The size of the visiting fleet was so large that in order not to embarrass the U.S. Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor, the fleet stayed in the port of Honolulu.

After arriving at the port in Hu Chuyuan's carriage, Hu Chuyuan invited Princess Kaorani to board the flagship Zhiyuan.

In order to increase the number of main guns, the two sides of the board adopt a sawtooth bulwark design, and two more rectangular corners are added to the hull, and ten 275mm caliber Krupp new tube-back hoop main guns are installed.

It is hard to believe that the Qing army has the third largest naval force in the world, but there are no warships of more than 8,000 tons, and the highest tonnage is the Zhiyuan class.

In terms of the choice of the main gun, the Zhiyuan class is also relatively small, and to some extent, it is precisely for these reasons that the great powers have not been particularly hostile to the development of the Qing Navy.

But in the eyes of Princess Kaorani and the Hawaiian Kingdom, this is already a supership, and they have never seen it.

Princess Kaorani was particularly interested in visiting the Zhiyuan, and looked at it from top to bottom.

After the visit, Hu Chuyuan invited Princess Caorani to rest under the pergola at the bow of the ship, and provided Princess Caorani with brandy provided by Changyu Yantai Winery.

The project is a joint venture between CITIC and Zhang Bishi, with hundreds of thousands of acres of vineyards in Yantai, introducing grape varieties and winemaking technology from France, and currently mainly producing Changyu dry red and grape brandy, and purchasing apples from Weihai and Yantai to make apple brandy, which is mainly sold to the United States.

In recent years, CITIC has also continued to cooperate with Zhang Bishi in the northeast on whisky and beer projects, and in China, it has invested in liquor industry projects such as Moutai, Tanggou and Shaoxing Huadiao.

During this tour to Europe and the United States, Hu Chuyuan also shouldered the task of promoting Chinese wine to the international market and opening up new export projects for China, especially the apple brandy in Yantai, which is of very good quality and taste, and won a world silver medal at the French Agronomic Fair last year.

Apple brandy is also brandy, which belongs to the strong surname wine, and it tastes very sweet, but the degree is not low at all.

Princess Caolani drank a small glass, and her cheeks welled up with a rainbow of color, revealing a unique charm of grace.

"Uh-huh......!"

She couldn't help but praise and said, "The taste of this wine is really good." ”

Hu Chuyuan laughed, clapped his hands lightly, and asked people to send a box of rare Yantai brandy, he said: "This is my country's brandy brewed in Shandong Province, and it also won high praise and medals in France last year, I am very happy that you can like it." If you wish, I would be happy to offer this brandy to the royal family as a special breed for entertaining guests, and you can rest assured that we will be able to offer even better brandy, champagne and dry red over time. ”

Princess Kaorani smiled and asked, "Really?" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded very seriously and said, "Of course it's true." ”

Princess Kaorani playfully raised the crystal cup in her hand and carefully watched the color of the glass in the sun, becoming more and more serious.

After a long while, she said, "It is indeed a very good wine...... Well, that's it, I just don't know if it's the right price. For a small country like ours, money is often our biggest problem. ”

Hu Chuyuan replied with confidence: "The price is not a problem, in the first ten years, we will supply it for free." ”

Princess Kaorani laughed out loud and said, "That's great." ”

Speaking of this, she quietly turned her delicate and gorgeous cheeks, looked at Hu Chuyuan boldly, and asked, "So...... Can you take me with you on the tour? ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "If you are just traveling with the fleet in various countries, it is not a problem, if you are visiting together, then you need to consider the possible impact it may have." I think you should ask your country's foreign minister, or your Excellency the Prime Minister. ”

Princess Kaorani shrugged her shoulders helplessly and said, "In fact, we can't even find a reliable prime minister, let alone a foreign secretary, Americans always occupy these positions, but they are not really politicians." It seems to me that they are just a bunch of American vagabonds, who have neither money nor much land here, but are just some traders, who want to try to rely on a coup d'état to get everything, which is incomprehensible to me! ”

"yes!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled faintly.

