"Daozi, how are you going to deceive and mislead the British?"

The question was asked by Lin Zexu, a scholar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was very energetic when he mentioned the matter of deceiving, beating, and robbing the British. British imperialism is so bad, it's right to bully no matter how you want!

Zhuge Weidao listened to Lin Zexu's question, and said to Zhuge Weiyi with a smile: "Tenth brother, our weak plan is your handiwork, or you should please talk about it yourself." ”

The main content of this "weak plan" is a false shipbuilding plan, so it should be proposed by Zhuge Weiyi, the armament squire of the Admiralty.

"Shao Mu, let me tell you," Zhuge Weiyi took the question with a smile, "I have already asked the Navy Armaments Bureau to start preparing a 'Thousand Ships Plan'!" ”

"What is the 'Thousand Ships Project'?" Lin Zexu didn't understand, so he asked.

Zhuge Weiyi said with a smile: "It is a comprehensive fleet renewal plan for the batch construction of three hundred 15,000-ton ironclad ships, three hundred four-thousand-thousand-ton fast cruisers, and four hundred two- or three-thousand-ton protective cruisers!" ”

"What?" Lin Zexu was taken aback by Zhuge Weiyi's words, "Marquis Wanling, what you said is true or false?" Build a thousand ironclads and cruisers...... How much does that cost? ”

"A maximum of one billion," Zhuge Weiyi said with a smile, "If mass production can be realized, the cost can be reduced a lot, seven to eight hundred million may be enough!" ”

Zhuge Weidao also smiled and said, "Lin Zhongtang, King Yanping, what do you think?" Spending seven to eight hundred million to build a thousand ironclad ships and cruisers, can you scare those Britons to death? ”

Of course, this "Thousand Ships Plan" is nothing, but it can be discussed now, which is enough to show how amazing the industrial strength of the Ming Dynasty is now - this plan was not thought up by Zhuge Weidao, but by Zhuge Weiyi, the armament squire of the Admiralty. Since he can be an armament squire, of course he is proficient in armaments and shipbuilding.

This "1,000-ship plan" is really not impossible for the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty...... The kind of cruiser of 2,000 to 5,000 tons is just a random thing for the Ming Dynasty. What is really a little difficult is the 300 15,000-ton ironclad ships and the 1,200 305mm caliber naval guns equipped on them. But it's not that it can't be built, but it just takes a little time, it must be enough to spend eleven or twelve years, an average of 100 starts a year, and it will be built in two years (the warships at that time are still relatively simple and built relatively quickly), and 1,000 ironclad ships and cruisers will be there after 12 years?

Lin Zexu glanced back at Zheng Guoan, the secretary of the Admiralty, "Lord Wang, this is the matter...... It can't be really, right? ”

"It must be fake," Zheng Guoan said with a smile, "Seven to eight hundred million ships are worth building, and our annual income in the Ming Dynasty is one billion silver dollars!" The seven or eight billion yuan of shipbuilding expenses will not be impossible to come up with in 11 or 2 years, and if it is really not possible, some bonds can be issued. But the cost of maintaining these thousand boats is very high...... It is necessary to allocate hundreds of thousands of personnel alone, and many military ports, barracks, and docks must be built, and even a few more naval schools must be built. ”

He smiled and said to Zhuge Weidao: "Daozi, you are doing this plan to trick the British into following up, right?" ”

Zhuge Weidao said with a smile: "Lord Wang, this 'Thousand Ships Plan' is to deceive the British to follow up...... The British don't dare not follow, haven't they been saying that our Ming Dynasty is a yellow peril in recent years? Now that disaster has come, they can't help it! How can they be the hegemon of the West?

