Li Hongzhang thought for a while and then asked: "Sir Dou Nale, are there any conditions for purchasing a warship this time?"
Li Hongzhang's idea was that the Geely Kingdom had never been the one to suffer losses. If the conditions given to him were so generous this time, the Qing Kingdom would probably pay a greater price.
Sir Dou Nale's eyes flashed, and finally the smile on his face became even brighter. He could already tell that Li Hongzhang was a little moved.
"Master Li, you have cooperated with Geely for so many years and are our old friends. We will not let our friends suffer. This time, each of these two battleships only costs 6.6 million taels of silver."
After hearing this, Li Hongzhang stood up in surprise. This time Geely's quotation was too high.
When the Qing Dynasty ordered Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, it cost almost 3 million taels. At that time, the Qing government's annual allocation to the Beiyang Navy was 4 million taels (including 2 million taels for the Nanyang Navy).
And now the price of the two battleships of the Geely Kingdom is actually 13.2 million taels. If this money is used to buy ironclad ships like Dingyuan, seven or eight can be purchased.
"Sir, are you kidding me?"
Sir Dou Nale saw the surprise on the other party's face, but he was not anxious at all, "Master Li, this cost is just normal, and there is no increase in price for you. You also know that the current warship technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and it is not the same as it was decades ago.
Compared with the ironclad ships of the 1970s, today’s battleships are already very different.”
Sir Dou Nale paused for a moment, then said: "These two battleships are improved versions of our Geely Kingdom's Royal Sovereignty-class battleships. They are each equipped with a twin-mounted 305mm main gun at the front and rear, and 10 152mm caliber secondary guns.
The armored side waterline is 457 mm, the deck is 63 mm, and the bridge is 356 mm. The power is 10,100 kilowatts, and the top speed of 2-axis propulsion is 18.3 knots. It has a range of 4,000 nautical miles, a crew of 650 people, and a displacement of 12,430 tons. It is a truly 10,000-ton giant ship."
After listening to the other party's introduction, Li Hongzhang pondered in his mind. According to the other party's statement, these two battleships are indeed very powerful. If the Beiyang Navy owns these two giant ships and purchases some cruisers, then the Beiyang Navy will
Will regain strength.
Li Hongzhang was already inclined to purchase these two battleships, but he couldn't just let the other party bid, so he said nonchalantly: "These two battleships are indeed very powerful, but the price has exceeded the Qing Dynasty's ability to bear. I
I feel very sorry.”
After listening to Li Hongzhang's words, Sir Dou Nale did not comment. He already knew that the other party would definitely make a counteroffer.
Sir Dou Nale's purpose this time was not only to promote these two warships, but also to strengthen the strength of the Beiyang Navy so that they would have some power to contain the Nanyang Navy.
So the price this time is not actually 6.6 million taels of silver, but much lower. However, Sir Dou Nale still thinks that the Qing Dynasty is still the same as before, and wants to give them a fortune, but look at Li Hongzhang's behavior
, he will not let himself be slaughtered obediently.
In order to prevent the Geely Kingdom's strategy from aborting, Sir Dou Nale could only lower the price, "Master Li, if the Qing Dynasty has financial difficulties, then our British Empire will look at the friendly exchanges between the two sides for so many years.
Can give you a big discount.”
When Sir Dou Nale said this, his eyes began to flicker again. He was now analyzing what price he should give Li Hongzhang. If the price was too low, he would feel uncomfortable. If the price was too high, he was afraid that Li Hongzhang would not agree to the deal.
.
Finally, Sir Dou Nale made an offer of 5.5 million taels of silver.
When Li Hongzhang heard the price, he was satisfied. In fact, he was not sitting in Tianjin Weiqian during this period. He also inquired about the current price of warships.
Due to the rapid advancement of technology, the difficulty of building ships has also increased rapidly, so the asking prices of warships in various countries have also increased a lot.
Even the quotation given by Li Hongzhang's old friend, the Will Country, was close to this price, and the ship model offered by the Will Country was inferior to the Geely model. Not only was it inferior to the opponent in terms of firepower and armor, but it also
Even the speed is two knots behind.
"If the price is this, I think our business can continue to be negotiated."
After hearing what Li Hongzhang said, Sir Dou Nale also smiled on his face.
Next, the two parties had an in-depth conversation about the delivery of the warship and the specific price.
It was finally agreed that the two battleships would be delivered to the Qing Empire in June 1897. The cost was still 5.5 million taels of silver per ship. The Qing Dynasty only needed to deliver half of the silver in advance, and the remaining half would be completed after the battleships were delivered.
Just pay after that.
A few days later, Li Hongzhang reported the specific contents of this transaction to Emperor Guangxu.
After receiving Li Hongzhang's memorial, Emperor Guangxu immediately summoned several ministers back to the Military Aircraft Department for discussion.
