Seven Seas Beacon Fire

"We should add a new generation of battlecruisers in numbers equal to the number of 420mm gun battleships we are currently building." To outsiders, Li Che's behavior today seemed a bit too excited, perhaps because he had become the Crown Prince; many of his requests sounded like they came from someone who had been drinking.

Take this new generation of battlecruisers, for example. The navy had not planned for this at all before. The reason is simple: the navy had received intelligence that the Royal Navy of Victoria was building a hybrid battleship, which naturally became the powerful Queen Elizabeth-class battleships of the Royal Navy of Victoria.

The data that the Tang Dynasty obtained about the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships was quite astonishing—a perfect battleship equipped with 14-inch main guns (the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship project was initially promoted as having 14-inch guns for secrecy), reinforced armor, and a maximum speed of 27 knots.

Such a warship, capable of fighting alongside traditional capital ships and joining the vanguard fleet to enhance the strength of the fast fleet when necessary, quickly gained popularity in the navy; it was simply the ideal dream ship.

Therefore, after the Dingyuan-class battleships and Zhiyuan-class battlecruisers, the Ming Dynasty's Navy Ministry did not plan a new generation of battlecruisers, but instead chose to start construction on "fusion-type battleships" equipped with 420mm main guns.

However, things often turn out differently than people originally planned.

When the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleships entered service, the dream of a hybrid battleship was dealt a heavy blow—first and foremost by the Queens themselves. Whether it was due to hull lines or some other issue, the rumored speed of 27 knots proved to be unfounded; in fact, these Queens struggled to even reach 25 knots.

At this time, the keel of the 420mm gun battleship project had already been laid. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty was relatively honest and said that it wanted to build a hybrid battleship. So it really worked hard to achieve that. The speed of the new 420mm gun battleship was based on a standard of 27 knots. After these battleships were completed, they could indeed be directly added to the battlecruiser fleet or remain in the main fleet.

That is why the navy plans to have only one type of main warship going forward.

Unexpectedly, the first thing Li Che did after becoming the Crown Prince was to cause trouble at the Ministry of the Navy.

In the past, if the navy wanted to build ships, it really depended on others' opinions. If the navy took the initiative to propose a shipbuilding plan, it was already good if it wasn't cut in half. Never before had it seen a situation like today, where someone hadn't applied for such a plan, but was still actively requesting to add new ships to the navy.

Moreover, the new ships to be added, in terms of tonnage, firepower, and protection, are absolutely something that would drive people crazy in this era.

Although only some basic indicators have been roughly set so far, just by reading these indicators, one can tell how incredible this ship would be if it were built.

First, in terms of speed, it was required to have a speed of 32 knots, which was to rival the Royal Navy's Renown-class battlecruisers. Second, in terms of firepower, it naturally had to be consistent with the 420mm guns on battleships. As for armor protection, this battlecruiser was also required to be able to withstand at least the next level of shells, such as the British 15-inch heirloom.

It's foreseeable that a battlecruiser like this will have a displacement of over 40,000 tons, and it wouldn't be surprising if it even expanded to 50,000 tons.

The question is, does the Tang Dynasty have the capability to turn such a wonderful battlecruiser into reality?

Besides that, Li Che's other request was somewhat puzzling: when the navy announced the new generation of battleships with 420mm guns, he wanted them to not say that these battleships could reach a speed of 27 knots, but to publicly state that these ships could only reach a speed of 23 knots.

What is this for?

Chapter 137 Not Repeating Carthage's Mistakes (2)

"I know you may think my suggestion is a bit crazy, but more than 2000 years ago, in a magnificent city, soldiers used wood to carve long spears as a last desperate resistance. This was once a powerful empire called Carthage."

