Even if the imperial court is equipped with a large number of new rifles, it does not dare to take the initiative to provoke? Yan Yangtian frowned slightly, since the imperial court can buy 50,000 muskets from the British, it can buy more, and the new army is expanding quickly, if the new army of the imperial court is equipped with 150,000, 200,000 or even 300,000 new muskets, what will happen?

After a slight ponder, he pondered and said: "The period of preparing for the constitution is approaching, the imperial court is eager to buy a large number of arms in order to protect itself, and England is also willing to sell a large number of arms to restore the economy as soon as possible, this arms trade can be said to be an attempt, if we do not stop it, the arms trade between the imperial court and Western countries will inevitably be out of control, and maybe even ironclad ships may be traded ......." ”

As he spoke, he looked at Yi Zhizhi and said, "Once the New Army of the Eight Banners is replaced with new rifles, it may not dare to take the initiative to provoke ......." ”

Without waiting for Yi Zhizhi to speak, Zhao Liewen spoke first: "It is impossible for the imperial court to take the initiative to provoke!" Even if the New Army of the Eight Banners is replaced with new rifles, it is impossible to take the initiative to provoke! It's simple, you can't afford to fight!

The imperial court knows very well that once a war starts, it will inevitably be a war for the country! It must be a protracted large-scale war, and without the reserves of fifty or sixty million taels of silver, it is impossible for the imperial court to provoke at all!

Why did the imperial court never buy arms from Western countries on a large scale? It is because of this understanding that this large-scale arms trade is not aimed at Yuan Qi, but at King Gong! ”

Yan Yangtian glanced at him, then at Yi Zhicontent, and said thoughtfully: "If Britain, France and other countries deliberately provoke a civil war in our country, they should be willing to provide large loans to the imperial court or a large amount of arms on credit....... Most of the arms we supplied to the Northern Confederacy during the American Civil War were on credit. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile contentedly, and said slowly: "War loans and credit are risky, and European financiers suffered heavy losses in the Civil War, and they will not fail to learn a lesson." "However, in the final analysis, finance is for politics, and this must indeed be guarded against." After a pause, he asked, "Do you have a way to stop or sabotage this arms trade?" ”

After hesitating, Yan Yang said genius: "If you can't take normal means, can you let the pirates rob the fleet of ships transporting arms halfway?" ”

What kind of bad idea is this? Yi Zhizhi glanced at him dissatisfied, and said: "Not to mention the entire Qing Dynasty, even our Yuanqi ocean-going fleet is also a lot, we can pretend to be pirates, won't the British?" Don't forget, the British Navy was built on pirates! And the British naval fleet is all over the world! ”

Hearing this, Yan Yangtian's face was a little embarrassed, embarrassed to say again, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "As the saying goes, flies don't bite seamless eggs, we have to try our best to ensure that there are no gaps in the Qing Dynasty, the root of this matter lies in the imperial court, end the war against the Japanese as soon as possible, and break all unrealistic illusions in the imperial court!" Go send a telegram. ”

"Yes." Yan Yangtian hurriedly got up and replied loudly.

Wakoku, Edo.

Two-thirds of Edo Castle, once a prosperous and wealthy city with a population of one million, is now in ruins, devastated and devastated by the fact that the war is on full display in this city, which is known as the first of the three capitals of the Japanese Kingdom.

Although the damage in Edo is serious, however, the General's Mansion and its vicinity have been well preserved, this is because the military headquarters of the New Sixth Army is located in the General's Palace, Ninomaru Palace, Chief of Staff Yao Wensheng walked in quickly with a telegram, Yang Xiuqing, who was standing in front of the wall with his hands behind his back and looking at the map, turned around and glanced at the telegram in his hand, and said, "Where?" ”

"Shanghai." Yao Wensheng said and handed over the telegram.

After reading the telegram, Yang Xiuqing casually lit a cigarette and said, "Who is Sherman?" ”

Yao Wensheng smiled and explained: "Sherman, the newly promoted lieutenant general of the American Army, led the army in a devastating, reckless, and cost-effective sweep of the South during the Civil War, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and triggering the ..... of the Great Famine. ”

Yang Xiuqing sneered: "This is because we are worried that we will not kill hard enough and set a model for the whole army!" ”

"Calling on the whole army to learn from Sherman is not aimed at the New Sixth Army." Yao Wensheng said with a smile, in his opinion, the New Sixth Army, which was reorganized from the Taiping Army, did not need to learn from Sherman at all, and what Sherman purge was not worth mentioning in front of the New Sixth Army at all.

