Li He said in a somewhat low voice: "Ming Hong, the conversation between you and Lord Zhou just now, the foolish brother almost heard it. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Yes, during the Nagasaki incident six years ago, our Beiyang Naval Division was far stronger than the other side in terms of fleet tonnage, fleet firepower, and even training level, but do you know? It is precisely because of this incident that the Japanese are greatly stimulated. In the eyes of the Japanese, it is a great shame that foreign sailors make trouble in their own country when they get drunk, and when they cause trouble, they even demand compensation from their own country. ”

Since then, vigorously developing the navy has become the mainstream public opinion and domestic consensus of the Japanese. We must defeat Dingyuan, which has become the slogan of the Japanese Navy. Even the most popular games among Japanese children are to sink Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. ”

Looking at Qin Chuan and Zhang Shiheng, who were stunned, Li He's voice became more and more cold and continued to speak. It's as if he wants to hide a lot of unhappiness in the depths of his heart, and reveal all of his brains in order to relieve his bitterness.

"You know what? The Japanese Navy originally started almost at the same time as the Beiyang Naval Division, but during this period, because of the Ryukyu Incident, the Korean Renwu and the Jiashen Incident, the Japanese and our Qing Dynasty both realized the importance of the navy, and in the navy, the two sides have always shown a trend of an arms race in which you are chasing each other. The Beiyang Navy Division purchased the Chaoyong steel-hulled ramming cruiser, and the Japanese immediately bought back the Tsukushi of the same class, and then purchased the Naniwa improved and upgraded from Chaoyong. But after the Beiyang Naval Division announced its formation, this kind of competition became a matter for the Japanese family. ”

The Japanese, on the other hand, were not idle for a moment. One month after the end of the Nagasaki incident, the Japanese emperor ordered the allocation of 300,000 yuan from the inner treasury as a coastal defense subsidy, and under the leadership of the Japanese emperor, all parts of Japan donated one after another, and donated 1.038 million yuan in less than half a year. At the same time, the Japanese cabinet passed another 58.6 million naval expenditures. ”

In the years that followed, he proposed a series of naval expansions, during which time the cruisers Chiyoda, Yoshino, Akitsushu, and Yaeyama were purchased and built. Yoshino is the fastest and most powerful cruiser in the world today. ”

"That's not all, and then, the Japanese purchased three ironclad ships, Itsukushima, Matsushima, and Hashidate, which were specially planned to deal with our Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships, and the Japanese called these three ironclad ships Sanjing. These three ironclad ships, which the Japanese attach great importance to, although they are not as good as our Dingyuan and Zhenyuan two ships in terms of tonnage, ironclad thickness, and main gun caliber, etc., but his speed is faster than that of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and the caliber of the main guns is not much different, and the most dangerous thing is that these three capital ships are equipped with 28 French-made Armstrong 120mm rapid-fire guns, if we go to war with Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, these rapid-fire guns will pose a great threat to the weak points of the armor on our ships, especially the personnel. ”

"At present, the Japanese Navy has 31 main warships, and nine have been commissioned in the last two years alone. And the main ships of our Beiyang Naval Division are still only 8, and this is counting the shore defense ship Pingyuan of Brother Yu. As far as I know, in the first half of next year, the Japanese will have two more new ships launched. ”

"In addition, the Japanese not only have a plan to build 10,000 tons of ships in the next two years, but last year's Ito cabinet also approved a plan for building 100,000 tons of ships, and for this reason, the Japanese emperor issued an edict at the beginning of this year, deciding to allocate 300,000 yuan from the internal treasury every year for the next six years, and to take out one-tenth of the salaries of civil and military personnel as the cost of building ships to enrich the national 。。。。。。treasury."

The more Li He spoke, the more excited he became, his face became more and more gloomy, and the faces of Qin Chuan and Zhang Shiheng, who listened more, became more and more pale and ugly.

After a long time, Zhang Shiheng asked Li He eatingly.

"Brother Ping, where did you know these things?"

"As the head of the Beiyang Naval Division, have you ever told Lord Zhongtang about these things?"

Li He said with a wry smile: "It is no secret that these things are known to the Japanese government and the opposition, I learned from a relative in Japan, and it is absolutely true." As for whether to report it, there is no need for Brother Chu Bao to remind him, he knows where his responsibilities lie, how dare he not report it. ”

Li He sighed and said: "These things, not only have I already reported them to Lord Zhongtang, but also the right-wing commanders, Liu Buchan, Lord Liu and Ding Junmen, have also reported to Zhongtang. Lord Liu thinks that it is time for me to add ships and change guns in Beiyang. Although Ding Junmen still believed that the Beiyang Naval Division had a slight advantage over the Japanese Navy, he also believed that Beiyang was mostly old ships and ships, which were far away from Japan, and they were not ready for fast artillery, so it would be difficult to support them in the event of an incident. Therefore, he also went to the academy and suggested the purchase of naval guns and ships for defense. ”

"And what was the result?" Zhang Shiheng asked anxiously.

