On the occasion of the first anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Empire, Song Biao convened a joint meeting of the Central Military Department in the Xuanzheng Garden, and the generals of the naval and land armies were all present.

At this meeting, the Imperial Chinese Army and Navy were reorganized into the "Central National Defense Force of the Chinese Empire," the patrol forces of the provinces were unified into the "National Patrol Force of the Chinese Empire," the General Staff of the Central National Defense Forces was the supreme command center, and the Central Army General Staff Department, the Navy General Staff, the Central Military Intelligence Department, the Patrol Military Command Department, the Air Police Preparatory Office, the Coast Guard Training Department, and the National Defense Equipment Bureau were subordinate to the Central Army General Staff, the Navy General Staff, the Central Military Intelligence Department, the Patrol Military Command Department, the Air Police Preparatory Office, the Coast Guard Training Department, the National Defense Equipment Bureau, and other institutions.

The Navy has set up three major fleets in the Beihai, East China Sea, and South China Sea, and the General Coast Guard Bureau has set up five coast guard corps, namely the Beihai, East China Sea, South China Sea, Taiwan, and Yangtze River.

The rank of emperor [***] is further in line with foreign countries, and its military rank has brigadier general but not colonel, because the brigade level of the Central Army has a lot of establishment, and the rank is relatively higher, which is not suitable for a colonel, and the brigadier general is "brigade general" in French.

Unlike Russia, the army does not have such professional military ranks as cavalry general and artillery general, and the preparatory work of the air force is carried out by the aviation patrol preparatory department, which is responsible for the reading of two flight detachments and the establishment of an aviation school in Shenyang to train pilots and mechanical engineering personnel.

As the emperor, Song Biao continued to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Central Defense Force and the Coast Guard Patrol Army, with the military rank of "Marshal of the Central National Defense", which seemed a bit redundant, just like the emperor continued to serve as a hussar general, but it was very meaningful for controlling all the military forces of the country.

If he does not work part-time, giving this position to the prime minister is a real constitutional monarchy, and giving it to others is the introduction of a military and political axe, and he is likely to be completely hollowed out.

In the awarding of military ranks in the whole army, the two levels of special general and general are not awarded for the time being, and the highest ones are Jiang Fangzhen, Shu Fangde, Cheng Biguang, Duan Qirui, Jiang Yanxing, Martos, Cai Yi, Zhao Tingzhu, Zhang Yahu, Yang Tiesheng, Chen Wu, Zhu Jie, and Zhang Xianren, all of whom are vice admirals and vice admirals, and Song Wenhui is only a rear admiral.

Duan Qirui made a contribution to the reorganization of the Beiyang Department at a critical moment, and also laid the foundation for the Song Emperor to call the Northeast Department and the Beiyang Department at the same time during the period when he commanded the operation in Korea.

Yang Tiesheng was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of patrol defense as the director of the General Bureau of Patrol Defense, which is different from the Central Army.

As for the matter of the general's knighthood, this has been dealt with after the official accession to the throne, basically using the Qing Dynasty's meritorious title system, with four levels of formal titles, each level of one, two, three, etc., above the title of the prince is only granted to members of the royal family.

Under the main title, there are three kinds of titles: Captain, Captain, and Captain, which are awarded to those who have meritorious deeds in different situations, and the administrative and technical category is awarded to the Cloud Cavalry Captain, the military security category is awarded to the Che Cavalry Captain, and the Squire Councilor category is awarded to the Metropolitan Cavalry Captain, which is also divided into one, two, and three grades.

The times are different, there is no mining for the knighthood, only the gold of the city, how many taels are calculated according to the gold every year, the actual issuance of gold yuan coupons, the title of the lord can be hereditary, and each generation will fall by one level, and the title of lord will only be awarded to one generation, no gold will not be hereditary, and those who violate the constitution will be deprived.