The reason why a once powerful empire that crossed the Mediterranean to conquer Rome had fallen to such a state was because, after the Roman army besieged the city, the Carthaginians believed the Romans' promise of peace in exchange for the destruction of their swords. However, after Carthage destroyed its weapons, Rome broke its promise and launched another attack on Carthage. At this point, the Carthaginians could only make a final, futile resistance in this desperate manner.

Having no sword in hand is not the same as having a sword and not using it. Call us crazy or warmongering if you want, but we're going to make a big show of this ship. Do you all understand?

Faced with Li Che's words, the chief designers and relevant staff of the Navy's major design bureaus nodded as if they understood but not quite. They did not know much about the history of Rome and Carthage, so they had no way of judging whether His Highness the Crown Prince was right or wrong. However, the truth of history was not important. What mattered most was the core idea revealed by His Highness the Crown Prince's words.

That is to show the West our determination—we are determined and confident to fight this war to the end. The only question is whether, if we continue fighting like this, the Burma Party, which overthrew the crown of the Tsar of Ursus, or the Datong School of the Ming Dynasty, will spread like fungi within these Western countries.

Moreover, it's hard to say whether these emerging factions will be as "moderate" as the Datong faction and the Ursus Federation's Boh party.

After reaching a consensus on the current situation, the design of this battlecruiser, known as the "legacy of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy," was quickly finalized.

Because this ship was needed in such a hurry, it was practically impossible to redesign the ship. Therefore, the design chosen for the entire ship was actually selected from among many battlecruiser designs that competed with the integrated battleship that was awarded the contract when the 420mm gunboat was being tendered.

The main reason why this battlecruiser design was rejected was not because of insufficient performance. In fact, it was mainly because the battlecruiser was a bit too big, which would cause some problems when deployed in ports outside the mainland. For example, the only large dry dock in a port like Cam Ranh Bay can only accommodate warships no more than 245 meters long, while this battlecruiser was already 270 meters long and had a displacement of more than 40,000 tons.

In comparison, the waterline length of the fusion-type battleship was only 225 meters, just 10 meters longer than the Nagato-class battleships of the former combined fleet of the old Yingzhou.

However, if we disregard these external factors, this ship would indeed be a dream battlecruiser. In terms of firepower, it has four twin-mounted 420mm 45-caliber guns, exactly the same as the battleship version, enough to make it stand out from the crowd. In terms of power, it also uses the same new generation boilers as the battleship version. This new generation boiler is the key to the 420mm fusion battlecruiser being able to reach 27 knots. The 16 such boilers on the battlecruiser can output 15 horsepower, enough to support this battlecruiser to reach a high speed of 32 knots.

虽然为了火力和速度，确实在防护上做出了一定牺牲，但是280毫米倾斜18度的装甲。至少在面对当下主流的舰炮，比如莱塔尼亚380毫米/L45舰炮、不列颠381毫米/L42和356毫米/L52（这款14寸舰炮非常之强，不列颠人自己没有采用但是出口到了乌萨斯）舰炮时都称得上保险，至于联邦人的14英寸L45和L50搭配现在联邦海军使用的米德维尔穿甲弹，那就更加安稳了。

Although the elongated engine compartment resulted in thinner main armor compared to the battleship version, and the thickness of the dome armor was significantly reduced, the armor protection of this battlecruiser was undoubtedly superior to that of the Amagi-class battlecruiser of the Yingzhou Navy in another world.

If the founding ceremony of the Tang Dynasty was somewhat too simple, then the announcement of the construction of four battlecruisers after the founding of the country was quite astonishing. Once completed, these battlecruisers would be the world's largest, most heavily armed, and fastest battlecruisers.

The Tang Dynasty did not keep the news of the upcoming construction of these battlecruisers a secret, so when the news spread, it caused a strong reaction and shock in both the Colombian Federation and the Victorian Empire.

As the nation with the most powerful and fast main fleet in the world, the Victorian Empire still possesses a total of nine battlecruisers, excluding those lost in war: two heavily armored Renown-class battlecruisers (Renown and Repulse), two Tiger-class battlecruisers (Tiger and Trafalgar), two Lion-class battlecruisers (Lion and Queen Mary), and three dreadnought battlecruisers with 12-inch guns.

