"In addition, I want to say, don't look at the complete victory of the Japanese in this encounter, but you also have to look at how much strength they invested, the four high-speed cruisers accounted for at least sixty percent of the strength of the Japanese Navy, and the Takachiho that did not participate in the battle was the weakest among them, so it can be said that the Japanese Navy invested more than half of its strength in the Battle of Toshima, and with such a strong strength, it was not taken for granted that it completely defeated the Jiyuan team?" When Li Hui said this, he suddenly showed an unfathomable smile, "In fact, in my opinion, in a sense, the Jiyuan didn't hit a single shell, which may be a good thing."

"I actually said it before, don't you all remember it? Although the Japanese navy is much more expensive than ours, it has not actually done its best to buy warships, because the Japanese decision-makers did not know when they would go to war with us. Not long ago, the Japanese had just ordered two battleships from Britain at a great price, but they immediately went to war with us, and this is the reason for this. Speaking of which, this is good news for us, because it is a major and possibly fatal mistake for them to be able to use the warship in three years, which was used as an advance payment, and was not built until three years later. Li Hui laughed at the mistakes made by the Japanese government, but his face was still very serious, "But even so, the Japanese government still has the spare strength to urgently allocate at least 1 million pounds of hard currency for the purchase of warships, if we have large-caliber shells hit the Japanese ships in the Battle of Toshima, its destructive power far beyond the black powder shells will definitely attract the attention of the Japanese Navy, if they use this as an excuse to persuade the Japanese government to urgently allocate funds to buy ships, then we will face a more powerful enemy." Now that the Battle of Toshima was a one-sided defeat for us, the Japanese are likely to underestimate us, and even if the Japanese intelligence services have learned that we have purchased a large number of explosive bombs, the Japanese Government may not agree to allocate additional naval funds to strengthen armaments under the obstruction of the army."

In fact, the fiasco of the Battle of Toshima not only made the Japanese government underestimate the strength of the Beiyang Naval Division, but also made the Qing court and Li Hongzhang feel the pressure.

There is no way, the financial system of the late Qing Dynasty is this virtue, the silver of the household department will always be beyond its means, and it can only ensure the urgently needed items first, so the worse the Beiyang Navy Division plays, the more funds can be obtained, which really makes Li Hui cry and laugh.

In any case, the Qing court's emergency allocation to the navy for the purchase of ships has always increased, reaching more than 2.4 million taels, compared with only 1.94 million taels in history

More than 2,400,000 taels of silver, at the current international exchange rate, about 400,000 pounds, even if it is more expensive to buy in wartime, it will definitely be able to buy a protective cruiser of the same class as the Japanese Yoshino, or even better. But what Li Hongzhang didn't expect was that Li Hui immediately spoke out to dissuade him when he learned of his idea

"The Japanese only spent 300,000 pounds when they bought the Yoshino, and now you have 400,000 pounds, and you can afford to buy a better warship, but my personal opinion, it's better not to buy it", Li Hui saw that Li Hongzhang looked puzzled, so he explained to him again, "First of all, it is not necessary, although the sinking of Jiyuan is a big loss, but as long as Dingzhen and Zhijing, who are the decisive battle forces, and Zhijing, who has the ability to maneuver, are still there, the comparison of strength between the enemy and us will not be fundamentally reversed, since our strength can be guaranteed to win, So why waste money on warships? Although I'm a little sorry for Zixiang and them when I say this, but Zhongtang, other places also need money! ”

Li Hongzhang is almost crazy about silver these days, if what Li Hui said is true, it will undoubtedly be good news for him, but the fiasco of the Battle of Toshima still inevitably shakes his confidence, and he can't help but ask again, "Dongyang, are you so sure that my Beiyang Navy will definitely be able to defeat the Japanese?" ”

"Yes, as long as our Beiyang Fleet stops separating a small number of warships to carry out tasks alone, let the high-speed cruisers of the Japanese Navy take advantage of their speed and break them individually." , Li Hui replied confidently, and by the way, he also vaguely expressed his dissatisfaction with Li Hongzhang's failure to listen to his advice before.

"Dongyang is still blaming the old man for not listening to advice? But who knew that the Japanese would be so shameless as to fight without declaring a war! Li Hongzhang defended his mistake and said, "What's more, if you don't send the Jiyuan team out, the Gao Sheng and the Caojiang will inevitably escape, and it is difficult to tell clearly between the gains and losses!" ”

Li Hui shook his head and corrected Li Hongzhang's misunderstanding without flinching, "I'm not saying not to escort the ship, but to say that you can't just send one or two warships when escorting. ”

"All dispatched to escort? Then the transport ships must also be used in a centralized manner, otherwise the cost will be too great. But if this is done, once it encounters the main force of the Japanese Navy, then there is no other way but to fight to the death", Li Hongzhang thought of this, and couldn't help but feel weak again, and subconsciously asked again, "Dongyang, is it really sure to win?" ”

"Yes, there is no doubt about victory, now our shells are no longer at a loss, and even much more powerful than those used by the Japanese, so the advantages of the cannons of the two giant ships in Dingzhen have been fully brought into play, although the Japanese have many cutting-edge warships, they are all low-defense protective cruisers, that is, the former dome armored clippers, in order to fight with us in the main decisive battle, as if the light cavalry and heavy cavalry are fighting head-to-hand, how can there be no reason to be invincible? As for the rapid-fire guns of the Japanese army, if they were really powerful enough to pose a mortal threat to the ironclad ships, then why did the naval capital ships of the Tessie powers still use large-caliber main guns with a slower rate of fire? Li Hui was well aware of Li Hongzhang's superstition about the Western powers, so he used this to strengthen his persuasiveness, and sure enough, he saw that Li Hongzhang's expression eased, and he couldn't help but feel relieved, so he analyzed from another angle, "Since there is no doubt about victory, there is no need to add new ships." Even in a sense, if we really buy a new ship, then there may be some variables in the future decisive battle at sea."