Time passed quickly, and after Yan Guang visited the Hanyang Arsenal, it was already mid-June in the blink of an eye.

In the past two months, the results of the work have been very rich. For example, the reorganization of the local armed forces has proceeded very smoothly, and with the exception of Xinjiang Province, which has not been able to move for the time being, the warlords of all provinces, including the northeast, have accepted the reorganization.

However, on the issue of Xinjiang Province, Yan Guang has also contacted Yang Zengxin, the overseer of Xinjiang Province.

After a little understanding, Yan Guang also learned about the situation in Xinjiang Province.

Xinjiang Provincial Overseer Yang Zengxin, of course this person is no problem, although since Yang Zengxin served as the Xinjiang Provincial Overseer, the control of Beiyang Political Axe over Xinjiang Province is only in name, even when Yuan Shikai was there. (Yang Zengxin served as the governor of Xinjiang Province for 17 years, until he was assassinated.) ）

In Xinjiang Province, there are really problematic Uyghur, Mongolian, Kazakh and other princes, as well as black lamas who are active in Mongolia, Gansu and the border areas of Xinjiang Province...

The former was mostly associated with the Russians, while the latter was quite hostile to the Han Chinese...

Coupled with the Russians' eyesights, Xinjiang Province under Yang Zengxin's rule can be said to be suffering from internal and external troubles...

Of course, the most tricky thing is that many princes in Xinjiang Province have colluded with the Russians, otherwise after so many years, the affairs of Xinjiang Province would not be so difficult.

However, even if the troops under Yang Zengxin's command are excluded, after the initial reorganization, the current national defense force has an establishment of 60 divisions. Of course, among these 60 divisions, except for the original Guoshe Army and the Beiyang Army and the new army formed by the former Qing Dynasty, the rest are at most bullying and bullying the common people, and they may not be suitable for dealing with bandits and bandits.

Fortunately, after the establishment of the seven military regions, these troops are under the jurisdiction of the major military regions, and Yan Guang has already infiltrated many officers of his own family, and it only takes one or two years for these troops to be completely controlled by Yan Guang.

But...

"A year or two? The European war may be no problem, but the battle in Shandong ......... If the available troops are not enough, they can only be used as cannon fodder..."

Fortunately, during the Qingdao War in history, the attacking side only had more than 50,000 troops in the army, which still counted part of the British's strength. Even if history has changed now, it is impossible for the army to dispatch more than 100,000 troops, after all, there are only 18 standing divisions in total, and even if emergency mobilization is carried out, these urgently mobilized troops cannot be used in a month or two...

In addition to Wang Yaowu and Jiang Baili's task of reorganizing the army, the Hanyang Arsenal also resumed production after renovation. Of course, only part of the workshop is currently in production, and only guns and ammunition are produced. After all, in the past, the Hanyang Arsenal was only responsible for the production of guns and guns and ammunition, and did not produce weapons such as artillery (if the assembly is not counted). After all, although the Hanyang Arsenal, which has undergone a demolition, has facilities for making guns, there are no supporting facilities for making guns, or there are no such facilities here.

However, in any case, although the current Hanyang Arsenal only has gun-making equipment put into use, it can also provide the Wehrmacht with more than 100 Mauser G98 rifles every day, although the number is smaller, but it is still possible to equip an infantry regiment in a month. Moreover, the follow-up installation work is still in progress, and it is believed that it will not be long before the output of the Hanyang Arsenal will be on par with the Sichuan Arsenal.

In addition to the Hanyang Arsenal, the construction of the Maansan Iron Works has also begun.

The initial goal is to build the Ma'anshan Iron Works into an ordinary iron plant with an annual output of 100,000 tons, and the follow-up is of course a million-ton iron plant.

So far, the necessary buildings for the ironworks have been built, and the supporting facilities have been transported to the ironworks, but if the ironworks are to produce the first furnace of steel, I am afraid that it will have to wait until the beginning of the First World War...

――――――――――

"How many are left?"

Looking at the almost finished warship on the slipway, Yan Guang asked Wei Han beside him.

"Back to the president, the hull of the ship is almost complete, and now there are only some facilities on the ship and armament..."

Saying that, Wei Han also glanced at the first ship of the Qinghai-class destroyer "Qinghai" on the slipway, on the slipway, this new destroyer with a standard displacement of 1,000 tons and a full load displacement of 1,200 tons has almost been completed in terms of hull.

Just like Wei Han said, now only some of the above details are left, and there are still weapons that have not been completed.

"Details, armament..."

Yan Guang shook his head.

It's easy to say the details, but if you're armed...

