February 26, 2760 (1919), Hanjing.

This time the Allies and the Allies fought for the Mediterranean Sea Armageddon, known as the "Battle of Kithira", in which both sides committed a total of 54 capital ships (former dreadnoughts and dreadnoughts), 17 aircraft carriers (including temporary aircraft carriers), 39 armored cruisers, 54 light cruisers (including protective cruisers and reconnaissance cruisers), more than 200 destroyers and large torpedo boats, as well as 55 submarines and more than 1,500 aircraft.

It was a decisive naval battle in this world war second only to the Battle of Jutland. The battle ended in a complete victory for the Allies, with the elite Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies of the Central Powers being wiped out, and the main fleets of the two countries completely destroyed, completely losing control of the Mediterranean, and no longer having the strength to compete with the Allies.

Italy and Austria lost all their capital ships in this campaign, totaling 18 battleships (7 ex-dreadnoughts), 6 temporary aircraft carriers, 10 armored cruisers, 16 light cruisers, 67 destroyers and large torpedo boats, 15 submarines and 276 aircraft. Of the more than 39,500 officers and men who participated in the battle, more than 14,400 were killed and 650 were missing, and all of the remaining 24,500 were captured, except for a very small number of pilots who escaped by plane.

The Entente also lost 9 battleships (eight British, one French), 5 armored cruisers (four British, one French), 9 light cruisers (six British, two French, and one Chinese), 17 destroyers and large torpedo boats (2 Chinese), 57 aircraft (26 Chinese). Dozens of other ships received damage ranging from light to severe. More than 66,000 officers and soldiers participated in the battle, more than 4,800 were killed (mainly British, 577 Chinese), nearly 10,000 were wounded (1,456 Chinese), and 7 were missing.

From now on, the power of the Allies in the Mediterranean will be completely finished...... "Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Wang Tiezhu, smiled without an eyebrow.

Wen Deji nodded, and asked, "What are you going to do with those captured ships?"

This time the Chinese Navy captured a total of five battleships, a light cruiser, six destroyers and four submarines.

Wang Tiehammer smiled: "We plan it this way, after the United Empire and Andrea Doria are repaired, we can use it ourselves, but Andrea Doria needs to change the main gun, otherwise it will not be the same caliber as ours." At the same time, their power systems must also be changed, otherwise they will not be able to meet our tactical requirements. According to the preliminary inspection of the front-line personnel, the three dreadnoughts USS United Forces, USS Prinz Eugen and USS Julio Caesar, it was found that the damage was relatively severe, and the repair was of little significance. Even if they are repaired, their foundation is not good, there is little room for improvement, and they are not in tune with our tactics, at least they are not very useful here, and I am afraid that they can only go to the second line. ”

"Well, it's a bit of a waste to go to the second line, and the training ships won't need so much, those overseas provinces have cruisers enough, and you can't use battleships to do the things of the fishery administration and coast guard......" Wen Desi touched his chin, and he was really a little embarrassed.

Battleships are not the more things the better, everything is collected, it depends on whether it meets the military ideology and tactical needs of the country, otherwise it is a big toy, for example, the Pillar Island fleet of Japan in the original time and space is the best example, several of their old battleships are too slow, there is no room for transformation, and they are reluctant to scrap it, and the result is a decoration, wasting a lot of manpower and material resources.

Now that China has become a local tyrant, the navy's vision is high, and they really can't look down on the two battleships, the Count Cavour class and the United Forces class. For example, in the Combined Forces class, Austria-Hungary had no previous experience in designing dreadnoughts, nor did it have excellent designers, although this battleship eliminated the problem of ascension channels compared to the original plane. However, the hull of this class of ships is too short, and after the installation of four triple main turrets, the center of gravity of the guide zhì battleship is raised, and the stability is insufficient. Moreover, the amount of space redundancy in the hull is insufficient, the design of defense under the waterline is outdated, and the underwater mine protection performance is poor. Don't say it's not easy to use, it's not even easy to change.

