Liu Hai was very dissatisfied with the price. "Minister Mills, this price is too outrageous. I hope you can come up with a figure that both parties can agree on."
"No, no, no, Mr. Liu, this is a very reasonable price. This warship embodies the latest technology of the British Empire. As long as you drive it back to the Qing Dynasty, it will immediately bring the Qing Dynasty's naval strength to a higher level."
"Mr. Mills, I do not deny the power of this battleship, but its price is beyond my ability to bear. If you insist on selling it at this price, I will have no choice but to go to Germany. Can you
Do you know? The cost of the two Dingyuan-class battleships built in Germany is nearly 300,000 pounds lower than your quotation."
Mills was a little helpless after hearing Liu Hai's words. This is indeed true. The two battleships that had just been built in Germany and returned to Daoqing had a combined price of only more than 700,000 pounds.
But Mills had no choice. Not only did he have to consider the cost of the warship, he also had to ensure the profits of the British Admiralty and shipyards.
In the end, Mills made a concession, "If Mr. Liu is sincere in buying it, I can lower the price to 800,000 pounds, which is our final reserve price."
Liu Hai carefully calculated for himself that the industrial silver he brought this time, according to the current price comparison, can fully afford the cost of this battleship, and the remaining money can buy another armored cruiser.
Mills seemed to know what Liu Hai was thinking, "Mr. Liu, if you buy a Collingwood-class ironclad, then I think you should equip him with a arrogant bodyguard."
Liu Hai didn't understand what the other party meant, "What does the Minister of the Navy mean?"
"We in the UK have just completed building an armored cruiser, the HMS Insolence, which will soon join the Royal Navy. If Mr. Liu needs it, we can give priority to selling this warship to Mr. Liu."
"This battleship has a displacement of 8,500 tons, 96.01×18.9×8.5 meters, 8,000 horsepower, a speed of 16 knots, four 234MM main guns, six 152MM secondary guns, and four 6-pound guns. Even if it fights against ironclads, it can also fight with it.
fight."
After hearing the other party's kindness, Liu Hai was really confused. Could the other party really be the Holy Mother? But since the other party had already put the meat to his mouth, how could he not eat it?
"Then I wonder what the price of this battleship is?"
"For just £570,000 you can drive it away."
When Liu Hai heard this, it was a bit troublesome. He didn't have enough money to pay. If he wanted to make up the money, he would have to go to modern times.
Because adding the previous 800,000 pounds and this time's 570,000 pounds, the total is more than 1.3 million pounds, which is nearly 4 million taels of silver when converted into silver, and Liu Hai's one is equivalent to 3 million taels of silver.
"Mr. Minister, although you are very sincere, my budget is only 3 million taels of silver, and I really cannot afford the price you are offering."
Mills heard that the other party was interested in buying, but he just lacked funds. "If Mr. Liu does not have enough funds, we can definitely provide a loan. As long as we add a little interest, I think HSBC will be very willing to accept the sale."
Liu Hai did not nod immediately after hearing this, but thought about it in his mind. It was not cost-effective to get a loan from the British. Now that he has a large amount of US dollars lying in the bank in modern times, he might as well use this money to pay for the battleship.
.
"I don't need a loan yet. I think if I ask my father-in-law, Governor Zeng of Liangjiang, for help, he will definitely raise the remaining funds for me."
Mills naturally knew that the bangs in front of him had a powerful father-in-law, so he was not too worried about him paying the remaining amount.
"Mr. Liu, if you can pay the cost of this armored cruiser immediately, you can send it back to the Qing Dynasty immediately."
Liu Hai was very satisfied with this suggestion. He now wanted to form his own team in Nanyang Navy.
As for the old warships of the Nanyang Navy, let the old men play with them, and he will not interfere with them.
"Since Mr. Minister has such good intentions, then I accept it. I can pay the cost of the armored cruiser you mentioned immediately. As for the cost of the ironclad ship, I can pay 1/3 first, and then I will pay 1/3 when the battleship is completed.
/3, I will pay the remaining 1/3 after both parties have accepted the delivery.”
"Mr. Liu's approach is completely in line with business rules. I have no objection. If Mr. Liu agrees, we can sign the contract immediately. In the afternoon, I can send someone to take you to the armored cruiser to have a look."
"I have no objection. We can sign the contract now, and then I can pay you 570,000 pounds of silver immediately."
Mills was also very satisfied with Liu Hai's pleasure. The other party agreed to his request before he even read the official contract. It seemed that the man in front of him was also a playboy.
