Expedition to Europe

When Lan Fang was founded, it only had a dozen destroyers and submarines. The French couldn't bear it and gave Lan Fang a battleship "France", which made the Lan Fang navy look less shabby.

"France" is a French Courbet-class battleship. The French didn't have many at the time, but in order to show the friendship between France and Lan Fang, the French still reluctantly gave it up.

Qin Zhiyuan remembered the friendship of the French. Although Lan Fang now has more powerful "Vladivostok" and "Lan Fang", Qin Zhiyuan's ship is still "France". "France" is also the flagship of the Cam Ranh Bay Fleet, and this part will not change.

At that time, the proposal to give Lan Fang a battleship was put forward by Lyautey, and Lyautey naturally knew the twists and turns.

But now seeing the "Lan Fang" owned by the Lan Fang Navy, Lyaute couldn't help but feel sour. You know, even in France, the largest battleship "Brittany Class" is only 23,500 tons, which is very different from the 43,000 tons of the "Lan Fang".

"George won't, George has now proposed the "Legion Plan". It won't be long before France will have a battleship of this level, so don't be sad." Qin Zhiyuan is talking without any pain.

Former French Navy Minister George Gley is also an old acquaintance of Qin Zhiyuan. After the World War, George resigned as Navy Minister and went to the Colonial Department for a short period of time. After Milleran came to power, George Gley returned to the position of Navy Minister. During Qin Zhiyuan's visit to France this time, George Gley and Qin Zhiyuan discussed the possibility of upgrading the "Legion Class" battleship.

The "Legion Class" battleship was launched the year before last. At that time, France and Lan Fang had not yet mastered the technology of 410mm main guns, so in the initial design blueprint, the "Legion Class" used 340mm naval guns.

After the war between Lan Fang and Japan ended, because of Japan's defeat, Lan Fang and France both mastered the manufacturing technology of 410mm naval guns. At this time, it would be a bit inappropriate to insist on using 340mm naval guns, so a new design plan was immediately released.

According to the latest design drawings, the "Legion-class" battleship also uses 410mm main guns, and the tonnage will be upgraded from the original 25,000 tons to 33,000 tons. George Gray wants to build this kind of battleship, and the "Legion-class" that has been launched in France, even if the design drawings are adjusted, is only 30,000 tons. Although it also uses 410mm naval guns, it is a little worse than the latest model in terms of armor and speed.

This is the cruelty of the arms race. Although the battleship that has just been launched is also a new ship, it is outdated before it is put into service.

It doesn't matter anyway. Anyway, that ship is just a smoke bomb thrown by Qin Zhiyuan. It doesn't matter what it causes. If it doesn't work, let the navy use it as a training ship.

Lyaute certainly didn't know Qin Zhiyuan's plan. Although he knew about the "legion-level" thing, Lyaute didn't think highly of George Legg's plan.

"George is just a dreamer. His plan is doomed to fail. Congress can't approve such a huge budget. I've seen his plan. Four legion-level ships cost a total of 150 million. How can this be possible-" Lyaute's reason for being pessimistic is still money.

Although France is an old imperialist country, in fact, landlords don't have much spare money these days. The world war drained France of blood. Not only the people, but also the national economy was seriously damaged. Although the Germans paid compensation, those compensations were just transferred from the French account to the American account. The French still got nothing except the devastation.

"Is it that serious?" Qin Zhiyuan was still skeptical.

"What do you think? France doesn't have a sponsor like you. I heard that the two 'corps-class' ships you are building were not paid for by the Lan Fang government. They are all your own. I really can't tell that you are really rich." Leotai rubbed his chin with a bit of ill intention, and it seems that he is thinking about how to make a move.

Leotai's intelligence was still wrong. The two warships being built in Cam Ranh Bay are not the so-called "corps-class" battleships at all, but "mountain-class" aircraft carriers.

This is also the effect Qin Zhiyuan wants to achieve. It seems that Gao Hongshi's confidentiality work is good. Even the French can be concealed. It should not be a problem to fool the British and Americans.

Qin Zhiyuan did not let the Lan Fang government pay for these two "mountain-class" ships. The Lan Fang government's finances are not rich, but the companies under Qin Zhiyuan's name have reaped a lot of benefits. It has been Qin Zhiyuan's usual practice to take out funds from the private treasury to subsidize the Lan Fang army.

This is also an important reason why the Lanfang military firmly supports Qin Zhiyuan. If there is a rebellion in Lanfang, the Lanfang soldiers can eat those rebels alive without Qin Zhiyuan saying anything.

"Don't look at me with such malicious eyes. If France is really in trouble, it is not impossible for me to lend money privately, but I have to say it first. If you borrow money, the interest will increase." Without Lyaute's words, Qin Zhiyuan sharpened his sword first. There are not many opportunities to lend money at high interest rates to a country.

