Chapter 139 Preparation (Ask for a monthly pass!) Read! ）

"China is preparing for war!"

Standing at the window of the embassy in Nanjing, at night, Stiessen? Feng? Klingburg turned to his secretary and said that as the new naval attache in China, when he was on the ship coming to China and looking at the materials of the conflict between China and Japan, he realized that the end of the Russo-Japanese War would mean the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.

"The whole world knows!"

Ambassador Kremberg's words were not surprising, especially after President Roosevelt began to act as a mediator, and the world began to speculate about when China and Japan would go to war while watching the imminent start of peace talks between Japan and Russia.

"The Chinese have taken too much, they have successfully built on a "robbery while the fire is on", the Japanese, the Russians, will not be willing to see the fruits that belong to the two countries, usurped by the Chinese, now the Japanese have won the naval battle, the result of the Russo-Japanese War is already doomed, the most afraid of Japan to win the war is not even Russia, but China! ”

"The Japanese will definitely take revenge on China! It's just a matter of time! ”

Leaning back in his chair, Klingbao said in a lazy voice.

"And, you know, it is simply impossible to pay a huge war reparations to the Tsar, and if I were the Emperor of Japan, I would also choose China, because ...... China is already accustomed to paying huge war reparations! Seriously, what I'm most curious about now is what the Chinese Navy will use to stop the Japanese Navy by that time! ”

As he spoke, he cast his eyes on the wine glass in his hand, looking at the red wine in the glass, perhaps, for the Chinese Navy, there was only blood!

“…… In order to reverse the inferior situation to the Russian Navy, after two expansions of the Japanese Navy in 1896 and 1897, its Navy completed the 66th Fleet with six battleships and 6 armored cruisers as the main body; during the siege of Arthur last year, the Japanese Navy lost two battleships, "Hatsuse" and "Yashima", and purchased two armored cruisers, "Chūn Day" and "Nisshin", and at present, the Japanese Navy has 12 light cruisers, in addition to the main fleet of 4 battleships and 8 armored cruisers. 37 mine-striking ships and 57 torpedo boats, as well as a large number of auxiliary vessels, with a total tonnage of up to 240,000 tons! ”

The voice was slightly deep, and Liu Guanxiong then reported.

"And that's not counting the five battleships and one armored battleship of nearly 100,000 tons captured by the Russian Navy!"

When Liu Guanxiong mentioned the strength of the Japanese navy, Chen Moran never said a word, saying that the strength of the Japanese navy is obvious to all, and their strength is not only in terms of tonnage, but also in terms of weapon technology and the skills of officers and men, and they are not inferior to any major power country in the world.

In contrast, the Imperial Royal Navy, even counting the "" battlecruisers, which entered service two months later, only had 2 "Zhiyuan" class battle cruisers, 2 "Zhenhai" class battleships, zero armored cruisers, 5 Haizi cruisers, 14 destroyers, 6 mine-strike ships, 12 torpedo boats, and the total tonnage of combat ships was only less than 100,000 tons. ”

When reading the strength of the navy, Liu Guanxiong's eyes looked directly at His Majesty, and in his heart he felt His Majesty's dedication to the navy, and to a certain extent, His Majesty had always fulfilled his original promise.

From the two "Zhenhai class" donated by the Empress to the "Chikubō-class" ocean-going torpedo destroyers finalized before the founding of the Empire, and then to the "Zhiyuan" class that opened up a new era, His Majesty's support for the navy can be said to be unprecedented, although the current Imperial Navy is really ...... compared to the Japanese Navy, which has been expanded in 10 years Nothing.

"Based on the current situation, the Admiralty believes that in order to counter the Japanese Navy, we need to purchase at least 4 battleships and 8 armored cruisers! In addition, 7 light cruisers, 85 mine-striking ships and torpedo boats need to be purchased, and 115 additional warships are planned to be purchased, with a total displacement of 155,000 tons......"

When Liu Guanxiong reported the navy's ship purchase plan, Ye Zugui always observed His Majesty, and he noticed that when His Majesty heard "155 ships" and "155,000 tons", his brows jumped slightly, obviously for His Majesty, this was definitely beyond his expectations, or rather, it was not in the plan at all.

In fact, this is in the navy's plan, from the Zhiyuan class to the drawings, any naval officer who knows Zhiyuan understands that the era of the old warship is over, and the "Zhiyuan ship" has created an era of "Zhiyuan ship", perhaps now foreign countries are not clear about the whole of the "Zhiyuan ship", but once the Zhiyuan ship appears on the sea, the whole world will understand this, and the era of the "Zhiyuan ship" has come.

