The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 852: Japan's Naval Nation and Red Mediterranean Plan (asking for monthly tickets)
It was still chilly in Kyoto in the early spring of 1872. Inside the Nijo Castle Palace, the charcoal braziers crackled, but their crackling could not dispel the solemn expression on the brows of the regent Prince Chengtian, the husband of the Japanese empress.

Yamamoto Gonbei, commander-in-chief of the Asahi Heavenly Kingdom Navy, and Zheng Yongning, admiral of the Combined Fleet, knelt before his throne and presented two documents with wet ink in their hands: "Procurement Plan for the Ravage-class Ironclad Ship" and "Plan for the Joint Development of a 20,000-ton Offshore Heavy Gunship by Britain and North Korea."

Yang Chengtian took two documents from the female official and scanned the astonishing numbers and ship parameters - heavy armor, heavy guns, short legs, slow speed, it was a steel fortress tailor-made for the Japanese coastal waters. "'Destroyer class'? The British are good at naming." He sneered and threw the documents on the table, "Lord Yamamoto, Lord Zheng, can the Japanese and Korean financial resources support such a huge ship? Can the shipyard's technology be forged? Don't just make empty promises and waste the national treasury!"

Yamamoto Gonbei buried his head deep in his chest, but his voice was very firm: "Your Highness, please understand! This is not false. The British want to lock the southeastern sea of ​​Taiping Country, and they need this kind of offshore sharp blade. Our Korean and Japanese navies control the Korean Strait and the Inland Sea of ​​Japan. If we get this ship, it will be the key! As for the technical difficulties, I am willing to lead the elite to England to supervise the construction and study, and work hard until my death! As for the financial resources..." He raised his eyes, his eyes were burning, "Twenty million silver dollars are enough for a period of ten years! This is the foundation of protecting the country, and it is priceless!"

Twenty million silver dollars!
It sounds like two thousand dollars.
Yang Chengtian felt a pain in his heart - this amount of money was not a small sum for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom across the sea! According to the information he had, the total fiscal revenue of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom court last year was 2.4 million silver dollars (Taiping silver dollars and Asahi silver dollars were of the same weight and fineness), and million was only one twelfth of it.

The financial revenue of the Asahi Heavenly Kingdom, even if the East Hall of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom (the actual Korean Heavenly Kingdom government), the Japanese imperial court, and the Japanese Shinyo Shinto Shrine were included, was only 800 million silver dollars in total. 2000 million was the entire income of the Asahi Heavenly Kingdom for two and a half years!
Although the money had to be paid in ten years, the annual expenditure of 200 million silver dollars also accounted for 25% of the fiscal revenue.
Yang Chengtian stood up and walked to the window, looking at the dead branches in the courtyard that had not yet turned green.

The Korean and Japanese Heavenly Kingdom still needs those iron bastards! His father Yang Xiuqing has been in poor health in the past two years, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s attitude towards the Korean-Japanese union is also obvious - no Chinese ruler wants to see Korea and Japan merge into one.

When the old East King was alive, his old brothers could only grit their teeth and endure it in order to avoid any "brothers in heaven, angels fighting God" mess. Once the old East King ascended to heaven, it was hard to say whether the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy would come to force Korea and Japan to separate. Besides, the old brothers of the East Palace of Korea still recognized the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in their hearts!
Therefore, a joint fleet of Korea and Japan that can resist the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s navy is the foundation of the Korea and Japan Heavenly Kingdom!

"That's all." Yang Chengtian turned around and flicked the sleeves of his golden python robe. "Approve what you have requested. Yamamoto Gonbei, I order you to go to England as a special envoy with plenipotentiary powers to discuss procurement and joint development. Remember, every silver dollar must be used wisely! Don't let me down."

"Hai!" Yamamoto and Zheng Yongning bowed their heads in unison, with an imperceptible sharpness flashing in their eyes. Ten years, twenty million, is enough. It is enough to build a "specialized fleet" that can isolate the Korean Peninsula from the East Palace reinforcements, and it is also enough to cover the deep in the Satsuma domain, where Saigo Takamori and others quietly wove the great network of national restoration, with the strongest armor.

