"Your Majesty, Lord Zhang, my name is Huang Ming, and I am the designer of this class of heavy cruisers!" A young man about thirty years old wearing glasses stood in front of Wang Yuze and Zhang Cheng and said a little nervously.

"Hmmm! Then it's up to you to introduce this class of heavy cruisers! Wang Yuze said with a smile. He has always attached great importance to these backward talents in the empire. Whether the Imperial Navy can maintain its superiority all the time depends on these talents.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The designer named Huang Ming began to introduce this heavy cruiser to Wang Yuze and Zhang Cheng. When it comes to professional knowledge, this designer named Huang Ming is not so nervous.

'River-class' heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of 12,600 tons and a full load displacement of 14,300 tons. It has a total length of 131 meters, a width of 19.1 meters, and a draft of 8.2 meters. It is armed with three triple 210 mm 50 times the caliber naval guns and 10 105 mm single-mounted guns; 10 88-mm single-mounted guns; 8 37-mm cannons. It is powered by 16 oil-fired boilers, two steam turbines, 30,000 horsepower of the main engine, four-shaft propulsion, a maximum speed of 30 knots (the maximum speed of 31.3 knots during sea trials), and a cruising range of 10 knots and 8,000 nautical miles. The armor was 210 mm at the waterline, 75 mm on the deck, 305 mm for the main gun turret and 305 mm for the conning tower.

The main gun layout of the 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers, like the 'Han-class' battleships, adopted a knapsack design with two fronts and one back. It's just that the caliber of the main gun is smaller, only 210 mm. At this time, China obtained technology from Germany and improved the rapid-fire gun, assisted by a semi-automatic loader, and the maximum speed of shelling reached three rounds per minute. Using the latest tungsten steel armor-piercing projectile and a 210 mm gun of 50 times the caliber, it can penetrate the new armor after 210 mm at a distance of 12,000 kilometers. At a distance of 8,000 meters, it can pose a lethal threat to any type of battleship except the Chinese Navy's 'Han-class' battleships. Therefore, the 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser can be called the most powerful killer under the battleship, even if it encounters the battleship of the enemy country, it can maneuver around, and if it really can't, it can leave lightly with high speed. This also makes the battle cruisers that the Chinese Navy spent a lot of money to build seem a bit wasteful.

However, the cost of the 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers is also not low, and these excellent performances are also piled up with money. The cost of each 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser reached 7 million Chinese yuan, which was only a little lower than the price of the 'Zhonghua-class' battleships built at the beginning. However, the performance of the 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser made Wang Yuze very satisfied. Therefore, even if the price is high, it is agreed that the Navy will purchase 24 ships. However, these 24 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers will be built in four batches, with the first batch of six ships starting at the beginning of next year, and six more ships will be added every year thereafter. It was expected that by 1906 all heavy cruisers would be fully commissioned. The 24 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers were named 'Yangtze River', 'Yellow River', 'Heilongjiang', 'Songhua River', 'Ussuri River', 'Yalu River', 'Mudanjiang', 'Nenjiang', 'Liaohe', 'Hulanhe', 'Hunhe', 'Dalinghe', 'Hailar River', 'Luanhe', 'Haihe', 'Fenhe', 'Yongding River', 'Huangpu River', 'Qiantang River', 'Xin'anjiang', 'Nanxijiang', 'Fuchunjiang', 'Oujiang', 'Huaihe'.

The 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser has also become the main force of the Chinese Navy, and it is the longest-serving heavy cruiser, the 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser and its subsequent improved heavy cruisers, which have been in service for nearly half a century before being decommissioned, becoming one of the most important warships in the history of the Chinese Navy.

Wang Yuze promised to build 24 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers, which made Navy Minister Zhang Cheng very happy. The total cost of the 24 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruisers reached 168 million Chinese dollars! Although it is divided into four years, it will cost more than 40 million yuan every year! With Wang Yuze's consent, the navy is more confident when it competes for military spending every year.

Huang Ming, a young designer, was also very happy. Wang Yuze's agreement to build a large-scale 'Jianghe-class' heavy cruiser is not an affirmation of them?

Battleships and heavy cruisers alone were not enough, a large number of light cruisers and destroyers were needed. The main force of the current light cruisers of the Chinese Navy is the 'Tianshui-class' light cruisers, and the destroyers were also newly designed later. However, in the last naval battle, light cruisers and destroyers also suffered heavy losses. At present, the Chinese Navy has only 22 light cruisers and less than 50 destroyers, which is obviously not enough to protect China's huge maritime interests. After the U.S. Navy basically withdrew from the Pacific Ocean, the entire Pacific Ocean has become China's dominance, and the navies of Britain and other European countries can no longer challenge China in the Pacific. But in order to safeguard its maritime interests, China also needs to build a large number of light cruisers and destroyers.

