What is called that there are people outside the world, and what is called that there is heaven outside the sky. When the Beiyang upper and lower fructs saved up 6 cruisers, the Russians had already launched battleships in batches, although they had not yet been completed, although they had not yet been put into service, but in the face of this momentum, Alexander! Historically, there were no less than 20 Russian battleships in service before 1905. If it weren't for the initial division of troops, the 10,000-mile expedition and the tragedy of the Russians, and many other problems, Japan's little background in the Battle of Tsushima would not have been enough at all!

To be honest, if the Russians had really gained Hokkaido, the Russian fleet faced by the Beiyang Naval Division would have been even more severe than the Japanese fleet had historically faced. First of all, from the point of view of the location of Hokkaido, this place is far away from the base of the Beiyang Fleet, once the war starts, if you want to use the Japanese fleet to deal with the Russian fleet in the past, it is obviously impossible to go close to the shore to blockade and block the operation, because the Beiyang Fleet is impossible to fight the Russian fleet far away from the base, and the conditions of Muroran Port are better than those of Arthur, if you want to block the channel, how many ships will have to be boarded.

Second, geographically speaking, controlling Hokkaido is equivalent to controlling the Kamatsu Strait, and the Russian fleet can enter and exit the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean at will from the port of Muroran, and fight guerrilla warfare with the Beiyang Fleet on the vast sea. And if the time is too long, once the Russian Baltic Fleet arrives, the pressure on the Beiyang Fleet will be too great.

However, Xu Jie still intended to acquiesce in Russia's attack on Japan, the so-called gains must be lost, the Russians obtained an ice-free port with an extremely favorable location, and the most anxious was not Beiyang, but the British. In order to resist Russian expansion in the Far East, the British had no choice but to continue to support the North Seas when Japan was already weakened. And we must increase support! Secondly, I have to say that the Japanese national cohesion at this time was very strong. And the combat effectiveness of the Japanese Army can also be described as strong.

In this case. If a part of the Japanese combat strength can be retained and this part of the force can be used to contain the Russians, then the Russian threat to the North Ocean on land will be significantly weakened. This is very good news for Beiyang, where the army is weak. Moreover, the elongated supply lines and transport fleets are also a kind of consumption of Russia's national strength, and in order to cover the transport fleet going to Hokkaido, the Russian Pacific Fleet must also allocate some forces to escort the convoy, which is also good news for the Beiyang Naval Division.

"Jishi. In this way, do you have a development plan for the Beiyang Naval Division? "Half ringing. Li Hongzhang asked.

"This battleship procurement plan is naturally there, and the Italians are building 2 Dante-class battleships for themselves, if it works properly, I think I can buy it in Beiyang." Xu Jie said carefully.

"I'm afraid it's difficult to buy a warship produced by someone else for their own navy, right?" Li Hongzhang asked.

"Are you having trouble?" Xu Jie said in his heart, in history. After the Italians designed Garibaldi, the first thing to equip was not the Italian navy, but was snapped up by Argentina in South America. In general, Italy, which has a stable external environment, actually does not have too strong a demand for naval armaments, and whether or not there are two battleships has little impact on the comparison of naval strength between France and Italy.

"Students have to do their best, and it's not too difficult, because they have what Italians need." Xu Jie got up and replied.

"What's that? Can you tell me as a teacher? For this all-round disciple of both technical and military skills, Li Hongzhang can be said to be very satisfied. Although the political skills are still a little poor, as long as you cultivate yourself for a period of time. I'm afraid it should be okay.

"NEW TORPEDOES, TORPEDOES WITH A RANGE OF 2 TO 3 KM." Xu Jie replied. …,

"This is really a good thing, it is close to the effective range of naval guns, if it can really succeed, I Beiyang also need to buy some." Li Hongzhang nodded with satisfaction and said. "Is there anything else besides the two Dante-class first-class ironclads?"

"The student plan is to purchase another PISA-class and a Guiyuan-class." Xu Jie said in a low voice.

"It's all Italian warships. Compared to Italy, were the German battleships so unbearable? Li Hongzhang was a little dissatisfied. People have some attachments. Especially for people like Li Hongzhang who are in a high position and have a good impression of Germany,

Recently, the Germans saw that Beiyang had never purchased German warships since Jingyuan, and they couldn't help but be a little anxious, after all, the First Fleet in the Far East still had to continue to expand its army. You can't make all the cakes for the Italians, right? Now the Italian shipbuilding industry is making a lot of money. Even start construction first and then find a buyer, which really made William, who was interested in the navy, very unhappy. And the German shipyards also have an opinion, after all, it has been 6 years. The Qing people bought British naval guns and Italian warships plus French water-tube boilers, which were goods that did not have German manufacturers. Not making money is one aspect. But I can't hold it on my face. No, the Krupp family sent people to Tianjin to visit Li Hongzhang, hoping that Germany would get a piece of the pie in the next Beiyang arms purchase plan.

Li Hongzhang really wanted to help the Germans. But the performance of the Italians' warships is really outstanding, if you want to say hard pressure, it is inevitable that it will be a little bad, and your understanding of battleships is indeed not as good as Xu Jie's protégé. Therefore, in desperation, Li Hongzhang said the above words.

