A 12,000-ton armored cruiser with a side-chord main armor belt of 8 inches, covering a large enough area, 4 10-inch guns and 8 8-inch guns, with a speed of more than 20 knots! Just £750,000! That's about the same cost as a Munich-class armored cruiser! Who's going to buy it!

Well, the statements issued by the Bavarian Ship Design Bureau and the Brom-Forss shipyard took up the area of a newspaper, but the core content was the above, and the buyer had no conscience, threw away the brand new battleship, and ran away. The shipyard had no money to pay salaries, so it had to sell back blood cheaply. Of course, the reality is not so serious. However, Ruprecht really didn't want the first 10,000-ton ACR he sold to end up on the slipway, so he really wanted to sell these two warships cheaply now.

"Hehe, the little lion in Bavaria is finally unlucky, and I really want to see his expression now. It must be exciting! As Ruprecht said, there are many people in this world who want to see Ruprecht's jokes. For example, the current German Emperor Frederick III, to be honest, some of the things that Ruprecht did made His Majesty a little unhappy, but it was not very easy to attack. For this situation, the old emperor was naturally very proud.

"I heard that before this contract was signed, Prince Ruprecht once talked to you about whether the Imperial Navy would be able to take over if the contract was aborted?" Frederick III turned to Crown Prince Wilhelm next to him and said.

"That's right, Father. But I refused at the time, because the Imperial Navy needed better ships. The Russians' return came at a good time, and Bavaria would likely have delayed the design of the ship before the design drawings of the Mainz-class armored cruisers were submitted. Crown Prince William said.

"Then let them demolish it, they won't lose much money anyway, and at the same time, they can recognize their position." Frederick III nodded, expressing great satisfaction with the crown prince's approach.

"However, Ruprecht doesn't seem to be like that, they are looking for a home for these two warships!" Crown Prince William said.

"Hehe, then let's see what kind of home they can find." Frederick III said noncommittally. This is the end of the matter, His Majesty the Emperor is not in the mood to care about these small things.

"I'm rubbing! Such a good ship only sells for 750,000 pounds! That's a lot of money! When this message was sent, whether it was Chileans, Argentines or Spaniards, they regretted breaking their thighs! A battleship that is 5,000 tons heavier than the Munich-class armored cruiser is actually the same price as the Munich-class! I wouldn't have been able to place my order so early! But it's too late to say anything now! The second Munich-class armored cruiser of the Argentines and Spain is more than half completed and will be ready for service in another 1 year, and Chile's is also more than 40% complete, and the losses of the Russians are paid by the French, and these countries can only pay for themselves!

So although they regret it to death, these three countries will never break the treaty. The mere sunk costs that have already been invested in them are enough for them to extinguish these thoughts. Ruprecht's concern that the ship would not sell is unwarranted for now, as Chileans and Argentines are now far from reaching historical limits of purchase.

In the case of Chile, in addition to one 7,000-ton French second-class ironclad ship, the Chilean fleet also purchased two armored cruisers of more than 7,000 tons, namely the 7,000-ton Esmeralda good and the 8,500-ton Oskins, and another 4,700-ton second-class protected cruiser. And this plane, because of the sudden rise of the Munich, the name of the Esmeralda has not changed, and the place of origin has changed! The ship is currently under construction at the Brom-Foss shipyard.

If all goes well, by 1898, Chile's funds could order at least one more Munich-class armored cruiser, that is, 700,000 pounds could still be taken out for Chile, and Chile had no reason to let go of this big fish when there was demand and bargains!

The same is true for Argentina. The first Garibaldi-class armored cruiser ordered by Argentina was actually the money of the cruiser May 25 and two other small ships in history, and the money of the 4 Donkey Kongs of later generations has not been spent! Now the second Munich-class armored cruiser is also being outfitted at the shipyard. This ship is separated from the battleship ordered by Chile by a slipway. And by 1900, according to the historical financial situation of the Argentines, they could buy at least 2-3 Munich-class armored cruisers!

For this pair of old enemies in South America, the two 10,000-ton armored cruisers sold cheaply at this time are simply a piece of fat! If you miss it, you will be sad for many years! So, on the fifth day after Ruprecht issued the dumping statement, the ambassadors of Chile and Argentina to Germany asked the shipyard about the offer of the two warships. And said that within one month, a special person will be sent to Germany to negotiate this matter.

The Spanish ambassador to Germany told the shipyard on the third day that Spain was going to order at least one 10,000-ton armored cruiser, and the relevant personnel would come to Germany within a week at most!

"Hehe, I'm thankful to the Russians now, it's getting more and more interesting." Ruprecht said with a smile as he looked at the pile of documents sent by Count Schelling. For Chile and Argentina, Ruprecht didn't pay much attention, and anyway, these two didn't do anything other than send some money to Ruprecht. There are only three countries that Ruprecht really cares about, one is Spain and the United States, the two enemies of the imminent war, and the other is Japan, which will have a war with Russia sooner or later!

For the prince, making money from warships is only a small aspect, and how to use the arms trade as a lever to change the situation in the world is a question that a prince should consider. As long as the price gap is not particularly large, the two warships in the hands of Ruprecht are not expected to fall into the hands of Chile and Argentina.

"The Spaniards moved, and the Americans probably did too, so what are the Japanese thinking?" Prince Ruprecht fell into deep thought. Although he was familiar with many events in history, he did not understand one crucial question about the Spanish-American War: whether the sudden attack on Spain by the United States was planned by the central government, or was it just a fortuitous conflict. If it were the former, the US government would naturally oppose Spain's purchase of warships. And if it's the latter, then probably indifferent!

Another focus is on Japan. No matter how poor Japan is, with the virtue of the Japanese, they will borrow money to buy one, right? And according to some internal intelligence, it seems that the British financial aid to Japan is very large. ”

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, the constellation soaring in the universe, Tianchen Pirates and other book friends for their rewards~~~. This is the second time that the side has made a strong push, and the result is a mess. The second to last on the collection list. 300 collections are growing! This blow is too big! If it's convenient for you, can you give a collection???