"By the way, I almost forgot one of the most important things." William sat up from his chair, his words full of urgency, "Last year you told me that the navy's planned lineup of 38 battleships and 24 cruisers was a little too much, and asked for a revision of the naval law; It's been almost a year now, and it's time to get a result, right? Now all countries are vigorously expanding their naval armaments, Britain, France, the United States, and Russia are no exception, and even Italy and our Austro-Hungarian allies have launched a new round of naval construction plans. If Germany is stuck any longer, I am afraid that it will be difficult to keep its position in the top five of the world! ”

Looking at William's anxious look, Qingying sighed quietly in her heart. According to his original idea, it was to hide the German naval edge as much as possible in the pre-dreadnought era; Even if the dreadnoughts were built in advance now, they needed to hide and hide to avoid over-provoking the British and allowing them to build a stronger lineup than the historic Grand Fleet. The conclusion that Britain was exhausted in the latter stages of the Anglo-German naval race is in fact very questionable, because the wealth accumulated by Britain over the centuries of dominating maritime trade is extremely large and unimaginable, and it is impossible to be dragged down by a simple shipbuilding race without a major war; As long as the British are ruthless, they will be able to rush into force at an average rate of 7 capital ships per year!

Historically, Germany built 22 new dreadnoughts between 1907 and 1912, which was only half as fast as above; Although Germany in this plane has been strengthened to a great extent both industrially and economically, because Qingying has decided to ensure the supply of the army first, it is difficult to build more than 5 dreadnoughts per year. Therefore, if Germany wanted to defeat the British navy, it must implement a development strategy of "loosening the front and tightening it later": that is, slowing down the speed of shipbuilding in the early stage in order to stabilize the British, and then waiting until 1909 to make every effort to storm the army, so that a large number of capital ships could be concentrated in service in 1912-1914. Only in this way will the difference in forces between the two sides in the war be minimized, which is the best strategy to defeat the British Navy.

However, many things are definitely not something that Qingying alone can change everything. Kaiser Wilhelm was full of ambition and had an unimaginable thirst for naval fleets and sunlit territory; Prior to this, although Qingying relied on several epoch-making concepts he put forward in naval construction, which made William have a strong affection for him, this definitely did not mean that William could repeatedly tolerate his behavior of slowing down the development of his beloved navy. As early as 1895, William was ready to develop a large navy, but was stopped by Qing Ying; For a person of his character, it is already extremely reluctant to endure for 8 years, and if he continues to endure this time, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no adverse effects, and even make him repulsive to himself. Didn't the "eternal Tirpitz" in history lose the trust of the Kaiser in the end, live in the manor, and die of old age?

Therefore, although Qing Ying knew that it was unwise to start building warships at this time, he now had no choice but to cater to William's ambitions to expand his army. He nodded slightly and said, "I'm about to report this to my father today." After repeated discussions, we have come up with a new plan; After some details were perfected, he was ready to hand it over to his father. ”

William spoke: "What is the size of the fleet for the new scheme?" You can't cut too much in one slash, right? ”

Qingying said: "The new plan does not stipulate the expected size of the entire fleet, and the number of warships to be built in its plan is all determined by the current situation. Due to the drastic and far-reaching changes taking place in the current situation in the empire's economy and the world, although the long-term stable naval law can be implemented step by step, it is really suspected that the plan cannot keep up with the changes. Therefore, I shortened the number of years and reduced the construction plan of the 8 to 10 years to 2 to 3 years, so that we could respond to the situation of the imaginary enemy in the most timely manner. ”

William had a look of surprise in his eyes and nodded, "That's a good idea." Breaking down the naval development plan into two to three years is indeed more flexible in terms of specific operations than the previous naval law. So how many capital ships are you going to build in the first period of time in the future? ”

"At present, Germany is in the best European situation, with the struggle between Britain and France, and the eastward direction of Russia; According to the conclusion reached by Prime Minister Bilow after discussions with the two Ministers of the Army and the Navy, that in the event of a thailing of the situation, the Navy should not receive more than 8 per cent of the Government's annual revenue. Speaking of this, Qing Ying cautiously glanced at William next to him, and after seeing that his face did not show a look of anger, he spoke again, "According to this, the empire will start construction of 7 new capital ships in the next three years, which is already a fairly rapid expansion speed." ”

William's brows furrowed, but the expression on his face was not the anger that Qingying imagined, but full of confusion and doubt: "Ettel, I don't understand, even if we only invest such a small amount of revenue in the navy, it is an extremely generous amount, how can it take three years to build 7 capital ships?" Did you also become a member of the new school of the French Navy, planning a massive number of cruisers and destroyers? You must know that the French navy, which has admired the green water school for seven or eight years, has now abandoned this heretical idea and returned to the right path of the main battleship; They will lay keels for 3 battleships at the same time this year, and these are big guys with a displacement of more than 14,500 tons! ”