After a pause, he changed his words, "This telegram is a bit contradictory, and it requires them to advance steadily, steadily, and to end the .......war against the Japanese before the Bohai Sea thaws in the spring of next year." ”

Yang Xiuqing glanced at him, turned around and sat down and said, "Why do you want to end the war against the Japanese before the Bohai Sea thaws in the spring next year?" ”

"It should be for the whole picture." Yao Wensheng pondered and said: "The period of preparing for the constitution is about to expire, and the Beijing division may still change, and the other is that there may be a war in the northwest next year, which is to avoid two-line or three-line battles. ”

After a pause, he continued: "In my thinking, the point is to end the war next spring, and it is just a ....... to worry about too many casualties.

Worried about too many casualties? Yang Xiuqing smoked a cigarette and didn't say a word, the Wa Kingdom is now scattered, and the armies of the various feudal domains are fighting separately, not only the scale is limited, but they have not experienced battle formations for many years, and they are not at the same level at all in terms of weapons and training, how many casualties can there be?

He knew very well in his heart that the quality of the battle was directly related to whether the New Sixth Army could gain a foothold in the Yuanqi New Army, even if it was to pay some casualties.

After a long silence, he spoke: "Order all departments to quickly advance and intersperse, divide and outflank, encircle and annihilate the armies of all feudal domains, and at the same time implement the three-light policy!" ”

The three-light policy - burning, killing, and robbing, this policy was naturally proposed by Yi Zhicontent, but he was under the guise of a Sherman sweep.

Yuanqi infiltrated for many years and spared no effort to guide the Japanese to vigorously develop tea, raw silk, cotton and other cash crops, which greatly reduced the grain output of the Japanese and made the grain of the Japanese heavily dependent on Yuanqi's maritime trade.

Yuan Qi cut off maritime trade from the beginning of the war against the Wa and the great damage of the war, the Wa State itself had a large-scale famine, and with the implementation of the 'Three Lights' policy by various ministries, a large-scale famine created by the people quickly swept the entire Wa State.

Shandong, Qingdao sea, the tide surged, the sea breeze howled, four warships flying the flag of the East China Sea Fleet broke through the wind and waves, and quickly sailed to Qingdao port.

In the small official hall of a battleship in the center, the chief soldier E Antai Yao pointed to the small island in front of him and introduced him politely: "Military gate, the front is Xiaogong Island, and we will arrive in Qingdao soon." ”

Hearing that he was about to arrive in Qingdao, Rong Lu was a little excited, he came to Qingdao Port secretly at the invitation of Yi Zhicontent, and after taking over as the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, he knew that Qingdao Port was not only one of the bases of the Yuanqi East China Sea Fleet, but also one of the military bases of Yuanqi, and almost all of the most popular steam gunboats of the Beiyang Naval Division were built by Qingdao Shipyard.

And for a long time, Qingdao Port has not been open to the outside world, even the Beiyang Naval Division, which has a close relationship with the East China Sea Fleet, has never set foot in Qingdao Port, and this is the first time they have been invited, even if they know in their hearts that this is a means for Yi Zhixiang to win him over, it also makes them feel a little flattered.

Glancing at Xiaogong Island, he said slowly: "I heard that the Qingdao shipyard is not small, and it is built with steam gunboats?" ”

For Qingdao Shipyard, E Antai heard a little, and immediately said softly: "My subordinates have heard that Qingdao Shipyard mainly builds not steam gunboats, but ironclad ships!" ”

Ironclad! Rong Lu's eyes shrank slightly, the ironclad ship was too far away for him, that is, after taking over as the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, he heard that the West, Britain, France, the United States and other countries were building ironclad ships, "Yuan Qi can build ironclad ships?" ”

"It should be." E Antai said with some uncertainty: "It is said that the purpose of choosing Qingdao to build a shipyard is to build ironclad ships, Qingdao shipyard was founded in Xianfeng three years, 16 years ago, I heard that the scale is very large, there are more than 100,000 workers ....... ”

Hundreds of thousands of workers? Rong Lu couldn't help but gasp, how big does that have to be? He vaguely guessed that Yuan Qi should already have the ability to build an ironclad ship, otherwise Yi Zhishu would not have invited him to come to Qingdao for a meeting, obviously, this meeting was intended to deter!

As the two were talking, there was a knock on the door, followed by Chang Guixiang's voice, "Junmen, Chief of Staff Guo is here." ”

Rong Lu hurriedly got up and opened the door, and as soon as the door opened, Guo Zhongmu, who was smiling, said: "There are two newly launched warships for sea trials, are you interested in boarding the ship to visit?" ”

Hearing that it was a newly launched battleship, Rong Lu said tentatively: "Ironclad ship? ”

Without waiting for Guo Zhongmu to speak, Chang Guixiang said excitedly: "Ironclad ship!" And it's a steel ship! ”

Steel Megaship! Rong Lu was a little puzzled, boarded the deck, and saw two black smoke warships slowly approaching the sea in the distance, he was inexplicably excited in his heart, and hurriedly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, it was indeed a steel giant! According to rough estimates, it is much larger than the largest third-class battleship of the Beiyang Naval Division! It feels more than twice as big!

