"I have boarded many warships, almost all the battleships in the Beiyang Fleet have left my footprints, but believe me, none of the battleships make me feel so cordial, this is the first dreadnought warship produced by the Republic of China, I am very satisfied with them, although it has been a long time, but I believe that the Long Yang and Long Fei fast battleships will not be weaker than any foreign custom warships." Xu Jie, accompanied by Cheng Biguang, stood on the Longyang, the same class ship of the Longtai-class fast battleship, to see this huge battleship. And from time to time expressed satisfaction with the battleship.

Although the Longyang and Longfei produced in China are the same class of ships of the Longtai class, any ship of the same class will have some differences in the production process, such as speed or displacement. To say that the current shipbuilding level of the Republic of China can reach the German level, Xu Jie does not believe it, even if this is a battleship with many parts produced by foreign countries, and it is also a battleship born from the same drawing, but there will still be differences in some aspects, for example, the weight of the two battleships produced by Huaxia itself is several hundred tons heavier, and the speed has dropped by about 0.3 knots. But even so, Xu Jie is still very satisfied, after all, this is the first-class dreadnought built by Huaxia itself!

When the Longyang was completed at the Dalian Shipyard, Xu Jie personally attended the launching ceremony of the Longyang. He also delivered an enthusiastic speech, fully affirming the technical level of the Dalian Naval Shipyard and the hard work of all the personnel, and said that in the future, Huaxia will build larger and more warships to arm its own navy, and the entire naval equipment system will shift from external procurement to internal purchase. This is undoubtedly good news for domestic shipyards, not even just domestic shipyards, related industries. For example, metal smelting, machine building, and the arms industry are all opportunities.

It can be expected that when the Chinese navy gained a firm foothold in Southeast Asia, the already very vast maritime territory was further extended, and even had the intention of including the whole of East Asia and the East into its own pocket, and at the same time, with the development of maritime trade, the scale of the Chinese merchant fleet became larger and larger, and foreign trade has become one of the important economic pillars of the country. The vast seas and maritime trade required a stronger navy to protect them. Therefore, after the end of the Sino-Russian war, the entire navy will still be updated with warships, and after the end of the war. With the aging of the Ninghai-class battleships, the navy is bound to need some new warships, and this is where the opportunity for these domestic industrial giants lies!

After completing the commissioning ceremony, Xu Jie boarded the first self-built dreadnought ship of the Chinese Republic. and led almost the entire Huaxia fleet south. Looking at the Dalian Bay that gradually blurred in front of him. The eyes of many officers and men of the old Beiyang Naval Division were a little moist. They are about to leave the cradle of the Beiyang Naval Division. Heading to the south, in a few years' time, they may never be able to return to Dalian, Lushun and Weihai, the former bases of the Beiyang Naval Division.

The southward movement of the fleet was originally an established policy, because in the future the main force of the Russian-Dutch fleet would be concentrated in the Dutch East Indies, and the future battlefield would be unfolded in the waters of Southeast Asia, so the Chinese fleet must leave the North Ocean and go south. In order to adapt to the subtropical and tropical climates, as well as the local natural environment and sea conditions, the entire fleet has also planned to go to Southeast Asian waters in batches to patrol and train. In 1904, the entire fleet moved to the south to prepare for war.

However, the plan has not changed rapidly, and a series of recent changes in the international situation have made the Huaxia Navy involuntarily speed up the pace of action. The first of these is that the Russian government hinted to China through France that the Russian government did not want to engage China in the East China Sea. If the Chinese government could understand, the Russian government was willing to withdraw the fleet stationed in Muroran Harbor, leaving only two old combat battleships as a minimum armament to defend against possible actions by the Japanese navy. And guaranteed that even during the Sino-Russian war, the Russian garrison in Hokkaido throughout Hokkaido would not take any hostile actions against Huaxia!

This is very puzzling at first glance, but now that the relationship between the two sides is about to start, can we still discuss where you can fight and where you can't? What is even more incomprehensible is that Xu Jie actually accepted the request of the Russians, saying that if the Russian troops stationed in Hokkaido and other places do not take hostile actions, Huaxia can maintain the status quo! When Zhang Peilun and others learned about the news, Zhang Peilun and his friends were stunned!

And then, Xu Jie said the real reason for this, that is, neither the Republic of China nor Russia wants Japan to reunify! As early as the end of the First Sino-Russian War, the Chinese navy and army had been able to sweep away the Russian navy and army entrenched in Hokkaido, and the fundamental reason for this failure was that once the Russians left, then with the help of the British, Hokkaido was likely to return to Japan. When dealing with the Russians, Huaxia never lowered its vigilance against Japan. So when the situation was good, Xu Jie agreed to negotiate peace with Russia.

