Because Xu Tingzuo made a huge profit from opening up new routes, he raised funds to establish the "Lili" steamship company and purchased a number of ships, including two steamships to and from Shanghai-Dinghai-Wenzhou route, and then Xu Tingzuo opened the Shanghai-Dinghai-Sanmenwan route. It was in this year that Xu Tingzuo initiated the establishment of the "Sanmen Bay Port Opening Company", served as his own manager, hired Belgian engineers to design, and drew up a grand plan for the development of Sanmen Bay, including the construction of a 10-mile flood control embankment, 160,000 acres of enclosure, the construction of Sanmen Port, the construction of the railway from Sanmen to Yiwu, and the highway from Sanmen to Ningbo, Hangzhou and Wenzhou, as well as a shipyard, machinery factory, mining farm, airport and so on. The first phase needed 3 million silver dollars, and he himself mortgaged his private property and borrowed 500,000 yuan of political axe public bonds, ready to do a big job in Sanmen Bay. He first built the "Yili" wharf, stacking towers, and hotels, so that the "Yili" steamship could travel between Shanghai and Sanmen, and became a maritime hotline. Shanghai businessmen heard the news, and more than 100 planned to invest in Sanmen Bay, and fishery, salt, commerce, and animal husbandry were all spread.

But Xu Tingzuo's grand plan almost died halfway because of an accident.

In the autumn of that year, when the steamship "Yili" loaded with department stores and machinery and equipment entered the South China Sea, it was suddenly surrounded by more than a dozen pirate ships.

At this time, the "Yili" carried the materials and equipment urgently needed for the development and construction of Sanmen Bay, and if it was snatched away, it would inevitably bring huge losses to the Sanmen Bay development plan, and even cause the merchants to be full, the funds were not continued and the project was suspended, so that the development of Sanmen Bay was stillborn. The crew of the "Every" fought valiantly with the pirates to protect the ship's cargo, but they were outnumbered and many were killed and wounded. Just when Xu Tingzuo was about to die of anxiety, two Chinese destroyers appeared in front of him, and when they saw that the "Yili" was surrounded by pirates, the destroyers immediately rushed over.

Xu Tingzuo still recalls the scene when he saw the three-color "human" flag flying high on the bow of the ship, and he still can't hold back his tears.

Seeing the appearance of the two Chinese destroyers, the pirates on the pirate ship did not care about their accomplices who had already boarded the "Yili" and fled one after another, but they were sunk in the sea by the Chinese destroyers with guns one after another, and the pirate ships that ran away were not spared.

After sinking the pirate ship that was besieging the "Benefit", a destroyer sent heavily armed marines to board the "Benefit" in a small boat to attack the pirates on board, most of the pirates were killed, and only a few of them were saved from death if they surrendered quickly when they saw the situation.

The two Chinese destroyers then escorted the "Yili" to Sanmen Bay safely. Since then, Xu Tingzuo has formed an indissoluble bond with the navy.

Looking at the destroyer "Diweixing" of the Chinese Navy's "Tiangang Disha" class fleet sailing on the sea, Xu Tingzuo couldn't help but feel his heart fluctuate, and his heart was full of excitement.

Xu Tingzuo founded the "Yili Shipyard" in Sanmen Bay, and hired Chinese and foreign shipbuilding technicians with high salaries to build ships for the navy, although the technology and experience of the "Yili Shipyard" were insufficient compared with the major shipyards in China, but the "Yili Shipyard" received the technical support of the "people and the company", and soon built a new gunboat with advanced design, and Xu Tingzuo donated the gunboat to the navy free of charge.

The current "Yili Shipyard" not only builds cargo ships, but also builds ships for the navy. At present, in the dock of the factory, a new "Tiangang Disha" class fleet destroyer of the Chinese Navy is being built.

A large number of capital warships customized in the United States constituted the earliest main force of the newly built Chinese Navy in the early 20th century, and the domestic shipbuilding industry also developed rapidly during this period. The destroyers of the "Tiangang and Earth" class fleet are one of them.

