In the Qianqing Palace in Beijing's Forbidden City, Wang Yan, prime minister of the cabinet, Wu Peifu, minister of national defense, and Li Kun, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, could not help but be a little dumbfounded when they heard Lin Daxin casually say that he would build 12 emperor-class super dreadnought battleships.

The cost of an emperor-class super dreadnought battleship is 16 million yuan, which is about 4 million pounds sterling, and 12 ships add up to about 50 million pounds.

The economic development of the Chinese Empire has been rapid in recent years, and the total economic output of the Chinese Empire has even been comparable to that of the United States, so that the financial revenue of the Chinese Empire has also increased significantly compared with the time when it was first founded, but the Chinese Empire has too many places to use money, and most of the money of the Chinese Empire's finance is used for the construction of people's livelihood, so that most of the funds of the army, navy and air force of the Chinese Empire still come from Lin Daxin's personal money.

Lin Daxin continued: "In addition, the four new Mythical aircraft carriers have also made the shipyard step up construction, aircraft carriers are the biggest killer weapon for us to fight with the Allied Navy and the Allied Navy, whether we can win the naval battle depends on the play of the aircraft carrier." ”

Wu Peifu immediately said: "The emperor can rest assured, since the emperor transferred the construction funds of the four mythic-class aircraft carriers to the Admiralty a few days ago, the Huludao shipyard has begun to make various preparations for the construction of the mythical-class aircraft carriers, and in the next few days, the keels of the four mythical-class aircraft carriers should be laid." ”

Lin Daxin continued: "At present, the mythical aircraft carrier must remain in a state of secrecy. It can only be built secretly at the Huludao shipyard, and in addition, is there any movement on the battle cruisers designed by the Admiralty? ”

Wu Peifu replied: "Since the emperor had the idea of building a battle cruiser. The Admiralty has designed a battle cruiser, known as the Chitu-class battle cruiser. The standard displacement is 27,800 tons, the full load displacement is 31,500 tons, the length of the ship is 171.5 meters, the width of the ship is 30.5 meters, the maximum draft is 9.5 meters, the latest heavy oil boiler and steam boiler turbine are used, the maximum speed can reach 30 knots, the waterline armor is 203 mm to 305 mm, and the deck armor is 37 mm to 105 mm. The main gun turret is 305 mm armored, the conning tower is 305 mm armored, and it is equipped with 4 triple 50x caliber 343 mm main guns, 12 twin twin 50x caliber 155 mm secondary guns, 8 88 mm anti-aircraft guns, 8 57 mm anti-aircraft guns and 12 anti-aircraft machine guns. ”

When Lin Daxin heard the data of the Admiralty's design of this Chitu-class battlecruiser, he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction, the armor of the Chitu-class battlecruiser was weaker than that of the super dreadnought. But in terms of speed, it is much faster than the super dreadnought, that is, the emperor-class super dreadnought battleship designed by the Admiralty, which has reached an astonishing speed of 27 knots, which can be regarded as a fast super dreadnought battleship. It is still not as fast as this Chitu-class battlecruiser.

Lin Daxin said: "Yes, the performance of this Chitu-class battlecruiser is what I envisioned, and the Admiralty is planning to build several Chitu-class battlecruisers at the same time?" How much does a Chitu-class battlecruiser cost? ”

Wu Peifu said: "According to the estimate of the Admiralty. Because of the use of the latest heavy oil boilers and steam boiler turbines, the cost of a Chitu-class battlecruiser is about 10 million yuan. It's 2 million more expensive than the Admiral-class super dreadnought battleships. The Ministry of Defense is ready to order 6 Chitu-class battle cruisers to several shipyards in the country. I don't know what the emperor thinks? ”

Although the Ministry of Defense is ready to place an order with the shipyard, it is Lin Daxin who takes the money, and 6 Chitu-class battlecruisers need 60 million yuan, and Lin Daxin must nod.

