"Schedule 8: Comparison Table of Current and Future Recurrent Costs and Tonnage of Ships"

"The General Staff submitted the "Letter of Reasons for the First Shipbuilding Plan of the Republic of China from 3rd to 10th Years" (April 5, 2nd year of the Republic of China): "

“…… The key to building a ship lies in weighing trends, judging the enemy's situation, and measuring national strength. Looking at the Triple Negotiation (Entente) and the Triple Alliance, what about the military personnel who maintained their navy? Britain and Germany violated their words to compete with the United States, what about those who painstakingly run the navy? With the development of colonial commerce and the use of giant ships and cannons, there is no place for anything, and there is no country for any size, so we cannot concentrate all our efforts on this in order to survive, and if so, the trend is clear. Fight again and win, hold the bull's ear in East Asia, and the alliance and the entente are at the center of the powers. According to Zhenhai in the north, in order to peep into Yandu, in the south to take Taiwan and Peng, in order to serve Fujian and Guangdong. With 100,000 tiger soldiers, 800,000 new iron armor, rampant in the Yellow Sea, according to the portal and into the mystery. If this enemy is not destroyed, how can the country stand? In the past, the political sea tide, the Gui family went to the throne, Yamamoto followed, and the land was easy to sea, and its policy was not difficult to predict. The alliance preached, special diplomatic tricks, and the sea frontier of thousands of miles will be controlled? If so, the enemy's situation will be judged, and the national strength will be known. If we do not anticipate the enemy's naval expansion plan and determine our ship-based policy, the state affairs will not be helped. …… According to the Russian War, the naval expansion plan has been planned for a period of 1,920 years, and the age of the combat ships and cruisers has been set at 20 years, and the old ones have been replaced with new ones, and the forces that should have been planned at that time are as follows: 22 combat ships (470584 gross tonnage), 24 armored cruisers (308347 gross tonnage), 11 reconnaissance ships (59,395 gross tonnage), 141 torpedo hunters (90,345 gross tonnage), and 57 submarines (21,297 gross tonnage). …… Now that the progress of weapons is a thousand miles, we must give up our shortcomings to learn from our strengths, so that we can control the enemy but not the enemy...... The number of ships that China should have by 1920 (i.e., 10 years before the Republic of China) was as follows: 1920 (i.e., 10 years before the Republic of China) The ideal expansion of the Republic of China Navy: battle cruisers: displacement 28,000 tons, speed force 29 knots, only 30 counts, gross tonnage 846,000 tons, total price 865,200,000 yuan; Reconnaissance ship: displacement of 3,500 tons, speed force of 28 knots, only 12, total tonnage of 42,000 tons, total price of 43,160,000 yuan; Torpedo hunter: displacement 1,000 tons, speed force 30 knots, only 100, total tonnage 100,000 tons, total price 15,100,000 yuan; Large submarine: displacement of 740 tons, speed of 20 knots, only 20, total tonnage of 37,000 tons, total price of 12,257,000 yuan. ”

“…… If this new powerful weapon is followed by excellent and brave soldiers, the sea power of East Asia can be left behind. There is a shortage of talents, and the treasury is empty...... As calculated above, the total amount of funds for ship production will be more than 1.2 billion yuan, and the eight-year sub-plan will also require more than 148 million yuan per year. It is said that the industry and commerce are developed, and the country is the meeting of the great determination, so it is advisable to take the opportunity to rise up and take the military power. It is now necessary to temporarily take the defensive position and implement it according to its success. Therefore, the aforementioned ideal expansion case is as follows:

"The Republic of China 2-10 Naval Expansion Plan: 8 battle cruisers, 230,720,000 yuan; 8 reconnaissance ships, 28,840,000 yuan; 40 torpedo ships, 20,824,000 yuan; 12 marine submarines, 19,848,000 yuan; 24 small submarines of class A, 14688480 yuan; 4 small submarines of type B, 1186112 yuan. ”

Liu Guanxiong looked at these yellowed archival materials on the paper, remembered the past events of the year, and couldn't help but feel his heart fluctuate for a while.

