(Thank you for the birthday red envelope from Dreammaker!) ）

At the end of the 9th year, after the fleet in western Sichuan returned to China, the "Leshan-class" light cruiser "Leshan" and the second ship "Qijiang" developed by the Beihai Shipyard carried out sea trials. The results of the sea trials are very satisfying. Both firepower and speed have achieved the expected goals, especially at the highest speed, when sailing at maximum power, the "Leshan" ran out of 2. The maximum speed of 6 knots, the maximum speed of the "Qijiang" also reached 2. 2 knots, far surpassing the cruisers of other countries and becoming the fastest battleship.

Some minor problems were also found during the sea trials, and the designers of the shipyard quickly made changes. After receiving this news, Wang Yuze immediately ordered that the construction of the second batch of "Leshan-class" light cruisers could begin, and this time, four ships would be built at one time, named "Panzhihua", "Guangyuan", "Bazhong" and "Zigong". In addition, Wang Yuze demanded that the shipyard start work with all its might, and make sure that these four warships are put into service by June next year. In this way, we will be able to catch up with next year's war.

Other warships of the Western Sichuan Navy have also been renovated one after another. The fire control system in western Sichuan was fully implemented on the battleship "Sichuan", and the effect was very good. With skillful use, the hit rate at a distance of 10,000 meters has reached one percent. At a distance of 000 meters, the hit rate was three percent. This hit rate is already very terrifying, even the British Navy can't hit such a good hit rate at this distance. That's the power of technology. The fire control system is real. As a result, other warships in western Sichuan have also installed this system at home, which has greatly improved the combat power of the western Sichuan Navy. However, during the training of the "Sichuan", all the elite gunners and gun commanders of the fleet were gathered to achieve such results. After recruiting a large number of recruits, in order to achieve such results, you have to practice harder. Under Wang Yuze's order, the Naval Quartermaster Department was completely open to the supply of training artillery shells. As a result, the hit rate of each ship is increasing rapidly. Of course, the shells they consumed were almost enough to reach a "Sichuan-class" battleship. The wear and tear of the naval guns is also quite staggering. In order to increase the combat power of the fleet. Wang Yuze can be said to be completely open-minded, regardless of the cost of investment.

Under the large-scale investment of western Sichuan, the navy of western Sichuan has achieved explosive growth. Not only the warships of the Navy, but also the soldiers of the Navy. Under the large-scale propaganda in western Sichuan, the first batch of 10,000 conscripts of the Navy has been completed, and with the increase of the Marine Corps, a total of more than 20,000 conscripts have been conscripted.

The large-scale development of the navy in western Sichuan not only caused panic among the Manchus and Japan, but also caused a serious threat to Britain and France, which had huge interests in the Far East. But. At this time, the center of gravity of Britain and France was in Europe, and the Far Eastern fleets of both countries. They are just some old warships, and they can't be compared with the cutting-edge navy of western Sichuan at all.

Fortunately for the British side, with the successive completion and commissioning of the "Sovereign" class battleships, in order to cope with the growing threat in the Far East, the British Admiralty has prepared to send two "Sovereign" class battleships and a number of new warships to the Far East to replace the old warships of the British "Chinese fleet." At that time, even if it may not be the opponent of the navy of western Sichuan in terms of tonnage, with Britain's strong maritime strength, western Sichuan will certainly not dare to offend British interests in the Far East.

As for France. It's much poorer than that. The current French Far East Fleet, which was formed by the merger of the French "Chinese Fleet" and the Tokyo Fleet, has a total tonnage of 57,000 tons, with 5 ironclads, 5 cruisers and 4 gunboats. However, most of these battleships are old warships, and the five ironclad ships are also four or five thousand ton warships. And most of them are warships that participated in the Sino-French naval battle ten years ago. Most of these warships have been in service for more than a decade. If the Kawanishi Navy forms combat effectiveness, it will be enough to sweep the French Far East Fleet lightly. To protect French interests in Indochina, of course. The French government already intends to send several cutting-edge battleships to the Far East in order to strengthen the French Far East Fleet. However, in the eighties of the 9th century, only five were built, and before 95, five were built, and after deducting the fleets that needed to be deployed in mainland France and other parts of the world, there were really not many battleships that could be sent to the Far East. In addition, the French battleships are far from being comparable with the British and German battleships in terms of protection, endurance and habitability, and the main gun models of each French battleship are different, making their ammunition supply very complicated, and they are nicknamed "floating artillery museums" by the outside world. As long as Kawanishi is given enough strength to surpass the French Navy, it is not a problem.

Therefore, although the development of the Kawanishi Navy has triggered protests from Britain and France, it cannot stop the development of the Kawanishi Navy after all.

