"In addition to the commercial concessions and various orders offered by Beiyang to the Kingdom of Italy, I would like to have a lease in one of your country's seaport cities." Brin and Bragali looked at each other and said.

"Do you think this condition is acceptable to Beiyang?" Xu Jie sneered.

"There is nothing that can't be done, Britain and France are all in your country with leased lands and spheres of influence, so why can't the Kingdom of Italy, which sincerely helps your country, have? And Mr. Xu should have known that in the process of unifying the Kingdom of Italy, in order to gain the support of France, the Italians had to cede the regions of Savoy and Nice as compensation. Therefore, the Kingdom of Italy considers it reasonable to acquire a leased land off the coast of your country as a stronghold for the Italians in the Far East in return for its sincere support for the Kingdom of Italy. And I need to remind Mr. Xu that this is Beiyang's only chance to win. Without the all-round support of the Kingdom of Italy, even with armored cruisers of the Garibaldi type, the North Ocean would not have helped. Bragali said, licking his lips.

"I want to correct your two mistakes, first, Beiyang has no right to cede land on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, even if it has the right, it will never do it, Beiyang can use all its own industries in exchange for the funds and support it needs, but it will never do anything to betray the country. Second, the Kingdom of Italy was not the only option for the Qing Dynasty. Comparatively speaking, Germany, with a better industrial base and better capital, could also take the place of the Italians, and with this traditional friendship between Germany and Beiyang, the cooperation between the two would go more smoothly. The reason why I chose Italy, for me personally, is because my starting point is Italy rather than Germany, I am more familiar with Italy, and that's it. Xu Jie replied.

"Germany? Although Germany has more abundant basic industries and capital, in terms of shipbuilding and navy, Germany is only a latecomer to the door, far inferior to Italy. Brin said dismissively.

"What Germany lacks is only the idea and design of shipbuilding, and if there is a good design, Germany's strong industrial and economic power will allow Germany to have advanced warships no less than Italy. And the new Kaiser is more than willing to build a powerful navy to fight for territory under the sun! Xu Jie replied, in fact, Xu Jie did not have a good impression of Germany, when the tiger skin of the Westernization Movement was still there, Germany was naturally friendly with the Qing Dynasty, but once it was gone, Germany would rush to participate in the frenzy of carving up China, after the first afternoon, the first country to be occupied by force was Germany, after the Qingdao incident, the German fleet forcibly occupied Qingdao. Thus setting off a frenzy of partition among the great powers in China. And the reason why Xu Jie chose Italy, in addition to Italy's better ship-building level, Xu Jie's connections in Italy are more extensive, Italy is relatively weaker is also an important reason, once the Germans occupy it is not easy to drive away, and the Italians are different, referring to the table of the Italian army in later generations, as long as Beiyang is not hopelessly bad Cheng dù, there is no problem in driving away the Italians who came from afar, you don't see, after the great powers set off a frenzy to carve up China, The only power that didn't get a piece of the pie was Italy.

"I need to remind you that the leading technologies possessed by the Garibaldi-class armored cruisers, such as the turret structure of the main guns and hardened armor, were not too difficult from an engineering point of view, and the Germans could prototype these products within a month as long as the design drawings were available. According to the industrial strength of Germany, it was not impossible to create an 11-inch turret gun in a short time. If the Kingdom of Italy insists on its claims, then I can only regret that the negotiations have failed. Xu Jie smiled slightly.

"I would like to remind Mr. Xu that all the information of the Garibaldi-class battleships is a valuable property of the Kingdom of Italy, and if something you do endangers the interests of the Kingdom of Italy, I don't think you will be able to leave Rome at all." Bragali said angrily. …,

"Garibaldi? I already have a better design scheme now, and this is independently proposed by the Beiyang Design Bureau, and it has nothing to do with the ** Design Bureau. He will be bigger and stronger than Garibaldi, who is at best on the same level as the British Captain Centurion 2nd class, and the new ship I designed will completely surpass the Centennial and will be a true 1st class battleship. Xu Jie sneered.

