Similar to what Yan Guang thought, this time he said that he sent out the First Fleet and the Second Fleet.

Moreover, in order to successfully take the Qingdao Fortress, the ones I sent this time were all the capital ships of the Navy―――――― after all, the Qingdao Fortress is also a fairly strong fortress in Asia.

For example, the First Fleet led by Vice Admiral Tomozaburo Kato has a number of ships under its command.

Team 1 - Settsu, Kawachi, Yasu, Satsuma.

Team 3 - Kurama, Tsukuba, Kongo, Hiei.

The 5th Sentai - Mikasa, Hizen, Shikishima.

The 1st Mine Brigade - Otowa and the 1st, 2nd, 16th, and 17th Destroyers...

As for the Second Fleet led by Vice Admiral Kato Dingyoshi, it was made up of --

The 2nd Sentai - Shubo, Iwami, Tango, Okishima, and Mijima.

The 4th team - Iwate, Yakumo, Tokiwa.

The 6th Sentai - Chitose, Akitsuzu, Chiyoda.

The 2nd Mine Brigade - USS Tone, the 9th Destroyer, the 12th Destroyer, the 13th Destroyer.

Attached - Takachiho, Matsue, Wakamiya Maru, Kanto Maru, Hachiman Maru, 2 sea sweeping teams and survey squads.

Among them, the Settsu, Kawachi, Yasui, Satsuma, Mikasa, Hizen, Shikishima, Shubo, Iwami, and Tango were all battleships and were the main ships of the Sakamoto Navy.

The Kurama, Tsukuba, Kongo, and Hiei are all battle cruisers, especially the Kongo and Hiei, which are the latest battle cruisers of the Navy, with a displacement of about 30,000 tons and 4 twin (8 guns in total) 356mm/45 times the caliber main gun.

Seriously speaking, the King Kong class is actually not much different from the early dreadnoughts, especially in the caliber of the main guns, the 356mm caliber main gun is even larger than the caliber of the latest Hanoi-class battleship of the Navy, the latter has a main gun caliber of only 305mm, and it is no wonder that the King Kong-class battlecruiser will later be renamed a high-speed battleship.

In addition to the above, others such as the Iwate, Yakumo, and Tokiwa are all old ships from the time of the Russo-Russian War, with a displacement of around 10,000 tons, and they belong to the first-class cruisers according to their own calculations.

As for Takachiho, Akitsuzu, Chiyoda, etc., they are all second-class cruisers of 2 or 3,000 tons, but even so, these warships, which only belong to this class of ships in the Navy, are enough to compete with the strongest ships of the Chinese Navy, such as the Haiqi ship and the Hairong and Haichip.

When you think about history, the comparison of naval strength in the years before the First Sino-Japanese War...

(The above are all the lineups sent by the Navy during the Qingdao War in 1914, all of which are historical facts...) ）

――――――――――

Although the distance between the expeditionary force and China is not very far, the contact methods in this era are still too backward after all, so when the personnel of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the branch of the Expeditionary Force sent the general information of the expeditionary force, it was already a week later.

But even so, when the military and political officials in the presidential palace saw the information above, their faces were quite ugly.

Because compared with the two fleets on intelligence, the 50,000 or 60,000 troops of the Expeditionary Force are nothing...

"10 battleships, and four battle cruisers..."Looking at the information in his hand, Sa Zhen said expressionlessly. If you want the Navy to go out, it's going to be a suicide mission. ”

What Sa Zhenbing said is true, because with the current strength of the Chinese Navy, as long as you are careful with the torpedoes, the Navy only needs to dispatch even one Hanoi-class battleship, which is enough to deal with the entire Chinese Navy...

As for Sa Zhen Bing?

Although Liu Guanxiong was the Minister of the Navy during the Beiyang Political Axe period, to be honest, this guy who had sunk the Haitian ship was really not suitable for this position. Of course, the commander of the Sichuan Navy Division is also not good, although he is a descendant cultivated by Yan Guang, but neither his qualifications nor ability are enough to sit in this position.

