Bismarck liked the young China ambassador to Germany very much. It was easy to talk to the Chinese ambassador, which was the prime minister's biggest feeling. Perhaps this was because China was at the eastern end of the world, and there was no strategic conflict with Germany. European countries used all kinds of diplomatic language to talk about problems, but the Chinese ambassador to Germany directly used strategic judgment to talk about reality.
France declared war on China on November 11, and on the 12th, the prime minister met with the Chinese ambassador to Germany. After listening to Bismarck's inquiry about China's future attitude, the Chinese ambassador replied with a smile, "If you are worried about the alliance between Britain and France and will turn against Germany, I personally think that the possibility is very small."
If it was an ordinary diplomat, the biggest feeling when faced with this kind of question might be that it was difficult to answer. They could only let the Chinese ambassador explain the reason, and then answer perfunctorily. Suppressing France was Germany's core strategy, and any possibility of France gaining an ally was a major pressure on Germany.
But the prime minister was a real diplomat. He had been an ambassador to several countries, and the situation in front of him could not stop him at all. Bismarck asked calmly, "What will China do next?"
The Chinese ambassador said frankly, "We have already marched into Myanmar, and it is expected that next year there will be a war with Britain not far from India. Britain will not give up India, and we have no intention of annexing India. But we must let Britain know that we have the ability to do so. "
The prime minister sorted out his thoughts, and after a while, he said, "But this can only let France return to Europe."
The ambassador said with a smile, "My country thinks that France's pursuit of colonies will make Britain full of vigilance against France, which is good for Germany. But even if France loses French Indochina, it will not stop France's pursuit of colonies. In other words, it was because France lost Indochina that they became more aggressive in their actions in other colonies. The British may allow France to expand in Indochina, but will Britain fully agree with France's expansion in Africa? "
Bismarck nodded slightly. This judgment was also reasonable.
The Chinese ambassador struck while the iron was hot and said, "When Britain spends a considerable part of its energy fighting China, the European countries will see that Britain is not doing well, and some of them will definitely take some actions that will make Britain very unhappy. At this time, Britain could only pull its power back to Europe in an attempt to stabilize the situation in Europe. Who would the United Kingdom choose as its temporary partner at this time? I don't think it will be France at all. Because the English know very well what kind of price the French will offer. "
These words were too straightforward. This was tantamount to a confident confession. The British were defeated by China, and when Europe continued to balance the situation in Europe, the British would choose an ally. France was out of the picture, Russia was out of the picture, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was out of the picture. The only partner that Britain could find was probably Germany. Once they became England's partner for a certain period of time, Germany could take the opportunity to stabilize the situation and make the French feel even more desperate.
Of course, in order to achieve such a situation, China had to be able to hold on until then. Britain's strength lay in its navy. If there was a war between Burma and China, the British Sixth Army might not be able to gain the upper hand.
He asked the Chinese ambassador, "Do you want Germany to send a message to England?"
"If Your Excellency is willing to help, we will be very grateful," the Chinese ambassador said seriously. Having a mouthpiece was also a good thing. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already made it clear to the ambassadors stationed in Europe, asking them to tell the European countries that China indeed wanted to dominate the Western Pacific Ocean, but China was only satisfied with that. If the United Kingdom was willing to sign a peace agreement with China now, China would be happy to restore peace with the United Kingdom. Although the scale of this war was not large, the actual losses on both sides were not much. As long as they took over the Dutch East Indies, China would have everything it wanted.
At this time, the United Kingdom could end the war with China now, and China could even consider temporarily letting the Dutch East Indies go.
In fact, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom had also made a proposal to the United Kingdom to support China, but the United Kingdom refused China's request with a strong attitude. In this case, China could only continue the war to promote the arrival of peace.
