At the end of 1902, with the painful signing of the "Yanjing Treaty" by the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, the "Yanjing Treaty" officially came into effect, and the Sino-Russian War of the Century that lasted for nearly a year finally ended with the defeat of the Tsarist Russian Empire and the payment of a large amount of land indemnity.

After the Great War, Russia suffered an unprecedented heavy blow, and militarily fell from the position of the European gendarme, the first-class military power, to the second-class military power in Europe. The loss of the Far East and access to the Pacific Ocean led to the shift of Russia's center of gravity to Europe, causing political tensions with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire to begin to surge. Economically, Russia suffered economic losses of up to 800 million pounds as a result of the defeat of the war, and was saddled with a huge war reparations of 60 million pounds.

The Tsarist Russian empire was seriously weakened, and several families in the international community were happy and some worried. The happiest thing is that the Chinese Empire, which has obtained unprecedented war benefits, has since defeated the threat of the greatest enemy in the north, and since then the threat of Yadong has been left alone.

The second was Britain, Russia was defeated by the Chinese Empire, which made Russia withdraw from the struggle for hegemony in the Far East and would no longer pose any threat to Britain in the Far East. In order to let Britain help mediate and say good things, Russia did not hesitate to give up its access to the sea in the Indian Ocean, stopped supporting Afghanistan, and recognized Britain's control over Afghanistan. In this way, Britain's African and Asian colonies were eventually united.

Equally happy was the German Empire, which would not be able to recover for ten years after Russia had been battered, and that Germany's military pressure on the Eastern Front would be greatly reduced. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire both had deep territorial contradictions and disputes with Russia, and they took advantage of Russia's weakness to begin to fight back.

It can be said that the countries that have contradictions with Russia are very happy, but the countries that have interests with Russia are sad.

France was Russia's only ally, and the Russian-French alliance was so weakened that France would face strong military pressure from the Allied bloc.

For this reason, France had to provide economic aid to Russia again to prevent Russia from collapsing. In addition, France borrowed 60 million pounds sterling from Russia without interest as a war reparation to the Chinese Empire.

The American political axe was both jealous and panicked, and what was jealous was that the Chinese Empire not only did not suffer war losses, but profited several times, and even received 60 million pounds in war reparations. Panickingly, the Chinese Empire controlled the Far East, bordering the territory of Alaska in the United States, and the Chinese Imperial Navy became an upstart almost overnight, ascending to the second most powerful naval power in the world after the British Navy, and the United States felt a great threat in the Pacific.

Since the new President of the United States, Roosevelt, took office in 1901, the hawkish Roosevelt was aware of the great threat to the Imperial Chinese Navy, so the first thing he did after taking office was to quickly end the war between the United States and the Philippines and begin to expand the United States Navy.

Because the Chinese Empire is secretly manipulating, the United States has fallen into a quagmire on the battlefield in the Philippines and has already spent more than a billion dollars, most of which has been used to import materials from the Chinese Empire. After Roosevelt came to power, taking advantage of the fierce battle between the Chinese Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire in the north and having no time to look south, he mobilized fleets and heavy troops from the United States to the Philippine battlefield, and after half a year of fighting, the US army completely wiped out the Philippine army at the end of December 1902 and completed the occupation of the Philippines.

Since the victory of the Chinese Empire in the Battle of Ulsan, the Russian Far East Fleet was destroyed, so that the balance of naval power in the Far East Pacific was broken, and the Chinese Imperial Navy became rich overnight, and the naval power surged, forcing the United States to accelerate the support of the United States to counter China on the one hand, and on the other hand, the United States Navy also began to expand the second [***] scale.

In early 1902, the U.S. Congress approved Roosevelt's Naval Enlargement Act, allocating $200 million to build 11 battleships and 10 armored cruisers, as well as related auxiliary ships. Such a huge battleship construction program was mainly stimulated by the overnight wealth of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the shipbuilding plan was concentrated in early 1902. In early 1902, construction began on five 15,000-ton Virginia-class battleships to balance the threat posed by more than a dozen large Russian warships captured by the Chinese Empire in Ulsan. By April 1902, construction had begun on six more 16,000-ton Connecticut-class battleships.