Qin Chuan didn't say anything with a blank face, because he, a person who had come over, had already known the result.

Li He smiled bitterly with a somewhat miserable expression: "Result? ”

"On the grounds of a shortage of funds, the Household Department Shangshu Weng Tonggong tried his best to reduce the navy's military expenditure, and forbade the Beiyang Naval Division from purchasing foreign ships, guns, and equipment for two years, and did not even allocate the cost of supplementing equipment."

Li He sighed deeply, and continued in an extremely bleak tone.

"Since the Beiyang Naval Division was announced to be an army, those old men at all levels of the yamen who do not understand naval construction think that naval construction has been completed once and for all, don't you know that the navy is a branch of the military that needs continuous investment. At present, the Beiyang Naval Division has only eight warships, except for torpedo boats, mosquito boats, training ships, and transport ships that cannot fight in the open sea, as well as old ships that are too old and outdated. ”

"What's even more worrying is that the Beiyang Naval Division's daily patrol tasks are heavy, and my Pingyuan ship is okay, because it is a shore defense ship, so it only travels to and from Tianjin, Weihai, and North Korea. However, other warships have to carry out patrols from south to north and along the coast of Daqing every year to declare their sovereignty, and the patrol area is as far north as Vladivostok, through the ports of Korea and Japan, and as far south as the South China Sea Islands and Malay。。。。。。 ”

After Li He finished speaking, Zhang Shiheng was stunned for a long time with a pale face, and then hesitated to ask Li He.

"Weng Tongxiao, an old immortal, has a grudge against Zhongtang for killing his brother, so he naturally obstructs the Beiyang Navy Division from buying new ships in every possible way, but Zhongtang won't go to the saint to talk about it? Could it be that Weng Tonggong can really cover the sky with one hand? ”

Zhang Shiheng didn't mention it, but when he mentioned Guangxu, Li He's face became even colder, as if he was wrapped in a layer of severe frost.

"How could the middle hall not look for the saint, it's just that the fold of the middle hall was handed over, but 。。。。。。"

"What did the Holy One say?" Zhang Shiheng asked impatiently.

"The saint only gave five words of royal approval on the recital in the middle hall, and the yamen knew about it, and then there was no follow-up from then on."

Since Guangxu is involved, Zhang Shiheng can't say anything, although Qin Chuan has no thoughts about Guangxu, but in front of these two people, now he can't show any disrespect to Guangxu, and he didn't make a sound, pursed the corners of his mouth and thought silently.

He never expected that the actual Chinese and Japanese naval strength would reach such a huge disparity, which was too far from the mainstream statement before the crossing. If it weren't for what Li He said today, Qin Chuan's heart would also be in general thought, and he thought that the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle was not at all due to inferior equipment, but 。。。。。。

Zhang Shiheng opened his mouth, no one could hear what he muttered, and then he sighed frequently.

Although Qin Chuan was not good at saying that Guangxu was not in front of these two Qing officials, he couldn't stop slandering in his heart.

Guangxu is obviously a four-body industrious, not divided into grains, heart is higher than the sky, life is thinner than paper, pretentious, ambitious and talented, but he was born in the emperor's family, and has a noble identity that no one can compare in the Qing Dynasty, I really don't know that there are so many people in later generations who think that if Guangxu takes the throne, the country will cheer up earlier. But now in Qin Chuan's view, Cixi has always controlled the government, and I am afraid that most of them are not optimistic about Guangxu's ability, so they are reluctant to relax their control over power.

Qin Chuan let out a long sigh and said secretly in his heart: "Dignified China, it is impossible to achieve reform and reform by relying on these Manchurians, and to make the 5,000-year-old Han civilization shine again, it is necessary to rely on the Han people themselves to stand up tenaciously again, and only in this way can the Chinese nation proudly stand among the nations of the world."

Qin Chuan secretly swore in his heart, grandma, you wait for Lao Tzu to come!

Qin Chuan waved his hand: "Brother Chu Bao, Brother Ping, let's stop talking about these sad things." Let's go, you two go in with me, and let's have a drink. ”

Zhang Shiheng waved his hand to stop Qin Chuan: "Ming Hong, I patronized the matter of the Beiyang Naval Division, and forgot all the business。。。。。。 ”