Because the losses in the Battle of Daitogou were so great, the Japanese navy sent a representative to Chile in charge of negotiations that they hoped to buy all the warships they had sold.

But the Chilean navy said they could sell all of them, but not all of them, otherwise they would not be able to maintain a balance of power at sea with Argentina, which had a bad relationship. However, if only two or three warships are purchased, it will not be enough for the Japanese Navy, which has been greatly damaged, to regain the strength to compete with the Beiyang Naval Division for sea supremacy.

At this time, Ito Hirobumi came up with a seemingly whimsical idea, "Since the Chileans are afraid that the strength of the Argentine Navy will surpass their own, then the Imperial Kingdom will help them and also ask Argentina to buy warships to see if it works." If the Argentine government does not currently have the intention of going to war with Chile, it would be a good idea to sell warships with Chile to maintain balance. It's really not good, the price can be set a little higher"

As a result, the Argentine government really had no intention of going to war with Chile, and the Japanese offer was really exciting, so a large deal for Japan to buy ships from Chile and Argentina, two hostile countries, was quickly negotiated.

However, almost no one expected that in order to avoid repeating the mistake of the defeat in the Great East Valley, the Japanese Navy Minister Saigo Tomichi, who was fully responsible for the purchase of ships, actually risked being executed to sign a large order with the representatives of the two South American countries that exceeded the authorization

"You're crazy! That's nearly 2.7 million pounds (about 15 million taels of silver)! And the restriction must be paid in gold and silver, pounds or dollars, where can the government come up with so much now? Ito Hirobumi roared loudly at Saigo Congdao, and spat at Xingzi on the other party's face, completely losing his usual demeanor.

"Those are good ships! Chile's Pratt Trowel is a new type of ironclad ship, with a displacement of nearly 7,000 tons, fast speed, strong firepower, and excellent protection. The Blanco Enkarada and the Argentine Buenos Aires were stronger than the original Yoshino in terms of firepower and protection, and they were the main cruisers necessary for the rebuilding of the Combined Fleet. The Argentine protection cruisers, the 9 July and 26 May, were not much inferior to the Yoshino and were relatively inexpensive. As for the other warships, on the one hand, they had to be bought from Chile in order to balance the naval strength of the two countries, and on the other hand, Dadonggou lost too many warships, although the performance of these ships is slightly worse and the age of the ships is slightly longer, but the cost performance is still good, and they can keep up with the speed of the Pratt Captain", Saigo seemed to have been prepared, he calmly wiped the saliva from his face, said in a voice that could not be heard in the slightest panic, and then bowed deeply to Ito Hirobumi, and pleaded with him on behalf of the navy, " With these eight warships, together with the Akitsuzu and the soon-to-be-completed Suma, they can form a powerful fleet with a formation speed of no less than 16 knots, and in the face of absolute strength, the Qing people will not be able to play tricks again in any case, please be sure to support the navy again! ”

For the Japanese pro-British faction represented by Ito Hirobumi, the Japanese Navy, which has always been based on the British Navy, can be said to be a natural basic plate, if he can help, Ito Hirobumi will definitely not refuse, but this time Saigo Congdao played too big, so Ito Hirobumi didn't dare to respond easily, "Saigo-kun, you are too reckless, that's 2.7 million pounds!" Not 2,700,000 yen! At present, the gold and silver and pounds and dollars that can be taken out of the treasury are more than a million pounds, and now the imperial war situation is unfavorable, and it is very difficult to borrow, and the remaining money may only be embezzled from the monetary reserves, and then counting some other necessary expenses, the total amount is probably not less than 2 million pounds, which is too large, once the news is revealed (which is almost inevitable), the exchange rate of the yen will definitely collapse, do you know how much loss it will be? Hundreds of millions, or even hundreds of millions of yen, are possible, and even if you commit suicide, you won't be able to explain it to Your Majesty and the people! ”

"As long as this war is won, no matter how big the loss is, it can be earned! China is so large and rich that if it were not for the backwardness of the system, it would not be difficult to reach 300 million yen or even 500 million yen a year. Saigo Hirobumi was not moved by it, because he knew all this, so Saigo immediately changed the direction and said, "And if this battle is lost, then the imperial kingdom will be completely hopeless, even if there is still gold, silver and foreign exchange surplus in the treasury, what is the use?" It's better to take a gamble and minimize the possibility of defeat! ”

But Ito Hirobumi did not agree with this, and he snorted coldly, "Even if we lose, there is still hope for the Imperial Kingdom to make a comeback, we are already a modern country, and our development is changing with each passing day; Even if the Qing state won this war, it would be difficult for them to rise quickly, and there was even a possibility that after the war was won, their rotten imperial court would feel relieved and more reluctant to carry out reforms. Therefore, even if this war is not won, the imperial kingdom will only have to live a few years of hard life, and in the near future, we still have the hope of conquering the Qing country and dominating the world! ”

"Your Excellency, do not deceive yourself! I just ask, if the Imperial Kingdom really lost this war, would the British still support us at that time? What about the unequal treaties that have not yet been abolished? What should I do if I can't find a sales market for other products except raw silk? What should I do if the cost of introducing scientific and technological equipment and talents to study abroad is too high and I can't afford it? As soon as Saigo said this, Ito Hirobumi's face suddenly sank and became more and more ugly.

Indeed, just as Saigo said, if Japan loses to China, Britain will no longer choose to support Japan as a thug to contain Tsarist Russia, and may even turn to support China, without the support of the British, it will be difficult for Japan to recover the sovereignty that has been encroached upon by the foreign powers, and it will not be able to get the convenience of the empire that the sun never sets to open its market and transfer technology at a low price to help train talents, and the difficulty of development will inevitably increase greatly, and it may even never be able to develop