Because Yan Shao vetoed the naval revival plan proposed by Sa Zhenbing, many people thought that Yan Shao did not attach much importance to the development of the navy, but the question was how could Yan Shao not attach importance to it?

The importance of the navy has been clearly explained in history, as a country with a coastline of more than 30,000 kilometers, it is almost unimaginable without a strong navy, not to mention that at this time China has such a bad neighbor as Japan, so in Yan Shao's view, the importance of the navy and the army are almost the same.

It's just that there are still many issues to consider, and the most important thing for the Navy at the moment is not the problem of ships, but the problem of people ...

Unlike later generations, the conditions for arms purchases at this time were very relaxed. If it is in the later generations, developed countries will usually put forward a lot of additional conditions when exporting armaments to other countries, but in this era, basically as long as it is not a hostile country, no matter what kind of weapons and equipment you want to buy, as long as the other party has it, even the most advanced weapons it has can be sold to you, which is completely different from later generations...

The problem is that you can't buy weapons to solve it, but if people don't have it, you can't buy it...

At present, the most important thing for the navy is the problem of people, there is no way, there is too much wasted time, some time ago Sa Zhenbing could not even find the sailors needed for the three battleships, you can imagine how far the revival of the navy is.

Especially considering that China has a tough opponent at the moment...

That's right, the three battleships acquired from Brazil and Argentina are definitely stronger than any of Japan's warships currently in service. But at present, it is difficult for the navy to even have the manpower needed to drive these three battleships, so what is the use of these three battleships no matter how strong they are?

Not to mention the strength of the Japanese Navy was comprehensive, with the exception of more than ten battleships. There are also a large number of other ships of various types, and Yan Shao's side, just by gathering the manpower of these three ships, he is already driving Sa Zhenbing crazy.

And when the Kongo-class battlecruisers designed by the British for the Japanese and the Fuso-class battleships built by the Japanese themselves enter service, the gap between the two sides will widen again, so....

It's not just about surface ships that you need to figure it out, it's also about other things ...

At least Yan Shao must not only focus his attention on surface ships, but also on other aspects. Otherwise, in the face of the Japanese maritime superiority, Yan Shao could only take a defensive position in a short period of time, and if he wanted to reverse this environment, he would need to find another shortcut...

"For example, airplanes and ......... Submarine..."Touched his chin. Yan Shao muttered.

In fact, as early as the Anhui period, taking advantage of the opportunity to purchase a lot of shipbuilding equipment from the British, Yan Shao also asked people to buy some submarine technology from abroad. It's just that at that time, the main submarines of various countries in World War I were either just starting construction, or there was no shadow at all. So at that time, I only made some technical reserves. And I just did some research myself.

Until some time ago, when the first five-year plan was established and a large number of equipment was imported from abroad, Yan Shao finally purchased a complete set of drawings for the U-boat from the Germans.

The name of the U-boat, there is no need to repeat it here. Considering the requirements for performance, the drawings purchased by Yan Shao are from the batch of U19. Its specific performance parameters are a standard displacement of 650 tons, 837 tons underwater and an overall length of 64.15 meters. The length of the pressure shell is 50.50m, and the maximum width: 6.10m. The pressure shell is 4.05m wide, draft: 3.58m, full height: 8.10m, power: 1700 horsepower on the surface, 1200 horsepower underwater, speed: 15.4 knots on the surface, 9.5 knots underwater, the above parameters are already very good in this era, so there is a guarantee in terms of performance.

Moreover, the performance of this batch of submarines is more perfect than that of the U9 boats, which sank several British cruisers during World War I. On September 22, 1914, the U-9 submarine was launched in the famous 1 Otto? Within an hour, Wedigan sank the Royal Navy's HMS Amoukir (Boukir), HMSHogue, and HMS Cressy (HMS Crécy) with only six torpedoes on board, a total of three 10,000-ton armored cruisers. The Royal Navy lost up to 36,000 tons of warships in service (the Crécy-class ships all had a displacement of around 12,000 tons) and 1,459 sailors were killed.

A submarine with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons, but sank three 10,000-ton armored cruisers in the war, this battle shocked the world, and also made people begin to pay attention to the new weapon of submarines.

However, the U9 boat is famous in history, but its performance is not very good, with a surface displacement of only 493 tons and 611 tons underwater. In addition, the surface speed is 14.2 knots, and the underwater speed is only 8.1 knots, and the most important point for the success of the U9 is that the old cruisers cannot adequately deal with underwater threats, but most of the responsibility should be that the then Admiralty has been insisting on carrying out this patrol mission that is of little significance anyway...

