My Italian: Chapter 307 Li Zhongtang\'s Thoughts

The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War filled the Far East with gunpowder, and the first one was Nie Shicheng and Ye Zhichao in Asan near Seoul.

This Qing army in southern Korea was attacked on July 25 by the Japanese 9th Mixed Brigade Major General Yoshihoma Dajima and the main force of more than 4,000 men from Seoul invaded Asan. At that time, the Qing army stationed in Asan had increased to more than 3,800 people. Among them, Nie Shicheng, the chief soldier of Taiyuan Town, and Jiang Zikang, the named admiral, led 2,800 troops to station in Chenghuanyi, and Ye Zhichao, the governor of Zhili, led a battalion of 500 people to Gongzhou, and another battalion was stationed in Ya Mountain.

One day after the two armies fought, in view of the Japanese army's great power in South Korea and the reinforcements still in North Korea's Pyongyang area, the two Qing troops had to transfer more than 500 people, while the Japanese lost 88 people.

After the Japanese army expelled the two Qing armies, they stepped up to transport troops from the country. The Fifth Division, the Tenth Mixed Brigade and other units also landed in Korea during this period.

In Japan, divisions are being mobilized to prepare for the next reinforcements to North Korea.

In the face of Japan's illustrious move of sharpening its knives, the Qing Dynasty is also preparing. Li Zhongtang is also making preparations, and continues to recruit Shengjun and Fengjun from China to train troops to fight in the DPRK.

Of course, Li Zhongtang did more than this. It was not at the invitation of Li Zhongtang that the Italian Minister in Qing, Jia Liwen, walked into the busy Tianjin Governor's Palace.

"Minister Jia, this time you are invited to come, mainly because our country needs your country's help."

Li Zhongtang briefly and clearly explained his intention to invite Jia Liwen this time.

"Because of Japan's despicable and shameless sneak attack, our country is not fully prepared now, so I want to buy a batch of weapons and ammunition from your country to equip our soldiers."

As a confidant and right-hand man, Zhou Fu opened his mouth to tell Minister Jia Liwen his intention to invite the other party this time.

That's right, although Italy has reminded him many times, Li Zhongtang didn't take it too seriously, so he didn't realize that the military preparations were still insufficient after the war started.

At this time, Li Zhongtang thought of Italy. Not only did he invite Minister Jia to come to Tianjin to negotiate, but Zhou Fu's speech was much better than his own, at least to save his face.

Minister Jia had guessed before coming, so he was not surprised by Zhou Fu's words.

However, it is not easy for him to agree to Li Zhongtang's request on behalf of Italy, only Jia Liwen said. "Lord Zhou's words make it difficult for me. Your country believes that you also know the principle of diplomatic neutrality. Let my country break neutrality and participate in it. It is not easy for Rome to agree."

Yes, after the outbreak of war between China and Japan, although Italy has not yet declared neutrality, it is impossible for Italy to take the lead in violating the principle of neutrality without paying some price.

Because he knew that since Qianli Zhaozhao invited him this time, a small amount of weapons and ammunition would definitely not be so solemn. Of course it's not easy. This means that the price is too small, and Li Zhongtang, as a man of the Qing Dynasty, still doesn't understand what Jia Liwen means?

Sure enough, as Jia Liwen's voice fell, Zhou Fu spoke directly. "Our country will remember the kindness of Italy, and of course our friends will not suffer losses. This is our country's demand."

After speaking, a list of weapons procurement was handed to Jia Liwen.

Minister Jia took the list and checked it carefully.

15,000 m88 Carcano rifles, 30,000 Vitry M1870 rifles, 48 ​​Maxim heavy machine guns, 68 57mm mountain guns, 32 75mm field guns, 16 85mm field guns, 150mm shore guns There are 6 anti-guns and 2 240mm coastal defense guns. And 15 million rounds of various bullets, 80,000 rounds of various artillery shells, the total value of more than 15 million lire.

These weapon lists are fairly normal, and Jia Liwen thinks that he can agree to all of them. After all, Rome had given instructions before to ensure Italy's interests in the Far East. The interests of Italy in the Far East are basically concentrated in the Qing Kingdom, so the meaning of these words is self-evident.

As for why it is not easy to agree, it is not simple. If it is easy to obtain, then you will not know how to be grateful.

However, Jia Liwen can't care about the materials in the front part of the list, because there are still some content after the list.

"Your country not only wants to buy our warships, but also wants to hire Chinese retired officers and soldiers to operate warships. This matter is too sensitive, and it is difficult for our country to agree to it."

That's right, compared to selling weapons against the principle of neutrality, Jia Liwen felt that Li Zhongtang felt too good about himself and wanted the Italian army to fight for him. That's right, hiring retired officers and soldiers is to hide people's eyes and ears.

It may be that the Sino-French war ten years ago, Italy's actions gave the old man the illusion, Jia Liwen felt that it was necessary to dispel the illusion of Li Zhongtang.

In the face of Jia Liwen's rebuttal, Li Zhongtang was not angry. After all, he had tasted the sweetness before, so he tried one or two things with the mentality of hitting two poles.

"Minister Jia, don't be angry. As far as I know, this kind of thing is not uncommon in Europa, so our request is nothing."

Obviously, Li Zhongtang has done his homework here and knows some situations in Europe.

Hearing Li Zhongtang's words, Minister Jia felt that it was necessary to give this popular science.

"Zhongtang said that it was a situation for hundreds of years. At present, it is basically impossible to see this situation in Europe. In addition, your country was at war with France. At that time, our country would send retired officers and soldiers, which means that the relationship between my country and France is extremely poor."

Obviously Jia Liwen wanted to tell Li Zhongtang that the situation is different now, and it is impossible for Italy to end without enough price. With the purchase order of millions of taels, it is impossible to satisfy Italy.

Li Zhongtang also understood what Minister Jia Liwen meant. At this time, Li Zhongtang's influence still existed, and he was not eager to invite Italy to help the boxing, so he immediately changed the topic.

"It's me, Meng Lang, so let's talk about weapons procurement."

After pressing the idea of ​​inviting Italy to help boxing~www.mtlnovel.com~ the two parties can finally negotiate the procurement of weapons.

And Li Zhongtang also knows that with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, it is not easy to buy weapons at present, so this time there is not much insistence on the price.

For the sake of the interests of the Far East, Italy did not ask for too high a price, so these arms were finally sold at a price of 22 million.

Don't think that Italy is robbery, Li Zhongtang is actually taking advantage.

You must know that due to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the price of arms has risen by half like a rocket.

And at present, you can't buy it with money, let alone such a large batch of arms.

Moreover, Li Zhongtang's requirements are still high, and this batch of arms must be transported to Tianjin within two months. In terms of shipping time, this means that this batch of arms must be drawn from the army warehouse.

It can be said that Italy has already put half of its **** on China's side.

Next, let's see how Li Zhongtang plays. Italy has already given a lot of support.