Struggle in Russia

The reason why Lazarev returned to St. Petersburg at this time was related to three things. The first and foremost is the friction between Russia and Turkey.

Because of the issue of the Holy Land, Nicholas I was extremely dissatisfied with the attitude of the two ends of the Turkish Snake. The domineering tsar believed that the Catholic forces led by France had been constantly provoking the issue of the Holy Land. As the natural guardian of the Holy Land, Russia would naturally fight back.

And the damn Turks did not fully abide by the agreement reached between the two countries before, and did not give Russia political convenience and privileges, but instead sheltered the French. What a heinous crime!

Nicholas I, who had always been extremely dissatisfied with Turkey because of his beliefs, naturally believed that he released Turkey's two horses in 2010, so that Turkey could avoid the fate of being immediately divided and dismembered. The Turks should be grateful to Dade.

But now the Turks not only didn't appreciate Dade, but stabbed them in the back, it was really unbearable. Therefore, Nicholas I tended to solve the problem at one time, completely tearing down the Turkish wall, and the joint powers divided Turkey's account just like dividing up Poland.

If you want to carve up Turkey, you must use military means, and the role and status of the Black Sea Fleet are very prominent. Nicholas I naturally wanted to summon Lazarev's hero of the year to listen to his opinion.

The second thing that brought Lazarev back to St. Petersburg was the promotion of his old friend Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen to general.

The Bellingshausen admiral is also a famous navigator and explorer, who once led Lazarev to the Antarctic expedition. At that time, Behringauchin was the commander of the formation, and Lazarev was the deputy commander and the captain of the Mir.

Since then, the two have struck up a friendship. It's just that the results of the expedition around Antarctica were not particularly satisfactory. Alexander I wanted Bellingshausen to bring back comprehensive Antarctic survey data, but Bellingshausen failed to do so because of the harsh weather. So Alexander I flatly refused to pay Bellingshausen to print and publish his maps and charts as punishment.

After that, Bellingshausen was promoted step by step. He served as commander of the Black Sea Fleet, commander of the Second Baltic Fleet, and commander of the Baltic Fleet. After being promoted to admiral in 1839, he basically retired in Kronstadt. up.

But don't look at Bellingshausen retreating to the second line, but still very concerned about the construction of the navy. He was quite dissatisfied with Menshikov's conservative approach before, but Nicholas I liked Menshiko helplessly. Husband, no matter how dissatisfied he is, he has nothing to do with the old eunuch.

Menshikov was previously suspended from work at home because of the Mesadov case. Grand Duke Constantine held high the banner of innovation again, and Bellingshausen thought it was a good opportunity, so he contacted a group of old friends to discuss the specific methods of naval innovation together, which could be regarded as the last effort.

Naturally Lazarev must be on Bellingshausen's invitation list. It just so happened that the former was also coming back to meet with the Tsar to report on his work, so it happened to be handled together.

The third reason why Lazarev returned to St. Petersburg was directly related to Li Xiao. As the main supporter of steam ships, especially iron-hulled steam ships, the old man has always paid attention to the relevant information of countries in the world in this regard.

When Li Xiao published related papers under the pseudonym of author A, the old man paid attention to him. Especially after the quarrel between Symonds and Li Xiao, the old man paid more attention to Li Xiao. The reason is very simple, the old man agrees with Li Xiao's point of view very much.

And similar views really belong to a real minority in backward Russia. Both steamships and iron-hulled ships are different in Russia.

Especially when the two are combined, it is the extreme of the heterogeneous, and should be knocked to the ground and set on ten thousand feet.

In the eyes of these conservatives, steamships are expensive, unreliable, and ride comfort is quite bad. They have no value at all, and they are just an expensive toy.

And using iron to make ship hulls is even more unorthodox and the most ridiculous thing in the world. Steel that sinks when exposed to water is used to build ships. Isn’t this just a dream?

Over the years Lazarev has been constantly dealing with idiots with similar views, constantly trying to persuade old stubborn men like Menshikov to accept new things. But the effect can only be said to be unsatisfactory.

Because the reasons are complex. Just take the above two items as an example. The second item really doesn’t have any common sense of physics, so it’s not worth refuting. But the first one actually makes some sense.

The cost of steamships is indeed very expensive, much more expensive than traditional sailing ships. Especially for Russia, which has almost no ability to produce steam engines, it is even more expensive. Let's put it this way, a steam engine with two or three hundred horsepower costs thousands of pounds. If boiler equipment is included, the introduction of such a set may cost tens of thousands of pounds.

Tens of thousands of pounds in those days was not a small amount of money, ten thousand pounds equaled about 100,000 rubles. This is only the purchase of turbines and paddle wheel equipment, not including the hull and outfitting. Adding a piece of chaos, a ship costs thirty to forty thousand pounds.

This is really expensive. You must know that the construction of a second-class battleship with 75 guns was only 40,000 pounds. It is a bit unacceptable for any navy to spend thirty to forty thousand pounds to build a ship that is much smaller than a battleship and has almost non-existent armaments.

What's more, in the early years, there were many problems with steam engines and boilers. Boiler explosions and steam engine strikes were common occurrences, and maintenance was extremely troublesome and costly. Moreover, the ride comfort of this new type of ship is extremely poor. The huge tremor of the old-fashioned and simple steam engine makes your legs numb, and the pungent smoke from the short chimney can even choke you half to death. burnt cinders and dust.

Well, anyway, the early steamships were really no more comfortable than black coal kilns. Moreover, the speed of early steam ships was still very slow. Even with steam engines, the speed did not exceed ten knots, and the coal consumption was very impressive. Even if the entire ship is used to load coal, it cannot support a few days of sailing, and most of the time it has to rely on sails.

Think about it, in this way, sailboats are still the mainstream, and steam engines seem dispensable. With all the shortcomings, who would like this new toy? Even if I really like it, I don't have that much money to build a lot of it.

In short, Lazarev, who promoted steamships, was extremely painful. He could see the prospect of steamships, but he could not convince those many opponents due to his limited knowledge. For a time, the old man felt desperate, thinking that he would never see the era of great steamship development in his lifetime.

But Li Xiao's sudden birth opened a window for him, allowing him to see hope!