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At the beginning of March, the General Staff Headquarters negotiated with the three South American countries on the price, quantity, and payment method of warships and army equipment, and only waited for Zhang Wei to sign and implement them after he returned to China. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On March 13, Zhang Wei handed over the signed contract to the General Staff.

Originally, I wanted Argentina to settle accounts with coffee, grain and other materials, but I didn't expect Argentina to have a lot of money, so it asked for direct payment and delivery, which was subject to the bill of exchange of the Bank of Asia branch in Buenos Aires.

Argentina purchased a total of 3 Summer-class battleships, 3 Baiqi-class battlecruisers, 30 destroyers, 30 fast torpedo boats, 5 minesweepers and 2 minelayerers; 108 155mm howitzers, 216 105mm howitzers, 540 75mm tube retreat guns, each with 300 shells; 150,000 rifles, each with 500 rounds.

Originally, in order to get the equipment as soon as possible, Argentina also planned to pay some more costs, but I didn't expect the Xia Empire to sell them at the original price for the long-term transaction between the two countries, a Xia-class battleship of 1.9 million pounds, a Baiqi-class battleship of 2.2 million pounds, and the entire equipment was converted into silver for 169 million taels, that is, 169 million summer dollars.

Zhang Wei was very satisfied with this deal, and in order to maintain the long-term deal, Zhang Wei ordered Lu Weimin to send them some warships, cannons, rifles, and other reasonable accessories they needed, as well as some wires, telephones, armed belts, bullet bags, lunch boxes, military shoes, backpacks, and other worthless materials that Argentina was in dire need of.

The Argentine ambassador to the Xia Empire was very satisfied that the Xia Empire not only did not take the opportunity to ask for a price, but also gave away so many materials, saying that he would definitely convey the friendship of the Xia Empire to the country, and would establish a long-term arms trading relationship with the Xia Empire in the future.

Li Zhaoshui ordered the warships to be sold from the Central Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, and organized the fleet to load all the supplies and go to Argentina with the warships, and the officers and men of the warships were responsible for teaching the Argentine Navy how to operate after arriving in Argentina.

Argentina was extremely satisfied with the service attitude of the Xia Empire, not only delivering goods to the door, but also teaching and guaranteeing the meeting.

Chile and Peru's procurement contracts were more complicated, they agreed to use materials to settle accounts, Zhang Wei was not afraid of these two countries defaulting on their debts, agreed to send warships and equipment to them first, and then transport a certain amount of copper, zinc and other materials to the Xia Empire's Shangjing port at a set price every month.

Because it was on credit, the Xia Empire did not raise the price of warships and other ships, so when formulating the price of materials on the top account, it was formulated with reference to the current market price, but the final settlement price was 10% lower than the current market price, and the settlement was completed with materials within 12 months after they received the equipment, and the Xia Empire did not ask them to pay additional interest and other additional conditions, which made Chile and Peru very happy.

Zhang Wei is also very satisfied, the low 10% is even a year's interest, and the price is fixed, in the future, the price of these materials will definitely increase significantly, overall, the Xia Empire does not suffer.

Chile's strength is stronger than Peru's, buying 2 Xia-class battleships and 2 Baiqi-class battlecruisers, Peru is slightly weaker, buying 2 Xia-class battleships and 2 Lanfang-class battleships, not buying battlecruisers, buying a few more destroyers, fast torpedo boats and minelayers, etc., compared with the two boxes, Peru obviously pays more attention to defense.

Due to time constraints, the two countries did not send navies to receive them, and they also needed the Xia Empire to send navies to their homes and help them train their own navies.

If the delivery is completely completed to the three countries, there will not be even one Xia-class battleship left in the Central Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet, and all of them will be sold; The Central Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet have a total of 5 Lanfang-class battleships left, 2 King-class battleships, 1 Baiqi-class battlecruiser left, and 6 Lanfang-class battlecruisers left.

Through this arms sale, all the combat readiness warehouses and the warehouses of the military factories under the jurisdiction of the Imperial General Staff have been emptied, and Zhang Wei has purchased some bullets and shells from the system to meet the quantity of this transaction.

Zhang Wei frantically sold weapons, and the huge harvest made him happy, and arms sales were indeed the fastest way to make money.

Let the tense heartstrings of the European countries relax temporarily, but they have not relaxed the expansion of military warfare, the European countries have become more competitive with each other, and they all want to stabilize Europe and then fight a decisive battle with the Xia Empire, and no one wants to start a full-scale war with the Xia Empire first and let the competitors make a profit.

Li Zhaoshui is very worried about the current situation of the navy, in case of a surprise attack by the British and French combined fleet, the Xia Empire will suffer a heavy blow, and he will have to bear heavy responsibilities.

In the case of being entangled, Zhang Wei replied: "After the training of the navies of Argentina and other three countries is completed, the navy will be equipped with new warships after the navy returns, otherwise there will be no naval officers and sailors if the warships are equipped now." ”

Li Zhaoshui had no choice but to order the air force departments of various naval bases to conduct intermittent patrols in West Asia and even in the western region, hoping to discover the enemy situation as soon as possible and make preparations for war in advance. ordered all members of the submarine not to be allowed to take vacations and to be on standby in the harbor; He also urged the Air Force to build air bases in the port of Aden and Djibouti as soon as possible in order to monitor the movements of European warships in the Suez Canal.

