The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 565 Naval Development Plan
The Song Wenhui in Teng Yuzhao's mind was from Xiangshan, Guangdong. He was also a member of the second batch of Chinese students studying in the United States and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After returning to China, Song Wenhui, unwilling to remain lonely, enrolled in the eighth driving class of the Mawei Naval Academy in Fuzhou. After graduation, he joined the navy and participated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 as the captain of the Guangjia.

Ten years later, Song Wenhui was also a naval officer who joined the anti-Qing camp early on. Such talents would be more likely to follow him. Teng Yuzhao would feel more assured and reassured if he handed over the new navy that he had worked so hard to build in the future to such a person.

Although he thought so in his heart, Teng Yuzhao still said with a smile on his face.

"Minister Ye, Commander Sa, I was originally planning to talk to you two separately later today, but since we are talking about it now, I will answer your questions together so that everyone can understand the status of our navy, the direction of future development, and my expectations for our new navy."

After Teng Yuzao glanced at the faces of everyone present, he leaned forward and spoke.

"After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Weihaiwei was occupied by the Japanese army. In the 24th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign, the British and Yixin signed the Weihaiwei Lease Agreement, and from then on, they forcibly leased Weihaiwei. In order to hold the British hostage to deter the Russian navy in Lushun, the Japanese also handed over the Liugong Island they had occupied to the British."

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "It's also my fault for being careless. I didn't think of this matter during the peace negotiations, but now Lord Zhou is in charge of the specific negotiations with the British."

"The British wanted to wait until the Russians withdrew from Lushun before they returned Weihaiwei."

"The British should have considered that the Russians would not withdraw smoothly at that time. They are trying to delay the withdrawal, which is absolutely not allowed."

When Teng Yuzhao said this, he couldn't help but slap the coffee table beside him heavily, causing the teacups on the table to jump and make a series of "ding-dong" sounds.

"The Russians in the northeast should have withdrawn their troops along with the other powers, but the British, along with the other powers, guaranteed that the war would end without the Russians withdrawing their troops."

"Therefore, the British evacuation from Weihaiwei must not be tied to the withdrawal of the Russian Navy from Lushun."

"A few days ago, I arranged for Shaochuan to go to the capital and issue an ultimatum to British Minister Sadaoyi that the British must withdraw from Weihaiwei before the end of July."

Shaochuan is the name of Tang Shaoyi who sat behind Teng Yuzhao.

"Otherwise, I will take back the concession in Tianjin, expel all British people in Zhili, confiscate all assets of British merchants in Zhili, and not allow British people to do any business in Zhili."

"During the process of promoting Westernization in Zhili, the British will not be allowed to participate in any procurement contracts."

Teng Yuzao smiled faintly and said, "If our Zhili really wants to do this, I believe that their concession in Hankou will be difficult to preserve. This may even affect all British businesses south of the Yangtze River. Although the British are very unwilling, they will definitely give in in the end."

"Marshal, what do the British say?"

As soon as Teng Yuzao finished speaking, Liu Shijiu couldn't help but ask.

Teng Yuzhao did not say a word about this matter at the military meeting.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Of course the British will protest. For this reason, they have submitted a formal protest note to the court, demanding that the court abide by the concession agreement signed with them."

When the agreement to lease Weihaiwei was mentioned, everyone couldn't help but sigh. Over the years, the court had signed too many unequal and even humiliating agreements with foreigners!
However, the court was unable to cope with the agreement written in black and white by the British.

"Damn it, what kind of shitty lease agreement is this? They must have bribed that old man Yikuang to get it. We don't recognize this agreement."

Liu Shijiu's words immediately drew laughter from a group of officials, including civil servants such as Zhou Fu.

Both the generals of the vanguard army and the civil servants of Zhili knew in their hearts that this was a hat that Teng Yuzhao had forced on Yikuang's head.

However, when Liu Shijiu said this, everyone's eyes lit up. If Yikuang took advantage of the British in this agreement, he could barely ask the other party to terminate it early.

Teng Yuzao smiled and nodded to Liu Shijiu, saying, "We have the same idea about this matter. The Military Affairs Office sent a telegram the day before yesterday to inquire about the situation, and also said that although the court was forced to sign this matter by the British at the time, it is an agreement after all, so we need to think about it carefully."

"I called the court back and told them that's what I said."

