The Iron and Steel Frenzy of the Republic of China

Hirota Hongyi's heart was also burned very painfully, but it was not the ardent expectation of Nagano's self-cultivation, but was forced to get angry by these guys!

After the 8.26 incident last year, the guys in the army could not be suppressed first, and the navy was severely damaged. Although they were ridiculed a lot, they were also full of anger. Now these cabinet members and military orders The leaders of the group are all expansionists. They have been clamoring to continue to expand the size of the navy since the year before last. Last year, they intensified. The military construction of [China] also gave them a good excuse. Now, they are officially building a large The matter of the battleship directly became the fuse.

In the supplementary ship plan approved in January, it is proposed to build at least four new battleships with a standard displacement of 1 tons, and the first batch will be two ships in Chapter 4 Shipbuilding Trends (4).This type of battleship follows the standard of the "No.358 ship" in the "Eighty-eight Fleet" plan in 1920. It is scheduled to have a standing displacement of 13 tons, a length of 47500 meters, and a width of 278.3 meters, but the armament does not use the originally planned four. The 31.36mm460-caliber main guns are installed in double mounts, and four 45-mounted 3mm410-caliber mature guns will be installed, which is basically the same as that of the "Nagato class".

This kind of battleship should be said to be the fusion product of the earlier "Kiyi-class" battleship and No.13 ship. On the larger carrying platform, the main gun that can be used with only 42600 tons of displacement is installed, and the extra tonnage is used. On secondary guns, anti-aircraft guns and armor.

抛弃原来的设计，全新改进设计中的新“纪伊级”战列舰采用了8座双联装140mm50倍径副炮，6座127mm双联装高角炮，8座双联装40mm防空炮，和20座双联装20mm机关炮。

Equipped with a power system with a total capacity of 150000 horsepower.Guaranteed to achieve a high speed of 30 knots!

In addition, in terms of armor, the armor thickness of the sideboard will be at least 105-356mm, the total thickness of the deck armor will reach 120-358mm, the armor thickness of the turret and conning tower will reach 185mm, and the gun mount will also have 410mm armor. .This data, as far as 〖ri〗 knows, seems to be the most powerful in the world!

In this way, the actual full-load displacement of this battleship will reach an astonishing 55000 tons!

In order to achieve the purpose of fooling outsiders.To avoid the restrictions of the naval agreement, the navy not only continued to adopt the deceitful code name of the "Kiyi-class" warships, but also had two 3.5-ton warships of the same caliber externally, which were said to be supplementary to the two "King Kong-class" warships that unfortunately sank. ship, but the dry dock that has actually been expanded at the Wujungang Shipyard is 300 meters long, after the relevant transformation drawings come out.Several major steel mills and supporting equipment, Muroran Iron and Steel Works, etc. have already begun to produce shipbuilding steel, main guns and turrets, boilers, main engines and propellers, etc.

Just for these four battleships, the first phase of appropriation for the first two ships is as high as 2 million yuan, which may not be enough, and it has to be announced that two additional heavy cruisers will be built to balance it.

For this amount of money, if it were not for the loans from Britain, the United States and Germany.Even the stretched finances may not be available, but at least it is finally squeezed out.Since the second half of last year, the military industry has started frantically. Industries such as steel, coal, oil refining, shipbuilding, tanks, automobiles, and artillery have greatly increased the employment rate. The great idea of ​​building a new city and a new empire in South Manchuria has also provided countless Hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Up to now, His Majesty the Emperor has personally presided over a comprehensive immigration and imperial landing operation, mobilizing redundant farmers and small workers.The entire empire actually presents a brand new look that is thriving!Not only did the earthquake not cause 〖ri〗 to collapse, but it became unprecedentedly united and busy. Could it be that this is the legendary "rejuvenation of a country through adversity"?

Losses and casualties caused by earthquakes are excluded.It is expected that by the end of this year, everything will return to a normal state, and there will be an explosive economic growth next year. At that time, it is no problem to allocate one billion yuan to the Navy for shipbuilding, but.It can't be too much!

What is the concept of the so-called new large-scale battleship proposed by Nagano Slim now? The scheduled cost of each ship must exceed 460 million yuan, which is certain.Even if Hirota Koki doesn't understand the relevant details, he can tell that the huge [-]mm main gun is installed, and its displacement and tonnage must be much larger than the new "Ki-class".Such a giant, can 〖ri〗 really be built?

Even if it can be built, how much military expenditure will it take? The guys in the army want a thousand fighter jets, a thousand tanks, and a thousand heavy artillery... these are all terrible things, The Ministry of Finance can't figure it out, isn't it going to fall on the hard-working prime minister like him in the end!

Hirota Koki rubbed his eyes vigorously, trying not to look so anxious, and patiently said to Nagano: "Minister of the Navy, does the empire really need to build so many battleships to show its majesty? There are four new Kii, It's enough to smooth everything out! Besides, if new proposals need to be passed, there will be huge troubles in manufacturing. We don't seem to have so many large shipyards and skilled workers, and we have to put in place supervision from Britain and the United States at any time. This matter requires Think long term."

