When the two were talking, they only heard the sound of footsteps, and it turned out that the industrial and commercial delegation had arrived, so they hurriedly greeted them. And everyone gathered at the dock to watch the warship. These businessmen usually don't have much chance to see warships, so after seeing this huge warship in the dock, they are also amazed, overseas Chinese have only been in Shandong for a few days, and they can build such a huge warship, Sheng Xuanhuai knows that the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau has built a warship Pingyuan, but it is the result of more than 20 years of accumulation in the Westernization movement, and the Pingyuan ship is much smaller than this warship. If you compare the Pingyuan ship with this warship, it is like comparing a horse with a sheep.

Although other businessmen do not understand warships, they also know that they can build warships, indicating that overseas Chinese already have a strong manufacturing level, and the manufacturing level is also the key to the development of industry, which also shows that overseas Chinese should attach great importance to industrial development.

Then someone came and beckoned everyone to take their seats, because the ceremony was about to begin. So under the guidance of the staff, everyone took their seats one after another, but the first two rows of seats were vacated.

After a while, a group of soldiers stood in a line by the dock, and a military band wearing military uniforms and holding various musical instruments was in place at one end of the dock. Then a large group of people walked along the red-carpeted road, many of them in military uniforms, and reporters with cameras on their shoulders. And Li Jingfang quickly recognized that there were Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng inside. Li Jingfang knew that these two people were the No. 1 and No. 2 people among overseas Chinese, and he did not expect that they would also come to participate in the launching ceremony of the warship.

In the process of building warships, launching is one of the most critical nodes, and this is the first warship built by the East China government itself, which is of great significance, so Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun and other military leaders all attended the meeting, as well as the Minister of the Navy Shang Jinfeng, and the captains of these two warships and other personnel, and even the Ministry of War also sent the deputy minister* to attend, expressing the support of fraternal units for the Navy. In addition, there were top management of the shipyard, as well as representatives of experts from the German side. And the soldiers who participated were all soldiers who planned to serve on these two armies.

After everyone took their seats, behind the temporary railing behind the seats, there were hundreds of shipyard workers, and now the shipyard workers have increased to more than 1,300 people, and there are more than 500 workers responsible for the construction of the two warships.

Li Ya, the head of the shipbuilding project working group and the director of the shipbuilding, announced that the launching ceremony of the new warship officially began, starting with the entry of the military band and the army phalanx, and a simple review ceremony was held. Then Li Ya ordered the sluice gates to be opened and the water released. The eight discharge holes on both sides of the dock were opened together, and the sea water was suddenly poured into the dock like a spring, and the scene immediately resounded with a burst of warm applause and cheers, and a burst of firecrackers and fireworks were set off, and the scene was very lively.

However, it takes about 2 hours to fill the dock with water, and of course you can't wait for this time, and there are some other activities, first of all, Xia Bohai and Xiao Jianjun spoke on behalf of the government and the Military Commission respectively, Xia Bohai's speech focused on the importance of national defense industry technology, modern national defense technology, science and technology can not be bought, and cited the example of the Beiyang Naval Division, although the Beiyang Naval Division was known as the first in Asia when it became an army. Eighth in the world, but all the main warships are purchased from foreign countries, and there are very few self-built warships, and the Japanese Navy started later than the Beiyang Naval Division, but it adheres to the road of combining purchase and self-construction, which is also one of the reasons for the failure of the Beiyang Naval Division, which shows that it is impossible to build a real national defense guarantee only by purchasing weapons, and only by insisting on self-reliance and independence can learn from foreign technology, but it must be fully digested and absorbed, and become a technology that can be mastered by itself, and only in this way can it not be controlled by others.

After listening to Xia Bohai's words, many businessmen present also nodded frequently and expressed their agreement, and Yuan Shikai and Li Jingfang were even more touched, both of them were participants in the First Sino-Japanese War, and it is fair to say that weapons cannot be produced by themselves, which is not the main reason for the failure of the First Sino-Japanese War, but the two did not deny that if the Qing court could build its own warships at that time, the result might be better. First of all, it can ensure the daily maintenance and maintenance of warships, and even add new ships or replace naval guns by themselves.

In addition to Li Hongzhang's passive avoidance of battle, a large part of the reason was that he was forced to do so, because the Beiyang Naval Division lost five warships in the First Battle of Dadonggou, and two of the "Eight Great Distances" were lost and could not be replenished, while the other warships were damaged to varying degrees, but because they did not have the ability to build their own warships, the injured warships could not be well maintained. On the other hand, Japan, in the First Battle of Dadonggou, also had five warships heavily damaged, but because Japan was able to build its own warships, although the technical level was still relatively backward, it only took three months to repair all the damaged warships, and in the battles of Port Arthur and Weihaiwei that followed, basically all of them participated in the battle.

