() "Dad, I started these industries not only to make money, but also for the future of our family and the country." Liu Fu wiped the saliva from the corner of Liu Mingchuan's mouth, sent the two maids in the room out, and then sat back to continue.
explain.
"I have a lot of contact with foreigners. Recently I heard that there are a lot of comments in Japan, which are directed at our Qing Dynasty. They regard us as their enemies and have been secretly preparing for many years. However, there are still various internal strife in our court. If a war breaks out
, I’m afraid our Qing Dynasty will still be defeated.”
"Ri? What did you hear?" Liu Mingchuan still trusted Liu Fu's news and understanding of the world. Liu Mingchuan would always ask Liu Fu for any diplomatic or commercial problems he encountered.
"From the news coming from the British and Americans, the Japanese can no longer bear it. It is said that their emperor has reduced spending and called on all the people to donate money to buy ships. If it were not for war, would it be so laborious?"
Liu Fu had heard that the Emperor reduced his clothes and went on a diet to set an example to raise funds for the Japanese navy, but he didn't know what year it was, so he borrowed it to convince his father this time, and no one went to check it anyway.
"Alas...does the court know about these things?" Liu Mingchuan whispered to himself.
"I'm afraid the imperial court can't take care of Taiwan anymore. You worked hard to drive the French out of Taiwan. Are you willing to watch the Japanese take it away again? I built these factories just to help the imperial court defend the island. Maybe I can still do it at the critical moment.
The starting point. If you give it to others, it will be ruined within 2 years. Even if you sell it for countless money, it will be meaningless."
"Are you planning to go to war?" Liu Mingchuan was surprised. He didn't expect that his weird and smart son had this plan.
"I can't fight, but I can train those who fight, and I can equip those who fight with powerful weapons. My factory can already produce guns that are better than the German rifles. My shipyard is researching a kind of ship.
I can deal with any warship. In two years, I won’t be afraid of any country attacking me. I don’t want to see the results of so many years of hard work go to waste.” In order to convince his father, Liu Fu could only choose to tell the truth.
"What? You...cough...cough...cough..." Liu Mingchuan knew that his son usually did not talk big words, as long as what he said could always come true, but these words were a bit too scary.
The entire Qing Dynasty could not defeat a few British gunboats. The Beiyang Navy, which was just established two years ago, spent all the court's silver. I dare not say that I am not afraid of anyone. I can only guard the house. I took a sip of tea.
, suppressing his panic, Liu Mingchuan continued to ask.
"Is everything you just said true?"
"Well, in two years at most, I will have a fleet like this. They can sail underwater and use a large bomb to attack ships on the water from a long distance. I have seen Dingyuan and Zhenyuan of the Beiyang Navy in Hong Kong.
Even a big warship like that can't withstand my bombs. One bomb will be disabled, and two bombs will sink to the bottom." Liu Fu continued to break the news.
"Hey..." Maybe it was too unbelievable, Liu Mingchuan didn't say anything, he just sighed and thought silently.
"You need to rest for a while. I'll come back in the evening. I'll go and pay my respects to my mother first." Liu Fu knew that this matter could not be rushed. These old people who had suffered from foreigners and walked through the sea of blood and corpses always had something of their own.
They need to slowly change their views.
"Well, go, don't let others know what you just said." Liu Mingchuan also needed to calm down his mood. Some of the ideas he had originally thought of seemed to need to be adjusted again.
After dinner that day, in Liu Mingchuan's bedroom, the Liu family's father and son talked for several more hours. Then for several days, the Liu family's father and son discussed secretly every day, sometimes for half a day, sometimes for the whole day. I don't know.
It’s not that the stimulation was too great, Liu Mingchuan’s condition has improved and he can walk around slowly with support.
After several days of discussion, Liu Fu and Liu Ming finally reached an agreement. As for his condition, Liu Ming kept it secret and did not report it. He only said that he had a cold and a fever. He had recovered after taking "anti-inflammatory tablets", but he was weak and needed to rest. Now "
"Anti-inflammatory tablets" have become a must-have medicine in the homes of court officials, and wealthy households with a little wealth also
Several films will be prepared to meet unexpected needs. During the festival, Liu Mingchuan appointed Liu Fu as the Supervisor of Taiwan's Coastal Defense, responsible for the construction of coastal defense facilities across Taiwan, and handed over the command of the Huai Army's Mingzi Battalion stationed in Tamsui to Liu Fu's command.