So in the end, Yan Guang sent someone to invite Sa Zhenbing, who had already retired, out.

Sa Zhenbing himself, after seeing Yan Guang's plan for naval expansion, and personally going to the Fuzhou Ship Administration Bureau, and taking a look at a cruiser and two destroyers being built on the slipway, agreed to Yan Guang's invitation.

After all, Sa Zhenbing's greatest hope is that China can have a powerful navy that can guard China's maritime borders.

(I have met some people who say that Sa Zhenbing is a Manchu, but it should be noted here that Sa Zhenbing was born in the famous Sa family of Fuzhou Semu people, and is a Semu person rather than a Manchu person.) By the way, during Li Yuanhong's presidency after Yuan Shikai's death, Sa Zhenbing once served as the chief of the navy, and later during the Feng Guozhang period, he was also the chief of the navy, and in 1919 he even served as the premier of the State Council... ）

After listening to Sa Zhenbing's words, Liu Guanxiong and several other admirals also nodded, expressing their agreement with Sa Zhenbing's words, after all, the strength of the current Chinese Navy and the current Navy are not comparable to the slightest surname, which Liu Guanxiong and others are quite clear.

But...

After glancing at Sa Zhenbing, who was sitting at the head of the navy, Liu Guanxiong's face became much darker.

In fact, Liu Guanxiong has no opinion on Sa Zhenbing as Minister of the Navy, after all, Sa Zhenbing is much stronger than Liu Guanxiong in terms of ability and qualifications.

However, he served as the chief of the navy during the Yuan Shikai period, but after throwing himself into Yan Guang, he still hoped to continue to stay in this position. After all, being the Minister of the Navy is the dream of every Navy officer and soldier―――――― and another dream is to build a strong Chinese Navy.

And now, he has been removed from the position of chief of the navy ...

Masturbation...

Now the only thing that makes Liu Guanxiong happy is that Yan Guang did not remove him from the post of Minister of the Navy...

――――――――――

Looking at the lack of confidence in the navy and even the other military and political officials present, although Yan Guang was surprised that Ben actually used such a big deal as 10 battleships, he was still a little dissatisfied.

"The main battlefield is on land, not to mention that they send 10 battleships, even if they send 20, what can they do?" Saying that, Yan Guang looked at Sa Zhenbing, Yan Guang still had a lot of respect for this old navy, so he said in a very gentle tone. "Minister Sa, please rest assured, I also know that the current navy is not my opponent, so this battle does not need the navy to come forward."

Sa Zhenbing nodded, he also believed that Yan Guang would not make such an unwise decision, just now he was just reminding Yan Guang.

But even so, he still faced Yan Guangdao.

"But the president, how should my navy deal with it? You must know that it is a fleet of 10 battleships and 4 battle cruisers, even if it relies on Qingdao Fortress..."Speaking of this, Sa Zhenbing's face was also a little ugly. "President, although the Qingdao Fortress is strong, the largest caliber coastal defense gun on the Qingdao Fortress is only 280mm, and there are only 4 coastal defense guns of this caliber, and there are even fewer 210mm coastal defense guns of the second level, only two..."

There is no need to say about the rest, because on the Kongo-class battlecruisers, the caliber of the main guns has reached 356mm, which is at least one cut larger than the shore defense guns of the Qingdao fortress. That's right, although the armor on the Qingdao fortress is much stronger than that on the battle cruisers and battleships, the difference in firepower is too great...

Yan Guang nodded, this was exactly what he was worried about, so after listening to his words, Yan Guang looked at the Minister of Air Force on the side.

"Zishan, is there a problem over there?"

Although Xu Tianchuan's face was also a little ugly, he hurriedly replied after listening to Yan Guang's words.

