On September 30th, today is a historic day, and Jochen stayed in Tai** and did not go anywhere.

The telegram had come back from Chicago, and it was already night in Berlin when it came due to the time difference, so Jochen had only now received it.

The telegram was sent back by Tesla, and the content was very simple, the order for the hydropower station in Niagara Falls was won by Siemens, and the engineering company AGE for alternating current transmission was also won. The United States, because of the success of the construction of the Schluch hydroelectric power plant in Germany and the affordability of alternating current, handed over the order to the Germans with little hesitation.

This order will also involve Westinghouse, which will become the largest partner of Siemens and AEG in power projects in the United States.

The success of the hydropower project allowed Tesla to declare that alternating current is better than direct current in the United States, and the show-off is overflowing.

In fact, as early as the opening of the Chicago World Expo, with the efforts of Westinghouse, the project of lighting equipment for the World Expo was obtained, and when nearly 100,000 electric lights jointly completed by Siemens and Westinghouse were all lit with alternating current, Tesla had already sent a telegram to show off.

Looking at the telegram, Jochen could imagine Tesla's ugly expression at Edison.

On the opening day of the World Expo, many American companies wanted to get all the technology of the alternating current power system, which of course could not be transferred. However, the main focus of Siemens and AEG still has to be in Europe, and the German company's complete control of the US power supply system is too big, coupled with the commitment to Tesla, so Westinghouse has been pushed to the forefront.

However, as long as Siemens and AEG can continue to update their technology and maintain their technological leadership, the cooperation with Westinghouse will not be interrupted. Therefore, in the future, the construction of the entire power supply system in the United States will be indispensable to the Germans' share.

As for the cost of electricity, on the one hand, taking too much will attract hatred, if the patent fee of 2.53 US dollars per kilowatt-hour of electricity is charged according to the patent, it will not be until 1914, it is estimated that in 1904 the amount of royalties collected each year exceeds the GDP of the British Empire in one year.

On the other hand, at that time, most of the power grids were privately owned, and even if they did not have to pay royalties, electricity fees were still very high until they were fully nationalized. In 1927, the electricity bill in Guangdong was 0.45 oceans per kilowatt-hour of electricity, which was about 0.21 taels of silver according to the silver dollar content of about 23.9 grams at that time, and calculated according to 5 US dollars to 7 kuping taels of silver, that is, about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Of course, the electricity bills are different in all countries, and the consumption level is also different, but the excessively high electricity charges will strictly hinder the popularization of civil electricity, and most of the main electricity consumers are concentrated in industrial electricity and commercial electricity.

Germany does not have this problem, because from the beginning, the German power grid system was required by Jochen to be owned by the state, and the national grid was built for unified management, while companies such as Siemens and AGE were mainly responsible for project construction and equipment supply.

Therefore, in order not to be knocked on the door and facilitate the promotion of electricity application in other countries, Jochen reduced the patent fee by 100 times, charging only 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity, and according to the provisions of the first "U.S. Patent Act" of the United States on April 10, 1790, the patent protection term was 14 years, which was enough for Jochen to collect patent fees until 1905. 2.5 cents is not much, but it is estimated that by 1905 it would bring in about £100 million in a single year.

Of course, no one knows how fast the future of electricity generation will rise, and the Americans have praised the German crown prince for his willingness to reduce the royalty so low, and in their opinion, such a low courier fee is simply a meant, just a show.

In addition, BMW will build a branch plant in the United States to reduce the cost of car sales, and also bring jobs and tax revenue to the United States. Under the encouragement of the media, the attitude of the Americans towards Germany was extremely friendly for a while, and the relations between the two countries warmed up.

This also facilitated the development of the German Royal Petroleum Company, which was expanding heavily in the United States. Although the Ohio antitrust case forced the Rockefeller Oil Company to disperse its business, the cunning Rockefeller still used a newly established headquarters to remotely control the scattered forces, and the overall amount was not greatly affected.

Jochen's plan to crush Rockefeller in one fell swoop, but it wasn't entirely fruitless. At a time when Rockefeller had just dispersed its enterprises and was in a chaotic state, the Royal Petroleum Company of Germany absorbed a small number of refining companies and also held a small stake in Rockefeller.

Now the German Royal Petroleum Company can openly compete with Rockefeller in the US oil market, and can still have a slight advantage.

In addition, the exploration work of the exploration team in Alaska and northwest Canada has already been completed, and as long as the Canadian government starts to build the Western Railroad, it will be able to increase its strength whether it is mining it itself or selling it, so the situation in the United States can be said to be very good.

Of course, Yochen is not referring to these events in the United States when he says historical significance.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting Jochen's thoughts.

"Come in"

"Your Highness, a telegram from the military attache in Britain." The attendant pushed the door open and handed over a telegram, and Joechen signaled, and the attendant bowed and retreated.

When he opened the telegram, Yoheng shook his head, smiled a little helplessly, and said, "Is it really still today?" ”

The telegram revealed that the Japanese side and the Armstrong shipyard had reached an agreement on the order of two battleships, and Germany had confirmed that the order had been lost.

This is not the focus of Jochen's focus, the focus is on the rest of the story, the protection cruiser Yoshino that Japan ordered at the Armstrong shipyard has left port today and returned to Japan. Most of the members of the Japanese delegation returned with the ship, and only a small number of personnel continued to coordinate with the British on the design of the two battleships.