The original plan was to install two 150mm guns on the Ching Hai-class destroyers, but after weighing them later, they were changed to more modest 120mm guns.

Of course, the problem of naval artillery is still relatively easy to solve, after all, the current Sichuan Arsenal can already produce howitzers of 280mm caliber, and if it is a cannon, there will be no problems with the same caliber.

After all, the naval artillery of this era is not like the naval artillery of later generations, which must not only be able to deal with sea and land targets, but also serve as anti-air missions. Some naval guns with relatively small calibers even have anti-missile capabilities (anti-ship missiles), of course, this small-caliber naval gun refers to 76mm or 127mm caliber naval guns.

In later generations, such as the Italian Otto 76mm naval gun and 127mm naval gun, after being installed on a warship, can be used as a high-level dual-purpose gun, which can be used against aircraft, missiles, attack ships and other road targets.

As for other 20mm and 30mm naval guns, such as the American Phalanx, the Russian AK-630, and the Celestial Empire's 730 close-in defense guns, their own responsibilities are air defense and anti-missile, as well as attacking some small surface targets.

Therefore, things like naval guns also need a certain technical surname in later generations.

But is this day and age...

In the case that aircraft has not yet become a branch of the armed forces that can influence the world, the so-called naval artillery only needs to be able to bombard surface and land targets. So after handing over the matter of naval guns to the Sichuan Arsenal, Liu Huixue quickly sent the naval guns needed for the destroyer Qinghai.

It's just that...

There are many things that cannot be manufactured by the Sichuan Arsenal.

Not to mention the steam turbine mentioned by the destroyer, although this arsenal has begun to make its own trial production, it has not yet been able to achieve practical use in terms of surname. However, in addition to the steam turbine, even the 457mm torpedo was not capable of being manufactured by the arsenal.

However, as a thousand-ton ship that should have been called a "large torpedo boat", torpedoes are also one of the essential weapons for destroyers. There was no way, after purchasing a batch of steam turbines from Germany, Yan Guang could only purchase another batch of German-made torpedoes and torpedo production equipment.

Fortunately, after ordering torpedoes and steam turbines, Wei Han was not short of anything.

"The words of the Ching Hai......... How much longer does it take to get into the water? ”

After thinking about it, Yan Guang said to Wei Han.

As a subordinate, questions always have to be thought out before the boss speaks, so Wei Han naturally replied.

"At the current rate, it will be ready in about August."

Hearing that he would not be able to enter the water until August, Yan Guang frowned.

"August..."

Historically, the European War, that is, the First World War, broke out on July 28, and the beginning was marked by the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia. Of course, because the unlucky Austro-Hungarian Grand Duke, who was also looking for his own death, was shot dead by a Serb.

So, if it was launched in August, I am afraid that it would not be in time for the outbreak of World War I.

Fortunately, Yan Guang will not blame Wei Han, although the Germans once completed the launch of the latest German battleship Bavaria in less than a year and less than a month, but after all, it was because the Germans had deep roots there.

On the contrary, if you look at the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, although it was once the largest shipyard in the Far East, it has gradually declined since the Gengzi Incident...

So it took such a long time to build a thousand-ton destroyer, and it cannot be considered their responsibility. What's more, even if the lead ship of the Qinghai class, the "Qinghai", was launched before the European war, the subsequent sea trials would take a while, and no matter how it was calculated, the Shandong Battle would not be able to catch up with it in the near future.

Let alone...

With the current strength of the Chinese Navy, even if the Beiyang Navy and the Sichuan Navy Division are all counted, participating in the Shandong Campaign is purely seeking death. And it's the kind of death that loses a thousand self-inflicted, and killing the enemy may not be able to reach one...

On the side, Wei Han also seemed to see Yan Guang's dissatisfaction.

However, Wei Han had no choice, after all, the current Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau did not have much strength after all these years of abandonment. Although it is not enough to build such a thousand-ton destroyer, it is still difficult to perform at a super level.

"By the way, what happened to the other two?"

"The other two?" Wei Han was stunned for a moment, but soon understood that Yan Guang was talking about the other two destroyers that had just started. "Back to the president, the Qinghan and Qinglan have already laid the keel on the slipway, and now the construction of the hull is underway..."

The Qinghan and Qinglan in Wei Han's mouth are the second and third ships of the Qinghai-class destroyers. It is the second and third ships that started construction under the condition that the construction of the Qinghai was going smoothly, after all, the time was too tight, and Yan Guang could not wait for the Qinghai to be launched and tested at sea after the remaining ships were started.

Fortunately, the drawings were perfectly designed and the construction was smooth.