Even excluding the five Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships that theoretically could reach 25 knots, the Royal Navy's battlecruisers alone made the Royal Navy the undisputed number one in the world. Among them, the Renown-class battlecruisers were currently the largest and most powerful battlecruisers in the world. In terms of total numbers, the British also had one more than the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty, giving them an advantage in both quality and quantity.

If we include the two Furious-class large light cruisers, the advantage becomes even greater.

The British originally believed they would enter the post-war era with this advantage in fast capital ships—in this world war, the Victorian Empire had paid the ultimate price for victory, sacrificing everything as a world superpower. Its treasury was now practically empty, and the Barat, once the most dazzling jewel in the Victorian Empire's crown, had been forced into independence. In another world, the Victorian Empire reneged on its promise of Barat's independence. However, in this world, facing a more powerful Allied bloc, the Victorian Empire, determined to achieve final victory, won the war with the resolve that "the Victorian Empire will never surrender until the last Barat is dead."

The Balat troops shed countless lives on both the Turkish and Western Fronts. Although these Balat troops, composed of British officers and Balat soldiers, were generally considered by other Allied forces to be of low quality, the quality of infantry units was of unprecedented importance in the war on the almost static battlefield of the Western Front.

Faced with Barath, which had been exploited to the brink of collapse by the Victorian Empire and had also honed a sizable but reasonably competent army in the course of the World War, the British knew that if they broke their promise, Barath would likely be plunged into another major uprising.

This isn't another world. Even if you Bharat Indians really revolt, my Victorian Empire can simply send troops to suppress it. After all, those Bharat troops who laid down their weapons and returned home only had soldiers, not guns.

The British will not forget that there is a great power to the north of Bharat in this world. If the British really wanted to suppress it by force, London would be able to grow rifles, machine guns and even infantry cannons in the primeval jungles of Bharat Bengal.

Therefore, the Victorian Empire had to appease Barat while adopting a policy of appeasement. Relying on the "great favors" accumulated during its years of colonial rule in Barat (to some extent, the colonial rule of the British colonists was indeed a great favor compared to the rulers of the Barat princely state), it ensured that Barat remained a member of the British Commonwealth after independence, becoming an independent country with a high degree of autonomy, while also forming an alliance with the British, thus binding this important country in the East to the British chariot.

Victoria-Balart Alliance!

Because of these miscellaneous matters, although the major wars had ended, the Britons still had plenty of expenses to cover, and they did not want to engage in another shipbuilding race unless absolutely necessary.

After all, I started this world war because the shipbuilding race with the Leitanians threatened the fundamental interests of my Victorian Empire. I had a shipbuilding race before I started the war, and I still have a shipbuilding race after I started the war. Didn't I fight this world war for nothing?

So when the Britons learned that the Tang Empire was going to start construction on four battlecruisers of over 40,000 tons each, everyone at 10 Downing Street gritted their teeth—the Commonwealth's construction of six Lexingtons was already enough to give the Victorian Empire a headache; those were also 16-inch battlecruisers! They were incredibly powerful! (In fact, for quite some time, the Britons had no idea how poor the Lexingtons' armor was; perhaps from the Britons' perspective, they couldn't imagine that the Commonwealth's standards would be so low.)

In order to eliminate the performance advantage of these newly built battlecruisers of the Federation, the Victorian Empire was already discussing starting construction on a battlecruiser equipped with 18-inch guns that could fire 1323 kg armor-piercing shells with a muzzle velocity of 808 m/s.

Two of these battlecruisers, whose gun caliber is almost comparable to that of the Yamato, are planned to be produced initially (given the limited funds). Their superior individual quality will offset the superior performance of the Federation's 16-inch battlecruisers. Combined with their existing stock of other battlecruisers, they will still be able to possess the world's strongest fast fleet.

