Wang Shizhen smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Commander Du is also thinking about the interests of the empire, and he explained the reason for capturing the British merchant ship in his reply to the General Staff. In his words, a British merchant ship and its cargo are worth at least fifty or sixty thousand pounds, and the large merchant ship itself is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and counting the mountains of cargo inside, it is worth millions of pounds. Commander Du believed that the Imperial warships cruising the Atlantic Ocean to break diplomatic relations consumed a lot of coal, oil, and artillery shells every day, and military expenditure was like flowing water, and it was good to balance the imperial finances by earning some extra money. After all, the fundamental purpose of fighting a war is to make a profit. ”

Wang Chenhao smiled: "He will explain." I also know that there is nothing more oily than robbing merchant ships, especially British merchant ships. I guess the six merchant ships captured by Du Xigui are all big, right? ”

Wang Shizhen suddenly smiled and said: "Your Majesty Shengming, as Your Majesty expected, the six merchant ships captured by Commander Du were four medium-sized and two large, with a total value of more than two million pounds. It has been transferred to the San Juan Naval Base."

Wang Chenhao smiled and said: "More than two million pounds, the Atlantic Fleet's three-month war expenses have been solved, which is a very cost-effective deal." ”

Then Wang Chenhao said: "Let him be careful, the British Atlantic Fleet will soon seek revenge on him." ”

"Wechen obeys!" Wang Shizhen received the order, and then said: "Your Majesty, the General Staff of the landing in Cape Town mentioned earlier has been planned. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded and said: "There is a lot of gold in South Africa, if it can be snatched, it is equivalent to saving the empire's 400 million subjects ten years of struggle." Now that it's planned, let them act, right? It's important to remember that if we don't make a move, we will get something out of it. ”

Wang Shizhen nodded and said, "Remember!" ”

Wang Chenhao said: "After the elimination of the British Asian fleet, the main fleet of the British Navy has lost nearly half, and in terms of the total tonnage of the navy, the British Navy is no longer able to confront the Imperial Navy, and the British Navy will not be able to regain sea supremacy for at least a year." We need to publicize it on a large scale to boost the morale of the people of the Empire, and the international financiers who bet on Britain to win are expected to suffer a big loss, and the Empire's economy will grow steadily and at a high rate without being affected by the war. ”

Wang Shizhen said: "With Weichen, I only see that after Britain experienced the pain of defeat in the South China Sea naval battle, their new six dreadnought battleships will be put into service, with Britain's industrial capacity, it is estimated that in the next two or three years, Britain will build and serve new concept battleships on a large scale, and the empire will not start to build a batch of Divine Bow battleships in case it needs from time to time." ”

Wang Chenhao thought for a while and said: "Our immediate goal is to put the sea power in the Pacific Ocean, and the current empire has more than a hundred capital ships. The blind pursuit of the world's first navy will become the target of public criticism. However, we must not be unprepared for the Admiralty to continue to develop larger caliber main guns, faster engine systems, and more armored Sharpbow battleships to accumulate technology. The competition for naval equipment will be more fierce in the future, and the battleships built this year will fall behind next year, and will even be obsolete on the slipway, and the cost will be higher and higher, which will seriously drag down the economic development of the empire, so our future strategy will be based on accumulating technology. We will not provoke the British unless they play with us. On the contrary, the German navy is rapidly expanding, and our future strategy is for Britain and Germany to compete for sea supremacy in the North Sea and the Atlantic in Europe, and for Britain and Germany to engage in a large-scale naval arms race to deplete their national strength. ”

Wang Shizhen understood Wang Chenhao's strategic intentions, and immediately said: "Your Majesty is wise, presumably after this naval battle in the South China Sea, the European and American powers will attach importance to the Imperial Divine Bow Battleships, they will need at least one or two years to understand the design concept of the Divine Bow Battleships, and it will take two or three years to complete the construction of ten Divine Bow Battleships, with this time difference, the Imperial Navy will develop more advanced Divine Bow Battleships, so that they will always be led by the Imperial Navy." ”

