Chapter 193 Li Hongzhang discusses coastal defense (3)
3. An original piece of shipbuilding. Check out the new theories on coastal defense of various countries: Anyone who goes to war with a coastal country will use all his warships to guard the enemy's seaports and not allow his ships to enter or exit. This is a strategy to defend his own coast. Secondly, it is better to defend yourself. For example, for thousands of miles along the coast, enemy ships can arrive everywhere. If you set up defenses everywhere and spread all your strength over a large area, your troops will be single. If one place is damaged, the whole situation will be lost. Therefore, you must gather elites to protect several critical places. , you can stick to the words, and the discussion is extremely precise.
China has very few warships, so how can it block the enemy's seaport? The best strategy is impossible, and it is not easy to defend itself. From Fengtian to Guangdong, the coast stretches for thousands of miles, and there are many ports. If we must deploy heavy troops everywhere, it will cost a lot of money and we will not be able to provide enough strength, and we will definitely be defeated.
We can only distinguish the priorities and choose the most important places, such as the area around Dagu, Beitang, and Shanhaiguan in Zhili, which are the gateway to Gyeonggi Province. This is the most important. The area from Wusong in Jiangsu to Jiangyin is the gateway to the Yangtze River and is secondary. The capital is the foundation of the world, and the Yangtze River is the area of wealth. But if we can guard this most important and secondary place, and the borders of Haikou and other provinces are slightly arranged, there will be setbacks, but it will not affect the overall situation.
However, if you want to hold on, you must have a strong reserve of all troops, horses, artillery positions, ordnance, baggage, and engineering bureau material resources, so that despite the ever-changing military situation, you will not deviate from your origin. There must be no mistake in the temple's planning, daily management, and emergency management.
In the 21st year of Daoguang's reign, barbarian ships entered the Yangtze River, and the whole situation began to shake. In the tenth year of Xianfeng's reign, Yi soldiers invaded Jintong, which put the country in fundamental danger. That clan can attack my vital points and control my lifeline. As for me, those who lost their lives were due to the sloppy fortification, aid from the east and transfer of aid from the west, and failed to concentrate all our efforts on key points.
When discussing coastal defense today, we must learn from past mistakes. The method of defense can be roughly divided into two ends. One is the method of staying stationary. For example, the fort walls in the mouth are extremely strong and must be able to withstand enemy ship's cannon bullets, and the gun positions used in the fort must be able to defeat the enemy's iron-clad ships. . There must also be huge cannons and iron ships guarding the mouth, trying to block the waterway, and hiding water buds and other weapons. One is the mobile response method, such as warships and ground forces guerrilla at any time, which can prevent enemy troops from landing along the coast. It is an indispensable item for the navy's armored ships and the cannon-guarding iron ships in the outer sea.
Currently, the Fujian factory has built fifteen ships, two of which have been damaged by wind in Taiwan. The Shanghai factory built six ships, two of which had a horsepower of 500 and were equipped with twenty-six guns, which were equal to those of foreign warships. The remaining ships are basically equal to foreign small warships. However, millions of dollars have been spent on the craftsmanship, and most of the materials and craftsmanship have been purchased from abroad. Therefore, the money spent on shipbuilding in China is twice the price of buying ships overseas. Now that we are eager to build an army, it is more convenient to order them abroad. However, we must not entrust foreign merchants to mistakenly buy old ships and waste huge sums of money.
According to the interview, the British were the most elite in warships and armored warships. The British government factories and companies all competed with each other on the quality of making armored warships, and they were changing with each passing day. It is necessary to send people who are good at manufacturing and know a little bit about military affairs, and choose to bring student craftsmen there. The Prime Minister's Yamen will consult with the envoys in Beijing and inform the Ministry of War of the country so that they can go to each factory to study in person what kind of ships are the strongest and most agile. And if it is suitable for China's waterways, we can negotiate with them and make it custom-made. Chinese craftsmen soldiers will be brought to the factory and the Armed Forces Academy to learn about manufacturing and driving training. As soon as the ship was completed, it was equipped with gun emplacements and returned to China with the ship, where the common people had real money.
However, Chinese shipyards are still increasing their efforts to prepare for ship repairs. to the planned number of warships. As Ding Richang said, there are eighteen ironclad ships in the north, east, and south oceans, which are indispensable. In addition to the 20 ships China has built to use, there are still 28 ships short.
He said that each of the three oceans in the north, east and south should have two large iron-clad ships. The north ocean should be stationed in the Lushunkou area of Yantai, the east ocean should be stationed at the outer mouth of the Yangtze River, and the south ocean should be stationed in Humen, Xiamen. The water is several feet deep and can be berthed. When something happened at one place, the six ships contacted each other and turned into a guerrilla division on the ocean. The remaining ships were attached to Li Li, making the force stronger.
It is estimated that each large iron-clad ship costs about one million taels of silver to order. The cost is not low. The only way is to purchase it in advance and prepare it in years. If you still have enough energy, buy another ship. Or various factories in Fujian and Shanghai may successively imitate warships, with a total of forty-eight ships.
However, the cannons and iron ships that guard each seaport are also new weapons made in the West. Small ships are equipped with extremely heavy guns to assist the shore forts. They can ambush on all sides and block the midstream. They can move on their own, which is the most successful. One or two additional ships must be built at all important coastal defense points.
It is said that when ordered from foreign countries, each ship's battery of guns cost about 100,000 taels of silver, but they were too slow to go into the sea, so they had to disassemble the gun armor and transport it to China for assembly. The committee members should wait until they arrive to investigate and handle the matter together. If the price is low and the transportation is convenient, I will buy No. 20 one after another, which is distributed in Haikou in the north and south. Or you can buy cannons from abroad and have iron ships imitated by Chinese factories, or you can buy them one after another.
Ding Richang reported that if fifty boats were abolished, one armored ship could be maintained; if ten sampans were abolished, one armored ship could be maintained. The province's coastal navy wasted money on old ships and used them to supply forty-eight warships, large and small, but it was still felt that there was a surplus but not enough.
In May of the 11th year of Zha Tongzhi, in response to a report on shipping matters, the minister proposed to abolish all provincial boats and ships, that is, the cost of repairing and raising troops on each ship would be used to offset the cost of purchasing warships. After the Prime Minister's Yamen issued an order, the supervisors were responsible for handling the matter, but so far there has been no response.
A huge amount of money must be raised separately to purchase additional armored ships. When they are purchased back, all the expenses for ship maintenance and training should be as proposed by Ding Richang. Please request an order to the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong to transfer the old system and the new ones. Red slips, tugs, boats, sampans and other items were abolished respectively, and ships and warships were specially maintained to avoid being wasted and used for practical purposes.
