Chapter 1751 Who is Strong and Who is Weak?

Someone in the audience was no longer in the mood to listen to this storyteller's talk anymore, and answered impatiently: "Hurry up and get to the point, I've already given you a reward, and I'm waiting to go upstairs for dinner after you finish listening!"

The storyteller laughed dryly and explained: "Don't be anxious, sir. I'll explain all the causes and consequences clearly. This will make it credible, right? What I'm going to say next is not in the newspaper. I'm sure.

I haven’t heard it anywhere else. I’ll go upstairs for dinner after listening to it later. It can also be used as a conversation piece to show off my knowledge to my relatives and friends.”

The person in the audience responded: "What a eloquent speaker! Let me trust you once. If your speech is wonderful, I will reward you after listening to it later! If you are making up nonsense, then you should be careful about entering the Yamen!"

However, the storyteller did not panic at all. He cleared his throat and continued what he just said: "Everyone, I am not a shipbuilder, nor have I ever served in the military. In fact, I am an amateur in shipbuilding and warfare. I really want to comment on the pros and cons of this battleship.

Wouldn’t that be nonsense? But I can boldly give you some personal opinions, and please make your own comments.”

"Everyone, do you still remember when the Majesty Class entered service?" The storyteller looked around at everyone, but no one responded immediately. It seems that either here are newcomers who have only been in Haihan for a few years, or they don't have enough military knowledge.

I am very sensitive and probably don’t know the official commissioning time of the Majestic class battleship.

"If I remember correctly, it should be the end of the second year of Chongzhen."

The person who responded aloud was Fei Cexian. He happened to check out navy-related information in the library not long ago. He clearly remembered that the first battleship of the Majesty class, the Majesty, was commissioned at the end of 1629 in the Haihan calendar.

This year in the Ming Dynasty corresponds to the second year that Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne.

The reason why Fei Cexian remembered this time so clearly was not because he was really interested in the history of Haihan's military development, but because he had just been recruited into the Ministry of Rites as a Jinshi and met the Empress Taiji in person.

When the warlord army invaded Longjing Pass in Hebei Province, places such as Hongshankou, Da'ankou, and Zunhua were in emergency. Zhao Shujiao, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan who led the army to rescue, was also wiped out. Later, Emperor Chongzhen posthumously awarded Zhao Shujiao the title of Prince Grand Master.

Fei Cexian had to go through the canonization procedures.

When the majesty-class battleship Haihan was commissioned, Fei Cexian was busy building an ancestral hall for Zhao Lijiao. When he looked up this past event in the municipal library, he thought of the time when the Ming Dynasty was behind Jin Tiejiao.

The embarrassing situation under attack made the impression particularly profound.

"This uncle has a good memory!" The storyteller immediately bowed his hand towards Fei Cexian to show respect, and then continued: "Yes, as the uncle just said, it has been a long time since the Majesty was commissioned.

It has been more than seven years. During these seven years, more than ten Majesty-class battleships have been built. During this period, it is said that there have been many upgrades. I am a layman and I will not comment here. However, according to the news I heard from relatives, the Black Shark's

The crew members are all selected from veterans who have served on the Majestic-class battleships for more than two years, and they must undergo several months of closed training before they can board the ship."

When the storyteller said this, he knocked on the table with the folding fan in his hand and said: "Everyone, by selecting the crew so strictly, it can be seen that the requirements of the Black Shark are far greater than those of the Majesty-class battleship, and its combat power is naturally no less. This is no wonder

During this expedition to Manila, the Navy sent the Black Shark as the vanguard to defeat the enemy."

Su Keyi nodded slightly when he heard this. This was basically consistent with what he knew. When the Black Shark first appeared in the cross-border military exercise, it had several outstanding properties such as high speed, precise bombardment and strong hull.

It left a very profound impact on the guests from various countries who visited the military exercise. In terms of firepower, it may indeed not be comparable to the majesty-class warship equipped with more than fifty naval guns, but apart from this, it seems that other performance

They should all be on top of Majesty-class battleships.

Of course, these are just the feelings of bystanders. I am afraid only the people on the ship know how good the Black Shark is.

