The Chinese Empire ruthlessly cheated the United States on the Panama Canal issue, and got 2 billion US dollars for nothing, which is equivalent to the financial budget of the Chinese Empire for five years.

In the 9th fiscal year of Guanghua, Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, decreed that this huge amount of money should be used to prepare for the construction of the imperial national medical insurance project.

Subsequently, the Imperial Congress approved the National Medical Insurance Preparatory Plan submitted by the Ministry of Health, with a total allocation of 3 billion dragon dollars in eight years and three phases to build the national medical service system of the Chinese Empire. Among them, Guanghua allocated 500 million dragon coins for the first time in 9 years to establish a pilot medical security system in the first-tier cities of various provinces, and will gradually promote it to second- and third-tier cities in the next seven years, which has been in rural areas, and eventually covers all parts of the country, and all 412 million people will be included in the national medical security system, completely solving the fundamental social problem of difficulty in seeing a doctor and taking medicine. The first batch of citizens who participated in medical insurance only need to pay 5 yuan per month to enjoy 100% medical insurance, of which the political axe financial subsidy is as high as 15 yuan per person per month, accounting for three-quarters.

In the short term, the political axe is really losing money, but in the long run, no one wants to get sick, and the medical insurance premiums paid by the citizens will cover the excess expenditure of the imperial treasury in the early days.

The huge amount of money invested in the early days of the empire was "reimbursed" by the American political axe, which did not account for the expenditure of the imperial treasury, so it did not affect the capital investment and development of other aspects of the imperial political axe.

Americans watched the Chinese Empire use their hard-earned money to build the world's first national health care system for their own people, and their envy and hatred have reached the extreme.

After the fall of Roosevelt of the Republican Party, the new inauguration, President Woodrow Wilson of the American Cooking Party.

Wilson, under tremendous pressure from the political axe and the people, had to act.

In February 1909, the revolution broke out in Mexico, the opposition Madero organized an insurrectionary army to fight against Dias's political axe army, and the U.S. Army used the excuse that a large number of Mexican refugees entered the United States to affect American social security, so the U.S. Army sent troops to Mexico and occupied Mexican cities on the border to prevent the influx of Mexican refugees. This move successfully diverted the attention of most of the American people and defused the pressure on Wilson's political axe caused by the Panama Canal issue.

However, although this move diverted the public's attention, the opposition Republican Party did not give the Ming Cook Party a day to live in peace, and they continued to throw out the theory of the threat of the Chinese empire and demanded that the US Navy expand its forces to deal with the threat.

In 1909, the Imperial Chinese Navy completed the Shang King class battleships. Battleships with 343-mm guns made all 29 battleships in service in the United States, 32 armored cruisers, obsolete at once. Even the four Wyoming-class and Florida-class battleships under construction proved unable to sink the Shang King class battleships.

At the same time, the Chinese Empire also completed the King Zhou Lie-class battle cruisers, plus the previous nine Zhou Wu-class battle cruisers, and ten battle cruisers cruising in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the U.S. Navy felt the tremendous military pressure and immediately embarked on the project of building more powerful battleships.

Wilson then approved the plan submitted by the Admiralty for the construction of the New York-class battleships and Seattle-class battlecruisers, and Congress allocated $200 million for the construction of four New York-class battleships and four Seattle-class battlecruisers to fight the four Shangwang-class battleships and ten battlecruisers of the Chinese Empire.

Because of the Panama Canal issue, the United States suffered a great loss and the US Navy's two-ocean strategic plan was also blocked, so the hostile attitude of the United States towards the Chinese Empire was also increasing.

Under the influence of this environment, the U.S. Navy put forward very high requirements for the New York-class battleships, requiring the New York-class battleships to comprehensively suppress the Shangxuanwang-class battleships of the Chinese Empire. Its main gun requires 330 mm more than the Shang King class, reaching 343 mm; Its standard tonnage reaches 27,000 tons, exceeding the 24,000-ton standard of the Shangwang class; Armor protection 13.5 inches, speed 22 knots.

With such a strong design standard, it was a huge challenge for the U.S. Department of Naval Engineering. Due to the failure of many technologies, the final design plan has shrunk a lot.

