When Wang Chenhao was in London in March, he cooperated with the British Third Maritime Secretary Fisher to develop a destroyer (called a torpedo boat destroyer in the UK) project. The Royal Naval Engineering Corporation, based on the USS Turpingia high-speed yacht of Parsons, a subsidiary of Beiyang Technology, built the first batch of C-class torpedo boat destroyers, including a batch of hunting ships belonging to Wang Chenhao.

According to the first contract reached by Wang Chenhao and Fisher, the UK built 16 C-class torpedo boat destroyers, six of which were purchased by Wang Chenhao and called the Feiyu-class hunting ship.

Six flying fish-class hunting ships were named "Flying Fish", "Peak Horse", "Flying Rabbit", "Flying Cat", "Flying Badger", and "Flying Wolf". The numbers start from cn-dd-101, and the first 100

Numbers are reserved for use.

Due to the outbreak of the Qing and Russian War, Wang Chenhao urgently needed these hunting ships to participate in the war, so he added six orders, totaling twelve. The latter six were named "Flying Snake", "Flying Leopard", "Flying Fox", "Flying Tiger", "Flying Dragon" and "Flying Squirrel".

In the next four to six months, the General Administration of Hailevel Engineering of the United Kingdom gave priority to the construction of the hunting ship for Wang Chenhao. The flying fish-class hunting ship was built in a total of eight ships in the UK. They were all completed around August and September. After a brief sea trial, they returned to China. After more than three months of voyage, they arrived at Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry in late December.

At the same time, four flying fish-class hunting ships assembled by Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry were also in a tense process. Due to the end of the Qing and Russian War, these hunting ships failed to participate in the war. After some maintenance and maintenance at Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, they were incorporated into the Pacific Fleet, and then adapted into the Fifth and Sixth Fleet of the Royal Navy to be the Fleet of the Hunting Ship.

The fifth team was organized into "Flying Fish", "Flying Horse", "Flying Snake", "Flying Cat", "Flying Fox", and "Flying Tiger".

The sixth team was organized into "Flying Dragon", "Flying Rabbit", "Flying Cat", "Flying Badger", and "Flying Wolf". Among them, "Flying Rabbit", "Flying Cat", "Flying Badger" and "Flying Wolf" ships were transported back to China late because they were assembled parts and transported back to China, and the formation was not yet completed.

According to Wang Chenhao's proposal, the Navy yamen was changed to the Navy Department, and Prince Gong Yi was still the Minister of the Navy Department, with the purpose of reassuring the court. Li Hongzhang and Wang Chenhao were deputy ministers, but Li Hongzhang had long lost the energy to manage naval affairs. The reason why he agreed to continue as deputy minister was actually to help Wang Chenhao control the Navy Department with two enemies and one.

However, Wang Chenhao could not believe Li Hongzhang, he knew that Li Hongzhang was always loyal to the court, so in case of precautions, Wang Chenhao established the Navy General Staff Headquarters.

The General Staff Headquarters has eight departments, the first department is called military system, the second department is called military politics, the third department is called military learning, the fourth department is called military defense, the medical department is called military doctor, the secretary department is called military affairs department is called military reserve, and the military law department is set up as the eight departments.

The main personnel of the Eight Divisions are all carefully selected by Wang Chenhao, who firmly control the rights of the General Staff Headquarters. The General Staff Headquarters is between the Navy Fleet Command and the Navy. If Wang Chenhao is willing, he can overhead the Navy at any time and control the Navy.

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〖Japan〗Tokyo, Prince Chiren's Mansion.

Since the Japanese and Japanese army voluntarily withdrew from North Korea, the international situation in Northeast Asia has undergone tremendous changes. In the past, the conflict between Japan and Russia allowed the Qing Empire to reap profits, but now the withdrawal of Japan and Japan from North Korea eased the conflict between Japan and Russia, which increased the conflict between Qing and Russia. This time, the military conflict between Qing and Russia has led to a greater formation of Liangzi. The conflict between Qing and Russia has suddenly surpassed the conflict between Japan and Russia, which greatly improved the international environment of Japan and Japan.

