Now Huang Zhe has seen a lot of big scenes, and his military rank has also risen to major, and the otaku expression when he first crossed has almost dissipated, and he has a little more military temperament, so he stood up and said very calmly:" Of course, the price of warships fluctuates greatly, and is affected by the world situation and factors on both sides of the seller, for example, before the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan purchased the Yoshino, which was sold at a high price of 50 pounds because the British used the Qing court to buy it at a high price, while at that time, the actual price of a warship like the Yoshino should have been around 30-350,000 pounds. ”

In fact, what the Qing court wanted to buy at that time was not actually Yoshino, but another Blanco Enkarada, which was on top of the Yoshino in terms of firepower and armor except for a slightly slower speed, but was eventually bought by the Chilean Navy and renamed the Blanco Enkarada. After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court approached Chile to purchase this ship, and Chile initially offered 350,000 pounds, but later saw that the Beiyang Naval Division lost the battle of Dadonggou, and the Qing court begged for the ship, and it rose to 500,000 pounds. This also shows that the price of warships is greatly affected by the current situation. After the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court purchased two protective cruisers from the British, the Haitian and the Haizhe, which were improved and strengthened versions of the Yoshino, and the price of each was 328,000 pounds, which should be the normal price of this type of warship. ”

"First of all, the price of the battleships, I refer to the Fuji and Yashima purchased by Japan from Britain in 1896, and the purchase price at that time was about 1 million pounds each, and the displacement of these two battleships was 12,500 tons, which is basically the same as the battleships we planned to build, which has great reference value; in addition, in 1903, in the old time and space, Britain bought the Rapid at a price of 1.87 million pounds. The Triumph two 11,800-ton second-class battleships, these two battleships were originally built by British shipyards for Chile, but then Chile had no money to buy, so the deal was canceled, and Russia wanted to buy these two battleships to strengthen its own strength, so in order to prevent these two battleships from falling into the hands of Russia, the British Navy preemptively bought, but considering that this was purchased by Britain from its own shipyard in China, and it was a second-class battleship, the price was lower than that of Fuji and Yashima, and it was also within a reasonable range, so I set the price of the battleship at 1 million pounds each, that is, 6 million taels of silver。 ”

Xia Bohai and the others listened and nodded, Huang Zhe's reference was indeed very reasonable.

Huang Zhe said: "I didn't find out the international transaction price of the 10,000-ton large armored cruiser, but I found out that in the old time and space, Japan bought the 7,500-ton armored cruiser like Italy in 1904. The price of the Nissin is 760,000 pounds, this type of military ship is basically equivalent to the 7,000-ton armored cruiser we planned, but considering that the background at that time was that Japan urgently needed to buy new ships, and at the same time there was competition from Russia, so I think this price is a bit high, 7,000 tons of armored cruisers, the normal price should not exceed 700,000 pounds, that is, about 4 million taels of silver, and so on The normal price of a 10,000-ton large armored cruiser should be about 800,000 pounds, that is, about 5 million taels of silver。 ”

"The price of a 6,000-ton large protective cruiser, my reference is 1898, the Russian purchase of the Varyag protective cruiser from the United States, which is a protective cruiser with a displacement of 6,500 tons, at that time the Russian purchase price was 2.2 million US dollars, about 2.6 million taels of silver, and the price of a 3,000-ton small protective cruiser, I refer to the Yoshino, but the Yoshino is a 4,000-ton warship, so the price of a small protective cruiser will certainly not exceed 300,000 pounds, my estimate is 1.6 million silver, and the price of the destroyer should be about 100,000 pounds, that is, 600,000 taels of silver. ”

"The above is the basis for my estimated shipbuilding price, but this price is calculated according to the international purchase price, and according to our shipbuilding plan, at least more than half of the warships are built in our own shipyard, although we need the guidance of some foreign experts, engineering and technical personnel, most of the spare parts, Materials need to be imported, but the price can still be reduced to a certain extent, and if in the later stage of this plan, our independent shipbuilding capacity is strengthened, and the proportion of self-produced materials increases, the cost can be further reduced. Although we can't calculate exactly how much it can be reduced at this time, it is estimated that it can be reduced to about 15 million silver at most. ”

Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, and Xiao Jianjun were all silent after listening to Huang Zhe's speech, although Huang Zhe finally estimated that in the case of smoothing, he could save 15 million taels of silver, it should be said that this figure is quite considerable, but compared with the huge investment in the ship-building plan and the five-year plan, there is no qualitative change, so the three of them also fell into contemplation and weighed the pros and cons of this ship-building plan.

