Chapter 143 Decision

"The Russian peace talks were officially held today with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Building!"

With the shouts of the newsboys, people walking on the street stopped one after another, either buying newspapers, or reading newspapers with others, with more or less a trace of worry between their eyebrows.

In the streets outside the Imperial Consultative House, pedestrians are bustling. The new cabinet of the Empire is about to start this year's special military meeting. In the street garden outside the Consultative House, citizens enjoying the sunshine can be seen at any time.

For these citizens, they may be worried about the future, but they seem to be full of hope for the future. In their view, the empire will definitely win, just like before.

"Is there another war?"

When a young woman with a baby in her arms looked at the Imperial Consultative House with a sudden sigh, what was discussed in the Imperial Consultative House? I'm afraid that the issue of special military expenditure is still being discussed. For the first time, the current Imperial Consultative House has really had some power.

"This silver must be spent, but..."

Chen Moran, who was walking in the palace garden, said to the attendants beside him with a wry smile.

"Well, the navy can't solve the problem just by buying a ship."

The attendant smiled helplessly and said nothing. He also understood that His Majesty had been trying to do too many things. When he built this empire, he took over too many mess.

After walking to the combat map room on the first floor of the government office building, he hurriedly returned the salute in front of the Imperial Navy officials who saluted him. He sat in the emperor's seat and looked around at the crowd. Chen Moran said.

"There is not enough time. Let's do it as soon as possible."

As the Minister of the Navy, Ye Zugui first stood up, bowed to the emperor, and then said.

"Your Majesty, ministers, marshals and generals. One of the first issues we discussed today is that two days ago, Germany has agreed to sell five Vitchersbach-class warships to China. I hope your majesty can immediately approve the navy to purchase these five Vitchersbach-class warships!"

Chen Moran nodded. He knew very well that the basis of his empire was the armed forces of this empire. Now that he is facing challenges, he needs to strengthen the military construction of the navy. Before his thoughts have been fully recovered and he agrees with Ye Zugui's request, he listened to Liu Guanxiong stand up. Objection.

"Your Majesty, I personally do not agree with the purchase of the Wieschersbach-class warship."

In fact, the fundamental reason why the navy has failed to make a decision in the past two days is the debate within the navy about the Wichelsbach-class warship. This type of warship is difficult to meet the current needs of the navy. Even at the naval armament conference, Liu Guanxiong and others directly called it a "garbage warship".

"Your Majesty, we need warships!"

When refuting, Ye Zugui's words were a little dissatisfied.

Chen Moran didn't say anything. He had already got some news before the meeting. Now the dispute in the Admiralty is actually a dispute between the Admiralty and the front-line chief officer. The Admiralty thinks that it is better to buy than not to buy it, while the front-line chief officer thinks that it is better not to buy such a weak warship than to buy it.

Seeing that Your Majesty remained silent, Liu Guanxiong continued.

"Your Majesty, now we are facing a serious threat from Japan. Our intelligence shows that Japan is now concentrating all its efforts on repairing the warships. It is expected that four months later, even if we successfully salvaged three warships, compared with Japan, it is still 6 to 9, and the armored cruisers are 0 to 9, with excellent strength. There is little possibility that the disparity will lead us to win the naval battle. Therefore, the humble position believes that now, like purchasing warships, we must buy enough advanced warships as much as possible, rather than old and low-fired warships.

And Ye Zugui immediately continued.

"Your Majesty, according to the calculation of the Naval Administration Office and consulting German institutions and shipyards at the same time, we believe that the class may have insufficient firepower and other aspects, but we can replace its 240mm main gun with a 254mm main gun in order to achieve the adoption of a unified caliber cannon in the same Zhenhai class, humble position and naval participation. The Ministry of Planning believes that at present, it is more appropriate. Our gunners are more used to 10-inch naval guns!"

And Sa Zhenbing immediately said.

"Your Majesty, I personally don't agree with this."

With that, he turned to Ye Zugui and said.

"Indeed, from the calculation of gun weight, tail volume and other aspects, there is no problem in replacing the main turret of the Wichersbach-class warship with the Armstrong 10-inch gun. It can even replace the secondary gun with the 6-inch gun that our army is more used to, and the modification is very limited. Maybe our navy is used to 10 British. Inch guns and 6-inch guns, but our enemies are very powerful. We have to use a limited number of 10-inch guns to resist the attack of Japanese 12-inch guns. The number of warships is at a disadvantage and the firepower is at a disadvantage. In this case, I really can't imagine how we can win the naval battle. "."

But Ye Zugui said helplessly.

