Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and in the year 3969 (1869 AD), although China has various international and domestic security threats, on the whole there is no danger, and the political, economic, and military aspects have developed steadily, and have made brilliant achievements that have attracted worldwide attention.

In this year, the United Kingdom publishes statistics and evaluation data on the comprehensive strength of the world's major industrial countries every ten years, as is customary. The first report was published in 1849, the second in 1859, and now in 1869, the third report is also published.

Since the Industrial Revolution in 1840, the world's major industrial countries are the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Sweden and other countries are at the forefront, and they are also the main statistical targets of the United Kingdom.

As for Tsarist Russia, because it has always been a serfdom country before, although the national strength is strong, it has not been included in the ranks of industrial countries by Britain, because Tsarist Russia's industry is almost zero, and almost all steel and steel are imported from Europe, which is also the direct reason why Tsarist Russia lost the Crimean War, because in the later stage of the war, Britain and France imposed a ban on the export of Tsarist Russian steel, so that the Tsarist arsenal on the battlefield could not manufacture weapons, and the damaged weapons on the battlefield could not be repaired and replaced, so they could only sue for peace.

However, by 1869, Tsarist Russia had undergone reforms and had some basic industries, although it was still dominated by agriculture, but it was barely included in the ranks of industrial countries by Britain.

Similarly, China, which defeated the invasion of the British and French coalition forces twice, is now highly concerned by the British government, military and civilian population, and has also been included in the ranks of industrial countries in this year and entered the comprehensive strength ranking of industrial countries.

On July 21, the Prime Minister's Office in Downing Street, England, officially released the 1859 statistics and evaluation report on the comprehensive strength of the world's industrial countries, which was quickly disseminated by the media of various countries all over the world.

The UK continues to rank first in the world with a total steel output of 6.5 million tons, including 6 million tons of pig iron and 500,000 tons of steel; China's total steel output is 6.1 million tons, ranking second in the world, including 5.7 million tons of pig iron and 400,000 tons of steel. France's total steel production is 1.48 million tons. It ranks third in the world, with 1.38 million tons of pig iron and 100,000 tons of steel.

Prussia was renamed the German Empire, with a total steel output of 1.45 million tons, ranking fourth in the world, including 1.32 million tons of pig iron and 130,000 tons of steel, surpassing France.

This is because the Franco-Prussian War ended last year, and although history was changed by Li Weiguo's intervention in the Franco-Prussian War, the French Emperor Napoleon was not captured. There was no revolution in France, but in the end it was Prussia that won the war, taking away the industrial regions of Alsace and Lorraine in France, causing Germany's industrial power to skyrocket and weaken France.

The United States is in fifth place, with a total steel production of 1.1 million tons, of which 1.05 million tons of pig iron and 50,000 tons of steel. This result is not much different from the last 1859 data, mainly because of the American Civil War. The original Lincoln government in the north was defeated, the industrial base was occupied by the Davis government in the south, and there was a great exchange between the north and the south, and the original southern slave ownership system ruled the northern industrial areas. The original northern capitalists were driven to the south to farm, which led to the stagnation of American industry, and nothing changed for ten years.

In sixth place is the Kingdom of Italy, a new entrant to the ranks of industrial countries. It was also because of the unification of Italy that it was possible to develop industry in an all-round way. Its total steel output is 750,000 tons, of which 730,000 tons are pig iron and 20,000 tons are steel.

Tsarist Russia is in seventh place. Because of the phased success of the reform, the total steel output of Tsarist Russia reached 400,000 tons, of which 397,000 tons of pig iron and steel production was only a pitiful 3,000 tons.

Then there were other countries, such as the newly formed Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose total steel production was a fraction of that of other countries, and the British government had deliberately put them on the table to create a stark contrast and highlight the great superiority of the British industrial powers.

The Chinese media and ordinary people are also very concerned about this matter, because they now have a little cultural foundation, know that only industrial countries are strong countries, and they all look forward to China becoming a strong country and entering the ranking of industrial countries.

"Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, the United Kingdom released the global list of industrial countries today, and China was on the list for the first time, becoming an industrial country, ranking among the best!"

With the telegraph's advanced communication equipment, China's media and newspapers were the first to get the news and quickly published it on the front page of the day.

"Give me a copy!"

