"The maximum speed is 25 knots, and the high-pressure ventilation reaches 26.5 knots, which is quite an astonishing high speed. ”

"Yes, not only the speed, but also the maneuverability, maneuverability, and seaworthiness are quite good, this is indeed a warship with quite good performance, and our German Navy will soon have such a warship. ”

Tirpitz nodded and said, "So it seems that we have chosen the right choice for cooperation with overseas Chinese?"

Scherdao: "I think this is indeed a correct choice, through my contact with them in the past few days, I can see that the overseas Chinese have a lot of things to learn and learn from the navy, as well as naval technology, so cooperation with overseas Chinese can indeed quickly improve the technical level of our navy." After a pause, Scheer added: "And I think that our cooperation with overseas Chinese should not only be limited to naval technology, but should expand the scope of cooperation and form military exchanges." ”

It turned out that after the test was completed, Schell immediately came to Tirpitz and reported to him the results of today's sea trial. After Tirpitz received the results, he was also very happy, not only Germany will build this type of warship, but also on the side of Wilhelm II, there is also an explanation, although Tirpitz persuaded the emperor to temporarily stop the construction of new warships, and entrust the new warships to overseas Chinese for redesign, but Tirpitz also knew that the emperor's character has always been capricious, and lack of patience, so he must do something that can make the emperor wait patiently, and in this trial, the superior performance of the two warships is enough to make the emperor endure for a while。

As for Scheer's proposal to conduct extensive military exchanges with overseas Chinese, Tirpitz had already thought of it, because he had contact and exchange with overseas Chinese at the earliest, and had seen the superior performance of overseas Chinese warships, although Tirpitz did not have more systematic exchanges with overseas Chinese on naval construction, training, tactics, development planning and other in-depth contents, but in ordinary conversations, Tirpitz could still feel that overseas Chinese did have a very deep research and understanding of the navy. The army that builds superior warships will never be inferior in other aspects of the navy.

As the head of the German Navy, Tirpitz naturally knew that the development of the German Navy started late, not only in terms of lack of experience in the design of warships, but also in the construction, training, tactics, development planning and other aspects of the Navy, so if he could have extensive exchanges with overseas Chinese and learn from the experience of the Navy, it would of course be beneficial to the development of the German Navy. And judging from Tirpitz's contacts with overseas Chinese, it seems that the other party also has such intentions, even if he uses his own experience in exchange for German construction technology.

But Tirpitz also knew very well that now was not the time to make such a request, and that the biggest obstacle was the emperor. Although the emperor behaved very normally and sensibly when he met with the representatives of overseas Chinese this time, and gave high courtesy to overseas Chinese, Tirpitz knew very well that the emperor looked down on Asians in his bones, and the famous "* theory" in Europe was put forward by Wilhelm II, although Wilhelm II proposed * In theory, it is aimed at Japan, which fought the First Sino-Japanese War, not overseas Chinese, but overseas Chinese also belong to the yellow race, so the emperor can accept the help of overseas Chinese to design warships, after all, it was built in German shipyards, but it is definitely difficult for the emperor to ask overseas Chinese for advice and learn about the construction of the navy.

Tirpitz was silent for a while before he said, "Major, are you interested in going to China?"

Scheer was stunned for a moment and said, "China?"

Tirpitz nodded and said, "We have entrusted the overseas Chinese to re-engineer the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers, and of course we will send professional and technical personnel to China to evaluate, receive and inspect the drawings, and I want to entrust this task to you." After the last sea trial, the overseas Chinese will return to China in a warship, and you can set off with their warship, and when you come back from China, the Samoa-class protective cruiser we built should also be launched, and you will be the captain of one of them. The Samoa-class protective cruisers will be classified as second-class cruisers in our naval sequence, and as a rule, the captain of a second-class cruiser should have the rank of lieutenant colonel, so you will be promoted to lieutenant colonel when you return from China. After a pause, Tirpi said: "On the way, you can familiarize yourself with the operation of this warship, and communicate well with the overseas Chinese to understand how they plan to use this type of warship.

Scheer frowned and said, "May I ask the general, what should I communicate with overseas Chinese?"

Tirpitz smiled and said, "Anything goes, as long as it's a private exchange, understand?"

For his promotion, Scheer didn't care too much, and the commander of the cruiser was also expected, because he was originally one of the most promising young officers in the German army, even if he stayed in Germany, he would be promoted for a year at most, and he would naturally serve as the captain of a cruiser at that time, but Scheer didn't expect that Tirpitz would send himself to China, and he would also have to communicate more with overseas Chinese.

