Taiichi Tanabe is a rare tall man among the Japanese, thin and tall, like a bamboo pole, the tuxedo is particularly dangling on the body, he did not have a unique Japanese mustache, but a European beard, his eyes are bright, he walked to the atrium, put the bowler hat in his hand, and stretched out his right hand towards Wade, for the Japanese to completely use Western etiquette to interact, Wade is very satisfied, which is conducive to the interaction between the two sides, unlike Chinese, there are not many Western etiquette, Most of them still adhere to their own unique strange etiquette. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Mr. Ambassador, I have come to the British Embassy today to inquire about the purchase of a 7,000-ton warship." Taiichi Tanabe arrived in the living room, patiently talked to Wade about the weather in Beijing for a while, and then asked Wade, "How is your country considering?" ”

"Your country can't come up with so much money all at once, right? I have already said this before," Wade said, in fact, the British did not think of buying 7,000 tons of warships to the Japanese, the purpose of saying this is just to warn the Chinese, I did not expect that the Empress Dowager Cixi in the Old Summer Palace reacted so much, regarded this matter as a shame, and made the situation of the negotiations between the two countries become unfavorable, in this regard, the scheme of selling 7,000 tons of ironclad ships to the Japanese did not take effect, of course, they were not ready to continue to do it, if it turned out to be true, it would be even more detrimental to Sino-British relations, In the eyes of the current British government, China is far more important than Japan. "We will not accept more than 10 years of instalments, in this way we would rather sell the ironclad ship to the Chinese, because they have always paid for the goods neatly."

China's purchase of British warships, generally divided into two payments, one is when the contract is signed, the other half of the payment is paid when the warship is delivered, sometimes for diplomatic reasons, will pay the full amount in advance at one time, such as this Edward's visit to China, in order to create a good relationship between the two countries, China paid in advance for the purchase of 2,500 tons of ironclad ships signed last year, all the payments for next year, at the level of buying things, the Chinese are very generous, and very simple, Therefore, no matter how diplomatic relations between the two countries are, it cannot be denied that the Chinese abide by the sales contract.

And the Japanese, now buy warships have to pay in installments, Wade is very disdainful of said, of course, his expression will not reveal this, "7,000 tons of ironclad ships are very expensive, the ambassador showed, I personally think that Japan does not need such a large warship now, and the Chinese do not have one." "Why waste you?

"But the Chinese will have it soon," Tanabe Taiichi said earnestly, "and we in Japan must not be pulled down too much by the Chinese!" ”

"Since the Chinese established the Beiyang Naval Division more than ten years ago, and the Nanyang Naval Division was officially established five years ago, such a powerful naval division, of course, is not comparable to your navy, but it is a very serious problem for the security of Japan, so we must take precautions and be prepared to deal with it first." If you want to buy it, of course, you have to buy the best, and now the British warships are of course the best, and no other country looks down on them.

"Then your country can't afford such a high price, right?" Wade said, "I've already said our conditions. "Two years is generally enough for the construction of a warship, but if the collection takes more than 10 years in installments, this will not be considered in the case of better customers.

"We will definitely pay for our goods like Qingguo!" Taiichi Tanabe's eyes showed a determined glint, "The Japanese cabinet has begun to collect seven thousand tons of donations!" We also ordered our subjects to start donating, and we will definitely pay this money as soon as possible! ”

"Seven thousand tons? What is this? Hearing Li Lianying's message, the Empress Dowager Cixi asked strangely.

"It was a new tax to be levied on Japan by the Cabinet and the Admiralty jointly agreed upon by the Cabinet and the Admiralty to be levied in Japan for the purchase of 7,000-ton ironclad ships from the British."

"Oh?" Empress Dowager Cixi was slightly surprised, "Are these Japanese devils crazy?" Their domestic taxes are already so heavy, and they will continue to collect new taxes? ”

"Yes, the British proposed to sell 7,000-ton ironclad ships to Japan, and they probably made up their minds that Japan could not afford it, and they were just using a pretense to put pressure on us, but now that the Japanese have such an opportunity, they will definitely seize it," Wang Kaiyun said, "but in this way, I am afraid that Japan's economy will be a little difficult to do." ”

"There are also calls for subjects to donate their wages and land to the state," Li Lianying continued, "There are also many young girls who voluntarily go to sell their spring and donate their money to the state." ”

"Selling Spring?" Empress Dowager Cixi laughed meaninglessly, "Hehe, the quality of Japanese people is not comparable to us, but the emperor of Japan is much more cruel than me." ”

"Do you want to stop the Japanese from buying 7,000-ton warships?" Wang Kaiyun asked.

"It's okay, let them buy it, you like me, I don't want to interfere, Japan is willing to toss itself, what else do I have to worry about. Besides, such a large warship does not mean that you can buy it today and get the goods tomorrow, it will take a few years, it is not as good as ours, and it will be paid immediately, thinking about it, it is still a little excited, it is the first 7,000-ton ironclad ship in our Qing Dynasty! ”

"The British are now putting pressure on us with this, and I am afraid that the Japanese will become arrogant in Asia in the future."

"It doesn't matter, arrogance has arrogant capital, with capital, we must also pay attention to it, and if we pay attention to it, we will naturally follow." Empress Dowager Cixi disagreed, "I have more to do with the British, we need to get the French out of Vietnam, then we must satisfy the British, but ......" Before the Empress Dowager finished speaking, the eunuch hurriedly came in and said, "The prince is here, and the servants can't stop it!" West Holy Forgiveness! ”

Empress Dowager Cixi stood up, "It seems that his temperament is much calmer, since he can't stop him, he happily welcomes him in." The Empress Dowager Cixi waved her hand and asked Wang Kaiyun to retreat, leaving only Li Lianying to serve, she walked to the main hall of Qingyan in Kyushu, and saw Edward with a gloomy face walking in, Edward saw Cixi and took a long breath, "Sissi, I need an explanation." ”

"What's the explanation?" Empress Dowager Cixi was very calm in the face of Edward's gloomy expression, and said with a smile, "I believe that we can talk about anything, not just the content of the negotiations between our officials." (To be continued.) )