"If only you could understand!" Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Go back and persuade the officials of the Admiralty not to blindly pursue the world's first, the height is unbearable." You know, in cannon marathons, it's often the second person who wins the championship in the end, followed by the first. ”

Wang Chenhao's words became the finishing touch, Wang Shizhen suddenly understood the mystery of this, and said with five bodies: "Your Majesty sees thousands of miles, and Weichen can't beat it." ”

Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "Okay, don't be a sycophant, I have already said what I should say, you can do it yourself, I will go back to sleep when I am sleepy." ”

"Obey the decree, please Ann." Wang Shizhen kept sending Wang Chenhao away, and then he left.

The next day, Wu Tingfang, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire, publicly confirmed the news of the Pacific Fleet's total annihilation of the main force of the British Asian Fleet at a regular press briefing, which immediately caused an uproar around the world.

As the world's most powerful naval force, the total annihilation of the British Navy's Asian Fleet is really unbelievable, but it was still defeated by the Chinese Imperial Navy, a former student of the British Navy, which really surprised the European and American powers.

The British Times immediately lamented and lamented the destruction of the British Asian Fleet and the death of nearly 10,000 officers and men in the saddest tone, calling this day a mourning for Britain. British Prime Minister Balfour delivered a fiery speech, calling this day a tragic day for the British Navy and the day of the heaviest losses in Britain's centuries-long war for maritime supremacy, calling on the British people to turn their grief into strength and take the opportunity to announce that Britain has entered a state of general mobilization for war.

It was only then that the British really took their rival, the Chinese Empire, seriously, and felt a sense of urgency. The British political axe urgently activated the war debt of 500 million pounds, more than three times the amount of the Boer War. The main funds were used for the navy's emergency plan, the requisition of nine battleships to be completed for the navies of Chile, Argentina, Turkey, and other countries, and the 23 shipyards in Britain stopped building warships and large merchant ships for foreign countries, and all the slipways were vacated, and seven new Bellerophon-class battleships and seven St. Vincent-class battleships were added to the Admiralty, so that the number of dreadnought-class battleships under construction in the British Navy increased to 10 Bellerophon-class and 10 St. Vincent-class, which was the same as the number of Shenbow-type battleships of the Chinese Empire. All twenty battleships were required to be completed within 13 months, of which three Bellerophon-class battleships and three St. Vincent-class battleships were halfway completed, and the rest were required to be completed within three months.

At the same time, the British Admiralty newly strengthened 10 first-class cruisers, 12 second-class cruisers, 15 Archer-class cruisers, 5 third-class Bristol-class cruisers, 4 Weymouth-class cruisers, 6 Chatam-class cruisers, 26 H-class torpedo boat destroyers, and 35 M-class torpedo boat destroyers.

In order to prevent the Imperial Chinese Navy from changing the captured British warships to female names that humiliated them, the British Admiralty took the initiative to remove the names of all British warships captured in the South China Sea naval battle, and the names of all the battleships that were sunk were re-serviced, and they were awarded the new warships that were about to start construction as ship names.

At the same time, the British Admiralty refused to admit the total annihilation of the British Asian Fleet, instead planning to rebuild an Asian Fleet in a short time.

Britain's ambitious plans immediately stirred up the depressed British people, but it would be a year before they could have an expedition against the Chinese Empire at the earliest, and it was still unknown whether they would be able to defeat the Chinese Imperial Navy by then. In the next year, how the British Navy would defend itself against a military invasion from the Imperial Chinese Navy, how Britain would defend itself in Asia and the Pacific, or how its overseas colonies would defend themselves, became a headache for the British political axe and the military.

At the Downing Street Houses of Parliament, British Conservative Prime Minister Balfour and his cabinet suddenly kicked this difficult ball to Henry, who was about to form a cabinet and become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? Sir Campbell Benenenen, and his Liberal Party members.