What Liu Guanxiong had in his hands was the naval construction plan called "The First Naval Ship Purchase Plan" that he submitted to Yuan Shikai, who was still the president of the Republic of China at that time, on March 21, 1913.

This naval construction plan can be said to be the result of the painstaking efforts of many Chinese naval personnel.

After the founding of the Republic of China, Liu Guanxiong and others formulated the initial development strategy of the Republic of China Navy in accordance with the current situation of China's national strength, which was to build a "defensive navy", that is, it was necessary to build two maritime forces, the cruising defense fleet and the guard defense fleet, through the purchase of ships.

However, it is a pity that China's financial situation at that time was extremely bad, and it was difficult to guarantee even the regular office expenses of the political axe, let alone allocate funds for the navy to purchase new ships.

Despite the difficulties, the then president Yuan Shikai was also born in Beiyang, and he had a painful pain about the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War. He also began to allocate funds, first paying off the balance of the ships purchased by the Qing Dynasty overseas that could not be renewed, so that most of these ships were smoothly sailed back to China and joined the array of the Chinese Navy.

Yuan Shikai's actions gave Liu Guanxiong and other Chinese naval officers and men great encouragement, and they firmly believed that the government would definitely allocate a huge amount of money for naval construction after its abundant financial resources, and decided not to miss the opportunity, but to further increase the scale of the ship purchase program and increase the amount of funds requested.

The reason why Liu Guanxiong is like this is not without reason.

After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the navy was pressed on China step by step, relying to a large extent on a powerful navy, and Liu Guanxiong's naval construction plan was actually an expansion plan to define the navy as an imaginary enemy.

However, Liu Guanxiong also knew in his heart that such a naval expansion plan, which included not only battle cruisers, but also a dozen armored cruisers and a large number of auxiliary ships, would consume funds that were completely beyond China's financial capacity and could not be approved. However, Liu Guanxiong and the rest of the group thought that no matter how large-scale the expansion proposal is, there is no doubt that it will have to be "discounted." Rather than getting nothing because of the "discount," it is better to make the scale of the naval expansion proposal a little larger, so that after the "discount" can leave more practical things for the navy.

The new ship-making plan changed from 10 years to 9 years of installment construction, and included a plan to purchase 8 battlecruisers in one go, and the tonnage of a single ship was also increased to 28,000 tons, and the budget expenditure for this alone exceeded 200 million silver dollars!

What surprised Liu Guanxiong was that in the end, Yuan Shikai actually approved this naval construction plan that seemed to be "painting cakes to satisfy hunger"!

Now that Yuan Shikai has become an ancient, no one can know what he thought about it back then.

Liu Guanxiong flipped through these old files casually, and suddenly, from the pages of the files, a line drawing of the design of the ship fell out, Liu Guanxiong picked up the line drawing and looked at it, and his hands trembled unconsciously.

The line diagram depicts a battlecruiser.

This battle cruiser has a distinctly British style, with five twin main turrets all arranged along the central axis, and the firepower is very powerful, and it is clear at a glance that it was designed to deal with the "Kongo" class battlecruisers of the Navy.

Thinking that the person who drew this picture was no longer there, Liu Guanxiong couldn't help but sigh.

Liu Guanxiong put down the line drawing, opened his briefcase, and took out another line drawing from it.

This line drawing also depicts a giant battleship, and her appearance looks very similar to the Megatron "Republic"-class battleship, with the same three triple main turrets, and a "piggyback" layout, but her relatively slender bow and square stern, and a different hull from the "Republic" class battleship, indicate that she is not a "Republic"-class battleship or its modification, but a warship of another class.

Above this line drawing, prominently marked are the "Glorious"-class battlecruisers.

At this time, Liu Guanxiong, when he saw this drawing again, still couldn't suppress the excitement and excitement in his heart.

Because the battleship on the drawing paper is becoming a reality little by little.

At present, the construction of the six ships of the "Glorious" class is in full swing in shipyards in the United States.

Now Liu Guanxiong, when he thought that he had agreed to the young man named Yang Shuoming, who was still a lowly official at the time, and the "emergency expansion case of the navy" like a "fantasy", he still had a feeling like a world away.

