The fireplace was blazing, bright and jumping, and after a while, the cold in the room was quickly replaced by warmth.

Qingying looked at the middle-aged man in front of her, her thoughts were racing, and countless thoughts had flashed through her mind. He took a sip of the coffee in front of him and asked, "General Essen, I wonder what you are in a hurry to meet me for?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, Your Royal Highness, I have come to deepen the naval exchanges between the two countries on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor of the Russian Empire, and to purchase some warships in your country by the way." Essen said respectfully, with a hint of eagerness in his words, "Your Highness has a close relationship with the Admiral Tirpitz, and has a very high reputation in your navy; I met by chance at the docks today, and I would like to have a meeting with His Highness before visiting General Tirpitz to begin some preliminary discussion on these matters. ”

Hearing Essen's words, Qingying's heart moved, and she instantly understood the real reason why this guy visited Germany. Strengthening bilateral exchanges and the like are all dispensable behaviors, and Maozi has only one purpose, that is, to purchase warships from Germany! And Essen, as a naval professional, came to Germany to check the performance of the warships he intended to buy. After thinking about this layer, Qingying secretly smiled bitterly in her heart; Speaking of which, Russia's move, which is completely different from history, is still a butterfly effect triggered by its own changes to history.

Historically, due to its blind respect for the Royal Navy, Japan has been hanging itself from the British tree in the field of foreign purchases, but the quality of British warships is not as good as Japan imagined. The British warships of the pre-dreadnought era were almost all barbarian sea monkeys, and their relatively good performance was hard-stacked by more than 40% of the displacement of the puffiness, and with the substantial increase in tonnage, its price also meant that it would be sharply climbed. Japan's financial resources, which were equal to those of Mites, were already extremely difficult to develop a navy, and British ships were so expensive because of their tonnage; Even Japan, with its mite-clearing reparations and Britain's borrowing to enrich its finances, had nothing to do with the word "rapid" in the development of its navy. In the 10 years before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan barely managed to scrape together 6 battleships and 6 armored cruisers; Compared with the Russian Pacific Fleet, this combined fleet does not have an absolute advantage in the lineup.

In this plane, however, the situation has quietly changed. In order to allow Japan to inflict a heavy blow on Russia in the Far East, Qing Ying provided Japan with a loan of more than 14 million pounds, so that Japan could realize the vision of the 66th Fleet as it did in history. Due to the introduction of German-style warships, Japan was able to buy tonnage-saving ships with performance equivalent to that of British warships in the planning of the Chinese warships for less money, which was equivalent to a disguised increase in Japan's purchasing power on naval warships. At this time, the Japanese Navy had increased the number of battleships in the previous plan to 8; However, Japan's patrol strength has not weakened in any way compared with historical facts, and it is still a standard patrol with 6 ships equipped with 4 8-inch guns. By 1903, when all these ships were completed, the Japanese Navy would have 8 battleships and 6 armored cruisers; This lineup has far surpassed Italy and Austria, becoming the sixth naval power in the world after Britain, France, the United States, Russia and Germany!

Russia, by contrast, is in a much more uncomfortable position. Although the total tonnage of the Russian navy still outnumbered that of Japan, their navy was scattered in the Baltic, Black and Pacific regions; In the Far East, the Russian Navy was completely destroyed by the Japanese fleet. Of their five battleships, only the "Retvizan" ordered from the United States in 1898 and the "Prince" ordered from France in 1899 could compete with similar Japanese battleships, and the remaining three "Petropavlovsk" class ships that started construction in 1892 were completely scum with a combat strength of only 5, and they could not be expected to defeat the enemy at all. Except for the "Grombowie" built for them by Germany in 1895 (the ship that replaced the historical one), Rurik and Russia belong to the category of old-style cruisers, which are completely behind the trend of the times. If the war were to be fought with this lineup, the Russian Pacific Fleet would be at a disadvantage of being completely suppressed; And for Russia, which was determined to colonize Yellow Russia and seize ice-free ports in the Far East, it was obvious that such a situation would never be allowed! In response, Russia must further expand the Pacific Fleet, and if not make this detachment larger than the entire Japanese Navy, then at least it should not be too far behind Japan.

