The sea is turbulent and the waves crash against the reef with a "popping" sound. The golden sunlight sprinkled on the sea surface www.biquge.info the pen "Fun", and suddenly the sea surface sparkled. Flocks of seagulls croaked over the Brest shipyard, but inside the shipyard it was busy, with the sound of rivets echoing through the docks, and the steam chimneys spewing smoke, making the whole shipyard seem extremely busy.

In one of the buildings in this very busy shipyard, several senior officials of the shipyard were arguing with a few guests from the East, and similar negotiations had been going on in the shipyard for the past few days, from the beginning of the discussion around the armament of the warship, to the power, to the price of the ship, and even the type of armor steel, but now the core of the discussion has fallen to one issue - technology transfer.

Wearing a naval uniform during the negotiations, Renault frowned from time to time, China's Beiyang Navy handed over two combat ships, 5 cruisers and a number of auxiliary ship orders, none of them fell into the hands of France, for the French shipbuilding industry this can not but mean failure, now finally have a come to the door of the Oriental guest, although its ship size is far less than the Beiyang Navy, but this means a breakthrough, at least to be able to open a gap in the strong Chinese "fortress", and regrettably, The Chinese in front of you are far more difficult to deal with than other Chinese officials.

The reason why Chinese officials did not consider French warships was not only that they trusted British and German shipyards, but more importantly, the impact of the war seven years ago made it difficult for the Chinese government to accept the fact that they had ordered warships from French shipyards. For comparison, the North Korean Navy, which is part of the Chinese Navy. Under the auspices of its Unified Supervision Office. However, a delegation was sent to inspect British, French, German and Italian shipyards in order to select their warship manufacturers.

Right now. Renault seemed to understand why Britain, Germany and even Italy had rejected their request, and they wanted to import warships not only to build warships, but also to learn from the experience of building warships, as they now put forward orders of up to one million pounds, but that was only a superficial number, in fact the French industry received orders of no more than 500,000 pounds.

"The first ship is built by your country, and the second and third ships are provided with all the drawings and technicians. Guiding us to build in the Incheon shipyard is the most basic requirement, and it is based on this consideration that we will accept your relatively expensive offer! ”

Stunger said slowly, after three months of inspecting various shipyards in Europe, he was not as eager as before, and even in his opinion, if he had imported parts, he could have designed the same warship, relying on Incheon's shipbuilding capabilities. It was also basically enough to meet his needs, and this was only his last effort. This effort was made because the "Amiral Charner" class armored cruiser was indeed a very good cruiser, and its performance far exceeded that of the protective cruisers ordered by the Beiyang Naval Division in the United Kingdom.

Compared with the thin armor of the protective cruisers, the armored cruiser is undoubtedly more suitable for the "Korean Navy" without capital ships, and the "Amiral Charner" class cruiser is undoubtedly the most complete armored cruiser in the eyes of Stenge, which is extremely mature in detail, although the height of the armor belt only covers the middle deck. It is basically based on the design of the dome cruiser, adding an armor belt with a thickness of 50-90 mm and a height of 3-4 meters, which is enough to resist the penetration of ordinary solid armor-piercing shells with the dome armor. In addition to the absence of hardened armor belts, it can be said that the French did everything that an armored cruiser of this tonnage was able to do, and the tonnage and power control were excellent.

And more importantly, although it is a 4,700-ton armored cruiser, its firepower is extremely powerful, the French use two 7.6-inch guns and six 5.5-inch rapid-fire guns, but Stenger chose the Armstrong QF8-inch rapid-fire gun and the 6-inch rapid-fire gun, the latter is being trial-produced by the Seoul Machine Bureau, and its firepower must be described as powerful.

It was for this reason that Stenger chose to negotiate with the French to purchase a warship and build it under the guidance of French technicians, making it the main force of the "navy stationed in Korea." As for the British and German shipyards, with the help of the minister, 28 technicians have entered the shipyards of the two countries in the name of study to supervise the construction of the warships ordered by the Beiyang Naval Division.

Students who study shipbuilding in Britain and Germany will learn from the strengths of the two countries in the future, and then integrate this armored cruiser from France to design a more excellent armored cruiser. As for the combat ships, at least for now, Stengge has not thought about it, and the combat ships are too unrealistic for the newly built navy stationed in the DPRK.

"Mr. Shi, excluding weapons of 8,245,000 francs, it is already very cheap, the Beiyang Fleet's 4,150-ton protective cruiser ordered by the British is 308,000 pounds, and the tonnage of the "Amiral Charner" class armored cruiser provided by our side is more than 500 tons, and its price is only more than 40,000 pounds......"