When the empire was founded, the scale of the civil war was small, and there was only a big war in the Korean battlefield after that, so even the people who were awarded the lord were very few, and the highest title was only the first-class viscount of Chen Wu, and the rest were even lower, and some of the people who died in the battle of Liaoyang, such as Hu Dalin and others, were awarded the title of first-class baron, which was hereditary by their children.

In this matter, Song Biao and Yuan Shikai are definitely different, not as poor and generous as Yuan Shikai, in order to be the emperor, the duke and marquis have not been co-opted for a while, Song Biao's throne has been stabilized, and what he thinks about is the long-term.

This era belongs to the military, if it is now a direct duke and earl, after the end of World War I and World War II, will it be crowned a prince or a prince?

……

At this time, Song Biao had absolute authority over the entire Central Defense Force's naval and army armies, and the Imperial Central Military Conference in Xuanzheng Garden had only been held for three days, and he had decided everything that needed to be decided by him.

After the empire was stabilized, the navy and the army began to be regularized and comprehensively built, and there were many problems at this time, especially the replacement of equipment for the army and the purchase of warships for the navy.

The total military expenditure of the Central Defense Force is only 100 million Chinese dollars per year, about 10 million pounds sterling, and even if we consider that World War I is imminent, and some additional long-term military debt is used for the purchase of ships by the Navy alone, it is unlikely that the annual cost of purchasing warships will exceed 6 million pounds.

Therefore, the army still has to make careful calculations, and it is a good thing to save as much as it can, and to save even a penny more.

Poor and tragic Chinese navy, the port of Qingdao was occupied by the Germans, Weihaiwei was occupied by the British, and although Port Arthur was taken back from the hands of Yue, the Russians could not wait to take it in their pockets.

When Song Biao decided to establish the North Sea Fleet, the navy could not even find a suitable port, so it had to temporarily send a few warships that could still see the market to Jinzhou to prepare for the North Sea Fleet in Jinzhou Port for the time being.

After the Central Military Conference in the Xuanzheng Garden in Yanjing, Song Biao personally went to the North Sea Fleet to confer the title of admiral, and then went on the road with a mood of almost being humiliated by the naval powers of various countries, and took the train to Jinzhou Port.

Navy Minister Cheng Biguang accompanied Song Biao to Jinzhou by special train, after the train started, Song Biao talked to Cheng Biguang about Weihaiwei, Qingdao Port and Port Arthur with a little feeling, and Cheng Biguang was bitter and painful.

This is really the sorrow of a soldier.

The port occupied by the navy at the moment is Huludao Port, which was originally a commercial port developed by the Far East Shipping Corporation in Jinzhou, which was initially completed at the end of last year and has not yet been officially used for commercial navigation.

After the special train arrived at Huludao, Song Biao, accompanied by Navy Minister Cheng Biguang, went to the Xingang base of the cruiser fleet to inspect it; Song Biao's idea of preparing for the North Sea Fleet in China was put forward at the end of last year, and the only military port that could be used at that time was here.

The so-called Huludao is a peninsula, alone into the sea, the peninsula is shaped like a gourd, hence the name, the south side of the island of the Far East Shipping Corporation is based on a small island reclamation, the construction of a breakwater, and the huge investment is intended to build another Jinzhou port, but it is occupied by the navy halfway.

Cheng Biguang estimated that after the completion of the North Sea Fleet, it would be difficult to leave Huludao and find a new port as the fleet headquarters within ten years, and the surrounding conditions of Jinzhou were excellent, with Jinzhou Shipbuilding College, Jinzhou Port and Jinzhou Shipyard to rely on, and it was also a good choice for the time being.

The cruiser fleet's existing four cruisers, Haiqi, Hairong, Haichen, and Haichou, all stayed here, which was already the last strength of the Chinese Navy, and the total displacement tonnage added up was only 13,150 tons, not to mention that the scale of these four light cruisers was very small, during the Xinhai War, in order to protect the last dignity of the Chinese Navy, Song Biao personally approved the four ships to go south to take refuge in Fuzhou Port, leaving only some small torpedo ships to sit and wait for death in Tianjin and other ports.