At almost the same time, in a secret tea room in Kagoshima Castle Town, Togo Heihachiro knelt in front of the Satsuma clan patriarch Saigo Takamori and pushed a copy of "Outline of the Theory of Naval Nation" written on Japanese paper over the low table.

"Saigo-sama, the opportunity to 'build a nation through the navy' has arrived!" Togo's voice was very low, but every word was as powerful as a hammer. "The Asahi Navy, the body belongs to the Asahi, but the soul is in Japan! The children of Satsuma and Choshu have mastered the key points of machinery, artillery, and navigation. The Four People's Association (Japanese Workers and Farmers Association) has a deep foundation in shipyards and docks. We only need to wait..." He made a cutting gesture, "When Yang Xiuqing dies, it will be the time for us to start an uprising! Support Prince Mutsuhito, who has returned to secular life, to take the throne in Kyoto, purge the evil people in the Shinto Palace, and restore the kingdom of God!"

Saigo Takamori, who was as tall as a giant, tightly grasped the handle of the short sword at his waist, his thick eyebrows furrowed: "Blocking the strait and cutting off the Korean reinforcements is indeed the key to victory. However, the Taiping Navy has a lot of new talents, how can our fleet compete with them?"

"Heavy armor! Heavy artillery! A near-shore fight!" Dongxiang said firmly, "Give up the open ocean and focus on the nearshore. Use iron wall defense to offset the enemy's numerical advantage, and use giant artillery to smash their landing attempt. Such a 'specialized fleet' is very expensive, but it is exactly what the British want! They want to lock the southeast of Taiping, and I want to lock the Japanese Strait. Our goals are the same! The British technology and funds must be used by me! Yang father and son..." Dongxiang raised a sneer at the corner of his mouth, "In their eyes, the navy is just a floating city that will not rebel!"

Saigo Takamori nodded slowly, with fire in his eyes: "I have returned from America with the same ambition! The patriots of Satsuma are like piles of firewood, waiting for a spark. Togo-kun, go for it! Satsuma is the most solid backing for the navy to establish a nation!"

In Liaoning Province outside the Great Wall of China, the spring weather in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is much colder than that in Kyoto, Japan.

At the huge open-air shooting range of the Dalian Naval Shipyard, which had just completed the first phase of the project, Luo Yaoguo, wrapped in a woolen military coat, stood shoulder to shoulder with Ma Baocai and Wang Yan. In front of them, a thick, dark cannon was pointed toward the surging sea.

Xu Jianyin, the director of Dalian Shipyard, French chief engineer Bai Yilao and his mentor, Dupuy de Lorme, a giant of the French Naval Shipbuilding Directorate, and French artillery expert Charles de Bangue, gathered around.

"Loading complete! Prepare for test firing!" the flag signaler yelled. "Fire!" Xu Jianyin waved a flag in his hand.

boom--! ! !
A loud noise like the collapse of heaven and earth tore through the cold wind, and a red flame dozens of meters long spurted out from the muzzle. The violent air wave blew away the observation tent a hundred meters away! The heavy gun carriage suddenly recoiled under the action of the hydraulic recoil device, and then slowly reset. In the telescope, a turbid water column dozens of meters high suddenly exploded on the sea surface in the distance, and it lasted for a long time. The red target that was originally floating on the water surface has now disappeared.

"Okay!" Luo Yaoguo put down the telescope, took off the earmuffs covering his ears, and looked at De Bange beside him, "Charles, what do you think of this cannon?"

De Bange looked at the metal-forged gun barrel as if appreciating a work of art: "Mr. Prime Minister, this 240mm/25-caliber naval gun has an initial velocity of 650 meters per second, and its 200kg hardened capped armor-piercing bullet can penetrate any armored vehicle within meters! Our French locking technology can ensure airtightness, and the barrel tightening process from Krupp gives the gun barrel extraordinary pressure resistance, and the hydraulic recoil mechanism used in this gun is the latest model of Armstrong! The essence of the Three Kingdoms, integrated into one gun!"

