Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 679 Forced by the situation

  Li Fushou picked up a cigar. Here, He Fang hurriedly picked up the gold-plated cigar cutter, helped cut off the cap, and lit it with a doggie.

   "Okay, you can order it yourself." Li Fushou picked up a cigar from the cigar box and gave it to He Fang, then took a deep breath and spit it out, leaning on the back of the chair and said with enjoyment;

"Our Ocean Kingdom does not have as many stinky rules as the Qing dynasty, and we are not willing to find ill-fateds, but we still have to have humility towards the king's power, and the rules are still to be followed. The queen is the lord of the harem, and how to deal with it can only be done by the queen. Decided. You, Count Zhenyuan, gave me a cigarette. Turning my head, I also help to say a good thing. Success or failure can only be determined by God’s will."

   "The old minister is in panic."

  "Don’t be arrogant with me. The queen is very angry. It is estimated that your son will be exempt from death and life. He should be taught something, otherwise he will be able to pay it back when he grows up?"

   "Your Majesty taught it."

   "Okay, okay, don't be bitter, the sky won't fall."

  Li Fushou didn’t want to be entangled in such trivial matters. In the eyes of others, a disaster like the sky is falling down is just a trivial matter in his eyes, and it is not worth the effort.

He slowly breathed out strong smoke, like a man in a fairy tale, and then asked, “Now the situation in East Asia is about to change. The British have just annexed Uganda, a colony in Africa, and they will do business in East Asia in their spare time. London is discussing with Fusang. In the Anglo-Japanese Maritime Trade Treaty, all the colonial clauses were abandoned. If you say that it is just out of goodwill, I think it is purely fart. What do you think of this matter?"

  Speaking of business

  He Fang sat down and lit up his cigar, and replied after thinking for a moment; "Return to your Majesty, those who come are not good, and those who are good won't come!"

   "Be specific."

  He Fang replied; “Fusang Kingdom has done a good job in army preparation. It has prepared no less than 20 divisions to be ready for war at any time, with sufficient weapons and ammunition, and sufficient mobilization.

  In response to the impending Qing-Japanese War, Fusang State had three ideological preparations for the ending, the upper, the middle, and the lower. It can be said that various factors were considered relatively well, and the nation was prepared to fight a hard battle with all the power of the country.

  I think there will be a **** battle in the Qing Dynasty, but in the end, the Qing Dynasty has little chance of winning. I personally prefer to end in the middle game. Both sides will suffer more casualties, but the Fusang country can persist until the final victory.

  Now only talk about the navy;

Starting from the emperor, the Kingdom of Fuso saves 300,000 yen each year on the purchase of warships. All public officials in the country contribute 1/10 of their annual salary to support the construction of the navy. It is climbing very fast, and several new ships are put into service every year.

  In 1890, the Beiyang Navy had 7 warships of more than 2,000 tonnage, with a gross tonnage of more than 27,000 tons. The Fuso Navy has only 5 warships of more than 2,000 tonnage, with a gross tonnage of more than 17,000 tons.

In 1892, Fusang completed the ten-year expansion plan since 1887 four years ahead of schedule, and established an army with 63,000 standing troops and 230,000 reserve troops, including 6 field divisions and 1 guard division. , 15 reserve divisions.

  The Navy has 32 warships and 24 torpedo boats with a total displacement of 72,000 tons, surpassing the Beiyang Navy and achieving surpassing.

until now

  Fuso’s navy also entered the ranks of two cutting-edge cruisers this month, with a displacement of 86,000 tons, second only to us in the entire Asia and Oceania region.

  As a result, it poses a serious threat to the navy of our Ocean Kingdom.

  Calculate the strength of our navy

With 4 Aolong-class heavy cruisers as the core, 12 Brave-class cruisers as the backbone, plus the two 3,600-ton cruisers of Naniwa and Takachiho, and 36 seagull-class frigates, the navy’s main battleship has a displacement of 145,000 tons. , Is still superior to the Fusang National Navy.

  However, we have to see the real danger.

Different from the small sea area of ​​the Fuso Kingdom, our Oceanic Kingdom is more than 26,000 kilometers east-west from the African fleet to the Hawaiian garrison. There are more than 7,600 kilometers apart from the Ryukyu Kingdom’s Far East Fleet to the mainland fleet. These overseas fleets have a displacement of 40,000. Over tons, they cannot gather together to form a joint force during wartime.

  From this perspective, the advantage of our ships is not obvious.

Another point is very important. Fuso warships are generally relatively new. They are all new and cutting-edge warships built by British shipyards. They are generally between 2 and 3 years old. Nearly 1/3 of the main battleships are less than one year old. Equipped with a lot of rapid-fire artillery, the speed is also high, and the threat is quite large.

On the other hand, our navy is another scene. The 36 seagull frigates are quite old. The longest ship is 16 years old, and the latest ship is 9 years old. After years of high-intensity use at sea, the hull is aging and corroded. Seriously, the main battle equipment has fallen behind the times.

