"Your Majesty, in fact, the Admiral class ironclad is not suitable for the Ming Empire's navy. Your navy is already the strongest in the entire Far East region. There is no need to spend so much money to buy such a huge ironclad ship. A cruiser with a smaller displacement and more agility is more suitable for you. The Imperial Navy of the Sun Never Sets Empire had many excellent cruisers.”Sir Ognes said.
Sir Ogner wanted to sell some warships to earn a certain amount of profit.
They didn't really want to sell national treasures like the Admiral class ironclads. It would be best if he could sell some cruisers.
This would allow the Sun Never Sets Empire to earn a lot of profits, and it would not pose much of a threat to the Imperial Navy.
The emperor thought for a moment and then nodded.""Alright, Sir, you've convinced me. Perhaps buying a cruiser was more suitable than buying an ironclad.”
"Yes, Your Majesty. I believe that your choice is absolutely correct.”Sir Ogner was overjoyed.
"The Royal Navy of the Sun Never Sets Empire is equipped with a variety of advanced cruisers. There are 'Leand-class' cruisers,'Calypso-class' cruisers,'Surprise-class' cruisers, and so on! Which level does the Ming Empire need to buy?”Sir Ogner asked.
The emperor frowned and thought for a moment before saying,""I hope to purchase your latest Mersey-class cruiser!”
"Mersey-class cruiser?" Sir Ogner hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Very well, Your Majesty. You are truly wise.‘Mersey-class cruiser, it was definitely the most advanced cruiser!”Sir Ognes said.
The Mersey-class cruiser had a displacement of 4,050 tons. It was equipped with two 8-inch main cannons, which were 203mm main cannons. In addition, it also had ten 6-inch auxiliary cannons, which were 152mm auxiliary cannons, as well as three six-pound cannons, three three-pound cannons, and nine machine guns. In addition to two torpedoes, its maximum speed was 18 knots. In terms of armor, the command tower armor was 228mm, the gun carriage armor was 50mm, and the deck armor was 50mm.
Although, the defense and firepower of the Mersey-class cruiser were not as strong as the ironclads. However, they were equipped with a large number of secondary cannons, which were also very sharp firepower.
Furthermore, the emperor knew that in the upcoming war, the rapid-fire cannons would be the main firepower.
The Mersey-class cruiser was very powerful in this aspect.
"Your Majesty, how many Mersey-class cruisers do you want to order?”Sir Ogner asked.
"Four ships!" the emperor replied.
"In that case, Your Majesty, we can sell it to you for 1.2 million taels of silver!”Sir Ognes said.
The emperor shook his head.
"Impossible. This price is too expensive. We can't accept it. At most, six hundred thousand taels of silver per boat!" The Emperor of Guang Dong cut the price by half.
"Oh my god! 600,000 taels of silver for one boat? This was absolutely impossible. The cost is more than that!" Sir Ogner exclaimed.
"Alright then, I will take a step back. Eight hundred thousand taels of silver for one boat, no more. I believe that you have already made a considerable profit at this price!”The emperor raised the price a little.
"Your Majesty, we can't sell the warship at this price. We can also take a step back. 1,100,000 taels of silver per ship!”Sir Ogner looked like he was in pain.
Following that, the two of them haggled over every penny, like hawkers in the market, constantly bargaining.
In the end, the price of each battleship was set at one million taels of silver.
Four ships would cost a total of four million taels of silver, which was one million pounds.
With this price, the Empire of the Sun Never Sets would naturally have a considerable profit. The Emperor of Guang Dong knew this as well. However, if they did not agree to this price, the Sun Never Sets Empire would not agree to sell these warships to the Ming Empire.
These four Mersey-class cruisers were regarded by the Emperor of Guang Dong as the main force in future naval battles.
"Sir, I hope that your country can modify the Mersey-class cruiser during construction. The 203mm main guns at the bow and stern of the ship were replaced with twin 152mm main guns.”said the emperor of Guang Dong.
A main cannon with a large caliber would have a low firing rate and hit rate in a naval battle. It would not be of much use.
It was just like the 305mm main cannon of the Dingyuan-class ironclad warship. It looked scary, but it was useless if it could not hit the enemy's warship!
On the contrary, if it was replaced by a twin 152mm rapid-fire cannon, the firing speed would be faster and the firepower would be more powerful. In the future naval battles, he would also have an even better performance.
"No problem at all. The customer is God. We can modify it for the Ming Empire!”Sir Ogner agreed.
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