Master Yuan, start!

Compared to the National Revolutionary Army, Ye Zhichao must have been less vigilant towards the Northwest Army."

Chapter 450: Consumption and War with South Africa

"5734 shells were consumed in one day. Comrade Pinqing, you really agree that Wang Zhanyuan dares to fight like this?

Aren't you afraid that the general managers of the Incheon Machinery Bureau and the Tianjin Machinery Bureau will send telegrams to you to cause trouble?"

In Guangzhou, at the anti-French warfare headquarters, Yuan Shikai looked at the battle situation sent from the Guangxi front and felt a little distressed.

The shells for the 60mm and 90mm caliber artillery on the front line can be roughly divided into two types: shrapnel grenades and canister shells.

Among them, the shrapnel shells weighing about 4.5 kilograms each cost about 10 taels of silver; the shotgun shells weighing about 6 kilograms each cost about 13 taels of silver.

Although the caliber of the artillery will increase and the weight of the shells will increase accordingly, the cost will not increase excessively in general, so it will not be calculated separately.

But even so, if all 5734 shells were calculated as the cheapest shrapnel shells, it would still cost nearly 6 taels of silver.

The consumption of artillery shells in just one day was as high as 6 taels, not to mention the losses in food, clothing, housing, transportation and so on. If the fighting lasted a few more days, the newly issued national debt for the war against France would probably be used up in an instant.

Moreover, this is only the daily ammunition consumption of domestic artillery, not including the consumption of French 75mm caliber artillery.

The reason was that the captured 75mm field guns used French-made complete ammunition.

That is, there is no projectile, propellant or delivery tube, but instead a cartridge case entirely wrapped in metal.

When loading the shell, you only need to push the shell in once to fire it.

At present, neither the Incheon Machinery Bureau nor the Gangneung Machinery Bureau has the ability to manufacture full metal cartridge cases.

This means that when the captured French ammunition stockpiles are used up, they can only use domestically produced ammunition.

In this way, Miss 75's artillery firing frequency will inevitably be greatly reduced.

Therefore, at present, unless Wang Zhanyuan encounters a large-scale attack from the French army, he will try his best to put aside the 75mm guns and use domestically produced 60mm and 90mm artillery to fight back.

It is precisely because of this that the daily consumption of artillery shells is so astonishing.

Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui glanced at each other. They didn't know whether Yuan Shikai was worried about the money or blamed Wang Zhanyuan for firing so quickly.

After hesitating for a moment, Wang Shizhen stepped forward and said, "Chief Instructor, you can't calculate it this way. The factory price of these shells is indeed high, and Wang Zhanyuan used a lot of them, but at the end of the day, they stabilized the situation on the front line.

The French are now firing as many artillery shells every day as we do.

Moreover, we seized from the French 54 75mm rapid-fire guns, 42 90mm recoil guns, more than a hundred draft horses, and more than a dozen repair forges.

Comparing it this way, I earned at least over a million for nothing! "

Yuan Xiangcheng did not blame Wang Zhanyuan. He simply felt that the battle on the front line was a bit of a waste. However, as long as he could achieve results, he thought it was worth it and he could ignore it.

On the other hand, Wang Shizhen kept talking about business accounting. He calculated left and right, and finally came to the conclusion that "not only did he not lose money, but he made a huge profit", which really made Yuan Xiangcheng laugh.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xiangcheng revealed a playful look and said, "General Wang, it is really a waste of your talent for you to serve as the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of the General Armament Department.

Since you are so good at accounting, you should be the Minister of Finance and Taxation. As for Zhang Jian, I think he is only fit to be your deputy."

Duan Qirui couldn't help laughing, and Yuan Xiangcheng took the opportunity to turn around and ask, "Comrade Zhiquan, how is the North raising children now?"

Hearing this, Duan Qirui took out the telegram he had just sent this morning from his pocket and said:

"This is a telegram from Prime Minister Kikuto. He said that the people in the north are currently stable. Even though part of the railway has been requisitioned, the tide of people entering Guandong has not stopped.

