The "Qinling" and "Nanling" were directly replaced with 40-mm rapid-fire short-range anti-aircraft guns developed by the Xi'an Arms Manufacturing Company during their refits.

During his time in charge of the fleet's air defense equipment, Ling Wencha had submitted a report to the Naval Technical Committee, recommending that it be replaced with a new 40-mm anti-aircraft gun developed by the Northern Group in cooperation with the Xi'an Arms Manufacturing Company, which would increase the rate of fire of the new rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun by nearly half compared with the previous 37-mm anti-aircraft gun, which would greatly increase the density of the warship's short-range firepower.

In addition, a 12.7 mm seven-barreled rotary machine gun and a 20 mm multi-barreled machine gun developed by the Jianghan Arsenal are extremely excellent as close-range air defense weapons, but the current performance is not stable, and there is still a distance from the final finalization and mass production of the product.

The warships sailed smoothly over the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and the Pacific and South China Seas on most days, in contrast to the rough waters of the Atlantic. The affairs of the entire warship were handled by the captain, Colonel Lin Taixiang, a "veteran" who had joined the Imperial Navy during the last war and had served in the Navy for more than 20 years.

The deputy commander, Lieutenant Commander Lu Zhongmin, is a middle-aged officer with Central Asian ancestry, who came from the original Indian Ocean Navy and participated in the Battle of the New Gulf of Tonkin as a communications officer on a destroyer. He still maintains the rigidity and seriousness that are unique to the people of the Western Regions, and he is meticulous and well-organized.

As the chief of staff of the fleet, Ling Wencha's status was actually higher than that of these two officers, only below the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Huo Xunchi. Regarding the promotion speed of this old superior, Ling Wencha was still a little jealous. Because of his brother, the current Chief of the Army General Staff, Admiral Huo Xunchi, Vice Admiral Huo Xunchi, who was the commander of the submarine force, knew the emperor who was still the crown prince at that time very early, and was appreciated by the emperor.

On the starboard side of the "Qinling," a light cruiser "Liuzhou," which looked very beautiful in appearance, was accompanying the battleship on sea trials. The actual standard displacement of the "Zhoucheng" class light cruisers, which the Imperial Navy began construction in 299 years, was 11,600 tons, far exceeding the original upper limit of 9,100 tons of light cruisers.

For some reason, since Zhang Weihan became prime minister, he never approved the construction plan of any heavy cruiser, which was the most frustrating place for Marshal Pei Yunsong, commander-in-chief of the surface fleet of the Navy at that time.

Prime Minister Zhang Weihan's explanation for this was that instead of using two-thirds of the cost of a battleship to build some large and useless heavy cruisers, it was better to use the money to build more fast battleships. It is true that a heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of 14,000 tons costs as much as 100 million Chinese yuan, and the latest 32,000-ton "Zhenzhoufu" class battleship built by the Navy costs 156 million Chinese yuan.

In the case of a fast battleship with a maximum speed of more than 30 knots, the speed is only two or three knots faster than that of a high-speed battleship, and the heavy cruiser is reduced to a chicken-ribbed role - a duel between the capital ships is a dish on the battle line, and rapid deployment is not as fast and economical as a light cruiser.

However, seeing the heavy cruisers of the navies of various European countries being launched one after another, some people in the Imperial Navy naturally looked at it and inevitably felt a little unbalanced in their hearts.

Due to the needs of air defense, the Imperial Navy hoped to equip light cruisers and battleships with 150 mm high-level dual-purpose main guns or secondary guns, but due to the expansion of army equipment, the Imperial Army gave up the development of 150 mm anti-aircraft guns, and now it can only be developed separately by the navy.

Due to the very tight production orders issued by the army, both the North Group Company and the Southwest Group Company gave up bidding for the development of a new type of large-caliber high-level dual-purpose gun for naval ships, so the Shaozhou Metal Group, whose headquarters company was located in Guangzhou and was eager to enter the imperial military market, became the only choice for cooperation with the imperial navy.

However, the development of large-caliber high-level dual-purpose guns and turrets was by no means an easy task, and the navy also required the use of semi-automatic reloading in order to obtain a higher rate of fire.

The task letter of the navy was issued in March 304, and in order to speed up the development progress, the navy even provided the Shaozhou Metal Company with the design drawings and samples of the 90-mm anti-aircraft gun developed by the North Industries Group and the 105-mm high-level dual-purpose naval gun body and the structure of the warship turret developed by the Hanjiang Arsenal.

The "Qinling" secondary gun turret was refitted, and if it could be replaced with a new 150-mm secondary gun, it would bring the firepower of this old battleship to a new level.

"Sir, a telegram from the 'Nanling' says that they have left Fangchenggang and are expected to meet us in three hours." The communications staff officer's report pulled Ling Wencha back from his reverie to reality.

"Port 15, speed 20!"

After giving the order, Vice Admiral Huo Xunchi habitually looked at the surrounding sea, and there was nothing on the sea in the southern part of the Persian Gulf except for a few flocks of seagulls chasing the battleship. In the distance, the shores of the desolate Samanid kingdom appear to be peaceful, but in fact the once stable country has been plunged into a brutal civil war.

With the order issued, after dozens of seconds, the "Qinling" led by the Imperial Fleet first began to turn, and after a comprehensive modernization and refit for three and a half years, the appearance of this old battlecruiser, which has been more than 20 years old, has changed dramatically, and it seems to be full of new vitality again.

After the start of the civil war in the Samanid Kingdom, the Tang Empire and the Tianzhu and Punjab kingdoms around the Samanid kingdoms were in the same stream, and "presided over justice" at the League of Nations Congress, announcing a full arms embargo on the Samanid Kingdom. In fact, with the support of the Tang Empire, these countries were secretly supporting the government controlled by the Zoroastrians, not only providing weapons and equipment, but also sending a large number of "volunteers" in order to strangle the rebellious Fang Tianjiao regime.

Affected by the great crisis of the world economy, the contradictions between the old aristocracy and landlord class and the common class in the Samanid kingdom intensified, and the whole society fell into chaos and turmoil.

With the support of sects, the country, which was already full of sectarian contradictions and conflicts, suddenly fell into a full-scale civil war......