The standard displacement of the destroyers of the "Tiangang Disha" class fleet is 4,700 tons, and the full load displacement is 5,800 tons; The total length is 146 meters, the width is 13.9 meters, and the draft is 6.4 meters. The power system adopts 2 "Wilcox" oil-fired boilers and 2 "GE" steam turbines with a power of 75,000 horsepower, and the propulsion mode is twin-shaft and double-pulp; It can reach a speed of up to 42 knots and a cruising range of 11,000 nautical miles at 14 knots. Each ship has a capacity of 210 people.

The armament system of the destroyers of the "Tiangang Disha" class fleet consists of nine MK15 127-mm 50-diameter naval guns, three triple turrets, 12 secondary guns of 40-mm "Bofors" quadruple anti-aircraft guns, 20-mm "Erlikon" twin anti-aircraft guns, and two five-pack 750-mm torpedo launchers (20 mines).

The main armor belt of the destroyers of the "Tiangang Disha" class fleet is 110-130 mm thick, the armor compartment is 50 mm thick, the deck is 50-80 mm thick, the frontal armor of the turret is 150 mm thick, the gun mount armor is 130 mm thick, and the armor of the conning tower is 90-150 mm thick.

Unlike other destroyers of the Chinese Navy, the destroyers of the Tiangang Disha class are equipped with advanced electronic equipment: the "Test 1" sea search (radar), the "Test 1" A air search (radar), and the "Probe 1" passive sonar. And these advanced equipment come from the R&D department of "Renhe Company".

Although it has entered a period of peace, but under the influence of the frenzied expansion of armaments, the construction of the Chinese Navy has not relaxed for a moment, because several naval battles with the original exposed the shortcomings of the Chinese Navy's light ships, so after the war, the Chinese Navy accelerated the expansion of light ships, such as the "Tiangang Disha" class fleet destroyer, the reason why it is named after the "Tiangang Disha One Hundred and Eight Stars" in traditional Chinese mythology, is because the number of ships of this class is expected to reach as many as 108!

As the largest number of warships ever built by the Chinese Navy, since 1917, the "Tiangang Disha" class fleet destroyers have been built in three batches by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Qingdao Shipyard, and Fujian Mawei Shipyard. In order to support some new shipyards in China, the Chinese Admiralty has also allocated some orders to these shipyards, such as the "Yili Shipyard", which also received orders for the construction of two "Tiangang Disha" class fleet destroyers. The "Diweixing" is one of the two ships built by the "Yili Shipyard", which has been handed over to the navy after completion.

The fleet slowly sailed into Sanmen Port, Liu Tingzuo hurriedly got off the ship, and the workers began to unload the goods, at this time Huang Hanying, the deputy manager of the "Sanmen Bay Port Opening Company", walked towards Liu Tingzuo, and whispered a few words to Liu Tingzuo with some excitement.

"Really?" Liu Tingzuo's eyes flashed with surprise.

"Absolutely." Huang Hanying nodded, "And I also got the news that we are not the only ones who are supported by 'people' funds in Jiangsu and Zhejiang." ”

"With the financial support of 'people', you don't have to worry about big things." Liu Tingzuo looked at the hot wharf and the port where sails gathered, and said excitedly, "The funds of this 'people' are really not ordinarily abundant, they are simply half of the Ministry of Finance. ”

"'Renhe' originally belonged to General Xiao Yang in Jingli, and General Xiao Yang is now the Minister of Finance, which could not be more obvious." Huang Hanying said, "The political axe is ready to vigorously invest in the development of domestic enterprises this time, and this time, it is a good time for us to catch up." ”

"However, I heard that the Fu family is also going to invest in setting up a factory here, and I heard that the Fu family also has a very close relationship with General Xiao Yang, and General Xiao Yang's second wife is a member of the Fu family." Liu Tingzuo suddenly remembered something, and his brows couldn't help frowning, "Will there be any ...... here?"

"You may not know that the relationship between the Fu family and Lao Duan is actually extraordinary. The last time Lao Duan was ......" Huang Hanying looked at several local squires in the distance and walked over, and shrunk the words behind him.

"Alright, let's leave this matter aside for now." Liu Tingzuo waved his hand, signaling that he understood, and then turned to greet him. Huang Hanying followed closely behind him.

