The Battle of Delan proved a conclusion, that is, the battlecruiser was overwhelmed and could only hunt the cruiser, and it was still too fragile in the face of the battleship, and it was difficult to achieve it on the cruiser if it wanted to ensure high speed and defense at the same time, and pursue a certain degree of firepower.

In the new round of naval competition, Britain, France, and the United States basically stopped building new battle cruisers, but built destroyers of larger tonnage to replace the functions of cruisers.

In China, battlecruisers and cruisers are one and the same.

China's cruisers are special, taking the Congo-class cruiser as an example, with a design standard displacement of 18,500 tons, a full load displacement of 21,900 tons, and a maximum speed of 27.5 knots.

With China's capabilities in the steam turbine power system, it is not difficult to build a cruiser with a maximum speed of 32 knots, and the main reason for this is to increase the defense power of the Congo-class cruisers, and the overall defense effect is roughly equivalent to that of 12,000-ton battleships.

In the case of a large design margin, the main gun is only 6 330mm caliber main guns, and the firepower system is also weak.

The key to this is to leave plenty of room for modernization and improvement for the Congo-class cruisers, and to equip the Congo-class cruisers with a lot of new equipment and new features.

The Congo-class cruiser has many functions, not only can hunt the opponent's cruisers and destroyers, but also can effectively protect the aircraft carrier formation, and at the same time has a strong single-ship combat capability, has the ability to cruise in the ocean, and can serve as the main force in a small-scale fleet formation.

Compared to a battleship of the same tonnage, it was twice as cheap.

As a result, the Guinea-class cruiser, another sister modification of the Congo-class cruiser, has become the best-selling warship in recent years, and has been sold on a large scale throughout the Asia-Europe Union and the Chinese colonial system, and there are also many contracts for the sale of ships in South America and Northern Europe.

Beginning in 1920, Hyundai Heavy Industries built four Congo-class cruisers and their sister versions every year.

China's commitment is to carry out new upgrades to this type of ship at any time, so that it has a longer service life, and the construction technology also adheres to a variety of domestic welding protection processes, and the overall armor mainly uses KVI560, KB430, KV720 special warship steel, the surface hardening process is more complex, and the defensive efficiency of the steel armor of the British [***] ship is about 14% stronger than that of the same thickness, especially in the face of medium and high muzzle velocity light projectiles, the best anti-penetration effect, that is, in the face of 45 times 280mm, 305mm, 330mm, 340mm caliber guns, the defense effect is the best.

If you encounter a battleship with a larger caliber of main guns, one word - run.

If you encounter a super battleship of the level of Bismarck and Iowa one-on-one, you will have two words - self-sinking.

Of course, it is possible that the surname is very low.

At the current level of the international navy, the Congo-class cruiser can also be regarded as a special invincible warship in another sense.

It is multi-functional, has a wide range of applications, can be excellent and stable, the price is moderate, and the price ratio is high.

Stable and high-quality, practical and efficient, electrical, fire control, communications, detection, torpedo, power advantages.

These have always been the style of the Chinese [***] ships, and they are also the magic weapon of the Chinese Navy's repeated victories, and of course, they are also the reason why other countries buy a large number of Chinese [***] ships.

The current situation is like this, the Chinese Navy continues to build Yuzhou-class battleships at a rate of one a year, and one battleship of the Heroic class at a rate of one year, forcing Britain, the United States and France to build battleships at the same speed, and at the same time making other countries feel the pressure of the world's navies to continue to compete and buy ships from the Chinese Navy.

As the scale of China's naval exports expanded, the naval pressure of Britain, the United States and France increased further.

Since 1901, China has been the world's largest exporter of warships, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, coastal patrol ships, and defense ships are the largest exports, with a total tonnage of more than 270,000 tons of warships exported to foreign countries every year, while Britain, France, Germany, and the United States have almost squeezed out the market in this regard.

There is no way, the Chinese Navy has fought the most naval battles for so many years, and the surname of the warship has always been the best, not the best, and the price is the cheapest, even today, the price of the warship of the same level, the price of the Chinese [***] ship is still 15% cheaper than that of Britain, the United States and France.

China is also flexible in doing business, even if it has no money, it can be bought and sold second-hand ships and third-hand ships, and ship repairs, maintenance, overhauls, and upgrades can continue to be tempted in China.

There is also a great feature of the ship, that is, the whole large set has a good advantage, from large to small products are at the world's leading level, its communications, fire control, control systems are not the same, if you want to buy a set.

The sale of warships is a matter for the Chinese Navy's shipping administration, and the proceeds from this are mainly used for the further research and development of naval technology, forming a rolling cycle of good surnames with each other, and the Chinese Navy continues to benefit from it.

