In the face of Britain, the United States and Japan's increased investment in submarine research and development, the Chinese Imperial Navy scoffed at it.

Navy Minister Lin Jiyun said in an interview with the Imperial Central Newspaper after a meeting of the Ministry of National Defense.

"Give Britain, the United States and Japan a hundred years, and they will not be able to develop an advanced submarine that can surpass the Chinese Empire!"

In the face of this humiliation, the military of Britain, the United States and Japan was filled with righteous indignation.

It's a pity that this is the case, the submarine technology of Britain, the United States and Japan is a whole decade behind the level of the Chinese Empire, if they know that the latest submarines launched in the Chinese Empire have been equipped with more advanced sonar systems, it is estimated that they will cry to death, that is a whole generation of level gap!

If there is a gap of ten years, then Britain, the United States and Japan can slowly catch up through hard work, but the difference is a whole generation of level, and it is not possible to catch up with hard work.

The sonar system is an epoch-making technology for the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan, and even the world. What made Britain, the United States and Japan most sad was that they did not know that the Chinese Empire had a sonar system.

However, the British, American, and Japanese navies still have a role to play in bringing together the top submarine designers and technicians. At least their redesigned submarines have made great progress and improvement over the performance of previous submarines, although they are still inferior to the submarines of the Chinese Empire, but they are enough to be proud of.

Of course, the military of Britain, the United States, and Japan also paid a great price in order to develop a new type of submarine.

Due to the ban of the Chinese Empire on the export of core technical equipment such as air compressors, diesel engines, gasoline engines, and electric motors for ships to Britain, the United States, and Japan, the militaries of Britain, the United States and Japan had no choice but to develop their own equipment while trying to import relevant equipment from Germany through European businessmen as intermediaries. Although the air compressors, diesel engines, electric motors and other equipment used by German submarines are only civilian equipment or military second-line equipment of the Chinese Empire, even if it is only the second-line equipment of the Chinese Imperial military, it is a treasure for the military of Britain, the United States and Japan.

But what made Britain, the United States and Japan most happy was that when a submarine of the German Navy was operating in the North Sea, it was mistaken by the British Navy for a submarine of the Chinese Empire, so it was attacked by a British submarine and sank after being seriously damaged. The British Navy was desperate to obtain the submarine technology of the Chinese Empire, so it secretly salvaged the submarine, only to find out that it was a German submarine.

However, fortunately, this German Seawolf submarine was built by the Chinese Empire, and most of the equipment inside is intact and can be used after repair. Therefore, the British Navy contributed this submarine, and the submarine experts of Britain, the United States, and Japan collectively studied it, and finally got the inspiration, and it took a year and a half to successfully develop the first-class submarine jointly owned by Britain, the United States and Japan.

The Nautilus-class submarine was named by the United Kingdom and the United States, and the Japanese Navy was named the Kaichu Type1.

In order to counter the Great White Shark-class submarines of the Chinese Empire, the Nautilo-class submarines jointly developed by the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan have greatly increased their displacement to (surface/underwater): 1441t/2026t, which is mainly due to the salvage of the German Seawolf-class submarines, because the Seawolf class is the foreign trade model of the Great White Shark class.

However, Britain, the United States and Japan could not get the Starley NC 6-cylinder 2-stroke diesel engine of the Chinese Empire, so they could only use the best Vickers diesel engine made in the United States among the three countries, using twin-shaft propulsion, power (surface/underwater): 3700 horsepower/1000 horsepower; Speed (surface/underwater): 17.0kn/10.0kn;Endurance: 5300Nmile at 11kn speed; Armament: 2 450mm bow torpedo tubes, 4 broadside torpedo tubes, 2 stern torpedo tubes, 16 loaded torpedoes, 1 76mm rapid-fire gun, safe diving depth of 49 meters.

After the completion of the Nasyu-class submarines, the militaries of Britain, the United States, and Japan participated in sea trials and were greatly satisfied with its performance.

It's just that the cost is very high, and the unit price is close to 1 million pounds, which can't help but remind the British of the 1 million pounds that were blackmailed by the Chinese Empire two years ago, and they are all tears when they think about it.

With the successful development of the Nasyu-class submarines, Britain, the United States, and Japan finally understood why the number of submarines in the Chinese Empire was so small, and behind the original high-quality submarines was the high cost.

Experts from the three countries estimate that the Great White Shark-class submarine of the Chinese Empire was built 10 years ago, indicating that the development time was at least 12 years ago. At that time, the manufacturing cost was obviously much higher than it is now, so the Chinese Empire only built seven or eight Great White Shark-class submarines.

After receiving this analysis result, the militaries of Britain, the United States, and Japan could not help but gasp.

