For the acceptance team, this acceptance project is almost equivalent to carefully touching the entire battleship, every rivet and screw are included in the acceptance scope, and after the ship experience is completed, the senior officers of the naval division will also test the newly installed artillery and other weapon systems, and only after the final approval can it be officially delivered.

It can be said that at this moment, all the people of Mawei Shipyard have waited too long, and this will represent the beginning of a new era for Mawei Shipyard! The time when the Chinese could only make wooden ships is over!

On December 20, on the eve of the traditional Chinese festival, Qin Kai received a telegram from Xu Guofang in Mawei, which made him excited at last, and the first to complete the outfitting was a 1250-tonnage fast cruiser, and after the 24-hour sea trial, Xu Shoushan, who participated in the sea trial, was full of praise for the speed of the new warship.

After the test, the maximum speed reached 18.1 knots, the cruising speed was 12 knots, and the endurance was 3,800 kilometers at a speed of 8 knots, which could maintain the same long-distance cruise as the 501 ship.

The 35 times the diameter of the new GT12 gun is a twin rapid-fire gun, but it has good combat power, and the use of a drum spiral hoister makes the maximum rate of fire of the 120mm twin speed gun reach 10 rounds per minute, which means an astonishing rate of shelling.

Every minute, at maximum speed, a twin turret can fire 20 rounds of 20 kg shells at the enemy. If four twin turrets attack at the same time, they can rain up to 80 shells in one minute, which is, of course, an ideal rate of fire.

And most importantly, due to the reduction in the weight of the shells, Lin Deping of the Horsetail Bomb Bureau finally decided to produce two models of 120mm speed shells, the Type A shells were produced using the latest TNT explosives, and the propellant was no longer the conventional maroon explosive, but the horsetail self-produced bi-base propellant.

Of course, considering the problem of production capacity, there are also B type spare shells, which do not have any reduction in the specifications of the warhead, and are still loaded with TNT explosives, and the propellant is used as a conventional maroon explosive, and the effective range of B type shells is about 700m shorter than that of A type shells.

Under the premise that the caliber of the gun has become smaller and the rate of fire has become faster, the effective range of the new artillery using Type A shells has been increased to 3500mm, which is close to the range of some heavy guns with a diameter of 200mm. The test results of the armor-piercing ability of the shells also satisfied the generals of the Nanyang Naval Division, and at a distance of 2,000 meters, the new shells could penetrate 50mm steel plates.

You must know that the battleships before 1880 in the ironclad era, unless the main warships of the great powers, the thickness of the armor in the important parts of the waterline is generally between 70-200mm, of course, there are also 400mm metamorphosis armor such as "Infelis" white, and the thickness of the rapid-fire gun profile of the battleship is generally less than 50mm, and some heavy guns are terrace gun mounts.

Moreover, the newly developed GX11 baseline rangefinder was used for the first time on the new fast cruiser, using a baseline of 20 meters and a lens group of 30 times, and the measured distance error was only 100 meters within 4000 meters, which was already the limit level of the optical rangefinder, which made Chen Ying, who was born as a shooting officer, excited.

The first generation of GX10 optical rangefinders installed on the 501 ship has a test error of ±150 meters within 5 kilometers, and it is clear that the rangefinder on the 501 ship will also be modified soon.

At the behest of Qin Kai, the new type of fast cruiser was named the 601 ship, and the new order has been placed here to Hu Changchang, requiring the completion of the construction of two 601-class fast cruisers in the new year, and in fact, on the two 2,000-ton docks and one 4,000-ton dock that are idle in Mawei, the keel of the new battleship has already begun to be laid......

In Tokyo, a heated debate is underway in the official residence of Right Minister Iwakura Koshi, between Admiral Aritomo Yamayama of the Army and Minister of the Navy Saigo Nomichi, and the spectators are Right Minister Iwakura Gokumi and Secretary of the Interior Hirobumi Ito.

"Lord Iwakura, this time in the Korean incident, I thought that we had to send troops to intervene, although now is not the best time, but for our Great Japanese Empire, it is indeed an opportunity to take advantage of, the Qing Empire is at war with the French!" Yamaguchi Aritomo, who looks like a stocky and strong man, said unhurriedly, as one of the only two remaining heroes of the 14th Meiji Restoration, his remarks obviously have a great demagogy in the Japanese high-level.

"General Shan County, the army alone cannot complete the war across the strait, and now the navy is completely unprepared for war, once the Qing government and the empire have a war, the first battlefield will not be land, but sea! You must know that now the Qing Nanyang Naval Division has General Qin Kai, who is known as the Asian military god in the empire, and his fleet has set a precedent for the Asian Navy to defeat the European powers! ”,

The Minister of the Navy was obviously a little dissatisfied with the crazy actions of Yama Prefecture Youpeng, if Qin Kai knew that he had now become a god of war in the eyes of the Japanese Navy, it was estimated that his feeling would be a kind of speechless inexplicability! In fact, in the original history of Qin Kai, Feng Zicai, who defeated the French, was indeed worshiped as a military god by the Japanese at that time.

