"Xu, what do you think of this negotiation?" Vittorio asked in the carriage.

"I'm only responsible for technical issues, and you're responsible for policies and strategies." Xu Jie said with a smile. As a Chinese who is extremely inclined to the Qing Dynasty, Xu Jie knows that it is not good for him to say too much.

"But Xu, the price you sued Lord Xue in private is very uncomfortable." Vittorio said with some dissatisfaction.

"The price is a little low, but as long as we can sell it, we have to make money, if the price is too high, people don't buy it, we don't make a penny." And....... Xu Jie replied with a smile.

"Moreover, in Mr. Xu's eyes, the Dome Armor Cruiser is almost outdated, can it be sold while the current market is considered one?" Julia said.

"That's right. If I were the Minister of the Admiralty of the Great Qing Dynasty, I would definitely buy a better cruiser than any dome cruiser after learning that there was information about the X-class cruiser. Tycho chimed in. The X-Tier Patrol is perfect, and if you only count the amount of firepower, it is no less than any Rank 1 ironclad ship now. The Dingyuan and Zhen of the Beiyang Navy are far inferior to the X-class patrol designed by Mr. Vittorio and Mr. Xu. ”

"Okay, let's discuss how to deal with those officers of the Qing government." Xu Jie knew that he was indeed a little sorry for his friend in terms of price, so he made a rational choice.

"Just look at it. I will let these dirt buns of the Qing Kingdom see the strength and technology of the Italian Navy!! Vittorio smiled. Well, although this is not very good-looking, it is difficult for those bureaucrats in the Qing Dynasty to get in touch with knowledge. Looking at Xu Jie's somewhat embarrassed face, Vittorio explained.

At the negotiation venue, the two sides represented the Italian side, not to mention Vittorio, Tycho, Xu Jie, and Giulia. And on the Beiyang side, it is Ding Ruchang, Lang Weili, Liu Buyun and Zhang Peilun? On this occasion, Zhang Peilun's presence surprised Xu Jie, he had no merit and fame, and he didn't understand the navy, what did he come for? Xu Jie was very curious. With the help of an interpreter and the two sides got to know each other, the first negotiations between the Qing Dynasty and Italy officially began.

"Honorable Admirals of the Beiyang Navy. Before the negotiations begin, allow me to present you a gift on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy and the Navy. Vittorio stood up and asked the staff to pull out a large box.

"What is this?" Liu Buyun asked curiously.

"This is the battleship REUMBERTO, a first-class ironclad ship that was launched by our country just last year. It was soon to be completed and then joined the Italian naval fleet. Vittorio said proudly.

"Soon? It started in 84 years, 88 years in the water, and it was only in service in 93 years, which can also be called fast? People can't be so shameless. Xu Jie, who is familiar with history, is quite contemptuous in his heart.

Then, with the help of the staff, Vittorio opened the box, and a slender battleship appeared in front of everyone. The two twin terrace turrets in the bow and stern are imposing. Heavy, powerful, and full of power. In the middle of the hull, it was densely covered with rapid-fire guns. The whole battleship was like a steel hedgehog armed with artillery.

"How's this ship performing?" Ding Ruchang said in shock. "Looking at it, it's stronger than my Beiyang Dingzhen."

"Well, this is a real first-class ironclad." Luang Weili reminded in a whisper.

"Isn't my Beiyang Dingzhen Second Ship a first-class ironclad ship?" Zhang Peilun asked.

"What is this Mr. Zhang talking about?" Vittorio asked the translator with some curiosity.

"Mr. Zhang Peilun said that Dingzhen is a first-class ironclad ship." The translator said.

"Well, this, as far as I personally think, in 1884, Dingzhen was indeed a first-class ironclad ship, but the times are progressing, and technology is developing." Vittorio actually didn't have a good deal with Dingzhen in his heart, but after all, he was here to talk about business, not to quarrel, so he said quite tactfully. But the trace of pride and arrogance in his eyes was still in the eyes of Liu Buyun and others.

"And what about the performance of this battleship?" As the most professional officer in Beiyang, Liu Buyun put aside those meaningless arguments and asked directly.

"First of all, let's talk about firepower, please look at the main guns, the first and last two 13.5-inch 30-diameter Armstrong main guns are the most powerful firepower of this battleship. Goods like Japan's Sankei ship can be beaten with a single shot and lose its combat effectiveness!! Even sunk!! Comparatively speaking, your country's Dingzhen main gun is only a 12-inch 25 times the diameter of the Krupp gun. Vittorio, though it was only a simple comparison of the number of jù, had already made the person on the other side feel a lot of pressure. Seeing the other party's reaction, Vittorio smiled triumphantly. …,

"Everybody, look at the side chords of the secondary artillery group." Vittorio emphasized the word "group". "A TOTAL OF 8 6-INCH RAPID-FIRE GUNS, 16 4.7-INCH RAPID-FIRE GUNS, 16 6-POUNDER GUNS, AND 10 37MM MACHINE GUNS WERE EQUIPPED ON BOTH SIDES." These guns can completely tear a battleship of any cruiser class to shreds!!

