Seven Seas Beacon Fire

The key point is not ability, but fame. As a naval admiral, Kolchak didn't have many opportunities to truly prove his abilities. If it weren't for his actions at the Russian Red and White Song Festival, he would probably have remained an ordinary, unremarkable Ursus naval admiral for the rest of his life.

Just like now, few people care who the commander of the Baltic Fleet of the Ursus Federation is. Even the Tang Dynasty only started to find out after learning that the Ursus delegation had already set off.

After all, the Ursus Federation is now like the Land of Light in another world, full of mystery and unknowns to the outside world.

Li Che stared at Kolchak, while Kolchak's gaze was fixed on the battleships moored further to his right. The two battleships currently undergoing maintenance there were the Dingyuan and Ningyuan, the lead ship of the Dingyuan-class battleships and the fourth ship of the Kaiyuan-class battleships, respectively.

For Kolchak, both battleships could be considered dream ships. The Dingyuan-class battleship, which displaced more than 3 tons, was naturally the elder brother and mainstay of the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy. Even the Kaiyuan-class battleship, which displaced less than 25,000 tons, was a super-dreadnought that the Ursus Navy still did not possess.

Although the Tang Dynasty had taken the Ursus people's face into consideration and had not placed large warships around the docks where the Ursus people were staying, for Kolchak, looking at the light cruiser "Svetlana" that he had been traveling on, and then looking at the naval power that the Tang Empire now possessed, both countries were established on the basis of the original dynasty, but the difference in naval power between the two sides was like heaven and earth.

The light cruiser "Svetlana" was a new generation of light cruisers that Ursus began construction on shortly after the outbreak of World War II. A total of eight ships were ordered, but only one was completed before Ursus withdrew from the war. The shipbuilding industry in Ursus was even more severely impacted than that of the Ming Dynasty after its withdrawal from the war. Of the remaining seven unfinished cruisers, four were destroyed in the war due to the attack by the Lai army, and the remaining three are still at the dock, with no idea when construction will be able to resume.

If we exclude the Gangu-class battleships and those old pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers, the current light cruiser "Svetlana" is already the largest warship in the Baltic Fleet capable of long-range operations. However, its displacement of over 6600 tons and 12 6-inch guns give it a rather ordinary appearance compared to the cruisers of the Tang army currently moored at the dock in Songjiang Prefecture.

Kolchak's gaze lingered on the two battleships in the distance for a moment before turning to the dry dock further away. From his angle, he could see a terrifying dragon gradually taking shape in the dry dock. As a newly famous "super battleship," the second batch of the Dragon Abyss-class battleships under construction there undoubtedly attracted Kolchak's attention even more.

Kolchak couldn't help but compare it to the fully-fledged Izmail-class battlecruiser in the hands of the Ursus, but it seemed that apart from being able to reach a speed of almost 27 knots, neither its firepower nor its armor could compare to the super battleship in front of him.

A middle-aged man in his early thirties walking alongside Kolchak probably noticed his gaze and coughed subtly, which brought Kolchak back to his senses.

Now that we're almost in front of the Crown Prince of the Tang Empire, it would be extremely impolite to be so distracted. Moreover, even from a buyer's perspective, if the seller discovers that the buyer is almost determined to get the item, then they can expect to be ripped off.

"Your Excellency, we had already heard about your heroic deeds before we set off."

Li Che had assumed that Kolchak would be the first to step forward, given that he held the rank of admiral and was the highest-ranking member of the Ursus delegation. However, this seemingly casual action revealed who was truly in charge within the Ursus delegation.

But the person in charge of this delegation was originally Kolchak.

Li Che sized up the Ursus man in front of him, who looked somewhat familiar. He seemed to have seen this face on the internet before, but unfortunately, he couldn't quite place it. Faced with this guy who started showering him with compliments right away, Li Che could only offer a professional fake smile.

"You flatter me too much. May I ask what position you hold in the Ursus Federation, and how I should address you?"

"You can call me Ivanovich." After the middle-aged man shook hands with Li Che with a smile, Li Che suddenly recognized the somewhat familiar face. What Ivanovich? I recognize you, Bukharin!

Good heavens, Kolchak and Bukharin are walking side by side, crossing oceans to meet me. The Ursus Federation in this world is still a bit too free.

After the initial pleasantries, no formal meeting was immediately held between the two sides. After all, the Ursus people had come all this way, and they were exhausted from the journey. If you expect them to work overtime as soon as they land, wouldn't you be living like the Federation?

