"It is true that your country does have the option of ordering from abroad, whether it is a warship or an armament. However, I seem to have heard that even with the support of loans from the United Kingdom and the United States, your country is in a lot of financial trouble, right? According to the plan of the 66th Fleet of your military department, 2 battleships and the remaining 5 armored cruisers should be ordered from abroad this year to complete the construction of the second phase; But as a result, your country only placed an order for one battleship and one for the cruiser at the Armstrong shipyard in England, and there was no further order. The 66th Fleet, which was originally planned by your country, has now been greatly reduced to the 42nd Fleet, do you think that with these six capital ships alone, you will be able to compete with the Russian Navy? Qingying said in a questioning tone.

Hearing this, Ito Hirobumi's body shook slightly, and a look of disbelief finally appeared in his eyes. Ito was not surprised by the detailed orders placed by Germany and Japan for British shipyards; Because this kind of ship purchase contract is signed by public bidding, as long as the other party is willing, the general content of the transaction can be gathered. What shocked him was that the other party even knew everything about the plans and means of naval expansion within the Japanese base camp! Although he did not know how the young man in front of him found out, this proved that the Germans had clearly understood that Japan had no money in its pockets.

On the surface, Japan's military expansion rate of purchasing one new battleship and one patrol ship each this year is actually not slow at all, and in addition to being incomparable with the speed of Britain's ghostly and violent troops, it is also a good hand in any country in the world. But the point is that Japan's naval funding is not stable and continuous!

In the 30 years since the Meiji Restoration, although Japan has made great strides in all aspects, there is still an insurmountable gap between its economy and industry and that of the European powers. Since Japan's financial resources are only equal to that of Mites, the annual income is only a little more than 12 million pounds; The contract price of one Shikishima-class battleship is as high as 1.28 million pounds, and it is obviously impossible to maintain a long-term stable high naval budget. What's more, the Japanese army and navy have always been at odds, and the two sides have to engage in fierce battles every year over the military budget of their own services, and the army will not allow their military spending to be cut to cheapen the navy! In view of this, if Japan wants to develop its navy, it can only inject capital into its navy in a phased manner. (Since there is no exact information, the purchase price of the Fuji class is estimated here.) The average price of the 12,500-ton Fuji-class is 10.44 million yen, equivalent to 1.076 million pounds, while the Shikishima-class is 14,850 tons. The price of tons of battleships was approximately comparable. ）

Historically, because Japan grabbed 231.5 million taels of silver in compensation from Mites, with the injection of this windfall, Japan really had the capital to build a first-class fleet. Based on this wealth, Japan completed the purchase budget of 4 battleships and 6 armored cruisers in the 66th Fleet from 1896 to 1899; Together with the two Fuji-class battleships already in service, the 66 fleet has been fully formed. However, due to Japan's low fiscal revenue, the navy did not receive even one capital ship in the next five years; It was not until the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War that at this critical juncture of life and death that Japan desperately squeezed out funds and bought two Garibaldi-class cruisers originally ordered by Argentina.

In this plane, Japan benefited far less from the First Sino-Japanese War than in history, and the speed of the riot army was even less than before. After the First Sino-Japanese War, after barely getting the budget for two Shikishima-class battleships and two Asama-class armored cruisers, the Japanese Navy's funds for ship purchases were completely exhausted. In another year, the three "Petropavlovsk" class battleships built by Russia for the Pacific Fleet will be completed; At that time, the Russian Pacific Fleet will have a strong lineup of 3 battleships and 3 armored cruisers, which will surpass the strength of Japan. Even if Russia's strength cannot be fully invested in the Far East because of the long distance, the economy of the 4 mines operating at full capacity is by no means comparable to that of a single mine!

"Oh yes, and 2 Chitose-class protective cruisers. Last year, your country was also preparing to order two protective cruisers with a displacement of 4,760 tons from the United Kingdom, but they were also cancelled due to lack of budget, and until now the British shipyard Armstrong has not received any intention of your country to order. Don't you want to turn these lovely battleships from drawings to reality? Qingying said leisurely.

Ito's eyes narrowed slightly, and a sharp cold glow suddenly erupted from his black pupils. Being stared at by this kind of gaze, Qingying's heart was slightly weak, but he still mustered up the courage and met Ito's eyes proudly. For the rest of the people in this plane, it is indeed impossible to know the internal plans of the Japanese base camp, but as the saying goes, Conway has the navy in hand, and these things have long been rotten for Qingying, who is a traverser. As a naval controller who was keen on artillery giants in his previous life, if he didn't make good use of the memories from the afterlife, would he still be a traverser?

