In the early 20th century, many Europeans would think of barbarism, backwardness, ignorance, dirtyness, and riots when they talk about Russia, as if they were full of illiterate peasants and homeless people. This country is keen on fighting and expanding, but has never held World Expo, Olympic Games or similar large international events. The magnificent palaces in St. Petersburg seemed to exist only in pictures and photos. Few people were willing to go through the Baltic Sea to find out. King George V of England visited everywhere, conquered the picky French in Paris, listened to the cheers of Indian people in Delhi, and went to Berlin, which he did not like very much, but had never visited St. Petersburg. The monarchs and presidents of the same era, William II, Joseph I, Emmanuele III, George Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson, rarely left footprints in Russia...

Strictly speaking, Kronstadt is just the gate of St. Petersburg, but the increasingly turbulent situation in the Russian capital made Natsushi only stop and wait and see. Nicholas II knew this very well, so during the meeting, he did not make even a courteous invitation. After the defeat, Russia was still a great empire spanning Eurasia, with an area exceeding the sum of all European countries. The size of the army after full mobilization was still a number that everyone was awe-inspiring.

How could Nicholas II bow to others easily with such a crown? In his speech, he only mentioned "cooperation" and "mutual benefit", and did not admit that his country was on the verge of collapse. Only money and food from outside could slightly alleviate the terrible crisis in front of him. However, Kokovzov, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Imperial Court, kept beating indirectly, trying to get the secret from Xia Shu to calm social conflicts and create prosperity.

At the worst of the situation, religious conflicts in Ireland did give outsiders a feeling that it was possible to lead to civil war, but in less than half a year, the crisis disappeared, and it seemed that all hidden dangers were the frost before sunrise. Most people attributed this wonderful change to the "magic power" of His Majesty Joachim, the king of Ireland. Kokovzov seemed to take it for granted. Little did they know that religious contradictions are a kind of ideological conflict. It has been a long history and has caused countless tragedies over thousands of years. The stable situation in Ireland is just a temporary quellation of the crisis of faith. It is a unity.

The governing class intentionally aroused the public's nationalist consciousness and thus diverted the social focus successfully operation. Xia Shu did not fundamentally resolve the contradiction between Protestants and Catholics. And then again, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have the same roots and origins, but there are differences in their understanding of doctrines. Protestants and Catholics living in Ireland have no conflicts between life and death, and bloody conflicts are largely instigated by a few people with ulterior motives. However, the proletarian revolution and monarchy are similar to the relationship between water and fire, and there is no possibility of peaceful coexistence at all.

If Xia Shu was allowed to take charge of the Russian regime, the fundamental way to resolve class contradictions is to change the current situation of poverty and backwardness in the country and incompetence of officials, strive to restore social order and improve the living conditions of grassroots workers. Otherwise, the general public would be hungry all day long, and the rhetoric of promoting nationalist ideas and inspiring the patriotism of the people was useless. However, Kokovzov and the monarch he served were just thinking about how to take shortcuts. They always felt that the young king with extraordinary demeanor in front of them had a solution. The reason why they looked at it was because they had not received the conditions that satisfied him.

Long before Natsuki's visit, diplomatic officials and military officers stationed in Russia in Ireland had preliminary communication with Russian officials in charge of naval affairs, and mentioned that His Majesty the King would actively promote cooperation between Ireland and various countries in the fields of industrial and military affairs. In order to show sincerity, they could consider free modification of a medium-sized or large warship for the Russian Navy. The so-called free fee is that there is no technical and labor costs during the modification process, but the required materials, equipment and weapons will still be borne by Russia.

The topic of resolving social contradictions was not discussed in one way. Nicholas II turned to the military cooperation between the two countries. Kokovzov tactfully praised the development speed of Ireland's shipbuilding and aviation industry, and talked about the modernization of the Russian navy. Nicholas II said on the spot that Russia's military procurement should not be bound by its own enterprises. For those whose country does not have manufacturing capabilities, or whose technical standards are too low and cost-effective, they should actively seek outbound purchase channels. Irish aircraft and light ships are recognized as high-quality goods in the international arms market.

Before visiting Sweden and Finland, Xia Shu each set up a modification cooperation for a warship. This is a commercial strategy to show the outside world the Irish shipbuilding skills and attract potential customers. It is also a measure to accumulate technical experience for the domestic shipyards and broaden the design ideas. Although there are a lot of money to pay in the early stage, they will inevitably be able to get enough rewards from military orders in the later stage.

