"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, Your Excellency the Minister, please calm down. The specific amount can be discussed slowly. Seeing that the negotiations were about to break down, Sir Jurden hurriedly played a round. From the British side's point of view, the disputes between China and Japan are about to be resolved through negotiations, and it would be a pity if the negotiations break down at this time.

"Your Excellency, the asking price of the Chinese side is too high, a full 400 million yen. Then the Japanese Navy might as well build more capital ships on its own. Lin Quanzhu said angrily.

"The warships purchased by the Chinese Empire were originally the best warships, and it is understandable that the price is a little higher." Tang Shaoyi did not back down a single step.

"Your Excellency, what price can the Japanese side offer?" Sir Jurdian asked.

"Fifty million yen, we are willing to buy those four battleships for fifty million yen." Lin Quanzhu said. It's just that after saying that, even he himself felt a little embarrassed.

Tang Shaoyi immediately laughed, but this was not happiness, but anger. The Japanese are too shameless, although he doubled the offer, but the Japanese plan to buy the four most powerful warships of the Imperial Navy for 50 million yen is too outrageous, right? In other words, the price of each warship is only more than 6 million Chinese dollars. You must know that the cost of each of these warships of the Imperial Navy reached 45 million marks, that is, 22.5 million Chinese dollars.

Sir Zhu Erdian didn't know what to say, these little Japan, that obviously wanted to pick up cheap. However, at such a price, doesn't that take the Chinese for fools?

"Such a price will not be accepted by the Chinese Empire." Tang Shaoyi refused.

"If you don't accept it, then go to war. When the valiant navy of the Imperial Japanese Dynasty sank your warships, it would be worthless. Lin Quanzhu said angrily.

"If there is a war. The Imperial Navy was perhaps no match for the Japanese Navy. But, let's not forget, we also have the Army. The Imperial Army will directly cross the Yalu River and drive you out of the Korean Peninsula. Tang Shaoyi said without showing weakness.

Lin Quanzhu was speechless for a moment, he knew the situation in Japan, if war really broke out. The Japanese Navy will definitely be able to win. However, this is not necessarily the case with the Japanese Army. No matter how strong the navy is, warships will not be able to go ashore. Once the army is unable to resist the attack of the Chinese army on the Korean Peninsula, it will be in great trouble. However, he can't bow his head at this time.

"If the Chinese Army dares to launch an attack on the Korean Peninsula, then the warships of the Japanese Navy will turn all the coastal cities in China into ruins." Lin Quanzhu made a threat.

Sir Jurdian suddenly felt his head grow, if that was the case. The scale of the war will be completely beyond what Britain had previously qualified. In this case, it is not at all in the interests of the United Kingdom. In contrast, it was in the best interest of the British Empire for the Chinese Empire to sell warships to Japan to eliminate the war.

Therefore, Sir Zhu Erdian hurriedly began to persuade, hoping that China and Japan could consider it carefully.

Tang Shaoyi also didn't want the talks to collapse now, so it was worth being patient to continue negotiations with the Japanese. But. For the selling price of these warships, I want the empire to lose money. That's impossible.

In the midst of long bargaining, time passed slowly. By November 19, the empire had promised to lower the price of the four warships to 120 million Chinese dollars, which was converted into yen, that is, 240 million yen. If calculated in this way, the empire will not make much money. But alas. For this price, the Japanese side is still not satisfied. The Japanese originally wanted to get the maximum benefit at the minimum cost, and spending so much money to buy warships of the Chinese Navy is completely not in their interests.

So, after the end of the day's negotiations. Once again, Lin Quanzhu issued a threat of war.

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, the Great Japanese Empire is tired of such negotiations. The Great Japanese Empire was willing to buy these four warships for 100 million yen, and if the Chinese Empire agreed, then we could reach an agreement and end the war. If the Chinese Empire does not agree, then war will inevitably break out. Lin Quanzhu said arrogantly. The Japanese government has run out of patience, and they increasingly believe that the Chinese Empire is trying to stall for time. Since this is the case, then they will naturally not allow the conspiracy of the Chinese Empire to succeed again.

At this time, Tang Shaoyi's pressure was no longer so much. Thanks to the efforts of naval officers and shipyard workers, the warships of the Imperial Navy have been maintained and ready to go to sea at any time. At this time, there is naturally no need to be afraid of little Japan. However, in order to confuse the Japanese, Tang Shaoyi still did not point it out, but pretended to be very embarrassed.

"Your Excellency, I need to report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Tang Shaoyi said.

Lin Quanzhu nodded, he viciously threatened that the Chinese Empire must give him an answer tomorrow. Otherwise, it would mean a war.

On the afternoon of this day, an accident caused the peace negotiations between the Chinese Empire and the Japanese Empire to completely break down. And this accident also became the fuse of this war.

Hubei Province, Daye Iron Mine. This was originally a Chinese mine, but now it has been taken away by the Japanese through despicable and shameless means. A lot of the iron ore that Japan's iron and steel companies need to produce comes from Daye Iron Mine.

Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has always wanted to invade China and plunder China's resources. Its plundering of China's iron ore resources began with Daye Iron Mine. In 1896, Marquis Tawaishiro of Japan established the Yawata Iron Works (i.e., Nippon Iron Works in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu). The site faces the bay, has convenient transportation, and has abundant Zhufeng coal mines, but there are no iron ore resources, so it is impossible to develop the steel industry. It cannot be a world power without steel.

