280-mm shells were only an tickle for heavily armored ironclad battleships and could not pose a serious threat, but 305-mm shells were different, enough to pose a serious threat to the Zhenyuan-class ironclad ships and the British Old Woman-class ironclad battleships.

In a word, it is to hurt each other.

The 343-mm heavy armor-piercing projectile is extraordinary, it can cause serious damage to the Qinglong-class heavy cruisers, can break the keel of the Dutch light cruiser "Seven Provinces" with a single shot, and as long as it hits a shot or misses a bullet, the powerful water pressure can tear apart the "Seagull"-class ocean-going cruisers.

Today's big ships and huge cannons are the royal road and the eternal theme of the maritime hegemony.

In front of the battleship's giant cannons, no matter how fast the cruiser runs, it is impossible for the shells to fly fast, and the radius of more than ten kilometers passed by the ironclad battleship is all forbidden areas, which is the infinite power of the ironclad battleship.

As the tall, icy triangular masts rise to the surface, the black smoke from the chimneys blackens the sky, and the trembling ironclad battleships cleave the waves, these death-breathing steel war behemoths display absolute dominance.

It is believed that the arrival of the heavy cruisers of the Borneo Fleet Qinglong and Baihu at Yantai Port can clearly convey a message that cannot be ignored.

Whether those muddy Manchu princes and ministers can be keenly aware of it is unknown, but Li Fushou firmly believes;

Li Hongzhang, the minister of the Prime Minister's Navy Yamen, will inevitably realize the stakes at the first time and choose a wise strategy to protect himself.

If it really doesn't work, it's not impossible to go around Tianjin Bay......

The position of the old father-in-law, Gu Yanchuan, the governor of Liangguang, is too important, and it can affect the southeast half of the country, which is very important for the Australian immigration plan, the Guangjitang plan and the talent recruitment plan, and there must be no mistakes.

Helping him is helping himself, and Li Fushou can still carry this clearly.

After the Qing army entered the customs

The Manchu-controlled army was always the most elite force of the dynasty and the basis of Manchu rule, but in 1860, the last Manchu-controlled army of 70,000 was destroyed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

In the battle of the camp in the south of the Yangtze River, the Manchus completely lost their bottoms.

In the following decades, the battle banner of the Qing Dynasty was actually carried by the Han army, and the Manchus could only rely on the Han ministers to survive and maintain the false prosperity of the dynasty.

Today's Manchu court power is in the hands of Han Chen, since the extermination of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the power has become increasingly large, the feudal officials in various places listen to the propaganda and do not listen to the tune, and there are many people who hide the imperial court to do their own thing, showing the decline of the end of the dynasty.

In particular, the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan, the Huai army of Li Hongzhang, and the Guangdong army of Gu Yanchuan in the south are the most powerful, and there is a faint tendency to overthrow the imperial court.

"In the near future, I will send a letter to Guangzhou to support the expansion of the new army to 30,000, and the original rotten Green Battalion Army must be vigorously dismantled, and take advantage of the current victory over the peak of the French country to do this thing in one fell swoop."

There was a pause

Li Fushou thought about it for a while and continued; "The two regions are all equipment bought with cash, and their financial resources are limited, so in my opinion, all the active equipment that has been eliminated in the army will be sent to Guangzhou, and some tea will be collected symbolically, and the silk goods will be offset. In this year, there are soldiers and generals who are bigwigs, and the court does not dare to move lightly. ”

"What Yuan Ding said is very true, then do as you tell you."

"Come, tea."

Li Fushou made a gesture of please, Fan Zhongzhai didn't dare to hold it up, and hurriedly served the tea cup with both hands, and the two quietly tasted the tea.

It won't be long

Li Fushou said as if he was pointed; "Brother Zhongzhai, Baixi Naval Academy is going to expand its enrollment of cadets again, do you think it is necessary?"

"From the perspective of the development of the Navy, it is always good to train more talents, even if there is a surplus of talents, it is better than unmanned warships, so I support the expansion of the Navy and Army schools."

"Well, that makes sense, how are the preparations of the School of Administration?"

"It will be able to open at the beginning of next year, which is also a college for cultivating junior and intermediate administrative talents, and now our territory is getting bigger and bigger, and we need to select and train junior and intermediate administrative talents for further study and training, which is a very meaningful work."

"Yes, the selection of a group of young, energetic, and ideal administrative personnel for training is conducive to strengthening the government's management ability and reducing the adverse effects of corruption, and the British regard the Indian colonies as a testing ground for cultivating administrative talents, which is very worthy of our study."

"I understand, I will ask the secretary to sort out some relevant materials, analyze the advantages and disadvantages in detail, and come up with a set of practical talent training methods."

"There's no rush for this, just take it slowly." Li Fushou laughed, and said with a twist; "The scale of the new ship plan proposed by the navy is not small, I have been hesitating, this year and next year is the concentrated period of large ship delivery, the navy's budget allocation for 1886 has reached 1.62 million pounds, and it really cannot be increased."

The cost of a Majestic-class battleship is between 700,000 and 800,000 pounds, a Qinglong-class heavy cruise is about 550,000 to 600,000 pounds, and the Suzaku and Xuanwu second ships in the later period are more than once, which is a real gold-swallowing monster, which is the main contradiction of the current tight budget of the navy.

