"Mr. Minister, Mr. Counselor, according to your requirements, our German designers have designed a plan that absorbs the characteristics of the British Indomitable ironclad and then uses our country's Saxony-class ironclad as the prototype, I think it should basically be able to meet the needs of the Qing Dynasty. Of course, such a great ship is an important weapon of the country, and it should be refined, and I have some small comments here that I would like to discuss with you"After all, it is a formal meeting, so Jochen communicates in German.

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, you are polite, I have heard a lot of stories about you since this time, although you are not as weak as the crown, but you have unique insights in technology, you are only 11 years old this year, even a year younger than Gan Luo Bai Xiang in the history of our country, what do you think, listen to the next nature" Li Fengbao was modest.

"Mr. Minister has won the award, how can I be compared with the eloquent man who can expand the territory for the Qin State by virtue of eloquence."

"Your Highness's erudition and knowledge of the history of our country are also extraordinary."

"Mr. Minister is too polite, I'll be here to throw bricks and jade for the two of you to refer to."

"Your Highness, please speak, and listen to you." At this time, not only Li Fengbao and Xu Jianyin got serious, and they came to the Admiralty and the shipyard designers were also ready to take notes, you must know that His Royal Highness Prince Joachim is extremely keen in the field of technology. ”

Looking at the design sketches that already had a style that would be set for later generations, Jochen began to express his opinion

"First of all, you must also know the concept of utilization I once said, although the navies of all countries now use the tactical idea of facing the enemy at the bow of the ship, but this does not mean that there will be no situation where the side meets the enemy, so although the Indomitable can concentrate 100% of the firepower of the whole ship when it moves forward, but it is only 50% when it is on the opposite side, which obviously reduces the utilization rate, and I think that you can properly open the distance between the two main turrets, and then ensure that the turrets on each side can turn to the opposite side, so that 100% when ensuring that the forward is guaranteed while also having 100% firepower when sideboarding.

Of course, you may have to pay the price of expanding the protection area of the central ironclad wave, and the ability to use two ammunition depots, which will lead to an increase in the price, but you have to look at it this way, does the increase in the protection area of the ironclad fort also increase the resistance of the hull? And if possible, it is best to protect the power system area of the ironclad fort as well, which will also greatly increase the survivability of the ship. Well, relative to the increase in price, this is clearly a good deal.

Secondly, I don't think the two secondary guns in the bow and stern are not the ideal choice, as the secondary guns, they are naturally used to deal with small and medium-sized fast ships, so it is very important to ensure the rate of fire and density, and the current design is one before and after, a total of only two, I am afraid it is difficult to play an ideal effect in actual combat, my construction is the same as the main gun with a double arrangement, so that the rate of fire and density will be greatly improved. In addition, the performance of the French's 47-mm Hatch Chase gun is very good, and the performance of the 57-mm Hatch Chase gun is not much better than that of the 47-mm gun, so I think it is enough to use this one for small-caliber fast guns.

Thirdly, I do not build a plan to equip ironclad ships with torpedo tubes, as I mentioned at the seminar last year, when large warships have low speed and mainly use naval guns as a means of attack, it is not wise to equip torpedoes with slow speed and short range, which occupy valuable space and tonnage, and every centimeter of space, every gram of weight, and every mark of this expensive capital ship should be used to strengthen its firepower and protection indicators. And it should not be wasted on torpedoes, which are not very useful weapons for ironclads.

The above three points are my little Jianyì. I hope it will be helpful to Mr. Minister and Mr. Counsellor.

I am confident that we in Germany will be able to make the best design and build the best ships for your country. ”

"Your Highness, your point of view is very enlightening, and we will make an improvement design plan according to your ideas, and it will be chosen by the Minister and Mr. Counsellor at that time." The shipyard's designers responded immediately.

"Thank you for your comments, Your Highness, and when the design is completely completed, we will choose carefully." Li Fengbao nodded slightly.

