As soon as Yoheng came up, he asked such a question to reveal his scars, which made both Qingde extremely embarrassed. 'Your Royal Highness the Prince, what are you doing so sincerely, it's a business that comes to your door, and you don't push guests out like this. ''Blocking people's wealth is like killing your parents, Your Highness, it's too unauthentic for you to do this!'' Everyone in the room roared in their hearts.

Naturally, Jochen knew that the question he was asking was extremely sharp, so he cleared his throat and immediately went on to speak: "Mr. Minister, Mr. Counselor, there is an old Chinese saying that 'buying and selling does not lead to benevolence and righteousness', and 'a man cannot stand without faith, Your country has established a good cooperative relationship by ordering two ironclad ships in our country, and then ordering 11 torpedo boats from our country (Note 1). Of course, we admit that the fact that we have not built dome cruisers before and have no relevant experience is also a disadvantage. However, it does not mean that we have given up on this order. ”

"Oh? His Royal Highness the Imperial Prince seems to have another deep meaning? Listen to me in the next wash. Compared with the "cunning and greedy" of the British, the Germans were obviously rigorous and honest, and they were naturally extremely interested in hearing what Joheng said. If you can really tell the reason, not only can you fulfill Nakado-sama's entrustment, but you can also use facts to prove that it is a wise move to order warships from Germany, and naturally you and Nakado don't have to play petty tricks to leave a handle to fall into the mouth.

"Mr. Minister, although our country has no experience in designing and building dome cruisers, without experience, there will naturally be no constraints, and without constraints, we can be more open and our ideas more innovative, which is one of them; China's construction technology is advanced, the processing capacity is excellent, presumably Mr. Minister should also find when watching our country's construction of the Dingzhen second ship, China's construction technology and processing capacity is not weaker than the British, and our country is striving for excellence, more than the British, so the same ship should be our country's performance is more excellent, this is the second. And order our warships, which are of high quality and low price, can also save money for your country. This is the third one. With the above three advantages, choosing China naturally has more advantages. As for the British, they are experienced and may have excellent ships to choose from, but our country's construction and processing capacity is all on them, as long as the design is excellent, are we afraid that we will not be able to build better warships than them? If you believe in the strength of our country, please wait patiently for a while, and we will surely gather excellent designers, brainstorm ideas, and come up with first-class designs for your country, and then your Excellency will study and choose. I wonder what Your Excellency thinks? Knowing the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of Jiyuan and Esmeralda by later generations, Jochen was naturally convinced that the Germans had designed a better dome cruiser than Esmeralda.

And maybe it was the confidence in the words that infected Li Fengbao, or maybe ordering warships from Britain was an option that didn't need to be considered, so Li Fengbao had no opinion on this: "Since His Royal Highness the Imperial Sun has this confidence, he will naturally wait for good news." ”

Then, the German designers began to work on the design of the new ship, but because of their lack of experience, they were still prepared to refer to the design of the British Hesburn as in history, and Jochen naturally did not let this much-criticized scheme go through. Therefore, Jochen, who was well acquainted with the pros and cons of Esmeralda's performance, naturally used this unbuilt "perfect protective cruiser" to stimulate the German designers.

"This time the Qing country once again gave up ordering warships to the British, the second ship of Dingzhen can be said to be of good quality and low price, and it is not weaker than the British design in the same class of warships, so the Qing people trust in the ability of China's shipbuilding industry to make the current choice, if the performance of China's newly built dome cruiser is far inferior to the British, then how can we continue to strive for the order of the Qing country after losing trust? As far as I know, the cruiser built for Chile that the British are now putting on the slipway, with a displacement of 2900 tons, is equipped with 2 254 mm naval guns, 6 152 mm naval guns, has a speed of 18 knots, and it is a full full dome armor, and the speed is 18 knots, do you think that the design of Hesborne can surpass the new ship of the British? ”

"Your Highness, if this is really the case, this cruiser (Note 2) can be called perfect, we don't have enough experience, I'm afraid it will be difficult to design similar products, if we want to force similar performance, I'm afraid the tonnage will be difficult to control." Although I don't know where His Royal Highness got the performance number jù, but maybe it was found by the German intelligence agencies, so the German designers did not doubt the credibility of the number jù, but such excellent performance is indeed a bit difficult for the current German shipbuilding industry.

