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Text Chapter 199 Year of Jiawu

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    (Thanks to book friend DreamMaker for the birthday red envelope!)

    At the end of August 1893, after the fleet in western Sichuan returned to China, the first ship "Leshan" and the second ship "Qijiang" of the "Leshan-class" light cruiser independently developed by the Beihai Shipyard conducted trial sea trials.  The results of the trial voyage are very satisfactory.  Both firepower and speed achieved the expected goals, especially the top speed. When sailing at maximum power, the "Leshan" ran a top speed of 28.6 knots, and the top speed of the "Qijiang" also reached  It reached 28.2 knots, far surpassing the cruisers of other countries and becoming the fastest battleship.

    Some minor problems were also discovered during the sea trial, and the designers of the shipyard quickly made modifications.  After Wang Yuze received the news, he immediately ordered the construction of the second batch of "Leshan-class" light cruisers to begin. This time, four ships will be built at once, named "Panzhihua", "Guangyuan", and "Ba".  "Zhong" number and "Zigong" number.  Moreover, Wang Yuze asked the shipyard to start work at full capacity and make sure that these four warships are put into service before June next year.  In this case, we can catch up with next year's war.

    Other warships of the Western Sichuan Navy have also been transformed one after another.  West Sichuan's fire control system has been fully tested on the "Sichuan" battleship, and the results are very good.  With skilled use, the hit rate at a distance of 10,000 meters reaches one percent.  The hit rate is three percent at a distance of 8,000 meters.  This hit rate is already very terrifying. Even the British Navy cannot achieve such a good hit rate at this distance.  This is the power of technology.  The successful experiment of the fire control system has caused other warships in Western Sichuan to successively install this system, which has greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Western Sichuan Navy.  However, during the training of the 'Sichuan', all the elite gunners and gunnery commanders of the fleet were gathered together to achieve such results.  After recruiting a large number of new recruits, if you want to achieve such results, you have to practice harder.  Under Wang Yuze's order, the Navy's Munitions Department was completely open to the supply of training artillery shells.  This makes the hit rate of each ship increase rapidly.  Of course, the shells they consumed could almost reach a "Sichuan-class" battleship.  The loss of naval guns is also quite shocking.  In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the fleet, Wang Yuze can be said to have been completely willing to invest regardless of the cost.

    With the large-scale investment in Western Sichuan, the Navy in Western Sichuan has achieved explosive growth.  Not only the Navy's warships, but also the Navy's soldiers.  Under the large-scale publicity in western Sichuan, the first batch of 10,000 soldiers recruited by the Navy has been completed. Together with the increase in Marine Corps troops, the total recruitment is more than 20,000 people.

    The large-scale development of the navy in western Sichuan not only caused panic in the Manchus and Japan, but also posed a serious threat to Britain and France, which had huge interests in the Far East.  However, at this time, the focus of both Britain and France was in Europe. The Far East fleets of the two countries were just some old warships, which could not be compared with the cutting-edge navies in western Sichuan.

    Fortunately for the UK, as the "Sovereign" class battleships are being completed and put into service one after another, in order to deal with the growing threat in the Far East, the British Admiralty has prepared to send two "Sovereign" class battleships and a batch of new warships to the Far East to replace  Those old warships of the British "China Fleet".  By then, even if it may not be the opponent of the Western Sichuan Navy in terms of tonnage, with Britain's strong maritime strength, Western Sichuan will certainly not dare to offend British interests in the Far East.

    As for France, it seems much poorer in comparison.  The current French Far East Fleet is the merger of the French "China Fleet" and the Tokyo Fleet. Its total tonnage has reached 57,000 tons, with 5 ironclads, 15 cruisers and 4 gunboats.  However, most of these warships are old warships, and the five ironclad warships are also four to five thousand ton warships, and most of them are warships that participated in the Sino-French naval battle ten years ago.  Most of these warships have been in service for more than ten years.  If the Western Sichuan Navy forms a combat effectiveness, it can easily sweep across the French Far East Fleet.  Of course, in order to protect France's interests in Indochina, the French government has planned to send several cutting-edge battleships to the Far East to strengthen the strength of the French Far East Fleet.  However, in the 1880s, only five battleships were built. Before 1995, five battleships were built again. After deducting the fleet that needs to be deployed in France and other parts of the world, the number of battleships that can be dispatched to the Far East is really insufficient.  many.  In addition, French battleships are far from comparable to British and German battleships in terms of protection, endurance and habitability. Moreover, the main gun models of each French battleship are different, making their ammunition supply very difficult.  It is so complex that it is nicknamed the "Floating Artillery Museum" by the outside world.  As long as Western Sichuan is given enough strength, it will not be a problem to surpass the French Navy.

    Therefore, although the development of the Western Sichuan Navy triggered protests from the United Kingdom and France, it could not stop the development of the Western Sichuan Navy.

