It is obvious that the conditions are not met for the comprehensive modification of the two ships Nanrui and Nanchen. In theory, the modification process of this kind of old ship is more cumbersome than that of a new one. The four circular fire tube boilers need to be fully improved. Obviously the amount of work is too large. In fact, compared with the German boilers made 10 years ago, the boilers made by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau have very limited improvements. The water tube boilers that are widely used in Europe have not been introduced in China at all. Considering the current situation, perhaps, It would be a better choice to change the inferior coal combustion and sintering conditions inside the boiler. However, the process of recruiting his 10 engineers and 15 apprentices allowed him to obtain another important information resource The accumulation of the manufacturing bureau over the past thirty years is indeed a huge wealth. Cheng Daqi and Liu Yiding jointly He recommended a list of more than 30 engineers. In fact, this list was the engineers from the Torpedo Bureau and the adjacent Jiangnan Shipyard, Wrought Iron Factory, and Carpentry Bureau. The number of engineers in the Guns and Artillery Bureau, which has a relatively high salary in the entire Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, is far greater than this. However, this so-called relatively high salary is also much lower than that of the newly established machine factory. Cheng Daqi is very convinced. Tell Lu Hong that as long as the machine factory needs it, recruiting people from the bureau will definitely not be a big problem. As for poaching Li Hongzhang, it is not convenient for Lu Hong to dig hard at the moment. After all, the scale of his machine factory is very limited. If there are more people, it may not be a good thing. However, this is very important news, at least in the short term. , I was originally worried about the shortage of industrial talents, but it is obviously a problem that can be easily solved. Following Lu Hong's request, Cheng Daqi quickly invited a dozen engineers from shipyards, steel mills and other bureaus. After Lu Hong summoned them, he raised two questions. One was how to transform Nan Ruinan. The power plan for the two ships of Chen? Second, how to quickly replace battleship armor? Regarding the second question, Lu Hong naturally first wanted to know about the technological accumulation of the Manufacturing Bureau in this area. However, what made him regretful was that after asking these engineers, even Cheng Daqi did not have a better solution for this. , although Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has a wrought iron plant and a steelmaking plant, the daily production of 3 tons of steel is really not a production capacity What's more, the quality of the self-produced steel is quite inferior to that of imported steel. . However, when it comes to manufacturing ship armor and steel armor, wrought iron factories do have this steel rolling process, but they can only hot-roll wrought iron. But the problem is that in the era of using rivets to rivet armor, the common way to replace armor on ships is to cut off the original rivets, and then replace it with a re-drilled iron deck For small-scale repairs, there are also temporary repair methods of drilling holes in the old armor with a drilling machine and then riveting it with rivets, but these methods are obviously not satisfactory to Lu Hong. It wasn't until an engineer in the Gunpowder Bureau mentioned the production capacity of smokeless powder that he thought of some important means. However, it obviously required a lot of experiments to determine whether it was feasible This idea made Sun Cairen An engineer from the Gunpowder Bureau got a new job. Faced with the temptation of a monthly salary of 15 taels, the guy only thought about it for two seconds and immediately agreed. Regarding the discussion of battleship power, many engineers had some ideas, but obviously none of them got Lu Hong's approval, and he also noticed that the youngest engineer sitting among the engineers seemed to be very interested in this issue. After hearing other people's suggestions, they all looked very concerned. Later, the young man named Zheng Xuanhong also spoke, "Sir, if the upgrade of this boiler is limited, if it is replaced with a triple-expansion steam engine produced by the Manufacturing Bureau, the ship's speed may be greatly improved. However, the Jiangnan Bureau's triple-expansion steam engine The size is too large, so it may not be easy to install However, if the transmission set of the triple-expansion steam engine is used in old battleships, this can also be a big improvement! "This suggestion is obviously different from others, and Lu Hong is also very interested," Engineer Zheng, are you sure it will work? " "Sir, the double-expansion steam engine still uses an old-fashioned single-tube engine. I have participated in the imitation of many types of triple-expansion steam engines in the manufacturing bureau. The West has already adopted multi-crankshaft propulsion. I think the efficiency has increased by more than 10%!" When talking about this steam engine, Zheng Xuanhong clearly showed maturity that was different from his age, which made Lu Hong even more satisfied. Zheng Xuanhong put forward his point of view very confidently. The two ships Nanrui and Nanchen still used two-cylinder double-expansion steam engines. Today, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has a complete three-expansion steam engine production process and uses the new technology to transform the engines. Obviously a good solution. After all, it is obviously a big project to replace the entire steam engine. Of course, this effect is definitely the best, but it is a big project and obviously cannot be implemented at present. However, he proposed that even if the steam engine is not replaced, but the transmission is improved, It can also achieve considerable results, and it is expected to increase the speed by about one knot. ??Obviously Lu Hong has never thought of this kind of improvement plan. Moreover, this is obviously the kind of improvement that can quickly achieve results. Under the current circumstances, it can be regarded as an improvement.It's a good choice. In the transformation of this warship, he can be said to have adopted a multi-pronged approach. Anyway, most of the materials here come from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. With Ruisheng's support, he doesn't have to worry too much, and through a series of project, I should be able to get a batch of available talents from it. Zheng Xuanhong was obviously a talent worth using. Lu Hong quickly made the decision. He generously provided Zheng Xuanhong with 300 taels of silver R&D funding, which surprised other engineers He had never heard of such a proposal. If you put the improvement plan in place, you can get a sum of money to conduct experiments! In fact, this is exactly the effect Lu Hong needs. He is spending a small sum of money to gradually establish a positive image of himself among this group of engineers Any progress in armament technology will not be a problem for today's Chinese navy. All have great value. After half a day of negotiation, three technical research groups led by Cheng Daqi, Sun Cairen, and Zheng Xuanhong were established in this small machine factory. This was Lu Hong's first step in personally arranging industrial expansion. Naturally, he was cautious. I warned them carefully one by one, now I want not only success, but also quick success! Later, Qin Tianmin sent a telegram with great enthusiasm. It was sent by the Imperial Envoy Wang Renkan from Lushun. The words were unknown, but it only revealed one meaning, asking Lu Hong to settle the affairs in Shanghai as soon as possible and rush to Lushun. ! This also surprised Lu Hong. Wang Renkan rushed to Tianjin, apparently trying to negotiate with Li Hongzhang on the earlier verbal agreement, and at the same time, trying to make Lao Li more cautious on the North Korean issue. But now he went to Lushun, which is obviously quite interesting. !