"The basic industry of the Germans is still very good, but the main difference is in the design, they can produce good enough raw materials and components, but the design of the battleship is relatively average. (at least 1900 years ago) and does not quite match the existing equipment in our Beiyang. Xu Jie replied cautiously.

"If you design a battleship for Germany and let the Germans produce it, will that work?" Li Hongzhang asked casually.

"That means the breach of the contract, and it means the invalidation of all cooperation agreements between Beiyang and the Kingdom of Italy." Xu Jie said with some amusement, in fact, Xu Jie has no good impression of Germany, after all, this Wilhelm II is still very ambitious for the Far East, in his historical plane, forcibly occupying Qingdao and fighting with the United States for control of some islands in the Far East, all of which show Wilhelm II's ambitions for the Far East, so Xu Jie tried his best not to let Germany interfere too deeply, and I don't know if the Shandong lesson plan can get up, so if the battleship he ordered has not come back when the Shandong lesson plan comes out, it will be a meat bun and a dog.

"Forget it, so be it." Li Hongzhang said helplessly.

"Actually, if I don't buy German warships in Beiyang, it doesn't mean that other fleets won't buy them. As for the design, if the Italian side agrees, I think some of the old designs can still be provided to the Germans. Xu Jie thought about it and said, what is the biggest feature of German goods? One is that the leather is durable and the other is cheap! The Beiyang Fleet has relatively high requirements for design and combat power, but other fleets pay more attention to cost performance.

"Nanyang has Liu Kun to take care of, these two Guangshui Divisions and Penghu Naval Divisions are our own people. It is necessary to take care of it when necessary. Li Hongzhang nodded and said, he was still very satisfied with Xu Jie's arrangement.

"Lord Zhongtang, this Penghu Water Master and Guangdong Water Master are all controlled by our own people, if we can, it is best to merge them. Responsible for maritime security in the direction of the South China Sea. The strength of a single sailor is too weak, and if there is a change, the strength is not enough. In the end, Xu Jie still said the merger plan he envisioned.

"It's not easy to talk about, the Beiyang Naval Division and the Nanyang Naval Division are the national fleets of the imperial court, while the Guangdong Naval Division and the Penghu Naval Division are both local fleets. Once this merge, who is in control? Is it the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang or the Governor of Liangguang? Li Hongzhang asked rhetorically. …,

"In fact, Lord Liu made great contributions in this Qing-Japanese war, and his contribution is enough to go further." Xu Jie said in a low voice.

"Further? It's hard. However, what you said about turning two sailors into one, it is not possible in the open, but it is still possible in secret. The two defense zones are connected and often practice together, so there should be no problem in acting in a unified manner in wartime. "If you want to talk about merging water divisions, this thing is a bit large to operate, and it is not immediately implementable.

"It would be better if the two sailors could procure new warships together." Xu Jie reminded.

"This Guangdong sailor has Chen Biguang. The Penghu Sailor is short of personnel. Li Hongzhang said pointedly.

"You mean to transfer a group of people from my Beiyang?" Xu Jie asked.

"Ding Ruchang is almost 60 years old, and he wants to go to the place where he reads. If Liu Mingchuan can change places, I plan to let Ding Ruchang go to Taiwan. Li Hongzhang said meaningfully. This couldn't be simpler, if Ding Ruchang doesn't leave, where can Xu Jie take the turn? Moreover, Ding Ruchang is nearly 60 years old, and he is indeed no longer suitable for commanding such a large fleet.

"The students think that it is better to let someone else take over the position of the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division." Xu Jie replied.

"I know what you're thinking, but if you don't serve as this commander, can you be sure that you will catch the Beiyang Naval Division? Now all the new ships are your people, and you can naturally control them, but once the new ships are ordered, Liu Zixiang and the others will still serve as the pipe band and the chief soldier, and if you are not there, who can control them? Li Hongzhang said with some concern.

"Actually, as long as the Russian fleet is not eliminated for a day, there will be no problems within our Beiyang Fleet, and students can't participate in every naval battle, right? Someone has to take over the students. Xu Jie explained.

"Who do you think can be the Admiral of the Beiyang Fleet? And how do you limit someone's faction from being one-party dominant? Li Hongzhang asked.

"The students feel that Lord Yang is good enough to serve as the Admiral." Xu Jie said.

"I always thought you would recommend Deng Shichang. Yang Yonglin has skills and connections, but this information is poor. Li Hongzhang nodded with satisfaction and said. Before Yang Yonglin takes the position, you should first manage the water pipe. The old Beiyang has suffered heavy losses, and you can worry more about the arrangement of new warships and personnel. ”

"Remember, there are two things that the sailor has been busy with lately, the first of which is the planning of ships in Italy. And the second thing is to choose the right warship for the Liangguang Naval Division and the Penghu Naval Division. You're in charge of Italy, and you're going to have to worry about the other thing. After Li Hongzhang finished speaking, he waved his hand, signaling that he was tired, let's dismiss the meeting.

Thanks to the book friend Brother Kong Chen's reward and the monthly ticket support of the book friend Lao Kunming, the war is coming to an end, and book friends who have ideas about the industrial construction of this book can post it in the book review area. Thank you very much. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )