"Your Excellency, please rest assured that the Kingdom of Spain will do a good job in keeping the 'Western Zhou-class' warships secret. We will never allow the odious British to steal any technology about the 'Western Zhou-class' warships. If that happens, the Kingdom of Spain will make amends! The Duke of Valencia, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, patted his chest and reassured. Wang Qi's mouth softened, which made him very happy. As long as the Chinese Empire can agree to sell the 'Western Zhou-class' warships, everything is easy to say, and you can make a blank check first, and then we will talk about whether it can be cashed out at that time.

"That's right, Your Excellency. The British are also enemies of the Kingdom of Spain, and we will not let the British steal the relevant information of the 'Western Zhou-class' battleships!" "The Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, José. Morality. Salamanca also hurriedly said.

"Well, I will send a telegram to the country to persuade His Majesty the Emperor to sell the 'Western Zhou-class' warships to the Kingdom of Spain. However, I have to remind you that once the technology of the 'Western Zhou-class' warship is leaked, the empire will definitely not give up. In addition, once the British mastered the technology of the 'Western Zhou-class' warships, the situation of the Kingdom of Spain would be even more difficult. Wang Qi warned.

In response to Wang Qi's warning, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, the Duke of Valencia, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José. Morality. Salamanca was full of promises. However, from their expressions, Wang Qi could see that the Spaniards were just doing superficial work. Actually, they don't care about it. Anyway, it was a battleship purchased from the Chinese Empire. Even if the British stole those technologies, it would not be them who would suffer, but the Chinese Empire. As for after the British Navy became stronger. It will also be the Chinese Empire that will be threatened. After all, the current Chinese Navy is too much of a threat to the British, no! It should be too much of a threat to India, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, India has been sandwiched between Central East Africa and China itself, and the existence of China's Egyptian fleet makes Britain feel even more strained, the British used to be the primary enemy of Russia, after all, Russia has been making trouble in Persia and Afghanistan in order to approach India and the Indian Ocean, and now China has not only replaced Russia but also surrounded India and the Indian Ocean, so now Britain has always regarded China as an opponent in the struggle for world hegemony, of course, this is also the case.

"Your Excellency Duke, how many 'Western Zhou-class' warships does your country want to buy? I have to tell you responsibly that the cost of the 'Western Zhou-class' battleship is not cheap! I asked the Admiralty when I came! Wang Qi said with a smile on his face. He had already raised the bamboo pole high, ready to knock on it.

"Your Excellency, we intend to order 6 'Western Zhou-class' warships. Don't know how much money your country plans to sell? The Duke of Valencia asked. The navy of the Kingdom of Spain intended to purchase six 'Western Zhou-class' warships, so that it could form two fleets with the 12 'Xia-class' cruisers previously purchased from the Chinese Empire, and then deploy them in the Atlantic and Mediterranean directions respectively to defend the maritime interests of the Kingdom of Spain.

"Your Excellency, Duke. In view of the friendly relations between the Kingdom of Spain and the Chinese Empire, we can sell the 'Western Zhou-class' warships to the Kingdom of Spain at the best price. Each 'Western Zhou-class' warship. It only takes 6 million Chinese dollars! Wang Qi said.

"What? Six million Chinese dollars? "The Prime Minister of Spain, the Duke of Valencia, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José. Morality. Salamanca's eyes widened. Six million Chinese dollars, when converted into pounds, is nearly 1.5 million pounds. That's a lot of money. Although the Kingdom of Spain has also made a lot of money over the years, it is still very unaffordable to buy six warships for a price of 1.5 million pounds. The finances of the Kingdom of Spain were simply not able to support it. The annual revenue of the Kingdom of Spain is now only more than 400 million pesos, which is only 30 million pounds when converted into pounds. It is impossible to spend a third of the fiscal revenue on the purchase of battleships.

"Your Excellency, isn't this too high? The Kingdom of Spain was the closest ally of the Chinese Empire. The price is so unrealistic. "José, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain. Morality. Salamanca said.

"Although this price is high, the 'Western Zhou-class' battleship is definitely worth the price." The performance of the Western Zhou-class battleships is at least ten times more powerful than the 'Xia-class' cruisers. It is very cost-effective to buy the 'Western Zhou-class' warship for six million Chinese dollars. Once the navy of the Kingdom of Spain is equipped with six 'Western Zhou-class' warships, I think the strength of the Spanish navy will not be much worse than that of the British navy! Wang Qi said. The prime minister told him that the emperor's bottom line was five million Chinese yuan per ship, but in order to leave room for bargaining, Wang Qi raised the price to six million Chinese yuan, which was already three times the cost of the 'Western Zhou-class' warship!

"No, no! Your Excellency, this price is too high for the Kingdom of Spain to afford! "The head of the Duke of Valencia, the Prime Minister of Spain, shook like a rattle. Although the Kingdom of Spain wants to buy the 'Western Zhou-class' warship, this does not mean that the Kingdom of Spain is willing to be the culprit! Besides, although the Kingdom of Spain and the Chinese Empire had a close relationship, it was the national interests that mattered.

"Your Excellency, if your country thinks the price is too high, then we can't do anything about it. Your country can choose to forgo the purchase of 'Western Zhou-class' warships! There are also a number of business-class ironclad ships that are about to be decommissioned in China, which are also more suitable for your country," Wang Qi said indifferently. Anyway, this time it was the Spaniards who wanted to buy it, and it didn't matter whether the Chinese Empire sold it or not.