They really expect people to work like they're on a 496 work schedule.

After leading the Ursus delegation to stay temporarily in Songjiang Prefecture, Li Che sent a telegram to his father about the situation there. His father would probably consult with his grandfather and then reply to him.

The old man had dealt with the Ursus people for most of his life, and he was the kind of person who viewed them with some prejudice and had considerable doubts about their purpose in coming here.

Regarding these concerns, Li Che is now certain that the Ursus people are genuinely sincere in their purchase of naval guns and turret ball bearings. After all, Kolchak is not yet a "famous general" in this world, but as the commander of the Ursus Baltic Fleet, his personal visit demonstrates the Ursus people's sincerity in this matter.

After completing all the diplomatic procedures and bringing the Ursus people to a mansion in Songjiang Prefecture for foreign affairs, Li Che summoned several members of his real core group in the navy, now known to outsiders as the "Zangpo Society," who were all in Songjiang Prefecture.

Xu Yueming had been organizing his troubled air force in the Taiwan Strait for a while, and now that he's connected with the Grandson of the Crown Prince, he's suddenly become a rising star in the navy.

However, this kid seems to have lost his mind. He's not very interested in the normal career path in the navy. He doesn't really want to become a captain in a front-line unit and gradually rise to become a squadron commander and then a fleet commander. Alternatively, he could take the path of the staff department, working his way up from staff officer to the chief of staff of the navy. Given the level of favor he enjoys from the Crown Prince, whichever path he chooses, it will be a smooth and unobstructed road ahead.

But this kid had no interest in these unwritten rules and routines. Later, he even asked Li Che to move him to a more relaxed place so that he would have the opportunity to tinker with what he wanted to tinker with—namely, the airplanes flying in the sky.

So he went to Taiwan and also participated in the Battle of the Bashi Channel. His reconnaissance planes performed exceptionally well, successfully finding the relatively accurate location of the Federation fleet, which laid an important foundation for the navy's later operations.

However, after that moment of glory, the planes kept breaking down every few days. It seems that this guy came to Songjiang Prefecture this time to contact experts and chief engineers in the field of aero engines.

Since he hadn't returned to Taiwan yet, he was naturally pulled in to share the good times, but not necessarily the bad.

"It seems the Ursus people are genuinely interested in buying our cannons and bearings this time. Now we just need to see what kind of artillery they'll ask us to buy." Li Che felt like he was exploring a new map. After all, the Russians in another world couldn't possibly come to Hua Ge for treatment in the same era, right?

Because there isn't much "foresight" about the real history in another world, Li Che tends to be more cautious in many situations.

"Can we sell any kind of gun?" Xu Yueming's question actually had only one meaning: Are you also planning to sell the latest 420mm L45 naval gun?

In this day and age, this thing is considered a "strategic weapon" in the hands of the Navy, roughly equivalent to the Trident on the Ohio-class destroyer or the JL-3 on the 094 destroyer in another world. It's not something that can be sold off casually.

Don't be fooled by the fact that South American countries were talking about buying battleships with 16-inch guns during the arms race before the outbreak of World War II. Just look at the battleships they actually bought later to see what kind of battleships they actually had.

“Exporting 420mm naval guns is naturally not an option for the time being.” Li Che certainly didn’t intend to export 420mm cannons in the current era. Although exporting artillery was indeed very profitable, considering the potential for technology leaks from exporting 420mm naval guns, Li Che abandoned the idea.

While the Russians probably wouldn't be as abstract as the Thai Army, directly posting the internal structure of the VT4 tank online, it's always good to be cautious.

"Then the most we can export is a 330mm naval gun."

“The 330mm gun is enough for the Ursus people,” Li Che said. “I believe these Ursus people are also self-aware. They can buy our 330mm guns and use them directly on the turret system they prepared for Izmail.”

Everyone else is using triple-mounted guns, but our 330mm gun is slightly smaller in caliber, weight, and size, so it should fit in the Ursus turret.

However, if they were to switch to 420mm naval guns, the Ursus would need to develop a new twin-mounted 420mm turret. Even if they imported the entire turret from us, Ursus's current priority is to get these two ships into combat capability as quickly as possible, not to unrealistically aspire to be among the world's top capital ships.

"Exactly. With the level of those junk ships built by the Ursus people, they should be secretly happy that they can get our 330mm naval guns." Ling Xiao made a small sarcastic remark about the ships built by the Ursus people. He had already laughed when he saw the so-called new cruiser of the Ursus people at the dock today.

