In April 1896, after the first phase of the 66th Fleet's shipbuilding program was completed by the Japanese Ilkai, the Japanese Navy could not wait to order warships from Europe. At this time, the battleship Fuji, which had begun construction in England, had been launched, and the entire Japanese Navy was filled with the joy of imminent possession of the world's top battleship.

Once upon a time, the name of the first ironclad ship in the far east of Dingyuan Town overwhelmed the Japanese Navy, although now the Zhenyuan was captured by the Japanese, and two Oldenburg-class ships were purchased from Germany, but these old things that could not keep up with the dreadnought era could no longer meet the needs of the Japanese Navy.

The launch of the Fuji marked that the Japanese Navy would soon be at the forefront of the world's navies, but a piece of news from Germany was like a basin of cold water that suddenly extinguished the joy of the Japanese.

"Your Excellency Saigo, Your Excellency Saigo!" Gonbei Yamamoto hurried into the office of the Minister of the Navy.

"Yamamoto-kun, what is it that makes you like this? What's wrong? Looking at Yamamoto Gonbei's solemn face, Saigo Congdao's cautious liver pounced in fright, is this the council backslashing the navy budget? Or was there an accident on a Navy ship? Could it be that the Russians are calling?!

"Your Excellency Saigo, the news from Germany, do you remember that Lu Guo ordered a cruiser from the Independence Country last year?" Yamamoto asked breathlessly.

"Yamamoto-kun, why are you in such a hurry because of this? Didn't we already know this news last year? As soon as Saigo heard it, he immediately put his heart back in his stomach, isn't this something that everyone knows, it is necessary to be so flustered.

"Yes, Your Excellency, we did know the news last year, but at that time we thought that it was just about the same as the two warships of the Far East Fleet of the Independent Country, and even if it was improved, it would not be much different, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs got some of the numbers of this ship, which was far beyond our expectations!"

"How did it exceed our expectations? Isn't the shipyard of the independent country still building cruisers for the Argentine Navy at the same time, and the cruisers built for the Russians are not too different from the cruisers of the Argentine Navy, right? Saigo said with some disapproval.

In the first half of 1895, just as the dust of the Sino-Japanese War was gradually settled and the situation in the Far East was becoming more relaxed, the contradictions between Chile and Argentina were escalating.

At this time, the Chilean Navy's famous aggressive fleet was far superior to that of the Argentine Navy, and the Chilean Navy could continue to purchase various naval ships by exporting 140 million pesos of minerals per year. 、

In this case, the Argentine Navy sent an expedition to Europe, and the first target was the British shipyard Armstrong, but the Armstrong shipyard may have been a veteran in the field of building protective cruisers, but at this time it had no experience in building armored cruisers with broadside armor belts that could withstand rapid-fire gun attacks.

Due to the influence of the Sino-Japanese War, when defensive rapid-fire guns had become an extremely important part of the design of warships, the Argentines had to abandon the idea of purchasing them in Britain.

The Argentines then turned their attention to the Germans, who had helped them build the Buenos Aires protective cruiser. Originally the Argentines were ready to order only from the Royal Shipyard of Wilhelmshaven, where one of the two armored cruisers of the Far Eastern Fleet of the German Navy was built.

However, in the end, because the Royal Shipyard was preparing for the construction of a new battleship and armored cruiser for the German Navy, the two sides could not agree on the delivery time and cost.

Just as the Argentines were preparing to inspect the new armored cruiser being built in Italy at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa, the Royal Shipyard Technical Shipyard, next to the Royal Shipyard, came to the door.

At the same time, when the Argentine side learned that the Chilean Navy had ordered a 7,000-ton armored cruiser from the Armstrong shipyard, which was also a bold attempt by the Armstrong shipyard to build an armored cruiser, the Argentines suddenly had a feeling of "you are playing tricks on me".

Therefore, the Argentines met with the head of the Royal Ship Technical Shipyard in a very anxious situation. After informing the German Navy that the latest armored cruiser was the work of the chief designer of their own shipyard and showing a variety of armored cruiser designs, the Argentines finally chose a design with a standard displacement of 7,000 tons, equipped with four 240 mm guns, 150 mm thick armor, and a speed of 20 knots.

The two sides signed a contract for the construction of two ships in July, and the poor Garibaldi class lost their first chance to make a name for themselves abroad.

Therefore, the Japanese side believes that since the cruisers ordered by the Russians at the Royal Ship Technical Shipyard are from the same designer, they are so close to each other, and they are all armored cruisers, even if there is a difference, there should be not much difference.

