As soon as the contract was signed, Nakajima Saki took people to directly accept the four warships, and when they saw the four battleships that had been freshly painted at the dock of the port, Nakajima Saki and the others were a little excited.

Although the four gunboats in front of him were like children and adults compared to the other warships of the Imperial Navy in the harbor, Nakajima Saki still looked very excited.

Although he didn't know the performance of this warship very well, as one of the few people who knew the navy in contemporary Japan, he knew that the warship next door was an ocean-going ironclad ship that represented the most advanced industrial achievements of our time, with a standard displacement of more than 2,400 tons.

Nakajima Saki was able to become the naval director of the Hokkaido Kingdom (roughly equivalent to the chief of the admiralty and the commander-in-chief of the navy), and Nakajima Saki was naturally not an ignorant person.

In his early years, he was one of the first people to study the modern navy in Japan, and in 1856 he entered the Nagasaki Naval Academy, and later the shogunate opened a warship training center in Tsukiji, and he also went to the school with others to continue his studies, which was later renamed the 'Naval Training Institute', which was the first professional naval school in Japan, but unfortunately it was discontinued after only two years.

Strictly speaking, Japan's contact with the modern navy and the Chinese empire was about the same time period, but the gap between the two was very different.

Today, the Chinese Empire has a formidable modern fleet and is building 10,000-ton ships, which will become a world-class navy in time. And the current Japan's book is limited by the war in Japan for many years. Now that Japan is even more divided into three parts of the world, there is room for a first-class navy.

Even a small gunboat of several hundred tons like the Zhenguang class can't afford to buy a few!

I don't know when. Only my Beihai country can have such a huge ship!

When Nakajima Saki looked at the Pangu, his eyes revealed not only envy, but also hope for the future, if the Beihai Kingdom is allowed to develop steadily for a few years, with the efforts of my Beihai Kingdom's subjects, there may not be a time to have such a giant ship.

Retracting his envious gaze, Nakajima Saki once again set his sights on the four gunboats he had bought, although these four gunboats were all second-hand warships, but before delivery. But it's been freshly painted.

After boarding the warship, Nakajima Saki looked around every corner of the battleship, and thought that after he returned, he would go to His Majesty the King and ask him to support him in opening a naval training center.

Now there is a huge North Sea country, only he Nakajima Saki has commanded ironclad ships before, although the others also have sailing experience. But most of the erections are some folk steam ships or simply sail ships.

However, the four warships purchased by the Beihai Kingdom now are all pure steam-powered warships, and there are no sails.

In order to gather enough talent to drive the battleship, Nakajima Saki recruited several colleagues and subordinates who had served in the shogunate navy. He also recruited talents from the people, and many of the officers and sailors who came with him to accept the battleship this time were not soldiers before.

It's a pity. He had previously tried to ask the Imperial Navy if he could send cadets to study at the Imperial Royal Navy Military Academy. But he directly refused.

In the past few years, both the shogunate and the Meiji side. They have all been sending students to study in the empire one after another, because the tuition fees are extremely expensive, so the number is not large, and now there are only twenty or thirty people, but these students do not have military students, because the empire has no plans to open military students.

Even for ordinary international students, most of the imperial side also accept international students in liberal arts, and science students are generally not accepted.

After many years of operation, the two major military schools of the empire now recruit students only for domestic high school graduates, and do not accept international students, nor do they accept non-high school graduates, or college graduates who have graduated five years later.

Although in the secret agreement between the empire and Li Haotong last year, it was promised that the quota of military students from the Ning Kingdom would be granted, but this promise was established after the Ning Kingdom formally formed a military alliance with the empire, or directly declared the empire a vassal state, and before that, the empire still would not accept military students from the Ning Kingdom.

The empire is not as generous as other countries, it will generously teach the military theories it is good at to other countries, and it is also the leader of the Asian region, which teaches them to improve their own military level, and it is not the empire that will be in trouble at that time?

Although it is not enough to teach students to starve to death of masters, if the military level of neighboring countries rises significantly, it will not be a good thing for the empire.

Naturally, it is not possible to send this to China to study military affairs, Nakajima Saki thought, he will open a naval training institute himself when he returns, and select a few more cadres to study in Europe.

