In the first year of Guanghua, the Chinese Shence Navy formulated the first five-year naval development plan, built the 99 Fleet case, fully armored combat ships, and expelled the British and other powerful navies in the coastal areas around China, and seized the sea control rights of East Asia.

In the fifth year of Guanghua, the Fourth Yabo War ended, and the Chinese Navy exceeded the First Five-Year Plan task, and the naval power expanded from East Asia, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia to the entire Western Pacific.

According to the secret provisions of the additional memorandum of the Sino-British Manila Treaty, the British naval sphere of influence retreated to south of the 3rd north latitude and west of the 180th Tokyo line. That is, the middle waters between Singapore and Borneo are the north-south dividing line, the Chinese naval sphere of influence to the north, and the British naval sphere of influence to the south. The Prime Minister's meridian is the east-west dividing line, the Pacific waters east are the British naval sphere, and the Pacific waters west are the Chinese naval sphere of influence.

Although China and Britain divide the maritime spheres of influence, neither side will meet the existing maritime spheres. The British Navy will make a comeback sooner or later, and the Chinese Navy will naturally not sit still and wait for death.

Therefore, at the imperial meeting held by Li Weiguo in the early sixth year of Guanghua, he planned the Navy's next five-year development plan, namely the Second Five-Year Plan, and the timeline was set from the sixth year of Guanghua to the tenth year of Guanghua (1871 to 1876).

After the completion of the 99 Fleet case, the main combat ships had a total of nine ironclad ships and nine dome-armored cruise ships. It was enough to patrol and alert the coastal waters around China, but if used to cruise the entire Western Pacific region, it would seem that there would be insufficient numbers.

This is because naval warships now use steam engine power and coal burning systems, unlike traditional wooden sail warships, which do not require frequent maintenance and coal replenishment. The steam engine and coal burning system equipment of iron armored warships face daily failures such as aging, wear and other daily failures.

In this way, the maintenance and combat readiness of the Chinese Navy's warships became particularly important.

After the end of the Fourth Yabo War, almost all the main battleships of the Chinese Navy were lying in the dock for maintenance. There were only small frigates and gunboats patrol along the surrounding coast, and there were no warships cruises in the deep sea areas. This was not enough to show the Chinese Navy's control ability over the Western Pacific.

After discovering this problem, the Navy immediately raised this issue at the imperial meeting, and it received great attention from Li Weiguo.

Finally, Li Weiguo made a decision based on the common naval maintenance and combat readiness rules used in later generations.

The entire Chinese Navy's four ocean fleet is divided into three batches, one batch conducts daily combat readiness cruises, one batch of daily baits and one batch of docking maintenance, and is rotated in sequence to ensure that the warships are maintained in time without affecting combat readiness.

In this way, the main force of the 99th Fleet of the Chinese Navy usually has only six warships for combat preparation cruises, which is even more insufficient to face the vast waters of the Western Pacific.

In response to this situation, the expansion of naval power has become an imminent matter.

Of course, the most important reason is that the British Navy is expanding on a large scale. Since the British Asian fleet was wiped out in the Qizhou Ocean, the British Navy has begun to work hard. With the strong support of Benjamin, various parts of the UK have launched their own advanced warship design competitions, and the British Navy will select the best designs for construction.

This itself is a huge pressure on the Chinese Navy, so it is inevitable that the Chinese Navy will expand.

The Nine Nine Fleet. In fact, it is only a relationship between two times nine and eighteen. If you want to dominate the waters of the whole world, you must be nine times nine. It is reasonable to say that the eighty-one main battleships are.

After listening to the financial report of the Jinbu Department (Ministry of Finance), Li Weiguo predicted the maritime crisis that he would encounter in the next five years, and finally approved the Navy to build nine ironclad ships and nine dome cruise ships as main battleships, as well as related supporting auxiliary ships.

At the same time, the development plan of submarines and fish radial boats has been paid attention to. This time, the submarines and fish radial boats played a key role. Therefore, the Navy plans to add 18 submarines and 30 fish radial boats within five years, which were directly approved by Li Weiguo.

Just when Li Weiguo held the imperial meeting, undercurrents from all over the world quietly entered China.

After entering China, these undercurrents quickly inquire about the materials and technology of artillery barrel manufacturing used by the Chinese Shence Army, as well as various intelligence information including submarines, fish radium boats and fish radium weapons, including fish radium weapons.

That's right, these undercurrents are spy agencies, from various European and American powers. They were all shocked by the Battle of Huangyan Island and wanted to master the key technologies of the Chinese Navy to defeat the British Navy and wipe out the British Asian fleet.

No country really wants Britain to dominate the world, but the navies of various countries have never dared to challenge Britain's maritime hegemony before. However, as the British Asian fleet was wiped out, some countries' minds quickly became active. On the one hand, they used official governments to communicate with the Chinese government, and on the other hand, they secretly sent spies to collect intelligence.

Of course, British spies are indispensable, and the one with the greatest pressure is also the British spies.

Among the intelligence agencies from Britain, Mi5 was just established, called MI5, and is affiliated to the Royal Navy and is not among British government agencies. This is more than 30 years earlier than Mi5, which was established in 1903 in history. The first goal is to steal military intelligence from the Chinese Navy.

