[Today will be updated with 16,000 words, make up for yesterday's, the first update arrives!] 】

"Since the military conflict in the northeast of Qing Russia, the Russian Far Eastern Military District has begun to plan to rebuild the Amur Inland Fleet, intending to regain control of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers. And our only inland river division, the Songhua River Naval Division, has also been wiped out, and now the strength on several major rivers is empty, if you want to control the river defense, you have to hurry up! ”

Wang Shizhen seems to have made up his mind, that is, to persuade Wang Chenhao to form a river defense fleet as soon as possible.

Wang Chenhao asked: "Does Shizhen know how the Russians plan to rebuild this Amur Inland River Fleet?" ”

Wang Shizhen replied: "According to the information we have received, the Russian shipyard in Vladivostok is being expanded, as if it is being prepared for the repair and maintenance of large battleships. In addition, the Russian Far East Fleet had plans to transfer its coast guard gunboats Manchurian, Beaver, Fur Dog, Korean, Thundering, and Heroic to patrol the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers, and the Russian shipyard seemed to be planning to build a new class of shallow heavy gunboats and a fleet of gunboats. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, knowing a little in his heart.

After the Novgrad-class shallow water heavy gunboats, the Russians should build the Admiral Ushakov-class shallow water heavy gunboats, which are shallow water heavy gunboats that can both cruise on inland rivers and serve as shore defense, and its original intention was designed by the Russian Baltic Fleet to counter the Odin-class coastal defense ships of the German Navy.

To counter the 8 Odin-class coastal defense ships built by the German Navy, the Baltic Fleet built 3 shore-defense armored ships of the Admiral Ushakov class with a shallow draft. That is, the "Admiral Ushakov", which was completed in 1895 at the New Admiralty Plant, and the "Admiral Sinyavin" and "Admiral Apraksin", which were completed around 1896 at the Baltic Plant, respectively.

This low-freeboard warship with a displacement of only 4,971 tons has a large bridge in the middle, a 254-mm twin turret in the front and rear (the "Apraksin" has a single turret in the rear, one less gun), and four 120-mm single-mounted guns on both sides of the bridge.

I have to admit that the Russian Navy is very good in the design of shallow water warships, and this class of ships later became a model for the Nordic Navy to build similar warships.

"The Russians rebuilt the Amur fleet, and this 'Amur' is the Russian word for Heilongjiang, which shows that Russia's ambition to peep into our territory will not change. If I'm not mistaken, the Russians should have built the Admiral Ushakov-class shallow water heavy gunboats, after the Novgrad-class shallow heavy gunboats. ”

Wang Shizhen asked: "I wonder what the surname of this so-called Admiral Ushakov-class shallow-water heavy gunboat can be, and do we have a way to deal with it?" ”

Wang Chenhao said: "Originally, shallow water heavy gunboats generally could not be deployed to fight in inland waters, but this Admiral Ushakov-class shallow water heavy gunboat developed by the Russian Navy has a shallow draft and can be navigated in inland rivers with abundant water. Every year in April ~ August is the period when the water in Heilongjiang is abundant, at this time, the shallow water heavy gunboats of the Russian Navy can completely enter the Heilongjiang River to fight. ”

Wang Shizhen didn't want Wang Chenhao to know more information in this regard than he knew, so he couldn't help but be happy.

"The information that adults know is clearer than that of their humble positions, and it must be that the intelligence network formed by adults has been successfully operated!"

Wang Shizhen thought that the reason why Wang Chenhao was able to obtain such information was that the international intelligence network he ordered Li Guodong to organize had already begun to operate.

Wang Chenhao nodded, just smiled faintly. In fact, although Li Guodong's intelligence network has already begun to operate, it has not yet reached the level of Wang Chenhao's 'prophet'. It's just that Wang Chenhao thinks it's okay, and attributes these to the intelligence network, but he can hide his edge.

"As for how to fight this class of shallow water heavy gunboats, I don't think we are suitable for building such large-tonnage shallow water heavy gunboats."

