The sun rises eastward, and the rays of light are rays of light. The ancient city of Beijing is bathed in the glow of the morning light, calm and peaceful.

A blue sedan chair was carried by the shoulders of four sedan chairmen, and was familiar with the streets and alleys of the capital. Finally, it was settled in front of a building that was obviously different from the surrounding style. The sedan chair leaned forward and the curtain was lifted sideways, and a Miqing official in formal wear walked out of the sedan chair. He was probably only in his early thirties, but he had already put on an eight-python five-clawed python robe. At this age, he could reach the sixth rank, and there were not many in the entire Miqing officialdom.

At the foot of the emperor, the people in the capital had met many high-ranking officials. Now, seeing a young sixth-rank essay walking out of the sedan chair next to him, they were surprised and went to do their own things. The young officials were obviously used to the reactions of the people around him. He sorted out the slightly wrinkled cloud shoulders and walked straight into the building with different styles.

This middle-aged official is naturally Yang Shixiang, known as the Beiyang think tank.

After returning to his house yesterday, the housekeeper suddenly handed him an invitation letter, which was sent by German ambassador Schneider, who invited him to go to his residence the next day to reminisce about his old love. After some analysis, he had already vaguely guessed Schneider's intention; anyway, he had to discuss the purchase of ships with the German government behind him, so it would be better to go with this excuse and save the voluminous visits.

When he stepped into the gate and walked into the main hall, an old man in a suit was sitting on the main seat, looking over with a smile. He had gray hair and blue eyes, his nose was tall, and his beard like a goat under his jaw brought a bit of peace to his whole body.

"Mr. Schneider, we're meeting again." Yang Shixiang bowed to the old man and said with a faint smile.

Old man Schneider made a gesture of invitation to Yang Shixiang and said, "To be honest, please ask me today to discuss the issue of our battleship "Brandenburg" anchored in Weihaiwei in your country. The Chinese government means that you hope that your country can buy this excellent battleship and win this war to further enhance the friendship between our two countries."

Although Yang Shixiang had vaguely guessed Schneider's intention to invite him, and what he wanted to do was this, Schneider's negotiating style of going straight to the topic of interests still made him feel quite uncomfortable. However, Yang Shixiang, known as the Beiyang think tank, is not an ordinary person after all, and has adjusted his status after a moment. Since Li Hongzhang asked him to cut down the price as much as possible, as a shrewd businessman, Yang Shixiang understood the principle of playing hard to get: the more he did not need this product, the lower the final transaction price of this product will be! He pretended to be surprised and embarrassed, and said a little embarrassed: "Mr. Schneider, I'm sorry that the Chinese government has no intention of purchasing this battleship of your country." After speaking, he looked at Schneider with a embarrassed face, picked up the teacup on the table and drank it gently.

Old man Schneider looked suspiciously at the middle-aged man in front of him and said, "How is that possible? Li Zhongtang decided to buy my German Empire battleship yesterday. How could he regret it? Don't he want the 2 million taels of silver from Weng Zhongtang?"

"Cough... Cough cough..." Hearing Schneider pull out the trump card in his hand, even though Yang Shixiang was in a deep state, he couldn't help but choke the tea into the trachea. The other party had already said this to this point, and even if he pretended to be stupid, it would lose its meaning. He laughed dryly and said, "I just made a small joke with Mr. Schneider, please don't mind. Our Qing Dynasty did have the intention to buy this large iron-armored ship. I wonder what the price is for your country?"

Schneider said seriously: "Dear Yang, this joke is not funny at all. I think we should not make such jokes. As for the price..." He pretended to be silent for a moment, and said a number that had been planned in his heart: "For the sake of the traditional friendship between the German Empire and the Qing Dynasty, the Battleship Brandenburg is yours."

"10 million taels!" Although Yang Shixiang was prepared in his heart, he was still shocked by Schneider's offer. You know, the total annual fiscal revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty was only 70 million taels, and Empress Dowager Cixi spent less money to build her Sanhai project than this. He shook his head and said, "This price is really beyond the limit we have to bear. Even if the purchasing power of silver depreciates again this year, it will not be so low! I guess that the cost price of this ship is only 3 million taels of silver. Your country actually bids 10 million taels. Isn't it too dark?"

"No, no, Mr. Yang, your words are very wrong!" Schneider stretched out a finger and shook them in front of him, defending him in his Beijing dialect with a strong German flavor, "First of all, Brandenburg uses a large amount of advanced technical equipment, and the cost is converted into your country's silver, which is far more than 3 million taels. Secondly, Brandenburg sailed from the German Empire to the Far East, consuming a lot of high-quality coal in the middle, plus personnel expenses, which is another high cost.

