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On March 19, the day after King Edward VII ascended the throne, Wang Yuze and his wife took their farewell like Edward VII. Edward VII, who had just ascended the throne, also had too many things to deal with, and after a little retention, I wished Wang Yuze and his wife a smooth journey.

In the afternoon of the same day, the battlecruiser 'Baiqi' set sail south from London with two 'Tianshui-class' light cruisers, and they were to return to China along the road to England. Planned visits to France and the United States were also cancelled by the establishment of the Entente. As the target of the Entente, Wang Yuze is now visiting these two countries, isn't it boring for himself? Now that the confrontation has arisen, the only thing left is to speak with the fists. Before the outbreak of war, what everyone should do is to prepare for war as much as possible, so that they can gain an advantage in the war and finally win the war.

Wang Yuze stood on the bow of the battleship 'Baiqi', and his mood was particularly comfortable. Although China is still thousands of miles away, the thought of getting closer and closer to China makes his mood involuntarily better. Although this trip to Europe was only two or three months, it also made him deeply feel the feeling of missing enough. There were his relatives, friends, subordinates, and people. For the rise and strength of the empire, everyone is working hard. And now, they are getting closer and closer to this goal.

Overall, this trip to Europe was relatively successful. Although, in the process there was a little bit of a mistake, so that the Entente was established ahead of schedule, and the United States also joined the Entente for the first time. Let the power of the Entente greatly increase. This will put the Allies and China under tremendous pressure. However, isn't this exactly what Wang Yuze wants to see? Between the two opposing groups, the two sides desperately strengthened their armaments, the construction of huge battleships began one after another, and a large amount of financial revenue was invested in this bottomless pit, and even governments had to issue huge bonds for this. Put all the wealth they have been accumulating into it. After increasing investment in the military, investment in other areas will inevitably decrease a lot, and in the short term, it may not have much impact. However, in the long run, the economies of various countries will inevitably be severely affected. For example, after investing more than 30 percent of fiscal revenues in armament development, the amount of money that can be invested in social infrastructure is very pitiful.

China, on the other hand, has exploited more than a billion yuan of wealth from Japan because of the war two years ago. Although military spending accounts for only 10 percent of fiscal revenue, it is still enough to maintain a medium-high rate of growth. Moreover, as China's economic strength continues to increase, China's national strength will also become stronger and stronger. In the case of this trade-off. China will inevitably emerge as the final winner of this war. All these made Wang Yuze one step closer to his goal.

"Your Majesty, what do you want?" A gentle voice sounded behind Wang Yuze. Wang Yuze doesn't have to think about it. also knows that this is the voice of Queen Xiong Menghan. We have been together for so many years. They were already very familiar with each other.

"Thinking about the future of the empire, how far can I lead the empire!" Wang Yuze sighed and said. Although, China has passed the most dangerous stage, as long as it develops according to the predetermined goal, China will not have much problem winning the war. However, this qiē is just Wang Yuze's plan, and no one can say whether there will be any variables during the period.

"That's it! I thought His Majesty was thinking about the Seven Princesses of the Kingdom of Bavaria! Xiong Menghan said deliberately.

Wang Yuze was speechless for a moment, although he admitted that the seventh princess of the Bavarian Kingdom, Helmchud, was indeed a rare beauty embryo. As a man, if you can possess such a beauty, you will be very proud. But after all, as an emperor, a person who aspires to be the greatest emperor of China, he will never be so vulgar!

Seeing Wang Yuze's deflated appearance, Queen Xiong Menghan giggled.

Because the time for the return trip was sufficient after all, Wang Yuze did not ask the 'Baiqi' battlecruiser to rush with all its might, but sailed at a speed of 20 knots. Although the maximum speed of the battlecruiser Baiqi was around 275 knots, if it sailed at high speed for a long time, it would cause serious damage to the boilers of the battlecruiser Baiqi. Therefore, it took a full month for the battlecruiser "Bai Qi" to return to China from Britain, during which time, including when passing through Singapore, stayed here for two days, Wang Yuze marketed the development of Singapore, and gave encouragement to the officials of Central South Province, affirmed their work at this stage, and hoped that they would continue to work hard in the following work.

The emperor's personal affirmation made these officials full of enthusiasm, and they all said that they would strictly follow the plan of the empire and do their best to develop Central and Southern Province and completely turn it into the territory of the empire.

