The work of salvaging the wreckage of the submarine was extremely difficult and almost impossible.

In order to further determine the submarine combat capability of the Qing Dynasty, the "Qing" Admiralty could only draw up a new plan, deliberately using old models of small-tonnage merchant ships to transport cheap materials, so as to attract the Japanese army to continue to use submarines for attacks.

Beginning on January 4, 1901, the Chinese army continued to sink a number of merchant ships in the waters around the island of Ryukyu Oshima, and the submarine force and surface fleet also frequently exchanged fire with the Pacific Fleet.

During this period, the Pacific Fleet did not rely too much on sonar systems, relying solely on depth charges to carry out submarine expulsion.

Although many transport ships were sunk continuously, many of them arrived on Ryukyu Oshima to replenish the garrison on Ryukyu Oshima in a timely manner.

At this stage, China's losses were enormous, and the results of the war were brilliant.

However, the Admiralty has basically figured out the surname and approximate number of submarines.

On the northeastern front, the Russian coalition forces have marched through Vladivostok to the Yanji and Mudan-Ula (Mudanjiang) areas, with a total of about 400,000 allied troops, mainly the Yueben army, and Yang Zongli is conducting interception operations in the area of Mudan Ula.

In February, when the northeastern climate began to enter extremely cold conditions, the two sides were forced to suspend their troops, and Kamoto immediately increased the attack on the Ryukyu waters, increasing the strength of two divisions and regiments, and launching a landing attack on Amami Oshima.

The Pacific Fleet and the Fujian-Zhejiang Corps have basically completed their integration, and they have continuously carried out joint operations to launch counterattacks and attacks on the Ryukyu Islands, and the troops invested by both sides on the Ryukyu Islands have reached 60,000.

On February 17, 1901, the army carried out a bloody massacre in Mingshan Town, where the Fujian and Zhejiang Corps had lost, causing the death of more than 6,000 local residents, and on February 25, the army used mustard gas shells on a large scale for the second time in the battle of Ryukyu County, causing a large number of civilian casualties.

In March 1901, the National Defense War Committee completed its plan ahead of schedule, expanding the number of reserve recruits to 1.14 million, the total strength of the army to 1.75 million, and the total strength of the navy to 320,000.

In order to make up for the shortage of firearms, the National Defense War Committee recalled a large number of Jiangnan series rifles from various countries in the South Seas, and purchased 350,000 Jiangnan Type 2 rifles and 645 light and medium-sized mountain howitzers from the United States.

During the same period, the scale of sales of national war bonds also reached 2.38 billion yuan, which was enough to meet the war expenditures.

Every day, every moment, there is too much pain and struggle hidden in Hu Chuyuan's heart, no one can understand his feelings, but he knows that although some sacrifices are painful, he must endure them.

Now is not the time for a full-scale counterattack.

The strategy of the Defense War Council remains unchanged...... Lure the enemy deep and annihilate them completely.

In early March, Hu Chuyuan secretly arrived in Ma'anshan by ship to inspect the progress of the 9701 follow-up project.

Now, the project has a new code name - "T series", that is, the mass production, logistics maintenance, overhaul and driver training of the T1, T2 and T3 models.

Ma'anshan County, the city of hope for China's heavy industry.

This new city is only 17 years old, but it is already China's largest steel production base and second largest heavy industry base, second only to Shanghai in terms of total heavy industry scale.

The Jiangnan Group, which was formed by the combination of Shanghai Heavy Industry and Shanghai Heavy Industry, is the largest heavy industry group in China, with more than 60 subsidiaries under its umbrella, as well as the huge Jiangnan Arsenal and Jiangnan Shipyard.

In order to adapt to the development of the Ma'anshan area, Ma'anshan was officially changed from a prefecture directly under the central government to a prefecture level, with the Yangtze River Mansion under its jurisdiction, under the jurisdiction of the Yangtze River New Area, Cihu County, Chaohu County, Dangtu County, He County and Hanshan County.