Now under the same circumstances, the Huaxia Republic is naturally unwilling to make wedding clothes for the Japanese, let alone easily distract its strength, since the Russians have expressed their willingness not to fight in the north, the Huaxia Republic is naturally willing to push the boat with the water. As for whether he is worried about the Russians breaking the treaty, Xu Jie said that he is not afraid, and his willingness is very simple, the premise of this agreement taking effect is that Russia reduces its naval strength in Hokkaido, since there are no more ships, can the Russians still let the army sit on a sampan and break the relationship? The Russians have already abandoned their martial arts, what is Xu Jie afraid of? Besides, the key is the naval battle in the south, the Huaxia fleet won, and it is natural to be willing to deal with Hokkaido, if it loses, then it means that the sea gateway is wide open, and there is no ability to do anything to Hokkaido, so this agreement Huaxia is not afraid of losing!

Another reason is the overall situation of the Russian fleet and the Dutch fleet, and it has to be said that with the help of France and the United States, the speed of preparation of the Russian fleet and the Dutch fleet has exceeded Xu Jie's expectations. At the end of 1904, Xu Jie predicted that the Russian fleet and the Dutch fleet could complete the rearmament, and after the completion of the correction, the war was about to break out, after all, the Russians would not allow such a huge fleet to be stationed overseas for a long time without doing anything, both in terms of cost and fighters, the Russians must start the war as soon as possible!

Under these circumstances, Xu Jie decided to lead Ninghai and other ships to immediately rush to the south to join Liu Buchan's fleet, and the reassembled Huaxia fleet would be stationed in military ports in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, and Fuzhou. In addition, they will sail in batches to patrol the South China Sea and other places to carry out relevant training and exercises. And if necessary, the Chinese fleet will be stationed at various alternative bases in the Philippines. Unlike the Russians and the Dutch, who built Batavia into a comprehensive military port integrating defense, supply, and maintenance, the bases of the Chinese Navy in the Philippines were mainly stationed and replenished. In Xu Jie's opinion, the Chinese fleet has the advantage and is unlikely to be blocked in the port by the Russian fleet. And the second point is that there is no time left for Xu Jie, it is impossible to build the alternative port in the Philippines so comprehensively!

"General Liu They are expected to arrive at Kaohsiung Port on April 28, 1904, of course, only part of the fleet, except for two Longxing-class battleships and one Longtai-class fast battleship, the other four battleships will sail to Hong Kong and Shanghai for maintenance, you know, our 20,000-ton dock is not enough, so in order to debug these big guys as soon as possible, it is necessary to rent the British dock." Cheng Biguang said.

"Very well, we have about half a year to complete the training and marshalling of the fleet, of course, it would be better if it was longer, we must survey the sea conditions and climate conditions in the Java Sea and the Kalimantan Strait and the South China Sea, and if we can, collect the hydrological conditions of the major ports of the Dutch East Indies. We have to be prepared. Xu Jie nodded and said. Also, are there any new movements of the Russians and the Dutch? ”

"There are still some, the Russian fleet originally planned to build 4 dreadnoughts and 4 quasi-dreadnoughts, of which the quasi-dreadnoughts were equipped with 4 12-inch guns and 8 10-inch guns, but later they changed their plans and decided to convert two of them into dreadnoughts like the Borodino class, which is not good news for us, after all, we only have 4 dreadnoughts on the battle line, and Ninghai can only be regarded as dreadnoughts." Cheng Biguang said a little depressed.

"In addition, our Garibaldi-class armored cruisers and PISA-type armored cruisers have serious problems with aging and damage, and it is difficult to run at a sustained high speed of more than 20 knots in ocean-going voyages, and there will be a significant decrease in performance when fighting in oceans. As the designer of them, you should be well aware that in order to have the best possible protection and armament, we have adopted a low-trunk and low-endurance design, and the ocean-going voyage itself requires more fuel and ammunition, while also ensuring the stability of the hull. Unfortunately, the heavy load reduced the part of the hull's armor belt that was exposed to the water. Moreover, stability and reserve buoyancy will be more serious problems. Plus, after all, it's a product of 1894. So....... Cheng Biguang looked at Xu Jie's somewhat gloomy face and didn't continue.

"I know your concern, you are afraid that we will suffer in the future war, the fast fleet side will suffer, right? The armored cruiser formations that once dominated the Far East are already somewhat old, and we do not have new armored cruisers, and all our resources are tilted towards dreadnoughts. Rest assured, man, we will discuss these issues in the upcoming meeting and will always find a solution. Xu Jie patted Cheng Biguang on the shoulder and said, although his status is much higher than that of his colleagues back then, but in private, Xu Jie is still willing to get as close to these old people as possible, after all, the relationship between people cannot always be a relationship between superiors and subordinates, and there is a kind of friend relationship.

However, how to deal with the large number of armored cruisers of the Russians is indeed a tricky problem, after all, the Russians and the Dutch have too many cruisers with 10-inch guns, which pose a great threat to the warships of the Chinese Navy except for the capital ships. It's hard to do. Xu Jie muttered to himself a little depressed.

Thank you for the reward of dsbghost~~~~ (to be continued......)