My Italian: Chapter 272 Signs of the Sino-Japanese War

As soon as he entered the door, Foreign Minister Bakona said with a strange expression. "Your Majesty, there is something I want to report to you."

"What's the matter, my foreign secretary."

Seeing the foreign secretary with a constipated expression, Carlo was very curious.

"That's your majesty..."

In Bacona's account, he finally knew something. Today, Japanese ambassador Keiichi Tanaka found Bacona, and after a useless courtesy, he expressed Japan's desire to buy two Venetian improvements from Italy.

At present, Italy's Venice Improvement class is very prominent in the world warship market. In addition to Argentina's purchase of four ships, many national navies are also interested in it.

Among them, the Kingdom of Spain is negotiating with Italy on the idea of ​​purchasing an improved Venetian class. The only problem at present is that the Spanish navy is shy, and hopes that Italy will lower the price. In addition, Chile, who was bullied by Argentina with the same outfit, also had the idea of ​​buying it. However, their problem is that the British have a very large influence in the Chilean navy, and there is no small resistance to buying ships from Italy.

However, unlike the conventional purchase of ships, the Japanese ambassador hopes to obtain two warships of this class at the price purchased by Argentina. In addition, he also hopes that Italy can provide 40% of the loan for the purchase of ships, and Japan is willing to give 3.5% of the annual interest. Japan will repay the principal and interest over five years.

The news brought by Bacona made Carlo have to put down what he was doing and set his sights on the Far East.

"What's the current situation in Japan?"

In the face of Carlo's inquiry, Your Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it was obvious that he had done his homework before coming, and Bakona said immediately.

"According to our diplomatic knowledge, the current situation in Japan is not good. Due to Japan's revealed ambitions on the Korean peninsula, the country is preparing for war. At present, in addition to the construction of the soon-to-be-completed Sanjing ship in France, the Japanese Navy is also actively Beg for the purchase of armored cruisers from various countries. As far as I know, Japan is currently making the above request to China and France in addition to the purchase of two improved Venice ships, and the conditions are similar to those of my country.”

After hearing what the foreign secretary said, Carlo reacted. "You mean that the Japanese are testing the attitudes of various countries in many ways?"

In the face of Carlo's inquiry, Minister Bacona replied immediately. "It's quite possible."

"These sly Japanese monkeys."

In fact, Carlo has wronged the Japanese, and Japan has a high sincerity for the purchase of the two improved Venice ships. Due to the influence of Carlo, the giant butterfly, the current Beiyang Navy cruiser formation has greatly increased in strength.

One more thing to say here, because of the flag withdrawal incident last year, Lang Weili took all the British consultants to leave, which did a lot of damage to the Beiyang Navy. Although later Li Zhongtang, in order to avoid the lack of consultants for the navy, cause various trainings to come to a standstill, and also to let the British know how powerful he is, he also appointed the Italian consultant Major General Antonio as the general consultant. (Promoted from colonel to major general for reasons such as promoting exchanges between the navies of Qing and Italy)

However, due to the possibility of being stimulated by Lang Weili, Major General Antonio only obtained the post of Chief Inspector of the Beiyang Navy, but not the rank of Admiral Lang Weili at that time. It was not enough to get the Beiyang Navy, who had begun to lax, to get back on track. For this reason, Antonio complained to his friends in China that Li Zhongtang, in addition to wanting to keep the Beiyang Navy in his hands, has no understanding of naval construction.

Going back to Japan's purchase of ships, if Japan continues to purchase ships such as Myoko, Speed ​​Lang, Yoshino, etc. according to history, there is only one result. The combined fleet of the Japanese Navy will be hoisted by the Beiyang Navy.

The two 7,000-ton Venice-classes were the unsolvable problem. Although the speed of this high-speed cruiser was even one or two knots faster than the Zhiyuan (formerly Venice) and Jingyuan (formerly Brescia), the firepower protection was only fatal.

And if its high-speed cruiser formation can't entangle the two ships, then the other Japanese warships will be besieged by the four major distant points.

So now the Japanese Navy has reached a consensus that it needs to buy warships that can suppress two Venice-class cruisers. If this condition is the requirement, the Japanese have not many choices.

