When Li Taitai and Yixin and others quarreled over the ownership of the fleet, Zheng Qifeng, who was close to Dalian, was also busy, and the high-level officials of North Manchukuo suddenly found a very interesting opportunity. Zheng Qifeng, who has been presiding over the trade of North Manchurian in Dalian and other coastal areas, naturally became the best person to take advantage of this advantage.

The two giant merchant ships on the slipway of the Dalian shipyard were pushed directly into the sea, and whether they could be repaired in the future was no longer within Zheng Qifeng's consideration, and the two cargo ships were no longer important to the North Manchurian government. The two 7,000-ton battleships, which had just been renamed the "Luoxia" and the "Lonely Crane," were urgently pushed onto the slipway, put on iron armor, changed boilers, and installed the latest Manchurian naval guns, so as to complete the overall upgrade of the battleships in the shortest possible time.

Botun and other foreign officers were a little lost. When they left, there were only old wooden capsized ships in the country, and most of the people were ignorant of the sea, and Goxinga said that they were the hope of the future navy, and it was with this belief that they practiced penance in a foreign country for four years. But this time back, they had too many surprises. Guo Xing'a has become a general, and with such a large territory, he has already fought against the imperial court. But what surprised them the most was the navy, without the hope of these navies, Goxinga actually had a huge fleet.

The people who stayed abroad thought that these sailors could not operate sails and steam engines, let alone know how to operate guns on ships, but the actual situation was different from what they imagined. These sailors were very skilled in sail locks, and they knew very well how to use the steam engine, and those who did not know how to operate the guns were the officers who stayed abroad. After all, none of them had ever seen the breech guns with screw bolts, and the arsenal was developing too fast during the time they were away.

At this time, the "Overseas School" and the "Inland River School" were still in the honeymoon period, so the "Inner River School", which had a relatively strong foundation, selflessly provided sailors and ground support for the foreign generals who had just returned to China, and even more selflessly assigned the newly formed Marine Corps to the foreign generals a regiment. Thanks to Zheng Qifeng's full help and the selfless dedication of the "inland river faction", Bodun's buying fleet was officially formed two months after returning to China, and was awarded the title of Bohai Fleet by Guoxinga.

Guo Xinga took a break from his busy schedule and personally presided over the ceremony of conferring titles on the officers of the Bohai Fleet, and appointed Rear Admiral Botun as commander-in-chief of the North Manchurian Navy. At the banquet after the ceremony, Guo Xing'a and Bo Dun did not attend, because they were going to have a small circle meeting with Zheng Qifeng and Rong Hong. Although Guo Xing'a had a golden finger and could meet the future of Aspen's fleet, he still learned about Asben's people in detail from Bo Dun and Rong Hong, and after determining that Asben would definitely not obey the orders of the Qing court, Goxinga finalized his plan to capture Aspen's fleet.

Li Taitai really cooperated with Guo Xing'a, and as soon as Guo Xing'a made a plan in Dalian, he issued an ultimatum to Yi Xin in Beijing, which is the famous one-word note in history. The two sides have been grinding for almost two months, in fact, Yixin and Su Shun have partially accepted Li Taitai's unreasonable demands, the situation is stronger than people, and in order to keep the fleet, the imperial court has to retreat, but Li Taitai has really gone too far this time.

A few years back, when the Anglo-French troops came to the city, he was not so arrogant, Li Tai actually wanted to threaten the imperial court with a fleet, he really did not understand the Chinese. The court can suffer a loss, and the court can also be bullied by foreigners, but beating people does not slap their faces, and Li Taitai does not save any face for the court, so the result can only be a face-turn. Even Yi Xin, who wanted to accommodate Li Taitai the most, couldn't help him say a word this time, although millions of taels of silver were precious, the face of the court was more important. Therefore, the imperial court only replied to Li Tai's unchangeable note.

Li Taitai also wanted to find Hurd to help him threaten the Qing court, but Hurd didn't sell any face to the old chief, but robbed Li Taitai of nothing. Li Taitai's arrogant and rude behavior was well known to the ministers of various countries in Beijing who had already been clamoring, and international public opinion was in an uproar, and many people threw out the theory of British threats, believing that this was Britain's trick to annex China.

