Chapter 436 I want everything

  The 280mm shell is only a tickle to the heavily armored armored battleship, and cannot pose a serious threat. The 305mm shell is different, and it is enough to cause a serious threat to the Zhenyuan-class iron-clad ships and the British old woman-class iron-clad battleships.

  In a word, it means hurting each other.

  343 mm heavy armor-piercing projectiles are extraordinary. They can cause serious damage to the Qinglong-class heavy cruiser, and can break the keel of the Dutch light cruiser "Seven Provinces" with one shot.

  As long as it hits a shot or shoots a near miss, the powerful water pressure can shred the "Seagull" class ocean-going frigate.

  The artillery of today's big ships is king, and the eternal theme of ocean hegemony.

  In front of the battleship’s huge guns, no matter how fast the frigate is running, it’s impossible for a shell to fly as fast. The ten-kilometer radius that the iron-clad battleship passes is all forbidden. This is the infinite power of the iron-clad battleship.

When the tall and icy triangular mast emerged on the sea, the black smoke from the chimneys darkened the sky, and the trembling iron-clad battleship slashed through the waves. These deadly steel war beasts showed absolute dominance. force.

  I believe that the arrival of the heavy cruisers Qinglong and Baihu of the Borneo Fleet at Yantai Port can clearly convey a message that cannot be ignored.

  It’s unclear whether those turbulent Manchu princes and ministers are keenly aware, but Li Fushou firmly believes;

  Li Hongzhang, the minister of the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Navy’s Office, will inevitably be aware of the pros and cons in the first place and choose a strategy to protect his life wisely.

  If it doesn’t work, it’s not impossible to go around Tianjin Bay...

  The old father-in-law Gu Yanchuan's position as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is really important. It can affect the southeast half of the country. It is very important for the Australian immigration plan, the Guangjitang plan and the talent acquisition plan.

  To help him is to help himself, and Li Fushou still knows this.

  After the Qing army entered the customs

  The army controlled by the Manchus has always been the most elite force of the dynasty, and it is also the basis for the rule of the Manchu dynasty. However, in 1860, the last 70,000 troops of the Qing Dynasty controlled by the Manchus were destroyed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In the battle of Jiangnan Daying, Manchu completely lost his underwear.

  In the following decades, the battle banner of the Qing Dynasty was actually carried by the Han-dominated army, and the Manchu Dynasty could only rely on Hanchen to survive and maintain the false prosperity of the dynasty.

  The power of the Manchu and Qing dynasty today is in the hands of the Han chen. Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed, it has become more and more powerful. The officials in various territories have not listened to the announcement.

In particular, Zeng Guofan's Hunan forces, Li Hongzhang's Huai forces, and southern Gu Yanchuan's Guangdong forces are the most powerful, and there is a faint tendency to overhead the court.

   "Recently, I will amend a book to Guangzhou to support the expansion of the new army to 30,000. The originally bad green camp must be abolished vigorously. Taking advantage of the current victory over the French state, this thing will be done in one fell swoop."

   paused

Li Fushou considered for a while and continued: "The Guangdong and Guangxi regions are all equipment purchased from cash and their financial resources are limited. In my opinion, all the active equipment eliminated in the army is sent to Guangzhou, and some tea is symbolically collected. , Silk goods can be used to offset it. In this year, there are soldiers and generals who are bigwigs, and the court dare not move lightly."

   "Yuan Ding said it is true, then do as you ordered."

   "Come, have tea."

  Li Fushou made a please gesture, Fan Zhongzhai did not dare to ask Dalian to serve tea with both hands, and the two quietly tasted the fragrant tea.

  Not long after

  Li Fushou seemed to have pointed out; "Brother Zhong Zhai, Baixi Naval Academy is going to expand the enrollment of students again, do you think this is necessary?"

  "From the perspective of naval development, it is always good to train more talents. Even if there is a surplus of talents, it is better than unmanned warships. Therefore, I support the expansion of the navy and army schools."

   "Well, it makes sense, how are the preparations for the School of Administration?"

"We can start school almost at the beginning of next year. This is also a college for training junior and intermediate administrative talents. Now our site is getting bigger and bigger. We need to select and train junior and intermediate administrative talents for further study and training. This is a very meaningful job. ."

"Yes, selecting and training a group of young, energetic and ideal administrative talents is conducive to strengthening the government's management capabilities and reducing the negative effects of corruption. The British regard the Indian colony as a test field for training administrative talents. This is very worthwhile. We learn."

   "Understood, I will let the secretary sort out some relevant materials, analyze the pros and cons in detail, and come up with a set of practical talent training methods."

"This is not in a hurry, just take it slowly." Li Fushou smiled, and said as soon as he changed the conversation; "The new shipbuilding plan proposed by the navy is not small, and I have been hesitating. The next two years are the period of concentrated delivery of large ships. , The Navy’s 1886 budget appropriation reached 1.62 million pounds, and it cannot be increased any more."

The cost of a Majesty-class battleship is between 700,000 and 800,000 pounds, and a Qinglong-class heavy cruiser is about 550,000 to 600,000 pounds. The later Suzaku and Xuanwu warships are more than this number. It is a real gold swallowing beast. , This is the main contradiction of the current naval budget is tight.

  If it were not for the continuous financial support of the Koi Copper and Gold Mine, the accounts of the inner warehouse would have long been red and black.

