Also because of the lack of money to invest, most of Li Hui's original suggestions could only be put on hold temporarily, for example, the installation of the new rear open front turret of the Dingzhen Second Ship could only be considered after the new funds were allocated next year, and the matter of the main guns of the two Yuan-class ironclad ships could only be pushed back first.

Fortunately, the four most critical expenditures are still squeezed out, and Li Hui's suggestions do not all need to spend money

A few days after the delivery of the goods by the venture capital company, the Beiyang Navy Division conducted a test of the actual maximum speed of the ten main warships in accordance with Li Hui's original suggestion, and the results were worrying. The Dingyuan, which had a maximum speed of 14.5 knots when it first returned to China, can only barely run close to 12 knots now (it is now 1893, and the speed of each ship is faster than that of Dadonggou, and because this is the fastest year in history for the Beiyang Naval Division, the gap is not small). and the more powerful Zhenyuan could not reach 13 knots.

As for the most old Chaoyong and Yangwei, they are even more unsightly, both of which only have more than 9 knots left, you must know that these two warships are collision cruisers that pursue speed, and the maximum speed is designed to be 16 knots, which is really embarrassing

Compared with the ten warships, it is probably the two warships Zhiyuan and Jingyuan that are in better condition, and they can still run close to the maximum speed of 17 knots with a design maximum speed of 18 knots, and they do not need to use strong pressure ventilation.

The reason for this is that, in addition to the shortest age of the ship, the strict requirements of Deng Shichang of the Zhiyuan ship and the meticulous care of Ye Zugui of the Jingyuan ship are also indispensable.

Speaking of which, Li Hui initially thought that the speed of the Zhiyuan would be a little faster than that of the Jingyuan, but the gap in the actual test was not obvious, and it seems that for the technical arms, the meaning of "seriousness" is not necessarily much smaller than that of "strictness", which pays more attention to strength.

But having said that, the more frequent training and faster aging of the equipment of the Zhiyuan ship at sea should also be a reason

"According to the general law, the normal service life of a warship can often be as long as 30 years, and even the oldest Chaoyang is only a dozen years old, and the speed has actually decayed to such a point, and the consequences of using low-quality coal for a long time in order to save money are already obvious", Li Hui sighed slightly, but he didn't particularly care, because he knew that even the wealthy Japanese Navy could not afford to use high-quality coal in peacetime. Except for one tour and four ships, the speed of other warships has even been attenuated to a greater extent than that of the Beiyang Naval Division, so how can they force the Beiyang Naval Division, which has much worse financial resources, to use good coal?

However, Li Hui also knows that this situation will not last long now, and it is estimated that after the outbreak of the Dongxue Party uprising, the devils will begin to step up preparations for war as in history, and the Japanese Navy will be able to afford to use imported good coal. This alone can make the speed of Japanese warships generally increase by more than half a knot. If at that time, the Beiyang Naval Division continued to use low-quality coal as it did in history, it would be difficult to avoid losses.

Fortunately, the system can produce fuel, which naturally includes coal, and "the production of the system must be high-quality." Therefore, this matter is not difficult for Li Hui to solve, that is, the Daystar can only carry more than 1,000 tons in one trip, and in order to meet the needs of the Beiyang Naval Division in the First Sino-Japanese War, it is imperative for the venture capital company to expand its scale.

But these are all later words, Li Hui now wants to know that the actual speed of the Beiyang Ten Ships is actually just to make a set of simple war games used to simulate naval battles, and the naval officers are very interested in such new things, but with the simulated battle between Li Hui and Liu Buyun, the smiles on everyone's faces soon disappeared

"Why does the Japanese Navy always strike weak with a strong one?" , Liu Buyun was very unconvinced that Li Hui "cheated" at the beginning.

Li Hui explained unhurriedly, "The four new cruisers of the Japanese Navy, Yoshino, Akitsuzhou, Naniwa and Takachiho are extremely fast, and the age of the ships is very short, and the speed attenuation should be very small, I think even if it is a formation, it should not be lower than 17 knots (the result of the Japanese test before the Battle of Dadonggou in history is only more than 16 knots), and the gap with other ships is very wide, I think as long as their commander is not too stupid, these four warships will definitely be separated into separate formations, no objection, right?" ”

"It's true that this is the best choice, in fact, if it weren't for our two high-speed warships, Zhiyuan and Jingyuan, and their combat effectiveness is much weaker than the four fast cruisers of the Japanese, I would also suggest that they be separated into separate formations", Liu Buyun nodded in agreement.

After knowing that Liu Buyun also had similar thoughts to himself, Li Hui was secretly happy in his heart, but his face did not show a different color, but calmly went on to explain, "Neither the imperial court nor the Lord Zhongtang want to fight with the Japanese, so this war must be the first to be done by the Japanese, this is no problem, right?" In addition, the Japanese army's fast fleet has an absolute advantage in speed, so it naturally gains the initiative, so the first naval battle must be strong and weak, isn't it a matter of course? ”

"That's true." , Liu Buyun nodded, his face gradually became solemn, because with his business level, he quickly realized the great danger, "In this case, it is very dangerous for our detachment to be attacked by the Japanese fast fleet, although you can use the method that Dongyang said to get rid of the pursuit, but the shallow water area is not everywhere, if the speed difference between the two sides is too large, I am afraid that we will be chased and sunk by the Japanese ships before we sail into the shallow water area."

"That's right, so I found that there is a big problem with the current way of detachments in the Navy! Most of them are a combination of one piece and one slow, and at first glance they can complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, but the problem is that the speed of the formation is based on the slowest warship in the formation, and you are all experts, so it should not be difficult to understand what this means, right? Li Hui unceremoniously pointed out a serious problem in the history of the Beiyang Naval Division that was only exposed during the Battle of Dadonggou

In order to strengthen the persuasiveness, Li Hui then simulated the main decisive battle between China and Japan in the future, because the two countries must have already started a full-scale war when the main decisive battle occurred, and the effective range of the naval guns in this year is far less than the observation distance of the lookout on the warship, and even if the flags of other countries are hung and pretended to be warships of non-belligerent countries, it is impossible for the Beiyang Naval Division to allow the other side to drive within the range of the naval guns at will, so the possibility that the Japanese army will fly the flags of other countries to attack the Beiyang Naval Division in some film and television works is completely infeasible in reality. Therefore, Li Hui directly asked the generals present with the idea of facing the enemy head-on, "In the decisive battle of the main force, what kind of formation do you think you should line up to meet the enemy?" ”