Wang Shizhen asked puzzledly: "Why is this?" Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry should be able to build? ”

Wang Chenhao smiled and said: "We can build this kind of shallow water heavy gunboat ourselves, but the problem is that after we finish building this kind of shallow water heavy gunboat, we need to deploy it to places such as Heilongjiang, Songhua River and Ussuri River. And these places cannot deploy such heavy gunboats all year round, and they will have to be withdrawn when the freshwater season comes. And the mouth of the river is controlled by the Russians, and during the war, these heavy gunboats of ours could not enter the Heilongjiang River at all, so we are not suitable for deploying such shallow-water heavy gunboats, and can only deploy medium gunboats of one or two thousand tons. ”

Wang Shizhen thought about it, if he built such a heavy gunboat but couldn't enter Heilongjiang, it would only be a waste.

"But! If there were no shallow-water heavy gunboats to compete with them, our river defense fleet would definitely suffer. ”

Wang Chenhao understood Wang Shizhen's worries, but he still had a countermeasure, so he smiled and said: "All roads lead to Rome, we still have a way!" ”

Wang Shizhen suddenly showed joy, looked at Wang Chenhao, and asked, "I knew that adults must have a way!" ”

Wang Chenhao said: "Water warfare is nothing more than a few elements, speed, firepower and armor, although we cannot compete with Russia's shallow water heavy gunboats in terms of firepower and armor, but we now have a number of high-speed hunting ships, the high speed of 30 knots is by no means compared with the speed of about 10 knots of Russian shallow water heavy gunboats, it occupies an overwhelming advantage." Even if the Russian gunboats had heavy firepower, it was difficult for their large-caliber guns to hit the destroyers with a speed of 30 knots. Our destroyers, in turn, can attack enemy ships with torpedoes, tearing through their heavy armor protection. ”

Wang Shizhen suddenly said happily: "My lord! ”

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "However, we still have to make some improvements. At present, our Exocet-class hunting ship mainly uses torpedoes as an attack weapon, to be precise, she is a torpedo destroyer. In the naval battle, the hit rate of the torpedo is still too low, so I plan to ask Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry to develop a high-speed artillery repellent hunting ship, and the two repellent ships can be combined to give full play to the advantages of inland river operations! ”

Wang Shizhen said approvingly: "The artillery bombardment and hunting ship that the adults said is to pay attention to the artillery strike force, and the torpedo hunting ship is to pay attention to the torpedo attack means. ”

Subsequently, Wang Chenhao and Wang Shizhen discussed the plan to form the Northeast River Defense Fleet. In view of the Amur fleet, which Russia is currently planning to rebuild, Wang Chenhao's Northeast River Defense Fleet plans to build 10 high-speed artillery destroyers and 10 high-speed mine-strike hunting ships, as well as a corresponding number of gunboats, transport ships, and supply auxiliary ships.

The matter of the river defense fleet has been finalized, and the defense issue in the northeast region has come to an end for the time being. Before Russia increased its troops in the Far East, the existing land and coastal defenses in the northeast were sufficient to deal with it.

Subsequently, Wang Chenhao and Wang Shizhen exchanged views on the expansion of the Russian Far East Fleet and the rebuilding of the Combined Fleet by the Navy.

The Russian Navy's strengthening of the Far East Fleet was expected by Wang Chenhao, because he knew that the Russians had suffered a big loss this time, and they would definitely not give up, and revenge was certain. Wang Chenhao is not too worried about the development of the Russian Navy, because although Russia's previous naval power was strong, it was limited to coastal defense, and although the Russian Navy was the third largest navy in the world, most of its naval warships stayed in the era of ironclad coastal defense. Before Nicholas II ascended the throne, the Russian Navy was a green-water close-defense navy, and after Nicholas came to power, the construction of a blue-water navy began. And because the Russian naval industry has always followed its own line, it has become out of touch with the advanced naval industry in the world, and it is difficult to transform in a short period of time.

After Wang Chenhao learned that Russia had sent a request to France and the United States to order warships, he knew that the Russian Navy was preparing to transform into a blue-water deep-sea navy, and that the purpose of the Russians was to learn the advanced technology of the international naval industry.

"We have to prevent Russia from obtaining advanced naval industry technology from overseas as much as possible, and we must carry out a technological blockade of the Russian Navy, and delay Russia's acquisition of these technologies in order to slow down the pace of construction of the Russian Blue Water Navy, and then win valuable strategic time for us to improve the naval industry and build a powerful blue water fleet."

Wang Shizhen agrees with Wang Chenhao's view, but he has doubts.

"My lord, although Russia is isolated in the international community, France is an ally of Russia after all, and it is reported that France has agreed to help Russia build large modern battleships and large armored cruisers, and France will definitely transfer technology to Russia, which is probably difficult for us to stop."