All the six-inch guns were deck guns. The entire ship had no turrets from top to bottom, not even pseudo-turrets. How dare you call this a cutting-edge cruiser?

As for the battleships built by the Ursus... the Borodino-class battleships of the pre-dreadnought era suffered from an excessively high center of gravity, and even after entering the dreadnought era, the Ursus battleships looked equally unremarkable. Whether it was the Gangut or the Queen Maria, judging solely from their specifications on paper, both battleships appeared quite ordinary, one might say unremarkable...

Chapter 224 The Debate Within the Zangpiao Society

"The Ursus cruiser looks rather dilapidated. This is mainly because when the ship was being fitted out, the Lai army was already close to the city of Riga. So the Ursus had to hastily install the newly built cruiser with the six-inch guns they had in stock, which is why it looks somewhat outdated and retro."

While everyone was laughing at Ling Xiao's teasing of the Russian warships, Xu Yueming said, "In times of war, equipment that can't keep up with the times is worthless, no matter how advanced it is. The Ursus people are relatively pragmatic in this regard, and I think that's something we should learn from."

Perhaps because Xu Yueming's words made him lose face in front of the Crown Prince, Ling Xiao gave Xu Yueming a deep look. Within the Zangfu Association, Ling Xiao was considered one of the older brothers in terms of age, seniority, and military rank. Although he had heard that this guy was somewhat eccentric, he did not expect that he would not give face to the older brother in front of His Highness.

"The Ursus Navy hasn't won a single victory since the Crimean War. Perhaps we can learn something from them?"

"Of course, the Ursus Navy's geographical location means that their navy has the most extensive experience in navigating polar regions and rough seas in the world. Moreover, the Ursus Navy has always had some amazing innovations in history, which are worth our reference, learning from their experience and drawing lessons."

Xu Yueming's words only made Ling Xiao laugh more: "Instead of learning from the victors, you want to learn from a country that hasn't won a naval battle in decades? I think that's putting the cart before the horse."

The main reason is that the reputation of the Ursus Navy was not very good at that time. Although it did not suffer a large-scale defeat like the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, the Ursus Navy's Black Sea Fleet and the Ottoman Navy fought a naval battle in the Black Sea at the turn of the century. The scale of this naval battle was far from comparable to the Battle of Tsushima in another timeline, but in terms of the level of humiliation, it was no less.

Firstly, this naval battle took place in the Black Sea, closer to Europe, and naturally attracted more attention. Secondly, the Ottoman Empire, as the opponent, was known as the "Sick Man of Europe," a country that was utterly corrupt. However, the Ottoman Empire had just purchased two Garibaldi-class armored cruisers from Syracuse and several Armstrong-class cruisers from Britain. These cutting-edge warships with rapid-fire guns of the new era thoroughly defeated the battleships of the Ursus Black Sea Fleet, which had been in service at the end of the Ironclad era and the beginning of the pre-Dreadnought era.

At the time, the Ursus Black Sea Fleet consisted of several Catherine II-class battleships. Because they were built earlier, they were not equipped with any rapid-fire guns. The newest battleship, HMS Three Saints, did have 16 6-inch rapid-fire guns, but this ship still adopted the old-fashioned defensive approach, with a very thick (457 mm) but short and narrow armor belt. In addition, many instructors from the Royal Navy of Victoria were directly involved in the battle on the Ottoman Navy warships, making this battle almost a replica of the Battle of the Yalu River.

Although the Ottoman Empire won the naval battle in the end, it still chose to pay reparations due to the threat from the Ursus. However, the Ursus navy has yet to make up for the loss it suffered.

It can be said that the Ursus Navy in this era is following the script of the Bharat Navy in another world, so it's no wonder that most people, including Ling Xiao, look down on the Ursus Navy.

Throughout this process, Li Che remained silent, observing the minor ripples within the small group surrounding him with detached indifference. He certainly wouldn't immediately step in to mediate at this level of confrontation.

He knew Ling Xiao well. Regardless of his character and integrity, he was capable. Xu Yueming had shown great strategic vision before, but Li Che probably wanted to see how he performed in other areas and what his personality was like because of his expectations of him.

"The losers also have their merits. At least the losers certainly have more experience in being beaten than the winners, don't they? In the Battle of Dogger Sandbar, the Victorian fast fleet defeated the Leitanians. The victorious Victorians were complacent and did not effectively summarize their combat experience, while the defeated Leitanians did summarize their damage control experience in the battle. They then improved the fire doors of their warships and equipped the propellant for their shells with brass containers."