(I got the information that the U19 batch started in 1910, and the diesel engines were installed from 1912 to 1913, so there will be no problem with the timing)

After getting the drawings, Yan Shao immediately sent the drawings to the Wuhu shipyard in Anhui Province, and asked them to immediately build the first submarine according to the design on the drawings. And according to the information obtained some time ago, this submarine should have been built for most of the time, and it is estimated that it will be launched for sea trials after a while...

Thinking of this, if it weren't for the fact that there were too many things to be busy with, Yan Shao really wanted to go to Anhui in person to see what the situation was like over there.

It's a pity that now, Yan Shao can only worry about a large pile of documents on his desk...

But...

"I'm still sending a telegram urging them to get this thing out as soon as possible..."

Thinking so, Yan Shao hung up the phone. called Wu Qianqiu in from outside.

After receiving the call, Wu Qianqiu quickly walked into the office, only when he learned that Yan Shao asked him to send a telegram to urge. Wu Qianqiu's expression became a little weird. Because this is the third time in a month that Yan Shao has asked him to do this.

However, since Yan Shao had already given the order, he naturally would not disobey it, not to mention this matter, and besides, it was not him who had a headache.

So after receiving the order, Wu Qianqiu immediately rushed to the communications office and signaled the people from the communications office to send a telegram to Wuhu, clarifying Yan Shao's request...

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By this time, it was already November, and it was close to December. Although Anhui is located in the southern part of Chinese mainland, the weather is gradually getting colder, and many pedestrians are wrapped in thick cotton clothes when they go out. Some people who are more afraid of the cold even wrap themselves like polar bears—————— but the color of the clothing is a little different.

On a road outside the city, many people with tight packages are squatting in front of a stall, and the owner of the stall is constantly busy, and it can be seen that his business is very busy. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to take a break.

"Old Wu. Warm me up with a bowl of hot soup. A middle-aged man in his early 40s walked to the front of the stall and raised his voice to the stall owner, rubbing his hands from time to time, as if he was very familiar with the stall owner.

"Okay, you can wait a little longer..."After finishing the job in hand, the stall owner hurriedly made him a bowl of hot soup.

Although the soup was a little hot, the middle-aged man suddenly felt comfortable after drinking it.

"It's so comfortable..."

It's going to come out on such a cold day, and to be honest, this middle-aged man's body is strong. But there are also some who can't stand it.

As he spoke, he looked back at the factory he belonged to. The middle-aged man also calculated in his heart, when this month passes, when the salary is paid next month, how much bonus he can get, if the bonus is more...

"Just buy a dress for your daughter-in-law, and go to the toy store to buy a toy for the girl..."

Although since the liberation of Anhui, the military government has been preaching the idea of 'equality between men and women', but now it has only been 2 years since the recovery of Anhui, and the conservative thinking of the older generation is not so easy to change, so at this time, the Chinese people still attach importance to their daughters, and the same is true for this middle-aged man.

It's just that he has a daughter under his knees, so he naturally loves his daughter more. And he is not an old man, although it would be better if he had a son, but in the past two years, he has been more or less affected by some propaganda.

Drinking all the soup in the bowl, the middle-aged man patted his belly. "Old Wu, will you close the stall soon?" Then he pulled out a few coppers and put them on the table.

There was another customer just now, and the stall owner was busy at this time, but he still replied quietly. "yes, there's still half an hour..."

"It seems that I can't come here for supper tonight..."Hearing the stall owner say this, the middle-aged man said with a little regret.

Lao Wu smiled and said. "There's no way, it's such a cold day, I really can't stand it, let's wait for the weather to warm up, what? Do you have to work overtime today? ”

"Almost, the factory has been busy lately, and I have been working overtime every day..." Because of the rules in the factory, overtime work is paid overtime, and in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of workers, overtime pay is usually very generous, and as long as the overtime pay is enough, middle-aged people will naturally not care about overtime...

Standing up from the bench, patting his buttocks, the middle-aged man said hello to the stall owner and left.

Looking up at the middle-aged man who was moving away, the stall owner picked up a few coppers from the table and got busy again.

In fact, he was also thinking in his heart that he would buy some things for his wife and children after making more money.

It's just that compared with the middle-aged man just now, the stall owner's situation is a little difficult. Because his family is a son, and his mother-in-law is more powerful...

In such a patriarchal era, there is no need to repeat how important sons are. What's more troublesome is that his wife also loves her grandson very much, and because of her grandson, she is very tolerant of some of her daughter-in-law's 'willfulness'.

No way, who told him to be afraid of his wife...

Especially before Anhui was recovered, there were all kinds of taxes, and his stall couldn't make a few dollars a year, at most he could support his family every year. He has no majesty to speak of in front of his daughter-in-law. Fortunately, since the liberation, there have been fewer taxes and more people patronizing the business. The stallholders' lives have also changed a lot better.

