The two Turkish ironclad ships recommended by Hurd to Li Shaoquan were of the same class, named "Berlai" and "Orion". The ship type is the same second-class ironclad ship as the "Hiei" class and "Fuso" class ironclad ships owned by Japan at that time, which were jointly designed by Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the construction of Tongzhi started in the Shamu Shipyard in the thirteenth year. The ship has a full load displacement of 4,870 tons, a length of 74.68 meters, a width of 15.85 meters, a draft of 6.4 meters, a power system of 2 steam engines, 4 boilers, and two-shaft propulsion, and the main engine power is 4040 horsepower and a speed of 12.99 knots during sea trials. The main guns of this class of warships are four 12-inch caliber front-loading rifled guns, which are arranged in a similar way to the Japanese "Fuso"-class ironclad ships, that is, the old-fashioned "shipside gun house". In order to increase the firing range of the guns, the four corners of the quadrangular "gun room" surrounded by armor in the middle of the warship were "cut" to one piece, and four main guns were arranged on the slope of the four corners. Because the original rectangular gun room with only 4 corners was cut into 8 corners, it was also named "Octagonal Platform" ironclad ship. The biggest drawback of the "shipside gun room" layout was that the firing range of the artillery was too small, and it was impossible to turn to the front and rear directions for firing, which no longer met the tactical requirements of the bow of the world navy fighting against the enemy at that time. In addition to the four 12-inch breech guns in the Octagonal Gun Room, the armament of the class includes four 20-pounder guns, two 14-inch torpedo launchers, and an underwater ramming angle in the bow of the warship. Judging from the technical indicators, this class of ships can only be said to have average performance, lackluster, and is not outstanding among similar ironclad ships in the world at that time, and the only bright spot is that in addition to the waterline armor and the armor of the gun room, the top of the gun room is closed with armor. This is the first time that an armored deck in the modern sense has appeared on a warship.

"Boerlai" and "Olien" were launched on February 12 of the second year of Guangxu and January 23 of the third year of Guangxu respectively. It was completed on July 19 in the fourth year of Guangxu and July 3 in the fifth year of Guangxu. Originally, the second ship was supposed to be received by Turkey. However, during the Russo-Turkish War, Britain, which was in a neutral position and had a tense relationship with Russia, was forced to fail to deliver the goods, so it had to pay for it itself. In order to recover this unjust money, the British Government immediately targeted Qianguo and Japan, which were preparing to build a modern navy and repeatedly ordered warships in British shipyards, and vigorously promoted them. The total price of the two warships was 1.6 million taels of silver.

Li Danya, who was ordered by Li Shaoquan to go for inspection, is a well-known new-style scientific and technological talent, rich in knowledge, and deeply appreciated by Li Shaoquan. The Frenchman Riyige once single-handedly assisted Lin Yizhe in establishing the shipyard and made outstanding contributions to the construction of the Chinese and Turkish Navy. The two were ordered to arrive in Britain for an on-the-spot investigation, and immediately saw and reported to Li Shaoquan the shortcomings of this class of warships, believing that the style was outdated and it was not recommended to buy them, so the proposal to purchase these two ironclad ships was immediately shelved.

But shortly after the end of the Russian-Turkish war. Disputes broke out between the two countries over the Ili and Kashmir issues, and relations suddenly became tense. At this time, Russia had already intervened in Japan's Southwest War, and the Russian Government took the opportunity to threaten to send a fleet to the coastal areas of Qianguo, and the two Turkish ironclad ships, which were nearly completed, were of special significance to the cadres who urgently needed to purchase ready-made warships to strengthen their naval strength. The imperial court ordered Li Shaoquan to immediately start buying these two ironclad ships, while Britain saw the opportunity to extort bamboo and "suddenly allowed it to turn over", and even raised the price of the two old ironclad ships all the way to 2 million taels, but Li Shaoquan, who was worried that the Russian fleet would come, was eager to buy the second ship to strengthen the strength of the Beiyang Naval Division and defend the important land of Beijing and Tianjin.

