On the way back to China after leaving the United States, Lin Lian repeatedly considered how to report the results of this visit to his father.

Obviously, the Americans did not have the courage to risk the intervention of the British in a short time, at least three years, to provoke a Spanish-American war, and they had to wait until after 1895 at the earliest, and for the Americans, waiting until after 1898 was the best option.

For the Empire, 1895 is already a more dangerous time period, if we really wait until 1898, the strength of the Imperial Navy and the British Royal Navy will return to the same as more than ten years ago, and the size of the British Royal Navy will reach more than three times the size of the Imperial Navy.

You must know that the level of shipbuilding and naval military spending of the contemporary British are quite terrifying, and there is no pressure at all to start building four or five ships a year, and if you grit your teeth, you can do seven or eight ships a year.

The industrial and economic level of the empire has barely reached the level of the second in the world with the United States, and the scale of military spending is not small, and it is second only to the British in modern times.

However, the Empire's military spending is mainly inclined to the army, raising more than a million army forces, and at the same time keeping the equipment updated in a timely manner, which is a very large cost.

In 1885, the empire fully replaced small-caliber rifles with smokeless gunpowder, that is, the 1885 Linde rifle, just the reloading rifle was to swallow up a large amount of the empire's military spending.

Then every year it will be replaced with new artillery, equipped with Maxim machine guns, etc., which leads to a very large amount of money that the empire spends on the army every year.

Moreover, the basic core of the empire's national defense is still dominated by the army, supplemented by the navy, which cannot be changed even if the navy is strongly opposed.

The Imperial Navy receives no comparison with the Royal Navy's annual military expenditure.

Military spending represents more warships, can maintain more warships, allows soldiers to train more frequently, and military spending represents the strength of the navy.

Without money, even if the Imperial Navy tried its best, it could only narrow the gap in strength with the British Royal Navy in a clever way.

The only way to change this embarrassment is for the empire to increase naval military spending, but this is not very likely for the time being.

In 1892, the empire's military expenditure accounted for only a pitiful 9 percent of the budget, which was completely different from the 278 percent or even more than 30 percent in the early 20 years.

If this situation is to change, it may only be possible to get the arms race to begin in the future, and now, the Imperial Royal Navy is still having a hard time.

After returning to China, after Lin Zhe reported the results of the secret negotiations with the United States to Lin Zhe, Lin Zhe pondered for a moment, and then said: "Then wait a few more years, and if the Americans are still unwilling to do it, we will come by ourselves!" ”

In order to prepare for war, especially in case the Americans did not follow at that time, the empire could only declare war on Spain alone, and bear the possibility of British intervention alone, Lin Zhe also made relevant decisions.

The most obvious move was that in 1893, Lin Zhe officially approved the ninth phase of the Navy's expansion plan, approving the plan to build six new battleships and five armored cruisers, as well as a large number of auxiliary warships.

Lin Zhe didn't know when the arms race in history began, but he could guess that his move might cause a naval competition among several major naval powers.

The plan to build eleven capital ships, even the British gasped when they saw it, and then shouted that they would start construction of more warships than the Chinese.

In 1893, when the British learned that the Empire had passed the Ninth Naval Expansion Plan, they reacted quickly, just as they learned in 1888 that the Empire had commissioned the battleship Yandi, and they quickly started construction of the Sovereign-class battleships, and started construction of eight in one go.

This time, they also reacted quite quickly, proposing the so-called million ton plan, the core of which was not to limit the number of warships to be built, but to increase the total tonnage of the British Royal Navy to more than one million tons by 1900.

You must know that in 1890, the total tonnage of the British Royal Navy was only 68 tons, and it suddenly increased to one million tons.

Sure enough, at the end of 1893, the British announced that from 1894, they would start construction of a new generation of battleships of the Majestic-class, and how many of the first Majestic-class battleships were there at the same time?

There are seven more than seven that are expected to be delayed until 1895, and the construction of the Majestic-class is planned to be as many as nine.

Add to this the eight Sovereign-class battleships and the two Centenarian-class second-class battleships, and by 1895 the total number of battleships in service and under construction by the British would have reached nineteen.

At the same time, when measuring the strength of a navy, you have to add those first-class cruisers, armored cruisers, etc.

