At the same time, a special intelligence briefing was being held in the office of the Minister of Defense. Wu Chenxuan, Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang, Wu Luzhen, Zhang Shaozeng, He Xingtian, and Wei Yu sat on the sofa and watched the analysis of the Intelligence Bureau, while He Minhan, the boss of the Intelligence Bureau, explained in front of the curtain with a whip in hand.

"ProtectedCruiser, built at the Vulcan plant in Germany;" Hairong and Haichou were completed on September 15 and December 11, 1897 respectively, and Haichen was completed on February 12, 1898. Each ship cost 163,000 pounds." The "Hairong" ship arrived at Dagu on July 27, 1898, the "Haichou" on August 24, and the "Haichen" on September 21 (appropriate for the 100-day restoration of Emperor Guangxu); October was accepted by the Governor of Zhili, Yulu.

The ship is 328 feet long, 40.75 feet wide, 27.4 feet deep, 19 feet draft, 2,950 tons of displacement, and has 2.75 inches of armor on the deck. Equipped with Kluber 5.9" (150 mm) single-mounted main guns with three main guns (one on the left and right sides of the bow and one at the rear), eight 4.1-inch guns (two sides), six 1-pounder (37 mm) guns, six Mark core machine guns, three 14-inch Fish* tortoon tubes ('including one underwater launch tube).

After the Gengzi Revolution in 1901, the Qing court was overwhelmed by the financial pressure of the indemnity, so there was a proposal to sell all five "Hai" cruisers to raise funds. ”

"So these two warships are already moored in Qingdao Port?" Duan Qirui asked, he is no stranger to the Haizi warship, when he was in the Beiyang system, he did not deal with the Fujianese of the navy, the five ships of the Haizi are their pride, from time to time invite the Beiyang army generals to the ship as guests, all of them are Western steak hospitality, a British Royal Navy his descendants of the disciple style, so that the rustic Beiyang Army dwarfed, and later the Beiyang Department had planned to send troops by sea to suppress the Wuchang uprising, but failed to make the trip. "What happened to the other warships?"

"Back to the General Staff Officer, according to our intelligence, the other two warships are also in poor condition recently." Hermione spoke softly without the slightest respect, but everyone knew that it was an impossible task to make this facial paralyzed seat with a little expression: "Actually, the Protected Cruiser class (ProtectedCruiser) or second-class cruisers, the "Haitian" and "Haiqi" were both built by the British Armstrong factory. It was launched in 1896, completed on January 24, 1898, and arrived in China in the summer of 1899. At 328,242 pounds each, the two ships were the largest warships in China after the First Sino-Japanese War. However, on April 26, 1904, the "Haitian" ship was wrecked in fog and reef at Dingxing Island in Jiangsu, and the entire hull of the ship was raised on the reef, and the stern of the ship was raised and submerged in the water, and it was almost scrapped. At that time, the pipe belt was Liu Guanxiong, who is now retired, and later* after the rescue of the Dutch shipping company, he was reluctantly towed to Shanghai Port for overhaul, so that the hull of the ship was saved. However, the weapons have been completely dismantled, and the money from the sale of weapons and ammunition has been used to close the hole in the rescue money. Now there is only one hull left in Haitian, and the other main engines and components have become spare parts to ensure the maintenance of the other four Haizi warships.

The Haiqi class is 424 feet long, 46.9 feet wide, 16.75 feet draft, and has a displacement of 4,300 tons. The deck is heavily armored up to five inches thick. Eight boilers with two reciprocating steam engines produce 17,000 hp and a speed of 24 knots. 45 crew officers, 431 non-commissioned officers and officers; It is equipped with two 8-inch main guns (one for each of the stern turrets), 10 4.7-inch guns (on the bridge, on both sides and at the rear observation deck), 12 3-pounder (47-ton) guns, three 1-pounder (37-ton) guns, five Mac-core machine guns, and five 18-inch Toro* pedo tubes under the bow." The radio call sign of the ship "XSC" is "XSC".

Many people can't tell the difference between the "Haiqi" and the "Haichen" two-class ships, and even foreign professional yearbooks often put photos and text descriptions Zhang Guan Li Dai, but we know that in fact, the easiest thing to distinguish from the appearance is that the foremast of this class of ships is in front of the bridge, while the front mainmast of the German-made "Haichen" class is erected directly behind the bridge like most warships.

In 1909, "Haiqi" led the ship "Hairong" to inspect the South Seas, visiting Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Saigon and other places to comfort overseas Chinese. Later, he traveled to the United States and Cuba to visit and comfort overseas Chinese. It is an unprecedented feat for the Chinese Navy. However, when the "Haiqi" ship went abroad, the Yellow Dragon Flag of the Qing Dynasty was hoisted on the ship, and the Wuchang Revolution broke out during the voyage, but it was already in the Republic of China era and the five-color flag was hoisted."

"So this "Haiqi" is still a meritorious warship," Wu Chenxuan smiled, "In this way, after the Fujian Department is put into service, this "Haiqi" will stop at Qingdao Port, and the standard department will buy the teaching aids given to the Naval Academy, and we will build a museum in the future, and it is better not to disassemble this kind of old ship with commemorative significance." ”

"Okay." He Minhan hurriedly made a record, and then someone from the attendant office passed it to Feng Ru and Feng Dafei who were in Qingdao.