At present, there are only three national warships in the world that can suppress or compete with the Venice-class cruisers. Among them, the French patrol can not satisfy the Japanese because the idea of ​​​​the construction of the patrol is wrong. The only thing that can be praised is the speed, and the firepower and protection have a certain gap compared with the Venetian level. In addition, its price is much higher than that of the Venetian improved level. The only advantage is that it carries six torpedo tubes. However, with the current range of torpedoes, I don't know what the French think about letting the cruiser launch the torpedoes.

As for the British cruiser, there are currently two types, among which the 10,000-ton cruiser, after the Japanese asked once, there is no more. It's not that this cruiser is not good, but it is very good. Whether it is fire protection or speed, it forms a suppressive force on the two Venice-class. But its price is too expensive, the Japanese cannot afford it. As for the other 7,000-ton Black-class cruiser, it can only compete with the Venice-class, and cannot suppress it, nor does it meet the needs of Japan. So the Japanese can choose very limited, Venice improved grade, is its best choice.

However, the current Japanese government's annual financial resources are limited. In addition to the navy, they also need to equip the army, so if they want to obtain two Venice improvement grades, they need to borrow.

That's why the Japanese ambassador, Keiichi Tanaka, asked for a loan from Italy. If Italy says yes, it won't be too much for Japan. This is not just a military aspect, it can even show how much Italian diplomacy attaches to the Far East.

Don't think that the Japanese are unfounded. Here, one data can show everything.

At present, in terms of import and export trade in Qing, according to customs data held by Hurd, the largest trading country in Qing is Italy, accounting for 23.7% of imports and exports, followed by the United Kingdom with 22.9%.

Although the profit rate of trade with the Qing Kingdom is far from that of other powers in order to capture the market, this is the most important market for Italian industry, and it is not one of them. As for export, Italian traders are also the first choice of many Qing Chinese merchants by virtue of the image of the group and the fair and reasonable bids.

One more thing here. At present, the powers of various countries and the Qing Dynasty have learned the practice of Italy and sent equipment maintenance personnel to each major industrial city. Responsible for the equipment of these manufacturers in the region, this is a change brought by Italy. Manufacturers that have not made changes have long been abandoned by Qing buyers.

Although manufacturers in other countries have made changes, the Italian side has made its share bigger and stronger by virtue of its first-mover advantage.

The most obvious sign is that Germany's share of industrial exports to Italy is declining. Although there are only three or four points of contraction, it also shows that Italian factories are gradually taking back the market from Germany, relying on the profits from the Qing Dynasty trade to educate the domestic market. The process may take a long time, but the momentum has reversed.

This also shows the importance of the Qing state to Italy at present. Any attempt to change the Qing state may lead to a violent reaction from Italy.

As a Japanese government composed of outstanding political figures, it is impossible not to see this situation.

Besides, Japan is not France, so how can it bear the consequences of being intervened.

As for what the Japanese thought, Carlo was more or less able to guess part of it. Although Japan's order for these two Venice improvement grades looks very attractive, considering the relationship with Qing and trade, Carlo had to choose to give up in the end.

"Tell the Japanese ambassador that my country can sell warships to them, but only in full."

Carlo's words clearly meant refusal. If Japan can take out the full amount, there will be no such thing as a long time ago.

"Okay, Your Majesty, I will reply to the Japanese Ambassador."

Although Bacona regrets that Italy lost the order for two warships, the importance is still very clear. At present, Italy cannot bear the responsibility of losing the Qing market, and Japan's orders can only be said to be sorry.

"and many more……"

Just when Bacona wanted to leave~www.mtlnovel.com~ Carlo suddenly stopped him again.

"Is there anything else, Your Majesty?"

"Well, you can send a message to our ambassadors in Qing to inform them that Japan has ambitions for the Korean peninsula, and does not rule out the ambition to wage war against Qing for this purpose."

Although Carlo felt that his words were mostly useless, it would be good if Li Zhongtang could pay more attention to it.

"As your majesty."

The reminder telegram from Italy appeared in the yamen of the Zhili Governor in Tianjin more than ten days later. However, Li Zhongtang didn't have time to read the warning from Italy. Because the war between him and Weng Di's division spread everywhere, the Beiyang Marine Division, an important part of the Huai Army, still did not escape its poisonous hands. On the grounds that the size of the navy has been established and the country's financial support is difficult, the Weng Di division requested the government to stop the purchase of foreign ships on the grounds that the navy's purchase of arms from abroad was suspended.

This is not good news for Li Zhongtang's Huai Army.