Tianjin people have a witty saying, which says, "The silver of Shanghai, the ship of Fuzhou; steel in Ma'anshan, aluminum in Zibo; Silk from Hangzhou, cloth from Qingdao, steamed buns and sugar gourds from Tianjin".

The reason why Tianjin people say this is more of a kind of self-deprecation and ridicule, indeed, so far in the past few years, Tianjin has not had an industrial system that can be used.

Tianjin's textile industry is the status of the four major centers in the country, but it is indeed inferior to Qingdao in terms of quality, color, sizing and other details, Tianjin has its own steel mills, power plants, machinery factories, shipyards...... So far, none of them have real technical and production advantages in the country.

Fuzhou is different, it has too many advantageous industries, especially steam turbines, high-power diesel engines, special steel, radio communication technology four major fields.

Yongzhou-class battleship project with a displacement of 15,700 tons, submarine project, 3,000-horsepower steam turbine unit, 550-horsepower large diesel unit and power generation system, 954-type submarine steel, sonar project, radio docking communication technology, 10-ton diesel crane...... All settled in Fuzhou.

In Fuzhou, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding School has been promoted to China Shipbuilding University and Fuzhou Naval College, as well as Fuzhou Artillery College, Southeast University, Fujian University, Fuzhou Institute of Technology, Fuzhou Mechanical Engineering College, Fuzhou Medical College, Fuzhou Normal College, Fuzhou Mechanical College Higher Vocational School, and Fuzhou Electric Power College Higher Vocational School.

The China Shipping Administration, which was reorganized by the Fuzhou Shipping Administration, is located in Mawei, Fuzhou, as the central department of the Chinese Ship Standards Implementation Center directly under the Ministry of the Navy, which is responsible for the overall management of the shipbuilding industry in the country, and is also the first institution for the sale of warships to foreign countries and the exchange of naval technology.

When Hu Chuyuan arrived in Fuzhou, it was March 10, 1901, and Fuzhou was as cool and pleasant as autumn in the north.

He did not go to Fuzhou City, nor did he return to his hometown of Mawei, but directly took a special train to enter Luoyuan Bay through the military railway, and finally stopped in the Aoli Port District.

It happened to be late at night, the night was as cool as the cold light sprinkled for thousands of miles, the lights on the harbor were bright, and the afterglow was sprinkled on the rippling blue bay, and when you got out of the stop, you could hear the rustling of the rising tide.

Like the Yangtze River Shipyard, there are three shifts 24 hours a day, and the surrounding factories and docks are brightly lit, and dozens of powerful searchlights are constantly scanning the surrounding area and mountains.

It is still a secret forbidden place in China, and outsiders are not allowed to enter.

Hu Chuyuan rode into the factory area in a Shenbao car, and after passing through layers of sentry posts, he came to the deepest submarine construction base, codenamed Factory 703.

7 is the special code name for the submarine project.

The plant is concealed inside a conventional shipbuilding base, with the outer docks capable of building warships up to 3,000 tons, mainly Shower-class destroyers, and the four medium-sized docks inside dedicated to submarine construction.

The submarine project of the Chinese Navy was launched in 1889, the submarine service number is the V series, from 1890 officially invested a lot of manpower and material resources, the end of 1891 to build the first V1 class submarine, at this time has adopted a double-hull mechanism, snorkel and periscope system, dual power engine.

V1, V2, and V3 are not officially in service, and only three or four of each model are built for various tests, especially one test boat of V3 has been temporarily converted into a deep-water submersible for towing the wreckage of the submarine back to Keelung Port in Taiwan for more in-depth technical analysis.

The construction of the V4-class submarines began at the end of 1895 with 43 units in service, and the construction of the V5-class submarines began in early 1897 with 12 units in service.

The design underwater displacement tonnage of the V4 class is 1320 tons, and the V5 class is 1255 tons, the former is designed to be relatively traditional, and it is said that the regular navigation is still on the surface, while the latter is purely designed for underwater navigation, and the underwater static diving speed can reach 5.7 knots, and the maximum depth of the submarine is 70 meters.

Factory 703 is the military factory with the highest degree of secrecy in China, and only Hu Chuyuan really knows the overall situation, and even Lu Han, Ye Fu and others are not very clear.

However, the goal of Hu Chuyuan's visit to Fuzhou this time was not entirely to inspect the submarine project, he first came to Chen Zhaoao, the chief expert in the field of submarines in China and one of China's top experts in the field of ship weapons systems.

After visiting the submarine construction dock, Hu Chuyuan held a confidential meeting in the conference room of the 703 factory overnight, and the participants in the meeting, except for Lan Jianshu and Ye Zuqi, who accompanied them, were all technical experts in the submarine field such as Chen Zhaoao, and there was also a special general counsel from the United States, John Holan.

Through the slide presentation, Lan Jianshu showed all kinds of technical information and intelligence related to the submarine that he could collect so far.

