"..."The commissioning of the battlecruisers "Pinghai" and "Dinghai" and the long-range artillery drills in Qianhai mean that China's maritime power has once again moved to the ocean after 31 years of silence.

It also means a challenge to the maritime power of the new Republic of China, and as this challenge unfolds, the balance of maritime power in the Pacific also changes!"

"New York Times" September 28 - "Uneasy in the Pacific"

Beijing still has a golden autumn atmosphere due to the crisp autumn air for many days.

The sweet-scented osmanthus in the Summer Palace is in bloom, and the fragrance spreads from Wanshou Mountain to Kunming Lake. It is a rare calm day, and the air is refreshing and fragrant with flowers. Most of the men and women in Beijing walk out of the courtyard and go to places with trees and flowers to soothe their chests.

, went to breathe fresh air, but in teahouses of all sizes in the capital, people were talking about the artillery drills outside Lianyun. For the old and young men in the capital who rarely heard anything new, they finally

I found a good talking point.

"Hey, dear, as soon as the cannon started firing, the British consul was frightened out of his wits. Do you know what?"

"What's up?"

"That cannon shot was accurate. At a distance of more than twenty miles, one shot hit the chimney first, then another hit the waist of the ship, and then another shot. Do you know what?"

"What's wrong?"

"The ship was sunk!"

At this time, in their words, it seemed that they had witnessed the bombardment with their own eyes, and each of them spoke vividly and excitedly. In fact, this is not surprising. After fighting in the Beiyang Navy, who has seen China on the sea of ​​China?

Of the battleships, the only battleships to see were those from foreigners. The "Jiangsu Army Navy" suddenly appeared, and they also had two big ships with 12 12-inch cannons.

How could they not be excited when the British Consul General made a show of force?

"Hey, I said, don't blow your bullshit to the sky!"

Suddenly a tea guest said something loudly, and his words immediately caused a burst of dissatisfaction. Someone immediately lifted the cup with him. But when the man saw someone lifting the cup with him, he put down his cup and said seriously.

"Qingliu, do you know that my brother-in-law was working there on business?"

"Third Master, you are Master Xuan. Isn't he in the Navy Department?"

Someone immediately spoke up and said, obviously they are a very familiar group of people. In fact, these people often hang out in teahouses. How could they not be familiar with each other? As soon as this person finished speaking, someone immediately mocked him.

"Master Xuan, aren't you going to Tianjin Wei to carry aniseed now?"

For this group of banner people, although the government of the Republic of China is still distributing their money and food, not everyone is waiting for the money and food that cannot be seen tomorrow. There are always some people who are looking for favors to support their families.

Make a living to support the family. After the planning and construction of the Binhai Industrial Zone in Tianjin, it not only attracted the extremely poor people in Hebei to work, but also attracted the urban poor in Beijing and Tianjin. Among them, there are many banner people with large families and difficulty in food and clothing.

, but there are still people who look down on these people, especially some of them who used to be "respectable people" among the banner people.

"It's only 12 yuan a piece to carry aniseed. It's okay to support the family. Of course I can carry this aniseed. I don't want to be like some people who ask my wife to spread her thighs to earn meat money for her to smoke."

!”

The tea guest sneered, but he just stopped. After all, everyone's life is not easy, so he naturally changed the topic to the previous topic.

"My brother-in-law has studied abroad. He has spent several years in the Admiralty. How can his experience be compared to those of you who can only carry bird cages?"

He snorted proudly, took a sip of tea and said after taking a sip of tea without looking at this group of people.

"It was a coincidence yesterday that my brother-in-law just happened to go home after receiving his monthly payment. He looked at the large warship mentioned in the newspaper. What do you think he said?"

"How to say?"

Obviously, his words attracted everyone's attention. After all, they were all just messing around. Mr. Xuan was a master who had worked in the Admiralty, so what he said was definitely true.

