Another World: Naval Storm

Time is money, so there is no time to waste in the vortex of the Franco-German conflict. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Rakshasa Empire acted quickly, and first issued a statement hoping that both sides would sit down and talk, and that no more conflicts would occur. As a neutral party, the Rakshasa Empire was willing to act as a mediator between the two sides.

The three parties held talks in Platinum, and Chamberlain, the special envoy of the Kingdom of Talen, forcefully intervened in the negotiations and demanded to attend the meeting. As for the Flemish government delegation, it was excluded from the entire negotiation. The three countries were not prepared to pay attention to the Flemish people. Once France and Germany came up with a result, the Flemish people had no choice but to accept it.

"Folins has no bargaining chips now. May God bless Folins!" Special Envoy Folins said pessimistically to other members of the delegation.

At the beginning of the negotiation, France and Germany stated that everything was a pure misunderstanding and that the two sides could still be good friends. The Flemish people must pay the price for their mistakes, and both sides agreed that Fran no longer trusted the Flemish people who had stabbed him in the back, and agreed to divide the Flemish colonies in Africa with the Drakians, but the two sides could not agree on who would get the largest share.

"Mozambique belongs to Fran and Angola belongs to Drak." The Russian envoy Ramus could not stand it and proposed a distribution plan for the two countries. These were the two largest colonies of the Kingdom of Flemish, with Angola being the largest, the most developed, and the most valuable, and Mozambique being slightly behind.

"Flan has suffered huge losses. Getting only Mozambique cannot make up for our losses. We must get at least half of Angola!" Special envoy Fran is not satisfied with getting Mozambique and wants more!

"It's all your misjudgment and attack that has caused great losses to the empire. The empire must get Angola intact!" Drake's Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman refused to give in.

As the deputy envoy of the Russian Empire, Lieutenant General Makanov did not participate in the negotiations, but visited the test of the new battlecruiser accompanied by Lieutenant General Hans of the Drake Navy.

"Your Excellency General, the Drakes won't sell their dreadnought-class battleships. Can the so-called battlecruisers really meet our needs?" Colonel Ivan expressed his doubts.

"No matter what, whether this warship is as powerful as the Drak people say, we have to buy it. The Empire is expanding its military, and the production capacity of local shipyards is limited. Buying from the Drak Empire is the only option!" Makanov continued to explain, "Japan is Taren's running dog in the Far East, so Taren will definitely not sell it to us; Fran is making every effort to make up for the losses, and the warships it produces are used to deal with the Drak people; the Yemelica people are also supporting Japan behind the scenes. Now only the Drak Empire is willing to provide warships!"

The battlecruiser Von der Tann blew the whistle to tell everyone that the performance had begun. The target ship that had been arranged in advance was already in place. It was an old cruiser of about 3000 tons.

"280mm main gun group fire!" Following the order from the gunner, eight 8mm main guns fired three rounds per minute at a distance of 283 meters, pouring firepower towards distant targets.

There was not even a chance to demonstrate the firepower of the secondary guns. The target ship was torn to pieces in an instant. 24 out of 4 shots hit the target. The extremely high hit rate and firing rate surprised Makanov. The battleships of the Russian Empire had no advantage over von der Tann. You must know that some battleships only had 4 main guns, which were far inferior to von der Tann's 8 main guns. The only advantage of the Russian battleships was that their main guns were 12 inches and had a larger caliber.

"Von der Tann's firepower is indeed strong!" Makanov was looking forward to the next test.

The navigation experiment began. During the six-hour voyage, the battleship's average speed of 6 knots shocked the accompanying German and Romanian officers.

On the return journey, the speed reached 24.8 knots. "If I were asked to choose between the active battleships of the Russian Empire and the von der Tann, I would definitely choose it!" One can imagine the shock that this test brought to Makanov.

"Is this still a cruiser? With a full load displacement of tons, its firepower, speed, and armor crush all cruisers in the world. It can even fight against battleships without any problems."

"There are enough secondary guns on the ship to defend against harassment from small warships. I believe that enemy ships cannot approach the von der Tann within 3000 meters."

"The Empire needs this kind of warship. It can quickly support the Far East from the Empire's homeland, which is something that all the Empire's warships cannot do!" Colonel Ivan described all the details of the experiment in detail in the report.

"I will suggest to His Majesty that we buy at least three warships of this level, so that we can form a rapid response fleet!" Makanov really liked it the more he looked at it. "It's a pity that the Drak people will not sell the blueprints of this advanced warship, and our shipyards can't build this kind of warship at all."

"General Hans, I wonder how much your country sells it for?" Makanov asked Lieutenant General Hans who was standing next to him.

"3666 million gold marks. You have to know that this is the most advanced cruiser today." Vice Admiral Hans gave the bottom price honestly. The navy didn't want to sell it in the first place! Otherwise, the government's order would not have allowed the Russians to see the Von der Tann. The Russians were allowed to visit in order to let them understand the power of the Drake Navy and to deter them.

"What? So expensive!" Although he was mentally prepared, Makarov was still shocked by the price.

"You have to know that the Von der Tann ship uses several new technologies and its armor is extremely thick. The quality is there and it is worth every penny!" explained Lieutenant General Hans.

"I'll think about it. Although the Von der Tann class is very powerful, it is not suitable for the current imperial strategy. It is too big with a full load of more than 2 tons." Makanov could only regretfully give up the Tann, not just because of money. Now the focus of the Russian Empire is the Far East. Warships with a tonnage of more than 1.5 tons cannot pass through the Suez Canal. If the Russian Empire wants to send a battle cruiser like the Von der Tann, it can only go around the Cape of Good Hope to the Far East, which requires a lot of time and energy, and it also needs to prepare enough coal. Given that the Kingdom of Tarun is the father of Japan, it is very likely that the colonies will not be allowed to supply the Russian fleet in the war, so it is useless to be envious.

Moreover, even after the expansion, the largest dock of the Rakshasa Empire in Majinkou in the Far East can only accommodate battleships of no more than 1.3 tons. In recent years, the upper limit of the tonnage built and purchased by the Rakshasa Empire has never exceeded 1.3 tons. In the Japanese "Six-Six Fleet" plan, 4 battleships were purchased from Tarun at the 1.5-ton level.

"It's okay. We also have an upgraded armored cruiser. The basic version has just experienced actual combat in Africa. I believe you will be interested!" Hans started to sell another warship to the Russians, which was the Arminius armored cruiser of the same class as the one Leo was currently commanding.

所谓的升级版就是简单的把4门210㎜主炮换成4门240㎜40倍口径主炮，4门150㎜副炮加装到12门，上层建筑两侧安装10门88㎜速射炮，另外装备6具450㎜鱼雷发射管，吨位也来到了吨，因为武器装甲的增多，航速反而下降到只有20节。