"Your arrogance has not only ruined yourself, but also frustrated my career, with the result that all hopes for China's progress have been placed on the government of North Manchuria in the north. The Manchurian government in the north started as a military bloc, and although they were currently friendly to the British Empire, they would eventually become very dangerous if they were not contained by a powerful central empire. After leaving a famous quote for Li Tai, Hurd swept him away.

Li Tai, who made a fuss for two months, but ended up getting nothing, was extremely disappointed, he almost became the governor of China, but why should the hateful Chinese refuse him! Li Tai asked himself countless times in frustration. Of course, he can't be self-interested, and Li Tai can also hurt others, so Aspen began to prepare to really dismiss the fleet. Asben only obeys Li Taitai's orders, and definitely does not bird the Qing government, since Li Taitai and the Qing Dynasty can't get along, he naturally has nothing to fear. Li Taitai also continued to fight for interests, and asked the Qing government to compensate Li Taitai, Aspen and the crew's labor. Asben is going to study the sale of ships, this fleet can't be given to the Qing Dynasty, he gets it to sell internationally, and it's a lot of income.

Li Tai's last ruse succeeded, and the Qing government paid the fleet for nine months. The repatriation fleet paid more than 370,000 taels of severance pay, and an additional 10,000 taels were given to Aspen and 14,000 taels to Li Tai. The fleet was handled by Li Tai, but the British government had to return the millions of taels of Chinese money in the future. When Aspen and Li Taitai were researching where to sell ships, Wei Tuma, who had just taken over the duties of British minister, met Rong Hong, an old acquaintance, and Zheng Qifeng, the plenipotentiary minister of Northern Manchuria, brought by Rong Hong.

"Mr. Minister, we are here to complain about your country's businessmen for commercial fraud and shameless plundering of employers' property!" Zheng Qifeng took out the tradition of Chinese lobbyists, and the first sentence must calm you.

"Mr. Zheng, Britain is a country of gentlemen, how can there be such a thing?" When Wei Toma saw that Rong Hong had become a translator again, he knew that the Manchurians were not good at coming this time, so he would come first and push 265.

"Mr. Li Tai of your country is employed by our government to procure warships from your country on behalf of our government. But why did the warships become Mr. Li Taitai's personal belongings and become his bargaining chips to blackmail the Chinese government, and if he did not agree to his demands, he would dismiss these warships that our country bought at a high price! I've searched through the Public Law of Nations and haven't found such a clause, isn't that a fraud? Or rather, this is a government act of your government! In the future, will the Qing government and the North Manchuria government purchase materials from your country in this situation, and will our rights and interests still be guaranteed? Zheng Qifeng was indignant.

"Oh! Oh, God! I'm so sorry! This is by no means an act of government of the British Empire, but purely a private act of Lee Thai. Mr. Hurd and Mr. Anson Po, the American Minister, have already spoken to me about this matter, and we will punish Lee Thai for his despicable acts, and at the same time compensate your country for the purchase of the ship. Wei Tuoma was sprayed by Zheng Qifeng, but he was relieved, Hurd and Pu Anchen mediated, there is already a solution to this matter, although the Qing Dynasty still has to pay some money, but there is basically a plan acceptable to both parties.

"As long as it's not the government of your country. I, the Supreme Head of the Government of North Manchuria, His Excellency General Guo Xing'a, have given an order that on our own land, we will take back what belongs to us ourselves! With your explanation, I think that some of these small conflicts will certainly not damage the diplomatic relations between you and me! Zheng Qifeng was very satisfied with Wei Tuma's reply.

"What do you want to do?" Wittoma smelled *.

The commander-in-chief of the North Manchurian Navy, Bo Dun, was already commanding all 68 main warships of the North Manchurian Navy when Wei Tuma and Zheng Qifeng were playing tongue twisters, and they were approaching Dagukou, preparing to take the Aspen fleet of the Qing Dynasty. After returning from school, he was able to command a big battle of this magnitude, and Botun should have been in a good mood, but because of some episodes before the war, he now became like a bulge.