Xu Yueming's tone was not as emotional as Ling Xiao's; his voice was always calm and even: "So I don't think it's shameful to learn valuable lessons from losers."

"Yes, the Ursus people's experience was that they overcorrected on rapid-fire guns. Their Gangut-class battleships only had 225 mm thick main armor belts on their sides. A battleship with a speed of only 21 knots had armor thickness similar to a 28-knot battlecruiser. Did they end up with a battleship that was useless except for its firepower? This ship is probably only comparable to the export ships that the Victoria built for Chile. Is this the result of the Ursus people learning from their experience?"

Ling Xiao chuckled and asked, rattling off data about the Ursus battleships with ease. Everyone knew that the Crown Prince now preferred technically skilled naval officers, and many of them had been chosen by the Crown Prince for this reason. Ling Xiao naturally catered to this preference and could readily provide data on the Ursus navy's battleships.

Li Che then turned his gaze to Xu Yueming. He knew that given other countries' current understanding of Gangut, if Xu Yueming got caught up in the debate about Gangut, he would definitely lose. This was because, in both worlds, Gangut was optimized for warships with high projectile power. While 225mm of armor might not seem very thick, the main armor height of the Gangut-class battleship was extremely high, reaching a full 5.06 meters.

If the designers of Ursus had pursued paper specifications as much as the designers of Britain, they could have easily cut the height of the main armor by one-third, thus increasing the armor thickness to the 12-inch level, which would have made it look much sturdier.

However, with the further increase in gun caliber, 225 mm armor was indeed insufficient, so the evaluation of the Ursus battleship by various countries has been greatly reduced. Your armor has no margin at all.

In reality, the Gangut was probably one of the best battleships in the world until 1916. The Ursus did emphasize the area of ​​protection when designing the ship, which was an experience they had learned. However, this does not mean that the Ursus did not consider the threat of larger caliber shells at all.

Behind the main armor belt of the Gangut-class ships was a coal bunker several meters thick and deep. Any shell that penetrated the armor would first have to face the coal piles behind it. Using coal as part of fire prevention was not uncommon in the design history of warships. The Chaoyong-class ram cruisers equipped by the Beiyang Fleet in the late Qing Dynasty are a typical example.

Of course, the Ursus relied on more than just the coal bunker. Gangut's brilliant touch was the additional 50-millimeter-thick armor behind the coal bunker. The fuses of artillery shells in the 1910s and 20s were far inferior to those of World War II. After the fuse was detonated, the shells would often explode after traveling a few more meters. Those that did not explode beyond that distance were mostly duds. Therefore, shells that penetrated Gangut's armor would explode in the coal bunker before hitting the 50-millimeter-thick armor. The coal would absorb most of the energy and reduce the kinetic energy of the shrapnel. The function of this 50-millimeter-thick armor was actually to catch the shrapnel.

To some extent, you can consider Gangut's armor as a composite armor of 225mm + coal + 50mm. At least during World War I, this armor protection system, full of Ursus wisdom, was quite reliable. In addition, Gangut had the world's top fire control system at the time (the original British-imported Poren) and the world's best shells at the time (comparable to the armor-piercing shells in Letania at the same time). Before the end of 1915, it was not unreasonable for Gangut to compete for the title of the world's strongest battleship.

Does this seem like a way to salvage the reputation of the Ursus people's warship design capabilities?

But what's peculiar about the Ursus people is that their weapons, equipment, or industrial products can be amazing or even astonishing in some ways, but then turn out incredibly stupid in others.

For example, during the late reign of Tsar Ursus, a "monster" was planned, equipped with 12 16-inch guns, displacing 45,000 tons and reaching a speed of 28 knots. However, this thing had a vertical bow and a freeboard as low as the pre-dreadnought. As a result, it was fortunate that this thing was never built, otherwise we would have seen the first bizarre ship in human history that could have its No. 1 turret submerged by waves even in good sea conditions, just by traveling at top speed.

However, this information is not something that people from other countries in this era could know. The Ursus people are extremely guarded about their little secrets regarding armor protection. If Xu Yueming can really answer the questions, then Li Che can be sure that this kid is definitely a time traveler as well.

“There’s a British saying that there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. As for what lessons we can learn, if I may be frank, it’s very likely that what we think is right now will be wrong in the future, and some decisions that seem foolish now may be valuable in the future. These are not things we can control.” Xu Yueming glanced at Ling Xiao: “Not everyone who opposes you is your enemy, Ling Xiao.”