The first task of Mi5 is to steal the design drawings of the main warships of the Chinese Navy, focusing on the relevant manufacturing technology of the 305mm main gun, because this main gun caused a great loss to the Royal Navy. In addition, the relevant design drawings of the submarines play a crucial role in the development plan of the Royal Navy in the next five years.

In terms of carrier-based main guns, the British were very curious about how the Chinese made the barrel of the 305mm main gun. This is not an ordinary artillery, and any third-rate country with some strength can be made. The 305mm main gun used by the Chinese Navy has a diameter of 35 times, otherwise it would not be possible to have a large range of 10,000 meters.

In comparison, the British Navy's 120-pound main gun was only a pitiful 26 times the diameter, with an effective range of only 3,000 meters and a distance of no more than 5,000 meters. It suffered a great loss in the battle of Huangyan Island and was always passively beaten, which made the Chinese Navy's 305mm naval gun torture.

You should know that the current mainstream artillery manufacturing process in the world is still cast iron, which is a thick pile of cast iron. The larger the caliber, in order to ensure that the chamber does not explode, it can only have three layers inside and three layers outside, resulting in a very large size and weight. Compared with the Chinese Navy's naval gun, although the British 120-pound main gun also uses steel, it is still a short and fat man, while the Chinese 305mm naval gun is thin and tall, and the size difference between the two is obvious.

The British knew very well that China's 12-inch main gun could be so slim. The diameter was as high as 35, which shows that the barrel wall was very strong, so there was no need to worry about the danger of high chamber pressure causing the explosion. It proved from the side that China has surpassed the UK in terms of artillery special steel and also surpassed the UK in terms of artillery lathe processing technology.

This made the British very embarrassed. The British were once ahead of the world in this regard, but now they are overtaken by China and have to come to China to steal technology. If this is spread, it would be too embarrassing.

Shanghai, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, this is the largest comprehensive military manufacturing unit of the Chinese military. The Navy's 305mm main gun is produced, manufactured and tested here, and finally delivered to the Navy's equipment.

Just after noon, after the gate of the Manufacturing Bureau’s gun factory, the workers came home from get off work and lined up to go out.

There are special officers and guards at the door responsible for inspection, mainly to prevent workers from secretly carrying leaked documents or production materials.

Yang Lin simply held his bag. Looking at the officer in front of him and the guards with live ammunition beside him, his heartbeats quickly and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"What's this?"

"It must have been accidentally hung up!"

The officer found a steel wire from the clothes of an employee in front. He took it out and identified it, and immediately found that it was the material that fell when the latest type of artillery drilled the rifle and was never allowed to be taken out of the factory.

"take away!"

"I really don't know, I'm wronged!"

Two soldiers came up and took the man away without saying a word.

Yang Lin looked at it from behind, with more cold sweat on his forehead, his back became even more wet, and he felt a burst of bone-permeable chill.

The inspection was too strict. A steel wire less than a centimeter long could be found when hidden in the clothes.

Yang Lin's hands and feet trembled suddenly. It was his turn, and he immediately turned around and wanted to leave.

The officer's eyes were so sharp, and Yang Lin's expression and every move instantly aroused the officer's suspicion.

"That person, stop!"

Yang Lin was guilty and ran away immediately.

"Closing the exit, chase me!"

At the command of the officer, the gate was closed, and a team of gun-armed guards quickly moved out and chased Yang Lin with their police dogs.

Soon, Yang Lin was arrested and a hidden steel wire was found from his bag. It was soon confirmed that it was material on special steel and also from a new type of artillery.

There have been many arrests of workers who tried to leave the factory with special steel materials, which immediately attracted the attention of the Military Commission of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and quickly interrogated the relevant criminals.

Soon, Yang Lin and other criminals confessed.

It turned out that Yang Lin's parents were arrested by British agents. Yang Lin was forced to accept the threat from British agents and risked the crime of beheading and carried special steel materials from the factory.

Obviously, as long as a little material is handed over to British agents, it will take no time for British experts to analyze the composition of the special steel materials used in Chinese artillery, and with the British industrial strength, it will be copied soon.

In addition to the British, agents from other countries were also involved. They used various means to coerce and lure employees of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and let them steal relevant technical materials.

The situation was quickly reported to the central court, which attracted the attention of both the imperial military and police.

After learning about this, Li Weiguo summoned Chen Jingnan, Minister of Justice, Wu Yong, Minister of War, Li Ciming, head of the Ministry of Justice (Police Department, Department of Transportation), Wang Yirong, head of the National Security Department (Domestic Security Bureau), and heads of the Ministry of War (Ministry of National Defense), the Ministry of National Defense (Ministry Command), and the Ministry of Military Affairs (Ministry Order Department), to discuss countermeasures.

"It is obvious that spy agencies in various countries, including the United Kingdom, have large-scale infiltration of the country. Their goal is to steal military secrets such as artillery and submarines."

"This matter is left to the National Security Department for handling, and the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War cooperate fully to ensure that the national military secrets are not leaked and that there must be no mistakes."

