Christmas in 1888 was spent in constant bickering between the two. With the advent of 1889, Leo was commissioned to start working on the detailed drawing design of the **-class protective cruiser. And what about Xu Jie? Finally, I have the opportunity to plan my future plans. There are still five and a half years to go until July 25, 1894, but the seemingly long time is not at all easy for Xu Jie. The gap between the Qing Dynasty and Japan became more and more obvious in the long competition that lasted for more than 20 years. Compared with the rebirth of the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty was only a whitewash. Except for a few foreign affairs cadres who were struggling in internal and external constraints, the entire Qing Dynasty was still slowly degenerated in a drunken dream. If it is said that in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, it is necessary to find a unit with combat effectiveness, and this force has been established for nearly 20 years, and the Beiyang Naval Division, which is closest to modernization in the Qing Dynasty, can be used. As for the Army? From North Korea to the Yalu River to Lushun and Weihai. Compared with the nearly 100,000 tiger and wolf divisions of the 6 main divisions of the Japanese Army, the Qing Dynasty Army is not even a sheep!! As for the rebuilding of a new type of army, it is even more of a joke. It took nearly 20 years for the six standing divisions of the Japanese Army, the backbone of the Japanese Army, to complete. And the new army of the Qing Dynasty, Beiyang 6 Towns, also took about 10 years to take shape. Therefore, the only thing Xu Jie can rely on is Li Zhongtang, the boss of Beiyang, and the Beiyang Naval Division, which is currently the first in East Asia.

However, although it is true that Beiyang can be expressed in the Sino-Japanese Naval War (except for individual soft bones, except for traitors). But after a lot of deduction and calculation, Xu Jie found that it was extremely difficult to figure out how to strengthen the Beiyang Fleet in exchange for a draw in which the sea won and the land was defeated. Why? The root cause is also a money and a person.

Let's talk about money first, according to historical sources. The Beiyang Naval Division should receive an annual allocation of about 2 million taels of silver, but what about the reality? Only 100+ thousand taels have arrived, which is barely enough for daily expenses. As for the purchase of ships? Since Master Weng's "Please Stop Buying Ship Machinery and Reduce Yongying Fold" was published, Beiyang has cut off the possibility of purchasing ships. Even on the eve of the war, Beiyang wanted to order 610,000 taels of silver for 18 4.7-inch rapid-fire guns and other accessories, but Master Weng refused because he had no money. On the other hand, in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, Japan's financial resources did not reach the limit. On the day of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese Naval War, Japan, like the British Armstrong shipyard, ordered 2 battleships, Fuji and Yashima. Referring to the price of about 1 million pounds for a 10,000-ton battleship at that time, the down payment of two battleships alone will not be less than 500,000 pounds, what is the concept of 500,000 pounds? It is equivalent to more than 3 million taels of silver. In addition, the Japanese purchased the Izumi from the power during the First Sino-Japanese period. Before 1894, as long as Japan felt the need, it was not a big problem to come up with another 4 million taels of silver. In other words, Japan can buy 2 or 3 more protective cruisers similar to Yoshino!! And even if Beiyang can obtain new military expenses for the purchase of ships, it can only gain an advantage by purchasing more than 3 dome cruisers, otherwise, the newly purchased ships in Beiyang will not be as many as the ships bought by Japan. The gap is only getting bigger. Moreover, this only calculates the simple cost of purchasing ships, as for maintenance, and various expenses such as changing guns and boilers for 8 major distances, they have to be calculated separately. If Beiyang and Japan purchase ships at the same time, they will be procured according to the standards of three dome cruisers, and Beiyang will have to spend at least about 4.5 million taels of silver to buy ships, and then spend about 2 million taels of silver to add enough rapid-fire guns, high-explosive bombs, boilers, and so on. In other words, there will be an additional expense of nearly 6.5 million taels of silver. (provided that the daily military expenditure of 2 million vehicles can be in place) and this is only the minimum consumption to ensure that the gap with the Japanese fleet does not widen, as for the salaries of personnel, etc., are not calculated. As for the auxiliary vessels required, it is also an additional fund.

As for personnel, it seems that there is no big problem, but in fact, it is not necessary to solve the problem of funding at all. A new dome cruiser has about 400 people, and three is about 1,300 people, while the Beiyang Naval Division has a total of 4,000 people. This is still the result of nearly 20 years of training, and even if the ship is bought, it is a question of where to find so many experienced officers and men of the sailors. And it is certain that 3 boats and 1300 people are certainly not enough. This qiē and every qiē gave Xu Jie, a naval traverser, a headache.

As for how big the Beiyang Fleet needs to be to ensure that it still has enough deterrence in East Asia after defeating the Japanese Navy, Xu Jie also made a calculation. The relationship between the British Chinese fleet and the Beiyang Naval Division was not bad, (at least it was good before the flag withdrawal incident) can not be counted, and the feud between Germany and France was still holding back its strength in Europe. The Far East can't do it either. As for the United States, it is basically negligible until it defeats Spain and gains control of the Philippines. But the evil neighbor in the north of the Qing Dynasty had to guard against it. It's hard to say anything else, if you want to say that you are robbing while the fire is hot, Mao Zi says second, and no one dares to say first. In the Second Opium War and beyond, Russia ceded 1.5 million square kilometers of land from China, and the independence of Outer Mongolia during the Republic of China was planned by Maozi. If it is said that in modern times, it is the largest country in danger of China, it is estimated that Maozi and Japan have a fight. As for the difference, that is, the failure of Japan's whale swallowing, the success of Maozi's cannibalization, and the danger left behind. Maozi is the most powerful. That's 3 million square kilometers. Even if the Northern Fleet defeats the Japanese fleet, the question of how to deal with the Russian Far Eastern Fleet must be considered.

As for the Maozi Far East Fleet in 1895, it was actually not very strong, with only 6 cruisers, and they were all quite old-fashioned. The only thing worth noting is the 2 ships, one is the armored cruiser Nasimov, which is a strange one with 8 203 guns arranged in a diamond shape. It was completed in 1884. The other is the Rurik-class armored cruiser (Rurik 1, and Rurik 2 after the Russo-Japanese naval war) that is about to be completed and then sent to the Far East, which is a large one of 11000+ tons, 132 meters long, 20.4 meters wide, and 8.4 meters in draft. There were 4 8-inch and 16 6-inch guns, light load trial 18.7 knots. Although he was later surrounded by a patrol in the Russo-Japanese naval battle, he had to admit that in 1895, Rurik's combat power was still quite high. As for how to deal with this Russian Far East Fleet, which is always ready to rob with real fire, Xu Jie has really put in a lot of effort.

It is absolutely not enough to simply purchase about 3 additional Dome cruisers. Even if it defeats the Japanese Navy disastrously, the remaining combat power in Beiyang is definitely not enough to deal with Maozi's Far East Fleet. Super brave Yang Wei, and even Pingyuan Zhiyuan will definitely have a large number of people to get box lunches. In the end, it can be used to settle the town. But even if the so-called usable fixed town. Compared with Maozi's Rurik, the gap is also quite obvious. In order to deal with Rurik and also to deal with Maozi's future Far East Fleet, Xu Jie did not hesitate to steal the owner of this private mansion and commissioned Leo's masterpiece, the Garibaldi-class armored cruiser.