The sun rises in the east, the glow of the sun, and the ancient city of Beijing is bathed in the glow of the morning light, calm and tranquil.

A blue sedan chair was carried on the shoulders of four sedan chair drivers, shuttling through the streets and alleys of Beijing, and finally settled in front of a building that was obviously different from the surrounding style. The official sedan chair leaned forward, the curtain was lifted sideways, and a mite Qing official in formal clothes walked out of the sedan chair. He is only about thirty years old, but he has already put on an eight-python five-clawed python robe, and he can be an official to the sixth rank at such an age, and there are few in the entire mite Qing officialdom.

At the foot of the Son of Heaven, the people of the capital have already met many high-ranking officials, and today I saw a young six-rank scribe walking out of the sedan chair next to him, and after a little surprise, he went to do his own thing. The young official, apparently accustomed to the reactions of the people around him, straightened his slightly wrinkled shoulders and walked straight to the very different style of the building.

This middle-aged official is naturally Yang Shixiang, who is known as a Beiyang think tank.

After returning home yesterday, the butler suddenly handed him an invitation letter, which was sent by the German ambassador Schneider, inviting him to his mansion the next day to talk about the old feelings. After some analysis, he had vaguely guessed Schneider's intentions; Anyway, he had to discuss the purchase of ships with the German government behind him, so it was better to use this excuse to go, and save the voluminous number of visit posts.

Stepping through the door and entering the main hall, there was an old man in a straight suit sitting on the main seat, looking over with a smile on his face. He has gray hair and blue eyes, a hooked nose and a towering nose, and a goat-like beard under his chin, which brings a sense of peace to the whole person.

"Mr. Schneider, we're meeting again." Yang Shixiang bowed his hand slightly towards the old man and smiled lightly.

Old man Schneider made a gesture of invitation to Yang Shixiang and said, "I can't hide it, I invite Your Excellency here today to discuss the issue of our country's battleship "Brandenburg" anchored in Weihaiwei, your country. What my Government means is that I hope that your country will buy this battleship of excellent performance and win this war, so as to further enhance the friendship between our two countries. ”

Although Yang Shixiang had vaguely guessed Schneider's intention to invite him, and he was going to do this, Schneider's unceremonious negotiation style that went straight to the topic of interests still made him feel quite uncomfortable. However, Yang Shixiang, who is known as the Beiyang think tank, is not an ordinary person after all, and he has already adjusted his state after a while. Because Li Hongzhang asked him to cut the price as much as possible, as a shrewd businessman, Yang Shixiang understands the truth of wanting to get away with it: the more he shows that he doesn't need this product, the lower the final transaction price of this product will be! He pretended to be surprised and embarrassed, and said a little embarrassed: "Mr. Schneider, I regret that my government has no intention of purchasing this battleship of your country. He looked at Schneider with a look of embarrassment, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.

Old man Schneider looked at the middle-aged man in front of him suspiciously, and said, "How is it possible?" Li Zhongtang only decided yesterday to buy the battleships of my German Empire, how could he regret it? Didn't he want Weng Zhongtang's 2 million taels of silver? ”

"Ahem...... cough cough ...... "Hearing Schneider turn over the hole cards in his hand, Rao is Yang Shixiang City Mansion is deep, and he couldn't help choking the tea into his trachea. The other party has already said it to this point, even if he pretends to be stupid again, it will be meaningless; He laughed dryly and said, "I just made a little joke with Mr. Schneider, please don't mind." Our Great Qing Kingdom does have the will to buy this ironclad ship, I don't know what the price of your country is? ”

Schneider said: "Dear Yang, this joke is not funny at all, I think it's better for us not to make this kind of joke." As for the price...... he pretended to be silent for a moment, and said a figure that had been planned in his heart for a long time: "For the sake of the traditional friendship between the German Empire and the Qing Dynasty, as long as 10 million taels of silver, the battleship Brandenburg will be yours." ”

"10 million taels!" Although Yang Shixiang had been prepared in his heart, he was still taken aback by Schneider's offer. You must know that the total annual financial income of the entire Qing Dynasty is only 70 million taels, and the Empress Dowager Cixi spent less money to build her Three Seas Project than this. He shook his head and said, "This price is really beyond the limit of what we can bear, even if the purchasing power of silver depreciates again this year, it will not be so low!" I estimate that the cost price of this ship is only 3 million taels of silver, and your country actually bid 10 million taels, isn't it too dark? ”