"I'll buy a copy too!"

"I want three!"

In the streets and alleys, hearing the shouts of newspaper sellers, pedestrians stopped one after another and crowded over to scramble for newspapers.

Someone opened it first and exclaimed: "Wow, our China's steel production is the second in the world!" ”

"yes, I'll take a look too!" The person next to him also asked for a newspaper, opened it, and immediately exclaimed: "Sure enough, it's the second in the world, it's really a blockbuster if it's not a hit!" ”

"Although Britain is still the first in the world, but do you see, the total steel production of the UK and our country is actually comparable!" Someone was quick to point out.

When everyone saw it, it was indeed the case, and they all shouted that they would surpass Britain and become the world's first in the next decade.

"Don't believe the statistics of the British, they know a fart, how can our country's steel production be easily known by the British?"

Someone immediately questioned: "I am dissatisfied with you to say, my relatives work in the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant, I heard that the annual production capacity of the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant alone is terrifying, the total steel output exceeded 2 million tons last year, plus there are five or six large factories like the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant in the country, and there are hundreds of private steel plants, and the total steel output is tens of millions of tons, and the British is only 8 million tons, which must have moisture!" ”

When everyone heard it, they immediately felt that it made sense, and someone said: "This report was issued by the British, probably because they were afraid of losing face, so they deliberately lowered the total steel output of our country." ”

Everyone nodded their heads, agreeing with this point of view from the bottom of their hearts, who doesn't want their country to be the strongest.

In the Qinzheng Hall of the Old Summer Palace, Li Weiguo also got the news as soon as possible, and more than a dozen officials from the Sixth Department were reporting on the matter.

"Your Majesty is angry, the British are just dying to save face, in fact, the empire's steel output was on par with Britain last year, and this year it has surpassed Britain in an all-round way." Li Hongzhang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, hurriedly explained.

"When did I say I'm angry?" Li Weiguo suddenly smiled bitterly and said: "I just think that although the British deliberately underreported the data to rank the empire's steel production second, it is exactly that. Proof that the intelligence capabilities of the British had penetrated the Empire, as can be seen from the steel production data they reported, it is very close to the real data. ”

It turned out that Li Weiguo's face was unhappy, not because he was ranked second, but because of the leakage of intelligence.

"The minister is guilty! Please punish the emperor! "Wang Kaitai, the secretary of the ministry, came out of the list and asked Li Weiguo for his guilt, as the secretary of the ministry, the chief of the branch of the imperial steel production audit, the secrecy work was not done.

Li Weiguo said: "The real data of the empire's steel production has always been kept secret by your officials and branches, but the possibility of leakage from other channels cannot be ruled out. ”

Originally, Li Weiguo did not want the European and American powers to know about China's steel production capacity too early. Because the huge steel production capacity means a sharp increase in industrial strength, especially for the naval industry in this era, the steel production capacity is proportional to the naval industrial capacity, the higher the steel production capacity, the greater the total amount of steel that the country can invest in the production and manufacturing of naval warships, even if it is not used to build ships, it is also a manifestation of war potential.

"Now that the UK has released a report on the overall strength of industry, the empire has occupied the second place, and I believe that the UK has regarded the empire as the biggest potential threat. At the time, the industrial power of the United States skyrocketed. Britain was jealous and colluded with the Southern Bloc to split the United States, and now the United States is divided into South America and North America, and its industrial strength has not increased for ten years. This is the best example of this! ”

These words made the ministers and officials also feel the crisis, and they have been a little arrogant recently, because the empire has won consecutive wars, which makes them look down on the European and American powers.

Li Weiguo had to give them vaccinations all the time. Ask them to be vigilant.

However, Li Weiguo is still very satisfied with China's steel industry.

So far, the empire's total actual steel production has reached 8.4 million tons. Among them, the output of pig iron is 7.5 million tons, the output of steel is 700,000 tons, and the output of special steel is 200,000 tons.

On the one hand, because of Li Weiguo's strong support, the approval procedures and financial support of the iron and steel industry are very in place, not only the construction speed of state-owned iron and steel plants, but also the private and private steel plants have also received policy support, which has rapidly increased the country's steel output.

