc. But there are several technical innovations."

Desai nodded and said, "Well, please continue!"

The American also said: "To use steam merchant ships as steam warships, we must first change the current push method, remove the paddle wheels on the left and right sides, and modify a huge four-blade propeller at the tail; and to achieve a powerful power engine of 2,500 horsepower, we need to order 7 to 8 high-pressure steam boilers from Watt Company; in addition, the construction time will take at least 15 to 18 months, from the hands of the technicians to the construction funds, and my own compensation must be fully met."

"No problem. Two months ago, I ordered the establishment of a ship research institute, and dozens of engineers or technicians were involved. As the chief engineer of the ironclad ship, you have the right to innovate or purchase various technologies and machinery that you think are necessary. As for your personal salary, it will not be less than £2,000 a year, of course the bonus will be calculated separately and enjoy some of the patents generated during the construction process. By the way, my engineers have proposed a brand new concept of steam engine design. In theory, it can save one-third of the amount of coal and increase the working power of the steam engine by about 20%.

"As an iron warship, the covered iron deck requires special riveting process, and the surface anti-corrosion treatment is also very important."

"You don't have to worry about this, you can do it with your Hruna engineer."

...

Two hours passed, and after Desai and Papan Feich agreed on the transaction conditions, the Sirius had returned to its previous starting point. When Feich waved the checks to his crew, everyone immediately expressed that they would continue to follow the old ship owners. They were all Americans who came to Europe to hunt for gold, as long as they had money, no matter who they were for. This would be better, and everyone would be happy, so as not to secretly eliminate the foreign crew members who wanted to return to the UK in the future to avoid leaking the secrets.
Chapter completed!