At this time, China's three meetings were being held. The first five-year plan had been successfully completed, and the second five-year plan had officially begun. In the midst of such busy work, Vézé still took the time to meet the members of the North Sea Fleet who had returned to Nanjing. Ding Ruchang and the others asked to see how the armor that had made great contributions in the naval battle was made. Because of the issue of confidentiality, the navy could only push this request to Vézé. Vézé thought for a while and finally allowed a few core officers of the fleet to visit the armor factory with Vézé.
Under the mold was a steel plate that had been polished and rusted, and the mold began to preheat the steel plate. After reaching a certain temperature, the pouring device controlled the molten iron ladle and poured the cast iron molten iron onto the steel plate inside the mold. Another steel plate that had been preheated was then buckled onto the molten iron. After the mold was closed, it was sent under a large hydraulic press for compression.
After the compression, the steel armor was heat treated, and after layers of processes and polishing, a composite steel armor was completed. The resulting composite armor would be taken out of the sample and sent to the test site for live ammunition testing to determine the quality of this batch of steel armor.
The outer layer of hard steel armor could prevent the piercing of armor-piercing bullets, and the inner layer of softer cast iron could absorb the impact of solid shells. The composite steel armor made in the sandwich mode was more than 25% stronger than homogeneous cast iron armor of the same thickness. The 300 mm heavy defense belt could achieve the protection of Europe's 375mm cast iron armor. It had a very good defense effect against the enemy's armor-piercing bullets or solid shells.
"How is it? Do you have confidence now? "Vézé asked his beloved general Ding Ruchang with a smile.
Ding Ruchang, who had joined the Liberation Army as early as 1853, could not help but nod repeatedly. "Commander in Chief, please rest assured that if such a warship can be sunk, I will sink with the warship. I will not let the British get the secrets of our warship from me! "
Vézé knew that Ding Ruchang's words were the result of the navy's emphasis on confidentiality before the visit. This kind of thing had to be emphasized. China was far from pulling away the technological gap with the world's industrial powers. China was only advanced in some concepts. If the foreign countries learned of this concept, they could easily catch up.
Deng Shichang's performance as an artillery commander was very outstanding. At the post-war summary meeting, Deng Shichang had a good summary of the artillery battle at the Battle of Tsugaru Strait. He was younger than Ding Ruchang, so he was concerned about another issue. "Commander in Chief, no wonder the military academy repeatedly said that the navy is the embodiment of the country's heavy industrial capabilities, and that the navy is an army piled up with gold. Before seeing it with my own eyes, I could not imagine that a piece of steel armor could have so many processing processes. With so many processes and so much equipment, I'm afraid that a piece of steel armor is really as valuable as the same weight of gold. "
These words touched an itch in Vézé's heart. He smiled and said, "On the whole, industrial countries rely on a lot of investment to build up. Of course, industrial countries have the ability to complete these research and develop these products. If it were an agricultural country like Manchu Qing, they would not be able to produce such a piece of steel armor even if they took out ten times the gold. "
Ding Ruchang did not feel much about this topic, but Deng Shichang nodded repeatedly. Deng Shichang was born in 1849 to a family of tea merchants in Guangdong. When he was seven years old and started primary school in Foshan, he was exposed to things from the industrial era. His father was a businessman who knew how to adapt to the times. When the Liberation Army recaptured Guangzhou, he let his son continue to go to primary school in Guangzhou. With the rapid industrialization of Guangzhou, Deng Shichang could be considered a generation that grew up with the industrialization of China. Young people had their own understanding of the industry.
After visiting the armor production factory, a group of navy soldiers who had more confidence in the People's Navy attended the meeting. Everyone knew that the founder of the navy was Vézé. Not only did he provide money and manpower to build the navy, but also Vézé had always led the direction of the People's Navy, including equipment and tactical concepts.
Ding Ruchang joined the Liberation Army at the age of 17 and had been with Vézé for 21 years. In order to get rid of hunger and pain, Deng Shichang joined Vézé's army. He followed the army step by step, saw China, saw his hometown and loved ones, and lived a good life that he had never heard of before. Following Vézé and obeying Vézé's orders was something that went deep into Ding Ruchang's soul. Young people like Deng Shichang were different. Struggling to survive was the feeling of the older generation. For young people, being recognized by the Military Governor Vaize was the most valuable thing in this era of intense change.