"Your Highness's move is indeed brilliant, and we admire it very much." In the living room of Prince Chiren's mansion, Japanese Prime Minister Kiyotsuki Kuroda, Foreign Minister Muro Omohiro, Navy Command Minister Shiki Karayama, and General Aito Yama Prefecture and Hirofumi Ito, the minister of the army department, were gathered here on the occasion of celebrating his 61st birthday.

Prince Chiren, who should have died in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, survived due to historical changes. As the backbone of the Japanese Navy and Army, Chiren's life brought hope to the revival of Japan and China, and also brought unforeseen potential threats to China in the future.

"It is undeniable that I can make this important decision, and we must respect our enemies all thanks to Wang Chenhao."

Chiren raised his glass, and everyone followed him, but they all looked at each other.

Shiki Karayama asked in confusion: "Why did Your Highness say that? Wang Chenhao is the biggest enemy of the empire, why do you respect him?"

Chiren looked at the others and saw that others had the same expression as Karayama Shiki, so he explained with a smile: "As an enemy, I wish I could eat his flesh and drink his blood. But as an opponent, I admire him as a hero. If it weren't for his precise analysis of the Northeast Asia pattern, I wouldn't have come up with a strategy to withdraw troops from North Korea and instigate the Qing and Russia to start a war, so as to make profits for the empire! Therefore, it is precisely because we have a powerful enemy and an opponent that we will constantly correct our own shortcomings and make continuous progress. Therefore, I suggest that we have a drink for us to have a powerful enemy!"

Shiki Karayama exclaimed: "I agree, but your highness, your xiongpin is the great hero!"

Everyone agreed and laughed and drank it all with Chi Ren.

Chiren put down his wine glass and exclaimed: "Wang Chenhao is the most tragic opponent I have ever seen. He is almost omnipotent in politics, economy, military and diplomacy. He is the biggest obstacle to the policy of the empire and even the biggest threat to the empire." "I agree with your highness!" Ito Hirobuki took a sip of the strong wine and said: "Wang Chenhao is really incredible. His identity has always been a mi. Apart from what he said, we can't find any news about him."

Yama Prefecture Akito said in agreement: "Ito-kun's idea coincides with me. I just can't figure out how he did this at a young age? He traveled around the world and became a billionaire. And he started from scratch. If we could know his methods and tricks, the empire would be just around the corner."

Kuroda Kiyoto said with envy, "I really hope that the words of Yama Prefecture can come true! If Wang Chenhao can have the means, there is no need to raise hundreds of millions of funds, it is enough to help the country recover its vitality!" Chiren asked, "Kuroda, how is the national government now?" Kuroda Kiyoto said, "I'm sure that your Highness the Prince has given up fighting for Hawaii with the United States, eased the opposition with the United States, and received a lot of financial assistance from the Americans.

The recovery of the country's economy has played a key role. At the same time, it is precisely because of your wise decision that the empire withdraws troops from North Korea and improves hostile relations with Russia. Now the Russians have focused all their energy on dealing with the Chinese and their relations with us. Also, because Russia no longer regards us as its enemies France and Germany, and therefore no longer hostile to us. Recently, we have also improved relations with France and Germany, and have obtained their commitment to invest in Japan and helping us rebuild our economy."

Hirobuki Ito suddenly asked: "What has the impact of this international silver loss crisis on the empire?

Is it still intensified?"

Everyone immediately looked at Kuroda Kiyoshi. This problem was very serious. Everyone understood how severe the international silver loss crisis caused to the Japanese financial system.

