After the naval treaty was officially signed, negotiations on warship equipment and technology transactions between the Ming Dynasty and the European and American countries began immediately.
The attitude of representatives from the Ming Dynasty was no different than before the treaty negotiations began.
Some Thais even feel that Ming people seem to be a little more enthusiastic.
After the start of a new round of negotiations between Austria and Ming Dynasty for naval technical support, and after the first day of the meeting, the relevant officials and engineers involved in the negotiations mentioned this point during the internal discussion and summary.
The person in charge of the negotiations, Austria’s new Foreign Minister Metternich, simply sighed and said:
"The attitude of people in Ming Dynasty has indeed changed for the better, and the reason is of course very simple.
“Because after the signing of the naval treaty, the number and size of orders they can obtain from European countries, and even the probability of completing orders, will definitely increase significantly.
"For the people of Ming Dynasty, some countries that actually have little negotiation value and most likely won't buy anything may buy it after the naval treaty is officially signed and made public.
“For countries like the Netherlands, there are also three entangled ‘enemies’, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
"Their navy and maritime power have already completely declined, or they were never really strong.
"In the words of Ming Dynasty, it is no longer possible to be on the stage.
"Now the naval treaty nominally equals all countries, but it gives them a nominal opportunity to be on the 'table' again.
“In the current environment where public opinion is unprecedentedly prosperous, the monarchs and courts of the four countries must work harder.
“They are likely to build one or two small new battleships as the last face-saving symbol of their country and royal family.
“It is slightly possible for the Netherlands to design and build completely independently, but it is obviously too troublesome and difficult to achieve the ideal target performance, not to mention the other three countries.
"The treaty also stipulates that imports from other European countries are prohibited, so they can only ask Ming Dynasty for help.
“Countries like the Netherlands, even if they do not import finished Ming warships as a whole, they still have to buy a large amount of Ming warship weapons and equipment.
"Then under the guidance of Ming craftsmen, I worked hard to build a hull and found a way to assemble it into a warship.
“For the Netherlands, this kind of warship is still of some use, and they still retain some of their colonies.
“For Sweden, the symbolic significance is greater than the practical significance. Anyway, it is impossible to defeat Lucia in the Baltic Sea.
“Then, countries that may have only had a small number of low-to-medium target warship needs may have their targets doubled after signing a naval treaty.
“Italy and Portugal, for example, Italy itself is on the rise and wants a stronger force to prove itself, and they will probably strive for the target tonnage stipulated in the naval treaty.
"Portugal is a weak local power. After losing Brazil, it is no longer a strong naval power. The development and construction of new colonies in Mexico have taken up most of their energy.
“But in the current environment, they must work hard to maintain their status, and they will also work hard to achieve the target tonnage, but they may not be able to achieve it...
"There is also the Ottomans. In order to maintain their country and delay the collapse of their country, their sultan must invest enough in the construction of the navy and colonies.
“Whether it is the practical value of the navy itself, the symbolic value to the country and its people, or the trade value of continuing to maintain relations with the Ming Dynasty, they will push them to do as well as possible...
“Finally, in addition to these countries that have more or less problems, the remaining major independent countries in Europe, including us, which are relatively balanced in strength, will also need to re-examine their cooperation plans based on treaties and situations.
“Before there was a treaty, we originally only considered purchasing some equipment. After signing this naval treaty, we have to seriously consider a plan to customize the entire ship.
“Because even if we don’t adopt it, other countries may adopt it.
"The warships we design and build by ourselves will definitely lag behind the Ming Dynasty plan in terms of overall craftsmanship and final performance parameters within the 40,000-ton range."
At the end of his speech, Metternich once again opened a document in front of him. The diplomats of the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty, as well as two drafts of different classes of ship designs provided by the Ministry of Industry Shipyard and the Royal Shipyard.
A member of the royal family who was observing the meeting, Archduke Karl, also flipped through the documents in front of him.
"Design Plan for a 40,000-ton Battleship of the Paris Naval Treaty Type—Austria-Special Version."
Before the relevant ideas of the European and Western countries were sorted out, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty had already put together this preliminary plan.
Archduke Karl couldn't help mumbling his thoughts to himself:
"It seems that Ming Dynasty really doesn't mind the naval treaty we signed, and directly marked the most formal name of the naval treaty on the plan given to us.