It sounds very ashamed, but it is also a helpless move, it is not a pity that the ship was sunk, but the naval non-commissioned officers trained on these four cruisers are the future of the navy.

The Chinese Navy in 1911 was really sad and lamentable.

The four warships had been in good condition, and Song Biao had been waiting in the harbor for a month, and the officers and men of the whole fleet had already changed into the new imperial navy military uniforms, lined up on the side of the ship, and saluted the emperor and the naval minister.

The commander of the cruiser, Song Wenhui, was also here.

As the so-called mother is not ugly, as the emperor, Song Biao will never dislike the insignificance of Haiqi and other ships, Song Wenhui on behalf of the officers and men of the whole fleet stepped forward to greet and accompany Song Biao to board the Haiqi flagship of the cruiser.

Song Biao, wearing a dark blue military dress of the Central Marshal, walked on the deck of the cruiser Haiqi step by step, and the naval officers and men present to greet him saluted him again, and he also saluted again with a solemn expression, and stepped forward to shake hands with every officer.

After meeting with the officers and men of the cruiser Haiqi, accompanied by Cheng Biguang and Song Wenhui, Song Biao visited the flagship of the fleet, although it was an old warship purchased 14 years ago, the Qing Imperial Navy only had such a baby bump, the whole army was distressed, it was very well maintained, and the warship was still in good service condition.

Looking at the dark yellow and spotless bulkhead of this old flagship, Song Biao was quite emotional, and after walking out of the cabin, he praised Song Wenhui: "The maintenance is very good, it looks like it can serve for many years, the empire is not easy, only rely on this ship." ”

Song Wenkui said: "The cruiser is slow to update in technology, and it is okay for this warship to continue to serve for ten years, but it is only a long-term flagship, which will inevitably damage the military prestige of the country." ”

Song Biao bowed slightly.

The Admiralty began to consider the purchase of new warships at the end of last year, but when it encountered the Sino-Chinese Xinhai War, it could only suspend negotiations with foreign countries on the price of warships, and only renegotiated in the last two months, the Admiralty of course hoped to purchase warships from Britain, but Sino-British relations were seriously hampered, and almost all of the Admiralty's military advisers came from the United States, so the new warships could only be purchased in the United States.

Thinking of this, Song Biao said to Cheng Biguang and Song Wenhui: "Although military spending is limited, there is still this capital to buy a 10,000-ton battleship, you can talk to the United States first, build a dreadnought-class battleship, smaller, pocket-sized, and enough for the time being." If you can't buy a suitable 10,000-ton battleship, let's build a high-protection cruiser, compared to our long-term plan, this warship is only a transitional surname, and it has only been used as a flagship for several years. The key is to look at the price in the United States, if the price is moderate, you can buy three or four. ”

Cheng Biguang said: "Britain's new Invincible-class battlecruisers are very distinctive, and it is recognized that they will represent a new trend in the world's navies, and it seems that we can buy two 10,000-ton battlecruisers in this way." ”

Song Biao thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I have read the information submitted by the Admiralty and the General Staff in this regard, and in general, I am not very interested. I don't know much about the navy, but I believe that the military principle is always the same, either a battleship or a cruiser, and in terms of cost, I don't think there is much difference between the two, and if I were British, I would rather build more real battleships. It doesn't make much sense for us to buy battleships, let's buy cruisers, the design displacement of more than 8,000 tons, preferably around 10,000 tons, the protection and speed should be good, the caliber of the main guns should be unified, the number of main guns should be more appropriate, and it is not a problem to have a smaller caliber. At this point, I appreciate the planning of the German heavy cruisers, but I think that the German heavy cruisers are still designed to have a larger caliber of main guns in the design, and in the actual course of the battle, whether it is a heavy cruiser or a battle cruiser, it can basically only deal with the cruiser, and temporarily play the role of a battleship when the opponent's navy does not have a battleship, and no matter how big the main gun is, it is impossible to confront the battleship. I have always remembered the lessons of the First Sino-Japanese War, and it has been proved that artillery doctrine is not necessarily really powerful, there are too many risks in naval warfare, and defense and speed are the more important advantages, especially for this kind of armored cruiser, if you really want to encounter a battleship, you always have to run, and bullying the weak is the only way to live. ”

Cheng Biguang and Song Wenhui glanced at each other, although both of them felt that British battle cruisers were more valuable, but since the emperor admired German heavy cruisers more, he could only buy heavy cruisers.