When Li Zhaoshui was nervous, something that worried him even more happened, and on March 25, the Ottoman Empire's military procurement delegation arrived in Beijing, ready to use the Xia Empire's 100 million Xia Yuan land purchase money to buy military equipment.

Even though Li Zhaoshui was very reluctant to continue selling warships, he still had to squeeze out a smile and warmly receive the members of the Ottoman Empire's arms purchase delegation.

The first thing the Ottoman delegation should look at was the Central Fleet of the Xia Empire, and the purchase of naval warships was the main task of the delegation.

After a few days of visiting and understanding, the Ottoman military procurement delegation decided to purchase 2 Xia-class battleships and 2 King-class battleships, as well as some destroyers, fast torpedo boats, minelayers, minesweepers, etc.

According to the actual situation of the Ottoman Empire, they pay more attention to defense, and their sea area is limited, only operating in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, there is no need to pursue high speed, only the pursuit of high firepower output and high defense, the battleships of the Xia Empire are suitable for their use, they are not interested in battlecruisers, insufficient defense, insufficient firepower, and high prices.

It is very worry-free to trade arms with the Xia Empire, the prices are clearly marked, and they don't need to bother to negotiate the price, they only care about performance and parameters; After determining the naval equipment, the army equipment is even simpler, artillery, rifles, heavy machine guns, ammunition, etc., after the military equipment is determined, all the remaining money is bought into food, which is transported by their merchant ships themselves.

The final settlement is a matter for the Imperial Treasury and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as long as the specifications and quantities of weapons and equipment are determined, the arms procurement delegation will be considered to have completed its task.

Fortunately, the naval members of the Ottoman receiving fleet had not yet arrived, and warships could continue to be on duty during this time; After the arrival of the Ottoman navy, they will have to undergo 1 month of training in the Xia Empire, at least these months are more reassuring; If 4 battleships were handed over to the Ottoman Empire, the Central Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet would really be empty.

Lu Weimin ordered all military factories to increase their horsepower to produce rifles, heavy machine guns and artillery, as well as ammunition, to meet the needs of the Ottoman Empire as soon as possible.

As soon as the Ottoman Empire's arms purchase agreement came out, it was like cold water falling into a boiling oil pot, which immediately aroused a fierce reaction from European countries, which obviously undermined the balance of power in the Balkans, Britain, France, Russia and other countries immediately lodged a strong diplomatic protest to the Xia Empire, and the ambassadors of the three countries to Shangjing successively talked to Hua Guoqiang after receiving the domestic telegram, and stated that they hoped that the Xia Empire would cancel the arms purchase agreement with the Ottoman Empire and not undermine the peace and stability of Europe.

Hua Guoqiang is still a cliché, weapons and equipment are tools to maintain peace, the Xia Empire This is a normal commercial transaction, and any country will not refuse to buy it.

The strongest reaction is the Russian Empire, he has long regarded the Ottoman Empire as fat on his lips, if the Ottoman Empire's navy and army are strong, then how can they make a profit, and the previous successive Turkish-Russian wars were not fought in vain?

Britain and France are also strongly opposed, if the Ottoman Empire becomes a military power, then the Ottoman Empire will definitely expel Britain and France from Egypt and other places, otherwise, they will fight with the Ottoman Empire through war for these areas that have been occupied by Britain and France, and no one is willing to spit out the meat that has been eaten in their mouths.

More importantly, now that the British navy has completely withdrawn from the Mediterranean, their fundamental interests are still on the mainland, and it is difficult for France alone to compete with the Ottoman Empire, at least in the eastern Mediterranean, it will become the world of the Ottoman Empire, which will seriously affect the security of the Suez Canal, which is absolutely unacceptable to Britain.

Under pressure from Britain and France, Zhang Wei asked Hua Guoqiang to announce to the outside world that the Xia Empire would have one Xia-class battleship completed every month, and any country could buy it, which was a normal business practice, and no country could interfere with the Xia Empire's right to normal commercial trade.

The German ambassador was glad that the Xia Empire withstood the pressure of Britain, France and Russia and continued to complete the arms purchase deal with the Ottoman Empire, and that strengthening the military strength of the Ottoman Empire was something that Germany and Austria-Hungary were willing to see; It's just that he doesn't understand why the Xia Empire sold all the active battleships without reservation, don't they want to protect their own sea areas and not be afraid of the attack of Britain and France?

In the case of ineffective protests, the Russian Empire chose to purchase 2 Xia-class battleships and 2 Baiqi-class battlecruisers from the Xia Empire first, only in this way can the Russian Empire's naval strength not be pulled down too much.

Britain, France and Germany also began to think about various scenarios in this situation, whether to accelerate the construction of battleships or to buy ready-made battleships from the Xia Empire? Several major European military powers have passively fallen into a new round of arms race at a deeper level.

Many small countries in the Balkans have passively joined this game, making this military race more intense and full of more uncertainties.

And this is exactly what Zhang Wei wants to see. (To be continued.) )