Ever since Luang Weili arrived at the Ansaldo shipyard in **, he faintly felt that something was wrong. "It's more of a prison than a shipyard." Looking at the newly built sentry posts around the shipyard and the barbed wire fences pulled out, as well as the strict investigation, Lang Weili shook his head helplessly, he once asked Vittorio, who often came to run. However, the latter only said that the new type of patrol of the Italian Royal Navy would be built here, and the defense work would naturally be stricter, but Luang Weili did not believe that the British Empire's Sovereign did not have such strict protection work when it was built at the Armstrong shipyard. There's definitely something wrong with that. Since the Italians are unwilling to confess, Lang Weili can only find another insider, Xu Jie.

"Wait 1 year and you'll find out." Xu Jie said as he looked at the lead ship of the Garibaldi-class armored cruiser under construction in the distance.

"I am the vice envoy of the Beiyang side. I should know why. Luang Weili said angrily.

"Forgive me, my friend, this matter is related to the national fortune of the Qing Dynasty, we trust Your Excellency, so we will let Your Excellency come to Italy, but after all, Beiyang has its own secrets." Xu Jie said sincerely.

After this conversation, the construction progress of the Ansaldo shipyard has increased significantly. And just when the 2 Garibaldi-class were working day and night, only a month later there was a larger warship, and for a time, the Italian Ansaldo shipyard started construction of 6 warships at the same time, with a total tonnage of more than 40,000 tons! In order to support the construction of these four warships, Anshardo stopped the construction of other ships and concentrated all the workers to work overtime, and then, more mechanics came from all over Italy, such as Napoli, Venice, Taranto, etc., and almost all the major Italian shipyards sent people to support the construction work. "At this rate, these 10,000-ton killers will be built and outfitted within three years." Luang Weili carefully observed the progress of the construction every day, and his experience made it easy for him to guess the approximate time of the completion of the battleship. Why is Italy in such a hurry to complete the construction of new warships?

Go to war? No way, both the British Empire's Mediterranean Fleet and the French Fleet have a huge advantage over the Italian Navy, although the Garibaldi class is good, but it is impossible for only 3 warships to change the military strength of the Mediterranean Navy, and Italy has no reason to go to war with Britain and France, which are much more powerful than it. Immediately, Luang Weili gave up on such an unrealistic idea. But curiosity led him to care more about the purpose of these fast-building behemoths outside of work.

With the decommissioning of time, in the second half of 1891, 3 ** light armored cruisers were launched and began to be outfitted. The sailors who came from the Qing Dynasty also came to Italy for training. The number of seafarers who arrived also greatly exceeded Luang Weili's estimate, "The number of crew members of a **-class light cruiser is between 400 and 500 people, but now the number of people who have arrived has exceeded 2,000, and it is still increasing, which is very abnormal!" Lang Weili silently pondered. Even taking into account the backup of personnel, this number is too much, and ordinary ship crews can actually be selected from skilled merchant ship crews, and the training should be gunners, mechanics, or middle and low-level commanders, and the number of 2,000 people has far exceeded the rated quota of three cruisers. Looking at these lively young men, Lang Weili frowned.

"There is actually a training subject for British 10-inch guns. Mr. Xu, are you sure you're not mistaken? One day, Lang Weili found Xu Jie with a newly issued training tutorial and said. As far as I know, only the Pingyuan ship in the Beiyang Fleet has a 10-inch gun. And the Pingyuan already has a gunner. ”

"I'm sure I'm not mistaken." Xu Jie looked at the slipway outside the window and said. There is hope in the eyes. …,

"Could it be that some of the **-class battleships need to be reequipped with 10-inch guns? However, this class of warships is only 5,000 tons. Even if I am not a professional designer, I know that this kind of collocation is unscientific, Mr. Xu, how could you make such a mistake? Lang Weili angrily threw the textbook on the table.

Now this answer can be told to you in advance, but from now until the return voyage, you cannot contact any outsiders, including your family. You have to keep it a secret. Or maybe you will never know the secret. Well, give you 3 minutes to tell me the answer. Xu Jie took a deep breath and said.

