The Combined Fleet of the Navy, which was completely annihilated by the Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War, was asked about the purpose of the naval plan, the naval side directly replied that it was a plan launched in retaliation against the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire.

With regard to the ambitious naval armament program that the Navy has tightened its belts and squeezed out, the Russian political axe has given support and understanding.

The Russian Far East Fleet is currently outnumbered by the Qing Imperial Navy, although it is outnumbered. But in less than two months, the Russian reinforcement fleet will arrive in the Far East, and then the Russian Far East Fleet will be used for the only battleship in the Far East, the great Sisoa, and the only large armored cruiser of more than 10,000 tons, the Russian, with more firepower than the Rurik. With the addition of these two warships, the Russian Far East Fleet will not be afraid of the threat of the Qing Imperial Royal Navy. The naval strength of the Zoben at this time was almost negligible, and despite the rapid expansion of the Navy, it would be three or four years before these new warships were completed and put into service, so the Russians were not too worried at the moment.

Although the Russians are not worried about threatening the Russian Far East Fleet in the short term, it does not mean that the Russian Navy is not prepared. However, the preparations of the Russian Navy are now only aimed at the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire.

Since the Russian Far East Fleet suffered losses in the Battle of the Great East Ocean and the Battle of the East Ocean one after another, losing five main warships, the total tonnage ranking of the Russian Far East Fleet fell out of the throne of the First Fleet in the Far East. In its place was the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire, which had just completed the merger of the Pacific Fleet and the Beiyang Naval Division, which was also the first time that the Qing Empire regained the title of the First Fleet in Yadong since 1890.

However, this title will disappear after two months, when the four battleships of the Russian reinforcement fleet, the Sisoya, the Russian, the Svetlena, and the Konilov, arrive in the Far East and join the battle sequence of the Russian Far East Fleet, then the Russian Far East Fleet will increase in strength and regain the title of the First Fleet in the Far East.

But the title has to change. Because in a few months, the two Dengyun-class battleships ordered by the Qing Empire in Britain will also be completed and returned to China, and at that time, once the two most powerful battleships in the world are put into service with the Qing Empire Navy, they will completely suppress the only battleship of the Russian Far East Fleet, the Sisoya, and the Russian Far East Fleet will be reduced to the second place again.

According to the rules of naval warfare, only battleships were able to sink battleships, and the Russian Far Eastern Fleet simply could not sink two Dengyun-class battleships and would face a serious threat. Moreover, for the Russian Navy, the shame brought to them by the Qing Imperial Navy must be washed with blood, and there is not a single Russian from Tsar Nicholas II down that does not want to take revenge.

After the end of the Qing-Russian War, although the Russian political axe focused on stabilizing the financial crisis and implementing the gold standard reform, the Russian side was not idle, and dreamed every day about how to take revenge on the Qing Empire.

The Russian War Department, former Minister of War, General Alekseev, has already left for the Far East, where he will be the Governor-General of the Far East and the Commander of the Russian Far East Fleet.

General Alekseev was succeeded by General Przhevalsky, former commander of the Transcaucasian Army Group and governor of Central Asia, who actively promoted the reform of the Russian army and corrected the shortcomings exposed in the Sino-Japanese war.

The Qing Empire's Beiyang Army used the advanced Mauser Type 95 rifle, forcing the Russian Army to completely eliminate the old and outdated 10.7 Bodan II M1880 rifle and completely replace it with a new 8.89 Nagan M1890 rifle.

The Makqin heavy machine gun has shown great power in this war, and each division of the Beiyang Army deploys 100 heavy machine guns, which has caused huge casualties to the Russian army, so Przhevalsky also asked to increase the existing 20 Makqin heavy machine guns in each division of the Russian infantry division to 50. At the same time, the Beiyang Army's Makqin heavy machine gun is equipped with an advanced steel plate shield, so the Russian army's Makqin heavy machine gun is also equipped with a shield defense, and the province suffers a loss when firing.