"Perfect? That is, it is just boasting, this ship is still far from perfection. Jochen scoffed. The tonnage of 2900 tons is equipped with 2 254 mm naval guns and 6 152 mm naval guns, and they are not afraid of dying, and the displacement of 8000 tons of China's Saxon class is only 6 260 naval guns. In this way, this ship will inevitably have all kinds of problems with the ship, small cannons, and big pilots that I have mentioned before. Although the ship uses full-coverage dome armor, like the previous flat armor, the top of this layer of dome armor is still below the water surface, and the top of the dome armor will be submerged if it enters the water after being shot, and the problem of unstable center of gravity and lack of buoyancy is no different from that of flat armor. Moreover, the freeboard is too low, which affects the seafaring performance. Can it be called perfect with so many faults? ”

"But Your Highness, not to mention the firepower configuration and freeboard height, isn't it always the design that the dome armor is lower than the water surface, which is conducive to improving the defensive effect." Some people questioned.

"Remember what I said to Minister Lee? Although we have no experience, we will not be bound either, the dome armor below the water is someone else's design, why should we copy it? With the new arrangement, the slopes on both sides of the dome are connected to the bulkheads, but the top of the dome is higher than the water surface, so that even if the side walls are penetrated and the water enters, the water will not flood the top of the dome, and will only concentrate in the triangle formed by the side walls and the inclined planes of the dome, which will reduce the amount of water inflow. Moreover, the height of the top of the dome armor will increase the space of the power compartment, which can naturally fit into a more powerful boiler, and the space will increase, and the layout will be more leeway, so the power compartment can also be divided, which further improves the protection ability. And because the top of the dome is raised, in order to keep the arrangement of the upper compartments from being too cramped, we must increase the deck height appropriately, which will raise the freeboard and increase the seafaring performance. "The design to increase the height of the top of the dome was only begun in 1884 with the Naniwa-class cruisers built by the British for Japan, and the increase in height was limited, so it was natural for Jochen to let Germany do it in one step.

"Your Highness's idea is indeed very innovative, and it is extremely feasible, we need time to study and study it again, it seems that it is indeed as His Highness said, our people's ideas are shackled."

"Don't be discouraged, Britain is, after all, the world's number one naval power, and its ship designs have always been ahead of its time, and it is only natural that we should learn from their excellent designs. However, as the old saying of the Qing Dynasty says, "it is better to believe in books than to have no books", "to take the dregs and extract the essence", on the one hand, we must learn from the British design, on the other hand, we must find their faults with a critical eye, and then find the faults to correct, plus I have been emphasizing that we must have forward-looking ideas and ideas, and then it should be the British to learn from us. "Naturally, Jochen can't dampen everyone's enthusiasm.

"What Your Highness said is that we must keep it in mind." The imperial grandson is so polite, and everyone naturally has to express their position.

"After solving the most important problem of dome armor, the rest of the things are much easier, first of all, the weapon system, I think there is no practical advantage in the use of the main gun of large caliber, I used to say that those small ship cannons will bring trouble compared to everyone should have heard of it, so the unified use of medium caliber, fast rate of fire naval guns is very ideal, we did not install a new twin 150 mm 35 times the diameter of the gun on the Dingzhen second ship, the cruiser can also use the same battery. First, to simplify the logistics of ammunition supply, and secondly, to increase the demand, maybe Krupp can give us a preferential price. In this case, two twin 150 mm guns are installed in the bow and stern, and then one ear is installed on each side of the middle of the hull, and a single 150 gun is installed, so that it can provide the firepower of 4 naval guns forward and backward, and 5 guns on both sides, and the comprehensive firepower performance is not under the 'perfect protective cruiser'. ”

After a slight pause to give the designers time to think about their words, Jochen continued, "It has always been my opinion that capital ships are not equipped with torpedo tubes. However, it is very necessary for high-speed ships to carry out torpedo attacks, but I don't build yì you install underwater torpedo tubes, one to squeeze the precious underwater compartment space, and the other is to fix the launch angle, if you want to launch a lightning strike, you have to constantly adjust the orientation of the hull, it is really inconvenient, you can try to install the torpedo tubes on the rotating mechanism like the artillery, and then install them above the water surface, if you are worried about installing them directly on the deck because there is no protection, the operator is likely to be hit by a small-caliber rapid-fire gun, It can be opened on the side side and then blocked with armor plates, when it is needed, the armor plates are lowered, and the torpedo tubes rotate to point to the side side, so that the shooting angle also has a large range, and it is also more convenient to reload. As for the speed, the British's new cruiser is called 18 knots, I think it should be the use of strong pressure ventilation technology, the technology has been used as early as the British built for the Qing Dynasty on the Chaoyong, Yangwei, normal speed should not be so high, China's boiler technology is not as good as the British for the time being, so the strong pressure ventilation is estimated to be unexpected, but the speed of 17 knots should still be possible. Moreover, strong pressure ventilation is very damaging to the boiler and is difficult to use for a long time, so it is not too much of a problem without this technology. Of course, the speed, firepower, and protection are quite level, and the new ship does not have to be too stingy in tonnage, and the new ships of the British are 2,900 tons, and we don't have to be too polite. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone naturally smiled.

