On February 25, 1909, a delegation of the German Navy arrived at the Western Military Port of Shangjing in the Xia Empire. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The head of the delegation was Admiral Albert Wilhelm Heinrich.

Admiral Albert Wilhelm Heinrich was the younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, born in Berlin, his mother was the British princess Victoria (the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria), the commander of the German active battleship fleet, although he was an admiral, but he was best at diplomacy rather than military affairs, and was a "Confucian general".

He was accompanied by Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell; Erich von Ludendorff, Chief of Operations of the General Staff, was responsible for the training and mobilization of the German Army.

Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell's duties were to purchase the Xia-class battleships and the Baiqi battlecruisers from the Xia Empire, and to learn new naval tactics from the Xia Empire's navy.

Director Ludendorff mainly learned training methods from the Xia Imperial Army, as well as the essence of blitzkrieg; If a war breaks out in Europe, Germany will inevitably face a two-front war, and how to achieve a quick victory is particularly important for Germany, which lacks resources.

This time, Britain exchanged 4 Xia-class battleships from the Xia Empire, and after the indicators of the battleships were reported to the German Admiralty and the General Staff, Kaiser Wilhelm II quickly convened a military meeting and decided to buy the same battleships from the Xia Empire, and at the same time to purchase the Baiqi-class battlecruisers.

Last time, after purchasing the Lanfang-class battleships and Lanfang-class battlecruisers from the Xia Empire, the design, research and development capabilities and manufacturing capabilities of the German Navy's warships were greatly accelerated, and the development of the German Navy was promoted.

The rapid development of the Xia Empire's navy and army, in just a few years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the rapid growth of the land area and the area of occupied colonies, defeating Britain, Japan, the United States and other powers, made the confidence of the Germans even more extremely inflated, even the Xia Empire can do, the German Empire must not lag behind; Moreover, the development of the Xia Empire also made the Germans see the weakness of the world hegemonic empire Britain, and made concessions to the Xia Empire again and again, so that Germany saw the hope of rising.

This time, the Germans' strategy was still the same as before, buying 2 each of the Xia-class battleships and the Baiqi-class battlecruisers, and then returning home with design drawings and manufacturing drawings to produce 2 more each.

Although after the last experience, it was found that it would be cheaper and shorter to buy from the Xia Empire, but in order to develop the design capabilities of its own navy and support the production capacity of its own shipyards, it is still necessary to produce some of it domestically, and as for the accessories that cannot be produced by yourself, you can only choose to buy it from the Xia Empire.

In fact, at this time, the design and manufacturing capabilities of German warships have made a qualitative leap compared with before, but large-caliber naval guns have always been their weakness, and they have just digested and absorbed the 305 mm main guns, and now 343 mm battleship main guns have appeared, which is one of the reasons why they must be introduced from the Xia Empire.

For example, the Caesar-class battleships of the German Navy, whose construction has just been postponed, have good performance indicators, and the gap is the main gun, which affects the firepower output.

Xia Empire was very pleased with the arrival of the German military procurement delegation and held a grand welcoming ceremony for them at the Shangjing Military Port.

One was willing to buy, the other was willing to sell, so the two sides successfully signed an agreement to purchase 2 Xia-class battleships and 2 Baiqi-class battlecruisers.

In order to express his friendship with the Germans, Zhang Wei agreed to Li Zhaoshui's request, discounted 200,000 pounds in the total funds, and included some vulnerable parts.

Zhang Wei specially hosted a banquet for Prince Heinrich and his party at the palace.

At the banquet, Zhang Wei suddenly proposed very impolitely: "Your Excellency Prince Heinrich, the design concept of your German Navy is a bit outdated, the future naval battle is the era of giant ships and cannons, you still focus on the design and manufacture of 305 mm battleships, and you will definitely suffer losses in future naval battles; The Xia Empire has now produced a lot of King-class battleships with 305 mm guns, considering the future development direction of the navy, there is no active service, if you want, I can sell it to you cheaply, it is definitely much cheaper than your own construction, and the performance is much better than your own production, anyway, it is useless to put it in active service, it is better to deal with it cheaply to you Germany. ”

・Prince Heinrich was embarrassed and did not answer, when Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell said: "Your Majesty, can I know the performance and price of such a battleship in your country?" ”

"Your Excellency, as you wish! Check it out! Zhang Wei said, handing a piece of paper to the attendant, and then to Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell.

Zhang Wei took out the King-class battleships designed and built by Germany a few years later, and many indicators are similar to the Kaiser-class battleships that Germany is now preparing to put into production, but the performance has been further improved.

Looking at the main performance indicators of the King-class battleships:

Overall length/breadth/draft: 175.4/29.5/9.1 meters

Standard / full load displacement: tons

Number of boilers/main engines: 12/3 units

Max output: Normal 31000 hp / Overload 46000 hp

Maximum speed: normal 21 knots / overload 23.8 knots

Maximum endurance: 0 nm/12 knots

Number of main guns: Doors

Number of secondary guns: doors, 88 mm 6 guns

Torpedo tubes: 5 units of 500 mm

Main armor belt: (bow/amidships/stern) maximum thickness mm

Thickness of watertight compartment partition: mm

The maximum thickness of the horizontal armor plate is 60 mm

Turret (face/side/top/turret): / 300 mm

Maximum thickness of the conning tower: 300 mm

Crew: 1140

Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell asked, "Your Majesty, at what price are the King-class battleships sold?" ”

"Your Excellency, this is an inactive battleship of the Xia Empire, and the sales price is very cheap, only 1.4 million pounds each." Zhang Wei replied.

