Chapter 139 Preparation

"China is preparing for war!"

At night in Nanjing, standing at the window of the embassy, Styson? Feng? Klinburg turned to his secretary and said that as a new naval admiral in China, when he checked the information about the conflict between China and Japan on the ship coming to China, he realized that the end of the Russian war would mean the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war.

"The whole world knows it!"

It is not surprising that the ambassador of Klingbao's words, especially after President Roosevelt began to act as a mediate, the world was paying attention to the fact that Russia was about to start peace talks, and at the same time, it began to speculate when the two countries would go to war.

"The Chinese people have taken too much. They successfully built on a "taking advantage of the fire". It is said that neither I nor the Russians will be willing to see the fruits belonging to the two countries and usurped by the Chinese. Now I have won the naval battle. The result of the Russian war is doomed. It is not even Russia who is most afraid of winning the war. Ross, it's China!"

"I will definitely retaliate against China! It's just a matter of time!"

Leaning against the back of the chair, Klinbao said in a lazy tone.

"Moreover, you know, it is impossible to pay huge amounts of war compensation to the Tsar. If I were the emperor, I would also choose China, because... China is used to paying huge amounts of war compensation! Seriously, what I'm most curious about now is what the Chinese navy will use to block the Japanese navy at that time!"

While talking, he turned his eyes to the glass in his hand and looked at the red red wine in the glass. Perhaps, for the Chinese navy, there was only blood!

"...In order to reverse the disadvantage of the Russian navy, after the expansion of the navy in 1896 and 1897, its navy completed the six-six fleet with six battleships and six armored cruisers as the main body. During the siege of Lushun last year, the navy lost two battleships of "Hatsuse" and "Yashima". During the same period, two armored cruisers were purchased. At present, in addition to the main fleet of 4 battleships and 8 armored cruisers, the Japanese navy also includes 12 light cruisers, 37 lightning ships, 57 torpedo boats and a large number of auxiliary ships, with a total tonnage of 240,000 tons. "!"

The voice was slightly heavy, and Liu Guanxiong then reported.

"This does not include the five battleships captured by the Russian navy and one armored warship of nearly 100,000 tons!"

When Liu Guanxiong mentioned the strength of the navy, Chen Moran never said a word, saying that the strength of the navy is obvious to all. Their strength is not only in terms of tonnage, but also in terms of weapons technology and the skills of officers and soldiers, they are not inferior to any other powerful country in the world.

"In contrast, the Imperial Royal Navy, even the battlecruiser included in service two months later, has only 2 "Zhiyuan"-class battlecruisers, 2 "Zhenhai-class" battleships, zero armored cruisers, 5 sea-shaped cruisers, 14 destroyers, 6 minelayers, and 12 torpedo boats. The total tonnage of the battleship is less than 100,000 tons.

When reading out the strength of the navy, Liu Guanxiong's eyes looked directly at His Majesty. In his heart, he was grateful for His Majesty's contribution to the navy. To some extent, His Majesty has been fulfilling his original promise.

From the two "Zhenhai-class" donated by the Queen to the "Tsukuba-class" ocean-going torpedo destroyers that were finalized before the founding of the empire, to the "Zhiyuan" class that opened up a new era, Your Majesty's support for the navy can be said to be unprecedented, although the current imperial navy is compared with the economy. The Japanese navy, which has been expanded in 10 years, is really... not worth mentioning.

"According to the current situation, the Admiralty believes that in order to fight against the Japanese navy, we need to purchase at least 4 battleships and 8 armored cruisers! In addition, 7 light cruisers, 85 lightning ships and torpedo boats need to be purchased. It is planned to purchase 115 warships, with a total displacement of 155,000 tons..."

When Liu Guanxiong reported the navy's ship purchase plan, Ye Zugui always observed His Majesty. He noticed that when His Majesty heard "155 ships" and "155,000 tons", his eyebrows jumped slightly. Obviously, for His Majesty, this was absolutely beyond his expectation, or it was not planned at all.

In fact, this is in the navy's plan. From the Zhiyuan class to appear on the drawings, any naval officer who knows Zhiyuan understands that the era of old warships is over, and the "Jiyuan ship" has created an era of "Jiyuan ship". Perhaps foreign countries do not know all of the "Jiyuan ship", but once When the distant ship appears on the sea, the whole world will understand this, and the era of "far ship" has come.

Except for the Zhiyuan ship, all the old ships are doomed to be eliminated. Now purchasing old warships and armored cruisers is undoubtedly a waste of precious ship purchase funds. But the problem is that with the spread of smoke in the Tsushima Strait, a war will surely break out to determine the fate and future of the two countries.

