The southbound fleet soon joined up with three light cruisers and six Jiujiang-class destroyers "Poyang," "Dongting," and "Chaohu," which were training at sea, in the East China Sea, forming a complete fleet and heading southward quickly.

Sa Zhenbing has been paying attention to the pocket battleship Jiangsu, and he is also full of doubts about the design of the battleship, especially looking at the main gun, with a look of regret, he seems to say to himself: "It's a little small, but it's already very powerful." ”

The lieutenant colonel naval officer has been accompanying Sa Zhenbing, after all, as the commander of the navy, Li Navy has to closely monitor all kinds of data on the warship's sea trials in the fleet command cabin. The lieutenant colonel smiled and said: "Sa Lao, don't look at the main gun, it is only ten inches, but it is a serious 58 times the diameter, the power is no worse than the 12-inch or even 13-inch naval gun, and the maximum firing range can reach nearly forty kilometers." Battleships in general are not necessarily our opponents yet. ”

Sa Zhenbing was taken aback and said in surprise: "So powerful? "I was also a little suspicious. looked at the lieutenant colonel, but the more he looked at it, he always felt a little familiar, and couldn't help but say, "Young man, I seem to have seen you." ”

The lieutenant colonel smiled: "Yes, Sa Lao." I used to serve on the ship Haiqi as a second lieutenant in the Navy at the time. ”

Sa Zhenbing suddenly remembered, patted his head and said: "Ding, Ding Peng, graduated from the Tianjin Navy Martial Arts Hall, and is from Jiangsu. ”

Ding Peng smiled: "Sa Lao, you still remember me." After you resigned, the younger generation couldn't get used to the civil war, and the navy was like a wall grass, and I was not a Fujian person, and I couldn't get reused, so I went to the U.S. Navy Academy for further study, and I originally wanted to go to the United Kingdom, but at that time, the European war had broken out, so I could only go to the United States. ”

Sa Zhenbing said with a sense of feeling: "Yes." The navy has been too bad all these years, but can the navy be blamed for this? The navy is a gold-swallowing beast, and in order to keep the ships and the existence of the navy, only whoever gives money can take refuge in whomever he wants. If you have milk, you are a mother, and if I am in that position, I am afraid that I can only do this. ”

Ding Peng sighed: "This situation will never return. Our Navy now has its own shipbuilding industry, and the Commander-in-Chief will soon unify the country and end the civil war. There was no civil war, and the important surnames of the navy would be prominent. As he spoke, he stepped forward and whispered, "The commander-in-chief is very dissatisfied with the concession. ”

Sa Zhenbing's heart was shocked, he knew very well what this meant? The great powers were not good men and women, and if they wanted to reclaim the concessions and abolish the unequal treaties, it would mean war, and war would mean that the sea would be at the forefront. He was not afraid of fighting, but he was worried about this young navy, and couldn't help but say, "It's just that our navy is still too weak." ”

Ding Peng smiled and said, "That's not necessarily. Sa Lao, are you surprised that the head and tail of this 'Jiangsu' are a lot empty? ”

"Oh? Isn't this a design flaw? Sa Zhenbing's spirit was shocked, he had already felt strange, what was he doing with such a large piece of space? You could have installed two more main gun turrets. It's not weird anymore, it's just weird, it's weird. Later, he felt that it might be the first time that China had designed a battleship, and a little flaw was acceptable, but he was too embarrassed to mention it, after all, he had already left the navy.

Ding Peng laughed and said, "How is it possible? To tell you the truth, we are fully capable of producing naval guns of a larger caliber, and there are two fortress groups in Shanghai, and the 406 mm cannon is placed, which is 52 times the diameter, as long as it hits, even the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship and the Michinoku will be fed to the bottom of the sea. ”

Sa Zhenbing was stunned, he never dreamed that China would be able to produce such a powerful and terrifying cannon, he naturally knew that the larger the multiple diameter of the artillery, the longer the range, the higher the accuracy, and the stronger the penetration. His heart was hot, and the huge question in his heart was like a cat scratching him, and he asked urgently: "Why?" ”

Ding Peng said with a smile: "The main guns of our battleship are used to deal with enemy cruisers, and such powerful firepower is definitely a kill." Our real killer weapon against the enemy's giant ships is there. "The point of my finger is the open space in front of the warship.

Sa Zhenbing originally thought that Ding Peng would say that he would use torpedoes against the enemy's capital ships, but he didn't expect to point to a blank deck. However, he soon noticed that something was wrong, there was indeed nothing on the deck, but he seemed to see a huge rectangular gap, and said in shock: "There is a huge cannon hidden underneath?" ”

Ding Peng smiled bitterly: "Sa Lao, this is top secret. The Commander-in-Chief has a strict order that it shall not be disclosed to anyone except with the permission of the Commander-in-Chief and the Commander-in-Chief, and shall be punished as treason. ”

Sa Zhenbing's mouth was wide open, and he couldn't say a word for a while. At first, a wave of anger rose in his heart, but then only a wry smile remained, he was no longer the commander of the navy in the past, or even a member of the navy. So, he changed the subject and said, "Can you deal with the Michinoku?" ”

