My Italy

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

"What's the matter, my Foreign Secretary?"

Seeing the constipated foreign minister, Carlo was very curious.

"Your Majesty is like this..."

In Bacona's narration, he finally knew something. Today, Japanese Ambassador Tanaka Keiichi found Bacona. After a pass of useless politeness, he expressed Japan's idea of ​​​​purchasing two Venice improved ships from Italy.

At present, Italy's Venice improved class is very conspicuous in the world warship market. In addition to Argentina purchasing four ships, many navies are also interested in it.

Among them, the Kingdom of Spain is negotiating with Italy about the idea of ​​purchasing a Venetian improved class. The only problem at present is that the Spanish Navy is cash-strapped and hopes that Italy will lower the price. In addition, Chile, which was bullied by Argentina in the same style, also has the idea of ​​​​purchasing. However, their problem is that the British influence is very strong in the Chilean Navy, and there is considerable resistance to purchasing ships from Italy.

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

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

"What is the current situation in Japan?"

Facing Carlo's inquiry, Your Excellency, the Foreign Secretary, had obviously done his homework before coming, and Bacona immediately spoke.

"According to our diplomatic understanding, the current situation in Japan is not good. Due to Japan's revealed ambitions on the Korean Peninsula, the country is preparing for war. In addition to the Japanese Navy currently building the Sankei ship that is about to be completed in France, Japan is also actively Looking to purchase armored cruisers from various countries. As far as I know, in addition to asking my country to purchase two Venice-class ships, Japan is also making the above request to Britain and France, and the conditions are similar to those of our country.”

After hearing what the Foreign Secretary said, Carlo reacted. "Are you saying that the Japanese are testing the attitudes of other countries in many ways?"

Faced with Carlo's inquiry, Minister Bacona immediately replied. "It's very possible."

"These cunning Japanese monkeys."

In fact, Carlo had wronged the Japanese. Japan was very sincere in purchasing the two Venice improved ships. Due to the influence of Carlo's giant butterfly, the current strength of the Beiyang Navy's cruiser formation has greatly increased.

One more thing to say here is that due to the flag withdrawal incident last year, Lang Weili left with all the British advisers, which caused great harm to the Beiyang Navy. Although Li Zhongtang later appointed Italian consultant Rear Admiral Antonio as chief adviser in order to prevent the Navy from stalling all training due to lack of consultants and to let the British know how powerful he was. (Promoted from colonel to rear admiral for reasons such as promoting naval exchanges between Qing and Italy)

However, probably because of Lang Weili's stimulation, Major General Antonio only received the position of Chief Inspector of the Beiyang Navy, but did not receive the rank of admiral that Lang Weili had at the time. This also led to Major General Antonio's lack of prestige in the Beiyang Navy, and also It was not enough to get the Beiyang Navy, which had begun to relax, back on track. For this reason, Antonio complained to his friends in China that Li Zhongtang, in addition to wanting to control the Beiyang Navy, did not have enough knowledge about naval construction.

Returning to Japan's purchase of ships, if Japan continues to purchase Myoko, Hayonami, Yoshino and other ships according to history, there will only be one result. The Japanese Navy's combined fleet will be hoisted and beaten by the Beiyang Navy.

The two 7,000-ton Venice-class ships are a problem that it cannot solve. Although this high-speed cruiser is even one or two knots faster than the Zhiyuan (formerly Venetian) and Jingyuan (formerly Brescia), its firepower and protection can only be beaten.

And if its high-speed cruiser formation cannot entangle the two ships, then other Japanese warships will be surrounded by the four distant points.

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

Currently, there are only three warships in the world that can suppress or compete with the Venetian-class armored patrols: Britain, France, and Italy. Among them, France's installation patrol did not satisfy the Japanese because the construction concept of the installation patrol was wrong. The only praiseworthy thing is the speed, but the firepower and protection are far behind those of the Venice class. In addition, its price is much higher than that of the Venice improved class. The only advantage is that it carries six torpedo launch tubes. However, with the current range of torpedoes, I don’t know what the French think about letting the patrol patrol launch torpedoes close to them.

