Chapter 113 Jin Denggan's intimidation

Hu Chuyuan really leisurely for a few days, wandering along the banks of the Tyne River with Wu Shuzhen, and went to see Newcastle's iconic New Castle.

He assigned everything to others to deal with, especially for the procurement of ships, almost all of which were led by Ye Fu. Hua Weifang, Wu Dezhang and Rawls were technical consultants, and Deng Shichang, Lv Han and Gu Jiaxiang also visited everywhere.

It is a good decision to let Ye Fu lead, because he is the leader of the Fujian sailors, plus the guerrilla rank. As a Qing Dynasty admiral, his identity is more likely to attract the attention of those shipyards.

Where is Hu Chuyuan?

After traveling for a few days, I went to the market with Miao Tsuensun to buy some porcelain. Most of them are folk kiln boutiques from the Ming and Qing Dynasties through marine trade. You can buy one for a few pounds or even a few shillings. If you sell it back to China, it will cost dozens of taels of silver.

Anyway, it's an empty ship, including the freight, which is still a small profit.

Miao Tsuensun is indeed a master of antique appreciation. He can actually pick out a treasure of the official kiln of the Ming Dynasty in the messy market. Because of the disorderly circulation, he can't tell how it came from.

It may have been taken from the Yuanmingyuan, or it may have been circulated at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

According to Hu Chuyuan's plan, the funds required for a complete investment in the whole tea are very large. Now he has no room to play with antiques, especially those that he likes.

Therefore, he is just a hobby in his spare time. He wanders in the second-hand market with Miao Tsuensun, Yan Shizhang and Wu Shuzhen. He buys cheap goods. Even if he doesn't like it, he also has a special fun to pick up leaks.

In fact, such fun is still very easy in this era.

Because there are too many opportunities, even people at the level of Hu Chuyuan can easily pick up leaks. Of course, it's very fun to learn while playing. Anyway, there are two experts, Miao Tsuen Sun and Yan Shizhang, and they generally won't make mistakes.

It is difficult to have such a special resonance in other places. Hu Chuyuan and others spent 20,000 pounds on those thrift streets for two days.

There is no huge profit. It's okay to sell back 200,000 taels of silver slowly.

After playing for a few days, Ye Fu and others also had initial contact with several shipyards in Newcastle. In the evening, Hu Chuyuan held a small party in his room.

Such a gathering related to the technical indicators of the ship was held several times on the Taichang.

Very early, Hu Chuyuan had already made a conclusion.

The public funds he brought out this time were 450,000 pounds, that is the donation. The court's military allocation will not be received until next year. In addition, he personally brought 2 million pounds.

2 million pounds is 8 million taels of silver.

Of course, such a large amount of money is not just used to buy warships.

Hu Chuyuan means to buy two ironclad ships with a displacement of between 4500 and 5,500 tons, four offshore defense ships with a displacement of 1200 to 1500 tons, and two wooden shell light armored cruisers with a displacement of 2,000 to 3000 tons.

Through this purchase, he wants to get all the production drawings, processes and related equipment of 300-ton gunboats, 1,200-ton defense ships and 2,000-ton cruisers with these shipyards, so that the Mawei Shipyard has the ability to produce these ships.

These days, Ye Fu and others are also negotiating with various shipyards on this premise.

There is no pressure for the British to transfer these production processes. The key is that the contract of the two second-class ironclad ships will not be transferred.

Correspondingly, others also have great plans to blackmail, and the price is very high.

450,000 pounds is far from enough, and the transaction price has to be multiplied by three times.

This is a little fucking too much!

Listening to the results of Ye Fuyi's indignant return preliminary negotiations, Miao Tsuen Sun and others were very angry. Even Zheng Xitai was angry and wanted to point at the British nose and curse.

However, Hu Chuyuan is still very calm.

He just listened quietly and thought about it in his heart.

After a while, he suddenly asked, "Dear Mr. Rawls, I am very curious about your idea at this moment. So, would you like to express some opinions?"

"What?"

Rawls couldn't help but be a little surprised. He never thought that Hu Chuyuan would ask him directly.

He has always exchanged various ideas with Wu Shuzhen and Hua Yanfang, and then conveyed them to Hu Chuyuan.

After a little thought, he said, "Dear Hu Sir, according to my understanding of the Fuzhou Ship Administration, the national experts owned by your bureau are all trained by the French. These people... including Mr. Wu Dezhang, are also proficient in French, not English. In fact, the shipbuilding technology of Britain and France, especially in the field of warships, is different in terms of design, production and specific configuration, including the most basic leading ideas. Therefore, as a consultant of the Technical Bureau of Wanqi Yanghang, I personally suggest that Fuzhou ship administration should cooperate with the French, at least for the time being.