After arriving at the port by boat, Jiangnan Group specially greeted him with a self-produced Shenbao car, and let Hu Chuyuan feel the development momentum of domestic cars.

Among the countless cities along the Yangtze River, only this city is called Yangtze River City, and only this area is called Yangtze River Mansion, which shows how much Hu Chuyuan attaches importance to this place.

As the prime minister of a country, the biggest advantage is that you can create a city name and an overall plan according to your own vision.

Therefore, he can change Bazhou to Beiping New Area, set it as the new provincial capital and economic center of Hebei, and form a stable triangular city area with Yanjing and Tianjin to develop petrochemical, electrical and heavy industries.

He can set Kaifeng as the economic center of Henan, maintaining the status of the current provincial capital, and he can set Zibo as the economic center of Shandong, the future provincial capital.

He can set up Ningzhou, Shanshan and other Zhili prefectures in Xinjiang Province, and use local mineral resources to replace the traditional cities of Urumqi and Turpan.

In Anhui, he can focus on the construction of Huizhou according to his own preferences, he will be China's largest optical glass instrument manufacturing plant and the first camera manufacturing plant are located in Huizhou, Huizhou also has two stone coal power plants, a geothermal power plant, is preparing to build a large hydroelectric power plant, there is a vanadium industrial refinery in the local area, is also the largest nickel metal smelting base in China.

Through Huizhou's railway network, Wuhu and Yangtze River (Ma'anshan) are in the north, Huzhou and Hangzhou in the east, Jingdezhen in the west, and Jinqu Basin in the south.

Today's Huizhou is known as Little Shanghai, because Huizhou is also the area with the highest concentration of private capital in China, and the headquarters of Huishang Bank is located here.

Similarly, this new "Yangtze River City" on the map of China is also an emerging metropolis that will be destined to become the second largest city along the Yangtze River after Shanghai.

Because it has Hu Chuyuan's strong support.

Because it is a new city built by Hu Chuyuan, almost more than 70% of the population comes from other places, and 50% of the population has a junior high school degree or above, which is a special case in the whole of China.

China's first 110kV transmission line across the Yangtze River was designed for it, where more than 30% of the metal ore from Jiangxi and Anhui provinces was smelted, and where the headquarters of the China Metallurgical Corporation and China's largest arsenal, the Jiangnan Arsenal, were located.

It is the widest inland port along the Yangtze River, with more than 100,000 tons of cargo ships berthing wharf.

There are also many universities such as Yangtze University, University of Science and Technology of China, China University of Mining and Technology, Anhui Institute of Technology, and Anhui Vocational and Technical College.

Hu Chuyuan believes that in another 30 years, the Yangtze River and Nanjing will form the world's largest higher education center, providing enough professionals for the development of the entire Jiangnan.

Senova is the world's first van with more than 75 horsepower, as well as advanced EDM ignition technology, a four-cylinder water-cooled engine, and excellent shock absorption.

Riding in the Shenbao car, Hu Chuyuan was quickly convinced...... China's automobile industry is at the forefront of the world, and this is the case, the Jiangnan Automobile Factory manufactured this Shenbao and the new Buick car launched by General Motors and the new Mercedes-Benz car launched by the German Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company are completely printed from a mold, but the development of this model is completely carried out in Shanghai and the Yangtze River City.

Sitting in this epoch-making car, Hu Chuyuan's heart is very peculiar.

Looking through the window glass at the brand-new city buildings, he could feel it very clearly...... This is a new urban area completely different from Yanjing Hutong, New World, which is a beautiful industrial city like a garden.

Since the day the city was first established, the city has had seven large urban parks, five in the central area of the city and two in the new industrial area along the port.

Most of the city's architectural complexes are specially presided over by foreign firms and domestic designers, following the most traditional white-walled and black-walled style in Anhui, sometimes Westernized, sometimes modernized on the basis of tradition, or the traditional Ming and Qing architectural styles, and even imitation of the Tang and Han dynasties.