    At the end of 1893, western Sichuan came from the BritishThe warships ordered by the British meant that the British fleet returned to North Sea Port with warships as compensation.  This time, it was the fleet chief of staff Li Dingxin who led people to receive the warship.  Two "Sovereign Class" battleships, three cruisers and six destroyers successfully arrived at the North Sea Port after more than a month of sailing.

    These two "Sovereign Class" battleships are also different from the "Sovereign Class" battleships equipped by the British. Compared with the "Sovereign Class" battleships equipped by the British, the two battleships equipped by Western Sichuan are named "Plateau Class" battleships, respectively.  They are the "Plateau" and the "Qinghai".  The "Plateau-class" battleship has a displacement of 14,000 tons, which is equivalent to the "Sichuan-class" battleship. The main scale waterline is 115.8 meters long, the overall length is 125 meters, the ship's width is 22.9 meters, and the average draft is 8.4 meters.  , the maximum draft is 8.84 meters.  Armor: The main armor belt on the side is about 77 meters long and 2.64 meters high, of which it extends 1.52 meters below the waterline. The thickest part of the main armor belt in the middle of the side reaches 457 mm, and then extends to 406 mm and 356 mm respectively.  It decreases from front to back, and the inner lining is a 102-203 mm thick teak support layer.  The upper armor on the side is 102 mm thick (45 meters long and about 2 meters high), and the total height of the side armor is about 4.5 meters.  The maximum speed is 17.5 knots and the endurance is 4,700 nautical miles/10 knots.  The armament is two twin 305mm 50-caliber naval guns (the British are equipped with four 343mm naval guns), the secondary battery is 10 105mm single-mounted guns; 10 88mm single-mounted guns; 12 37  mm machine gun; 6 450 mm waterborne torpedo tubes.  In order to unify the caliber of naval guns, Western Sichuan specially imported naval guns from Germany and installed them on these two warships.  In terms of combat power, the "Plateau-class" battleship is slightly inferior to the "Sichuan-class" battleship, but it can still be regarded as a powerful battleship of the same era.

    The three cruisers have similar combat capabilities to the cruisers ordered from Germany, and are named "Ya'an", "Suining" and "Neijiang".  The code names of the six destroyers are Beihai 11 to Beihai 16.

    The return of the warships ordered from Britain made the Western Sichuan Navy suddenly become the most powerful fleet in the Far East.  Of course, in the eyes of other countries, it will take a long time for the Western Sichuan Navy to unleash the combat power of these warships.  They did not know that after the installation of the fire control system, the battleships of the Western Sichuan Navy could form combat power much faster.  Even if it cannot be compared with the established naval powers, the gap is not very big.  After the war breaks out, the enemy will definitely be surprised.

    The navy of the Western Sichuan Army has once again improved a lot, and two 10,000-ton giant ships have been added, which greatly stimulated Japan.  However, they firmly believe that they still have enough time and continue to prepare frantically.

    Time has entered 1894, and the clouds of war in the Far East are getting thicker and thicker.  The Manchu and Qing Dynasties seemed to have sensed the crisis and began to further expand their combat power.  However, the Qing Dynasty still expanded its army. They increased the size of the army from 300,000 to 400,000, and the main force was deployed in the area bordering western Sichuan.  As for the Beiyang Navy, they still live with their little possessions.

    The Japanese Navy¡¯s shipbuilding plan has also been completed one after another, and the combined fleet has begun to form and carry out active training.  The Army has also completed its mobilization. Its total strength has expanded from the previous one Guards division plus six field divisions to one Guards division plus 12 field divisions. The total strength has reached 300,000, which is almost an expansion.  times.  At the same time, Japan began to frantically store weapons, ammunition and other combat supplies, and actively prepared for war.  Japanese diplomats were also actively traveling around various countries, hoping to gain support from the great powers and avoid interference from other countries when they went to war against the Manchus.

    Western Sichuan is also using the last time to prepare for war.  The Army has completed its preparations, and at the same time, it has prepared enough reserve troops to replenish casualties in a timely manner in the war.  The Navy's Beihai Shipyard is still working overtime to build warships.  In the dock, four "Chengdu-class" heavy cruisers and four second-batch "Leshan-class" light cruisers are progressing faster than expected, and are expected to enter service in July 1894.  By then, Western Sichuan's navy has basically formed combat effectiveness, and will gain an overwhelming advantage when facing the Japanese combined fleet.

    "Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, it has been four years since I returned to this world. It's the Year of the Sino-Japanese War, and great changes in the Far East are about to happen. But this time, little Japan will not have any chances." Wang Yuze sat alone  In Wang Xiao's study, he said secretly.  For this year, Western Sichuan has made full preparations, waiting for the war to break out, and then win the final victory in one fell swoop!

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