Chapter Thirty: Valuing Substance

  Although Feng Chengqian strongly opposed it, Bismarck still negotiated with Austria-Hungary and Italy in an orderly manner.

  Looking back on the events that had occurred, especially those before he came to this world, Feng Chengqian realized that what he did was of no help in changing the two major alliance groups of World War I. Because before 1888, Germany and Russia had already broken up economically, and it was inevitable for France and Russia to form a military alliance. The German Empire had no choice but to ally with Austria-Hungary and Italy, forming the Axis powers. In order to prevent the German Empire from dominating Europe through the Axis powers, Britain's foreign policy would definitely make a 180-degree turn, joining hands with France and Russia to counter the German Empire, eventually forming the Triple Entente.

  If Feng Chongyi had arrived in 1880, or even 1885, this would not have happened.

  On the European continent, the best ally for the German Second Empire was not the weak Austria-Hungary, nor the unreliable Italy, but the Russian Empire in the east.

  In fact, there was no serious conflict between the German Empire and Tsarist Russia.

  The German-Russian relations suddenly turned straight down, with both internal factors of Russia and internal factors of the Second German Empire.

  In the history familiar to Feng Chongqi, the factors of the Second German Empire are more prominent, and the root is in Chancellor Bismarck.

  Strictly speaking, it should be Bismarck representing the Junker aristocratic interest group.

  In the wars of unification of Northern Germany, the Prussian Junker aristocracy played a crucial role and after the establishment of the Second German Empire, the Junker aristocracy controlled the upper echelons of the empire, determined its basic policies and became the main drag on the empire.

  It should be known that the basis of the Junker aristocratic group is the manor farm, representing the big landlord class.

  In the age of industrialization, the Junker aristocracy was of no help to the Empire.

  Bismarck was not unaware of this point but had no way to change it because he himself was a Junker nobleman who owned vast tracts of land.

  The result was that after the Franco-Prussian War Bismarck's economic policies were primarily aimed at protecting the landowning class.

  This is also the root of the contradictions between Germany and Russia.

  The Tsarist Russia was originally a backward feudal empire and a major exporter of agricultural products, Bismarck's protectionist policies for agriculture were equivalent to touching the vital interests of Russian landowners.

  Although the situation has changed, some enlightened Junker nobles have turned to industry and formed a brand new interest group that actively supports industrial development and becomes an industrial interest group. However, the trouble left by Bismarck has not been thoroughly eliminated, and the relationship between Germany and Russia can no longer be reconciled.

  In 1888, Germany and Russia had already completely broken off relations.

  Once Feng Chengqian understood this, he felt relieved.

  The clouds of war have appeared, what should be done?

  After talking with Frederick III, von Sch?nberg spent several days carefully thinking through the events of the past few years.

  Immediately embark on a naval armaments race with Britain?

  Unless Feng Chengqian wants to die a little earlier or hopes that the Second German Empire will be destroyed in the hands of Frederick III, he absolutely cannot do so.

  Find ways to improve relations with Britain?

  Feng Chengqian wanted to do so, but he knew that Bismarck and Waldersee strongly advocated for an alliance with Austria and Italy, and Frederick III could not oppose it. Therefore, improving relations with Britain had no practical significance, as long as the German-Austrian-Italian axis was formed, Britain would join the Franco-Russian camp.

  Win over other allies?

  Looking around the world, there are only two countries worth fighting for in the Second German Empire: one is the United States across the Atlantic and the other is Japan in the Far East.

  In Feng Chengqian's familiar history, these two countries will soon grow and prosper.

  In essence, both the United States and Japan were emerging industrial nations facing the same problem as the German Empire: they needed overseas markets to develop their domestic industries. Due to its small home territory and lack of resources, Japan also needed to acquire overseas resource-producing areas.

  That is to say, the United States and Japan also have conflicting interests with old imperial powers such as Britain, France, and Russia.

  Having common interests does not necessarily mean having an alliance foundation.

  The United States is vast and rich in resources, actively developing its western regions. The country's own resources and market are sufficient to support industrial development, so there is no need for overseas colonies for the time being. Even if the United States needs overseas colonies ten years later, it will focus on the American continent, without direct conflict with Britain and France.

  Japan's national strength is still very weak and can only dominate the Far East in the short term, which is not enough to have an impact on the European situation.

  More importantly, the German Empire is already at the forefront of the storm, and emerging countries like the United States and Japan are more willing to see the German Empire challenge Britain rather than help it challenge Britain, so as to reap the benefits after the old and new empires engage in a life-and-death struggle.

  It's clear that neither the US nor Japan is reliable.

  Emotionally, Feng also did not wish for an alliance between the German Empire and Japan.

  Without any other allies to gain, the German Second Empire had to rely on two less reliable allies.

