"Our Prime Minister probably doesn't know yet, right? The warships sold by the British Royal Navy to Japan were purchased by the Japanese with money raised from the Russians. I think it won't be long before the greedy Russians will use the golden ruble to get from the Japanese the ice-free port they coveted, and British interests in the Far East will be directly challenged by the Russians and Japanese. In the British Parliament, Liberal leader William Gladstone made an impassioned statement.

"It doesn't mean anything, it's just a loan, the Japanese need the warships of the British Empire." Salisbury argued.

"That's right, the Japanese need the warships of the British Empire, but it needs Russian money even more!! Then Japan will use British warships to deal with our Qing in the Far East, and now the British Empire accounts for more than two-thirds of the Qing imports, once the Qing and Japan go to war, our trade in the Far East will be fatally affected, and if the Qing is defeated, the British Empire's dominance in the field of Qing trade will be completely broken!! And the initiator of this qiē is our Prime Minister. Gladstone said coldly.

"Japan would have come back to the British Empire if it had provided Japan with the money it desperately needed for it, and I would like to stress that Japan had reached a new purchase agreement with Armstrong Shipyard, and in that case the cancellation of the contract would be a loss to the reputation of the British Empire. In the case of the uncertain future of the Qing and Japanese sides, I personally insisted on betting on both sides. And whoever wins will face Russia, and in order to protect themselves, they have no choice but to turn to the British Empire. Salisbury analyzed.

After one heated debate after another, neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives were able to gain an overwhelming majority, and in such a situation, a compromise was clearly acceptable to both sides. As a result, the two Brute class were sold to the Qing Nanyang Naval Division and the Japanese Fleet respectively, the Brutal in 1886 was acquired by the Japanese Fleet, and the War Weary in 1888 was intentionally sold by the Admiralty to the Nanyang Naval Division, the latter served for a longer time, the ship was in better condition, and the output power was also 2,000 horses larger, reaching 10,000 horsepower, the speed was 0.75 knots more than the Brute, and the maximum speed reached 16.75 knots! Although the Qing and Japanese sides were not satisfied with this result, this method of half was undoubtedly the best result, Liu Kunyi could not scrape together enough funds to buy another ship, and the Japanese side valued the Edgar-class that was being built in large quantities, since the team had added a warship, the remaining money could buy an Edgar-class! This is a new type of dome cruiser that is more powerful than the **-class cruisers. The rest of the money was used to build a new 2nd class dome cruiser of the same type as the Yoshino.

In terms of the final outcome, the Japanese were the winners of this deal, although Japan did not pocket all 2 Savage-class warships, but the Japanese Navy added 3 warships at a time! The total tonnage added is nearly 20,000 tons! Not only did it completely wipe out the gap caused by the 3 **-class ships just ordered by Beiyang, but also gave the Japanese Navy a real second-class ironclad ship. So that Japan is no longer helpless in the face of Dingzhen! However, in the long run, Japan's borrowing from Russia will inevitably lead to the end of the Anglo-Japanese honeymoon, and the pro-Japanese forces in Britain, which have been hit hard by the ship-buying turmoil, will inevitably lose the prime ministership in the 1892 general election. (The Qing wanted to order ironclad ships from the British, but the British government refused to sell them on the absurd grounds that the warships sold to the Qing were likely to fall into the hands of the Russians!) In the end, Beiyang ordered the Dingzhen 2 ship from Germany. For details, see page 60 of the Beiyang Ship Chronicle. ）…,

Just after Japan used Russian funds to complete its own ship purchase plan, and Nanyang also obtained the coveted ironclad ships, Beiyang fell into a new crisis! Li Hongzhang now completely agrees with Xu Jie's point of view, this is a battle that will never end to the death, and the contest between the two sides can be seen from the expansion of armaments. Li Hongzhang originally planned to rely on the three cruisers purchased to maintain naval superiority, and then curb the ambitions of Japanese aggression, after all, Li Hongzhang did not want to go to war from the bottom of his heart, and after many comparisons and deductions, Li Hongzhang knew very well that it was difficult for him to have a chance of winning against the whole of Japan with a single town. Even under Xu Jie's operation, he formed a loose alliance with the governors and governors of Guangzhou, Taiwan, and Sichuan, but in Li Hongzhang's view, in addition to Li Hanzhang being his own family and being able to fully trust him, it is difficult to say whether Liu Mingchuan will fully support him at that time. As for Sichuan? It's too far away. And it's not easy to get around. I'm afraid I won't be able to get anything out but a little money. As for the Chinese in Nanyang, Li Hongzhang is also not very trusting, in Lao Li's heart, there is a deep vigilance against any forces from outside the Qing Dynasty, including Xu Jie, if it wasn't for Zhang Peilun's strong recommendation, Lao Li would not have included him in the door.

"The shape is stronger than a human." Li Hongzhang sighed and said. It is impossible for the center to come up with any more money to expand the armament war for Beiyang, so now in addition to tapping the "potential" of Beiyang, the biggest source of wealth is the various enterprises set up by the Nanyang Chinese in the areas controlled by the Huai system. If you still want to expand your financial resources, I am afraid that it is to "persuade" the local merchants of the Qing Dynasty to build factories. This will naturally be subject to all kinds of resistance from the central center to the people, but Li Hongzhang and Beiyang, who have been forced to a dead end, have no other choice!! If you want to survive, this is the only way to do!!

"Lord Zhongtang, do you think this plan to help the world can be executed?" At this moment, Ding Ruchang and Zhang Peilun walked into the study together and bowed.

"Is the money ready?" Li Hongzhang asked.

"The down payment is available, and if you count the follow-up public debt, taxes and the support of Chinese businessmen, there should be no problem. It's the people who are the problem. Even if I pull all the students up in my Tianjin Water Master Academy, I'm afraid it won't be enough. Ding Ruchang said that the original Beiyang had fewer ships and more officials and students, but now, if Xu Jie's Qianlong plan really starts to operate, I am afraid that there will be more ships and fewer people, right? Moreover, not all officers and students can go to the ship to serve in public office, so it is imperative to recruit talents overseas.

"These things, let Jishi decide for himself, I emphasize in the end, without the permission of the old man, this plan is in the Qing Dynasty, only the three of us know, if anyone dares to leak it out, don't blame the old man for being fast!!" In conclusion, Li Hongzhang stressed that this plan is important for secrecy, and if Japan learns about it, it does not know what other measures it will take.

"And cover on our side?" Ding Ruchang asked.

"With great fanfare, it was said that Beiyang would replace all the annealed guns. The old boiler should also be replaced. Didn't we leave a few Japanese pieces behind? We're going to pretend that we don't have the money to buy a new ship, but we can only replace it with weapons and machinery. Li Hongzhang commanded.

"Yes." Ding Ruchang said with a little excitement.

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