Spanish Prime Minister Duke Valencia and Foreign Minister José. Morality. Salamanca's face was a little unsightly. As Wang Qi said, this is the Kingdom of Spain asking the Chinese Empire to sell the 'Western Zhou-class' warships, so the Kingdom of Spain is inevitably in a disadvantageous position, as for the Shang-class ironclad ships, although they are not useless, there are better ones, why buy the old ones? . Of course, they can also choose not to buy it, in this case, the Chinese Empire will not be able to knock their bamboo poles. But if you don't buy it, how can you explain it to those guys in the Navy? The navy of the Kingdom of Spain, however, has been clamoring for a more powerful navy to restore the Kingdom of Spain to its former glory.

"Your Excellency, the Kingdom of Spain is very sincere. We hope that the Chinese Empire can give us a more favorable price! Said the Duke of Valencia. He felt very aggrieved, but there was no way around it.

"Well, Your Excellency, for the sake of our relations, I can ask His Majesty the Emperor to lower the price by twenty percent, that is, five million Chinese dollars per ship. This is our biggest concession. If your country still can't accept it, then we can't do anything about it! Wang Qi said with an embarrassed face, as if the Chinese Empire had suffered a big loss.

"Your Excellency, please wait a moment, we need to deliberate." Said the Duke of Valencia.

"Please!" Wang Qi's face was indifferent. This time, the Chinese Empire had settled on the Spaniards. Although the two sides are allies, the allies' money is also earned.

The Duke of Valencia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José. Morality. Salamanca left for more than ten minutes and returned. They consulted with the generals of the Spanish navy and finally decided to order the 'Western Zhou-class' warships from the Chinese Empire. Although the price is a bit high, who told the Spaniards that they couldn't build it themselves? What's more, if there are these 'Western Zhou-class' warships, the Spanish Navy may be able to really call the British. This was very advantageous for the Kingdom of Spain.

"Your Excellency, we can accept the price of five million Chinese dollars per ship. However, when it comes to payment, we have a little bit of a request. Said the Duke of Valencia.

"Your Excellency the Duke, please speak." Wang Qi said. He was already happy in his heart, five million ships, each of which made a net profit of three million Chinese yuan. And the cost of the 'Eastern Zhou-class' battleship is only 3 million Chinese yuan. That is to say, the sale of six 'Western Zhou-class' warships to the Spaniards is equivalent to the construction of six 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships for the Chinese Navy for free! Sure enough, the arms business is the most profitable!

"Your Excellency, six 'Western Zhou-class' warships, a total of 30 million Chinese dollars, we demand three installments of payment. We pay 10 million Chinese dollars when these ships are started, and another 10 million Chinese dollars when they are launched. After our acceptance and delivery, we will pay the remaining 10 million Chinese dollars! Said the Duke of Valencia. In this way, the financial revenues of the Kingdom of Spain will be able to support it. After all, the construction period of the 'Western Zhou-class' battleships lasted more than two years.

Wang Qi thought for a moment, then nodded: "Okay, Your Excellency Duke, I can temporarily agree to your request on behalf of the Empire." I will send a report to the country immediately, please wait for my good news! ”

After that, the two sides engaged in a series of negotiations, especially on trade, and the Kingdom of Spain wanted to be able to import as many quota goods as possible from the Chinese Empire, even monopolies. However, the Chinese Empire was unwilling to allow the Spaniards to occupy a monopoly position, which would be detrimental to the Chinese Empire.

Italy, Presidential Palace.

Since the Red Shirts led by Garibaldi unified the whole of Italy, Italy is no longer a geographical term, now Italy is a bourgeois democratic republic, the current president Garibaldi as the founding father and "father of Italy", Garibaldi has absolute prestige in Italy, but Garibaldi is not an ambitious person, as the president of Italy he first puts the interests of the country first, it can be said that it is an Italian Washington.

"Giuseppe, do you think it is necessary for us to buy warships from China now? I mean, is the domestic financial and international situation appropriate? Giuseppe Mazzini, a close comrade-in-arms of Garibaldi, is now Secretary of State of the Italian Republic.

"Don't worry at all, we have carried out in-depth trade activities with China over the years, and the domestic funds are fully enough for us to buy warships, and as for the surrounding international situation, it is also the main reason why the government proposes to buy ships, and now Spain has placed an order with China, I heard that Austria also wants to buy from China, but it was scared off by the price, our navy completely inherits Sardinia and the two Sicilies, and we have no advantage in the Mediterranean Sea and even the coastline can not be fully guaranteed, In particular, the Austrian Navy has been rampage in the Adriatic Sea, and this is the only way out for us at the moment. ”

"But the price, is it too expensive!"

"We could have paid in installments exactly like we did in Spain. With the relationship between China and China, as well as your friendship with the Emperor of China (Lin Hong and Garibaldi were often in correspondence, mainly because Lin Hong liked to communicate with these historical figures. I think we'll have a deal! Giuseppe quipped.

The next day, the Chinese embassy in Italy sent a telegram from Italy, which included three ships of the "Western Zhou" class, six heavy cruisers of the "Fubo" class (the next class of the Ming General), six light cruisers of the "Dinghai" class, and a number of other ships