In the field of warship design, the Italian is definitely much stronger than Aushou, so their Count Cavour class does not have too many obvious problems except for the short range, and although the speed cannot be compared with similar products in China, it is not very backward in the world, 21. The speed of 5 knots is also the mainstream number at this time. If you want to say that it is an eyesore, it is the turret mounted in the middle, in the eyes of the Chinese Navy, this Italian-style design is more painful and not necessary at all.

If you want to change to satisfaction, it will cost you more money, so it is better to build a new ship. So the Chinese Navy now thinks that these three dreadnoughts are very chicken. Of course, it is only China that thinks it is the chicken ribs, but the British Navy is very jealous, and they have long proposed to buy this batch of trophies, the price is negotiable, and they are ready to be stabbed.

And the Chinese side is also a lion mouth-open, Wen Desi said: "We are not short of small money now, but we are short of land, if you are willing to use British horses to pay for it, these five ships can be sold to you." ”

However, it is probably that the situation is better now, and this time the opium cattle will not be exchanged for land, and they are only willing to use money and resources. China did not do anything on this condition, so the talks between the two sides collapsed. In addition to the British, the United States, France, and Japan are also interested in it, and they all have expressed their intention to buy it. Even Soviet Russia smelled the smell and came and said that it was willing to receive one or two.

"If the British don't give us land, then they won't sell it. It's definitely not for sale in Japan. Americans just want to use it for emergencies, and their desire to buy is not strong, so they just come to join in the fun. Tsarist Russia has a good relationship with us now, and it is relatively obedient, so we can't offend them for this little money, and Soviet Russia should not think about it. As for the French, our terms are ...... the same" Wendeji thought for a moment and said, "If they are willing to give us those islands in the Pacific, they can trade ......"

"However, now that the French Polynesian Islands have been transferred to the United States, there are only New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna left, and besides, the French do not have a strong demand for warships, so I am afraid they will not give ......," Cavour said after a moment's thought.

Wen Deji smiled indifferently: "It's okay, let's set the conditions out first, and they don't want to forget it." Persia, Arabia, Turkey, and Siam are all interested. "If the powers can't sell it, they can still sell it to the younger brother.

Then he instructed: "So, now those three dreadnoughts only need to control the destruction in Turkey and restore their navigation capabilities, and let them go until the buyer is decided." The United Empire and Andrea Doria underwent initial repairs in Turkey and were reinstated for a major ......."

There are not many places that can make major changes to super-dreadnoughts, and there are only a few in the world, so don't count on Europe, people can't finish their own work. The shipyard on the Turkish side can only be repaired and maintained, and it is a little short of overhauled.

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After the matter of the Navy was finished, it began to talk about the current international form.

At present, the army is divided into two parts, one in the European part of Turkey, to help them defend against the attack of the Central Powers. After the Turkish Revolution, Bulgaria and Romania formed a coalition to intervene, but they kicked the steel plate and were defeated by the combined forces of the Human Revolutionary Union and Turkey.

Now it has not only helped Turkey to regain the occupied territories, but also pushed back. It has now reached the line of the Rila Mountains and the Maricha River, less than 60 kilometers from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government is now shocked three times a day, and if it weren't for China's intention to grind foreign workers, it would have already been parading troops in Sofia.

But even this contained a lot of troops in the Central Powers, and the armies of Bulgaria and Romania did not dare to go to the Western Front, so they could only desperately fortify the area around Sofia. And part of the Austro-Hungarian army had to be withdrawn to strengthen the defense of the former Serbian region.

There is also a part of the army in Africa, which has now defeated the Italian colonial forces in LinkedIn British Somalia and recaptured British Somalia. Not long ago, with the cooperation of the navy, it occupied Italian Somalia. The defeated Italian army carried forward the fine tradition of long legs and invaded the territory of German-occupied Kenya with "lightning speed". They turned like the wind and ran more than 240 kilometers in one day and one night, so that our officers and men could not catch up with them, and they could only silently watch their backs go away.

Now China's African troops have confronted the Germans on the Somali and Kenyan borders.

"Don't rush over Africa, take your time, it's not our territory anyway, and we've already fulfilled our obligations by taking Somalia......," Wen Deji said very calmly. It's not his own territory, so a fool goes to fight with Erdezi.