"Please rest assured, our air force is ready, and a new batch of Fokker planes built in the arsenal has also been put in place, and as long as the Navy's appearance in the waters of Jiaozhou Bay, they will notify the bomber group at the air base to carry out a bombing attack on the naval fleet that appears..."

Hearing Xu Tianchuan say this, Yan Guang nodded with satisfaction.

However, Yan Guang is satisfied, but it does not mean that others are also satisfied, after all, using bomber groups against fleets or something―――――― no one has ever used aircraft as anti-ship weapons in the past.

It's just that although they are not satisfied, what can they do...

Abandonment of Qingdao Fortress? Retreat inland? That's right, although this can get rid of the fire support of the Navy, but in the same way, it will not be easy to recapture the Qingdao fortress in the future.

Fortunately, while there is a lot of bad news, there is also some good news.

If the two Qinghai-class destroyers and the Jinghai-class destroyers started construction at the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau are doing well, it is believed that by October, the two destroyers will be launched, and by the end of the year, the "Jinghai," the lead ship of the Jinghai-class cruisers, will be about the same.

In addition, several other slipways that have been abandoned for a long time in the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau have also been repaired, and another 3 10,000-ton slipways are also nearing completion.

At present, three Qinghai class destroyers and three Jinghai class cruisers are under construction on the six slipways that have been repaired, and at the same time, the Harbour Administration has also finished designing a 10,000-ton heavy cruiser, of course, according to the way the British and the British are separated, this kind of cruiser will be called a first-class cruiser. By the way, this kind of heavy cruiser has been named Chaofeng class by Yan Guang―――――― as for why it was designed so quickly, it is actually very simple, because there are quite a lot of successful cruisers in Britain and Germany, just find one, and then correct it according to the problems that have arisen, and make certain improvements.

The only thing we need to wait for now is when the three 10,000-ton slipways that are under construction will be completed, as long as the slipway is completed, these three heavy cruisers will appear on the three slipways―――――― time is money, Yan Guang is trying his best to grab time here, so there is no way to do it even if it is a little hasty.

Of course, in addition to the good news, there is also some bad news, and it is also related to the Harbour Master's Bureau.

That is, with the outbreak of the war in Europe, it is unlikely that equipment such as steam turbines will be obtained from Germany and Britain, after all, they urgently need such equipment to build more warships.

And now the Sichuan Arsenal, although it has also trial-produced some gas turbines, but in terms of power, it can only provide services for thousand-ton destroyers, such as the 3,000-ton Jinghai-class and 10,000-ton Chaofeng-class heavy cruisers, which are not very suitable.

Thankfully, Britain and Germany are not the only countries in this world that can provide steam turbines, the United States can do it, and Yan Guang's relationship in the United States is definitely much stronger than in Germany.

So after placing the order, the U.S. side has already started to produce the steam turbines needed by Yanguang, and it is believed that the goods will arrive before the slipway is completed...

Now Yan Guang's only worry is about quality, after all, in Yan Guang's view, no matter how good the American goods are, it is impossible to be better than the quality of German goods. Especially when the South Carolina class, the first type of battleship of the United States, actually used a reciprocating steam engine instead of a steam turbine...

But there is no way, who said that the power of the current domestic steam turbine is too small.

Fortunately, the steam turbine for the Qinghai-class destroyer has been ok, and the steam turbine for the Jinghai-class has also been produced and is now being used for testing, so Yan Guang does not have to worry about having a "heart attack" in the future.

――――――――――

At a later meeting, some officials proposed whether to move the 280mm heavy howitzers used by the army to Qingdao Fortress, but they were later vetoed by the generals of the navy and the army.

After all...

It was a howitzer, not a cannon, and the army also needed this powerful artillery to deal with the approaching landing army.

So after the fact, although the generals of the army also made a lot of plans, but there was no one to deal with the Navy, after all, the Navy was at least in Asia, there was no opponent―――――― of course, Britain and Germany wanted to kill the Navy, after all, the Navy only had two "semi-dreadnought-class", while Germany had 14 ships, and Britain had 38 ships...