Balfour resigned early, blaming the mess directly onto Henry.

On December 3, Henry, the leader of the British Liberal Party, was inaugurated as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom. Li Jingfang, the Chinese Empire's ambassador to Germany, held talks with the British ambassador to Germany, Sir Kandel, as a special envoy, and expressed the Chinese Empire's intention to negotiate peace with Britain. The conditions put forward by the Chinese Empire were that the British political axe recognize Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, as well as the return of the Tibetan Province and Yunnan border territories that had been occupied by the British to the Chinese Empire, the release of British prisoners of war and civilians detained in Hong Kong, the release of Marshal Lyons and other captured naval officers and soldiers, and the return of captured British warships. The two sides stopped fighting and made peace, and they will always reconcile.

Hitting a stick to give a sweet date, this tactic is naturally acceptable for the backward countries of the Third World, but for the British Empire, it is undoubtedly a slap in the face.

Kandel naturally did not agree to such conditions, and he demanded that the Chinese Empire buy the territories of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon at a high price, compensate the British navy and army twice as much, and apologize in writing to the British.

Obviously, the terms of the British were not acceptable to the Chinese Empire, and negotiations between the two sides broke down immediately.

The newly appointed British Prime Minister Henry took over a lot of messes from his predecessor and needed to appease the painful hearts of the British people, so he took a tough attitude towards China and immediately ordered the British ambassador to Germany, Sir Kandal, to reject any proposal from Li Jingfang, refuse to negotiate peace with the Chinese Empire, and said that he would fight to the death with the Chinese Empire.

Naturally, Henry's hardline attitude pleased the British people, and their approval ratings skyrocketed. However, the European and American powers were not optimistic about Britain. On the one hand, the British Army itself is not as strong as the Imperial Chinese Army, and the Imperial Chinese Army has been baptized by the Sino-Chinese War and the Sino-Russian War, and its combat effectiveness is strong, and its strength far exceeds that of the British Army, and the British Army is not capable of counterattacking the Chinese Imperial Army, and it is almost impossible to recover Hong Kong, Kowloon and other lost territories.

On the other hand, the British Navy lost the Asian Fleet in Singapore and the South China Sea, and the total tonnage of the British main fleet plummeted by more than 400,000 tons to only 820,000 tons. The total tonnage of the Imperial Chinese Navy rose to 1.3 million tons, far surpassing the British Navy and becoming the world's largest naval power. Although Britain issued an order to build an additional 500,000-ton warship in an attempt to regain the world's maritime supremacy, it will be a year later. In the next year, the British Navy will not be able to fight a decisive battle with the Imperial Chinese Navy, and can only defend its homeland, and the huge overseas colonies will be attacked by the Chinese Empire.

The European and American powers are generally optimistic about the victory of the Chinese Empire at this moment, but the British Empire is an old industrial power after all, and it is impossible to completely defeat Britain, so it is easy for the two sides to break out into a protracted war, just as Britain and France have fought for decades, and both sides will be dragged down.

However, the German government was very happy, and Kaiser Wilhelm II felt that Germany now had a strong ally, and he even proposed that Germany and the Allied bloc join the ranks of the war against Britain, and the time had come to seize the British colonies.

However, the German Joint Chiefs of Staff calmly gave Wilhelm II a cold water to lower the temperature, and they believed that it was not a good time to intervene in the Sino-British war, and at least to wait until China and Britain were fighting until both sides were defeated. Because they firmly believed that by that time, the British navy would be severely damaged, the British army would be bruised by the land of the Chinese Empire, and Britain would be about to succumb, and Germany and the Allied Powers would come to war against Britain without allies, and even France and Russia might even divide up the British colonies, and Britain would be isolated, and the Chinese Empire would not be able to offend both the Triple Alliance and the Entente bloc at the same time.