"However, don't forget one thing, Mr. Colonel, the armor belt steel plates needed on the ship are all provided by us!"

Stenge reminded with a smile that because the waterline armor of the "Amiral Charner" class cruiser used ordinary steel armor, in order to enhance its defensive power, according to the requirements of Fuzhong, he chose the "carburized armor steel" that had just been successfully developed by the Incheon Iron and Steel Plant as its waterline armor, and at the same time, he would also entrust the shipyard to test it. After this reminder, Stengge continued.

"Your Mediterranean shipyard once designed and built the "Sankei" for Japan, and did not transfer the drawings to Japan and give corresponding technical guidance? Since this is the first of its kind, I hope we can get the same treatment, Mr. Colonel, and don't forget that the Navy in Korea has only just been established, and in the future, we will purchase more warships, after all, ......"

Staring into Jean Renault's eyes, Stenge shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"We need to face more pressure at sea, and the Beiyang Navy is only a part of the Chinese naval fleet, and it also has a heavy responsibility to defend the Bohai Bay, so for security and strategic reasons, the future Navy in North Korea will need more warships, and future orders will be determined by today's choices!"

After a hollow rice ball was thrown out by Stenge, the representatives of the shipyard representing the French side all discussed it with each other, and they did not doubt what Stenge said, just like more than ten years ago, the Beiyang Navy chose a German shipyard, although Germany lost the order of combat ships in the expansion of the Beiyang Navy because of its shipbuilding technology inferior to Britain, but it got an order for three cruisers, and the person in front of him represented another Chinese fleet - the Navy in North Korea.

Compared with the Beiyang Naval Division, this navy, which had not even heard of its name before, will directly face pressure from Russia because of its location, especially after Russia occupied Japan, and the pressure it caused to China will be impossible for Chinese to ignore, whether it is the Beiyang Navy or the North Korean Navy, the current purchase of ships is only the beginning of a series of ship purchases.

In the future, as the Russian Navy continues to strengthen the power of the Pacific Fleet, even if the Chinese are unwilling to do so, they will have to face this pressure and respond by purchasing ships. Renault's mind came to mind that the Japanese had built their own warships that were riddled with failures, and eventually, they would turn to Europe.

On the other hand, the shipyard also needs this order, showing the American countries that France is also a shipbuilding power, and they can also consider the shipbuilding industry in France.

"Mr. Shi, your reasons really can't be refused, but I need to ask the Admiralty for instructions before I can make a final decision, I hope you can understand!"

When he left the shipyard and got into the carriage, the corners of Stenge's lips couldn't help but raise slightly, looking at Li Liming who was sitting in front of him, he was the French translator of this trip to Europe, this time he went to Europe on the one hand to buy ships, and on the other hand, he sent as many as 135 students from the School of Literature to universities in England, Germany and France, and Li Liming was sent to the École Polytechnique in Paris, which is the inevitable pursuit of knowledge in the world, and these 135 students are all the best students in the School of Letters.

"Mr. Shi, do you think the French will make concessions?"

Looking at the smiling Stenge, Li Liming asked with some curiosity.

"They've agreed!"

In Stengger's view, the so-called request for instructions from the Admiralty was just a formality, or a preparation for the next step of negotiations, and the French would demand more orders for spare parts to protect their interests.

"Now, this question doesn't need to be thought about anymore, Yulin, do you know your mission?"

"Mr. Shi?"

"This time, when we visited Britain, Germany, France and Italy, we should have noticed that the propellants of the European powers are changing from black, fire, and medicine to smokeless, fire, and medicine, and France is the leader among them, and when you are in China, you studied chemistry, so I hope you will master this technology as soon as possible, after all, ......"

Thinking of the unexpected gain of visiting the Mauser Arsenal in Germany, Stenger thought of the new small-caliber ammunition, which the Swedes commissioned the Mauser factory to manufacture, and the results on the test site showed that the small-caliber ammunition was undoubtedly excellent, and more importantly, the small-caliber ammunition was undoubtedly more suitable for China because of its light recoil. But the only regret is that it uses the latest smokeless fire and ammunition, but the Machinery Bureau does not have the experience and technology to produce this new type of fire and medicine.

"After all, in this regard, we are still blank, whether it is the navy or the army, we can't do without him, so, Yulin, we need to master its technology as soon as possible, you know?" (To be continued.) )