One day in December 1896, Seris, Luzon, Sizhejiang Port.

After more than ten years of arduous development, the port has become one of the busiest trade transit hubs between Seris and European countries in the South Pacific, and as the place of Chen's early beginnings, the city has also become the area with the highest living standards in the Republic. Its annual merchant ship throughput has increased rapidly from less than two million tons in the 80s of the 19th century to more than 40 million tons today, because of its unique geographical location, not only from Europe merchant ships, many domestic and North American merchant ships also like to carry out transit trade here, the port trade volume last year alone reached an astonishing 90 million pounds, has been completely comparable to the early emerging trade ports of Western European countries, and has also become a fixed cash cow in the hands of the General Administration of Customs of the Republic.

Just today, on the Sizhejiang Port Wharf led by heavy electric cranes, one of the best berths in the No. 6 Civil Wharf was docked with an extremely rigid and majestic Seris new battleship, and the surrounding merchants from all over the world standing on the docked merchant ships and the domestic porters who were still flowing by the dock all looked at the battleship in front of them in shock......

Although it was the middle of winter, thanks to the geographical conditions of Luzon, people endured the perennial high temperatures and brought convenience to the local shipbuilding industry. The sunlight above his head was still quite dazzling, but at this time, he only felt warmth from the heart when it splashed on Chen Zeyu's body, because he was standing on top of the Ryukyu-class lead ship "Dreadnought" that had just been built in his shipyard.

After three months of surface testing, the first Ryukyu-class ship of the Republic Navy finally returned to berthing at the dockside of the port of Sizhejiang. At the same time, the first Luzon-class battleship of the past was moored at its side, but the comparison between the two sides shows how magnificent the physique of this new battleship is, and the four giant ship turrets arranged in the way of the central axis are particularly hideous and mighty.

After completion, the Ryukyu-class lead ship "Dreadnought" battleship has a full load displacement of 16,980 tons, a length of 150.7 meters, a height of 28.5 meters, a width of 24.9 meters, a draft of 7.8 meters, and the power of the whole ship after being equipped with the latest steam turbine reaches an astonishing 36,400 horsepower, with a parallel configuration of 3 axles and 2 rudders, a maximum speed of 23.5 knots, and a gear reducer, electric transmission deceleration and hydraulic transmission deceleration device, with a cruising capacity of 11,200 nautical miles / 10 knots and a self-sustaining power at sea for 35 days. The main guns are 12 new rapid-fire naval guns of 280mm/40 times caliber, evenly arranged in four triple turrets on the central axis of the battleship's hand and stern, inheriting the design style of the earlier Luzon-class, and the new Ryukyu-class battleships still use the high-freeboard flying scissor bow design.

In a burst of majestic Seris naval music, the "Dreadnought" commissioning ceremony organized by Chen Zeyu began. After the captain of the ship, Chen Jinhua, received the Navy Iron Cross flag issued by Chen Zeyu with a solemn expression, two sailors wearing the white uniforms of the Seris Navy immediately raised a bright five-star red flag on the deck of the battleship.

After the commissioning ceremony, Chen Zeyu made a brief speech to all the officers and men of the "Intrepid" on the ship. Thanks to the rapid development of the domestic electrification industry, the combat establishment of the entire dreadnought is only 725 people, based on the importance of naval cadet training, the Admiralty has also equipped the entire warship with 330 trainee officer cadets, and these young people will spend most of the next half year with the officers and men on the dreadnought.

Thanks to the hull of more than 16,000 tons of full displacement tonnage and huge size, the living conditions of the crew of the "Dreadnought" are better than those of previous Seris warships. These are naturally instructions from Chen Zeyu, and the soft environment on the ship as comfortable as possible will unexpectedly improve the morale of all naval officers and men.

In terms of power system, the warship adopts the high-power multi-stage impulse steam turbine system that has just been successfully developed in China, and the performance of the marine power system that replaces the reciprocating steam engine is quite eye-catching after cooperating with the new coal-fired boiler of the battleship. While showing a good reputation for reliability, the Intrepid ran an astonishing speed of 23.5 knots on its first sea trial, and the engine output reached 36,400 horsepower, more than twice that of the previous Luzon class. For such a result, Chen Zeyu was pleased and at the same time had already predicted, in the era of chemical power, no one can better understand the development trend of future ship power than Chen Zeyu.

In addition to the power system, the most unexpected thing about the entire dreadnought was its four triple 280mm naval guns. Unlike the 305 mm large-caliber naval guns used by the previous Luzon-class battleships, the battleship in front of me actually used a 280 mm fully enclosed tower naval gun with a slightly smaller caliber than it. In fact, there is no contradiction in this regard, in the previous Sino-German cooperation, Seris accidentally obtained the manufacturing technology of the German Krupp company for large-caliber rapid-fire guns, 280 mm, that is, 11 inches, is the largest rapid-fire gun caliber that can be manufactured at present. In terms of appearance, it may be slightly inferior to the 12-inch naval guns of the past, but in terms of the rate of fire, one round in two minutes is naturally not worth three rounds in one minute. In addition, the naval gun is equipped with the new armor-piercing shells of the Avalanche military industry, and the 11-inch naval gun itself has the advantage of 40 times the diameter of the lengthening, and its power is not inferior to the large-caliber naval artillery system of the past.

The four triple-mounted main turrets on the deck of the battleship occupy most of the space, the corresponding bridge and triangular mast in the amidship are compact and tidy, and the integrated chimney connected to the boiler room is still arranged in the middle and rear of the hull. Thanks to an unexpected weight reduction in armament, Avalanche engineers were able to add data to the hull armor, and for the first time, the dreadnought increased the strength of its deck armor, in addition to the overall 12-inch armor on the side of the ship. Because of the development of technology, the future naval warship duel distance will be more and more distant, and unlike the past combat method based mainly on flat fire, the threat of large elevation angle of low-range shells to the warship will become more and more obvious in the future, and the timely strengthening of the horizontal armor of the deck will be particularly timely.

