Xia Bohai said: "Lao Qin's awakening is very good, the battle of Beijing is not only of great political and strategic significance, but also can solve our financial pressure, which is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone." Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Xiao Jianjun said: "I also remembered this, now we still have more than 15,000 prisoners of the Eight-Nation Alliance? If the negotiations are successful, if the countries want to ransom these prisoners, they will have to spend a sum of money, at least another 12 million silver." ”

Xu Jichao said with a smile: "Chief of Staff, don't forget, these captives are now our free labor, even if we receive a ransom fee, but so many free laborers are gone, we can't actually earn much?"

Xiao Jianjun patted his head and said, "I forgot about this stubble, then report the ransom fee higher, we can't do a loss-making business." ”

Xia Bohai said: "Okay, it's too early to say this, as long as the money has not yet arrived, it is not ours, and it cannot be included in the budget, so the next stage of financial arrangements is still in accordance with the budget formulated by the Ministry of Finance, and other arrangements will be made after the money is in hand." If everyone is all right, that's all for today's meeting. ”

At this moment, Wang Jun, the minister of ***, said: "I still have a little more things. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "Say, what's the matter?"

Wang Jun said: "This matter has nothing to do with the report of the Ministry of Finance, but while everyone is here, I will mention it first." Li Hongzhang came to visit Tianjin this time, and he was accompanied by reporters from three newspapers, which also reminded us that it is also necessary for us to establish a newspaper of our own, as our propaganda furniture, and I don't need to say anything about the functional role of newspapers, because everyone understands that newspapers are absolutely indispensable for us at present. ”

Xia Bohai thought for a while and said: "Okay, Minister Wang, your proposal is very good, but it is still in accordance with the process, now the Ministry of Finance has a budget plan, so it needs to submit the relevant plan in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Finance, and then submit it to the Executive Committee for approval." ”

Wang Jun nodded and said, "Okay, we will prepare a plan immediately according to the requirements of the Ministry of Finance." ”

Then there was nothing to do, so Xia Bohai announced the dismissal of the meeting, and unconsciously, the meeting had lasted for more than two hours. Xu Jichao and the four of them met together again and made some adjustments and arrangements for the next work, because tomorrow Qin Zheng will rush to Qingdao to talk with the German envoy, and then go to Shanghai to negotiate with various countries; while Xiao Jianjun's main energy will be on the planning and organization of the Beijing Campaign, and he will also be separated from government affairs for the time being, so for a period of time in the future, the government affairs will be mainly responsible for Xia Bohai and Xu Jichao, and now it is natural to explain everyone's work.

Early the next morning, Qin Zheng set out from Tianjin with the three battalions he had just formed, first rushed to Dagukou, boarded a ship at the port, and set off for Qingdao. Li Sanjie, minister of foreign affairs, was in charge of the preparations for the talks in Shanghai, and kept in touch with Qin Zheng.

This time, however, the Central Military Commission specially approved the dispatch of the amphibious dock landing ship Changbaishan to transport three battalions of soldiers to Qingdao, and also sent the Kunming and Sanya warships to escort them.

In the old time and space, the Changbaishan ship could be regarded as one of the most advanced amphibious dock landing ships at that time, and its overall performance was roughly equivalent to that of the San Antonio-class amphibious dock landing ships of the United States, but after the new Yuan Day, the Changbaishan ship only played a certain role in the Battle of Dagukou and the Battle of Weihaiwei. This is mainly because there are not many amphibious landing combat missions that the traverser needs to carry out, so the Changbaishan ship has little use, that is, in the Dagukou Battle and the Weihaiwei Campaign, the main function of the Changbaishan ship is to project troops, not amphibious landing operations.

Of course, force projection is also one of the main tasks of amphibious dock landing ships, and the Changbaishan ship has a huge hull and a wide interior space, and can carry a large number of close-range landing equipment, so it is also very suitable to carry out force projection tasks. After all, being able to project as many troops as possible to the battlefield in the shortest possible time is also an important direction for the performance of an army's combat effectiveness.

According to the standard of the Changbaishan ship, it can fit four medium-sized steam cushion landing craft, about 50 armored vehicles of various types, and a standard marine battalion (about 500 people) and its equipment. After the vehicle compartment is emptied, the number of people on board can reach about 1,200 people, and all the soldiers of the three newly built battalions can be loaded at one time. Moreover, the Changbai Mountain ship uses diesel fuel as fuel, and in this era, diesel fuel has already appeared, so the Changbai Mountain ship does not need to worry about fuel.

The sea and land distance from Tianjin to Qingdao is about 700 kilometers, the maximum speed of the Changbaishan ship is 20 knots, the economic speed is 16 knots, and it takes about 20 hours at most to reach Qingdao, in this era, this is quite a fast speed, the speed of the general transport ship is only 10-12 knots, and it takes 30 hours. The Kunming and Sanya warships are to strengthen Qingdao's coastal defense forces, in case Shanghai attacks Qingdao from the sea after the talks break down.

