"You don't have to worry, in fact, we don't have to compete with the British and American shipyards." Tirpitz laughs, apparently he did a bit of work.

"Oh? Let's talk about it. Jochen was a little interested.

"Your Majesty, the purpose of the Argentines wanting to buy warships is to fight the Brazilians, and the two warships that the Brazilians ordered from the British had already started construction at the Armstrong shipyard and the Vickers shipyard last year, and if nothing else, they were expected to be completed and delivered in 1910, so the Argentines were in great demand, so if there was a bid, the Argentines would not be able to get the ships quickly." Tirpitz said.

"You mean that if you bid, then the shipyard will not be able to start construction in a short time?" Jochen reacted a little, as if there was indeed such a thing, and the Americans seemed to delay the construction of the Rivadavia class after getting the order for the Rivadavia class to start construction in 1910.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Tirpitz nodded: "If the Argentines adopt the method of competitive bidding, then the shipyards need to complete the design sketches for the Argentine side to choose first, and the shipyard that wins the bidding can then complete all the design drawings on the basis of the sketches, so it will take about 1 year or so."

As long as we tell the Argentines about this and guarantee that the construction will start within 6 months after the contract is signed, then the Argentines will most likely not choose to waste time in the bidding, so we excluded our competitors from the beginning. ”

Tirpitz said that this scenario was likely, the Argentines were loyal users of German armored cruisers, and the 26 design sketches provided by the Navy included almost every conceivable layout.

The Armstrong shipyard, which was favored by the Argentines in history, designed the front 2 in 1 and the rear 2, similar to the layout of the King-class battleships, and the first 2 in the back 2 and the 2 in the sideline diagonal span layout finally selected by the Argentines are naturally among them. However, Jochen believes that the possibility of the Argentines choosing these two design options is almost zero, because the design prepared by the Germans includes some frenzied abandonment designs, which are difficult to refuse for the Argentine Navy, whose deterrent use is far greater than actual combat use.

"Hmm. It would be best if bidding could be avoided, but if the Argentine government had to invite British and American shipyards to participate, it would need to weigh the offer. Jochen commanded, and then smiled: "Now I hope that the Argentines will be intimidated by the majesty of the Scharnhorst, and then immediately pull us to sign." ”

"It would be nice if that was the case." Tirpitz also laughed: "I hope that when we talk about money, these Argentines will be as enthusiastic as they were when they welcomed our fleet." And we now also have enough shipyards to take orders from the Argentines, as long as the Argentines sign. We should be able to lay the keel for them by the end of the year. ”

The promise of laying the keel at the end of the year and putting it into service in early 1912 should indeed make Argentines happy, and Tirpitz's words made Jochen more confident that he would eat the Argentine's big cake.

However, this good mood did not last long, and the thought of another bad news, Yochen's mood immediately became a mess.

"That's the good news, and then there's the bad news." After putting away the smile on his face, Jochen said: "The farce over there in The Hague is probably coming to an end soon. ”

Tirpitz also sternly said: "Did the British react? ”

"That's right, the British Parliament approved the Royal Navy's budget for the 1908 fiscal year, preparing to start construction of 10 capital ships, including 8 battleships and 2 armored cruisers. Such a frenzied scale of shipbuilding turned every act of the British in The Hague into hypocritical deception, so there was no need for the meeting to continue. The next step is to rely on strength. Jochen had mixed feelings.

Now that the British have completely torn off the veil of their hypocrisy, the next thing for Germany to do is to hype it up, and then firmly pin the pot of destroying peace on the heads of the British, and it can be said that the purpose of the Germans' initial participation in the international peace conference has been achieved, and it stands to reason that this should be good news.

However, the British really did two ships against one ship and start construction of 10 capital ships, which still made Jochen feel terrified, although in Jochen's view, the threat to Germany from 8 dreadnoughts was much smaller than the 4 Orion-class super-dreadnoughts and 2 Giant-class dreadnoughts that the Royal Navy had built in 1909.