  There has been no war action since 1885. The Coast Guard allocated personnel maintenance costs of about 190,000 pounds, logistics, fuel oil, water and ammunition consumed about 300,000 pounds, and the purchase of weapons and equipment accounted for the bulk, exceeding 1.1 million pounds.

  This situation is very special

The main reason is that 4 Majesty-class battleships are paid annually, and 4 main battleships of Qinglong-class are built together. 1886 is the last year. By then, all 4 iron-clad battleships will be completed and delivered to the Royal Navy of the British Empire. , The budget will come down a lot next year.

"The military has the military's consideration. If the shipbuilding plan is pushed back, there will be a lot of financial space for implementation in 1887." Fan Zhongzhai was cautious, and he glanced at the thoughtful face of Lord Earl. , Knowing that his words were in his mind, so he said sincerely;

"The problems raised by the navy always exist, and as an offensive military force, it is very important to implement Yuanding’s expansion policy. Naval construction has always cost a lot of money. If it can be allocated to the annual construction year by year, the financial pressure It will also reduce a lot."

   "It makes sense, but the navy proposed the construction plan for the 4000-ton and 6000-ton cruisers, but I rejected it." Li Fushou looked out the window with deep eyes and said with a wise look on his face;

"The navy guys want everything, they are greedy for everything, not to mention the 4000-ton and 6000-ton cruisers, they want the 12,000-ton battleship, and they want to continue to build the 305mm six main guns. Heavy cruiser, all of these were rejected by me.

  What's the joke?

  For Queensland today, immigration and development are the main themes. Any work must revolve around these two core points. Expansion is only a second-level topic, and the priority is not so high, and it is not so urgent.

  As for the main battleship, it is enough to have 4 Qinglong-class heavy cruisers. Building more is just a waste and consumption of funds, and there is no practical need.

  As for the cruiser issue, considering the huge gap in equipment from 2,000 tons to 8,000 tons, it is still necessary to maintain a balanced naval force.

  So the question is, what kind of cruiser is to be built to meet the current needs of the Queensland Navy?

  Is it a heavy cruiser that enters the battle line to fight for hegemony in the ocean, with large-caliber artillery and heavy armor, or is it a light cruiser that mainly cruises the sea and territories, demonstrating its existence and safeguarding territorial interests?

  The two have different combat objectives and different design indicators, which will inevitably cause great differences in performance.

Hmm...My idea is that there is an urgent need for cruisers of about 4,000 tons, which are mainly long-range, equipped with two front and one rear 280mm long barrel guns, with high freeboard and superior sailing performance, and do not pursue expensive heavy armor. Multi-compartment design, the most important thing is to be cheap.

  This is not simply reflected in the low purchase price, but also the use of mature power, not one-sided pursuit of the advanced nature of the power, because the advanced nature of the power means expensive.

  Requires fewer crews, low unit cost, and artillery warships suitable for large-scale equipment, so I can suppress the cost of single-ship procurement.

  If the purchase cost of a single ship is below 200,000 to 220,000 pounds, it is still possible to arrange the construction of 1 to 2 ships each year, and the burden will not be too heavy. "

   "Hehe... I'm afraid that the navy people are unwilling!" Fan Zhongzhai laughed when he heard the words, shook his head and said; "How can they look at the 4000-ton cheap cruiser in front of the jade?"

"These grandsons ignore them, as if my money came from the strong wind." Li Fushou couldn't help but smile. His preference for the navy can be seen by the blind; "If it weren't for me, the army would The group of Wufu can make a noise, and their favorite 60mm field gun is not fully equipped so far. It is understandable to complain."

  There was no war in 1885. The five army divisions spent only 330,000 pounds a year, and the navy budget reached more than 1.6 million pounds. This almost made the Army Staff Head jealous and cracked.

  Considering that there are four Majesty-class battleships in the naval equipment budget, after deducting this factor, in a normal year, the navy budget and the army budget are 2:1, which is about one million pounds.

  Talking about the naval equipment for a while, Fan Zhongzhai mentioned the Navy’s new light cruiser development plan. This six-year navy shipbuilding plan, known as the "Eternal Plan", is currently under discussion.

  This is based on the current shortcomings of the Navy's equipment development, the improvement and enhancement plan proposed, aimed at creating a coast guard with both offensive and defensive capabilities and a balanced combat force.

  The characteristics of the Queensland Coast Guard are obvious. The fleet is equipped with a large number of seagulls of various types ranging from more than 900 tons to 2,000 tons. It has the characteristics of being small and quick and it is a naval force that cannot be ignored in the South Pacific region.

  After the Qinglong and Baihu were commissioned, there was a huge gap in the fleet from 2,000 to 8,000 tons. From the perspective of the diversification of missions to the construction of coastal defense, it is an unbalanced naval force.

When going to sea for deterrence cruise missions, with the "Qinglong" class heavy cruisers with a displacement of more than 8,800 tons, only 8 Seagull 2 ​​types with a displacement of 2,000 tons can be incorporated into the fleet, and the other high-speed cruisers with a displacement of 890 tons to more than 1,600 tons. It's just small, the difference is too great.

  These light ships only have the ability to fight and patrol in the middle and near seas. Because the hull is too light, the space is narrow, and the endurance is weak, they can't resist the violent waves in the ocean.

  Don't talk about combat, even navigation safety is a problem.

  (End of this chapter)