"No, no, Mr. Yang, your words are ridiculous!" Schneider stretched out a finger and shook it in front of him, and defended himself in his Beijing dialect with a strong German flavor, "First of all, the Brandenburg uses a large number of advanced technical equipment, and the cost is converted into your country's silver, which is far more than 3 million taels. Secondly, the Brandenburg sailed from the German Empire to the Far East, consuming a large amount of high-quality coal in between, which, together with personnel expenses, was another high expense. Moreover, at present, your country is already in a state of war with Japan, and Germany is under tremendous international pressure and the risk of war by selling ships to your country! In the end, it took the German sailors 7 months to achieve a perfect fit with the battleship and be able to give full play to her best combat effectiveness. In this situation, if your country does not employ all the German sailors on the Brandenburg, can you still send your own men to take over the ship, and then spend another seven months on training? ”

After saying so much in one breath, Schneider felt a little dry in his mouth, and he took a sip of the herbal tea on the table, and the discomfort was relieved. He added: "So, 10 million taels of silver is not expensive at all!" ”

Although what the old man said was the truth, the resistance in Yang Shixiang's heart did not weaken in the slightest, not for anything else, just for the outrageously high astronomical price for Beiyang. He spread his hands and said: "The situation in Beiyang over the years, Mr. Schneider, you are not ignorant, now that the war has begun, there is no place where you don't need money!" Beiyang is now poor and only has a pair of pants left, where can he raise such a huge amount of money? ”

Schneider frowned and said, "Then according to Mr. Yang's meaning, how much should the price given by our country be appropriate?" ”

Yang Shixiang coughed, and said with some confidence: "Our country believes that 3 million taels is the highest price." If it is too high, with the financial resources of our country, it will not be able to bear it. ”

Schneider stared at him, a pair of blue eyes gleaming. Yang Shixiang was a little stunned by his eyes that wanted to kill, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva; However, he has been in the officialdom for nearly 10 years, and has dealt with all kinds of characters, and his skin has long been thicker than the city wall. He waved his hand without blushing and without a heartbeat: "Dear Mr. Schneider, don't look at me like that, we are making a deal now, what is said is the price, and what is given is the money, let's talk slowly." ”

"9.5 million taels, it can't be lower." Schneider gritted his teeth.

"3.2 million taels, as soon as this war starts, the Beiyang Army is also a gold-swallowing monster!" Yang Shixiang insisted that Qingshan would not relax.

"3.2 million taels resolutely no! At this price, you can't even get back the old capital when the ship was built, let alone anything else! Schneider slapped the table excitedly, his tone full of displeasure and resentment, "Mr. Yang, is this how you treat friendly countries that send warm charcoal fires in the cold winter?" At this time, even if you buy a 5,000-ton cruiser for 3.2 million taels, there may not be any country willing to sell it to you, and you actually want to buy a battleship of more than 10,000 tons with such a small amount of money? Don't forget, there are more than 700 German admirals who will fight alongside you! 9.5 million taels, that's the price. ”

"3.3 million taels." Yang Shixiang closed his eyes in pain.

"9.4 million taels." Schneider blew his beard and glared.

After an hour of bargaining, Yang Shixiang relaxed his tone to 3.5 million taels, but no matter how much Schneider persuaded and persuaded him, Yang Shixiang refused to raise the price even more. Looking at the huge capital gap of up to 3.5 million taels in the middle, Schneider estimated that it was indeed unrealistic for the mite Qing officials in front of him to come up with more than 7 million taels of cash at once; He rubbed his head in pain and had to lower his standards according to the meaning of the Berlin side: "Okay, Mr. Yang, you won." The battleship Brandenburg, you only have to pay 4 million taels, and you can take it with the ship and people. ”

"Huh?" Yang Shixiang's heart sank, this iron rooster just now was 100,000 100,000, why did he suddenly compromise so much with himself this time? You must know that according to the current ratio of silver to Mark 1:3.3, 4 million taels is not even enough for the cost of this ship! Although he was puzzled in his heart, his mouth was unambiguous: "Mr. Ambassador, 3.5 million taels is the bottom line of our country, and no matter how much it is, I really can't get any money." ”

Schneider glared at him when he heard this, and said angrily: "However, your government must sign a trade agreement with us that will facilitate the sale of our goods in your country and remove those restrictions on German businessmen's investment in China." This is a condition that our government has put forward with great graciude after taking into account the financial situation of your country! ”

"Sure enough, this old thing can't sell itself so cheaply for no reason, it turns out that he turned his attention to commodities and investment early!" Yang Shixiang secretly cursed the Germans for taking advantage of the fire to loot, and his heart had already begun to plan quickly. In all fairness, according to the current exchange ratio of silver to the mark of 1:3.3, 4 million taels will not even be able to recover the cost of the ironclad ship, and if he were a German, he would not do such a loss-making transaction. However, the price of 4 million taels is almost the bottom line that Beiyang can afford at present, and any more will affect the supply of silver taels to the front-line army; Although the signing of a trade agreement can solve the urgent need, the consequences are long-term!

However, compared with the current urgent crisis, how can there be any effort to manage the flood in the future?