In addition, Kailuan Coal Mine has dug new mines and has achieved an annual output of 100 million tons. Benxi and Pyongyang have also reached an annual output of 50 tons. Xuzhou Jiawang, Fushun Haixi, and Shanxi Datong started later and are still hovering around 10 tons.

In addition to meeting demand in the north, nearly a quarter of the products were sold to the south and overseas, forming a positive capital flow.

However, steel mills across the country are still producing relatively little, partly due to substandard technology and partly due to heavy consumption from railway construction and military manufacturing. Furthermore, the supply of scrap steel from France, Vietnam, and Taiwan, which used to be the largest importers, has been cut off, leading to a somewhat tight supply situation.

"It's still within expectations." Yuan Xiangcheng nodded without showing any surprise.

It is said that coal and steel are the two pillars of industrial development, but there are also gaps between the pillars.

Compared with increasing steel production, increasing coal production is more than an order of magnitude simpler.

The construction of the Pyongyang Coal Mine and the Pyongyang Iron Works started almost at the same time, both when Yuan Shikai served as the "Minister of Korean Border Affairs".

However, ten years later, the Pyongyang Coal Mine was able to produce 50 tons of coal annually, while the Pyongyang Iron and Steel Plant only produced 7 to 8 tons of steel annually.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng frowned.

"What was the progress of the previous investigation at the Hanyang Iron Works in Hubei?"

"I've figured it out," Wang Shizhen stepped forward and replied, "When the National Revolutionary Army entered Hanyang, they looked up the historical account books and compared them. The annual output of steel was about 1 tons and the output of iron was over 2 tons.

However, only one blast furnace has been put into operation so far, and another blast furnace has been put on hold since Zhang Zhidong rushed to the capital.

"Then put it into use immediately!"

Yuan Xiangcheng believes that it is time to expand production capacity. If the unit steel output cannot be increased in a short period of time, then the number of steel mills should be increased.

The Hanyang Iron Works was reorganized and incorporated into the production plan to make some contributions to military production.

As for the Jiangnan area, although Jiangnan had military industries headed by the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau and the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, its heavy industry was not systematic and was far behind the coal and steel joint ventures in the Northeast and Korean areas outside the Great Wall.

However, due to the concentration of the advantages of sufficient manpower, convenient water transportation and a wide variety of industries in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, the Jiangnan region has gradually surpassed the areas outside the Great Wall in light industry.

This just made up for the impact of the decline in civilian product output caused by the fact that most northern factories were invested in military production since the war broke out.

In fact, this is inevitable. As long as the Jiangnan area can settle down, it will naturally siphon the resources of the entire country with its unique geographical advantages.

Just as Yuan Xiangcheng finished listening to the report and was about to send a telegram to Xuzhou to ask what stage the Huaihai Reclamation Corps was at, the telegraph operator rushed in and almost bumped into him.

"What's the matter? Why are you so anxious?" Yuan Xiangcheng asked with a smile as he helped the young telegraph operator who ran in.

"Mr. President, urgent telegram from Shanghai!

A day earlier, the British rejected an ultimatum from the Transvaal government demanding a halt to sending more troops to South Africa.

At 10 o'clock this morning, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State Federation, with the approval of Parliament, officially declared war on Britain!

"Declaration of war?" Both Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui showed surprise on their faces.

Only Yuan Xiangcheng had a deep look in his eyes, as if he was planning something.

Chapter 451 The Right Wing’s Plan

"The British started a war in South Africa?!"

Inside the Elysee Palace, Paris, France.

"Good, the British are now focused on South Africa and have no time to support the Chinese!"

Faced with the war that had finally broken out in South Africa, French President François Faure and French Prime Minister Jules Méline stood up excitedly after hearing the news.

The British are about to shift their focus to Africa, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The South African War broke out... Lingwu [] UaQ: After the war, Britain will inevitably transfer most of the world's shipping capacity back to the mainland to facilitate the transportation of weapons, ammunition and food supplies to South Africa.