Since Japan is a silver standard country, it was hit hard in the international silver loss crisis, and the heavy economic losses can be said to be a worse blow since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

However, Kiyotaka Kuroda's methods are still very strong. In order to deal with this crisis, he implemented a financial reform based on national credit when Japan's financial difficulties were tight.

The so-called national credit means using the national trust in the country as the basis point to replace gold and silver as the basic reserve for issuing currencies.

Kuroda Kiyotsuka carried out a financial reform based on national credit, abolished the silver standard and directly used paper money as the main circulating currency, namely the paper money standard.

This reform was very bold, but it was also a helpless move by Japan. Japan did not have enough gold reserves, so it was impossible to implement the gold standard reform. However, as the international silver loss crisis deepened, Japan continued to adopt the silver standard and suffered heavy losses. In order to change this situation, Kuroda Kiyoshi thus directly implemented the epoch-making banknote standard with the guarantee of national credit.

The banknote standard system, also known as the "free standard system". A currency system with the banknotes issued by the state as a basic currency. Its characteristic is that the state does not stipulate the gold content of the banknotes, nor does it allow the banknotes to be exchanged with gold (silver). The banknotes have unlimited legal compensation ability when circulating as the main currency.

At the same time, the state also issued a small amount of metal coins for circulation, but the value of the auxiliary coins has nothing to do with the value of the metal commodities used to mint it.

Since issuing paper notes is a privilege of the state, after the central bank is nationalized, the state entrusts the central bank to issue paper notes. The central bank issues paper notes through credit procedures, so paper notes are actually a credit currency.

Kuroda Kiyoshi used the national credit to enforce the banknote standard, which was definitely not feasible in other countries. However, Kuroda Kiyoshi succeeded, thanks to the single sing of the Japanese nation and the Yamato people's extremely loyalty to the Japanese government. Kuroda Kiyoshi implemented the mandatory banknote standard, strictly stipulated the purchasing power of paper money, thereby controlling the huge impact of silver depreciation on the Japanese economy.

However, despite this, Kuroda Kiyoshi can use the enforced banknote standard to stabilize the economy of Japan. However, the mainstream monetary systems of countries in the world still use hard currency such as gold, silver, and copper as the financial basis, while hard currency in Japan has been used as the benchmark guarantee and have not been recognized internationally.

Therefore, the foreign trade of Japan is very severe. The trade currencies of various countries are not based on the Japanese yen as the settlement standard, forcing the Japanese government to pay with the only gold and silver in China. In order to prevent the outflow of silver and gold, the Japanese government had to reduce the scale of foreign trade and even prohibit private si from trading gold and silver, which has a certain impact on the Japanese economy.

Of course, as far as the Japanese economy is concerned, as Japan is unable to carry out gold standard reform, Kuroda Kiyoshi's method has saved the Japanese economy from being severely damaged, and overall gains outweigh losses.

"You have done this well, Kuroda Jun, you have done a great job!" Chiren suggested to Kuroda Kiyoshi for a glass, and everyone accompanied him to drink.

Hirobuki Ito said: "Look at Mexico and other countries, it is said to have suffered heavy losses. One of the main reasons for Russia's war with the Qing Empire this time was also because Russia's silver standard was seriously affected and financial tightness was caused." Chiren turned to Mu Ao Zongguang and asked: "What is the movement of the Qing government?" Mu Ao Zongguang said: "I heard that the Qing government ordered Sheng Xuanhuai to establish the Qing Dynasty Commercial Bank in Shanghai, and is currently collecting funds in Shanghai. I heard that it is preparing to carry out the gold standard reform."

Kuroda Kiyotaka said: "The Qing government did not have the Central Bank's Ministry of Revenue and its Ministry of Revenue was overwhelmed in financial reform, so the Qing Dynasty Tongshang Bank was trying the waters in advance. It is estimated that if the fundraising is completed and sufficient funds are obtained, monetary reform will be carried out."