In terms of artillery, only one infantry division of the Russian army is equipped with 36 cannons, while an infantry division of the Beiyang Army is equipped with 54 cannons, and the number gap is too large. At the same time, the maximum caliber of Russian artillery was 120 mm, but the Beiyang Army of the Qing Empire had 150 mm heavy howitzers. This German-made Krupp heavy howitzer is not only powerful, but also uses a German-style rapid-fire system, and the rate of fire is also faster than that of the Russian 120 mm heavy gun, which makes the Russian army suffer a great loss in the artillery battle, and the infantry also suffers heavy casualties. To this end, Przhevalsky asked the tsar for funding for the design and development of army infantry cannons of the same caliber as a countermeasure, to which Tsar Nicholas II also agreed, and ordered the military factory to be responsible for research and development.

Regarding the issue of the formation of the Russian army, Przhevalsky also made a statement to the tsar, saying that the previous linear tactics are no longer applicable to contemporary warfare, and that in the Battle of Aihui, the Russian army that used linear tactics was gorgeously defeated by the Beiyang Army that used new tactics, and it must be taken seriously. Therefore, the Tsar ordered the War Department to study the structure and tactics of the Beiyang Army and formulate a set of plans that were in line with the Russian Army.

However, Przhevalsky saw that the formation of the Beiyang Army was very advanced, and was ready to move into the Russian army according to the gourd painting, but was opposed by the generals within the Russian army. At this time, the strength of a division of the Russian army was more than 16,000 people, while a division of the Beiyang Army was only 12,500 people. This was not allowed, because the general thinking of the Russian generals was still in the crowd tactics, plus they had not participated in the battles against the Beiyang Army, so they opposed Przhevalsky's reforms. And the tsar was also under pressure to ask Przhevalsky to postpone reforms in this area and focus on other aspects.

In this way, the Russian Army missed an opportunity to modernize and restructure.

In this Qing-Russian war, not only the Russian Army suffered a crushing defeat, but also the Russian Navy's Far East Fleet's fiasco made the Russian Admiralty also ashamed.

The Russian Admiralty was still Prince Alexandrovich, who did not go to the Far East with Admiral Alekseev, but resorted to staying.

It turned out that when Witte plotted to transfer Aleksayev and Aleksandrovich to the Far East, the two of them discussed countermeasures. Both of them must not both go to the Far East, where Witte will reign in St. Petersburg and no one will be able to stop him. Therefore, after deliberations, it was decided that Aleksayev should go to the Far East, while Prince Aleksandrovich said that he was ill. Since Aleksandrovich was Nicholas II's uncle, and Nicholas II could not force him to go to the Far East, he dragged it out until the end of the war and then canceled the order to let him go to the Far East, and Aleksayev acted as his sole agent.

Considering that the two Dengyun-class battleships built by the Qing Empire in Britain were about to be completed, once they returned to China, the Russian Far East Fleet would no longer have an advantage, and once an armed conflict broke out between the Qing and Russia again, the Russian Far East Fleet could not guarantee sea supremacy.

In response to this, Prince Alexandrovich proposed to the tsar to send new battleships to the Far East to strengthen the Far Eastern fleet.

However, the conundrum facing the Russian Navy was that none of the new battleships of the Russian Baltic Fleet could deal with the Dengyun-class battleships with a displacement of up to 16,000 tons. The battleships of the Russian Navy were mainly deployed in the Baltic and Black Seas, and were not suitable for deployment in the Far Eastern Pacific.

The first step in Nicholas II's "Great Navy" plan was to begin construction of three "Poltavaclass" battleships, a small warship modeled after the "Great Sisoy" in design, but built in a slightly smaller size, originally intended for use in the Baltic Sea, with the imaginary enemy of the new German armored cruisers. The most basic combat mission was to protect shipping lines in the Baltic Sea, to drive out and destroy the armored cruisers of the German Navy.

The Polvata-class battleships were completely inferior to the Dengyun-class battleships of the Qing Imperial Navy in terms of tonnage, speed, firepower, armor, or ocean-going seaworthiness, which were the newest battleships available in the Russian Navy and were not suitable for dispatch to the Far East.