"Then, what did the court say?"

Zhou Xuexi was quite curious. Just based on Teng Yuzhao's false statement, the imperial court would deny the account?
Teng Yuzhao only talked about this matter with Zhou Fu and did not tell anyone else.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Tang Shaoyi behind him, "Shaochuan, tell Jizhi about it."

Tang Shaoyi put the golden pen he was writing with into the notebook, poked his head out from the gap between Teng Yuzhao and Zhou Fu, and said to Zhou Xuexi with a smile.

"The Marshal asked me to call the Military Affairs Council back. He said he suspected that Yikuang had accepted bribes from foreigners before signing this agreement, so this agreement should not be counted."

"Just two hours later, the Grand Council called back, and it was co-signed by Prince Duan, Wang Wenshao, Lu Chuanlin, and Zhao Shuqiao. They said in the telegram that Yikuang was presiding over the Beijing Times, and begged the Marshal not to involve Yikuang in it again."

Tang Shaoyi's words made everyone laugh again. Amid the laughter, Tang Shaoyi, who was obviously a little excited, continued.

"They also said in the telegram that they had rejected Sa Daoyi's note and told him that all matters involving Zhili should be negotiated with the Marshal by foreigners, and the court should not interfere."

Seeing Tang Shaoyi retract his head, Zhou Xuexi asked anxiously, "Is this the end?"

Zhou Fu suppressed his smile and said to Zhou Xuexi, "That's it. The British contacted me yesterday and said they want to discuss the Weihaiwei issue in Tianjin tomorrow."

Yang Shixiang said with emotion, "The Marshal is right. When dealing with foreigners, only cannons and bullets can make them reason. I guess the British will have to admit defeat this time."

Yang Shixiang's words made dozens of Zhili elites in the conference room nod their heads in agreement.

Not only Yang Shixiang was emotional, but Teng Yuzao was also emotional about this. In his memory, the process of recovering Weihaiwei in history was full of twists and turns. It was not until thirty years later that Weihaiwei, which had been forcibly leased by the British for 32 years, was officially recovered. After Weihaiwei was recovered, the Weihaiwei Administrative District was established in Weihaiwei, directly under the Executive Yuan.

Teng Yuzao no longer mentioned Weihaiwei, but looked at Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing. Seeing that the two were excited when they learned that the British would soon return the Weihaiwei military port that they had forcibly leased.

Not only did they all live there, but they also led their troops to guard and defend it, shed sweat for it, and even saw many comrades shed blood and even gave their lives for it. Soon it will return to the hands of the Beiyang Navy under the efforts of this powerful governor. How can this not make them feel emotional and excited?

Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing both stood up and saluted Teng Yuzhao solemnly.

Ye Zugui said to Teng Yuzao with tears in his eyes, "Thank you, Marshal! Weihaiwei is the home of the Beiyang Fleet. Now, you have taken back our lost home from the British. This time, we will definitely protect this home. Unless I, Ye Zugui, die there in battle, no one will ever get their hands on it again!"

Sa Zhenbing also said excitedly, "Minister Ye is right. The Marshal has taken back this home for our navy. We will definitely protect it. This also allows our comrades who died in Liugong Island to finally rest in peace."

Teng Yuzao gestured for the two to sit down, and then continued.

"This is why I asked you to set up the Beiyang Naval Academy in Weihai. And this time, you can't just guard this home. We can never let our enemies reach the doorstep of our navy again. The navy is a spear and a sharp arrow, not a short knife that can only be used for self-defense."

"As for purchasing warships to expand the navy, this is inevitable."

Upon hearing that Teng Yuzhao agreed to expand the navy, Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing were overjoyed.

Teng Yuzao looked at the two people's eager eyes and said with a smile, "Don't be too happy too soon. I am not from the navy. I am not as good as you in many aspects of the navy. We may not agree on some concepts about how to expand our navy, but we can study and discuss with each other."

In terms of naval expansion, Teng Yuzao has his own development plan based on the direction of naval development in the world. It is certain that his ideas are different from those of Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing, but Teng Yuzao is not prepared to make any concessions on this issue concerning the correct direction of naval development.

Teng Yuzao continued, "I think that naval vessels, including those of the navies of the great powers, have shifted from simply emphasizing thick armor and large guns to high speed and high firing rate."