The Yoshino still returned home on September 30, and the Japanese military attache in Britain, Karuichi Kashihara, was still the receiver, and after returning home, he would still become the captain of the Yoshino. The difference from history is that the Yoshino has stronger firepower, and on the way back to China, it also carries a Togo Heihachiro.

What happens if the Yoshino has an accident halfway through now? What will happen to Dadonggou? What will happen to Tsushima? How will history change? Of course, this can only be imagined, and Jochen will never let Tirpitz take two Victoria Luiser class ships to rob the road halfway.

The name Yoshino has been given too many meanings by the history of the Sino-Japanese War, and there are even rumors that the Yoshino was originally ordered by the Beiyang Naval Division, but was later forcibly bought by the Japanese, and finally led to the failure of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Moreover, because Deng Shichang gave the order to "sink Yoshino" in anger, and finally failed to achieve the goal and bravely went to justice, the name Yoshino was well-known and hated by the world.

However, Jochen was not prejudiced against the Yoshino, and a simple warship was not enough to change the fate of a naval battle and a country. And from the Yoshino itself, it is indeed a classic of the Armstrong series of protective cruisers.

As the fastest cruiser of its time, and an early attempt to fully equip itself with medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, the Yoshino's performance and performance were top-notch.

However, this kind of performance and performance were not the biggest factors that determined the defeat of the war, nor was it that the Beiyang Navy could change the outcome by buying a few advanced warships stronger than the Yoshino.

In Jochen's previous life, many people believed that the failure of the First Wu was because the Empress Dowager Cixi took the funds of the navy to repair the Summer Palace, but in fact there was no such thing, and the funds for repairing the Summer Palace were not the financial funds allocated by the Ministry of Household to the Navy, but only the name of a special fund for the sailors was stored in the name of the account of the Beiyang, so the misappropriation was purely a rumor.

However, it is an indisputable fact that Cixi approved the Hubu Shangshu Weng Tonggong to stop the appropriation of the Beiyang Naval Division, and the construction of the Beiyang Naval Division was suspended. For Lafayette, who did not understand the changes of the times, it was impossible to understand the situation that the navy that the imperial court had spent so much money on was falling behind in less than 10 years, and that it needed to come up with more money to buy more expensive ships.

And Master Weng, who fought with Li Hongzhang openly and secretly and stuck the neck of the Beiyang Naval Division, used his own selfishness to harm the military affairs, so that the Beiyang Naval Division could not enhance its strength, and naturally he was also one of the sinners who was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War.

But is the defeat of Beiyang really reversed by allocating a little money and buying a few ships?

From an objective point of view, although the Beiyang Naval Division was defeated in the Dadonggou naval battle, the Japanese side also won a miserable victory. Hiei was seriously injured and withdrew from the battle after receiving a main gun shell from Dingyuan, the Akagi was besieged by three ships, and the captain Hachiro Sakamoto was killed, and the Matsushima, the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was hit by a main gun shell from Zhenyuan, and also detonated 120 mm shells stacked together, seriously injuring three ships.

Although the Beiyang Naval Division lost 3 ships, Chaoyong, Yangwei, and Zhiyuan, but Chaoyong and Yangwei were originally old ships, and only one Zhiyuan was lost in the Eight Yuanzhong, and the Beiyang Naval Division can be said to have the main force still existing.

3 sinking, 3 wounded, of course, the Beiyang Naval Division lost, but the Japanese side did not have the courage to have another Dadonggou with the Beiyang Naval Division. This can be seen from the fact that the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet at that time, Yuhiro Ito, took the fleet around Weihaiwei and went back.

If the Japanese side really wanted to fight, it should go straight to Port Arthur and force the Beiyang Naval Division to come out for a decisive battle, but the Japanese, who could not afford to lose, retreated in the face of the Beiyang Naval Division, whose main force was still surviving.

Dingyuan was shot 159 rounds, Zhenyuan was shot 220 rounds and did not sink, the prestige of "unsinkable Dingyuan" became a myth of "Dingyuan is unsinkable", the survival of the first ironclad ship in East Asia brought them greater mental pressure, after the Battle of Dadonggou, the Japanese not only did not relax after the victory, but became more nervous, and was already very worried and even said that Ito Yuheng, who was afraid of the second ship of Dingzhen, began to play soy sauce with the combined fleet.

But what was the Beiyang sailor doing at this time? In the port of Guku, they did not even dare to do the work of supporting the army, so the Japanese could land on the coast under the escort of the navy and begin a full-scale attack on the Liaodong Peninsula, and finally captured Lushun in only half a day.

The Beiyang Naval Division, which fled in a hurry, hid in Weihaiwei again, and then surrendered without a fight in despair, and did not even maintain the last integrity of the navy, and the main force of the navy was captured by the Japanese without firing a single shot.

The failure of the Beiyang Naval Division was doomed from the beginning. This is not a question of the Queen Mother, a question of the Book of the Ministry of Households, a question of the Minister of Beiyang, a question of tactics, a question of a naval battle, or a question of a ship.

This is the problem of the fleet as a whole, the problem of the country as a whole.

C