"RB people, you say?"

Zhou Dajing said in surprise: "Commander, the "Oriental Times" but you asked us not only to read the officers every day, but also to read all the articles in the newspaper to the soldiers of our salt regiment, in the "Oriental Times", I have read the introduction of the Biwa Lake Incident and the Nagasaki Incident in RB, how can RB, a small island country with only about 100,000 troops, dare to use force with our Qing Dynasty? The Hunan Army, the Huai Army, and the green battalions of the provinces of the Qing Dynasty were no less than one million, and it was more than enough to beat him. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Furthermore, our Beiyang Naval Division is much larger than the gunboats of the RB Navy, and if the RB people want to fight with us, isn't that self-inflicted! ”

Qin Chuan looked at the young commanders and staff officers of the battalion and company behind Zhou Dajing, including Chu Yunfei: "Do you also see it that way?" ”

Most of the officers of these salt regiments nodded their heads to Qin Chuan's inquiry, and those who did not nod their heads could also be seen from Qin Chuan's eyes that they were all thinking like Zhou Dajing.

Qin Chuan turned his gaze to Zhou Dajing with a melancholy expression: "Since you have read the "Oriental Times", haven't you seen that the RB Navy has been adding new ships in recent years, and it has developed extremely fast?" ”

In the past few months, Qin Chuan instructed Ai Xiaomei to publish as many RB economic and military developments as possible in the "Oriental Times", and even Qin Chuan personally published a few articles under a pen name. But listening to what Zhou Dajing said, what he did still did not alert the people, and Qin Chuan's heart became a little heavy.

Zhou Dajing asked Qin Chuan disapprehantly: "Commander, I have read the newspaper, and I also know that the RB people have added many new ships, but I heard from the people of the Beiyang Naval Division that the size of the ironclad ships of the RB people does not exceed that of our two ironclad ships, Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, so the caliber of the guns of the warships is not as big as Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and they also said that even the foreigners say that our Beiyang Naval Division is the ninth in the world and the first in Asia." ”

Qin Chuan's clear gaze swept over these energetic young people, and said in a deep voice with a wry smile.

"Naval operations are not only based on tonnage, but also at the overall speed of the fleet, the caliber of artillery and the rate of fire of artillery, and most importantly, whether the tactics are appropriate? Are the officers and soldiers well trained? and whether the command system is advanced and perfect, and so on. Take the speed as an example, the warships of our Beiyang Naval Division were all purchased five or six years ago, not to mention, the time for the purchase of these warships is still very different, and the speed is uneven; during the war, the warships with fast speed have to wait for the slow ones, so that the speed of the entire fleet will slow down. It's like a slow-moving bull, although it has a lot of strength, but it is difficult to defeat the wolves that move quickly. ”

"And the most important thing is that the Beiyang Naval Division is inferior to the RB Navy in terms of operational ideology and command system."

"Although the RB Navy and the Beiyang Naval Division are both under the command of the Western powers, the RB people completely learn from the Western Slightly Stronger, and truly carry out naval construction in accordance with the Western concept of naval warfare. On the other hand, the Beiyang Naval Division, and even the entire fleet of the Qing Dynasty, were inferior to the RB people in this regard. You should have also seen the flag-hanging incident in the previous paragraph. ”

The flag-hanging incident that Qin Chuan mentioned was about the resignation of Cha Langweili, the chief of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Luang Weili is an Englishman, entered the Royal Naval Academy at the age of 14 and entered the Royal Navy as an intern at the age of 16, and has been serving in the Royal Navy ever since.

In 1877 and 1878, Luang Weili twice led the warships ordered by the Beiyang Naval Division in Britain to return to China, and his strict and capable style left a deep impression on many Qing officials.

During this period, the Beiyang Naval Division wanted to hire a naval adviser in Britain, an old maritime power, to help train the navy. After receiving the strong recommendation of Hurd, the chief of customs and revenue, and the British admiral Goode, he hired Lang Weili, who was then a lieutenant commander of the British Royal Navy, to serve as the deputy admiral of the Beiyang Naval Division and the chief inspector of the Beiyang Naval Division, responsible for the organization, drill, education and training of the Beiyang Naval Division, with a monthly salary of 600 taels of silver.

Lang Weili was originally reluctant to obey Li Hongzhang's orders, but under the persuasion of Gude, he still agreed to this matter. The conditions set by Luang Weili were that if he was to come to China to take up a post, first, he must have the right to dispatch Ben Yong; second, it must be approved by the Admiralty of the United Kingdom; Third, his length of service in China should be counted as his military age in the Royal Navy, and it should not affect his normal promotion in the Royal Navy.