The battleships under construction at the Russian Naval Shipyard have the surname of ocean-going seaworthiness in 1894, the construction of only one "Rotislav Class" (Rotislavclass), which can be regarded as a modified version of the "Great Sisoya", the main improvements are the secondary gun, the cancellation of the turret design and the return to the traditional silhouette, 3 on each side. This improvement also paid off, as the "Rytasrov" was excellent both in terms of nautical and stable due to the noticeable drop in the weight of the upper part of the hull. It is worth mentioning that the battleship was also experimentally installed by the Russians with a heavy oil and coal mixed boiler. The ship was originally planned to serve as the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet after completion, but at this time the Russian Admiralty had to consider transferring it to the Far East.

The "Rytasrov-class" was scheduled to be completed in April 1897, and the sea trials would take three months, but by then the two Dengyun-class battleships of the Qing Empire would also return to China. Calculate the time, barely in time.

However, despite the fact that the Russian Navy was equipped with two battleships for the Far Eastern Fleet, the Sisoya and Rytasrov were inferior to the Dengyun-class battleships in terms of firepower, tonnage, speed, and armor protection. In terms of firepower, the main guns of both sides are twin 40x diameter 305 mm guns, which is the same. But on the secondary guns, the Rytasrov class had six 152-mm guns, but the Dengyun class had twelve 152-mm guns. The third class guns of the Rytasrov class had only 12 47 rapid-fire guns against torpedo boats, while the Dengyun class had 16 88 mm rapid-fire guns, plus 8 47 rapid-fire guns and 4 37 rapid-fire guns, which was far stronger than the other side. Of course, the superiority of this three-stage rapid-fire gun could not pose a threat to the Rytasrov class and could be ignored.

In terms of tonnage, the Dengyun class is 16,000 tons, while the Rytaslov class has only 12,000 tons. The lack of tonnage created a gap in armor thickness and coverage between the two sides, and it is clear that the armor thickness and coverage of the Dengyun-class battleships were stronger than those of the Ryitasrov class.

In terms of speed, the Dengyun class can sail stably at a speed of 17 knots, while the Rytasrov class is still stuck at an unstable speed of 14~15.5 knots. When the Russian Navy built the Steam Engine System of the Rytasrov class, it still used the steam engine system of the previous Sisoya class, and did not take into account the tactical advantages brought by high speed, for this, the Russian Navy planned to improve the Peresvet class, the next stage of the Rytasrov class, that is, to start the era of high-speed battleships of the Russian Navy.

Therefore, even if the Russian Admiralty gave Sisoya and Peresvet to the Russian Far East Fleet, it would not be able to change the dominant position of the Qing Imperial Royal Navy.

To this end, the Russian Admiralty proposed to Tsar Nicholas II to build a new Russian battleship to fight against the Dengyun-class battleships, drawing on the theory of speed winning in the naval battle of Dadonggou, corresponding to this point of view of the three "Peresvietclass" high-speed battleships under construction in the Russian Navy.

However, this class of ships is similar to the American "Maine" class and is classified as a second-class battleship. This class is a first-class ship in Tsar Nicholas II's "Great Navy" program. In view of the lessons learned from the naval battles in the Yellow Sea, Tsarist Russia has come to the conclusion that in future naval battles, high-speed warships will undoubtedly gain tactical superiority. The Peresvet class is a fast battleship born under this theory.

Due to the fierce contradictions between Qing and Russia in the Far East, Tsar Nicholas II and Admiral Prince Alexandrovich hoped to equip the Russian fleet in the Far East with powerful battleships that could oppose the Qing Imperial Navy as soon as possible.

The Rytasrov-class was only an emergency, as it was completed almost at the same time as the Dengyun-class battleship, and could be deployed to the Far East at the same time to temporarily maintain the strength of the Russian Far East Navy.

Among the main Russian battleships after the Rytasrov class, only the "Peresvet class" can be built quickly, the first ship of this class began construction in December 1895, the Peresvet was expected to be completed in April 1898, and could be deployed to the Far East at the end of 1898 to resist the threat of the Qing Imperial Navy.

