If the Argentines and Chileans are only interested in purchasing new ships, they are still in the intention stage, and they don't even have a concrete plan now, but the Tokugawa shogunate is different.

As one of the three kingdoms of Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate occupied the largest territory, and although it has developed considerably in the past ten years, it has been attacked by the Meiji government and the Hokkai, and in order to confront both enemies, the Tokugawa shogunate had to maintain a large standing army.

In the seventies, Japan's Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji government successively carried out internal reforms, and the Meiji government carried out the so-called Daisei Hokkai, which followed the example of the empire and carried out the reform of the real monarchy. On the other hand, the Tokugawa shogunate followed the example of the British and adopted a hypocritical monarchy, and the former Tokugawa became a responsible cabinet.

These reforms still have obvious results, the national strength of the three countries of Japan has been significantly enhanced, of which the most enhanced is not the Meiji government, but the Tokugawa shogunate that carried out the reform of the hypocrite monarch, of course, strictly speaking, this government should not be called the Tokugawa shogunate, but should be called the Toei country.

In order to completely divide Japan, the empire was extremely dissatisfied with the Meiji government and the Tokugawa shogunate claiming to be the state of Japan, and under the pressure of the empire, both so-called Japanese states were established as official names after reform, otherwise the legitimacy of their rule would not be recognized.

However, in this process, the Meiji government preemptively submitted credentials to the empire, calling itself the 'Kingdom of Japan', the Japanese monarch was originally the emperor, and now the Meiji government abandoned the title of emperor and voluntarily called the king of Japan, and the old diehards of the empire were very happy, so they directly recognized the legitimacy of the kingdom of Japan.

On the one hand, the Tokugawa shogunate scolded the Meiji government for being shameless, and even used this to attack the Meiji emperor as fake, and if it was the real emperor, it would be absolutely impossible to give up the title of emperor. On the other hand, they also chose another nickname for Japan, that is, Toei as the name of the country.

However, the name of their country is not a kingdom, but a self-proclaimed Toei country, and its monarch is not the king of Toei, but the emperor of Toei.

As for the Hokkai, it's simpler, because they don't think of themselves as part of Japan for a long time, they are independent, free Hokkaido.

The Toei Kingdom, which retains the title of the emperor, has always paid great attention to the training of the army because it faces two strong enemies.

In the Navy, they introduced several large-tonnage warships in the 70s, and their strength was among the best among the three countries in Japan, especially in 1876, when they purchased the Pangu-class second-class ironclad Zhurong after the Royal Navy had been decommissioned by the Imperial Navy at a relatively low price, and renamed it Kaga.

Although the Kaga (Zhurong) is an old ship commissioned in 1864, but in 1876, its age was only 12 years, and the age of the ship was 12 years.

After the purchase of the Kaga, the naval strength of the Eastern Ying Kingdom has risen significantly, but the Beihai Kingdom and the Kingdom of Japan have also followed suit, and they have all gone to the empire to buy second-hand ironclad ships, these ironclad ships are naturally useless if they want to fight against the naval powers of the British and French empires, but their enemies are not so naval powers, and their enemies are the three of themselves.

So as long as it can deal with the enemy, it is enough, as for whether it is the most advanced warship or not, it does not matter, and it does not matter whether it can fight other naval powers.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Japan and the Beihai Kingdom also moved quickly to purchase a second-class ironclad ship of the Pangu class, and the empire is naturally open to buying these old battleships, anyway, if they are not sold, these old ironclad ships can only be used as training ships, and they are useless at all, even if they are not sold, the navy will dismantle them by itself in a few years, and they are unwilling to even turn them into reserve mothballs.

Seeing that the two opponents had also purchased a Pangu-class second-hand ironclad ship, Dongying Guo was thinking about buying a more powerful warship, and they originally wanted to buy the Jumang or the Yellow Emperor

The empire's five Pangu-class second-class ironclad ships, three were sold, and one was as early as 1872 when the ammunition depot explosion accident occurred in Qingdao Military Port, although it was not completely sunk, but the hull was seriously damaged, and the maintenance cost was too high.

The remaining one is the Jumang, which is the last Pangu-class ironclad ship, which was commissioned in 1867, and after some modifications in 1878, it was changed to an artillery training ship, and it is still in service, but according to the plan, it is estimated that it will be retired from active service in a few years.

As for the Yandi-class second-class ironclad ships, there is only one Yellow Emperor left in service in the empire's Yandi-class ironclad ships.

Three Yandi-class ironclad ships, which were reduced to second-rate ships in the seventies, but because the cost of use and maintenance and use is very high, the gains outweigh the losses, the navy would rather keep those wooden sail cruisers that are more than 20 years old, rather than these early ironclad ships, these early ironclad ships due to immature technology, after more than ten years, there are now many kinds of failures, especially the power system will basically have problems at both ends in three days, and the maintenance cost is even higher than that of the Kuafu-class ironclad ships. So in the late seventies, they were retired one after another.

The Yandi, commissioned in 1865, was decommissioned in 1879 and dismantled the following year, with a service life of only 14 years.

In 1866, the Shaohao was shipwrecked in the waters of Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province in 1873, and in order to commemorate the sinking of the ship, the first ship of the new battleship in the next two years was called the Shaohao, that is, the Shaohao-class battleship.

Finally, the Yellow Emperor in 1867 was also old, so it was officially retired in 1881, although it has not been dismantled, but if it cannot be sold, it is estimated that it will be dismantled, and the steel of this year is still very valuable.

Although the Japanese want to sell cheap second-hand ships, they are not stupid, seeing that the empire simply retired the Yandi class, they naturally know that whether it is a Pangu-class or Yandi-class ironclad ship, if they take over the past, the maintenance cost will not be low.