"He said that the two warships were newly built by the Japanese, that is, the Japanese, three years ago. Although they were newly built, compared with those of Britain and Germany, they were already slightly behind. Otherwise, the Japanese would not have asked the British

What to order... For King Kong, it is King Kong, the warship sunk by the Jiangsu Army. The current warships of the Jiangsu Army are scary enough in our eyes, but they only have 12-inch main guns. The Japanese warships are now

At least they are all 14 inches, and British warships even have 5 inches. What does the navy fight? The fight is about who has more cannons and who has bigger cannons. The one with more cannons wins against the one with fewer cannons, and the one with bigger cannons wins against the smaller ones."

While drinking tea, the tea guest was talking like a naval expert.

"Not to mention the cannon, let's talk about the Jiangsu warship. It was sunk by the air force first, then fished up again and made a few patches. You guys are all decent people. Do you think the clothes are new or better?

Old is better? It’s true that clothes are not as good as new, but it’s also true that a ship is not as good as new, not to mention that the ship is still patched..."

"A patched battleship is also a battleship!"

In the office upstairs at Jurentang, Chief of the Navy Liu Guanxiong looked at the president who was sitting sullenly in front of him, and said in an extremely affirmative tone that at the beginning Lianyun salvaged the "Hanoi" and "Setjin" battleships.

At that time, he didn't realize that there was anything. Anyway, Lianyun kept salvaging the turrets of Japanese warships, and even salvaged the wreckage and sent it to the steel-making furnace for steel-making. They wanted to salvage the "Hanoi" and the "Settsu" battleships.

It is also sent to the steel-making furnace.

Liu Guanxiong, who was in charge of the "Haitian" cruiser when he caused the "Haitian" to run aground and be silenced, naturally knows that salvage profits are extremely lucrative. Nowadays, the selling price of scrap iron is as high as 100 taels per ton, and a 10,000-ton warship alone is discounted.

The iron capital is worth two million, plus the machinery and equipment such as steam engines and boilers salvaged from the sunken ship can earn millions of silver from a sunken ship, and Lianyun is also going to vigorously build Lianyun and Qingdao.

A fortress requires a large number of artillery. Salvaging the sunken ship's artillery alone can save Lianyun tens of millions of yuan. It is precisely because he knows this very well that Liu Guanxiong does not pay much attention to Lianyun's salvage.

If you are concerned about it, I am afraid that when it started to salvage, we negotiated with it in the name of the Navy Department to purchase 1-inch and 6-inch naval guns and artillery shells. However, that was because after the outbreak of the European War, the naval gun barrels

And the source of ammunition was interrupted, and the navy's cruisers were facing the situation of aging guns and lack of ammunition, so they turned their attention to salvaging Japanese sunken ships. They missed the cooperation between the two sides in the Battle of Arashiyama. In the end, the navy got four

inch, 18 6-inch and 38-centimeter naval guns and a large number of artillery shells. Even two months ago, under the instruction of Li Zicheng, the salvage company sold two twin-guns to the Ministry of Navy in the form of "scrap iron".

Although the 12-inch turret is an old-fashioned turret, it really shocked Liu Guanxiong.

"With these two combat ships, the sea of ​​China will be owned by the Jiangsu Army and Navy..."

Liu Guanxiong felt a twitch when he mentioned the "Army and Marine Corps". The majestic combat ship actually bore the name of "Army". How could this not make him angry? What was even more irritating was the so-called "army".

The officers in the "Army and Marine Corps" were actually all non-Fujian Japanese naval cadets who were rejected by them. Now those people are proud of themselves, flying China's largest and most powerful warships.

"I know I know……"

Apart from saying that he knew, the extremely depressed Yuan Shikai really didn't know what to say. After receiving the news yesterday that the two ships "Dinghai" and "Pinghai" were in service with the Jiangsu Army, he immediately realized that the Jiangsu Army had this

What do two battleships mean? As long as they are willing, with these two battleships alone, Li Zhiyuan can threaten Tianjin in the north, go straight to Guangzhou in the south, and cross the Yangtze River in the middle. They originally wanted to use the excuse of sending troops to participate in the war to cut off Li Zhiyuan's arm.

Yuan Shikai, before he cut off his arm here, he grew another arm over there.

But the most annoying thing is that once the Jiangsu Army sends troops to participate in the war, their military salaries will be paid by the central government, to be precise, by the French. This means that Jiangsu can save tens of millions of yuan a year, and these funds can be used appropriately.

