The two of them went to the restaurant opened by Gan Yongxing's old subordinates, and Tan Renhao was surprised to find that in just a few months, the boss had already bought the two stores on the left and right, and also bought a garden at the back, and set up more than a dozen private rooms with elegant environments around the garden. It seems that with the help of Gan Yongxing, the business of this former naval officer is also becoming more and more prosperous. Here, Gan Yongxing was a guest, and even if they didn't say hello, the two were still taken to a private room. As always, Gan Yongxing did not order, the boss knew what to serve, and did not let anyone disturb them.

"Taste, there are a few chefs in the hotel, the skills are very good, I came to taste it last time, this is a famous dish in various places."

Tan Renhao is naturally not polite, he is indeed very hungry. When he left the naval headquarters, he was very hungry, and as a result, he was delayed on the road for more than an hour, and when he saw so many delicacies in front of him, and he didn't have to pay for it himself, was there a reason not to eat with his belly open?

Gan Yongxing also looked like he was gobbling up, and he didn't taste inferior to Tan Renhao at all. In a short time, the two of them wiped out more than half of the meal, and the waiter brought tea, and then went out.

"Well, it does taste good, right?"

Tan Renhao nodded again and again. "It's very good, it seems that the boss's business is getting more and more prosperous, so naturally he has to find a way to attract more customers, and the taste of this meal will have to be on the next level."

"That's right, you have to pay attention to improving quality while scaling up." Gan Yongxing quickly took out his cigarette, "This is the same principle as the development of our navy, but we are going in the opposite direction." ”

Hearing that the chief of staff brought the topic to the army again, Tan Renhao was a little speechless, but he also felt that the chief of staff's words were reasonable. It can be said that for hundreds of years, the navy has been following the path of elite soldiers, which is diametrically opposed to the army. Even during many wars. The size of the navy has not expanded rapidly, which has to do with the actual situation on the ground, the training of officers and men of the fleet is more than ten times more difficult than that of the army infantry, and a lot of infrastructure is required. This is also the fundamental reason why the Navy has to take the line of elite troops. If nothing else, in order to be able to provide the fleet with enough aircraft carrier officers and men, as well as carrier-based aircraft pilots, the Imperial Navy had to put the "Xuanzong" on the second line. Used as a training ship.

"However, the situation is improving, and at least for 27 years, our lives will not be so tight."

"Chief of Staff, does the Headmaster have the idea of expanding the fleet?" Tan Renhao hurriedly came out, and he saw the clue in Gan Yongxing's report.

Gan Yongxing laughed. "What do you think?"

"Me?" Tan Renhao didn't want to answer this question, "Chief of Staff." I can't see clearly, so just say it and don't fish my appetite. ”

"Think about it, how much has our arms purchase negotiations saved the Navy during this time?"

Tan Renhao thought for a moment. "If the negotiation with the ammunition manufacturer goes well, maybe it won't save 10 billion as the principal said, but 8 billion should be there, even if it is less, it should be 60 to 7 billion."

"So, what about our military spending this year?"

"That's more than 10 billion more than we expected." Tan Renhao glanced at Gan Yongxing in surprise, "You mean, the principal is going to use all this money to expand the scale?" ”

"Of course not, in fact, we don't have so much extra money, and we have to think about other aspects of additional expenditure." Gan Yongxing dipped his fingers in some wine, and then drew on the table. "First of all. It is impossible to fully account for the 55 billion yuan in military expenditures, and the secret expenditures in 27 years will at least triple the funds, and some of them should have been counted in the government's financial expenditures, but it is too difficult to make accounts, so they will be divided into the military expenditures of the navy and the army, and we are still good. The Army bears most of the covert expenditures. The second is the cost of personnel allowances, and according to the standard, the allowances of many officers and men will have to be raised, which is also a considerable expense. There are also those procurement expenditures that cannot be determined, such as ammunition, which would not have been much less if we had launched several large-scale campaign operations in '27. And then there's the cost of repairs, which is certainly not a small amount, much more than we have budgeted for now. Therefore. The principal has to prepare a working fund to fill the loopholes and vacancies by the second half of '27. ”

"So how much money can we actually come up with to expand the size of the fleet?"

