In April 1897, after a lapse of several years, another Chinese arms export exhibition was held in Guangzhou, and almost overnight, the overseas media gave China another name that surprised the world -- the Far East arms giants; in addition to not selling complete armaments to Germany in the agreement with Britain, several major Chinese heavy industries began to accept all kinds of orders from overseas, and at this year's arms fair, China even came up with industrial capacity that surprised the world again.

The British Empire's proud dreadnoughts have surprisingly appeared on the list of China's foreign sales, this time, the Chileans once again won the first order with a large sum of money that surprised the world, which is enough to surprise the eyes of European and American countries, you know, a dreadnought even the British Empire's mass production offer is more than 1.8 million pounds, although Chile is also a South American naval power, but the annual naval cost, it is estimated that it will not exceed 5 million pounds, how can it be so generous?

However, the representative of the Chilean Navy jointly held a press conference with the Chinese side to sign the agreement, and Rear Admiral Redesa of the Chilean Navy said very happily that if Chile wants to ensure its national interests, it must make every effort to ensure that it becomes the most powerful maritime power in South America, and Chile will make every effort to maintain military cooperation with China, and the first step is to order dreadnoughts!

The sale of a new generation of capital warships is obviously just a small gimmick for the Beijing government, in fact, Chile can take the expensive first dreadnought ship in a big way, naturally there is the meaning of the Beijing government, through Guò and China jointly developed several large mining areas, the Chilean government has obtained a large amount of taxes, and the Chinese government has generously agreed to the Chileans to pay for the construction in the form of future tax deductions. It's a win-win situation.

A powder keg on Earth today. There is no doubt that it is the Balkans. China began to sell a dazzling array of large-scale armaments, which naturally attracted the attention of the Ottomans, Bulgaria and other countries...... In the months that followed, the Ottoman Empire again negotiated with Beijing to purchase a shipment of Chinese light weapons to replace the country's outdated British-made Enfield 1881 rifles.

And then, the Ottoman Empire expressed its dissatisfaction with the earlier order of the Xia-class battleships, in just 2 years, in fact. The first Xia-class battleship was delivered to the Turks only a year ago, and it was still in the Indian Ocean Fleet for half a year, and just after returning to China, there was a dreadnought that completely crushed the Xia-class battleships in combat power, with a difference of 40% in main gun firepower, which is really a bit depressing.

Of course, the naval officer in charge of negotiating with the Ottoman military attache will never make a loss-making transaction, and it is 100% not allowed to return the goods, but ...... The Chinese side could consider changing the order for another large cruiser ordered by the Ottomans to a new dreadnought-class battleship. However, the cost of £2 million. It couldn't be cheaper at all.

The Ottoman Empire quickly agreed with Beijing's opinion, and when the news came back to Europe, the whole of Europe was in an uproar, and the Ottoman Empire, which had never been a naval power, became the only powerful navy with dreadnoughts in the Mediterranean overnight, once this warship was delivered, Italy, Austria-Hungary, which was originally a powerful country in the Mediterranean, saw the Ottoman dreadnoughts, it was really an embarrassing situation.

As for the more powerful Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II sprinkled a lot of rubles to rebuild the Black Sea Fleet that was destroyed by China at the beginning, with a large number of former dreadnoughts such as Rostislav, Perisvet, and Prince, which were originally intended to project the Empire's influence in the Balkans, and did not intend to drive the fleet to the Mediterranean Sea to make trouble, but the Ottomans, who have always been pinched as soft persimmons, if they also have strong sea power, will place dreadnoughts in the Istanbul Strait at that time, Then the Black Sea Fleet really depends on the faces of the Turks.

Therefore, China's arms sales immediately attracted unanimous protests from the Russian Empire, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, and they demanded that China stop exporting such weapons of mass destruction to Europe, but these European countries could not use any means at all except protests...... Just half a month later, two Chinese warships visited Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and on the same day, China and Austria announced a naval exchange and training program, and an officer corps of the Chinese Navy would conduct friendly exchanges for the Ottoman Empire for a year.

After receiving a promise from China, Mitara, the Ottoman Empire's naval minister, publicly announced in the Ottoman press two days later that he would build a powerful maritime force capable of defending the long Ottoman coastline!

And Colonel He Xiaohai, the captain of the naval officer corps authorized by the Ottoman Empire, naturally heard the declaration of this ancient empire for the first time, in this regard, the young naval colonel who participated in the Sino-British naval battle in addition to laughing secretly in his heart, this Ottoman naval minister who was born as a close minister of the caliph is really a figure who is not shocking and endless, even if the Chinese power supports the Ottomans, it is estimated that the Ottomans can buy a few dreadnoughts with this bit of national strength...... Not to mention the tradition of the Navy's forging ahead!

Of course, in addition to helping the Ottoman Empire train its navy, He Xiaohai's purpose this time is naturally more than this, according to the intelligence department, the political situation in the Ottoman Empire is not stable, and to ensure a series of Middle East interests signed between China and the Ottomans, it is necessary to ensure that the old empire can steadily perform its power...... And he has in his hand an important list from Beijing!

Soon, with the assistance of the Ottoman consulate and local Chinese merchants, He Xiaohai quickly had a secret meeting with two important officers on the list, and these Turkish officers were quickly approved to secretly board a merchant ship bound for the East.

At a time when China is almost opening up arms sales channels with full firepower, and even does not hesitate to offend some European countries, Britain and Germany, two major powers that are engaged in an arms race with all their might, are surprisingly quiet! Germany is making every effort to tackle the second type of German-made dreadnought under the authorization of Chinese technology, and the genius and conservatism of the German design have been fully applied to the new warship.

Faced with the huge threat of 10 main guns on the British battleship, the Germans immediately proposed to install 12 main guns in response, and this idea was immediately approved by Wilhelm II and Tirpitz, however, the German side obviously did not have the design experience of the triple main gun, when Qin Kai learned of the Germans' idea, he was quite surprised!

Except for the Agincourt, which was praised as a holy relic by the multi-turret gods in later generations, this type of battleship can be said to fully embody the concept of the turret party that many are good and big is good, but the Germans have already struggled to design the Nassau class, and now they are ready to get on the horse and bt guys, God knows what Wilhelm II is going to do?

However, the British were far more surprised than surprised by the sudden naval boom, and the dreadnought, as the latest type of battleship in the Royal Navy, according to the traditional concept, obviously did not put it on the menu of overseas exports, just like the monarch-class battleships appeared for the same reason!

However, China has now broken this situation and made it clear that it will sell this type of battleship to Europe, although Britain is not yet clear about the performance of Chinese battleships, but given the advantages of China's rising navy, in any case, the Ottoman Empire's imminent acquisition of battleships will change the balance of power in the entire Mediterranean, and even in Europe.

Therefore, in June, almost several shipyards, including Armstrong Shipyard, Carmel Ryder Shipyard, and Yarrow Shipyard, began to sell new battleships to Italy, Greece, and even France and Russia, which are in urgent need of dreadnoughts.

As a traditional British ally in the Mediterranean, Italy placed an order with Britain for the first time, Italy has a long and deep shipbuilding capacity, however, the order is obviously to cope with the rise of the Ottoman navy, and the Russian Empire's subsequent order for 2 dreadnoughts to the British factory is more due to the shortcomings of its own construction capabilities! (To be continued......)