"I'm afraid that your country doesn't have enough money to buy it, right?" Bragali said coldly.

"Germany is not a country short of money, Prime Minister Bismarck's advice to German shipyards was to win the order at any price, and Beiyang finally bought a first-class ironclad ship at that time at a price of more than 300,000 pounds, and now, if Beiyang provides design drawings and related technical information, I think the price of ordering a first-class battleship from Germany will not exceed that of the Garibaldi-class armored cruiser. In particular, the current Kaiser was more concerned about the navy than Wilhelm I at that time, so I personally think that the cooperation between Germany and the Qing Dynasty will be very pleasant. In addition, I would like to remind you that if a treaty cannot be reached within half a month from today, the Qing ambassador to Germany will bring the relevant materials to negotiate with the Berlin side, and at that time, Li Hongzhang will be directly responsible for this matter. Even if I wanted to cooperate with Italy, I had no right to interfere. Speaking of this, Xu Jie patted his bag and continued: "These things are worth 2 million pounds, if the Italian side is not interested, I think Beiyang will find a suitable buyer for him." ”

"Your Excellency's designs are really endless, and before the Garibaldi class is launched, new designs have come out." Bragali said not just sarcastically, but appreciatively.

"In this era of rapid technological change, it is normal for a ship to be outdated before it is completed, I think Mr. Brin and Mr. Vittorio, as the designers of the battleship, should be very clear, for example, the dome battleship that your country has not yet launched, it can be said to be quite advanced when it was designed, and now, with the emergence of hardened armor, the concept of relying on dome armor to provide defense in the past has become obsolete, and the battleship without waterline armor and only on dome armor faces a large number of rapid-fire guns of the opponent, and the prospect is worrying." Xu Jie said with a smile.

"I need to remind Mr. Xu once again that even if your country scrapes together enough money for the construction of three Garibaldi-type warships, with the financial and manpower of Beiyang, it will be quite difficult to get the three warships into service and form combat effectiveness within four years. And time is of the essence. If Beiyang turns to Germany, I think there may not be enough time. Bragali said, rubbing his eyes.

"Relatively speaking, I must admit that the efficiency of the Germans on the slipway is still much higher than that of the Italians, for example, the battleship Brandenburg, which has just started construction this year, is now progressing very rapidly, and it is estimated that in the second half of 91, it will be launched soon, and it will be completed and put into service in 93. Note that I am talking about service, not only the completion of the construction of the battleship, but also the training of the relevant personnel. And even if it starts now, if the Germans are interested and concentrate on doing it, I estimate that at the beginning of 94, these 3 new warships will be able to form combat effectiveness. Xu Jie knocked on the box next to him and said. And I think the current Germany will be interested in what is in this box, which has the qiē they want, a new 3-pack turret, hardened armor technology, a new design. ”

"The technology of hardened armor is the patent of the Kingdom of Italy, and I need to draw your attention to it." Brin said with some annoyance.

"The name of the owner of the patent is me, not the Kingdom of Italy, and it should be noted that the thickness of the hardened layer in the current hardened armor is still slightly insufficient, and I am now considering two carburizing of the armor." Xu Jie retorted.

"You've been holding back?" Vittorio said dissatisfied.

"It's just a normal evolution of technology, I'm just a little bit faster than everyone else, that's all. We can pay a fair reward for the goodwill and efforts of the Kingdom of Italy, but if it is to be paid for the sale of national sovereignty, it is in the interest of neither of you nor us to delay it. After Xu Jie finished speaking, he was about to get up and leave.

"Well, I think the Italian government will do its best to make a decision, but personally, I want to make this cooperation between the two countries possible. Not only in terms of navy, but also in terms of army equipment, Italy and Qing can also communicate with each other. "Brin's vision of his goals is impossible, and in this case, it is undoubtedly the best option for the negotiations to be halted and the two sides to take a step back and realign their positions.

Everyone, it's not easy to write a book for the first time. Ask for recommendations, ask for collections~~