However, such plans naturally vanished in the face of the additional batch of battlecruisers provided by the Tang Empire.

Those two across the Pacific seem to be getting a little greedy. Should the Victorian Empire follow suit?

While the Britons were still considering whether or not to follow suit, the Commonwealth's reaction was like that of the Dragon in Operation Delta Force, who, before even realizing what was happening, had already thrown out C4. After receiving the news, Washington decided to build something even bigger than the Lexington. However, the Shipbuilding Bureau stated that given the Lexington's current size and length, further enlarging it would not only make it impossible to deploy outside the Commonwealth, but more importantly, it might not be able to pass through the Panama Canal.

After Washington calmed down, it realized that the Colombian Federation certainly had the national strength to place further orders, but the problem was that the Federation was not very clear whether the Tang Empire was going all out. Because judging from the story between Britain and Letania, in the end, this spiraling shipbuilding competition between the two sides would destroy both of them.

Most importantly, the Federation knows their own capabilities. What level is the Lexington-class battlecruiser at? In terms of design, it is indeed slightly better than the Lexington-class battlecruiser in the other timeline. At least in this world, the Lexington-class battlecruiser no longer has to run around with seven inches of armor. In this era, seven inches of armor sounds rather comical. So, the armor of the Lexington-class battlecruiser here has been increased to... a full eight inches!

It has reached the level of the Kongo-class battleships of the Yingzhou Combined Fleet in another world. It is truly a cause for celebration.

Unlike the British, whose early battlecruisers didn't have thick enough armor to save money, the United States didn't do that; they genuinely couldn't afford such heavy armor.

After all, for the Federation, which couldn't handle the crucial reduction gears in the power system of high-speed warships, electric drive was an effective "technical detour" they adopted in this situation. However, electric drive also meant that you would definitely have to lengthen your power compartment more than with traditional transmission technology.

Even more critically, the Navy had fixed the speed and firepower of battlecruisers. With 16-inch main guns and a speed of 33 knots or even faster, they needed excellent seaworthiness and high freeboard—which meant that the armor could not be stacked up.

This eight-inch armor was actually designed to counter the main guns of cruisers, ensuring that it could withstand cruiser fire at torpedo range.

In the Federation's plan, after its battlecruisers were almost completely wiped out, if the shipbuilding race proceeded at a normal pace, the Federation's newly built battlecruisers would be unable to surpass the number of their opponents for a considerable period of time.

The Union Army, lacking warships but eager for quick results, did not want to wait several years until its battlecruiser fleet grew in size. The United States was in its most frenzied phase after being hit by a windfall when it decided to build Lexington, so the Union came up with a brilliant idea.

Since battlecruisers exist as a reconnaissance force for the fleet (this understanding is problematic), as long as my battlecruisers are fast enough to make the enemy's fast ships seem slow in comparison, then even if my forces are outnumbered, they can still complete the reconnaissance mission, thus gaining absolute initiative in the battle.

But now the enemy is also building 32-knot battlecruisers. So, should we increase the number of battlecruisers or build 37-knot battlecruisers?

Moreover—even if this war might escalate into a hundred-year war, should the United States continue fighting?

Chapter 138 The Harm of "Compradors" (1)

"Director Liang, although it was a tradition in the Ming Dynasty for major design bureaus to have laymen manage professionals, shouldn't you at least bring a technically savvy secretary to this kind of meeting? The original purpose of this No. 42 plan was to highlight the ease of maintenance of the integrated battleship, and His Highness the Crown Prince specifically requested this plan and you actually agreed to it?!"

Inside the 229 Ship Design Bureau in Songjiang Prefecture, a beautiful and outspoken young woman was pointing and gesturing rudely at a somewhat overweight middle-aged man with her slide rule: "Even if you're going to curry favor, this isn't how you do it! Eight Longyuan battleships have almost emptied our inventory, and now you want to build four more even larger battlecruisers? When you nodded to His Highness the Crown Prince, did you consider those of us who actually did the work? Or did you consult with Bureau 203 and Institute 57?"