Prior to this, Chen Zhaoao and others actually got the relevant reports.

The purpose of Hu Chuyuan's visit was very simple: he wanted to listen to Chen Zhaoao's opinions face to face and evaluate the specific combat capabilities, advantages, and disadvantages of the submarine.

After the slide show, Hu Chuyuan opened the data book in his hand and asked Chen Zhaoao directly: "Chief Engineer Chen, you are our top submarine expert in China, and I don't think there are many people in the world who are more powerful than you." I'm going to ask you a question now, what is the submarine of the Zoben, where is the biggest threat, and where is the biggest drawback? ”

Chen Zhaoao smoked a cigarette and thought silently for a moment, before he replied slowly: "Prime Minister, you can rest assured that in terms of technical characteristics, these submarines that have appeared so far are not much different from the French Gustav-class submarines, but the tonnage is a little larger. According to my personal analysis, the submarine mainly increases the cruising mileage, but its diving time is very limited, it cannot exceed 40 minutes, and the speed of complete submersion is less than 5 knots. As long as the domestic navy can properly use depth charges and remote-controlled deep-water mines, it can well restrain the opponent. Judging from the range of its appearance, they should be able to reach a cruising radius of 700 kilometers, and if they are based in Jinwu Bay Port, they can cover almost the entire southeast coast. ”

After he finished speaking, Ye Zuqi suddenly proposed: "Can we use the existing anti-submarine means to separately add a medium-sized multi-purpose patrol ship of 1,000-ton tonnage, in a group of two or three, and cooperate with the destroyer to deal with the submarine in the coastal waterway." ”

Chen Zhaoao said: "This idea is more appropriate, the displacement tonnage of the shower class is 2,750 tons, and at present, it is a bit too big as a destroyer." On the basis of the Chunyu class, we can develop a new destroyer with a displacement tonnage of 1,500 tons, and adopt a relatively cheap mass production setup and design. It is a second-class light destroyer, which increases anti-submarine capabilities and adopts the method of coordinated operation of multiple ships to make up for the shortcomings of insufficient detection accuracy of active sonar. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, the cost of this kind of ship is relatively low, as long as the domestic warship manufacturing capacity can keep up, the problem is not too big.

The Chunyu 2 and Shower classes are particularly sophisticated destroyers, and they are designed to use high-end configurations, and the price and production cycle are not low, and the two cannot form a high-low match.

Therefore, this new cheap destroyer is extremely important, and it is equipped in large numbers to contain the adversary's submarines and merchant ships, and is used to deploy a large number of defenses along the southeast coast.

After a short technical discussion, this new class of destroyers was called the "Chunlu class", with a displacement tonnage reduced to 1,370 tons, designed by the China State Administration of Shipping, and produced in Hyundai Group, Guangzhou, Haiphong, Dalian and other shipyards with more remaining production capacity.

The number of Chunlu-class construction is very large, and the first batch of plans will reach 55 ships, and the unit price is about 750,000 yuan.

In view of the fact that it is necessary to change the overall design of destroyers in line with the development of the new war thinking, Hu Chuyuan convened a larger-scale technical seminar, which was attended by the principal naval experts of the General Administration of Shipping.

Now is the stage of war, there is no time to argue, Hu Chuyuan is final, the Chinese Navy first began to implement a new tactical idea, by the destroyer system to replace the existing cruiser system, covering between 1,200 tons and 5,000 tons, all cruisers are developing in the direction of battle cruisers, with tonnage between 5,000 tons and 11,000 tons.

The Chunlu-class destroyer is a third-class destroyer, the Chunyu 2-class and the Shower class are second-class destroyers, and a new type of first-class destroyer "Chaoyu class" has been developed at the same time, with a design displacement tonnage of 4,200 tons, and six ships will be manufactured in the first phase.

According to the plan of Hu Chuyuan and the National Defense War Council, China's full-scale military counteroffensive will not be until about July next year, but this does not mean that China will have to endure the attack until then.

At least there is one thing that Hu Chuyuan absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is that the strategic objectives of the French fleet in Vietnam and South Asian waters are to be cut off and threatened, and secondly, the French fleet is wreaking havoc in the waters of Vietnam and South Asia.

Before Hu Chuyuan secretly arrived in Fuzhou, the Pacific Fleet was ready for a counterattack attack on the Ryukyu Islands, with a total of 62 warships and 44 auxiliary ships ready to go at Luoyuan Bay and Wuzhu Harbor.

On the evening of March 15, 1901, at 5 p.m. sharp.

In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, the year of Xin Chou, the twenty-fifth day of the first month, Jiazi Nayin: often flowing water.

The bright red twilight of the evening fell on the shore, and the sea was like a sea of red blood, golden red as fire.

Hu Chuyuan did not believe that the submarine force of the Navy's submarine force could be powerful against the sky, and he personally waited for the ships to see Lin Yongsheng off, and the remaining main warships of the Pacific Fleet had been assembled, and a number of warships were also transferred from the Nanyang Fleet.

