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On June 16, the French military and political delegation arrived at the port of Shanghai on time, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent Vice Foreign Minister Zhao Baoquan to the port to receive the delegation, and the French ambassador to Beijing, Milles Mott, also greeted the delegation at the port.

Jean Renaud has been appointed Commercial Counsellor of the French Embassy in Shanghai because of his outstanding performance in negotiating loans with the Kingdom of Lanfang, and has now been appointed Commercial Counsellor of the French Embassy in Shangjing, and this time he is also at the dock to welcome the French military and political delegation.

Ambassador Mott began greeting each other after meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Zhao Baoquan.

"Your Excellency Deputy Foreign Secretary, it is a pleasure to meet you, and I thank you for being able to receive the French delegation in person."

"Your Excellency, you are welcome, we are all old friends, and it is my honor to come to greet your delegation."

"Your Excellency Deputy Foreign Secretary, I have heard that your country has been evacuated from Singapore, is it true?"

"Your Excellency, of course this is true, our Lanfang Kingdom is a country that keeps its promises, and of course the promises made will be implemented."

After receiving the exact news, Mott was relieved that if the Kingdom of Lanfang did not leave Singapore, it would be a big threat to the French colony of Indochina. Britain controlled Singapore and secured the shipping lanes of the Strait of Malacca, which was equivalent to ensuring the security of the French colony of Indochina. Judging from the performance of the Lanfang Kingdom, it will not affect the French rule over the Indochina colony for the time being.

"Your country is really a big country with a lot of responsibility."

At the same time, in the palace of Shangjing, Lu Weimin and Li Zhaoshui were reporting to Zhang Wei.

Li Zhaoshui said: "Your Majesty, I don't feel that the French came to buy battleships this time, I studied the situation in France, their idea of naval warfare is seriously outdated, they think that the distance of naval battle will not exceed 5 kilometers; Their investment in the Navy is seriously underinvested, I don't see the possibility that they can buy battleships, besides, the Atlantic does not need them to defend, what can be tossed out of this little bathtub in the Mediterranean? They should have come to make friends with us or want to ally with us. ”

Lu Weimin said: "Not necessarily, now Britain is under pressure to leak the news of the launch of the Dreadnought-class battleship in advance, which may also stimulate the French, besides, Britain shrinks the power of the Mediterranean, France also wants to fill this vacancy, and compete with Italy, Austria-Hungary and others for control of the Mediterranean, and it is not sure that it will not buy." ”

Zhang Wei said: "It doesn't matter if the French buy it or not, since they are here, they will receive it well, and soon we will attack Japan, it would be good to stabilize France and not let him drag us back, but there is no need to form an alliance, none of us will form an alliance." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The head of the French military-political delegation was Vice Admiral Alfred Gerwell from the Supreme Council of the Navy, and on the first day of arrival it was received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Lanfang. On the same day, Gerwell proposed that he would be able to visit the naval fleet of the Lanfang Kingdom tomorrow. Hua Guoqiang did not shirk the application to visit the naval fleet, and immediately agreed.

Now the Supreme Council of the French Navy is still a giant ship artilleryist, and Britain has released the news of the launch of the Dreadnought-class battleship in advance for its own influence, which has put a lot of pressure on the French high-level, and the "Motherland" class battleships have been manufactured 2 ships, and 4 have not yet started, and now it seems that they have become obsolete without starting construction, and even if they are produced, there is not much value; The newly designed "Dandong" class battleships are still equipped with 4 305mm main guns, and the original plan to build 6 ships is outdated as soon as it is designed; That's why the Supreme Council of the French Navy wanted to buy the battleships of the Lanfang Kingdom. The battleships of the Lanfang Kingdom are tested in actual combat, fast, with a speed of 21 knots, fast rate of fire, strong firepower, and high shooting accuracy, even 4 old battleships are not opponents, in view of this situation, it is better to stop the construction of 4 "Motherland" class battleships and 6 "Dandong" class battleships that have not been produced, and use the money saved to introduce new battleships and drawings, which will speed up the pace of development of French battleships.

On the morning of the 17th, Gerwell and others, accompanied by Li Zhaoshui and Li Yunhai, visited the battleship fleet of the Lanfang Navy.

The first thing to visit is the Lanfang-class battleship No. 1, and when these people saw the battleship from a distance, they were stunned by its appearance, the huge hull, the main guns of a unified caliber, now all the muzzles are facing the land direction, it is conceivable that if the 10 main guns fire at the same time, the unified trajectory is convenient for range calculation, and the shooting accuracy is not improved.