Wang Chenhao naturally understands this, but he still won't let Russia master the French shipbuilding technology smoothly.

"It's hard to stop, but we have to do our best, at least we need to get the parameters of the construction of the new battleships and armored cruisers that France is building for Russia, and know how much technology the French have given the Russians and what technology they have given them, so that we can also evaluate ourselves against the surname."

Wang Shizhen nodded and said, "What the adults said is very true!" However, if we want the French to tell us this, I am afraid that we will have to give the French some favors as well. ”

Wang Chenhao said: "France and Russia are allies, and if we break out into a full-scale war with Russia in the future, we cannot rule out the possibility of France entering the war." Moreover, France still has a Far East Fleet in the French colonies of French Vietnam in the Far East, and it will be very unfavorable to us if it cooperates with Russia to launch naval and land attacks from the north and south. ”

Wang Shizhen sighed: "Yes! This time it was Russia that did not declare war on us, and if Russia had declared war on us, I am afraid that France would have to take a stand, and maybe even go to war against us. ”

Wang Chenhao said: "There is a reason why France chose neutrality this time. Relations between France and Britain in the English Channel were tense, and the French threatened British battleships with a group of torpedo boats, but the British secretly developed high-speed torpedo boat destroyers with the intention of suppressing the French torpedo boats, so I leaked the parameters of the newly built Xingchen-class torpedo boat destroyers built by the British to the French, which made the French choose neutrality in this Qing-Russian military conflict. ”

Wang Shizhen suddenly realized and exclaimed: "I see, no wonder the French were very tough at the beginning and supported the Russians, but then I don't know why they chose to be neutral, I thought it was the British side who put pressure on them!" I don't want to be an adult's strategy that works. ”

Wang Chenhao smiled faintly, what he has done for this country is far more than this, many things have not been publicized.

"The French now presumably are secretly studying the problem of restraining the British destroyers of high-speed torpedo boats, and if they want to restrain the other side, they can only resort to steam turbine systems. At present, Parsons, the only steam turbine research and development company in the world, has been merged by our Beiyang Technology, and the French will be interested in negotiating with us. In this way, let Nguyen Zhongshu go to the French consulate in Zimbabwe tomorrow to see what the French mean! ”

Wang Shizhen looked worried and asked, "But my lord, didn't you say that this steam turbine technology is enough to cause a naval industrial revolution, which is extremely important?" Why reveal it to the French? ”

Wang Chenhao sighed and said, "It's not that I'm willing!" It's that the steam turbine technology we have now is not enough to cause a revolution in the naval industry, which is one of the reasons why I chose to develop it jointly with Fisher, and the steam turbine is installed on a large warship, and it is not enough for us alone. There is a saying that a basket of eggs is put in two baskets, broken and broken, we can't hang the British on a tree, if one day the British turn their faces, we have another choice. ”

Wang Shizhen quickly figured it out, looked happy, and said: "My lord is high-minded, and I admire my humble position." The British and the French were so conflicted that they couldn't pee in a pot. We bet on both sides, even if one side turns against us, the other side will definitely come over to woo us. In this case, neither Britain nor France wants us to get close to the other side, and they will not easily turn their faces against us! ”

Wang Chenhao smiled: "That's right! We're just going to take advantage of them and make them throw bogeys. ”

Then, Wang Shizhen asked: "What about the United States?" I heard that negotiations are still ongoing! ”

Wang Chenhao said: "When the US Republican Party comes to power, it will invade foreign countries, and the Americans are very likely to agree to Russia's order and win Russia's support for the US aggression in international politics." ”

Wang Shizhen asked worriedly: "US foreign aggression? Is it us? ”

Wang Chenhao smiled: "Look at what you're afraid of!" Are we that easy to pinch? Do you think any of the great powers will come and pinch us? ”

Wang Shizhen asked weakly: "Every time the great powers invade us, the shadow of the Americans is always indispensable after that. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, this is true, since the Opium War in 1840, in addition to Britain and France, the United States and Russia have taken advantage of the fire behind their backs.

"Sooner or later, we'll get it back! But at the moment the Americans are not capable of attacking us, because there are other countries that are better than us. ”

Wang Shizhen asked, "I don't know which country?" ”

Wang Chenhao replied: "Spain! ”

(To be continued)