By this time, the U.S. Navy, after the first major naval expansion program after 1891, already had twelve battleships and twenty-two armored cruisers. Once completed, the U.S. Navy will have 23 battleships and 32 armored cruisers, and its total tonnage will jump to the third largest in the world, second only to China. However, it is clear that the US Navy knows that more than half of the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy are warships that have captured Russia, and the quality is inferior to the warships built by the United States itself, so the US Navy will actually be superior to the Imperial Chinese Navy at that time.

However, to the tragedy of the U.S. Navy, in October 1902, the Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. of the Chinese Empire had just completed the new concept battleship Shengong.

This battleship Shenbow, which has attracted the attention of the navies of all countries in the world, has a full load displacement of 21,000 tons, equipped with powerful guns, 8 305 mm main guns and 32 76 mm rapid-fire guns, up to 6,100 tons of Chinese special steel comprehensive heavy armor protection, known as an unsinkable battleship, and an ultra-high speed of 21.47 knots, which is super high for the maximum speed of any active battleship, which suddenly makes the active battleships in service in all countries around the world obsolete.

The navies of various countries are paying close attention to the sea trials of this new concept battleship, and Britain even sent Third Sea Secretary Fisher to China in person, and boarded the battleship Shengong with a dead face to pay attention to the results of her sea trials.

Fisher was shocked by the strength of the battleship Sharpbow, with a unified large-caliber main gun, comprehensive heavy armor protection, and a high speed of 21 knots. Any active battleship that wants to PK with the Bow will only be sunk.

Fisher watched the live firing of the Divine Bow, which has an advanced artillery system with a unified fire control commander, and almost hit all the bullets in the third round of fire salvos, instantly sending the target ship 5,000 meters away to the bottom of the sea, while other battleships may not be able to achieve a full hit with five or six rounds of fire salvos.

The battleship Divine Bow gave Fisher a great shock, and after returning to England, Fisher immediately stated to the British Admiralty the strength of the battleship Divine Bow. As a result, the British political axe appointed Fisher as the first sea secretary to preside over the British Divine Bow imitation program. Subsequently, Fisher developed a plan to build a battleship similar to the Divine Bow, which he named the Dreadnought.

Because the British Navy was unwilling to lag behind the Imperial Chinese Navy, and at the same time, in order to deter the Imperial Chinese Navy, which had become rich overnight, the British Admiralty decided to quickly build the Dreadnought to demonstrate to the Chinese Empire Britain's strong naval industrial capabilities.

Fisher then ordered the British shipyard Armstrong to complete the construction program of the battleship Intrepid within a year, in order to show the world how strong the "muscle mass" of the British Navy was.

Britain attaches great importance to the Chinese Imperial Divine Bow Ship, which naturally makes the navies of other countries pay attention to it, and they have specialized in the design concept of the Divine Bow Ship, and its own country has begun to conduct relevant research.

However, the great success of the Shenbow was due to the fact that the Chinese Empire had mastered advanced steam turbine technology, and even the British had to spend a million pounds to buy the engine patent production rights from the Chinese Imperial Beiyang Power (Parsons) Company at a high price. Other countries have not been able to design a powerful warship like the Divine Bow because they do not have access to steam turbine technology, so they have to wait and see for a while.

Although France and Germany also secretly had a deal with the Chinese Empire in steam turbine technology, the admiralties of the two countries believed that steam turbine technology was just beginning and was not yet mature. If the navy wants to be stable and practical, the new technology may not be as stable and safe as the original three-expansion reciprocating steam engine, and Germany and France do not want to hand over a large amount of patent fees to China, so the two countries continue to wait and see, and their own battleships still use reciprocating steam engines.

For the United States, the Chinese Empire's Shenbow-class battleships were seen as a show, and the US Navy did not want to dismantle and rebuild eleven battleships, nor did it believe that the Shengong had such a strong combat power, so it turned a deaf ear to it.