Nagano's self-cultivation glared suddenly, leaned forward in an oppressive posture, stared at Hirota and shouted in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, please pay attention, the mission of the Imperial Navy is to prepare for the powerful United States on the other side of the ocean. Not for a small China! Our enemy is the world's largest industrial country with half of the Pacific Ocean. As long as a war breaks out, they will explode their manufacturing capacity several times that of the empire. Therefore, in order to ensure absolute military superiority, we must To prepare in advance, the construction of large battleships is necessary and urgent!"

Hirota Hongyi's face turned red from choking on him, but he didn't want to oppose the grand national policy appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, so he could only cry in his heart: "Prepare your sister! Opening and shutting up is all war, isn't it? Will the empire be unable to survive through expansion? With the possession of the four provinces of Manchuria and North Korea, the territory and foundation of the empire have climbed to a new level in an all-round way. As long as it has a firm foothold, there is an infinitely vast Asian continent waiting for the empire to occupy and go. If you have it, why do you have to work hard towards the ocean!"

The current 〖ri〗 is not what it was 30 years ago!With Manchuria and North Korea, important basic raw materials and production conditions such as industry and agriculture can meet the growth and expansion in the next 30 to 800 years.In the past, resources that were in short supply such as iron ore, the newly discovered 1000 million-ton iron ore in northern North Korea and the iron ore and coal mines in Anshan and Benxi in Liaoning are almost enough. After all the new steel plants are implemented, the steelmaking capacity of 〖ri〗 Up to [-] million tons, or even [-] million tons, isn't that enough?

Originally very scarce oil, with the continuous expansion of the Sakhalin oil field, the production volume has soared from the original 20 tons to 150 million tons per year, and the Germans have also secretly acquired offshore oil extraction technology and equipment, and They agreed to sell it to 〖ri〗, and even revealed that there are rich oil reservoirs just off the northern coast of 〖ri〗 and the coast of Sakhalin Island. By then, it is not a dream that the annual oil production will reach 300 million tons.

In addition, the Germans can also sell to 〖ri〗 the coal-to-oil technology, artificial rubber technology, etc. The oil and rubber in the South Asian region dominated by the United States are not so absolutely necessary. Is there a war?It's putting the cart before the horse!

But Hongyi Hirota has no choice. In the final analysis, the empire is still in power. In addition to the royal family, the navy headed by the Changzhou and Satsuma clans are deeply rooted and have long controlled the cabinet; The struggle between the Kanto and Kansai consortia is also becoming more and more intense, and the contradictions between the two are irreconcilable. For their own interests and authority, it is nothing to them to provoke a war.

But the problem is, if these four giant ships are approved for the navy, what kind of troubles should the army make?

As the prime minister of 〖ri〗, the prime minister is usually quite hard-working, and there are not many things that they can decide. On behalf of the Ministry of the Navy, Nagano Shoushen raised this matter. In fact, it is not a request, but a request, or simply a notice, and no nobles are tolerated. The courtyard or the elders raised their beaks and objected, they must do it.

After thinking and thinking, endured and endured, Hirota Koichi simply forgot to ask the chancellor what he meant, and suppressed his displeasure: "Since the construction of new large battleships is a must for the empire, the cabinet can discuss and pass relevant proposals." However, the construction of the next two batches of warships will cause strong reactions from the world powers, and a reliable plan must be discussed on how to balance and reconcile. In any case, the empire cannot become a public enemy that attracts the attention of the world, which will seriously affect the greatness of His Majesty the Emperor decision making!"

No way, bring out the emperor to talk about the matter.

Yong Ye's self-cultivation seemed to have been prepared for a long time. Seeing that Hirota gave in so happily, a satisfied smile appeared on his arrogant face. He sat back and said with a straight chest: "This matter is not difficult. The new slipway will not be remodeled until next year." Finished, it will be no problem to say that it is the second batch of two new 'Ki's' when the time comes. If this is the case, it will be more secure!"

I have already thought about it!Hirota Koichi groaned in his heart, and raised his eyes to look at the other ministers, only to find that almost all of them acted like monks with closed eyes and curtains, as if the matter had nothing to do with him, or they didn't hear it at all.In the final analysis, no one is willing to object, even the Minister of War Terauchi Shouichi also drooped his eyebrows and didn't know what he was thinking.

But Hirota is an old politician, and he knows exactly what tricks they are playing. Maybe in private, the Navy and the Army have reached a temporary compromise on military funding.I want to build a warship and ask for the approval of the budget. Don't stop me. In turn, I don't care about your proposal to increase military expenditure. Both parties will benefit from cooperation.Otherwise, it will be of no benefit to anyone if you tear each other down, and it will be of no benefit to anyone, and it will delay the great cause of the grand plan. Don't cry.

If Zhu Bin wasn't there, maybe they would have been arguing for three to five months.But now the army has been crushed to death, and it urgently needs to expand its armaments to achieve breakthroughs, and it is inevitable to act like a common enemy.

The proposal to build a new battleship was quickly passed by the Imperial Council, and the Wugang Shipyard, which is renovating the berth, has stepped up the renovation of the other two 320-meter-long berths. The first two ships of the project code name "a140-f5" are expected to be launched in January next year. start! ! ! !