Can the Chinese continue to fight after losing the support of the British?

Yes, in the eyes of the two French leaders, one of the main reasons why the Sino-French war was tense in the Far East was that the British were "taking sides".

The previous situation was that, apart from the troops that had to be deployed in Alsace-Lorraine and Africa, France could not send any extra troops to support the Far East in a short period of time.

They could only rely on a legion that had just been sent from the mainland to Indochina to seek a breakthrough.

However, there is not much hope.

After all, after landing in China, the French army failed to make any progress for more than a month, even though they were unprepared before and were exploited by the Chinese.

Moreover, even after making every effort, the French army was still unable to penetrate deep into the Chinese interior.

What does this mean?

This means that France is facing the most important and critical decision since the Franco-Prussian War.

Should we continue to fight? If we fight, can we win cleanly and efficiently?

If we don't fight, how can we end the war in a dignified way so that we won't be held accountable by the people and won't cause the government to collapse?

French President François Faure breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Once the British start fighting, we will have enough energy to deal with the Indochina War."

Group N Lu 82+26985;

"Not only that." French Prime Minister Jules Vermeil smiled and said:

"We can also take this opportunity to properly deal with the left-wing elements in the country!"

At this point, the two well-known right-wingers looked at each other tacitly and laughed out loud.

In their opinion, the British really provided four big assists.

One of the reasons why the French President and Prime Minister supported the Indochina Governor-General's proposal to declare war on China was to divert the attention of the people.

Starting in 1894, military secrets within the French army were frequently leaked. Anti-Semites within the French army slandered and arrested a Jewish captain, Dreyfus, claiming that he was the leaker. After trial by a military court, he was dismissed from the army and exiled to Devil's Island.

In 1896, Dreyfus's injustice was known to several French writers due to his brother's persistent appeal. Coincidentally, the situation of internal leaks in the French army had not improved, so the top leaders restarted the investigation.

Now it is 1898. With the support of the Republicans, the case was sent back for retrial, one year earlier than the parallel time and space. However, during this period, anti-Semites in France continued to fabricate false evidence, claiming that Dreyfus was the leaker.

The question of whether Dreyfus was guilty has been a topic of debate in France for four years.

In a parallel universe, it took even longer, until 1906, when the case was retried under the attention of then Prime Minister Clemenceau, and Dreyfus was declared not guilty.

During the years of controversy over the case, France, from top to bottom, including politics, military, church, press, schools, and families, was divided into two factions: those who supported and those who opposed the retrial, and the struggle was extremely fierce.

Couples divorced because of this, fathers and sons fought because of this, and close friends broke off their friendship because of this.

There are many cases of relatives and friends turning against each other because of the Dreyfus case.

Although the current situation has not yet developed to the point of confrontation as in the original time and space.

However, as the war in Indochina had not yet made a breakthrough, the already restless left-wing republicans in France had used the unfavorable war situation as an excuse to launch a wave of opposition to the current government and the ruling right-wing parties!

You must know that today in France, whether it is the president or the prime minister, they are all right-wing or slightly right-wing nationalists.

In fact, the period of the French Third Republic was also an era of the rise of France's far-right forces.

Unlike the extreme right in the past who supported the restoration of the dynasty, most of the extreme right in the French Third Republic were accustomed to the republican system.

Their "right" stance is mainly manifested in their support for chauvinism. They support launching new colonial wars, supporting the struggle for hegemony with Britain, and supporting revenge against Germany.

It was with the consent of these two right-wing leaders that France signed the Franco-Russian secret agreement with Russia to target Britain and potential enemy Germany.

So, when the two French leaders saw the British being drawn into the South African War, they seemed extremely excited.

They had previously believed that if it were not for the help of the British, the Chinese would have reached their limit long ago.

China's artillery caliber, rifle models, and number of naval vessels have been fully demonstrated in previous battles.