In modern times, Russia has paid great attention to the development of its own military industry. From guns, ammunition, artillery and vehicles to battleships, bombers have been localized. However, on the one hand, it is subject to insufficient production capacity and on the other hand, it hopes to make up for its strengths and weaknesses through external purchases. Russia has ordered many ships from other countries to order armored cruisers in the UK, battleships in France, and cruisers and submarines in Germany. It seems to be a variety of things. Judging from the two wars Russia experienced in the early 20th century, these purchase orders did not waste money. They either brought important technical inspiration to Russian engineers, and then used them on ships built by Russia, or played an active role in the battlefield, and in turn caused considerable losses to the countries that built them.

Both sides take their own needs, and it is easy to reach an agreement, but under the current special situation, both sides have their own concerns. Xia Shu is worried about the change of Russian regime, and not only will he lose a lot of money to modify the Russian navy, but he will not make any money, and even leave behind a lot of political and diplomatic issues. With this energy and material resources, he can equip the national navy with several new submarines. Nicholas II is worried about more and more complicated things. They think that sending a too good ship to modify will leak the core technical secrets of the Russian navy. Too bad ships do not have the need for technical modification at all, and waste the "promotion gift" given by the Irish. Moreover, a ship is heading to Ireland for maintenance, and a certain number of crew members must accompany him. If these people are influenced by advanced ideas during their stay abroad and then bring the "fatal germs" back to China, wouldn't it add fuel to the fire?

Regarding these inconvenient but unanimous issues, the two sides tentatively tentatively and discussed. The long meeting time first made Nicholas II lose patience. He joked that the names of all ships with more than 1,000 tons in the port of Kronstadt were simply written on paper, and he or the King of Ireland would draw them blindly. The ship would be drawn with a blindfolded eye. Xia Shu immediately asked with a smile, what if the "Gangute" was drawn? The modernization modification cost of the dreadnought usually accounts for more than 20% of the cost of shipbuilding, and the Irish government did not prepare such a large amount of funds!

After all, jokes are jokes, and no one will take it seriously, but under this invisible urging, both sides took the highest efficiency and initially selected the Russian Navy's armored cruiser "Liulik" as the partner of this time. This warship was ordered from the UK by Tsarist Russia to supplement the losses after the Russo-Japanese War. It was built by Vickers Armstrong. It was launched in November 1906 and completed in July 1909. It has a full load displacement of 17,000 tons, with the British Minotaur, Germany's Schánhorst, France's Edgar Gune, Japan's pommel horse class, and the American Tennessee class are roughly the same magnitude rivals. These "ultimate clothing patrol patrol" are designed.

Each has its own merits, but the emergence of dreadnoughts and battlecruisers made them lose the edge of their design and construction. During the war, whether it was the United States that remained neutral or Italy and Japan who participated in the battle one after another but were far away from the main battlefield, the armored cruisers they served were basically busy and busy, either carrying out cruises, alerts, missions, or reconnaissance cover for the main fleet. The activity was among the top in various ship types, and the "Liulik" was of course no exception. At the beginning of the war, it participated in mine-branching operations against Germany as the flagship of the cruiser detachment. Later, it participated in the defense operations in the Gulf of Riga and was slightly injured in the battle with the German fleet.

As the last large warship ordered by Tsarist Russia from abroad, the role of the "Rulick" on the drawing board is the Rangers fighting in cooperation with the main fleet. Its absolute speed is not fast, but it has two dual-mounted 254mm first-class main guns and four dual-mounted 203mm second-class main guns, and is equipped with twenty 120mm caliber secondary guns. As for paper data, its protection level is comparable to that of the armored cruisers under construction in various countries at that time. However, the criticized tube damage efficiency of Tsarist Russian ships greatly reduced the battlefield survival ability of the warships, and what embarrassed the Russian Navy was that by the end of the war, the sailors on many ships refused to fight due to poor food, and the new flagship "Gangute" actually had a sailor mutiny due to such reasons.

Nicholas II did not make a decision on the spot, and Xia Shu did not make a clear attitude. The two sides had an intention to cooperate, and the corresponding matters were left to continue negotiations between diplomatic and military officials of both sides. Although the two monarchs would still meet at the dinner table, the formal meeting ended here. The next morning, the Irish king and his party would board the ship and leave.
Chapter completed!