No troops during the Spring Festival? Arthur Hood looked at him suspiciously, and said, "But it's been almost a month since we captured Maputo. ”

He Bu smiled: "Do you know how long the Spring Festival holiday is in the Qing Kingdom?" As he spoke, he held up a finger, "A month, a full month, this is the official holiday of the Qing State, and the officials of the embassy in China know that during the Spring Festival, all the official offices of the Qing State are not working." ”

A full month of vacation? Arthur Hood was amused and envious, "This is really a peculiar custom. After a pause, he raised the telegram in his hand, "All the ironclad ships of the Qing army have a very small number of artillery configurations, and even the main battleships of more than 8,000 tons are only equipped with nine artillery ........ ”

"Their guess should have a point." He Bu said slowly: "The artillery technology of the Qing Kingdom should be a breakthrough...... Speaking of this, he sighed lightly, and his voice became a little low, "In the First Eastern Crusade, we used a smoothbore gun, but the Qing Kingdom invented the Mini gun.

In the Second Eastern Crusade, we were equipped with mini guns, and the Qing Dynasty invented breech-loading rifled guns, metal bullets, mortars, rear-loading artillery, etc. In this battle of South Africa, we were equipped with rear-loading guns, and the Qing State invented powerful automatic machine guns and semi-automatic rifles, and there seems to be a breakthrough in artillery technology.

Although China's industrial level is much higher than that of the Qing Dynasty, and its industrial strength is not comparable to that of the Qing Dynasty, we have always lagged behind the Qing ...... in terms of weapons research and development. ”

Hearing these words, Arthur Hood's heart also became heavy, the war with the Qing State was defeated again and again, and all of them were defeated in terms of weapons, which is undoubtedly an irony for the British Empire, which has always been ahead of the world in terms of industrial level.

In this battle of South Africa, the situation has not changed, the Qing army still has an advantage in weapons, at least the army, as for the navy, the situation may be even worse, after all, the naval battle is mainly artillery, once the Qing army has a breakthrough in artillery, the advantage will be more obvious.

Seeing that he was silent, He Bu realized that his words might be a little negative, and immediately changed his tone, "Fortunately, the industrial strength of the Qing State is limited, and the number of ironclad ships is not much, only 24, even if the Qing army has made a breakthrough in artillery technology, but in terms of the number of warships and the number of artillery, we all occupy an overwhelming advantage, and we are more familiar with this sea area of South Africa than the Qing army, this battle is a great opportunity for us to hit the Qing navy hard!" ”

After all, for the Qing and Britain, the battle in South Africa is not indispensable, if he is not sure, the Qing fleet will definitely not come to South Africa, and this battle is only more difficult than he imagined.

Arthur Hood nodded in agreement and said, "Even though our artillery is inferior to the Qing army in terms of hit rate and rate of fire, it has an advantage in numbers, as long as we play the tradition of close combat, it is not difficult to win naval battles." ”

Melee! The British Navy has always pursued the principle of close combat, and the guns must be within 400 or 300 yards to fire, and more captains tend to fire at a distance of 150 yards, and some captains even shout, 'Shoot the guns in the enemy's face!' And melee combat is enough to maximize their superiority in the number of ships and guns.

The ironclad fleet of the Qing Navy appeared in Shanghai, and then went south, and the embassies of various countries in Shanghai reported the news to China as quickly as possible, and of course, at the same time, the details of the ironclad ships of the Qing Dynasty were also reported.

Even through the description of the telegram, the navies of various European countries have developed a strong interest in the ironclad ships of the Qing State, and the Qing State has been ahead of the rest of the world in the research and development of weapons in recent years, and it is no exaggeration to say that all countries in the world have been learning from the Qing State in military aspects -- from the imitation of weapons to the imitation of tactics.

The ironclad ship will replace the sail warship to become the main warship of the navy, the countries have recognized this, the cost of building the ironclad ship is huge, once the detour will pay a huge price, whether it is the old France, Spain or the emerging military power Germany, Italy have formulated an ambitious shipbuilding plan, at this time there is a ready-made opportunity to learn and observe, naturally no one is willing to let go.