Among the four Qinglong-class heavy cruisers, the Qinglong heavy cruiser was commissioned in September 1883. It has been 11 years and it has been more than five years since the mid-term modification. The last Xuanwu heavy cruiser was commissioned in early 1886. It has been 8 years since now.

  Overall

  The ageing of our warships is generally very serious, especially since no new ship has been built in the past three years. For the Ocean Kingdom, which is committed to the development of the ocean, this is simply incredible.

  If there is no persistent construction, where will the powerful navy come from?

Now in Asia, our navy is facing a real threat. Not only is the Fuso navy desperately ordering new warships, but also the Tsarist Russia’s Pacific Fleet has successively launched new ships, regardless of Tsarist’s Baltic and Mediterranean fleets, but only the Pacific Fleet. The strength has exceeded 65,000 tons, which has put tremendous pressure on the Far East fleet stationed in Ryukyu.

  Navy building is like sailing against the current. If you don’t advance, you will retreat. Compared with the strong determination of neighboring countries to build navies, I am deeply disappointed by the kingdom’s carelessness. "

  Maybe the reason for the fire in his heart, Earl He Fang grunted and sat down and started smoking.

Seeing him so angry, Li Fushou couldn't help laughing, scratching his head and rubbing his eyebrows and said; "Brother He, you know, the famine of more than 20 million pounds was brought down in the past few years, and the south has become a mess. It is very difficult to finance without setting aside a large amount of funds."

  "Your Majesty, I'm sorry for the words, if compared with Fusang, one is a beggar, the other is a rich man with a circle of cattle and sheep, one is the sky, and the other is the earth."

  Watt, it seems so irritated.

  Li Fushou touched his nose with a guilty conscience. In the past few years, it was his decision not to build naval ships. The reason was simple; building new ships was too expensive.

  The purchasing power of the pound sterling is very strong today, and the purchasing power of the currency launched by Ocean Kingdom is also very strong. A simple example can be used to see how expensive it is to build a navy main battleship.

  After the War of Unification of North and South

The Sydney Bay Bridge has been implemented as a priority project. It is now in its fourth year of construction. The construction of the two huge piers in the north and south has exceeded a hundred meters in height. The steel bridges produced by the shipyard are as high as tens of thousands of tons, and large-scale assembly has begun. Operation.

  It is estimated that in another two years, the Sydney Bay Bridge can basically be closed and formed.

The follow-up works will take more than two years, such as laying the base of the bridge deck, laying asphalt concrete, laying tram tracks, erecting electric circuits, erecting fences, erecting various road signs, improving auxiliary works, etc. There are a lot of work to be done. Do.

  Preliminary calculation

  Sydney Bay Steel Bridge’s original project budget of over 800,000 pounds is slightly lower, and it will slightly exceed the project budget. It should be within one million pounds to successfully complete this iconic project.

How many iron-clad battleships over 10,000 tons can be built with a million pounds?

  According to the highest standards, it is more than enough to build one ship, but not enough to build two. It costs between 1.2 million and 1.3 million pounds, depending on the combat targets and the intensity of the adoption of new technologies and equipment.

If the displacement of the iron armored battleship is set at about 13,000 to 14,000 tons, a high speed of not less than 18 knots is required, heavy armor is required, and the expensive 343 mm large-caliber main gun is required, a cost of 750,000 pounds will not be able to hold it. .

The   7,600-ton Zhenyuan ship cost nearly 300,000 pounds to build, and the Fuso country bought the 4,150-ton fast cruiser “Yoshino” for almost the same amount of money. Why is it so expensive?

  This is the price paid for the word speed. The speed of the "Zhenyuan" is 14.5 knots and the speed of the "Yoshino" is 23 knots. The difference in speed between the two is 8.5 knots.

The Yoshino fast-fire cruiser is also equipped with a new type of rapid-fire gun firepower. Every technological advancement here requires a huge amount of money to pile up. The price of the 152mm Armstrong rapid-fire gun is 3.5 times that of the ordinary 152mm gun. This is for high performance. And the expensive price paid.

Even the British Royal Navy has to make trade-offs on the performance of warships. For example, if equipped with a 343mm large-caliber main gun and a 210mm-caliber secondary gun, the power of the ship will be weakened, and it can maintain a speed of 15.5 knots. Yes, you have to make trade-offs on the armor, instead of just stacking bulletproof steel plates on it, because the power is too much.

  Through performance trade-offs, the price of the same main battle armored battleship can fall by 1/4 or more.

  The iron-clad battleships "Italy" and "Dario" are super powerful, with a displacement of up to 14,000 tons, which is much higher than the British first-class battleships of about 10,000 tons in the same period, but its cost is twice that of the British first-class battleships.

   Such a treasure of the town, with the power of the entire kingdom of Italy, only two ships can be built.

  The "Italy" is fast in action, powerful in firepower, and capable of carrying an astonishing number of troops.

