1890 King of Southeast Asia

Tokyo, Japanese Cabinet.

Dejected, Togo followed Yamamoto Gonbei into the Cabinet meeting room, which was already full of people.

Yamamoto Gonbei glanced at everyone and cast his eyes on the new Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo: "The probing activity is over, Nanhua is fully prepared, and we have failed!"

Yamagata nodded: "Tell me about the details!"

Togo stepped out: "We set out from Sasebo with the battleship Fuji as the core and traveled all the way to the north of Okinawa, where we were discovered by Nanhua.

Its navy's dozens of destroyers surrounded our fleet at a speed of 35 knots (made up). Our fleet is short of auxiliary warships. Once a war breaks out, we may face failure. Battleships are national artifacts, and Togo dare not take risks."

Yamamoto Gonbei nodded, and Saigo, who had already stepped down as Prime Minister, also nodded.

Yamagata is the Prime Minister of the Army, and the Navy naturally distrusts him, just like when Saigo was the Prime Minister, the Army distrusted him.

If Ryukyu is retaken by Japan, then Japan's maritime threat will basically disappear. Except for the British warships docked in the port...

After all, you can't expect Nanhua to cross thousands of miles to make an expedition, without a supply point in the middle, and the enemy is waiting in full battle array. To be honest, Yamamoto doesn't think the weak navy will do this.

Then will Japan, which has lost its maritime threat, continue to support the development of the navy?

Yamagata doesn't care about this. He just wants to see the quality of the navy. There is no doubt that he is disappointed, but he can't intervene in the navy's affairs: "Let's stop here! Next, discuss the issue of immigration to the peninsula. Before next year, one million strong laborers must be sent there, otherwise the land will be barren..."

The peninsula has been dug up by the poor Japanese who eat dirt. The two-class nobles died and fled, and all their property was given to the Japanese. Japan has three permanent divisions on the peninsula to suppress the farmers who exploded because of lack of food.

…………

After much anticipation, the time came to September. The International Communications Conference hosted by Nanhua was finally held in Brunei. The meeting lasted for half a month.

The meeting stipulated the use of communication bands, standards for electronic devices, and various international units.

Because countries have never been able to assemble a radio station with decent performance, the final standards for electronic devices are completely based on Nanhua standards, and the bands are also formulated by Nanhua, and the rest of the countries vote.

Logically, such a meeting should not last for a few days, and should be over in two or three days.

However, Germany, France and the United States argued endlessly about international units. After the meeting, Hans and Sam almost fought and argued for half a month.

The main reason is that the United States has always been close to Nanhua, and Germany has been unhappy with Nanhua recently. If the German navy was not too weak and the expedition was too stupid, they might have sent warships to the door aggressively.

"Well done, Liu! You don't know how ugly his expression was when he talked about their failed actions! Hahaha..." After the quarrel, Sam laughed and walked into Liu Yiming's mansion.

"It's really not my fault for this. Who would have thought they were so stupid? They were not prepared and had insufficient intelligence, and they launched military operations." Liu Yiming spread his hands.

The failed action refers to the military deterrence action that Germany and France took to expand their sphere of influence against the Qing Dynasty after the war.

But deterrence at least requires some armed forces. Germany sent an ironclad ship, three cruisers, and an auxiliary ship, and the strongest combat power was weaker than Yoshino...

After the Germans landed, the Prime Minister of the Qing Empire, Lord Li, who was promoted again, ordered the navy to take timely action to deter the Germans.

If it were the Japanese, Japan would block the fleet in front of the Beiyang Navy and let the upper level negotiate. If it were the British, the British would not be so rough. The French would arrogantly start a war and then be defeated.

Unfortunately, the new empire, which was deeply influenced by the mainland, the Germans, were scared, so that the German navy was blocked by the Beiyang Navy in a port without supplies.

After two weeks of emergency consultations, the two sides reached a settlement, and the Qing Dynasty "generously" gave Germany the status of foreign merchants (superior people) in the trading port.

However, Emperor William did not get what he wanted - a colony and an excellent ice-free port. Therefore, it was regarded as a great humiliation. In the naval resolution just passed, it exerted influence again and increased the construction plan of eight battleships to ten.

This stimulated the British again...

Sam laughed for a long time before he stopped laughing: "Why is Emperor William so..." He didn't know how to describe it.

Liu Yiming answered him: "Arrogant and stupid?"

Sam's expression management was out of control: "Oh! How can you say that? He is His Majesty the Emperor after all, although it seems to be true."

Sam shook his head: "Germany has offended Britain. It should not develop the navy. Even if it needs overseas interests, it should develop the army to rob France or other small countries..."

Germany and the United States are both emerging countries, and their relationship is actually not bad. They sympathize with each other.

Rude and stereotyped Germans, American farmers with the smell of cow dung - stereotyped images of the two countries.

Liu Yiming shook his head and didn't want to talk about this: "It seems that the Spanish are expanding their navy?"