The Peresvet-class battleship is designed to reach speeds of up to 19 knots (the best among former dreadnoughts)! This speed is achieved thanks to the three-axis drive with a total of 14,500 horsepower. The class has a displacement of 12,693 tons, two twin 254mm Model 1891 main guns in the front and rear (its elevation angle can reach 35 degrees to hit targets at a greater distance), 11 6-inch broadside guns, 20 11-pounder rapid-fire guns, 20 3-pounder rapid-fire guns, 8 1-pounder rapid-fire guns, and 5 15-inch torpedo tubes.

The ship was full of firepower, the shape was majestic and tall, everything seemed to be so perfect, but it was not yet a match for the Dengyun-class battleship. In order to achieve high speeds, the Peresvet class sacrificed armor, and the armor thickness of the deck and turret was only 229mm. Of course, this is also something that can't be helped, after all, she only has 12,700 tons, which is 3,300 tons less than the Dengyun class, and there is no way to do it if the armor is thinner. It's just that the two twin 254 mm guns are naturally inferior to the twin 305 mm guns of the Dengyun class, but because the ship of this class has been launched, the overall design has been finalized, and if the 305 mm guns are replaced, it will affect its overall balance. Because the Peresvette-class battleships, like other Russian battleships, were designed by Russia to imitate French battleships, and they have a strong French flavor. The superstructure is unusually tall and large, and the center of gravity is already too high, and it is no longer possible to install large-caliber main guns. At the same time, the three tall chimneys she used for her high-speed boiler make her silhouette look huge.

Thin armor, small caliber of main guns, and excessively high superstructures all make the Peresvet-class battleships an excellent target for opponents in battle.

On January 3, 1897, with the approval of the Tsar, the Russian Admiralty decided to transfer the battleship Rytasrov, which would be built in April, to the Far East, where it would be attached to the Russian Far East Fleet and cooperate with the battleship Sisoya to fight against the two Dengyun-class battleships of the Qing Empire. At the same time, the tsar also approved the transfer of the three Peresvet-class battleships, which will be completed in April 1898 next year, to the Far East, when the Russian Far East Fleet will have five capital battleships, although none of them is a match for the Dengyun-class battleships, but the combined combat effectiveness of the five battleships will be higher than that of the other party.

However, with these alone, it is impossible to move towards a real naval power, because the Russians themselves are well aware of their lack of design and immaturity in details such as the design of the armor belt of the battleship and the arrangement of the ship's guns. And many advanced technologies, such as the "surface carburizing method" and the smelting of special steels, are not currently mastered by Russia.

In turn, the Russian Admiralty's investigation of their opponent, Wang Chenhao, the commander of the Qing Imperial Navy, was further detailed. During his trip around the world in 1896, Wang Chenhao used the abundant funds in his hands to loot almost all the advanced technologies of all countries in the world back to China, and was digesting and absorbing them.

What particularly frightened the Russian Admiralty was that Britain's strong support for Wang Chenhao made the naval industry of the Qing Empire under the leadership of Wang Chenhao progress rapidly. Therefore, the Russian Admiralty believes that in order to master the latest technology in the design and manufacture of battleships as soon as possible in order to enhance its own ability to manufacture and design warships, the Russians must not be arrogant, they must bow their arrogant heads and ask for help, and they urgently need to learn from foreign countries.

The Russians were well aware of their lack of technology in the manufacture of new battleships, so in the latter step, they also ordered all kinds of warships from Europe, as did the Navy, and learned from their strengths.

Russia and France have been close allies since the Franco-Russian Treaty of Alliance in 1891, and at that particular time, France was regarded by Russia as the best teacher of shipbuilding technology. However, the Russian Admiralty believes that France and Britain cannot pee in the same pot, and there is a great difference in naval shipbuilding technology between them, while almost all the warships of the Qing Imperial Navy were built in Britain, and Russia needs to learn British technology to fight against the Qing Imperial Navy.