"Mr. Minister, I believe that as an ironclad ship, its performance should be the best, of course, in terms of price, it is up to you and our shipyard to negotiate, I believe that for the friendship between the two countries, we will also give the Qing country the most sincere price. I wish us a happy cooperation and hope that our ships will help your country become the No. 1 Navy in Asia. ”

"Thank you for your sincerity, Your Highness, and I wish you a happy cooperation."

On October 25, with the high efficiency of German designers, Li Fengbao and Xu Jianyin were faced with more than 30 design schemes with different performance indicators. After careful comparison and evaluation, it was finally decided to choose the design plan according to the ideas proposed by Jochen.

The design index of the new ship is 7,360 tons of standard displacement, 7,818 tons of full load displacement, equipped with 4 305 mm 25 times diameter main guns, mounted in 2 twin covered batteries, distributed on both sides of the hull diagonal span arrangement, 4 150 mm 35 times diameter secondary guns also use twin equipped with covered open batteries, installed on the central axis of the bow and stern, 12 47 mm Hatch Chase rapid-fire guns, central ironclad armor layout, composite steel surface armor, main armor 356 mm, turret wall armor 305 mm, Deck armor 76 mm, 100 mm frontal of the main turret gun cover, 8 round boilers, 2 horizontal three-cylinder two-expansion reciprocating steam engines, speed 15.5 knots. Although Jochen's idea was adopted, the overall cost increase was not significant.

The new ship is expected to cost up to 9 million marks, equivalent to 450,000 pounds, equivalent to 1.71 million taels of silver (Note 1). For this reason, Joheng proposed to the German shipyard to build a discount, and if the Qing State ordered two ships at one time, it could be discounted, and finally the Volkeng shipyard proposed to order two ships at one time, which could give them a discount of 250,000 marks each.

The next day, Li Fengbao sent a telegram of more than 100 words back to China at any cost. The telegram detailed the selected scheme with strong firepower, solid armor, speed, reasonable design, and first-class performance, although the price was slightly expensive, but compared with the British ships, it was considered good and cheap, and the Germans were full of sincerity, and did not cheat on the price. Finally, Li Fengbao deliberately emphasized that if you order two ironclad ships at a time at the Volkeng shipyard, you can get a discount of 500,000 marks, and if you order other ships at the same time, you can also get an appropriate discount.

The telegram arrived in Shanghai, as a minister's telegram, the telegram was sent to the Yamen of the Governor of Zhili in Baoding for 500 miles, and Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, was overjoyed after seeing the telegram, and sighed Li Fengbud, Xu Jianyin and Xu Jianyin lived up to expectations and added the country's weight to the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, if such a huge ship is filled, Beiyang will become the first naval division in the Far East. Immediately, he couldn't bear the agitation in his heart and entered the capital to face the saint.

The purchase of ironclad ships is a major military event, and the cost is high, so Cixi and the Empress Dowager of Ci'an summoned the ministers of military aircraft in the East Warm Pavilion of the Forbidden City. Although it is a detailed reference, Li Hongzhang is the only one who really understands the navy among the princes in the palace, but fortunately, it is very clear in the telegram that the German design is excellent and the performance is excellent, and compared with the British products, the price is fair. Naturally, there is no choice.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager of the two palaces and the ministers naturally agreed to order this type of ironclad ship from the German Volkeng shipyard. However, there was controversy over the number of orders, and Li Hongzao, the prime minister and the imperial historian of the left capital, as the leader of the conservative faction, naturally opposed the idea of ordering two ironclad ships put forward by Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Westernists, and believed that the purchase of ships was a huge cost, and it was advisable to build one first, and if it was really successful, it would not be too late to continue to build it.

In his opinion, saving nearly 100,000 taels of silver is secondary, the key is that the imperial court often has a head and no tail, maybe one day the wind is not in the right direction, this navy will not be built, if you can take this opportunity to order one more is one. Of course, he still emphasized that fundraising is not easy, and if it can be saved, it will be saved.

In the end, the queen mother of the two palaces combined, in the end, this navy is to be built, and one point can be saved, and ordering two ships can save 500,000 marks, which is equivalent to 95,000 taels of silver. So he agreed to Li Hongzhang's request, and immediately issued an order: Li Fengbao immediately supervised the manufacture of two iron armors in the Devolkeng factory, and there was no delay.

