There was only a little more than a year left before the Sino-French battle, although two ships Chaoyong and Yang Wei were purchased from the British. Coupled with the dozens of broken ships of the Nanyang Naval Division, Fujian Naval Division, and Guangdong Naval Division, it was simply a fool's dream to defeat France, which was the second largest in the world at that time, in a naval battle.

Now Guan Xuqing does not have too much worry about the army of the Qing Dynasty, and the historical Sino-French war was also a complete victory for the Qing Dynasty in Vietnam. Now it is equipped with all German weapons, and German ** officers have been invited to help train some subjects. They are not required to reach the combat effectiveness of the German Army, but they should be much higher than before.

After so many things have been done before, the treasury now finally has some money. If you don't want to spend it now, you will really become the captain of the transport brigade.

"Pass Li Hongzhang." Guan Xuqing said.

"Chirp" Wang Shang hurriedly retreated.

After a while, Li Hongzhang came.

"See the emperor." Li Hongzhang knelt on the ground.

"Flatten, sit and talk." Guan Xuqing is still as polite as ever.

"Your Majesty." Li Hongzhang sat down.

"How did you do with the purchase of the German ** ship?" Guan Xuqing asked.

Li Hongzhang replied: "Your Majesty, the German shipyard in Munich has already agreed to my request of the Qing Dynasty, and another shipyard in Germany, the Hamburg Shipyard, is also willing to train some sailors and officers and soldiers for our Qing Dynasty. Hopefully we can build ships with them. ”

Guan Xuqing thought for a while and said: "Yes, but you go and tell them that what I want to build is a world-class ironclad ship, don't fool me with some backward and outdated inferior products, and also, you send more technicians from Jiangnan Shipyard to supervise the shipbuilding, and learn more from foreigners' shipbuilding skills." One day, I will build my own ironclad ship in the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing. I let the British know about the purchase of ships from Germany in the Qing Dynasty. They protested that I had discriminated against them in trade. It is required to be treated as one. Li Hongzhang looked unaware.

"Hmph" Guan Xu snorted coldly, at the beginning, Turkey and Britain ordered two ironclad ships, both with a displacement of 4830 tons, and after the outbreak of the Crimean War, Britain was neutral, revoked the contract with Turkey, and resold the two ironclad ships to the Qing Dynasty, which also agreed at that time. Later, Britain unilaterally changed its mind. Otherwise, China would not have bought warships from Germany.

Guan Xuqing continued: "The British want to build warships for our Qing Dynasty, but I can't ask for it. Go and tell them, and I will build their ships of Inphrais. ”

The Inverlea White Battleship was a product of the seventies of the nineteenth century in England, and it attracted the attention of the whole world when it was first born. The displacement reached 11,800 tons, and the thickest part of the ship's side armor reached 608 mm, you must know that the displacement of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships at that time was only 7,670 tons, and the ship's side armor was only 355 mm. That's it, at that time, the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships were also called giants by Japan, and during the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, the two ships of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan withstood an average of 200 shells, but they still persevered. And the Inveraisibai battleship is almost twice as thick as Zhenyuan and Dingyuan. I really don't know what kind of cannon can sink it.

"The Inverai White Battleship is the main battleship of the British, I'm afraid it will ......," Li Hongzhang worried.

"Of course I know that it will be impossible for the British to help us build their capital ships. But at the very least, it must be the most advanced cruiser. And agreed to sell the two ironclad ships originally ordered by Turkey to me at a discounted price after refitting. Guan Xuqing said non-negotiable.

"Hey, I'll do it right away." Li Hongzhang said.