Chapter 1746 If you want to buy it, you may not be able to buy it
Whether to buy or build weapons and equipment is a long-term difficult decision for many countries in the South China Sea region. Especially for large equipment like warships, although all countries have certain shipbuilding capabilities, no one can deny the huge gap in ship combat performance with the Haihan Navy. If possible, who wouldn't want to have a powerful maritime fleet?
For a long time in the past, Haihan has been unwilling to sell combat ships to the outside world. Such a decision is naturally reasonable, and all countries can only covet it. However, since Haihan lifted the ban, it seems that all countries no longer consider the question of whether to buy or build, but instead spend all their money to order warships from Haihan. Even if the sale list only has the smallest tonnage exploration-class warship, it is enough. Let all countries flock to it.
The reason for this situation is that, in addition to the outstanding performance of the Haihan warship itself, another important reason is that the shipyard responsible for building the warship has limited production capacity. The number of export warships that can be delivered every year is not as much as you can buy. , even large orders may be delayed until two or three years before delivery. In this situation where supply exceeds demand, countries will naturally rush to buy in order to take a leading position in the arms race in the South China Sea. Even if there is no chance of taking the top spot, they can at least strive for it. position above the country.
Such an environment has not only brought about tight demand for Haihan warships in the international arms market, but also caused its price to rise all the way. From the seller's pricing in the first few years to the current buyer's bidding, buyers from various countries have For the more than ten or twenty warships produced by Haihan every year, we almost have to fight for it.
Faced with such a hot market, Haihan Military Industry has to accept foreign orders for profit, so it has to allocate part of the docks and shipbuilding technicians to complete the tasks, which will inevitably affect Haihan Navy's order delivery and daily maintenance. After several upgrades and expansions, the original Shengli Port Shipyard was renamed Sanya Shipyard and more shipyards were built. However, even so, it was still unable to fully meet the production requirements of Haihan Ordnance Industry.
Therefore, Haihan Ordnance Industry also built shipyards in Hong Kong, Penghu, Magong Port, Zhoushan, and Jinlan Port, Annan, and gradually relaxed restrictions on building standard warships overseas. In this way, the ship repair and maintenance needs of the Navy's overseas fleets are relieved to a certain extent, and small-tonnage combat ships can be built in various places and supplemented to the nearby fleets. Of course, only the Sanya Shipyard can build the expedition-class and majesty-class warships equipped with steam propulsion power with higher technological content.
However, in order to facilitate technical control, the export-oriented warships used for export are still concentrated in Sanya. Therefore, the annual warship export ordering event is still arranged to be held in Sanya.
"Actually, regarding combat ships, even if we don't do any sales promotion activities, everyone here will still be very proactive in paying for orders. On behalf of Haihan Ordnance and Sanya Shipyard, I would like to thank you all for many years. Thank you for your patronage.”
Bai Kesi bowed slightly to pay tribute, and then got to the point: "But in order to be responsible for the buyers, we still invited experts to introduce the situation to you today."
The man who came on stage next was not very good-looking, he looked to be in his fifties or sixties. There were even many people in the audience who didn't know him at all, and they were whispering to each other to find out about this man's identity.
Li Xi didn't know this person either. After asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff nearby, he found out that this person was Zhang Tiangui, the chief engineer of Sanya Shipyard. Li Xi knew nothing about Zhang Tiangui's deeds, but it seemed that his official title was not low, and Bai Kesi called him an expert. He must have special attainments in the field of shipbuilding.
In fact, anyone who has bought a warship from Haihan or has had the experience of visiting the Sanya Shipyard will basically recognize this person who is called "General Master Zhang" by senior officials of Haihan. He is the on-site technical person in charge of Haihan Shipbuilding. All Haihan warships exported to foreign countries must be inspected and accepted by him at the shipyard before they can be delivered to the buyer.
Maritime-related matters, including port construction, shipping and shipbuilding, were in charge of Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun in the early days. However, although the professional knowledge of these two people can beat the navigators of their generation, in terms of actual practical ability, they are still not as good as senior technicians working on the front line of shipbuilding. Haihan was lucky enough to get Zhang Tiangui's help soon after he time traveled. It was the complete shipbuilding technology brought by this person that allowed Haihan's shipbuilding industry to start smoothly and surpassed it in a short period of time. other countries in the South China Sea region.
