The two major groups in the north and south of the Central Plains are still facing each other with heavy troops, but it has gradually turned into a war of words.

Arms dealers from various countries receive a certain number of orders in the northern bloc, but in the southern bloc there are almost no decent orders. This is because the southern bloc only wants heavy artillery to equip the army, and heavy artillery that can exceed 100 mm is prohibited from being exported to China by agreement of various countries. As for the 75 mm field artillery, although the power is also good, the southern group has replaced it with a large number of heavy mortars of 105 mm caliber, the firing range is not much different, and the power is even stronger, that is, the accuracy is a little worse, but it is more light and flexible. The most terrible thing is that later the Southern Group actually built its own 75-mm cannon.

War correspondents, on the other hand, have gradually become numb from the excitement at the beginning, and the whole thing is that they don't practice just talking, and the news has lost their interest, and if no one pays attention to the newspaper, it can't sell it, and it loses its meaning. On the contrary, the Southern Group developed the Zhongyuan oil field in Puyang, which is very close to the front line, and it and the Jianghan oil field in Hubei ended China's oil-free history, and the attention of the two oil fields is far more concerned than the endless confrontation between the north and the south. The oil field was developed by Xinghua Petroleum Company, and the major shareholders of this company are Li Bufan, the number one person in Nanjing's political axe, and Wu Di, the mysterious military advisor of the second person. Even the great powers did not make a move, and no country was willing to do it for the sake of an oil field to provoke a commander with a million-strong army, let alone a consortium that would go to death.

What really stunned countries was the development of China's steel industry. Originally, Nanjing Zhengaxe planned the construction of a large number of transportation systems, and steel companies from all over the world were grinding their fists to win rail orders. By July 1923, the steel output in southern China had exceeded three million tons, including two million tons at the Maanshan Iron and Steel Mill. In addition, the Panzhihua Iron and Steel Plant, the Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant, and the Hanzhong Iron and Steel Plant at the Jinsha River ferry have also been put into operation, and soon an annual output of 300,000 or 400,000 tons will soon be formed, which will not only be enough to meet China's current development needs, but also export a small amount.

And the next thing that makes countries unbelievable is that Nanjing political axe ordered the construction of thousands of small hydropower stations, planning to build hundreds of medium-sized hydropower stations, and more than a dozen large hydropower stations have begun to start, and the development of related enterprises is very rapid, Wuhan's hydropower generator factory is very large, almost all the night rush to produce generators, almost all the orders, related enterprises in various countries soon found that Wuhan generator factory is not so huge production capacity, Instead, they sent countless orders for parts to Germany, which had difficulties in machines after the defeat, and they easily completed the order, and more than 20,000 additional assembled workers were also familiar with the equipment, and soon changed careers to become hydropower station workers, Wuhan Hydropower Generator Factory was able to produce these equipment, but the actual production capacity was not even one-twentieth of the order to meet these orders, and such a small factory robbed a huge order, so that the power giants had the urge to vomit blood. But the huge number of orders soon made the Wuhan generator factory develop rapidly.

Then there is the development of the construction industry, a large number of railway construction plans, detonated the building materials industry, in addition to the original East China cement building materials factory, South China soon emerged South China building materials factory, Southwest building materials factory, Central Plains building materials factory, cement production is changing with each passing day, and the quality is excellent, brick and tile production scale is large, attracting countless labor. And the price of materials in these industries is not high, the equipment is simple, the ocean-going trade is not profitable, and there is almost no soup left for the powers.

The most important thing is that Nanjing Zhengaxe took the lead in raising private capital to build industrial zones, with the support of electricity, industrial development by leaps and bounds, the construction of factories drove a large number of labor, and the industry found that it needed a large number of workers, and China's cheap industrial raw materials, cheap workers' wages, and because Li Bufan had the experience of serving in the army and fighting for Germany, under the media propaganda, attracted a large number of unemployed workers and technicians in Germany who fell into almost collapse after the defeat of the economy. As a result, an industry composed of advanced technology, advanced equipment, advanced management, cheap raw materials, and cheap wages has been formed, and such products have rapidly seized the Chinese market, causing the trade of various countries, especially its own industry and commerce, to suffer a heavy blow in China's trade.

What shocked the countries was the development of China's navy, and the Nanjing political axe mobilized more than 100,000 people to build a shipyard in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province in a short period of time. At first, the great powers did not pay attention, and when they paid attention, it was already the spring of 1923, and the Jiujiang Shipyard completed three 5,000-ton light cruisers and six destroyers, and when they found out, they found that there were still three 8,000-ton heavy cruisers and three 12,000-ton pocket battleships in this shipyard in a hurry to assemble and manufacture, and it was almost completed, and the powers also discovered that China was actually able to manufacture heavy artillery, and even the main guns of battleships could be manufactured. There are also a large number of unemployed German shipbuilders, and of course there are more Chinese

"Baga, there are so many warships in China, and you didn't know anything before?"

