readx; In early spring, most of China's land is still in cold temperatures, even in the southerly Fuzhou, the sky is overcast for several days, and the sun finally appears, but the faint sunlight cannot stop the cold wind from disturbing the non-stop. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Just like in the cold winter, Chen Jingyun went out wearing a military coat, and the material used for this special general's winter coat on his body was imported, and the style also referred to the generals' dresses of several powers, and the whole person looked more spiritual and majestic after wearing it.

Then he and a large group of people went to the Mawei Shipyard in a car, accompanied by people in addition to the people from the secretariat, as well as senior generals such as Sa Zhenbing and Cheng Biguang from the Navy Department, and even several generals from the army also came to participate in the launching ceremony of the Changle, such as several chief officers of the General Staff, Yuan Fang, Chen Yi and others, and Lin Chengkun in Fuzhou also came. After the war in southern Jiangsu, Chen Jingyun also made small adjustments to the various institutions under the headquarters, such as the subordinate relationship between the naval department and the general staff, the equipment department, and the logistics department. The general staff of the National Army Command is basically a joint staff department of the navy and air force, with full authority to deploy the army, navy, and air force. But in fact, the General Staff Department, whether it is Yuan Fang, the chief of staff, or the directors of various departments, are all army generals, and the aviation unit can be said that at that time, the air force department had not yet been established, and the aviation wing was originally directly subordinate to the army, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the army air force, but the navy is different.

Although China's navy is very weak, it was also brilliant a few decades ago, and the Beiyang Naval Division before the First Sino-Japanese War was still very good in the Far East, forcing the Emperor to buy warships every day to fight against the Beiyang Naval Division. Although the Beiyang Naval Division was almost completely wiped out after the First Sino-Japanese Defeat, and the Chinese Navy was destroyed by decades of hard work, even in the years when it was the lowest voice, the navy still maintained his reading surname, and there was no such thing as the army commanding the navy.

As soon as the war in southern Jiangsu ended, Sa Zhenbing and other admirals demanded that naval affairs be handled by the navy itself, and that operations, training and other matters be directly responsible to Chen Jingyun.

Chen Jingyun felt that the staff under the headquarters were all army generals, and this staff department could be said to be the army staff, and it was not suitable for this group of army turtles to command the navy and air force. Therefore, the Navy Department and the General Staff Department were formally separated from the jurisdictional relationship, and the Air Force Department was also established to allow the Navy and Air Force to truly develop their ability and avoid being affected by the Army.

However, although it has been clearly stated that the navy and air force will form a separate army, based on the fact that the main body of the national army is the army, neither the navy nor the air force can get rid of the influence of the army; in the army, many generals regard the navy as the army's maritime transport team and the army's maritime artillery regiment, while the air force has become the army's air force, and both of them are regarded as part of the army, which will be used to assist the army in future operations.

There are many people who think this way, and it is not difficult to understand that a large number of turtles from the sub-army will also go to watch the launching ceremony of the naval gunboat, which in their opinion can be used to support land operations in the near future.

The army has such views and thoughts, and the navy is naturally dissatisfied, but the dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, but there is no way to change the current facts; in the current national army, the army is the absolute main force, and the navy and air force are just embellishments, and with the navy and air force, the national army will be stronger, but without the navy and air force, the national army will not be hurt. But if the army is gone, Chen Jingyun will have to step down immediately, after all, he can't escape to a small island with a few warships after the army is gone.

Although people had smiles on their faces during this launching ceremony, the people of the navy were not used to seeing the army and still regarded all warships as the army as before.

Although it has only been a short period of one year, and the phenomenon of this service dispute is not very large, it will not be difficult for the high-ranking generals of the two sides to pull each other's hair in order to compete for military spending. On the other hand, the Air Force is very nourishing, although the Air Force is the smallest, and the entire Air Force is only a major general like Wu Shizhong, but with Chen Jingyun's support behind him, and the Air Force's eye-catching performance in the war in southern Jiangsu, both the Navy and the Army hope that the Air Force of the Nationalist Army will continue to increase, and there is no opposition to Chen Jingyun's instruction to the Air Force Department to continue to strengthen training and purchase aircraft to train the three wings, but rather to support it.

