Kyoshi, Prime Minister's Office.

Put down the phone, Yi's face was gloomy and almost dripping water, a morning of constant phone calls, are calls from the provinces to test the tone, the southern provinces of the big and small newspapers overwhelmingly accuse the Empress Dowager Ci'an and the Guangxu Emperor, attack the royal family and the Manchu and Mongolian princes and nobles, and then develop to the attack on the Manchu and Mongolian tribes, a mountain rain is coming, the government and the opposition are frightened.

Is this what is called letting public opinion argue freely? He slowly sat down and reached out to pick up the article "The National Interest First", although the signature of this article was not Changle Jushi, but he was sure that it must be from the instructions of Yi Zhi, what did this guy want to do? Is it out of the need to conquer the Northwest? Or take the opportunity to subvert the Qing Dynasty?

"Lord Wang, Su Xiang is here." The chamberlain whispered at the door.

"Ask him to come in." Before the words fell, the phone rang again, and he commanded, "Don't transfer in again." ”

Su Shun also looked anxious, and when he entered the room, he complained directly: "What kind of reputation is Yi Guocheng doing?" ”

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Yi replied angrily, and raised his hand casually to give up his seat, "Yi Guocheng is good at using public opinion to build momentum, what is the purpose of this campaign?" ”

After a slight sigh, Su Shuncai said: "Shouldn't the sixth master be worried that he will use public opinion to force us to dismantle the Eight Banners New Army?" ”

Yi raised his eyebrows, "But what did you hear?" ”

"Nope." Su Shun shook his head, and then pondered: "At this juncture, it is impossible for Yi Guocheng to deliberately provoke a civil war, except for the abolition of the Eight Banners New Army, I can't think of any other purpose for him?" ”

If the abolition of the Eight Banners New Army and others is to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle, this is in line with Yi Zhi's consistent style, Yi glanced at him, and said: "The Eight Banners New Army must be retained." ”

"I'm also fooling around." Su Shun said tentatively: "Why don't you call and test it?" ”

Yi asked him to come over, just to ask him to call and ask what Yi Zhi's content was, and immediately nodded, "It's okay to try it." ”

Seeing that he didn't move, Su Shun smiled, got up and walked to the phone and shook the phone, and after a short time, he put down the microphone, "Yi Guocheng is not here, he said that he went down to inspect." ”

Is the other party deliberately avoiding it? Yi Deng realized that the matter might be more serious than he imagined, and Su Shun also faintly realized that something was wrong, and took the initiative to say: "Or, I'll go to Shanghai?" ”

With a slight groan, Yi bowed his head and said, "Okay, let's leave as soon as possible." ”

Shanghai, Baoshan, 403 Arsenal.

The 403 Arsenal is somewhat remote and more than 40 miles away from the county seat, and there is only one railway and highway connecting the county seat, and the entire arsenal is surrounded by impermeable artificial forests, and eye-catching warning signs of military forbidden places can be seen everywhere on the barbed wire on the periphery, and from time to time you can see officers and soldiers patrolling with loaded guns and ammunition, and the garrison is very strict, so it is a bit mysterious, and very few people know that this is an arsenal specializing in the development of tanks in the Qing Dynasty.

On the empty experimental training ground, a decent tracked tank roared and moved slowly on the complex terrain, and on the makeshift stands, Yi Zhicontent, surrounded by everyone, held a telescope and carefully observed, after provoking the newspapers of the southern provinces to attack the Manchu and Mongolian tribes, he went straight to Baoshan to hide and relax, he knew very well that if he continued to stay in the palace, he would be annoyed.

The development of the tank is naturally his handiwork, he knows better than anyone the great significance of the tank to the army, breaking through the defense line, destroying the fortress, reconnoitring the enemy, as a support firepower, the tank can play too many roles, it can be said that the army defeats the enemy a great magic weapon, known as the king of land warfare.

As early as when Yuanqi set up an automobile factory to develop and improve automobiles, he put forward the idea of developing a tank, and invested a large amount of research funds for development, of course, he did not do it himself, most of the ideas and designs were put forward by him, and many drawings were made by him.

However, due to the limitations of science and technology, industrial technology, and metallurgical technology, the development of tanks has been very slow, and it can even be said that it is outrageously slow.

The 'Baoshan T-IV' tank in front of me uses tracked wheels, a 360-degree rotating turret, and is equipped with a 57mm short-barreled gun and a Maxim machine gun.

The engine power of 110 kilowatts is passable, but the rigid suspension greatly limits the speed of the tank, the maximum speed can only reach 3.5 kilometers per hour, which is slow and not as fast as the normal marching speed, in addition, the ability to cross the trench is also unsatisfactory can only cross 1.5 meters, and the height of the obstacle only reaches 0.3 meters high, and the armor is reluctant, and the thickness reaches 8-22mm.

Looking at the tank moving slowly, Yi Zhengxing, who accompanied him, couldn't help but say: "The speed of the car has been able to reach 60 kilometers per hour, why is the tank so slow?" Is it because of the tracks? ”

"It's not the wheels that limit the speed of a tank, it's the suspension ......." Chen Xuezhang, the director of the research institute next to him, pushed his glasses upwards and explained softly: "The tracked wheels are a great innovation, which is conducive to the tank to travel in various complex terrains, such as crossing trenches and passing obstacles, in addition, because of the thick armor, the weight of the tank, and the large ground contact area of the track, even on the soft and muddy ground, it will not sink ........" ”

This question cannot be explained clearly in a few words, Yi Zhishu glanced back at the two of them, and asked lightly: "Although there are still too many unsatisfactory points in the T-IV type, it already has a certain practical value, can it be mass-produced?" ”

Production? Chen Xuezhang was stunned, as far as the current tank is concerned, he doesn't think there is much actual combat value, and the speed is too slow not only to limit the tank's due combat power, but also a fatal flaw - it is difficult to dodge the shelling of artillery.

However, he quickly reacted that this was not something he should consider, and after hesitating for a moment, he said: "It is difficult to produce large quantities, but small batch production is not a big problem." ”

This is intended to make the tank unveiled in the Northwest theater? Yi Zhengxing was also a little surprised, and couldn't help but say: "If you expose it too early, will the gains outweigh the losses?" ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "Once the tank is unveiled publicly, it will inevitably arouse the strong interest of the armies of various countries, and European countries will inevitably rush to develop tanks, what does this mean?" ”

What does this mean? Yi Zhengxing pondered for a moment before he said tentatively: "Prompting the major military powers in Europe to launch an arms race? ”

Nodding slightly, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "Germany's advantage lies in the army, and it also has the ambition to dominate the European continent, once the tank is publicly unveiled, Germany will inevitably be eager to introduce, and actively develop, mass production, European countries for their own security considerations, will inevitably actively follow up, arms race is inevitable." ”

。 m.