At present, your country is in a state of war with Japan. Germany has been selling the ship to you, which is under tremendous international pressure and war risks! In the end, it took the German sailors seven months to achieve a perfect fit with this warship and be able to exert their best combat effectiveness. In this situation, if your country does not employ all German sailors on the Brandenburg, can they still send their own people to take over the ship and then spend another 7 months to train?"

After saying so much in one breath, Schneider felt a little dry. He picked up the herbal tea on the table and drank it hard. The discomfort felt relieved. He added: "So, 10 million taels of silver is not expensive at all!"

Although he knew that what the old man said was true, Yang Shixiang's resistance in his heart did not weaken at all, not for anything else, just for the outrageous astronomical price for Beiyang. He spread his hands and said, "Mr. Schneider, you don't know the situation in Beiyang over the years. Now that the war has begun, food and grass are money for money, ammunition is money, and military pay is money, there is no place to be money! Beiyang is now poor, only a pair of shorts left, where can I raise such a huge sum of money?"

Schneider frowned and said, "Then according to Mr. Yang's opinion, what should the price given by our country be at? "

Yang Shixiang coughed and said with some confidence: "My country believes that 3 million taels are the highest price. If it is higher, with the financial resources of our country, it will not be able to bear it."

Schneider stared at him, his blue eyes flashing brightly. Yang Shixiang was a little weak when he wanted to kill, and he couldn't help swallowing a saliva; but he had been struggling in the officialdom for nearly 10 years and had dealt with all kinds of people, and his face had long been thicker than the city wall. He waved his hand without blushing and his heart was not beating: "Dear Mr. Schneider, don't look at me like this. We are now doing transactions. What we say is the price and what we give is the money. Let's talk slowly."

"9.5 million taels, no more low." Schneider gritted his teeth.

"3.2 million taels, once this war begins, the Beiyang Army is also a giant gold-eating beast!" Yang Shixiang insisted on Qingshan and refused to relax.

"3.2 million taels are definitely not allowed! This price can't even be repaid when the ship was built, let alone anything else!" Schneider slapped the table excitedly, his tone full of displeasure and resentment, "Mr. Yang, do you treat the friendly country that brings warm charcoal fires in the cold winter? At this time, even if you spend 3.2 million taels to buy a 5,000-ton cruiser, not necessarily any country is willing to sell it to you. They actually want to buy a battleship of more than 10,000 tons with such a little money? Don't forget that there are more than 700 German navy soldiers who will fight side by side with you! 9.5 million taels is the price."

"3.3 million taels." Yang Shixiang closed his eyes in pain.

"9.4 million taels." Schneider stared at him with a beard.

After an hour of bargaining, Yang Shixiang relaxed his words to 3.5 million taels, but no matter how much Schneider lobbled and persuaded him, Yang Shixiang refused to increase the price by a further point. Looking at the huge funding gap of up to 3.5 million taels in the middle, Schneider estimated that it was indeed unrealistic to let the Miqing official in front of him take out more than 7 million taels of cash at once. He rubbed his head in pain and had to lower the standard according to Berlin's intention: "Okay, Mr. Yang, you won. You only have to pay 4 million taels to take it away with the ship and the people."

"Huh?" Yang Shixiang's heart was shocked. The iron rooster just now had 100,000 yuan. Why did he suddenly compromise with himself this time? You know, according to the current ratio of silver to marks 1 to 3.3, 4 million taels is not enough for the cost of this ship! Although he was puzzled, he was unambiguous: "Mr. Ambassador, 3.5 million taels are the bottom line of our country. If there is more, I really can't afford it."

Schneider glared at him and said angrily: "However, your government must sign a trade agreement with us, which will help our goods sell in your country and lift the restrictions on German merchants' investment in China. This is the condition that our government has made extra grace after considering your country's financial situation!"

"As expected, this old thing would not be able to sell himself so much for no reason. It turned out that he turned his attention to commodities and investment early on!" Yang Shixiang secretly cursed the Germans' behavior of taking advantage of the situation, and his mind was already calculating quickly. To be fair, based on the current exchange ratio of silver to marks 1 to 3.3, the cost of 4 million taels could not be recovered even by the large iron-armored ship. If he were a German, he would not have done such a loss-making transaction. However, the price of 4 million taels is almost the bottom line that Beiyang can bear. If it were more, it would affect the supply of silver to the front-line army; and although signing a trade agreement can solve the urgent problem, the consequences are long-term!

However, compared with the urgent crisis at present, how can we still have time to deal with the floods in the future?

