Just when the King was showing its might in the Caribbean, the same type of ship as the King. After a long trek, the two German versions of the Garibaldi armored cruisers, built by German shipyards for the Qing foreign sailors, finally arrived at their home port, the port of Taipei, Taiwan Province, with the two battleships named Taipei and Kaohsiung officially entering service. The Ocean-going Fleet already had 6 warships, large and small, and in addition to two 10,000-ton armored cruisers, there were 3 improved third-class dome cruisers of the Sea Dragon type and 1 Yoshino captured from Japan. After 3 years of preparation, the ocean-going fleet has finally begun to take shape!

The Beiyang Fleet Ti Xu Jieli led the newly launched flagship Haining and the Tianjin and Guiyuan, which had participated in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle of the Qing Dynasty, to Taipei to congratulate, while Liu Mingchuan, as the governor of Fujian, Zhejiang and Taiwan, will participate in the commissioning ceremony of this type of warship together with Taiwan Governor Ding Ruchang. Even the Admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, Ding Zhuangqian, also adhered to Liu Kunyi's instructions and led the Zhenhai and Jingtai to congratulate. Compared with the enthusiasm of the powerful factions in the major places of the Qing Kingdom, the center of the Qing Kingdom is not very interested in this matter!

Some people say that this is because there are too many shadows of Beiyang in the foreign fleet, whether it is the procurement of warships, the selection of personnel, or the leadership, it can be said that Beiyang has single-handedly manipulated it, and even some people in the center have privately said: "The so-called foreign fleet is nothing more than a Beiyang detachment stationed in Taiwan." "It can be seen from this that a part of the central people is very dissatisfied with the establishment of the foreign fleet. But in reality, in the center is either the imperial party or the post-party. Didn't bother to pay attention to the establishment ceremony of a fleet far away, since Yuan Shikai was drawn into the imperial party, the political situation in the whole Beijing has undergone subtle changes, the original powerless Guangxu began to slowly accumulate strength, and then the party because of the heavy blow of Rong Lu's training army, its biggest reliance - military superiority, has been weakened! That's it. The two sides began to compete slowly, so for the establishment of the foreign fleet, the emperor and the empress dowager just issued a decree as usual.

The formation of the ocean-going fleet for the Beiyang system. Especially for Xu Jie's New Beiyang, this matter is definitely of great significance, Xu Jie not only achieved the purpose of expanding the navy in the name of building a new fleet. In the same way, the influence of the Beiyang system has been extended to southern China, and the existence of such a fleet has greatly contributed to the development of the southern potential of the Beiyang system! Whether it is Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Fujian, Zhejiang and Taiwan, or Li Hanzhang, the governor of Liangguang, with such a fleet to control the sea routes, then it is equivalent to holding the entire southern sea traffic in his hands! Once something happens, whether it is the transfer of troops or transportation, it can be guaranteed!

And for non-Beiyang local powerhouses, such as Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong. For the establishment of the foreign fleet, it can be said that it is envious and jealous. Liu Kunyi is a conservative person, originally he didn't care much about naval construction, and even had some resistance to any foreign affairs. But with the development of recent years. The provinces of the Beiyang system have greatly increased their strength after vigorously developing finance, industry and commerce, which has shaken Liu Kunyi, and the establishment of the foreign fleet has made Liu Kun's already sensitive nerves stretched to the extreme! He finally realized that if nothing was changed, then a few years later, the so-called Huai military system and Nanyang. will be completely suppressed by the North Ocean!

Compared with Liu Kunyi's conservatism, Zhang Zhidong is more lively, although as one of the cadres of the Westernization Movement, Zhang Zhidong has been building various Western-style enterprises including the Hanyang Iron Works, and later under the influence of Beiyang, Zhang Zhidong also began to learn Beiyang in education and finance and commerce, trying to copy the Beiyang model, and Zhang Zhidong himself has a great interest in the new army, especially the navy. But in terms of his strength, not to mention compared with the North Ocean, it is impossible to even form a fleet with strength comparable to that of the South Ocean. So Zhang Zhidong plans to contact Liu Kunyi to see if a joint fleet can be formed by both sides at the same time! In this way, compared to the two fleets in the Beiyang system, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong's Nanyang will not be too shabby! …,

In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the powerful factions in various places, the establishment of a new foreign fleet also caused an uproar among the people. With the spread of Western newspapers, new schools and related books and ideas, this cultural influence has gradually changed people's perceptions and the direction of public opinion! As early as three years ago, during the First Sino-Japanese War between the Qing and Japan, the outstanding performance of the Beiyang Fleet had deeply imprinted the word sea power in people's hearts, and with the establishment of the Foreign Fleet with the South China Sea and the East China Sea as the main combat direction, it represented the improvement of naval strength! This sense of security and pride pervades the discussion and newspapers of the people! If the bombardment of Batavia by the Beiyang Fleet gave the Nanyang Chinese and overseas Chinese the opportunity to be a person, then with the establishment of the Foreign Fleet, with the extension of the Beiyang system! Their rights abroad will be more secured, they will no longer have to lose their property to the insatiable colonial authorities, and they will not live a precarious life!

