Chapter 17: European Journey (Part 1)

  Zhou Yu ordered Zhang Long and others to find a deep water area on Coco Island to establish a medium-sized ship repair factory, and set up some relatively hidden defensive measures, prohibiting outsiders from entering, and driving away all humans on the island.

  When Zhang Long and the others arrived, Zhou Yu gave Zhang Long a set of materials about treasure hunting and repeatedly reminded him that he must wait until he had his own ocean-going fleet before excavating the treasure, requiring him to conduct exploration and excavation under strict secrecy.

  Under Zhang Long's strange and intense gaze, Zhou Yu, who was very satisfied, embarked on his journey to Europe.

  Originally, Zhou Yu was planning to go to South America to take a look and see if there were any good development opportunities.

  Due to time constraints, he had no choice but to extinguish this idea, as a large batch of precision mechanical installations was waiting at home.

  Zhou Yu traveled to the United States and boarded a cruise ship. During his voyage from the US to Europe, he compiled a large amount of data and books that would be crucial for his future development, as well as materials needed for upcoming transactions in Europe. By the time he had everything ready, the cruise ship he was on safely arrived in Europe.

  In Europe, the first iron and blood prime minister of the German Empire, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, was discussing with those German diplomatic ministers in the conference hall: the feasibility report on the signing of the "Triple Alliance" treaty between the German Empire and Italy, Austria-Hungary. A guard rushed in hastily and whispered something in Bismarck's ear.

  Bismarck was very unhappy at first

  When he finished listening to the report of the Chief Guard, his tightly knitted eyebrows also came down with him. After thinking for a moment, he said to everyone: He had something very urgent to deal with and asked them to continue discussing. Bismarck hastily rushed to the small reception hall outside the Berlin Conference Hall.

  What was the reason that made Bismarck, who was usually violent, so cautious? It turned out that his good friend in America, Mr. Motley, had introduced a very important friend to him and asked him to take good care of this matter.

  Bismarck was well aware of the character of his young friend, Mr. Motley, whose temperament was extremely steady and quite opposite to his own; now that Mr. Motley had introduced someone with such solemnity, he still needed to be cautious.

  When Bismarck entered the small reception room outside the conference hall, he found that there was only one Asian-looking young man sitting quietly in the reception room with a steady and solemn appearance. He didn't see the important figure he had imagined. Could it be Mr. Motley, who was introduced by Zheng?

  The young man stood up from the sofa as soon as Bismarck came in, made a very standard European old noble courtesy to Bismarck, and asked him in authentic Prussian language:

  "Most respected Prime Minister, I apologize for disturbing your official duties, but I have a very important and confidential project concerning your country that requires a face-to-face discussion with you. Is it convenient for you at the moment?"

  "A very important and confidential project, are you certain, sir?" Bismarck furrowed his brow, with a hint of displeasure, two parts skepticism and seven parts anticipation.

  "I am quite certain that it is necessary for me to kindly remind the Prime Minister that my project includes technical data of the British Admiral-class battleship 'Collingwood', which was launched on July 12, 1880."

  "There are also drawings and technical data of the British ironclad battleship HMS Fury, which was launched in Portsmouth in February 1874 and is about to enter service."

  "HMS Collingwood, a British Royal Navy battleship, can be said to be the first truly open-turret type battleship in Britain. Its overall layout is similar to that of HMS Devastation, with one main turret at the front and rear along the centerline, and a large superstructure in between equipped with secondary guns and light guns."

  Its armor belt had an outer layer of heavy iron plating, and an inner lining of a very hard and resilient wood called "yew". Its watertight compartments, deck armor, turret armor, and conning tower armor were all double-layered.

  "HMS Venerable, a British Royal Navy battleship, 104.85m long, 22.86m wide, 8.02m draft, standard displacement 10,880 tons, full load displacement 11,880 tons."

  "Powered by a Kangpong-style steam engine, twin-screw propulsion, 6,500 horsepower, maximum coal capacity of 1,300 tons. One 800-volt generator. Cruising speed 12.5 knots, maximum speed 14.73 knots."

  Crew: 440-470 people. Two twin-mounted 406mm main guns, one on each side, with a weight of up to eighty tons per gun. Eight 102mm secondary guns and twelve machine guns.

  Four 356mm torpedo tubes, equipped with Whitehead torpedoes. The main guns were mounted in the middle of the hull, between two funnels, and could be freely rotated by hydraulic machinery.

  Due to the barrel being too long, unfavorable for reloading, the main gun was designed to be freely elevated from an armored slope, allowing the main gun to be reloaded repeatedly on the main deck.

  Its armor belt outer layer also wrapped with heavy iron armor, inner lining a layer of very solid and yet not lacking in toughness of the wood.

  Its watertight compartments, deck armor, turret armor and command tower armor were all double-layered. The outer layer of the command tower's armor was 508 mm iron plating, while the inner layer was a 533 mm teak layer.

  When Zhou Yutou finished speaking these materials, he looked at Bismarck with a calm and leisurely expression.