In addition, after Yan Guang invested 10 million silver dollars in the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, he invested a lot of money again, so that Chen Zhaoqiang and Wei Han were able to get back some of the employees who left the Shipbuilding Bureau in the past and found another way to survive, so even if the construction of three destroyers at the same time is more than enough.

And...

In addition to the current three destroyers, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau is still planning the follow-up ship construction plan, several docks and slipways in the Shipbuilding Bureau have been almost repaired, and many 10,000-ton and 30,000-ton slipways are also under construction.

As soon as the construction of these slipways is completed, the subsequent 10,000-ton cruisers, and battle cruisers and battleships will also be under construction...

As a matter of fact, the "Jinghai," the lead ship of the Jinghai class, has almost been prepared, and the steam turbines, torpedoes, and other devices that cannot be produced by the Sichuan Arsenal have also been purchased back from Germany. As long as the cruiser Qinghai is completed and launched, and the vacant seats on the slipway and the crew responsible for the construction of the Qinghai are relinquished, the construction of this 3,000-ton light cruiser will be started.

And when this 3,000-ton cruiser is launched, as a combat ship with 210mm main guns, he will also replace the Haiqi ship to become the flagship of the Beiyang Navy, after all, the old cruiser built by the Haiqi ship in 1898, although the tonnage is more than 4,000 tons, but not to mention the steam turbine, even the main guns on the ship are a little old, so if you really want to talk about combat effectiveness, even if the tonnage of the Jinghai ship is more than 1,000 tons smaller than that of the Haiqi ship, it is not very difficult to defeat the Haiqi ship.

To put it simply, after launching, not to mention anything else, the speed of the Jinghai ship alone is at least 30 knots, which is not comparable to that of the Haiqi ship.

Of course, the use of the Jinghai as a flagship is only temporary, after all, the 3,000-ton cruiser is very powerful in China, but in the "imperialist navy" of the great powers, it is not even a second-rate ship, barely a third-rate, at most it is stronger than those destroyers and large torpedo boats...

"You have to be careful here..."

Leaned over to the slipway to take a look, and after talking with the workers on the slipway for a while, Yan Guang, who returned to the shipyard, faced Wei Handao.

Although the cost of destroyers is not very much, one destroyer is almost two million yuan, and the cost of three destroyers is almost enough to arm a class A infantry division.

Whenever he thought of a Class A infantry division suddenly becoming a naval ship that could not be used for the time being, Yan Guang would always be a little depressed, and he could also understand why the rulers in history did not like to invest more in the navy.

After all, the army can be seen and touched, but the navy is useless most of the time, not to mention the huge pressure on land from countries such as Russia and the British...

"But a destroyer is two million, a cruiser is five or six million, and a battleship is thirty or forty million, and the navy is really not something that ordinary people can afford..."

Not to mention anything else, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1911, the fiscal revenue was only more than 500 million yuan, but the fiscal expenditure reached 647.32 million yuan, of which the military expenditure reached 177.34 million.

Although it was now 1914, the chaos had just ended, and with the reduction of agricultural taxes and money, it was even less financially than in the previous Qing Dynasty. This is because Yan Guang had just defeated Beiyang and the Kuomintang, and the local warlords did not dare to withhold the taxes and could only be sent to Yanjing obediently, otherwise Yan Guang would definitely be as miserable as Yuan Shikai.

Every time he looks at this year's financial estimates, Yan Guang has a headache. is still relying on the income from the oil field and various inventions, if it is military spending alone, Yan Guang can support it alone, otherwise...

So now Yan Guang, for the first time in his life, has to be careful in his calculations...

"In the future, I will build a battleship that costs 30 or 40 million, and I just hope that the financial revenue will be broken through like in the late Qing Dynasty..."

――――――――――

After inspecting the progress of the Qinghai, Qinghan and Qinglan, Yan Guang set off for Ma'anshan in Anhui. In Ma'anshan, which will be China's largest steel mill for at least the next decade, the Ma'anshan Iron Works will be here.

In Ma'anshan, where Yang Xincheng was originally exploring, thousands of workers were working on it.

"Bai Zhou, how long will it take for you to finish here?"

Standing on a high mountain, looking at the workers who were working at the foot of the mountain, Yan Guang said to Yang Xincheng, who was accompanying him.

Since Yang Xincheng was in charge of exploring the topography of Ma'anshan, Yan Guang left him in Ma'anshan to take charge of the affairs of the Ma'anshan Iron Works. Up to now, Yang Xincheng has been staying in Ma'anshan for several months.

And Yang Xincheng hurriedly replied after hearing Yan Guang's question.