In the Shanghai concession, Kenji Tohihara was furious, and he was eager to break Watanabe, who was in charge of collecting intelligence in South China, into pieces. This is an extremely serious incident for Yuben, who has been curbing the development of China's navy because it is an island country, and once it is developed by China's navy, it will pose an extremely huge threat to Yuben. If China only develops cruisers, then there are no modules, and now China has developed 10,000-ton giant ships, and they are battleships, and pocket battleships are also battleships.

"Your Excellency, the people of China are too cunning, no one would have thought that a shipyard would be able to produce warships in such a short period of time, let alone that the people of China would develop a large shipyard in the interior, and the despicable people of China would order almost all the parts of the warships from abroad" Watanabe's face turned pale and he was drenched in cold sweat.

Kenji Dohihara said in a deep voice: "I don't want to listen to this explanation, tell me how big is the caliber of the main gun of the battleship of Shina?" ”

Watanabe said in trepidation: "After our many observations, we can confirm that it is ten inches, that is, about 254 millimeters, but their barrel is very long, much longer than the ordinary barrel, I estimate that it is more than 55 times the diameter, and it is a triple assembly." It is certain that the triple armament was completed, and they had completed the turret on a battleship, which was four triple mounted 10-inch naval gun main turrets, two in the front and two in the rear. ”

"This can't be?" Kenji Dohihara said in a deep voice, "If the people of China have the ability to make such a high-caliber naval cannon, then they can completely produce a larger-caliber naval cannon." ”

Watanabe hurriedly said: "I dare to use my surname to vouch, I will definitely not be mistaken, this battleship of the people of China is very strange, they have left a large space on the front and rear decks of the warship, according to our eyes, it should be more than fifteen meters long, and no other facilities are installed." ”

"Huh?" Kenji Dohihara frowned: "How is this possible?" Could it be that the people of China have other arrangements? Could it be that in order to leave these two open spaces, they deliberately compressed the caliber of the battleship's main guns? What could make the battleship's main guns make concessions? Thinking of this, his heart was cold, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he yelled irritably, "Check, find out for me at all costs." ”

"Hey!" Watanabe's cold sweat responded, but he didn't leave.

Kenji Dohihara yelled, "What are you doing here? ”

Watanabe stubbornly said: "Your Excellency, we also discovered a strange thing, the Shina people secretly built strong fortifications in the area of Chongming Island and Nanhuizui, using a huge amount of reinforced concrete, we suspect that it is a fortress fort. ”

"Fortress Battery !!" Kenji Dohihara's eyes widened for a moment.

On the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Nanhuizui, Kenji Dohihara, accompanied by Watanabe, looked at the strange building with a telescope, but many construction locations were blocked by the other party's shelves, and it was impossible to see it really.

"Judging from the appearance, it does look like a fortress fort." Kenji Doihara's voice trembled a little, "If this is true, then if the forts built on Chongming Island are also fortresses, the two fortresses echo each other from afar, and they can completely block the mouth of the Yangtze River." It's horrible. ”

Watanabe said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, even if it is a fortress, it will be destroyed under the blow of the Imperial Navy's giant cannons. ”

Kenji Dohihara said fiercely: "You know a fart." The fortress cannon is called the 'battleship killer', do you think it is called for nothing? If the firing range and power are the same, even if the battleship has eight main guns and the opponent has only one fortress gun, no warship will dare to confront it head-on. Because the hit rate of the main guns of warships is less than 3%, while the hit rate of fortress guns can reach 50%, because warships are in the sea, and there are waves in the sea, as long as the warship is affected by the fluctuations of the waves, the error of the shells will be several hundred meters away from 20 kilometers. The armor of the fortress can be increased indefinitely, which is much stronger than that of a warship. After a battle, how much did the repair of the fortress cost? And how much does a battleship cost? Only an idiot commander would confront a fortress when the artillery is not dominant. ”

Watanabe was shocked and said: "Shina is building a fortress battery group in Shanghai, is he going to block the Yangtze River and expel the [***] ships?" ”

"It must be!" Kenji Dohihara's face was gloomy, "The giant cannon is not so easy to make, he needs a large hydraulic press, at least a hydraulic press of more than five thousand tons, this is a strategic material belonging to various countries, without the approval of the country, don't say it, even if it is impossible to manufacture." There must be a strong state or force behind him. ”

"The wind is blowing." Watanabe suddenly felt the sea breeze intensifying.

Suddenly, the cloth on the shelf covering the construction site in the distance was blown off, and Kenji Dohihara saw a huge cannon barrel at this moment, and his heart seemed to be hit by a hammer, and the blood on his face disappeared in an instant, leaving only fear

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