Kaiser Wilhelm II's favorite retainer Tirpitz also persuaded him, saying that the most important thing for Germany at the moment was to take advantage of the fact that the British Navy was being held back by the Imperial Chinese Navy to vigorously develop the German High Seas Fleet.

By this time, the German High Seas Fleet had begun to take shape, and four Natsu-class battleships had been launched and were undergoing final outfitting work for eight months. The technology of the Natachi-class battleships was introduced from the Chinese Empire, with a lot of technical help from the Chinese Imperial Navy, and the four battleships were original replicas of the battleship Shengong of the Chinese Empire.

The German Admiralty believes that the British Navy has been trying to contain the rise of the German Navy, so the current Sino-British war is the best chance for the German Navy to rise.

The British Navy is about to enter service with six new concept battleships, two more than the German Navy, and Britain is going to start building fourteen Dreadnought battleships in one go, and once the British Navy completes the program, the German Navy's four Sharpbows will not be able to compete with it, so the German Admiralty hopes to receive funding to build the next class of Sharpbow battleships.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was persuaded by Tirpitz to allocate 200 million Deutsche marks to the Admiralty for the construction of eight battleships of the Sharpbow type. Since Germany had only four shipyards that could build naval warships and only four slipways that could build 20,000-ton battleships, the German Navy could only start building four battleships.

German naval experts wanted to get a thorough grasp of the Chinese Empire's Shenbow battleship technology, so the four battleships would use German Krupp steel to reduce costs. In order to reduce its dependence on the Chinese Imperial Naval Industry, in addition to continuing to introduce four sets of steam turbine systems made in the Chinese Empire, twin 305 mm 40 times the extension of the main gun system, friction and high temperature resistant transmission shaft devices, radio systems, and long-range observation systems, other systems will be built by the German naval industry.

The cost of the four Helgolan-class battleships was as high as 32 million marks (8 million dragon dollars) each, which was very painful for the German Admiralty, because 62% of the funds would have to be used to import equipment from the Chinese Empire to pay for the high royalties for the use of various equipment in the Chinese Empire.

Similarly, since the French political axe learned three years ago that the German Navy had imported a complete set of technical drawings for the battleship Shengong from the Chinese Empire, and two years ago the German Admiralty approved the purchase of four sets of construction equipment and maintenance parts required for the Naqi-class battleships from the Chinese Empire, and the construction of the German Navy began on the mainland. The French political axe was also nervous, and immediately negotiated with the Chinese Empire in this regard, because the Chinese Empire pursued a pluralistic foreign policy and devoted itself to dealing with the British, so it became a means to win over France, and in order to make money, it also sold the technical drawings of the battleship Shenbow to the French Navy.

Because France lost the two industrial areas of Alsace and Lorraine, its industrial capacity is far inferior to that of Germany, and the armor strength of France's own warships has been inferior to Germany's Krupp steel armor, as well as Britain's surface carburizing steel technology, Britain and Germany are both enemies of France, and the French can not get this armor technology, while the Chinese special steel of the Chinese Empire has been proved to exceed the armor strength of Germany and Britain through actual combat testing, so it has become the only overseas channel for large-scale introduction by France.

It is precisely because France needs advanced equipment and technology from the Chinese Empire that France firmly maintains neutrality in the Sino-Russian War, which is a secret deal between China and France. It also became a bridge for cooperation between China and France, and the strength of the French shipyard could not build a 20,000-ton Shenbow-type battleship on its own in a short period of time, so it had to turn to the Chinese Empire for help.