Chiren nodded and said, "You think, will that Wang Chenhao intervene?" Ito Hirobuki snorted coldly and said, "That's absolutely certain! Wang Chenhao now controls the elite of the Qing Empire's sea and land army, and builds a huge industrial base in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang area. Daxing Westernization plus the large amount of funds in Zhi Chenhao's hands, he will never miss this opportunity. Because if he can invest in Yaqing Tongshang Bank, he can participate in the financial reform of the Qing government. If he can obtain the right to issue currency from the Qing government, or even manage the fiscal and tax revenue of the Qing government, it will be equivalent to controlling the economic and financial lifeline of the Qing government." Yutoto Yama Prefecture sighed: "It seems like this!"

Mu Ao Zongguang smiled and said, "Although everyone's worries are right! But I think the Qing government will never give Wang Chenhao this opportunity."

Chiren looked at Mu Ao Zongguang and asked suspiciously: "What does the Foreign Minister mean?" Mu Ao Zongguang said: "You may not know that something very interesting happened to Beijing, the capital of the Qing government, yesterday!"

"Let me tell you? What's the interesting thing?" Prince Chiren asked hurriedly, and everyone quickly pricked up their ears.

I heard Mu Ao Zongguang say: "The Qing Russian War had just ended, and the Chinese, who had no external threats, immediately began internal strife. Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Empire ordered Wang Chenhao to hand over his Pacific fleet to the country.

Youpeng of Shanxian immediately interrupted, "Didn't the Pacific Fleet bought by Wang Chenhao by himself? Why did Guangxu ask him to hand over it? Everyone had this expression and didn't understand it very much.

Lu Ao Zongguang smiled and said, "The problem is here! Wang Chenhao bought the Pacific Fleet by himself, that's right. But such a huge fleet was placed in Wang Chenhao's hands. Emperor Guangxu was worried that he would rebel. Therefore, he planned to seize his fleet. But what's interesting is that as soon as Guangxu issued an order, all public opinion began to criticize Guangxu, strongly accusing him of persecuting loyal ministers and scolding Guangxu to the point of being scammered."

Hirobu Ito suddenly laughed and said, "If I guessed correctly, this must be Wang Chenhao's dissatisfaction with Guangxu, which was done by him!" Prince Chiren said, "As a minister, Wang Chenhao should not do this even if he is dissatisfied.

After all, Guangxu was the emperor, so he might have killed Wang Chenhao in anger."

Lu Ao Zongguang smiled slightly and continued, "The wonderful place is here! After Wang Chenhao scolded Guangxu, he immediately ran to Empress Dowager Cixi and presented the Pacific Fleet to Cixi.

Moreover, the reorganization of the Pacific Fleet and the Beiyang Navy as the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire won the favor of Cixi and blocked Guangxu's mouth, making him unable to get angry with Wang Chenhao. However, Cixi and Guangxu were disagreeable. Cixi appointed Wang Chenhao as the commander of the Royal Navy, which was equivalent to returning the Pacific Fleet to Wang Chenhao, and also attached the Beiyang Navy to him." Akito Yama County said immediately: "Isn't this Wang Chenhao not only not lost money, but also made a big profit?" Hirobuki Ito also said: "And it also rubbed Guangxu's majesty hard, causing Guangxu to lose face and people's hearts in front of the people! And he himself became a loyal minister, and the people admired him even more."

Chiren sneered: "This Wang Chenhao is so scheming! High! Really high!"

Kuroda Kiyotsuki also looked full of admiration, but he guessed the external sound of Mu Ao Zongguang's words, so he said: "The Foreign Minister is probably a different point of view. The Chinese have just driven away foreign enemies and are now starting to have internal strife. This shows that the conflict between Guangxu and Wang Chenhao is escalating. If the Qing Empire is in chaos or civil war breaks out, it will be a great opportunity for the Japanese Empire!"

Murozo Mitsuki smiled and said, "It's still the Prime Minister who can see far!" Kuroda Kiyotsuki nodded with a smile, and the others immediately understood and were all happy.