As for the British mounted patrols, there are currently two types, including the 10,000-ton mounted patrol. After the Japanese asked about it once, there was no further information. This is not to say that this patrol equipment is not good, but it is very good. Whether it is fire protection or speed, it exerts a suppressive force on the two Venice-class ships. But its price is too expensive and Japanese people cannot afford it. As for the other 7,000-ton Blake-class cruiser, it can only compete with the Venetian-class, but it cannot suppress it, and it does not meet Japan's needs. Therefore, the Japanese have very limited choices, and the Venice Improved Class is their best choice.

However, the current financial resources of the Japanese government are limited each year. In addition to the navy, they also need to equip the army, so if they want to obtain two Venice improved ships, they need to borrow money.

That's why Japanese Ambassador Tanaka Keiichi asked for a loan from Italy. If Italy agrees, it will not benefit Japan too much. This is not just a military aspect, it can even show the importance that Italy attaches to the Far East in diplomacy.

Don't think that the Japanese are worrying in vain. Here is a data that can explain everything.

In terms of the current import and export trade of the Qing Dynasty, according to customs data obtained by Hurd, the largest trading country of the Qing Dynasty is Italy, which accounts for 23.7% of the import and export share, followed by the United Kingdom with a share of 22.9%.

Although the profit rate of trade with the Qing Dynasty was far less than that of other great powers due to the purpose of capturing the market, for Italian industry, this was the most important market, no one. As for exports, Italian traders are also the first choice of many Chinese merchants due to their reputation as group agents and fair and reasonable bids.

One more thing to say here is that in the current trade between various countries and the Qing Dynasty, all the major powers have learned from Italy's approach and sent equipment maintenance personnel to every major industrial city. Their approach is exactly the same as Italy's. Many manufacturers hire one maintenance person. Being responsible for the equipment of these manufacturers in the region can be considered a change brought by Italy. Manufacturers that did not make changes had long been abandoned by Qing buyers.

Although manufacturers from other countries have made changes, Italy has still grown its share larger and stronger by virtue of its first-mover advantage.

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

This also shows the current importance of the Qing Dynasty to Italy. Any attempt to change the Qing Dynasty may lead to a fierce reaction from Italy.

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

Besides, Japan is not France, so it cannot bear the consequences of intervention.

As for what the Japanese were thinking, Carlo could more or less guess part of it. Although Japan's order for the two Venice-improved ships looked very attractive, considering the relationship with the Qing Dynasty and trade, Carlo had to give up in the end.

"Tell the Japanese ambassador that our country can sell warships to it, but it must be paid in full."

Carlo's words obviously meant rejection. If Japan could pay the full amount, there would be nothing to worry about.

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

Although Bacona regrets that Italy has lost its order for two warships, the priorities are still clear. At present, Italy cannot afford to lose the Qing market, and Japan's orders can only be said to be sorry.

"etc……"

Just when Bacona was about to leave, Carlo suddenly stopped him again.

"Your Majesty, is there anything else?"

"Let's do this. Send a message to our ambassador in the Qing Dynasty and inform them that Japan has ambitions on the Korean Peninsula. It does not rule out the ambition to launch a war against the Qing Dynasty for this reason."

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

"As you command, Your Majesty."

The Italian reminder telegram appeared in the Zhili Governor's Yamen in Tianjin more than ten days later. However, Li Zhongtang didn't even have time to read Italy's warning.

Because the war between him and Weng Di's division spread everywhere, the Beiyang Navy, as an important part of the Huai Army, still did not escape his poisonous hands. The Ong Emperor asked the government to stop the navy's purchase of foreign ships on the grounds that the navy's scale has grown and the country's expenditures are difficult.

This is not good news for Li Zhongtang's Huai army. He is currently too busy fighting with Weng Di to worry about other things. So this Italian goodwill can only gather dust in the corner.