Before Ding Yuqian arrived in Britain, Xu Jie had already arrived in London, England by European postal route, and together with Xue Fucheng, he put Liu Kunyi's telegram on the office desk of Admiral Hood, the first British admiralty. And it was specified that at least one Brute-class warship should be ordered.

"The Japanese ambassador to the UK has already said that he wants to order 2 Brute-class. I'm afraid it's a bit tricky. Hood rubbed his hands together and said apologetically.

"General, the Japanese only expressed their intention to purchase the ship through diplomatic channels without payment, and did not even sign the contract. It was just an intention, and it was absolutely in accordance with the law and international practice for the British Empire to sell the warship to the Great Shimizu Division. Xue Fucheng said disapprovingly.

"Moreover, I doubt that the Japanese government will be able to eat these two 8,500-ton warships. Japan is unable to be self-sufficient in food, and foreign exchange mainly depends on the export of gauze to make money, and Japan's annual naval and army military expenditures are not less than 20 million yen, which is conceivable in Britain. However, the warships that Japan has procured so far have been financed by national debt and excessive oppression of the people, and this method will not last long. Xu Jie added.

"I think that since Ambassador Shuzo Aoki has said that it is completely possible to pay, then I think the Japanese should have a way to raise money for the warships, and Mr. Prime Minister has expressed the same opinion, and it is expected that within three months, Japan will raise the funds for the two Brute-class warships. I'm so sorry. The Japanese have already taken the lead, and if you want to buy a warship, we have other warships to choose from, even if you build a new one. Hood said.

"What should I do, Jishi, it seems that the British government is biased in favor of Japan this time." On the way back, Xue Fucheng said with a sad face.

"It's not the British government, it's the British Prime Minister. Now that Japan has made a payment guarantee, Prime Minister Salisbury naturally persuaded the Navy to sell the battleship to the Japanese, but if this guarantee cannot be fulfilled, my Daishimizu Division can at least get a battleship!! Xu Jie said with a slight smile.

"Jishi, do you think Japan can come up with the money for two ironclad ships at once?" Xue Fucheng asked.

"It's not entirely up to Japan. It's about whether Britain will buy Japanese bonds! Xu Jie said coldly.

Three days later, the Japanese government issued an additional 2 million pounds of treasury bonds, and the British ambassador to Britain Shuzo Aoki was responsible for the issuance, and this time the issuance of treasury bonds compared with the previous times, the issuance of the work has become extremely difficult, first of all, the major British private banks refused to sell treasury bonds for Japan, and the banks that reluctantly agreed to sell the treasury bonds in the process of issuing treasury bonds, there are also many difficulties, the British financial giants and factory owners are generally not optimistic about Japan's overload, and even in the Times, there are "brick houses" who specifically analyze Japan's current economic situation, He also emphasized that the tax rate for Japanese nationals is more than three times higher than that of European countries, and these taxes are not used to expand reproduction, but are turned into warships of the navy and guns of the army. This qiē is extremely abnormal for a country, and the Japanese side is not only squeezing its own people, but also using national debt to raise a large amount of money from European countries. This thirst-quenching expansion will eventually crush the Japanese economy. And if Japan cannot win the war after the war of arms expansion, the creditors will have nothing to gain. And Japan's potential enemy is the first power in the Far East, and Japan, as an island country, the powerful Beiyang Fleet will be his unavoidable enemy.