Although most countries in Europe and the United States are skeptical about the new concept battleship of the Chinese Empire, they have to admit that as the world's first 20,000-ton battleship, it proves that the naval industry of the Chinese Empire has formed a scale and reached a leading position in the world.

European and American countries, including the British naval industry, have to admit the wisdom and learning ability of the Chinese people, as well as the strong will of the entire Chinese nation to fight for living space, the Sino-Russian war proved the existence of this strong will, and the rapid economic growth of the Chinese Empire, is rapidly transforming from an agricultural country to an industrial country, the naval industry is a microcosm of a country's overall industrial capacity, the strong rise of the Chinese Imperial Naval Industry, proves that its national industrial system has been perfected, no longer dependent on foreign countries, On the contrary, it has entered the international market with many original technologies and inventions such as China Special Steel, and has international competitiveness.

This series of changes was not noticed by European and American countries at first, until the Chinese Empire emerged from the great victory of the Sino-Russian War, and then the appearance of the Shenbow ship, that European and American countries discovered that the former sick man of East Asia seemed to have become very strong.

With the Tsarist Russian Empire as a stepping stone, the Chinese Empire rose from a second-rate power to a world-class power, and was recognized by the European and American powers in the world.

The Imperial Chinese Navy stood out, and its self-built battleships withstood the test of war, and it was the first country that could build its own 20,000-ton battleships, and European and American countries believed that the naval industry of the Chinese Empire had reached or even surpassed the level of Britain, and the cost of the same warships was much lower than that of Britain, and some countries that did not want to build ships in Britain began to shift their attention to China.

On January 5, 1903, the contract for the first export-oriented battleship of the Chinese Empire was finalized, and the purchasing country was Germany.

Since the defeat of Russia by the Chinese Empire, Germany's attitude towards the Chinese Empire has changed, and Kaiser Wilhelm II has repeatedly corresponded with the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao to strengthen Sino-German cooperation.

Since Germany supported Russia during the Sino-Russian War, in order to improve Sino-German relations, the German political axe took the lead in showing sincerity and ordered a battleship from the Chinese Empire.

At this time, Germany was also developing an ambitious big naval program, especially seeing the beginning of the expansion of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the German Navy was ready to move. To this end, the Kaiser allocated 200 million Deutsche marks for the construction of five Deutsche class battleships and a number of frigates to serve as auxiliary ships for the ocean-going fleet.

However, the number of German shipyards was too limited to start construction of five Deutsche class battleships at the same time, and the German navy wanted to expand in a short period of time, so it led to the first foreign purchase of warships in German history.

The German Navy ordered a battleship from the Dalian Shipyard of the Chinese Empire, which was required to be built according to the Deutschland-class battleships, which was the fifth ship of the Deutschland-class battleships, the Schleswig-Holstein.

The Dalian shipyard of the Chinese Empire offered a preferential price of 30 million marks per unit, which was 1.25 million marks cheaper than the German self-built, so the German navy was very satisfied.

Because of the use of Chinese special steel, under the same protection requirements, the thickness and weight will be reduced, and the Chinese Imperial Shipyard did not have a German 280 mm naval gun caliber, so the Schleswig-Holstein was designed and modified, with a final displacement of 16,000 tons, a speed of 17 knots, two twin 305 mm L40 main turrets, 14 152 mm secondary guns, 10 47 mm rapid-fire guns, and 5 450mm torpedo tubes. 280 mm main armor, covering 100% of the length, the conning tower reaches 305 mm and can withstand the attack of any 305 mm shells.

Because the Germans preferred heavy armor protection, the Dalian shipyard designed the battleship at the expense of speed, only 17 knots, but increased its endurance, making it the first battleship of the German Navy to have a comfortable ocean-going surname. After the completion of this battleship, it was also sent by the German Navy to visit her home in China many times, increasing Sino-German relations.

The construction of battleships by the Chinese Empire for Germany immediately attracted wide attention from European and American countries, especially Germany, which trumpeted the shipbuilding capabilities of the Chinese Empire, and as a result, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey and other countries sent officials to China to inspect warships. Because the British shipyards have been lined up with warships ordered by various countries, and the warships of many countries have been lined up for a few years, and the shipyards of the Chinese Empire have not received orders from the Admiralty since the completion of the construction of the 99th Fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy.