The others in the conference room looked at the beautiful young woman and Director Liang with some concern. Although everyone knew that this girl was intolerant of any wrongdoing and had a temper that many people found unacceptable, no one stopped them today.

Because everyone was somewhat dissatisfied with Director Liang.

Since the Nanjing Incident of the Ming Dynasty, due to the turmoil in the court, all staff members of Bureau 229, from top to bottom, whether designers or the lowest-level calculators, have not received a single penny of salary for almost a year. As one of the three major design bureaus under the Naval Ordnance Bureau, they were reduced to designing civilian cargo ships operating on inland waterways and fishing boats along the coast. However, the civilian ship designs produced by the same group that built warships were considered to use too many materials (ship owners: I want cargo ships, not bumper boats). In addition, due to the depressed market, they did not sell many orders.

During the most difficult time, if it weren't for this young girl's sudden inspiration to lead everyone to develop a cheaper and better-performing radio, and then everyone using the small workshop in the design bureau to manufacture a batch to sell to restaurants and teahouses, everyone would probably be out of food by now.

To ask these middle-aged people who have spent half their lives designing ships to become food delivery drivers after losing their jobs in middle age... that would be too cruel.

As for this director... although he did share the hardships with everyone during that period, Director Liang came from the Marquis's family. Although he could not inherit the Marquis's position, he certainly would not lack money. During that year, although Director Liang was worried about the predicament of the design bureau, he never tried to find the provisional government to solve the problem, except for the standard reports.

It wasn't until the Prince of Jin entered Jinling that the salaries of all the staff in the design bureau were resumed.

Therefore, it's not fair to say that Director Liang harbors resentment. Although he wasn't a strictly technically trained naval naval architect, he had studied navigation and had some professional background. In the prevalent culture of "outsiders leading insiders" before the Ming Dynasty, he was considered relatively knowledgeable in technology.

However, for the technical staff below, having a boss who is incompetent and unable to solve problems when they arise will definitely severely damage their personal prestige.

Normally, everyone would have been content to work peacefully in the new city, but then Director Liang came back from a meeting and said he had brought back some good news—a big order. Only after he finished speaking did everyone realize how big the order was.

Therefore, when Cheng Mingna shouted and stood up, pointing a slide rule at Director Liang's nose and reprimanding her superior in an unceremonious manner, no one stepped forward to smooth things over. Everyone in the room was just watching Director Liang's expression, ready to quickly separate the two if he really lost his temper and started to fight. Old Deng was already 50 years old and his health was already very weak. If he really got into a conflict with this young woman in her twenties, he would most likely be the one who got beaten up.

Those who were paying attention to Director Liang's expression noticed something strange: he wasn't angry at all. Instead, he was sweating profusely, his face filled with guilt and fear, and he was so flustered that he couldn't even speak properly, stammering, "You, you... I, I..."

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'Am I wrong?' Cheng Mingna's eyebrows shot up. "Should we do a breakdown of things one by one? How much of what you casually boasted about is still missing? First of all, there's the 12-meter main rangefinder for the fire control console. I'd like to ask the director, do you know how many Zeiss lenses we have left in our warehouse for this kind of rangefinder? We don't even know if the last four Longyuan-class battleships will be able to get the lenses yet, and now four more battlecruisers are coming. Even if you went to Letania now, I'm afraid Zeiss can't manufacture such lenses for us anymore!"

"Regarding rangefinders, we don't have 12-meter rangefinders on hand. We can at least use the 6-meter rangefinders from the Dingyuan-class battleships as a makeshift solution. But I'd like to ask about the main gun turret's load-bearing bearings? We ordered a total of 32 sets, not a single one more. Why did the Longyuan plan only have 8? Because we only have 32 sets! Director Liang, can you conjure up a few more sets? Or is this new battleship design not going to use 420mm naval guns?"