In fact, he didn't know that Liu Hai had collected detailed information about British warships through various materials in modern times.
He has admired the name of the armored cruiser Barbarian for a long time. However, because this battleship was born at the wrong time, it had just been built and its next-generation battleship Orleansdo was already half-built, so Barbarian only built two ships.
, but there is no doubt about its combat capabilities.
Moreover, this battleship once became the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, which shows its power.
In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Hai and others carried silver worth 570,000 pounds and sent it to the British Admiralty.
After the handover between the two parties, Secretary of the Navy Mills immediately ordered someone to take Liu Hai to visit the armored cruiser Insolence that had just completed sea trials.
When Liu Hai boarded this behemoth of more than 8,000 tons, he felt his heart surge. Standing on the high bridge and looking down, he felt that his mind and vision had broadened.
And James, a staff member of the Navy who had been following Liu Hai as Liu Hai's guide, saw Liu Hai's excitement and understood it very well.
Such warships may not be uncommon in the British Navy, but in that remote place in the Far East, it is the Fama that can determine the outcome of a war.
As long as a country has such a warship, it can get the respect it deserves.
James looked at Liu Hai lingering there, so he stepped forward and reminded: "Mr. Liu, we need to complete the handover of this warship as soon as possible, because it cannot always park at the Royal Navy port and occupy a berth."
"No problem, I will send someone to take over the warship in three days."
James thought for a moment and then said: "If Mr. Liu has personnel difficulties, I can help you hire some retired navy personnel so that he can return to the Qing Dynasty smoothly."
"Thank you for your concern, Mr. James. I have arranged personnel. My follow-up personnel will arrive in three days. I hope that with their ability, they can successfully launch this behemoth."
James originally wanted to make some extra money through bangs, but since he saw that he already had a candidate, he shrugged and said nothing more.
Then James took out a thick envelope from the briefcase and delivered it to Liu Hai.
"Mr. Liu, this is the detailed data of this battleship, and there is also some maintenance information. I have sent people to put it on the ship. You can check it on the ship then."
Liu Hai took the information in his hand and opened it to look at the information. They were all about the staffing of various positions required by the Barbarian, as well as the specific data on various parts of the Barbarian.
But Liu Hai found a fact in these materials that he couldn't accept, that is, there was not a single cannon shell on this warship.
"What's going on? There are no cannonballs in such a big warship. If that's the case, I might be robbed by pirates on the way back to the Qing Dynasty."
James felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, "Mr. Liu, artillery shells also need money. The Royal Navy is very difficult to fund. If you need artillery shells, I can contact you."
Bangs is so angry now that he almost feels like having fun. What's going on? I didn't expect John Bull to be so stingy.
But it was impossible without cannonballs. In the end, Liu Hai had no choice but to entrust James to prepare all the cannonballs on the warship. For this matter, Liu Hai paid nearly 20,000 taels of silver alone.
After Liu Hai left the warship and returned to his residence, in order to start the warship, he needed a large number of cyborgs, so he entrusted the waiter of the hotel where he lived to purchase pork on a large scale in the London market.
At this time, there was chaos in the London market. After everyone inquired, they found out that a nobleman from the Far East was buying pork on a large scale in the market.
In one day, this nobleman purchased 500 pigs. People were confused as to what the nobleman was going to do.
But everyone listened to it as fun and didn't take it to heart.
That night, Liu Hai received all the pork into the space ring and let the biochemical modulator start working crazily.
After five days of hard work, 550 naval cyborgs were finally produced, and these were the ones Liu Hai was going to place on the Insolent armored cruiser.
In the past few days, James had come to urge her several times, because the Navy knew that the Insolence had been sold and immediately asked it to vacate the berth where it was located.
After Liu Hai finished making all the biochemical people, he did not release these people immediately. If it was sudden, and there were so many people around him, it would be strange for others not to suspect him.
That day, Liu Hai took Liu Da and the others for a walk on the pier. When he came back, there were already more than 500 burly men following him.
Liu Hai's silver now exceeds the standard a lot, so he has become a bit stingy. In his opinion, if these tough men all live in inns, he will waste a lot of money, so he simply takes them to the Royal Navy without doing anything.
's base.
After James got the news that Liu Hai and his people were coming to take over the warship, he hurriedly came over from the Admiralty in a carriage.
As soon as James arrived at the dock, he saw these burly men beside Liu Hai, and took a look at the navy sailors behind Liu Hai.