Author: Zhe Lei

There is a saying: "Gifts are plentiful, but the most valuable thing is sincerity."

Whether as the first chief executive of Jiangnan Shipyard after the reform, or as the current top leader of Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, or as a naval legend who has contributed to the country.

Due to emotion and reason, Cheng Nuo knew that no matter what angle he looked at, he should maintain enough respect for Chen Zhaoqiang.

When it comes to choosing gifts, I put a lot of thought into it.

Huang Yanpei was the host. The two met at his home and exchanged a few words. After the relationship between them became less stiff, Cheng Nuo took out the things he had prepared, put them on the table and said with a smile:

"General Chen, a small courtesy is not disrespectful."

"What is this? You and I don't need to be so polite." The smile on Chen Zhaoqiang's face froze, and there was a hint of meaning in his eyes: "Professor Cheng, we can talk about everything today, so to speak, we can talk about other things in such an elegant place.

, something is wrong."

"General Chen, you might as well open it and take a look. Maybe what's inside will be what we talk about next." The moment he took out the gift, Cheng Nuo felt that Chen Zhaoqiang was deliberately alienating him, but he didn't care and continued.

Pushing the gift inward: "Today I don't care about heaven or earth."

"Oh?" Chen Zhaoqiang looked at the gift with interest: "What is that?"

"Sea!" Cheng Nuo's eyes were sharp: "To be precise, everything about the sea!"

"Hiss~" Chen Zhaoqiang's pupils shrank, and after examining Cheng Nuo carefully, he put his hand on the gift: "Little friend Cheng, do you mind if I open the things in your place?"

Cheng Nuo stretched out his right hand and said politely: "Just call me Zhiyuan. Since the things are prepared for General Chen, after sending them out, they will be left to General Chen's disposal."

Chen Zhaoqiang did not speak in a hurry, but quickly opened the outer wrapping paper of the gift and paused briefly when opening the box.

But he didn't pause for too long and quickly opened the box.

But the moment the true appearance of the thing was revealed, Chen Zhaoqiang was shocked, and even the hand holding the lid trembled.

"Professor Cheng...oh no, Zhiyuan, where did this thing of yours come from? Could it be the Dingyuan?"

Cheng Nuo smiled: "General Chen has a good eye. This thing is a scaled-down model of the Dingyuan. Each part is custom-assembled by masters from our academy. Are you satisfied with the gift?"

Looking at this mini version of the Dingyuan, Chen Zhaoqiang's lips couldn't help but tremble, and his eye circles turned red.

Putting down the cover in his hand, Chen Zhaoqiang originally wanted to hold the Dingyuan with both hands, but for some unknown reason, he failed to lift it normally the first time and waited until the second time to pick it up.

I kept rubbing it with my hands, looking left and right, up and down, but I couldn't get enough of it.

"It's been 23 years. It's been 23 years, and I haven't seen the Dingyuan again. I didn't expect to see it here today..."

At this moment, Cheng Nuo quietly turned the gift box, took out the small package inside, and placed it in front of Chen Zhaoqiang.

"General Chen, there are still things that haven't been taken out here. You might as well take a closer look."

"Okay." Chen Zhaoqiang's Adam's apple surged, and he opened the small package, and what came into view were two miniature versions of the dolls.

Even though the model was shrunk repeatedly, I still saw myself and my seniors on it, and tears fell down my cheeks.

"I have told you long ago that based on the outnumbered ships and cannons, our army has no chance of victory. The country has suffered numerous casualties. You are not the only one to blame. Why are you so stubborn? If you were still alive, you would

What is the situation?"

Now that the conversation box has been opened, the memories that follow are like a flood of water that cannot be stopped.

Chen Zhaoqiang believed that relying on high morale and flexible combat tactics based on the same hatred of the enemy was enough to defeat the enemy.

For this reason, he and the patriotic officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Navy requested to wait for an opportunity to go to war. However, the Qing government blindly cowardly avoided the enemy and avoided the war.

