Compared with the main gun, the performance difference of the optional models of the secondary gun is relatively small, but Li Hui still chose the one he thought was the most suitable, and this time the French artillery finally had a chance to stand out.

Compared with the most popular British Armstrong 120mm rapid-fire gun in the world, the French Ghanaian rapid-fire gun of the same caliber has a faster rate of fire, heavier shells, longer range, higher accuracy, and most of its performance is better. Although the requirements for the quality of personnel in French artillery are slightly higher, Li Hui has already decided to derive biological and chemical troops on the ship to help the Beiyang Naval Division, so there is no need to worry about this.

The caliber of 120mm seems a little small for a large cruiser, but with the eight main guns with a rate of fire comparable to that of medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, the responsibility for dealing with medium-sized ships can be completely entrusted to the latter.

The main targets of the secondary guns on the new ships are actually high-speed and compact torpedo boats and mine-striking ships/destroyers, and the 120mm caliber is sufficient, but the 150mm caliber guns may not be able to perform such tasks because of their relatively slow rate of fire and inflexible steering.

Due to the fact that the main turrets on both sides occupy the deck space, unless the new ship is expanded to 10,000 tons, only 8 120mm secondary guns can be installed, otherwise it will be too crowded, and the risk of causing a series of explosions after being hit will greatly increase.

In order to ensure the firepower of the anti-torpedo boats, Li Hui added eight self-optimized 37mm Makqin machine guns to the new ship, and its maximum rate of fire was as high as 400 rounds per minute, which was beyond the reach of the old small-caliber "rapid-fire guns" currently used by the navies of various countries with a single-barrel rate of fire of only 20 rounds per minute. Optimized shells make them much more lethal.

This kind of weapon is simply a nightmare for torpedo boats, which must rush to a distance of two or three hundred meters in order to play a role under the current technical conditions, and if they shoot 25 shells at the target, even if the personnel on the torpedo boat are not dead, it will be difficult for the surviving manpower to drive the torpedo boat normally

Now that he knew about the current torpedo pitfall, Li Hui removed the torpedo tubes from the ship as a matter of course, which could reduce the cost a little and reduce a potential safety hazard.

However, Li Hui did not add a special lightning protection design to the warship, firstly because it was too much drag on other performance, and on the other hand, it was precisely because of the serious lack of range and accuracy of the current torpedo.

Unless it is to kill a dog, it is not easy to get one torpedo in one, so as long as the warship has the ability to take a torpedo without sinking, it is basically enough in reality, and the new ship has at least a standard row of more than 8,000 tons and the current torpedo is much smaller than that of later generations (the torpedo charge in the First Sino-Japanese period was generally only thirty or forty kilograms, and the use of fire wool was incomparable, and the torpedoes containing aluminum explosives often hundreds of kilograms were incomparable. It is not difficult to reach this goal.

As for the mines, they are too powerful, and with the limited tonnage of the armored cruiser and the current level of technology, no matter how it is designed, it will still kill with one hit, so there is no need to bother with it

The threat from artillery has always been the most important threat compared to the underwater threat, but the end of the nineteenth century was a very special period, when case-hardened armor was invented, and if history did not change, it would take many more years for their nemesis, cap-piercing shells to be developed, and before that, case-hardened armor was almost indestructible.

Among them, the most classic Krupp surface carburized hardened armor (hereinafter referred to as Krupp armor unless otherwise specified.) It was so favored by Li Hui that he had already replaced all the Harvey nickel steel case-hardened armor used on the Garibaldi-class armored cruisers with this Krupp product as early as the initial stage of optimization.

Historically, during the Russo-Japanese War, even a 12-inch cannon fired an armor-piercing blast that never penetrated a 6-inch Krupp armor or a 180mm Harvey nickel steel armor (equivalent to a 145mm thick Krupp armor), which was more than enough for the patrol.

However, considering that the current combat distance is much closer than that of the Battle of Tsushima, Li Hui, who has always been cautious, decided to increase the thickness of the armor in key parts to 155mm just in case, because the system products must be high-quality, it will be slightly better than the performance of the German origin, and the 155mm Krupp armor is enough to ensure that the new ship can withstand the bombardment of the battleship's giant guns, and as for the medium-caliber rapid-fire guns on the cruiser, it is even less of a concern.

Li Hui is not only concerned about the thickness of the armor, but also about the coverage area and layout of the armor.

In the current special period of "shield stronger than spear", the armor does not need to be very thick to be immune to enemy shelling, and the design idea of comprehensive protection has incomparable superiority. Since it can be prevented, it must be the larger the protection area, the better.

Historically, the key protection has become the mainstream, in the final analysis, because the threat of armor-piercing shells and torpedoes has become more and more with the advancement of technology, and the enemy from the sky has appeared, and there are more and more parts that need to be protected, and the thickness of the armor is also increasing, resulting in the impossibility of comprehensive protection in the real sense, and the designers have to reluctantly abandon those minor parts.

It is based on this idea that even the thickness of the bow and stern armor has been increased to 105mm by Li Hui, considering the existence of the inclination, the actual defense force is not under the main armor belt, so as to protect the entire waterline tightly.

The thickness of its upper armor has also reached 120mm, for the upper armor, such a defense is more than enough, you must know that the upper armor thickness of the Japanese Fuji-class battleships that are still being built in the UK is only 102mm, and the Harvey nickel steel armor is still used.

The 50mm horizontal armor was obviously too thin by the standards of the First World War, but before the naval combat distance was greatly reduced, the angle of incidence of the shells was very large, and the horizontal armor was only 5 cm thick on the surface, but the equivalent thickness was very scary, enough to ensure that the deck was not penetrated by armor-piercing shells.

Although large-caliber blasting shells can theoretically explode them, due to the existence of the ricochet phenomenon, it is difficult for them to explode close to the deck when the angle of incidence is extremely large, and the destructive power will be greatly affected. In addition, the top wooden deck will also share part of the shock wave, and it is actually not that easy to blow through the armor.

Besides, even if a blaster could actually blow a hole in the deck, it wouldn't be a big deal as long as no second shell was lucky enough to get through the hole