Just after the battle-weary battleships ordered by the Nanyang Naval Division, Ding Yuqian was not busy going to the UK to prepare to receive the ship. Instead, he followed Liu Kunyi's order to thank Xu Jie and Xue Fucheng and others who helped the Nanyang Navy Division in purchasing the ship, and after visiting Xue Fucheng in London, he went to Italy to see Xu Jie, of course, if it was just a thanks, there was no need to let this Lord Ding run thousands of miles to Italy, but Liu Kunyi was not very satisfied with this old ship, and there were still some funds left, so he planned to change this battleship, and by the way, he also learned from Beiyang, and changed the old ships in Nanyang or something. And if you want to modify a battleship, the best way is to go to Xu Jie, the designer of the first battleship of the Qing Dynasty. Well, Xu Jie just provided modification ideas. The specific work was still left to the people at the Armstrong shipyard. Xu Jieyi doesn't have this ability, and he doesn't have this time.

However, speaking of the Nanyang Naval Division, Xu Jie really didn't have a good feeling, during the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, Beiyang fought to the death in front, and the Guangdong Naval Division also left the only 3 protective cruisers he took to shoot in Beiyang, what was the Nanyang Naval Division doing? Playing soy sauce in the south, the only "achievement" seems to be the robbery of a Japanese ship, on which some arms were found. That's all. Besides, the boss of the Nanyang Fleet, Liu Kunyi, can be capable or incapable in foreign affairs, and he has no vision. During the First Sino-Japanese War, he actually instructed the subordinate Jinling Machinery Bureau to continue to produce guns!! You know, at that time, the Jinling Machinery Bureau was able to produce Maxine machine guns!! However, since people are here, it is still necessary to meet each other, and now is the best time for the relationship between the North and the South since the death of Zeng Guofan, in order to maintain this "situation", and in order to make it less troublesome to purchase arms from military factories in the south in the future, Xu Jie decided to meet this person.

"In Xia Ding Zhaiqian, I would like to thank Mr. Xu here. Without the help of Mr. Xu and Lord Xue, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to buy such a good warship. As soon as the man came in, he saluted.

"Staring at the money?" As soon as he heard the name of the person, Xu Jie was stunned, why did this person's family give him a name that was so easy to cause ambiguity. Xu Jie's heart was twisted. "This is also Xie Li Zhongtang, Lord Xue. Xu is just an executor. Xu Jie said humbly.

"On the next visit, there is one more thing to ask for." After a few more pleasantries, Ding Yuqian finally explained the purpose of the trip. "Lord Liu is a little dissatisfied with this newly purchased ironclad ship, and wants to improve it, I wonder if Mr. Xu can provide some construction?"

"I don't know what performance Mr. Liu plans to strengthen?" Xu Jie asked.

"Is this firepower a little weaker, the Dingzhen of the Beiyang Naval Division is a 12-inch cannon, while my new Nanyang ship uses a 9.2-inch gun." Ding said.

"How is Lord Liu going to change? Wouldn't you plan to get on a British 12-inch gun? Xu Jie couldn't help wiping a cold sweat and said.

"Lord Liu has this intention, but he thinks that this plan is not very feasible, this war-weariness itself is a little overweight, whether it can be replaced with a 12-inch gun is still a matter of words, even if it is reluctantly replaced with a 12-inch gun, I am afraid that the stability of the battleship will decline. The gains outweigh the losses, but what if you don't change them? It's hard to explain where this Lord Liu is. Ding Yuqian expressed his bitterness.

"That's a problem, but I don't know if Lord Ding has thought of another change." Xu Jie thought for a while and said. "We can swap out the 9.2-inch gun for the smaller 8-inch gun. However, the original single-mounted 9.2-inch was replaced with a double-mounted 8-inch, so that the side-chord firepower reached 6 8-inch guns, and the projection per unit time was much higher than that of the 9.2-inch guns. As for power? In fact, the new 40-fold body barrel has an 8-inch gun penetration depth that is enough. Compared with Beiyang's 12-inch 25 times the aspect ratio of black powder short cannon, the power gap is not particularly large. ”…,

"This is a solution, but I don't know if it can be improved. As for the issue of artillery power, I think I can convince Lord Liu. After all, there are indeed a lot more guns. Ding Yuqian nodded and said.

