King of Beiyang

The Vulcan shipyard, located in Stettin on the Baltic coast, was the largest shipyard in the German Empire.

However, after the defeat and collapse of the German Empire, this place no longer belonged to the German Empire, but to Bolan.

This severed the land route between the German Empire and East Prussia.

This might explain why the other timeline character with the small mustache was the first to target the Blue Glass.

The Beiyang Fleet's ironclad warships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan," as well as cruisers such as "Jingyuan," "Jiyuan," and "Laiyuan," were all built here.

When Li Jingyuan arrived in Stettin by train, the Vulcan shipyard had already sent people to wait for him at the train station.

The German Imperial Navy has already given instructions, and the Vulcan shipyard attaches great importance to this order.

As the largest shipyard in the German Empire and the main contractor for the German Navy's warships, the Vulcan Shipyard also hoped to secure more orders, especially foreign trade orders.

Only in this way can we obtain more profits.

Therefore, upon arriving at the Vulcan shipyard, Li Jingyuan immediately met with the chief engineer and technical director, Rudolf Hacker.

"Mr. Li, welcome to the Vulcan Shipyard. We have a very deep relationship with the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing Empire. We have already built many powerful warships for you." Rudolf Harker's face was full of smiles.

"Yes, Your Excellency. I personally have a high opinion of the capabilities of the Vulcan Shipyard. Therefore, I hope to reach a cooperation agreement with the Vulcan Shipyard this time!" Li Jingyuan said.

Although the Vulcan shipyard's current technological capabilities are not among the most advanced in Europe.

  

At least many of the shipyards in the British Empire had more advanced technology.

For example, Armstrong Whitworth Shipyard was where the Beiyang Fleet's ships "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan" were built.

On the Japanese side, a large number of ships were built from this shipyard.

But the British had already sided with the Japanese. Therefore, Li Jingyuan's only option at that moment was the German Empire.

Rudolf Hacker was very satisfied with Li Jingyuan's answer.

"So, Mr. Li, what type of warships do you need? How many do you need? How about we take a look at those massive ironclads first? I guarantee they are even more powerful than the 'Dingyuan-class' ironclads you bought back then!" Rudolf Harker strongly recommended.

Ironclad warships are such behemoths that they are extremely expensive to build.

Therefore, the price will naturally not be cheap.

Once the deal is finalized, the Vulcan shipyard will also be able to make a fortune.

Li Jingyuan shook his head; he wasn't interested in such large vessels as ironclad warships.

Despite their imposing and majestic appearance, the Beiyang Fleet's ironclad warships, the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, were formidable.

However, in reality, it did not play a significant role in naval battles.

Although the 305mm main gun is very powerful, even the most powerful naval gun must hit the target to inflict damage on the enemy.

If you can't hit the enemy, you're just wasting ammunition.

In another timeline of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, large-caliber main guns actually played a very limited role in naval battles. On the contrary, small and medium-caliber rapid-fire firepower became the decisive force in naval warfare.

Rudolf Harker frowned when he saw that Li Jingyuan showed no interest in the ironclad warship.

He had originally thought that young people would like big ships and cannons.

Thinking for a moment, Rudolf Hacker took out a design drawing from the safe.

"Mr. Li, the Navy Ministry has informed you that you can purchase any warship you wish."

This design is for a powerful warship that we are about to begin building.

His Majesty the Emperor personally named them the "Brandenburg-class" battleships.

If Mr. Li is interested, we can build a few more.

Rudolf Harker has learned just how profitable the Eastern Pharmaceuticals Company is.

Li Jingyuan, the major shareholder of Oriental Pharmaceutical Company, had long been a fat sheep.

Li Jingyuan was quite familiar with the Brandenburg-class battleships.

Starting last year, the ambitious Wilhelm II formulated a plan to build twenty battleships over the next twelve years.

This shows that Wilhelm II wanted to challenge the British Empire's maritime hegemony.

However, the British Empire was far more wealthy and powerful.

Upon learning of the German Empire's shipbuilding plans, they responded in a tit-for-tat manner.

For every battleship the German Empire built, the British Empire built two.

This enabled the Royal Navy to maintain a decisive advantage.

The Brandenburg-class battleships, as the first battleships of the German Empire, did not actually have outstanding performance.

Its standard displacement was just over 10,000 tons, and its maximum speed was only 16 knots. In terms of armament, it was equipped with only three twin-mounted main guns of 35 caliber and 40 caliber. Although the armor was relatively thick, the first two ships used composite armor with steel on the outside and iron on the inside, while the latter two ships used Krupp armor steel.

In terms of performance, the Brandenburg-class battleships were mediocre, even the worst, among all battleships.

More precisely, prior to the dreadnoughts, the battleships built by the German Empire were not particularly good in terms of performance. Compared to the vast number of battleships of the British Royal Navy, they offered little advantage.

Especially after the emergence of the Dreadnought, all these former Dreadnoughts were immediately swept into the dustbin of history.

Therefore, Li Jingyuan had no interest in these pre-dreadnought ships that were destined to become obsolete soon.

Spending money to buy these expensive behemoths is a complete waste of money.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I don't think I need these large ships at the moment. I'd like to purchase a batch of medium-displacement warships equipped with a large number of rapid-fire weapons and high speed!"

If this continues, who knows what kind of warships Rudolf Harker will recommend?

Therefore, Li Jingyuan directly stated his requirements.

This was originally the result of Li Jingyuan's careful consideration.

In the future Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Fleet's greatest enemy will undoubtedly be the Japanese destroyer "Yoshino".

This warship, with a full load displacement of over 4,200 tons, caused great damage to the warships of the Beiyang Fleet.

Its advantages are mainly reflected in two aspects. One is its speed of up to 23 knots, which is far ahead of many warships in the Beiyang Fleet.

The other is its formidable firepower.

『吉野』号防护巡洋舰装备了四门40倍口径152毫米速射炮，8门40倍口径120毫米速射炮，22门47毫米速射炮和5具356毫米鱼雷发射管。

Li Jingyuan hoped that the warship he purchased this time would have a faster speed and more powerful firepower than the Yoshino-class protected cruiser.

Only in this way can we directly hunt down the Japanese destroyer cruiser "Yoshino" in future naval battles.