Zhang Tiangui and his five sons all work in Haihan official institutions. This kind of situation where all the men in the family are working as officials is also rare in Haihan. Today's Zhang Tiangui is no longer the down-and-out shipbuilder he once was. If one were to rank the new Haihan upstarts who had been promoted from naturalized status to the upper echelon, Zhang Tiangui would definitely be at the top.
It is precisely because of this situation that Haihan officials have no doubt about Zhang Tiangui's loyalty and have always trusted him deeply. For matters such as new ship design, Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun would also bring Zhang Tiangui to a meeting to discuss the technical details of ship design. Zhang Tiangui also came into contact with a lot of professional knowledge that transcended the times. He had long regarded the high-ranking Haihan officials who could build large iron ships as gods. Now that he can be taught these top-secret knowledge by his superiors, it has further strengthened Zhang Tiangui's reputation as a Haihan official. Han's determination to be loyal.
However, as a technocrat, Zhang Tiangui does not appear in public very often. Only when the superiors arrange for foreign dignitaries to visit the shipyard, he will come out to receive them and act as a professional commentator during the visit. Not many people outside Sanya have heard of the name of the person in charge of Sanya Shipyard.
Today, Bai Kesi arranged for Zhang Tiangui to come out to explain this year's warship sales arrangements to representatives from various countries. On the one hand, it was out of respect for Zhang Tiangui, and on the other hand, he really needed a knowledgeable professional to answer the buyers' questions immediately on the spot.
Zhang Tiangui made three main points. First, the total number of warships delivered by Haihanneng before the end of this year will not exceed 20, and the actual delivery date of this order may extend to the middle of next year. Second, the warships purchased by buyers this time can enjoy more customized content, such as the number of cannons equipped on the ship, cabin layout, hull protection reinforcement, etc. Third, this year's technical upgrades to warships are mainly focused on the seaworthiness of the ships and the ease of use of the sail ropes.
Zhang Tiangui's explanation was almost free of nonsense and exaggeration, and it came to an end very quickly. However, the audience did not intend to let him go. When Zhang Tiangui announced that he could start asking questions, Annan's Zheng Zao took the lead and said: "According to what General Master Zhang said, the ships that can be delivered this year may be bought last year. This The boat I bought may not be built until next year. Am I right in understanding this? ”
Zhang Tiangui nodded and said: "That's right. We took the initiative to announce this situation. We hope that you will consider whether your actual needs are urgent before placing orders, and don't come to the shipyard every day to rush for the delivery of the ship." Zheng Zha Said: "Then the rules from previous years can still be expedited, right?"
"Of course." Zhang Tiangui responded: "The expedited fee is 20%, priority will be given to construction and delivery."
Everyone in the audience who heard these words knew it very well. This was also a disguised way for Haihan people to increase prices. If you want to get a boat in a hurry, then dig into your pocket and pay more, otherwise just wait. Don't be dissatisfied with the long queue time. Haihan can only deliver about twenty ships every year. If you don't want to buy from others, you are waiting to buy it with money.
However, Zheng Zha, who asked this question, did not actually choose to add money. He just wanted to create an atmosphere for Haihan to cheer him up. The shipyard built by Annan near the Tushan Peninsula has been in operation for two or three years. After spending a lot of money to obtain the technology transfer from Haihan, Annan himself can also build small-tonnage exploration-class warships. However, due to the Due to the limitations of the country's shipbuilding technology and shipyard scale, it can only build approximately four to six such warships every year, and the cost even exceeds the cost of purchasing it directly from Haihan.
For the Annan Kingdom, which is determined to follow Haihan in building a powerful navy, this shipbuilding speed obviously cannot meet the needs of the ruler, so Annan Kingdom will still place an order with Haihan every year to purchase several warships to speed up its own warships. The speed of formation of the navy.