At that time, China's Hanyang Iron Works had been in operation for three years, and due to the failure of coal mining and the lack of coal coking, it had to buy coke from abroad, and the price of coke abroad was so high that the company could not only not make a profit, but also lose money. Japan's government and opposition learned that Daye Iron Mine, as the raw material base of Hanyang Iron Works, is rich in iron ore resources, which can be comparable to the large iron ore mines in Europe and the United States, and has been mined for a hundred years. It would be a great thing if the Daye Iron Mine could be controlled and the iron ore from Daye Iron Mine could be used to develop Japan's iron and steel industry. Hanyang Iron Plant's coal-free coke smelting is an opportunity to enter Daye Iron Mine.

In 1898, after visiting Beijing, former Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito, made a special trip to Hubei to meet Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, and proposed to exchange Japanese coal and coke for iron ore from China's Daye Iron Mine. At that time, the Pingxiang Coal Mine had just started construction, and it was impossible to produce a large amount of coal for coking in the short term. Zhang Zhidong suggested to Sheng Xuanhuai (at this time, Hanyang Iron Works and Daye Iron Mine had been handed over to Sheng Xuanhuai to attract investment), and the iron ore from Daye Iron Mine could be exchanged for Japanese coke.

On February 17, 1899, Sheng Xuanhuai signed the "Contract for the Mutual Sale of Coal and Coke Iron Ore" with Wada, the director of the Japan Iron and Steel Corporation. The contract stipulates that Nippon Steel will purchase 50,000 tons of iron ore from Daye Iron Mine in the first year, and the amount after the second year will be determined after the approval of the House of Representatives in March this year; Hanyang Iron Works buys at least 30,000 or 40,000 tons of Japanese coal and coke per year, and the price is negotiable; In addition to the Hanyang Iron Plant's own use, if there is any other market, it must first supply 50,000 tons to Japan, and if Japan wants to buy more ore, it must do so. It also stipulates that Daye Iron Mine is not allowed to sell iron ore to iron factories with foreign shares in other local governments, and Nippon Iron and Steel is to appoint two or three members to be stationed in Daye Lime Kiln and Tieshan.

In 1900, according to the contract, Japan sent Kimio Nishizawa to be the superintendent of Daye Iron Mine, and built two Western-style houses by the lime kiln river as offices. In addition to Kimio Nishizawa, the number of Japanese stationed at the lime kiln was far more than the number stipulated in the contract, including Matsuo Shigero, Naozo Kato, Ishiban Matsutaro, Ono Yuo, Matsudaira Uzaburo, Ura, and Fureng Karin. Since then, Japan has imposed control over Daye Iron Mine.

After Sheng Xuanhuai took over the Hanye Factory mine from Zhang Zhidong in 1896, due to poor management, he lost more than 20 taels of silver in half a year and more than 180 taels of silver in three years. In order to solve the dilemma, he first opened the Pingxiang Coal Mine, and secondly, he renovated and expanded the Hanyang Iron Works (dismantling the Bessemer steelmaking furnace of the Hanyang Iron Works, replacing the Martin furnace, and adding blast furnaces, etc.), which required a large amount of funds and was ready to borrow from Germany (after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government's treasury was empty and there was no money to support the iron works). After Japan got the news, it used low-interest loans as bait to lure Sheng Xuanhuai, and Sheng Xuanhuai asked Japan for a loan.

During the loan negotiations, Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Shotaro sent a secret letter to the Japanese Consul General in Shanghai, Oda Kiri, pointing out that Japan's "policy towards Daye Iron Mine is to make its relationship with our iron and steel plant more solid, and to make it permanent; At the same time, it is necessary to prevent the iron ore from falling into the hands of other foreigners...... Therefore, the term of the loan should also be as long as possible, so it is specified at 30 years. In addition, because Daye Iron Mine itself cannot be owned by foreigners, it is needless to say that even the operation of the business must be prevented from falling into the hands of foreigners...... Therefore, it is hoped that it will be expressly agreed that all items other than iron ore mines, such as railways, buildings and machinery, must be used as collateral for loans, and that the above-mentioned collateral shall not be transferred or mortgaged to the governments and private individuals of other countries during the above-mentioned period. At the same time, it is also necessary to ask the other party to promise to hire our technicians. During the negotiations, Sheng Xuanhuai asked for money to renovate and expand the iron works, and most of the conditions put forward by Japan were accepted. He only raised objections to the hiring of Japanese technicians, and the Japanese side explained that the Japanese technicians belonged to him in moderation, and he agreed. He did not know about the Japanese at the time.

On January 5, 1904, Sheng Xuanhuai signed the "Daye Ore Purchase and Transportation Advance Loan Price Contract" and three annexes with the representative of Nippon Iron Works, the Japanese Consul General in the East, Oda Kiri, and the director of the Industrial Bank of Japan. The contract stipulates that Daye Mining Bureau will borrow 3 million yuan of Japanese gold from the Industrial Bank of Japan for a period of 30 years at an annual interest rate of 6%; Daye Iron Mine's existing and future ore transportation railways, mining cranes, vehicles, houses, and repair machinery factories are loan guarantees; repay the principal and interest at the price of the ore, and shall not repay the cash; The price of first-class ore is 3 yen per ton, and the price of second-class ore is 2.2 yen per ton, and the price is agreed once every 10 years. After the signing of this contract, Japan took full control of the Daye Iron Mine, which became the ore base of the Yawata Iron Works in Japan. (To be continued.) )

PS: The third update is here, ask for a monthly ticket to rush the list! Thank you for the monthly pass of Lantian, Moonlight, Little Ribs, Sky Aoyue, and Junxcxy!