Schneider looked at the clock next to the living room and sat calmly in his seat. He picked up the tea cup on the table, swept the tea leaves floating on the water with the lid, and took a sip. He turned his head and saw that the Miqing official in front of him was still frowning and did not say a word. He coughed, breaking the silence that had lasted for a long time: "What about Mr. Yang, what do you think of this proposal?"

Yang Shixiang said slowly: "What the Ambassador said is very good. We can continue to negotiate slowly how much the tariff is reduced. However, 4 million taels for us still exceed the affordable bottom line. Now we only have 3.5 million taels of silver that can be used to purchase ships. If we have more money, we really have nowhere to find it."

Looking at the old man Schneider's gradually gloomy face, Yang Shixiang hurriedly said, "We are still making a lot of progress today. The difference has narrowed from 7 million taels to 500,000 taels, right? Let's talk about this first. I need to go back and report the results of the negotiation to the Zhongtang and let him decide."

Schneider snorted and said, "Mr. Yang told Li Zhongtang that this is the bottom line requirement of our country. If you lose a point, you will never sell it! Now your country's Beiyang Navy is no longer the same as Japan's maritime power. I don't need to say this, as an outsider! Without the Brandenburg, what will your country's navy use to compete with the Japanese Navy?"

Yang Shixiang stood up, bowed to Schneider, and said, "What the ambassador said is very true. I am very grateful to your country for helping us in time. Please be careful not to be impatient. I will definitely be able to come up with a reply that will satisfy your country."

Schneider slightly turned his head, then closed his eyes, and ignored him; Yang Shixiang originally wanted to say a few false and polite words, but seeing that the other party was like this, there was no need to say much, and he clasped his fists and said, "Go away."

———————————————————————————

Li Hongzhang's life has been full of twists and turns recently and is thrilling.

As early as the second day after Emperor Guangxu officially declared war on Japan, on August 2, because Ding Ruchang led the main force of the Beiyang Fleet to patrol without achieving results, the Qingliu Party in the court seized this handle and attacked Ding Ruchang, saying that the supreme commander of the navy, who was born in the army, "the leader was not in a position to wait and see, and to play with the enemy," and asked the court to immediately dismiss Ding Ruchang's naval admiral. What's more, they actually called Li Hongzhang "old and stupid, with a merciless temperament" and should step down immediately and let those with virtue take power.

Li Hongzhang himself has a high prestige and is an indispensable foreign negotiation figure for the senior officials of the imperial court. The most important thing is that he is deeply trusted by the old witch Cixi, and the Qingliu people can almost ignore the attacks on him. However, Ding Ruchang did not meet these conditions, so he became the first target for these officials who had been more than 100 years ago to weaken the power of the Huai Group in the name of anti-Japanese war. A war that was originally a fight against foreign aggression was mixed up by these people and became an excellent stage for his own consumption of internal struggle.

Against this backdrop, Li Hongzhang had to put the matter of buying a ship aside and concentrate on dealing with various attacks and questions in the court. A few days later, on August 10, the Japanese joint fleet attacked the Beiyang Navy stationed in Weihaiwei. Due to strict guards and fear of major losses, the Japanese fleet retreated at the Weihaiwei. Although neither side suffered any losses, the Qing court was shocked and ordered the navy to return to the gateway to guard the capital. At this time, Li Hongzhang finally had the opportunity to put the importance of the navy on the surface and urged the Ministry of Revenue to pay quickly to buy the German 10,000-ton iron-armored ship anchored in Weihaiwei: "If there is no such ship, the navy will decline and the capital will not be stable. Even if the Ministry of Revenue stockpiles tens of millions of silver, what's the use?"

The Japanese Navy patrolled the gate of Weihai Eimen, which really scared the ancestors of the bricks who only talked about boasting and moral articles all day long. Although they were extremely dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang's monopoly of power, they had a lot of experience in their own safety, so that they could easily reconcile with Li Hongzhang's mental and cultural rupture. With these timid and cowardly people, they became the turtle's move at the critical moment. Weng Tonghe gritted his teeth and could only open the bank deposit of the account department with the trend.

On August 14, the Qing court and Germany formally signed a transaction agreement. The Qing court bought the German battleship "Brandenburg" for 4 million taels of silver and hired all crew members on the "Brandenburg" at an international market price. As compensation for the purchase of ships at a low price, the Qing court signed a trade treaty conducive to the dumping of German goods and formulated a series of measures to encourage German merchants to invest in China. As soon as the news came out, the whole world was shocked.

