After Weng Tongyi was ordered by the Empress Dowager Cixi to return to his hometown, his Minister of Military Aircraft and Hubu Shangshu was succeeded by Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang Commerce.

After Song Xiao flew back to Tianjin, the deputy admiral of the Beiyang Naval Division and the British Navy Colonel Lang Weili came to the door and said anxiously in blunt Chinese: "Lord Admiral, you asked me to keep an eye on the movements of the Navy, and I got the news that the Minister of the Navy, Shiki Kayama, recently sent someone to London to negotiate the order of two fast armored cruisers, these two warships are not only fast, but also fierce, and their power is incomparable, and they are now the best cruisers in the world. We must buy it back before we can win. ”

Song Xiaofei asked, "How fast is this warship?" Introduce me to the parameters of these two ironclad warships, the more detailed the better. ”

Luang Weili took out a drawing of a warship and said: "This is the information I got from my British naval friends, these two ships are cutting-edge dome cruisers, with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons and a length of 109.73 meters, which is more than ' Dingyuan Railway's ironclad ship is still long, its advantage also lies in the amazing power and speed, two vertical four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, using strong pressure ventilation technology, with 12 high-type coal-fired boilers, can obtain more than 20,000 horsepower surging power, the highest speed of more than 30 knots, is now the world's fastest surface warship. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard that although the tonnage of the "Dingyuan" was 3,000 tons more than that of this new ship, its power was only 6,200 horsepower and its maximum speed was 14.5 knots, which was less than half of that of this warship. ”

"The main guns are four 6-inch 40-caliber rapid-fire guns produced by the British Armstrong Company, with an effective range of 8,600 meters and 7 projectiles per minute. ”

Song Xiaofei asked, "Just these six artillery?" ”

Lang Weili said: "Of course not, there are 8 ear guns between the two sides of the new warship to the stern building, forming a dense broadside firepower, in addition, the new warship is also densely packed with 22 Haqikaisi single-barreled rapid-fire guns, as well as as 5 14-inch torpedo tubes, this ship is also equipped with a special artillery rangefinder that has just come out, so that the aiming and ranging of the ship's guns will be more accurate, convenient, and the combat effectiveness will be doubled." ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, this firepower was fierce enough, almost twice as much as the "Dingyuan Ship", if this kind of warship fell into the hands of Xiao Yueben, it would be a huge threat to the Beiyang Naval Division, Song Xiaofei asked: "How much do these two warships cost?" ”

Lang Weili said: "A total of about 2,400,000 taels of silver. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, compared with the cost of several million taels of silver for the Dingyuan ship, this price is not expensive, but the money he can use on hand is only 600,000 taels of silver, which is still the money that Li Fengbao got a kickback for the last time he bought the ship, but this warship cannot be bought by himself anyway, so he asked Lang Weili, can you go to negotiate with the British naval department, cheaper, and let China buy these two new warships. As you know, North China has just been hit by a great famine, and many people don't have enough to eat, and the country doesn't have much money.

Luang Weili said: "I have already asked, these two new ships will also need at least two million taels of silver. ”

Song Xiaofei said, "You first contact Armstrong and say that the Beiyang Navy Division bought these two warships. I'm going to find a way to raise money. ”

The money is really hard to raise, Song Xiao flew to Li Hongzhang's official residence to make a report, Li Hongzhang wrote a letter to Liu Kunyi, in order to ask for more money, he said more ruthlessly: "Once these two warships fall into my hands, China's coastal defense will be torn open a big hole, and it will be difficult for our Beiyang Naval Division to defend the Beijing Division. ”

Song Xiaofei personally went to Beijing to ask for money, and as soon as Liu Kun got Li Hongzhang's handwritten letter, he looked embarrassed and said: "It's not that this official is unwilling to allocate funds for your sailors to purchase ships, it's just that the treasury has been really empty in recent years!" ”

Liu Kun and Song Xiaofei vomited bitterness, Guangxu got married before the pro-government, the wedding cost 5 million taels of silver, the pro-government ceremony cost another 2 million taels, Qingyi Garden was renovated for Cixi to live, and it is expected to cost 10 million taels. Not long after Weng Tongrong took charge of the household, he also encountered a financial crisis, the currency reform was frustrated, and the allocation of revenue and expenditure was stretched.