If it weren't for the continuous financial support of the Koi Copper and Gold Mine, the accounts of the inner treasury would have turned red and black.

Since 1885, there has been no war operation, and the Coast Guard has allocated about 190,000 pounds for the maintenance of personnel, about 300,000 pounds for logistics, fuel, oil, water and ammunition, and the purchase of weapons and equipment accounts for the lion's share, exceeding 1.1 million pounds.

This situation is very peculiar

The main reason is that the 4 majestic class battleships are spent on an annual basis, and the 4 Qinglong-class main battleships are built intensively, and 1886 is the last year, when all the 4 ironclad battleships are completed and delivered to the Royal Navy of the British Empire, the factors that cause the big hole in the budget are gone, and the budget will be a big cut down in the next year.

"The military has military considerations, and if the shipbuilding plan is pushed back, there will be a lot of financial space to implement it in 1887." Fan Zhongzhai spoke cautiously, he glanced at the thoughtful face of the earl, and knew that his words were in his mind, so he said sincerely;

"The problems raised by the navy have always existed, and as an offensive military force, it is crucial to implement the expansion policy of the Yuan Ding people, and the construction of the navy has always cost a lot of money, and if it can be spread over each year of construction, the financial pressure will be reduced a lot."

"That makes sense, but the Navy put forward a plan to build 4,000-ton and 6,000-ton cruisers, which I vetoed." Li Fushou looked out of the window with deep eyes, and said with a wise look on his face;

"These guys in the navy want everything, they are greedy for oceans, not to mention the 4,000-ton and 6,000-ton cruisers, that is, the 12,000-ton battleships, they both want, and they want to continue to build heavy cruisers equipped with 305 mm six main guns, all of which I vetoed.

Are you kidding?

For Queensland today, migration and development are the main themes, and any work must revolve around these two core points, with expansion being a secondary topic, with less priority and less urgency.

In terms of the main warships, it is enough to have 4 Qinglong-class heavy cruisers, and building more is just a waste and a waste of money, and there is no realistic need.

As for the issue of cruisers, it is necessary to maintain a balanced naval force, taking into account the huge gap in equipment from 2000 to 8000 tons.

So the question arises, what kind of cruiser to build meets the needs of the current Queensland Navy?

Is it a heavy cruiser lined up in the battle line for ocean hegemony, with large-caliber guns and heavy armor, or a light cruiser that mainly cruises the sea and shows its presence and territorial interests?

The two have different operational purposes and different design indicators, which will inevitably lead to great differences in performance.

Well...... My idea is that there is an urgent need for a cruiser of about 4,000 tons, mainly with a large range, equipped with two front and one rear three 280 mm long-barreled guns, with high freeboard and superior sailing performance, not pursuing expensive heavy armor multi-compartment design, and the most important thing is to be cheap.

This is not simply reflected in the cheap procurement price, but also the use of mature power, not one-sided pursuit of the advanced nature of power, because the advanced nature of power means expensive.

It requires a small crew, a low unit cost, and an artillery battleship suitable for large-scale equipment, so that the cost of purchasing a single ship will be reduced to me.

If the purchase cost of a single ship is less than 200,000~220,000 pounds, it is still possible to arrange the construction of 1~2 ships per year, and the burden will not be too heavy. ”

"Huh...... I'm afraid that the Navy is unwilling! Fan Zhongzhai laughed when he heard this, shook his head and said; Zhuyu is in front, how can they look at a cheap cruiser of 4000 tons? ”

"These grandchildren ignore them, as if my money is blown by the wind." Li Fushou couldn't help but laugh too, his preference for the navy was obvious to the blind; "If I hadn't pressed it, the army's group of warriors would have been able to quarrel all over the world, and their favorite 60mm field guns have not been fully equipped so far, so it is understandable to complain."

In 1885 there was no war, and the annual expenditure of the army's five divisions was only 330,000 pounds, and the navy's budget was more than 1.6 million pounds, which almost made the army staff crazy with jealousy, and a rift was created.

Considering that there are still four Majestic-class battleships in the navy's armament budget, after deducting this factor, in a normal year, the navy budget and the army budget are 2:1, which is about a million pounds.

After talking about the issue of naval equipment for a while, Fan Zhongzhai mentioned the Navy's new light cruiser development plan, which is known as the "permanent plan" and is currently under discussion.

This is based on the shortcomings in the current development of the Navy's equipment, and the proposed improvement and enhancement plan aims to build a coast guard force with both offensive and defensive capabilities and balanced combat effectiveness.

The Queensland Coast Guard has obvious characteristics, and the fleet is equipped with a large number of seagull cruisers of various types ranging from more than 900 tons to 2,000 tons.

After the Qinglong and the White Tiger entered service, there was a huge gap between 2,000 tons and 8,000 tons, and from the perspective of the diversity of tasks to the construction of coastal defense, it was an unbalanced development of the naval force.

When going to sea to carry out deterrence cruise missions, only eight Seagull 2 heavy cruisers with a displacement of more than 8,800 tons can be incorporated into the fleet, and the other high-speed cruisers of 8,900 to 1,600 tons are only a small number, and the difference is too great.

These light ships only have the capability of combat patrol in the middle and near seas, and because the hull is too light, the space is narrow, and the endurance is weak, they cannot suppress the wild waves in the ocean.

Not to mention combat, even the safety of navigation is a problem.