However, apart from France, the arrogant and arrogant Russians have few friends in the whole world. So the Russians set their sights on the United States, because there is no conflict or contradiction between the United States and Russia, and they can build warships for Russia, and at the same time, Britain's technology is not limited to the United States, and Russia can learn some of the technology of the British Navy by building warships in the United States.

On January 8, 1897, Tsarist Russia decided to spend a huge amount of money to order a state-of-the-art battleship and an armored cruiser of various styles from the United States and France, and then ask them for design drawings and learn from relevant construction experience.

France and Russia were allies, so they agreed immediately. The French political axe even offered to use the best French shipyard, the Toulon shipyard, to build one of the most powerful battleships and an armored cruiser for Russia, and was willing to give all the design drawings.

However, after receiving the request of the Russian political axe, the US side had an ambiguous attitude, and did not say that it agreed, but it did not say that it refused, but only said that it was willing to talk to the Russian Admiralty first.

The reason for this was that the British political axe knew the real purpose of Russia's order of warships from overseas countries, and the British demanded a blockade policy against Russia politically, economically, and militarily. At the same time, the British also hinted that they did not want the United States to leak or transfer key technology to the Russians.

So, the American political axes considered that if they accepted the order of the Russian political axes, they would have to give them all the technical drawings, but the British were certainly not happy. If this affects Anglo-American relations and leads to a blockade of technology exports to the United States, it will certainly be detrimental to the United States. As a result, the US political axe and the Russian political axe began negotiations, and it was not easy for the two sides to reach an agreement, making the negotiations a long-term tug-of-war.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Yanjing, Prince Gong's Mansion.

Although Wang Chenhao set up the Royal Navy Staff Headquarters, he actually emptied the rights of Prince Gong, the Minister of the Navy, and made him an ornament. But as long as Wang Chenhao does not rebel, he has to visit Yi according to etiquette and report some naval affairs to him.

In the Yinluan Hall of Prince Gong's Mansion, Wang Chenhao has the usual practice to report the previous year's work plan to the Minister of the Navy at the beginning of each year, as well as to declare the financial budget for the next year.

Unfortunately, Wang Chenhao entered Beijing and let Prince Qing find out, but this guy followed Wang Chenhao to Prince Gong's Mansion with a dead face.

Last time, Wang Chenhao was forcibly dragged to his house to watch a play and fight horses, but Wang Chenhao lost to Yixuan for 30,000 taels of silver, and lost to Gangyi and Qu Hongzhen for more than 10,000 taels.

Yixuan, Gangyi, Qu Hongzhen and others, who had tasted the sweetness, sent a telegram to Wang Chenhao every once in a while, asking when they would return to Beijing. Wang Chenhao knew that these guys were waiting to ask him for bribes, so of course he had to excuse himself.

This time I entered Beijing, I don't know where the news leaked, but this Yixuan ear is very smart, and he can block Wang Chenhao squarely.

In the Yinluan Palace, Wang Chenhao reported to Yi about his work, and Yi Liang stayed bored and ate fruit next to him, waiting for Wang Chenhao to finish his business.

"Lord Wang, last year, the various expenses of the various departments of the Admiralty and the Royal Navy totaled 36.55 million taels of silver, and the imperial court allocated 4.22 million taels of silver, and owed 32.33 million taels, I don't know when the imperial court will be able to make up the arrears?"

Although Wang Chenhao paid for the navy himself, he still had to ask the imperial court to give him an IOU, and once the imperial court wanted to accept his rights, he would have to say it.

Yi sighed bitterly in his heart, the Royal Navy spends 36.55 million taels of silver a year, and the Qing Zheng Axe's financial revenue last year was only 120 million taels (due to inflation), excluding various expenses, the imperial court can only allocate 4.22 million taels to the Navy Yamen, which is too bad. A dignified country, it is not as rich as Wang Chenhao alone, it is really a loss of face.

"The court is in difficulty, Lord Wang has to bear some of it, and he owes it first!"