Song Xiaofei died grinding hard bubbles, Liu Kunyi finally relented, and the household supported 200,000 taels of silver. Song Xiaofei expressed dissatisfaction: "This is also the money to buy five Krupp heavy guns." ”

Liu Kunyi said: "I have no choice, I have to pick the 200,000 taels between my teeth." ”

Song Xiaofei returned to Tianjin to complain to Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang allocated 200,000 taels of silver from the army's military expenses, and the remaining 1 million taels of silver, Li Hongzhang suggested that Song Xiaofei go to Sheng Xuanhuai, who was well-connected in the business community and could go to Shanghai to raise funds for the purchase of ships.

Song Xiaofei went to Shanghai again, but the ship sailed to the Huangpu River, and the white mist floated on the entire river, Sheng Xuanhuai looked embarrassed, and said to Song Xiaofei: "One million taels of silver is not a small amount, and the adults this time are to let people donate instead of borrowing, in the past few years of the North China disaster, friends in the business community donate a lot every year, they may not be interested in donating money to the imperial court to buy warships, this time the adults had better not hold out too much hope." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Even if we go to rob the foreign bank, we have to scrape together this million taels of silver, otherwise the price paid by the Beiyang Navy Division in the future will be far more than this bit of silver." ”

Sheng Xuanhuai thought for a while and said, "In this case, I will take you to visit someone first, as long as he is willing to agree to help, maybe it will not be difficult to raise this million taels of silver." ”

Song Xiaofei asked, "Who are you visiting?" How capable is he? ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Xi Zhengfu, he is the big comprador of HSBC!" Last time, I had his help, and the foreign bank collectively refused Hu Xueyan's loan, and he had a circle of contacts, all of which were compradors or invoice numbers of the foreign bank. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard that this Xi Zhengfu had so much energy to deal with so many foreign banks in Shanghai, it showed that he must be a financial predator, and businessmen always asked for foreign banks and ticket numbers, and Xi Zhengfu's face might really be greater than that of himself, an official from the first grade, so he urged Sheng Xuanhuai to arrange for them to meet as soon as possible.

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Adults should be mentally prepared, Xi Zhengfu generally does not wait to see Qing court officials. ”

Song Xiaofei said with a smile: "Aren't you also the director of the Merchants Bureau of the Qing Court?" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai also smiled: "I am more like a businessman than an official." ”

The two went ashore, and Shao Youlian of Shanghai Dao was wearing a Yunyan official uniform and greeted him with a smile. Sheng Xuanhuai said: "This time we won't stay at the welcoming office, you go to the French Concession to find a good inn." Shao Youlian nodded and said, "Xiaguan will do it." ”

In Shanghai's old French Concession, near today's Xujiahui, the famous building is the Pidgin St. Joseph's Church, a Catholic church built on June 29, 1861, and many wealthy businessmen in Shanghai have bought garden villas in the French Concession. Shao Youlian arranged the two of them in the most famous Luofia Hotel in the French Concession, which was a three-story small red building with a garden, it was noon, a long boat and horse trek, Song Xiaofei was a little tired, and decided to take a lunch break first, and then go down to visit Xi Zhengfu, he and Sheng Xuanhuai each asked for a guest room.

Song Xiaofei's room is on the first floor, and outside the window is the back garden, with a towering acacia tree in the middle. As soon as he lay down, less than a stick of incense, he heard a cat outside the window "meowing" screaming, he couldn't sleep, so he went out to see what was going on, just walked to the back garden, he saw a girl in a white Western dress, with a loli face, clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, but people like jade, as if they do not eat the fireworks of the world, Song Xiaofei's mind popped out of a poem: "There is a beautiful woman in the south, and she can read the world!" ”

The girl's face was anxious, her pet cat with pure white fur, somehow made trouble, stuck on the branch of the acacia tree more than one person high, and kept screaming!

Song Xiaofei never thought that the girl in front of him was Xi Zhengfu's youngest daughter Xi Muqing, who was only sixteen years old at the time, and received a "European-style education" in the United States.