After receiving the order of the British government, the Far East Fleet, which had been stationed in Singapore, finally made a move, although it was also to protect overseas Chinese, and it was said that there was no need to send any big ships, but considering its position and influence in the Far East, the British Far East Fleet still decided to send an armored cruiser and a 2nd class cruiser plus a merchant ship. Then they drove mightily towards the city of Batavia.

"In 2 hours, the British fleet will converge at the Beiyang Fleet." Liu Buyun said.

"This speed is really fast, the distance between Singapore and Batavia is thousands of miles, and it can be reached in 5 days." Ding Ruchang said in shock.

"The British Empire really looks up to the Beiyang Fleet, and actually sent an 8,500-ton armored cruiser and a new 4,000-ton second-class protective cruiser." Xu Jie couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"What? An 8500-ton armored cruiser? It's bigger than my town. Don't know how the performance is. Liu Buyun said in surprise.

"It is the No. 2 ship of the Savage class, with a displacement of 8,500 tons, protected by 10-inch steel-faced iron armor at the waterline, 8-inch armor in the gun mount, and a maximum speed of nearly 17 knots, and weapons are four 9.2-inch barrel guns and 10 6-inch rapid-fire guns, four 6-pounder guns, and four 18-inch torpedo tubes. The other was the USS Thames, the No. 3 of the Mersey-class dome-class cruisers, armed with 2 8-inch barrel guns and 10 6-inch rapid-fire guns. Speed 18 knots. Xu Jie said, while saying that he was still a little depressed in his heart, he clearly remembered that the two warships were equipped with annealed guns, why did he change the tube to withdraw the guns in a daze? The 6-inch secondary gun was replaced with a rapid-fire gun. Could it be that the British are also stimulated??

"This 8,500-ton battleship is comparable to my Beiyang Dingzhen. And the new 2nd class dome cruiser is more powerful than all the cruisers in our Beiyang. Liu Buyun couldn't help but gasp and said after hearing this.

"Personally, I think that the Warweary is stronger than Dingyuan, although Dingyuan is a 12-inch gun, but the barrel is only 25 times, and it uses maroon gunpowder propellant. THE WAR-WEARY 234MM GUN IS 31.5 TIMES LONGER BARREL, AND IT USES SMOKELESS GUNPOWDER, OR THE BARREL IS WITHDRAWN, THE DEPTH OF PENETRATION IS AT LEAST NO WORSE THAN THAT OF THE 12-INCH GUN IN DINGZHEN, AND THE RATE OF FIRE IS FASTER, BASICALLY REACHING 1 ROUND IN 1 MINUTE. (The rate of fire data here comes from the NW data on the battleship forum, some doubts, I personally feel that 1 and a half minutes and a round is good, after all, it is not a turret gun, referring to the 210 gun rate of fire of Zhiyuan, the 234 gun with a bullet weight of 170+KG has no reason to fire a round in 1 minute.) Coupled with a large number of 6-inch rapid-fire guns, the amount of fire projection was much higher than that of Dingzhen. Xu Jie said calmly.

"But the protection performance of the Dingzhen 2 ship is higher than that of war weariness, and on the whole it is quite evenly matched." Liu Buyun wiped his cold sweat and said.

"Then how is the other 4,000-ton Dome Cruiser compare to the newly purchased Dome Cruiser in Beiyang?" Ding Ruchang saw that Liu Buyun was covered with cold sweat and Xu Jie, who had a stern face, and hurriedly changed the topic.

"After all, it is an old ship in the mid-80s, the power system has been strictly outdated, and there is naturally a big gap between the speed and the 22-knots new warship, and the weapons can barely be seen, but because the **-class battleship is equipped with a turret, the rate of fire of the main gun is much higher than that of the Thames, as for protection, the Thames only has 2 to 3 inches of dome armor, which is basically equivalent to no defense, and naturally cannot be compared with my new Beiyang ship." Xu Jie said. Originally, I was going to say that the Thames was a retreat gun, but I didn't expect that the plane he came from, Y's was actually changed to a rapid-fire cannon!!

"This ** level is excellent. But if we really fight with a 10,000-ton giant ship, it still won't work, if I want to maintain the first position in the Far East in Beiyang, I can't do it without a new ironclad ship. Lin Taizeng said with a long sigh.

