The Chinese Empire is currently building a famous general-class dreadnought battleship, with a full load displacement of an astonishing 29,400 tons, equipped with 5 double-mounted 50-fold caliber 343 mm main guns, while the Orion-class dreadnought battleship being built by the British has a full load displacement of 25,870 tons, and is also equipped with 5 double-mounted 45 times the caliber 343 mm main gun, these two dreadnought battleships are super dreadnought-class battleships, but the Admiral-class super dreadnought battleships are faster than the Orion-class dreadnought battleships, The armor is also a lot thicker.

When the Germans learned about the performance of the two dreadnoughts built by the Chinese Empire and Russia, the next class of Caesar-class dreadnoughts of the Germans had already begun to be built, and the Germans weighed it and thought that changing the design of the Caesar-class dreadnoughts and installing larger-caliber main guns would outweigh the losses and would affect the stability of the Caesar-class dreadnoughts, so the Germans still built the Caesar-class dreadnoughts according to the designed drawings.

Now the German Emperor Wilhelm II proposed to build the Germans' own super dreadnought battleship, and the German Admiralty Tirpitz immediately said: "Your Majesty, our German Admiralty has preliminarily designed a super dreadnought battleship with a standard displacement of 24,300 tons and a full load displacement of 27,800 tons. The ship is 175.5 meters long, 28.2 meters wide, has a draft of 8.9 meters, can reach a maximum speed of 22 knots, and is equipped with 5 twin 50 times caliber 330 mm main guns, 16 150 mm secondary guns, 10 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 anti-aircraft machine guns, 5 500 mm torpedo tubes, horizontal armor belts from 210 mm to 350 mm. Deck armor 76 mm, main turret armor 350 mm. The conning tower was armored 350 mm and the crew was 890 people. This super dreadnought battleship designed by our German Admiralty. Compared with the Orion-class dreadnought battleships being built by the British, they are much stronger in terms of speed and armor, but in terms of the caliber of the main gun, they are a little smaller, but the power of our German 330-mm guns is not weaker than the British 343-mm guns, and even because of our quality and craftsmanship, they are even farther in range. However, the cost of the 50 times caliber 330 mm gun is much more expensive than the 50 times caliber 305 mm gun that our Germany used to equip with, so that the cost of this super dreadnought battleship will reach 28 million marks. ”

According to the current exchange rate, the exchange rate between the German mark and the pound sterling remains about 10 times, and 28 million marks is equivalent to about 2.8 million pounds.

When Wilhelm II heard the performance of this super dreadnought battleship designed by the German Admiralty, he immediately nodded with satisfaction and continued: "Yes, this is exactly the super dreadnought battleship that we need in Germany, and it is worth it to be more expensive, Prime Minister." How much money can our German finances come up with for the construction of this super dreadnought? ”

German Prime Minister Hohenlohe frowned and said, "Your Majesty, you have just decided to expand the army by 700,000. Moreover, the 8 Caesar-class dreadnought battleships that are now under construction in our German shipyards still need to be continuously allocated funds so that these 8 Caesar-class dreadnought battleships can be built according to the plan. In addition, not long ago, Your Majesty, you promised the King of Italy, Vittorio? Emanuele III. A low-interest loan of 300 million German marks will be given to Italy, and now the super-dreadnought battleship will be built. There may be some problems with our finances in Germany. ”

Wilhelm II also knew in his heart that although Germany's economy has developed rapidly in recent years, its fiscal revenue has risen year by year, and it is relatively wealthy, because of the continuous expansion of Germany's military strength, the annual military expenditure is an astronomical amount, and Germany cannot spend money as much as it wants, and for the long-term interests of the Central Powers, he has just given Italy, an ally of the Central Powers, a large amount of low-interest loans.

William II thought about it for a moment and said: "The construction of a super dreadnought battleship does not need to take out all the funds at once, we can still build the Caesar-class dreadnought battleship, and allocate funds in batches according to the progress, so that the pressure on the finances can be much easier, and there is still a lot of money in the royal family's bank account, and I can also take out some of it for the construction of the super dreadnought, hmm...... Just take out 80 million marks from the royal family's bank account and transfer it to the account of the Admiralty, and then take out another amount of money from the treasury, I think that our German shipyards can build 8 super dreadnought battleships at once, Prime Minister, no problem, right? ”

The emperor said so, and took out 80 million German marks out of his own pocket, what else could Prime Minister Hohenlohe say, so he had to nod and say: "If Your Majesty can come up with 80 million marks, the minister will try to raise it from the treasury as much as possible, and it should be no problem to build 8 super dreadnought battleships at the same time." ”

At this time, the smile on Wilhelm II's face was even brighter: "Good! Then it was decided, Germany was going to build 8 of these super dreadnoughts at the same time! Oh, by the way, Tirpitz, is this super dreadnought battleship named? ”

Admiral Tirpitz said: "Your Majesty, the name has not yet been decided, and we, the Admiralty, hope that Your Majesty will name the first super dreadnought battleship of our German Navy." ”

Wilhelm II thought for a moment and said, "Then let's call it king!" ”

Admiral Chancellor Tirpitz nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, then the first super dreadnought battleship of our German Navy will be named the King class." ”

Wilhelm II also said to Prime Minister Hohenlohe: "There is still a big gap between the fighters equipped by the Luftwaffe and the fighters of the Chinese Empire in terms of performance, and the scientific research departments of the Empire should speed up the development of fighters with better performance. ”

Prime Minister Hohenlohe nodded again and said: "Your Majesty, the development of the Air Force fighter has always been a project that the minister has focused on, and great progress has been made so far, maybe it won't be long before the fighters equipped by our Luftwaffe will not be inferior to the fighters of the Chinese Empire in terms of performance!" ”

After the outbreak of war between the Chinese Empire and Russia, not only was Germany unwilling to be lonely, but was ready to expand its own military strength. Several other countries in the Allies have also made moves.

