Zhou Rui, who had lived in another time and space for six years, knew that battleships and battlecruisers would eventually be replaced by aircraft carriers.

However, many people in the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires did not think so, including the commander-in-chief Song Limin, who still felt that battleships should be the protagonists of naval battles, and it was difficult for aircraft carriers to sink battleships of tens of thousands of tons.

However, what Zhou Rui didn't know was that at this time, the Golden Lion Empire had secretly begun to build aircraft carriers.

In the palace of Norya, the first capital of the Golden Lion Empire, the Admiral Raf reported to Emperor Kosno: "Your Majesty, 12 ships called aircraft carriers have been keeled in two shipyards of the Empire.

According to His Majesty's requirements, this aircraft carrier will have a full load displacement of more than 30,000 tons, a speed of more than 30 knots, and can carry more than 90 carrier-based aircraft. ”

Emperor Kosno nodded and said, "I have asked the Empire's aircraft manufacturing company to start designing carrier-based fighters, carrier-based bombers, and carrier-based torpedo planes that meet the requirements.

In order to fight farther and more powerful, battleships and battlecruisers can only desperately increase the caliber of their guns, and now the caliber of the main guns of the Giant Lion-class battleships and flyover-class battlecruisers that are being built in several shipyards of our Golden Lion Empire has even reached 400 mm.

But after all, the caliber of naval guns cannot be increased all the time, and there is a limit to the range increase of battleships, and the distance is so far that neither the naked eye nor the radar can aim at targets beyond the horizon.

Aircraft carriers do not have these problems, the range and power of aircraft carriers depend on carrier-based aircraft, as long as our Golden Lion Empire can develop carrier-based aircraft with excellent performance, it can launch air attacks on battleships outside the range of battleships. ”

The Golden Lion Empire's ability to start building aircraft carriers before the Zhou family was inseparable from Emperor Kosno's attention to aircraft carriers, and Emperor Kosno believed that aircraft carriers would be a new type of warship that would change the way naval warfare was conducted in the future.

When Raff was governor of Kosno, he was even a confidant of Kosno, and was promoted to the position of Admiral of the Golden Lion Empire by Kosno shortly after the armistice was signed between the Golden Lion Empire and the Zhou family.

"Your Majesty, many of the second batch of Giant Lion-class all-main gun battleships and Flyover-class battlecruisers built by the major shipyards of our Golden Lion Empire have already begun sea trials.

They will enter service with the Royal Navy by the end of this year.

Now that many of the large shipyards in the major shipyards are vacant, it is perfectly possible to start building new capital ships. ”

The Giant Lion-class all-main gun battleship has 5 twin 45-caliber 400 mm main guns, with a full load displacement of up to 43,600 tons and a maximum speed of 25 knots.

The Overflight-class battle cruiser has 4 twin 45-caliber 400 mm guns, a full load displacement of up to 44,200 tons, and a maximum speed of 30 knots.

After the major shipyards of the Golden Lion Empire completed the construction of 60 Dragon Lion-class battleships with 380 mm guns and 60 light cavalry-class battlecruisers with 380 mm guns, the Golden Lion Empire relied on the large wealth looted from the immigrants of the humans, fox clans, cat clans, and rabbit clans, and built 60 giant lion-class battleships with full main guns and 60 flyover-class battlecruisers in one go.

When the construction of the first batch of 60 Giant Lion-class battleships with full main guns and 60 Overflight-class battlecruisers was completed, Emperor Kosno waved his hand and directly asked the major shipyards of the Golden Lion Empire to build the same number of Giant Lion-class and Overflight-class as the first batch.

If you count the second batch of 60 Giant Lion-class and 60 Flyby-class, the number of active capital ships of the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire has reached 596.

Among them, the main gun capital ships include 120 Giant Lion-class, 78 Longli-class, 34 Chiyanshi-class, 30 Unicorn-class, 40 Brave class, 22 Black Prince-class and 18 Six-Headed Snake class.

The battle cruisers consisted of 120 Overflight, 82 Hussar, 47 Conquest, and 45 Striker.

Originally, according to the naval restriction treaty signed by the six beast countries, the number of capital ships of the Golden Lion Empire could not exceed 500.