"The imperial edict ordered us to retreat to Weihai and not to attack. As a result, our Beiyang Navy was surrounded by enemies on three sides and was restrained by the imperial decree. It was unable to take a step beyond the borders. Finally, it lost its last opportunity to fight. It was trapped in a tight siege and allowed to be slaughtered by the enemy, causing tragic casualties to the entire army."

Speaking of this, Chen Zhaoqiang slammed his fist to the ground: "The country has suffered so many tragedies, the country has suffered so many tragedies!"

It's not that he takes this for granted, but there is some basis for it.

The Beiyang Navy was formally established in 1888. The fleet has two world-class iron-clad giant ships with a displacement of more than 7,000 tons purchased from Germany. China's Beiyang, Nanyang, Fujian, Guangdong Navy and other Chinese fleets have a total of 78 warships.

The total tonnage is 83,900 tons, ranking 8th in the world, once surpassing Japan.

Unfortunately, the Qing government's compromise line and Li Hongzhang's idea of ​​​​saving ships and avoiding war eventually led to its disastrous defeat.

Although he knew that the Sino-Japanese War ended in failure, Cheng Nuo was still very curious about the details.

"General Chen, there are rumors that a large part of the reason for our failure was our lack of military discipline. I heard that some sailors were so neglected that they were drying their clothes on the gun barrel?"

"Bullshit!" Feeling that he was losing his temper, Chen Zhaoqiang let out a breath: "That's nonsense. If anyone dares to do such a ridiculous thing up there, I will throw him off the boat tomorrow and take off his clothes!"

When his mood stabilized, Chen Zhaoqiang continued: "At the beginning, Admiral Ding and the leaders of each ship had already made a decision, saying that preemptive strike was the best strategy. They had even made a decision to prepare all ships to attack Japanese ships immediately.

attack."

Cheng Nuo nodded: "Fighters on the battlefield are fleeting. I very much agree with Admiral Ding's decision."

Chen Zhaoqiang gritted his teeth: "But the Qing court actually said that we would have to wait until the Japanese warships opened fire and added verbal provocations before we could fight back. But at that time, there was no fight back. It was simply a passive attack. The fighter plane was delayed, and the failure was imminent.

It’s inevitable!”

Cheng Nuo sighed and said: "Our equipment is relatively backward, but we still want to imitate Song Xianggong. It is really unreasonable. If we have a head-on conflict with the Yoshino, the main Japanese ship, on the battlefield, it will be difficult to win.

"

"The Yoshino? Humph! It's nothing." Chen Zhaoqiang solemnly put the Dingyuan back into the box and said with disdain: "Although the Yoshino ran faster, the most important thing in war is the right time, place and people. At Asankou

In a naval battle, the Yoshino was simply unable to exert its advantages.

Moreover, we are outnumbered and we must rely on our chances of victory. If Yoshino is eliminated, the rest will not be a concern. The impact on the Sino-Japanese War will be serious.

It is a pity that our government is so arrogant that it cannot prevent problems before they happen and purchase new ships. It can no longer take preemptive measures before they happen, which results in the loss of military aircraft. As a result, our army is trapped without help. We have run out of ammunition and are ultimately destroyed. Our seniors also rely on medicine.

Martyrdom!"

At the end of the story, Chen Zhaoqiang was so angry that veins popped up on his face and he couldn't even sit still.

Cheng Nuo let out a long sigh. He never expected that a war was imminent and that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would be so short-sighted. It was really an unforgivable crime for the country and the people.

"The matter has come to this, General Chen still needs to look forward." Cheng Nuo, like a magic trick, actually took out another box that was exactly the same as before.

It's just that that one is blue and the one right now is red.

"This is another gift I prepared, and I would like to ask General Chen to take a look at it."

"Oh? Then I have to take a good look." After seeing the popularity of the "Dingyuan" just now, Chen Zhaoqiang was very much looking forward to this red gift. This time he opened it without any pause, and his eyes were also full of shock.