Zhang Wei's words frightened Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell and almost dropped his wine glass on the ground.

Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this price is really his mother's cheap, although the performance indicators of the Caesar-class battleships designed by the empire are very similar to those of the King-class, but the high budget is scary, reaching a price of 2.4 million pounds, and the Xia Empire is directly cheaper by 1 million pounds, which is simply the price of cabbage; And he was even more suspicious that it was the Xia Empire that stole the design materials of the Germans? Or did the German designers use the design-and-manufacture technology of the Xia Empire?

While Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell was in deep thought, Director Ludendorff asked Zhang Wei: "Your Majesty, can we in Germany send staff officers from your General Staff to study in your General Staff and in your army?" ”

Zhang Wei said with a smile: "The General Staff is involved in the core secrets of the Empire, and it is not possible for the time being, but you can send a group of staff officers and commanders to study in the Empire, and the officers of the General Staff will give you lessons and teach you what you are interested in; As for studying in the military, this is completely possible, and the friendship between our two countries is always there, and it is very necessary to learn from each other and deepen exchanges. I hope that the General Staff will communicate with the German allies, not only on the land side, but also on the naval side, not only at the strategic level, but also at the tactical level; I have always felt that the Chinese and the German nation are both great nations in the world, and that the army of the Xia Empire and the army of the German Empire are the best armies in the world. ”

After the banquet, Rear Admiral Reinhardt Schell sent the parameters and prices of the King-class battleships to the German Admiralty and the General Staff, hoping that the manufacture of Caesar-class battleships would be stopped in China and that two King-class battleships would be purchased from the Xia Empire for research and analysis, so that Germany could save a lot of military expenditures, and the saved military expenses could be used for the research and manufacture of Xia-class battleships; Moreover, the warships sold by the Xia Empire were all in stock, and after buying them back, they could immediately enhance Germany's naval strength; At the same time, Rear Admiral Schell also reported Zhang Wei's listing of the Giant Ship Cannon Doctrine as the mainstream of future naval warfare to the German Admiralty and the General Staff.

Ludendorff sent Zhang Wei's instructions back to the General Staff, hoping that the two countries would send each other's staff officers and commanders to each other's countries to study and practice in each other's armies.

German Minister of the Navy Alfred . Feng. Tirpitz was overjoyed to learn that the Xia Empire admired the doctrine of giant ships and cannons, for both he and Kaiser Wilhelm II were admirers of Alfred Thayer Mahan.

Maritime power determines national power, and whoever can effectively control the sea can become a world power; To control the seas, it is necessary to have a strong navy and sufficient naval bases to ensure control of the world's important strategic sea lanes; The navy must be active in attack, not passively defensive; The seas protect nations from fighting on their home soil, and sea supremacy has a greater impact on warfare than land forces.

Tirpitz suggested to the Kaiser: "Your Majesty the Emperor, throughout the achievements of the Xia Empire from its establishment to the present, it has resolutely implemented His Excellency Mahan's theory of sea power at all times, and the doctrine of giant ships and cannons is the consistent style of the Xia Empire; Before the founding of the state, they annihilated the Dutch navy with their navy, and then divided and destroyed the Dutch army; At the beginning of the founding of the country, it eliminated the British Far East Fleet, so that Britain lost the ability to interfere with the Xia Empire; In the war with Japan, it also first encircled and annihilated the Japanese Combined Fleet, and then carried out a blockade of Japan for half a year, which led to the collapse of the Japanese economy, and finally the Xia Empire easily won the war; In the war against the United States, it was the first to launch a war of annihilation against the US Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, and then controlled the sea supremacy of the entire Pacific Ocean, which made the United States lose the ability to attack the Xia Empire and could only be beaten passively. After the establishment of the Xia Empire, its territory expanded rapidly, which was closely related to their powerful navy and superior maritime position; For us, Germany, it has a very good reference significance, if Germany loses its navy, it can only retreat in this small area, lack of food, lack of resources, no need for the enemy to attack, as long as the British blockade the sea, Germany will be defeated without a fight. ”

Soon, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the General Staff and the Admiralty agreed to the proposal of the two after agreeing, first, buy 2 King-class battleships first, compare the price given by the Xia Empire is too cheap, and the cost of producing a Caesar-class battleship by yourself is about the same as buying 2 King-class battleships, and the performance of King-class battleships has certain technical advantages over the Caesar-class class; Second, Director Ludendorff was ordered to agree with the General Staff of the Xia Empire as soon as possible on the number and level of personnel to be dispatched, as well as the content of the lectures, the subjects of the internship, the time and so on, and then dispatch the relevant officers as soon as possible. (To be continued.) )