Originally, there was a hidden danger in such a huge increase in steel production capacity, because steel production capacity is directly related to the consumer market, and China's steel production surge, if there is no consumer market, it will bring serious consequences. However, Li Weiguo has solved this biggest problem, and the whole of China has carried out large-scale railway construction, industrial base construction, and military industry, and naval shipbuilding is a major consumer of steel, and the demand of 200 million people for steel and other daily tools is also huge, which has ensured the steel consumption market, and even the current steel output of more than 8 million tons still cannot meet the needs of the people, and there is no need to export, and the country will directly consume it.

For example, the total amount of steel in Britain will not increase by more than 300,000 tons per year, because the British domestic population is small, the steel consumption market is saturated, and Britain has to sell steel to the colonies. However, most of the British colonies were poor and did not consume much steel. From 1840 to 1949, China's domestic steel production was extremely low and could not meet the demand, so it has always been a major importer of steel, which has led to an increase in global steel production.

Now that China is able to produce steel on a large scale, it naturally does not need to import from Europe and the United States, which has led to the further shrinkage of steel production capacity in Britain and other countries. This is almost exactly the same situation as China's steel industry in the 21st century.

Now that the European powers have been expelled by China and have lost China's huge consumer market, it can be seen that the impact on the European powers, especially on Britain, an industrial country that relies on export-oriented trade for its livelihood, can be described as huge.

It is precisely because of this that Li Weiguo feels that when Britain knows that China has such a huge steel output, it will definitely think that the British steel industry will suffer huge losses caused by the shrinking export volume, and at the same time, China and Britain are engaged in a naval arms race, and the era of ironclad ships is the era of steel competition, and China's huge steel production exceeds that of Britain, so you can imagine what a sense of crisis it will bring to Britain.

Originally, the minister thought that the possibility of another war between China and Britain in five years was decreasing, after all, the British royal family and members of the House of Lords continued to put pressure on the British government and British merchants in order to obtain the special medicine of the empire, and the foreign trade of the empire was restored. This is the proof of the easing of Sino-British relations, but at this moment, listening to His Majesty's teachings, the minister found that the imperial steel production exceeded that of Britain, which would definitely stimulate the interests of most of the British bourgeoisie, and I am afraid that the British royal family and the House of Lords would not be able to prevent the war in vain. ”

Fu Xuexian, the secretary of the household department and the minister of finance of the cabinet, said that he did not want the war to break out the last time, because once the war broke out, the silver would flow out like a waterfall, and the cannon would sound ten thousand taels of gold. It's too cruel for money lovers.

"Your Majesty is still far-sighted, five years ago at the end of the Third Yapian War, Your Majesty predicted that China and Britain would go to war again five years later. Now that it is about to turn five years old, our military is ready for war, just waiting for His Majesty's order. Zhang Xiaoliu, the left attendant of the military department, said with a look of indifference, but with expectation.

Wu Yong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Wu Yong, Minister of National Defense, Lin Jiyun, the right attendant of the Ministry of War, and other military personnel nodded in agreement, and they were all eager to try as soldiers. Born for war, they can't wait to fight the most.

Up to now, the Chinese Shence Army, the Navy and Army have completed the First Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule, and the Army has achieved a new military reform. Traditionally, the army marched on two legs, but now it has implemented vehicle-mounted infantry and a large number of military trucks to equip troops, which has greatly improved the army's mobility ability.

Of course. This is not to say that with a truck you forget the glorious tradition of marching on foot. On the contrary, the Imperial Army's peacetime training would increase the speed and mileage of the march on foot, ensuring that even during the war without the help of trucks. The army can also achieve rapid mobility.

As for the army's other weapons and equipment, there has not been much change, and the artillery, rifles, Gatling guns, radiums, flamethrowers, and other equipment have only been partially improved, because these weapons and equipment will not need to be greatly reequipped for a considerable period of time in the future, and they will be enough to defeat the surrounding enemy.

This is because the enemies of the empire are unlikely to launch large-scale land offensives again, for example, the most powerful Britain is most likely to launch a naval war, and the only enemy on China's land periphery is Tsarist Russia, and other vassal states do not dare to compete with China at all.

As for Tsarist Russia, the Chinese army looked down on them at all, because the Tsarist Russian army was outdated in equipment and was no match for China's Shence Army at all.