Li Fengbao, who got the call back, was overjoyed and immediately notified Volkeng Shipyard to prepare to sign the contract. And Volkeng Shipyard saw that the order had become a high level of interest, and both parties were naturally happy.

On December 2, 1880, according to the standards of the German Admiralty, Li Fengbao initialed a contract with Volkeng Shipyard for the construction of the first ironclad ship.

Eight days later, for the launching ceremony of a new ship, Volkeng Shipyard invited the commander of the German Navy, Wilhelm, and the Chinese envoy Xu Jianyin to attend the banquet. During the banquet, Xu Jianyin made an impromptu toast, saying "...... Today, China plans to order a ship at the Volkeng shipyard, which proves the friendship between China and Germany. In particular, I hope that the Volkeng factory will be made with heart and become this sharp weapon, so that in the future, the reputation of China's armed forces will spread all over the world, and I will think of this ship as the starting ......."

Regarding the technical overview of this new class of ironclad ships, Xu Jianyin said in his diary at the time: "Now the ships that China intends to build are to imitate the systems of Inflecil and Saxony, combining the advantages of the two and eliminating the disadvantages of the two...... It seems to be listed among the first-class ironclad ships on the earth today......"

On January 8, 1881, the contract for the construction of the two ironclad ships was officially signed. The total cost of the two ships was 17.5 million marks, equivalent to 875,000 pounds, equivalent to 3.325 million taels of silver.

On August 22, 1881, the first ironclad ship was named "Dingyuan" by Li Hongzhang, which is translated into English as Ting Yuen. The second ironclad ship of the same type was named "Zhenyuan" by Li Hongzhang, which is translated into English as Chen Yuen.

In this successful order transaction, on the surface, the Wokeng shipyard gained the most, and Prince Joachim not only helped the shipyard persuade the Qing to choose a more expensive design scheme, but also allowed the Qing to order two ironclad ships at one time in the name of discounts, which brought huge benefits to the Volkeng shipyard. But in fact, the biggest winner was the Qing Kingdom. Historically, the two ironclad ships were ordered in two parts, and as a result, the Zhenyuan, which was ordered half a year later, not only did the quality of the armor in the upper part of the waterline decrease, but also the price increased due to the increase in material prices. Now that the order for two ships is signed at once, both the price and the quality can be exactly the same, and there will be no more unjust money. More importantly, the two ships were ordered and started at the same time, so it was expected that they would be accepted and delivered at the same time in mid-1883, so as to return to the Qing State before the Sino-French War, and bring some due variables to the "undefeated and defeated" war.

As for the British on the other side of the Channel, they only learned the news a month after the first contract was signed, and found that not only did they have two unsalable ships smashed into their hands again, but also missed a large order worth nearly 900,000 pounds, and they regretted it at this time.

And these two giant ships will start a tortuous and glorious, glorious and tragic journey with the glory of "Asia's first ship" from the day they lay their keels. This is a later story, and it is not expressed.

Note 1: Historically, the cost of the second ship of Dingzhen was 860,000 pounds, equivalent to less than 3.27 million taels, or 17.2 million marks. The average is £430,000 per ship. This price was extremely cheap in Europe at that time, and the British Indomitable estimated that the single ship was about 740,000 pounds, while the two ramming cruisers built by the British for the Qing Dynasty, Chaoyong and Yangwei, had a displacement of only 1,300 tons, and the cost was as high as 170,000 pounds per ship, equivalent to 650,000 taels of silver and 3.4 million marks. So the Germans are on the side of a sincere conscience. Therefore, the cost of the new Dingyuan and Zhenyuan was raised to 450,000 pounds per ship, which is not considered to be a slaughter.

Another Appendix: Background Information: A list of specific prices of the two ships in Dingzhen in history

Note: 2: In history, the three ships of Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Jiyuan cost a total of about 1.06 million pounds, equivalent to 4.03 million taels of silver and 21.2 million marks.

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