Chapter 193: Li Hongzhang Plans for Coastal Defense (3)

3. Original shipbuilding. Investigate the new theory of coastal defense of various countries: Whoever goes to war with the coastal countries will defend the coast of his own country if he sends all his military ships to defend the seaports of the enemy country and does not allow his ships to enter or leave. Secondly, it is better to defend oneself, such as thousands of miles along the coast, enemy ships can be reached everywhere, if fortified everywhere, scattered on a very large ground with all their strength, the force is divided into a single force, one place is damaged, and the whole situation is lost, so it will accumulate elite protection in several important places, and it can be held firmly.

China has very few warships and ships, so how can it block the enemy's sea, and it is not easy to say that it is impossible to do so, and it is not easy to say that it wants to defend itself. From Fengtian to Guangdong, the coast stretches for thousands of miles, and there are many ports, if you have to stay everywhere with heavy troops, the cost is huge, and the force is not given, it is bound to collapse.

The only way to distinguish between urgency and urgency is to choose the most important places, such as Dagu, Beitang and Shanhaiguan in Zhili, which are the gateways of Gyeonggi, which are the most important. The area from Wusong to Jiangyin in Jiangsu Province is the gateway of the Yangtze River and is secondary. Gai Gyeonggi is the foundation of the world, and the Yangtze River is the financial and financial Austrian area, but it can defend this most important and secondary place, and the border of Haikou in the rest of the provinces is slightly arranged, that is, there are setbacks, and there is no obstacle to the overall situation.

However, if you want to hold on, you must keep all the soldiers and horses, artillery emplacements, ordnance, baggage, and material resources of the Bureau of Labor, and reserve them strongly, although the military situation is ever-changing. The temple calculations, the management of the past, and the scheduling of temporary events must not be disordered in the slightest.

In the twenty-first year of Daoguang, the ship entered the Yangtze River, and the whole world began to earthquake. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the soldiers committed Jintong, and they were in danger at all. They can attack me and harm me, and control my lifeblood. And the wrecked people, because of the scattered fortifications and the transfer of aid from the east to the west, did not gather all their strength in a few important places.

When discussing coastal defense today, we must learn from the past. The method of defense should be divided into two ends, one is the method of holding still, such as the fortress wall in the mouth is particularly strong, it must be able to resist the shells of the enemy's cannons, and the gun positions used in the fort must be able to break the enemy's ironclad ships. And there will be great cannons and iron ships that will try to block the waterways, and hide the water buds and other weapons. The first is the method of shifting reactions, such as guerrilla attacks by warships and land forces at any time, which can prevent enemy troops from landing along the coast. It is an indispensable thing for the Outer Sea Division's ironclad ship and the Koukou cannon iron ship.

Of the 15 steamers that have been damaged by the wind in Taiwan, two of them have been damaged by the wind in Taiwan. There were six steamers in Shanghai, two of which had 500 horsepower and 26 guns, which were equal to foreign warships. The rest of the ships are only basically equal to the small foreign warships. However, millions of silver have been spent, and most of the material craftsmen are purchased from abroad. It is the silver of China's shipbuilding, which is double the price of foreign ships. Now that we are anxious to become an army, it is more convenient to order them in a foreign country, but we must not entrust foreign businessmen to buy old ships by mistake and spend huge sums of money.

I heard that the British warships and ironclad ships were the most refined, and the British official factories and companies all competed with each other with the advantages and disadvantages of ironclad manufacturing, which changed with each passing day. The Prime Minister's Yamen should consult with the envoys stationed in Beijing and inform the Ministry of War of the country, so that they can personally go to the factories to study what kind of ships are the most sturdy and agile, and are suitable for China's waterways, and negotiate with them to build them. He was about to be brought to the factory and the Armament Institute to learn how to make craftsmen, and to pay attention to the method of driving drills. After the ship was completed, it was equipped with gun positions and returned to China with the ship.

However, Chinese shipyards are still expanding their efforts to prepare for ship repairs. to the proposed number of warships. As Ding Richang said, there are 18 ironclad ships in the northern, eastern, and southern oceans, which are indispensable. In addition to the 20 ships that China has already built, there are still 28 ships short.

It is said that the northern, eastern and southern oceans must each have two ironclad ships, the north should be stationed in the area of Yantai Lushunkou, the east should be stationed at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the south ocean should be stationed in Xiamen Humen, all of which are several feet deep and can be moored. When there was an incident, the six ships contacted and turned into a guerrilla division on the ocean, and the remaining ships attached to it were stronger.

It is estimated that each ironclad ship needs to be built in one million taels of silver, and the cost is not low. If you have more spare power, you can buy other ships. Or the factories in Fujian and Shanghai have successively imitated warships, with a total of 48 ships.

However, guarding the cannons and iron ships of the Haikou is also a new weapon made by the West, with small ships equipped with extremely heavy guns, auxiliary shore batteries, ambushes on all sides, blocking the middle stream, and being able to act on their own, which is the most successful. One or two additional vessels must be installed at all key coastal defense points.

It is said that when ordered in foreign countries, each ship's cannon costs about 100,000 taels of silver, but it is too sluggish to wade into the sea, so it is necessary to disassemble the iron armor of the gun emplacements and transport them to China for assembly. The committee members should be inspected and dealt with at the same time. If the price is convenient, the 20th has been purchased one after another, and it is distributed in the north and south of the sea. Or buy cannons from abroad, and imitate iron ships by Chinese factories, or even add them in order.

To Ding Richang said: Fifty boats and ships can be dismantled, which can be raised for one ironclad ship; Ten sampans can be raised for one ironclad ship. Counting the cost of the old system of ships of the provincial coastal naval division, and supplying 48 warships of all sizes, it is still felt that there is no surplus and so on.

In May of the 11th year of Zha Tongzhi, the minister proposed to request the abolition of the ships and ships of the provinces, that is, to offset the cost of purchasing warships with the cost of repairing and raising the troops of each ship. The Prime Minister's Yamen decreed that the governors should do so, but so far there has been no reply.

When the purchase is returned, all expenses for the maintenance and training of the ships should be as discussed by Ding Richang, and he should be ordered to order the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong to abolish the old system and the new items of red slips, tows, boats, and sampans, and to exclusively raise steamships and warships, so as to avoid making false use of them for practical purposes.