Xu Yueming's words resonated with several people. After all, everyone knows that the process of gaining experience is like panning for gold in business. And gold... can you tell which piece of gold is noble and which piece is tainted with evil?

Ling Xiao, still somewhat unconvinced, was about to continue arguing when Li Che raised his hand. As soon as he raised his hand, everyone fell silent, waiting for the Crown Prince to speak.

“Alright, everyone,” Li Che spoke up. “Whether you looked up to the Ursus people or looked down on them before, I don’t care. But in our upcoming interactions with the Ursus people, I hope you will put aside your previous contempt for them. Earlier today, I had a conversation with that Ivanovich.”

According to him, Wilson had previously sent the federal ambassador to Russia to meet with Flamer, the governor of the Ussat Federation, to express Colombia's willingness to provide Ussat with a range of aid, including weapons, ammunition, funding, food, and industry. He emphasized that this was grant aid, not a loan, and that the Ussat Federation would not need to repay it. He stated that if the Ussat Federation was willing to rejoin the agreement and declare war on the East, Colombia would readily provide all of this.

After Li Che finished speaking, he glanced at the expressions on the faces of the others again. Xu Yueming still had that expressionless face with a hint of resentment towards the work meal, while the faces of the others were full of worry.

Although they were naval officers, they knew how much trouble Ursus, a country of such size, could cause them if it were closely allied with the Federation and armed by it.

"And what happened to those Ursus people afterward...?"

"Ussus Federation President Flamel smiled and rejected the Colombian offer. The Colombian offer was undeniably attractive to the Ussus Federation, but Flamel knew perfectly well that regardless of the previous generation's relationship between the two countries, Ussus simply had no way of seizing a seaport from the east."

At this point, Li Che could clearly see that everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, although they were not afraid of the Ursus Federation at the moment, if the Ursus Federation really became obsessed, then the Tang Dynasty would definitely be in even greater trouble.

Li Che paused for a moment before continuing, "I hope everyone will make sure that when discussing or dealing with a particular country, we can get rid of any stereotypes about that country from our minds. Do you think our Tang Dynasty is the same as the Ming Dynasty of the past?"

Similarly, the current Ursus Federation is different from the Ursus of the past. Although the current Ursus Federation controls much less land than the Ursus of the past, as I have said above, the Ursus Federation has a leader who is much more intelligent than Nicholas II.

Ladies and gentlemen, our relationship with Ursus is complicated. There are old grudges between our two countries, but now, the Ursus Federation is probably the first country in the world dominated by a new school of thought. Our Great Tang can also be considered a half-new school of thought country. In the future, our two countries will either be friends or enemies. There is no middle ground.

Therefore, regardless of whether they are future enemies or friends, our first task is to set aside our past prejudices and reassess the Ursus Federation. All the judgments we make now will influence the Emperor and the Cabinet's assessment of Ursus today.

Chapter 225 You Also Want Land Under the Sun? (Part 2)

Inside the guesthouse prepared for the Ursus delegation, Ivanovic stared with a bitter expression at a thin booklet in front of him. The few sheets of paper felt incredibly heavy in his hand.

He raised his head with some difficulty, looking at Kolchak with a complicated expression: "General Kolchak, since we are here to purchase the 330mm naval guns from the East to replace the 14-inch naval guns that we cannot obtain from Britain, why don't we use our own domestically produced 12-inch naval guns as a substitute? Since it's all temporary... I think it's not unreasonable, is it?"

“How can that be the same?” Kolchak shook his head. “Our 12-inch naval guns can only threaten 9-inch armor at most, and now our former allies have become our enemies. The committee probably doesn’t want the newly formed Red Navy to be unable to cope with the imperialist threat from the sea, does it? The 330mm naval guns in the hands of the Tang Empire are excellent. With such naval guns, at least our Red Navy can confront the super-dreadnoughts in the hands of the imperialists. And this is also the decision of the Supreme Council, isn’t it?”

Ivanovich looked at Kolchak's cold face. He didn't understand the technical issues of the navy, didn't know what caliber of naval gun could threaten what kind of armor, and didn't know whether the 330mm naval gun could actually deal with the super-dreadnought in the hands of the imperialists.

He only knew that Kolchak was telling the truth, and that this was indeed the intention of the Supreme Council of the Ursus Federation. In fact, this could be seen as a deal between the Labor Party, founded by the Ursus New School, and the Navy, led by Kolchak, and the left-wing bourgeois parties. This deal included constraints on how the two sides would govern together, the newly formed Ursus Federation government would support the construction of the navy within the limits of government finances, and a guarantee not to pursue or prosecute the Romanov royal family, in exchange for maximizing the unity of the current Ursus Federation political situation.