Ding Peng hesitated for a moment, then pondered and said, "Theoretically, it can sink any warship in the world." ”

Sa Zhenbing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good." "This weapon has not been subjected to any actual combat, so of course it can only be theoretical. In order to avoid suspicion, he changed the topic and said: "How did I find that there are many small-caliber guns on the warship, as well as many groups of anti-aircraft weapons. ”

Ding Peng smiled: "Yes." There are eight twin 40-mm high-level dual-purpose machine guns, eight twin 20-mm machine guns and eight twin 12-mm and 7-mm machine guns, which are mainly for air defense. ”

"Air defense!?" Sa Zhenbing frowned, "Those wooden shelves? ”

Ding Peng smiled bitterly: "Yes, the commander-in-chief and the commander are very strict with the air defense of warships, and each warship is equipped with a large amount of anti-aircraft firepower. Actually, I don't understand either. ”

Sa Zhenbing sighed and said, "It seems that the navy is short of professionals. No, these must be changed, I can't say that I don't want this old face, and I have to bring a group of talents to the navy, and I can't let such a good ship be ruined. ”

Ding Peng hesitated slightly: "Sa Lao, I don't think you are good, the commander-in-chief takes a fancy to you, but he doesn't seem to appreciate the rest of the old navy." ”

"Why?" Sa Zhenbing was very annoyed, in his opinion, this was **naked discrimination, what happened to the old navy? Naturally, he couldn't get an answer from Ding Peng, so he angrily looked for Li Haijun to theorize.

After hearing Ding Peng's apologetic report, Li Haijun said with a serious expression: "Because it's very simple." The commander-in-chief wants a Chinese navy, not a Fujian navy! ”

In this era, the Min system was the backbone of the Chinese navy, and almost all the elites came from the Min system. In addition to the fact that the Fujian faction has produced a large number of talents, it is also true that the Fujian faction is rejecting other naval talents, suppressing other factions, and becoming a dominant force. Ding Peng, for example, is an example of exclusion.

Li Haijun's words were a bolt from the blue for Sa Zhenbing, and he didn't react for a long time.

"The Navy needs talent, but what it needs more is loyalty. What the Commander-in-Chief needs is a navy that is loyal to the Commander-in-Chief and to the country. There is no doubt that the Commander-in-Chief will do his best to build a powerful navy capable of defeating any enemy, at least in East Asia. In order to build such a powerful fleet, we need talents, and we need to be able to make the best use of our talents, and we will never allow the bad incidents of factional disputes suppressing talents, let alone the situation that factional disputes will pull the fleet away because of the conflict of will. What is a Jiangsu-class pocket battleship? In the eyes of the Commander-in-Chief and me, it was not a real battleship at all. ”

"A real battleship?"

Li Haijun said lightly: "That's right. A real super battleship, which should have a displacement of more than 40,000 tons and a main gun caliber of more than 400 mm, will be an unsinkable and invincible steel fortress at sea, an unprecedented war machine. Such a powerful weapon costs more than 100 million oceans. If such a powerful and expensive weapon cannot guarantee the absolute loyalty of the commander, how can the commander-in-chief hand over to him such a powerful weapon of the country, which is the result of the brainchild of countless talents, and which has cost hundreds of millions of people taxes? Even if he is loyal, but a narrow-minded person who excludes dissent for the sake of power, the commander-in-chief does not think that he can become a great weapon. This is because narrow-minded people are bound to be short-sighted, and they often weigh their personal gains and losses at critical moments, while ignoring the strategic needs of the country. ”

Sa Zhenbing was extremely shocked, he couldn't imagine how powerful and terrifying a huge ship with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons and a main gun of more than 400 mm was terrifying, and that power would definitely make the opponent desperate. He himself was born in the Fujian family, and he naturally knew those things in the Fujian family, and he himself was a little blind, which was originally a taboo at the top, especially Li Bufan. It is not a secret that Li Bufan's hard-line reorganization of the army is to break up and reorganize almost all the armies of the 14 provinces in the south in order to avoid the emergence of warlords, and even the recruitment and distribution of soldiers are in the hands of the General Staff Headquarters. The Fujian Navy is indeed excellent and talented, but it is really a taboo, no wonder people would rather start from scratch, he also knew that Li Bufan still extended an olive branch, but those guys didn't know how to bargain, which completely disappointed Li Bufan. The equipment of the navy is too expensive, for example, if you really want to build that kind of super battleship, one is hundreds of millions, and the loyalty of the warship commander is the minimum requirement, but the old navy is like grass on the wall, does Li Bufan dare to hand it over to them? If the other party falls to the enemy again, won't it become an enemy? A super weapon made by tightening your belt becomes your own talisman?

And the Chinese naval circles have been completely boiling, and the appearance of Jiangsu, Nanjing, and Shanghai in Shanghai has been published in the newspapers, which has made all the domestic navies crazy. Who doesn't know the situation in China? Nanjing's political axe is the strongest, and it already has the capital to unify the whole country, they did not immediately go over, that is, they were ready to wait for the price to sell, but now all the reserve was immediately thrown to the country of Guawa, and directly sailed to Fujian

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