"This Fujian navy, how do you say it? I always felt that there were not many good things, and there were a lot of tatters; There are not many talents, and there are a lot of officials; There are not many fine traditions, and there are a lot of feudal habits? What age is it, and you are still engaged in those tricks of recruiting officials and making wishes, if you want me to say, why don't you let the flight team send a wing to blow up and sink one or two broken ships for him, and see if they are still dicks? This analysis, which is quite Cheng Biting Jin's style, is of course the high opinion of His Excellency He Xingtian, the "God of Artillery".

Everyone has long been accustomed to Mr. He's cannon barrel, and no one has paid attention to it, but Wei Yu is obviously a little eager to try, he has long wanted to try whether his plane can play a decisive role at sea, how can such a good opportunity be missed?

"I think what Mr. He said is very insightful." Wu Chenxuan laughed, pointed in the direction of He Xingtian, and said to Duan Qirui and General Staff Officer, "Mr. He's words are very important, and this is also the foothold of our naval construction for a long time to come. ”

"Huh?" Duan Qirui knew that Boss Wu never fired empty cannons, which seemed to be a joke, but it was definitely targeted. "Isn't the headquarters based on air raids and naval battles?"

"Right. General Counselor Duan's words are brilliant. Wu Chenxuan took over the conversation: "We have several warships with tens of thousands of tons, but compared with the Japanese Combined Fleet, it is an appetizer, and it can't even compare with the Beiyang Naval Division more than 20 years ago, how can we compete with Japan?" That Xiao Wei, you put the "Analysis of China's Coastal Defense Situation" on it and let all the CEOs here take a look. ”

With the light of the projector, what appeared on the screen was: "In the maritime territory under China's jurisdiction and resource sovereignty, the southeast of the country borders the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, and has a vast, rich, and beautiful maritime frontier; It has a coastline of more than 18,000 kilometers, more than 6,500 islands (covering an area of more than 500 square kilometers) scattered along the coast, and is directly connected to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean through the first island Lian and the Strait of Malacca. All this is not only beneficial to navigation and trade, but also contains extremely rich biological and mineral resources. Therefore, it is necessary to make full use of and develop marine resources and ensure maritime trade. For a large country like China on the Pacific coast, providing favorable natural conditions for the country's economic development and cultural development is where the fundamental interests of the country and the nation lie. After the establishment of the republic, for the sake of China's independent sovereignty and the preservation of maritime rights and interests, it was necessary to build a strong navy to consolidate the maritime frontier. But in fact, we are almost "defenseless at sea", even if we accept a few German warships plus the remnants of the Fujian navy, not counting the gap in the equipment and personnel quality of the warships, the displacement alone is less than one-eighth of the Japanese navy. To this end, we must make up our minds to build a powerful navy and air force.

The new navy will not be able to follow the conventional development path of the old naval powers, and our naval development ideas can be summed up in three words: "flying, diving, and fast." That is, the naval aviation composed of advanced shore-based attack aircraft and bombers; submarine forces with leading technology, excellent quality, and a certain scale of retention; There is also a surface fleet dominated by surface fast light ships; It does not aim to face the enemy head-on, but focuses on defense, and can carry out the task of breaking the blockade after gaining an advantage in naval battles. ”

Wu Chenxuan stood up and took the whip from Wei Jiaguo's hand, and he said: "At this time, the Chinese Navy is still at an absolute disadvantage in coastal defense, and in order to be in the strategic defensive stage at the overall level, it can only use some unconventional weapons to deter the other side. During this period of time, we should give full play to our superiority in the air force and technology and build up naval aviation as soon as possible. Submarines are already being built in secret, and the training of submariners is also secretly taking place at the base, and we want to give the Japanese a big surprise. Well, what is happening on the water, we can show weakness to the enemy appropriately. Our light ships with small displacement plus submarines are typical configurations of regional coastal (shore) defense forces, and the ocean-going navy cannot afford it now, and there is no need to arouse the vigilance of the naval powers against us. Only after we have defeated a strong enemy in the Far East will it be possible for the Navy to move from near-shore defense to an ocean-going navy. ”

"Boss, I think a group of torpedo boats in the Fujian Navy can still play a certain role." Wu Luzhen said that he had just read the information issued to them by He Minhan: "These big ships with sea numbers are not good, but those torpedo boats in Penghu are still very attractive. Take a look at the total seat. ”

Wu Luzhen picked up a manual, flipped to the photo, pointed to a paragraph of text and said: "The German-made Fish* Thunderboat Boat, "Chenzi" and "Suzi" were built by the Vulkan factory in 1895 at a cost of 28,500 DM. It is 144 feet long, 17 feet wide, 9 feet deep, 7 feet draft, 90 tons of displacement, 700 hp and 18 knots. 5 crew officers, 23 non-commissioned officers; Equipped with four 1-pound cannons and three 18-inch Tortoise* torpedo tubes. The two boats were built by the Schichau factory in the same year, with a length of 130 feet, a width of 15 feet, and a draft of 5 feet. Displacement 62 tons.600 hp, speed 16 knots. 5 crew officers, 25 non-commissioned officers; Equipped with six machine guns and three 18-inch Torpedo tubes. I think these speedboats are still very new, and I should try to restore them. ”

"Okay, let Feng Dafei handle these specific matters." Wu Chenxuan was satisfied to see that the contradictions between the branches of the army were still not too obvious, so he was naturally relieved, "I want to give him a pair of words, but it's a pity that my dog * will not be ugly when he climbs the fork, and it is still troublesome for Duan Lao to help." ”

In an instant, Mr. Duan splashed ink and wrote down seven big characters "Fusheng Yuan Ping Donghai Bo".