Ding Ruchang said: "This is a good thing. Our navy has not added ships and cannons for seven or eight years. If it weren't for Lord Wang's help in the naval battle last year, the navy would have almost ruined it. It is urgent to purchase warships."

Liu Buchan handed over a compiled report to Li Hongzhang, explaining: "According to the investigation by the Minister in the UK, the Fuji ship and the Yashima ship purchased by the Japanese Navy were all about 9,000 tons, which imitated the 10,000-ton Baverre-class construction of the British Navy. The shipbuilding cost was about 8 million yen per ship, because the funding was insufficient, it would be good to build it in three years."

After reading the investigation results, Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "The two Japanese ships, both in terms of speed, armor and firepower, have surpassed our existing Dingzhen two ships in terms of speed, armor and firepower. The threat is indeed very great, but fortunately, there is still three years left, and it is still time for us to catch up."

Deng Shichang said: "It's just too expensive! One ship costs 6 or 7 million taels to exchange for Kuping silver, and two ships are as much as 13 or 4 million. The Japanese can only afford it by borrowing money from the UK, but can the court give us so much money?"

Li Hongzhang said: "I guess I can get about 8 million taels this year. Including other consumption, I can have four million taels left. I will pay a short period of time to buy two ships, and I can get a warship within three or four years."

It seems that the court is really generous this time, and can give 8 million taels of silver as funds. In previous years, it was only 4 million taels, but only about one or two million silver was left after being misappropriated. When everyone thought of the part when they tightened their belts, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Lin Tai saw that Wang Chenhao had not spoken, and looked thoughtful, and asked with a smile: "Why didn't Chen Hao speak? Are you still the admiral of our navy? Could it be that you forgot us with the new army?"

Li Hongzhang turned to look at Wang Chenhao and smiled and said, "Chenhao, are you familiar with the development of naval forces in various countries. Tell me what you think?"

Wang Chenhao looked at everyone, took the investigation report in Li Hongzhang and read it, and finally smiled bitterly: "If I say that the two Fuji-class battleships customized by the Japanese Navy have displacements of at least 12,000 tons, do you believe it?"

Everyone looked at each other in an instant. Li Hongzhang quickly figured it out and asked, "What do you mean is our information wrong?"

Wang Chenhao nodded, not commenting.

Liu Buchan looked a little unbelievable and said, "This is the information given to us by the Minister in England. I will never fool us, right?"

Ding Ruchang touched his beard and suddenly said, "I guess the ambassador to the UK doesn't have the courage to go directly to the shipyard to verify. This data is probably obtained directly from the British Ship and Political Department, and it must be moisture."

Wang Chenhao said: "British-Japan is an alliance, and the Baverre-Level class is just a reduced version of the monarchy. The two Baverre and the 100-man Captain built by the British Navy are all sent to the Far East to fight against the two new Russian Admiral Nasimov-class large armored cruisers in Vladivostok. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese Navy had surpassed us, so the Japanese Navy could not be so short-sighted. Their opponents had long targeted the Russian Far East Fleet. The British had money and could use reduced versions of battleships to deal with Russian armored cruisers, but Japan did not have that capital, so he had to consider the longer term. As far as I know, Japan's Fuji-class battleships were improved versions of the monarchy and had strong combat power."

Deng Shichang asked: "Even if Britain and Japan are allies, then the British have no reason to sell the strongest warship to Japan?"

Wang Chenhao smiled and said: "The goal of any warship when designing is the most powerful in the world, but the construction cycle of warships is long. Any new warship will be outdated during the period when it is launched from service. Japan is now in short supply, and the Fuji-class construction cycle is as long as three years. During this period, the British will have more advanced warships launched."

Only after Wang Chenhao explained this could everyone have an enlightenment.

Li Hongzhang nodded, thinking that Wang Chenhao was right, "The Japanese Navy kept the secret of warships in building, which was in line with military rules, confusing us that their Fuji-class only had eight or nine thousand tons, which made us careless. If we also ordered eight or nine thousand tons of warships, we would have put them in a trap. A few years later, we found that others had several thousand tons more than ours. This strength was suddenly pulled apart, which was equivalent to our tens of millions of taels of silver being wasted."

In the late 1880s, Japan's imaginary enemy of the Qing Dynasty, two German-made battleships, Zhenyuan, served in the Beiyang Fleet. These two iron-armored giant ships with a displacement of 7,220 tons were extremely threatening to the Fusang, which was the largest tonnage of the Japanese Navy at that time.

To this end, Japan planned to build battleships that could fight against Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. However, based on budget issues, Japan planned to build 12,400-ton battleships in 1892. However, due to insufficient budget proposals, the proposal was rejected again, and the reduced 9,000-ton battleships were replaced. However, the following year, Emperor Meiji took the initiative to save court expenses, and the order that the salary of civil servants was reduced by 10% was reduced, ensuring the budget required for battleships.

However, the Japanese Navy also used this excuse of insufficient funds to deceive the whole world and concealed the actual construction tonnage. The UK also kept it confidential based on the British-Japanese alliance, which not only deceived the Qing Empire, but also concealed Russia and the United States in the Pacific region.

Japan customized the Fuji from the British Thames Ironworks Institute, and the Yashima shipyard customized the Yashima. Fuji construction fee was 10.38 million yen and Yashima construction fee was 10.5 million yen. Construction started in April and November 1894 respectively, and is expected to be completed in June 1897 and will be served in the Japanese Navy in December.

The Fuji-class is an improved model of the British Royal Monarch-class warship. The front and rear are equipped with 1 40-caliber 305 dual main gun, 10 152 single-load guns, 24 47-speed guns, and 5 450 torpedo launchers, which can be said to be powerful in firepower. The main engine is equipped with two reciprocating engine steam mechanisms, 10 coal-burning boilers, and 13,500 horsepower, and the 2-axis propulsion speed is 18.3 knots.

Once these two battleships are completed, they will become the most powerful warships on the Far East Sea, posing a great threat to the Beiyang Navy.

After listening to Wang Chenhao's analysis, everyone took a breath of air. The soldiers were considering the powerful combat power of the two Fuji-class warships, which was enough to defeat the entire Beiyang Navy. Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang were stuck in funds. The British-Japanese alliance had to be more than 10 million yen. The Qing Empire and the United Kingdom were in a downturn, and the price was at least 10 million taels of silver.

Even if the agreement is completed, the down payment will cost four million taels of silver per ship, and two are eight million taels of silver. This is just a shipbuilding fee, as well as other expenses for maintenance and maintenance, which will require the emptiation of Lao Li’s entire funds.

Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang felt a little tired, so he said, "Zhengqing and Chen Hao, you guys are discussing a specific shipbuilding plan first. I have to go to the Navy Office."

Ding Ruchang and Wang Chenhao accepted the order, and they both knew that Li Hongzhang went to the Navy yamen to ask Yi for money.

Ding Ruchang shook his head and said helplessly: "Two battleships will get 20 million taels of silver. This is really not easy to take for the Qing Dynasty, which has only 80 million taels of silver."

Wang Chenhao said: "The navy is even more a money-intensive machine. Even if the court grits its teeth and buys it, its daily expenses will be astronomical. If it is not maintained properly, the warships bought from tens of millions of silver will soon become scrap iron."
Chapter completed!