The Chinese Empire had such technical strength twelve years ago, and it was barely reached after twelve years, and during this period, the Chinese Empire must have successfully developed more advanced submarines than the Great White Shark class.

As soon as they thought of this result, the joy of the British, American, and Japanese militaries in successfully developing the Nautilus-class submarine suddenly vanished.

The gap is still too big, and we have to work harder!

Forced by the current strategic pressure at sea, Britain, the United States, and Japan decided to build a large-scale Nautilus-class submarine to first balance the military pressure of the Imperial Chinese Navy on submarines.

After discussions, the military of Britain, the United States, and Japan decided to build 30 ships for the American Navy, 18 for the British Imperial Navy, and 6 for the Imperial Japanese Navy, in order to offset the military pressure brought about by the 24 new submarines launched by the Chinese Empire a year ago.

However, the British had other plans, and soon a piece of news stunned the world's friends.

"Your Majesty, the British Admiralty suddenly announced a large-scale disarmament!"

"What? Disarmament? Why? ”

The Forbidden City, the capital of the Chinese Empire, learned of the large-scale disarmament of the British Navy, which made Li Weiguo very puzzled.

What kind of moth is this Englishman?

Wu Yong said: "The specific intention is not clear, but I always feel that something is wrong!" ”

Navy Minister Lin Jiyun suddenly laughed and said, "What's wrong!" It's clear that the British can't hold it! ”

Li Weiguo thought about it and slightly agreed: "Don't say it, with the current state of the British economy, I am afraid that it is really because it can't hold up such a huge naval force." ”

This is a well-known thing, China and Britain fought four wars in 20 years, Britain lost all of them, the war consumption alone is astronomical, and finally lost Australia, Malaya and other rich colonies, causing heavy damage to Britain's economy, so if Britain still wants to maintain a global naval force as before, naval military spending alone will account for 60% of the gross national product.

Obviously, Britain's economy is currently in a recession, and if it wants to boost its economy, it will have to reduce naval spending, and disarmament is indeed an effective method.

However, Li Weiguo could not be sure in his heart, at least the current intelligence was limited, and he did not know the true intention of the British to disarm.

Not long after, the political situation in Britain changed, and a large number of British naval officers and men who were dismissed could not get jobs gathered to make trouble, which soon turned into riots.

The rioting British veterans quickly made contact with the Liverpool Submarine Base and captured the British Navy's Liverpool Naval Base.

This incident immediately shocked the whole world.

However, there is something even more outrageous.

Knowing that the Liverpool naval base was occupied by the rioting rebels, the British military did not take military action, but sat back and watched the rebels in Liverpool drive away all the ships, including two old battleships, seven armored cruisers, eleven unprotected cruisers, thirteen frigates, and seventy-one submarines.

Subsequently, the Liverpool rebels declared their renunciation of British citizenship and became an anarchic organization, and adopted the Vikings as the organization's external name.

Over the next week, dozens of robberies took place in the seas around Britain, all by Vikings. They did not harm the British, the French, the Americans, but the Germans, the Austro-Hungarians were executed. Later, a merchant ship of the Chinese Empire was attacked, and all thirteen citizens of the Chinese Empire, including the captain, were killed. After that, it only attacked the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire.

The Viking Regiment's incident immediately attracted the attention of the Chinese Imperial Government, which lodged a solemn protest against the British Empire. It's just that the British Empire did not have any intention of apology and compensation except for mourning, and only hoped that the Chinese Empire should go to the Vikings for revenge.

Putting the blame on the Vikings, the British have run out of discipline.

The Central Newspaper of the Chinese Empire published a commentator's article saying: "In the past, the Spanish Empire was defeated by the British pirates, and the shameless Elizabeth colluded with the British pirates to seize the wealth of the Spaniards and defeat the Spanish Invincible Armada, thus achieving the glory of the empire on which the sun never sets." Now that the British are doing the same thing, the Chinese Empire needs to pay close attention to it, otherwise it will repeat the mistakes of the Spanish Empire. ”

The Central News hit the nail on the head, and people all over the world seemed to believe it, but the British Empire had to stand up and refute the rumors, saying that this was absolutely not the case.

Death cannot be admitted, this is the highest state of being a politician, and it is also the embodiment of the intemperance of the British Empire. For this reason, the British Empire even dispatched a navy to encircle and suppress the Viking pirate group to show the "innocence" of the Chinese Empire.

However, in this way, the Viking group left the North Sea and scattered all over the world at once. And Vice Admiral James, the leader of the Viking Regiment, even released a bold statement to take revenge on the Chinese Empire, so the Chinese Empire's merchant ships around the world were threatened.

Li Weiguo urgently convened a meeting of the imperial court to discuss countermeasures.