Here, even if you buy a piece of land by yourself, no matter what kind of building you build, it needs to be approved by the urban public committee, first of all, it depends on whether your design style is integrated with the urban style, and secondly, whether there is a supporting cleaning and sanitation system.

This is a trend of urban beautification that emerged in the United States in 1880 and is now spreading in China.

The reason why Hu Chuyuan's heart is peculiar is precisely that he saw that after 17 years of long-term investment, he finally saw the fruits of a bumper harvest in this new city.

The car drove on the spacious streets, looking at the bustling street markets on both sides, at the beautiful city square and the central sculptures, at the young students, at the wealthy citizens, at the cultural elements, at the busy workers...... Look at those stunning ten-storey buildings.

Hu Chuyuan was extremely satisfied and proud in his heart, and he really gained a special sense of achievement.

No one can deny that at least half of his credit is for this.

The 17-year-old new city has a population of 2.14 million, less than half of whom are agricultural, the vast majority of whom are workers, and which, combined with Shanghai's industry, accounts for almost 40 percent of China's steel production and shipbuilding tonnage.

If China could have ten new cities of this size, what other country in the world would dare to provoke China?

No, absolutely not, unless it wants to die, it has completely lost its mind.

Unfortunately, there are only three such large-scale industrial cities in China, namely Shanghai, Fuzhou and the Yangtze River, followed by Laiwu, Zibo, Tangshan, Tianjin, Anshan, Guangzhou, Haiphong, Hangzhou, Qingdao and Quanzhou.

The four cities of Laiwu, Zibo, Weifang and Qingdao combined, the scale of heavy industry is only the same as that of the first three industrial cities.

In order to expand the production capacity of armored vehicles of the Chinese Army, at present, the main production capacity and production lines are already concentrated in the city of Yangtze River.

The convoy that greeted Hu Chuyuan drove directly into the Ma'anshan Machinery General Factory, where the production capacity of armored vehicles was increased to 240 units per month.

After getting out of the car, Hu Chuyuan, accompanied by Zhang Xianghe, general manager of the General Machinery Factory, went directly to the tractor assembly workshop to visit.

Dozens of T2 infantry cannon armored vehicles are in the final stages of commissioning, more than a dozen self-propelled guns are being assembled, large barrels are being hoisted in mid-air by cranes, and the master in charge of welding and framing is measuring the pipe spacing.

Zhang Xianghe is the second batch of young children in the United States, a native of Wuxian County, Jiangsu, after graduation, he worked at the Carnegie Steel Works for two years, returned to China in 1890, and has been working as an engineer and workshop director at the Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Machinery Factory since then, and was promoted to the general manager of the Ma'anshan Machinery General Plant last year.

When he went to study in the United States in 1873, he was only 11 years old, and Rong Kui, Zeng Pu, and Tang Yuanzhan were all in the same session, and he was the youngest.

Now, at the age of 38, he is not only proficient in mechanical engineering science, but also has financial expertise and many years of factory management experience.

For Zhang Xianghe, Hu Chuyuan is not only his benefactor, but also the leader of the country, and the boss of his boss, which feels ...... It's intimate and complex.

He accompanied Hu Chuyuan all the way, and explained every detail to Hu Chuyuan.

Hu Chuyuan listened very satisfied, but also very happy, obviously, at present this production capacity can continue to increase, in the entire industrial system of the Yangtze River City, all parts of the three series of armored models can be produced locally, only the engine model is too special, completely belongs to the military industry, the processing accuracy and material selection are very fine, for the time being, can only be produced in Shanghai and Fuzhou.

Although Weifang Diesel Engine Factory has a production line, the current production efficiency is not very high, and many supporting materials and parts have to be purchased from Shanghai and Yangtze River City.

After Zhang Xianghe finished talking all the way, Hu Chuyuan found a simple iron stool in the workshop lounge and sat down, his heart was extremely happy, and he forgot the cruel facts on the battlefield for a while, as well as his cruelty and viciousness.

Because he knows that China can indeed win this war.

The answer is right in front of you.

