The fire was crackling, and the purple pot was hanging. After a while, two cups of hot coffee were placed in front of the two of them. The white mist was misty and the fragrance was suffocating. Qingying lowered her head and sucked a little, but she felt a mellow meaning spreading on the tip of her tongue, and in an instant, it reached all the limbs and bones, and her mouth was full of saliva. Turning her head, seeing that Tirpitz's eyes were still on his manuscript paper, she couldn't help but speak, "Mr. Alfred, what do you think of this plan?"

Hearing Qingying's call, Tirpitz's gaze finally slowly raised from the manuscript. He raised his head, looked at Qingying's handsome company, and said, "Your Highness, I have a small question. In the next seven years, you will only add 4 small cruisers to my German Navy. Isn't it too insufficient? You must know that whether it is French or Russian, their small cruisers are counted by shooting!"

Qingying rolled her eyes and said, "Isn't there any way I can do this? There is only a capital of more than 50 million marks per year. To ensure the basic construction of the main battleships, we can only drastically reduce the lineup of non-main battleships. In addition to battleships and decisive armored cruisers, there are only small cruisers that can be used to operate; there are only hundreds of thousands of marks per torpedo boat, and there are not many, but there are not many, so I should not be this evil person."

"Even so, the four small cruisers are really a bit short. Otherwise, we will cut the budget for a large-scale cruiser and then invest the money in the construction of the small cruiser?" Tirpitz asked.

"Mr. Alfred, this proposal is not a wise choice. First of all, we must understand that due to the power split, the amount of small cruisers required to spend at the same tonnage is much higher than our large-scale patrol; if we give up a 12,000-ton main battleship, we will only receive four 2,500-ton small boats, which will be a great disadvantage in terms of the total tonnage of the fleet and in terms of overall combat performance." Qingying said.

Qingying knocked on the table with his finger and then said, "Secondly, we must be clear about what is used to build a small cruiser? In my opinion, it has three functions: one is to fight against the enemy's small cruiser, the second is to carry out torpedo attacks when necessary, and the third is to drive away the opponent's lightning strike ships to prevent the enemy's main battleship from being attacked by the enemy. Now, our large patrol is equipped with 10 6-inch secondary guns and 10 88mm rapid-fire guns. The side firepower of the single side is twice that of the small cruiser, and it is no problem to attack the opponent's small cruiser. As for the lightning strike, the small cruiser is obviously not as good as our torpedo boats with speeds exceeding 28 knots. Therefore, in most cases, these small cruisers have only one function, that is, to drive away the opponent's lightning strike ships and prevent the enemy's main battleship from being attacked by the enemy's torpedo attacks."

"At present, the German main warships are equipped with a large number of 88mm anti-torpedo boat rapid-fire guns, which have a defense against the torpedo boat itself. In this case, we only need a small number of small cruisers as additional forces to further build a torpedo defense system against the main warships. In my plan, what these four small cruisers have to do is stay next to the main warships and destroy the opponent's lightning strike ships before they reach the shooting position. In this case, the four ships are almost enough." Qingying explained.

"But Your Highness, our decisive armored patrol has to deal with enemy armored cruisers and join the battle line. The combat mission itself is already extremely heavy; now we have to take into account the attack on small cruisers. Isn't it too much to force it?" Tirpitz said with some concern.

"Mr. Alfred, the reason why designers equip the ship with 10 6-inch secondary guns on this kind of ship is to consider the situation of fighting with small cruisers. In view of this, I have increased the construction number of this ship to the same level as the battleship, so as to maximize the balance of decisive combat strength and escort ability in a limited amount. I have not many German main warships, so do you still need to use the main battleship budget to build frigates?" Qingying looked at Tirpitz with some dissatisfaction, and then said, "If you really feel that the guard power is insufficient, please raise funds for your own construction. Sell some of the old ships that I cannot use in Germany, and you will have money to build these small boats."

After hearing Qingying's explanation, Tirpitz immediately understood the core thinking of the boy in front of him and couldn't help but be surprised. Since the new-style patrol patrol had 4 11-inch heavy artillery and had corresponding high speed and thick armor, he could also serve as a series of tasks such as decisive battles, reconnaissance, and escort, he increased the number of such battleships in order to balance all combat tasks. Tirpitz looked at the plan made by this boy in his hand, and Tirpitz secretly sighed: Compared with his previous plans, Qingying's plan was obviously more suitable for the current development of the German Navy!

