Navy Minister Chen Shaokuan sat in the large conference room on the third floor of the Austro-Hungarian Far East Fleet Command at the mouth of the river, looking a little tired. △He looked at the ships of the Austro-Hungarian Squadron in the harbor, and his eyes showed a hint of envy. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a very strong navy, which gradually grew into a giant that could compete with the British Empire in the European War. This was somewhat legendary and had always been a topic of talk about by the naval generals of the Republic of China.

In the hearts of every officer and soldier of the Chinese Navy, there has always been such a dream - when will our own fleet stand on the top of the world like the Austro-Hungarian Navy?

From this point of view, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has become a role model for them.

What a little regretted Chen Shaokuan was that during the European War, he had long been "watching the battle" in the British Royal Navy and followed the British fleet to participate in three naval battles. During the Battle of Biscay, he also participated in the battle against the Austro-Hungarian fleet on the armored cruiser of the "Achilles". However, in that time, the displacement of 13,500 tons was 13,500 tons, which could be called a large ship in his eyes, but was chased by the Austro-Hungarian war patrol "Radetsky" and fled in a panic. Fortunately, the Austrians later went to encircle the main force of the Betty fleet, so they were able to escape.

He was deeply impressed by the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in that naval battle. He never thought that the Austro-Hungarian fleet, which was unknown before the war, could defeat the French and Italian navies, which were very strong in the eyes of the Chinese, and became the new overlord of the Mediterranean, making the powerful British navy helpless and had no choice.

During the post-war peace negotiations, Chen Shaokuan, as a member of the Chinese naval delegation, finally had the opportunity to board the Austro-Hungarian warships and carefully visited these warships that were famous during the European war. Unfortunately, most of them were demolished in the post-war disarmament. How much Chinese navy wanted to get these huge demolished fleets at that time. Unfortunately, the Beiyang government could not afford so much money.

Later, under the pressure of the Japanese, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor almost sold half-sold and gave the four "Cardinal"-class battleships that were not completed during World War I to the Chinese Navy for 6 million yuan. During the "Northeast Incident", it was precisely because of these four battleships that shocked the Japanese joint fleet and made their attempt to attack Shanghai failed. In the Battle of Zhoushan, the Chinese fleet consisting of four battleships forced the Japanese fleet to escape. This was the first time since the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Chinese Navy had a sense of pride.

It is precisely because of this naval battle that the Navy Department finally has the same qualification as the Army Department in the government, and the government has begun to pay attention to the construction of the navy, and the allocation has increased year by year. The Navy Department has formulated a huge ten-year shipbuilding plan, hoping to build a fleet for the Chinese Navy that is enough to compete with the Japanese joint fleet.

Unfortunately, when the Chinese Navy just started to re-equip, the war once again interrupted the navy's dream of "peace construction".

What is speechless is that the Chinese navy once again disappointed the Chinese people. They were unable to defend the coast of their motherland. At the beginning of the war, the Chinese fleet was once again attacked by the Japanese. The first fleet of Yantai's naval suffered heavy losses and finally had to retreat to Qingdao. They were nominally "detained" by the Germans, and they were able to preserve the main force. The Second Fleet was bombed by the Japanese on the way to reinforce Shanghai and was also seriously damaged. The main ship could only escape to Guangzhou in the dark to avoid being bombed again.

In this way, the Chinese Navy lost its guard and control of the near-shore within a few days, which attracted a lot of scolding from domestic newspapers and people.

Now, General Chen Shaokuan, as the Minister of the Navy, is dealing with the infamous as "slaughter" and "traitors", hoping to restore the navy's combat effectiveness one day earlier.

In fact, since 2014, the Chinese Navy has begun to actively carry out the so-called "naval national defense construction plan". In order to narrow the huge gap in strength between the Chinese and Japanese navy, Chen Shaokuan, as the new minister of the Navy, and his colleagues and colleagues, did his best to do the best. The Navy ordered a light cruiser from Austro-Hungary and Germany. At the same time, in Shanghai and Fuzhou, under the guidance of the introduction of pillars and German-Austrian experts, four light cruisers with a displacement of 6,800 tons began to be built in 1935. At the same time, the Navy also ordered two new ocean-type destroyers from each of the two countries, and based on the drawings and technologies provided by Germany and Austria, six "Wuchang"-class destroyers with a displacement of 2,870 tons were started in China.

More importantly, the Navy Department also raised funds from various provinces in China, raising nearly 86 million yuan per huge sum. It started construction and introduced drawings and technology from Austro-Hungary. With the help of the Austro-Hungary Navy, it started construction of two "Jiangsu" class aircraft carriers.

Due to the weak foundation of the domestic shipbuilding industry, Germany and Austria could build the "Leipzig" class light cruisers and "island-class" light cruisers that were put into service in just one year. It took the Chinese shipyard two and a half years to complete the installation, and the war broke out before the outfit was completed.

Now, the two cruisers under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard have also been attacked. Before the Japanese army occupied Wusong, they fled to Nanjing while the night was shining. The two cruisers built at the Fuzhou Naval Shipyard have retreated to Qinzhou Port. At present, the only ones that the navy can fight are left are two light cruisers purchased from Germany and Austria and several destroyers.

Chen Shaokuan came to ask Austro-Hungary for help.

Since Fuzhou and Jiangnan Shipyards are likely to fall, and the Navy Qinzhou Shipyard has not yet completed construction, there is currently no suitable dock in China that can accommodate the two damaged battleships, Zhenhai and Jinghai, to dock and repair. They can only contact the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which has the best relations with China, to see if they can provide assistance. At the same time, they hope to complete the final installation project of the "Jiangsu" and "Fujian" aircraft carriers with the help of Austro-Hungarian.

After the preliminary talks, General Yankel said he would ask the country for instructions first, but agreed that Chinese battleships could enter the estuary dock for simple maintenance for no more than three days. This meets the conditions for neutral legislation. In fact, Austro-Hungary and Germany remained neutral in name after the outbreak of the war and were actually providing assistance to China.

The Japanese kept protesting against Germany and Austria, but they were rejected by Germany and Austria on the grounds of normal trade. Anyway, the Japanese did not dare to risk war and forcibly intercept the cargo ships of Germany and Austria, and they could not confirm that the ship was loaded with arms.

However, on the surface, the two countries still need to remain neutral, and repairing warships for the Chinese will definitely undermine the neutral clause.
Chapter completed!