Ding Ruchang was used to listening to Vézé's orders, while Deng Shichang and the other young soldiers turned their accumulated experience in the war into the cornerstone of more effective combat. They worked hard to put forward their own new ideas.
"Commander-in-chief, if we can raise the muzzle angle higher, the landing point of the shell can be better. But this requires the cannons to be more effective in holding their breaths, and the shell to bite the rifling better … "Deng Shichang expressed his opinion on behalf of the artillerymen.
After listening to the artillerymen's expectations and suggestions, Vézé smiled and asked his secretary to pass a few documents to the participating soldiers. Ding Ruchang did not say a word after reading it. This was the latest artillery solution provided by the Ordnance Research Institute. It just happened to solve the problem that Deng Shichang had raised.
Ding Ruchang sighed in his heart when he saw the happy expressions on Deng Shichang and the others' faces. This was why he did not like these young people. They had too many ideas and were too unsteady. Ever since he followed Vézé, Ding Ruchang's experience was that Vézé would always walk in front of everyone. When everyone had not figured out what difficulties they were facing, or even when they did not know they were facing difficulties, Vézé had already come up with a solution.
Although Deng Shichang and the other young people were driven and performed well in training and on the battlefield. Ding Ruchang could not help but say in his heart, "Too easy!"
After discussing the artillery problem, it was time to discuss the formation of naval battles. The soldiers all believed that the current battle method was not able to fully display the power of the new cruisers. This method could reduce the possibility of their warships being sunk to a minimum, but it also meant that they would lose the more effective opportunity to sink the British warships.
Ding Ruchang could not bear to listen anymore. These bastards actually dared to criticize Vézé's instructions. Currently, the Chinese Navy only had a few warships that could be brought to the table. It was good to sink the enemy, but if they adopted radical tactics and caused a large number of warships to be sunk, how could they continue to fight the British?
However, Vézé listened to the young soldiers with a smile. Ding Ruchang was also embarrassed to stand up in front of Vézé and scold the young soldiers. If Ding Ruchang did this, who would he be showing off in front of?
After listening to this, Vézé told the young soldiers that the Naval Academy would immediately open a refresher course to discuss this issue. Ding Ruchang looked almost helplessly at the group of hot-blooded young people walking behind Vézé again. He felt that it was necessary to discipline these bastards.
After talking about the organization of the battle, Vézé raised a strategic issue.
"If China and Britain want to continue the war, the British's first step will be to withdraw their fleet from Japan to Singapore. I don't want to stop the British from doing this, and we don't have enough strength to stop them. The British are a very rational country, and they are also a country that cares a lot about face. So in a few months, the North Sea Fleet will join forces with the South Sea Fleet. They will fight a real war with the British in the South Sea. When that time comes, everyone must fight bravely and beat down the arrogance of the British! Beat the British back to the negotiating table! "
"Commander-in-chief, isn't this releasing the tiger back to the mountain?" Deng Shichang could not help but ask. The other young soldiers could not help but nod repeatedly. The British Grand Fleet was indeed very strong, and everyone was looking forward to dealing a heavy blow to the British Grand Fleet as much as possible. At the very least, they wanted to make the British non-armored ships suffer heavy losses and silence 70 to 80 of them.
Vézé smiled and said, "I don't think what you said is right. Compared to the British Fleet, we are the tigers. What we need to do now is to quickly sharpen our claws and teeth, and completely defeat the British Fleet in the South Sea War that will be coming soon. Let me ask you a question. Do you think the British still dare to send non-armored ships and those modified thin-skinned ironclads to fight us? "
The young soldiers shook their heads. Everyone still agreed with the intelligence of the British Navy.
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