Wu Yong said with great certainty: "Your Majesty, the Viking Regiment was planned by the British Navy. They first used the excuse of financial constraints to lay off the navy, and then secretly created a riot and deliberately gave the Liverpool naval base to the rebels. In fact, the rebel Lieutenant General James was secretly ordered to carry out piracy tactics against our Chinese Empire, with the intention of attacking the Empire's maritime trade. ”

Lin Jiyun also stood up and said: "The most important thing is that many of the goods that the empire is restricted from exporting to Britain, such as some equipment needed for naval warships, have also secretly flowed into Britain with the looting of some merchant ships. ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The problem is that the British have completely abandoned their responsibilities, and they even took the initiative to send the navy to encircle and suppress pirates. Even if we know that it was the British who did it, but the British don't admit it, we have no choice, we can't be unreasonable, it will make people laugh. ”

"Of course, the **** kingdom must be reasonable, but sometimes it has to be flexible, and it is stupid to slap a swollen face and become fat!" Li Hongzao retorted-for-tat.

These two immediately had the intention of going to war, and the surrounding civil and military officials all rolled their eyes.

However, this time Li Weiguo made a compromise, he said: "The Imperial Court should do a good job of diplomacy, maintain pressure on Britain, control public opinion, and make the whole world believe that the British Navy deliberately did not act as pirates, specifically targeting our Chinese Empire." The military department was ready for war, and in the early stage it was to encircle and suppress the Viking regiments, and if they could not be exterminated, they would start a war against Britain in the later stage. ”

Li Hongzhang persuaded: "Your Majesty should think twice, Britain is not alone, there are also the United States and Japan as allies, once a war starts against Britain, the United States and Japan will be involved in the war!" ”

Li Hongzao immediately retorted: "If you don't go to war, are you waiting for the British to use the Viking group to completely destroy the empire's maritime trade?" Did you know that every loss of a merchant ship is a loss of tens of thousands or even millions of yuan? Did you know that the Spanish Empire was defeated by the British pirates? ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "This time, I think Li Hongzao is reasonable, since we have the experience of the Spanish Empire, we should take it as a warning and not despise the enemy!" ”

Li Hongzhang was helpless, Li Hongzao was immediately happy, he enjoyed this feeling of victory very much.

With the order of the Imperial Chinese Military Department to exterminate the Viking Pirates, the Imperial Chinese Navy was dispatched to provide escort for the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire.

At the same time, the Imperial Chinese Navy took the opportunity to submit the "Naval Defense Budget for the Year 3983" to the Imperial Chinese Congress, announcing the construction of 8 dreadnought battleships, 10 heavy cruisers, 20 light cruisers, 40 anti-submarine destroyers, 100 frigates, and 12 submarines.

The defense budget of up to 52 million yuan, which is another huge military expenditure, even if it is paid in three years, the members of the Imperial Congress are also very troubled, and they do not like to invest money in the military. Because if 5,200 yuan is invested in various civilian projects, the cost can be recovered in three or five years, and then it will be profitable, increasing the GDP output value for the empire, but if it is invested in the military, it will become a war expendable and the profit cannot be recovered.

However, they soon received telephone complaints from chambers of commerce and citizens across the country, and in the face of pirate attacks and robberies, the number of warships in the navy was too small, the merchants suffered heavy losses, and the lives of the citizens of the empire were threatened.

Considering the imminent threat of the Vikings, and with Li Weiguo's nod, the Imperial Diet deliberated on a new defense budget, which was unanimously approved.

As a result, a new round of shipbuilding boom was once again set off in various parts of the Chinese Empire. During the period of the naval defense budget in 3980, by the beginning of 3983, it was basically completed. The major shipbuilders gathered at the Imperial Admiralty to come up with their own bidding plans, intending to impress the Imperial Navy Armament Committee with the lowest price and the highest quality, hoping to get a piece of the navy's cake.

At the same time, the British military was horrified when they heard that the Chinese Empire had approved the 1883 defense budget, which amounted to 52 million yuan, or 300 million new pounds (the pound had recently depreciated).

Similarly, the Confederate States of America and the Empire of Japan also felt a sense of powerlessness when they heard that the new defense budget of the Chinese Empire had been passed. Britain, the United States, and Japan alone could not come up with such a large sum of money, which was more than the sum of the defense budgets of the navies of the three countries in 1883.

That's the gap!

Saul cried and scolded Newcastle for never expecting that a Viking group would make the Chinese Empire so vigilant and stimulate the Chinese Empire's naval defense budget to increase dramatically.

Knowing this, Thor should not have agreed to Newcastle's pirate plan in the first place.

Newcastle is also innocent of lying guns.

Now, if the British Navy does not follow the additional naval defense budget, it will not be able to deal with the maritime threat of the Chinese Empire.

However, it is not possible to ask Saul to come up with 300 million new pounds!

I really regret that my intestines are blue! (To be continued.) )