However, if this is the internal information that the storyteller had previously told off, it would inevitably make Su Keyi a little disappointed. He would also like to hear the evaluation of the new warships from within the navy, which can be used as a reference for the evaluation of Haihan's maritime armed forces.

Su Keyi was not the only one who was dissatisfied. The guest who had spoken out before spoke up again: "Isn't this the only inside information you have? Everyone who is not blind or deaf knows this, so it's not new.

Bar?"

The storyteller didn't panic at all after being scolded a few times. He opened the folding fan, shook it twice and said, "If I only have this little information, how can I just sit here and collect money? You know, since this Black Shark is so good

Well, why haven’t new ships of this level been built?”

At this time, everyone was silent. After all, many of the advantages of this new ship are obvious. Everyone can talk about it together. But when it comes to picking out the shortcomings of this ship, not everyone can say it right.

You must at least have certain attainments in military affairs, navigation, and shipbuilding to dare to speak like this.

Seeing that everyone was stumped, the storyteller said calmly: "My relative said that there are two reasons. First, the cost of building this ship is too high, and the Ministry of National Defense has a limited budget, so it is reluctant to build more ships. Secondly,

It is not easy to select and train qualified crew members. If we build too many, there may not be enough crew members to fill them. Do you think this reason is particularly superficial? But the fact is that it is difficult to make a meal without rice. We, the Haihan Army,

Although the world is invincible, there are still things that cannot be accomplished!"

Fei Cexian was dubious. To be honest, this topic was a bit sensitive. If what the storyteller said was true, it would be suspected of leaking military secrets. If it was false, it would be a charge of deceiving the public. This is

In order to make a false claim in a book, the risk taken is quite high. If the government investigates and investigates the case afterwards, it will really outweigh the gain and loss.

Su Keyi was thoughtful after hearing this. The weapons and equipment of the Haihan Army have always been outstanding in performance, and the cost is naturally high. The East India Company finally bought a batch of empty ships from Haihan last year, and it cost a lot of money.

The money is equivalent to several years of military budget. Of course, the reason why the East India Company bought these ships was not entirely because it wanted to equip a large number of warships built by Haihan. Part of the reason was actually to prevent the Matalan Kingdom from snatching these ships.

For a shipbuilding order, even if I knew the price was high, I could only reluctantly subscribe to it.

The exploration class with the smallest tonnage is still expensive to build, so what will the construction cost of the majesty class, the largest in the Haihan Navy, and the latest Warrior class warship named "Black Shark" be commissioned? Su Keyi is

It’s unimaginable. But if even the wealthy Haihan cannot afford the construction and operation costs of this new type of warship, then it is conceivable that the combat capabilities of this new type of ship are completely built with money. Although it is powerful, it is

It cannot be promoted.

As for the second reason mentioned by the storyteller, Su Keyi felt it was a bit far-fetched. He knew that the military port on the east coast of Victory Port was the base camp of the navy. There was a military academy there that specialized in training sailors, and every year a number of new recruits and advanced training were provided to the navy.

officers at all levels. Even if there are not enough qualified crew members for a while, that should not be the main reason for Haihan to stop building new warships. The Haihan Army can send troops thousands of miles to fight, which shows its determination to promote force.

How could the construction of new equipment be stopped because there are no more than a hundred qualified crew members?

However, the storyteller seemed to know that this matter was not suitable for further discussion. After a few words of explanation, without waiting for anyone to respond, he took the initiative to skip this section and returned to the topic to continue talking about the naval battle in the Battle of Manila. But he never arrived.

Passing the battlefield, so the content of this naval battle can only be played out by imagination. Wu Sen is described as a divine general who can borrow the power of the sea and sky, commanding the Black Shark to single-handedly enter the Manila Port, in the dense

During the coastal defense artillery fire, he fought endlessly with the enemy ships. When he reached the critical point, he used his magical power to activate the two thunderbolt cannons on the ship and destroyed the enemy ships one by one.

The storyteller is very good at creating an atmosphere and leading the emotions of all the guests to the war he tells. No one questions why there is a magical general like Wu Sen in the Haihan army. But think about it carefully, Haihan

After years of propaganda, the people firmly believed that the Haihan Army was invincible, and it seemed reasonable that the generals in the army had superpowers that ordinary people could not reach.

This rhetoric is obviously very popular among local listeners. Even the man who made the comment twice before was shaking his head and looking like he was enjoying it.