"We can't get it from British Somalia or Italian Somalia, but we can't cheapen the British, let the African troops train more locals, and let them have independent ...... after the war," Zhang Lizheng said viciously.

"That's right, we have to add some more humanitarian supplies......

"The organization on the Ethiopian side should also be strengthened, where there has just been a coup d'état, and the reign of Empress Zoditu and the regent Haile Selassie is still unstable, and it is a good opportunity for development. Tsuguò Yanqiu (Djibouti) to support them......"

Everyone made a big deal about the future strategy.

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It needs to be mentioned here that last year was 1918, and China's crude steel output broke through the 50 million ton mark, reaching 52.5 million tons, surpassing the 48.7 million tons of the United States in the same year, ranking first in the world for the first time. Grain production exceeded the 700 million mark, and the output reached 7. 3.5 billion tons, and the output of cotton yarn reached 82.8 million spindles (about 105. 40,000 tons), and the output of automobiles reached 4.12 million units, both of which are the world's first.

When it comes to oil, it is very tragic, last year's national crude oil production just exceeded 2 million tons, and this is still with the newly arrived Nanyang oil fields, this figure has been reached.

At present, China still imports more than 20 million tons of oil and more than 8 million tons of petroleum gas and natural gas every year. Of course, because of the golden finger of the diesel tree, there is no shortage of civilian fuel, but high-octane aviation gasoline is still more cost-effective to extract from petroleum, and the other is the needs of the petrochemical industry.

There is also the mineral industry, except for limestone, quartz, kaolin and other large quantities of earth and stone minerals, in addition to the raw coal output reached 4 last year. 200 million tons, can be ranked second in the world, the rest of whether it is energy mining or metal mining is more sad. Quite unlike other industries, China's mining industry has always been "sluggish".

Oil, copper, nickel, chrome, tungsten, bauxite, etc. are imported in large quantities every year, not to mention that even iron ore is imported in large quantities. There are also some things that everyone doesn't understand at present, such as uranium mines, rare earth mines, lithium mines, etc., of course, only a small amount of these mines are directly imported, and most of them are repeatedly resold into China through many vest companies, with the current level of logistics management, it is impossible to find out where it has gone. Of course, many other ordinary minerals also come in through the same method of guò.

Anyway, according to the instructions given by Mr. Wen, "it is better to mine the local mines than to mine the mines of the new territory, and the mines of the new territories are not as good as selling other people's mines", except for the coal mines and earth and stone mines that are too large, as long as they can be bought, they will spend money to buy them, and the problems that can be solved with money are not a problem. Not a single gram of raw ore produced in the country is allowed to be exported, and violators will be severely punished!

Not to mention the minerals that are already lacking, even if there is no shortage, China has been working hard in recent years. For example, China imports tens of thousands of tons of tungsten concentrate from Spain, Bolivia, the United States, Russia and Canada every year. There are also uranium ores, rare earth mines, and so on.

Moreover, the Socialist Party also strictly controls information on China's mineral resources, prohibits private geological surveys, and all exploration activities must be organized by the government, and participants must sign confidentiality agreements. It can be said that all the resources published in China are all fake. If it was something that everyone didn't know before, then it definitely didn't exist. If it had been discovered before, it would have been impossible to fool, and its reserves would have jumped to the left by one to a few decimal places......

Therefore, the mainstream public opinion in the world now believes that China is a poor mining country, except for more coal, other mines are very short......

In fact, although China's domestic mining industry looks like a crowd of people hitting the streets, in fact, the technology is very advanced, and it is definitely far more than a generation above the level of foreign countries. Don't forget, Mr. Wen's Xingke is a mining and metallurgical company, and this is his old business. The difference is only in the scale, at present, these domestic mines are used as technical reserves, mainly to train personnel, not to pursue production. And these trained personnel will also be sent to foreign mining and metallurgical companies controlled by China, and the value of these people will not be wasted, and there will be no shortage of people because of low production.

In addition, Mr. Wen's approach has also greatly stimulated the development of China's shipping industry. In order to transport these huge quantities of minerals, China's shipping industry has developed very terrifyingly, expanding at a scale of one million tons per year, and the tonnage of merchant ships has reached 8.52 million tons last year, surpassing the United States and becoming the world's first.