The Army always believed that the Navy was still defeated by the Qing fleet with superior military strength, because the generals were incompetent. With such a commander, even if they were given nine more warships, they would still lose the war. Instead of doing this, it would be better to use the remaining military expenditure to equip the army with it.

"Your Excellency!" Shiki Karayama shouted loudly, then knelt down on the ground and said in pain: "I can have a caesarean section immediately, but please give the navy another chance! Even if it is not for the navy, we should think about the army in North Korea now. They still need fleets to support them, even if they just take them back! Moreover, the Chinese cannot end the war so simply. If they send fleets to attack our ports, we must have warships to protect our land!"

Kawakami Kawakami Kawakami had to say something again, at this time Hirobuki Ito spoke. "The situation of the war is already unfavorable. If we cannot cooperate sincerely, the empire will be over! The will shown by the Army in this battle is indeed worthy of admiration. I will lead all the cabinet ministers to welcome their heroic spirits to the Yasukuni Shrine in the future. At the same time, the cabinet also agreed to add military expenses to the Army first. Before October, the Army will add five divisions, and by June next year, five divisions will be equipped. At the same time, we will also try to purchase new types of rifles, machine guns and artillery through France."

A winning smile immediately appeared on Katsuru Inoue's face.

"But!" Hirobuki Ito immediately said: "We have lost the control of the sea now. If we do not replenish warships, the Qing Dynasty will definitely block the Tsushima Strait. Then, not only will the army we replenished have no use, but the remaining troops in North Korea can only watch them be surrounded and eliminated by the Qing army. Although the navy has not fought the previous battle, as Karayama said, at least we must protect our own ports. Moreover, the arms we purchased from the Russians also need to be transported to Japan by sea. Without fleets, the army cannot replace rifles and artillery."

Ito Hirobuki's last sentence hits Inoue's weakness.

Indeed, without fleet escort, there is no way to ensure that the purchased weapons can be transported back to Japan. The local arsenal in Japan can only manufacture bronze cannons that can be retracted, with a maximum caliber of only 90 mm. As for the rifle, although Murata rifle has eight rounds of loading and quick robbery, its output cannot meet the needs of the troops at all. So far, it has only equipped two divisions of the Guard Division and the Fourth Division.

Seeing that Inoue Shoji stopped talking, Hirobuki Ito turned to Murozokura: "If the Russians have any requirements, just say it."

Murozokura smiled bitterly and said, "It's very simple. First of all, all weapons and equipment, including artillery, shells and ships, have all risen by 30%. Moreover, the Russians think we are at a disadvantage now. Considering the possible failure, the Russians ask us to take out a port as collateral!"

Hirobu Ito was silent for a while and then said, "Which port do they want?"

"Xiaguan!" Mu Ao Zongguang sent a word from his teeth!

"Impossible!" Ito Hirobuki growled in the sound of a beast's wounded voice.

At this time, no one spoke and the venue was silent. They knew what the Russians wanted, and cooperation with the Russians was also a decision they made after considering it, but now the Russians' appetite is still beyond the Japanese's imagination.

After being silent for more than five minutes, Hirobuki Ito finally spoke: "We will give the money, and we will never give up the port! We can promise that when the empire wins, we can hand over Ulsan Port to them, but they must ensure that two 10,000-ton battleships will be delivered by June next year. Otherwise, we would rather surrender to the Chinese!"

"Hi!" Mu Ao Zongguang lowered his head suddenly.

On July 7, the new commander of the Standing Fleet, Tokizo Tsui, and Chief of Staff, Navy Colonel, arrived at Sasebo to take office. On July 10, the Japanese Navy added a security fleet, with Rear Admiral Aura Kido as commander. In this way, the Japanese Navy formed two fleets again, and the main responsibility of the Standing Fleet was to escort the fleet that transported troops and supplies to North Korea.

However, to everyone's surprise, the Qing fleet did not attack the Japanese fleet.

On July 1, when the first phase of the war ended, Zai Tian summoned court officials to formulate a new combat plan. This combat plan can be attributed to two points: First, the Beiyang Navy guarded the mouth of the Bohai Bay and covered the army in North Korea; second, the army was assembled in Pyongyang and then went south to attack the Japanese Army.