  The "Italy" naval guns are also arranged diagonally, equipped with four 432 mm (17 inch) naval guns each weighing 103 tons and can fire 908 kg shells.

All of its main guns are installed on the giant oval exposed turret on the swollen deck. The muzzle extends from the edge of the gun mount. The entire exposed turret is located above the main armor belt. It adopts an armored enclosure design. Carried out heavy armor protection.

  The freeboard of the "Italy" is 7.6 meters high, and the large deck can carry 10,000 infantry divisions and all are ready to cross the Mediterranean. This bizarre design concept is unique among the navies of the world.

   said so much, this shows that the current iron armored battleships are really very expensive, the key is that it will not take many years to be eliminated because of backward technology.

  Finally count it, that is, in 1989, the real dreadnought ship is about to be born.

  With such a shrewd calculation as Li Fushou, how could he be willing to build backward ships at this time?

  The problem now is that it won’t work if you don’t build it!

Nowadays, the naval ships of the Oceanic Kingdom are generally older. Looking around, the steam and iron-clad battleships of the European and American naval powers are launched one after another. Germany is also starting to build a high seas fleet. France and Italy are not idle, and Russia is loaning in francs. With the support of French technology, new armored warships are also being built at full capacity.

  I really have to wait for 80 to 90 years, the day lilies will be completely cold.

  If the original history has not changed

The Fusang Kingdom will win the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 with an overwhelming advantage. When the Manchu and Qing dynasty kicked into the bottomless abyss and received a huge compensation of up to 200 million taels of silver, it would seize the island of Taiwan, Lushun and the three provinces of East China. Huge war reparations have been invested in the construction of armaments, and the strength of the army and the navy has increased by leaps and bounds.

  It will not take long before it will pose a huge threat to the Ocean Kingdom.

  Don’t forget, the Ocean Kingdom’s ability to pull hatred is one-of-a-kind. The Ryukyu Kingdom is a huge obstacle to the southward expansion of the Fusang people.

   thought of here

  Li Fushou said with a dry cough; "Brother He, what should you think of it?"

   "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the veteran, we must immediately implement the Sky Sky plan in the blueprint. This plan has been revised for more than a dozen rounds and is currently the best response plan."

"Oh... the Sky Sky plan is to build four 13200 tons of large displacement steam iron armored battleships, and the construction plans for the next four ships will be retained. Can you build two first, and then supplement the plans for a few Valor-class cruisers? In this case, the funding pressure is much less."

   "Your Majesty, the role of the capital ship is that no amount of Brave-class cruisers can be built, it is related to the territorial security of Soji, and this military expenditure cannot be saved anyway!"

   "Brother He, the technology of the 305mm large-caliber rapid-fire gun is not perfect. It is very risky to build so many armored battleships now!" Li Fushou just didn't want to pay for it.

"Your Majesty, the new technologies used by the iron-clad battleships equipped by the navies of all countries in the world today have many technical risks. Theoretically, the life of the main gun of the Italian battleship is 120 rounds. In fact, it may explode if it does not exceed 30 rounds. We are blue. In order to deal with the new yellow explosive, the 305mm barrel developed by the weapon company can withstand the test of more than 80 rounds of full-pack shooting and has actual combat performance. As long as a lot of resources are invested, and after more than half a year of technical improvement, I believe that the barrel can be managed. The lifespan is increased to more than 150 rounds, which fully meets the needs of use."

   "That's it, then I will consider it again."

  Now the Kingdom’s financial shipbuilding funds are completely unavailable. The third phase of the southern extension of the coastal railway has been repaired to Melbourne, and it is continuing to extend to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.

  The coastal road has been repaired for 3,400 kilometers from south to north, approaching Darwin to the south, and crossing Newcastle to the north. It is still under intense construction.

  The construction of 10 arterial roads, large and small, some have been completed, some are still in progress, and some have just been put on the agenda.

  The reconstruction of southern cities and towns is in full swing. New towns like a chain of pearls are scattered along the railway line, adding more capacity to accept immigrants in the next step.

  As the top priority of the government’s work, several hydropower projects have been prepared using the abundant water resources in the Great Divide in the South. The project implementation stage will soon be reached, and the funding pressure is not small.

  The next step in Australia is to build several railway branch lines, all of which require money.

  So, most of the shipbuilding funds have to be taken from the Kingdom's Ministry of Internal Affairs, and part of it can be settled through bank loans.

  Finally, I saved three or four million pounds of small money, and it was all spent as soon as I loosened my hand.

  Looking at He Fang’s longing eyes, Li Fushou said cruelly; “Well, let’s build two Metropolitan-class steam armored battleships first, and the other two as possible options, and wait until the financial funds are abundant in the following year.”

   "Yes, Your Majesty." He Fang replied feebly.

  Everyone knows that fiscal funds will never be ample, even if Australia spends less money, what about overseas provinces?

  Money, there is never enough time.

  (End of this chapter)