With such a large group of dreadnoughts, it would be quite easy to destroy the Yamaben Navy.

By the way, it wasn't a good idea at the meeting, at least Yan Guang put forward his plan for the gap, but...

At least no one believes that the "toys" of the Air Force can deal with battleships weighing 20,000 or 30,000 tons―――――― battleships were the hegemons of the sea before the appearance of aircraft carriers.

For this, even Sa Zhenbing firmly believed, although Yan Guang was very disappointed in this, but he was also very pleased, and it was already like this, at least it showed that no one on the side of Yue Ben would think that he would use the air force to deal with the two fleets of Yu Ben, and even if there were, it was impossible for them to disobey the old guys of the diehards.

――――――――――

"Mr. President, I wonder what you're thinking about?"

Riding in the car, after coming to the presidential palace, Yu Zhiyi, who was still short and fat, stroked his beard and asked Yan Guang, who didn't know how much taller than him.

And Yan Guang, who was sitting across from him, still had a gentle smile on his face.

"I wonder if your country insists on that condition?"

Yan Guang asked rhetorically.

"Of course."

Said Zhiyi nodded affirmatively.

"As long as your country is willing to hand over those thousands of German [***] troops, and lend the Qingdao fortress to our country..."

This time, without waiting for Zhiyi to finish speaking, Yan Guang had already interrupted.

"In that case, we don't have much to talk about."

Firmly.

To be honest, if all I asked for was those few thousand Germans, maybe ......... Maybe Yan Guang will really think about it, after all, if the war can break out later, it will be much more beneficial to the subsequent situation.

You must know that at present, all the capital ships of the Chinese Navy with a little combat effectiveness have been concentrated in the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, in order to prevent the Naval Association from raiding the Shipping Administration Bureau and destroying all the ships and slipways that are under construction in the Shipping Bureau.

In that case, all the efforts of the present will be in vain.

In order to guarantee the hard work there, if it was really just a few thousand Germans who could be sold in exchange for peace......... Although doing so would certainly offend the Germans who worked for themselves.

However, since he still asked for the surrender of Qingdao Fortress, there is no need to talk about the matter!!

As long as they win the war, they can not only accumulate prestige for themselves, but also earn some impression points for the Wehrmacht in the Entente countries, and provide assistance for participating in European wars in the future.

And at this time, after being interrupted by Yan Guang, he was unhappy, very unhappy, quite unhappy, because this was not the first time that his speech was interrupted.

However, although he was very angry in his heart, he still forced himself to say.

"Mr. President, have you really decided to do so?!"

No way, who called him a diplomat, swallowing his anger is also a necessary skill.

However, at this time, he hoped that Yan Guang would continue to persevere, because in this way, the army of the Great Emperor would be able to teach him a good lesson to the arrogant young man in front of him.

"Amaterasu, bless me..."

Maybe Zhiyi's prayer really worked, or maybe he didn't have to waste his energy to pray with that god at all, anyway, the Yan Guang in front of him was categorical.

"That's right!!"

"Good!"

Hearing Yan Guang say this, Zhiyi was relieved (?) It's the way of the atmosphere again.

"Since Mr. President has already made such a decision, I will retire first, but I still have to tell Mr. President that your decision today will bring immortal disasters to your country..."

said that Zhiyi had already left, as for the declaration of war or something?

Although Britain has given the permission to go to war, but the license to declare war has not been wholesaled, after all, if it comes to the situation of declaring war, it will be more than Shandong that I will do, and if I am happy at that time...

Therefore, the British delineated the scope of war for Yu himself, and only Shandong, and even the Americans, who had nothing to do with them, joined in, and put pressure on Yu Ben with the British...

On August 11, the expeditionary force officially set out and sent troops to Shandong

(To be continued)