Calm on the surface does not mean a qiē. At least that's what happened to Tycho's meeting with Xue. Although a deal was reached, Tycho, like Brin, was still reluctant to let Xu Jie return to Beiyang deep down. In the eyes of Diegu, Xu Jie is not only a designer who can provide excellent ships for the Italian Navy, but also a mentor and a trusted friend. So even though Xue Fucheng threatened to delay the deal, Tycho still didn't let up. But Xu Jie could not wait, he had to return to Beiyang in 1889, and he had to gain the trust of the person who was actually in power in Beiyang to gain a place. Otherwise, simply buying two warships is like winning the First Sino-Japanese War, which is undoubtedly a fool's dream. In addition to Xu Jie's entrustment of Garin and others to publicize from the outside so that he can return abroad, the easiest and most effective way for Xu Jie is to communicate with the Italian chief negotiator first in order to gain his support.

"In fact, the design work of the X-class installation is nearing completion. My design ideas have been fully communicated to the staff in the drawing room. The rest of the work can be done. On the carriage, Xu Jie said to Tycho.

"Teacher, I can completely understand your feelings, and your desire to return to your homeland should be satisfied. Now, however, you are tasked with the construction of the Italian Navy. And now that you're back in Qingguo, you don't have the right platform for you to play. Tycho sighed. And you should know that this is what Minister Brin meant. There's no way I can change that. ”

"All the drawings and numbers have already been handed over to the Admiralty, and the Qing Kingdom does not have the ability to build a warship of this level, even if I want to sell the intelligence, someone will ask for it." Xu Jie smiled bitterly. "And judging from the talks, it is not safe in Italy, and the British have already been given part of the X-class patrol."

"But you have a contract with the Italian Admiralty, and you can't leave Italy until the X-Class Patrol is completed." Tycho said with a little embarrassment. What Xu Jie said in the second half of the sentence is the truth after all. The counter-espionage work of the Italian Admiralty is indeed not flattering.

"And this business is just the beginning, if it succeeds, I believe that more Italian warships will enter the Beiyang Fleet, and more Italian industrial products and munitions will enter the Qing Kingdom. The Dome Cruiser is just the beginning, the future X-mounted cruiser, and all kinds of light weapons. As you know, the arms trade has never been a simple trade act, it is the result of the combined action of politics and the economy. Xu Jie continued.

"I understand the teacher's feelings, but this is not up to me after all, the key to whether you can leave Italy or not lies in the attitude of the Italian Admiralty, although legally speaking, the teacher has at least completed the design of the X-class patrol, then the Italian government has no right to interfere with any of the teacher's actions." Tycho said. "But from my original intention, I still tend to prefer the teacher to go to the Qing Empire to participate in negotiations."

"Actually, if I go to the Qing Empire, I will do my best to build bridges for the cooperation between the Beiyang Navy of the Qing Empire and the Italian Navy. After all, among the great powers in Europe, I am most familiar with Italy. Now that Tycho has already expressed his position, Xu Jie's conversation today has also achieved its goal, after all, Tycho is only an executor, and only by convincing Brin can he embark on the road back to China.

"Teacher, our trip to England is coming to an end." Tycho said.

"Well, the introduction of artillery and related technology has gone more smoothly than we expected. The artillery problem in the subsystem of the X-loading patrol has been solved. Now all that remains is the French power system and the German optical instruments. Xu Jie thought for a while and said.

"But now the design of X-level installation and inspection needs to be accelerated, and the pace of our purchased subsystem is a bit slow." Tycho said.

What do you mean? Hearing this, Xu Jie was a little confused. The negotiations are now progressing a week shorter than expected. All design work is also proceeding according to plan. Where do you start when you say it's slow?

"What the minister means is that we will act separately, you and I will go to Germany, and Mr. Vittorio and Miss Julia will go to France. This saves us even more time. Tycho looked at the silent Xu Jie and said.

It turned out that he was afraid that the French would dig into the corners of the wall like the British. Xu Jie finally understood what this so-called "progress" meant by slow progress. In the eyes of the Italians, France, with its powerful navy and overseas colonies, must have had a much stronger desire for new warships than Germany. Therefore, sending Xu Jie to Germany avoided a lot of trouble. After all, although the German Peacock had the intention of building a strong navy, in 1890, the German navy was still quite far from being strong. Even in 1898, when Germany passed the Naval Act, the German fleet was at best a new one, far from being comparable to the world's second-largest navy at the beginning of World War I.

"It's a good idea, I prefer to talk to a serious German rather than a Gallic rooster who is romantic and arrogant." Xu Jie said with a smile.

"In that case, after the agreement is signed, we will set off on the second day, that is, after four days." Tycho said.

"Yes." Xu Jie replied while calculating, 3 days is enough time to meet Xue Fucheng and Gai Lin again, and he should be able to arrange what he has to do.