What's more, this naval battle can be called a battle of ironclad ships in the real sense, needless to say, England has dispatched almost all the ironclad ships, and the Qing Kingdom seems to have taken out its own funds, and the sea battle of nearly 100 ironclad ships is definitely of epoch-making significance, and no one wants to miss such a good show.

Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries have demanded that every port on the east coast of South Africa - from Mozambique Island, Maputo, Port Bander, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town must have ships and personnel stationed in order to ensure that this naval battle is not missed.

Shanghai, the first ironclad fleet of the Qing Dynasty only stayed for a day and left, but the heated discussion lasted for several days, and the newspapers of all sizes also rushed to report, in the era of sail warships, the warships of the Qing Dynasty lagged behind for more than 100 years, but in the era of ironclad ships, the ironclad warships of the Qing Dynasty were at the forefront of the world, and there were only three kingdoms of Britain, France and Qing Dynasty that currently had a large-scale ironclad fleet.

Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhishu handed the two articles to Zhao Liewen and said: "At present, the government and the opposition are discussing the navy, which is a great opportunity to highlight the status and role of the navy. ”

Zhao Liewen took it and took a look, and the title of one of the two articles was "On the Status and Role of the Navy in National Defense and the National Economy," and the other was "On the Status and Role of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense in the Development of the Country."

After carefully reading the two articles, Zhao Liewen pondered and said: "Big shopkeeper, these two articles are extremely important and instructive, can you publish this article on the Navy first?" The other will be published after the war ...... ended. ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "It's still Huifu's thoughtfulness, okay, another article will be published later." ”

In the article "On the Status and Role of the Navy in National Defense and the National Economy," Yi Zhizu for the first time formally and clearly put forward the concept of sea power and sea supremacy, and clearly pointed out that the Qing Dynasty had a vast territory, many islands, and a long coastline, and that Luzon, Java, and Wa provinces were all hanging overseas, so it was necessary to attach great importance to sea power, develop the navy, and control sea power.

In the era of increasingly global economic integration, overseas trade will account for an increasing proportion of the economy, and in order to protect overseas trade and expand overseas trade, it is necessary to control sea power.

The article cites the fact that England gained maritime supremacy in the wars of the Napoleonic era, proving the great advantage of controlling sea power in wars, dominating the seas with the English navy, and actively exploring overseas colonies, thus becoming a global economic center and achieving its industrial hegemony.

At the end of the article, it is also pointed out that as the two most important arms of national defense, the army and the navy, the army focuses on internal defense, and the main defense is a defensive branch. The navy is aimed at external and main offense, and it is an offensive service.

To attach importance to sea power and control sea power, it is necessary not only to develop a superior navy, but also to establish excellent overseas bases and seaports so as to facilitate the supply and maintenance of the fleet and extend the combat capability of the navy.

After reading it carefully, Zhao Liewen said with emotion: "These insights of the big shopkeeper have an extremely important guiding role in formulating the national development strategy....... After a pause, he said: "If it is published publicly, I am afraid that other countries will also follow it." ”

"It doesn't matter." Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "The arms race is enough to drag down a country's economy, I said before that after the Franco-Prussian War, Europe will form two major military blocs dominated by Britain, France and Germany and Italy, and I hope to guide them to vigorously develop the navy and build ironclad ships." ”

Is co-authoring uneasy and kind? Zhao Liewen swallowed a smile, and then said: "The torpedo was unveiled in South Africa this time, and European countries will follow suit?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "Huifu is worried that European countries will vigorously develop their navies, which in turn will pose a serious threat to our country?" ”

"Since ancient times, one thing has descended from one thing." Zhao Liewen said slowly: "The big shopkeeper dares to encourage European countries to develop ironclad ships, I think there should be a way to restrain it?" ”

"Of course, there is a method of restraint, but it is still difficult to develop with the current industrial level." Yi Zhishu said and sighed lightly, "I hope I can see it in my lifetime." ”

It is naturally the aircraft that can restrain the ironclad ship, although Yuan Qi has already begun to set up the Aircraft Research Institute, but when it will be able to drum it up, it is really difficult to say, as for the aircraft carrier, he doesn't dare to think about it now, and he doesn't even dare to put forward the idea.