Unlike in the 1913 plan for the purchase of warships proposed by the Navy Department, the group of admirals shouted against them one by one without even reading the contents, Chen Yi, the newly appointed director of the Operations Department, personally approached Chen Jingyun and clearly expressed his opposition to the purchase of warships for the Navy in the 1913 military expenditure allocation. And these gunboats have long been outdated in technology, and the price is still so expensive, they simply do not play a big role. The cooperation between the navy and the United States is not under the control of the army, although they are angry about the tens of millions of funds for building ships, but the money is clearly pointed out by the Americans to be used to develop the navy, and they have no choice, but if they want to take money from internal military spending to build ships, and it is still at this critical moment, they are naturally opposed.

At that time, Chen Jingyun also felt that it was not suitable for the current large-scale domestic purchase of warships, and the main aspects of the domestic purchase of warships proposed by the Navy Department were also placed on gunboats, and a total of 2.5 million yuan was proposed to be ordered for three gunboats. In this regard, Chen Jingyun also discussed with Sa Zhenbing and rejected this plan, saying that there are enough gunboats, and there are already as many as five Changle-class ships under construction alone, including one at Mawei Shipyard and two at Jiangnan Shipyard, and two more from the Qianqing Dynasty, which are expected to be built soon. This gunboat is enough for a short time, so don't continue to build, if you want to build it, you also have to build those fast torpedo boats, small destroyers, as a last resort, the Navy Department put forward another plan, proposing to cooperate with the United States, the introduction of some technology to design and build a small destroyer. In this way, Chen Jingyun can be regarded as agreeing, and is ready to give the navy 1 million in this year's military spending to build a small destroyer, which may not be enough for the follow-up funds, but will continue to allocate funds next year.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the Mawei shipyard, and there were already people waiting at the shipyard, hurrying to greet Chen Jingyun and his group.

When Chen Jingyun came to the dock and saw the gunboat that had been formed on the slipway, he also had some feelings in his heart, although this Changle was a gunboat, the speed was only 14 knots, and the main gun was only a four-inch gun, but it was still more than 60 meters long.

Although the gunboats of the Changle class are only more than 800 tons, and their speed and firepower are average, and they cannot be compared with those ocean-going ships, this is also the most advanced warship that can be built with China's current technical capabilities.

Now both Mawei Shipyard and Jiangnan Shipyard have been controlled by Fuzhou Arsenal, and Fuzhou Arsenal is controlled by Huaxia Bank. In addition to building warships, these two shipyards are also building civilian ships, such as the Dayang Shipping Company, which is invested by Huaxia Bank, has placed orders for a number of transport ships from these two shipyards.

"When will this gunboat be commissioned?" Chen Jingyun asked Sa Zhenbing beside him.

Sa Zhenbing also said with a smile: "Now the main construction work of the hull has been completed, and the next step of outfitting will be carried out after launching, and then sea trials will be carried out, and it is expected to enter the navy service within half a year." Of course, if the situation is urgent, you can further compress the test time and test while serving! ”

Chen Jingyun nodded: "Yes, when the time comes, your navy will step up training and form combat effectiveness as soon as possible!" Speaking of this, Chen Jingyun thought of the two ships in the Jiangnan Shipyard and the two ships built in the book, and immediately said: "Didn't the ships in the Jiangnan Shipyard be built earlier, why haven't they been completed yet, and the two ships in the book have already been launched, when can they return to China?" ”

Sa Zhenbing said: "Although the two ships of Jiangnan Shipyard started early, but there was a lack of funds in the former Qing Dynasty and the Beiyang Admiralty, and the construction work was not smooth, although we accepted the funds, but the progress was slightly later than that of Mawei Shipyard, and it is expected that it will take about a month to be launched. ”

"So, in about half a year, these five of our gunboats should be ready for service?" Chen Jingyun was quite satisfied with the results of the sea trial.