"You...you keep your voice down!" Director Liang finally managed to utter a sentence after a long pause, but it sounded rather strange. After all...if Director Liang felt that Cheng Mingna's actions were an infringement on his authority, he should have told her to shut up and then adopted the airs of a director to reprimand her.

If Director Liang has realized his mistake, he should either admit it outright or try to gloss over the matter. But either way, he shouldn't have reacted like this.

You're arguing behind closed doors, why are you such a coward, a grown man?

Just as Director Liang was about to continue explaining, the door behind him was pushed open, and a young man dressed in black walked in. Behind him was an officer in a naval uniform and several guards who looked like they were on bodyguard duty.

Before the other designers in the room could even react to who this uninvited guest was, Director Liang was already bowing deeply: "Your Highness, I have failed in my duty to manage my subordinates; please forgive my shortcomings..."

"This is none of your business." Li Che waved his hand. He was well aware of the practice of using laymen to lead experts in the past during the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after deciding on the design specifications for the new generation of battlecruisers, he personally went to the front line of the design bureau to understand the specific situation.

Looking back, it seems they made the right decision. Clearly, the frontline technicians at the design bureau weren't so confident in completing this massive battlecruiser, or to be more precise, they weren't confident in completing it in the shortest possible time.

After all, if building this ship is something they can easily manage, there's no need to give their leaders a hard time.

Cheng Mingna obviously did not expect that the handsome young man who walked in was His Highness the Crown Prince. As one of the three major naval design bureaus since the Ming Dynasty, the staff of Bureau 229 had naturally met Emperor Yongning, who had a strong interest in naval warships.

No one expected that the Ming Dynasty would come to an end in just a few years. It was a very strange feeling to see an emperor surnamed Zhu before and a royal family surnamed Li now.

“I listened outside the door for a while, and it seems that everyone is still facing many difficulties in their work.” Li Che stood in front of everyone and asked in a friendly manner: “Since the era of dreadnoughts, our navy has successively commissioned more than 20 large surface ships of various types. These warships were basically built by us, including many battleships with a displacement of more than 30,000 tons.”

So I'm really curious, a country capable of building such a massive naval fleet shouldn't have too much trouble constructing a battlecruiser of over 40,000 tons, right?

“Your Highness!” While the others in the conference room hesitated to speak frankly in the face of Li Che’s question, Cheng Mingna spoke up without a care: “The situation cannot be described like that. Before this, the longest battleships we used to have 330mm guns were less than 200 meters long, and the length of our battlecruisers was no more than 230 meters. They are not in the same class as the battlecruisers we are planning now, which will be 270 meters long.”

"I know there are differences between the two, but are these differences so great that it's difficult to build such warships? Before I came in, I think I heard you talking about the optical rangefinders and gun bearings of warships?"

Li Che recalled what he had just heard outside the door. His understanding of these two things was limited. He was a little better at optical rangefinders, as he could at least distinguish between phase-detection and stereoscopic rangefinders. He knew that the most powerful battleship in human history, the Yamato, had a 15-meter rangefinder mounted at the highest point.

However, the bearings of the gun's recoil ring completely fell into his knowledge gaps. This should only be a small part of the entire turret system, but now it seems that this part may be quite important.

However, when Li Che turned his gaze to Cheng Mingna, he realized that his curiosity about the woman in front of him even exceeded his curiosity about the answer. Don't misunderstand, our Crown Prince has no worldly desires for this beautiful girl. He is simply curious about how a beautiful girl could suddenly appear in the warship design bureau in this day and age.