As a result of these reasons, the First Five-Year Plan of China's Shence Army and Army only carried out a major reform of military vehicles and logistics systems, and the infantry was transformed into vehicle-mounted infantry, and the logistics mule and horse transport team was converted into a truck transport team.

With this alone, China's Shence Army is proud enough to be called the world's first army.

The threat of war in the army is very low, but the threat of war in the navy of China's Shence Army is very large, and it can be said that it is expressed in the word severe.

According to the 1st Five-Year Plan, the Shence Navy has realized the plan of the 99th Fleet, and now the 99th Fleet has been completed, and the last Dingyuan-class ironclad battleship, Laiyuan, was launched a month ago, and it is expected that the outfitting sea trials will be completed in another three months.

At that time, China's Shence Navy will have nine Dingyuan-class ironclad battleships (excluding the training ship Zheng He) and nine 4,000-ton Haiqi-class dome-armored cruisers.

These 18 warships will form the main ship lineup of the Chinese Shence Navy, and will be equipped with 42 frigates, 30 high-speed fish and radium boats, 9 Holland VI. submarines, 7 naval communication ships, and a large number of auxiliary ships, including 4 hospital ships, 10 tugboats, 8 supply ships, 12 troop carriers, etc., with a total tonnage of 250,000 tons.

This total naval tonnage has exceeded the total tonnage of the British Royal Navy before 1860, when most of the British Royal Navy were wooden iron-hulled sail battleships, although the number was large but the total tonnage was not high. However, after 1860, Britain engaged in a naval arms race with China, and also continued to build large ironclad ships, and intelligence showed that the total tonnage had increased by at least 300,000 tons, making it the most threatening enemy of the Chinese navy.

Once war breaks out, the three major fleets of the Chinese Navy will be combined into the Pacific Fleet, which will be under the command of the Ministry of National Defense, the Military Department, and the General Staff Department under the Ministry of War.

As for the Dingyuan-class ironclad battleship and the Haiqi-class dome-armored cruiser, Li Weiguo visited them when he went to inspect Jiangnan three years ago, and he knew it in his heart. However, Li Weiguo has not yet found time to visit the latest submarine and fish and radium boat of Holan, which have been secretly hidden by the navy.

"How's the submarine and the Fish Ray boat getting ready?"

Li Weiguo asked: These two pieces of equipment will be the secret weapon and killer weapon in the future war with the British Royal Navy, and they are very important in Li Weiguo's heart, so he has to ask more.

Lin Jiyun, Minister of the Navy and the right attendant of the Ministry of War, then replied: "At present, there are nine submarines and 30 Fish and Radium boats, of which the Holland VI. type submarine is already capable of fighting in medium and near sea areas, and the Fish and Radium boats can only fight in shallow and offshore waters at present, but they can be carried into the ocean by capital ships and tugboats, and can participate in operations in the deep sea with limited wind and waves. ”

Regarding the details of the submarine and the fish and radium boat, Li Weiguo asked some more, and Lin Jiyun reported them one by one.

Holland Type VI (Type 39681) submarine has a displacement of 108 tons / 142 tons (above / underwater), adopts a single-hull structure, is 22.5 meters long, 4.2 meters wide, has a speed of 8/5 knots (above water/underwater), a maximum depth of 30 meters, a maximum dive of 80 minutes, a crew of 16 people (10 sailors and 6 officers), 2 450 mm torpedo tubes, one bow and one stern, 8 fish and radium reserves, 1 152 mm cannon, 1 55 horsepower gasoline engine, and 4000 liters of oil reserve. Single-shaft, single-propeller propulsion.

The Fulong-class (Type 39682) Fish and Radium boat, with a full load displacement of 230 tons and a speed of 19 knots, is equipped with 2 Fish Radium launch tubes and 8 Fish Radium, 1 75 mm 45 x diameter cannon, and 1 Gatling machine gun.

Lin Jiyun reported to Li Weiguo about the relevant parameters of the Holan VI submarine and the Fish and Radium boat, and Li Weiguo was very satisfied after reading it, with these submarines and Fish and Radium boats, even if the capital ship could not defeat the British Navy, it could also use the submarine and the Fish and Ray Boat to secretly inflict heavy damage on the other side, so that the other side would suffer a big loss. (To be continued.) )