The sun was shining, the light particles were jumping, and Yamamoto Gonbei was sitting upright in front of Qingying; There was not the slightest emotional fluctuation on his face, as if he was unmoved; But his fingertips, which had touched the drawings, were trembling slightly, completely revealing his true heart of excitement and ecstasy.

At the beginning, the reason why Japan ordered the main warships from Britain was that in addition to the fact that Japan's development was inseparable from the support of Britain and that it had to show goodwill to Britain, and more importantly, it took a fancy to the supreme brilliance of the Royal Navy, which was the first in the world in the world. Since the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy has become synonymous with invincibility, and if Japan wants to develop its navy, it is natural to follow the example of the British! For the next 20 years, Japan became the most popular Eastern customer for the British shipyards Armstrong and Vickers. From the earliest Kongo Hiei Fuso Three Musketeers to the "Asahi" who had just signed a purchase contract, almost all the ships of the Japanese Navy were all British goods; After years of imperceptibly buying British troops, the Japanese Navy has also formed a stereotyped thinking, that is, the Navy will not buy ships this year, but will look for the British when it buys ships.

Looking at Yamamoto's trembling fingertips, there was a faint hint of fanaticism in his eyes, and Qingying's heart moved, and he knew that the purpose of his visit to Japan had been achieved. Historically, out of blind trust in the British Navy, Japan purchased all the remaining 10 capital ships of the 66th Fleet from Britain except for two armored cruisers purchased from Germany and France. However, the performance of these 10 warships can really only be said to be very average: whether it is the 9,700-ton Asama, the 9,750-ton Izumo, or the 12,530-ton Fuji and 14,850-ton Shikishima, their not bad performance is hard piled up by tonnage. Compared with the Garibaldi-class of the Great Italian Navy, their extremely inferior tonnage utilization rate made them swept into the garbage heap of history in an instant! However, because Russia's design skills and shipbuilding level are much worse than those of Britain; Even with all the technical support of the French, the Borodino class created by it is still the color of the battle 5 scum. Coupled with the unfortunate death of Makarov, the only general in the Russian Navy who could fight well, and the collective door-to-door delivery of meat by the Russian Baltic Fleet, the Japanese Navy won the final victory in the naval battle against Russia.

On the plane, in order to reduce the pressure on Germany on the Eastern Front, Qingying had decided to vigorously help Russia build a Pacific Fleet that could not be used in Europe, and Japan's strength was much inferior to historical facts; Under the trade-off of one another, Germany will inevitably provide Japan with some support. For Germany, Russia could fight more fiercely in the Far East than in history, but Russia would never be able to win the war against Japan; The final outcome must be the same as the other plane, the victory of Japan over Russia! Because only in this way is the result that is in the best interests of Germany. As for the cause, we have to go back to the origin of the problem.

What would Germany most like to see?

Germany is located in Central Europe, adjacent to France and Russia, and is geographically disadvantaged; Therefore, what Germany wanted most was that it would not be caught in a two-front situation, but only need to deal with one enemy in France. But now it is clear that this wish has become an unattainable luxury. Economically, diplomatically, and strategically, Russia could not return to the Trifecta Alliance, but would gradually move over time to the side of France, and then to fight Germany in the war. In this case, Germany had no choice but to settle for the next best thing: since it was inevitable that Russia would become an enemy, it would be necessary to make the Russians a pest on land!

If Russia were defeated in the Far East, it would be able to meet this German need. Although Russia will abandon its desire for the Far East after its defeat in the Far East, and turn its attention back to Europe, where it will compete with Germany; By this time, however, Russia had suffered heavy setbacks in the war with Japan, and was no longer able to pose a threat to Germany. Because whether it is the death and injury of people in the war, the loss of funds or the revolutionary insurrection caused by it, it will greatly damage Russia's national strength and hollow out the inner and outer bodies of the "European steamroller"; If we go to war with Germany in the future, we will inevitably be invulnerable and vulnerable.

And in the event of a Russian victory in the Far East, the situation will be completely different. After the victory, Russia will directly encroach on the northeast, and the internal contradictions will be quelled by the victory in the Far East and the wealth and land it has embezzled. At that time, the rule of the Romanov dynasty will be more stable, and Russia's territory and national strength will be better than history, which is extremely unfavorable to Germany! Although they will continue to work on the strategy of expansion in the Far East after tasting the sweetness of the Far East, and will not turn their attention back to Europe for a while, but what about after the tension in Europe? Once a major war breaks out in Europe, Russia will inevitably devote all its national strength to the west; By that time, Germany will be under much greater pressure on the Eastern Front than it has historically been!

