The Haiqi was a protective cruiser (also known as the dome clutch) purchased by the Qing government from the British Armstrong Company. It was launched in 1896 and entered service in 1898. It has a two-axle steam engine with 18,000 horsepower, which can drive 4,300 tons of ships and sail at a high speed of 24 knots. It is a representative of the fast cruisers.

The Haiqi fully demonstrated the design concept of high-speed anti-aircraft artillery back then. The speed was 24 knots, which should be very high. 12 years ago, the dual-equipped 203 heavy artillery was not a very weak heavy artillery even in this era. The firing speed was faster than the main gun of the battleship, which was the basis for suppressing firepower.

In today's world, naval warships are developing rapidly. When the dreadnought appears, the entire world is almost outdated, whether it is launched or the battleships under construction. In the era of dreadnoughts, battleships have developed tremendously. This warship launched 12 years ago has not only lagged behind in performance, but also has maintenance that can only be considered unsatisfactory.

The fleet is a technical branch. It is not like the army, who pulls a strong man, gives a gun, and then trains for three or five months to pull out and fight. Moreover, the combat power is not low, and the navy is completely different. Newly equipped warships are useless without a period of sea trial and training. It is necessary to continue to cooperate and train continuously. Today, there are many countries in the world who are capable of building battleships. Even the small country Italy, the battleships produced by the world were world-class and even designed a tri-mounted turret a hundred or twenty years ago. The reason why they did not continue is money.

A battleship, just the cost of construction, is daunting, but what is even more terrifying is its training cost. The training cost of a year is almost equivalent to buying a new warship within a few years. Therefore, even Britain, the world's largest power, cannot support a large number of naval warships.

The same is true for the Haiqi. When purchasing, it was considered an advanced warship. However, over the years, the maintenance and training issues have barely exerted its effectiveness. Under the scanning of the all-in-one machine, he found that in the past year, the main gun of the Haiqi will definitely not be more than 20 times. Can such training intensity be used to produce a qualified sailor?

Yang Yuanzhao will not eat a fat man in one bite. China's naval road has a long way to go, and the people in front of him are, in a sense, the seeds of the Chinese navy. After the transformation of the Beiyang, the traditional navy, Beiyang, has become an army, and the navy no longer exists. It is Cheng Biguang and others who are currently insisting that the seeds of the Beiyang Navy have not completely disappeared.

"Brother Avoiding Light, this ship has probably not started for a long time!"

Cheng Biguang's face showed a hint of embarrassment. As a navy official, he knew very well that training was not as good as ordinary training, or even without training. The combat effectiveness was huge. It was hard for a good woman to cook for no rice. Facing the navy's navy, who even had to raise military pay, it was already good that he could make the navy's warships move.

"The navy is poor!"

Yang Yuanzhao looked at Cheng Biguang who was sighing and asked, "Brother Yuguang, do you think, if all the Haiqi quotations are running, how much will it take in a year?"

"This!" Cheng Biguang hesitated a little. What Yang Yuanzhao said was obvious, to support the operation of the Haiqi. A warship, especially the Haiqi, had an eight-inch main gun, had to be fully activated. The training of the prescribed subjects each year was huge, with at least 50,000 pounds per year, which was definitely not affordable for ordinary people. You should know that the price of the Haiqi purchase was only about 380,000.

"I know Brother Yu Guang's doubts, but I have some relationship with Germany and the United States. From now on, we will fund 500 main artillery shells, 20 gun barrels, 5,000 secondary artillery shells, 100 gun barrels, and 100 tons of gunpowder every year. How about..." Seeing that Cheng Biguang couldn't speak, Yang Yuanzhao said actively.

Cheng Biguang was stunned for a moment. The heaviest training costs at the battleship level were probably the heaviest, especially the latter. The price was extremely high. When the warships started, they would suffer losses. When a shot was fired, they would also suffer losses. A gun barrel, especially the main gun, often aged, damaged, or even not stable when fired. At this time, the battleships must go back to overhaul, replace the gun barrel, and carry out certain cleaning work. This is what battleships must do frequently since their debut. Even in later generations, nuclear-powered warships that claim to never sink, they still have a period of overhaul. During this period, they will definitely fight back to the dock.

Yang Yuanzhao takes on such a big burden, at least annual training costs are more than 70% of the money he has received. The rest are just personnel and coal. Coal is not worth much, and personnel can be converted to alms in various places.

"I don't know, what are your requirements?" Cheng Biguang looked at Yang Yuanzhao and asked, "It's hard to show your kindness if you have nothing to do, either a traitor or a thief." Yang Yuanzhao is much better than those who are scheming, but he still needs to ask clearly if he takes out so much real money for no reason.

Yang Yuanzhao smiled and said, "It's nothing. I'm just interested in the navy. At most, I may have to set up an ocean-going fleet in the future. I need Brother Cheng to help me train."

At this moment, of course, Yang Yuanzhao did not dare to say that he wanted to establish the navy. At this time, the Qing Dynasty was still in power. Although Cheng Biguang had a great impression of the revolution, Yang Yuanzhao had no strong background at this time. If he was not good, he might be trapped in a cage.

As for the gun barrels and shells, just now, after getting on the ship, he had copied everything. With the strength of his all-in-one machine, the more expensive it is, the more complex it is, the less cost it costs. You should know that the gun barrels are like ordinary steel. At most, trace elements are added or special processing is added. The all-in-one machine can save the process of the front and back. The things produced are of course extremely powerful and do not cost much.

After walking around the Haiqi in detail, Yang Yuanzhao walked onto other warships. Several warships, which are sister ships of the Haiqi, are similar to those of the Haiqi. In addition, they are small warships, mosquito boats, torpedo ships. These ships may not play any role in battleships or even ironclad ships, but they have a great effect in specific places.

In order to avoid omissions, Yang Yuanzhao copied it carefully. Sure enough, the mosquito ship that looked similar was completely different inside. Not to mention the weapons and equipment, even the power was very different. The same two-axis steam engine was too far from the Haiqi signal in terms of total weight and performance.

During the whole day, Yang Yuanzhao was excited. After counting, more than 20 ships and the forts located near the navy camp, these were not as large as the main gun of the Haiqi, but to a certain extent, they enriched Yang Yuanzhao's cannon reserves. Now, if he wants, he can take out a large number of naval guns at any time.

In addition to naval guns, the biggest gain is steam engines. Although these ships, whether made from foreign countries or produced in their own countries, have absolute military quality, and have improved their effectiveness compared to civilian versions.

We walked up and down and down the entire navy camp. All the ships, up and down, also spent most of the day, and refused Cheng Biguang's invitation to have a meal together and left in a hurry. The harvest was huge today, but there were still many things to do to make the harvest work.
Chapter completed!