"You are as obsessed with money as Louis." Lyaute was not happy. It seems that he had said the same thing to old Renault before, and the answer he got was probably similar.

"Is there anything wrong with this? It is precisely because we have money that Lanfang has the money to build new battleships. You are noble and disdain to make personal profits, but you can only watch the French Navy in trouble and do nothing. You can only complain to me." Qin Zhiyuan was quite cruel when he mocked others.

As expected, Liotai was so shocked by Qin Zhiyuan's blow that it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "We just have different social divisions of labor."

Social division of labor, this is really the best excuse.

The duty of soldiers is to fight, so they don’t have to care about the national economy and people’s livelihood; the duty of businessmen is to make money, so whether soldiers fight or die on the battlefield has nothing to do with businessmen——

But living in this society, it is impossible for everyone to exist independently from society, so the connection between everyone is very close. The division of labor in modern society is so clear, no matter which link has a problem, it will eventually affect the whole Overall, this cannot be replaced by a simple "social division of labor".

"Well, it's true that you are a soldier, but in the position of Governor of Magic Indochina, you can still contribute to France, it depends on whether you are willing." Qin Zhiyuan does not expect Liotei to do business. If this guy goes into business, all he can lose is his underwear.

"Tell me--" Lyotei was a little distracted.

In fact, Qin Zhiyuan and Liotai were walking on the pier of Cam Ranh Bay at this moment. Due to Qin Zhiyuan's arrival, the pier was under martial law and there were no idlers wandering around. The guards around Qin Zhiyuan and Liotai were also relaxed and were far away from Qin Zhiyuan. There are more than ten meters between Liotai and Qin Zhiyuan, creating sufficient private space for Qin Zhiyuan and Liotai.

At this moment, Qin Zhiyuan and Liotai had strolled near the "Lanfang" which was undergoing maintenance. From the perspective of Qin Zhiyuan and Liotai, they could more clearly feel the size and power of the "Lanfang". It's really breathtaking.

After the "Lanfang" was mortgaged to Lanfang, the Lanfang Military Headquarters carried out upgrades. Not only did it adjust its appearance and structure, but it also added some modern equipment, such as radar and wireless telegraphy, and even provided equipment for naval soldiers. Cinemas for leisure and entertainment were not available in the previous "Lan Fang Hao".

After some adjustments, the "Lanfang" is now 230 meters in length, 35 meters in width, 9.9 meters in draft, and 23 meters high in the water surface, which is nearly ten stories high.

These ten floors are all built of steel, and they look much more powerful and majestic than the normal ten floors.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

The "Lanfang" is currently moored in a shipyard. It is not known what modifications will be carried out. Scaffolding has been set up outside the "Lanfang". Countless workers are climbing up and down the scaffolding, as busy as worker ants, fully It embodies the beauty of industrial collaboration.

"What do you think of Siam?" Qin Zhiyuan wanted to provoke Liotai's ambition.

Southeast Asia, a pool of stagnant water, is not the Southeast Asia that Qin Zhiyuan wants. Southeast Asia is now a pool of stagnant water for Qin Zhiyuan.

Looking at the countries surrounding Lan Fang, there are basically no targets for Lan Fang to calculate. The British control the Malayan Peninsula, the French control Indochina, and the Americans control the Philippines. Although Australia in the south is different from Lan Fang. How to deal with it, but because he has the support of the British, Qin Zhiyuan doesn't want to break up with him yet, so after all calculations, there is only one Siam left.

Siam is the Thailand of the 21st century. This country is now between the British and French colonies. In order to maintain friendship, the British and French deliberately left Siam as a buffer zone. Both the British and the French promised not to attack. This country, that's why Siam exists today.

Qin Zhiyuan's ideal Southeast Asia should be all under Lanfang's control, so Qin Zhiyuan will not let Siam go no matter what.

"Siam? How did you think of that?" There was doubt in Liotei's tone, and his twinkling eyes still betrayed Liotai's true heart.

Lyotey was France's best colonial soldier. It was Lyotey's duty to continuously open up colonies for France. If Lyotey had not had an idea of ​​Siam, no one would believe it.

"Rice is delicious——" Qin Zhiyuan gave a nonsensical reason.

Thai fragrant rice used to cost more than ten yuan per kilogram, and it was indeed delicious——

"Is this the reason why you want to attack Siam?" Lyotei really felt that it was a bit difficult to accept.

"No, the real reason is that the Siamese can't beat me." Qin Zhiyuan said confidently.

I beat you because you can't beat me!

This is really the best reason. Both Liotai and Qin Zhiyuan laughed a little evilly.