Just listening to the emperor's intentions, it seems that on the basis of the German heavy cruisers, it is necessary to further strengthen the defense and speed, weaken the power of the main guns, or increase the number of main guns, concentrate on dealing with weak cruisers and destroyers, and hand over the tasks of the big war to the battleships.

In any case, as long as the emperor agrees to the purchase, it is a good thing to pull it back as the flagship of the North Sea Fleet.

Song Biao has some other thoughts about this, although the battleship will be eliminated in the future, but even during the entire World War II, it still has the value of a key surname.

No matter how China's economy develops, the scale of its economy and its industrial level cannot be compared with that of the United States before World War II, so it is absolutely impossible to continue to build battleships while building aircraft carriers on a large scale like the United States, and can only insist on taking aircraft carriers as the center and replacing battleships with heavy cruisers, after all, the price of a battleship is almost three or four times that of an aircraft carrier, and the cost of a heavy cruiser of the same displacement class is two or three times higher.

The cost of a battleship in Iowa is 115 million US dollars, and the cost of a single battleship in the Yamato-class battleship is 130 million yuan, which is much cheaper than that of Iowa, and the cost of a single battlecruiser in the Hood class is 6.08 million pounds, equivalent to a scale of 30 million US dollars, which is equivalent to the entire military expenditure of the Chinese Navy in this year.

Therefore, it is a tragedy for a poor country to build a navy, and if it can only buy ships from Britain and the United States at the cost of gold and foreign exchange, it will be a tragedy.

This means that no matter how poor or backward China is, no matter how incompetent it is, it will have to pull up its shipbuilding industry, even if it can only build warships, it has to be tossed up like this, and no matter how poor it is, it cannot be poor in the military industry.

This matter cannot be handed over to the political axe, the operational efficiency of state-owned enterprises is too low, and not every country is as unique as the book, so he lent all the funds in his hand to the Central Military Department to purchase warships, Song Biao felt that he might as well invest tens of millions of pounds to establish China's shipbuilding industry.

The cruiser Haiqi was a dome cruiser built by the British Armstrong shipyard, and although the technology was outdated, the two 8-inch main guns were quite deterrent.

After the cruiser left, Song Biao, Cheng Biguang, and Song Wenhui went to the temporary headquarters of the North Sea Fleet, where the three shipbuilding directors of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau were waiting for the emperor's reception and questioning.

The Far East Shipping Company was completely a living Lei Feng, and when it valued the topography and port conditions of Huludao, it couldn't wait to invest money in the construction of a new port, purchased a large amount of land in the surrounding area, and operated real estate with the port, and built a very beautiful office building here, and several spacious asphalt roads were also completed, which was waiting to sell the house to make money, and was requisitioned by the navy.

Although the Far East Company is the emperor's private property, as we all know, but the emperor is rich all over the world, in everyone's concept, the emperor's company is the same as the Yamen, everyone is working for the emperor, Song Wenhui requisitioned this place without saying a word, the navy is now too poor, and even the requisition fee is an IOU, so that Rong Xingqiao is quite angry and speechless, can only admit bad luck, and continue to run to Qinhuangdao to rebuild the port.

Entering this temporary headquarters, Song Biao knew at a glance that Rong Xingqiao was also a person who dared to invest, looking at the choice of this location and the surrounding foundations that had been suspended, it was clear that he wanted to build a new prosperous port here, use a few luxury buildings to increase the land price, and take out the surrounding properties to rent out at a high price.