At the end of the 9th year, Kawanishi ordered warships from the British, and the British said that the British fleet used warships to pay for the reparations returned to the North Sea Port. This time, it was Li Dingxin, chief of staff of the fleet, who led people to receive the warship. Two "Sovereign-class" battleships, plus three cruisers and six destroyers, arrived at the North Sea Port after more than a month of sailing.

These two "Sovereign-class" battleships are also different from the "Sovereign-class" battleships equipped by the British, compared with the "Sovereign-class" battleships equipped by Britain itself, the two battleships equipped by Kawanishi are named "Plateau-class" battleships, which are "Plateau" and "Qinghai". The "Plateau-class" battleship has a displacement of 14,000 tons, which is equivalent to the "Sichuan-class" battleship, with a main scale waterline length of 5 meters, a total length of 25 meters, and a width of 229 meters; The average draft is 4 meters, and the maximum draft is 4 meters. Armor: The broadside main armor belt is about 77 meters long and 264 meters high, of which it extends 52 meters below the waterline, and the main armor belt in the middle of the broadside reaches 457 mm at its thickest point, then decreases forward and backward at 406 mm and 56 mm, respectively, and the inner part is 02-20 mm thick teak support. The upper part of the broadside armor is 02 mm thick (45 m long x about 2 m high), and the total height of the gunside armor is about 45 m. The maximum speed is 7. 5 knots, with a range of 4700 nautical miles 0 knots. The armament is two twin 05 mm 50 times caliber naval guns (the British are equipped with four 4 mm naval guns), and the secondary guns are 0 05 mm caliber single guns; 0 mm single-mounted guns; 2 7-mm machine guns; 6 x 450 mm water torpedo tubes. In order to unify the caliber of naval guns, Kawanishi specially imported naval guns from Germany were installed on these two battleships. In terms of combat power, the "Plateau-class" battleships were slightly inferior to the "Sichuan-class" battleships, but they could also be regarded as powerful battleships of their time.

The three cruisers, suitable for the same combat power as the cruisers ordered from Germany, were named "Ya'an", "Suining" and "Neijiang". The six destroyers were codenamed Beihai 11 to Beihai 16.

The return of warships ordered from Britain made the Kawanishi Navy the most powerful fleet in the Far East. Of course, in other countries, it will take a long time for the Kawanishi Navy to give full play to the combat power of these warships. They didn't know that after the installation of the fire control system, the speed at which the warships of the Kawanishi Navy could form combat power had increased a lot. Even if it can't be compared with the old naval powers, the gap is not very large. After the outbreak of war, it is bound to surprise the enemy.

The navy of the western Sichuan army has once again increased by a large margin, and the number of 10,000-ton giant ships has increased by two, which has greatly stimulated Japan. However, they firmly believe that they still have enough time to continue to prepare frantically.

Fast forward to '94, and the clouds of war in the Far East are getting thicker and thicker. The Manchus also seemed to sense the crisis and began to further expand their combat power. However, the Manchu Qing still expanded the army, and they increased the size of the army from 300,000 to 400,000, and the main force was deployed in the area bordering western Sichuan. As for the Beiyang Naval Division, they still live by guarding that bit of belongings.

The Japanese Navy's shipbuilding program has also been completed one after another, and the Combined Fleet has begun to be organized and actively trained. The army has also completed mobilization, and its total strength has expanded from the previous Guards Division plus six field divisions to one Guards Division plus two field divisions, with a total strength of 300,000, almost doubling. At the same time, Japan began to frantically store weapons, ammunition, and other war materials and actively prepare for war. Japanese diplomats were also actively shuttling around the world, hoping to gain the support of the great powers and avoid being interfered by other countries when they went to war against the Manchus.

The western Sichuan side is also using the last time to prepare for the war. The Army has completed its preparations, and at the same time, it has prepared enough reserve troops to replenish the casualties of the war in a timely manner. The Navy's Beihai shipyard is still working overtime to build warships. In the dockyard, four "Chengdu-class" heavy cruisers and four second-batch "Leshan-class" light cruisers are progressing faster than expected, and are expected to be able to enter service in July 94. By that time, the navy of western Sichuan would have basically formed its combat effectiveness and would have an overwhelming advantage in the face of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

"Time flies so fast, in the blink of an eye, it has been back in this world for 4 years. In the first year of the First Sino-Japanese War, great changes in the Far East are about to take place. This time, though, little Japan won't have any more chances. Wang Yuze sat alone in Wang Xiao's study and said secretly. For this year, Kawanishi has made full preparations, just waiting for the outbreak of war, and then the final victory in one fell swoop!

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