"According to the meaning of the humble words, the big navy exists to seize overseas interests, so at present, China has no overseas interests, and the most important thing for us is to avoid being beaten, and it seems that there is no need to develop a big navy?"

It took Wu Yulin a while to digest the meaning of Zhang Tinglan's words, any warship is a combat platform on the sea, and it must also obey the needs of the navy's strategy, and as the person in charge of the shipyard, Wu Yulin must understand the strategic direction of the navy, so that he can choose a good development direction and produce suitable products.

Zhang Tinglan nodded slightly: "China does not need to pursue overseas interests at present, our core task is homeland security, to ensure that our territory is not invaded by the enemy, the development of a large navy is too luxurious for us, and there is no need for this." ”

Shen Honglie also asked on the side: "What the commander-in-chief said is good, it is true that we can build a more economical and practical navy, but I don't know who our main imaginary enemy is?" ”

Shen Honglie has already begun to hit the road, no longer under the impulse of blood, directly pursuing the most advanced echelon of Shijie, but beginning to think about the actual needs.

"It is the great powers that can threaten us from the sea, initially Britain, France and other countries, but now after this war, Britain, France, Germany and other countries will definitely decline, only the power to defend the city, there is no enterprising heart, as long as China can reorganize the army and maintain a capable military Liliang, there is no need to worry about them. Now the biggest threat to China's sea has become the Japanese, their combined fleet has become the most powerful maritime liliang in the Far East, and the Japanese ambitions for China are obvious to all, and there are many contradictions between the Feng army and Japan, and the goal of our naval development is to target the Japanese. ”

"And against the Japanese, we must not attack the enemy's strengths with our own shortcomings. The task of the navy is not to act as the main force, to the open sea and the Japanese decisive battle, but after the cooperation of the land and air, to keep the coastline safe, and then wait for the opportunity to attack the Japanese sea lifeline, the key to the real decisive victory lies in the competition between land and air, for China such a big country with both land and sea, the army will always be the foundation of the country, only the army can hold on, China will not die. As for the real role of the navy, it is to fight for China's overseas interests after China has solved the problem of survival. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Tinglan concluded: "The army is related to our life and death, and the navy is related to how we live, both of which are very important. But there is a difference in severity. ”

Wu Yulin said with a smile: "Humble words, what you said is really too reasonable. It reminds me a little of the land and sea dispute between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang. If this high argument could have been decades earlier, Li Zuo's second prince would not have to argue! ”

mentioned Li Hongzhang, Zhang Tinglan couldn't help but sigh: "Zuo Zongtang said that Li Hongzhang made a mistake and would be infamous through the ages, in my opinion, what Zuo Zongtang said is not bad at all." Li Hongzhang's mistake was not in the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, nor in the signing of the "Xinchou Treaty" but in adhering to a wrong national defense strategy with him, which eventually led to the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War and even the national disaster of Gengzi. Li Hongzhang could not escape the blame. ”

After Zhang Tinglan really began to think about the strategic policy of a country and an army, he discovered Li Hongzhang's fatal mistake, and he was right to call himself a pastemaker.

In the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Tsarist Russia supported the local Shili in Xinjiang and tried to launch a rebellion, at this time Zuo Zongtang advocated the defense of Xinjiang and led the troops to recover Xinjiang, while Li Hongzhang emphasized the coastal defense, believing that giving up Xinjiang could save military spending and develop the navy, and with a strong navy, the crisis at sea could be avoided forever.

Li Hongzhang's proposition sounds reasonable, but in fact it is completely bastard logic, after abandoning Xinjiang, there will be no place in the northwest that can be annexed, and the land north of the Great Wall will be lost, and then Beijing will be directly exposed to the front of Tsarist Russia, and the whole country will come to the time of life and death.

In fact, the crisis in Xinjiang has seen Li Hongzhang's idiocy and selfishness in strategy, and the subsequent Sino-French war used cruel facts to smash Li Hongzhang's fallacy, starting from the Sino-French War in 1884, the Chinese army was defeated one after another, and was driven out of Vietnam, and then the French raided the station of the Fujian Naval Division, and the Fujian Naval Division was wiped out.

After Zuo Zongtang arrived in Fujian, he actively assisted Taiwan's Black Flag Army, and at the same time strictly deployed in Zhennanguan and other places, the veteran Feng Zicai achieved a great victory in Zhennanguan, which reversed the overall situation of the Sino-French war at once.

"The past does not forget the division of the future, Zuo Zongtang has actually seen through the mistakes of coastal defense insisted by Li Hongzhang, China is a big land country, we can lose ten land wars, but as long as we can win one, we can turn the tide of the war, because after all, the great powers have come from afar, and the troops they can invest are very limited, and there is no way to fight for a long time."

Shen Honglie nodded hurriedly, and suddenly said: "Commander-in-Chief Zhang is too right, in the past, the enemy came from the sea, we thought that we should strengthen coastal defense, in fact, this is in the edge of the wood to seek fish, the reason why the great powers can run rampant is because our army is too weak, it is not vulnerable at all, otherwise it will not be beaten to Beijing by more than 10,000 people, whether it is the First Sino-Japanese War or the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, as long as our land war can be won once, it will not lose power and humiliate the country!" ”

Wu Yulin also said: "In the past, we were all against the sea, thinking that it was the defeat of the navy, but after the Battle of the Yellow Sea, China did not lose to the Japanese, and we can still support it, but the Japanese army invaded the three eastern provinces and invaded Shandong, so we couldn't hold on and had to sign a jump to lose power and humiliate the country." ”

"Hmm." Zhang Tinglan nodded and said: "Looking at the previous invasions of China, we are zuihou because the army can't hold it, and it's true that the crisis has come up, but if the army's Dinghai Divine Needle can hold up, it won't end up in a fiasco." Having said such a big circle, falling on Li Hongzhang's coastal defense proposition is actually an evil road that achieves twice the result with half the effort, we do not have a developed industry, and it is not a good thing to fight the navy with our opponents, and there is no play at all, and the Sino-French War and the First Sino-Japanese War, the Fujian Navy Division and the Beiyang Navy Division suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle, and then they collapsed. The Army, on the other hand, can recover quickly and continue to fight. ”

Zhang Tinglan said this, Shen Honglie and Wu Yulin carefully digested these views, and indeed some subversive understanding, but the more they thought about it, the more they felt that what Zhang Tinglan said made sense.

