At three o'clock in the afternoon, Xia Shu arrived at the Imperial Navy office on time. The coffee in the roundtable conference hall was fragrant, and familiar faces were filled with expressions of joy and entanglement.

As usual, Xia Shu walked silently to the far position, shaking hands with the officials who stood up to greet him in the middle.

"Everyone is here!" As soon as the Navy State Secretary sitting in the front spoke, the conference hall was so quiet that people's heartbeat could almost be heard.

"I met His Majesty the Emperor in the morning. His Majesty expressed deep gratitude for the passage of the Amendment to the Naval Law, and also expressed great concern for our new battleship project. He hoped that we could leverage the German nation's talent in mechanical engineering and design and build powerful battleships that aim to the world. The imperial royal family and all citizens will be our strong backing."

After the high-sounding opening, Tirpitz quickly got to the point:

"The latest information we have obtained shows that the new warships under construction in the UK plan to be equipped with 10 main guns of the same caliber and the same caliber, and to be equipped with the exact same dual-mounted turret. These guns have the ability to fire at the same target, and the attack power at medium and long distances is unprecedentedly powerful. Yesterday I considered it all night and felt that the most important issue now is not to confirm whether this information is true, but whether it is necessary for us to adopt a unified main gun design on the new first-class battleship."

No one interrupted, every ear was listening carefully.

Tirpitz then added: "According to the same information, the standard displacement of the new British battleship is about 18,000 tonnes, and the combat displacement is bound to exceed 20,000 tons, which is larger than any active battleship."

This time, the chairman of the Royal Navy Technical Committee and the respected Earl of Von Warren said: "It has been a year since the Battle of Ma, and we have conducted a very comprehensive and thorough study of it. As for that naval battle alone, the large-caliber main gun of the battleship did play a decisive role, but it seems too early to conclude that the combination of the large-caliber main gun and the medium-caliber rapid-fire gun has fallen behind. If the new British warship is indeed equipped with five main turrets with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, its speed and protection will not be significantly improved compared with previous battleships, and may even be less than that."

Someone nodded at the round table, and most people continued to remain silent.

In order not to let this crucial discussion go astray, Xia Shu decided to give some reminders to these first-class professional quality but lacking imagination. He said in a verdict: "Ask the absurd to insert a sentence. With the information I personally obtained, the British have two technologies that are worthy of our attention. One is the Parsons steam turbine and the other is the fire control system of the entire ship. The former greatly increases the output power at the cost of consuming a large amount of fuel, which means that large ships can achieve higher speeds than before; the latter is suitable for centralized command of the same type of naval gun, which is conducive to improving the fire density and hit rate at medium and long distances."

His views were decisive and clear, and Earl Von Warren asked back: "Does His Highness have any information sources, or is it just the rich imagination of genius?"

Xia Shu looked at the old Count who was over 70 years old and responded calmly: "Thanks to the speedboat trade throughout Europe, I have established a credible personal relationship with some well-informed people. The news they dug up from British shipbuilding companies has a high credibility. The British did test their Parsons steam turbines on large ships, which is also a major reason why I strongly recommended to install the same type of equipment on our large cruisers two years ago. As for the fire control system of the whole ship, I can be sure that the British have invested a lot of energy in this regard. Its role is like equip the artillery command with a group of staff who are good at calculating ballistic parameters. Although it is not yet possible to trigger a technological revolution, it will be an amazing improvement to the traditional measurement and control mode."

Faced with the Prussian prince who was only one quarter of his age, Earl Warren was not angry: "Even as His Highness said, we still cannot be sure of the actual effect of the steam turbine, unified main gun and the fire control system of the entire ship. Who can say that what the British spent huge amounts of money to build must not be a failed warship?"

In the past, Xia Shu only made some improvement suggestions when the overall design plan of the ship was determined. As he grew older, his experience accumulated and the countdown to the war progressed, he felt that he had the ability and was necessary to participate in the construction of the German naval in a more direct way. Faced with the prestige of Count Von Warren, Xia Shu neither put on an aggressive stance nor made a concession: "If we can be 100% sure, we don't have to discuss it here. In the absence of accurately predicting the future, many things have to take risks."

Everyone was silent.

Chief Engineer of the Royal German Navy Technical Committee, who replaced the recognized best candidate for Earl Von Warren, said: "Your Highness's attitude reminds me of the large cruiser projects of the C and D two years ago. We were all very surprised at that time. I wonder if Your Highness will come up with a surprising general design plan this time?"

"His Majesty the Emperor did not appoint me as the chief designer."

Although Xia Shu smiled and shrugged her shoulders while posing as a naughty boy, the weight of this was not light. Bruckner, who had a big back, suddenly changed his face. He would eventually realize that the friendly, gentle, patient and meticulous little prince had grown up and was a tiger, and one day he would show his domineering power that could not be violated. Moreover, background determines strength. Even if his talent is peerless, Bruckner would not be able to fight with the emperor's favorite prince.

Bruckner, who has overwhelmed his aura but was not steady enough, still maintained a peaceful peace of honor and disgrace. He looked around everyone: "To provide reference for everyone, I brought some interesting gadgets today."

With a distinctive personal characteristic routine, Xia Shu left the table and came to the window, whistled, and then returned to his position as if nothing had happened. After waiting for everyone with curiosity, about five minutes later, two royal servants carried a large suitcase that looked quite heavy into the conference hall. They carefully placed the box on the ground as if they were treating antiques, opened the box, and put the items inside on the table one by one.

The boxes are neither gold nor treasures, but exquisite ship models. They are similar in size to champagne bottles, and they are exquisite in detail and paint coating. The main and secondary turrets, open-air cant stands, along with the rudder and propeller, and the barrel elevation angle and antenna expansion are strictly made according to actual data. In terms of workmanship and quality, they are no less than the design models used for initial evaluation by the Navy's technical department.

"They were from the most skilled carpenters in the Royal Friedrich shipyard, and they included the most representative battleships in the world in the past decade: Britain's Awesomeness, Duncan, Fast and Edward VII, the American Indiana, Chilshazhi, Illinois and Maine, Russia's Petropavlovsk, Peresvet, Borodino, Japan's Mikasa, Kato, Samoy, France's Charlie Martel, the Emperor of Charlemagne, Italy's Queen Margaret, and of course our Vicchelsbach class, Brunswick class and German class."
Chapter completed!