Prince Chiren thought for a while and said, "In my opinion, a civil war will definitely break out in the Qing Empire. This Wang Chenhao controlled the Beiyang Army, and a hundred thousand elite troops surrounded the capital of the Qing Empire. He also controlled the royal navy of the Qing Empire. Most of the elite military forces of the Qing Empire were in his hands. In addition, his thoughts were contrary to the Qing Empire, so he was very likely to rebel."

Hirobu Ito also agreed, "I think so too! Wang Chenhao's thoughts are advanced and the Qing court's backward thoughts are absolutely incompatible. Now, Guangxu must have hated Wang Chenhao to death. Even if Wang Chenhao does not rebel, Guangxu will continue to retaliate against him and force him to rebel in the end." Everyone nodded and agreed with this.

Prince Chiren then said: "In the civil unrest in the Qing Empire, Russia and other great powers will inevitably intervene and get a share of the pie. This is a good opportunity to divide China, and we cannot be absent. We should be prepared."

Shiki Kawayama said: "But now, our navy only has some old warships from the West Sea Fleet, and the new warships Fuji and Hachishima will return to China to serve next summer. But with the strength of our navy, it is not enough to compete with the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire." Prince Chiren said: "Don't forget that the Russians suffered a great loss in this Qing Russian war, and they will definitely retaliate. I don't think it will take too long. At that time, the Qing and Russia will have a full-scale war. We just need to actively prepare, take the opportunity to get the benefits and reap the benefits."

Yama Prefecture Akito said worriedly, "But our military expenditure is too small, I'm afraid we won't be able to participate at that time." Prince Chiren smiled slightly, turned to Kuroda Kiyoshi, and said, "I'm going to ask Kuroda Jun. I hope you can restore the empire's economy as soon as possible! The fate of the empire depends on you!" "Please!" Others nodded and bowed one after another. Kuroda Kiyoshi hurriedly replied, "Don't worry, you guys, I will do my best!"

In order to fight against the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire and the Russian Far East Fleet, the Japanese Navy saved money in a very shortage of funds, tightened its belt and saved a sum of funds to rebuild the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.

Since the Japanese and Japanese navy and army retreated from the Korean Peninsula, Russia no longer regarded Japanese as a strong enemy. In order to fight against the Qing Empire, the Russians adjusted their strategy against Japan and changed from hostility to united forces.

Although Russia has no money, it can help Japan improve relations with France and Germany, and at the same time help Japan borrow money from France and Germany to restore the Japanese economy.

However, on the grounds of restoring the economy, Japan used the loans from the United States, France and Germany to vigorously restore the Japanese navy.

At the end of December 1896, Japan borrowed money from France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, and received a total of 350 million yen, equivalent to a loan of 35 million yen on the British List.

With this loan, Japan accelerated its economic recovery on the one hand, and Japan's General Staff Headquarters also formulated a ten-year military development plan. The plan was focused on the Qing Empire and then gained the understanding of Russia, Germany and France. In fact, Japan still wanted to dominate East Asia alone, and there was no shortage of defense against Russia.

In this military expansion plan, for the construction of 36 new troops in the Qing Empire, the Japanese Army plans to expand to 20 divisions. For the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire, the Japanese Army is preparing to restore the combat effectiveness of the joint fleet.

At this time, among the main battleships of the Qing Empire Navy, Japan believed that the threat was only the two Dengyun-class battleships that were about to be completed. In this regard, the Japanese Navy had two Fuji-class battleships. Wang Chenhao's Six Six Fleet Plan..., it was planned to build six large armored cruisers and six cruisers. In response to Wang Chenhao's plan..., the Japanese Navy also proposed a naval armament plan to build six large armored cruisers and six cruisers.