"Xixiang-kun, you won't be fooled by the propaganda of the Qing Empire, right? This Qin general did set a precedent, but the information we gathered from our intelligence officers in the Qing State shows that he is not a core official of the Qing government, and this Qin general is probably now anxious about how to deal with the French army! "Shan Shan Youpeng is obviously a little unaccustomed to this older naval minister.

"If there was a war, I thought that the Qing Kingdom might not dare to face me head-on, and the Battle of the Ryukyus five years ago also ended with the victory of the Empire! What's more, now that the Qing Kingdom is facing the threat of escalation of the war with France, I think that the most likely scenario for the Qing Kingdom is to protest like when we annexed Ryukyu Island! Shan Shan continued to express his opinion.

"It's really wishful thinking, without mastering the sea power, I thought that a qiē's reckless actions were irrational!" Saigo did not approve of the Army's risky behavior.

At this time, Ito Hirobumi said: "Saigo-kun, what is the current judgment of the navy on the military strength of the Qing Kingdom? ”

At present, the Qing Nanyang Naval Division has a warship tonnage of about 10,000 tons, and the Beiyang Naval Division has a warship tonnage of 14,000 tons, but the number of ironclad ships in the Qing Kingdom is small, only the flagship of the Nanyang Naval Division and the two 1,300-ton fast cruisers of Beiyang Yangwei and Chaoyong! And the empire has Kongo, Fuso, and Hiei, with a total tonnage of 8,300 tons, and the empire has an advantage! ”

Hearing this analysis, the two highest-ranking officials of Great Japan also smiled and nodded, although the domestic industrial development in the past two years has not been smooth, and the steel-making blast furnaces purchased from Britain have not been able to produce qualified steel for two years, but the empire has reduced food and clothing from the emperor to the poor, and the new ironclad ships purchased from Britain for the navy have finally seen the hope of suppressing the Qing Dynasty.

Saigo looked at Iwakura Gushi and Ito Hirobumi from the road, and continued: "But the number of ordinary warships is far less than that of the Qing Kingdom, and there are as many as 12 Tetsuwaki warships of the Qing Nanyang Naval Division and the Beiyang Naval Division, in addition to a number of torpedo boats, counting the Empire's newest battleship 'Tsukushi' that is being trained this month, as well as the Akagi and Bancheng Tetsuwaki cruisers, our number of warships is still far less than that of the Qing Kingdom!" ”

"Xixiang-kun, but the tonnage of our ironclad ships can completely suppress the ironclad ships of the Qing Kingdom, and the wooden-hulled battleships should not have much chance of winning in the battle with the ironclad ships!" There are friends in Shanxian County who enlightened Xixiang at this time.

"Admiral Yama County, this question, I will call the Navy Dazuo Arai Yougong to ask, he is a top student of the British Naval Academy, and he has a deep understanding of naval warfare! He's out the door now! ”

Iwakura and Ito Hirobumi glanced at each other, today was their discussion of a diplomatic response to the Korean dispute, while the army was strongly demanding to send troops to Seoul, while the navy was very cautious in this regard, believing that it would not be able to provide the necessary military support at sea at all, and that if not well prepared, it would likely cause serious losses to the empire.

Therefore, they specially called Yama Prefecture Youtomo and Saigo Congdao, who were in charge of the army and navy, to discuss, but they didn't expect the two to talk a few words, but this decision was the opposite of each other, and it was obvious that in order to convince either side, strong evidence must come out, otherwise it would be impossible.

The guard officer went out and soon called in Arai Yugong Daisa, the captain of the strongest warship in the empire "Fuso", Arai Yugong is a powerful figure of the Japanese young Zhuang faction, an absolute hawkish cadre who studied at the British Royal Naval College for two years, interned on the British main battleship "Iron Duke", and was appointed as the commander of the 3,800-ton ironclad ship "Fuso" soon after returning to China because of the uniqueness of naval tactics.

Several of the bigwigs present naturally knew Arai, and Ito asked: "Arai Daisa, Minister Saigo said that you have unique opinions on the strength of the Qing Navy, and I hope you can provide opinions according to your own judgment and help the empire's decision-making!" ”

"Yes!" Arai Yougong said in a low and hoarse voice: "Regarding the judgment of the combat power of the Imperial Navy, I have already reported to Lord Saigo, if it were not for the Qing Kingdom's battle record with the French Navy, based on the judgment of the fleet against the fleet, the Empire should have an absolute chance of victory!" ”,

"Oh! Arai Daisa, what is the basis for your judgment? Iwakura was obviously interested in Arai's judgment, after all, for a Japanese country based on silk and textile industries, almost every battleship had steel sold for raw silk.

After more than 10 years of reform, the current Japanese government can be described as an extremely efficient team, but the thousands of years of coercion given to Japan by the huge empire around it have always made these high-level officials who claim to be imperial heroes unforgettable......