And for this big event that is enough to affect the situation in the Far East, the European powers are also very concerned about it! And among them, the British and Russians are the most numerous! As the allies of the Beiyang, the British naturally expressed great support for the expansion of the strength of the Beiyang, with the service of the two new armored cruisers, the Beiyang system has regained a huge advantage over the Russian Navy in the Far East, the two battleships sent by the Russians to the Far East have been offset by the two new battleships in the Beiyang, and before the new armored cruisers of the Russians were put into service, the branch fleet of the Beiyang had new armored cruisers in service, so that the gap between the two sides was even greater! In order to inspect allies and cheer for the North Ocean, the commander of the British Far East Fleet, Felimante, led the flagship Centurion to attend the ceremony.

And for the Russians, this news is tantamount to a bolt from the blue! When the Russians finally managed to get the two battleships that were not yet completely finished to the Far East, when the Russians were energetically designing new armored cruisers and battleships, and when the Russians had easily completed the fortressification of the port of Muroran, the Russians found that their opponent's navy was advancing faster than theirs! As the foreign fleet began to take shape, in the event of a war, the Russian fleet would have to fight against the North Fleet in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan, and also guard against the foreign fleet from the southwest.

More importantly, with Taiwan and the nearby waters under the control of the adversary, once the war starts, the supply ships passing through the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea will be directly placed in the attack range of the foreign fleet, which means that once the war starts, the Russian fleet will lose any support from the mainland except for taking the road from Vladivostok to the port of Muroran through the Sea of Japan! Whether it's shells or accessories! This is tantamount to a disaster for the Russian Navy, which has not yet completed the construction of relevant supporting facilities! Although a supporting dock has been built in the port of Muroran, 12-inch artillery shells and various accessories cannot be produced, so Russia has only changed the unfortunate situation of Makanov's fleet to a certain extent. There is still a long way to go to build a complete naval system!

In this way, with different views and different minds on this matter at home and abroad, the inauguration ceremony of the foreign fleet went ahead as scheduled! With the announcement of Admiral Lin Taizeng of the Foreign Fleet, two new armored cruisers officially joined the Foreign Fleet, and in the subsequent parade, the Qing Navy's strength showed the world his strength and ambition in another form! If it is said that the Beiyang Fleet pays more attention to self-preservation, then the Foreign Fleet has already considered the possibility of ocean-going operations at the beginning of its establishment, and has higher requirements than the PISA type of the Beiyang Fleet in terms of self-sustaining power and stability. And the sea area involved has finally left the offshore sea and expanded to the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and even the entire western Pacific Ocean! …,

Under the golden sunshine and on the vast sea, the three major fleets of the Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, and the Foreign Ocean Fleet assembled in the south for the first time. Because it was the formation ceremony of the warships of the foreign fleet, in order to avoid the occurrence of the noisy situation, the Ninghai, the most powerful battleship of the Beiyang Naval Division, was not in the formation to be reviewed, but existed as a viewing ship, so the Chinese and foreign dignitaries gathered together on this battleship, not only local dignitaries such as Liu Mingchuan and Ding Ruchang, but also foreign fleet commanders such as Felimant, commander of the British Far East Fleet.

The first thing that catches your eye is the new flagship of the Ocean Fleet, the Taipei, and his sister ship, the Kaohsiung. The thick 11-inch 40L Krupp main gun, the 6-inch and 105mm turret guns with dense side lines, all show the strength of this battleship. As the latest improved version of the Garibaldi class, this warship has made certain efforts to improve seaworthiness and underwater protection, and the armor protection basically continues the protection idea of the PISA class, and is appropriately enhanced. And in terms of firepower, the foreign fleet still tends to arm itself with more powerful artillery, after all, the size of the foreign fleet cannot be compared with the North Ocean, so it is necessary to emphasize the destructive power of the main guns of the capital ships, and not put hope on high-explosive shells.

Behind the two 10,000-ton armored cruisers is a formation of armored cruisers named the Cathay Pacific, whose mission is to reconnoiter and use them against possible large-scale lightning strikes from the opposing side. After the First Sino-Japanese War, the Yoshino, which was once the pride of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and the Yoshino, which once made the generals of the Beiyang Fleet feared like a tiger, is now a war for the Foreign Fleet.

The last to appear is the Beiyang Fleet's Tianjin and Guiyuan, the Nanyang Fleet's Zhenhai and Jingtai, the Tianjin, Guiyuan and Zhenhai that have experienced the baptism of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the three battleships that fought side by side in the First Sino-Japanese War, finally gathered again at this moment to go down in history! For the comrades-in-arms who had fought together, the Beiyang Fleet and the Foreign Fleet gave the highest level of courtesy. With the sound of a neat salute, the two warships of the Nanyang Fleet passed first, and the battleships of the Beiyang Fleet passed at the end.

The whole army ceremony is not long, but for Xu Jie, this is just the beginning, and the real work will officially start on the night of the army!

Thanks to the book friend Strait old man for the reward, as well as the book friend to read the world's books for the monthly ticket support, the next few chapters will write about the situation in the Far East and naval construction, I hope you can like it~~~. rq