"It won't be too much. But not too little. Gan Yongxing made a pretentious look, "I roughly calculated, I'm afraid it's hard to exceed 5 billion, but it won't be less than 4 billion." ”

Tan Renhao gasped, even if it was 4 billion, it was a huge amount of money. According to the current standard for the establishment of the naval fleet, the cost of a three-aircraft carrier task force is about 1.5 billion, and after the purchase price is reduced in 27 years, it is very likely to be controlled at about 1 billion. In other words, the 4 billion yuan is enough for the Navy to arm four more task forces, that is, twelve aircraft carrier battle groups.

"Does the headmaster have any plans?"

"There is no plan, there must be an idea, you have also read my report, right?" Gan Yongxing lit another cigarette, "The principal has basically agreed to purchase the first batch of six 'Island' class aircraft carriers at the beginning of 27, ostensibly to maintain the six major shipyards from periodic shipbuilding vacancies, in fact, this is part of the naval expansion plan." ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, it was precisely when he saw this that he thought that the navy would be expanded.

"In addition, there are a large number of other large warship orders, or pre-order orders, which will definitely be placed in 27." Gan Yongxing laughed, "Don't be so serious, let's just talk casually, these things haven't been decided yet, most of them are just the thoughts of the principal and me." ”

Tan Renhao scratched his scalp, and he really listened very carefully.

"The new generation of heavy cruisers has been designed, which is basically an improvement on the basis of" River "class, and the performance is improved over the "River " class , but not noticeable. Now the principal has not decided whether to procure, mainly because Lao Yu of the Equipment Technology Office feels that the performance improvement is not enough, and does not meet the requirements of the Navy, and is asking the Kaohsiung Shipyard to make modifications, and will probably be able to come up with a new design plan in April 27. If you can get through the old man's pass. Then we will be able to place an order in 27 years. ”

"General Yu is just too rigid and strict with everything."

"This is also necessary, if it weren't for Lao Yu's check, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to get so many excellent warships, wouldn't we?" Gan Yongxing laughed, "After this new cruiser is put into production, it will definitely be ordered in large quantities." Because now we really lack enough escort warships. In addition, the Fuzhou shipyard has recently been working on an enlarged version of the 'city' class. ”

"Destroyers?" Tan Renhao was stunned, "It won't be another kind of destroyer that is similar to it, the performance of the 'City' class is enough to meet our needs in all aspects, and if it is an escort alone, then a smaller destroyer is enough, and the price is cheaper." ”

"Not a destroyer. Rather, light cruisers, and now the main object of sales is not the Imperial Navy, but the Persian Navy. Gan Yongxing laughed, "We have been replacing light cruisers with large destroyers, and the actual effect is not bad." But. The Persian navy did not have as much military spending as we did, and they had been trying to get ships that were stronger than destroyers, more powerful than the ones, and at the same time cheaper than the heavy cruisers. A few months ago, the Persian navy had approached us, hoping to use the Empire's surplus warship capacity to produce a light cruiser that could meet their needs. ”

"This is the project that Fuzhou Shipyard is engaged in?"

"Yes, the design will be completed around March next year, and the Persian Navy will place an order soon. Some time ago, the principal asked Lao Yu to send someone to the Fuzhou shipyard to see their detailed design plan. If the performance is really good and the price is low, then we will also purchase a batch. Of course, it has been optimized for better performance. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he had noticed on the battlefield that the light cruisers, which had always been looked down upon by the Imperial Navy, were able to meet the operational needs to a large extent. For example, in the battle for islands in the southwest Pacific, the light cruisers of the US military are a great threat. Then. Neither side's aircraft carriers could be sent to the battlefield, so they could only organize artillery fleet operations. The main force of the "Washington Express" is the light cruisers, and the destroyers of the Imperial Navy suffer relatively much in the face of the light cruisers of the US army, but it is easy to fight the destroyers of the US forces. Heavy cruisers are generally arranged in the main fleet, so in some non-main fleets, there is a real need for a warship that is a little stronger than a large destroyer, but the price is extremely low, and it can play the flagship or so, and the best choice is a light cruiser.

