Crown Prince William is a relatively impatient person, since he has received the approval of the emperor, the naval marshal and even the prime minister, then this matter must be completed as soon as possible, he almost did not hesitate, directly came to your hotel, asked to see Yang Yuanzhao.

For the arrival of Crown Prince Wilhelm, Yang Yuanzhao was very calm, from the time he returned to Berlin and handed over a drawing of the 13.5-inch naval gun to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was thinking, who would come, it might be the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it might be Tirpitz, the founder of the High Seas Fleet, but it was more likely that it was the young German Crown Prince in front of him.

Now it is really this Crown Prince William, and it seems that Germany has also thought a lot. When Yang Yuanzhao arrived, he was personally greeted by the crown prince, among the senior officials in Germany, he also had the deepest friendship with Yang Yuanzhao, plus he was about the same age, although the experience was a little worse, but in the field of politics, status and purpose are the most important, experience can only be the icing on the cake, the key is the intention of cooperation between the two sides.

Yang Yuanzhao knows very well that he needs Germany, and to solve China's warship manufacturing capacity, only Germany can be relied on. The value of this 13.5-inch naval gun is very important for any country with the ability to build ships, not to mention Germany, which faces the United Kingdom, if Germany chooses preferably, it will even popularize 14 inches or even 15 inches for its own warships, which is also the fundamental reason for the difficult birth of the Bavarian class, because the King class was completely exploded by the Orion and George V classes on the 12-inch gun, so in the next generation, Germany jumped directly from 12 inches to 15 inches, and after barely completing it, it made the Bavarian class only able to complete 2 ships.

Crown Prince William did not come alone, there were several experts in naval artillery standing behind him, Yang Yuanzhao also understood what they meant, Crown Prince William indicated that as long as it was confirmed that something was true, he could talk about it, and he could agree to some more excessive conditions.

Hearing Crown Prince William's assurance, Yang Yuanzhao put his mind at ease, Germany's credit, in this era, can still be guaranteed, he selectively displayed 12 drawings in front of Crown Prince William, they are all parts of the naval gun, which is already quite Cheng Dù proof, it can be said that the 13.5-inch naval gun, in addition to the overall and the formula on the material, is not shown, which is equivalent to most of the things are shown.

The eyes of the designers of several large-caliber naval guns are constantly shining, the problem of naval guns has plagued them for more than 2 years, since 1911, the construction of the King-class began, the research of naval guns has not stopped, especially the recent research, the next level of Bavaria-class design, His Excellency the Emperor proposed a plan for 15-inch guns, which made them extremely depressed, from 305 mm of 12 inches, all of a sudden to 381 mm of 15 inches, a full 3 inches of improvement, for naval guns, It was a nightmare, not only did they break their original research, but the 330-mm naval guns never came out.

For the emperor's request, the designer could not refuse, Britain has begun to assemble and produce battleships with 14-inch guns, the next level is almost certainly 15 inches, in this case, in the high seas fleet, there is no countermeasures, it is absolutely not possible, you can't rely on a bunch of 12-inch guns, to deal with 15-inch guns, 3-inch generation, almost can be abused to Xiang.

Several designers are knowledgeable, after a glance, they know that this is true, but they still read these drawings one by one, it can be said unceremoniously, the harvest is great, the problems that have plagued them for a long time before are almost solved, and even for the 381 gun, there is also a considerable breakthrough, but they all know that the material is the key, as long as Yang Yuanzhao does not take out the material formula, they still can't produce, which is also one of the biggest problems of the 13, or even 15-inch gun.

Responsible for the Krupp naval gun designer, honestly summarized the results to Crown Prince William, obviously, Yang Yuanzhao should have a full set of ship ** paper here, even if not, just relying on the current drawings, as long as the material problem is solved, you can get the naval gun out of a full, which is equivalent to saying that the study of naval guns, at least 1 and a half to 2 years of time, especially 381, that is direct propulsion, for German large-caliber naval guns, is a huge push.

After receiving a positive answer, Crown Prince William understood that this drawing must be taken down no matter what, and with the approval of William II and Tirpitz, he was very confident and started to talk directly about what had been agreed before.

Yang Yuanzhao also knows very well that this is a critical moment, how to get the maximum harvest, and he has thought about it a lot before, and proposed that Germany must send naval guns, and battleship designers must go to China, not second- or third-rate, they must be designers who have designed 12-inch naval guns and independently designed dreadnought-class battleships, which is a prerequisite and cannot be discounted.

