Just as the army was reorganizing, representatives and technical personnel from various countries participated in the East China government shipbuilding bidding also arrived in Qingdao one after another, including the world-renowned large shipyards in this era.

The most luxurious lineup sent by the UK is the famous weapons manufacturers Armstrong Company and Vicks Shipyard. Armstrong Company has two shipyards, namely Elswick Shipyard and Walker Shipyard. It is famous for building cruisers. Japan's meritorious warships in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was from the Armstrong Company. The Zhiyuan ship commanded by the national hero Deng Shichang was also built by the Armstrong Company. Now the Armstrong Company has also built the Asama, Tobaba, Izumo, and Iron-Shipyard four-type large armored cruisers in the "Six Six Fleet". The Vickers Shipyard is another well-known shipyard in the UK. Its current proud work is the battleships of the "Six Six Fleet" of the Japan.

Germany came to Kiel Shipyard and the Bromfos Shipyard in Hamburg Port. Although it was not the Volkeng Shipyard in Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, these two shipyards were also well-known in Europe. Since it was Volkeng Shipyard, it is now mainly building battleships, while these two shipyards mainly focus on cruisers, so they are more in line with the road.

The French shipyard is the Loire shipyard and the Mediterranean iron factory in Saint-Nazir. The former was building the Uma armored cruiser in the "Six Six Fleet" for Japan at this time, while the latter's work is the "Three Scenery Ship" of Japan during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894.

Italy came to participate in the bidding for the Ansaldo Shipyard and Otto Shipyard in Genoa. The former's representative works are the famous Garibal Class armored cruisers, with a total of 10 ships built, but 6 are sold to other countries. In the old time and space, Japan snatched two warships of this type before the Russo-Japanese War, named Kasumi and Hijin. Otto Shipyard is a shipyard under the famous Italian weapon manufacturer Otto Melera Company. The model is somewhat like the British Armstrong Company. Although it is not as famous as the Ansaldo Shipyard, it has great advantages in supporting ship-based weapons. In the era of the Crossing World War, Otto Melera 76mm naval gun was known as the "ak47" among naval guns, and even the Perry-class frigates and Hamilton-class patrol ships of the United States used this type of naval guns.

There are two shipyards in the United States, namely the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. The predecessor of this ship was the branch of the Royal Naval Shipyard in the North American colony of Portsmouth. After the United States was independent, it was owned by the federal government. The Constitution sail cruiser, which made great achievements in the 1812 U.S.-U.S. war (called the Second War of Independence in the United States) was built by the factory. The other was the Philadelphia Kroner Shipyard, which had just built a large protective cruiser Varyag for Russia.

It can attract so many well-known shipyards to bid. On the one hand, because the construction volume this time is indeed quite large, there are 4 large protective cruisers. Although two are required to be built in Qingdao, the equipment and materials are still purchased from the winners, so the profit is still considerable. In addition, there are two armored cruisers in the future, which is a big order no matter how you look at it. On the other hand, the East China government has also launched an open bidding, which is also one of the reasons.

Military purchases are different from other commercial transactions. They involve a lot of aspects, including military, political, economic, geopolitical, etc., and the countries that purchase warships from abroad are because of their lack of technical manufacturing capabilities. For example, Japan and Latin America, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and other countries. These countries purchase warships, of course, including the Qing court, mainly based on fame. Therefore, Britain that dominates the world is often the first choice, taking over more than 60% of the foreign trade warships in this era; the second is limited production capacity. For example, Russia, due to its bad relations with Britain, could only buy warships from France and the United States, which is dedicated to trade. However, no matter which one, it was basically negotiated separately between the buyers and sellers. When the Beiyang Navy was formed, it only planned to buy ships from Britain, but it turned from Germany because the price of Britain was too high. However, it was also the Qing court and Britain and Germany negotiated separately, and did not bring together the representatives of Britain and Germany.