These people are very dissatisfied with the price of buying warships this time. After all, they used to buy high-quality and low-priced warships from China, but now they buy Geely domestic products. Although the quality of the warships has improved, the price is too high.
high.
However, Prince Gong Yixin, who was the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, strongly supported Li Hongzhang, so he overcame all opinions and appealed to Emperor Guangxu, requesting Emperor Guangxu to immediately agree to Li Hongzhang and then send personnel to the auspicious country.
Emperor Guangxu wanted to strengthen the navy and resist the pressure from the sea, so he was very supportive of the purchase of warships, and naturally he agreed in court.
But they agreed but it was not possible because there was an old Buddha living in the Summer Palace.
So after the emperor and the military aircraft office reached an agreement, Emperor Guangxu and Prince Gong Yixin went to the Summer Palace together to report back to Cixi.
During this period, the Empress Dowager Lafayette lived a very lively life. Most of the affairs in the court were handled by Emperor Guangxu, but her people always informed Lafayette of every move in the court. This made the Empress Dowager Cixi also unable to
Lost control of the court.
Therefore, during this period, the Empress Dowager Cixi had time to enjoy herself to her heart's content.
On this day, the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Tongchun Troupe, a famous opera troupe in the capital, to the Summer Palace and began to sing a private performance for her.
The leader of this Tongchun Class is Tan Xinpei, a famous Peking Opera actor. Therefore, it can be said that the current Tongchun Class is second to none in Beijing.
Just like this, the Queen Mother and Lafayette were eating melon and fruit snacks, watching Shiro visiting his mother played by the same spring class, and listening to the constant compliments from the eunuchs around him. His life was really free.
At this time, Cui Yugui, the personal eunuch of Empress Dowager Cixi, came to her side carefully and said, "Lafayette, the emperor and Prince Gong would like to see you."
The Empress Dowager Cixi was listening with great interest, but now she felt a little bored when she heard that the Emperor and Prince Gong Yixin had arrived, because she knew that these two people must have some important court affairs to report to her.
Empress Dowager Cixi sighed and said to the eunuchs and maids beside her: "The Ai family just wants to spend their old age in peace, but as you see these things happening one after another, you can't let the Ai family be quiet for a while."
After Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, she ordered the theater to be withdrawn, and then Emperor Guangxu and Prince Gong Yixin came to see him.
The monarch and his minister entered the main hall, each bowed to the Empress Dowager Cixi according to the rules, and then explained to the Empress Dowager Cixi what they had discussed today.
The Empress Dowager Cixi sat on the throne, nodded after listening, and then said: "The rectification of armaments is the most important thing at the moment. Now that the Geely Kingdom has said that it has two warships that can be delivered soon, then we can only choose him.
Otherwise, if we let other countries build warships, we won’t even know how long it will take before we finally get them.”
After hearing this, Emperor Guangxu was also pleasantly surprised. Since the Empress Dowager Cixi agreed, the matter should be resolved soon. But the main problem now is where to get the money?
"Dad, the British are asking too high a price now. We have to pay 5.5 million taels of silver before we can send people to the Gili Kingdom, but the court can't come up with this money right now."
After hearing this, the Empress Dowager Cixi closed her eyes and thought for a moment, and then said: "Last year, it seemed that some money was collected to pay compensation to the Japanese, but then they were defeated by Liu Hai, so the matter was dropped.
Now that the money is with the Ai family, we will allocate 5.5 million taels of silver from the Ai family first, but by next year, you will have to figure out how to handle the remaining money yourself."
Emperor Guangxu and Prince Gong Yixin were naturally very happy when they heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi could provide money. You must know that the Empress Dowager Cixi is a famous iron rooster, and it is not easy to get money from her.
In fact, the Empress Dowager Cixi paid this money because she saw that Liu Hai was becoming more and more domineering. If this continues, sooner or later the two sides will have a battle. If they don't add some strength to the court now, once Liu Hai wins, she will not be able to enjoy peace.
, so he gritted his teeth and paid out the money.
Now that the money matter was settled, everything else was easy to handle. A few days later, the imperial court allocated 5.5 million taels of silver to the Governor of Zhili, Li Hongzhang.
After Li Hongzhang got the money, he just passed it by and quickly sent it to the Geely Kingdom.
The Geely Kingdom obtained the silver and did not break their promise. They immediately asked Li Hongzhang to send sailors to the Geely State to follow the sea trials and final construction of the warship.
Li Hongzhang was cruel this time and gathered together nearly 1,500 students from the Beiyang Naval Academy and former Beiyang Navy personnel, and sent them to the Gili Kingdom.
After these people arrived in the Gili Kingdom, they were immediately entertained by the other party. A few days later, they were allowed to go to the shipyard to visit two Royal Sovereignty-class battleships that were about to be built.
After these students saw these two giant ships again, they were all amazed.
But these people didn't know that just a few days ago, this battleship was still monitored by another country.
It was precisely because of the incident between these two battleships that a shocking battle broke out.