The Americans are not in a demographic advantage here, nor a military, or economic advantage, their only advantage is the Americans, the Caucasians, and that's it.

In addition to this, they also have the influence of the church.

He thought for a moment and said, "Although it is not appropriate for us to joke with each other, let me tell you a joke, if I bid 30 million dollars to buy the ownership of this country...... Well, no country would dare to go wild here. ”

"What?"

Princess Kaorani looked angry and tried to stand up in anger.

Hu Chuyuan continued: "It's just a joke, and there is no disrespect. In fact, your biggest problem is to build a solid system of self-government. If you don't even have the ability to govern the country, then you can't blame other countries for their ambitions for you. ”

"Oh?"

Princess Kaorani thought silently.

For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

Hu Chuyuan said: "Choose a suitable prime minister, preferably not an American or a Chinese, but preferably capable." If you and the Queen decide that you can join the tour with the visiting fleet, then we can pick a suitable person along the way. ”

Hawaii is not the point, so Hu Chuyuan does not have a definite answer in his heart.

Accompanied by the admiral of the visiting fleet, Ye Zuqi, Hu Chuyuan successively introduced other warships to Princess Kaorani, and only in the evening did they return to the palace together.

Queen Liliukalani was not a very politically savvy person, and she hastily agreed to Princess Caolani's idea, and even hoped to put an end to the disrespectful demands of the Americans against Hawaii.

After a leisurely vacation in Hawaii for a few more days, Hu Chuyuan officially arrived in the United States with a fleet and held a meeting with President Grove Cleveland in San Francisco.

Privately, Hu Chuyuan tested Cleveland's bottom line and confirmed that the White House did not have a plan to annex the Hawaiian Islands, at least Cleveland himself was not very supportive.

Since this is the case, Hu Chuyuan is not polite, after the original trade agreement was amended, he and Cleveland reached another two-state proclamation, prohibiting other countries from occupying or otherwise controlling the Hawaiian Kingdom, and maintaining the Hawaiian Kingdom's reading surname.

The two countries hope that the Kingdom of Hawaii will improve the existing constitution and respect its implementation.

Under this premise, the Kingdom of Hawaii will open Pearl Harbor to the U.S. Navy as a Pacific naval base, and China will also have the right to use U.S. facilities at Pearl Harbor and to station at Pearl Harbor.

The United States was not the focus of this diplomatic visit, and Hu Chuyuan did not stay in the United States for too long, but soon continued to go to Mexico, and reached a new arms sales agreement with Mexican President Diarra, selling four Fuzhou-class warships and four Chunyu-class destroyers to Mexico, and ordering a number of defense ships and cruisers in accordance with Mexico's plans and requirements.

Hu Chuyuan has spent a lot of time in Mexico, mainly because he has completed the transformation of his assets, and the large investment projects in China have entered the return period one after another.

This meant that he had the resources to make larger investments in North America and Latin America, so he stayed in Mexico for nearly a month to personally finalize the purchase of the rights to operate the Proano silver mine by a wealthy country in the Americas.

Counting the Cannington silver mine already owned by BHP, a subsidiary of Swire & Co., Ltd., and the four world-class silver mines controlled by the Wells Fargo Investment Bank in the United States and Peru, the total output of silver mines controlled by the rich countries in the Americas has reached an average of 3,500 tons, or about 94.5 million taels of silver, per year.

In mid-July, Hu Chuyuan began traveling to Peru and Chile, making detours to Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, and then officially to Spain.

In Seville, the ancient capital of Spain, Hu Chuyuan and the regent Queen Maria-Cristina signed an agreement in which the Kingdom of Spain formally recognized the Qing Empire's territorial rights to Guam and surrounding islands, and sold the Caroline Islands, including Palau, to the Qing Empire for three million pounds.

From the very beginning, the Qing Dynasty did not have a frontal military conflict with Spain, in fact, there was not even a side conflict, and the two sides were able to maintain a relatively good relationship.