In terms of the three-expansion steam engine, rapid-fire guns, and steel hulls, this time period is probably around 1890, and it is worth noting that in the period from 1886 to 1898, the British were bent on building a large fleet of first-class protected cruisers, regardless of the construction of armored cruisers in other countries, regardless of the need to control costs and maintain the size of the fleet, the endurance and maneuverability of cruisers.

Don't think that the first-class protective cruisers of the British are worse than the collision cruisers, in fact, although the cost is relatively low, there are many merits, and the tonnage is generally large.

In 1892 and 1894, Britain commissioned two Blake-class first-class protective cruisers with a tonnage of more than 9,000 tons, and between 1893 and 1893, as many as nine Edgar first-class protective cruisers were in service, with a displacement ranging from 7,300 to 7,700 tons.

In 1894, the latest construction of the Qiangsheng-class first-class protective cruiser, its tonnage is no less than the top contemporary former dreadnought battleship, with a displacement of more than 14,000 tons, and its 152.4 meters long, 21 **** meters wide, 7.32 meters of draft, also make it the largest size of the battleship, the larger it is naturally more expensive, the ship's construction has reached more than 700,000 pounds, and the majestic class battleship is only more than 800,000 pounds.

However, these two first-class protected cruisers of the Qiangsheng class had a displacement of more than 14,000 tons, and their main guns were no more than two 234-mm single-mounted main guns, and the secondary guns were 12 152-mm rapid-fire guns.

As for why the British spent huge sums of money on the construction of such a first-class protected cruiser with empty displacement, but weak firepower, then they can only ask themselves.

If the time had been delayed by two years, the British would have started construction of eight more Crown-class first-class protective cruisers in 1896, which would have reached 11,000 tons.

And after 1898 work began on the construction of six Crécy-class armored cruisers, which had a tonnage of 12,000 tons.

After 1899, the British would start construction of up to ten Monmouth-class armored cruisers, and the tonnage of this class of ships also reached nearly 10,000 tons.

The above construction plan is still the construction plan of the original time and space of the British in history, and in this time and space, the British Royal Navy faces a greater threat, because there is an imperial Royal Navy in the East, and the Americans are also expanding their fleet a few years earlier than history.

Therefore, for the British Royal Navy, which regards the global navy as a potential enemy and strives for global sea power, the British Royal Navy in this time and space is facing greater pressure, and it is natural for them to build more warships in order to gain superiority.

At this time, by about 1895, the most cutting-edge capital ships in the hands of the British should have ten dreadnought battleships and thirteen first-class protection cruisers.

By way of comparison, in 1895, the Empire had seven new capital battleships and five armored cruisers that were under eight years old.

At first glance, in 1895, although there was still a gap in strength between the Imperial Royal Navy and the British Royal Navy, it also had the power to fight a war.

But by 1900, the British would have at least twenty-six pre-dreadnought battleships in service.

On the Empire's side, according to the existing and future expansion plans, by 1900, it would be good to have sixteen former dreadnought battleships, and by then the first batch of Yandi-class battleships in service had already been in service for twelve years, and the combat effectiveness would inevitably not be able to keep up with the cutting-edge capital ships.

If the Empire does not invest heavily in accelerating naval expansion, then the longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Imperial Navy.

The only way to change this situation is to significantly increase investment in the navy, which is why Lin Zhe approved the ninth phase of the naval expansion plan.

Although the size of the Imperial Navy is now known as the third in the world, the composition of the fleet is relatively simple, and it used to pay more attention to capital ships, and it is not too sad about the construction of auxiliary ships, and the cruisers in the hands of the Imperial Navy are far inferior to those of Britain and France.

And with the development of the Empire's industrial economy, by 1893, the Empire had enough strength to set off a large-scale shipbuilding operation.

In fact, it is not only the empire that is doing this, but also the Americans.

What to do if your international status is low? What should I do if money can't open the market? The answer is simple, that is, to build a huge navy, and with the industrial economic power of the United States, which is no less powerful than the Empire, their fleet will expand much worse than the Empire.

It can even be said that it is not military spending that restricts the expansion of the Americans, nor the inability to build a large number of warships, but the lack of enough qualified officers and sailors.

In 1893 and 1894, the Empire was launched, and the Americans quickly followed suit, and in order to deal with the naval expansion of China and the United States in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic, the British were-for-tat, and even set off a larger-scale shipbuilding program. (To be continued.) )