The idea is very good, but it is a pity that at such a shabby moment for the Chinese Navy, there is not even a decent military port in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, and the places that can be used as military ports are occupied by foreigners, and they cannot be taken back at all.

Song Biao could only sigh, stopped in the corridor of the building and looked at it for a while, and joked with Cheng Biguang beside him: "Your navy has requisitioned a good real estate, this building is built well, the materials are very particular, and the decoration is also of high standard." ”

Cheng Biguang was a little embarrassed, and said: "Back to the emperor, I heard President Rong say that this is the branch building to be reserved for the Far Eastern Bank, and even the money is paid by the Far Eastern Bank. ”

Song Biao waved his hand and said: "This place is still good, both military and commercial uses are okay, let the commercial port develop westward, and the military port will continue to stay here." ”

Cheng Biguang sighed: "There are several suitable military ports in the north of our country, and the conditions for Arthur Port are the best. Port Arthur saw that this situation could probably be recovered, but it was delayed, and Russia also intended to continue to take over, and it was also a last resort to take this place as a foundation for the time being. ”

Song Biao said: "Don't worry, it's better to die than to live, so let's take root here and lay a solid foundation." I don't think this place should be called Huludao Port, but renamed Longmen Port, which means that our Chinese Navy will carp and leap over Longmen here, and become the strongest navy in Asia. ”

Cheng Biguang immediately replied: "The emperor is sage, far-sighted, far beyond the reach of his subordinates. ”

Song Biao doesn't like this set of sycophants very much.

Hearing that the emperor had arrived, Sa Zhenbing, who was originally hesitant in this organ building, subconsciously walked out quickly, and went to the front of the corridor to greet Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao, the two directors of naval ship construction.

They came a step late, Song Biao had already arrived on the second floor, and when they saw Song Biao, the three of them and the other agency personnel who ran out in a hurry hurriedly knelt down, Wei Han took the lead in kneeling, and stepped forward to ask the emperor for forgiveness, and they were late to take over.

Song Biao didn't care about it or waved his hand, he deliberately didn't let the naval fleet inform you, what work should the agency do or continue to do things, listening to these words, everyone was uneasy in their hearts, I don't know why, I don't know if they occupy the emperor's private property, and secretly have offended the emperor.

Sa Zhenbing is not of great value to Song Biao, and he came to inspect the Huludao Naval Base this time, and by the way, he wanted to talk to several warship manufacturing directors, and planned to support the warship manufacturing industry.

Anyway, Sa Zhen Ice is Sa Zhen Ice after all.

Song Biao still glanced at Sa Zhenbing first, smiled warmly, and didn't say anything.

Sa Zhenbing was apprehensive in his heart, and stepped forward to pay respects: "The grass people Sa Zhenbing see the emperor." ”

Song Biao laughed and said: "Get up, the previous dynasty is different from the current dynasty, there is no need to be so stubborn, now is an era of commoners, and the emperor must be close to the people in order to gain a foothold in the world." Don't talk about grass people, how can there be people like grass, people like children, it is really humble, then you can also call yourself civilians, villagers. Especially you Sa Zhenbing, the veteran of our navy, the chief and deputy commander of the navy of the Guangxu and Xuantong dynasties, not to mention the grass people. ”

Hearing this, Sa Zhenbing didn't know how to answer for a while.

Cheng Biguang strongly recommended to Song Biao: "Your Majesty, since the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Sato Commander has studied naval tactics for many years, is well-read, has 34 years of naval experience, has gone through major events, and is a rare naval commander in our empire. ”

After Cheng Biguang finished speaking, Song Wenhui, Lin Baoduo and other naval generals also hurriedly stepped forward to sponsor together: "I hope that the emperor will enable it, this is a great fortune for the country." ”

Seeing that his colleagues were so strongly recommended, Sa Zhenbing was very moved, he deliberately avoided his residence a year ago and made a gesture, after all, many princes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty treated him very kindly, and it was impossible for him to participate in the revolutionary rebellion, but he really couldn't do without the navy.