"This is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty's official relevant agencies, which have semi-formally recognized the existence of this treaty, and will not ignore it when encountering related matters in the future.
“The actual cooperation plan itself has not changed at all compared to before the naval treaty was signed.
"The accompanying conditions are basically the same as those informed before the negotiations began. They have not changed due to the emergence of the treaty, and may even have become more relaxed.
“They also explained directly in accordance with our naval treaty that all equipment and weapons, including related technologies, within the scope of the naval treaty can be exported.
"A power module that allows a 40,000-ton battleship to run at 30 knots, a 360mm gun with a caliber of less than 45 times the caliber, a true triple-mounted turret with all gun barrels that can be tilted independently...
"All these technical difficulties that we are currently unable to overcome, Daming can now directly transfer to us."
Archduke Karl said the previous words with emotion and excitement, but at the end he suddenly changed the subject:
"However, this situation does not allow me to relax. On the contrary, it is the situation that makes us feel the most stressed..."
Metternich nodded immediately after hearing this:
“Although this attitude shows that Ming Dynasty recognizes the existence of this treaty, it also shows that Ming Dynasty does not care about the ultimate goal shown in our treaty...
"We in Austria... want to achieve the goal of 750,000 tons of new warships stipulated in the treaty, which may be more difficult than Ming's goal of 7.5 million tons..."
Archduke Karl was not particularly familiar with the navy, but his understanding of the country's status and military aspects could be considered outstanding in this era.
After Archduke Karl was melancholy for a while, he asked other people's opinions more seriously and formally:
"So, do we want to use Ming's overall plan? That is, the new warship will use Ming's technology as a whole.
“As for how much finished equipment to purchase and how much technology to introduce, the relevant proportions will not be discussed for now.
"In terms of design plan, should we choose this way? Or should we design it ourselves?"
After hearing this, Metternich looked at the naval generals and engineering staff, and then explained his personal thoughts:
“The most ideal situation is, of course, for Daming to directly provide a technology transfer agreement without any strings attached.
"But that's impossible. Relevant personnel in Daming have already revealed it. There is no room for discussion on this point.
“Technical support must correspond to market opening and continue to be economically bound with market transactions to avoid conflicts.
“This is the future foreign strategy that both the Ming Emperor and Prince Dashi have made clear.
“The second best idea is that we adopt selectively and learn selectively.
“But as I said before, we don’t use it, other countries may use it.
"Our naval foundation is already relatively poor. If we selectively use and design our own warships, other people's warships may have already been put into service, and ours have not yet been launched.
“The performance of the warships eventually built will be significantly lower than that of other countries...
"There is another very critical issue. Everyone should pay special attention to the optional secondary capital ship plan in the appendix.
"The last one has a full load displacement of 30,000 tons, a maximum speed of 28 knots, a 300mm main armor, the use of four twin-mounted 360mm main guns, and a maximum range of 8,000 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots. .
“According to Daming, this type of plan was originally prepared for countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway, but it will also be recommended to other countries. If we need secondary capital ships, we can also choose it.
“These indicators have actually reached or even exceeded the limits that most European countries can achieve...
"The 40,000-ton French and British warships are at this level...
“In other words, if we don’t upgrade, don’t use Ming Dynasty’s technology, and build a more advanced 40,000-ton warship.
“Then countries like the Netherlands and Sweden may obtain better warships than us.
“Italy and Portugal can even directly use this kind of warship as a battleship.
"Even if Prussia and even Lucia choose, they can use the same total tonnage of 320,000 tons to obtain two more battleships with the same performance than us..."
“This indicator plan is presented to us, which can be said to be another strategy and pressure.
“Forcing us and countries like Prussia, Lucia, and Italy to adopt the Ming Dynasty plan to build new battleships.
"So my suggestion is to directly use the Ming Dynasty plan as a whole. This is also a way to express sincerity to Ming Dynasty..."
The relevant personnel listened to Metternich's explanation, looked through the plans in their hands, and finally fell silent.
In the end, Austria's internal discussion had nothing to discuss.
Metternich had thoroughly analyzed the situation, and Austria actually had no choice.