In the royal palace of Rome, the capital of Italy, the king of Italy, Vittorio? Emanuele III. After learning of the outbreak of war between the Chinese Empire and Russia, he summoned the Italian Prime Minister Brandra, the Minister of War Hannaverd, and the Navy Minister Roberte to the palace.

King Vittorio? Emmanuele III said to the three Italian ministers with an excited face: "Great news. The Chinese Empire and Russia have already declared war on each other, and it is not clear that Britain and France will also join this war, so that the Chinese Empire and the Entente will fight and lose! There's nothing more enjoyable than watching our 2 enemies fight each other! ”

As one of the Allied Powers, Italy's contradictions with the Entente have been increasing in recent years, and it has not wavered between the Allied and Entente powers as it has done historically. Today, Italy is firmly on the side of the Allies, and two years ago there was a confrontation between the Italian and French navies in the waters between Tunisia and Italy.

As for the Chinese Empire, the Italian king Vittorio? Emanuele III gritted his teeth with hatred, he always believed that the death of his father Umberto I was caused by Lin Daxin, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, if it were not for the destruction of the Second Expeditionary Fleet of the Italian Navy fought by the Northeast Navy under Lin Daxin, which made his father fall ill in a hurry, his father would not have died of illness.

And Italy has been defeated by Lin Daxin several times. In particular, the Italian navy was defeated again and again by the navy under Lin Daxin, and the fleet sent to participate in the war was wiped out every time. Emanuele III was hostile to him. There were also no people in the whole of Italy who liked the country of the Chinese Empire.

Now Italy's two biggest enemies are fighting, and Italy is very happy from top to bottom.

Prime Minister Brandra laughed and said, "It's wonderful to have something like this. Chen really hoped that the Chinese Empire and the Entente would fight for ten or eight years. In that case, their national power will be depleted. We, the allies, can find them when they are exhausted and calculate the entanglements they have had with each other over the years. ”

Admiral Robert said at this time: "If there really is that day, we Italy should really settle old scores with them, especially the Chinese Empire, it can be said that there is a blood feud between us and Italy, and we Italians will never forget it." ”

The Minister of the Navy, Roberte, really can't forget that he has been captured three times by the navy under Lin Daxin, and has been in and out of the prisoner of war camp of the Northeast Navy, the predecessor of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and has even learned to speak a lot of Chinese.

War Secretary Hannawede also said: "I hope that Britain and France can join this war as soon as possible, so that the entire Entente can fight to the death with the Chinese Empire, if it is only Russia itself, it is really weak in the face of the Chinese Empire, and it cannot play a role in consuming the Chinese Empire." ”

Hannawade was the commander of the Italian Army sent to Russia in the war between the Eight-Nation Alliance and Lin Daxin a few years ago, and the Italian Army suffered huge losses in the battle for Krasnoyarsk City, even Hannawade was slightly wounded, and Hannawade's own brother was also killed in the battle for Krasnoyarsk City, which made Hannawade's hatred for the Chinese Empire no more than King Vittorio? Emanuele III and Admiral Robert Younger.

King Vittorio? Emanuele III said: "The strength of the Chinese Empire is indeed very strong, and now that the war has just begun, hundreds of thousands of the more than 2 million troops on the Russian border have been annihilated, and most of the remaining more than 1 million Russian troops have fled, and the Russian army that can continue to hold on in the border cities is also in a worrying situation, if Britain and France do not support Russia, it is really difficult for Russia to hold out for long." However, those are not what we Italy should consider, we Italy now need to continue to expand its armaments, and when our allies take advantage of the Entente and even the Chinese Empire, we Italy can only get more of the cake by showing more strength. ”

Prime Minister Brandra was immediately embarrassed when he heard this, Italy's economy has been in a weak state in recent years, and King Vittorio? Emanuele III, however, was committed to developing Italy's military power, leaving Italy's finances in deficit every year. Emanuele III's intention was obvious, to continue to expand Italy's military strength, ready to grab the cake.

Although the cake is delicious, but if you want to have the strength to eat cake, you must have money, but the biggest problem in Italy is that there is no money, Prime Minister Brandra said helplessly: "Your Majesty, our Italian standing army has reached 550,000, and the navy also has 4 Dante-class dreadnought battleships, 3 Count Cavour-class dreadnought battleships, and a large number of other types of warships. In addition, the newly formed Italian Air Force also needs a lot of money every month, and the treasury really can't come up with the money to expand the army or navy. ”

The Minister of War Hannaverde and the Minister of the Navy Roberte listened to Prime Minister Brandra's words, and couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other, now Italy has such a scale of the navy, land and air force, it is already a very difficult thing, and if you want to come up with more funds, it is definitely difficult for Brandra, the prime minister who controls Italy's financial power.

King Vittorio? Emanuele III was very aware of the situation of Italy's finances, and he knew that it was impossible to get the Italian treasury to come up with money to expand Italy's armaments, so he was ready to expand Italy's military strength and did not expect to deduct money from Italy's finances.

After Prime Minister Brandra's words, King Vittorio? Emanuele III waved his hand and said: "The financial situation, this king knows very well, when this king visited Germany a few days ago, he has secretly loaned 300 million German marks to the German emperor Wilhelm II at low interest, and our next step in Italy's military expansion depends on this low-interest loan!" ”

The three important ministers of Italy all showed surprised expressions when they heard that Germany gave Italy a low-interest loan of 300 million German marks, even Prime Minister Brandra didn't know about this matter, and he didn't think that King Vittorio a few days ago? Emanuele III's visit to Germany also accomplished such a big thing. (To be continued......)