Tokyo, Japan, Hirobumi Ito's official residence. Ito Hirobumi sent a copy of Shuzo Aoki's telegram to all the people present, and in this room were gathered almost all the leading figures of the Japanese Navy: Shikinori Kayama, who had just become Minister of the Navy, Rear Admiral Kozo Tsuboi (who became commander of Ichiyu at the first time of the First Sino-Japanese War), Yuhiro Ito, who was appointed commander of the standing fleet by the Japanese Admiralty, (officially appointed in 1892), and Saigo Tomichi, who had served as Minister of the Navy and had now been transferred to the reserve. and Saionji Konobo, who has a very good relationship with Hirobumi Ito. The six of them sat around and looked at Aoki Shuzo's telegram with a frown.

"Now Congress has refused to come up with more money to order warships. At this moment, the Beiyang Fleet has added three more 5,000-ton cruisers, and all the old ships will also be replaced, and it is said that the four ships of Dingzhen, Zhiyuan and Jingyuan will also be equipped with new guns, so that the Japanese fleet will have no hope of defeating the Beiyang Naval Division, and the plan to occupy Korea and use Korea as a pedal to occupy the Qing Dynasty cannot be implemented. Shiki Kayama said with a sigh.

"It's still a trivial matter for the Diet to disagree, and more importantly, now Japan can't come up with more money to buy warships, which is the key, Japan's finances are now close to the limit!!" Hirobumi Ito said with a blushing face.

"Yes, after hearing about the Qing Dynasty's move to purchase new ships, we hurriedly ordered a new 4,250-ton dome cruiser (Yoshino ordered it in advance). It cost £300,000. That's basically one-third of the military spending of the Japanese Navy. Xiyuan Temple Gongwang said.

"Even if you count this new ship, there are only 4 new fast dome cruisers in our Japanese Navy, which are not advantageous in tonnage, let alone in firepower and performance. In the event of a war, our original planned tactical attempt to divide the flanks with four new dome cruisers would not be realized. The opponent's 3 new cruisers will be able to block our rapid formation, and the fleet will face 8 strengthened warships in the Beiyang. The consequences would be unimaginable. "Kozo Tsuboi analyzed the difficulties faced by the Japanese fleet from a tactical point of view.

"Then, according to what you said, if our Japanese Empire wants to continue its original plan, it must purchase new warships?" Xiyuan Temple Gongwang asked a seemingly silly question.

"War must be fought, since the navy needs warships, let's discuss how to get the highest combat power at the lowest cost. Money problem, we figure it out. Ito Hirobumi glanced at Saionji Gongwang and said. Just after Ito Hirobumi finished saying this, Saionji Konobo stood up, didn't say a word, pushed open the door and left the venue. Only Ito Hirobumi and a group of Navy executives were left looking at each other.

"Xiyuan Temple despises us so much because of its identity as Jiuqinghua, it's too much." Ito Yohyung, who reacted, said dissatisfiedly.

"The pressure on Xiyuan Sijun is too great, in order to raise an extra yen for our navy and army, he went to argue with those parliamentarians, in order to make Western European countries buy a little more national debt, he maneuvered between the ambassadors of various countries, if we can win the Qing State, Xiyuan Sijun will definitely make a contribution." Saigo reprimanded.

"Okay, let's get back to business, how to exchange the least amount of money for the most combat power, you are professionals, please express your opinions." Hirofumi Ito adjusted his feelings and said.

"Based on the telegram sent by Aoki-kun from England and the opinion of Colonel Ingalls, there are two warships that are very suitable for our army. One is the Edgar-class cruiser recommended by Sir Watts for the Empire, which is a new type of first-class cruiser with a good firepower. The protection is also decent, the key is that the price is relatively cheap. Only £550,000. When he said this, Kozo Tsuboi almost didn't smack his mouth!! 550,000 is also TM cheap. …,

"Uh, go on." Seeing the embarrassment and frustration on the faces of the Navy's top brass after hearing the cost, Ito Hirobumi smiled bitterly.

