Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 376 Navy Ship Purchase Plan II

"The budget for purchasing ships and training personnel is 860 million yuan. The royal family will pay 200 million yuan, the Ministry of Finance will pay 500 million yuan, and the remaining 160 million yuan will be used from the navy's special funds."

At the end of 1879, Zhang Zhenxun gave Li Mingyuan assets worth 3100 million taels of silver in the name of his daughter's dowry. In addition to investing this money in the imperial palace, heavy industry development and construction, there were about 1000 million taels of silver in liquid funds that could be mobilized. 1000 million taels (or 100 million Han yuan) were drawn from the 200 million taels of silver to support the development of the navy. This amount was moderate and would not affect the subsequent use of the reserve funds.

"There is a balance in the funds collected during the internal rectification period. The government can squeeze out some money from the fiscal budget and allocate 500 million yuan within two years to support the navy's ship purchase plan."

Liu Pu made the statement on behalf of the government department.

"The navy can think of more ways to raise 160 million Han yuan."

"Very good, the issue of ship purchase funds has been resolved. Regarding the construction of the navy itself, Chen Sen, Li Han, Feng Guoan, do you have any other opinions or suggestions to add?"

"Your Majesty, since we are going to expand the size of our naval fleet, shouldn't we also expand the construction of naval bases, the establishment of base garrisons, and the establishment of the Marine Corps?"

"There is no doubt that naval bases will change as the fleet grows in size."

"As Your Majesty said, the local navy's combat targets are the navies of Chile and Brazil, and perhaps the U.S. Navy in the future. In order to cope with the changes brought about by the increased strength of the navies of Chile and Brazil, I believe that we should follow the example of Britain and France and establish three base management headquarters in the local area to command the naval management affairs in the Atlantic and Pacific directions and share the management pressure of the commander of the surface force."

"Have you prepared the detailed plan for the construction and management of the base?"

"There is already a preliminary plan."

Chen Sen explained, "The naval base construction plan is expected to be completed in nine years. From this year to 1890, the three naval bases will assist the fleet in managing a total of 40 main warships. The base staff includes 5500 officers and soldiers on water vessels, 4500 marines, and 10000 base ship maintenance and garrison troops. Every two years, a comprehensive exercise will be held with the base, ships, and marines to enhance the comprehensive combat capabilities of the base and fleet."

"Haha, what you proposed is not a base construction plan, I think it includes all matters related to the navy."

Li Mingyuan laughed and did not make a clear statement on the proposal put forward by Chen Sen.

"Base construction is closely related to the overall naval plan. When formulating a base construction plan, it is inevitable that other aspects of naval development will be involved."

"I understand how you feel."

Li Mingyuan waved his hand, stopped laughing, and explained, "The navy is different from the army. It is a high-tech branch of the army. The daily maintenance of warships and the monthly military pay of officers and soldiers are huge expenses compared to the army. Compare the Qing Navy, the Japanese Fleet and the local navy, which are also late-developing naval countries.

In the Qing Dynasty navy, the annual income of the admiral was about 8400 taels of silver; the annual income of the navy commander was about 3960 taels of silver; the annual income of the navy lieutenant general was about 3240 taels of silver; and the annual income of the navy lieutenant general was about 2640 taels of silver.

一等水手月薪10两白银；一等炮手月薪20两白银；岸上勤杂人员月薪3两白银；鱼雷匠月薪24两白银；通信兵月薪30两白银。

The annual income of a farmer in the mainland was about 40 taels of silver; the annual income of an ordinary worker in Shanghai and Guangzhou in the developed coastal areas was about 50 taels of silver. By comparing the two, we can find that the average military salary income of the Qing Dynasty naval officers and soldiers was nearly ten times that of ordinary people in the mainland. "

Li Mingyuan continued to narrate the intelligence collected by intelligence personnel from the Far East.

“自1874年起，东瀛明治政府颁布新的海军官兵薪水标准：海军大将的年薪是6000~8000日元；海军中将的年薪是4400~5500日元；海军少将、军医总监、主计总监则为3600~4600日元；各级海军佐官为1280~3000日元左右；各级海军尉官为400~980日元左右；普通水兵的军饷是每天7钱（100钱合1日元），换算成年薪也就25.55日元。

The economic data released by the Japanese government last year showed that an average Japanese household can save about 1 yen a year. The exchange rate of yen to Chinese yuan is 0.75 to . More than yen is equivalent to or Chinese yuan in China, which is not enough for two months' income of ordinary local workers. Their living standards are not as good as those of Chinese people in mainland China. Because of its small size and poor land, Japan can only choose to squeeze the interests of ordinary people as much as possible to develop the navy. Although the military pay standard of naval officers and soldiers in China is one-third lower than that of Japan because land is used as the main military subsidy, the proportion of funds spent each year on warship maintenance and naval technician officer training is much higher than that of Japan and the Qing Dynasty Navy.

At the beginning of this year, the Navy submitted a budget of 178 million yuan. It is estimated that in the next ten years, the Navy's military expenditure will increase by no less than %. With so much financial pressure on the government, it is very difficult and impossible to proceed completely according to your base construction plan. "

"What changes do you think are appropriate?"

"The number of the three main bases will remain unchanged, the number of main warships will increase to 26 within ten years, the ship force will be reduced to 4500 people, the size of the Marine Corps will be roughly in accordance with your plan, the personnel establishment will remain at around 4000 people, and the base staff will gradually increase to 7000 people."

Li Mingyuan slightly reduced the naval expansion plan proposed by Chen Sen and reminded him, "Although the Germans took the initiative to contact us and are willing to help build warships in the country, their intention is mainly for the interests of Germany. So I plan to select a group of people from the government and the navy to form a joint military inspection team, which will be mainly responsible for supervising the Vulcan Shipyard and requiring the Germans to strictly follow our improved plan to build two battleships and not make any experimental changes."

"Your Majesty, rest assured. The navy will select suitable personnel and ask Germany to complete the construction plan of the two warships of the Qing court before starting the formal construction of domestic warships."

"The Germans will most likely take advantage of the fact that the Qing court doesn't know how to build warships, and use the two warships purchased by the Qing court as experimental subjects to verify and improve their warship construction technology. It's fine if the Qing court suffers a loss, but we can't be fooled by the Germans and suffer a loss for no reason."

Li Han echoed.

"After the military inspection team arrives in Europe, in addition to supervising the construction of warships, they will also send some personnel to inspect the military conditions of the army and navy of European countries to make a comparative reference for the development of their own military."…………

(End of this chapter)