As for why Russia wanted to come to Germany to buy ships, Qingying already had the answer in his heart. First of all, the general relations between the two sides are still in a relatively good state, and Germany will not refuse to build ships for Russia like Great Britain; Second, Russia also took a fancy to the superior performance of the German-style ships in order to counterbalance the Japanese fleet. And this move of the Russians also played into the hands of Qingying. Now that the disparity between the naval forces of the two sides in the Far East is more than twofold, it is time to strengthen the Russians a little more as a balance. After all, the more Russia invests in the Far East, the more favorable the situation will be for Germany!

Qingying put down the coffee cup in her hand and said in a sincere and sincere tone: "Germany and Russia have been friendly for generations, and the two families of Romanov and Hohenzollern have been in-laws and friends for hundreds of years. Both historically and personally, His Majesty the Kaiser and I regard your country as our closest friend and neighbor. Needless to say, the door to visits by the German Navy was always open to the generals; As for the battleship order......"

Speaking of this, Qingying suddenly sighed softly and did not continue. Essen's pupils shrank slightly, and he said, "Your Highness, is there anything wrong with your country at this point?" When Qingying heard this, her face showed a complicated look, as if she was helpless, disappointed, and sighed, and said for a while: "Your Excellency, forgive me for taking the liberty of ordering warships, your country is really disappointing to me and my father in the order of warships!" ”

"Five years ago, I, Germany, at the risk of angering Britain, undertook to build an armored cruiser for your country. The reason why I am doing this is because of the royal blood ties between the two countries and the friendship between the two countries for generations, I want to help your country sweep away those clown-like dwarf monkeys in the Far East, and at the same time I hope to deepen the relationship between the two countries by selling warships. But how did your country respond to the friendship that my Germany has unleashed? For nearly five years after that, while my father and I were waiting for us, your country ordered only one 5,900-ton protective cruiser from us, but instead purchased the main battleships from the French and the Americans. General Essen, on this point, your country is indeed doing a little uninteresting. Qingying said lightly.

Seeing that the young man's bright starry eyes were as clear as water, without the slightest abnormal expression fluctuation, Essen couldn't help but secretly praise a good acting skill in his heart. He smiled slightly and said, "Your Royal Highness, my Russia has indeed disappointed your country a little in the matter of ordering warships, but this is also due to our needs. Since your country does not have a 12-inch caliber main gun, if Russia wants to develop battleships, it is obvious that the only way to ask for help from France and the United States, which have guns of this class. If your country can have 12-inch naval guns, how can we go to other countries? In fact, the reason why Russia still ordered battleships in these two countries as it did in history was that in addition to the fact that Germany did not have 12-inch guns, there was a deeper hidden factor that Essen did not make clear to Qingying.

After Germany completed the 10,000-ton cruise, the Russian Admiralty was pleasantly surprised by its superior performance, but also amazed by the Germans who built the warship. The Russians understood that the signing of the Franco-Russian alliance and the German-Austrian alliance had drawn an irreparable rift between them and the Germans; In a situation where Germany and they were already inseparable, it was clear that such a thing as shipbuilding could not be completely dependent on the Germans. Excluding Germany and the enemy Britain, the only ones who could build good battleships were the French allies and the United States on the other side of the ocean (well, my Great Italy was again gorgeously ignored). Now that three years have passed since 1895, if the shipbuilding skills of France and the United States can be developed to the same level as those of Germany, wouldn't it be better to ask them to introduce them?

With the combined effect of these two factors, Russia decided to order one battleship from each of these two countries, but the result did not satisfy them; Because in terms of performance, although the tonnage utilization rate of these two countries is stronger than that of Russia, there is still a certain gap compared with Germany. Mao Zi thought about it and decided to turn his attention to Germany. In any case, relations between the two sides are still quite good, and Germany's eastward expansion is also a situation that Germany is willing to see, and since the two sides have common interests, the Germans will certainly not shirk it.

Qingying glanced at Essen with some surprise, he didn't expect that this soldier could also use quite skillful negotiation techniques to block back what he had just said. A smile appeared on his face, and he said, "However, who made you and I blood relatives of the two royal families, even Sanya is also a cousin of His Majesty the Tsar?" To the best of my ability, I will certainly help your country. General Essen, please say, how many warships does your country want to buy from our country? ”

(Thanks to the book friend Blood Soul 1937 for the update vote.,But the author is an office worker.,I can only guarantee 1 more per day.,The number of recent collections is not good.,Let's support it)