Everything was so silent, Hu Chuyuan walked onto the deck with a solemn complexion, poured wine for every soldier and officer on the Ningyuan, and he himself held a glass.

There is no need to respect heaven and earth.

Fate is in the hands of the Chinese themselves.

He only paid tribute to everyone in the list, and every soldier who was about to go to the Ryukyu battlefield and did not hesitate to fight to the death to protect the security of the economic hinterland of China's southeast coast.

When he picked up the white porcelain bowl, a cold wind suddenly blew in the sky, whistling by, and it seemed to have turbulent the smell of blood.

Looking at the past calmly, looking at the more than 500 soldiers, Hu Chuyuan had a fierce flame burning in his heart, he didn't know if these people would be able to come back after they went, but he knew that as long as there were these people, China's coastal defense would always be safe.

In Asia, no country can challenge the Chinese Navy.

This is the dignity of Hu Chuyuan, and it is also the dignity of each and every one of them.

At this moment, he couldn't help but want to say something.

After a pause, he decided not to say anything, because he knew, everyone knew...... The Navy has been raging long enough, and it's time for them to understand that small submarine tactics can't reverse the gap between giant ships, unless their submarines can defy the sky as well as Chinese submarines.

Fart.

Their submarine is just a piece of.

Hu Chuyuan really didn't say anything, and suddenly drank the liquor in the porcelain bowl, and then, he threw the bowl into the distance, crossed the deck, and fell on the sea with a crackling decline.

The soldiers were stunned.

Hu Chuyuan made up his mind at this moment, and turned to Lin Yongsheng and said, "I'll go with you." ”

Enough, he just had to say this sentence enough.

The hundreds of soldiers on the Ningyuan were all startled, and Lin Yongsheng was even more stunned, and then hurriedly persuaded him: "My lord, you ...... How can you go to risk? What's more, you still have to stay in the follow-up troops...... My lord? ”

Luo Zhongming, the first mate of the Ningyuan, also hurriedly persuaded: "My lord, the enemy has submarine forces, and he is also good at using chemical weapons, which is really too dangerous. ”

Hu Chuyuan sneered indifferently and resolutely, and squeezed out one word: "Fart." ”

Immediately, he said: "Let Lan Jianshu and Sun Zongyuan's gang come up, and I will work here, waiting for you to recover Ryukyu as soon as possible, and give you awards as soon as possible...... I said that I am a fart, if you can't even kill them, then dig a hole with me and sink into the Pacific Ocean, anyway, I don't have the face to return to China! ”

His words were very vicious, which made Lin Yongsheng and Luo Zhongming a little embarrassed, but he had a very powerful motivation.

Lin Yongsheng gritted his teeth and agreed to Hu Chuyuan's request to board the ship.

This isn't the first fucking time, he thought.

He thought about it, if the Ningyuan was sunk, he would swim across the Pacific Ocean with Hu Chuyuan on his back...... Hu Chuyuan must also be sent back to China safely, because all Chinese know that as long as Hu Chuyuan is alive, China will never be defeated.

As long as Hu Chuyuan is alive, China will sooner or later become the world's number one hegemon.

No one in the whole of China dares to refute or admit this.

The news that Imperial Prime Minister Hu Chuyuan was going on the expedition with the ship quickly spread among the Pacific Fleet, and everyone's morale seemed to have risen a lot, more than doubled.

Yes, Hu Chuyuan is the invincible sun, the golden light shines on the land of China and shines on the flag of the Chinese Navy.

After Lan Jianshu, Li Cunyi, Sun Zongyuan and others rushed to the ship, a few minutes later than the scheduled time, the Ningyuan set sail with a whistle and sailed out of the port first, heading towards the exit of Luoyuan Bay.

Behind it, another 5 Ningyuan-class battleships, 4 Jinzhou-class second-class battleships, and 4 Weiyuan-class battlecruisers formed a real Chinese second main fleet group, flanked by more than thirty Shower-class and Chunyu-2 destroyers, and six Xiangyang-class cruisers.

Six Ningyuan-class.

The Ningyuan-class, a sister battleship of the British Sovereign-class, was officially commissioned in the Chinese Navy in September 1894 and had 8 Krupp main guns of 305mm caliber 45 times and 24 75mm rapid-fire guns.

In the Chinese Navy, the Ningyuan-class is definitely not a first-class battleship, and its strength is weaker than the Liangzhou class, which is equipped with steam turbine power units of the same tonnage.

Even that is enough.

Don't use an elephant to crack a nut?

With the large-scale service of the 15,700-ton Yongzhou-class, the 12,000-ton Liangzhou-class, and the 10,500-ton Jinzhou-class battleships, perhaps, this will be the first and most likely the last appearance of the Sovereign class in the history of world warfare.

The whole world should be watching this moment and watch the swan song of this epoch-making battleship.

(To be continued)