But clearly, they were wrong.

"No, Your Excellency Saigo, we are now getting the news that the Russians have ordered a cruiser with a tonnage of more than 12,000 tons, armed with 8 8-inch naval guns, with 200 mm thick armor, and a speed of 20 knots!"

Saigo was not very sensitive to the specific performance of the battleship, so he asked, "So how strong is this battleship?" ”

Gonbei Yamamoto also knew that it was useless to talk to the Minister of the Navy about this, so he gave a figurative statement: "This means that this one battleship can wipe out our entire First Guerrilla Fleet!" ”

This time Saigo finally understood, but this time he was shocked: "Yamamoto-kun, are you sure this news is true?" ”

"There can be no mistake, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this was the news that Minister Aoki heard from the Russian minister."

In fact, the Royal Ship Technical Shipyard is not a secret, but Jochen itself attaches great importance to the safety of the shipyard, and the ongoing submarine program is highly confidential, so the security of the factory is in place, and the Japanese cannot enter the factory to find out. Moreover, all the workers in the shipyard have signed a confidentiality agreement, and they are well treated, so they will naturally keep their mouths shut.

In fact, if Aoki Shuzo was willing to ask Yoheng himself or the director of Hansen in person, he would definitely know everything, because if he didn't do it, he would be able to get orders from the Japanese. It's just that the Japanese have never thought of asking openly, and those who secretly want to find out the situation of the shipyard can only return with a feather.

Now that the battleship has been under construction for more than a year, and the entire shipyard is doing its best to build it, it is planned that the hull will be completed by June, and then the launching ceremony will be carried out, so it is natural that the Russians will be invited to participate.

As a result, the Germans did not deliberately keep it secret, the Japanese found nothing, and the Russians, who deliberately showed off, leaked the bottom, which is really more bizarre than fiction.

In order to explain to his "so it is", Yamamoto went on to say that its 200 mm thick armor should be the same or even better than the armor on our Izumi.

Moreover, the owner of the Royal Ship Technical Shipyard is the crown prince of the Okokuni, and it is said that the design of the new cruiser that the Okok is going to build comes from the designers of this shipyard, so the armor protection area of this battleship of the Lu Kingdom will not be smaller than that of the Izumi.

Then it means that none of the naval guns of our 1st guerrilla fleet will be able to penetrate her armor and cause him little damage.

With a speed of 20 knots, she could catch up to any of our warships except the Yoshino and sink them all with eight 8-inch rapid-fire guns! None of our cruisers could hold back such fire! ”

Obviously, the Russians did not make it clear to the Japanese when they leaked the bottom, only 6 main guns could be put into the side engagement, and the impact of 8 8-inch guns on the Japanese was too great. But even if you make it clear, the reaction of the Japanese will not be much better than it is now.

Saigo Congdao, who finally understood the situation, finally became anxious: "How can this be good, once the ship is deployed here by the Lu people, we don't have a warship that can compete with it." ”

"Your Excellency Saigo, although the Fuji-class ironclad ship has been launched, and the Imperial Navy will soon have a super-first-class ironclad ship, we will be suppressed by the Lu people on the cruiser. The order for the cruisers of the first class of the 66th Fleet should begin immediately. ”

"What you're saying is Yamamoto-kun, we're really going to start moving right away. However, if the people of the Independence Kingdom help the Lu people build such a powerful warship, will they refuse to help us build a warship that is enough to fight because of their close relationship with the Lu country? Saigo was a little worried.

"But now we have no better choice than the Independents. The design of the armored cruiser of the Duguo has been tested in real combat, and the Duguo engineers, who have been in our shipyard for more than half a year, must have brought back a lot of useful numbers from us.

I think even the British, maybe not as good as the Nationals in this area. We can only go to the independent country to find out the situation first, and if we are refused, we will think of another way.

Moreover, it turned out that Dongxiang-kun and I mentioned that when he went to the independent country to investigate, he had seen 240 mm rapid-fire guns in the artillery factory of the original Austrian country, and the new ironclad ships of the independent navy were using 260 mm rapid-fire guns. ”

"If only it could really be so smooth, I hope it's really just an ordinary business operation between the independent country and the open country." Saigo sighed.

"So, how should we act?" Gonbei Yamamoto asked.

"In this way, let Minister Aoki first probe the tone of the Duguo, if the Duguo people do not explicitly refuse, then Yamamoto-kun, you personally go to the Duguo to discuss the purchase of ships."

"Hay." RS