Qing declares war on Chile!

On the same day, the newspapers of Peru and Bolivarian rushed to publish this important news on the front page, and for a time the whole country rejoiced, and after more than a year of war, Peru and Bolivarian were defeated and retreated by the Chilean army, not to mention heavy casualties, and even more important mineral areas were lost one after another, and the heavy blow made the people of the two countries see no hope of victory, and everyone was overwhelmed, and everyone was extremely pessimistic about the outcome of the war.

The arrival of the Qing fleet only gave them hope for mediation and a decent end to the war, but the Qing declaration of war on Chile made them see that victory beckoned to them.

Just when the public opinion of the two countries was vigorously proclaiming, and the people were rushing to tell each other and rejoice, the Qing fleet and the fleets of the two allied forces marched northward, aiming directly at the port of Valparaíso, the maritime gateway of Santiago, the capital of Chile.

The South American War, which had always been regarded as a small fight and not paid attention to by the world, was on the front page of the world's major newspapers because of the participation of the Qing Dynasty, and the eyes of the whole world gathered on South America.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhishu put down the telegram in his hand and said with a smile: "It's quite timely, knowing that using public opinion to take the lead will create a fait accompli." ”

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "If you don't say hello, you will declare war on Chile, King Gong and Su Xiang are only afraid of being annoyed now, and the members of the Beijing Division are only afraid of an attack." ”

"Put the blame on Zaizhao." Yi Zhizhi said disapprehantly: "For him, this is not a bad thing. ”

Zhao Liewen smiled when he heard this, this also has to be believed by someone, Yi Zhixiang then asked, "King Gong, have they left?" ”

"The train departs tonight." Yi Zhengxing replied, and as he spoke, he changed his words, "The 'Xuanyuan' ship is the most advanced warship in my country at present, and it is so easy to make it public, but my father has other intentions?" ”

"The advanced 'Xuanyuan' ship is only temporary, including the several warships that are about to be launched in Qingdao, they are still only a transitional warship." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "The large battleship with a unified caliber main gun mode, the dreadnought, is the main battleship in naval battles in the future.

In terms of division, the 'Xuanyuan' ship should be regarded as a pre-dreadnought, belonging to the early and immature dreadnought, and once the real dreadnought appears, it will be eliminated immediately. ”

Yi Zhengxing immediately reacted, "Father intends to disclose the 'Xuanyuan' ship to induce the navies of various countries to compete to imitate it, wasting money and time? ”

Zhao Liewen said: "Will the navies of various countries be fooled? ”

"Definitely." Yi Zhishu said with full certainty: "At present, there is no effective countermeasure against torpedoes, the only way is to keep a distance and increase the speed, and furthermore, large cruisers and armored cruisers have strong protection capabilities, and in order to constitute effective damage, it is also necessary to enhance the main gun fire of the battleship."

As a result, warships must develop into the model of large artillery ships, and the 'Xuanyuan' ship can be said to fully meet these needs, and will inevitably be welcomed by all countries, especially Britain and France, and other countries, which will inevitably actively imitate them. And let's build real dreadnoughts, and if there is a war in the future, we can continue to make it a big loss. ”

Zhao Liewen said: "After the dreadnought, is it a warship that can carry aircraft?" ”

"That kind of battleship is called an aircraft carrier." Yi Zhizhi said: "With other types of ships to form a fleet, it can be called a sea hegemon, and it should be more than enough to deal with dreadnoughts, but the power of aircraft carriers mainly comes from fighter jets, and it can only be developed when the aircraft has practical value." ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Yi Zhengxing meaningfully, "Before, I said that this is an era of hegemony, an era in which the world's major powers compete for world hegemony, which is very similar to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the history of our country.

But in fact, there is a great difference between the two, the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, the Seven Heroes fought for hegemony, and finally Qin annihilated the Six Kingdoms, creating the era of China's great unification.

After that, the Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing dynasties that formed a situation of great unification were all like this, but now the times are different, this era is a struggle for world hegemony, even if it can establish financial hegemony, economic hegemony, and military hegemony, it is impossible to form a situation of great unification like the previous dynasties in our country.

The world is so big that it is impossible to unify the whole world, and financial hegemony and economic hegemony must be backed by military hegemony, so we must unremittingly carry out weapons research and development at all times, and carry out scientific research and technological reserves, only in this way can we maintain hegemony for a long time and be invincible. ”

Yi Zhengxing nodded solemnly, "The son must remember his father's teachings." ”

"Armament is the most expensive of all, and when there is an arms race, it can be enough to bring down a country's economy, even if it is as strong as England." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "At the beginning of China's industrial start-up and economic take-off, we must try our best to avoid arms competition.

Of course, there is no doubt that the best way to strike at an adversary is to plunge the adversary into an arms race, and when there are sufficient technological reserves, there is no need to cherish oneself with a broom, and appropriately throw out some technologies to stimulate various countries to engage in arms competition and achieve greater benefits. ”

Zhao Liewen secretly sighed when he heard this, armaments are indeed burning money, the army is still slightly better, although the consumption of guns and ammunition is large, but it is still able to bear it, and the navy is completely burning money, a large warship can easily cost tens of millions, or even millions, large-caliber naval guns, torpedoes, submarines, and special armor These things are not only expensive to develop, but also take a long time, I don't know how much financial, manpower, and material resources have been spent.

In addition, there are tanks and airplanes that are being developed and experimented, and those things are not cheaper than warships, and if a country vigorously develops its armaments, it will inevitably have a huge impact on the economy.

If Germany cannot be used to provoke war in Europe, it will be used to provoke an arms race among European countries.

As a competitor of the Qing Dynasty, Yingli was unlucky enough, and he secretly felt sad for Yingli in his heart, and this calculation of the link would always fall into one ring.

After taking a sip of tea, Yi Zhishu changed the topic, "Zai Zhao led the fleet to the port of Valparaiso, how will Chile respond?" ”

"The port of Valparaiso is the maritime gateway of Santiago, the capital of Chile, and its status is equivalent to that of Tianjin in our country. Zhao Liewen pondered: "However, the disparity between the naval strength of the two sides is too great, and the Chilean Navy is not even qualified to work hard, in this case, moving the capital may be the wisest choice." ”