On this basis, Hu Chuyuan and the Queen Mother Regent Maria-Cristina continued to sign a part of the new military-foreign trade agreement, which will make it possible for the two sides to jointly develop a new type of lower-cost battleship, as well as a contract for the sale of six Chunyu-class destroyers.

The two sides will give each other the most favored trading country treatment, and Spain will give China the lowest tariff treatment for silk fabrics, linen fabrics, tea, porcelain, and other agricultural and handicraft products.

As the basis for this agreement, Hu Chuyuan promised that Spanish merchants could officially trade and invest in the Chinese vassal states of North Vietnam, Korea, and the Philippines, as well as in China's industrial and international concessions.

After that, Hu Chuyuan arrived in France and the United Kingdom, and carried out a series of diplomatic activities on the ownership of the islands in the central Pacific Ocean, and also helped Princess Kaorani to get involved in the diplomatic world, and also helped her find several suitable candidates for prime minister.

In October 1895, Hu Chuyuan finally arrived in Germany to discuss the joint development of a new type of battleship between China and Germany.

Prior to this, the two countries had jointly developed Fuzhou-class ironclad ships, the Qing Navy installed 14 Fuzhou-class ironclad ships, Germany installed 8 ships, and the United States installed 6 ships, and the average price per ship was reduced from the expected 1.95 million taels of silver to 1.42 million taels of silver.

Compared with the same class of ironclad ships developed and manufactured by the United States and Germany, the technical advantages of the Fuzhou class are obvious, and after the test of the Chinese naval battle, this class of ironclad ships is also very reliable and stable.

Under the pressure of the monarch class, Germany urgently needs a battleship of the same class, and there is already a corresponding research and construction plan, if it is shared with China and two ships are built for China in Germany, Germany can use the advantage of the total number to keep the average price down.

In addition, Germany is very keen to introduce Chunyu-class steam turbine technology, and Germany is completely at a disadvantage in this regard, while China's steam turbine technology is much ahead.

Turbine research in the UK has also been maintained at a high level, but there is still some experience in practical applications.

Hu Chuyuan knew very well that Germany had accelerated the research of steam turbines, and a breakthrough could be formed in a few years, and it could be put into practical use on a large scale around 1905.

He took out the technology and exchanged it for the German diesel engine and gun body manufacturing technology, and the two sides were integrated, and it was completely possible to build a more advanced Chunyu class...... As a supplementary condition, while the technology was transferred to Germany, production and further development remained under the responsibility of the BASF Group's wholly-owned machinery plant.

Of course, a more important role was to contain Britain and France.

Germany needs China to contain Britain, France, and Russia in Asia, and China also needs Germany to contain Britain, France, and Russia in Europe.

In addition to the navy, in the army, the two sides are also increasing the urgency of joint research and development, as the world's largest army power, Germany still lacks stable advanced rifles, while China has two.

In terms of artillery, although China has made great progress, heavy guns, especially guns with a caliber of more than 245mm, still need to be imported from Germany, even if they are above 180mm, the artillery imported from Germany is obviously better.

It's not just about steel and raw materials, it's not just about machining accuracy, it's about "rules...... The Germans laid down a complete set of detailed rules for the production of artillery.

Considering the long-term space for cooperation, the German Emperor Wilhelm II transferred the Marshall Islands to the Qing Empire free of charge, and at the same time, the two sides signed a more reasonable trade agreement, confirming the strongest foreign trade most-favored-nation relationship between the two sides.

It was during this period of time, in order to give Princess Kaorani more opportunities to appear, and in order to let the European powers recognize the surname of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Hu Chuyuan has been taking her as his female companion during this time and taking her into diplomatic occasions in various countries.

Such behavior has led to the widespread belief that Princess Kaorani, the first heir to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom, is Hu Chuyuan's lover, and there is an ulterior secret between the two.

This is really wrong, and the relationship between them is very pure.

In any case, Hu Chuyuan was already a man with two wives, and in Europe, it was easy to see him as one of those men in the Ottoman Empire, with a legal surname of polygamy.

(To be continued)