Thinking of some things before, Rong Hong couldn't help but sigh again. ± the top of the novel, he settled down and followed the janitor inside.

Entering the door, bypassing a rockery, there is a set of five-entry magnificent mansion behind it, which is the main hall of the Governor's Palace, however, Li Hongzhang did not wait for Rong Hong here - this is not to despise him, but this house is too big, it is not bad to use it for the conference, and it is not suitable for receiving guests. Generally speaking, Li Hongzhang will meet guests in the small living room at the back.

Sure enough, the janitor took Rong Hong around and came to a small door. He stopped there and said to Rong Hong, "Mr. Yung, please go straight from here, the Governor is in the small living room in front." ”

Rong Hong knew that this person's identity was not qualified to enter this door. So he smiled at the man and walked through the door. Inside the small door, there was another person who looked like a horse Ben waiting there, and when he saw Rong Hong, he came up first and called a thousand, and said with a smile: "But Mr. Rong?" Nakado-sama is waiting for him. So he led the way in front, took Rong Hong and walked a few more steps, bypassing a few plum trees, and a small and chic blue-tiled house appeared in front of him, which was the small living room where Li Hongzhang met with guests every day.

Rong Hong saw that Li Hongzhang was actually standing on the steps in front of the door and waiting. Seeing Rong Hong, Li Hongzhang hurriedly walked down the steps and greeted him.

"Yes, Nakado-sama." As soon as he saw Li Hongzhang, Rong Hong hurriedly saluted.

Li Hongzhang took a step forward, supported Rong Hong, and said: "I haven't seen Brother Chunfu for several years, alas, Brother Chunfu hasn't written to me in the past few years, and I don't know how my brother is ...... in the United States now."

"Lord Lao Fei Zhongtang is worried, the little brother is fine in the United States, but it is really happy to see that Lord Zhongtang is still in good health as in previous years." Rong Hong also replied.

"Alas, it's old, it's useless, it's much worse than in previous years." Li Hongzhang said with a smile, and walked into the small living room with Rong Hong, and the two sat down separately, Li Hongzhang asked: "My brother traveled thousands of miles to visit me from the United States, but what do you have to say?" ”

"Nakado-sama." Rong Hong said, "The younger brother has seen some news in the United States, and I don't know if Lord Zhongtang can know. ”

"What's the news?" Li Hongzhang asked.

"News of Japan's purchase of cruisers from the British." Rong Hong replied.

Li Hongzhang listened, was silent for a while, and then said: "I have also heard about this matter, and it is indeed a good boat." It's just that Brother Chunfu ran back thousands of miles for this matter? ”

"Of course it's more than that." Rong Hong replied, "I heard that over the years, the Beiyang Sailors have not bought new ships, I don't know but really? ”

"Not bad." Li Hongzhang replied, "Brother Xian also knows that some people in the DPRK and China are reluctant to spend money on the navy. I always feel that with the current strength of our Beiyang Fleet, it is enough to dominate Asia. ”

"Lord Zhongtang, do you remember that bandit named Wang Qinian?" Rong Hong thought for a while and asked.

Naturally, the man remembered. This man has a very bad temperament, but he is extremely serious in doing things, and he is also a very interesting guy. Li Hongzhang showed a little smile on his face, thinking of some things when Wang Qinian was McDonald's technical representative.

"Lord Zhongtang, this Wang Qinian, showed me a piece of information, I don't know if this information is alarmist, but I can't even sleep after hearing it." Rong Hong said.

"What intelligence? Let's hear it. Li Hongzhang was interested.

"It's about the contrast between the firepower of the Japanese naval fleet and the firepower of our fleet." Rong Hong said, "According to him, the firepower of the Japanese fleet has far exceeded that of our fleet, and even more than seven times that of our fleet. ”

Hearing this, Li Hongzhang's face became gloomy, and he said, "This person is alarmist again. Although Japan has purchased a lot of warships over the years, we still need a little more in terms of tonnage and the number of cannons. ”

"Lord Zhongtang, after our warship was bought, have we replaced the cannons? Did you replace the old cannon with a new one? Rong Hong asked again.