Except for the Zhiyuan, all the old ships are destined to be eliminated, and the purchase of old warships and armored cruisers now is undoubtedly a valuable purchase of ships, but the problem is that now with the dispersion of gunpowder smoke in the Tsushima Strait, a war will inevitably break out between China and Japan that will determine the national fortunes and future of the two countries. ,

And in this war, the outcome of the naval battle will determine everything.

"Of course, taking into account the fact that the Japanese captured Russian ships, most of them have already been damaged, and"

"How much is the estimated huā?"

Shen yín, Chen Moran asked a question that he was most concerned about, money, in the final analysis, money is the most important.

"The total cost of the two phases of expansion of the Japanese Navy is 213 million yen!"

"Japan has reparations for the First Sino-Japanese War, but we don't have reparations for the First Sino-Japanese War, and the special expansion cost of the navy is 120 million yuan, which is already the limit of the current national bearing!"

Guan Mingtang on the side truthfully put forward the fact that the 120 million yuan was squeezed out of the teeth by the Ministry of Finance.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the naval expansion fee, the most important thing that the country needs to prepare is the war cost, which is expected to reach more than 1 billion yuan! Therefore, with the current financial resources, it is difficult to afford a heavier expansion fee! ”

Chen Moran nodded, but he didn't object, the 120 million yuan was originally prepared for the navy, but thinking of the loss of 250 million taels after the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War 10 years ago, Shen Yín said after a while.

"Let's make up 200 million! The war budget is not enough to find a way when the time comes, but the question is, even if we have all the money now, will we have time to buy enough warships? ”

At the same time as asking rhetorically, Chen Moran muttered in his heart, according to the information in the magazine, the Japanese captured Russian warships were repaired and put into active service by 1908 at the latest, and considering other factors, the navy only had one year at most to prepare for warships.

"Based on the experience of producing the Zhiyuan-class, using methods such as entrusting the manufacture of warship parts to other countries, within a year, we have the ability to launch three more Zhiyuan-class armored cruisers!"

Shi Tiange, who is the chief of the Navy's Ship Administration, did not hesitate to mention this, which was based on the success of the Zhiyuan.

In order to rush the construction period, it took only 10 months for the Zhiyuan to pay from laying the keel to Jiāo, but the cost increased by 18.6%, 60% of the armor steel plates and structural steel parts were entrusted to Germany, Britain, the United States and even France, 80% of the rivets were purchased from Shikoku, and steam turbines, propellers, and transmission shafts were directly imported from other countries.

"Generally speaking, in addition to self-production, all the components are subcontracted to companies in Germany, Britain, the United States, France and other countries, and the companies sign contracts to ensure the supply time, and implement three shifts of production in the shipyard, usually a warship takes 2 years and 6 months to be completed, and two-thirds of the time in the shipyard is actually waiting for the production of shipbuilding components, especially the production of armor steel plates and power equipment, which is the most time-consuming, and the armor steel plates of the Zhiyuan are provided by Britain and Germany. The boilers were supplied by the four British and American companies and the Jiangnan Naval Manufacturing Bureau, although there will be some shortcomings, but the production time is minimized! ”

When introducing the "experience", Shi Tiange still noticed His Majesty's brows, outsiders may not know, but His Majesty knows very well, why the Navy does this, does the Navy really need warships so much? At least two months ago, at the end of the Battle of Tsushima, there was no need for this, and the reason why he did this, even at the expense of some of the warships, was the "ten-year plan of the Navy" of His Majesty in front of him, but now the imminent threat made the Navy have to do everything possible to build and purchase new warships.

"Just do it!"

Although he knew that the "speed" of the navy was his own, Chen Moran still nodded, and then looked at Ye Zugui and said.

"Do you still want to buy existing old ships directly from Britain and Germany?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, we don't know at all when Japan will choose to declare war on us, whether it is to build its own warships or order warships from other countries, time, time is the biggest problem, and the only way to solve the problem is to purchase active warships from other countries."

Ye Zugui replied truthfully.

"Now that the situation between China and Japan has developed to the point where anyone can see that war is on the verge of breaking out, and the intelligence of the Naval Intelligence Service shows that the Japanese side has accelerated the speed of repairing and capturing Russian ships, which means that, to a certain extent, Japan has begun to plan to declare war on us while preparing to end the war with Russia, at least there is a tendency to do so, so there is only one solution, which is to seek all the warships that can be purchased in the international arms market. to bridge the current gap in strength between the Imperial Navy and the Japanese Navy. ”

"Will they sell us active warships? Especially the UK? ”

Although the relationship with Fisher is very good, Chen Moran also understands that limited by the Anglo-Japanese alliance treaty, Fisher cannot give himself too much support, and it may be blessed by God to sell a few cruisers to China.

"Your Majesty, it's time for the Zhiyuan Ship to play his role!"

[.b.m]