However, the Chinese Empire built the Shenbow-type battleships on a large scale three years ago, and the 20,000-ton slipways of all domestic shipyards were crowded out, making it impossible to build them directly for France. So France invited the Chinese Empire to send technical engineers to guide French naval engineers in the construction of the Divine Bow battleship in France, and in return, the French political axe said that in the event of a war between China and Britain, the French overseas colonies would provide supplies and maintenance for the Chinese Imperial Navy. At the same time, the French Admiralty promised to import all the equipment and equipment for the construction of the Divine Bow battleships from the Chinese Empire, and a patent protection treaty was signed between China and France, so the French Admiralty spent 148.5 million francs (29.7 million dragon coins) to purchase four sets of steel and equipment required by the Chinese Empire for the Divine Bow battleships, and paid 2 million francs for technology transfer.

As a result, in March 1904, the French Navy was able to assemble four Sharpbow battleships on its own soil, which were renamed the French Lone class battleships, and the four ships of the same class were Courbet, Paris, France and Jeanbart.

The strategy of the Chinese Empire was to maintain the balance of naval power between France and Germany, but because of the containment of Britain, most of the technology exports were not restricted. The competition between France and Germany and the hostility to Britain caused more than half of the armament funds of the two navies to go into the pockets of the Chinese Empire, and the Chinese Imperial Naval Industry made a lot of money.

After learning that the German Navy had expanded again and built four new Helgoland-class battleships, the French Navy was not to be outdone, and allocated 160 million francs to continue to import steel and equipment from four sets of Shenbow-type battleships to the Chinese Empire, preparing to continue to assemble four Shenbow-type battleships.

Although the French found that most of the equipment used by the German Navy to build the Helgoland-class battleships was imported from the Chinese Empire, and only the steel was abandoned to use Chinese special steel and replaced with domestic Krupp steel, France did not have the technology to develop France's own excellent steel, so it could only import all of it from the Chinese Empire. But the French Navy was smart, and this time they learned that the Xia Dynasty-class battleships of the Chinese Empire had achieved a proud record in the naval battle of the South China Sea, so they proposed to the Chinese Imperial Admiralty to purchase four sets of equipment and maintenance parts for the Xia Dynasty-class battleships.

Due to the large-scale construction of Xia Dynasty-class battleships in the Chinese Empire, major domestic arsenals produced a series of spare equipment, and the Imperial Political Axe did not seem to want to build more Xia Dynasty-class battleships, so they were more than happy to export them to earn foreign exchange from France.

In this way, the French Navy obtained a more advanced level of Shenbow-type battleships from the Chinese Empire, and introduced four sets of Xia Dynasty-class battleships, which were classified as Brittany-class Bretagne, namely Brittany, Lorraine, Provence, and Rennes.

France chose to buy parts and assemble them by itself, and the price of equipment required for the assembly of a single ship was as high as 43.255 million francs (8.465 million dragon coins), and the total order for four battleships was as high as 173 million francs (34.604 million dragon dollars).

Similarly, the German and French navies imported the technology and equipment of the Shenbow battleships from the Chinese Empire to create their own new concept battleships, which soon stimulated the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies.

The Italian Navy was greatly threatened by the British Navy, and its coastal defense was tight, so it was in urgent need of a new concept battleship with one top two, so in 1904 it also imported from the Chinese Empire a huge amount of equipment and parts for the assembly of the battleship Shenbow, which was classified as Ali Geri. Dante-class, the lead ship is an Ali Geri. Dante's dantealighieri equipment purchase price is 123.3 million Italian lira (7.23 million dragon dollars).

With the further expansion of the French Navy, the Italian Navy felt that they were threatened by the French Navy in the Mediterranean, so it also asked the Chinese Empire to export the latest Shenbow-type battleship Xia Chao class to the Italian Navy. To this end, the Italian Navy allocated 380 million lire to the Chinese Empire to purchase three Xia Dynasty-class battleships, which were classified as Count Cavour. However, because of the Sino-German alliance, the slipway of the Chinese Imperial Shipyard was idle, so the three Italian battleships were able to be built on the Chinese Empire itself, but the Chinese Imperial Navy took advantage of the prestige of the total annihilation of the British Asian Fleet, and the price of a single ship was increased to 8 million dragon coins, but the Italian Navy still accepted it, because they knew that this battleship could suppress the capital ship of the British Mediterranean Fleet, and it could balance the threat of the French Navy's Mediterranean Fleet.