Although the British government did not issue any condemnational statement about Germany's act of taking the jackpot, it was a little unhappy. Before this, with the rapid rise of the German Empire, German goods had shaken the British Empire's transcendent position in world trade, causing Britain to suffer losses; and now, these Hans actually extended the tentacles of commodities to the Qing region in the Far East! Fortunately, the Qing Dynasty's customs agencies were still in the hands of the British Empire, and they formed their own ones, and the Qing court could not intervene. If the entry tariffs for German goods were reduced, it would be a disaster for British goods!

What was most excited was the entire Beiyang Fleet soldiers from Ding Ruchang. When Li Hongzhang's order was sent to the Beiyang Navy, almost all the captains did not believe that the imperial court had invested huge sums of money in the navy and that the German iron-armored ship had changed their flags. It was not until the mast of the Brandenburg battleship raised the red and yellow dragon flag and Colonel Claude, dressed in blue, came to report to the Liugongdao Naval Office, that he felt sure that the elite ship that they had longed for had been placed in the Beiyang Navy sequence!

Since the founding of the Beiyang Navy in 1887, flowers have bloomed and fell for seven seasons. Apart from the self-built "Pingyuan" ship, the Dragon Flag Fleet has not added a new warship. It is undeniable that the halo of this Far East No. 1 Navy, which once won countless crowns, has gradually faded with the passage of time. Facing the Japanese Navy that has long used the Dragon Flag Fleet as the imaginary enemy on the opposite side of the sea, who has long expanded its strength in recent years, has no confidence in the hearts of the senior generals who have learned a lot of knowledge about the Beiyang Navy. This time, this ship's displacement is much greater than that, and the entry of the new ironclad ship in the town has given all the personnel of the entire navy a shot of a heart attack; If the Beiyang Navy encounters the main force of the Japanese Navy, it can fight head-on, and there is no need to be afraid! (In the Beiyang Navy, ordinary sailors were eager to compete with Japan, while senior officers were indeed afraid to fight with the Japanese Navy. Based on this, some people suggested that the lower-level officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Navy were brave, while the upper-level officers were all timid and cowardly. In fact, this is incorrect. It is precisely because the officers had received a lot of information and deeply understood the huge gap between the Beiyang Navy and the Japanese fleet and the consequences of collision with the main force that they tried their best to avoid the war; while ordinary sailors knew very little about this, they were just a blood of a newborn calf not afraid of a tiger.)

After learning that Germany had sold the ship to the Qing court, Japan unexpectedly did not respond at all, but remained silent. However, if it was thought about it carefully, Japan's silent behavior was not difficult to understand. Without muscles as a backing, any fierce diplomatic protest was as soft and powerless as a dream. Although the German navy was not as good as traditional naval powers such as Britain, France and Russia, it was definitely not something that Japan could compare with. Not to mention, even if the "Brandenberg" that had been sold to the Qing court, the German navy still had 3 same 10,000-ton battleships and 13 ironclad ships of various types. Even if only one squadron was sent to the Far East, it would be enough to destroy the current Japanese navy several times. In order to prepare for this war of aggression, Japan bet on the fate of the entire country. At this critical moment, how could it dare to provoke the German Empire that defeated Austria and France?

Furthermore, in the eyes of the Japanese, although Brandenburg was powerful, it was not invincible. As early as 1888, Japan used the Dingzhen two ships as an imaginary enemy and ordered three "Songdao" class dome armor cruisers in France with a design displacement of 4278; in order to penetrate the Dingyuan class iron armor with a thickness of 14 inches (356 mm), French designer Bai Luoyi specially equipped a Ghana gun with a diameter of 320mm on this class of warships. The various data of this gun exceeded the 305mm Krupp guns equipped by the Dingyuan class iron armor. These three 38-diameter 320mm giant cannons produced by France can not only penetrate the Dingyuan class 14-inch waterline armor, but also easily smash the Brandenburg 15.8-inch (400 mm) turtle shell.

However, what the Japanese did not expect was that although the 320mm Ghana gun was extremely powerful, it still seemed too big compared to a 4,200-ton ship. The "Songdao" class protective cruiser was extremely poor. It would cause the hull to tilt when the main gun rotated. If it encountered harsh sea conditions, the main gun could not rotate at all, otherwise it would be very likely to cause the warship to overturn and sink. At the same time, in order to reduce the center of gravity, the position of the main gun must be moved downward, which led to a degradation of airworthiness performance and causing serious upward waves. So much so that in the Dadonggou naval battle in history, the 320mm cannon, which originally planned to fire one round in 10 minutes, took an hour to fire one round, and there was no accurate head. The original intention of its design was completely failed; the 120mm caliber Armstrong rapid-fire gun that was equipped on the side of the naval battle was the 120mm caliber Armstrong rapid-fire gun equipped on the side.
Chapter completed!