"Daozi, how do you plan to deceive and mislead the British?"
The person who asked the question was Lin Zexu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. When he mentioned the subject of lying to the British, beating the British, and robbing the British, he became particularly energetic. British imperialism is so bad, no matter how you bully it, it is right!
After Zhuge Weidao heard Lin Zexu's question, he smiled and said to Zhuge Weiyi: "Tenth brother, our plan to weaken the heroes is your own handiwork, or you should come and explain it yourself."
The main content of this "strategy to weaken the British" is a false shipbuilding plan, so it should be proposed by Zhuge Weiyi, the Minister of Arms of the Navy.
"Shao Mu, let me tell you," Zhuge Weiyi smiled and took the question, "I have asked the Naval Armament Bureau to start preparing a 'Thousand Ship Plan'!"
"What is the 'Thousand Ships Plan'?" Lin Zexu didn't understand, so he asked.
Zhuge Weiyi smiled and said: "It is a comprehensive fleet update plan to build in batches three hundred fifteen-thousand-ton ironclads, three hundred four- to five-thousand-ton fast cruisers, and four hundred two- to three-thousand-ton protected cruisers!"
"What?" Lin Zexu was startled by Zhuge Weiyi's words, "Marquis Wanling, are you telling the truth? Build a thousand ironclads and cruisers... How much military expenditure will it cost?"
"At most one billion," Zhuge Weiyi said with a smile. "If mass production can be achieved, the cost can be reduced a lot. Seven to eight hundred million may be enough!"
Zhuge Weidao also smiled and said: "Lin Zhongtang, King Yanping, what do you think? Spending 700 to 800 million to build a thousand armored ships and cruisers, can you scare those British guys to death?"
This "Thousand Ships Plan" is of course a myth, but it can be discussed now, which is enough to show how amazing the Ming Dynasty's industrial strength is now - this plan was not thought up by Zhuge Weidao Pai, but by the Ministry of Navy Zhuge Weiyi, the Minister of Military Affairs, came up with it. Since he can be the minister of armaments, he is certainly proficient in armaments and shipbuilding.
This "Thousand Ships Plan" is really not impossible for the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry... Those two thousand to five thousand ton cruisers are just casual goods for the Ming Dynasty. What is really difficult is the three hundred 15,000-ton ironclads and the 1,200 305mm caliber naval guns equipped on them. Such large-caliber artillery barrels are difficult to make, and the yield rate is not very high. But it’s not impossible to build, it just takes some time. Eleven or twelve years will definitely be enough. On average, one hundred ships will be started a year and completed in two years (warships at that time were relatively simple and could be built relatively quickly). In twelve years, won’t there be a thousand ironclads and cruisers?
Lin Zexu turned back and glanced at Zheng Guoan, Minister of the Navy, "Your Majesty, this...can't be true, can it?"
"It's definitely fake," Zheng Guoan said with a smile. "It's okay to say that the shipbuilding cost of 700 to 800 million yuan is okay. Our annual income next year will be one billion silver dollars! The 780 million shipbuilding cost is divided between eleven and two." It's not that we can't get it out within the year. If it doesn't work, we can still issue some bonds. But the maintenance cost of these one thousand ships is huge... The personnel alone need to be hundreds of thousands, and a lot of ships have to be built. More military ports, barracks, shipyards, and even more naval schools need to be built.”
He smiled and said to Zhuge Weidao: "Taozi, you are making this plan to trick the British into following suit, right?"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "Your Majesty is wise, this 'Thousand Ships Plan' is to trick the British into following suit... The British don't dare not follow suit. Haven't they been saying that our Ming Dynasty is a Yellow Peril in the past few years?" ?Now that disaster is coming, they can't be cowardly! How can they be the overlord of the West if they are cowardly?
But can they afford it? The British mainland, Ireland, Scotland, and the white population in overseas colonies total only more than 20 million. Even including the population of India, it is only more than 200 million. And we have a population of 360 million, steel, electricity, coal, oil, any one of them is several times that of the entire British Empire, and it is more than enough to overwhelm the entire Europe! There is only one aspect of shipbuilding in which Britain can still compete with us. But the British government's financial income is much less than ours. Even if we include the money collected from India, its annual income is only a fraction of ours... Hey, a thousand ships, how can they keep up? "
Zheng Guoan stroked his beard and said: "Daozi, can you finish what you have to say at once? You are a young man, don't be like those elderly military advisors who say half of what you say. Speak quickly, those British people If you want to follow but can’t, what will you do in the end?”