"So that Your Highness may know." Cheng Mingna did not notice, or rather, did not care about the Crown Prince's gaze sweeping over her: "We did build more than 20 capital ships in the past, but the manufacturing difficulty of those ships is completely different from that of the battlecruisers we are planning now. For example, the rangefinders. The battleships and battlecruisers currently in service with our army are generally equipped with the 6-meter-class optical rangefinders that we developed in cooperation with Leitania Zeiss."

This rangefinder is widely used on the main warships of both the Chinese and Lai forces, and boasts excellent performance. However, the difference between a 6-meter and a 12-meter rangefinder is significant; the requirements for the imaging lenses alone are much higher.

"Our rangefinder was jointly developed with the Leitanians?" Li Che asked with some curiosity. "Since the rangefinder was upgraded from 6 meters to 12 meters, our army must be placing more emphasis on long-range artillery fire, right? As far as I know, the Leitanian Navy highly values ​​close-range combat, and their Bavaria-class battleships are still equipped with 6-meter rangefinders. You're not going to tell me that the lenses used to manufacture the 12-meter rangefinder were custom-made and imported from Leitania before this great war broke out?"

"That's exactly why the Leitanian Navy is still equipped with 6-meter rangefinders. They give them their best battleships, partly because the Bavaria-class battleships are built earlier than the battleships we are currently constructing, and partly because the Leitanians believe they don't need larger rangefinders. Therefore, the 12-meter rangefinders are being developed based on our needs. As for the lenses used in these large rangefinders, they are naturally ordered from Zeiss."

(One interesting point is that, despite having inferior fire control systems on their own ships compared to the Britons, the Leitanians, who conducted the most training exercises at ranges exceeding 10,000 meters, actually outperformed the Britons in shelling in Jutland.)

Li Che's eyes widened upon hearing this. The Ming Navy's pursuit of long-range artillery warfare was even more insane than he had imagined. It was clear that the Ming had been developing 12-meter rangefinders before the outbreak of this war. These rangefinders were larger than the 30-foot rangefinders on the HMS Hood battlecruiser in another world. To start developing such large rangefinders almost five years ago was somewhat farsighted.

After all, at that time, even the 420mm fusion battleship design had not yet materialized.

"So how many sets of lenses do we have left from those we ordered from Zeiss?"

“There are six more sets.” Another designer also stepped forward to answer.

"Can we equip this rangefinder with the necessary lenses ourselves?" Li Che pressed further. "We can't possibly go all the way to Letania to buy Zeiss lenses, can we?"

Chapter 139 The Harm of "Compradors" (2)

Director Liang felt like the sky had fallen.

Today should have been a wonderful day, as His Highness the Crown Prince was coming to inspect Institute 229, which was of great significance to Institute 229, which had only recently begun to get on the right track.

As everyone now knows, His Highness the Crown Prince has a great interest in the navy, and he often has a natural talent for naval technology, frequently offering his own unique insights. This is quite unusual for His Highness the Crown Prince, who has never received professional naval education in his resume.

But no navy in the world is immune to superstition. For example, some believe that urinating before firing increases the hit rate, or they take inspiration from the performance art pieces performed by commanders who won key naval battles before the next one. (The IJN has a group of staff officers who cosplay as Akiyama not showering.)

To some extent, naval personnel of this era share common characteristics with 21st-century programmers and laboratory researchers. For example, if a 21st-century programmer needs to kowtow before writing a piece of code to make it work, or a laboratory researcher needs to pray before getting results, then this must be written in the program comments or experimental report.

Therefore, it's not a bad thing that Li Che exhibits some characteristics that are difficult to explain scientifically. On the contrary, the navy likes this kind of thing, especially after the Crown Prince started to get involved in naval affairs. Then the navy started to win battles. What is this called?

Auspicious omen! (Confirmed)

Li Che now has status, privileges, and auspicious omens. If His Highness the Crown Prince is satisfied after visiting Bureau 229, then Bureau 229 might be able to curry favor with His Highness. If the Navy needs to bid on any new types of ships, Bureau 229 will naturally have an easier time seizing the initiative.