After the questioning was completed, he returned to the Yin'an Hall from the Inspectorate and returned to the Yin'an Palace, where Admiral Pei Shoutong of the General Staff, the state-owned shipyard, and the Navy Design Bureau were already waiting; In addition, this time, Zhu Zhiyao of the Shanghai Seeking New Shipyard was also present, this person wanted to switch to the construction of warships as early as the European war, and after the war, he bought a lot of equipment at a low price, and has been looking for opportunities. This time, the navy was to build 18 cruisers, and in order to complete these heavy cruisers before Britain and the United States made a loud call for the second naval disarmament conference, the most powerful innovation among the privately-owned shipyards was also incorporated into the system.

"Sit down, everybody." Yang Rui said politely, "The Inspectorate will ratify the Six-Power Treaty and the Five-Power Treaty, so we don't have to build battleships." ”

Yang Rui said this, everyone laughed, the Inspectorate was basically rounded up by the Revival Association, as long as it was not too much of a treaty or bill, they had no reason not to sign it; Moreover, Yang Rui's prestige and conduct are respected by everyone, and if he comes forward, there is nothing he can't do. Pei Shoutong said: "Sir, the construction of the shipyard is preliminarily set for Zheng He in Nanjing, Shanghai and Jiangnan, and the ...... for innovation" Hearing that Bei Shoutong mentioned himself, Zhu Zhiyao hurriedly got up and bowed, "...... Three new shipyards in Shanghai. The two cruisers built earlier will be launched this month, and the keel of the aircraft carrier laid in Nanjing will be dismantled to vacate the dock......"

The Navy Design Bureau previously came up with two design schemes, with a standard displacement of less than 10,000 tons, a power of 100,000 horses on four axles, a maximum speed of between 34 and 35 knots, and a broadside armor of 75mm and a turret of 25mm. In addition to the six 200mm guns with 50 times the diameter provided by Japan, Plan A also has 12 120mm anti-aircraft guns, 24 25mm anti-aircraft guns, and eight torpedo tubes. Plan B added two main guns, and the 120mm anti-aircraft guns were reduced by four. However, eight twin 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns were added, and nothing else remained the same.

Based on Yang Rui's calculations. Eighteen heavy cruisers were exactly three per carrier, and forty-eight destroyers were six per carrier. The remaining twelve ships perform other tasks, so it is not so important whether the heavy patrol carries water reconnaissance aircraft or not, and the heavy patrol defined by this requires strong anti-aircraft firepower, so there will be such a dense anti-aircraft artillery design.

"This time, Britain and France did not restrict cruisers and destroyers, and the tonnage of British and French submarines was disputed, but as soon as a heavy cruiser like ours came out, I believe that soon Britain will talk about disarmament again." Yang Rui nodded in response to Pei Shoutong's report, Zhu Lu and the affairs of the queen after his suicide have always been in charge of him. "Even with only six 200mm guns, such a heavy cruiser can sweep through a former battleship like a dreadnought. Let the vast majority of the cruisers of the British Royal Navy become obsolete at once, so our question is how to build all eighteen heavy cruisers before the British propose a meeting;

The same is true for destroyers, but in addition to air defense, destroyers' tasks also focus on submarine defense, and it is not too important whether the main gun must be 150mm, as long as some destroyers' main guns reach 150mm. ”

Yang Rui emphasized the time, and Pei Shoutong said: "Sir, we now have a total of 60,000 tons of docks, and we can see the construction period of one and a half to two years of heavy patrols. Sixteen ships will be built in six years, minus the two ships that are about to be completed, but given the design improvements, staffing, and the attitude of friendly countries, especially Britain and the United States, such a large-scale construction may not be appropriate. Can it be extended to eight years? ”

"No, I'd rather be like an aircraft carrier, and wait for people than wait for people. If there is another Washington meeting. It is said that heavy cruisers and destroyers are to be restricted, so what should we do? But if we had built it in advance. It can't all be dismantled. Instead of demolishing it, it is better to let Britain and the United States spend more money to build heavy cruisers, heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers are a must for us. It must not be cut. Yang Rui emphasized, "Improvement problem...... the previous choice of scheme A is because this design is redundant, and it is easy to change in the future." I'll just make a decision for a while, and I must build the remaining sixteen heavy cruisers within six years! ”

Yang Rui insisted on building it as soon as possible, and Bei Shoutong, the shipyard, and the Navy Design Bureau only nodded.