Wang Chenhao's face was suddenly full of distress, and he said: "I can't hold on to such a debt year after year!" ”

Yi smiled and said: "Lord Wang is polite, you have tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket, and only tens of millions of taels of silver, isn't it a drop in the bucket for you, a rich man?" ”

Wang Chenhao smiled bitterly: "The prince doesn't know anything! I made a fortune last year, but I spent most of it on the war against Russia. You can see enough to buy the Pacific Fleet and pay for the military expenses of the Beiyang Army, which cost no less than 20,000 taels of silver. It's true that I'm rich, but it's a surname, and it's gone when it's spent, isn't it? ”

Yi said: "Didn't Lord Wang run hundreds of foreign affairs companies in one go? Zhili Iron and Steel Company, Beiyang Ordnance, Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, Beiyang Science and Technology, etc., many of them can't remember their names. ”

Wang Chenhao shook his head and said, "Come on, Lord Wang!" Last year's war, the imperial court still owes Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry 70 or 80 million taels of silver for arms and ammunition? There are also the expenses of the eight towns of the Beiyang Army, the imperial court asked the governor of Zhili, Lord Li Hongzhang, to raise it by himself, but Lord Li asked me to pay it first, and now I have to owe you this, how much silver does this add up? How can I have the money to make it? ”

Wang Chenhao cried poor in front of Yi, of course, this is pretending, and the actual expenses are not so much, this is just a trick that Wang Chenhao deliberately used to card the court.

Yi smiled and said, "Can Lord Wang work hard?" This is to serve the imperial court, the emperor and the queen mother will definitely know your hard work, don't worry, sooner or later it will be returned to you! ”

Wang Chenhao said with a bitter face: "Of course I am willing to serve the imperial court, but it is not a way to go on like this, I have no entry here, only an exit, this sooner or later I have to sit and eat empty, and I will not be able to help the court at that time!" ”

How could Yi not understand what Wang Chenhao meant, it was nothing more than asking for privileges.

"What Lord Wang said is very true, this makes the cows work, and they have to be fed with grass, right? That's good, the king can't take care of things outside the Admiralty! This king doesn't know much about the affairs of the Admiralty, so you can help this king more if you are big or small. As for the problem of the expenses of the Admiralty, if Lord Wang has a way to solve it, this king is grateful. ”

Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "What the prince said is extremely true! I have an idea here, I want you to help! ”

Yi's heart suddenly tightened, and it would not be a small favor to secretly ask Wang Chenhao to help, but he still smiled and said: "Lord Wang said to listen to it!" ”

Wang Chenhao then said: "The prince also said just now, this makes the cow work, and it has to be eaten with grass, right?" I have a way, if the imperial court can give all my foreign companies tax exemption, then I also have income, and I can help the Admiralty solve the problem of funding first! ”

Yi was just stunned for a moment, but fortunately he was mentally prepared, and quickly said: "That's it? Yes! This king will go to help the king talk to the emperor and the queen mother! ”

Wang Chenhao hurriedly thanked: "Then thank you to the prince!" ”

Yi waved his hand and said, "Thank you, is this king also for the Admiralty?" ”

Yi Xuan, who had been eating fruit and waiting, saw that Wang Chenhao and Yi had finished talking about business, so he immediately shouted: "It's finally over!" How about it, Lord Wang, the sixth prince, two laps? ”

Yi turned to Wang Chenhao and asked with a smile, "Is Lord Wang interested?" ”

Wang Chenhao secretly scolded Yixuan in his heart for being shameless, but since Yiken helped Wang Chenhao's company to tax exemption, this was a great joy, which was equivalent to helping Wang Chenhao save a lot of expenses. Wang Chenhao was happy in his heart, and saw that Yi also wanted to play, so he said: "Since the two princes have this Yaxing, then the lower officials will accompany the two to play two rounds!" It's just that it seems to be missing one! ”

Yixuan smiled and said: "Prince Li and Gangyi must be at home, I will send someone to call one over!" ”

Yi waved his hand and said, "Why do you have to go near and far, Yun Tong is at home!" ”

Then, Yi called: "Come on, go and call Gege over!" ”

(To be continued)