The caliber of the main gun has not changed, it is still 343 mm, but the original 50 times extension target cannot be achieved, and it is finally reduced to 45 times the extension, but five twin turrets are arranged. The secondary guns were 16 127-mm rapid-fire guns and 8 76-mm L50 rapid-fire guns. The overall firepower really comprehensively suppressed the Shang King class of the Chinese Empire, and could even suppress the Qin-class battleships that were secretly under construction in the Chinese Empire.

However, the tonnage of the main guns of the New York-class battleships was too large (10 guns), and the required speed of 22 knots required for their armor protection would have been at least 32,000 tons or more, if they were all 13.5 inches. Judging from the fact that the largest slipway in the United States can only build a hull of less than 30,000 tons, the US Navy will not be able to start construction of the New York-class in a short period of time.

In the face of the imminent threat of the Chinese Empire, the U.S. Navy had to make a balanced adjustment, the speed of the New York class was reduced to 21 knots, and the main armor of the waterline and the frontal armor of the conning tower were reduced to 12 inches, but the turret still maintained 13.5 inches of frontal armor.

As a result of this adjustment, the New York-class battleships were designed and built at the New York shipyard in Candan, with four ships of the same class.

Similarly, the U.S. Navy, in response to the threat of ten battlecruisers from the Chinese Empire, began construction of four Seattle-class battlecruisers at the same time as the construction of the New York-class battlecruisers.

The Seattle-class battlecruisers were designed by directly lengthening the hull of the New York-class battleships and reducing their armor protection. The caliber and number of its main guns remained the same, and for the addition of 16 boilers and two sets of steam turbine equipment, its hull was lengthened to 190 meters, the armor was reduced to 254 mm, the armor of the main guns was reduced to 280 mm, and the conning tower was reduced to 270 mm. A total of 32 oil-fired boilers and four Parsons steam turbine systems were used, allowing the vessel to reach speeds of 27 knots.

Except that the armor is not as good as that of the Chinese Empire's Zhou Wuwang-level and Zhoulie-level battle cruisers, the speed is comparable, but the firepower is much higher, and it has a very strong combat advantage.

Construction of four Seattle-class battle cruisers began at the Newport-News-Yard, and the U.S. Navy immediately boasted that it was the strongest battlecruiser in the world.

Beginning in 1909, the US Navy built four New York-class battleships and Seattle-class battlecruisers at the same time, which were able to surpass the battleships and battlecruisers in service and under construction of the navies of various countries in the world, which immediately aroused strong attention from naval circles around the world.

The expansion of the US Navy is undoubtedly aimed at the Imperial Chinese Navy. As a result, the United States was incorrigibly dragged into the whirlpool of an even more intense arms race in the future by the Chinese Empire, and unwittingly, the US Navy joined the ranks of the world's naval arms race, from which it could not extricate itself.

For this reason, the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire immediately convened an enlarged meeting, and after studying it, it was decided to engage in a naval arms race with the United States.

Since the Chinese Empire received two huge sums of money in the Sino-British War and on the Panama Canal, it had a far advantage over the US Navy in terms of funding. Moreover, the report of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Chinese Empire clearly pointed out that the naval industry is a standard for measuring a country's comprehensive industrial strength, and every time the Chinese Imperial Navy builds a large battleship, it will bring 10,000 jobs to the people of the empire, directly drive the production and sales of 2,000 related companies and factories, and indirectly bring economic benefits to more than 30,000 enterprises of various types, which has an immeasurable driving effect on the development of the imperial industry.

For this reason, the Imperial Congress believed that the Imperial Treasury was too rich to support the expansion of the Navy, which would not only protect the Empire's maritime and overseas interests, but also drive economic growth. Therefore, Congress was very generous this time, and passed the 100 million dragon dollar ship building plan proposed by the Admiralty in one resolution.

Because the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy consisted of 14 Shenbow-type battleships, 10 Shenbow-type battlecruisers, 9 heavy cruisers, and 18 light cruisers, in addition to 25 former Shenbow-type battleships and 22 heavy cruisers that captured the Russian and British navies, as well as more than 200 hunting ships, more than 130 submarines, and thousands of frigates, gunboats, supply ships, auxiliary tugboats, etc., it still ranks first in the world in terms of the number, quality, and total tonnage of capital ships.

Although the U.S. Navy is expanding rapidly, the pace of naval construction in Britain, France and Germany is faster, so the strength (total tonnage) of the U.S. Navy falls to the fifth place in the world.

Under these circumstances, the Chinese Empire does not need to build ships on a large scale in a short period of time, as long as it can occupy a leading position in the arms race.