Very sharp, but it is expected, in order to form the production capacity of battleships in the northwest, there must be a designer, Crown Prince William frowned after hearing this, he also did a certain amount of research on Yang Yuanzhao's agreement before, among the designers, the naval gun designer said, With the drawings of the 13.5-inch naval gun, the pressure on the naval gun is not great, Krupp has as many as 7 qualified, and it is acceptable to transfer out one, and the rest will continue to study 15 inches after breaking through the 13.5 inches, more than 2 years, the difficulty is almost non-existent, this is Yang Yuanzhao to help fight, send a support, understandable.

However, the latter, the designer of the battleship, is a little difficult, the whole of Germany, I am afraid that there are only 5 people who are eligible, one of them is still reluctant, at this time they are going all out to carry out the design work of the next level, the Bavaria-class super-dreadnought, and the transfer of any person will have a great impact on the Bavaria-class, and it may cause some problems in the research of the Bavaria-class.

After Yang Yuanzhao finished mentioning the conditions, he looked at Crown Prince William's eyes seriously, wanting to see something from his expression, but Crown Prince William did not show any expression, for Crown Prince William, this is just a contact, his task is to listen to Yang Yuanzhao's request, can not directly agree, to see if the drawings are comprehensive, and if it is all conditions, gritted his teeth and agreed, it doesn't matter, but if it is more, it will be a little difficult, let alone him, even if it is His Excellency the Emperor, Nor can it affect German interests too much for the sake of a cannon.

From the expression of Crown Prince William, I can't see any clues, Yang Yuanzhao doesn't care, with naval guns, the initiative is in the northwest, 13.5-inch naval guns, for Germany, it is definitely a must-win, he doesn't have any worries about this, the key is whether they can get their psychological price and get better help, rather than getting a batch of relatively empty things.

For the Northwest, this trip to Europe, the harvest is already huge, as long as he can produce those heavy industry equipment, the Northwest in the industrial base, is no worse than Germany, and even in terms of quantity and level, there is still some improvement, but this is destined to be a relatively long time, because large machinery, especially 10,000-ton hydraulic presses, free forging presses, each of which takes a long time, a few months to use, after the scan, Yang Yuanzhao almost called all the time, For manufacturing, it is estimated that before going back, a hydraulic press and a free forging press can be added to the northwest, as for more advanced or other equipment, it will take one year, or even two or three years.

Yang Yuanzhao is not in a hurry, the Northwest has studied it before, and the machine qì sent back by his telegram has also been compared, on the important Cheng dù, the hydraulic press and the free forging press are of course the highest, and the other gradual production is good, these high-end machines are very critical to the top heavy industry, but with the Northwest Cheng dù, the demand is not high, that is, after having a 10,000-ton hydraulic press and a free forging press, the Northwest can make a breakthrough in large-caliber artillery, the keel of large warships and large-caliber naval guns, These are all things that are out of sight.

Yang Yuanzhao needs Germany to ensure that all the personnel of the dock of more than 20,000 tons can be provided, and the senior engineers and technicians must be more than 2 times to ensure that the northwest may expand at any time.

This is a problem, some technical, Crown Prince Wilhelm does not understand the construction of ships, fortunately there are experts around him, a little inquired about the professional personnel around him, and got an answer, that is, after the transfer of this, it is equivalent to Germany losing at least one super dreadnought manufacturing personnel, and the drag on the super dreadnought must be not small, which directly affects the current king class and the future Bavarian class.

"No, it's absolutely not okay?" Crown Prince William said directly, even if it is just an army officer, but my father likes the navy, Crown Prince William also has a deep understanding of the navy, the high seas fleet can be said to be the pearl of my father's palm, almost established by my father against public opinion, in order to compete with Britain, and now there is finally the possibility of catching up, in several classes of battleships, although slightly weaker than Britain, but in terms of number and level, it is beginning to get closer and closer, and now, it may affect the construction of a king-class, or even the Bavaria-class, He knew very well which was more important, even if the 13.5-inch naval gun was very important, it was not worth such an exchange from Germany.

Crown Prince William's fierce reaction was a little unexpected by Yang Yuanzhao, and it also made him realize that in fact, in 1912, Germany was already quite nervous, and in the field of the arms race, the pressure on them was no less than that of Britain.

However, this is better, Yang Yuanzhao looked at Crown Prince William calmly, and said: "If I give me a solution that gives the best of both worlds, without affecting your country's shipbuilding, are you willing to send personnel over?" ”R1152