Elvin. Winkler did not expect his mission to encounter an unexpected change: the negotiators of the Admiralty and KDY had agreed on the assessment and signed a formal memorandum in duplicate, according to the "normal" working procedure, even if it was not Qin Lang's intention, at least to indicate that he agreed with the result, or did not object to it, but now, the assessment had not yet begun, and he was already asking for a revision of the agreement......

While it may seem like a suggestion, it's actually a request. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

It is very difficult, there is no doubt about it, since Qin Lang made a request, he definitely did not want to be refused, but the evaluation team did not have the authority to modify the assessment plan, and could only seek the opinion of the Admiralty, but in the end, even if the Admiralty agreed to Qin Lang's request, the evaluation team would be blamed for it.

There are also representatives of the Navy who are responsible for negotiations with KDY. It is not difficult to imagine that they will certainly lodge strong protests and accusations against the assessment team.

This affects the future of everyone in the group.

Of course, Winkler was mostly worried about himself. It took him a lot of effort and time to go from an inconsequential assistant engineer in the shipbuilding department to an insignificant technocrat who didn't want to fall from that position again.

He didn't want to get in trouble, and he was held accountable for it.

Unfortunately, both of his Navy colleagues had deep backgrounds, and if only one person suffered in the end, it would never be someone else; If three people are unlucky together, then he must be the unluckiest one......

Winkler writhed uneasily, the tip of his nose sweating from nervousness.

His reaction was so strong that everyone present could not ignore it. Fletcher and MacArthur looked a little confused, and it seemed that it would take a while longer to find the reason and then connect themselves, but Qin Lang had already foreseen this result when he made his request.

Winkler was an old friend of Claude's and his "old friend", which meant that he knew him well and could guess his thoughts.

The problem is that the concerns of this little bureaucrat of the Admiralty are superfluous, he just thinks too much.

Qin Lang thought that his attitude should be clarified a little - he didn't want to make the atmosphere very embarrassing. "All I am proposing is that if the assessment team deems it to be operational, work can still be carried out in accordance with the memorandum that has already been signed and the timetable of the Admiralty."

"We're going to have a serious discussion about that, Mr. Qin." Fletcher said cautiously. A little faster than Qin Lang expected, he had already sensed the problems that Winkler was worried about, but he was not as nervous as Winkler, but he felt that it might be a little troublesome to deal with.

Yes, just "somewhat".

It's not serious enough to be solved.

Qin Lang's posture was not as tough as the legend suggests, at least it still seems to be, and the lieutenant commander had a bold guess: perhaps he didn't really want to sell the "bigger, more advanced, and safer" new submarine to the navy.

Or maybe the whole assessment is just a façade?

Fletcher didn't know how close his bold guess was to the truth: in fact, Qin Lang didn't care at all what decision the Admiralty would make.

Because regardless of any decision made by the Admiralty, the purchase of KDY's submarines or the continuation of the construction of Holland-type submarines will make little substantive difference for the Umbrella Group, neither good nor bad, there is no need to be happy to get the contract, and there is no need to feel disappointed to lose it.

After all, submarines are still an experimental weapon that needs continuous improvement, and the U.S. Navy already has eight Holland-type submarines, so Washington will not purchase too many at one time - even if the Navy is willing to purchase submarines in large quantities and is approved by the Admiralty, the Senate will still cut the order to the number it sees fit - according to Qin Lang's information, the final procurement contract may only be three, and no more than five, and some of them will need to be subcontracted to shipyards on the East Coast.

This is a regular practice in the Navy, and the public justification is that it is beneficial to deploy new ships to their fleet, the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, without the need for long-distance crossings. The eight Holland-type submarines that have entered service with the Navy are a clear proof of this: six of them were built at the Chason shipyard in Elizabeth City, New Jersey, and the remaining two were completed by the United Steel shipyard in San Francisco. Since this reason is so reasonable, even Qin Lang will be difficult to change it, and if you further consider the behind-the-scenes factors that cannot be disclosed, eating the entire contract will become an impossible task.

Then he lost interest in the business.

It's not worth investing extra attention in a business that doesn't have much economic value.