Lin Daxin waved his hand and said: "We don't need to build the Chitu-class battlecruiser secretly, not only do we not need to keep it secret, but we must also build it with great fanfare, so that other countries know that the Royal Navy of our Chinese Empire has designed a new type of main warship, so that other countries can follow in our footsteps, and at the same time build dreadnought battleships, put the rest of the energy into the battle cruisers, 6 is a bit less, so let's do it, I will allocate 120 million yuan to the Ministry of National Defense, Dedicated to the construction of Chitu-class battlecruisers, let's build 12 Chitu-class battlecruisers at the same time! ”

The construction funds are provided by Lin Daxin, of course, Lin Daxin is willing to build a few ships, and Wu Peifu has found out a rule, the general Ministry of Defense ship-building plan to Lin Daxin, most of the time will be increased a lot, like this time the Ministry of Defense plans to build 6 Chitu-class battle cruisers, as a result, Lin Daxin doubled with a wave of his hand, which is not uncommon.

Wu Peifu said: "Your Majesty, if 12 Chitu-class battlecruisers are built at the same time, and 12 Emperor-class super dreadnought battleships are built at the same time, the large docks of domestic shipyards will not be enough. ”

Lin Daxin immediately said indifferently: "It doesn't matter if the dock is not enough, then build some large docks, won't the problem be solved!" As for the money for the construction of the dockyard, I will also transfer it to the Ministry of Defense. ”

This kind of problem that can be solved with money is not a problem in Lin Daxin's opinion.

Lin Daxin said so, what else could Wu Peifu say, he only nodded and told Lin Daxin that the Ministry of Defense would immediately plan for the new dock and the warships to be built.

Lin Daxin asked Wu Peifu again: "How is the situation in Chelyabinsk City?" The Allies and Britain and France may soon declare war on our Chinese Empire, and if we can take the city of Chelyabinsk before reinforcements from the Allies and Britain and France enter Russia, we can advance the front to the west of the Ural Mountains, that is, on the land of Europe. ”

Wu Peifu shook his head and said: "The railway from Omsk to Chelyabinsk has been seriously damaged by the Russians, and even the roadbed under the railway has been damaged, and it has basically lost the need to repair it. Our army will not be able to use this railway to transport troops and supplies in the short term, and will have to rely on trucks to transport troops and war supplies to the vicinity of Chelyabinsk. As a result, the plan to attack the city of Chelyabinsk could only be postponed backwards. When all our attacking forces arrive in the vicinity of Chelyabinsk and have sufficient combat materials in the vicinity of Chelyabinsk, the Ministry of Defense currently expects that it will take at least one and a half months before the attack can be launched. ”

Lin Daxin sighed and said: "It seems that it is impossible to fight the Ural Mountains before the reinforcements of the Central States and Britain and France enter Russia, so the time to launch an attack on the city of Chelyabinsk is not in a hurry, try to concentrate more troops near the city of Chelyabinsk, and the enemy we face is not only the Russians!" ”

Soon after learning of the Germans' change of position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire lodged a serious protest with the four countries of the Central Powers. It is said that the war between the Chinese Empire and Russia is a matter of both sides, and what does it have to do with your allies, your current words and deeds have hurt the feelings of the people of the entire Chinese Empire, and if the Allies insist on going their own way, the Chinese Empire will definitely not be afraid of war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire had just lodged a serious protest against the four countries of the Central Powers, and Germany countered the protest of the Chinese Empire on behalf of the Central Powers, calling the War of the Chinese Empire against Russia a war of aggression. Germany insisted that the Chinese Empire must cease such acts of aggression, otherwise Germany and the Allies as a whole would take all necessary measures to maintain peace in Europe. Or even war.

Later, in the face of the tough attitude of Germany and the Central Powers, the Chinese Empire only sent a 5-word telegram to Germany and the Central Powers, "If you want to fight, you will fight!"

This way between the Chinese Empire and the Allies. The clouds of war are getting thicker.

September 9, 1908, in Berlin, Germany. Representatives of the Entente Powers of Great Britain, France and Russia, and representatives of the Allies of Italy, Austria and Turkey. They all came here to discuss the matter of dealing with the Chinese Empire together with the representatives sent by Germany, and these countries took this meeting very seriously, and each sent a high-ranking person.