Sa Zhenbing said: "Although half a year is a little tighter, it is not a big problem!" Speaking of this, Sa Zhenbing glanced at Chen Jingyun, saw that Chen Jingyun was looking at the warship on the slipway with great interest, and then said:

"The British side has already demanded the money again, and the two training cruisers Yingrui and Zhaohua have completed sea trials, and they will be able to return to China after the remaining funds are allocated!"

Chen Jingyun frowned and said, "Didn't you say that you can pay with recovery bonds?" ”

Sa Zhenbing said: "No, Britain doesn't accept it!" ”

According to the secret armistice agreement between the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army at that time, there were several terms, mainly that the Nationalist Army withdrew from Yangzhou, and both sides were not allowed to maintain a large number of troops in southern Jiangsu, and at the same time, the central government appointed Chen Jingyun as the southeast propaganda envoy, and Chen Jingyun promised to support Yuan Shikai in the future presidential election. Then there is another article, that is, Yanjing is not pursuing the large-scale defection of the navy to the Fuzhou fleet, keeping the existing naval status unchanged, and transferring the warships ordered by the former Qing Dynasty to the Fuzhou fleet after returning to China, but the final payment of these warships ordered by the former Qing Dynasty will have to be paid by the national army, since the Chinese navy has now all thrown themselves into Chen Jingyun, he Yuan Shikai will naturally not continue to stupidly pay to help Chen Jingyun buy warships. Fortunately, among the warships ordered by the former Qing Dynasty from various countries, it was said that "most of the warships ordered by Ben, Britain, and Germany have been paid, and only a small part has not been paid, but although it is only a small part, it adds up to nearly 10 million, and Chen Jingyun can't say that he can't take out such a large amount of money, even if he can take it out, he won't want to."

A compromise plan was proposed, that is, as Yuan Shikai had proposed, the state bonds would be used as collateral, and the national army would use the recovery bonds to pay the remaining balance payment, saying, "This side and Germany, as well as Italy and Austria-Hungary have accepted it, but the British side has not accepted it."

The Navy Department couldn't talk back and forth, and in the end, Sa Zhenbing could only report truthfully. Chen Jingyun also felt a little difficult after hearing this, among the batch of warships ordered by the former Qing Dynasty, there were a lot of them, and the total price was as high as tens of millions, in order to re-navy, and this is still the first batch of plans, if the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not fall, there will be several batches of plans for the next batch, this can be seen from the first batch of warship orders, in this batch of warship orders, the highlight is the three training cruisers, which are the Fei Hong built by the New York shipyard in the United States, and the Ying Rui built by the Wicks factory in the United Kingdom. The Zhaohe was built by the Amsterdam factory in the United Kingdom. These three training cruisers are about the same size, and the surnames of all other aspects are also very similar, although there are slight differences in details such as secondary guns and displacement, but ordinary people still regard them as training cruisers of the same class. These three training ships all have a displacement of about 2,500 tons, and if there is no follow-up large-scale re-naval plan, it is not necessary to spend a lot of money to purchase these three training cruisers to train naval personnel. In addition, with the addition of five torpedo hunters ordered from Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, that is, small destroyers, the reconstruction plan of the navy at the end of the Qing Dynasty has been clear at a glance, that is, an attempt to rebuild an ocean-going fleet.

The cost of such a large-scale reconstruction plan is naturally not small, although most of the previous Qing has been paid, but the remaining balance is still a lot, and the total amount adds up to nearly 10 million. Chen Jingyun took over from the Feihong one after another, and he also used a loan, anyway, it was impossible for him to come up with so much money to pay directly. For example, the Feihong was paid with a loan from the naval cooperation plan, and after reaching an agreement with Yuan Shikai, it inherited the treasury bond plan and replaced the money with the recovery bond, of which Germany and Ben and even Italy and Austria-Hungary agreed, but the British side did not agree.

