"Well, Monsieur Pierre, can you tell me a little bit about the design of these two ships?"

"Of course, please come over here" The French manager, Pierre, invited Master Liang to a large table, on which were spread out with several large drawings.

"Mr. Ronnie, please see, this is the latest 5,000-ton ironclad battleship we have designed for you, and the design parameters of this battleship are here," Pierre pointed to the drawings with a pencil and introduced it to Master Liang.

Length of battleship No. 1: 78.79 meters,

Width: 17.16 m,

Draft: 7.2 m,

Displacement: 5120 tons,

Full load displacement: 5460 tons,

The power is 8 coal-fired boilers, two horizontal reciprocating steam engines with two-shaft propulsion, 450 tons of coal in the ship, and a speed of up to 13 knots;

Armament: 239mm guns: 6 guns,

119mm secondary guns: 6 guns,

99mm secondary guns: 6 guns,

1-pounder guns: 8 guns;

The armor coverage is: side armor: 152mm,

Turret & Deck: 119mm;

Battleship staff: 372.

Length of the second battleship: 68.88 meters,

Width: 14.26 m,

Draft: 6.6 m;

Displacement: 3513 tons,

Full load displacement: 3828 tons;

It is equipped with 4 coal-fired boilers, single-shaft propulsion, 250 tons of coal, and a speed of up to 12 knots;

Armament: 193mm main guns: 6 guns,

119mm secondary guns: 6 guns,

One-pounder guns: 8 guns;

Armor: Sideboard Armor: 152mm,

Turret: 119mm,

Deck: 100mm;

Battleship staff: 279.

Young Master Liang looked at these parameters and found that compared with the British warships, the level of French shipbuilding at this time was no worse than that of the British; The industrial strength of the French is indeed very strong, no wonder Napoleon III dared to argue with the British, it seems that he is still very confident.

Young Master Liang looked at these drawings and said, "Mr. Pierre, it seems that you are not wrong, according to these parameters, this is indeed the latest European design; However, the European designers seem to have made a mistake, this small tonnage warship should run faster than a large warship, why these two warships are faster than the big ones."

Pierre's old face blushed, this 5,000-ton battleship is indeed the latest design in Europe, and the other battleship is designed by France last year, which is said to be a relatively new design, even this one was discovered by him, this Ronnie is really a magical boy; He could only say haha: "Mr. Ronnie is really an expert, this 3,000-ton battleship has not yet been designed with the latest design, so this design is already the latest design."

"Okay, I accept your explanation, but what about the specific offer?"

Speaking of the offer, the French manager immediately came to the spirit: "The first battleship is quoted at 680,000 taels of silver, equipped with two base shells and all the supplies for the first voyage; The second battleship was quoted at 350,000 taels of silver, which was also the same equipment."

"Well, the first one is 600,000 taels of silver, and the second is 300,000 taels of silver", Young Master Liang bargained.

"No, no, no" Pierre immediately became anxious, "Mr. Ronnie, we are a shipyard, not a trading company, our offer does not have much moisture, you can't bargain like this, our offer is at most 5%".

"I understand the market, that is, it can go down by 10%", Young Master Liang guessed how much water there was.

Pierre's hairy face suddenly turned into a bitter gourd face, this magical boy is too shrewd to get any oil and water. Young Master Liang said with a smile at this time: "Mr. Pierre, just drop by 5% according to what you said, I won't lower the price, but you have to give two additional base shells, this is okay."

The Frenchman's face immediately improved, and Pierre silently calculated in his heart that he still had two or three points of oil and water, such a super large order, two or three points of oil and water was already considerable; His hairy face was immediately filled with a smile: "If you wish, Pierre will surely please you".

Young Master Liang said seriously: "What I hope to get is a warship with excellent quality as the drawing design, if the acceptance fails, your company must compensate me for all losses, which must be written into the contract."

"Of course, of course, please rest assured, please believe in the strength of our French industry, our actual products will only exceed the parameters of the drawing design, and will never disappoint you" Pierre immediately patted his chest and said.

The two sides immediately signed a contract, and in view of the financial pressure, Master Liang proposed his payment plan: 30% down payment, another 30% after the completion of the hull, and the balance of the delivery after acceptance. Pierre calculated that it was about the same as half and half of the payment method, and he didn't suffer a loss, so he agreed.

Young Master Liang didn't want to make the matter of ordering warships public, so as not to cause panic and counterattack in the Qing court, and the reaction of the British also needed to be scrupulous, so he specifically asked the French not to divulge any information about him, the buyer, before delivery, and in line with the principle that the customer is God, the French agreed. As for the delivery, it is estimated that it is impossible to hide it if you want to.

At this time, the French in the shipyard of the Guangzhou Development Zone received a super large order, with a contract amount of 2.622 million taels of silver, two 5,000-ton ironclad warships, and four 3,000-ton ironclad warships. The French are now proud in the Far East, at least the British have not received such a large order.

The French manager Pierre was already smiling, smiling so much that he couldn't even close his mouth, he was thinking that I had also won glory for France, and His Majesty the Emperor would also give me some praise.

Only the young master Liang was sad and listless, and he was sighing that the silver could not afford to spend, and he would spend more than one million taels of silver on a trip, and he would have to pay more than two million taels in the future. The money looted from the Vietnamese had almost been spent, and his purse had been deflated.

Young Master Liang, who had just returned to Tianbao Xing, was approached by Loew of Lihe Foreign Company again, and he entrusted Loew to inquire for him two days ago, asking how much it would cost their shipyard to build a three-thousand-ton warship, and Loew understood it clearly, but Young Master Liang, who had just spent a lot of money, had already ordered six warships, and now he was tired and didn't love it.

The Prussian Loew said with a smile on his face: "Ronnie, our shipyard can build more than 3,000 tons of warships, this is the quotation and the design parameters of the battleship that the factory gave me", after saying that, Loew took out a list and handed it to him.

Young Master Liang took it and took a look, and it said the latest version of the all-steam-powered ironclad battleship:

Battleship length: 69.13 meters,

Width: 15.36 m,

Draft: 6.5 m,

Displacement: 3625 tons,

Full load displacement: 3967 tons;

It is equipped with 6 coal-fired boilers, two steam engines with two-shaft propulsion, 350 tons of coal, and a speed of 15 knots;

Armament: 210mm main gun: 4 guns,

155mm secondary guns: 12 guns,

75mm secondary guns: 12 guns,

1-pounder guns: 8 guns;

Armor cover: 155mm on the side armor,

Turret deck 127mm.

The establishment is 305 people.

Quotation: Each ship costs 380,000 taels of silver.

Young Master Liang's eyes straightened, the design of this battleship is good, the speed is faster than the French, the armor is a little thicker than the French, the firepower is stronger than the French, the total number of guns is more, although the price is a little more expensive, but it is reasonable.

He immediately came to his senses: "Loew, can our shipyard really build such a good battleship?" ”

"It was given to me by the manager of the shipyard, and there should be no problem".

"Good! Then according to this price, build two ships first, and if the quality is really qualified, build a few more ships", Young Master Liang thought to himself that a sheep is a rush, a group of sheep is also a rush, and the silver can be earned again after the money is spent, with a strong navy, where can you not go!