Just when Li Shaoquan was playing, Ding Yusheng, the minister of shipping, made an excerpt, saying that "Turkish ironclad ships must not be bought", saying that "the shipmaster's newly built armored fast ship has an advanced design, which is enough to compete with the ironclad ship", and demanded that the imperial court stop the ship purchase plan and transfer the money for the purchase of the ship to the shipmaster, who will build the ship for Beiyang.

As soon as Ding Yusheng's excerpt was released, Li Shaoquan immediately understood that Ding Yusheng was grabbing silver with himself, and he couldn't help but be very annoyed. In order to compete for precious funds, Li Shaoquan unceremoniously began to fight back.

Li Shaoquan insisted on purchasing ships, saying that "at present, there is a shortage of capable warships in Beiyang, and there is only one 'Longxiang' ironclad ship, and it is an old Japanese ship, and the guns are old and slow, and there is no room for transformation", and "Beiyang is the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin, and there must be ironclad ships to patrol it." He also pointed out that "the Russians used the pretext of Japan's civil strife to send a land division brigade to intervene, and on the grounds that the Satsuma rebels had two ironclad ships, they wanted to send a naval division brigade to come. Its ships in the Far East are all large warships, four of which are more than 5,000 or 6,000 tons, and there are many huge cannons, and its patrol clippers are also large and strong, while I only have one 'Longxiang', and the largest of the other clippers is only more than 2,000 tons, although the strength and weakness have been judged without a fight", "there must be ironclad ships to be able to contend with them", "Turkey has two ironclad ships, which are about to be sold, although the price is a little high, but it can be urgently needed", and strongly demanded the purchase of these two ready-made ironclad ships from Turkey.

After Li Shaoquan played, the imperial court could not make a decision for a while, and after seeing Li Shaoquan's performance in the newspaper, Ding Yusheng in order to prevent Li Shaoquan from going further and further down the wrong road, determined to stop Li Shaoquan's plan to buy Turkish ironclad ships at all costs. Ding Yusheng said that through discussions with Li Danya, Japanese and Yige, and chief engineer of the shipyard, Da Shibo, he judged that the Turkish ironclad ship "is not suitable for sea confrontation in terms of size, weight, and size," and that "if you want to use it to attack the Russian ironclad ship, you will never be able to," and then directly attacked Li Shaoquan.

After Ding Yusheng's excerpt went up, it can be said to be directly aimed at Li Shaoquan's sore spot. Because of the limitation of knowledge, although Li Shaoquan, who was born in the traditional imperial examination, has many years of experience in the field of naval construction, he is not clear about what the new ironclad ship should look like, such as the specific requirements for purchasing ironclad ships. It's just a rough idea that it must be cheap and good. The draft should not exceed 20 feet (6 meters) to accommodate the port conditions of Middle-earth at the time, among several simple criteria. The purchase of an ironclad ship was also a new challenge for him, and he was also constantly learning, and learned about the situation through telegrams and letters with Li Danya, Xu Jianren and other specific handling personnel. However, as far as the development of the Middle-earth Navy is concerned, Li Shaoquan can be said to be one of the earliest initiators and the most active promoter, and Ding Yusheng actually sarcastically ridiculed him for not knowing business and blindly commanding, how could he not be furious.

Li Shaoquan continued to argue, and Ding Yusheng always fought-for-tat and did not give up a single cent. Seeing that this pair of former friends and like-minded Westerners actually tore their faces and started a war of words, Qingliu was both surprised and happy, and their attention was all focused on the dispute between Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng between "buying ships" and "building ships", and many people lost no time in joining in, and Lin Yiqing's making waves in Japan was not mentioned much.

In all fairness, although Ding Yusheng's criticism of Turkish ironclad ships can be said to be to the point, the construction of ironclad ships in the world navy at that time did not form a certain mainstream form, and everyone was crossing the river by feeling the stones, so they should not be too harsh, and Ding Yusheng's starting point was to consolidate coastal defense. It also improves the shipbuilding technology level of the shipyard. Similarly, Li Shaoquan insisted on the purpose of purchasing foreign ironclad ships. It was also for the sake of strengthening the coastal defense of Middle-earth, and although the shape of the ship chosen may not be very suitable for the needs of the country, it would be inappropriate to say that it was useless to talk about it. Of course, the reason why the two are fighting for each other is that the feelings of region and faction also play an important role.