"Your Majesty, we will try our best to change the current unfavorable situation for us, but now, it is impossible for us to buy warships from Britain. We have also contacted the United States, France, and even Italy and Russia, but all parties have refused it because of their weak naval strength. Now there is only Germany, clearly stated Show our willingness to sell warships. Now our problem is time. If there is two to three years, we don't need to consider these problems at all.

Chen Moran nodded helplessly. These people are telling the truth and have their own reasons.

"Have we been in contact with the United States? Did you know the reason for the interest to Roosevelt?

Ye Zugui nodded helplessly and said.

"Your Majesty, we have contacted the United States, and Roosevelt also believes that we are right to strengthen our armaments, but he made it clear that he can't help, because the U.S. Navy is still at a disadvantage in the face of the Japanese navy. Maybe their warships have fallen behind, but before the new generation of warships are in service, Roosevelt and The U.S. Navy does not agree to export warships to us, but they agree to sell one or two light cruisers and some mine-ships to us, which is a certain degree of support.

Chen Moran nodded, and Ye Zugui continued to say.

"Your Majesty, there are currently three battleships owned by the Imperial Guards Navy. In four weeks, the "Laiyuan" will be in service, so it can be counted as four. The "Zhiyuan Ship" is our most powerful and most advanced warship. It can barely fight against four to five Japanese warships, and two "Zhenhai Class" can also be encouraged. Strong can fight against two warships, and the other three battleships that may be salvaged. From the current situation, we are likely to only be able to pick up two. In this way, it can be said that our warships have barely competed with the Japanese battle fleet, but we are currently unable to fight against the Japanese armored cruiser fleet. Our opponent currently has 9 armored cruisers, and they have also performed well in naval battles. Perhaps the Wichersbach-class warship may not be regarded as a real first-class warship, but compared with armored cruisers, it has firepower and armor advantages, so I agree with the Germans's suggestion!"

He nodded, and Chen Moran turned his eyes to Shi Tiange. Maybe he should listen to his professional opinion at this time.

"Shi Qing, in your opinion, should we buy the Vachersbach-class warship?"

Seeing that His Majesty was asking himself, Shi Tiange quickly replied.

"Your Majesty, I'm just a ship technician, so I can only give corresponding opinions within my expertise. In the end, you and the Ministry of the Navy will make a decision!"

Shi Tiange's words almost gave him a contemptuous look. This man is too smooth. He can't make a decision with any personal expertise. But Shi Tiange didn't seem to find the contemptuous taste of others.

"Your Majesty, in terms of warship construction, compared with Britain, Germany has its own strengths and is difficult to distinguish, and the excellent quality and protection ability of German [***] ships are well-known advantages!"

"Indeed, the style of German shipbuilding that attaches importance to defense fully reflects every German [***] ship!"

This is the consensus of everyone. After all, China's Beiyang sailors have equipped German and British [***] ships at the same time. Compared with British [***] ships, the biggest advantage of German [***] ships is to pay attention to defense.

"Therefore, we can't ignore the advantage of the Weuchersbach-class warship. Through the information provided by Germany, its turret can fully accommodate the British MK7 10-inch naval gun, which has no technical problem, and the 10-inch naval gun is also the main gun of the Zhenhai class, whether it is training or shell or body barrel. There is no problem with the reserve.

Seeing that no one refuted himself, Shi Tiange knew that it was because he hadn't said it yet, and His Majesty was letting him speak.

"Your Majesty, if we have no other choice now, then the Vickersbach-class battleship may be the best choice. Not only can we save money, but the most important reason is that we commissioned a French company to develop a new ten-inch soft steel cap armor-piercing shell for China last year, Jiangnan Naval Manufacturing Bureau The trial production was successful five months ago. At present, it has been mass-produced and can break through 12-inch Krupp armor at 10,000 meters. However, it has not been able to produce qualified armor-piercing shells so far, and it has not been equipped with new cap-piercing armored shells. This is also the fundamental reason why it uses Yijixin tube to seek high-explosive bomb damage. The MK7 10-inch naval gun has a rate of fire of three rounds per minute, with a rate of fire three times that of the Japanese navy, and the weight of the throwing bomb is about 1.9 times that of the 12-inch main gun of the Japanese warship! And the range of the two is similar, so I think that in terms of firepower, compared with the Japanese warship, the Wichersbach class may have a lack of slightly thinner armor and weak firepower, but if it is replaced with an Armstrong 10-inch naval gun, it is not backward, but its firepower is stronger than that of the Japanese warship!"

Shi Tiange's words made Chen Moran nod and looked at it again. After Liu Guanxiong and Sa Zhenbing, he saw that the two did not continue to object, so he said.

"Well, let's do it and buy them back from Germany."

(to be continued)