Moreover, when purchasing warships from outside, they package the design and construction together to the contractor, and at most they only put forward some ideas or modification opinions. However, the construction of public bidding is a unique one in this era, and the contractor only needs to construct according to the drawings. However, the situation of time travelers is quite special. On the one hand, they have clear ideas and know what kind of warship they want, they are fully capable of designing themselves, and how to achieve it based on the technical conditions of this era; but on the other hand, the manufacturing capabilities are extremely poor, so they can carry out such an open bidding model.

However, except for the United Kingdom, the other shipyards formed a consortium based on the proposal of the East China government's bidding documents. Only the two bidders in the UK bid alone. The British Empire had sufficient confidence in this regard and was disdainful of any consortium. Therefore, there were a total of six bidding units. The Navy of the East China government also specially established a bidding committee to be fully responsible for the bidding matters.

The British were full of confidence in this bidding and each brought a set of warship drawings designed according to the technical parameters proposed by the East China government. Armstrong Company expanded and improved the Armstrong-type cruiser designed by our company, namely the Yoshino and the Haitian and Hairong of the Beiyang Navy, while the Vix Shipyard was modified based on the British Edgar-class protective cruiser.

It has to be said that the UK does have a very deep foundation in the construction of warships. Various types of warships can find similar ship types in the UK. Therefore, the UK can come up with a set of drawings that meet the standards in a very short time, and other countries obviously cannot achieve this.

After the bidding committee officially registered, shipyards from various countries obtained a complete set of ship-type drawings and technical instructions, with more than 500 drawings, which depicted every detail of the entire warship in detail. In addition to the external dimensions, the detailed structural dimensions of the internal compartment, the installation size, location, thickness, etc. of the armor are also marked, so it is obvious at a glance. Of course, ship-based artillery, boilers, steam engines, etc. are purchased equipment, so they are not listed. This also requires the winning shipyard to supplement the corresponding drawings. The technical instructions also have more than 300 pages, which talk about the various technical requirements, standards, etc. of the East China government, and have clear inspection standards.

Of course, at the end of the technical specification, it also means that each bidder can put forward his own modifications to the original design plan without affecting the technical conditions required by the East China government. It can be attached to the bid documents, and also add an additional clause for the bid, that is, all parties are allowed to make a second plan quotation in addition to the drawings provided by the East China government. This article is mainly for two bidders in the UK, because other bidders cannot come up with a second design plan.

Of course, time travelers basically do not choose other solutions. Such arrangements are just to take care of the British. However, after receiving the additional terms, the British were very happy because the UK firmly believed that the warships they designed were the best, and warships designed by overseas Chinese are definitely not as good as theirs.

After obtaining the drawings and technical instructions of the warship, the bidders and the consortium immediately started reviewing the drawings, calculating the cost, determining profits and bidding strategies. The official bid opening time of May 1 is only about one month, so we must seize the time.

The bidding committee takes turns to meet with bidders and consortiums. On the one hand, it understands the progress of all parties, and on the other hand, it also answers questions from all parties. At the same time, it also talks about some contract execution matters after winning the bid and the conditions of all parties. Although the East China government basically prefers to build in Germany, it does not mean that this bidding is just a formality. If some bidders propose more preferential conditions than Germany, of course, it would be better.

Time passed quickly. At 9 a.m. on May 1, all bidders and consortiums sent their bids to the bidding committee and carried out open bidding work.

The bid quotes of each party are:

The first plan of Armstrong, UK, quoted 2.85 million silver ships, and the second plan of Armstrong, priced 2.55 million silver ships;

The first plan for Vix Shipyard in the UK is quoting 2.78 million silver ship, and the second plan for 2.6 million silver ship;

Germany quoted 2.36 million yuan per ship, but proposed two additional conditions: 1. The right to use this set of drawings is required; 2. The East China government must help Germany design two types of battleships;

France's offer of 2.72 million yuan;

The United States has quoted 2.56 million yuan, and it also promises to provide the East China government with corresponding shipbuilding technology and personnel training;

Italy's offer of 2.6 million yuan per ship;

Overall, only two companies in the UK have quoted two prices, and the quotation according to the drawings provided by the East China government is also the highest. However, both companies will actually focus on the second plan, that is, their own design plan.
Chapter completed!