"Brother 108, what do you think of this 'Thousand Ship Plan Draft' prepared by the Navy? Can you coax the British to follow suit?"
Seeing that Zhuge Weidao had read the first document in the folder, Zhuge Weiyi, the Minister of the Navy, asked with a smile.
"Brother Ten, is this your work? This draft is so well done." Zhuge Weidao quickly said complimentary words and said with a smile, "The British will definitely follow up... As long as they follow If we go in, we have a sure chance of victory!”
"Is the victory guaranteed?" A "Black Zhuge" with a face so dark that he could almost catch up with Zhang Fei asked, shaking his feather fan, "One Hundred and Eighth Brother, do you still remember how powerful the British Royal Navy is? Do you know that Britain, France, What is the combined total naval tonnage of Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Sweden, Belgium, etc.?”
Zhuge Weidao didn't remember who this Hei Zhuge was? However, before his wedding banquet started, Zhuge Weixue brought photos of the main leaders of the Zhuge family for him to see, and also told him their names, business sizes, rankings, occupations, and temperaments.
Of course, the photo of this "Black Zhuge" is also among them, so Zhuge Weidao knew that this Black Zhuge, who was in his forties, had a nickname of Hongyuan and a line of fifty-one. He is currently the admiral of the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Fleet, with the rank of lieutenant general. If nothing else happens, after his term as Admiral of the Grand Fleet expires, he should be promoted to the position of Chief of Naval Staff or Chief of Naval Education.
"Brother Fifty-One," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "the current shipbuilding technology, artillery technology, and metallurgical technology are in the process of rapid progress, and they can be said to be changing with each passing day. The tonnage accumulated with the old technology will be in a very short time. It has become a burden to the navy rather than a component of combat effectiveness. So as long as we are ahead of Western countries such as Britain and France in terms of shipbuilding and artillery technology, and update the fleet as planned... we can use the latest and strongest warships to fight against those who have fallen behind. warships from various Western countries!”
"Black Zhuge" looked at Zhuge Weidao and laughed: "Daozi, do you really think the British will be stupid enough to wait for us to prepare everything before going to war? If they start the war tomorrow, what chance do we have of winning? ? If they did not rush across the Strait of Malacca immediately after the war and fight us in the minefields laid by the Nanyang Fleet, but instead adopted the tactic of long-distance blockade. Isolating us from the European, Indian, and Middle Eastern markets for a long time, when How to break it? This is no longer an era of commodity shortage. Since the end of the Napoleonic War, European industrial production has also increased significantly, and they have begun to engage in trade protection!
If you have a bad memory and have forgotten the strength of the British Navy, then I will remind you. In the past two decades, the British have built a total of 70 ironclads of level 40 and a total of 18 coastal defense ironclads of level 11. They have a total of 88 capital ships of various types, with a total tonnage of nearly 800,000 tons! And we only have a total of 66 ironclads in level 11, with a total tonnage of only 600,000 tons... only three-quarters of the UK!
And this is just a comparison of the naval strength between us and the United Kingdom. If you include the ironclads of France, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan, the gap will be even greater! The tonnage of our navy's ironclad ships is only about 40% of theirs. Brother 108, you are also a navy, how much chance do you think we have of winning? "
In fact, with the Ming Dynasty's industrial strength and financial resources, it is not impossible to surpass the United Kingdom in the tonnage of ironclad ships. But the military advisors of the Zhuge family are all very good at calculations. They knew at a glance that it would be a huge loss to do this... because technology is advancing so fast! For example, once "King Quan" and "Hongwu Emperor" came out, the previous armored ships were basically out of date. Both types of ironclads have an unladen displacement of more than 15,000 tons, and all indicators such as firepower, armor, speed, endurance, seaworthiness, etc., completely crush the previous ironclads. It's not a problem for one ship to fight ten!
And when the new battleships (Dreadnought-class) with an unladen displacement of nearly 20,000 tons appeared, including the 15,000-ton ironclads, all the previous ironclads were eliminated overnight!