"Your Majesty," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "They dare not not follow, but they cannot all follow. In the end, of course they will find an opportunity to negotiate naval armaments with us! Otherwise, Lin Zhongtang will be defeated in the Jin Kingdom. There is no reason to go to England to lure them in and then support Emperor Daoguang of the Jin Kingdom."
"Hahaha!" Lin Zexu heard something that made him happy again. He laughed a few times before interjecting and asked, "Daozi, how do you think I should deceive those British people?"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "Of course I'm tricking the British into building more 15,000-ton ironclads. They can't afford to build 300 ships in ten years, but it's still possible to build 100 ships by selling iron! "
One hundred pre-dreadnoughts... one cost two million silver dollars but it would cost two hundred million!
When the British build all these pre-dreadnoughts, Ming Dynasty will be able to launch dreadnoughts... By then all these pre-dreadnoughts will be obsolete.
In this way, the British will spend 200 million in vain! And this is not the worst thing. The worst thing is that in order to build so many Dreadnoughts, British shipyards will definitely build many 20,000-ton docks and slipways.
Once the dreadnoughts come out, these docks and slipways will be useless (of course civilian ships and small-tonnage warships can also be built), and those shipyards will have to continue to spend money to build larger docks and slipways!
This is another waste!
Of course, the Ming Navy would not really build such a 15,000-ton front-dreadnought. Instead of spending money to build a Dreadnought, it is better to build a 15,000-ton armored cruiser. It is better to use full oil power and full naval guns in one step. In this way, when the "World War I" begins, the Ming Dynasty will have at least dozens of armored cruisers, which is much more practical than the same number of pre-dreadnoughts.
"A hundred ships?" Lin Zexu said with a smile, "Our concession is a bit big!"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "Lin Zhongtang, this 'Thousand Ships Plan' is not only designed to deceive the British, but also created as a bargaining chip to put pressure on the British... If we build more ships If we make concessions, we can make up for it from other places, such as the sphere of influence. On the one hand, we have the bargaining chip of arms negotiations, and on the other hand, we also have the bargaining chip of Daoguang to cause chaos to the British. It is unjustifiable not to blackmail the British. "
"Sphere of influence?" Lin Zexu asked, "Where do you want it?"
"I think we can propose that Japan and the Hawaiian Islands be included in Ming's sphere of influence!"
"Japan?" Lin Zexu was stunned, "This is not easy to handle!"
"Lin Zhongtang, we won't fight Japan this time!" Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "But we have to use this as a bargaining chip to force Japan to withdraw from the fight for Hawaii."
I have to say that when it comes to playing international politics, Zhuge Weidao is a master without having to read the "Book of Heaven" - he is better than King Wu Zhong in this aspect! King Wu Zhong is a master of science and engineering, but his information of the era is still relatively limited. I wonder how the evil people in the world play? Zhuge Weidao is well-informed, and he is familiar with the methods of diplomats in history.
He knows best about creating bargaining chips and applying extreme pressure!
And the two demands he is making now for "Japan" and "Hawaii" are actually creating bargaining chips and exerting extreme pressure... He is treating Japan as a bargaining chip and at the same time putting pressure on Japan. to force them to make concessions on the Hawaiian issue.
This Hawaiian Islands was not of much value in the age of sailing - it was not on the "wind mouth", and sailing ships rarely docked in Hawaii. But in the age of steam and fuel power, the value of Hawaii became apparent.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty, Britain, and Japan all wanted to compete for the Hawaiian Islands. Each of the three countries occupied some islands and refused to give in to each other.
Zhuge Weidao wanted to use arms negotiations and Daoguang printing to exert double pressure this time to force Britain to make concessions. At the same time, he put pressure on Japan by bringing Japan into his sphere of influence and forced the Tokugawa shogunate to withdraw from Hawaii.