Ma Baocai added, his voice full of pride: "The comrades of the International Workingmen's Association have made an indelible contribution! They took risks to obtain Armstrong's blueprints and Krupp's barrel tightening technology. This gun is the result of the cooperation of workers from various countries!"

Luo Yaoguo turned his gaze to Dupuy de Lorme, who was silently observing. This French shipbuilding master was concentrating on recording the recoil data of the gun carriage. "Mr. Lorme," Luo Yaoguo smiled, "How about using this gun as a spear and working together to build a 15,000-ton battleship as the core of the 'Red Mediterranean Fleet'?"

"Red Mediterranean Fleet?" A hint of surprise flashed in Lome's gray-blue eyes.

Wang Yan stepped forward at the right time and explained in fluent French: "France is not a country with land power alone! Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea, Corsica and the overseas province of Algeria are inseparable territories of the Republic! But now they are occupied by the remnants of Bonaparte. How can we recover our homeland without sea power? However, at this stage, France does not need to compete with Britain for the ocean. An elite fleet that can take the initiative in the Mediterranean Sea, a relatively calm sea, is enough!" He pointed to the giant cannon, "Our new 1.5-ton ship is designed for decisive battles near the coast in low sea conditions, which coincides with your country's needs. Now with this giant cannon, the research and development of the new 1.5-ton ship has no bottleneck! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is willing to bear all the research and development expenses and supply special steel at cost price. France only needs to build your own steel behemoth in the local shipyard!"

Lome fell into deep thought. The Mediterranean... Corsica... Algeria... A fleet that could suppress Italy, intimidate Spain, and protect North Africa? This was too tempting. And the conditions offered by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were so generous that they were almost generous.

Of course, there is no free lunch in the world! Luo Yaoguo was willing to export the technology developed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at great expense to France, which must be to use Red France as a gun and use a red fleet in the Mediterranean to cause trouble for the British Empire!

However, for France, if it wants to be great again, it seems that it can only cooperate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the Cabinet Meeting Room at 10 Whitehall Street, under the light of a milky white bamboo-filament electric lamp, Prime Minister Gladstone's brows were twisted into a "川" shape. The Secretary of the Navy, Sir George Hunt, pushed a copy of the "Asahi Procurement Letter of Intent" in front of him: "Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, the Japanese want to buy the "Destroyer"! They also want us to help develop a 20,000-ton offshore heavy gunboat!"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Northcote, counted on his fingers and said, "The Devastation cost 42 pounds to build. Now the Navy says it has been eliminated. It can be resold at 60 pounds and make a net profit of 18. It is a good deal. But the Admiralty has already spent 20 pounds to develop a 80-knot 2-ton ship. If we want to develop a -ton ironclad ship with Japan, how much will it cost?"

Admiral George Cook, the First Sea Lord, said: "Sir Northcote, this is not business, it's strategy! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is building a 5-ton fast ironclad ship with five turrets. Once completed, our Indian Ocean route will be seriously threatened. If we can support a specialized fleet in Japan, it will be like driving an iron wedge into the backyard of the yellow race!"

"But what about the risk of technology leakage from a 20,000-ton ship?" said Foreign Secretary Earl Derby (the fifteenth generation Derby).

Edward Reed, the Navy's shipbuilding director, said: "Although there is a risk of technology leakage, we can also use joint development to advance the technology route of low-speed, heavy-gun, and heavy-armored battleships. Now most of the Navy's shipbuilding funds are invested in high-speed ships."

The British Prime Minister frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay! Approve the transaction and cooperation." He paused, and then said, "But the construction of 10,000-ton high-speed ships and the research and development of 15,000-ton high-speed ships must not be slowed down because of the trade with the Japanese! The British Royal Navy must overwhelm its opponents in speed!"

(End of this chapter)