According to this strategic plan, the Navy re-spatched the deployment of warships. The transformed destroyer "Wu Qi" - the Yuan Huantai - went north to Weihaiwei, and would join the port four frigates that were originally left behind to enter the Lushun Military Port. Subsequently, the Wu Qi was responsible for the defense of the Lushun Military Port, and the Bai Qi led two new frigates to begin cruise on the southern coast of North Korea.

Due to the patrol of the Qing fleet, the Japanese fleet could not land on the south coast of Korea, so it was impossible to provide direct assistance to the Seoul defenders. All reinforcements and supplies could only land through Busan Port or Ulsan, Pohang and other places. But strangely, in early July, the Yijima had not yet been restored, and the Qing army had absolutely superior maritime power, but did not cross the Jeju Strait. Moreover, the Qing army always appeared the Baiqi and two frigates. The Leyi and the other two frigates were never seen.

In fact, the Qing army's idea was very simple. Since time was already on its own, there was no need to take any risks. The hydrological situation of the strait between Japan and North Korea was complicated and there were many islands. If the Japanese army ambushed a large number of torpedo speedboats here, they might even steal chickens and lose rice.

In fact, Tingi Yokozo really made arrangements in the Korean Strait, and he really wanted to use the torpedo speedboat to give the Qing navy a secret in the Korean Strait, which is less than 30 nautical miles wide. However, the Qing navy made a prediction in advance and did not give him this opportunity.

As for where the Leyi and the other two frigates went, the Japanese will soon know.

On the 17th, the new German ambassador to China, Seung Ke came to China. He came with him, and there were two ships of arms full of fire.

From the moment he received the telegram from the North Korean incident, Zai Tian immediately realized that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was going to be ahead of schedule. However, for his own reasons, the Chinese army was not ready. Not only was the army's training almost almost not completed, but the weapons and ammunition were also seriously insufficient. So he immediately ordered Yi Xin to contact the Germans and immediately purchase a batch of arms.

The procurement of this batch of arms can be said to be the largest army order in the history of the Qing Dynasty, including 100,000 rifles, 50 million rifles, 200 Maxim machine guns, 500,000 bullets, 100 75mm cannons, 20,000 shells, 64 105mm cannons, 5,000 shells, 36 120mm cannons, and 3,000 shells.

Although the Krupp Factory and the Mauser Factory were ecstatic about the order, Germany could not collect such a large amount of arms in a short period of time. This time, the Seng Ke brought only half of them.

"Dear Your Majesty, the Great Emperor, our government is very willing to complete the contract with your country. But you know that our country's army is also changing, and the troops have a very high demand for new rifles, machine guns and artillery, so it is difficult for our country to prepare such a large number of weapons in a short period of time. Our Emperor William hopes that your country can give us some time to prepare."

"Your Excellency, you should have known on the way here. Our country and the Japanese Empire in the east are now in a state of war, which is why we need to obtain these weapons immediately. You should know that whether it is rifles or artillery, our country's technology is not worse than your country's. Although our current production capacity cannot keep up with the needs of war for the time being, in time, our own production can keep up. At that time, there is no need for us to buy equipment from your country, right?"

The rapid-fire technology of Mauser rifles and 75mm cannons was actually obtained from China. It was no secret that in 1893, and at least the top leaders of Germany already knew it. This is one of the reasons why the German government was happy about this order, because they knew that China actually did not need to do this business. Although this order has its needs, it also has its political attributes.

Of course, Shinke knew this.

"Your Majesty, the Chinese government is also clear about what you said, but we are indeed having some difficulties now. If you agree, we can complete this order by the end of this year."

As mentioned earlier, this order has its demand attributes, but also has political attributes. Because of the emergence of the French-Russian alliance, Germany is an allies that can be won, but the Qing Dynasty's orders on warships have already given the United States and Britain. If the Germans cannot be given some sweetness, it may affect the overall situation in the future. So after weighing the pros and cons, Zai Tian still compromised.

The weapons purchased from Germany were unloaded nearby in Shanghai. According to the latest deployment of the imperial court, recruits from several provinces including Sanguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, Liangjiang and other provinces would gather near Nanjing. Based on the Huang Chengyong Brigade, which advanced southward, they were unified into five infantry divisions and one artillery brigade.

Ronglu survived for seven years and finally got through. He was appointed as the commander of the Second Army of the Guards, responsible for the reorganization, training and command of five divisions and brigades in Jiangnan.

On the other hand, in the Northeast, the North Korean army was also unified into the First Army of the Guards, commander Liu Shaoqing.
Chapter completed!