On the so-called "Army and Marine Corps".

Thinking that everything he had worked hard for was easily eliminated by Li Zicheng, and even helped him solve the financial problem, Yuan Shikai felt even more depressed, and there was no way to resolve the anxiety in his heart.

"Ziying,"

At the end of the day, Yuan Shikai said to Liu Guanxiong in a very solemn tone:

"What do you think about setting up a battle fleet?"

Hearing the words of the President, Liu Guanxiong immediately sounded the alarm in his heart. The President's meaning was very clear. He wanted to "legalize the Jiangsu Army and Navy Corps with China", thinking that after entering the Navy, it might be the same as the funds that were not generous in the first place.

The navy was competing for military spending, he replied quickly.

"President, if we can acquire two ships in the center and form a battle fleet, it would be perfect. However, if they are still controlled by the Soviet Union, incorporating them into the navy will only cause trouble!"

Listening to Liu Guanxiong's objection, Yuan Shikai knew in his heart that what he said was the truth. However, he still said seriously:

"Ziying, this matter is difficult to handle! Zhiyuan used cannons to shock the British, but they were clearly trying to shock me!"

The president's annoyance was seen in Liu Guanxiong's eyes, which only made him sigh in his heart. He knew what the president was worried about. What he was worried about was that Li Zhiyuan's teeth had not been removed but claws appeared again, and the president was unable to deal with these sharp claws.

.

Looking at the president's appearance, Liu Guanxiong suddenly asked tentatively:

"President, it's actually very easy to deal with his naval team!"

"oh!"

Liu Guanxiong's words only made Yuan Shikai suddenly happy, but after he was happy, he couldn't be happy again. Before Liu Guanxiong could speak, he knew what he wanted to say, and what he wanted to say was probably...

"President, building a navy should have been on the agenda long ago. Now Jiangsu province can show off its power to China with just two combat ships. If there are no combat ships in the center, I'm afraid..."

The reason why Liu Guanxiong dared to say such a big thing at this time was that he knew in his heart that the president seemed to be "intimate" with Li Lianyun, but in fact he was extremely guarded against him and was constantly planning behind his back in order to hit him with one blow. Now

Li Lianyun's throwing of two battleships was a perfect opportunity for the navy. Since the beginning of the Republic of China, the reason why the army's military expenditures have been huge is because Yuan Shikai needs the army to suppress local forces in the country, and now the emergence of the army and navy

, it means that someone is challenging the President on the sea. Although he understands the President's thoughts, Liu Guanxiong is a smart man after all, and he does not want to expose the secrets that Yuan Shikai does not want to expose.

Therefore, he just said in an extremely serious tone:

"I'm afraid that by then, people will only know about Jiangsu and not the central government!"

Although Liu Guanxiong did not speak plainly, Yuan Shikai could not hear the meaning behind his words. Although he understood the importance of the navy, when he thought of the navy's shipbuilding, it could range from millions to tens of thousands or even billions.

The huge expenditure of 10,000 yuan still made Yuan Shikai's double locks that could not be unfolded become tighter, and his body was a bit stiff, adding to the sense of stupidity.

The sun is turning west, and the shadows of the branches on the ground have slowly moved to the white wall. From the far east, the sky gradually pulls a huge gray curtain to the west, and the bright Jurentang has also turned from bright to dim.

, the lights in the room also turned on.

At this time, Yuan Shikai was still silent, thinking about whether to engage in an unprecedented "arms race" with Jiangsu, or to be precise, Li Zhiyuan. Deep in his heart, he never wanted to engage in this arms race. But if the central government

The navy does not have its own capital ships, so how can it offset its influence? How can it be forced back to "on track"?

For Yuan Shikai, who is 57 years old, he has already felt "too old".

"If it doesn't work out this time, all the hard work in this life will be in vain."

At this time, Yuan Shikai tacitly thought of the legend that the old Yuan family would not live to be sixty years old. It was for this reason that Yuan Shikai decided that God would not give him time. Although Yang Mian Zhang De, although he was 50 years old, he would not be able to live until he was 60 years old.
To be continued...