Now Scheer is still a simple soldier, there are not so many twists and turns in his mind, and he is a staunch supporter of Tirpitz's development of naval strategy, believing that Germany now needs a strong navy to compete for overseas interests, Schell advocates that there should be more exchanges with overseas Chinese, which is completely considered from the perspective of naval development, and through this period of communication with Zhang Wei and others, the other party seems to have a certain friendly mood towards the German Navy, so Scheer does not think about other things.

But Tirpitz is different, he can climb to the German Minister of the Navy, and is deeply trusted by the Kaiser, of course, he will not be just a simple soldier, now Germany needs to enter into extensive exchanges with overseas Chinese, but at the official level, it is not possible to advance for the time being, so it can only find another way, through the technical exchanges between the two sides, so that a small number of naval officers and overseas Chinese have private exchanges.

Although Tirpitz is not yet regarded as his successor, he is also one of Tirpitz's favored young officers, and let Scheer be in charge of receiving overseas Chinese's ship receiving team, which is also intended to let him have more contact with overseas Chinese and understand the advantages of overseas Chinese.

In fact, Scheer still didn't understand why Tirpitz let himself communicate privately with overseas Chinese instead of opening official exchanges, but he still said: "I understand." ”

Tirpitz nodded and said, "Okay, go back and get ready." ”

At the end of the sea trials, while the warships were being inspected and commissioned, the traverser and the Kiel shipyard and the Blom-Foss shipyard began negotiations on the next batch of shipbuilding contracts.

This shipbuilding contract is still to build two warships in Germany, and two shipyards will each build one, but because this time they are all armored cruisers, both in tonnage and firepower, they will surpass the two protective cruisers on trial voyage now, so the price will definitely be much higher than the previous batch, in addition, this time it is still taking the model of the previous batch of shipbuilding, that is, to build one in Germany, and the German shipyard will provide technical guidance, main materials, machinery and equipment, and shipboard weapons, and also build a warship of the same type in Qingdao.

Because there has been a cooperation, and the two sides are quite satisfied with the cooperation, so this time the ship, no longer take the bidding, but directly negotiate the price with the two shipyards, but the two warships built this time are not the same, one is 7,000 tons, the other is 10,000 tons, the cost is also quite different, so how to distribute the two warships, is also the first problem to be solved.

After tripartite consultations, it was decided that the Blom-Foss shipyard was responsible for the construction of the 7,000-ton armored cruiser, because the German Navy had already made a decision to build two Samoa-class protective cruisers at the Blom-Foss shipyard, which was the same hull, engine, boiler and shipboard weapons as the 7,000-ton armored cruiser customized by the East China government. Shipment, thereby reducing the cost of construction, and Kiel Shipyard is responsible for the construction of 10,000-ton armored cruisers, this is because Kiel Shipyard has a very rich experience in building large armored cruisers, at this time has built 2 large armored cruisers for the German Navy, and there is still 1 under construction, the smallest is nearly 9,000 tons, the traverser is naturally willing to hand over the 10,000-ton armored cruiser to Kiel Shipbuilding for construction.

In addition, on this 10,000-ton armored cruiser, an integrated fire control system will also be installed, and it is the Kiel Shipyard that is responsible for cooperating with the East China government to develop an integrated fire control system, and from this point of view, the 10,000-ton armored cruiser should also be handed over to the Kiel Shipyard for construction.

Now the Kiel shipyard has produced 6 sets of samples, in fact, this integrated fire control system is complex in principle and operation, but there is no difficulty in manufacturing, that is, the current technical ability of the East China government can also be built, of course, the optical instrument must be excluded, but after manufacturing, a large number of tests need to be carried out, and a large amount of data can be obtained to find the correct operation method.

Three of the six samples have now been tested on land, and the German Admiralty has decided to transfer the Wiesenburg of the Brandenburg-class battleship to the Kiel shipyard for sea testing. The Brandenburg-class battleships were the first type of battleships built in Germany, due to their lack of experience, they had many flaws in their design, and now they are long outdated, and 3 of them joined the Far Eastern Fleet, one was sunk, two were captured by the traversers, and only one was left of the Wisenburg, which was already outdated, and the monofilament did not form a line, which was quite chicken in the German Navy, and it was better to change it into a test ship, and it could also exert residual heat.

The Wisenberg is now undergoing a refurbishment and is expected to take about two months to complete the renovation and conduct sea tests.