To this end, the Italian Admiralty allocated an additional appropriation of 409.2 million Italian lira (24 million dragon dollars) to order three Count Cavour-class battleships from Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry of the Chinese Empire, namely the Count of Cavour, Leonardo? Reach? Vinci Leonardodavinci, Giulio? The three ships of the Caesar, Giulio Cesare.

Since the Imperial Chinese Navy built nine Xia-class battleships in one go, and the shipyard had a wealth of shipbuilding technology and experience, the Imperial Chinese Navy promised the Italian Navy that it would only take 21 months to complete the construction of these three battleships, eight months earlier than the four Brittany-class ships assembled by France itself. This move made the Italian Navy very happy, although it was slaughtered by the Chinese Empire, but it was 8 months earlier than the French battleship of the same type, and the intangible value for the Italian Navy was very high.

Of course, this move of the Chinese Empire is undoubtedly further announcing to the world the strength of the Chinese Empire's naval industry, the construction period of a 20,000-ton battleship has been shortened to 21 months, although compared with the British 12 months to complete a 20,000-ton battleship is 9 months shorter, but this proves that the Chinese Empire's naval industry is making rapid progress, and the gap with the British naval industry is narrowing.

For Austria-Hungary, the cost of battleships of the Divine Bow type was getting higher and higher. In 1903, the Austro-Hungarian Navy imported the design drawings of the Shenbow battleship from the Chinese Empire, which cost 1.35 million Austro-Hungarian silver coins (1 million dragon coins), and the Austro-Hungarian naval engineers copied them, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire obviously did not have the ability, and the imitation plan failed.

In the Battle of the South China Sea in November 1905, the former Shenbow-type battleships of the British Asian Fleet were vulnerable in front of the Shenbow-type battleships of the Chinese Empire, and Germany, France, Italy and Britain were vigorously developing the Shenbow-type battleships, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy had to support the façade and maintain the face of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire allocated 10.8 million Austro-Hungarian silver coins to purchase a Xia Dynasty-class battleship from the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry of the Chinese Empire, which was graded Viribusunitis (United Forces class, also known as the Austro-Hungarian monarch class), and the construction period was 24 months.

The cooperation between the Turkish Imperial Navy and the Chinese Empire was also very good, and after seeing the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Imperial Shenbow-type battleships, the Turkish Imperial Navy also allocated 160.8 million (16 million dragon coins) Turkish lira to order two Xia Dynasty-class battleships from the Royal Shipyard of the Chinese Empire, which were classified as Residaye-class. The first Residaye, the second Mahmudresadv.

The Imperial Shipyard of the Chinese Empire, as a new shipyard, promised the Turkish Empire that the two battleships would be completed within 20 months, a month earlier than the three Count Cavour-class battleships built by Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry for the Italian Navy.

In the U.S. Navy on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, as early as 1903, after the Chinese Empire's Shengong completed testing, when countries around the world were imitating the battleship Shengong, some people in the U.S. Navy proposed to build modified battleships for the U.S. Navy. However, the U.S. Congress at that time did not approve it, believing that the U.S. Navy should not play tricks like the Imperial Chinese Navy, believing that the technology of the Shenbow battleships was immature, and the United States did not have the steam turbine technology to support the speed of 21.

By 1904, the U.S. Navy saw that the Chinese Empire had built as many as 18 Xia Dynasty-class battleships on a large scale, and the U.S. Navy believed that the Chinese Empire must have completed all the tests of the Shenbow-type battleships, otherwise it would not have been built in large quantities. The technology of the Divine Bow battleships must have passed, so the US Navy asked the US Congress to allocate funds for the construction of the "South Carolina" class battleships.