And Yuan Shikai's feeling is deeper than Li Jingfang, Bi Jing now Li Jingfang has no formal position, and he only participated in the Sino-Japanese War as Li Hongzhang's assistant, while Yuan Shikai is forming his own lineage army, and now the weapons used by the Beiyang New Army are in addition to rifles, and the rest of the weapons, including artillery, need to be purchased externally, although foreign companies do not deliberately set up obstacles, but the delivery cycle, operation, In addition, Yuan Shikai also knew that foreign companies did not set up obstacles in the delivery of weapons because there was no war in the Qing court now, and once the Qing court was at war with other countries, it was difficult to say whether the weapons would be delivered so smoothly, even if the artillery was in place, but if the supply of accessories and shells was stopped, then the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang New Army would be greatly reduced. Therefore, Yuan Shikai has always advocated that at least the shells should be produced by themselves. As for Xia Bohai's proposition that military technology must be in his own hands, Yuan Shikai also deeply agrees.

Xia Bohai's topic changed and extended to the national industry, saying that the development of the national defense industry is not isolated, the national industry is the foundation of the national defense industry, if there is no independent development of the national industry, there will be no development of the national defense industry, and the development of the national industry, the promotion of national industrial assets, can also increase the national income, improve the people's living standards, so that the country's economic development, social prosperity, only in this way can there be enough technology and capital to develop the national defense industry, rich countries and strong troops are linked together, inseparable. Therefore, the East China Government should not only vigorously develop the national defense industry, but also persist in developing the national industry, so as to achieve both military and civilian development and progress at the same time.

If the businessmen were just emotional, then after listening to the second half of Xia Bohai's words, they couldn't help but get excited, because Xia Bohai raised the national industry to the height of national prosperity and strength, and some businessmen advocated "industry to save the country", and Xia Bohai affirmed this proposition as the top leader of the East China government, which also made them feel like they had met a confidant.

Although these businessmen are well-informed, of course, they will not be easily fooled by Xia Bohai's words, so they can't find the north, and immediately take out a lot of silver to offer, but their good impression of overseas Chinese can't help but increase.

Xiao Jianjun's speech was mainly to praise and affirm the work of Qingdao Shipyard during this period, and encouraged Qingdao Shipyard to continue to build more and more powerful warships for the People's Army Navy.

Lu Jianqin spoke on behalf of Qingdao Shipyard, saying that the shipyard will continue to work hard, study technology, be brave in innovation, strengthen management, and build Qingdao Shipyard into a world-class shipbuilding enterprise and become the pillar of defense manufacturing of the East China government.

Later, more than 30 workers who had performed well in this shipbuilding project, had a good working attitude, and were diligent in thinking and researching technology, were awarded the title of "Labor Medal" or "Labor Red Banner Bearer", and these people were also the backbone of the shipbuilding project. And Xia Bohai personally awarded them medals, certificates, honorary certificates, etc., and shook them one by one, and finally took a group photo together, and the reporter took a photo of each person individually. And the award-winning workers are also very excited, although there is no monetary reward this time, the income of working in the factory is much higher than that of the farmers, and people always have to have a little spirit, so these award-winning workers also have a feeling of recognition.

These words, as well as activities, belong to typical clichés or forms in the old time and space, but in this era, they are very fresh, and from these words, it shows the importance that the East China government attaches to Qingdao Shipyard. These businessmen all know that the Qing court's Westernization has been carried out for more than 30 years, and it has also established many factories and enterprises with huge regulations, but they have never been so valued by the imperial court, except for a few Western-style officials, the vast majority of officials look down on these factories and enterprises in their hearts, or use factories and enterprises as tools to collect money.

Moreover, some knowledgeable businessmen thought in their hearts that if the imperial court's attitude towards industry could be half that of overseas Chinese, then the national situation of the Qing Dynasty would probably not fall to such a point.

Of course, the traveler did not forget the Germans who worked in the shipyard, and finally spoke highly of the German engineers and technicians, and awarded the chief engineer Dirk Wesley the "Friendship Medal" and the title of "Old Friend of the Chinese People", and other German engineers, engineers and technicians also had their own commendations, and took a group photo, as the historical materials of the shipyard, and the Hans were also very happy, because this trip to China not only made a small profit, but also left a beautiful memory in a foreign land.