"Because with the continuous advancement of naval gun technology, it is impossible to achieve complete protection no matter how much the thickness of the warship's armor is increased while taking into account the speed. As long as they are hit by large-caliber naval guns, all warships in the world will be damaged under the current circumstances."

"Of course, it's not like there is no more work to be done on warship armor. Now, all countries are developing high-performance armor."

"I want to emphasize that when we purchase new warships, we must have high standards and ensure high speed and high firing rate while maintaining appropriate and reliable protection."

Teng Yuzao's words made the two of them nod frequently.

Ye Zugui even said, "I agree that rapid-fire guns should be used for naval guns. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, we suffered a loss at the hands of the Japanese. Although we had more large-caliber naval guns than the Japanese fleet, our firing rate was much lower than that of the Japanese fleet. For every one shot we fired, the Japanese could fire five or six shots, which caused great damage to our sailors on the ship."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "I would like to propose a few standards. All the guns on the newly purchased warships must be rapid-fire guns. Since Britain, France, and Germany now have mature rotating guns that can rotate without blind spots, there is no need to install too many guns on warships."

"I suggest that all of our warships use high-rate-of-fire guns. In addition to the front main gun and the rear gun, only two side-spinning main guns should be installed between the bridge and the chimney."

"The caliber of the ship's guns does not need to be too large. It can be similar to the Dingyuan ship, with a 305mm and a 150mm gun at the bow, a 305mm bow gun, and a 150mm stern gun."

"If the speed requirement I'm going to talk about later is met, it's OK to have a larger caliber of the naval gun."

"As for speed, this requirement is a bit higher. The average speed of large warships of the great powers has reached about 24 knots. Our ironclad ships must have a minimum speed of 24 knots. If we can exceed that, that would be the best. We can give priority to purchasing faster warships."

Seeing Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing open their mouths in surprise, Teng Yuzao added, "This is the bottom line."

Sa Zhenbing said with a bitter face, "Marshal, a destroyer has a small tonnage, so its speed can naturally be fast, but it is difficult for a large ironclad ship to reach that speed. The Dingyuan can only reach a little over 15 knots."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "Commander Sa is right, but you may not know that the most advanced warships of the great powers no longer use old-style boilers."

"The new boilers of the great powers can already generate 14000 horsepower. This is a three-stage expansion steam engine that is much more advanced than the two-stage expansion steam engine of the Dingyuan."

Seeing Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing were surprised again, Teng Yuzao said to them in a gentle tone, "As the highest commanders of our Beiyang Navy, you must learn more about the development of the world's navy. This is very important, otherwise it will be difficult for our navy to reach the standards of the world's advanced navy."

Teng Yuzao's words made both of them blush. In order to prevent them from being too embarrassed, Teng Yuzao continued.

"What's more important is that the great powers have now developed more advanced steam turbines to replace the inefficient reciprocating steam engines of the past."

"This new type of steam turbine uses steam to convert its thermal energy into kinetic energy through a nozzle, and then uses high-speed steam to drive the turbine's rotor to rotate and output mechanical work."

"This allows it to overcome the shortcomings of reciprocating steam engines, such as low power, heavy weight, and high fuel consumption. I believe this new type of power unit will soon become a new type of power unit widely used on ships. Therefore, the warships we purchase this time must be required to use this most advanced power."

"In addition, the Germans also successfully developed a diesel engine four years ago. This diesel engine has higher thermal efficiency, lighter weight, and greatly reduces fuel consumption. It will soon be widely used on ships."

"Thanks to newer engines, today's ships are not only getting bigger, but also faster. Speeds of more than 24 knots are completely achievable."

"Also, you should know the British battleship HMS Victor?"

Seeing the two nod, Teng Yuzao said, "The main engine horsepower of the British battleship Victor has reached 14000 horsepower, and the main engine horsepower of a new ship launched by the Germans before the Sino-Japanese War of 15000- has reached horsepower."

"In terms of tonnage, the largest battleship of the British now has a displacement of 14900 tons, the French has reached 12200 tons, the Germans have reached 11130 tons, even the Russians have reached 12674 tons, and the United States has reached 11560 tons."

"In addition, the warships we order this time must be fully armored. We cannot buy outdated ironclad warships. If you can meet my requirements, I can agree to your purchase of two ships with a displacement of about 10,000 tons."

(End of this chapter)