And because of the large number of former assets confiscated by the Republic, the Seris Navy is building new warships at an unprecedented rate. The "Dreadnought" had just entered the combat sequence of the navy, and the new "Zhoushan" and "Nantong" had already laid their first steel keel on the slipway.

As for the process of entering service of this type of cutting-edge battleship, the Seris side unexpectedly did not carry out the process in a low-key manner as in previous years, but invited embassy personnel from many countries and a large number of Chinese and foreign journalists, and in front of personnel from all sides, the "Dreadnought" battleship in front of him entered the eyes of all countries in the world for the first time.

Chen Zeyu is proud and can also imagine the shock of Western countries, after the initial growth, the Republic has gradually abandoned the past Taoguang Yang Yang Yang began to learn to properly flex their muscles, the new Chinese are qualified to pursue their own interests around the world.

His prediction was not wrong, after the exposure of the dreadnought, countries around the world, especially Britain, France, and Germany in Europe, have set off their own ship-building **!

For the first time, the Orientals dominated the development of warships, and the previous Luzon class may not have been taken seriously by Western countries, but the appearance of the Dreadnought really scared them. For the first time, the idea of designing all-heavy gun warships began to enter the eyes of European shipbuilding companies, and at the same time, it also announced the dawn of a new era of naval warfare, and in front of the hideous triple heavy ship turret of the Ceris Navy's Dreadnought battleship, all warships still sailing on the sea seemed to fall behind overnight.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

In the late winter of 1896, the war between Russia and Russia subsided with the heavy winter snow on the islands of Asia.

Helena Castle, Russia (formerly known as Hakodate, Hokkaido)

"Mr. Governor, the British have once again sent you a request for mediation."

Aleksayev, the Governor-General of the Russian Far East, waved his hand impatiently, "Let's just say I'm not available!" ”

"I don't want to bother you! But Your Excellency, I am receiving a steady stream of food from the British merchant fleet, and the British obviously do not take our Far Eastern Fleet seriously. ”

Vice Admiral Wittgeft, commander of the Russian Far East Fleet, said worriedly.

"India has suffered a drought this year, where did they get the grain from?" Aleksayev frowned, "The Chinese have also promised us not to send a grain to Yuben while maintaining neutrality, and the British should not have any gain." ”

Lieutenant General Wittgoft shrugged, "You seem to have forgotten which country among them?" ”

Alecseev got up and walked to the window to look at the sea view of Hakodate downstairs under the governor, "You mean Siam?" ”

"Exactly!" Witte Gerft lit a cigar on his lips and nodded, "Of course, the French in Vietnam are not excluded." ”

"Damn the British! As long as I blockade this country for another half a year, I will be sure to conquer this island country! Alekseev clenched his fists reluctantly, crushing the fine pear wood frame along the window.

Wittgoft shook his head, "The British won't let us do that." ”

"But Hokkaido and the northeastern grain producing areas of Honshu are now in our hands," Aleksayev said viciously, "and I will see how long the grain can last with the output and imported grain from other places!" ”

"Uh...... I don't think they will last long, but I would like to remind you that Russia's own attrition is very serious! ”

"Now that our supplies for the entire battlefield depend on Vladivostok's shipping, this is completely different from the past. ”

"You're right, dear Mr. Commander," Alexiev turned and frowned, "and do you have any opinions?" ”

Wittgeft took a puff of his cigar and said slowly, "I think we can find the French......

……

If there is any country in the world that cares most about Russia's actions in the Far East, the answer must be Britain and France. The former, motivated by its own global strategic interests, has been restraining the expansion of Russian influence in all directions. France, on the other hand, has not forgotten to take revenge on Germany since its crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, when it was forced to cede Alsace Lorraine to the Germans. Unfortunately, their neighbors never gave the French this chance. In less than 30 years, Germany has developed into a continental power at a speed that has stunned the whole world, and its industrial and energy output value has greatly surpassed that of France, the original European hegemon, and has become a new European center country.

And after the rise of Germany, it can be said that every strategy it devised never left its neighbor France, and every treaty signed by Germany with other neighbors did not forget to contain and isolate its neighbor. Coupled with the huge disparity in armaments between the two sides, it can be said that the French in this period lived in the shadow of the German iron hoof all the time. Under such circumstances, the French, who felt isolated from their neighborhood, also began to actively move closer to Russia, and always took pleasure in destroying the relations between Russia and Germany, and between Russia and Austria.

To this end, the French government began to actively export all kinds of investments and loans to Russia ten years ago to help the other side improve the railway and military construction of the eastern route. At this time, seeing that the dispute between Russia and Russia was getting bigger and bigger, France, which wanted to strategically flank the Germans, naturally did not want the Russian allies to transfer the power of Europe to the East......

French Indochina colony, Saigon

"Enough is enough, the Russians know to make trouble for us!"

Governor Alvar Heber from Paris was thinking about the telegram at hand.

"Mr. Governor, I have given an order to the customs at all ports that no more grain will be sold."

Willy, the secretary of colonial affairs, continued, "It's just ...... Rama V of Siam did not agree to our demands, and they were clearly under pressure from the British as well. ”

"That's it!" Alva waved his hand, "Don't take it too seriously, I don't want to quarrel with the British again, so report our efforts to the Russians." ”

"Yes, Mr. Governor!"

lt; /agt; lt; agt; lt; /agt;;