While the two were talking, they heard footsteps. It turned out that the industrial and commercial delegation had arrived, so they hurriedly greeted them. Everyone gathered on the edge of the dock to look at the warships. These merchants usually don’t have many opportunities to see the warships, so after seeing the huge warships in the dock, they were all amazed. It took a few days for overseas Chinese to enter Shandong to build such a huge warship. Sheng Xuanhuai knew that the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau had built a warship, Pingyuan, but it was the result of the Westernization Movement for more than 20 years, and the Pingyuan ship was much smaller than this warship. If the Pingyuan ship was compared with this warship, it was like a horse and a sheep.

Although other merchants do not know about warships, they also know that they can build warships, which means that overseas Chinese have a strong manufacturing level, and the manufacturing level is also Guanjian, which develops industry. This also shows that overseas Chinese should attach great importance to industrial development.

At this time, someone came to greet everyone and sat down because the ceremony was about to begin. So, under the guidance of the staff, everyone took their seats in their seats, but the first two rows of seats were empty.

After a while, a group of soldiers stood in line by the dock, and a team of military bands wearing military dresses and holding various musical instruments took their seats at one end of the dock. Then a large group of people walked along the road paved on the red carpet, many of whom were wearing military uniforms and reporters carrying cameras. Li Jingfang quickly recognized that there were Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng inside. Li Jingfang knew that these two people were number one and two people from overseas Chinese, but they didn't expect that they would also attend the launch ceremony of the warship.

During the construction of the warship, launching water was one of the most important nodes, and this was the first warship built by the East China government, which was of great significance. Therefore, leaders from military backgrounds such as Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, etc. attended the meeting, including the Minister of the Navy, Shang Jinfeng, and the captains of the two warships. Even the Army Department sent Deputy Minister* to attend to express their support for the navy. In addition, senior management of the shipyard and representatives of German experts. The participating soldiers were all soldiers who planned to serve in the two armies.

After everyone sat in their seats, behind the temporary railing behind the seats, there were hundreds of workers from the shipyard. Now the number of workers in the shipyard has increased to more than 1,300, and more than 500 workers responsible for the construction of two warships. When the water was launched, most workers did not need to participate. Therefore, as bystanders visiting the launch of the warships, plus other personnel from the shipyard, a total of 7,800 people were watched on the spot, and each person also sent a small colored flag.

Li Ya, the leader of the shipbuilding project working group and the factory director of the shipbuilding project, announced that the launch ceremony of the newly built warship officially began. First, the military band and the military phalanx entered the venue, and a simple inspection ceremony was held. Then Li Ya ordered the gate to open the water. The eight water discharge holes on both sides of the dock were opened together, and the sea water suddenly poured into the dock like a spring. A burst of warm applause and cheers immediately sounded at the scene, and firecrackers and fireworks were set off. The scene was very lively.

However, it takes about 2 hours to fill the dock. Of course, you can't wait during this period. There are some other activities. First, Xia Bohai and Xiao Jianjun spoke on behalf of the government and the Military Commission respectively. Xia Bohai's speech focused on the importance of national defense industry technology. Modern national defense technology cannot be bought. And citing the example of the Beiyang Navy. Although the Beiyang Navy was known as the number one in Asia and the eighth in the world when it formed the army, all the main warships were purchased from foreign countries and there were very few self-built warships. The Japanese Navy started later than the Beiyang Navy, but insisted on a road combining purchase and self-built. This is also one of the reasons for the failure of the Beiyang Navy. This shows that it is impossible to build a real national defense guarantee by relying solely on purchasing weapons. Only by insisting on self-reliance and independence, can we learn from foreign technologies, but we must fully digest and absorb them and become the technology that we can master. Only in this way can we not be controlled by others.

After hearing Xia Bohai's words, many merchants present nodded frequently and expressed their agreement. Yuan Shikai and Li Jingfang were even more touched. They were both participants in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. To be fair, the weapons cannot be produced by themselves was not the main reason for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. However, the two did not deny that if the Qing court could build its own warships at that time, the result might be better. First of all, it could ensure the daily maintenance of warships. What is the addition of new ships or the replacement of naval guns by themselves?