Ten Sovereign ships cannot defeat one Dreadnought!
And when the First World War began less than ten years after the birth of the dreadnought, who wanted the dreadnought?
Therefore, in this era of rapid advancement in naval shipbuilding technology, whoever maintains an excessively large navy will be the unlucky one who suffers the most.
Of course, it was impossible for Ming Dynasty not to throw money at all into ironclad ships. Because there are not enough ironclads, what should we do if the British come with the Eight-Nation Allied Forces?
In this case, the Ming Dynasty could only maintain a certain number of ironclad ships to ensure a certain advantage in the Pacific... But there was also a problem with this "local" advantage. If the British made a determined decision, they would directly It would be difficult to lay mines near the Strait of Malacca and Java Island, and then deploy large fleets in India and Australia to lock the Ming Dynasty east of Malacca and north of the East Indies.
Because the Ming Dynasty's navy was not enough to support the army to break the British defenses in Malacca and the Dutch in Java, it could not threaten India and Australia. At the same time, because the British fleet was deployed in India and Australia, the Ming Dynasty did not dare to allocate their main naval force to siege Japan or conquer the New World... and the Ming Dynasty wanted to break the British power in Europe by supporting Rakshasa. , the order established and maintained in the Middle East is also impossible, because there is no direct railway between the Ming Dynasty and the heartland of Rakshasa.
"That's why I took advantage of the opportunity of telling Daoguang's fortune to provoke Daoguang to provoke the British in India." Zhuge Weidao certainly had something to say, "Britain, the Western hegemon, was created and must have a great military power to support it. We cannot lose. Give an opponent like Jin Guo... Otherwise, who else would dare to follow Britain and challenge our great power?"
As he spoke, Zhuge Weidao looked at "Black Zhuge" Zhuge Weiyang, "Brother Fifty-one, what do you think of this method?"
"Is this...really possible?" Zhuge Wei frowned with a black face, as if he didn't believe it.
"It can definitely be done!" Zhuge Weidao nodded heavily, "I am absolutely sure!"
"Oh?" Zhuge Wenyong just responded casually, seemingly unconvinced, and other Zhuges present also looked hesitant.
Obviously, they don't trust Daoguang, and maybe they don't trust the people in the army... The key to achieving good results in all plans now is that Daoguang's harassment of India can greatly damage the prestige of Britain.
Once Britain's prestige is damaged, there is a high probability that Rakshasa will jump out to fight for European hegemony, and the European countries that follow Britain will also be shaken. In order to stabilize people's hearts, Britain can only show toughness to the Ming Dynasty while at the same time They dare not make a complete break, so they will just follow the Ming Dynasty's script and carry out an arms race...
"I can serve as the head of the naval advisory group stationed in Daikin!" Zhuge Weidao said, "I can stay in Daikin until Britain encounters a serious setback!"
"But," Zhuge Wenyong said, "The Kingdom of Jin is a landlocked country and has no navy!"
Yes, without the navy, what would the naval advisory group do?
Zhuge Weidao thought for a while and said with a smile: "Brother Fifty-one, although Dajin is a landlocked country, our Ming Navy still has a place to play... and it will also play a key role! So we need to send a huge Naval Advisory Group!"
"Okay," Zhuge Weijiu said with a smile, "This is what I've been waiting for, but empty words are not enough. You have to come up with a real plan!"
"No problem!" Zhuge Weidao said, "Before my wedding leave ends, I must prepare a practical plan."
"Very good!" Zhuge Weijiu said with a smile, "One Hundred and Eighth Brother, do you have any other requests? Tell me."
If you want people to work hard, you have to give them some sweetness, right?
Zhuge Weidao really had a request. He smiled and said: "Great military advisor, I know a very, very important big project... The family must make a big bet!"
"What project?"
"A car!" Zhuge Weidao said, "A vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline!"