But the pressure on 10 ships is much greater than that of 8. Even if he was mentally prepared, Jochen's expression was similar to that of Tirpitz when he first received the news.

"10 capital ships? The British are crazy? Are they really going to carry out that ridiculous two-ship-to-one standard? As long as you are a little sensible, you will know that the plan is completely nonsense! Tirpitz's face was slightly distorted.

"The British are indeed insane. And they know that this is nonsense, but they are still ready to do this. Jochen said with a wry smile: "Their status as an international financial center and the international hard currency status of the pound give them the ability to finance a lot of debt, so they can still do it even if it is two ships against one ship." ”

"That's really bad news." Tirpitz was also helpless: "Although our GDP and fiscal revenue are higher than those of the British, we cannot recklessly finance debt like the British." ”

Although he was also a leader in insisting on naval expansion, Tirpitz was much more sober than Fisher, and Tirpitz knew very well how severe the consequences would be if he played out of the way. Of course, the German navy and army could not do whatever they wanted, as the British did.

"Yes, our aim is to deter the British from acting rashly, rather than having a naval race with the British and ending up in ruin." Jochen nodded, if you really want to finance debt, Germany can play, but the consequences of doing so are unpredictable. There will also be significant resistance from the Army and Congress.

"Sir Bannerman is also really bold, and this will make the British more financially difficult, which will soon become the excuse for the Liberals to attack him, and it is estimated that he will have to give way to the Liberals in this year's prime minister's election." Jochen sighed.

Sir Bannerman, who was supposed to step down in April, is still sitting in the prime minister's seat because of the convening of the Hague International Peace Conference and the continuity of foreign and policy, but with the end of the conference, the British did not reap any benefits in The Hague, and it can even be regarded as a diplomatic failure.

However, the Liberals should really thank Sir Bannerman, who was originally under pressure from the public and the media in the original history, and it was the Liberal Cabinet with Asquith as Prime Minister who approved the budget for two ships to one ship, and abandoned the original idea of balancing the budget and approved the construction budget of 8 capital ships, marking the official start of the naval race.

And after this year's madness, the British will also realize how stupid it is to have two ships against one, and the number of ships built by the British will also decline when they are clear-headed, and Asquith will still be able to use the excuse of balancing the budget to put gold on his face.

"Others are gone, but they leave us in big trouble." Tirpitz was also a little emotional.

"I think this nonsense of the British is unlikely to continue, even if they grit their teeth and come up with so much money at one time, but as long as their financial revenue is not greatly increased, there is always a limit for the budget they can maintain, and with the rise in the cost of warships, the number of warships built will inevitably decline, and now this standard of two ships to one ship should not last long." That's all Jochen can do to comfort Tirpitz.

"As long as the British can't maintain the rate of eight capital ships a year, we can still maintain the minimum number ratio of 2:3." Tirpitz could do nothing about it, but accepted Jochen's claim, and then said with some self-deprecation: "Now we can only hope that the British will soon go bankrupt." ”

Unfortunately, Jochen knew that this hope was unlikely to be realized, and although by 1913 Britain's finances were on the verge of collapse, Churchill proposed to Germany a "naval holiday" in which both sides would stop building all warships within a year. But after being rejected by Germany, the British were able to continue to support them with a large budget.

Historically, the British spent more than 13 million pounds on shipbuilding in the four financial years from 1910 to 1914, and the total naval expenditure exceeded 40 million per year, so if you want to see the British go bankrupt, you must at least postpone the war until 1920.

Although it is true that the two-ship-to-one standard cannot be maintained because of the sharp increase in the cost of super-dreadnoughts and battlecruisers, the standard of its naval budget has not dropped too much, so the financial disadvantage of the German Navy is still very obvious.

"Although we understand that we are not prepared to compete with the British on a 1:1 basis, it is very embarrassing to have to watch the British mess around like this, and then let our advantage become of course lost." Jochen sighed and said helplessly.

"It's really bad news." Tirpitz replied with a similar sigh. (To be continued......)