Weihaiwei, after Sima Shu secretly came to Qingzhou, he quietly came to the famous Weihaiwei in the company of Li Xiong, which is now just a small fishing village on the coast.

Later, Weihaiwei is located at the northeast end of the Shandong Peninsula, bordering the Yellow Sea, connecting Yantai and Penglai in the west, and the Lushun mouth of the Liaodong Peninsula across the Bohai Strait in the north.

The topography of Weihaiwei is very special, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and only the east side has an exit. And Liugong Island is right in the middle of this exit. It's like a U-shape that has been put down, and then at the exit point, there is a little more. This point is the dangerous terrain of Liugong Island.

The area of Liugong Island is about four square kilometers, high in the middle and low on all sides. The highest mountain, Qiding Mountain, with an altitude of more than 100 meters, overlooks the whole island and controls the two waterways around Liugong Island. Most of the island is densely wooded, with fresh air and pleasant views. However, people who come to Liugong Island will not pay attention to the woods, the air, and the scenery here. What they pay attention to is only the military value of Liugong Island.

From the perspective of military geography, such terrain is a typical easy to defend and difficult to attack. Since the Ming Dynasty, it has been a military fortress. Historically, it was also a sea base for the Tatars to harass the Shandong Peninsula. Because the terrain here is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming army is worse than that of tofu dregs, the Ming Dynasty has never been able to drive away the shoes on Liugong Island in history.

Due to the dangerous terrain of Weihaiwei and the fortifications like Liugong Island, therefore, during the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War. Even the Japanese army did not dare to attack Weihaiwei from the front, but bypassed Rongcheng Bay and launched an attack from land. It's a pity that the Qing army's land and water coordination is too poor, and the army's combat effectiveness is also inferior to tofu scum.

For modern Chinese soldiers, the Sino-Japanese War is like a huge pillar of shame, firmly nailed to modern history. After the founding of the People's Republic of China Liugong Island has become a famous patriotic education base. Sima Shu once visited here.

The Beiyang Naval Division is the first modern navy in the true sense of the word in Chinese history, and the Admiral Yamen of the Naval Division is on Liugong Island. Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, inspected the Beiyang Navy twice on Liugong Island, but unfortunately, the failure of the Beiyang Navy is an eternal pain in the hearts of the Chinese people!

There are lessons from past lives. Sima Shu is certainly not prepared to repeat the mistakes of the past. In the future, whether it is to go north to conquer the Xianbei people in Liaodong. Or eastward into the Korean Peninsula. Even to the southeast to capture Dongying, Weihaiwei is the most ideal naval base. Liugong Island is the gateway to Weihaiwei, and of course it is necessary to strengthen its defense. He wants to build Liugong Island into an unsinkable warship.

Of course, maritime defense is indispensable for batteries and the like. Forts should be set up in Qiding Mountain in the center of Liugong Island, Huangge in the west, and Donghong Island in the east. The cannons used, of course, were large-caliber heavy guns with ultra-long firing ranges. With the power and range of heavy artillery, it is enough to block the waterways on both sides of Liugong Island.

When building the fort, Sima Shu introduced some ideas from later generations and prepared to build it into a permanent fortification. On top of each gun emplacement, a protective roof was built. The top floor is made of cement and steel structure, which is again more than a foot long. With the current power of artillery, such a protective layer is enough to withstand direct fire from breech-loading guns.

Of course, passive defense will certainly not ensure the safety of Weihaiwei. Historically, the Manchu Qing Dynasty blindly retreated and blindly defended, which eventually led to the annihilation of the Beiyang Naval Division. Offense is the best defense. Only the initiative to attack will nip any possible danger in the bud.

In a future war, Sima Shu actually did not want to use these batteries on Liugong Island, he hoped that the enemy's warships would not have a chance to get close to Weihaiwei Port at all.

Due to problems with transportation, the artillery needed for the construction of the battery was still on its way. At present, only a large number of people on the island are working on the infrastructure, including the future Governor's Mansion and the garrison camp.

In order to speed up the construction of the navy, Sima Shu transferred the elite of 3,000 Xiang troops and transformed them into marines.

In the matter of building the navy, except for Sima Shu himself, I am afraid that no one can help him. After inspecting the base of Liugong Island, Sima Shu returned to Weihaiwei. There is another very important thing waiting for him here.

"How's the construction of the dock?" Sima Shu asked the new Qingzhou Thorn Shi Shanjian.

Shan Jian, the word Ji Lun, Hanoi Huairen, the fifth son of Shantao, and Ji Shao, Liu Mo, Yang Huai are equally famous. At first, Shanjian was not reused by the imperial court, but was recommended to the prince by his friend Ji Shao, and was reused by the prince. After the pacification of Qingzhou, the prince transferred the mountain to serve as the assassin of Qingzhou and became the parent official of the ruling party.