In this war, the victory or defeat of the naval battle will determine everything.

"Of course, considering that Japan captured the Russian ship, most of them have been damaged, and"

"How much is expected to cost?"

In a deep meditation, Chen Moran asked a question that he was most concerned about. Money, in the final analysis, money is the most important.

"The cumulative cost of the two phases of the Japanese navy is 213 million yuan!"

"There are compensation for the First Sino-Japanese War, but we don't have compensation for the First Sino-Japanese War. The special expansion fee of the navy is 120 million yuan, which is the limit of the country's current limit!"

Guan Mingtang, who was beside him, truthfully put forward this fact. This 120 million yuan was squeezed out of the Ministry of Finance from his teeth.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the naval expansion fee, what the country needs to prepare most is the war fee, which is expected to cost more than 1 billion yuan! Therefore, with the current financial resources, it is difficult to bear heavier expansion costs!"

Chen Moran nodded and did not object. The 120 million yuan was originally prepared for the navy, but he thought of losing 250 million taels after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War 10 years ago. After a moment of meditation, he said.

"Let's make up 200 million! We will find a way when the war money is not enough, but the question is, even if we have collected all the money now, do we have time to buy enough warships?

While asking rhetorical questions, Chen Moran muttered in his heart. According to the information in the magazine, the captured Russian warship was repaired and put into active service in 1908 at the latest. Considering other factors, the navy only had one year to prepare the warship at most.

"Based on the experience of the production of Zhiyuan-class, using methods such as warship parts commissioned by other countries, we will be able to be launched three more Zhiyuan-class armored cruisers within a year!"

Shi Tiange, the head of the Naval Department, did not hesitate to mention this point, which was based on the success of Zhiyuan.

At the beginning, in order to rush the construction period, Zhiyuan only took 10 months from laying the keel to delivery, but the cost was an increase of 18.6%. 60% of the armored steel plates and structural steel parts were commissioned to be made in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and even France, and 80% of the rivets were purchased from four countries, steam turbines, propellers and transmissions. The shaft is imported directly into other countries.

"Generally speaking, except for self-produced products, all parts are subcontracted to German, British, American, French and other companies, contracts are signed with each company to ensure the supply time, and three-shift production is carried out in the shipyard. Usually, a warship takes 2 years and 6 months to complete and deliver, while the shipyard has two-thirds of the time. In fact, it is waiting for the production of shipbuilding components, especially the production of armored steel plates and power equipment, which is the most time-consuming, while Zhiyuan's armored steel plates are provided by the United Kingdom and Germany, and the boilers are supplied by four British and American companies and the Jiangnan Naval Manufacturing Bureau. Although there will be some shortcomings, it minimizes the production. Time!"

When introducing "experience", Shi Tiange still noticed His Majesty's eyebrows. Outsiders may not know, but Your Majesty knows very well why the navy did this. Does the navy really need warships so much? At least two months ago, at the end of the Battle of the Sea of Ma, there was no such need. The fundamental reason why it did so, even at the expense of part of the warship, was the "ten-year plan of the navy" of His Majesty in front of him, but the imminent threat made the navy have to do everything possible to build Buy a new warship.

"Let's do it!"

Although he knew that the "speed" of the navy was forced by himself, Chen Moran still nodded and then looked at Ye Zugui and said.

"Do you still want to buy existing old ships directly from Britain, Germany and other countries?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, we don't know at all when we would have chosen to declare war on us. Whether it is a self-made warship or a warship purchased from other country, time and time are the biggest problem, and the only way to solve the problem is to buy an active warship from his country."

Ye Zugui answered truthfully.

"Now the situation between China and Japan has developed. Anyone can see the war on the verge of breaking out, and the intelligence of the Naval Intelligence Office shows that Japan has accelerated the speed of repairing and capture of Russian ships, which means that to some extent, while preparing to end the war with Russia, Japan has At the beginning of the plan to declare war on us, there is at least this tendency, so the only solution is to buy all the warships that can be purchased from the international arms market to make up for the current power gap between the imperial navy and the Japanese navy.

"Will they sell us active warships? Especially in the UK?

Although the relationship with Fisher is very good, Chen Moran also understands that limited by the British Alliance Treaty, Fisher cannot give himself too much support. It may be God's blessing to sell several cruisers to China. The two warships that Ji Li bought are not Britain's to prevent Russia from buying them. Is it a warship snapped up from the Chileans?

"Your Majesty, it's time for Zhiyuan to play his role!"

(to be continued)