At this point, Tirpitz nodded slightly. He folded the manuscript again and again, and then put it into his pocket. Looking at the cup of coffee that was almost cold in front of him, he raised his head and drank it all. Feeling the thick and mellow fragrance that penetrated, a bitter curve appeared on the corner of Tirpitz's mouth, and murmured: "It took seven years to build such a little ship, and most British people would laugh out loud, right?"

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At the end of November 1895, Tirpitz's amendment to the Navy Act received more than three-quarters of the votes in parliament and was officially passed. The German Navy's legal battleships were 17, with a service period of 25 years; after the expiration, it will be replaced by new warships. According to this decree, Germany will build 7 battleships, 7 armored cruisers and 4 small cruisers in the next seven years to replace the old-fashioned warships in the country. Almost without exception, the German people expressed support for this navy's action.

25 years ago, Prussia won a great victory in the French-Prussian War, not only 5 billion francs of huge compensation, but also obtained the two states of Alsace and Lorraine, which are rich in iron ore. At that time, Germany and Britain and Russia had a very close relationship. With cheap and abundant raw materials, vast domestic and foreign markets, huge capital injections and excellent national qualities, Germany's economic and industry took off like a thousand miles. In just 15 years, Germany completed a new capital accumulation and industrial transformation. After William II ascended the throne, he issued several laws on the economy one after another, which agreed to some adverse factors that occurred in the country. Under the timely and effective constraints and promotion of these laws, Germany eliminated the vast majority of economic bubbles; a large amount of capital flowed into the industry, promoting the process of industrialization, and making the entire country run faster on the road ahead.

In 1878, Germany's steel production was only 48.9 tons, less than half of that of Britain. However, just 15 years later, this situation was completely changed. In 1893, when the Qing Dynasty and Britain traveled, Germany's annual steel production reached 3.164 million tons, surpassing the British Empire's 2.997 million tons for the first time. To this day, Germany has surpassed Britain in both steel production and machine tools, becoming the most undeniable European first. In this case, if it does not build some battleships, how can it be worthy of such a strong industry in its own country?

In the international aspect, the world's largest Royal Navy has no expression on the act of the German fleet to introduce naval laws and build 14 main battleships in the next seven years, as if this matter had not happened at all. In the eyes of the British, the German Hans and others were just renovating their bathtub fleet with old decoration. At this time, they would start construction of seven new battleships to replace the old seven old ironclad ships, which is understandable; no country would have allowed its main battleships to serve for more than 30 years with sufficient financial resources.

As for the number of 17 battleships stipulated in the German Fleet Law, the British never took them seriously! At this time, the British Royal Navy had reached an unprecedented peak under the rule of Queen Victoria; the total tonnage of the fleet was five times that of the German Navy, the number of active main ships was three times that of the German Navy, and the patrol ships of various frigates were even more than that of the Niu Hai. Regarding the renovation plan of the German Navy, the British even had some acquiescent intentions in their hearts: after all, a German navy with certain strength can also greatly restrain the military strength of the French Navy, forcing the second-ranked French in the world, to station more warships in Europe, thus creating an absolute advantage over the French fleet for the British Navy in the Mediterranean and Asia.

However, even though that is the case, the British were not idle. Faced with the rise of the naval forces of Germany and the United States, the United Kingdom, which dominated the ocean for more than 300 years, would naturally not sit idly by. Since the 1890s, after starting 8 monarch-class battleships, two Bafrell (Centurion)-class battleships, one Bafrell (Centurion)-class battleships, one No. 1 Battleships and nine Majestic Class battleships, the British Navy decided to start construction of another 10 battleships in the next three years to ensure its absolute advantage over other countries in the ocean. The terrifying and violent soldiers of the British Navy in the pre-fair era were simply unimaginable to those who did not understand this period of history; in contrast, the expansion of the German Navy's military only started construction of seven battleships in the past seven years was completely a scum with only 5 combat power, which was simply weak.

PS: Since the author is an office worker, he can only write after get off work, so the normal update time is around 11 pm. Please forgive me...
Chapter completed!