After Lang Weili came to the Qing Dynasty, he was strict in governing the army in the Beiyang Naval Division, worked diligently, conscientiously trained the Beiyang Naval Division in accordance with the regulations of the British Navy, and showed a strong sense of professional ethics and responsibility, which was respected by the officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division. Since Ding Ruchang, who was born in the army, did not understand naval warfare, in fact, Lang Weili was responsible for all matters related to the daily training of the Beiyang Naval Division. Even Ding Ruchang believes that Lang Weili is "the most beneficial foreigner among the sailors, and Lang Zongcha is the first".

In March 1890, the Beiyang Fleet anchored in Hong Kong for the winter, and Admiral Ding Ruchang led some naval ships to patrol the South Seas. On 6 March, the Dingyuan warship, the flagship of the Beiyang Naval Division, which was anchored in Hong Kong, suddenly lowered the admiral flag and raised the general military flag.

According to the "Beiyang Navy Regulations", the fleet only has one commander and two commanders, and Liu Buyun, the commander-in-chief of the right wing, has the highest rank, so Liu Buyun, who is the commander-in-chief of the right wing, ordered the general flag to be raised and declared to be the commander of the fleet. However, Luang Weili believed that although Ding Ruchang was not in the fleet, he was still the deputy admiral, and he should continue to fly the admiral's flag. The two argued, and finally got into trouble with Li Hongzhang, and without Li Hongzhang's support, Lang Weili resigned on the spot, and Li Hongzhang did not stay.

This incident caused a big stir in Britain, and the British Foreign Office even considered withdrawing all British advisers in the Qing Dynasty. In the end, the British government rejected Li Hongzhang's request to hire another Briton as a naval adviser, withdrew some of the personnel in the Qing Dynasty, and announced that it would no longer accept naval students from the Qing Dynasty.

Qin Chuan sighed slightly and said: "Although Lang Weili is a foreigner, but in the season when no one in the Great Clear Water Division can be better than anyone in the naval combat command, since he invited someone to come over and entrust him with an official position, under the condition that there is no harm to the naval division, he should fully respect the other party and accept the legitimate command of the other party." ”

"As far as I know, Longweili not only has rich experience in naval warfare, but also has a very good character, and has also spent a lot of effort on the Beiyang Naval Division, and is a foreigner who sincerely helps the Beiyang Naval Division. But in our Qing Dynasty, no one really realized the difference between modern naval warfare and ancient naval warfare in the past, and thought that they could control the ironclad giant ships in their hands with the naval tactics left by their ancestors. Although the tonnage of the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division is large, it can 。。。。。。 ”

Qin Chuan's face became more and more gloomy: "The same is true of land warfare, there is a huge difference between modern hot weapon warfare and cold weapon warfare in the past, so that the combat techniques are completely different from the past, and the era when soldiers can win the war without fear of death is gone." Only by truly mastering the modern warfare theory, thinking, and techniques of thermal weapons can we win the war in war. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the weapon is in your hands, you will be like a fool holding a treasure and will be defeated in modern warfare. ”

"I can tell you that we and the RB people will have a fight in two years."

Qin Chuan said in a firm but slightly sad tone: "Not only at sea, but also on land, the armies of the two countries will also fight to the death. The RB people have long had the ambition of invading and occupying Korea and then trying to go to the northeast of the Qing Dynasty, and then sweep the Asian continent, once we lose the naval battle, the RB people will attack in Korea, although the RB people only have 100,000 troops, but the RB people These armies are really modern troops, and the officers have a deep modern military quality, which is far from being comparable to the generals of our Qing Dynasty who are rigid and stubborn in their thinking. ”

The more Qin Chuan said, the more excited he became: "Although there are many Qing troops, and even the guns and artillery are more advanced than the RB people, it is still difficult to defeat the Japanese army if they really want to fight, the reason is that the generals of the Qing Dynasty do not understand modern military theories, nor do they have modern military literacy, and they are all people who rely on cold weapons to fight hard." Although Li Zhongtang also realized this and set up a military academy, these cadets who graduated from the military academy were not reused when they returned to various units, at most they were just a sentry commander, and they still had to be promoted step by step like everyone else. ”

Qin Chuan took a deep breath and waved his hand fiercely.

"Once the RB people invade from the land, they must invade Liaodong from Korea, and if it is winter, they will have to endure extreme cold, which is the original intention of my insistence on winter training."

"Once the war starts in Liaodong, the current armies of the Qing Dynasty, whether it is the Huai Army, which is now the Beiyang Army, or the Hunan Army and the green battalions in various places, will not be the opponents of the Japanese army, and the only ones who can really fight with the Japanese army can only be us. Although we are only the commander of the Zhili Changlu Yanyun Yamen regiment training, you all know that these days I have been working hard to let you, especially the officers at all levels, master modern combat thinking and skills, and this is also the most significant difference between our Yan Regiment and the various armies of the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Boom, boom, boom。。。。。。"

An explosion sounded, and Qin Chuan and everyone picked up the Zeiss telescope in their hands to check the direction of the explosion.