"In addition, the construction of the 'Rui Beast' class will definitely continue. Maybe. The 'Li Jing' class will also be comprehensively upgraded one after another to improve its combat capability. The construction of 'urban' land will definitely be accelerated. And it is built according to the second stage of the improved plan, mainly to strengthen the strike capability of the artillery, focusing on the construction of some improved models of ......" Gan Yongxingluo listed a large number of battleship construction plans, and he finally said: "Maybe when the principal wants to open it, he will start building battleships again." ”

"Why build battleships?"

"Because the United States is also building more powerful battleships, the design of the German H44 type battleship has been completed, and in the long run, we must not be surpassed by the German Navy, even in technology!"

Tan Renhao frowned. "The technology of German man-made warships is good, but their shipbuilding capabilities are ......"

"This is not important, the naval competition must be fought for both quantity and quality. Do you know what kind of battleship the H44 is? Gan Yongxing sneered, "Judging from the information sent back by the intelligence department, it is very likely that the displacement of H44 is about 100,000 tons, which is even more terrifying than 'Yamato'." Our 'new provincial capital' is nothing more than a toy in front of it. In addition, the Germans borrowed a lot of advanced technology from the 'new provincial capital', and the design of the H44 was revised several times, and the design performance of the final construction must be more terrifying, so should we try to pull the gap back? ”

"But even a 200,000-ton battleship could not change the status of the German Navy." Tan Renhao had a feeling that he couldn't eat grapes.

"In addition, the 'Montana' in the United States must have already begun to be built, which is a real threat." Gan Yongxing took out a third cigarette, "Originally, the United States planned to build 'Montana' directly, instead of building another batch of 'Iowa'. However, the design indicators of 'Montana' are not substantially surpassed by our 'new provincial capital' improvement type. Therefore, the U.S. military used part of the technology of "Montana" to the second batch of "Iowa", and started the construction of the second batch of "Iowa". These four battleships were definitely commissioned in the first half of 27. As soon as the slipway is vacated, the United States will start building 'Montana', and the time is almost the beginning of 27. Have you seen the intelligence of that kind of battleship? ”

Tan Renhao shook his head, he was more interested in the new aircraft carrier being designed by the US Navy.

"I've seen it carefully, it's a terrifying kind of warship, 12 50 times the diameter of the 406 guns, 3 more than our 'new provincial capital', and the manufacturing process of the artillery has improved a lot, and the power of the shells has also increased a lot. Others, in terms of armor, speed, air defense, etc., are much more powerful than the 'new provincial capital' class. If the United States had built 'Montana,' our 'new provincial capital' would certainly not be its opponent, and then we would have needed better battleships. If we don't start designing new battleships immediately, I'm afraid we'll have to use other ships to deal with this sea monster when the need arises. ”

"How about the new aircraft carrier of the US military?" Tan Renhao asked the question he was interested in.

"New aircraft carrier?" Gan Yongxing smiled and shook his head, "Most of it is an enlarged version of 'Sex Case', the main thing is to strengthen survivability and improve the aircraft carrier's ability to resist strikes by increasing the displacement." However, I heard that the United States has also developed some new technologies, but I don't know if they were stolen from us. In terms of overall performance, it should be a little worse than our "Island" class, and as long as the "Island" class can be put into service by the end of 27, then our aircraft carrier advantage is still quite obvious. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, the most obvious thing about the Imperial Navy is the advantage of aircraft carriers, and this is also the fundamental strength of the Imperial Navy that can control the sea supremacy in the Pacific Ocean. From Gan Yongxing's words, Tan Renhao also felt that under the condition that military spending is not a problem, and there is even a large surplus, the imperial navy will definitely expand its scale and build more warships, which is also a guarantee of winning the final victory.