They are all members of the old navy and are very familiar with warships, Li Zhaoshui and Li Yunhai are just accompanied by them, and let the French delegation go to see and ponder on their own, and only those who do not know the parameters come to ask Li Zhaoshui and Li Yunhai.

Compared with the Lanfang-class battleships, the "Motherland" class battleships that are now being produced in France or the "Dandong" class battleships that have just been designed are simply some old antiques, and the gap is really too big.

Even Gewell, who is keen on the cannon of a giant ship, has fallen in love with this battleship, the firepower is too strong, the protection is perfect, the new steam turbine is used, and the speed is so fast, people can't put it down.

The second warship visited was the Lanfang-class battlecruiser, this kind of battleship is a new type of battleship, which is still a new thing for the French Navy, Li Yunhai gave them a detailed introduction, this battleship has the speed of a cruiser, The maximum speed is 25.5 knots, and the speed of 27 knots during the trial voyage is also the firepower of a battleship, and the five twin 280mm, 50 times the main guns, its power is no less than that of the old battleships 305mm, 45 times the warp.

Li Yunhai said that this is the most advanced destroyer in the world at present, the maximum speed is generally controlled at 32 knots, and the speed of 37 knots during the sea trial is run, four 100mm main guns, four twin torpedo launchers, and mines can also be arranged.

After the visit, all the French Navy visitors sighed in their hearts, no wonder the Lanfang Kingdom was able to cleanly annihilate the Far East Fleet of the British Empire, and the naval strength of the Lanfang Kingdom was too strong. They were so fond of every warship they visited that they wished it was a French warship, and they sailed back to France at once.

In the afternoon of the same day, Gerwell communicated with Li Zhaoshui and expressed his intention to buy.

Li Zhaoshui was very happy, so he said: "The cost price of the battleship is 1.66 million pounds, or 41.5 million francs, and it can also be purchased with silver, 11 million taels of silver each." ”

"What if we buy drawings and produce them ourselves?"

"That's fine, but buy at least 2 battleships to give away production blueprints, and then you can produce them yourself."

Gervail was not interested in battlecruisers, which meant little to France, and he was most personally interested in destroyers, which was very much in line with his design philosophy for destroyers.

"How do you sell destroyers?"

"You also see that there is no destroyer in the world that can be comparable to the Lanfang-class destroyer, the cost price is 100,000 pounds, buy 10 ships and send the drawings, and you can produce them as you like in the future, but you can't transfer these drawings to other countries, they must only be used by you France."

In the afternoon of the same day, after visiting the fleet and returning to the embassy, Gevel immediately sent a telegram to the French Minister of the Navy and the Supreme Council of the Navy, reporting on the detailed parameters of the battleships and destroyers, as well as the purchase price.

The French Supreme Council immediately organized technicians to analyze these parameters, and finally concluded that the price given by the Kingdom of Lanfang was very low, and the cost of French production would be much higher than this price.

Taking into account the need to develop its own military industry, the Supreme Council and the Minister of the Navy agreed to purchase 2 battleships, bring back the drawings, and develop new battleships on this basis while producing them themselves; For destroyers, the purchase of 10 ships is indeed a bit more, and I hope that Gervail will continue to negotiate with the Lanfang Kingdom, and it is best to buy 5 ships and send the drawings.

On the 20th, Gervail received a telegram from the Minister of the Navy and went to Li Zhaoshui to discuss the purchase.

After consulting Zhang Wei, considering that he was the first customer, Zhang Wei agreed to buy 6 destroyers and send the drawings.

By the 25th, the two sides finally decided to buy 2 battleships, 6 destroyers, signed a purchase contract, France finally chose the Lanfang Kingdom active warship, unwilling to wait another 1 and a half years, the Lanfang Kingdom only used half a year, just past the run-in period, immediately after the drive back can enhance the French naval strength, and shipyards and naval designers can also start to study the drawings of the Lanfang-class battleships.

The two sides also signed an agreement on the purchase of spare parts, personnel training, and the purchase of battleship guns, steam turbines, and gunpowder and gunpowder production lines from the Kingdom of Lanfang when France produced its own battleships and destroyers.

For the payment method, the French chose to pay in silver.

France was very pleased with this agreement, which not only saved money, shortened its own research and development time, strengthened its naval strength, seized control of the Mediterranean, but also reduced the threat of the Kingdom of Lanfang to the French Indochina colony.