But can they keep up? Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and the white population in overseas colonies add a total of more than 20 million, and even if you count India, the population is only more than 200 million. And we have a population of 360 million, steel, electricity, coal, oil, any one of them is several times the size of the entire British Empire, even if it overwhelms the whole of Europe, it is more than enough! There is only shipbuilding, and Britain can compete with us a little. However, the British government's income is much less than ours, and even if you count the money looted from India, the annual income is only half of ours...... Hehe, a thousand ships, how can they follow? ”

Zheng Guoan touched his beard and said, "Daozi, is it okay to finish your words at once?" You're a young man, don't be like those old military advisors, who say half of what they say. Say it quickly, those British people want to follow but can't keep up, and they will do this in the end? ”

"Lord Wang," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "They don't dare not follow, but they can't follow them all, and in the end, of course, they are looking for an opportunity to negotiate naval armaments with us!" Otherwise, Lin Zhongtang would have finished his fire in the Jin Kingdom, but there would be no reason to go to the UK to lead them to the trap and support the Daoguang Emperor of the Jin Kingdom by the way. ”

"Hahaha!" Lin Zexu heard the words that made him happy again, and laughed a few times before interjecting and asking, "Daozi, how do you say the old man should coax those Britons?" ”

Zhuge said with a smile: "Of course, they are deceiving the British to build more 15,000-ton ironclad ships, they can't afford to build 300 ships in ten years, but it is still possible to smash the pot and sell iron to build 100 ships!" ”

A hundred former dreadnoughts...... A ship costs 2 million silver yuan, and it costs 200 million!

When the British have built these former dreadnoughts, the Ming will be able to launch the dreadnoughts...... When the time comes, all these former fearlessness will become obsolete.

In this way, the British will spend 200 million in vain! And this is not the worst, the worst thing is that the British shipyards will definitely build many 20,000-ton docks and slipways in order to start building so many dreadnoughts.

As soon as the dreadnoughts come out, these docks and slipways will be useless (of course, civilian ships and small-tonnage warships can also be built), and those shipyards will have to continue to spend money on building larger docks and slipways!

Again, it's a waste!

Of course, the Ming Navy will not really build this kind of 15,000-ton former dreadnought. It is better to build a 15,000-ton armored cruiser than to spend money on the dreadnought, and it is better to use full oil power and fully equipped naval guns in one step. In this way, when the "First World War" begins, the Ming Dynasty will have at least dozens of armored cruisers, which is much more practical than the same number of former dreadnoughts.

"A hundred?" Lin Zexu smiled, "Our concession is a bit big!" ”

Zhuge Weidao said with a smile: "Lin Zhongtang, this 'Thousand Ships Plan' is not only designed to trick the British, but also created a bargaining chip to put pressure on the British...... If we make concessions on the number of ships built, we can completely make up for it from other places, such as the sphere of influence. On the one hand, we have the bargaining chip of arms negotiations, and on the other hand, we also have Daoguang's bargaining chip to cause chaos for the British. ”

"Sphere of influence?" Lin Zexu asked, "Where do you want?" ”

"I think we can propose that Japan and the Hawaiian Islands be included in our Ming sphere of influence!"

"Japan?" Lin Zexu was stunned, "This is not easy to do!" ”

"Lin Zhongtang, this time I won't do Japan!" Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "But we have to use this as a bargaining chip to force Japan to withdraw from the Hawaii land competition." ”

I have to say that playing international politics, Zhuge Weidao is also a master without reading the "Book of Heaven" - he is stronger than King Wuzhong in this regard! King Wuzhong is a science and engineering master, but the information of his times is still relatively closed, and I don't know how the villains in the world play? And Zhuge Weidao is well-informed, and he himself is familiar with the methods of those diplomats in history.

What creates chips, what limits the pressure, he knows best!

And the two demands of "Japan" and "Hawaii" that he is now putting forward are actually creating chips and exerting extreme pressure...... It was to use Japan as a bargaining chip, while at the same time pressuring Japan to make concessions on Hawaii.

The Hawaiian Islands weren't of much value in the age of sail — not on the "tuyere," and sailboats rarely docked in Hawaii. But in the age of steam and fuel power, Hawaii's value is apparent.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty, Britain, and Japan all wanted to compete for the Hawaiian Islands, and the three countries each occupied some islands and did not give in to each other.

And Zhuge Weidao wanted to use arms negotiations and Daoguang printing to exert double pressure this time to force Britain to make concessions. At the same time, he put pressure on Japan by bringing Japan into its sphere of influence and forced the Tokugawa shogunate to withdraw from Hawaii.