Now that the tone has been set, the design work is of course extremely smooth, and the design drawings were soon completed and placed in front of Li Fengbao and Xu Jianyin.

The design is 82 meters long, 11.7 meters wide, 5.3 meters draft, standard displacement of 2,756 tons, full load displacement of 3,336 tons, equipped with 6 150 mm 35 times diameter Krupp steel hoop breech guns, each bow and stern is equipped with a twin equipped with covered open batteries, the specifications are the same as the Dingzhen 2nd bow and stern auxiliary guns, the other two are installed on the protruding ear platforms on both sides of the hull, and 8 47 mm Hatch Kaiss rapid-fire guns, which are scattered on both sides. Four single-mount 380 mm rotating torpedo tubes are installed under the side decks of the hull, with fully covered 75 mm thick curved dome armor, composite steel surface armor, 200 mm armor on the turret walls, 8 round boilers, 2 horizontal three-cylinder two-expansion reciprocating steam engines, a speed of 17 knots, and a cruising range of 3200 nautical miles/10 knots.

As soon as this design came out, it immediately caught the attention of Li Fengbao and Xu Jianyin. The ship's firepower, protection, speed, and endurance are all outstanding, and coupled with the advantages of the German personnel detailing its design, Li Fengbao had to praise again and again: "The exquisite design of this ship is unsurpassed by similar ships in various countries." ”

Immediately began contract negotiations with the German side, Volkeng offered 3.4 million marks, after repeated bargaining between the two parties, the final Volkeng shipyard reduced the price by 50,000 marks, and finally the two sides signed a contract on February 17, 1883, to pay the deposit. The cost of the dome cruiser was 3.35 million marks, equivalent to 167,000 pounds, equivalent to more than 630,000 taels of silver, to be paid in 6 installments, limited to 14 months. On the day the contract was signed, Li Fengbao sent a long telegram back to China, praising the new ship for its "...... Although the Germans had no experience in building domes, they did not follow the rules and bad habits, and the design was novel, and the performance was superior to that of the British......"

Upon learning that the Dome Cruiser had been ordered in Germany, and seeing Li Fengbao's telegram praising it, Li Hongzhang sighed, "The Germans are really strong, and Danya (Note 3) lives up to my trust." He immediately replied, using the word "very comforting" in an unusual way in the telegram, to show his joy at getting rid of the disgusting British.

Seeing that Li Fengbao had such confidence in German ships, it was natural for him to abandon the British and find Germany to build ships, so he no longer worried that Hurd would jump out against him, and immediately reported to the imperial court (Note 4). On October 29, 1883, Li Hongzhang personally named the warship "Jiyuan", which is translated into English as ChiYuan.

However, a few families were happy and a few were sad, and when they learned that Qing Guo had chosen to order cruisers in Germany again, and he didn't even have a chance to make a move with a trump card in his hand, Hurd, who held Armstrong Shipyard's annual high adviser money, was extremely angry, so he decided to give a harsh lesson to those who stood in his way: "Whoever makes me unable to step down, I will let him step down!" However, if you want to find trouble with Li Hongzhang, you have to wait at least until the ship returns to China, and Hurd secretly made up his mind that he must let the other party go around without food.

Note 1: After 1882, the Guangdong Navy Division successively ordered 11 torpedo boats from Germany, namely Lei Long, Lei Hu, Lei Zhong, Lei Gan, Lei Kun, Lei Li, Lei Kan, Lei Zhen, Lei Gen, Lei Xun, and Lei Dui

Note 2: Although there were no cruisers in the German warship category at this time, it was based on Jochen's statement, and secondly, it was a warship designed by the British, so it is more appropriate to call it a cruiser here.

Note 3: Danya is Li Fengbao's character

Note 4: Historically, it took a long time for Li Hongzhang to report to the Qing court. It was hasty and hasty to make such a heavy decision and not report it, and it was obvious that it was intended to circumvent Hurd.

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