Ye Fu and Hua Weifang's English level was very inaccurate. They understood Rawls's words and nodded slightly with Hu Chuyuan, thinking that these words were very reasonable.

Hu Chuyuan will also make mistakes, or even major negligence.

Rawls's words just reminded him of the problems he had not noticed before.

Yes, in the framework designed by Hu Xueyan for the Fuzhou shipping administration, the manufacturing profession learns from the French and the driving profession learns from the British, which can well avoid the whole Fuzhou shipping administration being controlled by foreigners.

In other words, the technical talents currently trained by Fuzhou Ship Administration are fluent in French, and the framework of the entire shipbuilding industry is also from France.

At this time, Wu Dezhang said, "Your Excellency, I also feel that I should contact the French to buy warships in France, and ask them to send more technical consultants to guide us to improve our technology."

After this mention, everyone agreed.

Aware of Rawls's small role in this kind of meeting, Wu Shuzhen translated for him so that he could better integrate into the meeting.

After listening to everyone's words, Rawls and Hu Chuyuan continued: "Mr. Hu, in addition, I have the obligation to remind you. Britain still maintains the overall advantage of warship manufacturing technology. For example, mixed steel armor for warships, three-expansion steam engines, and Armstrong's steel and artillery technology are famous all over the world.

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and sighed, "Yes, not to mention that we will continue to negotiate with the British navy this time to increase the number of internships for some admirals."

After a pause, he said, "I think the contract should be divided into two, so that the British and the French can compete with each other. But we should have a bottom in private, that is, to learn a more advanced whole set of warship manufacturing and design systems from France, and then learn some superior technologies from Britain.

His proposal was immediately approved by everyone. After further discussion, he finally decided to divide the team into two. Ye Fu, Hua Weifang, Lv Han and others continued to be responsible for negotiations in the United Kingdom. Wu Dezhang and Li Shoutian went to France to contact Wei Han, Chen Zhaohao, Zheng Qingli and Lin of the manufacturing class of the Ship Administration School who studied in France. Yiyou and Chen Ji had preliminary contact with the French.

As for the specific data and characteristics of Fujian sailors, Hu Chuyuan has discussed with everyone on the Taichang.

He believes that no matter how strong the ships of the Fujian Navy, in terms of technology, equipment and experience, the Fujian Navy cannot compete with Britain, France and other countries in a short period of time, and cannot fully follow the mainstream ideas of the world navy guided by Britain and France.

Once the British and French fleet attacks the country again, the Fujian navy will inevitably shrink in Mawei Port and rely on a large number of port forts for defensive warfare. At the same time, it is necessary to avoid being completely destroyed by the other party, and even the tactical threat and containment value will be lost.

Unlike Bohai Bay, there are still many pirates in Zhejiang and Fujian, and they are also very rampant, especially those Han anniper pirates who can be associated with the bandit, and the equipment is not bad.

Therefore, the Fujian naval division also has to bear the heavy responsibility of cracking down on pirates. The main ship does not have to be high-speed, but it has to resist the attack. The armor should be thick, and the artillery does not have to be heavy, but it must be enough.

The auxiliary cruiser should be fast enough, and there should be more artillery. The tonnage should not be too large, and there is no need to blindly pursue pure steam power. The backward technology does not mean that it is useless. Arranging in the right position can also play a special and important role.

Although others have all kinds of ideas, Hu Chuyuan's ideas are more important, and there are also the support of sailors such as Ye Fu and Lu Han.

With these common understandings, Hu Chuyuan hardly has to ask more questions.

He can give a fixed policy and direction in the general situation. He really needs to handle specific things and handle all kinds of technical details. Ye Fu, Wu Dezhang, Hua Hengfang... These people are more than his insider.

He stayed in Newcastle, England for another week and further analyzed the current food sales market in the UK. Hu Chuyuan increasingly felt that chain operation in the UK was the general trend.

In the whole history of world business, the emergence of chain stores is as important as the industrial revolution. It announces the emergence of a new marketing system, and an era of real power by sellers is coming.

Of course, this revolution was finally pushed to a new limit by Wal-Mart in the United States.

This makes Hu Chuyuan believe that investing in the Lipton food chain is a very good business, even if it is likely to be the last straw that crushes Chinese tea.