After the Battle of Dadonggou, the Beiyang Navy adopted the tactic of protecting ships and avoiding wars. In addition to Li Hongzhang's passive avoiding wars, a large part of the reason was that he was forced to do so. Because the Beiyang Navy lost five warships in the Battle of Dadonggou, two of them were lost in the "Badayuan" and could not be supplemented. Other warships were damaged to varying degrees, but because they did not have the ability to build their own warships, the injured warships could not be well maintained. By the time the Beiyang Navy was destroyed, neither of them had been completely repaired, including the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. On the other hand, Japan also suffered 5 warships in the Battle of Dadonggou. However, because Japan was able to build its own warships, although its technical level was still relatively backward, it took only 3 months to repair all the injured warships. In the later battles of Lushun Port and Weihaiwei, basically all participated in the war.

Yuan Shikai's feelings are deeper than Li Jingfang. Li Jingfang now has no official position, and he was just participating in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 as Li Hongzhang's assistant. However, Yuan Shikai is forming his own direct army. Now, except for rifles, the weapons used by the Beiyang New Army need to be purchased from the outside world. Although foreign companies did not deliberately set up obstacles, the delivery cycle, operation, maintenance and other aspects are very troublesome. In addition, Yuan Shikai also knows that Now foreign companies have not set up obstacles in delivering weapons because there is no war in the Qing court now. Once the Qing court fights with other countries, it is difficult to say that the weapons will not be delivered so smoothly. Even if the artillery is in place, if the supply of accessories and shells is stopped, the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang New Army will be greatly reduced. Therefore, Yuan Shikai has always advocated that at least the shells must be produced by themselves. Yuan Shikai also deeply agrees with the military technology that Xia Bohai advocates that must be in his own hands.

Xia Bohai's topic changed and extended to national industry, indicating that the development of national defense industry is not isolated. National industry is the foundation of national defense industry. Without the independent development of national industry, there will be no national defense industry. Moreover, the development of national industry and the promotion of national industrial assets can also increase national income, improve people's lives, and make the country's economic development and society rich. Only in this way can there be enough technology and funds to develop national defense industry. Prospering the country and strengthening the army are connected and indivisible. Therefore, the East China government must not only vigorously develop national defense industry, but also insist on developing national industry, achieving both military and civilian lines, and simultaneously developing and progressing.

If the businessmen were just sighing before, then after listening to Xia Bohai's second half of the speech, they couldn't help but be excited, because Xia Bohai raised the national industry to the height of national prosperity and strength, and some businessmen advocated "industrial saving the country", and Xia Bohai affirmed this proposition as the highest leader of the East China government, which also made them feel like they met a confidant.

Although these businessmen are knowledgeable, of course they will not easily be fooled by Xia Bohai's words and immediately took out a lot of money to offer them, but their favor for overseas Chinese could not help but increase greatly.

Xiao Jianjun's speech was mainly to praise and affirm the work of Qingdao Shipyard during this period, and to encourage Qingdao Shipyard to continue to build more and more powerful warships for the People's Army Navy.

Lu Jianqin spoke on behalf of Qingdao Shipyard, saying that the shipyard will continue to work hard, study technology, be brave in innovation, strengthen management, and build Qingdao Shipyard into a world-class shipbuilding enterprise and become the pillar of defense manufacturing in East China government.

Then more than 30 workers who performed well in this shipbuilding project, had a good working attitude, were diligent in thinking and researching technology, were awarded the titles of "Labor Medal" or "Labor Red Flag Bearer". These people were also the backbone of the shipbuilding project this time. Xia Bohai personally awarded them medals, certificates of honor, etc., and held them one by one, and finally took photos together. The reporter took photos of each person alone, etc. The award-winning workers were also very excited. Although there was no financial reward this time, the income of working in the factory was much higher than that of farmers, and people always had to be a little spiritual. Therefore, these award-winning workers also had a sense of recognition.

These words and activities were typical clichés or forms in the old time and space, but in this era, they were very fresh, and these words showed the importance of the East China government to Qingdao Shipyard. These merchants all knew that the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement had been in charge for more than 30 years and established many large-scale factory enterprises, but they had never received such attention from the court. Except for a few Westernization officials, most officials looked down on these factory enterprises in their hearts, or used factory enterprises as tools for making money.

Moreover, some experienced businessmen were thinking in their hearts that if the court had half of the attitude towards industry as against Chinese overseas, then the Qing Dynasty might not have fallen to such a level.
Chapter completed!