In fact, this is also the current situation of Anhui, as far as the current situation is concerned, Anhui can be said to be the most industrialized province in the country, especially Wuhu, which is the place where Yan Shao started. To put it simply, the textile mills under Yushi Group alone now have 16 factories and 1.28 million spindles. There are about 140,000 or 50,000 male and female workers combined, and when you count automobile factories and shipping, the entire group has nearly 300,000 people. And that's not even counting the hired farmers in the planting bases on the Jianghuai Plain, otherwise I'm afraid there would be even more.

At the same time, this also includes many factories established in Anhui Province based on the Yushi Group, as well as the industries established due to environmental changes after the recovery. The number of workers in Anhui has reached four or five hundred thousand...

A province of more than 20 million people. There are four or five hundred thousand workers, which means that at least one in every forty people is a worker. Of course, this number is nothing in later generations, even if it is far from those countries in Europe and the United States, but in China, this number is very powerful.

At this time, the minimum wage of Yushi Group is 2 jiao, which is half a dime higher than the salary in Shanghai, and other factories are not as rich as Yushi Group, but it is also about 1 jiao. In addition, Anhui's current taxes are not as much as in the past, so the people's lives have become much more relaxed. Consumption is naturally higher than in the past.

Ordinary stall owners don't count, Lao Wu's stall is at the intersection between several factories outside the city. The people who came and went were workers from several factories, and the taxes to be paid were only a few, unlike in the past, when everyone came to collect taxes, and the income was five or six times more than in the past.

(Historically, between 1934 and 1937, the Nationalist Government abolished more than 7,400 kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes in various provinces, although it was not as good as 20 years later, but the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes at the end of the Qing Dynasty were not small, and the taxes levied in other provinces after the liberation were counted, I am afraid it would be more difficult)

With more income, the daughter-in-law's attitude naturally became much better, which is probably what the stall owner is most grateful to the new government.

About half an hour later, after looking up at the sky and thinking that it was time to clean up, the stall owner beckoned a few people who were still eating slowly, and then began to clean up himself.

Today's business is over, and it's time to go home and have a hot kang head for your wife and children...

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In the Wuhu shipyard in Anhui Province, Li Yin and many shipyard directors were looking at a strange-looking ship in front of them.

Submarine...

However, with the submarines of later generations, the one in front of me is going to look a little weird.

By the way, this submarine is now only a half-finished product, and at the moment in the dockyard, many technicians are continuing to build it, and on the edge of the dock, the directors of the shipyard who look at the 'submarine' under their feet also look a little helpless.

"Inexplicably, how could the president want to build this thing?"

"yes, it's useless, and a dock is wasted, so how good is it to leave this dock empty to build destroyers?"

With that, the directors glanced at the other docks in the shipyard.

In those docks, several thousand-ton destroyers are under construction.

The submarine in front of him was built according to the drawings of the U-boat that Yan Shao secretly bought from the Germans when he signed agreements with other countries.

The directors of the shipyard themselves were not very opposed to the construction of submarines, but they objected to Yan Shao's request that they concentrate on the study of submarines.

There is no way, although people in this era are not unaware of the importance of submarines, they still lack awareness after all. In the eyes of people in this era, big ships and huge cannons are the king, and submarines can only be regarded as sideways.

Moreover, the current orders of the Navy are also focused on surface ships such as 'destroyers' or 'cruisers', and they do not care much about submarines or anything, and it is absolutely a waste to spend valuable dockyards and small workers on building submarines in this case.

It's just that there is no way, who is called Yan Shao is not only the president, but also their boss...

Since Yan Shao has decided to build a submarine, no matter how unwilling they are, they can only try their best to get it.

It's just that they may not know what to do, and Yan Shao is letting them get this first boat now, first of all, so that they can have experience in building submarines. When the submarine proves to be a success, a large number of orders will await them.

In fact, Yan Shao attaches much more importance to submarines than small ships such as destroyers, after all, no matter how many destroyers are built, it is difficult to threaten the Japanese Navy in the short term, but submarines...

It's different...

It's a pity that at this time, not many people in China realized the importance of submarines, even the navy, so Yan Shao had to pass mandatory orders to promote the progress of submarines.

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Listening to the complaints of the shipyard directors in his ears, Li Yin raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say much.

Unlike them, Li Yin did not object to Yan Shao's decision, of course, this was also related to his lack of understanding of the importance of submarines. As a scientist and inventor, the significance of the submarine in front of Li Yin is that he fills a domestic gap, that is, a gap in the past that China has never had submarines.

(Historically, it is said that in 1880, there was a Taoist who tried to make a submarine, but the record is not detailed, and I don't know if there is really such a thing in Ludao) (to be continued......)