Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

After deducing again and again, the higher-ups of the Prime Minister's Manor felt that the probability of Xiao Letian's judgement was extremely high. Within five years, it would be the final preparation period for the Ryukyu.

Five years later, in 1873, Zai Chun was already 17 years old. According to the Qing Dynasty's royal family rules, after the wedding, one could be called an adult. After that, no one had the authority to stop Zai Chun from being a parent.

But would those vested interests be willing to let Zai Chun take back his authority? Their goal was to make Zai Chun into a rubber stamp, and play with women in the Forbidden City. Just be a puppet while eating and drinking, what kind of bicycle would that be … No, no, no, what power?

No one would be willing to give up the benefits in their hands. Even beggars would not easily throw away the two copper coins in their hands, let alone the conservative forces of Qing Dynasty who were fighting for money every day.

Their army was not weak, and Zai Chun, who had been educated by Xiao Letian, was also a hardliner. It was very likely that there would be an open war after the two sides fought in the dark, and the possibility of a war breaking out among the Manchu s was extremely high.

At that time, the English and French, Russia and even the United States would not let go of this opportunity. It was very likely that they would help their spokesperson to escalate the war step by step.

If they could not achieve their goals, they would personally send their battleships to bring Expeditionary forces to the scene. Wasn't this how the Second Opium War fought? If it wasn't for the war between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, how could they have the chance to fight?

In Xiao Letian's heart, a civil war could be fought, and a few could even be considered healthier. However, outsiders could not enter, this was the most basic principle. But to stop the outlaws, a strong navy, at least in East Asia, was necessary.

Five years was a long time, from 1868 to 1873, but it was a long time to build a navy.

Fan Lian was already in his early seventies. Xiao Letian initially did not want to work for him, but a lot of the core wealth was in the hands of the old shopkeeper. This was the money trusted the most in this world, a butler.

old shopkeeper was still in good spirits, after drinking a few mouthfuls of soup, he started to work on his budget. "The total investment for Zhiyuan Warship s is 1.9 million silver, and there are a lot of research expenses involved, and the following mass production price is 800 thousand silver …"

"The best way is Prussia. As the Prime Minister has said, Prussia's industrial base is much better than ours, and mass production can definitely bring down the cost. But unfortunately, the English and French would never let such an advanced warship return to the Ryukyu successfully. They will definitely do everything they can to capture those warships in Europe … "

"Cough, cough, cough …" This is the only way, and that is for us to create our own. This time, the scissor boat that we brought back with us brought back a large amount of blueprints and core equipment. "In addition, the Prime Minister also requires us to be able to produce our own warships. It's impossible to rely on outsiders …"

Xiao Letian took over the conversation, "A warship needs to involve in a lot of industries. Steel, Chinese craftsmen, machinery, gunpowder manufacturing, precision equipment …" "Wait, Ryukyu and the Tanggu have already started building factories. The equipment purchased from the United States and Prussia should be completed by the end of this year. There is still a gap of 3 million silver remaining for the basic investment, we have to include …"

"Yes, the new plant, the new workers, the new equipment all need to be tempered, so it is impossible for our first warship to meet the cost of Prussia... If our Ryukyu were to build ten similar Iron-armored cruisers, the cost of building a single ship would very likely reach 1 million silver taels or more … "

Xiao Hexin gasped, "Oh my god! So many? According to the original plan, ten Iron-armored Ship would cost ten million silver taels, and another 3 million silver taels from the Infrastructure … This is too much! "

Wang Huaiyuan shook his head: "It's not enough, do you still need more ammunition for the battleship? Zhiyuan Warship s required 150 thousand silver for their cannons. This was truly a cannon shot of 10,000 gold … If you want to protect China's coastal areas for so long, you don't need ammunition storage of more than 5 million silver taels, can you? "

Luo Huo was completely dumbfounded. That's 18 million taels of silver... "Oh my god!"

Xiao Letian smiled bitterly and said, "It's not enough. There's also the cost of food, drinks and training for so many soldiers, the cost of expanding the port, and even the CIA building a coastal information network for the navy. These all require money … …"

"Twenty million … at least twenty million …"

Xiao Letian swallowed a mouthful of strong alcohol as he painfully rubbed his temples and sighed in his heart, "The later generation of the North Ocean Innkeeper took dozens of years to build up and they claim to have spent 200 million silver taels. You are truly honest with me... The navy is burning money, it is burning money! "

Everyone present became silent, even old shopkeeper took a sip of the yellow wine to calm himself down. After a long while, Fan Lian finally said, "Qian …." "Actually we do, just based on the profits of the Letian Firm and the banks, this 20 million is more than enough, but the money for the army is a bottomless pit …"

"If it doesn't work, I'll have to clear out the bonds. Besides issuing a few more paper money and bonds, I really can't think of any other way!"

"Twenty million silver?" Xiao Hexin and the rest's face changed, "Do we have that much money now? Isn't that enough? "

Xiao Letian painfully shook his head: "It's simply not enough, it's definitely not enough. You all totally don't know that once the naval arms race starts, this will be a nightmare, you won't be able to wake up at all …"

Twenty million was just the starting fund, there would be more money spent in the future. Xiao Letian clearly remembered from the historical records of the future generations.

At that time, German Empire, who had risen up through the ruins of France, had set out on an ambitious grand navy strategy. Prince Karl's son had made up his mind to challenge the hegemony of Britain.

The tonnage got bigger and bigger, from 10,000 tons to 20,000 tons, even close to 30,000 tons, the caliber of the cannons also became stronger and stronger. From the looks of it, 210-caliber cannons were already a heaven defying existence, but during World War I, 280 to 300 caliber cannons would become the mainstream.

Furthermore, the caliber of the cannon was increasing in magnitude. In the past, it would not even take twenty to thirty years for the heavy and thick main cannons to be eliminated.

The steam power s that burned coal would be replaced by internal combustion engines that burned oil after a few decades. Furthermore, the popularization of electricity was a bottomless pit that burned money.

"Money, money!" Why am I, Xiao Letian, so poor... Why am I so poor! "

The old shopkeeper said with a red face, "There is only one way, we can make it through the difficulties in front of us first. With such a big Jiangnan, how can its wealth be worth tens of billions of dollars?"

Unfortunately, Xiao Letian shook his head. "It's not that simple. I'm afraid that someone is secretly watching us! "