For the Russian Navy, completing the two Izmail-class battlecruisers is now its greatest wish. Before setting sail, Ivanovich understood these deals, but when he saw the price offered by the Tang Empire, he still felt a pang of regret.

“The Chinese didn’t ask for a high price,” Kolchak said calmly. “They didn’t even try to raise the price. We have to thank them for being at war with the Federation right now. Their production line for these 330mm cannons is running at full capacity, so we can buy these cannons at a relatively favorable price, as well as the ball bearings we desperately need right now.”

"I see..........."

"Since you understand, why are you still hesitating, Mr. Commissioner?"

"Because they want gold, General Kolchak."

As one of the members of the Supreme Council who effectively controls the purse strings of the Ursus Federation, Ivanovich is well aware that the Ursus Federation, having experienced war, needs to recover as quickly as possible, and all of this requires money.

What is money in this era? It's hard currency, it's gold!

Similarly, what do you need to pay to buy things in this era?

That's definitely genuine precious metal.

The Ursus ruble, devalued due to excessive issuance during the war, is now, while not practically worthless, it's starting to resemble the later gold yuan. Fortunately, the Ursus federal government is preparing a major move to regulate the domestic currency and financial markets, and whatever that move may be, in this era, it requires ample gold reserves as collateral.

So for Ivanovich, he really didn't want to use precious gold to buy these things from the East, but if the Ursus people said they wanted to pay in rubles, even he himself would probably be embarrassed to say it.

Of course, you can also use pounds or dollars to buy them in addition to rubles, but Ivanovich knows very well that before Tsar Ursus withdrew from the war, Nicholas II had already used almost all of the foreign exchange reserves held by the Ursus government to purchase weapons, ammunition, food and all other supplies needed during the war. What is the largest foreign exchange reserve held by the Ursus people now?

It might make people laugh out loud, but it's the damn gold mark, the gold mark issued by the Leitanians.

Of course, when people mention the mark now, they no longer say "gold mark." Does the Leitanian mark still have gold content? In this era, the gold content of currency is not just an adjective.

“The gold used to purchase these cannons shouldn’t empty our national treasury.” Kolchak clearly wasn’t going to show Ivanovich any leniency on the gold issue. After all, in essence, their relationship with the Ursus Labor Party wasn’t exactly one of mutual distrust, but at least they each had their own agendas: “Or is it that Mr. Ivanovich simply doesn’t want to fulfill his promise to the Navy?”

Ivanovich shook his head: "Mr. Kolchak, I just feel that this is really a waste. What we bought back with precious gold is just a substitute. It's not that I'm unwilling to spend money on the navy, but I just feel that if we have to spend precious gold, we should at least spend it worthwhile. I heard that the Tang Empire's navy has 420mm naval guns."

Kolchak's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected Ivanovich to say such a thing. In fact, he had underestimated Ivanovich. Ivanovich didn't really understand technology, but he understood one thing: if they spent gold to buy a replacement now, the navy might still want to upgrade it in the future, and then they would have to spend another sum of money to develop new cannons.

It would be better to directly import world-class large-caliber naval guns this time, getting it right in one step. Even if it costs more money, it would be worth it.

Kolchak took a deep breath. How could he not want to acquire 420mm naval guns? The Izmail-class battlecruisers were originally planned to be equipped with four triple-mounted 14-inch guns with 52x magnification. If they were replaced with twin-mounted turrets, they could be equipped with four twin-mounted 420mm naval guns, just like the Longyuan-class battleships of the Tang Empire. In this way, the Russian Navy would be among the world's most powerful in terms of firepower.

The Ursus Navy has had a rather bumpy road. Since the late 9th century, it has been pursuing the construction of world-class modern large warships.

In the early days, they had exemplary ships like the Rurik-class armored cruisers, but while the Rurik looked impressive, its firepower, armor, and speed were actually somewhat lacking at the time. As for battleships, due to the limited size of the Russian Navy's docks for a long time, Leitania's battleships were always smaller than the world's top-tier ships for the sake of maintenance.

This situation was not completely changed until the Izmail-class battlecruisers. If only the Izmail-class battlecruisers could be equipped with 420mm guns...

What a pity...

Kolchak sighed: "I had actually asked the Crown Prince privately before, but he firmly stated that the newest naval guns in their hands would only be exported to their closest allies, and would absolutely not be exported to us at present."