"However, according to Colonel Ingalls's analysis, the ship's dry string may be relatively low, and some guns may not be usable when sailing at high speeds." Shiki Kayama said.

"There is no better option, we can only buy this boat, there are good boats in the UK, but we can't afford it. This battleship has the maximum power combat power for the lowest amount of money. We have no choice. "Tsuboi has repeatedly stressed that this is the best choice.

"Don't we have a plan for the improvement of the 4250-ton cruiser? The main thing is to increase the firepower, it doesn't matter if the speed is slow, but you must ensure that you can inflict a fatal blow after hitting the opponent. Hirobumi Ito asked.

"This plan was proposed by several of our captains, but Colonel Ingalls objected. Yoshino already has a lot of armament, if the head and tail are replaced with 8-inch 40L guns, and some guns on the side of the ship are replaced with 6 inches, it will have a great impact on the stability of the battleship. And this time, in Aoki-kun's telegram, Sir Watts also had this opinion. Tsuboi said.

"In other words, no matter how you change it, it will be difficult for this 4,250-ton warship to have any potential?" Hirobumi Ito asked.

"That's right, but the navy still wants to buy a warship with 8-inch guns installed at the end of the warship, at least, the 8-inch guns can cause fatal damage to the new warships of the Qing Dynasty." Ito said.

"That means the Imperial Navy is going to add at least two such warships?" Hirobumi Ito said.

"This is just the increase in the number of warships in the fast fleet, and the team must also increase the number of warships, because in the original plan, the fast fleet and the team together against the main force of the Beiyang, and an Edgar-class and an improved version of the 4000-ton cruiser against the opponent's 3 5000-ton cruisers are still at a disadvantage, and the original planned fleet is slightly stronger than the Beiyang Fleet after the replacement of new guns (of course, the Japanese side overestimated the Beiyang). In general, the Imperial Navy was still weak. "Tsuboi Hangsanrao is thick-skinned enough, and he can't bear Ito Hirobumi's murderous gaze.

"Okay, go ahead, say all your requests, I want to see how much appetite the Navy has to eat so much of a budget!!" Hirofumi Ito smiled angrily. He is now very sympathetic to the Saionji Gongwang who was in a negative position just now, this navy's appetite is too great, although it is indeed necessary by the situation, but when you put forward the conditions, you should also consider the economy and finances of Japan, right?

"Contrary to the numbers of Colonel Ingalls and Aoki-kun, the Brute-class battleships in the British Navy are very suitable, and their performance is as follows, with a displacement of 8,500 tons, a length of 96 meters, a width of 18.9 meters, and a draft of 8.15 meters. The main engine has an output of 8,000 horsepower, a maximum speed of 16 knots, and the main armor is steel-faced iron armor, up to 10 inches thick, and the main gun mount is 9 inches. The gun gallery is 2 inches armored, and the conning tower is 9 inches. It was armed with four 9.2-inch guns, 10 6-inch guns, four 6-pounder guns, and six 18-inch torpedo tubes. Tsuboi said.

"I'm against it, it's an old ship, and the 9.2-inch guns and 6-inch guns on it are all back guns, and the rate of fire is extremely slow." Shiki Kayama said loudly.

"This is basically the cheapest of the warships that can compete with Dingzhen." Tsuboi Kozo did not answer Shikiri's protest, but said to Hirobumi Ito.

"Then let's order this ship first, the armament can be replaced, slow down, anyway, the speed of this team will not be too fast, after all, there is an old ship like Fusang in it." Hirobumi Ito said. Actually, Hirobumi Ito didn't have much research on battleships, but the last sentence of Kozo Tsuboi was too attractive, the price was the lowest, well, that's it!!

Some book friends said that the update problem felt too slow, and the author did not write very quickly, because he was not a professional writer after all. But definitely not TJ. Do you think that's okay? Monday to Friday, six days of double change~~ If you like it, support it more. Recently, the collection is very unimpressive~~