50 million dollars in cash to buy all the vintage goods? The Russians are really rich!

In the Legation of the Republic of China in St. Petersburg, before Lu Zhengxiang, Wang Zhengting and the staff high-fived each other, the second Russian order directly stunned everyone. Fathers and fathers! $420 million superweapon order! 1.5 million rifles, 5,000 cannons of all types, 100,000 grenadiers, 50,000 Stern submachine guns and 10,000 light and heavy machine guns in three years, in addition to 300 million rounds of ammunition and 25 million shells!

The other prices are not known to the two, but the grenadiers and shells have been understood. A Wehrmacht-standard Type 12 rifle costs about $20 for 40 cents and is sold to Russia for $30. For the same price, 3 grenadiers can be made, but the price of the grenadier at the time of this sale is the same as that of a rifle and a large heavy cruiser, which means that the rifle and grenadier can earn 10 million and 2.3 million US dollars respectively.

As for the shells, it is even more surprisingly profitable! Taking the most used 75 shells as an example, one usually costs $8 and costs $10, but the cost can be reduced to $7 after the simple and fast casting technology is adopted in China and the pre-engraved fragments are reduced. In addition, last year, Hanyang developed a new type of ** mixed with cheap black powder, and mixed with a small amount of Shimose gunpowder ingredients, so that the flame is larger and looks more powerful after the explosion**, so that the expensive new ** only accounts for 50% of the total load, so that the average price of an export shell can be reduced to about 6 US dollars. And this sale to Russia is calculated at 12 US dollars, which means that only the shells can earn 150 million US dollars, about 300 million people!

300 million people! That's half of the country's total taxes in 1911!

It is said that fighting a war is fighting money, and the two finally understood. As soon as I thought of the silver flying in the sky over Europe at this moment, I wished that it would be better to spend seventeen or eighteen years to exhaust all the European resources, and to save myself from returning to the Far East and starting to run rampant again. Money is a good thing, but neither of them dares to make a decision on whether to take this contract. Although judging from the numbers, the Russians also Chapter 348 large heavy cruisers did not believe too much in the false figures. According to the current domestic capacity, if all the orders of the military are canceled within three years, they can barely eat it. But the problem is that it is impossible for one's own army to stand still. After all, the Japanese are still in a hurry to take revenge. So the two had to send a telegram back to China for instructions.

After the news came back to China, except for a moment of ecstasy, no one dared to make a decision, even Li Yuanhong and Tang Shaoyi discussed for a long time and thought that it should be halved, only Yang Qiu strongly advocated taking the contract. Naturally, he can't say that after two years, the tsar will be able to covet nearly half of the money from other people, and he can also resell the things he has created to other countries to make money twice. Therefore, the manufacturing capacity of the domestic military industry was seriously analyzed. From the perspective of equipment, Hanyang and Chongqing alone have the possibility of expanding production capacity by 30%. This is not counting the Zhengzhou Industrial Group of the same scale under construction, as well as the two major industrial groups of Fengtian and Baotou, which have already begun to plan.

Looking at the long-term view, it is easy to double the civil equipment industry in three years, but the problem is that the plan is the plan. In fact, after the outbreak of the European war, military manufacturing equipment could only be supplemented by a small amount through smuggling channels. Completely unable to meet the needs of construction, at present, domestic machinery manufacturing has just started, as long as the civilian side is not too advanced, it is only slow production and speed, gritting teeth can insist, but the higher requirements of military equipment are almost still blank spots. But perhaps this profit was too considerable, and in the end Yang Qiu persuaded everyone. Call back and two people can sign the agreement.

Probably desperate for weapons, the day after the agreement was signed, Nicholas II sent an expedition with 300 tons of gold by train to the Far East. At the same time, the classic goods stored in Beijing were also quickly put on the bus. After arriving in Mukden, he turned to the Eastern Railway and headed for Russia. After Wang Zhengting received the full payment of 50 million US dollars from the spot, he immediately contacted the German Juncker consortium to ship thousands of machines and equipment from 13 Belgian factories to Austria-Hungary, among which the mild steel quenching and heat treatment equipment, which was only slightly worse than Sweden and Germany, was the first batch to be transferred to Kyiv, from where it was transferred to embark on a long journey home.

Rasputin, who was more and more proud of the Tsar's commendation, received a kickback of 500,000 US dollars, and simply asked someone to issue a special pass for the train. ** Out-of-the-box bureaucrats train all the way in front of money and passes. Therefore, throughout the winter of 14 years, there was a strange scene of busy trains coming and going while fighting on the Eastern Front.

Wang Zhengting did not bring the remaining $9.5 million back to China, but distributed it to several diplomats in Europe, including Lu Zhengxiang, and handed them over to renovate the legation and recruit those displaced and war-torn technicians. According to the declassified archives of the Republic of China government many years later, more than 10,000 technicians were recruited from the winter of 1914 to March 1915, the largest number of technicians in Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary.

This figure cannot be compared with the frenzied influx of skilled immigrants into the United States, but it is really a great help to the Chinese industry, which is seriously lacking in science and engineering talents.

But the huge gains in Russia could not untie Yang Qiu's knot, although at the beginning he thought that he might not be able to recapture Taiwan at one time, but when the troops marched forward, everyone's thinking gradually changed, but after Bernard had already brought out a threatening tone and asked for five years of joint management, his heart was still very uncomfortable. So there was an unusual atmosphere in the Ministry of Defense all day.