This question has already involved some "secrets", although for a country like China, which has a weak industry, this so-called "secret", foreigners really want to know, in fact, it is very easy. Because I did not have the ability to manufacture tube-reeling guns at all, if I haled the warships of the fleet with new ones, it would have to be imported from foreign countries. In this way, it is actually quite simple for some foreigners in need to find out these news. Li Hongzhang also knew this, so he thought about it a little and told Sù Rong Hong:

"The price of the new artillery is too expensive, and besides, the naval guns on the warship are in good condition, so they can be replaced. In addition, if you want to change, you have to ask the British to build and renovate, and the asking price of the British is even more ridiculously high. If the British are not allowed to change it, the British will claim that they will no longer be responsible for the maintenance and maintenance of the warship......" Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but sigh, "Speaking of which, Wang Qinian opposed us buying old British warships, although it was to sell their own warships, but he said that the British would definitely get back the cheap money by jamming spare parts and repairs, which is not unreasonable." ”

After listening to this answer, Rong Hong knew that what Wang Qinian told him that the Beiyang Fleet did not even have a single artillery gun estimated to be true. So he said: "Wang Qinian showed me the configuration of all the warships purchased by Japan and a table of Japan's procurement of artillery guns in recent years. According to the figures on this table, almost all of Japan's outsourced warships have replaced their main guns with guns. These guns fired ten times more than the old guns. If this is the case, I am afraid that Wang Qinian's statement that the firepower of the Japanese fleet is several times that of our army is not all alarmist. ”

Hearing this, Li Hongzhang was silent for a while, and only after a while did he say: "Wang Qinian is pulling business for the MacDonald Arsenal." Maybe it's an exaggeration. But Brother Chunfu, the form you mentioned may be shown to me? ”

Wang Qinian did not allow Rong Hong to transcribe this form, but Rong Hong's memory is very good, and after reading it a few more times, he memorized almost all the content in it, and after Wang Qinian left, he wrote out all these comparison tables silently. Now when he saw Li Hongzhang asking, he took out these forms from his leather bag and handed them over.

Li Hongzhang took these forms and said to Rong Hong: "Let me take a look at it slowly, brother." He took a closer look. Speaking of such things, this kind of thing was originally transmitted from foreigners, especially when he was doing business with the MacDonald consortium, Li Hongzhang had seen a lot of various forms, so Li Hongzhang was already quite familiar with this kind of thing.

This table is extremely detailed, and it not only includes the various circumstances of the purchase of warships of the Japanese fleet, including displacement, degree, and firepower, but also the various circumstances of repairs and modifications of these warships outside Japan, as well as the various accessories purchased by Japan from abroad over the years, as well as the situation of weapons and other equipment used to improve the warships.

"Where did he get all this news from?" Li Hongzhang couldn't help but ask.

"Most of them came from various open newspapers." Rong Hong replied, "The younger brother also went to check it, and many of the numbers can indeed be found in the local newspapers." ”

"Hmm." Li Hongzhang hummed softly, lowered his head and looked at the form, and after a while, the first page was finished, and Li Hongzhang turned to the second page and continued to read. After reading several pages in a row, suddenly, his hand turning the page paused slightly, because at the beginning of the table on this page was written this line: List of warships of the Beiyang Naval Division.

The content of this table is no different from the above, the initial status of all ships purchased by the Beiyang Naval Division, the number of times they have been maintained abroad over the years, and the number of various accessories purchased. Li Hongzhang is not very clear about whether the information about Japan is true, but the analysis of the situation of the Beiyang Navy Division is not reliable, and Li Hongzhang still has a good idea in his heart. And as far as he knew, the information on this form was quite accurate.

"Alas!" Li Hongzhang let out a long sigh, put down the form in his hand, and said to Rong Hong, "Sun Tzu said: 'Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent will not be defeated in a hundred battles. Today, it seems that our Qing Dynasty and the Westerners have fought a war, and there is almost no victory, and there is really a reason. It's really ...... that anyone who does business can get such detailed information That's really ...... Alas......" Li Hongzhang wanted to find a word to describe it, but suddenly realized that he couldn't find any suitable words, so he had to sigh again.

Rong Hong said again: "Zhongtang, I still have a table of Japan's fiscal revenue and expenditure in recent years that Wang Qinian gave me, but it is very sketchy. ”

"Oh, show me." Li Hongzhang said.

Rong Hong handed over the form as well. Li Hongzhang took a look, this table is indeed much rougher than the above table, only a large number of annual fiscal revenues and expenditures, from this point of view, at least in recent years, Japan's fiscal revenue has reached the level of 100 million yen, which is about 70 million taels when converted into Kuping silver, which is not much worse than the annual fiscal revenue of 80 million taels in the Qing Dynasty. However, there is one figure that is particularly staggering, that is, Japan's military expenditure has actually reached about 30 percent of the entire fiscal revenue. The navy's military expenditure alone accounts for 15 percent of the entire fiscal revenue.

Li Hongzhang knew that the navy expenditure of the Qing Dynasty was only a few percent of the fiscal revenue at most, which was barely enough to maintain the fleet. Then another question immediately popped up in his head: "How can the Japanese afford to pay such a high naval military fee in the long run?" If you spend so much money and can't earn anything, isn't the money spent in vain? ”

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