.

The difference from before is that this time there is some confusion.

"Zhiyuan, can you answer a question for me? I have seen quite a few ships in my life, but this is the first time I have seen a ship of this type. If I am not mistaken, it is an airplane docked on it?

"

"Yes, it's an airplane." Cheng Nuo nodded, with a mysterious and proud expression on his face, and solemnly took out the ship with both hands: "This is called an aircraft carrier, and its main attack method is to use aircraft parked on the deck.

, the attack range of the ship will be as wide as the combat radius of the aircraft."

Chen Zhaoqiang has a cautious attitude towards this: "Is this really feasible? The offensive methods look very sharp, but in terms of homeland defense, are they not enough?"

Cheng Nuo shook his head and asked: "General Chen, does he know what the strategic thinking behind the establishment of the Beiyang Navy is?"

Chen Zhaoqiang thought about it carefully and replied: "I really don't know this."

Cheng Nuo said seriously: "Li Zhongtang once bluntly said that the status of coastal defense is higher than that of land defense. Failure to defend coastal areas is a serious danger. Later, Governor Zuo believed that coastal defense should be in the east and fortification defense in the west, with equal emphasis on both. Therefore, the Manchu Qing Dynasty adopted President Zuo.

With his insights, he established the Beiyang Navy."

Chen Zhaoqiang nodded: "It turns out that this incident actually happened. I didn't know much about it. But is it related to the ship, the aircraft carrier you mentioned?"

"Once the strategic thinking is wrong, failure is inevitable." Cheng Nuo sighed, and then said: "The so-called coastal defense thought here is not the sea power thought. From the perspective of the world system, after the Industrial Revolution starting in the mid-18th century, the West

Already firmly occupying a dominant position in the global ocean and world politics,

Their gunboat policy not only disintegrated our tribute system, but also opened our door and did not allow China to have its own sea power at all. Therefore, the external environment is not conducive to China's concept of sea power.

In terms of ocean cognition, we only realize that the ocean is a channel for foreign invasion, and we have not yet got rid of the traditional concept of ‘land dominates and sea follows’. Naval strategy is still traditional passive defense. In this way, how can we save the country’s maritime crisis?”

As soon as the call went down, Chen Zhaoqiang instantly understood the meaning, and he could also extend it: "No wonder the Qing government asked us to defend ourselves and avoid war. It turns out that the root cause is here. I finally understand."

Cheng Nuo placed the aircraft carrier on the table, which was polished by craftsmen so brightly that it reflected the dazzling light in the sun, making it impossible to look directly at it.

"In today's world, the importance of sea power has become more and more prominent. It is the fundamental reason that determines the rise and fall of world powers, and is also a major factor affecting the historical process. After the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, we have returned to the situation of having no sea defenses before the mid-19th century. We cannot

Just sit back and wait for death!"

Chen Zhaoqiang originally thought that he was a reformist, but he didn't expect that in front of Cheng Nuo, he looked like an establishment member. He said cautiously: "Zhiyuan, if I follow what you said, what will you do?"

Cheng Nuo smiled knowingly: "Of course, we need to build an ocean-going fleet with strong advantages to protect the country's overseas trade, overseas markets, maritime navigation and overseas interests. At the same time, we need to project the country's political will and diplomatic influence to the world, and use it to influence the mainland."

Up on the situation and progress!”

Chen Zhaoqiang took a breath of air: "Zhiyuan, do you really dare to think about it!?"

Cheng Nuozhen said: "Someone always asks me, can we change China? General Chen, guess how I should answer?"

Chen Zhaoqiang asked: "How to answer?"

Cheng Nuo took it easy: "Why not?"

If we really follow the historical trend, the international system during the Republic of China will continue to have a negative impact on my country's development of sea power, especially when our neighbor Japan is carrying out massive maritime expansion, and we are still in a state of ignorance.
To be continued...