He knew more about the ironclad ship E'antai, and he asked while holding up the binoculars to take a closer look: "Is it a real ironclad ship?" Not covered with iron armor? ”

"Naturally, it's a real ironclad!" Guo Zhongmu smiled proudly: "Yuan Qi has never built an ironclad ship covered with ironclad armor. ”

Soon, E Antai found that the two ironclad ships were extremely fast, and couldn't help asking, "What is this speed?" ”

"The average speed should be more than twelve knots." Guo Zhongmu explained with a smile: "The height of the main deck from the sea surface is five and a half meters, which is equivalent to a wave height of level 7, which is enough to ensure that the battleship is not susceptible to the impact of waves, even in bad sea conditions, it will not affect the firing of guns." The armor of the battleship is a new type of armor, and the sixty-eight-pounder gun we are now equipped with cannot penetrate ....... at close range. ”

Isn't that invincible? Rong Lu looked at the two battleships that were getting closer and closer in a daze, and asked a little nervously, "How many guns are you equipped?" ”

"There aren't many artillery equipped." Guo Zhongmu said: "Four main guns, ten secondary guns, a total of fourteen guns. ”

So little artillery armament? Rong Lu felt a little incredible, but he didn't ask much, but E Antai didn't care and asked directly: "Why are you equipped with fourteen artillery pieces......?" After a moment's hesitation, he said with some consternation: "Wouldn't it be the invention of a new type of artillery?" ”

Guo Zhongmu smiled, "It's indeed a new type of artillery, let them introduce it in detail after you board the ship." ”

New artillery again? Rong Lu was secretly frightened, Yuan Qi is really admirable in the development of firearms, mini guns, rear-loading rifled guns, metal bullets, mortars, and land artillery, it can be said that they are endless, and they have always been ahead of the Westerners, and now there are new naval guns? Then a large ironclad ship is equipped with fourteen guns, and the power and rate of fire of the guns should be greatly improved.

Chang Guixiang, who was in charge of military procurement, couldn't help but ask, "How much silver is a ironclad ship of this size?" ”

Hearing him ask like this, Guo Zhongmu smiled and stretched out a slap gesture, "Forty? As soon as the words came out, Chang Guixiang felt that something was wrong, and he hesitated: "It can't be four million silver dollars, right?" ”

"As far as I know, it cost four million." Guo Zhongmu said: "However, when the technology is mature, it should be able to reduce the cost, but three million should be indispensable." ”

Hearing this, several people couldn't help but gasp, although they could all think of the cost of the ironclad ship, but they also didn't expect it to be so expensive, three or four million silver dollars a ship, and the Beiyang Naval Division's annual funds were not enough to buy one!

After a while, Chang Guixiang muttered, "This is also a little expensive, right?" ”

Guo Zhongmu said indifferently: "The cost of the 'Warrior' ironclad ship launched in England a few years ago is 400,000 pounds, and it is also a wooden-hulled ironclad, which is completely incomparable with our two all-iron real ironclad ships. ”

Hearing this, Chang Guixiang's heart moved, "Yuan Qi shouldn't be planning to sell these two ironclad ships, right?" ”

Guo Zhongmu rolled his eyes and said: "These two ironclad ships are currently the most advanced in the world, according to what our big shopkeeper said, they are at least ten years ahead of the ironclad ships of Western countries, how can they be sold?" ”

Hearing this, Rong Lu has confirmed the previous speculation in his heart, this time Yi Zhizhi invited them to Qingdao, it was really a deterrent, the purpose was to win over the Beiyang Naval Division, and at worst, it was also to keep the Beiyang Naval Division neutral, looking at the two behemoths gradually approaching, he couldn't help but feel a huge sense of oppression in his heart.

Looking at the two steel behemoths that were speeding up, E'antai muttered, "The era of giant ship cannons has begun!" ”

"The era of giant ships and cannons is the era of power!" Guo Zhongmu glanced at a few people and said slowly: "The truth is only within the range of the cannon!" ”

The Age of Power! Truth is only within cannon range! This is undisguised deterrence by force! Rong Lu was full of bitterness, it is not surprising that Yuan Qi is full of confidence to be able to build such a huge ironclad ship, it seems that Yuan Qi must be given a satisfactory and clear attitude this time.