Yanjing, Ministry of War of the Republic of China.

"In fact, the matter of 'abolishing the governor and disarmament' has not been carried out smoothly." Cai Yi, the chief of the War Department, handed a report to Yang Shuoming and said, "Contrary to what I originally thought, in fact, the situation in the autonomous provinces is better, while the provinces directly under the central government have resisted it." ”

"This is to be expected, since the autonomous provinces are all early places where the people's wisdom was started, and they have all experienced wars and banditry, and the local people can pass the provincial constitution and the resolution of the provincial council to dismiss the overseers and dismiss the local redundant army. The provinces directly under the central government are called under the jurisdiction of the central government, but in fact the overseers and the town guards support the troops, each with its own faction, and there are very few people who really obey the orders of the central government, so it is even more difficult to abolish it and return the military power to the central government. Yang Shuoming smiled bitterly and said, "The old disadvantages are not easy to remove." ”

"The main reason is that they have formed factions to protect themselves, and this is the place that poses the greatest threat to the country and the people." "Once there is a fight between factions, the country is in danger of falling into civil war. ”

"Not bad." Yang Shuoming thought of the Fu Group behind his old comrade-in-arms Fu Xiaoan and his wife Fu Zhuoyao, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Regarding the relationship between Duan Qirui and the Fu family back then, Yang Shuoming actually knew very clearly.

Duan Qirui, who has been hiding since Yuan Shikai became emperor, actually went to the political front of China under the strong push of the Fu family in Shandong and the Huaixi group he represented!

Yang Shuoming himself did not want to use force to achieve the change of power in China's political axe, but in order to realize his goals and the demands of his own interests as soon as possible, he had to rely on the strength of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums and Huizhou businessmen to begin to realize a combination of financial and military power for the common good.

After Yang Shuoming finally learned that various interest groups collectively promoted the coup, he realized that his original political ideals were too simple and simplistic, and in order to realize his political ambitions, he also realized the interests of the business groups behind him. Yang Shuoming began to cooperate with the Fu family, and in order to maximize the interests of his own group, the two sides cooperated to elevate Duan Qirui and the old Beiyang system, thus achieving the goal of controlling the central power.

In order to supplement their own strength, the Fu family not only combined the original local strength, but also resumed communication with the Guangdong merchants who had a close relationship with the Fu family in the past. The purpose of the Fu family is to counter Yang Shuoming's powerful source of funds abroad by contacting these invisible business giants who have emigrated overseas.

Regarding the Fu family's purpose of marrying Fu Zhuoyao to himself, Yang Shuoming was very clear in his heart.

In feudal China, the wealth and interests of the merchant group were often not protected, which prompted the merchant group to take the initiative to collude with the government, and only in this way could they be invincible. In the Republic of China, this tradition remained unchanged. In order to ensure the trade interests of their own business groups, the Fu family began to take the initiative to expand Fu Xiao'an's Fifth Division of the Beiyang Army and expand it into a first-class combat unit. At the same time, it also accepted part of the power of the Anhui system, and did not relax the collection of the old Beiyang army that had been overhead. And in order to get rid of the dependence on the military force established by Yang Shuoming, the Huaixi group also began to aggressively co-opt a new group of officers.

The reform of "nationalizing the armed forces" has encountered huge obstacles, and this is not unrelated to the collusion between local conglomerates and warlord forces.

However, due to Yang Shuoming's special status and talents, in order to maintain the existing interest alliance with Yang Shuoming, the Fu family and the Huaixi Consortium still maintained unity and compromise with Yang Shuoming in the direction of general interests, and formed a marriage relationship to stabilize this alliance.

In contrast, Yang Shuoming saw that the purpose of the Fujia Group was to achieve the monopoly of small groups, which was obviously not the future development direction of the country that Yang Shuoming hoped for. In order to eliminate the incognito threat posed to him by the Fu family, Yang Shuoming must enlist the help of Chinese mainland merchants and local industrial and commercial groups. For this reason, Yang Shuoming chose the Jiangsu-Zhejiang consortium and the Shanxi merchant gang as allies. Through the advantages of capital and the purchase of technology and equipment from abroad, we will help these industrial and commercial groups and domestic national capitalists, large and small, to realize the transformation of modern consortia and enterprise. At the same time, it also allowed these local industrial and commercial leaders in China to begin to have close contact with the outside world.