After a while, Ito slowly retracted his gaze that seemed to be substance, and said softly: "Since His Highness even knows this, then we don't have to beat around the bush completely." As far as Japan is concerned, war is a matter of money, and Japan lacks sufficient funds to make an enemy of Russia. As the only powerful force that can contain the Russians in the Far East, your country will not hesitate to fund our country for the sake of its own interests, right? ”

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Before leaving for Germany, Kiyoying clearly understood that if he wanted to play yin, he was by no means an opponent of Ito Hirobumi: whether it was his experience or skills, he was much worse than this old man who had been in politics all his life. Therefore, all the countermeasures prepared by Qingying were based on the understanding from later generations. All he did was not waste a good deck of cards in his hand and let them all play their part. If you change to a skilled professional diplomat, the effect will definitely be much greater than that of Qingying!

Seeing that Ito had finally given up on his own idea of fish and meat, Qingying couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "Mr. Ito, please rest assured. Although Germany and Japan have had grievances in the past, the common core interests of the two countries today enable us to cooperate at the deepest level without hesitation. Otherwise, I would not have traveled far and wide to come here and appear before Your Excellency. Whether you hire instructors, buy guns and munitions, or send students to study abroad, the door of our Germany will be completely open to your country. ”

Ito nodded and said, "Thank you for your generous assistance to Japan. However, these things still can't meet the needs of our country against the country. I hope that your country will be able to give us some loans, so that we can more effectively contain the exposed country in the Far East, and this is in your country's interests. ”

Hearing these words, Qingying couldn't help but pause slightly. He originally wanted to try to get the most out of the loan on the grounds that "the German government almost never lends money to foreign countries", but he was completely blocked by Ito's last sentence. By giving a loan to Japan, you are helping Germany itself, and in this case, what else do you have to refuse?

Qingying's thoughts raced, and she said, "Regarding this, Mr. Ito doesn't have to worry about it. My German industry is far stronger than France, and if Germany really wants to come up with money, it will definitely not be less than the Frenchman, who claims to be the creditor of the world! However, it depends on how much you have to use as collateral for the loan. With all due respect, since there are no mines or railways in your country, you will have to pay either a textile tax or a customs duty as collateral. If we don't have enough physical goods, we won't come up with any money. ”

"Is it true that the credibility of our country makes your country so uneasy? As an emerging country that has defeated the Qing court, our international status is obvious to all, and it is impossible for us to default on your loans. Moreover, a large part of these two taxes of our country are already under the control of the British, and now they are really unsecured capital. Ito's eyes twinkled, and he quibbled.

Qing Ying slapped the table a few times with some displeasure, and said, "Mr. Ito, what you are doing now is a white wolf with empty gloves in a sentence of the Qing people; Looking at the world, which country can borrow money from outside the world without giving anything to the creditor country as collateral? It is impossible for the British, even for the British, to give your country a loan under such circumstances! As for the problem of your country's lack of strength, it can be solved by open source: why levy a toll tax, set up a government monopoly on tobacco, salt, and iron, and encourage the people to sell their children and daughters, and so on, won't the money come? I think I've heard that the large number of female geisha is also a lot of income for your country, right? In the plane where Qing Ying lived in his previous life, Japan really did all three things in order to fight the Russo-Japanese War: human trafficking based on the master-servant relationship, and the tobacco, salt and iron trade monopolized by the government, all of which caused great exploitation to the Japanese people, so that the Japanese government finally survived to the day when Russia asked for peace talks. As for the toll tax, it is another extremely strange and excesses that oppresses the people. The toll tax imposed by Japan during the Russo-Japanese War was not a tax levied on the circulation of merchants in the traditional sense, but on this basis, it was extended to all Japanese people, who had to pay taxes even when they walked! Compared to this, what is the beast that proposed to impose a "fresh air tax" on the people in the later Celestial Empire?

"Tell me the truth, Mr. Ito. I have come to bring you a potential loan of 300 million marks, depending on whether your country has any intention of pocketing it! Qingying concentrated and said word by word.

(PS: Today I actually met a person who said that the author is Wumao, what a wonderful flower)