Sam nodded: "They have placed an order with Italy for two Garibaldi-class armored ships, and their own shipyards have also started construction. Given the progress of the two projects, they may not be able to be launched until the new century."

Liu Yiming didn't know if this was a joke, after all, the progress of the projects in the two countries was notoriously slow.

For the same quasi-10,000-ton cruiser, the UK only needed two and a half years from construction to commissioning, while Italy needed 3-5 years. For example, the Wuyue-class armored cruiser, Nanhua took three and a half years to complete construction and commissioning. Although it has minor problems, it is usable.

"Are you ready? I heard that your president doesn't care much." Liu Yiming continued to ask, wanting to know the attitude of the Americans and whether they would take action next year.

Theodore, this pen pal, is really too cunning, especially after becoming the deputy minister of the navy, the useful information exchange is getting less and less.

Sam shrugged and said sincerely: "I don't know either. After all, I am abroad, and these things should not be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the Minister of the Navy does not take care of things. The Deputy Minister is your friend, you can ask him."

Liu Yiming nodded helplessly, "Why don't you take advantage of the north? France has won a new leased territory, and Germany has also opened up a vast market."

Sam smiled mysteriously: "I am not like these idiots. Germany has already occupied a huge arms market, and it is unnecessary to do so. The replacement plan of the die Qing has been given to Nanhua, right? The United States also got a part, the railway plan. What about France and Germany? Trade has shrunk, and they have nothing."

Speaking of railways, Sam became excited: "Your country is also building railways. I heard that it is a railway construction of thousands of kilometers. Do you need financing?"

Sam was just a normal business inquiry, and the channel was also financing, not a semi-colonial development method.

Liu Yiming thought for a moment: "Nanhua will issue railway bonds. If American friends are interested, they can buy some."

The stock market will not be open. The newly born Nanhua cannot compete with them. The bonds will be fine. No matter what, they will pay back the money when it matures.

………

After the meeting, we have to entertain representatives from various countries, eat and drink and look around. Time has come to October.

Sun Yanshan, who has been promoted, set foot on the territory of Nanhua again. Because of his meritorious service in wartime dispatch, he was promoted to the third rank and became the assistant of the Prime Minister's Navy Camp Office. This time he came to coordinate the procurement of weapons and equipment for the army.

Yes, it is the army, the assistant of the Navy Camp Office, doing the army's business, it is so chaotic and disorderly.

This time, it is no longer the logistics staff who receive him, because it is a regular military purchase order, and the direct contact is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of National Defense.

"The first batch of 20,000 rifles? Our rifles are very advanced and made for Chinese, but they are not cheap. Do you really need so many?" Lin Pingzhi wondered while holding the order.

It's no wonder he was confused. When the Qing Dynasty bought something, they looked at whether it was cheap or not. Otherwise, they would not have bought black powder rifles after smokeless gunpowder became popular.

Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was very busy, they couldn't find a suitable person to talk to. Lin Pingzhi happened to be from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was familiar with the twists and turns of the Qing Dynasty, so they pulled him over.

Sun Yanshan smiled along. Lin Pingzhi was a popular figure in the Qing Dynasty. Many manufacturing bureaus and weaving factories lived by watching Lin Pingzhi: "After the last World War I, the court saw the weakness of the army, so they decided to rebuild the army, and of course they had to use the best..."

There were some things that were not said, such as the German 1888 that they originally wanted to use, and the Mauser that the Qing Dynasty was superstitious about.

Then this year, Germany's series of measures, including reaching an agreement with the Tsar and sending troops to the Qing Dynasty, were later revealed that the 1888 was not advanced and Germany was preparing to change its equipment, etc. The most important thing was that this rifle was not a Mauser rifle.

Lin Pingzhi was still smiling: "I just don't know if we can transfer the production line and buy the production technology? Price is not a problem..."

Several people looked at each other, but they couldn't make a decision. Selling weapons is different from selling equipment. If the equipment is sold, it will be the Nanhua system!

"I'll make a call, you guys chat first." Lin Pingzhi got up and called Liu Yiming.

"Sell, everything written on the equipment list can be sold, but we don't accept loans and debts. We can accept barter." Liu Yiming agreed without thinking. The equipment on the list is not critical equipment, and it's okay to sell the production line.

Lin Pingzhi understood and returned to the negotiation table.

Looking at Sun Yanshan's expectant eyes, Lin Pingzhi smiled: "It can be sold, but there is no inventory for the time being. Rifles and rifle production lines will not be delivered until next year. There are quite a few surplus artillery..."

The military purchase order negotiations were proceeding slowly. The rifles of 50 taels (actual selling price 45 taels, 5 taels kickback) were ordered for 10,000 at first, and then increased by 20,000.

But in the short term, Die Qing couldn't get a single bullet...

In Borneo, the second round of Nanhua reorganization began, and the wartime unit - the army - was set up.

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