Had it not been for the fact that he still needed a team of professionals to make an authoritative assessment of KDY's work – which would help Umbrella market its new products to potential customers overseas who were willing and financially strong, such as the United Kingdom, Russia, Norway, and perhaps Germany, and, if it still had money, Japan, he would have instructed KDY to abandon the negotiations.

And today's conversation would not have happened.

Qin Lang habitually shrugged his shoulders.

"Gentlemen, you can discuss my proposal slowly, don't be in a hurry, we have a lot of time." He announced that he was ready to put an end to this apparently unpopular topic.

The three members of the assessment team breathed a sigh of relief almost at the same time: if Qin Lang insisted that they make a decision immediately, or set a deadline, they would be completely in trouble, and they couldn't stand against him for too long, and fortunately this situation did not arise.

At the same time, Fletcher was more certain of his guesses. Qin Lang had no intention of letting the Admiralty purchase KDY's submarines, and was not even willing to talk too much about their assessment work, and was leading the topic in other directions.

He began to talk about topics that resonated with the events they had shared together: the war between the United States and Spain, the military operations in the Philippines. And then the direction in which Fletcher excelled, the torpedo tactics of the Navy.

The lieutenant commander soon found that talking to Qin Lang was a very easy and interesting activity, although he also noticed that the research on the topic in progress of the arms dealer with a reputation for genius and various titles was not really at the level of a professional - however, relative to his status, his research was already very deep, even as deep as some naval officers, if not more in-depth - most of the time, it was he who expounded many of his own opinions, and Qin Lang always kept up with him, and, when appropriate, add some enlightening remarks, as well as some just the right compliments; To Fletcher's surprise, he was able to discuss submarine use and tactics with Captain MacArthur, and combine the two to come up with a series of seemingly original insights.

By the time the conversation was over, they had become familiar like old friends.

It was also at this time that Winkler, who had been unable to interject, finally got a chance to join. "Even if submarines and torpedoes have some unexpected tactical value, it is still the quantity and quality of the main warships that ultimately determine the victory or defeat at sea." After a pause, he began to attack the U.S. Navy's greatest enemy, "Unfortunately, our distinguished congressmen are still unaware of the gap between the U.S. Navy and its potential adversaries, and are still stubbornly preventing it from acquiring more new capital warships." ”

Everyone present understood what he meant, especially Qin Lang. A few years earlier, he had tried to introduce the U.S. Navy into the dreadnought era and further develop the battle cruisers, a plan that was only partially realized, as the U.S. Navy acquired several dreadnoughts and armored cruisers with all-heavy main guns, and then the pace of progress stopped: the still incomplete firing command system and the high cost of construction led the Senate to reject the Admiralty's proposal for the construction of a follow-up battleship and asked for a full review.

There were even some radical lawmakers who called for the Navy to resume construction of new former dreadnoughts – but their demands were also rejected.

"It's a stupid decision." Winkler harshly rebuked the lawmakers. His tone reminded Qin Lang of their first meeting, which was exactly the same as it was at that time, without the slightest concern for the two naval officers around him. "Not only have the British approved the construction of more similar warships, but their newest warships have decided to adopt a new large-caliber gun of thirteen.5 inches, while our warships are still using twelve-inch gadgets!"

Qin Lang, Fletcher, and MacArthur fell silent together: this was the first time they had heard someone call a twelve-inch naval gun a "gadget."

"At least," Fletcher made a futile attempt after a moment, "as far as I know, the German battleships still use eleven-inch guns. ”

"However, the Navy's potential adversary is the Royal Navy." Winkler's attitude became more and more intense, "and I have heard some rumors that the British are working on fifteen-inch and larger guns, more advanced power systems, and fast battleships that are faster than any of the current battleships." ”

Qin Lang blinked. He didn't know where Winkler had heard the rumors—they belonged to the kind of "top secret" information that a petty Admiralty bureaucrat should never know, and that should be kept strictly hidden, and even the Admiralty intelligence officers might not be able to know—but they did remind him of a few names:

Queen Elizabeth;

Reputation;

And......

Hood.

He suddenly realized that the naval arms race in this world was about to fall into a terrible state of frenzy.