"Understood, sir." Pei Shoutong knew that he could only optimize the plan, but when to implement it was decided by Yang Rui, who was extremely accurate in judging the international situation.

"And be sure to keep it secret." Yang Rui said again, "The docks are all fenced off for me, and they say to the outside world that they are building oil tankers, and we have dug so much oil in the northwest, so we naturally want to transport the oil out and sell it." There are also the first and second batches of heavy patrols, don't show your face, and drive to Japan if you don't have anywhere to hide, anyway, there are many islands there. ”

"Understood, sir." Bei Shou smiled, and he immediately took out a specific report, which included the name selection, cost, and construction plan of the heavy patrol.

The naming of battleships is a more troublesome matter, mainly to be auspicious, this time in order to name these eighteen heavy cruisers, the Navy Office came up with a total of two sets of names: one is the head of the hero, for the majestic, the heroic, the majestic, the majestic, and so on; The other group is interesting, it is the addition of the eight great distances of the former Qing Dynasty, in addition to the eight great distances of 'Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhi......yuan', there are also 'Hongyuan, Candle Yuan, Yuanyuan, Junyuan, Chengyuan, Mu Yuan, Chunyuan, Xiongyuan, Mingyuan, Tengyuan' ten distances.

Yang Rui looked at Bei Shoutong and Xie Gangzhe in the Navy Office, and said with a smile: "Which group do you say is better?" ”

Yang Rui doesn't have much affection for the Beiyang Naval Division, and because of this, he must not let the Min family monopolize the navy. Since discussing the combat effectiveness of the army with Yang Zengxin the year before last, he has been thinking about what caused the Han people's combat effectiveness to decline, Yang Zengxin said that it was because the imperial power was too heavy, which sounded reasonable, but Yang Rui seemed to be too heavily educated by the people.

The beard outside the gate is not indoctrinated, so it has combat effectiveness; Thinking about Hong Xiuquan's Cantonese soldiers, Zeng Guofan's Hunan soldiers, Qi Jiguang's Zhejiang soldiers, Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers, and even the Manchu Eight Banners and Mongolian cavalry, as well as the decline in combat effectiveness after the Eight Banners and Mongolia entered the customs, this only reveals one truth: Barbarism is combat effectiveness, and education is soft eggs.

This weakening of combat effectiveness is not due to the inadequacy of weapons and tactics, nor to the inadequacy of firepower, but to the inadequacy of the will to fight. The German Army's selection of officers is a person who has a strong offensive **, and the Merkel exam designed that question. It is to appoint as the commanders of the troops those students who do not care about the situation of the enemy and directly answer: 'Surround them and destroy them'; If he didn't dare to attack, he probably didn't dare to defend - because he had no way of knowing how many enemy troops were attacking on the battlefield. This is best illustrated by the commander of the Russian army, General Kuropagent, during the Russo-Japanese War.

Most of the pipes and bands of the Beiyang Navy Division have studied since they were children and learned from their families, and they did not go to the Mawei School to fight, but to become officials; Not only did he not fight a war, but he also had to get by with daily training, and everything was just to deal with. Based on the quality of officers and soldiers and the material of people, the First Sino-Japanese War was lost before the battle; As for other shells, funds, etc., it is nothing more than a syndrome of indoctrination to the decay of society.

Now, the Navy Office is willing to rename the previous 'Eight Great Distances', and Yang Rui is very worried about the corruption of the former Qing Navy. Especially now, corruption has infiltrated the General Logistics Department and the civilian officials from the Renaissance Society.

"Sir, all countries have a tradition of naming new ships after the names of previous ships, and since this time it is a heavy cruiser, it is not inappropriate to name it 'Yuan'." Bei Shou is the same way.