But Su Keyi and Fei Cexian are not ordinary people who are easily paralyzed by propaganda. Their identities, knowledge, and the level of information they have access to are far beyond ordinary people. Naturally, they will not believe what this storyteller says."

Such nonsense as "The Reincarnation of the South China Sea Dragon". As for Wu Sen's use of superpowers to defeat the enemy fleet during the battle, they think it is even more ridiculous, and it is just a gimmick to deceive the ignorant people.

"I originally had five points of letters, but now I only have one point left." Su Keyi put down the tea cup in his hand, turned to Fei Cexian and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Fei?"

Fei Cexian responded: "What this person said is indeed not very credible, but what I am confused about is that he can obviously win the support of these fools by making up stories, so why would he insert such a paragraph in the middle?"

So-called inside information that doesn’t sound too bizarre? If someone from Haihan officials caught this, he might not even be able to keep his job.”

Su Keyi shook his head and said: "I don't quite understand his true intention, but he dares to publicly publicize rumors that are not true or false on such an occasion. I think it's not just to show off, not to mention it doesn't achieve anything."

Effect."

"Master Su, what do you mean... is someone instructing him to do this?" Fei Cexian knew the meaning after hearing Xian Ge, and immediately asked.

Su Keyi said: "I'm just guessing. After all, it doesn't make sense to think about it. If that's the case, it can only be the official intention."

The two made eye contact, and then there was a tacit agreement not to continue the conversation on this issue. There were many people in this place, and there might be official eyes and ears sitting nearby, so some things should not be said casually in such an occasion.

When the storyteller finally came to an end and stopped to rest and drink water, Fei Cexian called the waiter and asked him if there was any room upstairs. After receiving a positive answer, the two of them got up and left the table to eat upstairs.

As for the content behind this, they are not very interested in listening to the storyteller's continued nonsense. If the Haihan Army needs to rely on these gods and ghosts to fight the war, there is no need to find ways to sell weapons, just find a few Taoist priests to draw talismans.

Wouldn't selling be more relaxed and enjoyable?

The two of them arrived upstairs, and the shopkeeper had already prepared a small private room according to their wishes. The two of them ordered the dishes in a hurry, declined the girl who played the music recommended by the waiter, and sent him to quickly prepare the wine and food.

After the waiter went out and closed the door, Fei Cexian then returned to the previous topic: "If it was done on purpose, it was to let the audience know that Haihan's military expenditure and personnel were insufficient."

"Yes, I think so too." Su Keyi frowned slightly and said: "But what benefit does this have to the Haihan official? Encourage public opinion to increase military spending? Attract soldiers to join the army? It doesn't feel right."

"Mr. Su, have you noticed? He originally wanted to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the old and new warships, but in the end he still didn't explain clearly what was good about the new ship and what was bad about the old ship." Fei Cexian tried.

Let’s analyze the storyteller’s words from another angle.

"Yes, after we listened, we only noticed the reason why new ships were not built in large numbers, rather than a careful comparison of the two ships. This guy... is deliberately digressing to mislead our attention!" Su Keyi sighed:

"It's all a routine!"

"It is definitely not enough to have opinions from the people. If this is really the arrangement of some official people, then you will definitely see relevant news in the newspapers." Fei Cexian has recently spent a lot of time studying Haihan.

The operating methods of the official media are quite familiar with this kind of media first blowing the news, and then the official follows up to express their attitude. If the suspicious parts they just heard are really a propaganda method, then it is indeed very likely that they will be exposed in the near future.

See further news in the newspapers.

"What Mr. Fei said is absolutely true." Su Keyi also agreed with Fei Cexian's judgment: "It seems that we all need to pay closer attention recently. If the Haihan people really plan to vigorously build warships and develop their navy, then for you and me,

It’s not a good thing.”

Fei Cexian deeply believed that Haihan's expansion speed so far was too fast. If the scale of the navy was further expanded, Fei Cexian was also worried that Haihan people's attention would return from the South China Sea to the north and use the mainland as their next strategy.

The direction of the Ming Dynasty. However, the current situation of the Ming Dynasty simply cannot withstand the hardships. It is probably difficult to organize a decent defense against armed invasion from the sea.

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