After Nakajima Saki purchased the ships, he did not stay in Shanghai for long, and after the concession of a coal carrier and a transport ship, Nakajima Saki led this small fleet and began to return to the North Sea Kingdom.

Because the level of the officers and soldiers under his command was not good, Nakajima Saki was afraid that he would sink inexplicably in the middle of the run, so at the beginning he still wanted the Pacific Trading Company to deliver the goods to his door, but unfortunately although they did not refuse, the Pacific Trading Company's asking price was too high.

Nakajima Saki simply did not want the Pacific Trading Company to deliver goods to his door, but hired more than a dozen people in Shanghai, all of whom were some private captains and sailors who went to the sea, half of them were foreigners, and several of them were Chinese.

These people are paid a lot of money, but it's much cheaper than having Pacific Trading deliver them.

After Nakajima Saki led the fleet out of Shanghai, the sales manager of the Pacific Trading Company also opened the account book and calculated a little: although this business is a little troublesome, it still makes a lot of money!

This sale of second-hand warships directly changed hands from the Pacific Trading Company. It is to reap a profit of at least 20,000 yuan.

"It's still a second-hand ship, if it's a new warship. We're going to make at least double what we earn! A young man in a suit next to him said, "But these days, I'm too poor to afford a new ship." Big warships are even more unaffordable, and the center of our ship sales still has to be placed in South America, I heard that yesterday there was a telegram from South America, saying that we had a good talk with the Argentines! ”

When the sales manager heard this, he immediately looked happy: "Oh? There are eyebrows, the list on the Argentine side is not small, but I also heard that they are not only talking to us, but also talking to the British! ”

"It's business. There must be competition, but judging from the current situation, there are still a lot of opportunities! "When the two men were talking to themselves.

In the headquarters building of the Pacific Trading Company, several executives are also in a meeting, these people are not very well-known in China, and they are also executives of the royal family, compared with the executives of the Shanghai Textile Company, Jiangnan Minerals Company, Shanghai Shipyard, and the Royal Arms Company, outsiders are not familiar with them. Many people don't even know that there is such a Pacific trading company.

When many people first hear the name of this company, they will guess it wrong, and they think that they are an ocean-going trading company that runs international routes, but in fact, the Pacific Trading Company is a serious arms trading company.

It's not that they want to keep a low profile. Rather, all the business of the Pacific Trading Company is abroad, and in the domestic case, there is only one headquarters building. There is also no own factory, and the total number of employees is very small.

But in many small and medium-sized countries abroad, the rulers or high-ranking military generals. The name of the Pacific Trading Company is much louder.

Because when they purchased ordnance from the Empire, it was through this company.

The meeting they are having now is about Argentina. I saw a man about 50 years old: "You have also read the telegram of the South American office, the Argentine side wants to buy new warships to supplement the coastal defense force, although this list is small, but you must know that those countries in South America are not the masters of peace, although they are still fighting at the moment, but once this is over, Argentina will be on the same page as Brazil, and the Chilean side is also restless, talking about expanding the navy." If in the next few years, we can get the list of several South American countries, this profit is not small! ”

As he spoke, several other people were also looking at the documents in their hands, which were some intelligence documents compiled and collected by the company's South American office.

It is mainly for several major countries in South America to collect information to analyze the need for the purchase of ordnance in that country, of course, like all the priests and businessmen in this country, they also serve as national spies, and the information collected also needs to be handed over to the military.

In addition, since the Empire did not have a consular office in South America for the time being, all foreign affairs in the Americas were handled by the Imperial Company in the United States, so the Imperial Minister in the United States can be regarded as the Imperial Minister in the Americas to a certain extent.

Since the empire did not have consulates and other diplomatic institutions in South America, the Pacific Trading Company set up the 'South American Office of the Chinese Imperial Pacific Trading Company' in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Empire, and also handled the foreign affairs of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and other places.

The South American office was established in 1865, the year after the outbreak of the Triple Alliance War, and it was only natural that the Pacific Trading Company, an arms trading company, would be at war wherever it was.