The quarrel over "buying ships" and "building ships" lasted for more than a month, and the imperial court was worried about being blackmailed by the British, and Ding Yusheng's objections from a technical point of view were indeed reasonable, so that Ding Yusheng's opinion was finally affirmed, and the purchase of Turkish ironclad ships finally collapsed (Qianguo was fortunate to escape the rapid grinding of the British, and the substantive attempt to purchase ironclad ships for the first time in the history of Qianguo was also aborted. These two second-class ironclad ships, which were originally likely to become the main warships of the Qianguo, later served in the British Navy for a long time, played an insignificant role, and completed their lives in a dull way. That's for later).

In order to balance the relationship between Ding Yusheng's shipyard and Li Shaoquan's Beiyang, the imperial court approved Ding Yusheng's application for the construction of the "Yangwu" class armored cruiser, but adjusted his original plan to build 6 ships to 3, of which the "Yangwu" and "Chaoyong" two ships were built in the shipyard, and the third ship "Yangwei" was built in the Jiangnan shipyard. In this way, the bowl of water is even, and the two sides will be safe.

It is impossible for Yoko Shimazu, who lives in a simple place to collect information and analyze information from various newspapers on a daily basis.

But Rao is so, at this unique "ribbon-cutting" ceremony, Yoko Shimazu still saw the clues.

At today's launching ceremony of the "Yangwu", for some reason, Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng were arranged to sit next to each other, but the two did not say a word from beginning to end, and did not even look at each other.

What's even more interesting is that the two of them turned out to be the same people who "cut the ribbon" this time, and it was at this moment that the two looked at each other, but still didn't say a word.

Yoko Shimazu held a telescope and stared closely at Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng's every move.

The master of ceremonies sang "Auspicious time has arrived!" Ribbon! At 10:10 a.m., accompanied by the music played by the band, the "Yangwu" ship slowly slid toward the sea surface of the Majiang River. The colored balls hanging under the bow mast were opened, multicolored paper and white pigeons flew out, and firecrackers and gongs and drums also sounded at this moment, creating a strong festive atmosphere on the banks of the Ma River.

Yoko Shimazu turned a blind eye to this lively scene, and her attention was always focused on Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng, two important ministers of the state.

After Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng completed the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they each put the gold Yue in their hands back into the brocade box, and then turned around and sat down, still as before, without saying a word or looking at each other.

Seeing Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng like this, Prince Chun might not be able to help it, and got up and persuaded: "Oh, Zhang Tong." Yisheng. You are the king's right-hand men. Serving the court, being loyal, and being able to show it every day, why bother making trouble about this little thing? ”

"The prince is serious, how dare you." Li Shaoquan turned to Ding Yusheng, arched his hand, and tried hard to squeeze out a dry smile, "Yisheng." I haven't been to Fuzhou for a long time, and my throat is uncomfortable today, so I haven't greeted you all the time, forgive me! ”

"The south is damp and full of miasma, Brother Zhang Tong may be a newcomer, and he is not accustomed to the water and soil, I will ask someone to get some medicine for Brother Zhang Tong in a while, and it will be fine." Ding Yusheng laughed dryly. He said, "I'm looking at this ship at the right time." I forgot to say hello to Brother Zhang Tong, and I ask Brother Zhang Tong to forgive me. ”

Seeing that both of them were smirking, Yoko Shimazu sneered.

"The big official of Qianguo is really good at acting!"

Yoko Shimazu no longer looked at Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng, and her eyes fell on the armored cruiser "Yangwu", which had been launched but was not outfitted.

Although the warship was not equipped with cannons, Yoko Shimazu was still impressed by its majestic hull, and she sighed as she recalled the time she accompanied her father to the launching ceremony of Japan's first home-built warship, the Kiyoki.

The "Qinghui", which is less than 1,000 tons, is too far behind the "Yangwu" in front of it......

Today, Qianguo is already able to build large warships with a displacement of nearly 4,000 tons on its own, while Japan ......