Arai Yougong took out a report from his bag and handed it to Ito Hirobumi, "This is an assessment of the Qing Navy's combat strength based on the information provided by the Imperial Intelligence Department, and it was completed a year ago, when it was fought against the Qing fleet with the three ships Fuso, Hiei, and Kongo, after being damaged by one or two warships, it should be able to achieve victory!" ”

He took out a report from Wen Jiàn's bag and handed it to General Youpeng of Shan County, "This is the Admiralty's assessment of the combat strength of both sides when the Sino-French War broke out at the beginning of the year, and the assessment result is that if the Qing Army's naval division goes all out to fight against France, the French fleet will still maintain an overwhelming advantage, and the battle loss ratio will be more than 1::10!" ”

He looked at the bigwigs present with complicated eyes, and continued: "But...... In fact, according to the statistics of the results revealed in the Qing newspapers and British newspapers, the Qing Nanyang Naval Division had sunk more than 15,000 tons of the French fleet in the battle, and he only lost one Tiewei cruiser, with a tonnage of 1,250 tons......

"The actual battle loss ratio of France and Qing is not 1:10 as we estimated, but more than 10:1 upside down, our navy judges, such a result, in addition to extremely high strategic techniques and combat capabilities, also requires great strategy and stupid enemies to be possible, and the French fleet is obviously not a stupid enemy, so, in my judgment, it is absolutely not suitable to fight against an unfathomable opponent at present, especially before there is enough understanding!"

Ito Hirobumi listened carefully to Arai Yugong's judgment, his eyes were also full of doubts, it was obvious that this Nanyang Navy Master was a very powerful opponent, in his opinion, this huge empire in the East was now rapidly weakening, and before he was absolutely sure, he preferred to use the huge industrial achievements of the Restoration to absorb nutrients from this country to strengthen himself, until the empire completely collapsed.

He saw that Shan Shan Youpeng was silent, and he was obviously very confused about the judgment of the navy, but there was no doubt that this Nanyang naval division under the leadership of this Qin general radiated amazing combat power, and this qiē was as incomprehensible as magic, but this opportunity in front of him, in his intuition, this must be an opportunity to fight for the interests of the Great Japanese Empire at the lowest cost! As long as there is a benefit, it is necessary to try......

"Arai Daisa, thank you for providing a very helpful building, you can go down first!" Ito Hirobumi looked at Arai Yugong and said with a smile, and after Arai's back disappeared outside the door, he looked at Yama Prefecture Aritomo, "General Yama Prefecture, have you made a change to the original plan?" ”

"Absolutely nothing! I believe that territorial disputes can always be resolved by the battle of the army, and I have personally inspected the training and combat strength of the Qing army as a diplomat of the empire, and whose soldiers are completely amateur farmers compared to the imperial army, I am absolutely sure that I will defeat any Qing army on Korean soil! ”

Saigo Yumichi looked at Yamaguchi, for this Meiji hero, he was unable to understand the judgment of the army, they will always only have the army in their eyes, and they will turn a blind eye to the huge threat at sea! And the inquiry of the Secretary of the Interior, Hirobumi Ito, clearly shows the thinking of the core of the empire, that is...... Take any chance to venture out and speculate!

He himself was not without this thought, the many adventures of the imperial army had achieved amazing results, and the Qing Empire was also a powerful enemy at that time, but the Japanese adventures did succeed again and again! Once won the Ryukyu Kingdom, once in Taiwan received reparations!

On the same day, Ito Hirobumi still made up his mind to take a risk, but the scale was reduced, and the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese Army symbolically sent 500 soldiers to land in Korea to deal with the follow-up of the so-called "murder of Japanese nationals", which was also in accordance with the content of the "Ganghwa Treaty" between Japan and North Korea, although this treaty was not recognized by the Qing government, the suzerainty of Korea! ,

In Ito's view, a piece of paper is much more powerful and effective than nothing in any situation, and this is another good temptation, and he can even have a hunch that another meeting with that extraordinary magnanimous Lord Li Zhongtang will definitely achieve additional benefits! ――

In the same way that the Japanese were busy calculating the affairs of Korea, Qin Kai was also busy calculating the affairs of Vietnam at this time, and judging from his historical knowledge, the French would be constantly preparing for a decisive battle in the next time, and the only factor lacking now was the strong support of the French cabinet, and France at this time was engaged in a difficult political game for the establishment of the new cabinet.

And Zhang Kui and Xue Chao, who were nesting in Fangcheng County and Hue, both received orders from Qin Kaixin and went all out to prepare for war.

In comparison, Xue Chao is now living a very good life, so much so that the guerrilla general of the Three Associations of the National Protector Army has nothing to do and began to frantically organize the new army and train the militia.

The servant army trained by Ma Long, who was also in Hue, was the weakest in the entire Protector Army, which made Ma Long, who was born as a raid captain, very annoyed, and in the training of the servant army of these seven or eight nationalities, including the Vietnamese and the Tai, at least one percent of the soldiers were directly dismissed to the militia by him for training reasons.

And what makes Ma Long depressed is that for the positioning of his servant army, Lord Qin has not said anything specific so far, to be honest, he is not at ease with these Vietnamese, although now due to the strong strength of the Protector Army, these indigenous soldiers are submissive, but this makes him look down on these natives even more!