After the Moroccan crisis, Germany was aware of the impending crisis of war, and Britain, France and Russia had formed the Entente, and Italy was separated from the Allies, and only Austria-Hungary was on the same front with Germany, which made Germany feel more in crisis, so at this time, of course, the German army should introduce mature and battlefield tested weapon technology, so that the new and excellent weapons can be assembled as quickly as possible and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army, and there is no time to slowly develop weapons.

Although Germany has the ambition to build a naval power, and also has enough national strength and technology to realize this ambition, but before that, Germany is a traditional land power country, lacking the foundation and experience of building a naval power, mainly reflected in the ambiguity of the German naval development strategy and the lack of warship design capabilities.

As a result, although during the First World War, although Germany was recognized as the world's second largest naval power, and the size of its navy was close to about 60 percent of Britain's, the quality of warships was not worse than that of British warships, but due to backward design ideas, the combat effectiveness of a single ship was indeed inferior to that of British warships.

But in this era, due to the emergence of East China, so that Germany has a choice to rely on its own capabilities, before the Far East War, East China designed a total of 3 types of warships for Germany, except for the last type of German-class battleships have not been built, the first two types of Samoa-class protective cruisers, Rune-class armored cruisers have been completed and put into service, and their performance is also widely praised in the German Navy, and ahead of the British counterpart.

The design ideas of the German-class battleships designed by East China ** for Germany are completely consistent with the Dreadnought battleships that Britain began to build a little later, and even better in some aspects, and now the Dreadnought battleships have been recognized as a new type of capital ship that opens a new era, but Germany due to its own hesitation, although the two German-class battleships started before the Dreadnought battleships, but they lagged behind for more than 3 months before they were completed, and this honor was given to Britain, but this can also be out of East China's ** warship design capabilities.

Coupled with the glorious results achieved by the navy of East China in the Far East War, because the Cadre-class battleship built according to the idea of the Intrepid battleship performed quite eye-catching in this naval battle, finally the head of the German Navy, Tirpitz, was completely convinced of the warship design capability of East China, so during the German visit to East China at the beginning of last year, he invited East China ** in one breath Two types of battleships have been designed, with the first Nassau-class battleship having two already under construction last year and two more to begin this year, and the construction of another Helgoland-class battleship scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, or early next year.

However, at this time, Britain was not idle, following the battle of the Intrepid, in November 1906 the construction of the first ship of the Bellerophon-class battleship, in 1907 the construction of two more battleships of the same class, the Magnificent, the Lu Mang, and the construction of a new and more powerful St. Vincent-class battleship at the end of the year.

In addition, in April 1907, another British warship called the Ideal Cruiser was launched and outfitted, and officially named the Invincible. According to the information obtained by the German intelligence department, this type of warship was designed and built by Fisher, the head of the British Navy, and is claimed to combine the firepower of a dreadnought battleship with the speed of a cruiser, with a displacement of about 17,000-18,000, equipped with eight 305 mm guns, and a maximum speed of 26 knots.

Fisher called this kind of warship the perfect cat in his report that it could serve as a strategic mobile force to complete rapid deployment and strategic support missions, protect British maritime shipping around the world, hunt down and destroy enemy cruisers of any kind, and when encountering more powerful opponent battleships, it could get rid of the opponent's entanglement with high speed.

Of course, the patriarchs all know that this kind of warship built by Britain is a battlecruiser with a mixed reputation in the old time and space, of course, at this time Britain still classified it into the type of cruiser, and it was not until 1912 that the new type of battlecruiser was officially determined.

Receiving this information, the German Navy was quite shocked, because the launch of this kind of warship meant that with the help of East China, the four Lune-class armored cruisers that were ahead of the British warships of the same kind were also completely outdated, although the main guns were the same 8, but the main gun caliber of the Lune-class was 210 mm and the speed was 23 knots, while the main gun caliber of the Invincible was 305 mm and the speed was 26 knots, so once the Lune-class encountered the Invincible, it would face a desperate situation of not being able to fight and not being able to escape. Even the Blücher-class armored cruisers, which Germany was preparing to build, were no match for them.