The article "On the Status and Role of the Navy in National Defense and the National Economy" was published in the newspapers, and the repercussions aroused among the people did not hit, and for the gentry and businessmen, it was more like an explanation for the insistence on fighting the First World War in South Africa.

However, the reaction of the imperial court and the military is not small, and the importance of the navy will undoubtedly be reflected in many aspects, the most important of which are three points, one is a substantial increase in military spending, after all, it takes a lot of money to build ironclad ships, and the other is the proportion of military spending, and the proportion of naval funds in military spending will definitely be higher than that of the army. The last point is the competition for talent, and naval officers will be more popular.

For this reason, a large-scale dispute between the cabinet members, military officials, and members of the Senior Council has triggered a large-scale dispute between the land and the army, and those who strongly support the army say that China has been a land power since ancient times, and now that its territory has more than doubled, a large number of land forces are needed to garrison, and the two northwestern provinces - Anxi and Xinjiang, and the three southwestern provinces - Daguang, Siam, and Cochin, are all newly attached land, and they also need to be heavily garrisoned.

Those who are in favor of vigorously developing the navy are Luzon, Java, Wa Province, Alaska, and Maputo, South Africa, all of which are hanging overseas, and there are many islands and long coastlines, so it is necessary to vigorously develop the navy, and it is not enough to defend the territorial integrity of the Qing Dynasty unless it has a strong navy, and for the Qing Dynasty, the threat from the sea is far greater than that on land.

The two sides insisted on their own words and did not compromise with each other, and the dispute between land and sea became more and more intense, gradually spreading to the local leaders and advisory bureaus of the provinces, and the newspapers of the various provinces also became involved, and then it turned into a great controversy throughout the government and the opposition.

For this result, Yi Zhixin was very surprised, and he didn't bother to pay attention to it, for him, this kind of argument has advantages and disadvantages, in general, it is a good thing that officials and gentlemen are enthusiastic about state affairs, it is worth advocating, there is no need to rush to make a conclusion, and it is not too late to make a conclusion when the war in South Africa is over.

In fact, in his opinion, the so-called battle between land and sea, fighting for it, is nothing more than fighting for one word "money!" "As soon as the annual output of South Africa's gold mines comes out, I guess there will be no one to argue anymore.

Mozambique Channel, Mozambique Island, Mozambique City.

Mozambique City is the seat of the Portuguese Viceroyalty in Mozambique, and it is also a natural harbor, which is an extremely important trading port for Portugal on the East-West trade route.

Needless to say, these ships from various European countries came for the naval battle of the Qing and the British, for the simple reason that if the Qing naval fleet did not go directly to Open Pleton, it would inevitably choose to go south from the northern Mozambique Channel to Maputo, and the island of Mozambique was the only place to pass.

In the early morning of 20 March, a fleet of ships appeared on the sea from afar, and after seeing clearly that it was the ironclad fleet flying the golden dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty, the city of Mozambique was boiling as soon as it landed, and the military observers of various countries who had been waiting on the island for a long time were bored to the extreme, as well as some technical personnel related to the ironclad ships, flocked to the port to board the ships and go to sea to follow them far away.

On the flagship "Zhiyuan", Zai Zhao held a telescope and carefully observed the fleet that followed after him for a while, and said: "It is indeed some flying clippers and steam wooden ships, and the flags are even more varied, so it should be that European countries came to watch the battle when they heard the news." ”

After a slight groan, Xiao Mingliang said: "Fire the cannon, warn them, let them keep enough distance, the current in the Mozambique Strait is fast, we can reach the port of Inhambane before dusk, and we can't let them enter the port." ”

Inhambane is one of the oldest ports in Mozambique, originally used by the Arabs and Persians for the pearl trade, and then as a slave and ivory trading port after the arrival of the Portuguese, just over 200 nautical miles from Maputo, which can be reached in a day at the speed of a fleet.