Subsequently, a British Royal Navy officer named Jericho deduced the situation of the Qing and Japanese sides in the event of a war from the superiority and inferiority of the naval forces of the Beiyang and Japanese sides. The treasure of the Qing Beiyang Fleet, the Dingzhen No. 2 ship, is definitely the mainstay of the Beiyang side in the future naval war. Heavy armor, powerful 12-inch naval guns were enough to become a nightmare for the Japanese side. It is debatable whether the 3 Jing ships that Japan painstakingly built can fight against Dingzhen, the 3 Jing ships have a total of 3 320MM Ghana guns, and they are fixed, they cannot be rotated, and the hull needs to be rotated for aiming, and more importantly, the rate of fire of the Griffa guns currently takes 30 minutes to shoot! If the hit rate of the two sides is equal, the victory and defeat of the three Ghanaian guns that fire one hour and a half will face the eight 12-inch guns that fire every three minutes. The 320MM Ghanaian gun is only possible to penetrate Dingzhen's armor, and the 12-inch Krupp gun only needs to hit 3 Jingjian guns, and the damage caused will be fatal, and it is reported that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau will replace the imitation Armstrong 12-inch 35L heavy gun for Dingzhen, and use smokeless gunpowder, which is the ability to make Dingzhen have a heavy blow to all Japanese warships. The only advantage on the Japanese side is in the cruisers, the Japanese navy with the new Armstrong-type cruisers will have a certain advantage in the face of the Beiyang cruisers, and the Japanese cruisers with fast guns will definitely be better than the slow cruisers without rapid-fire guns, but now, the Qing Beiyang fleet has decided to replace its old cruisers with new 6-inch or 4.7-inch rapid-fire guns. And the 3 cruisers ordered from Italy directly made Japan's years of efforts in vain. Therefore, judging by the current situation, neither ironclads nor cruisers have any chance of victory on the Japanese side, and even if Admiral Nelson is alive, he will avoid engaging his opponent in such a gap. …,

"You should have read this article, right? No one is going to lend money to a country that is bound to be defeated. "Prime Minister Salisbury handed a newspaper to Shuzo Aoki.

"Your Excellency, this is just an officer's side of the story, and Colonel Ingalls's letter is compared to what you have received. The Japanese navy is higher than Beiyang, and Beiyang is only a feudal town in the Qing Dynasty, and the enemy he faces will be the Japanese Empire! Japan will have an overwhelming advantage in both human and material resources, and Japan is a civilized and civilized country, and the Qing Dynasty is just a twilight giant. He is obsessed with the glory of the past and does not know how to change! The future victory must belong to Japan, and after Japan kicked open the door of the Qing Dynasty, which was just a paste-making house, the British Empire could definitely get a piece of the pie! Shuzo Aoki said excitedly.

"First of all, I need to correct a few of your mistakes. First, it wasn't Jericho's opinion alone, it was just the Admiralty who used Jericho's mouth to express their opinion. Second, even if Beiyang is just a feudal town, the area controlled by Li Hongzhang and his generals is definitely much larger than that of Japan!! Speaking of this, Salisbury sneered. In the depths of his heart, he really did not attach much importance to Japan, although Japan's reform was more in-depth than that of the Qing Dynasty, although Japan's preparations for war were more serious than those of the Qing Dynasty. But a small country is a small country after all. "As for the navy? I don't know much about the Navy, and I've read Colonel Ingalls's letter. But Colonel Luang Weli's letter had already circulated in the Admiralty, in which he praised that the Suzhì of the Beiyang Fleet was definitely no less than that of the European Navy. More importantly, General Felimante expressed the same opinion. ”

"How can a navy that dries clothes on the gun barrels of warships compare with the Imperial Japanese Navy? It's ridiculous. Aoki Shuzo sneered, and in anger, he told a rumor he had heard from China.

"Are you saying that the Qing people are drying clothes on the main gun in Dingzhen?" Salisbury asked with interest.

"That's right, this happened when the Beiyang Fleet visited our country, and I really know how the officers of the Beiyang train their men." Shuzo Aoki said.

"Do you know how high the barrel of Dingzhen is from the deck? You really think I don't know anything about the navy?! The height of the 12-inch main gun in Dingzhen is about 3.5 meters from the deck, which seafarer would be stupid enough to climb up to dry clothes?! Mr. Ambassador, don't try to challenge the limits of my patience!! Salisbury said angrily. (This cannon barrel drying clothes should be misinformation, some people said that it came from Togo Heihachiro's meeting, but there is no written record.) ）

Today's double watch, everyone support it~. Thank you for not having soy sauce~~)