Therefore, the 100 million dragon coins granted by the Congress to the Admiralty were used by the Admiralty to build two Han Wu Emperor-class battleships (BB-45 Han Wu Di and BB-46 Han Zhao Di), with a single ship budget of 20 million dragon coins; Two Jinwudi-class battlecruisers (BBC-11 Jinwudi, BBC-12 Jinhuidi), with a single ship budget of 30 million yuan.

In response to the U.S. Navy's New York-class superbow-type battleships, the Imperial Chinese Navy began laying the keels of the Hanwudi-class battleships at the Whampoa Shipyard the second month after the U.S. Navy began construction of the New York-class.

In order to suppress the 10 343-mm 45-fold main guns of the New York-class battleships of the US Navy, the Imperial Chinese Navy used 9 356-mm 45-fold extension guns on the Han Wudi-class battleships with three triple turrets, one in the front and two in the rear. The secondary guns have also been upgraded to 20 127-mm 50-fold single-mounted rapid-fire guns and 12 76-mm 50-fold double-mounted rapid-fire guns, comprehensively suppressing the New York-class of the United States.

In terms of armor, the main armor belt of the waterline of the Han Wu Emperor class battleship is 343 mm, the front of the turret, the front of the command tower, the ammunition depot, the engine room, the fuel tank and other key parts are all 356 mm, and the total weight of Chinese special steel armor is 7,000 tons. Enough to withstand the attack of shells under 356 mm from enemy ships of the same type, it is theoretically necessary to sink the non-lethal surname through hit shells of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleship, 33 356 mm shells, or 6.5 21-inch torpedoes, which are extremely survivable.

Such a huge weight of armor and artillery made the standard displacement of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships reach 31,000 tons. In order to obtain a suppressed combat speed, the Admiralty required battleships of this class to reach a speed of 24 knots.

In order to achieve a speed of 24 knots, the General Administration of Naval Engineering designed 30 oil-fired boilers and 4 sets of Parsons Type 09 steam turbine units for the Han Wu Emperor-class battleship, and used the world's first gear accelerator and reducer device newly developed by Parsons for the first time, which was 3 minutes faster than the Qin-class battleship, and 5 minutes faster than the deceleration and reversing of the battleship, so that the battleship of this class could obtain a very high tactical turning ability.

Although the space occupied by the Type 09 boiler system and the turbine system has been greatly reduced, the 30 boilers and four sets of steam turbine systems still require 6 special cabins to install equipment, so that the hull length of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleship has been further increased, and in order to reduce drag, the bow length of the flying scissor bow has been further increased, and finally the length of the whole ship has broken through the 200-meter mark to 200.5 meters.

It was precisely because of this length limitation that the Whampoa Shipyard competed for the first time with Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. and won an order from the Admiralty. This is thanks to the far-sighted surname of Chen Pong, the manager of the Whampoa Shipyard, who found that the navies of all countries in the world are building ships on a large scale and conducting a naval arms race, and the warships are getting bigger and bigger, and the longer they are built, they will soon break through the 30,000-ton mark in the future, and the length will definitely exceed 200 meters, while the slipways of other shipyards are less than 30,000 tons, and the length is only 180 meters, which cannot meet the requirements of the future, so in order to compete with other shipyards for the next generation of warship orders, he expanded four in advance that can be built within 300 meters. The slipway of warships below 50,000 tons, and customized advanced equipment such as a large gantry crane that can lift 3,000 tons and a 7,000-ton hydraulic press that can stamping the bow of a flying scissor ship below 2,000 tons.

His visionary surname finally brought him a decent income. After inspecting the facilities of all the shipyards, the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire finally only met the requirements of the Whampoa Shipyard, so the huge shipbuilding budget of 100 million dragon coins was all on the books of the Whampoa Shipyard. Moreover, the original shipbuilding technology of Huangpu Shipyard is not as good as that of Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, and other northern royal shipyards, Dalian Shipyard or Zhigu Shipyard have gaps, but with the order of the Admiralty to Huangpu Shipyard, the senior engineers and technical experts of the Admiralty are also gathered in Guangzhou Huangpu Shipyard, so that Huangpu Shipyard finally jumped to the international first-class level, when the order is completed, in one fell swoop with Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry and other first-line large shipyards.