  Feng Chengqian had a very straightforward idea, that on the European continent, the German army was invincible, and even if France and Russia joined forces, they might not be able to defeat the Second German Empire, and even with the addition of Britain, it would still be difficult to gain an advantage. The Achilles' heel of the Second German Empire was the ocean, which few people paid attention to.

  If Germany had won at sea, the German Empire would have definitely won World War I.

  World history will also change because of this!

  After understanding, Feng Chengqian realized that he had to maximize the chances of winning for the German Empire in the ocean battlefield and build a powerful navy for the empire.

  Of course, this does not mean competing with Britain in a shipbuilding race.

  If it were merely a question of which could build the most ships, the German Empire would not be in the same class with England. For England only needs a strong navy, while Germany requires both a strong navy and an even stronger army. More important still is the fact that England has vast overseas colonies, possesses resources far greater than those of the German Empire, and has more money to spend on shipbuilding.

  To beat Britain in a naval armaments competition, one must pay attention to quality, that is, the performance of warships.

  Fortunately, this is exactly where Feng Chengqian excels.

  At the end of the year, von Tirpitz submitted a revised naval development plan to Frederick III, and for the next three years, construction of main force vessels continued at a rate of one per year. What was different was that von Tirpitz greatly increased research funding, which in 1893 alone reached as much as 18 million Imperial Marks.

  During deliberations, Feng's naval budget plan was met with Bismarck's firm opposition.

  In Bismarck's view, it was unnecessary to spend so much money on scientific research, as that was the business of private enterprise and had little to do with the imperial government.

  Feng Chengqian did not back down but instead directly tendered his resignation.

  If Bismarck did not approve of his submitted naval budget report, he would resign to the German Emperor.

  Bismarck was a clever man and knew the relationship between von Caprivi and the Kaiser. More importantly, the Kaiser had become extremely dissatisfied with this nearly eighty-year-old Chancellor. If, for the sake of the naval budget, he forced the Kaiser to choose between the Naval Minister and the Chancellor, even if Bismarck remained, it could not be guaranteed that the Kaiser would not replace the Chancellor a few years later and reappoint the former Naval Minister.

  After all, it's just 1.8 million Reichsmarks.

  In the end, Bismarck made concessions and approved the naval budget submitted by von Caprivi.

  The pre-dreadnought battleship of the German Empire built in 1893 was named SMS Kurfürst, also known as Blutkurfürst.

  This is a typical battleship.

  Feng Chengqian did not go to extremes, after all, the first three main battleships had such or other defects, and none of them could be considered a true main battleship.

  Although the Kaiser trusted him completely, the Imperial Treasury, which was responsible for managing naval expenditures, raised objections.

  The standard displacement of "Kronprinz" was only 14,000 tons, equipped with four twin-mounted 300mm gun turrets. In order to facilitate the layout of the boiler room and the engine room, turret B was located between No. 1 and No. 2 funnels, and turret C was located between No. 2 and No. 3 funnels. As a main battleship with relatively balanced firepower, protection, and speed, the maximum speed of "Kronprinz" could only reach 18 knots, which was on par with contemporary main battleships. The thickness of the main armor belt was 280mm, slightly higher than that of the British Royal Navy's contemporary main battleships.

  The "Karl der Grosse" was probably too mediocre in all respects to attract much attention from the Royal Navy.

  Not being valued by the British Royal Navy is probably a good thing.

  Strictly speaking, the "SMS Erzherzog Karl" was already very close to the later "Dreadnoughts", i.e. modern battleships, only many technologies were still lagging behind. For example, the 45-caliber 300mm naval gun developed by Krupp had not yet been born, so the short-barreled cannon was still used, with extremely limited armor-piercing capability. Also, for example, steam turbines were still under development, and only triple-expansion steam engines could be adopted.

  All of these were taken into account by Feng Chongqi and incorporated into the design of the "Karl Prince".

  The most obvious one is that the "Karl Crown Prince" has a draft of 6.4 meters, so after the technical breakthrough, it can be upgraded to enhance its combat capability through large-scale modernization. According to Feng Chengqian's estimate, equipped with long-barreled guns, oil-fired boilers and steam turbines, the "Karl Crown Prince" is enough to compete with the "Dreadnought" warship, becoming a true battleship that can be used in an all-out war.

  Twenty years after its completion, "SMS Kronprinz" took part in World War I.

  This battleship was the only pre-dreadnought of the seven built by the Imperial Navy before 1895 to participate in a regular naval battle during World War I.

  However, building "Kaiserin Augusta" was not the main work of the Imperial Navy in 1893.

  For Feng Chengqian, the biggest problem was how to spend 1.8 million Reichsmarks in research funding and where it would be most worthwhile to spend it.