No! You can't think from a Japanese perspective anymore! The Japanese government is your enemy! Yoko Shimazu suddenly remembered the blood feud she was carrying, and warned herself loudly in her heart.

Yoko Shimazu no longer looked at the warships in the sea, she got up and went downstairs, and soon disappeared into the vast sea of people.

At noon, the Minister of Shipping, Ding Yusheng, hosted a banquet for the guests at the Harbour Master's Office, and the Harbour Master seemed to be trying to demonstrate the help of the French side to the Harbour Master and the friendly atmosphere between the Qianguo and France. During the banquet, starting with Ding Yusheng, Minister of Shipping, officials of the Qianguo State frequently stood up to toast and congratulate the foreigners, and finally the banquet ended successfully with the slogans of "Long live the Great Qianguo Empire" and "Long live the Qianguo Navy" chanted by foreigners.

At night, in the Mochizuki Pavilion in the back hall of the Harbour Master's Office, a private banquet with only three people was quietly going on.

"Zhang Tong, Yisheng, I salute you two for a glass, you two have been really 'hard' for a while." Prince Chun smiled and raised his glass and said to Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng.

Hearing Prince Chun's emphasis on the word "hardship", Li Shaoquan and Ding Yusheng looked at each other and laughed, each raised their cups, and the three of them drank it all.

At this time, the faces of the two were full of happy expressions, and their performance at the launching ceremony of the new ship during the day was similar to that of the two people.

"Seventh Master, let's deceive them all this time." Ding Yusheng said with a smile, "They really think that Brother Zhang Tong and I will be enemies from now on, just like the story of Shen Hanyu and Zuo Xiangnong." ”

Prince Chun remembered that Shen Youdan and Zuo Jigao had a dispute over the "dual-use" ship and finally turned against each other, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Zuo Xiangnong wishes you two to be like this, needless to say, Shen Hanyu is a real person, and he really believes it." Prince Chun sighed, "A while ago, he wrote me a letter, begging me to mediate, so that the two of you don't have a feud and miss the great cause of coastal defense, and I haven't figured out how to reply to him." ”

"Since Lin Wenxiang left, Shen Hanyu has been overly sad, and his body is not as good as before, he wrote to you, Lord Wang, because he was afraid that Lin Wenxiang's easy-to-handle shipyard would be ruined, so he was so anxious." Li Shaoquan sighed and said to Ding Yusheng, "Go back and send him a telegram separately!" Just a few words are enough, telling him that there is no need to worry about it, so that he can rest assured, so as not to worry too much and aggravate his condition. ”

"Good! In a moment I sent him a telegram. Ding Yusheng nodded in agreement, he thought of Lin Yiqing, and couldn't help but sigh again, "Alas, it would be nice if Lin Hanpeng could go over and see him." ”

"He should go back and see, Yisheng, if you can contact him now, it's best to inform him, so as not to end up with lifelong regrets in the future." Li Shaoquan said to Ding Yusheng again.

"I know this, I'll find a way to inform him when I get back." Ding Yusheng looked at Li Shaoquan and then at Prince Chun, "Besides, he has almost done this Japanese matter, and he should come back." ”

"Yes! Weakening the two tiger and wolf countries of Russia and Japan, so that I can do a great job to keep the peace, this is actually a great merit, but I can't put it on the table. Prince Chun sighed, "I can only write it down for him first, and then I will talk about it when he returns." ”

"If only he came back safely!" Li Shaoquan thought of what kind of changes Lin Yiqing would bring to Qianguo after returning to China, and a strange light flashed in his eyes, "If you can be like this in Japan, and when you return to your homeland, you will definitely be able to do the next great cause of peace and prosperity for the world!" ”

"Yes! Lin Wenxiang has a younger brother like this, which is really a blessing for the country! Listening to Li Shaoquan's words, Ding Yusheng was also excited.

Prince Chun's mood was also very excited, but he didn't speak, but looked up at a round of Jiyue in the sky, raised his wine glass, as if wishing Lin Yiqing a safe return. (To be continued......)

PS: Ask for collection! Ask for recommendations! Ask for a subscription! Click! Ask for a commuter pass!