Before meeting with Thomas Lipton, Hu Chuyuan decided to go to the United States to deal with a few more important things.

The day before he was about to start, a person who claimed to be very important suddenly came to visit him.

After hearing the other party's name, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help laughing. This person is not important at all, but the person behind him has a little weight.

What kind of person is that person?

That was an Englishman who wanted to be the general coastal defense department of the Qing Empire. He once proposed to the Qing court to set up a general coastal defense department, with him as the general coastal defense department, and he also controlled China's new navy.

If it hadn't been for Li Hongzhang and Shen Baozhen's firm opposition, such a ridiculous proposal would have been almost passed.

It's still the old saying that the British are too cunning, but that the Qing Dynasty is too incompetent and too sly. They would rather hand over the fleet to the management of foreigners than to the Han people.

The man's name is Robert Hurd, an English-Irish, Robert Hart.

The people who want to meet Hu Chuyuan are King Denggan, director of the Chinese Customs Office in London, James DuncanCampbell, a short and fat Scotsman, known for his arrogance and Hurd's direct cronies.

Although he looked down on such a person, Hu Chuyuan decided to meet him and entertain him in the study of the manor.

When the British housekeeper in the manor opened the door, Hu Chuyuan really saw this person. As expected, it was the same as the rumor. He was short and fat, in his forties, his forehead was bare, and his beard was long and thick, like a Russian.

Jin Denggan proudly held a gentleman's cane and handed it over to the housekeeper for safekeeping. He swaggered into the study, raised his eyebrows and asked Hu Chuyuan, "Presumably, you are the general manager of Jiangnan Commercial Firm, Mr. Hu Chuyuan, the temporary transfer officer of the Fuzhou Ship Administration Office of the Qing Empire?"

It's strange that this person speaks fluent Chinese and knows Chinese well, but he has to say "appointmentary" as "temporary". The meaning is indeed the same. It may be his personal idiom.

For Hu Chuyuan, this is very impolite!

Hu Chuyuan frowned slightly, asked him to sit at his desk and said, "Yes, you are Mr. Jin Denggan, the secretary of our customs in London?"

It's rude not to come and go.

Hu Chuyuan broke the false surname of this "office director". Where is the setting of "office director" in the politics of the Qing Dynasty? If there is any similarity, it is purely fictional. The appointment of Jin Denggan by the court is just a "secretary" with the same level as a second-level counselor.

Jindeng looked unhappy. He hummed and said arrogantly, "Hu Ti, we don't have to say these false polite words. Let me talk about some practical things. I heard that the Fuzhou Ship Administration also wants to buy warships in our UK, and I want to arrange a new tube belt to practice in the British Royal Navy. I thought, like this It's better to continue to hand over the matter to our General Administration of Customs.

"Oh?" Instead, Hu Chuyuan smiled and asked, "Why?"

Jin Deng said with a dry smile, "Do you still need to ask? Young admiral officer, before arriving in the United Kingdom, you should know Mr. Hurd and my reputation in the United Kingdom. Here, Mr. Hurd is a legendary figure. He also has a very high praise in the British political axe and navy, and many special friends that you can't reach at all. They are all palms. Where are the people who hold the real power!!"

Hu Chuyuan also smiled and said, "I have heard about this. However, the court has its own yamen, and each yamen are responsible for different matters. Our Fuzhou ship government yamen should have been in charge of these matters. Why do we need to bother the customs yamen for help?

Jin Denggan said, "Your statement is a little too biased. As your scholar Li Hongzhang said, they all work for the court, and there is no need to subdivide each other. What's more, we are also responsible for the procurement of the warships of the Beiyang Division. The quality and design of all ships are world-class, and your court is extremely satisfied. If all these things are handed over to you, and if they fail, I think your career in the ship's government office will come to an end.

After a pause, he simply suggested, "You are still young and have no experience in dealing with the British navy. You can't take risks with your future!!!"

"Oh?"

Hu Chuyuan showed a disdainful sneer and said, "If I insist that the ship's government will handle it by itself, what are you going to do?"

"Humph!" Jin Denggan was even more disdainful and directly threatened, "Then forgive me for being rude, young transfer officer. If you refuse my proposal, even if you suffer a loss in the future, if you want to ask me and Lord Hede of the General Customs for help, we will not ask. At that time, please clean up the mess by yourselves.

At this point, he became more and more presumptuous and unscrupulously intimidatedly: "I can also tell you directly that without our participation, the British Royal Navy will not arrange an officer to study abroad for you at all. I can definitely assure you about this!!!"

(to be continued)