He is only 52 years old, in the navies of other countries, with his service qualifications, it should be the time to command the naval fleet, not to mention that the Chinese navy does not have many available talents, he avoided suspicion for a year, and now he has the heart to make a strong comeback, but I don't know if the emperor is willing to use him.

Thinking of this, Sa Zhenbing didn't put on any posture, stepped forward and bowed down again: "Your Majesty, the villager Sa Zhenbing is willing to serve the imperial navy, and his meager talents are trying to do great things, so that my country's navy will continue to prosper, and I hope that the emperor will be successful." ”

Song Biao was really happy when he heard this, he was also a useful admiral, and there was no big problem in using it until the end of World War I, after all, so many years of experience and professionalism were here.

This time, he personally helped Sa Zhenbing up, and said: "If you want to think so, that is the blessing of my country's navy, the Central Military Department lacks a chief of staff of the Navy Department, and it has been left to you, I don't know if you want to." ”

Sa Zhenbing was overjoyed and said, "Thank you for the emperor's grace, and your subordinates will swear to death." ”

Song Biao smiled and swore to death...... He didn't believe it anymore, in the past, the Manchurians treated this naval commander with benevolence and righteousness, but as a result, he didn't see much sincerity, and the grass on the wall of the navy has always been more sincere.

After discussing with Sa Zhenbing about returning to serve in the navy, Song Biao continued to talk to Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao one by one, and then went to the conference room of the agency and invited everyone here to attend the symposium and talk about the future of the Chinese navy.

Of course, the focus is still on the two things of buying a ship and building a ship.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the late Qing Dynasty has actually been building ships, the main ship-building agency is the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, the largest tonnage warship built is a displacement of 1900 tons of steel frigates, steel, boilers, naval guns, steam engines are purchased from the British, their own assembly to sum up experience, in addition to the construction of more than 60 small ships of all kinds, the technology of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau is slightly better, generally can build ships between 300 tons and 800 tons, 2000 tons can also be built, that is, marine steel, Boilers and the like have to be purchased from abroad.

From 1905 to this year, the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau built seven more ships in the past few years, all with a displacement of less than 500 tons, which were mainly delivered to the Yangtze River Fleet.

Song Biao doesn't know much about the situation of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, Cheng Biguang has submitted a report, no matter how you look at it, there is still a lot of water, and Cheng Biguang does not recommend using the ships built by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, the quality is secondary, and the key is that the price is more expensive than buying a ship.

It happened that Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao, the two shipping directors, were there, and Song Biao asked them about the reason.

This question was quite embarrassing for Wei Han and the others, and after hesitating for a moment, Wei Hancai and Song Biao replied truthfully: "In the past, when building ships, officials at all levels inevitably withheld them on the spot, and the purchase of naval guns, steam engine boilers and steel from foreign countries was all deprived and deducted, and the shipbuilding cycle of shipbuilders was slow, so it was inevitably more expensive than outsourcing. ”

Song Biao replied in one sentence: "There are many problems in state-owned institutions, there are many people, there are many people, no one is really responsible for the control, and there are many favors. Therefore, China's shipbuilding industry must be developed, and the manufacture of warships must be developed, but it must absolutely not rely on state-owned shipyards, at least not completely. My idea on this issue is the same as that of the railway, focusing on supporting the development of three shipyards, two private, and one jointly run by the government and business. As for Fuzhou, the Harbour Administration and the shipyard should be separated, the shipyard will be spun off and the company will be operated as a joint stock, and the Harbour Master will be incorporated into the Admiralty. ”

What do you think?

Now that the emperor has made up his mind and seen through the drawbacks, where do you have any other choice but to accept it?

In addition, this is also the best way, 14 of the 175 industrial plans being formulated by the cabinet are related to the shipbuilding industry, and the basic plan is also focused on supporting three shipyards.

According to Song Biao's hope, within 10 years, the domestic shipbuilding industry must have the manufacturing capacity of 10,000-ton warships, which is close to the level of the capital.

(To be continued)