Therefore, if Germany chooses to help Russia win in the Far East, it will appear that it will be able to maintain the strategic momentum of Russia's eastward expansion and leave it no time to look westward, but it will undoubtedly be a rat's eye to quench its thirst. Russia must fail in the Far East, and it must be a great defeat!

Of course, the best outcome in Qingying's mind is for Japan and Russia to fight to the death and shed all their blood on the battlefield in the Far East, but the difficulty of doing so is obviously a bit high. What he has is only based on some insights of later generations, and he does not have the super-divine wisdom of Wuhou Zhuge in the romance. In order for Japan and Russia to be able to lose both sides, this degree is something that Qingying, a third party, cannot predict and control; The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and even the generals on the scene may not be able to accurately grasp the situation. What Qingying can do now is only to protect the Japanese Navy from being shot to death by the Russian giant bear at once; Only the Japanese navy, which threatens Russia, will still exist, and Russia will continue to shed blood in the Far East for the sake of final victory!

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Qingying stretched out his hand and took back all the two drawings in front of Yamamoto Gonbei, and then in the other party's reluctant eyes, he arranged a new design in front of him: "Mr. Yamamoto, in response to your country's naval construction needs, our German Navy Design Bureau has specially designed such a patrol for your country. If your country orders this patrol from me in Germany, it will definitely be much more cost-effective than buying a shallow class from the UK! ”

"As you can see, the ship is 120 meters long, 21 meters wide, with a normal draft of 7.26 meters and a design displacement of 9,360 tons. Since your navy is mainly active in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, and does not require excellent seamanship, the ship has deliberately lowered the freeboard and reduced the volume of some of the coal bunkers loaded with fuel. Under normal draft, the ship's freeboard height is 5.2 meters, which is enough to ensure that the warship has a dry and comfortable living environment in the calm waters of the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, and its maximum coal load capacity is 1,120 tons, which can sail 4,700 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 10 knots. ”

"The most commendable thing about this design is its firepower. At the beginning of this year, Germany began work on a new 42-fold-diameter 260-mm gun, and the ship will be equipped with four twin turrets. Its 240kg projectile weighs more than twice as much as the British 8-inch gun, and with the turret structure, it can complete a round of reloading in 20 seconds! In addition, it will be equipped with 12 new 45x diameter 150mm secondary guns and 10 88mm rapid-fire guns under development. Taking into account the ease of manual loading of secondary shells, the German 150-mm shells weighed 45.3 kg, which was 10% lighter than the British 6-inch shells. Compared to the British shells that exceed 50kg, I believe that your sailors are more willing to carry our 45.3kg shells, right? The corners of Qingying's mouth rose slightly and said softly. Historically, the Japanese Kongo-class and Fuso class originally used British-made 6-inch secondary guns, but with the Japanese physique, it was really difficult to effectively carry these shells of more than 50 kg. As a result, on the Ise class, which was built later, the caliber of its secondary guns was reduced to 140 mm; After the shells were a quarter lighter, the desperate loader was finally saved.

"In terms of protection, the ship is also above the Asama class. The 150 mm thick Krupp steel armor covered 65% of the waterline length and the vertical area 4.5 meters high, and even the 60-meter-long upper armor was 150 mm thick, enough to resist the bombardment of 12-inch cannons, and the nose and tail waterlines were 80 mm thick, which was resistant to 6-inch shells. The main turret, gun mount, conning tower and other key parts are also tightly protected by 150 mm thick Krupp steel armor, which is enough to ensure the absolute safety of these areas. In the horizontal direction, there is a 40 mm thick deck armor, which is enough for the current naval battle distance of more than 3,000 meters. As for the speed, the ship is designed with a stable output of 15,000 horsepower, and running at 20 knots is not a problem at all! In a brief introduction to the defense of the battleship, Qingying did not exaggerate, in the Russo-Japanese War when the shells were not capped, the 6-inch Krupp armor could indeed keep out the 12-inch shells fired by the battleship without pressure! In the Battle of Tsushima in history, in the face of Harvey armor only 6 inches thick, 12-inch shells without caps were completely powerless, and only one 12-inch shell barely penetrated this thickness of Harvey armor. And the bullet resistance of Krupp armor is about 25% higher than that of Harvey armor, and it is not a problem to resist 12-inch armor-piercing shells without caps!

Yamamoto said softly: "In other words, the firepower of the main guns of this battleship of your country has doubled compared with the Asama class, the protection performance has risen by 1 grade, and the speed is the same as that of the warship, but the tonnage is 340 tons less?" ”

Qingying smiled, "Mr. Yamamoto's words are exactly so. With that, he turned his head and said to Hirobumi Ito, who was sitting next to him, "Now, Mr. Ito can think carefully about the issue of the one-cent interest loan proposed by our country, right?" ”