Although the capital ship of the navy in this era is a battleship, the role of large armored cruisers is still indispensable in the navy, although the combat effectiveness of large armored cruisers is not as good as that of battleships, but it is an all-rounder in the navy, which can undertake escort, break diplomatic relations, rapid deployment, strategic support, and can also assist battleships in decisive battles, if you change it to data, 4 battleships with 4 large armored cruisers, you can defeat 6 battleships of the same class, even with 8 battleships of the same class, there is also the power of a battle.

So in the minds of the Germans, they all made up such a picture that the British new warships came by the wind, easily smashed the German light cruisers on patrol duty, together with the armored cruisers that rushed to reinforce them, and then under the guns of the battleships that rushed to Wen Xun, they quickly fled with their amazing speed, and in the process of escaping, they also used the tail guns of the same caliber as the battleships to open fire......

Such a terrible sight had appeared more than once in the dreams of German Admiral Tirpitz.

In fact, such an idea of the German Navy has completely exposed the Achilles' heel of the German Navy's insufficient foundation and backward naval thinking, which is actually more fatal than the lack of warship design capabilities. Because the British built battle cruisers, which were not used in this way at all. But the Germans adhered to this idea, of course, it is difficult to change, and the only way to counter this ideal cruiser built by the British is to build the same warship to fight it, in the old time and space, Germany was to build the von der Tann battlecruiser as its own response, thus starting a shipbuilding race between the two countries.

However, in this era, Germany has one more choice, after all, this is a new type of warship, Tirpitz basically does not have any confidence in Germany's warship design capabilities, and naturally thinks of asking East China ** to design a warship for himself that is enough to counter this ideal type of cruiser. Of course, in addition to this type of warship, battleships, armored cruisers, and light cruisers are indispensable, so a plan to invite East China to set up a total of 10 types of warships is proposed.

It just so happens that Germany feels that East China has too many technologies to transfer, and it is not cost-effective for itself, so it has incorporated these requirements into the trade negotiations.

Xia Bohai said: "What do you think of Old Xiao?"

Xiao Jianjun said: "These military technologies are actually not a big deal, they will basically appear in the next 10 years, and with our demonstration, it can be shortened some more time, it is estimated that 5 or 6 years is enough, so it should be cost-effective to exchange these military technologies for some of our useful technologies." ”

Wang Jun frowned and said: "These are all technologies from the early 20 th century, is it so difficult that we don't know about it!

Xia Bohai also nodded and said: "In fact, we know the principles of these technologies that we ask Germany to transfer, but our basic industry is too poor, and we do not have the ability to research and develop ourselves, or it takes too long for self-research and development, so it is the fastest way to directly import from Germany and equip it with a full set of equipment that can speed up our industrialization level." Of course, this is only a stopgap measure, and the shortcomings of basic industry still have to be made up. ”

Qin Zheng also said: "But to make up for the shortcomings of basic industries, it takes a long time of investment and accumulation, and the output is not fast, and the output is also small, so we should walk on two legs, on the one hand, we should introduce advanced technology and equipment from other countries to speed up our industrialization and technological improvement, and on the other hand, we must also vigorously invest in the development of basic industries to make up for the shortcomings, these two roads are not contradictory." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "Let's put these truths aside, I still have an important question, and I think there should be a clear answer, that is, we want to help Germany to that point?"

Qin Zheng said: "What does Lao Xiao mean, do we want to help Germany and win World War I?"

Xiao Jianjun nodded and said: "Yes, that's what it means, these military technologies we provide to Germany can already make Germany's military strength better than the old time and space, although this is not enough for Germany to win the First World War, but if we provide Germany with some more advanced military technology, it is possible to help Germany win the First World War, and we can also directly participate in the war, contain Russia, and let Germany avoid the situation of being attacked on its back." ”

Xia Bohai said: "In the First World War, we will not take the initiative to participate in the war, unless someone attacks us first. However, what Lao Xiao said is also reasonable, this issue really cannot be delayed any longer, and we must have a clear promise so that we can have relations with Germany in the next few years. But such a major decision is not a quick result, and there needs to be enough time to assess the division, first of all, to determine the extent to which we interfered in the First World War on the premise that we do not enter the war, and secondly, the impact of Germany's victory or defeat on us. ”

Qin Zheng said: "Since it is an evaluation, I think we can also list our participation in the war as one of the options, and see how effective our participation in the war is?"

Xia Bohai thought for a moment and said, "Okay, let's include our participation in the war, and make the final decision this year." ”