Sa Zhenbing communicated with the British side for a long time and still had no effect, so he could only complain to Chen Jingyun to see if he could find another way: "Most of the ships purchased from abroad were launched last year or even the year before last, and the longer it drags on, the more it will cost. But on the British side, it's ......"

Chen Jingyun pondered for a while and said, "How much does the British side still owe?" ”

Sa Zhenbing naturally knew about these things, and immediately said: "The final payment for the construction of the two ships is 210,000 pounds, and there are also berthing fees and various arrears of about 20,000 pounds for extensions. ”

"Tell them that there is absolutely no cash, and let them die of this heart." Chen Jingyun said while pondering: "Didn't they promise Yuan Shikai that he could use treasury bonds before, but at this time, they must have disliked that the interest on our recovery bonds was not enough. I'll let Anwarin talk with you, and the interest rate will be higher. ”

Of course, Chen Jingyun understands very well that in addition to the interest factor, this is also related to politics, and now that Britain is openly on Yuan Shikai's side, it is naturally unlikely that Chen Jingyun will be too comfortable to get those two ships back. However, the merchants are always profit-seeking, and if they insist on not giving cash, the British will have to consider accepting the recovering bonds if they can't get the money, and the only thing they do is to have a higher interest rate.

Chen Jingyun said this, although Sa Zhenbing was a little worried, but he also knew that it could only be like this, and now the national army has to use money everywhere, especially on the army side, in order to completely replenish the existing divisions, the cost of those heavy weapons and equipment is extremely high, in addition to reorganizing the divisions into full divisions, the staff has already put forward a plan to build two new divisions. However, due to the shortage of military spending and equipment, Chen Jingyun did not approve the plan for the two divisions, but only approved the construction of a new division. However, the division is still just an empty shelf, and it will cost a lot to fill it up.

For the current National Army, the role of one division is much greater than that of two training cruisers.

However, although the two British training cruisers are too variable, and I don't know whether they will be able to return to China smoothly, it can be expected that the next six months will be a period of rapid expansion of the navy, and not only will the three newly built gunboats in China be put into service one after another, but the two gunboats ordered in this book will also return to China, the two gunboats and three 400-ton small destroyers ordered in Germany will also return to China, and at the same time, the two small destroyers of Italy and Austria-Hungary will also return to China, plus the Feihong, which is about to return from the United States. At that time, the Chinese Navy will receive a 2,500-ton training cruiser, five 400-ton small destroyers, five 800-ton gunboats, and two 300-ton gunboats. A total of more than 10 new warships will be commissioned one after another, which will greatly expand the strength of the Chinese Navy.

If we look forward to next year, we will be even more optimistic, when the warships ordered under the naval cooperation program with the United States will return to China one after another, and with the shipbuilding capacity of the United States, these small warships can be built casually in more than a year. And after these warships return to China one after another, they will form a fleet of high-speed cruisers of the Chinese Navy. At that time, the strength of the Chinese Navy will grow significantly.

Now Sa Zhenbing is more worried that the training of naval officers and sailors cannot keep up with the service of large-scale warships, and if there is no one on the ship at that time, it will make people laugh out of their big teeth.

For this reason, the Fuzhou Naval Academy has continuously expanded its enrollment and recruited a batch of students every three months, and in addition to the large number of students sent to the United States, it has tried to ensure that there are enough qualified naval officers and men to accept warships in the next two years.

When Chen Jingyun and Sa Zhenbing were talking about these things, the launching ceremony of the Changle was also officially launched, and Chen Jingyun had to give a short speech, encouraging the officers and men of the navy to train hard and contribute their own strength to China's coastal defense.