"I've never been a follower of heresy like the Greenwater School. In fact, in the past three years, I have planned only 3,000-ton small cruisers and 12 300-ton destroyers, which cost only a little more than 8.5 million marks per year; The reason why the number of capital ships is smaller this time is entirely because the capital ships have been greatly strengthened! The newly designed Caesars ship has a displacement of 16,500 tons without loading any fuel, and the full load displacement can be as much as 18,200 tons, and of course the cost has gone up. The cost of a single ship of this class is expected to exceed 30 million marks, which is almost 50% higher than the Wiecchersbach-class battleships built between us, and the construction of submarines also costs a lot of budget, so the number is slightly less. Qingying explained simply.

"Why is it so expensive all at once?" William said with some displeasure.

"The reason for the sharp increase in the cost of new ships is mainly due to the increase in the number of main guns. On the previous battleship, we only equipped it with 6 11-inch guns, but the number of main guns on this new ship has suddenly increased to 10, and it is also the latest 283 mm SKL47 type of Krupp military industry; Since the main gun has always been the most expensive subsystem in battleships, the cost is unlikely to come down. In addition, the design power of 22,000 horsepower, Krupp's secondary hardened armor and Zeiss sighting fire control equipment are all large amounts of money, so the price has increased significantly. Qingying glanced at William, who was still a little angry, and said, "However, the money is definitely worth the money." Although its true performance has not yet been tested in real combat, Admiral Tirpitz and I agree that this ship will easily defeat three standard battleships with four 12-inch guns, even against the British 'Edward VII' class! When it is born, all the battleships in service or under construction in the world will be completely swept into the dustbin of history! ”

Prior to this, because Qingying had sketched a scene belonging to a dreadnought to William, William did not show too surprised reaction to Qingying's statement. After a while, he took a long breath and said slowly: "That is to say, since this new ship can easily defeat an ordinary battleship that costs twice as much as it, we can obtain a combat power that is better than that of Britain as long as we invest less than half of the British on this new type of battleship!" This is a shortcut to quickly catch up with the British Navy, right? ”

Qingying nodded; "Exactly. At a distance of 6,000 to 7,000 meters, 10 11-inch L47 heavy guns with a rate of fire of 2.5 rounds per minute for unified fire control could deal a blow that was simply beyond the reach of traditional battleships equipped with 4 12-inch slow-fire guns. Neither the early majesty nor the building of Edward VII was qualified to take on a new battleship equipped with 10 guns and capable of speeds of up to 20 knots! What I just said about being able to defeat 3 enemy ships is a rather conservative number. The 33 battleships with 4 12-inch guns that the British had worked so hard to build before no longer posed any threat to us; I can almost assert that in the future naval battles will be played by this new type of all-heavy artillery capital ships, and now we in Germany are bravely riding the tide in this revolution of the seas! ”

"Good!" William slapped the armrest, stood up from the chair suddenly, and said with a red face, "You are going to prepare for the groundbreaking ceremony of this class of warship, the scale should be extremely grand and grand; At that time, I will personally bring a large number of military and political dignitaries to the scene to give a speech for this class of warships carrying the future and hope of Germany! ”

William walked back and forth excitedly, smiling, and his two upturned gray whiskers were as proud and sharp as the feathers on a peacock. After a while, William's excitement subsided; Turning his head, he suddenly found that the young man in front of him was still standing in place, motionless. Seeing this scene, William was puzzled in his heart, and couldn't help asking: "Hey, didn't you hear what I just said, go and prepare for the groundbreaking ceremony?" ”

Qingying whispered: "Well, a month ago, the keel of the new ship was laid in the Germania shipyard. ”

The smile on William's face stiffened suddenly. After a moment, he had an incredulous look on his face and said loudly, "How can this be? You must know that if this matter can be vigorously publicized, it will surely ignite the passion of the whole Germany for the sea, and it will enhance the reputation of the empire and promote the prestige of our German sky to the great powers! Such a good opportunity, you actually let it go so quietly? ”

Qingying looked helpless and said, "Father, why do you always want to make a big news and criticize the British?" Instead of letting the great powers wake up and immediately start construction of all-heavy artillery battleships, it is better to let them go down this current misguided path and continue to work on battleships equipped with secondary main guns! Making a fortune with a muffled voice is a life experience that has been through a hundred battles. ”