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After attending the commissioning ceremony of the 'Western Zhou-class' warship, Long Yufei and the others returned directly to Guangzhou. In less than a month, Long Yufei is about to visit Europe, and before leaving, he has to arrange everything. Now that the Chinese Empire is in the Far East, there is only one enemy left, the Manchus. As for whether the Manchus would take advantage of Long Yufei's visit to Europe to start a war, the General Staff considered this unlikely. Although the new army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was as high as a million and well-equipped, it is difficult to say how much combat effectiveness these forcibly recruited troops could have. In today's China, apart from those children of the Eight Banners, who else is truly loyal to the Manchus? It's just that there are too few banner people, and the total is only about two million, even if all the strong are recruited into the army, it is not enough for one million!

Therefore, in the new army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there were still many Han Chinese. It's just that these Han people are basically big soldiers and are under the control of the banner people. In order to achieve the purpose of Han guards and flag people. In this way, a small number of bannermen were able to dominate the majority of the Han Chinese to fight against the Chinese Empire. Now that the new army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty has just been formed, the combat effectiveness of the troops is not strong, and if the war with the Chinese Empire were to start now, the Manchus would not have much chance of winning. In addition, the Manchus did not have a navy, and the remaining inland water divisions were almost wiped out by the Chinese Empire, and they had no way to cross the Yangtze River. The military strategy adopted by the Manchu government has always been on the defensive. They desperately strengthened the defenses of the important strongholds along the Yangtze River, hoping to be able to attack the Chinese Empire. Destroy the strength of the Chinese Empire, and then try to fight back. Therefore, the Chinese Empire did not take the initiative to attack. The Manchus should be thankful, if they took the initiative to provoke a war, it would have been almost impossible.

Even though Long Yufei's visit to Europe was an opportunity for the Manchus, most of the Manchu rulers still did not have the courage. After all, once the war starts, it's hard to end it. In case of defeat of the Manchus. The Manchu Dynasty, which had survived for two hundred years, would officially come to an end. The rulers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not dare to bet on this.

Except on the side of foreign enemies. It's the development of the country. Now the Chinese Empire, all developments are on the right track. The five-year industrial plan is being rolled out, and with the improvement of transportation facilities, a series of factories have sprung up. Heavy industry led by the government and light industry invested by private capital. Go hand in hand. The industry and commerce of the empire were greatly developed. In addition, the peasants' lives are getting better and better, their purchasing power has also been cultivated, and the entire market is a thriving and prosperous scene. Once the entire market is cultivated, it will be a large market that is not inferior to the whole of Europe. After all, the population of the whole of Europe combined is not as large as that of China.

"陛xià. This is the design drawing of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleship that has been perfected in the shipyard, please take a look. If there is no problem at all. We're starting to make preparations and start construction next year. "On the carriage back to Guangzhou, Admiral Zhao Yi, deputy chief of general staff and minister of logistics and equipment, presented the design drawings of the 'Dongzhou-class' warship to Long Yufei. This is the main warship of the next class of the Chinese Navy. In order to ensure that the Chinese Navy remains ahead of the UK and the world, the Chinese Navy will have to spare no effort in the construction of new warships.

Long Yufei took the drawing and looked at it carefully. Even though he had seen the first draft before, he was still shocked when he got the final design drawings. This is undoubtedly the largest and most formidable warship in the world.

The 'Dongzhou-class' battleship is 98.5 meters long, 10.4 meters wide, 6.5 meters draft, with a full load displacement of about 7,800 tons, powered by 8 large coal-fired boilers, two large steam engines, with a power of 7,500 horsepower, two-shaft propulsion, and a maximum speed of 16 knots. The total weight of the armor of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' ships will reach 1,200 tons, the deck armor will be 60 mm, the waterline armor will be 203 mm, and the armor of the turret and bridge will be up to 203 mm thick. The defense is much stronger than the 'Western Zhou-class' battleship. In terms of armament, the main guns of the 'Dongzhou-class' battleships are three twin-mounted 210-mm main guns, with a layout of two in the front and one in the back. In addition, on the sides of the battleship, there were 10 155-mm naval guns as secondary guns, as well as two 105-mm naval guns and two 75-mm rapid-fire guns. From the point of view of the performance of the design, the performance of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships is more powerful than that of the 'Western Zhou-class'. Both firepower and armor have improved to a certain extent. However, the cost is also much higher. The cost of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships is as high as 3 million Chinese yuan each.