This is also the reason why Xu Tingzuo's "Sanmenwan Port Opening Company" will receive Yang Shuoming's financial support.

But compared with traditional chaebol families like the Fu family, Yang Shuoming's group core seems to lack foundation, and the several major group members who form the alliance also lack sufficient interest ties. What Yang Shuoming relied on was a strong financial advantage, a leading technological advantage, and a clear grasp of future events to integrate these relatively loose group alliances. At the same time, through continuous unification wars, the military strength of its own group was tempered and expanded, and at the same time, the forces of the Fu family and the Huaixi group were indirectly divided.

Now Yang Shuoming has achieved the reunification of the country through the method of "borrowing strength", but at the same time, the interest vacuum left by the old forces has made a fierce conflict between various groups for the sake of competing interests, although in the treatment of foreign invasion, their voices and actions can still be unified under the circumstances, but now the external troubles have disappeared temporarily, and these interest groups have begun to fiercely compete for commerce, trade, industry, military industry, the army and so on.

At present, the most important task facing Yang Shuoming is to forcefully realize the actual reunification of the country at the local level, and to crack down on and destroy the separatist warlord forces and the interest groups behind them.

In order to cooperate with Cai Yi's reform plan of "nationalization of the army", Yang Shuoming had to completely purge and carve up the most powerful direct forces among the Beiyang warlords, and gradually infiltrate the northeast region controlled by the Feng clan under the cover of American capital.

At this stage, because there is a relatively large power vacuum in the country, the competition between the major groups is still relatively mild, and the main thing is to carve up the old forces in a compromise way. With the return of overseas business consortiums to China, Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums and Shanxi business gangs have also begun to modernize and transform. Yang Shuoming is taking the means of internal division and disintegration of the Huaixi and Fujia groups behind him, prompting them to gradually form a new small-scale group that is different from the past.

For Yang Shuoming, the fierceness and difficulty of this war without the smoke of gunpowder is far greater than that of the war with gunsmoke!

At present, the most important item of "abolition and disarmament" for the "nationalization of the armed forces" has entered the most critical moment.

"They're using this 'severance pay' to get me right now." Cai Yi picked up another report and glanced at it, then threw it back on the table, "You Yang Hanzhi have seen everything. Now, if it weren't for you, the Minister of Finance, to help me support me, I really don't know what to do. ”

"I was going to be the Minister of Finance, and you weren't satisfied, but now you know?" Yang Shuoming smiled, "As long as they are willing to hand over the military power, it is not a big problem to spend more money, anyway, they have to let me collect it in the end." ”

"That being said, there is no reason to spend so much money." Cai Ye said, "What I'm worried about now is what should I do if they accept money and refuse to disarm, and they can't raise troops to fight, right?" ”

"At present, the reason why the military leaders of the provinces are resisting the matter of 'abolishing the governor and disarmament' is because you, Minister Cai, have not come up with a good topic to gag their mouths." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "Chen Yangtian has already told me about these nails you are encountering now. ”

"That guy Chen Er'an is talented and responsible, but he loves to play with intrigues." Cai Ye couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard Yang Shuoming say that Chen Eun had foreseen the obstacles he had encountered, "Since he saw it in advance, didn't he say that there was any good solution?" ”

"Absolutely." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "It's just that as your Minister Cai said, this is also a conspiracy, and you, Minister Cai, am afraid that you disdain to get these things that can't be put on the table." ”

"As long as this plan of 'nationalizing the army' can be realized, there are a few small details, and I can't take care of it." Cai Yi Zhengse said, "Just don't trap the people of the country in the chaos of war, just shed a river of blood." ”

"Not really." Yang Shuoming smiled faintly and said, "It's just that a few corpses are ambushed and bleeding a few steps, I'm afraid it's inevitable." ”

(To be continued)