At that time, the American Civil War was nearing the end, the business of the Pacific Trading Company had shrunk significantly, and at the same time, the export business of the domestic defense industry had naturally caused a heavy blow.

These defense industries, which have been nourished by exports to the United States, will be willing to do so, and they will vigorously promote the expansion of the Pacific Trading Company.

In this context, the Pacific Trading Company went to South America to expand the market, relying on the 1858 rifle and M1860 field guns that made a name for itself in the American Civil War, the Pacific Trading Company quickly gained a firm foothold in South America, and in the following years of the Triple Alliance War, the Pacific Trading Company sold more than 80,000 1858 rifles and hundreds of artillery pieces to the above four countries.

Although this amount cannot be compared with the original exports to the United States, but the export trade is much more profitable, so it also makes them a lot of money, the only thing that makes them unwilling is that the British also ran over to compete with them for the market, these British Enfield 1859 rifles are not bad, plus the British have a lot of influence in South America than the Empire, so the British arms business is better.

But in any case, the empire's arms trade has gained a firm foothold in South America, and since the beginning of this year, the Triple Alliance has defeated the Paraguayan army in a row, although Paraguay is still resisting, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that Paraguay is now defeated, and the war will end in a few months or a few years.

No, the war is not over yet, the Argentine side is saying that it is going to purchase warships, although the ostensible reason for the purchase of warships is to fight against Paraguay, but Paraguay has been beaten like this, and it is also a tragic landlocked country, how can it threaten Argentina from the sea.

The purpose of Argentina's purchase of warships is still to consider the post-war situation in South America, and after the war is over, the Triple Alliance will naturally disintegrate, and when the time comes, you will definitely defend against me, and I will guard against you.

In addition, Chile on the west coast of South America has developed quite rapidly in recent years, and they are also actively expanding their naval strength, and their expedition ships are about to bypass Tierra del Fuego and run to the coast of Argentina, which will seriously affect Argentina's interests in these regions.

In this big background, Argentina had the idea of buying warships and expanding its navy, and as soon as they revealed it, the people from the company's South American office immediately ran from Brazil to Argentina, holding a thick stack of ship-type design drawings to sell them.

The Pacific Trading Company's sales products are very rich, from bullets to warships, but everything, including warships: about 100 tons of river gunboats, four or five hundred tons of offshore patrol gunboats, to two or three thousand tons of third-class ironclads, five or six thousand tons of second-class ironclads, and even 10,000 tons of ironclads can be sold.

As long as you can afford the money, and there is no threat to the empire, those tens of thousands of tons of first-class ironclad ships can be bought, from the geographical environment, South American countries are naturally the most ideal arms sales objects of the empire, as long as you can afford to pay money, anything can be sold to you!

As one of the few contemporary ironclad ships that can build their own 10,000-ton ironclad ships, and at the same time is one of the few Chinese empires that has the experience of decisive battles of modern ironclad fleets, and more importantly, the Chinese Empire, which sank a large British ironclad ship, no one dares to ignore it in this era.

In addition, the export performance of the empire's warships over the years is also quite good, and the USS Washington, which was ordered by the Southern Federation of the United States, is a living signboard.

The purchase of imperial warships by many Asian countries is another example.

Of course, there is also a very important point that in order to compete with Britain, the world's leader in the shipbuilding industry, when the Pacific Trading Company sells warships, in addition to talking about the naval battle at the mouth of the Pearl River, it often attracts orders at relatively low prices, after all, it is better to earn less than not to make nothing.

Under the persuasion of the company's salesman, the Argentine side finally replied, saying that it would send a naval delegation to the Chinese Empire in the near future to inspect the Empire's shipyards.

After learning this news, the Pacific Trading Company naturally did not dare to slack off, although this time Argentina would not be able to purchase any large-tonnage warships, maybe just small gunboats, but this is of great significance to the Pacific Trading Company, because this means that the imperial warships will open a hole in South America, with the first warship order, then the second and third ships will be logical.

Therefore, for the arrival of the Argentine Navy inspection delegation this time, the Pacific Trading Company still attaches great importance to it, not only they attach importance to it, but also the big shipyards in China do not know where to learn the news, and immediately rushed up like sharks that smelled blood. (To be continued.) )