In addition to comprehensively suppressing the New York-class of the U.S. Navy in terms of speed, firepower and armor, the battleships of the Han Wu Emperor class also carried two Jian-5 seaplanes for reconnaissance and comparative firing.

In addition, starting from the Han Wu Emperor class battleship, an oval protrusion was added under the bow of the ship, and a sonar system was installed in it to detect underwater submarines, and even detect underwater obstacles in front, which was very important for the battleship to avoid the mines arranged by the enemy when sailing, and greatly improved the survivability of the battleship.

There are also several key surname reforms. The further simplification of the radio facilities, the reduction of the size, the increase in the communication range, and especially the significant increase in the anti-jamming ability, benefited from the experience of the Imperial Navy's Pipa Jing jamming ship.

The electric gate device was further optimized, and all artillery systems were completely abandoned by steam drive and electrically driven. And set up a segmented fuse circuit design to prevent the circuit from being damaged in one part and affecting other parts.

The 356-mm shell weighed 1.34 tons, and the existing equipment of the lifting machine needed to be greatly improved. To this end, the Naval Armament Department specially absorbed the heavy lifting machine technology of the German Siemens company, developed a lifting machine system that conformed to the main guns of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships, and realized primary automation, and the number of crew members was reduced from the original 12 to 6 at once, so that the working environment of the officers and men in the turret was greatly improved.

Due to the previous naval battles, the Chinese Imperial Navy found that enemy ships were often hit by their own shells, which caused the ammunition depot to explode, and the battleship was blown to pieces in an instant. This experience is not known to the navies of other countries, so the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire deliberately emphasized the optimization and protection of ammunition depots.

The Han Wu Emperor-class battleship was the first in this regard, and the ammunition depot of the whole ship had the original ammunition depot under each gun, and only the ammunition depot was arranged below the main gun, and the ammunition depot of the secondary guns and rapid-fire guns at all levels was concentrated under the ship's amidships for unified protection, and the conveyor belt was used to deliver ammunition to the rapid-fire guns at all levels.

Since the turret is the main target of the opponent's artillery in naval warfare, this can ensure that when the vicinity of the turret is penetrated, it will not cause the explosion of the ammunition depot, and the turret can be saved to continue the battle.

The central fire control system of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships was greatly improved, and the mechanical calculation instruments, which were originally more than 10 meters high and weighing 300 tons, were reduced in size to 210 tons. Moreover, it is equipped with a more advanced Type 08 measuring telescope, with an observation distance of 24,000 meters and a measured distance of 20,000 meters, which can command the main gun to shell targets within 20,000 meters.

In this way, starting from the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships, the combat distance of human naval warfare was expanded to 20 kilometers, and the Chaoshenbow battleships achieved long-range combat capabilities, and the history of human naval warfare entered a new chapter, and the Chinese Imperial Navy once again stood on the world naval leadership line in the era of Chaoshengong.

The Jinwudi-class battle cruiser was also started at the Huangpu Shipyard, and because the Jinwudi-class battle cruiser was longer, reaching 210 meters, the standard displacement had reached 33,000 tons, so it could only be built on the 50,000-ton slipway of the Huangpu Shipyard.

As a battle cruiser used to break the diplomatic relationship, the Jinwudi class was also equipped with 3 3 356 mm 45 times extended main guns, 20 127 mm 50 times extended single rapid-fire guns, 12 76 mm 50 times extended twin rapid-fire guns, and 4 21-inch torpedo launchers, which comprehensively suppressed the Seattle-class battle cruisers of the US Navy.

The length of the hull was increased to 210 meters, which was to install more boilers and steam turbine systems. The ship uses 40 oil-fired boilers, 4 steam turbine systems, four-shaft propulsion, and a speed of 29 knots.

Such a high speed also made the armor weight of the battlecruiser of this class be reduced, the main armor was only 280 mm, and the armor of the turret frontal armor, the command tower, the ammunition depot, the engine room, the fuel tank and other key parts were slightly strengthened to 300 mm.

This class of battle cruisers was no longer used against the armored cruisers of early countries, but against the battle cruisers of the navies of various countries, especially the Seattle-class battle cruisers used against the US Navy.

With the construction of the Han Wudi-class battleships and the Jinwudi-class battlecruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the large-scale naval arms race between China and the United States officially began, and at the same time, it also indicated that China and the United States began to enter an era of all-out confrontation, and the contradictions between China and the United States began to escalate and enter a state of acceleration.

(To be continued)