"Führer, what should we do about Liu Dadao?"
Xiao Letian looked at Man Qing's Xizuo, who was completely demented in the basement, and suddenly shook his head, "He's not the only one who works as a dog for Man Qing. It's useless to kill him, so just leave him alive!"
"Let him work as a cook in Europe and never let him return to China for the rest of his life!"
"Back then, Guan Ning's cavalry owed their lives to others. They were forced into this situation by the times. They are all slaves of hatred!"
"But I think after this torture, he won't be able to make any more trouble!"
The CIA's torture of Liu Dadao was actually very inhumane. He was not allowed to sleep for a long time, lights were used to stimulate his brain, and a large amount of morphine was also used.
After the CIA completely drained the secrets from his belly, and after Liu Dadao was put down as a torture device, the Manchu Qing craftsman passed out directly.
After sleeping for two days and one night, Liu Dadao woke up. However, due to excessive use of morphine sedatives, his brain suffered some damage.
This person’s spirituality is gone! It's not that he is stupid, he can still work and live like a normal person, but no matter how you look at this person, he has no spirituality.
For the same problem, smart people can analyze eighteen levels, while ordinary people can analyze seven or eight factors. But when it comes to Liu Dadao, he can only see three or four superficial phenomena.
The whole person has become a bit naive and stupid. Even if he is a chef, he can no longer study any new dishes, but he has not forgotten what he has learned before, and he can still cook.
Xiao Letian did not kill them all, but spared Liu Dadao's life. However, Liu Dadao was left in London for the rest of his life and truly became a well-behaved Chinese chef.
In the last month, Xiao Letian's remaining important task was to spend money. On the one hand, he had to exchange gold francs for a large amount of physical silver and transport it back to Asia. This was a condition that Britain had agreed to.
The silver market in the City of London has been opened to Xiao Letian. In just one month, Xiao Letian exchanged ten million taels of physical silver and rented twelve new steamships to transport the silver and European spoils back to his country.
Not only that, Xiao Letian also signed an insurance contract with a British insurance company to insure this batch of goods, and the premium alone cost him half a million taels of silver.
It was believed that through the presence of these insurance companies with entangled business interests, the British navy and colonies would provide security throughout the journey of wealth to the east.
I really can’t believe these pirate-prone colonial countries. The Chinese treasure ships transporting silver and various treasures to Asia on a large scale will definitely be coveted by many forces.
In order to avoid trouble, let's simply let the British insurance industry get a share of the pie. Those companies that dare to take on such a big business show that the capital power behind them can influence the high-level governance of the British Empire.
With the protection of these behind-the-scenes bosses, the British overseas garrison was mobilized!
Sure enough, these Chinese treasure ships were attacked by unidentified pirates in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Thanks to the British colonial navy's timely escort, the Chinese treasures were saved.
Xiao Letian has never experienced such a feeling of spending money like water. Of course, the biggest one is his navy procurement plan!
Using Zhiyuan as the prototype ship, many German shipbuilding designers have launched a series of fifteen models of emerging ironclad ship production plans.
These new warships on the drawings range in tonnage from 3,000 tons to 7,000 tons, and their overall design concepts are consistent with the Zhiyuan.
The Zhiyuan has finally become an epoch-making battleship. Just like the dreadnought in its previous life, its name is no longer just a battleship, but a standard for naval battleships.
The pre-Zhiyuan era and the post-Zhiyuan era are clearly marked in the development history of ironclad ships!
What the Zhiyuan ship represents is an iron-clad battleship that completely abandons wind power and adopts mechanical power. Its main guns are arranged along the central axis and uses flanking linear fronts for bombing operations.
In pursuit of high firepower, large-caliber and large-diameter naval guns adopt a high-protection design concept with a pure steel keel and a heavy-duty bulletproof deck.
Such a giant steel ship is the real gold-swallowing monster. Among these fifteen models, the lowest cost is more than one million taels of silver.
The cost of more advanced warships, especially those over 7,000 tons, is more than three million taels of silver!
It is indeed expensive, even more expensive than Dingyuan and Zhenyuan in Beiyang, but there is no way. In 1871, Europe's industrial strength was displayed here.
Many new technologies have not been applied, and the cost of shipbuilding remains high!
What's even more terrible is that these warships are experimental warships and not finalized warship models, so a lot of money is wasted on exploration and research.
But the money spent is absolutely cost-effective, because all of Xiao Letian's contracts make it clear that the Chinese and Germans share all shipbuilding technology.
The Chinese sent a large number of engineering students to study along with the progress of the German shipyards. The ultimate goal was to build warships of their own design in Asia.
It’s worth it if you can buy technology with money!
Xiao Letian placed an order for thirty warships in one go, two of each of the fifteen expanded models, with a final package price of 12 million taels of silver.
The Chinese don’t need to pay for this money, just ask Bismarck to deduct it from the French war reparations!
The order for thirty ironclad ships made the whole of Europe go crazy. The British Crown Prince even came to Xiao Letian to protest privately.
But Xiao Letian pushed back with one sentence, "Does the UK have Zhiyuan-standard warships? Even if it does, have you experienced actual combat testing?"
"There's nothing, how do you want me to place an order?"
"Work hard, my friend. When Britain has mature warships with actual combat models, we Chinese will definitely not be stingy, hahaha!"
Xiao Letian's rebuttal left the Crown Prince with no way to argue. Britain was indeed late for the introduction of new ironclad ships. He had no choice but to catch up.
"I hope you can remember your promise. There is no doubt that Britain's shipbuilding technology is better than Germany's!"
"Yes, I believe what the prince said, but it is still the requirement just now. It must have a mature model that has been tested in actual combat. As long as you have it, as long as you have proven its combat effectiveness!"
"Then I will definitely take action!"
The prince is gone, but the Zhiyuan is here!
After the Battle of East Frisia, the Zhiyuan was overhauled in Port Wilhelm. Since the production of the Zhiyuan adopted a very advanced modular production model, the repair speed was still very fast.
The only drawback is that the repair cost is too high. Many modules can actually be used again after repair, but in order to save time, they are taken out and replaced with new ones.
The boiler was replaced, all the main guns were replaced, and 90% of the steam hydraulic system was replaced with new ones... including the exterior armor, which cost more than 700 yuan!
The repair cost of the Zhiyuan ended up being as high as 860,000 taels of silver, which was no worse than buying a new one!
But the money must be spent. This is a heroic battleship. This is a battleship that will be remembered by the whole world. Xiao Letian can only take this battleship when he returns home.
At the Thames Estuary in England, Xiao Letian and Yi Wang, who were preparing to return home, stood side by side on the deck, watching their brothers file onto the deck.
The British military band played farewell music on the shore, and more than 50,000 British citizens came to see the Chinese back home.
"It's really the blessing of the heroic spirits of my ancestors! I actually found a way to survive in Europe! The dead dragon actually came back to life!"