Schneider looked at the table clock next to the living room and sat down calmly; He picked up the teacup on the table, swept the tea leaves floating on the water with the lid, and took a sip. Turning his head, the mite Qing official in front of the meeting was still frowning, without saying a word, he coughed, breaking the silence that lasted for a long time: "How about Mr. Yang, what do you think of this proposal?" ”

Yang Shixiang said slowly: "What Mr. Ambassador said is very good, we can continue to negotiate how much tariffs will be reduced." However, 4 million taels is still more than the bottom line that we can bear. Now we only have 3.5 million taels of silver that can be used to buy ships, and there is really nowhere to find any more money. ”

Looking at Old Man Schneider's gradually gloomy face, Yang Shixiang hurriedly said: "We are still making progress today, and the difference has narrowed from 7 million taels to 500,000 taels, isn't it?" Let's talk about this first, I need to go back and report the results of the negotiation to Zhongtang, so that he can decide. ”

Schneider snorted and said, "Annoying Mr. Yang told Li Zhongtang that this is the bottom line requirement of our country, and if there is a point less, I will resolutely not sell it!" Now your country's Beiyang Navy and Japan's maritime strength are no longer what they used to be, and I don't need to talk about this as an outsider. Without the Brandenburg, what will your navy do to compete with the Japanese navy? ”

Yang Shixiang stood up, arched his hand to Schneider, and said, "What the ambassador said is extremely true. I would like to ask you, Mr. Ambassador, to be calm and not impatient, and we will certainly be able to come up with a satisfactory answer to your country. ”

Schneider bowed slightly, then closed his eyes, and ignored him; Yang Shixiang wanted to say a few polite words of hypocrisy, but seeing that the other party was like this, he didn't need to say much, and hugged his fists and said: "Farewell." ”

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Recently, Li Hongzhang's life can be described as twists and turns, thrilling.

As early as August 2, the day after the Guangxu Emperor officially declared war on Japan, because Ding Ruchang led the main force of the Beiyang Fleet on a tour without achieving any results, the Qingliu Party in the DPRK seized this handle and made a big attack on Ding Ruchang, saying that the supreme commander of the navy, who was born in the army, "was the first to move forward, intended to wait and see, and indulged in the enemy's play," and demanded that the imperial court immediately depose Ding Ruchang from the rank of naval commander. What's more, he even called Li Hongzhang "old and faint and perverse" and should step down immediately and let the virtuous take office.

Li Hongzhang himself has a high prestige, and is an indispensable figure involved in foreign affairs at the top of the court officialdom, and most importantly, he is deeply relied on by the old witch Cixi, and the attacks of the Qingliu on him can almost be ignored; However, Ding Ruchang did not have these conditions, so he became the first goal of these officials more than 100 years ago to weaken the Huai system in the name of resisting Japan. A war that was originally a war against foreign aggression was stirred up by these people into an excellent stage for their own attrition and infighting.

In this context, Li Hongzhang also had to put aside the matter of buying a ship and concentrate on dealing with all kinds of attacks and difficulties in the court. A few days later, on 10 August, the Japanese Combined Fleet attacked Weihaiwei, a Hong Kong garrison of the Beiyang Naval Division. Although neither side suffered any losses, the Qing court was shocked and ordered the navy to return to defend the Gyeonggi Gate. At this time, Li Hongzhang finally had the opportunity to put the importance of the navy on the table, urging the household department to quickly pay money to buy the German 10,000-ton ironclad ship anchored in Weihaiwei: "If there is no such ship, the navy will decline, Gyeonggi will be difficult to stabilize, and the household department will hoard tens of millions of silver, so what's the use?" ”

The Japanese Navy cruised around the gate of Weihaiwei, which really frightened the ancestors of the brick family who only talked about rhetoric and moral articles all day long; Although he was extremely dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang's monopoly on power, he was very concerned about his own safety, so that he could easily reconcile with Li Hongzhang's ideological and cultural rupture in thinking. For these Qingliu people are timid and cowardly, and at the critical moment, they become the move of shrinking turtles, Weng Tonggong gritted his teeth, and he could only follow the general trend and open a large account in the bank.

On August 14, the Qing court and Germany formally signed a trading agreement, under which the Qing court bought the German battleship "Brandenburg" at a price of 4 million taels of silver, and hired all the crew members of the "Brandenburg" at the international market price. As compensation for the purchase of ships at low prices, the Qing court signed a trade treaty that favored the dumping of German goods and instituted a series of measures to encourage German merchants to invest in China. As soon as the news came out, the whole world was shocked.