The representative sent by Britain was the Marquis de Lansdowne, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Admiralty Gomis, the representative of Russia, the Minister of the Exchequer Werther, and the representative sent by the Entente to Germany, which was definitely not light, but it was still a little worse than the representative of the Central Powers.

Germany was represented by German Prime Minister Hohenlohe, Italy was represented by Italian Prime Minister Brandra, Austria-Hungary was represented by its Prime Minister Muderhill, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire was represented by Enverpasha, one of the triumvirate, who was the Minister of Defense of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

The talks were held in the living room of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Berlin, and German Chancellor Hohenlohe, as the host, first said straight to the point: "The purpose of everyone coming to Germany today is very clear, that is, to find a way to curb the aggression of the Chinese Empire against our Europe, and the seven countries we are here can be regarded as the seven most important countries in the whole of Europe, and we also have the obligation to assume the responsibility of defending Europe and not let the iron hooves of the Chinese Empire wreak havoc in Europe." ”

As soon as German Prime Minister Hohenlohe finished speaking, Russian Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte immediately said: "Prime Minister Hohenlohe is so right, we must not let the iron hooves of the Chinese Empire ravage the European continent!" Now the army of the Chinese Empire is attacking our Russian Empire, the current war situation is very unfavorable to our Russian Empire, the army of the Chinese Empire has hit the vicinity of the Ural Mountains, if our Russian army can not hold the line of the Ural Mountains, the army of the Chinese Empire will enter Europe, so on behalf of the Russian Empire, and His Majesty the Tsar of the Russian Empire, I hope that the countries here will take on the heavy responsibility of defending Europe, declare war on the Chinese Empire, and send elite troops from various countries into our territory in Russia as soon as possible, to help us Russia resist the armies of the Chinese Empire. ”

The Marquis of Landsdowne, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, said at this time: "The countries that we can come here are ready to declare war on the Chinese Empire, and the situation in Russia is indeed very critical, and I think that now we can discuss how many forces can each country send to participate in this war against the Chinese Empire after the declaration of war on the Chinese Empire." ”

The representatives of other countries looked at each other and nodded their heads, since they can come here, it means that the Entente and the Central Powers have temporarily put aside their contradictions with each other and are ready to unite to declare war on the Chinese Empire, so on the issue of declaring war on the Chinese Empire, there is no need to negotiate much, and a consensus can be reached, and now the remaining question is how the seven countries will unite to fight the Chinese Empire, and how many forces each country will send to this war.

French Admiralty Minister Gomis said: "I think we should formulate a principle, that is, how much we contribute to the war, how much we should get after the war, we should get a very rich war dividend, after all, from the Chinese Empire, we can get very rich war dividends." ”

German Chancellor Hohenlohe agreed: "General Gomis has a point, we can decide after the war the benefits of each country according to the amount of troops they send in the war, and this is a very fair way." ”

The seven countries of the Entente and the Central Powers, including Russia, which is currently being beaten very miserably, all believe that if the Entente and the Central Powers jointly wage war against the Chinese Empire, they will be the final victors.

This is also normal, after all, the combined strength of the Entente and the Allies surpassed the Chinese Empire too much, and this was not the time of the Eight-Nation Alliance a few years ago, because Lin Daxin suddenly took out 7 dreadnought battleships, which made the Eight-Nation Alliance's naval battle unexpectedly fiasco, and finally caused a series of chain reactions, and the Eight-Nation Alliance was shockingly defeated by Lin Daxin.

Now the Entente and the Central Powers combined, the number of dreadnought battleships in service has reached 115, and it is no longer possible to be a few warships of the Chinese Empire, which will change the outcome of the entire war, and the Entente and the Central Powers can use their powerful military force to crush the Chinese Empire and finally win the war.

It's a pity that what the Entente and the Allies don't know is that Lin Daxin has a transgressive ring, which can not only obtain technology and materials from the future time and space, but also grasp the correct pulse of naval development, and 4 cross-era aircraft carriers are waiting for their debut in this time and space. (To be continued......)