"Tell Yue Peng that the heavy artillery I gave him is not a toy! If an agreement is not signed for a day, the war will not stop for a day! In the office, when Yang Qiu threw back the telegram from the Northeast Theater asking whether to attack Pulandian, the stern words made him frown and walk out with a wry smile. But as soon as he turned the corner when he went out, he saw Song Ziqing and Cai Ye walking side by side with Hangel. Cai Ye was too tired in the Battle of Qingdao, so he was transferred back to Nanjing to recuperate. Now that the Japanese army has all withdrawn from Shandong, the rest of the rectification and reconstruction work is not his specialty, so Cai Jimin will temporarily take over Shandong.

When Han Gele saw Cai Gong, he had a bitter face, and he knew that the person inside must be angry about the affairs of Taiwan, and from his standpoint, he could clearly feel that the British punch hit the key point. During the five-year buffer period, a slight deviation from Britain's policy was enough to help the Japanese Navy recover as it had ever been and even stronger! At that time, it will undoubtedly become more difficult to recover Taiwan.

From the standpoint of the United States, this is a good opportunity to weaken Japan, but the idea of glory and isolation in the US government is still very strong, not to mention that a strong China is more likely to undermine the security posture in the Pacific region, so China also hopes to take this opportunity to ensure the balance between China and Japan. Under the influence of such a policy, even he could not have violated the State Department's Code of Conduct for the Far East.

After walking into the office, Yang Qiu was still frowning and still angry. Hanger smiled deliberately. "Your Excellency the Vice-President, what makes you so angry?" quipped. Maybe I can help you a little. ”

Yang Qiu took a deep breath and regained his composure. Spread his hands and said, "Yes." I do need your help, and I hope that your country will sell two New Mexico-class battleships to our navy. ”

"New Mexico?"

Hunger did come today for two capital ships, but he was also shocked to hear that he actually chose the New Mexico class that the United States had only begun to build. The strength of American shipbuilding is inferior to that of Europe, and this is clear to even the most senior American designers. So I've been trying to find a way to catch up. The New Mexico class is a product of this catch-up mentality, as a new scissor bow. The battleship that uses the concept of centralized protection with box armor layout is specially designed for it, and the L50/356 mm sleeve barrel naval gun specially designed for it is more powerful than the British L45 adopted by the "Japanese" King Kong class, and the only weakness is that the power is insufficient and only 22 knots. But a battleship is not a battlecruiser. If the King Kong class and the New Mexico class play each other, there is no doubt that they will have a greater advantage.

Will the U.S. sell New Mexico? A: Of course, yes. The United States is not the United Kingdom. As long as you make money, you are willing to sell any warship, but the problem is that at present, the sale of capital warships to the hot spots in the Far East cannot bypass the British government, and the British government never wants a kind of capital ship in the Far East to appear more than the capital ship of Japan, so he shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, as your friend, the US government and I are willing to help your navy. But with all due respect. My country must take into account the ideas of a number of friendly countries when deciding on major diplomatic actions. ”

Although he didn't say it explicitly, the three people here are not stupid. Song Ziqing frowned at that time. A long time ago, he and several members of the Navy carefully studied what kind of equipment was needed, and there was a shadow that could not be avoided when choosing, that is, four "Japanese" King Kong-class battle cruisers! Britain, France and Germany are currently powerless even if they have the heart, and the United States, the only one that can provide large warships, is only the latest New Mexico class, which has more powerful naval guns than the King Kong class, so he is also a little disappointed when he heard that it is likely not to get the New Mexico class.

Yang Qiu seems to have thought that the United States would not sell New Mexico, after all, the relationship between Britain and the United States is delicate, and the United States cannot avoid the British Empire in many things. As long as the Anglo-Japanese alliance is not dissolved for a day, it will be impossible to obtain more powerful battleships than the Japanese navy by going through normal channels. So he asked, "So I wonder what options Your Excellency can offer?" ”

"The caliber of the main gun is no more than 12 inches, and I think I can convince Congress."

12 inches? Wyoming class?

Of course, Yang Qiu didn't want to be jokingly called Wyoming a bomb truck, but Hangel's clear words that no more than 305 mm made the choice a lot less at once. Searching through his mind, almost none of the 305-mm capital ships that have appeared so far are satisfactory to him. But we can't help but build it, after all, large warships can't be built and used, and even if you give yourself a Yamato now, it will take several years to train sailors and train the long-missing command and combat capabilities of large warships.

So after pondering for a long time, he quickly wrote down a set of data.

The main guns are three triple L50/305 mm naval guns, with a knapsack layout, two in the front and one in the back. The secondary guns used 16 single-mounted 152-mm, 8 76-mm deck guns, and 6 twin 37-mm rapid-fire guns. The torpedo tubes were eliminated, and two seaplanes needed to be carried. The main armor belt is arranged at an inclination of 241 mm at an angle of 10 °, with a double-layer bottom anti-torpedo compartment arrangement, the use of heavy oil boilers and steam turbines, the speed requirements are at least 27 knots, and the endurance requirements must meet the requirements of 11 knots 10,000 nautical miles!

Hanger frowned after reading the data, he was not surprised by naval guns or something, but the armor was 241 mm? This class is much weaker than the capital ships that are currently commonly used in the world with one-inch design armor with low main gun caliber, and although the oblique deployment armor has been used in the UK, no one knows the actual combat protection effect. That is to say, if you follow this data, these two capital ships are simply freaks between battleships and battlecruisers.

"Large heavy cruisers." Yang Qiu gave the data after the Alaska class was slightly weakened, and at the same time, he also gave the two capital ships an accurate positioning!!