After Bei Shoutong finished speaking, Yang Rui played with the pencil in his hand and circled his hand several times before saying, "Okay, then let's name it 'Yuan'." Yang Rui's nod relieved Bei Shoutong, Xie Gangzhe, Wei Han, the general manager of the Shanghai Jiangnan Factory, Chen Zaofan, the general manager of the Nanjing Factory, and Wang Pingxuan and Ye Zaifu of the Navy Design Bureau, except for Bei Shoutong. The others are more or less related to the Min Navy, and now that Yang Rui agrees to name it 'Yuan', he naturally no longer dislikes the performance of the Beiyang Naval Division. But after these people breathed a sigh of relief, Yang Rui said: "However, the three names of Jiyuan, Dingyuan, and Zhenyuan need to be excluded." ”

Jiyuan pipe belt is Fang Boqian. This person is said to be a deserter, although after the founding of the new dynasty, his family is actively reversing the case. However, no favorable evidence has been produced for the time being; But the second ship of Dingzhen fought to the end, and Bei Shou and others couldn't figure out why they wanted to give up the name of the second ship of Dingzhen. He had to ask, "Sir, Ji Yuan doesn't say it." Why are Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ......?"

"Are you familiar with Beiyang, do you know that this Beiyang fleet has morphine?" Yang Rui asked. He used to quarrel with people on the Internet, and he was angry and said that he committed suicide by swallowing raw opium, which means that Liu Buyun and others will smoke opium, and the other party's answer is often that Beiyang will not have morphine, and they need to use opium to relieve pain, Ding Ruchang, Liu Buchan, and Lin Tai once got opium from the medical officer, which does not mean that they can smoke it.

Yang Rui asked such a strange question, Pei Shoutong was obviously unable to answer, and Xie Gangzhe of the Navy Office said: "Back to Premier Hui: The Beiyang Navy Division had morphine at that time [Note 119]. ”

"Really, are you sure?" Yang Rui asked again, the boring quarrel in the past finally has an answer today, it seems that there are benefits to crossing, but unfortunately there is no way to go back to the past.

"Yes, Prime Minister." Xie Gangzhe faintly sensed what Yang Rui meant.

Sure enough, Yang Rui asked with a smile: "Since there is morphine, why were Liu Buyun and Lin Taizeng able to get opium?" ”

Yang Rui's question made Yin'an Hall calm down suddenly, and no one dared to answer this question. The Baath Army does not prohibit prostitution, but prohibits drugs and gambling. Although under the premise of the existence of morphine, Liu Buyun and Lin Taizeng were able to commit suicide with opium, which can only indicate that someone is sucking crow opium, but it cannot be said that the people who smoked are Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng, what if they seized other corrupt officers and kept them in the cabinet? What if it is a loyal sailor who is honored? What if the black-hearted businessmen on the shore saw that the adults wanted to cut themselves and kindly gave it to them? Besides, 'I Daqing' has its own national conditions here, who doesn't smoke opium?

No one dared to answer Yang Rui's question, let alone counter the implied presumption of this question, and after a while, Bei Shou said, "Sir, if you don't name the three ships Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and Jiyuan, I'm afraid it will be unfair to the other officers and soldiers on the ship who fought to the death at that time." ”

Pei Shoutong's reminder made Yang Rui feel a little reasonable, and put the opium aside first. He nodded, "Then let's change it again." Zhiyuan should not be called Zhiyuan, but changed to Deng Shichang; Jingyuan should not be called Jingyuan, but Lin Yongsheng; In addition, there are the super brave Huang Jianxun and the mighty Lin Luzhong, these two are also ......" He said suddenly, "It seems that there are still many people who died in battle." ”

"Yes, sir." Pei Shoutong bowed his head. He bowed his head, but behind him, Wei Han, the boss of the Shanghai Jiangnan Factory and a Fujian man, was in tears. The new dynasty was evil and Manchu, and Yang Rui was not polite to the Min family before, but now he suddenly spoke warmly, and he couldn't help crying.

"So be it." Yang Rui said, he asked again: "How much does it cost?" How are the three shipyards distributed? ”

"The quotations of the three companies are different, but they are roughly around 11 million Chinese dollars." Bei Shou is the same way. "Each of the three has two 10,000-ton docks, so the plan is to have six ships in Shanghai, six ships in Nanjing, and four new ships."

"Who's the cheapest?" Yang Rui asked suddenly. The speed is so fast, the boiler is two-thirds of the aircraft carrier, this cost is not expensive, but he does not know the specific quotation of the three.