As soon as he sat down, the Secret Service commissioners brought him hot tea.

Hu Chuyuan poured Zhang Xianghe a cup of tea with great interest, and asked casually: "Based on your experience over the years, do you think there is anything to be improved in the three models of armored vehicles?" ”

Hearing this, Zhang Xianghe couldn't help but be a little surprised, and said after a while: "Luo Guorui's ability is undoubted, it should be said that he is the best overall mechanical designer in our country, and his team should also be top talents in all walks of life." If you want me to look at it, the three models of armored vehicles are very good, however, the design did not take into account the problem of production, especially the No. 3 model, the turret design is too forward, the shooting is very stable, the production is difficult, it is difficult for workers to find the gun distance at one time, and it is difficult to dock. At present, the second car is indeed the most suitable model, the output is large, the surname can be stable, our mass production of the surname can be very reliable, the key problem of the third car is that the production capacity can not keep up, our factory is the largest in China, the monthly production capacity can not exceed 30 cars. ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't notice the problem.

He thought for a while, and said to Zhang Xianghe: "Did you tell Luo Guorui?" ”

"This ......?"

Zhang Xianghe was a little embarrassed and said: "He is in Fuguo Heavy Industry, let's not say, our Jiangnan Group has snatched more than half of the production contracts, and the people on the side of Fuguo Heavy Industry are already a little unhappy, and they have recently ...... I was a little embarrassed to talk to him, and when he came over to check the quality of production a few days ago, I had a fight with him. ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "At this juncture, everyone has to think about it." When you have time to contact him again, you tell him that I will not treat their heroes, let alone Fuguo Heavy Industries, and then you will talk to him about the problem of the gun barrel being too front-loaded. ”

Zhang Xianghe nodded, um, um, and said: "Okay, in this way, I will personally go to Laiwu and talk to him about some of the problems we encountered in production." In fact, to put it bluntly, everyone is a big faction, and the boss is not all you, so you don't care about these little things. ”

"Alas......!"

Hu Chuyuan hurriedly shook his hand and said, "How can the boss be me?" You must know in your hearts that I have divided you into four large groups, and in addition to the needs of regional economy and the expansion and development of the group, there is also a need for some market competition. Sooner or later, the four major groups will have to go public one after another, and your boss is all the shareholders and yourself. Like you, the general manager and chief engineer, you all have shares in your hands, and you feel that the amount is not very much, and once you go public, you are at least a millionaire, or even a multimillionaire. ”

Speaking of which, he remembered that JP Morgan once wanted to join forces with him to consolidate the entire electrical industry in the United States, and he said at the time that the market needs to compete.

He rejected JP Morgan on this ground.

Thinking of this, Hu Chuyuan also talked about it with Zhang Xianghe, which can be said to be idle talk, but it can also be said to be an exchange of business ideas, and he insisted on believing it...... Competition is the soul of the market.

Zhang Xianghe listened very carefully, to be honest, the opportunity to sit with Hu Chuyuan and talk about business is very rare, how can this imperial prime minister not be the most powerful businessman in the world?

He believed that many years later, as long as people talked about Hu Chuyuan, they would definitely associate Hu Chuyuan and Lü Buwei.

Hu Chuyuan still likes this Zhang Xianghe, not very shrewd, but very practical and fine.

It happened that the time was almost up, so Hu Chuyuan asked Zhang Xianghe to accompany him and go to the next stop to have a look.

Hu Chuyuan's next stop was the Ma'anshan branch of the Jiangnan Shipyard in the river port, which has just been reorganized into the Yangtze River Shipyard, where three 10,000-ton docks are being used to build the 10,550-ton Weiyuan-class battle cruisers.

Compared with the Liangzhou-class, Ningyuan-class 2-class battleships and Jinzhou-class second-class battleships, the manufacturing cost of the Weiyuan-class battlecruisers is very low, and the construction period is also reduced by 35%.