From the first time he saw this young man, he felt that unusual temperament in this young man.

This young man, after experiencing the baptism of fire in the bloody battle of Qingdao with the Benhai Army, showed an unimaginable fanaticism for the construction of the Chinese Navy.

Liu Guanxiong still remembers that when he showed this young man the "Navy Ship Purchase Plan" and the line map of the battle cruiser that he had drawn up with everyone and approved by Yuan Shikai back then, the young man was not surprised at all, and even had some disapproving expressions on his face.

Now, he finally understands where the young man's self-confidence comes from.

What Yang Shuoming has brought to the Chinese Navy now far exceeds the big pie he painted in desperation.

In Yang Shuoming's crazy ship purchase plan, he, the Minister of the Navy and the Admiralty under his leadership, actually played the role of a bronze seal.

To this day, Liu Guanxiong still does not understand how he raised so much money for the purchase of ships overseas.

Liu Guanxiong put down the old file in his hand, picked up the report on naval battles in Europe again, compared a large black and white photo of the battleship "Republic" with the original line map of the battlecruiser in his hand, shook his head, and nodded again.

At this time, the door of the office suddenly opened, and Li He, who was dressed in a vice admiral uniform, walked in.

"The news spread so fast." Li He handed a newspaper in his hand to Liu Guanxiong, "I guess the whole world will know it at this time." ”

"The significance of this naval battle is no less than that of Deran." Liu Guanxiong looked at the large photograph of the Chinese battlefleet entering the port in the newspaper in his hand, and said, "It is inevitable that the British attach so much importance to it. ”

"I just don't know when these ships will come back." Li He noticed the old files and line drawings on the table, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Yang Hanzhi asked to complete the bottom dredging project of all military ports across the country as soon as possible, and it depends on you, General Li." Liu Guanxiong smiled and said, "Otherwise, these big ships will come back and there will be nowhere to stop." ”

"Don't worry, this matter won't take long," Li He smiled bitterly and said, "He Yang Hanzhi gave so much money, if it can't be completed on time, I'll be so sorry for him." ”

"Yes! With money, it's really easy to do things. Liu Guanxiong put down the newspaper in his hand, "I can't figure out how he, Yang Hanzhi, raised so much funds from the United States to purchase ships." ”

"It won't be the Americans who lent it to him anyway." Li He smiled and said, "I'd rather believe that he made money by trading stocks in the United States." ”

"I've heard people say that he put a lot of money into the U.S. stock and futures markets and made a lot of money." Liu Guanxiong said, "It is said that he has not paid once. ”

"He seems to be doing similar transactions over there," Mr. Li said, "and when I met him in Guangdong, his secretary asked him to issue a lot of instructions for overseas trading firms, and many of them were futures-related." ”

"If that's how all these purchases come from, then he's too powerful." A look of disbelief flashed in Liu Guanxiong's eyes.

"I paid out of my own pocket to help the country, and this is the first time I have seen someone like him." Li He's face showed admiration, "Acting in the style of Li Wenzhong's public affairs back then." ”

"It's a pity that Yuan Gong took the wrong step, and he died before he could get his master, and Li Wenzhong's will is afraid that there will be no one to follow......

Listening to Li He's words, Liu Guanxiong thought of the assassinated Yuan Shikai, and his expression couldn't help but be a little gloomy.

"Since the country has no king, what do you need the hat of this empire for?" Li He remembered the current situation, and couldn't help but say angrily, "It's better to restore the republic!" ”

"He Yang Huizi wants to be Zhuge Kongming and support the young master, but I am afraid that he may not be able to achieve his wish," Liu Guanxiong sighed, "It won't be long before there will be a big change, and how the situation will develop is really worrying." ”

Li He understood the meaning of Liu Guanxiong's words, and sighed.

After Yuan Shikai and his eldest son Yuan Keding both died, Yang Du, the prime minister of the Chinese Empire, and others wanted to support Yuan Shikai's second son Yuan Kewen to ascend the throne, but Yuan Kewen insisted on not resigning, and Yang Du and others set up Yuan Kequan, the fifth son of Yuan Shikai's love ten minutes before his death, as the emperor, and immediately issued an edict to the world and sent a note to the Chinese and foreign envoys.