"Yes......" Pei Shoutong opened the notepad and said: "The new factory is the cheapest, 10.34 million Chinese yuan, but we are worried that we have not built a warship before the new factory, so we ......"

When Bei Shoutong said this, Yang Rui looked at Zhu Zhiyao and asked with a smile: "General Manager Zhu, why is your offer cheaper?" ”

Yang Rui and Bei Shoutong didn't ask, and Zhu Zhiyao didn't dare to speak, although he was very anxious because he was questioned about the quality of new shipbuilding. Now as soon as Yang Rui asked, he immediately said: "Back to the Prime Minister: Qiuxin Factory has another agricultural machinery factory, and there are not as many large-scale equipment as state-owned factories, so the amortization of fixed costs is less, and the manpower is relatively low, so the quotation is slightly cheaper." Qiuxin passed the royal quality system certification last year, and the certificate number is No. 33, and the quality can be assured. ”

"Then you can build it first." Yang Rui smiled. This person is known as Zhu Xiaobraid because of his short braids, and he is also a Catholic, extremely religious, at this time, although Buddhism is advocated in China, but the spearhead is more aimed at Christianity than Catholicism. "If the quality is qualified and the construction period is also qualified, then six ships will be built for innovation."

Yang Rui's words made Zhu Zhiyao very happy, as a private shipyard, it is rare to have today, especially to build heavy cruisers for the navy, this is an extremely rare opportunity.

After some further inquiries, the shipyard general office and the Navy Design Bureau and others all went out, but only Bei Shoutong stayed. Yang Rui asked: "If we don't back down at this Washington meeting, what is the biggest military difficulty for us to be hostile to Britain and the United States, or even go to war?" ”

"Sir, in terms of military materiel, our greatest difficulty is the lack of nickel and chromium and other metals; Defensively, Tibet, Yunnan, and the coastal provinces were vulnerable to invasion by the British and American navies. "Bei Shou is like-minded.

Nickel is a strategic material, and I had a headache during the war against Japan, Yang Rui patted his head and said, "Is that so?" ”

"Yes, sir. The world's nickel is basically produced by the Ardbury open-pit nickel mine in Canada, and then there is a nickel mine on the French colony of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. "Bei Shou is the same way." China only has this mine in Huili, Yunnan, but the railway is not passable, and it is not easy to build a factory. The Ministry of Industry had plans to set up factories in Nanjing or Wuhan, but the raw materials could only be turned to France, which was too risky.

The chrome ore has not been detected for the time being; Molybdenum mine is in Yangjiazi, Jinxi, Liaoning Province, and is now building a factory; Manganese ore in Leping, Jiangxi, Zunyi, Guizhou, Zunyi has large reserves and mining value, but it is also limited by the railway, and it can only be mined after the railway is repaired; Vanadium and titanium are mainly in Panzhihua, and they can only be mined and smelted when the railway is built; There was originally a shortage of copper mines, but now there is the Beiting Copper Mine, although it is a Sino-Japanese joint venture, but at least there will be no shortage of copper in the future. ”

"You can discuss the nickel issue with Mr. Hua Feng, there will be no major changes in diplomacy, see if you can import nickel ore from France, and where to smelt it in Wuhan; The rest is just waiting for prospecting. Yang Rui said. He sighed, according to the impression of later generations, in addition to the abundance of tungsten, tin, antimony, and rare earths, China really lacks war metals, so I don't know if it can make up for its shortcomings in Kazakhstan like copper. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 119: Modern Chinese History/Photocopying Newspaper and Periodical Materials, 1981, No. 9, p85. This is the original text written by Liu Buyun about his participation in Ding Ruchang's wartime meeting in Weihaiwei, and the excerpt is as follows: 'At the wartime meeting, the ships were arranged in columns before and after the decisive battle...... and Yu was not summoned to this meeting, but he was disappointed, but he did not expect to be called to the right position. I urgently want to prepare a life vest, but I can't get it, but I can only get a syringe and one or two tubes of morphine. Notes on the book This article is quoted in the series: Sino-Japanese War, vol. 6, p43. Obviously, Beiyang Sailor 1 had morphine for pain relief at that time, and there was no need for the infirmary to prepare another opium for pain relief.