Since the Weiyuan class also has a 305mm caliber main gun, it can be arranged together with the main battleships, so at present, this class of warships is mainly being produced in China for the rapid expansion of naval strength.

Three docks can build six ships at the same time, all components are modeled production, making full use of the entire industrial system in Jiangnan, and three ships can be born every 7 months, or even about 6 months.

The speed at which this construction is going insane.

First of all, you have to be extremely rich.

This is the construction of the rush period, all the workers are rotated for you according to the three-shift system, 24 hours without stopping, and the cost of each Weiyuan class has to be at a premium of 30%, reaching 17.2 million yuan.

If it is a Liangzhou-class main battleship with a displacement of 12,000 tons, the premium for a single ship is at least 25%, and the price will not be less than 35 million clear yuan.

Hu Chuyuan's estimated total military expenditure is now 3 billion yuan, or about 500 million pounds, and a full-scale counteroffensive will start in July next year or in March of the following year.

Couldn't be more.

If it continues, the political axe will not be able to withstand it, and even if it does, the long-term damage to China's economy will be very serious.

His current plan is to try to achieve as many results as possible within the range of 3 billion yuan.

Therefore, he took the Weiyuan-class as the main warship addition project, which was cheap and easy to use, and it was basically enough to fight Russia, and he used submarines to fight France.

China's submarines are not as simple as Ben and France can imagine.

In the past ten years, the Chinese Admiralty's warship export contracts have been growing, in 1897 it has surpassed Britain, with a total export tonnage of more than 194,000 tons, most of which are based on the mature ship types of the Chinese Navy, according to the needs of other countries to carry out appropriate modifications, the early main export of destroyers, frigates, from 1895 began to export cruisers and battleships.

The main buyers are South America, Southeast Asia and other countries, especially China's vassal states, but also the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Spain and other backward powers, and even Australia.

In the continuous stimulation of domestic purchase and domestic demand, the production capacity of the Chinese industry is very strong, and the Yangtze River Shipyard alone has seven special docks for warships, three of which belong to the 10,000-ton class, two belong to the 5,000-ton class, and two belong to the 2,000-ton class.

This scale is still relatively the smallest of China's three major shipbuilding bases, and the scale of the two major bases in Fuzhou and Shanghai is even larger; in addition, Weihai, Qingdao, Tangshan, Haiphong, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Dalian, Tianjin, and Qinhuangdao all have a certain scale of shipbuilding capacity.

France says that Russia is also building ships on a large scale, and now they have to compete not only with whom they have more money, but also with whom they can build better and who can build more and faster.

After inspecting the Yangtze River Shipyard, it was already evening, but Hu Chuyuan did not stay here, but continued to take a special train to Fuzhou.

From the Yangtze River through Huzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, all the way south, through the Zhejiang-Fujian railway can reach Fuzhou.

That was Hu Chuyuan's last stop.

Between 1896 and 1898 to develop more than 40 systems engineering research and development plans, almost all ship-related projects fell in Fuzhou, in terms of production capacity, Fuzhou modern heavy industry is indeed inferior to Shanghai and Ma'anshan combined Jiangnan heavy industry, but in the shipbuilding technology and research and development skills, there is still a big gap between the two.

It can be said that almost all of China's best experts in ship design and systems engineering, ship dynamics, metal mechanical mechanics, internal combustion engine and steam turbine dynamics are in Fuzhou.

Hu Chuyuan put the 9603 series aircraft project in Zibo, Shandong, on the one hand, because Zibo has the largest aluminum industrial base in China, and on the other hand, in order to improve the level of Shandong's economy, but in terms of actual research and development, researchers are basically transferred from Fuzhou.

The reason why Fuzhou Heavy Industry is called "Hyundai Group" is precisely because it is the cradle of China's modern industry, and China's first system project ahead of the world - the Chunyu-class destroyer was born in Fuzhou, which has opened up China's advantages in the field of steam turbines and laid a solid foundation for the export of China's [***] ships.

The real rise of China's heavy industry...... In fact, it started in Fuzhou.

(To be continued)