"There should be no problem, Russia has a warship with a similar layout to the war-weary tonnage, that is, a cross layout of 4 twin 8-inch terrace guns." Xu Jie said. "I don't know, does Nanyang have any money left for the purchase of warships this time?"

"I still have some money, I don't know what Mr. Xu has to teach me?" When it comes to money, Ding Yuqian is a little wary.

"In fact, if Nanyang can't buy new ships now, it may not be a way to replace the guns of the original warships. AT PRESENT, THE GUNS OF NANYANG BATTLESHIPS ARE TOO COMPLICATED, THERE ARE 210MM KRUPP GUNS, THERE ARE 7-INCH AND 8-INCH ARMSTRONG GUNS, THAT IS, 120 GUNS HAVE BOTH GERMAN AND BRITISH. Not only is it difficult to train, but the supply is even more troublesome. It's better to replace it with a unified artillery this time. For example, the Armstrong 8-inch gun and the 4.7-inch gun prevail. Replacing the original rack gun with a tube gun will also increase the rate of fire to a certain extent. Xu Jiejian said. In fact, Xu Jie is still a little selfish in persuading Nanyang to change artillery, because Beiyang will also change its artillery, whether it is 8 inches, 5 inches or 4.7 inches, so that the artillery shells of Nanyang and even Guangdong Naval Divisions can be used universally. And once the shells are universal, the production of shells by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Jinling Machinery Bureau will inevitably be transferred to these new guns, so that from the perspective of production capacity, it is definitely much better than relying solely on the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, and the competition of many military enterprises can definitely improve efficiency. This kind of thing that is beneficial to the navy and the military industry, Xu Jie must do.

"This is a very good idea, thank you Mr. Xu for mentioning it, and let me know when he needs his brother in the future. Brothers do not hesitate to go to the soup and fire. Ding Yuqian thanked him while calculating how much money he could make from it.

"Going to the soup? When the time comes, the Nanyang Fleet can fire a few cannons at the Japanese, I am thankful, in his plane, Nanyang's appearance in the First Sino-Japanese War is really shameful! Although in the Sino-French War, Beiyang also transferred Chaoyong Yang Wei away, but it was to calm the Korean incident, and in the First Sino-Japanese War, Nanyang was completely inactive, playing soy sauce and passively avoiding the war!! Xu Jie complained in his heart.

"I don't know what Lord Ding's family does?" Xu Jie really couldn't find a topic now, so he started to have nothing to say, but he didn't expect to ask such a question, and he actually asked something.

"Marishang, I don't know what goods Mr. Xu needs to transport. Ding can make it convenient. Ding Yuqian's eyes lit up and said, it seems that Xu Jie in front of him is not a person but a white flower!!

"Well, that's nothing to me personally. However, now businessmen in Zhili, Liangguang, Taiwan, Shanghai and other places are prospering industrially. There are a lot of industrial equipment and raw materials needed, and Lord Ding can run this completely. Xu Jiexin said, this guy is greedy for money enough, and he doesn't forget to make money when he buys a boat, this time Liu Kun sent this guy here, and he doesn't know how many kickbacks he wants this person to eat. But it's okay, just rush to the article of greed for money, there is a possibility of winning over.

"Hey, Lord Xu doesn't know anything. It is true that there are a lot of things to transport to open a factory, but there are many merchants in Nanyanghua, many ships, and low freight, so my Ding family can't compete at all. Ding Yuqian complained and looked at Xu Jie secretly.

"You see if this will work, I can send a letter to my friends in Nanyang, they can help Brother Ding. However, this is not for nothing, if there is some trouble over there in Nanyang, I hope that Brother Ding can take care of it. Xu Jie thought for a while and said.

"This is natural, and the affairs of the customs and government in the south will be left to you." Ding Yuqian agreed.

"Yes, I bought off a big official of Nanyang in a daze." Looking at the departing Ding Yuqian, Xu Jie smiled bitterly. Xu Jie looks down on this kind of master who colludes up and down without principles for money, but this world is sometimes like this, for the sake of the purpose, you have to use various methods, even if some methods are not eye-catching, but you have to use them. Thinking of this, Xu Jie immediately returned to his desk and prepared to write a letter to Boss Peng!!

Thank you for the useless reward ~~, according to the estimation of the side, the war will start next week. What are you waiting for? What about collections? What about recommendations?