Under such multifaceted pressure from the Chinese Navy, Britain, the United States, and France constantly hoped to negotiate a treaty on naval limitation with China, and the United States had already begun to build 40,000-ton battleships, but it had no choice.

The Chinese Navy decided to start the construction program of the 50,000-ton Xuzhou-class battleship.

In July 1923, finally in Washington, the four countries reached the "Washington Naval Treaty", which limited the total tonnage ratio of the navy of China, the United States, Britain and France to the standard of 1:1:1:0.7, and the maximum battleships with a standard displacement of more than 35,000 tons were not allowed to be built, the caliber of the main gun should not exceed 16 inches, and the total tonnage of new warships should not exceed 50,000 tons per year.

In exchange for China's consent, Britain, France, and the United States affirmed China's effective occupation of Zimbabwe and Zambia, and recognized the agreement between China and Egypt, with Libya and Sudan becoming common protectorates of China and Egypt, while China recognized Britain's effective occupation of Ethiopia and France's effective occupation of Niyer, Chad, and Central Africa.

In accordance with the principles of the London Conference, these areas of Africa became recognized colonies of the occupying Power.

After the Washington Conference, China had 17 overseas provinces in Africa, with a total area of more than 7.5 million square kilometers, reaching one-quarter of Africa's total area, second only to France and higher than the United Kingdom.

In fact, before this, the Chinese Army and the armies organized by the British whites themselves in Zimbabwe and Zambia had fought many battles, and gradually defeated them, and began to implement effective overseas province management of Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Among the current world powers, China is indeed the best in the management of its colonies.

At present, the Congo with the highest GDP has surpassed European countries such as Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, and its total industrial output value also accounts for 2.7% of the world's total.

In the coastal areas on the east and west sides of Africa, the central government has established four autonomous regions, with a total population of 5.53 million people, and the proportion of the Chinese population accounts for 74%, with Libreville, Mata, Maputo, and Bissau as the center of the autonomous regions, extending to the coastal areas of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau.

These autonomous regions account for almost half of Africa's total industrial output, and are also convenient platforms for Chinese goods to directly use African resources and enter Africa, the European continent, South America and West Asia.

In the central government's plan for the next 10 years, these autonomous regions will be further expanded, accounting for at least 5% of the world's gross industrial output, and becoming an industrial complex that can compete with France.

Now, after Britain, France and the United States have confirmed China's recognized occupation of Mozambique and Zambia, China will connect these areas by rail, forming the first east-west railway in Africa, connecting the autonomous regions of Mata and Maputo, and then linking the two autonomous regions of Libreville and Bissau.

At that time, as long as the full integration of various mining resources can be achieved within the system of China's African overseas provinces, it will play a vital role in the development of the four autonomous regions.

As the risk of a world economic crisis increases, China's construction in the colonial and Eurasian Union systems is gradually accelerating, and even in the event of a crisis, the use of the existing system of economies can better withstand the impact of external economic collapse.

To this end, since 1923, China has raised 12 billion yuan of national capital and national debt in China, 30% of which will be used for further strengthening infrastructure construction in China, and 70% for internal economic construction and assistance of the entire colony and the Eurasian Union system to support the further development of various economies.

The money is basically used evenly to ensure the balanced development of the economies of the colonies and the Eurasian Union, and also to increase the space for China's exports to the outside world.

Almost at the same time, there was a special Coolidge boom in China and the United States, and the stock market began to develop in a blowout, and almost any stock could be sold at an astonishing price, because there were three stock markets in China: Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets were strictly regulated, and the foundation of the Singapore stock market was insufficient.

The fundamental reason for Coolidge's prosperity is that the scale of capital overflow in the whole world is too large, and the large-scale monetary expenditure in Europe during the war and later reconstruction has greatly exceeded the basic limit of market demand, and a large amount of surplus capital is looking for new investment space, and the financial system of the United States has become the biggest loophole in the world economy, thus inflating a huge financial bubble.

With the appreciation of the U.S. stock market alone, the total GDP of the United States increased by 11% in 1923, and China's GDP growth exceeded 7.7% during the same period, which was still under the condition that the macroeconomic control of domestic stocks tended to be tightened.

Hu Chuyuan knew very well what the result of this bubble was, but he didn't say anything.

He just waited calmly and further strengthened the construction and implementation of domestic financial regulatory policies.

He also carefully calculated that in 1923, an additional investment of nearly 8.4 billion yuan in various economies in the system would have a capital payback period of 5 to 8 years, which would be almost enough to cushion part of the impact of the world economic crisis, and at the same time, the recovered capital could continue to be used for a new round of large-scale infrastructure and industrial and agricultural construction to subsidize more dangerous industries.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to suddenly increase the macroeconomic impetus in 1923.

(To be continued)