The Haiqi is a protective cruiser (also known as the Dome Clipper) purchased by the Qing government from the British Armstrong Company. Launched in 1896 and commissioned in 1898, it has a two-shaft steam engine, 18,000 horsepower, can propel a ship of 4,300 tons, and sails at high speed at 24 knots, which is a representative of fast cruisers.

Haiqi fully expressed the design concept of high-speed anti-aircraft artillery fire of that year, the speed of 24 knots, should be very high, 12 years ago, the twin-mounted 203 heavy gun, even in this era, is not a very weak heavy artillery, the firing speed is a little faster than the main gun of the battleship, is the basis for suppressing firepower.

In today's world, naval warships are developing rapidly, when dreadnoughts appear, the whole world, whether it is launched, or battleships under construction, almost obsolete together, in the era of dreadnoughts, battleships have been greatly developed, this 12 years ago launched battleships, not only the performance has lagged behind, even the maintenance, can only be regarded as unsatisfactory.

The fleet is a technical branch, not like the army, if you pull a strong man, give a gun, and then train for three or five months, you can pull it out and fight, and the combat effectiveness is not low, the navy is completely different, and the newly assembled warships are useless if they do not go through a period of sea trials and training. It is necessary to continue to cooperate and continue to train, and there are many countries in the world today who have the ability to build battleships, and even Italy, a small country, produced battleships that were world-class one or two decades ago, and even pioneered the design of triple turrets, and the reason why it did not continue is money.

A battleship, just the cost, is daunting, but what is even more terrifying is his training costs, a year's training costs, almost equivalent to a few years, a new purchase of a warship, so even the United Kingdom, the world's largest power, can not support a large number of naval warships.

The same is true of the Haiqi, when it was purchased, it was considered a relatively advanced warship, but for so many years, the problem of maintenance and training, just barely played its role, under the scanning of the all-in-one machine, he found that in the past year, the number of times the Haiqi's main gun was fired, it will definitely not exceed 20 times, such a training intensity, can it run in a qualified sailor?

Yang Yuanzhao will not eat a fat man in one bite, China's navy has a long way to go, and this group of people in front of him, in a sense, is the seed of the Chinese navy.

"Brother Avoiding Light, I'm afraid this ship hasn't started for a long time!"

Cheng Biguang's face showed a trace of embarrassment, as a sailor official, he knew very well that well-trained and ordinary training, or even no training, the huge difference in combat effectiveness, but it was difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, in the face of a sailor who even had to raise his own salary, he was able to make the sailor's warship move, which was already good.

"The sailor is poor!"

Yang Yuanzhao looked at Cheng Biguang, who sighed for a long time, and his heart moved, and asked: "Brother Shunguang, you said, if you make the Haiqi all running, how much will it take in a year?" ”

"This!" Cheng Biguang hesitated a little, what Yang Yuanzhao said was obvious, it was to fund the operation of the Haiqi, a warship, especially a battleship like the Haiqi, with an eight-inch main gun, should be all started, and the annual training in accordance with the prescribed subjects will consume a huge amount, at least 50,000 pounds per year, that is, 500,000 yuan of consumption, which is definitely not something that ordinary people can afford, you know, the price that Haiqi bought back then was only about 380,000.

"I know Brother Shunguang's doubts, but I have something to do with the German and American foreign companies, in the future, every year we fund 500 shells for the main gun, 20 barrels, 5,000 shells for the secondary guns, 100 barrels, and 100 tons of gunpowder, how to ......." Seeing that Cheng Biguang was speechless, Yang Yuanzhao took the initiative to say.

Cheng Biguang was stunned for a moment, the training cost of the battle-class, I'm afraid the heaviest thing is the shells and barrels, especially the latter, the price is extremely high, the battleship will be lost, and there will be losses when the battleship starts, and if you shoot a cannon, there will also be losses, a cannon barrel, especially the main gun, often hit a certain amount of shells, it will age, break, and even not very stable, at this time, the battleship must go back to overhaul, replace the gun barrel, and carry out a certain amount of cleaning work, which is also what the battleship must do often since it came out, Even if it is a nuclear-powered warship that is claimed to be unsinkable in later generations, they still have a time period for overhaul, and they will not spare it to return to the dock during this time period.

Yang Yuanzhao has such a big package, at least 7% of the annual training expenses, and the rest is just personnel and coal, coal is not valuable, and personnel can be turned into friends in various places.

"I don't know, what do you want." Cheng Biguang looked at Yang Yuanzhao and asked, there is nothing to be done, either traitor or thief, Yang Yuanzhao is much better than those who drill camp, but he took out so much real money for no reason, he still has to ask clearly.

Yang Yuanzhao smiled and said: "It's nothing, I'm just interested in the navy, at most, I may set up an ocean-going fleet in the future, and I need Brother Cheng's help to train it." ”

Yang Yuanzhao at this moment, of course, did not dare to say, he wanted to establish the topic of the navy, at this time the Manchu Qing Dynasty was still in power, this Cheng Biguang, although he had a great impression of the revolution, but he Yang Yuanzhao did not have a strong background at this time, and if he was not good, he might be in a cage.

As for the barrel and shells, just now, after getting on the ship, he has copied all of them, with the strength of his all-in-one machine, the more expensive, the more complex the things, the cost is relatively speaking, the less it costs, you must know that the barrel is the same as ordinary steel, at most trace elements are added, or special processing, the all-in-one machine can save the processing process before and after, and the things that are made are of course extremely powerful, and they don't cost much things.

After walking around the Haiqi in detail, Yang Yuanzhao walked on other warships, several battleships that are also sister ships of the Haiqi, which are similar to the Haiqi, in addition, are some small warships, mosquito boats, torpedo ships, these ships, maybe in the battleship, or even the ironclad duel, do not play a small role, but in a specific place, the role is not small.

In order to avoid omissions, Yang Yuanzhao carefully copied it, and sure enough, the mosquito ship that looks almost the same, but the inside is completely different, not to mention the weapons and equipment, even if it is power, there is a big difference, the same two-shaft steam engine, in terms of total weight and performance, is too far behind the Haiqi.

For a whole day, Yang Yuanzhao was excited, calculating, more than 20 ships, as well as the fort located near the camp of the sailor, these are not as large as the caliber of the main gun of the Haiqi, but it can be on the top of a certain distance, enriching Yang Yuanzhao's cannon reserves, and now he, if he wants, can take out a large number of naval guns at any time,

In addition to naval guns, the biggest gain is the steam engine, although these ships, whether they are foreign-made or domestically produced, they are absolutely military quality, and I don't know how much the efficiency has improved compared to the civilian version.

Up and down, walked through the entire sailor camp, all the ships, up and down, also spent most of the day, declined Cheng Biguang's invitation to eat together, and left in a hurry, today's day's harvest is huge, but if you want to play a role in the harvest, you need to do a lot.