This fashion Jin Feng said: " Our navy knows that the cost of this shipbuilding program is very huge for our government at present, and it may exceed our financial capacity, but the construction of ships is also very important to our government; first of all, we have been able to achieve the current results, and it is completely based on a strong armed force, so we are by no means reckless in maintaining the construction of armed forces; second, although we have gained a firm foothold in Shandong, after all, the time has not been long, the foundation is not stable, and Shandong is a peninsula, although we can use the convenience of sea transportationMaritime trade to develop our economy, but we also face great maritime threats, and the navy is the foundation of our military base, this is not because I deliberately devalue the role of the army, but mainly because our hostile forces are currently from the sea, which requires us to build a strong navy before the warships are decommissioned, so that we can effectively protect our government. Therefore, I hope that the government will give serious consideration to the shipbuilding plan that we have proposed. ”

After he finished speaking, Wang Hailong immediately spoke: "Commander, political commissar, You are all veteran leaders of the navy, you should know the importance of the navy, and the construction cycle of the navy, how should you also support the construction of the navy, can you suspend some five-year plan projects, squeeze out the funds, and invest in the construction of the navy, to put it mildly, now the government uses money to rely on the army to rob, so it is not too much to give priority to the needs of the army, and only when the army is strong, can we effectively defend our government and create an environment for us to develop peacefully. ”

In fact, Wang Hailong was very dissatisfied with this shipbuilding plan, thinking that it was too conservative, and when the shipbuilding plan was originally formulated, Wang Hailong advocated the construction of four 15,000-ton battleships and four 10,000-ton armored cruisers, and only in this way could the People's Army Navy compete with the Japanese Navy that had completed the 66th Fleet without passing through the warships.

But this plan was rejected by Shang Jinfeng, because this plan was too aggressive, not only did the cost far exceed the current financial affordability of the East China government, but it was also unrealistic only from the manufacturing capacity that the traverser currently mastered, and the result was the current plan. However, in Wang Hailong's view, this plan was like a chicken rib, and even if it was completed, it would be difficult to defeat Japan's 66th Fleet. And for such a plan, Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng were still hesitant, and Wang Hailong couldn't help but speak.

Xia Bohai exchanged glances with Qin Zheng and Xiao Jianjun before saying: "From me and Political Commissar Qin, of course, we all hope that this ship-building plan can be implemented, we are all old men of the navy, and of course we hope that our navy will become stronger, but our current financial situation, it is indeed quite difficult to realize this plan." However, I am opposed to sacrificing part of the five-year plan in exchange for the implementation of the shipbuilding plan. It is true that if we sacrifice part of the items in the five-year plan, we can guarantee the implementation of this shipbuilding plan, but will we be able to build a powerful navy in this way? You must know that a strong navy is built on the basis of strong national strength and industrial technology, and without the support of national strength, what can we do if we complete this shipbuilding plan?" His tone gradually became stern: "Without the support of national strength, without industrial technology, how can we ensure the maintenance, repair, and upgrading of warships, and without these guarantees, can we build a strong navy?" And our five-year plan is aimed at developing the economy, enhancing national strength, and building industry, and only by building up all these can we have the ability to build a strong navy. Therefore, this five-year plan must be implemented without any discount. ”

At this time, Qin Zheng said: " The first stage is 1902-1903, to build four 6,000-ton large protective cruisers, two 7,000-ton medium armored cruisers, two 3,000-ton small protective cruisers, and four 1,000-ton destroyers, it is also possible to slow down the shipbuilding program by a year or two. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "I think Lao Qin's suggestion is feasible, what do you think?"

Shang Jinfeng and Wang Hailong also knew that Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng could do this, and it was not easy, after all, the financial situation of the East China government was like this, and they couldn't do anything without money. If we blindly develop the military while ignoring the development of the economy and industry, the consequences will be equally serious, and this point has been proved by countless examples in the old time and space. So both of them agreed.

And Xia Bohai asked Qin Zheng again: "Old Qin, when do you think the naval command should submit the shipbuilding plan to the House for consideration?" ”

In the 1902 budget, however, there was no cost for the construction of the ship, so the additional cost had to be paid from the reserve fund that had been established at the time, but this had to be approved by the Senate.