.Subsequently, Liu Mingchuan sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, informing them of Japan's recent trends and suggesting that the imperial court pay attention.
According to Liu Fu's proposal, Liu Mingchuan continued to build two railways, the east line from Keelung to Hualien Port, and the west line from Hsinchu to Tainan Citong Port, with a total length of more than 400 kilometers. It was planned to employ a large number of people and build it within 2 years. From now on
Initially, three military ports will be built across Taiwan, namely Xiangshan Port, Citong Port, and Hualien Port.
Liu Mingchuan originally wanted to build forts at important ports, but Liu Fu convinced his father that those forts were useful for defense, but they cost a lot and required a large number of people, which was not cost-effective. With that kind of money, it is better to build more submarines.
With speedboats, preventing the opponent's ships from approaching the port in large numbers is the best defense.
Liu Fu didn't have too much trust in the Mingzi Battalion of the Huai Army and the local defenders in Taiwan, but he didn't want to slap his father in the face, so he could only politely say that some battalion leaders with weak combat effectiveness would be eliminated to save quotas and food pay.
, train more new troops. The new army is the unanimous decision of father and son.
It is proposed to expand the scale based on the factory protection team to about 30,000 people. After the army is formed, it will be fully equipped with AK-01 semi-automatic rifles, as well as the newly developed and produced "cantaloupe" hand grenades, and the equipment will be modified from Dongfeng pickup trucks.
Armored vehicles and Yangtze 750 motorcycles.
Just when the father and son were busy strengthening Taiwan's defense, news came from the research institute. After many tests, the torpedo has been finalized. This torpedo is thermally powered, with a total length of 3500mm, a diameter of 450mm, and a speed of 35 knots. It can travel 2300 kilometers.
meters, it can travel 4,000 meters at a speed of 25 knots, has a total weight of 400 kilograms, and a warhead charge of 35 kilograms.
In addition, the shipyard also built the first complete torpedo speedboat. After several trials, it basically met Liu Fu's requirements. The hull of this torpedo speedboat is 19.7 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. It has a single-hull fully submerged hydrofoil design and is equipped with 2
It has a diesel engine, 1700 horsepower, a maximum speed of 37 knots, a crew of 7, an endurance of 300 nautical miles and 13 knots, and is equipped with 2 450mm torpedo tubes and 2 rounds of ammunition.
After hearing the news, Liu Fu hurried back to Keelung from Taipei, boarded the torpedo boat in person, and conducted a target practice. As a result, facing a slow-moving target ship 1,000 meters away, the torpedo boat sprinted at high speed and fired two bombs, hitting the target once.
, high explosives put that 200
The tons of cement target ship was directly blown into several pieces. Then they practiced attacking high-speed target ships and long-distance firing. The hit rate dropped, but what is encouraging is that as long as they hit the target, all the torpedoes detonated normally.
In Liu Fu's opinion, the power was very great.
Liu Fu named the new torpedo "Type 1" torpedo and the torpedo speedboat "Haiyan class", and immediately put these two new equipment into production.
With his own maritime armed force, Liu Fu immediately added 400 new sailors to the water patrol team. Some were selected from the abolished battalion heads, and the other were recruited from among the workers. After all, the workers had undergone training in the past few years.
, most of them have some education and have a deeper understanding of mathematics and machinery.
Liu Mingchuan continued to recuperate in the governor's office, while Liu Fu was very busy. He not only had to focus on building railways and ports, but also arranged production, checked the training effects of the new army and water patrol teams, and even took time to go to the shipyard.
Organize research and development of submarines.
After several trial productions of the submarine, most of the problems have been solved. However, some problems have been encountered in the double hull. The hardness and toughness of contemporary steel are somewhat low. To solve this problem, we have to wait for the new special steel mill.
Steel is made. Liu Fu knows nothing about this steel material, has no clue, etc.
Because Liu Mingchuan's illness made Liu Fu deeply feel his own vulnerability, which aggravated the already existing sense of crisis, Liu Fu decided to risk it all and took out the last batch of "anti-inflammatory tablets" in his hand and shipped them to the United States for David to take.
In exchange for various materials that Taiwan lacks, the management team was ordered to put the entire Keelung Industrial Base into combat readiness, fully produce various weapons and ammunition, and build warehouses near three military ports in Taiwan to disperse weapons and ammunition everywhere.
The new troops were also stationed and were being trained and armed at the same time.