The actual situation is indeed like this. When the Austrians studied the Ming Dynasty's plan, the Prussians, Lucians, French, British, Italians, and Portuguese also encountered similar situations.
Representatives from each country also have a very similar design plan for a naval treaty-type capital ship in front of or in their hands.
Except for the difference in the suffix "specific to a certain country" in the name, the content of the plan itself is highly consistent.
Austria-specific does not mean that the plans in this document are specifically designed for Austria.
Rather, it refers to the paper document itself, which is intended to be specially given to the Austrians.
Do not take the documents prepared for Austria to Prussia for use.
The Naval Treaty stipulates the upper limit of the main indicators of warships, and all countries must abide by it.
Therefore, after the naval treaty is officially signed, the shipbuilding target plans of the major European and Western countries will of course be highly consistent.
When the relevant personnel of Daming are making these specific sales plans, they can directly use one draft for the negotiation strategies and agreement texts of similar countries and even the design draft itself.
Even the design itself is not new, it is a fine-tuned version of the early Ming Dynasty's 40,000-ton high-speed battleship.
Just rearrange it, print it out, add the words specific to a certain country and send it over.
You don't even need to translate the other party's language, you can directly use the plain text version, which can be understood by the other party's officials, engineers, and naval generals.
Even if many similar professional documents are available in their own language, the relevant personnel will read the plain text version.
Because of their early learning and long-term exposure, they are more familiar with the special vocabulary and symbols of the Great Plains.
All kinds of professional books and drawing documents are mainly in plain text, and the wording in the plain text version is more standardized and unified.
Switching to the translated version in the native language may seem more laborious.
People who really can't understand Ming Dynasty documents are basically not qualified to participate in this level of discussion.
Under such circumstances, including diplomats, shipyards, engineering and related sales staff, their workload has been greatly reduced, and there is an increase in orders that can be seen with the naked eye. Can they be unhappy...
The plans for those secondary countries that were not prepared to negotiate seriously were also more serious.
Daming's negotiators in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and other countries first provided them with two newly designed small high-speed battleship plans with a full load of 20,000 tons and 30,000 tons.
The speed can be selected from 25 knots to 30 knots. The main gun can be selected from four twin mounts with a caliber of 300 mm, three to four triple mounts with a caliber of 300 mm, and four twin mounts with a caliber of 360 mm. choose.
If a new ship of 20,000 tons still feels expensive, Daming has also prepared a plan that looks "more affordable".
A plan to carry out fearless transformation based on the original traditional battleship.
At least the 240mm main gun of the original armored cruiser can be used.
The traditional naval countries of the Ming Dynasty and Western Europe have a large number of traditional battleships waiting to be retired.
After the new battleships are put into service, these ships will have no use.
Even if the main gun can be changed to a fearless type, there is no way to change the shape of the hull.
Even if no expense was spared and the ship was gutted and replaced with new boilers and turbines, it would still be difficult to increase the speed to more than twenty-five knots.
Such a 10,000 to 20,000-ton warship, placed in the new generation navy, has very limited combat effectiveness.
However, many of the ships are actually not very old, and it would be a pity to dismantle them now.
On the contrary, it is a feasible plan to transform it and sell it as a battleship to countries that do not have high demand in the first place.
Even if they are sold at cost price, it will definitely be considered a profit for the country that wants to eliminate them.
In response to the special circumstances of Denmark and Norway, Daming also provided a low-speed gunboat solution for inland seas with small boats carrying cannons.
However, except for the one modified from the Ming Dynasty's original 40,000-ton plan, the plans for the other secondary battleships are very simple.
At present, it seems that it can only be regarded as a direction and a feasible choice. Only when a certain country is determined to use it will it be perfected into a formal design plan, and formal drawings will be produced after a purchase agreement is signed.
In the first step of this cooperation negotiation, regarding the selection of the target ship type, in fact, major countries such as Lucia, Prussia, and Austria have little room for choice.
They can only use the 40,000-ton standard solution. They can use it without others, and their own design opportunities are weaker than others.
Unless they really join forces to build something together, there is no way to break this chain of suspicion.
And obviously Da Ming will not allow that to happen.
On the contrary, those secondary countries have some room for entanglement and consideration.
Choose how low the scale of your battleship should be.