When I returned to Beijing, it was April 20, 1901. During the time when Wang Yuze was floating on the sea, the world situation continued to be tense. The confrontation between the Central Powers and the Entente was even more intense. In particular, in the confrontation of the navy, both sides invested heavily in the construction of the navy.

First of all, Germany announced that it would build 'Caesar-class' battleships, and five at once. The 'Caesar-class' battleships were designed by Germany after completing the research on China's 'Zhonghua-class' battleships and 'Qin-class' battleships, and were completely battleships of German origin. Typical heavy firepower, thickly armored battleship. The Caesar-class battleships have a standard displacement of 22,700 tons and a full load displacement of 28,500 tons, which is larger than the Chinese Navy's Qin-class battleships, and is comparable to the 'Han-class' battleships that the Chinese Navy is secretly building. The 'Caesar-class' battleship, with a total length of 1,695 meters, a width of 28 meters, and a draft of 82 meters, has 16 oil-coal mixed boilers, three steam turbines, and three-shaft propulsion, with a power of 31,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 23 knots. In terms of firepower, the 'Caesar-class' battlecruisers were equipped with 5 twin 305 mm 50 x caliber main guns, 14 150 mm 45 x caliber secondary guns, 12 88 mm 45 x caliber secondary guns, and 5 500 mm torpedo tubes. The armor of the 'Caesar-class' battleships was very thick, with waterline armor up to 350 mm thick, deck armor up to 120 mm thick, turret armor and bridge armor up to 350 mm thick. Completely became a veritable hoplite. The five 'Caesar-class' battleships will be named 'Caesar', 'Frederick the Great', 'Catherine', 'King Albert' and 'Regent Louitpol'.

The construction of five powerful 'Caesar-class' battleships in Germany began one after another, which caused panic in the British. Just three days later, the British Admiralty announced that the construction of the Royal Navy's next class of battleships, the Saint-Cent-class, was about to begin, and that six would be built at once. It's just that the announced 'St. Sente-class' battleships seem to be completely inferior in performance to the 'Caesar-class' battleships of the German Navy. The 'St. Sente-class' battleships have a standard displacement of only 19,560 tons and a full load displacement of only 22,800 tons. It is 1,634 meters long, 256 meters wide, and has a draft of 82 meters. The power is 25,000 horsepower, four-axle propulsion, and the maximum speed is 23 knots. It is armed with 5 twin 305 mm 50 x caliber main guns, 20 105 mm secondary guns, and 3 455 mm torpedo tubes. In terms of armor, the waterline armor was 255 mm, the deck armor was 65 mm, the turret armor was 280 mm, and the bridge armor was 280 mm. The idea of the British Navy, typically, the use of thin armor in exchange for speed. Although the firepower and speed of the 'St. Sente-class' battleships were comparable to those of the 'Caesar-class' battleships, their armor was much weaker. Once there is a duel, the consequences can be imagined.

The British cabinet was very dissatisfied with the fact that the performance of the 'St. Cent-class' battleships lagged behind the 'Caesar-class' battleships. So much so that after the launch of the 'St. Cent-class' battleship, the British Navy launched the 'Neptune' battleship and the 'Giant-class' battleship one after another. However, the performance of the two subsequent battleships has not been significantly improved compared with the 'Saint-Cent-class' battleships, and it is still the traditional design concept of the British Navy that attaches importance to speed and firepower and despises armor. However, the British Navy is obviously planning to use numbers to gain an advantage, the 'Neptune-class' battleships, will be built, 4, and the 'Giant-class' battleships, 3 will be built. Once fully commissioned, the British Navy's new battleships will include six 'Dreadnought-class' battleships, six 'Bellerophon-class' battleships, six 'Saint-Cent' battleships, four 'Neptune' battleships and three 'Giant-class' battleships, bringing the total number of ships to 25. More than 8 'Nassau-class' battleships, 8 'Helgoland-class' battleships and 5 'Caesar-class' battleships of the German Navy. However, the gap is very limited.

In terms of battle cruisers, Germany started construction of three 'von der Tann-class' battle cruisers, and Britain also started construction of three 'Invincible-class' battle cruisers. It can be said that Britain and Germany have completely tilted their national strength towards the navy.

Britain and Germany, the leading powers of the Entente and the Central Powers, respectively, will not sit idly by after both countries have begun to build naval warships on a large scale. France and the United States also announced plans to build new naval warships, followed by Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy. Only Russia, affected by its national strength, can only stare dryly!