Although the British Government did not issue any condemnatory statement about Germany's act of taking fire from the fire, it did produce a little displeasure. Prior to this, with the rapid rise of the German Empire, German goods had shaken the pre-eminent position of the British Empire in the world trade, and Britain felt that its interests had been damaged; And now, this group of Hans has actually extended the tentacles of commodity dumping to the Qing region of the Far East! Fortunately, the customs agencies of the Qing State were still in the hands of the British Empire, and they were self-contained, and the Qing court had no way to interfere; If the entry tariff on German goods is reduced, it will be a disaster for British goods!

And the most excited is none other than all the officers and men of the Beiyang Fleet from Ding Ruchang down. When Li Hongzhang's edict was sent to the Beiyang Naval Division, almost all the captains did not believe the news that the imperial court had invested heavily in the navy and that the German ironclad ships had changed their banners; It wasn't until the mast of the battleship Brandenburg raised the red yellow dragon flag and Colonel Claude, dressed in blue, came to report to the Liugong Island Naval Office that they felt convinced that the elite ship that made them think about it had been assigned to the Beiyang Naval Division!

Since the establishment of the Beiyang Naval Division in 1887, the flowers have bloomed and fallen for 7 seasons, and in addition to the self-built "Pingyuan" ship, the Dragon Flagship has not added a new warship. It is undeniable that the halo of the first navy in the Far East, which has won numerous laurels, has gradually faded with the passage of time; In the face of the Japanese navy on the other side of the sea, which has long regarded the Dragon Flagship as an imaginary enemy and whose strength has expanded rapidly in recent years, the high-level generals who know the Beiyang Naval Division have no confidence at all. This time, the entry into service of this new ironclad ship with a displacement far greater than that of Dingzhen and Zhen, has given a shot in the arm to all personnel of the entire navy; The current Beiyang Naval Division, if it encounters the main force of the Japanese Navy, can completely engage head-on, and there is no need to have the slightest fear! (In the Beiyang Naval Division at that time, ordinary sailors were eager to compete with Japan, and senior officers were indeed afraid of confronting the Japanese navy.) Based on this, some people put forward the theory that the low-level officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division were brave, while the upper-level officers were all timid and cowardly straw bales. Actually, this is not true. It was precisely because the officers had access to a lot of information and deeply understood the huge gap between the Beiyang Naval Division and the Japanese fleet, and the consequences of the collision with the main force, that they tried their best to avoid the war; And ordinary sailors know very little about this, just a newborn calf's enthusiasm that is not afraid of tigers. ）

When Japan learned that Germany had sold the ship to the Qing court, it did not react at all and remained silent. But if you think about it, Japan's silence is not difficult to understand. Without the backing of muscles, any fiercely worded diplomatic protest is as weak as a dream, and although the German navy is inferior to traditional naval powers such as Britain, France, and Russia, it is definitely not comparable to Japan. Not to mention anything else, even if the "Brandenburg," which had already been sold to the Qing court, was removed, the German Navy still had three 10,000-ton battleships of the same size, as well as 13 ironclad ships of various types, and even if only one detachment was sent to the Far East, it would be enough to wipe out the Japanese Navy at this stage several times. In order to prepare for this war of aggression, Japan gambled the fate of the entire country, and at this juncture, where would it dare to provoke the German Empire, which had defeated Austria and France?

Moreover, in the eyes of the Japanese, the Brandenburg, although powerful, was not invincible. As early as 1888, Japan took the Dingzhen 2nd ship as an imaginary enemy and ordered three "Matsushima" class dome cruisers with a design displacement of 4278 in France; In order to penetrate the 14-inch (356 mm) thick waterline armor of the Dingyuan-class ironclad ship, the French designer Blauret specially equipped a 320mm Ghanaian gun on this class of warships, which surpassed the 305 mm Krupp gun equipped with the Dingyuan-class ironclad ship. These three French-made 38x320mm guns can not only penetrate the 14-inch waterline armor of the Dingyuan, but also easily smash through the 15.8-inch (400mm) tortoise shell of the Brandenburg.

However, what the Japanese did not expect was that although the 320 mm Ghanaian gun was extremely powerful, it was still too large for a 4,200-ton ship. The stability of the "Matsushima" class protective cruisers is extremely poor, and when the main guns are turned, the hull will tilt, and if the sea conditions are bad, the main guns cannot be rotated at all, otherwise it is very likely that the warship will capsize and sink. At the same time, in order to lower the center of gravity, the position of the main gun installation had to be moved downward, which in turn led to a decrease in seaworthiness and caused a serious upward wave. So much so that in the historical Battle of Dadonggou, the 320 mm cannon, which was originally planned to be fired in 10 minutes, took an hour to fire one shot, and there was no accurate head, and the original intention of its design can be described as a complete failure; What really played a role in naval battles was the 120 mm Armstrong rapid-fire guns equipped on the broadside.

This chapter has 6200 words, and I originally wanted to dismantle and develop it, but this would damage the continuity in between, so I stopped for the sake of the author's hard work, and gave it some free collection and recommendation