It's just that because the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires has always been unwilling to join the naval limitation treaty, various beast countries have to withdraw from the naval limitation treaty one after another.

After all, the previous signing of the naval restriction treaty by the six orc countries was also to safeguard the interests of their own countries, not to put a shackle on their own country.

Emperor Kosno hesitated for a moment and said to the Admiral Raf: "I think that the focus of the development of the Royal Navy of our Golden Lion Empire should be on aircraft carriers.

Perhaps only this new type of warship can make the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire surpass the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires.

If we continue to develop all-main gun battleships and battle cruisers, it will be difficult for our Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire to catch up with the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires.

According to the latest information obtained by the intelligence department, the number of capital ships of the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires should be at least more than 1,400, and maybe even more, which is more than twice the number of capital ships of the Royal Navy of our Golden Lion Empire. ”

In fact, Raf, the naval minister of the Golden Lion Empire, is not optimistic about aircraft carriers in his heart, just like Song Limin, the commander-in-chief of the border fleet of the Han and Tang Empires.

"Your Majesty, in terms of all-main gun capital ships and battle cruisers, our Royal Navy's Giant Lion class and Feiyue class are only equipped with 400 mm main guns, while the latest all-main gun capital ships and battle cruisers of the Han and Tang Empire's border fleets are equipped with 410 mm main guns.

Today, the Naval Design Bureau under the Admiralty has designed all-main-gun battleships and battlecruisers equipped with 420-mm guns, and the heavy artillery factory has also successfully developed twin 45-fold caliber 420-mm naval guns.

Your Majesty, is it possible to build a batch of all-main gun battleships and battlecruisers armed with 420 mm guns first? ”

Emperor Kosno shook his head and said, "Raff, although I am optimistic about the future of aircraft carriers, I also know that for a long time to come, battleships and battlecruisers with full main guns will still be the protagonists of naval warfare.

However, the problem is that in order to expand its armaments in recent years, the empire's financial deficit is very serious, and it is impossible to raise a large amount of money for the time being to build dozens or even hundreds of capital ships. ”

Raff hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the minister is aware of the financial situation of the empire.

We, the Admiralty, only hope to build a few fewer battleships and battlecruisers with full main guns with 420 mm guns, and we are not going to build too many. ”

When Emperor Kosno heard this, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "How many ships are you going to build in the Admiralty?" ”

"The two capital ships equipped with 420 mm guns will each build 12 first, I don't know what Your Majesty thinks?"

"How much does each of these two capital ships cost?"

"A full-main gun battleship equipped with a 420 mm main gun costs about 41 million silver coins, and a battle cruiser equipped with a 420 mm main gun costs about 41.8 million silver coins."

Emperor Kosno frowned, "The cost is a bit high, let's build 8 ships each!" ”

Hearing that Emperor Kosno agreed to build 8 battleships with full main guns with 420 mm guns and 8 battle cruisers with 420 mm guns, Raff couldn't help but rejoice, "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ”

Emperor Kosno suddenly sighed, "This arms race between our five Spirit Clan nations and the Zhou family of the Han and Tang Empires has already made our Golden Lion Empire a little unable to hold on.

Presumably, the situation of the other four Spirit Race countries may be also very bad, and perhaps only a new war can end this arms race.

The problem is that the military strength of the Zhou family of the Han and Tang Empires has become even stronger after three years of development, and even if our five spirit countries are united, they may not be able to defeat the Zhou family of the Han and Tang Empires. ”

At this time, Raff said: "Your Majesty, our five spirit countries can actually attract more allies, such as the Barbarian Bull Empire that was driven out of the new world, and even the three major empires of the Elven Race. ”

"It's still possible for the Barbarian Bull Empire, but how can the three major empires of the Elven Race unite with our five Spirit Race countries?"

"Your Majesty, as far as the minister knows, the three empires of the elven race have always wanted to enter the new world to mine."

The four continents of the Spirit World are relatively scarce in various resources, especially iron ore.

The three major empires of the elves have been unable to vigorously develop their navies because of the shortage of iron ore.

If it weren't for the three major empires of the elven race, all of which had a very powerful army, the six beast countries of the elven world might not have let go of the elven clan that had enslaved them for nearly a thousand years.

Emperor Kosno shook his head and said, "The reason why our six spirit nations were able to suppress the three major empires of the elven race before was because of the various resources of the new world.