Qin Zheng and his entourage arrived at Dagukou at about nine o'clock in the morning, and the soldiers boarded the Changbai ship, while Qin Zheng took the Kunming ship, and the three-ship warship set off from Dagukou at ten o'clock in the morning, and then marched all the way east along the coastline, and arrived at the sea near Yangma Island at more than eight o'clock in the evening.

Qin Zheng looked in the direction of Yangma Island on the helicopter platform at the rear of the Kunming ship, and saw that the lights on the island were quite bright, and he could see very clearly in the dark night.

At this time, the traverser had already started construction on Yangma Island, which was actually to bring Yangma Island under their control, and the officials of the Qing court simply turned a deaf ear to this, as if they did not see it, and basically acquiesced in the traverser's occupation of Yangma Island.

Qin Zheng sighed softly, although the current crossing group has basically gained a firm foothold in Tianjin and Qingdao, there are still many things to solve, it can be said that there are thousands of things, if you can give the crossing group a year, even if it is half a year, it will be good, the crossing can basically straighten out the current things, and then enter a benign development period, even if there is another major event, you can also deal with it calmly. Therefore, it can be said that the current crossing group is at the most critical moment, if this period of time is passed smoothly, then the crossing group will be completely stabilized.

And this meeting with the German envoy is also an important factor related to whether the crossing group can smoothly pass through this period of time, because Germany is the most important breakthrough point for the crossers to divide the eight-nation coalition forces, so if the talks with the German envoy are successful, then the crossers will have enough confidence to participate in the negotiations in Shanghai, even if the negotiations break down, it will not have much impact, and on the contrary, the pressure on the crossers to participate in the negotiations will be greatly increased, and after the negotiations break down, the variables are too great, and even Qin Zheng can not grasp the development of the situation.

Of course, the traverser was also fully prepared for this meeting with the German envoy, in addition to the drawings of the three types of British warships thrown out when he first came into contact with Germany, the traverser also prepared the drawings of several other weapons, and the technology of this era was completely achievable, although it was not as important as the three types of British warships, but if Germany got the drawings of these weapons, it would greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the German army. Bi Jing can now use the traverser to move Germany, and what impresses Germany is the new weapon, and now Germany is ambitious, and it is the era when it wants to compete with Britain for territory under the sun, so Qin Zheng believes that these weapon materials can completely impress Germany.

However, although the idea is good, no one dares to guarantee that Germany will cooperate with the traverser, after all, up to now, Qin Zheng still does not know who the German envoy is, what his personality and temper are, and Germany's secrecy work is quite good. Of course, Germany also had to keep it secret, after all, such private contact with the traverser violated the principle of unity of action of the eight-nation coalition, and although the eight countries did not take this principle seriously, they still had to respect it on the surface, otherwise it would be easy to lose the moral supremacy. Therefore, it can only be done in private and in secret.

And even if he persuaded the German envoy, it did not mean that the goal of the traverser was achieved, because Qin Zheng knew that the person who made the decision in Germany was Kaiser Wilhelm II, and this emperor was also famous in history for his capriciousness, unscrupulousness, and self-esteem, and often pretended to be clever and did something that made people laugh and cry, so whether Germany could cooperate with the traverser in the end ultimately depended on this emperor who has always been changeable. And this highlights the importance of the German envoy, if the German envoy is a trusted minister of Wilhelm II, the grasp is naturally much greater, so the selection of the German envoy is even more important.

Thinking of this, Qin Zheng also sighed, it was useless to think about these things no matter how much he thought about them, because this was not something he could control, and he could only wait to see the German envoy.

At this moment, I only heard someone behind me: "Political commissar, you haven't rested yet." ”

Qin Zheng looked back, it turned out to be Shang Jinfeng, the captain of the Kunming ship, Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Captain Shang, you didn't sleep either." ”

Shang Jinfeng said: "I just handed over the shift, and I wanted to come out and take a breath, but I didn't expect the political commissar to be there." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "If it was in Tianjin, I'm afraid I'm still working now? It's rare to relax now, and I haven't been on the ship for a long time, so just turn around, I'm afraid there won't be many opportunities to get on the warship in the future." ”

Shang Jinfeng also nodded, and said: "Yes, there is only one shipwreck left in Dagukou, and when all the salvage is completed, the repair work will be carried out, and we will all have to transfer to the warships of this era in the future, and there will not be too many opportunities to sail the Kunming ship in the future." ”

Qin Zheng said: "That's no way, the technology of our warships is too advanced, and they can't be repaired at all in this era, and these warships will be retired sooner or later." ”

Shang Jinfeng said: "But it's not bad to be able to drive warships in this era, heavy ships and huge guns, I liked warships in this era when I was young, I can't imagine that there is really a chance now, Huang Zhe is preparing a plan for repair, I hope to repair a few ships soon, and it's better to have a good time." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Oh, that kid has a heart, and hasn't assigned him this task yet?"

Shang Jinfeng said with a smile: "He doesn't have a heart, but he really likes the warships of this era, just like when I was young, I heard that he also designed a few warships, hoping to see them built with his own eyes." ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, there will be this day." ”