"Xu, I choose to know the secret." Lang Weili replied very dryly.

"You once persuaded me to ask Beiyang to order a new ship." Xu Jie said in a low voice.

"That's right, the strength of the Japanese Navy has surpassed that of the Beiyang, and only three 5,000-ton light armored cruisers cannot engage with Japan's newly purchased warships, both in terms of quantity and tonnage fire protection, Japan's newly purchased ironclad ships have an advantage." Luang Weili said with a sigh.

"I didn't answer you at the time." Xu Jie said apologetically.

"Well, but even so, I decided to participate in this war with little chance of winning, after all, I have been serving this dragon flagship team for more than 10 years, and this is my second home." Lang Weili said in a deep voice.

"In fact, Beiyang has ordered new warships, but it is really carried out below, not known to the outside world, in the future Qing-Japanese war, the Beiyang Naval Division is not only to defeat the Japanese Navy, but to directly make Japan a complete country, we need overwhelming superiority." Xu Jie said this, a trace of frenzy flashed in his eyes, and his breathing became rapid. "And now, we have a material base, right there, right in those docks!!" Xu Jie pointed to the dock of the Anshardo shipyard and said excitedly.

"Were those three Tier 2 battleships built for the Beiyang? My God. In the Far East, there is no battleship comparable to the Garibaldi class!! Luang Weili stammered.

"Alright, I'm done. You'll still have the opportunity to write one last letter to your family before you are completely cut off from the outside world. Get ready. Xu Jie finished speaking and left the house.

Ten days later, a letter was delivered to Luang Weili's home in England, and it was not Luang Weili's family who got the letter, and the letter was sent directly to the British Admiralty and handed over to a special person to deal with.

"What does the letter say?" Admiral Hood asked, putting down the cigarette holder in his hand.

"The answer may come as a shock to all of you." Sir Hamilton passed on the disposed letters to the people.

"I must abide by the ethics and promises of a Royal Navy officer, so I cannot tell you the secrets of the Qing Kingdom, but I can swear by my life and character. The Qing Kingdom will surely win the victory in the future Qing-Japanese War, and Mr. Xu is definitely a strategist no less than Bismarck, the Prime Minister of the German Empire. - Lang Weili," said Sir Hoskins.

"Damn, it's not useful at all! This Luang Willi. Lieutenant General Baird said angrily.

"No, we've already achieved our goal." Hamilton smiled with relief.

"I don't understand what Your Excellency means." Admiral Hood said dissatisfied.

"Does anyone here doubt Colonel Luang Wili's level?" Hamilton asked.

"Colonel Luang Weili is a high-ranking officer trained by the British Empire, and judging from his many years of appearance, his professional level is naturally not wrong. It was really difficult for him to train those barbarians in the East into qualified naval soldiers. Lieutenant General Baird said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Japan's naval expansion is on the surface, in front of the intelligence system of the British Empire, there is nothing to hide, it can be said that we are clear about the actions of the Japanese. But we do not know the expansion of the Beiyang army. Hamilton couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Didn't you just buy 3 cruisers from the Italians?" Admiral Hood snorted and said contemptuously.

"It will never be so simple, otherwise, Luang Weili would never be so sure that the Qing will win. There must be something wrong with this. Since the Prime Minister has asked us to make a guess about the future situation of the Qing-Japanese War, why don't we trust the person who is in a high position in the Beiyang Army when we lack intelligence? Hamilton said with a smile. In fact, our deduction will not change anything, and the new Prime Minister William Gladstone needs a reason to change his mistakes. He just needs a reason, and this reason needs to be found by us in the Admiralty. This is the political zhì! ”

"Well, what choice do I have? This report is ready to be drafted. Admiral Hood smiled bitterly. However, I really want to see what Xu Jie, who Lang Weili calls the Bismarck of the East, can do in the future. ”

Thank you for the evaluation votes of techie81 and the reward of the frozen night wolf~~. Let's support it a lot~~~