Immediately after Germany, in order to win over the Chinese Empire to join it, Italy ordered a battleship from the Chinese Empire's Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., as the fourth ship of the Queen Elena class of the Italian Navy, named Emmanuel, at a cost of 6.24 million dragon coins. Austria-Hungary ordered a battleship from the Whampoa Shipyard of the Chinese Empire, which was the second ship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's Karl Grand Duke, named Archduke Ferdinand, at a cost of 5.11 million dragon coins.

In order to humiliate Russia, the Turkish Empire bought the battleship Nicholas I from the Chinese Imperial Navy at a high price of 4.4 million dragon coins, and the name was not changed, and it directly served in the Turkish Navy. As a bonus, the Imperial Chinese Navy made simple repairs to the salvaged cruiser Aurora and gave it to the Turkish Navy for free. Similarly, the Turkish Navy did not change its name to humiliate the Russian Navy.

The three Allied powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, ordered warships from the Chinese Empire to win over the Chinese Empire, and the French government was deeply concerned about this, while the Turkish Empire, as Russia's mortal enemy, and the subsequent deal with the Chinese Empire, further stimulated France to take action.

In March 1903, in order to open up the relationship with the Chinese Empire, the French political axe also ordered a battleship from the Jiaozhou Bay Shipyard of the Chinese Empire, as the Voltaire, the seventh ship of the Dandong-class battleships of the French Navy, priced at 8.55 million dragon coins.

As a result, the shipyards of the Chinese Empire began to build warships for foreign navies on a large scale, and the naval industry officially went international.

The British side was naturally hot, and many of his customers were not much robbed by the Chinese Empire, and even the Allies were trying to win over China, forcing Britain to congratulate the Chinese Empire's naval industry on going international.

Although it was impossible for the British Navy to order warships from the shipyards of the Chinese Empire, the British Navy was concerned about the development of the submarine forces of the Chinese Empire.

In February 1903, British-Australian Navy Lieutenant Blair returned to England to report on his duties, saying that he had seen the battle of Torres through a long-range telescope from the top of a hill in Prince Wales Island.

He said: "The Imperial Chinese Navy used a weapon platform that could launch a torpedo attack under water, and they secretly lurked on both sides of the channel through which the Russian Navy must pass, and suddenly launched a channel attack on the Russian Navy, and the Russian Navy was so caught off guard that the main warships were ambushed almost simultaneously, or sunk or heavily damaged, and the battleships that survived the disaster were surrounded and intercepted by the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the Coral Sea, and were finally defeated." ”

In closing, Blair said that he believed that the Imperial Chinese Navy's secret weapon-carrying platform was an advanced submersible.

It turned out to be a submarine, and as soon as the news came out, it immediately aroused strong concern in the world's naval circles.

France and Russia in Europe, as well as the United States in North America, have previously studied submersibles, especially the U.S. Navy, which has previously rejected Holland's submarine proposal. When the U.S. Department of the Navy visited Holland's home in New York again, it was discovered that Holland had gone to the empty building, and after a check, it was found that Holland had gone to China.

The U.S. Department of the Navy immediately understood that Holland must have participated in the submarine research of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and greatly regretted the loss of Holland. The New York newspaper immediately poured salt on the wounds of the US Navy, saying that the ignorance of the US Navy had caused the United States to lose an outstanding submarine expert. At the same time, the Chicago Post also broke the news that the submarine expert who mysteriously disappeared with Holland is Lake. The U.S. Navy was suddenly accused by the people and was extremely embarrassed.

Subsequently, the European and American powers asked the Ministry of Defense and the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire about the submarine's participation in the Battle of the Torres Strait.

In response, the Chinese Emperor only said that China had a submarine research and development project, but refused to comment and comment on the submarine's participation in the war of annihilation against the Russian Navy.