This time, the Navy's design institute also came up with a new design scheme for light cruisers and destroyers of the first class. The new light cruiser was named the 'Ningbo class' light cruiser. The light cruisers of this class have a displacement of 6,500 tons, a length of 98 meters, a width of 12.8 meters, a draft of 5.6 meters, and are armed with two twin 155-mm guns, which are placed in the bow and stern. In addition, there were 10 105-mm rapid-fire guns as secondary guns, and 8 88-mm rapid-fire guns. In addition, eight 37-mm rapid-fire guns were installed on the sides of the battleship. In the bow there were four 533-mm torpedo tubes. It will be powered by 10 oil-fired boilers and a steam turbine, with a main engine power of 18,000 horsepower, two-shaft propulsion, a maximum speed of 32 knots (the maximum speed of 33.6 knots during sea trials), and a cruising range of 10 knots and 6,000 nautical miles. The cost of the 'Ningbo-class' light cruisers was 1.5 million yuan each, which was much higher than the original 'Tianshui-class' light cruisers. However, the 'Ningbo-class' light cruisers are faster and the new naval guns are more powerful, and after the 'Ningbo-class' heavy cruisers are put into service, they will replace the 'Tianshui-class' light cruisers and become the main light cruisers of the Chinese Navy. Wang Yuze was also very satisfied with the 'Ningbo-class' light cruisers, and agreed to the navy's plan to purchase 32 ships in four years. The 32 'Ningbo-class' heavy cruisers are 'Ningbo', 'Wenzhou', 'Shaoxing', 'Taizhou', 'Jiaxing', 'Jinhua', 'Huzhou', 'Quzhou', 'Lishui', 'Zhoushan', 'Suzhou', 'Wuxi', 'Nantong', 'Changzhou', 'Xuzhou', 'Yancheng', 'Yangzhou', 'Taizhou', 'Zhenjiang', 'Huai'an', 'Lianyungang', 'Suqian', 'Foshan', 'Huizhou', ' Jiangmen', 'Maoming', 'Zhanjiang', 'Zhaoqing', 'Qingyuan', 'Jieyang', 'Shantou', 'Chaozhou'.

The destroyers of the new class were named the 'Fuqing-class' destroyers. The Fuqing-class destroyer, with a displacement of 1,800 tons, was armed with two 105-mm rapid-fire guns, one in the front and one in the rear, four 88-mm rapid-fire guns and four 37-mm rapid-fire guns on each side. Two 533-mm torpedo tubes. It is powered by four oil-fired boilers and a steam turbine with a power of 7,500 horsepower, a maximum speed of 33 knots (the maximum speed of 35 knots was achieved during sea trials), and a cruising range of 10 knots and 4,000 nautical miles. The 'Fuqing-class' destroyers will become the main destroyers equipped by the Chinese Navy, and they are already basically equipped with ocean-going capabilities, and with the support of China's various naval bases, they can patrol China's vast maritime frontiers. The cost of the 'Fuqing-class' destroyers is 300,000 Chinese yuan each. The Admiralty plans to build 12 of these destroyers a year over the next five years to strengthen the Navy as a whole. Wang Yuze has no objection to this.

In addition to surface warships, special attention was paid to underwater warships. During the battle between the Imperial Navy and the combined fleet of Britain, France and Russia, the submarine played a brilliant role in this battle, and only lost two submarines. Moreover, it disrupted the formation of the combined fleet of Britain, France and Russia, creating an excellent opportunity for the main warships of the navy. As the first country to put submarines into actual combat, China will certainly not forget to intensify the development of this new weapon. It's just that the research of submarines needs to be explored slowly. Up to now, the design institute has not been able to come up with a concrete plan for the submarines of the next level. However, the power of submarines has also attracted the attention of the navy. Light cruisers and destroyers, with high speed, can evade submarine attacks, but heavy cruisers and battleships, if ambushed by submarines, are more troublesome. Therefore, the new battleships and heavy cruisers, in the process of construction, used a lot of submarine-proof designs. For example, the addition of watertight compartments, even after being hit by a submarine's torpedo, can close the watertight compartment to ensure that the battleship is not sunk. In addition, the armor near the waterline has been thickened to strengthen the defense. At the same time, anti-mine nets were installed to reduce the possibility of the battleship being hit.

At a time when all countries have begun to design submarines, China has begun to strengthen its defense against submarines, and is once again ahead of the rest of the world.

After inspecting the Navy's warship design institute, Wang Yuze also went to the Naval Academy. The former commander of the home fleet, Admiral Deng Shichang, has become the dean of the Naval Academy. As the cradle of naval officers, it gathers the country's elites and attaches great importance to the cultivation and education of talents, which is the fundamental guarantee for an invincible position!