"Yes, yes, but I'm afraid that there is no silver in Beiyang." Xu Jie waved his hand helplessly and said.

"Is that true?" Liu Buchan and Ding Ruchang said with bright eyes. …,

"In addition to the **-class dome cruiser, Vittorio and I also designed an armored cruiser of nearly 9,000 tons for the Italian Navy, equipped with 4 10-inch turret guns, 10 6-inch rapid-fire guns, 6 4.7-inch rapid-fire guns, with a speed of more than 20 knots, and the armor is a new type of hardened armor, 8 inches at the waterline and 6 inches on the upper armor. The Italian side said that if I continued to buy Italian warships in Beiyang, Minister Brin said that it could be exported. Xu Jie said with a mysterious smile.

"How much does it cost?" Ding Ruchang asked with interest.

"Add in the ammunition parts and return fees, £700,000." Xu Jie said.

"£700,000? More expensive than two **-class?! Are you sure you're right? Liu Buyun jumped up anxiously, he actually wanted to say how many kickbacks you kid took!!

"2 ** can't beat 1 new armored cruiser." Xu Jie glanced at Liu Buyun, whose face was flushed, and hurriedly cooled down Lao Liu: "Actually, this price can be reduced a little, but the amplitude will not be large." ”

Just when the four people were arguing about how Beiyang should raise a sum of money and persuade Lord Zhongtang to buy a new ship, there was a sudden knock on the door, and then the four people immediately quieted down, and Xu Jie went to open the door. When the door opened, I saw Luang Weili standing in the doorway in a dress. "Hurry up, my lords, get ready, the British Far East Fleet is coming, and we can't visit the British warship with this suit stained with sea water and sweat, right? This is very rude. Lang Weili looked at the four people in the house, smelled the foul air full of sweat and sea, and said dissatisfiedly.

Half an hour later, the packed Beiyang public management belt waited for the arrival of the British Royal Navy officers in the conference hall of the Dingyuan ship. "Who's here today?" Xu Jie asked in a low voice, because the Beiyang Naval Division has always been in charge of liaison with the British Navy by Lang Weili, so Xu Jie did not know.

"It's Rear Admiral Felimante and Captain Calais of the Warweary." Luang Weili whispered.

"Felimante?" Xu Jie was stunned, wasn't this person the later commander of the Far East Fleet? That's going to have to be a good relationship. Moreover, this person is not bad for the Beiyang Fleet, he is a pro-China faction. Although it was impossible to rely on British power against the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War, it was always right to have good relations.

"On behalf of the Royal Navy, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you and your fleet for their actions in protecting British expatriates in Batavia." Felimante said as she came in.

"Rear Admiral, you are too polite, in order to maintain and develop the traditional friendship between China and Britain and the traditional friendship between the Chinese and British navies, the operation of our Beiyang Fleet in Batavia is due. At the same time, on behalf of the Qing government, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the British Royal Navy for its assistance. "Ding Ruchang is worthy of being the one who went to Britain to take over the battleship. In one sentence, the topic directly raised the topic to the level of relations between the two countries.

Then Ding Ruchang introduced the main officers of the Beiyang Naval Division to Rear Admiral Felimante, and it goes without saying that Lang Weili naturally needed to say that he had served in the Far East Fleet, and then Liu Buyun, Lin Taizeng and others, and Xu Jie, who had the lowest rank, was ranked behind Deng Shichang, and when Felimante walked in front of Xu Jie, his eyes suddenly lit up, and before Ding Ruchang introduced, Felimante asked: "Your Excellency's name is Xu Jie, right?" ”

"Well, that's down there." Xu Jie was stunned and said.

"Didn't Your Excellency participate in the design of a new armored cruiser in Italy? Why are you working in Beiyang again? Felimante asked, as if no one was around.

"Can I not say this? After all, my work ethic makes it difficult for me to answer your questions. Xu Jie said with some embarrassment, Felimante's seemingly casual question was actually spying on the Italian Navy's attitude and progress towards the X-class patrol. And this question is related to the secrecy of both Beiyang and Italy.

"It's me who lost my word." Fremante said with a gentlemanly smile.

(It should be pointed out that the author couldn't find the shipbuilding of the British Far East Fleet back then, so he found 2 warships that may be mentioned in the future and wrote them, please understand~~)