"President, according to Engineer Michal's estimate, the plant of the iron plant will be completed around August, as long as the plant of the iron plant and the supporting equipment in the plant are completed, the subsequent smelting equipment will also be transported to the plant."

However, after listening to Yang Xincheng's words, Yan Guang frowned.

"Why is it August again?"

It's no wonder that Yan Guang is like this, it's August over there in Fujian, and it's August here, although it's a coincidence no matter how you look at it, it still makes Yan Guang a little unhappy.

Yang Xincheng didn't understand why Yan Guang said this, but he was still very smart and didn't say anything.

Yan Guang stayed in Ma'anshan for a few days, and after confirming the progress of the construction of the iron plant, he left Anhui and returned to Yanjing.

Because, very closely, the end of June, and at the end of June, on the 28th of June to be exact, a young Serbian will assassinate the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Franz, who is on a visit to Sarajevo? Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. This became known as the Sarajevo Affair, and the assassination became the trigger for the First World War, which eventually led to the outbreak of the First World War...

And now Yan Guang is going to rush back to Yanjing before the assassination, and then prepare for war after the assassination, and prepare for a big fight for Jiaozhou Bay on the Shandong Peninsula...

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the assassination incident will not happen, because Yan Guang has changed too many things since he came to this world, and many things have even reached the point where they can change the world, in other words, it is also very likely that the assassination that should have happened on June 28 will not happen.

If this is the case, all these actions carried out by Yan Guang will be in vain, and the Entente signed with the Germans will also...

However, if this is the case, Yan Guang will be happier, after all, the more time the European war breaks out, the stronger his strength will be. In the same way, the greater the benefits in future European competitions.

Just like intervening in the civil war between Soviet Russia and Russia in the future, if the European war breaks out as scheduled, Yan Guang is only ready to bite a piece of meat on the Soviet Union, but if the European war breaks out a few years later, or even ten years later, even if Russia is swallowed whole, Yan Guang will dare...

Ten years is enough for Yan Guang to surpass France in industry and surpass Yueben in the navy...

But the most important thing right now is to prepare for the war...

“……… According to the information just returned, the six newly built 280mm heavy howitzers and 24 240mm heavy howitzers have all arrived in Shandong by sea. In addition, newly built 210mm howitzers, 150mm howitzers and cannons, as well as other types of artillery were also delivered to Shandong by various means.

The Wehrmacht, including two of the three artillery brigades, has been reequipped with the latest artillery, and 120mm cannons have been reloaded into the artillery regiments of infantry divisions.

After more than two months of rest and redressing, several infantry divisions of the Beiyang Army, which suffered heavy losses due to the war against Yuan, have all been replenished, and at the same time, their equipment has reached the same level as the main division of the former National Social Army, and their combat strength has improved a lot..."

When he said this, Yue Chang glanced at Yan Guang with a little worry.

Of course, Yan Guang knew what he meant by looking at himself, because Beiyang had always existed as an enemy of the National Social Army in the past. Although they have been shouting that Beiyang and Guoshe are one and the same, there are still many people in the Kuomintang who are worried about giving such good equipment to the enemies of the past...

However, Yan Guang was not prepared to pay attention to this kind of thought, and he always maintained an impartial attitude towards the National Social Army and the Beiyang Army, which somewhat made the officers of the Beiyang First Department let go of their worries...

Of course, while being impartial, when Yan Guang was replenishing the troops, he also placed many students who graduated from the Sichuan Army School in it to strengthen his control over the old Beiyang Army. But that's not something you can say explicitly...

In fact, Yan Guang is still very satisfied with the Beiyang Army at the moment, because the Beiyang Army was originally higher than the National Social Army in terms of quality, and it was only because of the gap in equipment that it would continue to lose to the National Social Army in later battles.

Seeing that Yan Guang didn't seem to react, Yue Chang continued although he was a little worried about arming the Beiyang Army.

"There is also ammunition, the Sichuan Arsenal and the Hanyang Arsenal have sent a large amount of ammunition to Shandong by rail and navy, of which in terms of rifle and machine gun shells, it is enough to support ten infantry divisions to fight in Shandong for three months, and artillery shells can also support artillery to support a month under high-intensity combat..."

Hearing Yue Chang say this, Yan Guang nodded.

This is what he wants to hear the most, three months of ammunition reserves and a month's artillery shell reserves, plus the Sichuan Arsenal and Hanyang Arsenal are still constantly producing ammunition...

"It's already June 26th..."

Looking at the calendar on the table, Yan Guang rubbed his temples.

At this time, Yan Guang really doesn't know whether to look forward to the outbreak of the assassination, or whether he should pray that this incident will be delayed for a few years...

But anyway, the preparations are complete...

(To be continued)