After a while, Shen Honglie smiled bitterly and said: "Commander-in-Chief Zhang, you have said so much, are you not ready to develop the navy, but seeing that your approach is a little wrong, I am really a little confused!" ”

Zhang Tinglan said with a smile: "I am against it when the national strength is insufficient. To develop a large navy, our maritime strategy should be inshore defense, with the main focus on torpedo boats, destroyers, and patrol ships, which are only patrolling and defending inshore shores. If necessary, mines are laid to blockade the port. Then cooperate with artillery batteries on land and planes in the air. Hold the shore so that the enemy does not dare to attack us at will, and that will be enough! ”

When Shen Honglie heard this, he had to admit that what Zhang Tinglan said made sense, if he couldn't even look at the water under his nose, he still wanted to fight in the open sea. Isn't that if you don't know how to walk, you want to run, and you must have to wrestle.

"Commander-in-Chief Zhang, do you think we just put on a beaten jiashi and don't fight back?"

"Of course not. Don't we still have submarines, the underwater liliang is well concealed, and if it is used well, it can play the role of a sword to seal the throat, how much trouble the German underwater submarine has given Britain, we naturally have to follow suit, and don't forget that our opponent is far less powerful than the British, and our position on the mainland is much better than that of Germany, as long as we can hold it on the surface and win on land, we don't have to be afraid of the Japanese! ”

Zhang Tinglan explained his thoughts and thoughts, Shen Honglie and Wu Yulin also completely figured it out, both of them showed joy on their faces, and Shen Honglie also secretly gave Zhang Tinglan a thumbs up, he was young and could do such a high position, which was really extraordinary.

Zhang Tinglan's proposal to build small ships and submarines is relatively cheap, and the effect is also better, which is suitable for China's industrial capacity at the present stage, and within the financial affordability, is the most realistic choice at the moment. Looking at the whole of China, I am afraid that there are only a handful of people who can formulate such a reasonable naval strategy, and it is also a kind of luck to be able to work under such a wise and sober leader.

Shen Honglie was completely impressed by Zhang Tinglan's views and was ready to join the Feng army. And Wu Yulin is also very happy, Zhang Tinglan is not not developing the navy, but to develop a yellow water navy, and the shipyard still has a lot to do.

"The commander-in-chief's words pointed out the direction for us, we can build shallow water gunboats of about 1,000 tons, we can build patrol boats, and even destroyers, and we can produce mines, I will go and arrange tasks now, adjust production capacity, and produce enough weapons as soon as possible, so that we can watch under our noses first!"

Zhang Tinglan also nodded with satisfaction, he spent so much time talking to them about the navy's strategy, which is to make them sober-minded, know what they should do, and make good use of their limited resources. Now seeing that Shen Honglie and Wu Yulin have understood their intentions, Zhang Tinglan is very pleased.

"Having said so much, the key is to put it into action, didn't we get a few submarines from Russia, Mr. Shen, I will now appoint you as the commander of the submarine group, and find out how to use submarines as soon as possible."

"Commander-in-chief, don't worry, I will definitely complete the task!" Shen Honglie gave Zhang Tinglan a solemn military salute, he was completely impressed by Zhang Tinglan, people have knowledge, and they can vigorously promote themselves, which is really the most ideal leader.

Zhang Tinglan was not in a hurry to return to Fengtian, stayed in Huludao for a while, personally helped Shen Honglie select a group of excellent submariners, and then asked Russian submariners to guide Fengtian's training, a total of six submarines have been regarded as seeds and become the cradle of submariners.

So far, the navy, land and air forces have been prepared, and the Feng army has a foundation to become stronger, Zhang Tinglan is also very pleased, and his efforts are not in vain, but Zhang Tinglan is also a little worried, the most important thing is from Lao Zhang, Zhang Tinglan really doesn't want this Zhang Dashuai to chase the Central Plains too early, but there are some things that he can't say directly.

Zhang Tinglan could only find Chang Yinhuai and asked him to strengthen intelligence work and prevent accidents, so after a few months of peace, the three eastern provinces ushered in another bumper harvest, and all the granaries were already full of grain, during this time Fengtian Governor Wang Yongjiang was very excited.

Pulling Zhang Tinglan, they calculated an economic account together: "Humble words, now the Americans, the Japanese, and the Russians are all going to buy grain from us to support the battle to interfere with Russia, I calculated that at least 10 million taels are needed, and I will take one load to earn a piece of five jiao, which is fifteen million yuan, and when the cannon goes off, the gold is ten thousand taels, it is really not empty talk!" ”

Zhang Tinglan was also very happy: "Mr. Min Yuan, I think you should sell the grain separately, the Americans give them the wholesale price, the Japanese are the retail price, and as for the Russian White Army, it is a super high price, do you want it!" ”

"Humble words, you have always been a profiteer, but this is a good idea, and those White Russians also have a lot of money."

As he was talking, Chang Yinhuai suddenly ran over, came directly to the two of them, and said anxiously: "The Kaiser has abdicated, and the war is over!" (To be continued......)