"Once this fights start, it's really like a rain of bullets." Ding Ruchang exclaimed.

"By the way, Admiral Ding, the ship is also equipped with five 17.7-inch torpedo tubes." Vittorio added.

"Which ship is equipped with so much equipment, the speed should not be fast, right?" Liu Buyun asked.

"Lord Liu is wrong, the total power of this battleship is 195,000 horsepower, and the maximum speed is 18.5 knots." Tycho said with a smile.

"With so much armament and such a high power, shouldn't it be very good to have protection?" Liu Buyun's eyes shot a fine light, as a qualified naval officer, he treats me very well on the tonnage of the battleship, although I don't know the total tonnage of this battleship, even if the bullet is calculated according to 2 times the Dingzhen, with so many weapons and such a high speed, there is definitely not much tonnage to place armor!!

"This is a battleship, and he has to face the same class of warships from various countries." Vittorio said.

"But this tonnage doesn't allow it." Liu Buyun said disapprerovingly.

"General Liu, please see, this ship has no waterline armor. There is only dome armor, which is 4 inches on both sides and 3 inches in the middle. Vittorio said as he gestured. However, it does not mean that its protection is poor, compared with the general dome armor design, the angle between the two sides of the dome armor and the horizontal is very small, in this case, even if the 343 mm heavy gun hits it, it will bounce off. With that, Vittorio stopped to observe the reaction of the Beiyang side on the other side.

"How is this possible? How can a 4-inch armor withstand a 13.5-inch gun? Ding Ruchang was very puzzled, and Liu Buyun was absolutely incredible.

"This is true, when the shell shoots at the large inclination armor, it will be ejected, but in this way, the dome armor has little blocking effect on the water entering the side chord." Luang Weili, who had been silent for a long time, said. "If the opponent is equipped with a large number of rapid-fire guns, the side chord of this battleship will be broken into a honeycomb, even if the core power compartment and ammunition depot can ensure that it will not be penetrated, but the battleship will still cause a lot of trouble due to too much water." Because after all, I don't know the design of this ship, so Luang Weili can only be sure that in the face of a large number of rapid-fire guns, it will definitely enter the water, but after entering the water, will it tilt or sink? He wasn't sure.

"That's a real problem." Vittorio doesn't deny it either. "But if you think about it, the two fleets must be fighting in a naval battle, and in fact, it is not realistic to concentrate several warships equipped with a large number of rapid-fire guns to attack one of our warships, after all, we have other warships. It is impossible for the other party to ignore it. ”

"And in addition to the capital ship, which cruiser-class battleship can last more than 15 minutes under such a dense sidestring fire attack?" Vittorio asked.

"It's ....... Cruisers, naturally, could not be. The only thing that can fight this battleship is a battleship. Luang Weili said. Ding Ruchang and Liu Buyun saw that Lang Weili, who knew the most about Western warships, said so, so they naturally had nothing to say.

"Everybody, look at the protection in other places. The patio section was armored up to 13.75 inches thick. The conning tower was 11.8 inches thick, and even if it was hit by a 12-inch gun, these two places would never be penetrated. Vittorio said. In the end, the standard displacement of this battleship is 13000+ tons, and the full load displacement is even more than 15000+ tons.

"This is the real first-class warship in the world." Ding Ruchang sighed.

"My Beiyang Dingzhen can only be regarded as a second-class battleship in Italy." Liu Buyun came back to his senses for a long time.

Then it was simple, someone saw that he had calmed the person opposite, so it was much easier to do below, so he gave a certain explanation of Italy's shipbuilding industry and industrial strength, and repeatedly emphasized that the **-class dome cruiser is the culmination of the Italian dome cruiser. Therefore, I hope that the Beiyang side can take a correct view of the price issue. In this way, the first negotiations between the Italian side and the Beiyang side ended in the triumph of the Italians and the shock of the Beiyang side.

"Under the introduction of Mr. Vittorio Cuniberti, I even doubted for a moment that the world's number one navy was not the British." On the carriage back, Xu Jie teased.

"Well, hehe, I'm telling the truth, right?" Vittorio laughed.

"That's right, it's just that you ignored the French Marcellau-class battleships, the Osh-class battleships, and the British 13.5-inch battleships, you didn't even mention it." Xu Jie smiled and said.

"I'm just relaying the facts, as for the shortcomings in knowledge and insight, it's the Beiyang Fleet's own problem." Vittorio said. "If you were sitting on the other side, I would estimate that all the foreign shipyards that negotiated with Beiyang would be squeezed by you without any profit."

"It's right to show your strength, but don't boast too much, although Lang Weili is not a handsome talent, he still knows some basic information." Xu Jie waved his hand and said.

Regarding the protective performance of this dome, I have asked some people, and if there is a mistake, I would like to point it out