Liu Guanxiong and the others all knew in their hearts that although Yuan Kequan was brilliant, after all, he was young and unarmed, and it was impossible to control a group of old ministers and generals who Yuan Shikai had not played well during his lifetime. What's more, Duan Qirui, who is second only to Yuan Shikai in the Beiyang Group and has a strong latent force, has always opposed the imperial system, and for this Chinese empire, which is already in turmoil, after a storm comes, the result waiting for it is inevitable to collapse.

"Where is Yang Hanzhi now, do you know?" Liu Guanxiong retracted his thoughts and asked Li He.

"When I returned to Beijing by ship, he heard that he was going to Guangzhou." Li He said, "Guangdong has now been pacified, and it is said that he intends to march to Guangxi and Yunnan by land and sea." ”

"It is said that it is a soldier, and the surname of the person who fights a big battle is not big." Liu Guanxiong thought for a while and said, "He said before that the muzzle of a Chinese soldier should be external, not internal. This time he pacified Guangdong, in fact, it can basically be said that the soldiers took it without bloodshed, I estimate that Guangxi and Yunnan are the same, not to mention that Yunnan is still Cai Songpo's territory. ”

"Yes! In his heart, he actually agreed with the republic and opposed the imperial system, as can be seen from the names he gave these ironclad giants. Li He pointed to the photo of the battleship "Republic" in the newspaper, sighed and said, "This time, Cheng Biguang and Chen Jiongming were able to repent and lead the army to return, which also has a lot to do with his concept of 'the guns of Chinese soldiers are only external and not internal'. ”

"It's a pity that not everyone in China can think like him!" Liu Guanxiong said meaningfully.

Guangzhou, South Zhili patrol envoys.

"Since he Lu Rongting just wants to fight, then let's not be polite to him." Xu Yuanjin pointed to the map and said to Yang Shuoming, "If you don't give them a good taste, they won't be convinced." ”

"Having said that, the situation in Guangxi is different from other places, and we can't underestimate the enemy." Tang Jing said, "Many of his soldiers under Lu Rongting are adapted from bandits, these bandit soldiers are quite fierce in battle, and their marksmanship is also good, if we want to win this time, I'm afraid it won't be so easy." ”

"Yes, the terrain of Guangxi is complex, there are many rivers, which is not conducive to the entry and exit of ironclad chariots, and the jungle is dense, and it is not easy for aircraft to reconnoitre, if you want to defeat them, you have to find another way." Yang Shuoming looked at the map, and his eyebrows slowly began to tighten.

At this time, along with his train of thought, the "supercomputer eye" was quickly flashing relevant pictures about Guangxi Province and giving a lot of information.

"What are you going to do?" Xu Yuanjin noticed that Yang Shuoming's eyes began to flash with a dark red light again, and knew that he already had an idea, so he immediately asked.

"This time, I'm afraid it will have to fall on the navy." Yang Shuoming replied softly thoughtfully.

Listening to Yang Shuoming's answer, Xu Yuanjin and Tang Jing were stunned again.

"Send a telegram immediately asking the Navy to transfer all the gunboats to me, quickly." Yang Shuoming turned his head and said to an officer. He saw General Xu Tanger's puzzled expression, so he used such an order as an explanation for the two of them.

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, the face of the second general Xu Tang immediately showed a look of sudden realization.

"With you Yang Hanzhi, you can always learn something new." Xu Yuanjin laughed, "This time, he is very good-looking." ”

"Kill 10,000 enemies and lose 3,000 ourselves, we would rather spend more work, spend more money, use some good equipment, and try to avoid casualties." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "It can make the battle easier and less dead, this is the power of science and technology." ”

"Those bombers can be used too." Tang Jing said with a sense of understanding, "The machine guns on it swept a large area, and there were bombs, which could just be used to deal with the fortress of the Gui army." ”

"However, Lu Rongting dared to openly argue with us this time, it seems that there is something else to rely on." Chen Jiongming, who had not spoken, said suddenly.

(To be continued)