"I will obey the order!" Wu Yong, Chen Jingnan and others hurriedly accepted the order and did not dare to neglect it.

Li Weiguo also said: "There are many incidents in China's SHIELD recently. Many intelligence agencies overseas have been damaged by European and American intelligence departments, and many people have been killed and injured, including many captured people. Although China's SHIELD has made every effort to rescue, the intelligence structures of various countries are very vigilant, and the rescue operation has achieved little success."

China SHIELD is in charge of overseas intelligence collection. It does not belong to the Six Ministry of the Twenty-Four Divisions, but is directly under the command of Li Weiguo himself. It belongs to the strategic analysis department of the Royal Cabinet, which provides intelligence to the emperor and helps the emperor make international strategic decisions.

As for domestic counter-espionage agencies, they are left to the responsibility of the Homeland Security Bureau.

Chen Jingnan heard what Li Weiguo meant and immediately said: "Your Majesty, I and others suggested that you search for spies from European and American countries in China, and then exchange spies with them to rescue the captured agents of SHIELD in China."

Li Weiguo smiled and said, "I do think so. However, based on the overseas situation, European and American countries have recently successively launched the theory of Eastern threats, and believe there are directors behind the scenes. The international situation of the empire looks peaceful and peaceful, but in fact, undercurrents are surging. Once European and American countries reach a consensus to fight against the empire, the empire will be isolated by the whole world."

This is not an alarmist statement. In addition to the concerns of the Western world about China's rapid military strength, there is also the issue of illegal banknotes. At present, the entire Europe is full of illegal banknotes. Not only is the depreciation of the British currency, the British pound shrinking by nearly half, but other European and American countries also depreciate the currency to varying degrees.

In order to develop China's industrial construction, national defense construction, and quickly improve the living, medical and educational level of Chinese citizens, Li Weiguo can be said to spare no effort to issue illegal banknotes. Then he cashed out gold and silver in European and American countries, and returned to China. Invisibly, financial turmoil in the entire European and American world, and economic crises became more and more frequent. As the British police cracked the first illegal banknote transaction case, all signs pointed to China. Although the British did not have conclusive evidence, they would secretly stumbling to reveal it to the governments of other European and American countries. Therefore, European and American governments strengthened the supervision of China's export of illegal banknotes. At the same time, politicians from various countries must inexplicably accuse China of all the blame for economic regression and economic crisis, causing the people of Europe and the United States to become worse and worse.

If a country wants to continue to develop, it will never leave the world's market. Even the United States, which has a highly developed economy in the future, will have to trade with countries around the world to maintain continuous economic development and progress. China in later generations will be able to get rid of poverty and backwardness by reforming and opening up.

Therefore, if it is isolated by European and American countries, it is by no means good news and will have a great impact on China's economic development.

For example, if China's special drugs make huge profits, once export restrictions are fully lifted, the consumption of such special drugs in Europe and the United States will win China a mountain of wealth. But once it is isolated by European and American countries, the overseas profits of special drugs will no longer exist, and even if Europe and the United States directly copy production, China's losses in this regard will be even greater.

Special medicines are just a typical example. China also has many private goods, military products that can earn a lot of foreign wealth. Even China needs to import some necessary resources, such as oil, and nickel resources necessary for manufacturing naval gun barrels. If they are isolated, they will definitely be greatly affected.

However, most Chinese officials do not have the same concerns as Li Weiguo. They are deeply influenced by the traditional ideas of the country and believe that China is vast and wealthy, and it doesn't matter even if it is isolated.

Even wise men like Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan have become increasingly powerful over the years, and many of their technologies are ahead of Europe and the United States. They have become more and more confident and arrogant, and are unwilling to cooperate with Europe and the United States.

Only Li Weiguo knew that China's talent cultivation had just begun, while European and American countries were leading for hundreds of years, and its talent innovation ability was strong. Although China's population base was large and its talent growth was fast, it was just imitating the existing science and technology in Europe and the United States. If it were the innovation ability, it would be a big difference. Even China, which was reformed and opened up in later generations, occasionally had a few innovative talents appearing after thirty years. It can be seen that the gap in education is huge and requires long-term accumulation to explode.

Therefore, for these reasons, Li Weiguo does not want China to become the enemy of the whole world. Before China becomes completely powerful, China still needs the help of the whole world.

"I am going to suspend some actions in Europe and the United States and temporarily ease relations with European and American countries. During this period, you must seize more spies and replace our captured agents as soon as possible. Otherwise, if European and American countries grasp our handle, the whole world will be in chaos."

Seeing that Li Weiguo attached so much importance to it, Wu Yong, Chen Jingnan and other ministers dared not disobey it.

"I dare not slackewer!"

After this meeting, the Chinese police and the Homeland Security Bureau launched a large-scale anti-espionage operation across the country, destroying a large number of spy agencies in Europe and the United States, arresting hundreds of European and American spies and thousands of Chinese citizens working for Europe and the United States, and immediately shocked the whole world.

Of course, European and American countries are also cracking down on Chinese spies, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce secret war.
Chapter completed!