The Chinese Emperor [***] side does not seem to want the European and American powers to know that they use submarines to fight, in addition to the fact that submarines are the secret weapon carrying platform of the Chinese Imperial Navy, more importantly, the navy is not willing to boast of the merits of submarines, in their eyes, submarines are still a small role that can only be sneak attacks, the powerful Chinese Imperial Navy should rely on giant ships and cannons, with strong force, real swords and guns to defeat the enemy, sneak attacks have always been despised by the military, even the victorious side will feel weak.

The deliberate cover-up of the Chinese Emperor suddenly made the European and American sides more interested in submarines.

The British Admiralty was the most shameless, relying on its favor for the development of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and openly demanded to visit the submarines of the Imperial Chinese Empire. And other European and American powers also added fuel to the fire, jumping out together to drink Britain.

After Zhang Feng, the premier of the Imperial Cabinet of China, stated the pressure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Emperor Wang Chenhao, Wang Chenhao agreed to make public the empire's submarine development program, but only to the Xia-class submarines, although Wang Chenhao asked the military to reduce the description of the submarines' combat capabilities.

On 9 March, the Ministry of National Defense of the Chinese Empire admitted that it had used submarines in the Battle of Torres, but it changed the Han-class submarines that participated in the war to Xia-class submarines, and arranged time for the military attachés of the European and American powers stationed in China to visit the Xia-class submarines.

Although the Chinese Empire displayed the most primitive Xia-class submarines, after seeing the Xia-class submarines, military experts from European and American countries said that the navy would usher in a new era, and naval warfare would expand from the previous surface naval warfare to underwater.

After visiting the Xia-class submarines, the British Admiralty officials were shocked by the strong combat effectiveness of the Xia-class submarines that the officials of the Chinese Empire had fooled, so the British Admiralty proposed to introduce submarine technology. In this regard, the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire said that it was necessary to purchase at least five or more submarines before it could export Xia-class submarine technology.

The British Admiralty then ordered five Xia-class submarines from the Imperial Chinese Navy Zhigu Shipyard for a unit price of 100,000 pounds, the drawings were given away free of charge, and the Xia-class submarines were authorized to be transferred to the British mainland for a production transfer fee of 500,000 pounds. In this way, Britain spent a million pounds to obtain a license for the production of Xia-class submarines from the Imperial Chinese Navy.

At the same time, the United States also ordered five Xia-class submarines from the Imperial Chinese Navy's Zhigu Shipyard for a unit price of $600,000, equivalent to £120,000, and authorized the construction of the United States mainland for a transfer fee of $2.5 million.

France and Germany also plan to import Xia-class submarines from China, but are required to order at least 10 before they can talk about technology transfer. As a result, France and Germany also ordered 10 Xia-class submarines from the Imperial Chinese Navy's Zhigu Shipyard at a unit price of 150,000 pounds, and a technology transfer and production license authorization fee of 600,000 pounds.

Because the Chinese Empire claimed that submarines were low in cost and high in combat efficiency, they were an important maritime combat force for the navy of a weak country. The Chinese Emperor boasted that the Xia-class submarine sank the Russian 10,000-ton battleship, and it was very cost-effective to exchange a Xia-class submarine for a 10,000-ton battleship, with a very high surname-to-price ratio, which was the best choice for countries with tight financial resources.

Under the propaganda of the Chinese Empire, the navies of Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Greece, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and other countries successively ordered Xia-class submarines from the Chinese Imperial Navy's Zhigu Shipyard.

In order to ease relations with Russia, the Chinese Empire agreed to export 30 Xia-class submarines to Russia to ease Russia's threat to the Turkish Imperial Navy due to the vacuum of naval power.

However, the Chinese Empire explicitly rejected the original and strictly controlled export controls, while requiring other countries to prohibit the export of Chinese Empire's technology to countries that the Chinese Empire considered to be potential enemies.

Due to the strong military power of the Chinese Empire, European and American countries did not want to affect their relations with the Chinese Empire because of the Chinese Empire, so they refused to leak China's submarine technology to the Chinese Empire. However, the United States did not strictly abide by it, and out of its own interests, the United States secretly transferred some of the design drawings and technologies of the Xia-class submarine to Yuben, so the Yueben Navy also began to study submarines.

(To be continued)