Due to the strict domestic blockade of the news about the launch of the Dreadnought-class battleships, in fact, the news that attracted more attention to Europe in March 1902 was the news from the German Empire, the two Chang'an-class battleships sold to Germany in the form of resale of integral parts arrived in Germany more than a year ago, and were built at the Vulkeng and Hamburg naval shipyards respectively, and finally launched in the same month, and according to the agreement between the two countries, the German Empire was also authorized to build two other Chang'an-class battleships on its own, and named the Crown Prince-class.

This time, Germany built Chang'an-class battleships, but it was aimed at the British Admiralty's earlier announcement of the construction plan of 4 Nelson-class battleships, the British Empire's new battleship construction plan was greatly accelerated after the Boer War, especially by the news exposed by the Chang'an-class battleships, the 8 King-class battleships that were originally under construction, although they have 6 305mm main guns and a displacement of 17,000 tons, they still can't fight against the Chang'an-class.

Qin Kai naturally did not care about the all-out arms competition between Germany and Britain, the more fierce the competition in Europe, for China, there is only benefit, no harm, however, the intelligence department in Britain unexpectedly obtained another news from the British, France and Russia finally reached a secret agreement at the beginning of the year, and the target was the common rivals Britain and Germany.

What surprised Qin Kai even more was the recovery of the Russian naval forces, and Nicholas II was undoubtedly an active supporter of sea power, especially under the stimulation of the British Empire, since the last war in the courtyard, the Russian Empire has almost gone all out to invest in the construction of naval armaments, and almost followed the footsteps of British naval expansion, after nearly 11 years of continuous construction and purchase. Not only did it restore the Baltic Fleet, which had been completely destroyed earlier. And doubled the strength of the native fleet.

Of course. The rise of the Russians also attracted the attention of Britain again, and the British Mediterranean squadron was once again strengthened, and it was said that two King-class battleships that had just been launched would sail there after completing sea trials to help Italy fully contain the threat from the Russian navy in the Baltic, and of course, the British apparently wanted to contain the influence of the Austro-Hungarian navy in the Mediterranean.

But what Qin Kai cared about was obviously not the Russian fleet that could not pass through the Guò Suez Canal, but the fact that China and Russia were still deploying troops along the line of Lake Berga in Siberia. However, Russia's planned Trans-Siberian Railway has progressed slowly over the past seven or eight years, and is still lingering in central Novosibirsk.

And the domestic double-track railway from Zhangjiakou through Mongolia has been extended to Ulan-Ude on the coast of the North Sea, and the Chinese army stationed in the north also has more than 30 divisions, so Qin Kai is not worried about the problem of Siberia at all, but is very cautious to look for the loopholes that are about to appear in this huge empire, the Russian Empire is intensifying the domestic revolutionary situation, so he has long seen the opportunity to continue to expand the northern territory, but. Apparently not at the moment.

After signing a series of plans to support emerging industries that month, Premier Qin directly boarded a special train to Shengjing, accompanied by a large number of generals from the Ministry of Military Affairs. Although the domestic railways have undergone earth-shaking changes in the past decade or so, from less than 2,000 kilometers before the founding of the People's Republic of China to nearly 70,000 kilometers, covering all provinces on the mainland except Tibet, the railway to Tibet is also in full swing.

After a whole day and a half of bumpy railway rides, a large number of government dignitaries arrived in Shengjing, then transferred to the big trucks of the Northern Military Region, and after driving for more than half a day, they finally drove into a large military restricted area east of Liaoyang, and finally arrived at the largest army weapons test site in the Far East, where most of the armaments of the three major technical departments of the Ministry of Military Affairs would be secretly tested before they were put into production.

Before entering the real area, Qin Kai, who was in the dust, had already heard the familiar sound of machine guns and rumbling artillery fire, and on the periphery, even the country's prime minister Qin Kai had to face extremely strict inspections before he could be released, this requirement was originally put forward by Qin Kai himself, and any leaks in the research and development of armaments were obviously something he did not want to see.

Waiting for the special car to enter the test site, Qin Kai finally saw the big guy here that he had been thinking about for several years - two armored cars modified by domestic tractors and installed with 18-horsepower gasoline engines, Qin Kai was quite willing to call these two big guys more than 4 meters long and weighing more than 27 tons tanks, but because the two iron bumps in front of him were only equipped with 2 MG heavy machine guns, in fact, they were just a prototype.

With billowing black smoke, the two armored vehicles climbed a small hill at a snail speed of less than 12 kilometers, and then rushed down the hill and then crossed a trench more than 1 meter wide.

It's just that God knows if Qin Kai brought too much pressure, or if it was a technical problem with the two armored vehicles, when the two armored vehicles were spinning in place and preparing to drive to the next puddle, one of them emitted a puff of black smoke, and then moved crookedly a few times, completely lying on its stomach, which made the engineers on the scene dumbfounded at this moment.

A few minutes later, the four testers in the armored car came out in a disgraced manner, and immediately described to the engineers who had arrived in a hurry about the previous mechanical failure, and the open hatch was still billowing black smoke, and it was obvious that there must be a power problem.

However, the mighty display just now obviously had already moved a large group of officers from the army here, seeing that another armored car was still swaying towards the test site, this broken down one, immediately became their target, a group of people immediately surrounded it, touched the barrel of the gun sticking out of the cockpit, and touched the iron track below, and some people ignored the hatch that was still emitting black smoke, and probed in to take a look......

In the eyes of Qin Kai, who has seen the iron armor of later generations, this thing can almost be described as garbage, it is not equipped with artillery at all, the speed of the car is slower to a certain distance, and the running may not be slower than this old man, however, the development potential of this thing obviously has infinite possibilities, Qin Kai's eyes, what he sees is not these two garbage, but the iron armor frenzy that will roll in the future.

After a while, three testers and two engineers were brought over, and there was no need to introduce them at all, these few people had already saluted excitedly, and the leader reported loudly, "Prime Minister, Lieutenant Wang Kai of the Cavalry Division and the test team welcome you!" ”

Qin Kai was very easy-going, and immediately beckoned them to sit down, and after sending a circle of cigarettes, he asked: "Hasn't this armored vehicle been tested for several months, does it often break down?" Has the cause been identified? ”

Wang Kai didn't answer by himself, but glanced at a middle-aged man wearing glasses in blue overalls on the side, who immediately got up, "Prime Minister, armored car failures have only occurred frequently recently, it should be the relationship between the engine, and the quality needs to be communicated with the factory...... We'll do our best to solve it! ”

There are obviously still many problems with high-power internal combustion engines, which are also expected by Qin Kai, after all, only Beihai Heavy Industry and Jiangnan Heavy Industry are currently producing engines in China, and although the development of diesel engines has also made breakthroughs, but the expected power improvement, but there has been no substantial breakthrough, so, at present, the big guy of more than 20 tons has to rely on gasoline engines to drive, and the test site is definitely operating at full capacity, and if there is a problem, it is also within the understandable range, and it is much better to break it here than to break it on the battlefield!

With the tense rush to repair, for a full hour, the broken down armored car finally spewed black smoke and moved slowly, which made the surrounding officers shout enthusiastically, just as everyone was about to watch the big guy's performance, but the armored car rushed into the waterhole, and again helplessly emitted two black smoke rings...... It's time for dinner!

Qin Kai shook his head helplessly when he saw this, this thing appeared in this era, it was originally a shocking thing, and there were some problems, which were inevitable, but the most important thing was that the military's large-scale research and development of new products had led to a series of technical follow-ups...... And if the First World War still continues the outbreak of history, then it is necessary to plan for yourself early! (To be continued......)