"Your Royal Highness, there are already five berths under intense construction, and it is expected that they will be put into use in half a month." Although Shan Jian was born in a family, he has long been subjugated to the prince's eloquence, and now his greatest wish is to create a new prosperous era of Dajin under the leadership of the prince!

"Too little, this is not enough, we have to speed up the intensity of construction. Is it a lack of money? If the money is not enough, Lone will ask the cabinet to allocate another part of it. Sima Shu frowned and said.

"It's not a matter of money, it's just that everyone is not familiar with it at the beginning, and it has delayed a lot of families, and I believe that after the craftsmen and people are familiar with the process, the speed will be raised!" Shan Jian replied unhurriedly.

Since the end of May, the navy has been vigorously building a naval base on Liugong Island. Transport trucks brought large quantities of cement, pig iron and other building materials from the rear. A large number of young men recruited from the vicinity of Weihaiwei joined the construction of the naval base. The salary offered by the Qingzhou Thorn History Department is 30 wen a day, and two meals a day are also managed, which is very popular with the local people.

The most important measure for the naval base, of course, is the port. Weihai Weijun Port is planned to have 50 berths, which can berth 50 large warships at the same time.

Of course, in order for the military port to play its role, it is also necessary to strengthen the construction of the port's supporting facilities. Today's Weihai Weijun Port is just a blank sheet of paper. In order to build a logistics base for the navy, it is necessary to invest huge funds and manpower.

In order to save resources and speed up construction, the imperial court directly built a cement kiln near Weihaiwei to provide enough cement for the construction of Weihaiwei on the spot. At the same time, a large ironworks were built to make large-scale iron smelting using nearby iron ore. The daily output of pig iron in this ironmaking plant is more than 1,000 catties.

In general, Weihai Weijun Port is far from being truly perfect, and it still needs a lot of time and money. However, once all the ports, batteries, repair plants, barracks, and training bases are all built, Weihaiwei Port will become an unsinkable warship.

According to the plan, the future Weihaiwei Port is a common military base for the Navy and the Marine Corps. The navy is mainly located on Liugong Island, and the marines are mainly stationed in Weihaiwei. In the nearby Fushan and Wendeng, one of the marines stationed in each city happened to defend the land security of Weihaiwei Harbor from both wings.

This time, Sima Shu came to Qingzhou not only to inspect the naval base, but also to visit the Marine Corps. In ancient times, the Chinese army only paid attention to land, and unless it was a coincidence, the Chinese dynasties rarely paid attention to naval construction.

In order to appease the Marines who had just been converted from the army, Sima Shu specially rushed over from Luoyang to show his attention to the navy. As soon as he arrived at the Marine Corps camp, Sima Shu found that although the military appearance and discipline displayed by the team members were good, their mental outlook was too poor.

Everyone seemed to be stunned, and Sima Shu knew in his heart that they were resistant to this order from the imperial court. Just like Zhu Zheng, the first governor of the Marine Corps, he just transferred from the army to the navy. This made him extremely dissatisfied, and now when he saw the prince, he couldn't help but vomit bitterness.

"Your Highness, you can spare the little one! Would you rather go to Bingzhou to fight the Huns than sit here as some kind of marine? ”

"Hehe, don't be impatient, don't be impatient, Zhu Duwei, the imperial court transferred you over to take on the heavy responsibility of building the Marine Corps, how can you run away without a fight? Anyway, you are also a top student of the Chang'an Army Officer Academy, you don't even have this courage, right? ”

"Your Highness, this is not a matter of courage, the minister really doesn't want to be a navy, and Weichen still wants to command the cavalry to fight the Hu people!"

"Captain Zhu, maybe you think that the navy has no future, but I want to tell you that in less than ten years, the navy will become as important as the army. How? You don't believe it? Why don't we make a bet? Five years, you stay here, and after five years, if you want to return to the Army, Lone will promise you to leave, how about it? But in the past five years, you have to run this place for Lonely! ”

Zhu Zheng hesitated for a long time, but finally agreed to the prince's bet, and in this way, under the coaxing and deception of Sima Shulian, he finally appeased the head of the Marine Corps. In the next few days, Sima Shu frequently went in and out of the Marine Corps camp, observing the training work of the troops and talking with the officers and men at the grassroots level, so that they could lay down their burdens and devote themselves to their work.

Seeing that the morale was high, Zhu Zheng also arranged tactical drills in a series of subjects, such as armed cross-country, grappling and fighting, live ammunition shooting, climbing, and armed swimming.

These people were all professional soldiers, so they quickly received new training subjects, and under the strict training of instructors, their military qualities and individual combat effectiveness were greatly improved.

After inspecting the Marine Corps, Sima Shu once again rushed non-stop to the newly built shipyard, how can there be no ships with the navy! China's shipbuilding industry ushered in a peak in the Han Dynasty, among which the Han Dynasty building ships occupy a very important position in the history of Chinese shipbuilding. (To be continued......)