My Italy

After Jia Liwen and Li Zhongtang negotiated the arms purchase, they immediately sent a telegram to report to the country.

The most happy person about this purchase list is the Army, because these materials require the cooperation of the Army. Of course, a large part of the profits will be left to the Army.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured that the Army will collect the materials on the list and they will be shipped to the Far East in less than a week."

Looking at Marshal Cardorna who was extremely excited about eating meat, Admiral Yagir, the Minister of the Navy, could only show envy in his eyes. At a time when the Navy is trying to raise money to build new ships, it is impossible not to envy such a purchase list.

However, because the sale of warships by the Navy has a strong political nature, the sale of warships is not a purely economic issue (compared to the sale of weapons by the Army).

Of course, Carlo understood Admiral Yagir's jealous thoughts, but it was rare for the Army to come across such quick money, so Carlo couldn't let the Army part with it. Besides, the Army will need to be used next, and the Army will not be too harsh.

"Admiral Argyle, wait a moment."

When the admiral was about to leave, Carlo stopped him.

"Your Majesty, do you have any other orders?"

Facing Admiral Yagir's inquiry, Carlo spoke. "What do your navy think of the confrontation between the two navies in this war in the Far East?"

Facing the king's inquiry, Admiral Yagir, as the head of the navy, had also paid attention to this issue before. It has been a long time since a naval war broke out in the world in recent years, and naturally everyone is looking forward to the battle between the two navies in the Far East.

Moreover, the Italian Navy also has an advantage, that is, it has a very good understanding of the true combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Navy. Who has so many Italian consultants in the Beiyang Navy? How could this opportunity of close observation be missed?

So Admiral Yagir is very confident. "Your Majesty, according to our Navy Department's understanding, the Chinese Navy is slightly inferior to the Japanese Navy in terms of warship strength. As for the comparison of the capabilities of the two officers and soldiers, since we do not have much information on the Japanese Navy officers and soldiers, we can only get rough information. However, based on the intelligence we have learned, the Japanese side still has the advantage in terms of capabilities of the two sides. Therefore, the Japanese navy should have the advantage in this war, and the best choice for the Chinese side should be to rely on its geographical advantages to defend the Bohai Sea Circle. Then let the Army open things up."

Yes, the Italian Navy's judgment is closely related to the naval strength of the two parties. At present, the main battleships of the Beiyang Navy are still centered on the Four Great Yuans, two Dingyuan-class armored ships, and two Venice-class armored cruisers Zhiyuan and Jingyuan.

You must know that in this era of rapid technological advancement, these four warships are all products of the 1980s, and are more than ten years old. Yangwei, Chaoyong, Jingyuan, Pingyuan and other ships are all small ships of two to three thousand tons. On the other hand, in Japan, let’s not talk about the three scenery ships. Especially the two 10,000-ton cruise ships purchased by Japan from the United Kingdom, the Yoshino and the Akitsusu.

These two 10,000-ton-class patrol ships are the result of Carlo's butterfly instigation. The single ship has a full load displacement of 10,900 tons and is equipped with 4 254mm rack-mounted guns, 6 152mm barreled guns, and 6 120mm barreled guns. , it can be said that it is armed to the teeth. In addition, this class of warship is not weak in speed. It can run a maximum speed of 18.5 knots and has good armor. It is a very representative masterpiece of Britain. Of course, this has drained Japan's pockets. The cost of 1.09 million pounds is indeed not cheap.

From the perspective of the Italian Navy, the Chinese Navy has no advantage at all. The two 10,000-ton patrol ships are a problem it cannot solve. It can only rely on defense and use the advantages inside the Bohai Sea to consume its opponents. Of course, this is because Italy does not know the reputation of our Qing Army.

Although Admiral Yagir doesn't know, Carlo still doesn't know. In terms of army equipment between China and Japan, the Qing army actually has an advantage. But one is an old-style army and the other is a new-style army, making decisions between superiors and superiors.

So after thinking about it, Carlo decided to end the topic.

"Your navy is preparing a batch of warships, mainly small coastal defense armored ships, cruisers, torpedo boats and other ships. Someone may come to buy them."

That's right, Carlo has already prepared to deal with the failure of the Beiyang Navy. Although the effect of his own instigation made the Beiyang Navy much stronger than in history, the consequence was that the Japanese Navy became even more powerful.

So there is no need to think about the outcome of the next naval battle. When the warship personnel are not as good as the opponent, what can we do to win the opponent?

It is true that the strength of the Japanese combined fleet is much stronger than in history, but Carlo is not worried at all. Because the strength of the Italian task force is not something it can resist, the powerful firepower on the three Turin-class battleships can sink them all.

As for when Italy will play, it depends on the timing. Only when the opponent is almost at the end of his rope, Italy's appearance can make the opponent appreciate him even more.

Some people may ask why it didn't debut earlier. How come Qing Dynasty is also Italy's largest overseas market. To say this is to say that you do not understand diplomacy. Every country will compete for the best interests. Being able to push Italy to a direct end in the Sino-Japanese War was already Carlo's greatest ability as a Chinese in his previous life.

Italians have their own needs. Carlo cannot have his own way, and he does not have to do so. He is the king of Italy and needs to consider Italy's interests.

As for whether the Qing Congress would give up Italy's help because they couldn't agree on a price. This is a possibility. If this situation occurs, it can only be blamed on the Qing court's ignorance, and it deserves to lose money and cede territory.

However, although the senior officials of the Qing court were said to be all kinds of bad things in later generations, through understanding, Carlo knew that these people still had basic political literacy.

It's not like later generations of comedians coming on stage and turning the entire country into a hilarious comedy.

After communicating with the Minister of the Navy and asking him to prepare a batch of warships, Carlo was waiting for the next news.

In Japan, the Combined Fleet is temporarily stationed in Nagasaki, and the navy is undergoing final mobilization. They next need to cut off the land and sea transportation of the Qing army in Pyongyang.

Yes, for the current Qing army and the Japanese army, sea transportation is the most important supply route for both parties.

Of course, the Japanese Navy also has a more important task, which is to seize control of the Yellow Sea and drive back the Beiyang Navy. To this end, the staff of the Japanese Combined Fleet have already formulated a complete plan. They needed to stir up the nerves of the Qing court so that the Beiyang Navy had to come out to fight.

Now is the training stage before the departure of the Japanese Navy. After it is completed, the Japanese Combined Fleet will need to set sail.

In the afternoon, the Japanese Combined Fleet, led by the flagship Matsushima, set out to sea.