Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 64 Fire Control Computer
Yu Xier asked, "How do you know that the Spanish Navy will go to Hele Island?"
Liu Daming also asked: "Yes, Lao Lin, how did you know? Did you learn fortune-telling?"
This incident is history for Lin Fei. Lin Fei certainly knows that this is also Lin Fei's advantage as a time traveler - he is familiar with historical events, can find favorable opportunities in historical events, and do what is best for himself.
Lin Fei did not tell the truth, but said: "I heard these things from Sultan Bazahai. Let me tell you what happened."
Lin Fei cleared his throat and said, "Hele Island is located in the Sulu Archipelago. There is a Sulu Sultanate in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sulu Sultanate is a Muslim country, similar to the tribe of the Bajahai Sultanate. However, the development of the Sulu Sultanate is much faster than that of the Bajahai Sultanate."
"The Sulu Sultanate flourished in the 15th century, but was later invaded by the Spanish and gradually declined. In the early 19th century, the Sulu Sultanate lost its will to resist and agreed to sign a treaty with Spain, becoming a country protected by Spain."
"Since then, the Spanish have interfered with the dethronement and enthronement of sultans. Fourteen years ago, the old sultan of the Sulu Sultanate died, and the Spanish supported Governor Harun, who was close to Spain, to be the new sultan. The original successor to the throne was Sultan Yagurul, who of course disagreed, so the two sides started a fierce battle, which has continued to this day."
"Because Governor Harun is unpopular, there are many people in the country who oppose him. At this time, on Hele Island, Sultan Yagurul is leading his troops to besiege Governor Harun. The Spaniards will naturally not sit idly by, so they decided to send troops to attack Sultan Yagurul. This is exactly our opportunity."
Yu Xier shook his head and said, "Those Muslim warriors are poorly equipped. The Spaniards will not send out their main battleships. We will not be able to defeat their main battleships even if we go there."
Lin Fei shook his head and smiled, "When we were in Mindanao, we fought against the flying arrow warships of Muslim warriors. The Sulu Sultanate also has such warships. In addition, there are many Chinese skilled craftsmen in the Sulu Sultanate who are good at shipbuilding. Their ships are better than those of the Bazahai tribe. They often use such small boats to attack Spanish transport ships, so the Spanish dare not not send out warships for protection."
Liu Daming and Yu Xier suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly.
Lin Fei went on to say: "There is another great benefit for us to take advantage of this opportunity to fish in troubled waters. That is, if we destroy the Spanish battleship, they will definitely think that it was done by the Sulu Sultanate, so they will send more troops to attack the Sulu Sultanate, and the probability of finding us will be even lower."
Yu Xier shook his head again and said, "The Nuwa ship is already an old warship. I analyzed the ship's logbook and learned that this warship was commissioned in 1887, and its age is about the same as the Zhiyuan ship. During the battle with the Japanese, the Zhiyuan ship had a lot of problems due to the aging of its hull equipment. The Nuwa ship will definitely have problems during the battle. Fighting against a capital ship is a battle of equal strength, not like fighting those wooden boats. I am worried that the Nuwa ship is no match."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Old Yu, don't worry. The Nuwa ship is seven years old, and the other Spanish warships are also not short. If there is a problem, we can all work together. There is nothing to be afraid of. We also have killer weapons."
Yu Xier was startled and said, "Don't we have trinitrotoluene explosives and stereoscopic rangefinders? And a killer weapon?"
Lin Fei laughed and asked, "Old Yu, do you remember what I told you about the major upgrade of naval weapons before we went to Mindanao? Trinitrotoluene explosives and stereoscopic rangefinders are only a small part of the weapon upgrade. I have other weapon upgrade plans. These weapons are being manufactured and will be put into service in the next few days."
Liu Daming suddenly said, "I remember that before we set off, Ling Xue and the craftsmen from the Construction Bureau took away a batch of armor-piercing shells from the Nuwa ship. Did they use them to upgrade the weapons?"
Lin Fei nodded and smiled: "Yes, armor-piercing bullets are indeed an important part of the improvement. You will know the specific improvement in a few days."
The next day, Lin Fei announced that "the Huaxia Empire was established and Lin Fei officially became the emperor". This news was passed on to Samar Island, Leyte Island and Surigao Region of Mindanao Island. The assimilation education conducted by Lin Fei added another content, which was to make Filipinos and Muslims recognize that they were the people of the Huaxia Empire.
A grand founding ceremony was held in Yanhuang City. The Chinese were excited to have their own country, and the assimilated Filipinos were also excited.
After attending the founding ceremony, Lin Fei came to the Nuwa ship to prepare for the expedition. At six o'clock the next morning, the wake-up whistle sounded throughout the ship. Lin Fei got up and began to do morning exercises with the crew members. The amount of training in the morning exercises was not large. Everyone just ran around the open space twice. Just when they finished running and were about to have breakfast, a group of people came from a distance. This group of people was pushing a lot of small carts made of wood.