Unfortunately, however, in the 1904 U.S. election, the number of people in the Republican Party supporting Roosevelt as a candidate was too small, and Roosevelt was in a crisis of not being re-elected, and he had no time to care about the Naval Enlargement Act.

In 1905, Roosevelt's strong opponent in the Republican Party, Ryan Hoss, died of illness, and Roosevelt became a candidate for re-election.

It was only after Roosevelt's re-election that he focused on the Navy. In March, Congress finally approved the construction budget. The South Carolina-class battleship was modeled after the Imperial Chinese Divine Bow battleship, thus becoming the first type of Divine Bow ship in the U.S. Navy to adopt the concept of all-heavy artillery.

The four twin-mounted main turrets of the South Carolina class are all arranged along the longitudinal central axis of the hull, and two are arranged in the front and rear of the hull in a knapsack type, so that the layout of 8 guns can fire a broadside salvo at the same time, or 4 guns can fire in the forward and rear directions, which can give full play to the broadside salvo firepower and ensure that the main guns have a good firing range in the forward and rear directions.

It can be said that this battleship imitates the subtle and slightly warped Shenbow, but the American political axe regards the Chinese Empire as a potential enemy and requires this class of ships to have a bit of American characteristics. As a result, the U.S. Navy replaced the spiral mainmast of the Imperial Chinese Bow with a cage mainmast, which became a typical feature of American battleships.

However, the Chinese Empire was not generous to the U.S. Navy, because of this problem, the Chinese Empire imposed controls on the export of high-tech to the United States, and as a result, the American battleships of this class were limited in displacement, boiler room space, and the use of old reciprocating steam engines without steam turbines, and their speeds were low. Two ships of the same class: South Carolina (BB-26) and Michigan (MichiganBB-27).

The news of the naval battle in the South China Sea reached the ears of the US Navy, which paid more attention to the Shenbow battleships of the Chinese Empire. It's a pity that the Chinese Empire imposed high-tech export controls on the United States, and the U.S. Navy could not obtain key technologies. As a last resort, the U.S. Navy had no choice but to turn to Britain for help, and Britain, out of opposition to the Chinese Empire, transferred the technology and drawings of the American Dreadnought battleship, so the U.S. Navy immediately began construction of the Delaware-class battleship.

The Chinese Empire defeated the British Asian Fleet, causing the Chinese Imperial Pacific Fleet to become the hegemon in the Pacific, the US Navy was nervous, and the design of the South Carolina-class battleships was subject to strict budget constraints, and the financial constraints had a very bad impact on the performance of its combat capability.

The Delaware-class battleships received technology transfer from the British, increased their firepower, added a main turret in the stern of the hull, equipped with 10 main guns, and reduced the structure of the superstructure to lower the center of gravity, with secondary guns mounted inside the hull. The power system was improved, in which the North Dakota modified the design experiment surname to carry a steam turbine.

However, the Chinese Empire was very angry at the unauthorized transfer of steam turbine systems from Britain to the US Navy, and Britain was at war with the Chinese Empire, so it did not care. However, the U.S. Navy was no match for the Imperial Chinese Navy, and in the face of strong political and military pressure from the Chinese Empire, the U.S. Navy agreed to pay the Imperial Chinese Steam Turbine technology transfer and royalties.

However, after the United States paid the steam turbine technology transfer fee to the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire did not give its own steam turbine technology to the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Navy still used second-hand steam turbine technology from the United Kingdom, which was inferior to the existing steam turbine system of the Chinese Empire in terms of endurance.

In order not to irritate the Chinese Empire, the U.S. Navy only approved the construction of two Delaware-class battleships, but the surname Neng asked for more than the Xia Dynasty-class battleships of the Chinese Empire. In the end, the Delaware-class battleship had a design displacement of about 23,000 tons, 2 more main guns than the Xia Dynasty class of the Chinese Empire, and 14 127 mm and 6 76 mm rapid-fire guns in the secondary guns, which were slightly more powerful than the Xia Dynasty class and could better deal with high-speed hunting ships. Because of the use of a steam turbine system, the speed of the steam turbine was also reached at 21 knots. Regardless, the battleships of the US Navy always looked thin-skinned, and the armor protected from 280 mm of carburized steel barely withstood the attack of 305 mm shells.

