"After the intervention of the Liao Dynasty, Russia was even more eager for the territory of the Far East; they dreamed of dominating all regions in the northeast of the Qing Dynasty to achieve their goal of colonizing Yellow Russia and seizing the unfreezing port. Whether it is expanding its power to the Far East or seizing the unfreezing port, a powerful Far East fleet is essential to Russia. Now Russia has entered the threshold of industrialization, and its national financial resources have increased significantly compared to the period of Alexander II, and it has allowed them to build a powerful navy in the Far East. It can be foreseen that in the next few years, in order to compete for the Far East and gain the coveted unfreezing port, Russia will certainly expand its naval strength in the Far East! "

Yodich paused and continued: "Russia has just entered the threshold of industrialization, and there are major technological gaps in the frontier fields of precision industry; and the main warships are the complete embodiment of the country's most cutting-edge industries. If Russia chooses to build warships by itself, the ships built will definitely be expensive and of inferior quality compared to the first-tier powers. If such warships are deployed in the bathtub of the Black Sea, it will not be a problem. After all, the Turkish warships are even more unbearable; but if they are to line up in the Far East and compete with your navy, they will be no match. Therefore, in order to obtain a strong fleet, Russia must introduce foreign shipbuilding technology, or order warships directly from abroad; and buying ships is always the best shortcut to enhance the strength of the navy."

"Yes. Shipbuilding is a technical job. With the Russians' industrial level, they can only build some ragged shore defense ships in his Black Sea bathtub to bully the sick European man Ottomans. It is simply a dream to create similar exhibits that can match the main battleships of the British Empire! However, I still don't understand what benefits does your country have for the British Empire to build a warship for Russia?" Prentis said on the side. After saying that, he looked at Cecil, but unexpectedly he happened to meet the latter's cold and sharp gaze, and immediately became silent, just like a child who was caught on the spot who stole candy.

Yodici smiled kindly at Prentis, and then continued: "What the gentleman just said was very true. In this context, Russia's foreign ship purchases are inevitable. In order to realize their ambitions, Russia needs a large number of main ships, and there will definitely be no shortage of foreign military purchases. Even if Germany refuses to build warships for Russia, Russia can still find France! France is an ally of Russia and has conflicts and conflicts with your country on the ocean and in the African colonies. If Russia asks France to help them build warships, the French will definitely do their best to help." At this point, he paused for a moment and then said in a deep voice, "Instead of letting France build a batch of excellent ships specifically for your country, it is better to let Germany share this cake; once the Russian warships are built by Germany, then we have the final say in the performance of the warships!"

After hearing the last sentence of Yodich, Cecil narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately understood everything in his heart. Germany's purpose for Russia this time was to promote Russia's eastward advance and slow down the pressure it was under in Europe. In order to achieve this goal, they even tried their best to encourage Russia to develop the Far East Fleet. As for who Russia's eastward advance was, Germany didn't care at all. It was not them who faced the attack of Russia's troops! Now facing the blame from Britain, they found such a so-called "can suppress the performance of Russian naval warships" to make excuses! The Russians are not fools. If the performance of German warships is poor, will they still buy them from Germany?

At this point, Cecil snorted coldly and said sarcastically: "Your country has gone around so much, it turns out that it is entirely for the sake of the British Empire. This sincere heart is really touching! But I seem to hear that your country can reach a deal with Russia this time precisely because the warships you built are excellent in performance, right? With a designed displacement of less than 11,000 tons, they are equipped with 8 210mm main guns and 8 150mm secondary guns. Such firepower is enough to form a crushing advantage over all the active cruisers of the British Empire!"

Yodick was shocked. The reason why he never mentioned the specific performance of the warship before was to try to weaken the presence of this aspect to reduce the adverse impact on the Russian sales ships. However, he did not expect that the British were so well-versed. Less than a week after the contract was signed, the British even knew the tonnage and artillery of the warship! However, before coming here, Yodick had made complete preparations for it. Why was this small change not as expected?

He looked normal and said calmly: "Mr. Prime Minister, what you said is not right. If the German warships have poor performance, the Russians will not order warships from us. But you should know that in addition to the design performance, there is another more important design concept in the warships. The most intuitive feeling is that under the same technical level, some warships are what your country wants to face, while some warships are what your country does not want to see! The firepower we sell to Russia is indeed very powerful, but the price we pay is that her protection and speed are not satisfactory; and this style of warships are precisely the enemy you want to face the most!"

Yodick's thoughts turned sharply, and he always grasped the clear main line in his mind, and then said: "Your navy is invincible in the world and has an absolute numerical advantage over the Russian navy; therefore, your country will not be afraid of any form of head-on confrontation, and what you are worried about is that you cannot catch the enemy's warships. And the ship sold by Germany to Russia is exactly the type that cannot escape! As long as your country's fleet discovers it, it will be surrounded without any suspense and then sunk.

.This is what I just said, Germany's move to build ships for Russia is beneficial to your country. If Germany really helped Russia wholeheartedly, then we would not build such a powerful ship for the Russians, but would design a ship with relatively weak firepower and extremely fast speed in order to destroy your country's maritime transportation. Which of these two types of warships poses a greater threat to your country? I don't think I need to say anything more, right?"

Cecil's pupils shrank slightly, and his eyes showed a look of surprise for the first time. As a politician, he only knew a little about the navy and did not expect that there would be so many tricks in the ship design. He turned his head and turned his inquiring eyes to Prentis next to him, saying, "Is there anything wrong?"

Prentis nodded slightly and said, "As a Royal Navy colonel, I can tell it. Compared with the technology in ship design, the design concept is obviously more important. It is the soul and core of the entire warship. Now the tonnage of the Royal Navy has long exceeded the amount specified in the two strong standards, almost as fast as the scale of the three strong standards; on this planet, no country's maritime power dares to confront the Royal Navy head-on. In view of this, the working direction of the Royal Navy has changed from maintaining maritime power to defending maritime traffic lines.

Security. If Russia vigorously develops fast cruisers to threaten the empire's maritime shipping, we must mobilize a large number of troops to carry out the search; this is an extremely troublesome thing, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to do it, and no one can guarantee that these fast warships with strong endurance can be captured. On the contrary, once the Russian warships are all turtle-speed ships with large targets, they can only fight with us in a fleet decisive battle, which is the best for the Royal Navy! For those Russian ships, we can't even use a finger to deal with those Russians!"

Seeing that Cecil still had doubts on his face, Prentis explained again: "The warship that Germany built for Russia this time is exactly the type of enemy ship that the Royal Navy is most willing to see. Its half-load displacement is only 10,700 tons, but it is equipped with 8 210mm main guns and 8 150mm secondary guns. In order to achieve such a powerful firepower configuration, the protection and speed of the warship must have been greatly sacrificed. If the Royal Navy was allowed to build this armored cruiser, even if it maintains the minimum defense, its speed will definitely not exceed 18.5 knots; and this speed or below cannot pose any threat to our maritime shipping."
Chapter completed!