King of Beiyang

In this era, the German Imperial Navy was just beginning to take off.

Construction of the Brandenburg-class battleships has begun, with the lead ship HMS Brandenburg and the second ship HMS Wools expected to enter service next year. The remaining ships, HMS Great Große and HMS Wiesenberg, are expected to enter service the year after next.

However, the Brandenburg-class battleships were the first battleships of the German Imperial Navy, and their performance was actually quite poor.

With a displacement of just over 10,000 tons, it was armed with only three twin-mounted 280mm guns, one with a 40-caliber barrel and the other with a 35-caliber barrel. Such performance and combat capabilities were not outstanding among the pre-dreadnought ships.

As for armored cruisers, the German Imperial Navy had not yet begun construction.

In another timeline, the German Imperial Navy began construction of five Bismarck-class armored cruisers four years later.

Li Jingyuan was dealing with the Japanese devils.

Although the Japanese do not currently have armored cruisers.

In another timeline, the Japanese navy proposed building a "Six-Six Fleet," which meant creating a powerful navy consisting of six battleships and six armored cruisers.

If the Beiyang Fleet had defeated the Japanese in the subsequent First Sino-Japanese War, then the Japanese would most likely not have had enough money to build a powerful navy.

But this is uncertain. What if the British behind them still refuse to give up their support for the Japanese and continue to strongly support them? In that case, the Japanese will still be a major threat to the Beiyang government.

Therefore, Li Jingyuan also needs to make preparations early.

Especially since the Beiyang Fleet was unable to build large warships on its own, it naturally wanted to purchase advanced warships as much as possible.

"Mr. Harker, I would like to purchase a batch of armored cruisers with a displacement of over 10,000 tons, a maximum speed of 25 knots, and equipped with three triple-mounted 210mm main guns with a 45-caliber barrel," Li Jingyuan said.

Rudolf Hacker frowned.

"Mr. Li, these requirements are quite demanding! To deploy three triple 210mm main guns on a 10,000-ton warship, while ensuring a speed of over 25 knots, requires the installation of more boilers and steam engines."

Furthermore, since it's an armored cruiser, its defenses can't be too weak, right?

"Rudolf Harker asked."

Li Jingyuan nodded: "The waterline armor, the frontal armor of the turret, and the armor of the conning tower must all be at least 180 millimeters thick. And they must use armor steel produced by Krupp."

"Mr. Li, to meet these requirements, the warship's displacement will likely need to be increased further. Perhaps it will need to be increased to 11,000 tons or even 12,000 tons," Rudolf Harker advised.

  

"These are all fine, but the performance of the warship must be ensured!" Li Jingyuan emphasized.

Li Jingyuan understood perfectly well that Rudolf Hacker's meaning was also very clear.

The larger the warship, the more advanced its performance.

Therefore, warships naturally wouldn't be cheap.

However, Li Jingyuan is not short of money right now.

As long as we can acquire advanced warships to further enhance the strength of the Beiyang Fleet and ensure its dominance in the Far East, then no matter how much money we spend, it will all be worthwhile.

"Okay, Mr. Li, I will arrange for someone to start the design immediately. It is expected that the design will be completed in about a month," Rudolf Hacker replied.

"Mr. Harker, can this be completed within two weeks? I'm heading back to my home country in two weeks. I want these orders finalized within that timeframe!" Li Jingyuan requested.

"Okay, no problem. I'll have the engineers work overtime!" Rudolf Hacker replied.

He also knew that Li Jingyuan had already graduated from the Naval Academy.

After completing his studies, Li Jingyuan naturally returned to China.

However, he did envy Li Jingyuan for building such a large business empire in Europe in just a few years.

Li Jingyuan's future is even brighter.

Rudolf Hacker was hoping to get more orders from Li Jingyuan in the future, so he was naturally willing to cooperate.

Even though Li Jingyuan's own shipyard was almost completed.

However, building warships is never a simple matter. In particular, building large warships is extremely difficult.

If Li Jingyuan's shipyard wants to build 10,000-ton warships on its own, it will need to accumulate a lot of technical expertise.

There is still much room for cooperation between the two sides in this process.

Even if Li Jingyuan's shipyard becomes capable of building warships independently in the future, many subsystems, such as steam engines, naval guns, and optical instruments, will still need to be imported in the short term.

It's even possible that Li Jingyuan might continue to order large battleships from the German Empire in the future.

These are all business opportunities! Or rather, profits, so of course we can't let them slip by.

The Vulcan shipyard acted quickly, especially after Rudolf Hacker organized a large number of engineers to join the project.

In just half a month, they completed the design of this large armored cruiser according to Li Jingyuan's requirements.

When the design drawings were handed to Li Jingyuan, he was very satisfied with them.

This armored cruiser has a standard displacement of 11,500 tons, a maximum speed of 25 knots, and its main armament consists of three triple-mounted 210mm guns with a 45-caliber barrel.

此外，战舰还部署了六座双联装45倍口径155毫米副炮，四座双联装45倍口径120毫米速射炮，8座45倍口径88毫米主炮，12座47毫米速射炮和两具三联装450毫米鱼雷发射管。

In terms of armor protection, the main armor, namely the waterline armor belt, main gun turret armor and conning tower armor, are all 180 mm thick, and the deck armor is 45 mm thick.

Furthermore, both the main and secondary guns of the warships were mounted in turrets, further enhancing the warships' defenses.

Li Jingyuan has already planned to name this warship the "Azure Dragon-class" armored cruiser, with the first ship being the "Azure Dragon", the second ship being the "Horned Dragon", the third ship being the "Kang Golden Dragon", the fourth ship being the "Di Tu Hao", the fifth ship being the "Fang Ri Tu", the sixth ship being the "Heart Moon Fox", the seventh ship being the "Tail Fire Tiger", and the eighth ship being the "Ji Shui Leopard".

Of course, the number of these eight "Azure Dragon-class" armored cruisers to be purchased from the Vulcan shipyard depends on the specific price.

If the price is too high, Li Jingyuan will only purchase a few ships.

The rest will be built in domestic shipyards.

Even if it requires purchasing many subsystems or parts, the price will definitely be much cheaper than purchasing directly from the Vulcan shipyard.

At the same time, it can further enhance the shipbuilding capabilities of domestic shipyards.

"Mr. Harker, I am very satisfied with this design. So, how much does this armored cruiser cost?" Li Jingyuan asked.