〖Japan〗The Japanese Navy targeted a 12,000-ton and five 7,000-ton large armored cruisers from the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire.〖Japan Navy planned to build six large armored cruisers of 9,000-ton and above as a confrontation.

Two of them were built in the UK. The Japanese Navy ordered two large 9700-ton armored cruisers from the UK, namely the Asashima and the Tokuba ship. Two 9900-ton armored cruisers from the United States, namely the Izumo ship and the Imato ship. They ordered a 9600-ton armored cruiser from Germany, namely the Yaguko ship. They ordered a 9300-ton armored cruiser from France, namely the Mymashiro ship.

The six large armored cruisers in Japan were designed and built as six large armored cruisers that completely suppressed the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire. However, the Japanese Navy did not order it in one country, but chose four countries, Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which put some pressure on the logistics supply of each ship. Although the Japanese Navy understood this disadvantage, it had to do so.

On the one hand, the Japanese Navy's funding comes from borrowing from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States. Borrowing from these countries requires conditions, so it is chosen to build warships in these countries. On the other hand, the Japanese Navy's move is also to improve relations with the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States.

For Britain, although the Japanese government knew that Britain and the Qing Empire were in a mi-month period, it was not good for Japan. However, the Japanese government knew that the real purpose of the British supporting the Qing Empire was just to fight against Russia. Once the value was lost, the Qing Empire was still the target of division and invasion of the British Empire, which could not be changed. In response to this most fundamental factor, the Japanese government still believed that Britain would sooner or later give up the Qing Empire and chose Japan. Therefore, the Japanese navy continued to build a large number of warships in the UK.

In response to the six 5,000-ton Haiqi-class armored cruisers of the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire, the Japanese Navy planned to build six armored cruisers with similar to tonnage as a confrontation. All six medium-tonnage armored cruisers were built in the UK, namely the Kashima ship, the Chitose ship, the Takama ship, the New Tall Ship, the Hokushi ship, and the High Salt Ship. The tonnage is slightly different, with a minimum of 4,900 tons and a maximum of 5,300 tons. Of course, the other purpose of choosing to build these six armored cruisers in the UK is to take the opportunity to clarify the construction parameters and construction period of the Haiqi-class armored cruisers of the Royal Navy of the Qing Empire, so as to have a clear idea of ​​it.

〖Japan〗In addition to large-scale arms expansion, the Japanese Navy also accelerated the pace of naval industrial construction.

At this time, the Japanese Navy successively built a series of naval industries such as Yokosuka Naval Shipyard, Wu Navy Shipyard and Sasebo Naval Arsenal. At first, although Japan lags behind the Qing Empire in basic naval industry and first took the path of introducing foreign shipbuilding technology, Japan's education was thorough than the Westernization Movement of the Qing Empire, and cultivated a large number of technicians, absorbing and digesting more and faster technologies. This led to the rapid development of Japan's naval industry, and at this time it had already caught up with the level of the naval industry of the Qing Empire.

It is reflected in that while the Japanese navy purchased it, the country was designing and building new warships by itself. For example, the Suma ship started construction at the Yokosuka Naval Factory on August 1, 1892, 1895.

It was launched on the 19th of the month and was completed on December 2, 1896. It is affiliated to the Sasebo Governor's Palace.

This warship was built very slowly. In addition to the late start of the Japanese naval industry, it was constantly learning and scrambling, mainly because the economic crisis hindered its construction speed and it was completed in more than four years. Despite this, it was also better than the Qing Empire. Because after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing Empire had not yet launched a self-built large-tonnage warship.

At the same time, despite the impact of the economic crisis, the Japanese Navy did not give up building warships.

Following the Suma ship, the Japanese Navy started construction of the Akashi ship at the Yokosuka Naval Factory on August 6, 1894, and was named "Akashi" on May 27, 1895. It was launched on December 18, 1896. As a test ship that learns experience, the Daji ship of Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry has a long construction cycle and is expected to be completed in 1999.
Chapter completed!