Lin Fei went forward and saw that the leader was Ling Xue, and the person pushing the cart behind him was a worker from the logistics department. Ling Xue smiled and said to Lin Fei, "City Lord, our craftsmen have already modified the shells. Please inspect them."
Liu Daming also came over at this time, gave Ling Xue a strange smile, then walked to the side of the cart, reached out to lift the tarpaulin on the cart, took a look at the things inside and exclaimed: "Hey! Why is there an extra cap-like thing in front of our armor-piercing shells?"
Lin Fei came over and said with a smile: "This is the armor-piercing bullet I modified. The cap-like thing is the steel added. I call it a 'cap'. I call this kind of armor-piercing bullet a 'capped armor-piercing bullet'."
Liu Daming was stunned and asked, "Capped armor-piercing bullet? Is there anything special about it?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Armor-piercing shells penetrate armor and cause damage to enemy ships. When the shell hits the armor, it will be subjected to a huge impact force, which can instantly shatter the shell, so that the shell cannot penetrate the armor. Now I have added a cap in front of the armor-piercing shell. The broken object becomes the cap, and the shell body will not be damaged and can continue to penetrate the target. In this way, the armor-piercing effectiveness is greatly improved."
Liu Daming's eyes flashed with surprise, and he gave a thumbs up. Lin Fei turned to Ling Xue and said with a smile: "Hurry up and transport the shells into the ammunition compartment."
Ling Xue then asked the soldiers of the logistics department to deliver the armor-piercing shells into the ammunition compartment. The Nuwa ship also placed a wide and long wooden board on the ground to make it convenient for people on the shore to use a cart to deliver the shells to the Nuwa ship.
Everyone was busy transporting the shells. Lin Fei turned to Liu Daming and said with a smile, "Old Liu, let's go up to the mast and take a look."
Liu Daming asked in confusion: "What's so interesting on the mast?"
Lin Fei smiled slightly and did not answer. The two of them went up to the signal cabin on the mast. Ma Chengfeng, the signalman on the Zhiyuan ship, was there. When he saw Lin Fei and Liu Daming coming up, he quickly stood up and said, "Captain, First Mate Liu, why are you here?"
Lin Fei laughed and asked, "Is the place to install the new equipment ready?"
Ma Chengfeng pointed to an empty space and said with a smile: "It's ready. It's right there. Once the new equipment is delivered, we will install it there."
Lin Fei walked to the open space and looked around, then nodded with satisfaction. Liu Daming, who was standing beside him, was confused and asked, "What new equipment?"
Lin Fei chuckled and said, "Something that can make our shells more accurate."
Liu Daming still shook his head. Lin Fei smiled and said a term: "Fire control computer."
Liu Daming laughed dryly twice and said, "Forget it, I won't ask anymore. You definitely won't understand!" After that, he walked down the mast.
The new artillery shells that Ling Xue brought were not only modified but also homemade. The manufacture of these artillery shells almost mobilized all industrial departments of Yanhuang City.
It took a whole morning to transport these shells. After replenishment, each gun position carried 150 shells, including 60 high-explosive shells loaded with trinitrotoluene explosives and 90 capped armor-piercing shells. The soldiers on the ship looked at the ammunition compartment full of shells, and they all felt very relieved. The sailors on the Zhiyuan ship were thinking, just follow Lin Fei, when has the Zhiyuan ship's shells been so sufficient?
In the afternoon, Logistics Minister Chen Jingui led glass manufacturing expert Wang Zhengbin and fitter expert Zhou Mu to the ship. Fitter workers are particularly good at using simple handheld tools to make sophisticated small equipment. Zhou Mu is one of the best. He can manually process extremely precise gears, worm gears and other parts.
Zhou Mu, a fitter, smiled at Lin Fei and said, "City Lord, we have already made the fire control computer you requested! Take a look."
Liu Daming and the others had never heard of the word "computer" and looked at it curiously. Zhou Mu took out a large round plate with squares all over it, like a Go board. There were numbers on the sides of the squares and several long and short poles on the board, which were connected to each other. Everyone was surprised and said, "Is this a fire control computer? It looks so strange!"
Lin Fei laughed out loud and said, "Yes, it is the fire control computer. It can calculate the target position at a certain moment in the future based on the current position and speed of the target ship. Do you see the rod and scale? They are used for calculations."
Everyone looked at the disc in surprise, unable to say a word. The fire control computer designed by Lin Fei was actually the most primitive model of the fire control system of his time. It was derived from the famous Demerik calculator in the history of fire control systems. This fire control computer could only perform rough calculations manually. After all, there was no suitable power supply and automatic calculations were impossible.
Lin Fei installed fire control computers on the mast and at each gun position. Wang Zhengbin also brought a newly manufactured telescope for use with the fire control computer.
Now that the Nuwa ship has armor-piercing shells and fire control computers, its combat effectiveness has been taken to a new level. The next day, Lin Fei tested the new equipment on the high seas, and then led the Nuwa ship towards Hele Island, hoping to eliminate the threat of the Spanish Navy through this battle.