Another big buyer, Xu from Fujian, also understood this and immediately expressed that he would consider placing an order at a higher price in exchange for a relatively short delivery time. However, the actual situation in Fujian is similar to Annan. Haihan also transferred the drawings and construction technology of the exploration-class warship to it. Its shipyards in Zhangquan and Zhangzhou can build warships of this level by themselves. When Fujianese buy ships from Haihan, they usually give priority to expedition-class warships with larger tonnage.
As soon as these two companies expressed their opinions, others ignored that the performance upgrade of the warships launched this time did not seem obvious, and focused on how to shorten the shipbuilding cycle and allow the Haihan people to deliver their orders earlier. It took a long time before the Portuguese raised a technical question: If the number of artillery deployed on the ship is to be further increased, will it affect the seaworthiness of the ship?
Zhang Tiangui's answer was also very straightforward: "The most suitable number is definitely the original design of our shipyard. This is the result of repeated calculations and demonstrations by the leaders. However, considering the actual needs of some countries, we will provide it." Customized project. If artillery is to be added to the exploration-class warship, the center of gravity of the ship and the load-bearing capacity of the deck will need to be recalculated. As for the actual impact on seaworthiness, I am afraid that we will have to wait until the ship is launched to have a definite answer. .”
In fact, shipyards in Annan and Fujian have already been conducting private experiments on modifications similar to what Zhang Tiangui mentioned. The naval guns sold by the Haihan Navy are also versions with reduced performance. Buyers know this very well. If they want to shorten the combat power gap with the Haihan Navy when there is no way to equip them with the same type of artillery as the Haihan Navy, then It can only be equipped with stronger firepower on the ship. Either use artillery with larger caliber and longer range to serve as naval guns, or deploy more artillery on the ship.
However, their experiments were not very successful. After more powerful artillery was put on board, it often exceeded the carrying capacity of the exploration-class warship, causing damage to the hull that was difficult to repair in combat conditions. When more artillery is deployed, the problem mentioned by Zhang Tiangui will arise. The center of gravity of the entire ship needs to be readjusted. Otherwise, if the warship encounters a situation of collective firing on one side during war, the warship may capsize to the other side. .
Without Haihan's participation in this kind of experiment, it would be difficult to obtain rough results through calculations before implementation. Even if Haihan knew that they were making these changes in private, they would pretend not to know and let them hit the wall. If it were so easy to modify this warship, then Haihan would not easily give away the exploration-class manufacturing technology.
Zhang Tiangui was quite opposed to the transfer of shipbuilding technology at first, but Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun told him that transferring some outdated and backward technologies would not allow these buyers to catch up with Shanghai Han in the field of shipbuilding, but would instead make them more reliable. Tied to Haihan's military industry system, because they will soon discover that this thing is not as easy as copying one example and inferring other cases. Buying exploration-level manufacturing technology does not mean that they can build more advanced exploration-level warships.
But when the fleets of these buyers are all Haihan-style warships as the main force, their tactics and organization can only follow Haihan's mature model. When these ships face upgrading in the future, they will inevitably come to Haihan, because only Haihan can provide them with a reliable upgrade plan.
Although Zhang Tiangui doesn't quite understand why the chiefs are so certain about the future situation, based on past experience, the chiefs' predictions of the development of the situation have always been correct, so Zhang Tiangui is not worried about any recurrences in the future. After the official customization started this time, Zhang Tiangui expected that the biggest buyers in the past would definitely be interested in it. However, this kind of upgrade service is expensive. Even if it is just to provide a transformation plan and let the other party carry out the transformation by themselves, it is not a small sum.
Although only the Portuguese raised this question at the scene, when Zhang Tiangui answered this question, the Fujian and Annan families listened particularly attentively.
Although Li Xi didn't know much about shipbuilding technology, he listened carefully to Zhang Tiangui's explanation. On his way south, he basically saw all of Haihan's main warships. Later, he went with the army to Manila and witnessed the terrifying strength of Haihan's fleet with his own eyes. It's just that the North Korean treasury is tight. Even if he wants to buy it, the country simply can't spend so much money to buy a large number of Haihan warships. It can only be a spectator and learn as much as possible about the purchase of warships. doorway.
(End of chapter)