If the price is low, they don't mind, the failure rate is high, and the big deal is to reduce the time to go to sea, as long as they can go to sea in time of war.

But if the price is very high, then they don't want to be the big one, these two ironclad ships are basically old ships in the first half of the sixties, and they are also the first generation of ironclad ships, and it is good to use them now without falling apart, the failure rate is very high, and it is very cost-effective to buy them at a high price.

If possible, they would prefer to buy some of the more recent second-hand ships in the Empire, such as the Kwafu-class and the like.

In addition to the Pangu class and the Yandi class, there are three old ironclad ships left in the empire, namely one Tianwu and two Kuafu, and these three ironclad ships were commissioned in 1868/1869/1870, which were only in service for more than ten years, and when these ironclad ships were built, the industrial technology level of the empire was greatly improved, and they would not have many failures like the Yandi class and Pangu class.

However, although the combat effectiveness of these three ironclad ships is far behind the times, the hull condition is relatively good, the failure rate is low, and the maintenance cost is relatively low, so the navy side also continues to be used as second-line troops.

By this day in 1882, there were only these three ironclad ships left in the empire, and the others were either sold, dismantled or sunk by accident.

In the past twenty years, the capital ships in the Imperial Royal Navy have basically been replaced, and the ironclad ships of the Pangu-class and Yandi-class that used to be majestic in the past are now gone, replaced by those battleships and armored cruisers.

However, the two Nanjing-class sail wooden cruisers are still alive and well, the Nanjing commissioned in 1860 and the Wuchang commissioned in 1863 are still serving as training ships, and there is no intention of decommissioning these two sail warships in the navy in a short time.

It is obviously not an easy task for the people of Dongying Kingdom to use a small price and then buy a warship with strong combat effectiveness, although they are also willing to ask for the Jumang and the Yellow Emperor, but the empire is too expensive, so they are not willing.

Try to buy a Kuafu-class ironclad that is a no-brainer.

The only remaining option is to purchase new ships, but new ships are expensive, if you want to purchase ironclad ships with perfect armor belts, let alone five or six thousand tons of ironclad ships, even if they are three or four thousand tons, they can't afford to sell them.

So this time, when they were invited to watch the exercise, the representatives of Dongying Kingdom were staring at those cruisers.

After the exercise was over, the Dongying Kingdom placed an order for a warship to the Empire, which was a protective cruiser, to be precise, a dome cruiser, with a displacement of 3,500 tons, an astonishing speed of 18 knots, and two 200-millimeter main guns, one in the front and one in the rear.

The price was also extremely expensive, reaching 750,000 yuan, and due to the limited naval funds of the Eastern Ying Kingdom, they also paid it in three installments over three years.

However, you get what you pay for, and at the price of 700,000 yuan, the protective cruiser called Naniwa that I bought is naturally very good at fighting, and its firepower, protection, and speed can basically be compared to the first-class cruisers of various countries, and it is basically handy to fight other warships of the Japanese navies.

Japan's purchase of this Naniwa protective cruiser is not a trivial matter, but it is not worth paying attention to for the empire, what is really worthy of the empire's attention is that the Seventh Army in the northwest defeated the main force of the rebels in Kokand Province in only half a month with a thunderous momentum, and then continued to purge potential rebels throughout Kokand Province and Xinjiang Province.

The garrisons of the two provinces, in conjunction with the Seventh Army, almost sealed off the main population centers in the two provinces, and then carried out a thorough inventory, mainly of rebels carrying illegal weapons and possessing contraband.

Illegal weapons include guns, knives, bows and arrows, etc., the empire implements a very strict firearms management system, if you want to use firearms, you need a firearm use license, usually hunters, immigrants from border provinces can get permission, and firearms are usually limited to front-loading smoothbore guns, other rifled guns, rear-loading guns and pistols, are strictly prohibited from civilian use.

Therefore, those who secretly possess firearms or cold weapons are not 100 percent, but nine out of ten are rebels or criminals.

Contraband is mainly some cultural products, including aboriginal culture, religious books, items, etc.

The empire pursued Han culturalism, that is, the mandatory use of the Chinese language throughout the country, the promotion of modern civilization, and the establishment of relevant modern educational institutions.

Since 1882, the cultural movement carried out by the empire, known as the 'modern civilization promotion movement' within the empire, is intended to allow more aborigines who are still living in ignorance and backwardness to experience modern civilization, appreciate the greatness of Han culture, and gradually integrate into modern civilization.

Beginning in 1882, the empire began a modern civilization promotion movement in the major border provinces, especially in the provinces with more rebellions, and by 1890, there had been more than 100 unrest of more than 1,000 people, and three rebellions of more than 10,000 people.

During this special period, the Royal Army gave full play to the fine tradition of 'fighting well externally and fighting better at home', and all the above rebellions were suppressed by the Royal Army one by one.

By 1890, the empire could proudly claim that Kokand Province, like the provinces of the Central Plains, had become an integral part of the land of Jiuzhou in China, and even after thousands of years, after the change of dynasties, this place would still be part of China, because the people living here were Chinese.

Walking on the streets of Kokand City in 1890, at a glance, the shops are hung with Chinese signs, and the male Han people with obvious Central Plains characteristics and wearing Chinese clothes or suits, Hanfu, and the women on the street are mostly women with high noses and foreign blood.

This small city after the turmoil has a permanent population of about 30,000 people, and most of the adult men, excluding women and children, have emigrated from the provinces of the Central Plains in the past ten years, and then married local women and started families.

Well, that's a question worth pondering! (To be continued.) )