Since Bai Nan came to power, the restrictions on the export of Datang technology have been relaxed a lot, providing opportunities for the further expansion of Datang's various industries, and it is also the layout of global market development and resource integration. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info In the end, the Russians purchased relevant technology and trains from Datang at a high price, of course, the introduction of this technology does not mean that the Tang people are obliged to completely teach the Russians how to make trains.

The contract only includes assistance to Russia in the construction of the railway under the guidance of Datang's technical team, and does not include instructions on how to build steam locomotives and train cars. In other words, the most Russians can learn is railway construction and how to run and maintain it. Although Vorontsov hopes that Russia will be able to build its own trains like the British, Datang believes that Russia does not yet have this technical foundation. Vorontsov himself agreed, but he also felt that with time, Russian craftsmen would be able to imitate the locomotives made by the Tang Dynasty.

The railway that the Russians were going to build started from St. Petersburg, the capital on the Baltic Sea coast, to Moscow, and finally went all the way to the Black Sea coast of Crimea, as Bai Nan expected, with a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers, which can be regarded as the longest railway line that Europe has built or is preparing to build.

If this railway is completed, it is self-evident that it will promote Russia, so Vorontsov and others are also extremely excited. However, Bai Nan was not optimistic, and it was not until the second half of the 19th century that Tsarist Russia built a total of 1,500 kilometers of railways. Tsarist Russia, the north-south railway. I'm afraid it won't be so smooth.

In addition to railway technology. Vorontsov also purchased a large number of machinery and equipment from Datang. Although the scale cannot be compared with the previous British purchase from the Tang Dynasty, it can also be seen that the Russian royal family, which is not particularly wealthy, that is, Catherine II, is extremely courageous, and almost took out the determination to smash the pot and sell the iron land to enrich the country and strengthen the army.

The machines purchased by the Russians include industrial machine tools, steam engines, light manufacturing equipment, steel, mining equipment, etc., and the categories are quite large, and the number is not too large. In fact, by this time, the Russians were already a little shy in their pockets, but Datang offered to provide a loan for Tsarist Russia.

This loan is in no way charitable in nature. The interest rate was not low, and the term was short, only five years, but Vorontsov was still grateful. However, the financial institutions of Datang, that is, because they are bound by state-owned identity and values, do not dare to shear sheep in China, but it is very smooth to pit foreigners.

Borrowing money can be addictive, and the Russians are also fazed when it comes to arms procurement after discovering that Datang can provide such powerful financial services. Russia has always been involved in wars in Europe, and even fought against Ottoman Turkey for centuries. Russia is particularly wary of Ottoman Turkey's purchase of new equipment from European countries. Therefore, Catherine II specially told Vorontsov to buy a batch of new weapons from the Tang Dynasty, including army guns and navy warships.

Vorontsov seemed to feel that there were too many lice, and his body was not itchy, so he gritted his teeth and borrowed a huge sum of money from Datang. The huge amount of money will be used to purchase a range of weapons and equipment, including 30,000 SC-3 rifles, 200 130mm howitzers, 200 81mm mortars, and other army equipment. Vorontsov also wanted to purchase four new cruisers for the Tsarist Navy, which naturally cost too much for the Russians to afford.

The solution provided by the Datang Long Beach Shipyard was a 6,000-ton armored cruiser, that is, a wooden hull with outer armor. Datang's current ships have been built with all-steel, and these are already in backward technology. The cruiser in the plan is actually a freak, she will be equipped with two single-mounted 203 mm naval guns, which is a weakened castrated version of the Datang version for its own use, and it is a big difference in terms of muzzle velocity, range, and rate of fire. The secondary guns were armed with 10 130-mm naval guns and 12 37-mm naval guns, without torpedoes. In terms of power, the multi-expansion steam engine is still used, and the speed can reach more than 16 knots.

It can be said that this 6,000-ton cruiser is the strongest foreign trade warship that Datang has come up with in recent years, and the monkey version is inevitable, but compared with the capital ships of other European navies, the level is definitely conscientious. At least even the capital ships of the British Royal Navy have the ability to win in battle.

Seeing this type of cruiser, Vorontsov's saliva almost came down. Russia needs a few such powerful warships too much, not to mention the Baltic direction, although the Russian Navy in the Black Sea can occupy sea supremacy, but the breakthrough of the Bosphorus is still far away, and Turkey has always controlled the strait and does not allow Russian ships to pass through. But if there were such cruisers, the Russians would be able to walk sideways in the Bosphorus.

At the same time, Datang also promised that after the purchase of these four warships, Datang can support Russia to a certain extent in shipbuilding technology, so that it has the ability to build some small steam ironclad warships, which is also what Russia dreams of.

However, the price of good things is not cheap. The Long Beach shipyard directly offered a price of 6 million don dollars for each cruiser of this type, and Vorontsov originally wanted to get four battleships, so this is 24 million don yuan. This is a huge burden for Russia, which has a pitiful amount of fiscal revenue, and it is almost impossible to afford it.

Datang's financial institutions are willing to provide loans, but with such a large amount of loans, Datang's financial institutions naturally put forward collateral, and this collateral is land!

The Tang demanded that Russia mortgage millions of square kilometers of land from the Tsarist Far East to the Kamchatka Peninsula with sovereign credit, and obtain a loan of 24 million Tang Yuan from the Datang Jiazhou Bank, with a repayment period of 8 years and an annual interest rate of 3.5%. This is definitely beyond Vorontsov's authority, and after some hesitation, he hopes to keep in touch with Datang and return to China for instructions.

Datang also decided to send a diplomatic team to establish a legation in Russia, and contacted and discussed the whole matter by the way.

Vorontsov had an ominous premonition, he felt that this might be a bureau set up by the Tang people, if Russia could not repay the loan, then the Tang Dynasty would naturally have a powerful debt collection company - the Tang Army would personally recover the collateral, and the Tang Dynasty had more than 100,000 military forces in the western Pacific region, and Russia could not resist at all. And if Russia tightens its belt and repays the loan, then the blow to Tsarist Russia's finances will also be huge, and it is likely to fall into other crises.

But one way or another, Russia really needs these four cruisers.

(To be continued.) )