After Long Yufei looked at the design drawings of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleship, he nodded, he was quite satisfied with the performance of this class of battleship. After all, because of the gap in scientific and technological strength, this is already an epoch-making and powerful warship. Long Yufei also hopes to be able to build a 'dreadnought' of tens of thousands of tons, but that is unrealistic. The road should be walked step by step, and the meal should be eaten one bite at a time. With the continuous improvement of technology, sooner or later, the Chinese Navy will be able to possess powerful warships of up to tens of thousands of tons. At that time, the Chinese navy will be able to leave Britain far behind. The title of the maritime overlord of the British Empire had to be ceded to the Chinese Empire.

"The performance of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleship is not bad, just follow this, let's start construction!" Long Yufei said.

"Your Majesty, how many 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleships do we build?" Admiral Zhao Yi asked.

"How many ships does the Logistics Equipment Department plan to build?" Long Yufei asked. The construction of warships in the Navy is undoubtedly the most expensive. A warship can cost millions of Chinese dollars, and a country without a certain amount of financial resources cannot support it at all. Even the Chinese Empire had to be as economical as possible.

"Your Majesty, we plan to build 8 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships, followed by four each for the 1st Fleet and the 5th Fleet." Admiral Zhao Yi said.

Long Yufei frowned, if there are 8 ships, it will cost 24 million Chinese dollars, which will bring a lot of pressure to the empire's finances.

"8 ships, will it be too many. 4 ships is about the same! Long Yufei said. If there are four ships, it will cost 12 million Chinese dollars!

"Your Majesty, the construction period of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleship is probably two to three years, and our enemy has been developing rapidly. No one dares to guarantee that when the 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships are commissioned, we will still be able to gain an advantage. Therefore, 8 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships are not much. Admiral Zhao Yi insisted.

Long Yufei nodded, of course he knew how terrifying Britain's industrial strength was. In terms of industrial strength, there is no country that can compare with the United Kingdom. In particular, the terrible shipbuilding industry of Britain and their financial resources, once they make up their minds to revive the navy, I am afraid that the warships they launch will be like dumplings. In this respect, China simply cannot compare with the UK.

"In this way, 6 'Dongzhou-class' warships will be built. In addition, work on the design of a battleship of the next class can also begin. After the 'Eastern Zhou class' is put into service, the construction of the next class of warships will also begin! Long Yufei said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Admiral Zhao Yi nodded. Long Yufei was able to agree to build 6 'Dongzhou-class' warships, which actually made him very satisfied. After all, the construction period of warships in the Navy is relatively long, and at the same time it is very expensive. Long Yufei is already very supportive.

The next day, Long Yufei held a pre-imperial meeting, and the focus of this meeting was some work arrangements for Long Yufei's visit to Europe.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from next month, I will be visiting Europe. When the time comes, domestic affairs, please leave it to everyone! Long Yufei said.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, domestic affairs are responsible for their own ministers." Prime Minister Li Decheng said.

After that, Long Yufei carried out the distribution of work, and the cabinet was fully responsible for government affairs. The main task of the cabinet is still to develop the country. Now the railways from Guangzhou to Wuchang and from Guangzhou to Hangzhou are almost complete. Next, it's time to build the railroad to the southwest. The karst landform of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is more difficult to build a railway. However, no matter how difficult it is, it still has to be repaired. The capacity of railways is much higher than that of roads. Especially before the invention of automobiles and other means of transportation, the transportation of bulk goods only relied on railways. After the construction of the railway, it can not only develop the resources of the southwest region, but also strengthen the empire's control over the southwestern provinces. When the railway from Myanmar to the southwest is completed, it will be able to connect the region. At that time, if the empire wanted to use troops against India, it would be able to transport it by rail.

Military affairs are still the responsibility of the General Staff. The task of the General Staff was, on the one hand, to ensure the security of the Empire, and if the Manchus dared to attack again during this period, the Empire would make a strong counterattack. On the other hand, preparations for war have been strengthened. After Long Yufei returned from Europe, he could almost start a decisive battle with the Manchus. After a few years of recuperation, the empire was ready. The current recklessness of the Manchu Qing Dynasty has caused great damage to the economy of the provinces north of the Yangtze River, and the people are also full of complaints, all hoping that the Chinese Empire will be able to move north, cross the Yangtze River, and destroy the Manchu Dynasty. It can be said that the time was ripe for the Chinese Empire to fall to the Manchus.

When Long Yufei left Guangzhou, Empress Luo Yuhua would be in charge of supervising the country, and the cabinet and the General Staff could report to Luo Yuhua about some important affairs.

On September 3, 1845, Long Yufei boarded the battleship "Wenwang", the flagship of the Navy's 5th Fleet, in Shunde and began to visit Europe. (To be continued......)