  Bismarck's eyes lit up, the British Royal Navy's technical data on the battleship HMS Collingwood and HMS Iron Duke, which the German Empire had tried many ways to spy on but failed.

  He actually knew so much detail, a lot of which even the German intelligence department didn't know, making him have to believe in the authenticity of the matter, and he was full of expectation.

  Everyone may have guessed that this person is Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu got to know Mr. Motley from America through Morgan, and for this, Zhou Yu even spent a little money on Motley, because Zhou Yu knew; relying on himself as an ordinary Chinese to see Bismarck, the difficulty was no less than that of a three-year-old child defeating Tyson in his prime on the boxing ring.

  So based on his own knowledge; he found Bismarck's young friend Motley, and went to see Bismarck in a roundabout way.

  To be on the safe side, Bismarck took Zhou Yu to a secret room and called in Germany's most famous shipbuilding experts at the time, as well as some other mechanical experts, for a secret meeting with Zhou Yu.

  In the secret room, Zhou Yu took out detailed drawings and technical data of the British Royal Navy's "Collingwood" battleship.

  In addition, Zhou Yu also obtained the drawings and technical data of the impulse turbine, reaction turbine, Mauser 98b rifle, 7.92mm×57mm ammunition, penicillin, smokeless powder, hand grenades, small steel cannons, alkaline open-hearth steelmaking method, etc., which were invented by Laval, Wei Han and others.

  The negotiations ultimately resulted in a secret and undisclosed agreement between the German Empire and the Zhongyuan loyal and brave military organization represented by Zhou Yu.

  The secret agreement stipulates that the German and Zhongyong armies form a strategic partnership. If the Zhongyong army unifies China, Germany will be the first to recognize it as a legitimate state and establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.

  Previously, Germany provided the Zhongyong Jun organization with free advanced precision machinery and equipment, including eight times telescopes, torpedo production lines, submarine production lines, various shipyard production lines, boiler production lines, steel smelting production lines, power generation production lines, Krupp gun production lines, bullet shell explosive production lines, steam engine production lines, etc. technical data and related technical personnel.

  These are the materials and personnel that Zhou Yu urgently needs now.

  Deutschland also provided free assistance to Zhou Yu in cultivating various technical talents.

  Zhou Yu also obtained two German 'Sachsen' class main battleships that had just been in service for less than half a year, twenty large ocean-going freighters, and related technical training personnel support, all of which were requested by Zhou Yu.

  Zhou Yu promised to provide the latest intelligence on British battleships within twenty years, and in the Middle East, Zhou Yu would contain the development of France and Russia.

  Zhou Yu also provided his self-developed, unpatented 1814 Tai Shan heavy machine gun for free. The 1814 Tai Shan heavy machine gun was manufactured based on the German MG08 heavy machine gun. The propellant used is Zhou Yu's own invention of smokeless powder.

  Finally, the 1814 Taishan heavy machine gun and smokeless powder projectile explosive, Zhou Yu only owned the production rights, De Yi Zhi owned the production patent rights and sales rights, and sold the patent rights to De Yi Zhi for ￡70 million. The 1814 Taishan heavy machine gun and smokeless powder projectile explosive, except for Zhou Yu's own production and use, are not allowed to be sold externally.

  Actually, Zhou Yu never wanted his troops to use the Taisan heavy machine gun; he had even better technology that hadn't been brought out yet!

  The 1814 Taishan heavy machine gun is

  The first truly successful automatic firearm powered by gunpowder. It had a caliber of 11.43 mm, weighed 27.2 kg, used a short recoil operation with a water-cooled barrel;

  It uses a fabric belt with 333 rounds, 6.4 meters long, for ammunition supply, the belt can be continuous, theoretical rate of fire is 600 rounds/min, it can fire single shots or bursts; also can be adjusted to slow rate of fire at 100 rounds/min through a rate reducer.

  The 1914 Type Heavy Machine Gun had a complex structure and used a water-cooled barrel, which made it rather cumbersome. The canvas ammunition belt became unreliable when dampened.

  The negotiations were conducted very smoothly under the accompaniment of professionals, and after the negotiations, Zhou Yu had a private conversation with William I, the atmosphere was very friendly and harmonious.

  William I was a very enlightened emperor, who dedicated his life to the unification and strengthening of Germany, just like Chancellor Bismarck. He did not advocate for colonialism or racial discrimination. He expressed understanding and support for Zhou Yu's dedication to the ideal of national strength and unity.

  After the end of the talks with William I, Zhou Yu declined William I's suggestion to visit Germany at the grassroots level and asked Germany to load the materials onto ships as soon as possible and transport them to Hawaii and Vietnam. He bid farewell to William I and a few high-ranking German officials, including Bismarck, to carry out his own second European plan, seeking scientific talents and partners.

  Nikola Tesla was a man of fate in later generations, and he was not well known to the world.

  Greatest inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer.

  For more than a year now, Nikola Tesla has often had the image of an Oriental young man appearing in his mind, as if summoning him, which makes him very distressed.