Also because of the great victory of the Chinese Imperial Navy, the US political axe gradually reined in its economic and military technical assistance to the Chinese Empire, and did not dare to directly offend the Chinese Empire, so the Navy was unable to obtain relevant technology from the United States. However, the navy took the opportunity to secretly ask Britain for help, and the British also transferred the Dreadnought technology and steam turbine technology to the Chinese Empire.

However, the Chinese Empire was not able to discover that the Navy had secretly obtained steam turbine technology, not as much fanfare as the United States, but not in public and strict secrecy.

It is said that the navy calls the Chinese Empire's Shenbow-type battleships crossbow-class battleships, and it will continue to be in the future, and the future super-godbow-class battleships of the Chinese Empire are called super-crossbow class battleships.

In fact, as early as when the Chinese Empire began to build the Shengong, the Navy began to study it, and infiltrated a large number of spies into the Chinese Empire, using pornography, bribery, theft and other methods to steal a lot of technical parameters about the Shengong, plus the Chinese Empire exported a large number of Shenbow-type battleships to foreign countries, and the Navy also obtained a lot of information from abroad.

In 1904, the Cabinet approved the construction of two battleships ("Kawachi" and "Settsu"). The basic plan was numbered "A-30", the "Hanoi" ship was codenamed "Battleship I", and the "Settsu" ship was codenamed "Battleship Lu".

The shape design of the Hanoi-class battleships is completely modeled after the Shengong of the Chinese Empire, and the Settsu is being built with the flying scissor bow of the Zhou Wuwang-class of the Chinese Empire, and the command tower is located in the rudder bridge. The whole inherits some of the shape characteristics of the Divine Bow. However, the designer has also made special modifications, the hull is a flat-deck ship type, and the bow is generally a vertical bow. In terms of the layout of the main guns, it was said that because the main gun equipment of the British Dreadnought was to be introduced, the navy took a fancy to the layout of the ten guns of the British Dreadnought. However, in order to counter the Xia Dynasty-class battleships of the Chinese Empire, the secondary guns of the Navy used 12 120 mm and 16 76 mm rapid-fire guns.

In November 1905, the British Navy suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the South China Sea, and the British requisitioned two Hanoi-class battleships that were originally under construction for the Navy. The navy was extremely sad, but it did not dare to offend Britain, so the navy had to try to build two Hanoi-class battleships on its own.

However, the shipbuilding capacity of the Ship was far inferior to that of the Chinese Empire, and 70% of the equipment had to be imported from Britain, and there was no slipway and equipment for the 20,000-ton battleship, so the Navy could only study it for the time being and wait for the completion of the 20,000-ton slipway before it could be imitated.

In general, the Chinese Empire exported a large number of Shenbow battleships to the German Empire, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, which not only made huge amounts of foreign exchange for the imperial naval industry, but also further stimulated the rapid development of the imperial naval industry and comprehensively moved towards a leading position in the world. At the same time, because of the large-scale export, the Chinese Empire's Shenbow-type battleships suddenly far surpassed the British dreadnought-type battleships in terms of popularity and popularity, which also laid a watershed in the development of the Shenbow-type battleships in the world's naval circles.

Authoritative naval figures in Europe and the United States thus took the Chinese Empire's Shengong as a symbol, and the battleships before the Shenbow ships were called the former Shengong ships, and the future battleships were called the post-Shenbow ships or super Shengong ships, so that the honor of the dreadnought naval era that should have belonged to Britain in history was replaced by the Chinese Imperial Navy, and the Shenbow naval era was created by the Chinese Imperial Navy.

(To be continued)