Our six Spirit Race countries have already reached a secret agreement, and we must not let the three major empires of the Spirit Race step into the new world by half a step! ”

In the palace in the Emerald City, the capital of the Nature Elven Empire, the Elven Empress Brina asked Prime Minister Prono, "How are the new fighters and bombers being developed?" ”

Prime Minister Prono said with some excitement: "Your Majesty, thanks to the efforts of the military industry, the new fighter and the new bomber have all been successfully developed.

The new fighter has a maximum level flight speed of 380 kilometers per hour, a maximum ceiling of 14,000 meters, a flight range of 620 kilometers, equipped with two 10 mm machine guns, and a crew of 1.

The new bomber, with a maximum level flight speed of 300 kilometers per hour, a maximum ceiling of 15,000 meters, and a flight range of 780 kilometers, is equipped with 4 10 mm machine guns, has a crew of 3, and can carry a total of 900 kg of aerial bombs.

According to the information we currently control, not to mention the fighters equipped by the six beast countries, even the fighters of the Zhou Air Force in the human world, in all aspects of performance, they are not comparable to the two new fighters of our Natural Elven Empire. ”

Elven Empress Brina nodded with some relief, "Next, let several aircraft factories immediately build these two new fighters on a large scale."

In terms of navy, our Natural Elven Empire simply cannot be compared to the navies of several orc countries.

The appearance of airplanes has at least made the coastal areas of our natural elf empire much safer.

Perhaps, with the air force established by our Nature Elven Empire, we can even talk to those orc countries. ”

"Your Majesty, are you referring to the fact that our Nature Spirit Empire has entered the human world?"

"Not only our Nature Elf Empire, but also the Light Elf Empire and the Dark Elf Empire can also be together.

As far as I know, the human forces that defeated the alliance of six orc nations a few years ago are now much stronger.

Even if the Five Kingdoms of the Golden Lion, the Red Tiger, the Black Bear, the Silver Wolf, and the Flying Leopard formed the Five Nations Alliance again, they still did not have the certainty of defeating that human force.

Perhaps this is the opportunity for our three major elven empires to enter the human world. ”

Prime Minister Prono asked in surprise, "Your Majesty, are you going to unite with those orc nations to deal with that human force?"

But will those orc nations unite with the three empires of our elves? ”

Elven Empress Brianna said with a smile: "That's why I asked the military industry department to develop fighters and bombers with superior performance at all costs."

The two new fighters in our hands now are the bargaining chips for our three major elven empires to enter the human world. ”

Although the three major empires of the elven race also have many contradictions with each other, the Light Elf Empire and the Dark Elf Empire even broke out a war a few years ago.

However, under the leadership of Brina, the empress of the Natural Elven Empire, the three major empires of the Elven Race, namely the Three Great Empires of the Elven Race, the Light Elf Empire and the Dark Elf Empire, finally secretly formed the Elven Alliance two years ago.

Prime Minister Prono was still a little hesitant, "Your Majesty, but that human force is very strong, and the six beast nations that were united before were all defeated by that human force.

The Wild Bull Empire was even driven out of the human world by that human force. ”

"Hehe, I don't think that our three major elven empires, after uniting those beast countries, will still lose to a mere human force.

Of course, the premise is that those orc nations are willing to accept the help of the Elven Alliance.

By the way, Prono, and then let the military industry continue to develop carrier-based fighters, carrier-based torpedo aircraft and carrier-based bombers that can take off on aircraft carriers? ”

Prime Minister Prono couldn't help but be stunned, "Aircraft carriers? ”

"I have here a copy of the information on aircraft carriers.

An aircraft carrier is a new type of warship that can carry warplanes that take off from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier to attack and blow up enemy warships.

An aircraft carrier could attack a battleship from outside the range of it.

According to reliable sources, the Golden Lion Empire has secretly begun to build a batch of aircraft carriers, the number of which is at least more than 10 units.

I'm going to have a few shipyards start building aircraft carriers that belong to our Nature Elf Empire as well. ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, in terms of fighters, our Natural Elf Empire has been ahead of all countries, and presumably the military industry department will soon be able to develop qualified carrier-based fighters, carrier-based torpedo planes and carrier-based bombers."