Botun's Bohai Fleet currently has only sixteen large and small warships, and it is much smaller than the Aspen fleet in terms of tonnage. Even if you have calculated or not, it is not easy to successfully attack the Aspen fleet with twenty warships. Therefore, Botun very much needed the cooperation of the First Rapid Reaction Fleet, but Bian Changdi, who had always been very face-saving, refused the newly appointed commander-in-chief, because they had a bit of a private job in Vladivostok. The new officials have three fires when they take office, Bian Changdi is so faceless, Bo Dun almost didn't break out, although he can only endure it for the sake of unity, but he must be very uncomfortable in his heart. Bolton and his classmates pondered for three days before they could barely find a way to restrain Aspen's fleet. However, the Bohai Fleet had just arrived off the coast of Dagu, and the First Rapid Response Fleet actually drove over, and the target was actually the same as them, which was also the Aspen Fleet at the mouth of Dagu. It is already very excessive to make excuses not to listen to the orders of the commander-in-chief, and now it is a few meanings to suddenly run by yourself. No matter how good Botun is, he will scold his mother at the bow of the boat. This is * naked to fight for credit, it seems that the first rapid response fleet is not convinced! Not only did Bo Dun scold his mother, but all the foreign officers soared, and the people who grew up in the river were too unruly.

The explanation given by Bian Changdi is true, but it is definitely not human words. Their first rapid response fleet was going to do private work, and they happened to pass by here, and then they heard that the commander-in-chief was going to clean up the Aspen fleet, so they came to help. From Botun's point of view, this sounds like a lie, and the formation of the First Rapid Reaction Fleet doesn't look like it came to support at all, otherwise you are so far forward It means a few things. However, Bo Dun still left for too long, and the sneak attack on Aspen's fleet, except for Guo Xing'a, Zheng Qifeng, Rong Hong and himself, only a few staff officers around him knew, how did Bian Changdi know, and Guo Xing'a couldn't cross Bo Dun to give Bian Changdi an order? Although Botun thought crookedly, he still brought the first rapid response fleet, after all, the Aspen fleet is not easy to mess with, and the more people are more courageous.

As for how to recover the Aspen fleet in the port of Dagu, Botun devised a very British style of play. He was going to quickly rush the fleet in a column to the mouth of Dagu, and then quickly turn to block the port in a horizontal formation, trapping the Aspen fleet in the harbor. Marines were then sent to land, set up artillery positions behind the Aspen fleet, and bombard the back of the Aspen fleet from the shore. The method of flanking the front and rear forces the ill-prepared Aspen fleet to surrender to it in panic. The biggest loophole in this plan is that the Bohai Fleet is understaffed, and it is likely that it will not be able to completely block the port, and now with the 52 medium-sized warships of the First Rapid Reaction Fleet, this loophole can be solved.

The fleet hid in the sea off Dagu for a night, and in the morning sun, it began to kill the whole team towards the mouth of Dagu. The advance of the column in the early stage was perfect, and the remaining officers and men of Aspen's fleet noticed the anomaly, but before they could figure out what was going on, Bolton saw in the telescope the hope of victory. But when the fleet turned, great confusion occurred, and Botun's hopes of victory were almost dashed.

The sixteen warships commanded by Botun and the Liuyang generals all completed a graceful nearly ninety-degree turn, but the fifty-two sea wolves of the First Rapid Reaction Fleet seriously deviated from the scheduled course. Botun hurriedly called someone to play the flag, asking Bian Changdi's group of fools to hurry up to the main flagship and complete the integration of the queue. But Bo Dun was wrong, Bian Changdi and the others did not deviate from the course, they were not prepared to follow Bo Dun's plan at all. In the eyes of Bian Changdi and others, Botun's plan is really too motherly, and it is completely aggrieved. The whole fleet has become twisted and twisted, and it may not be able to catch all the enemies, what kind of war is this! So they chose their own path independently, and Lao Maozi liked to charge with a bayonet of three hundred yards, so the top students of the Vladivostok Naval College, deeply influenced by their instructors, started a three-nautical-mile fleet charge.

Bo Dun looked at Bian Changdi and the others who were rushing towards the enemy, and when they were still stunned, the bow main gun and the two side side batteries of the First Rapid Reaction Fleet had all aimed their guns at the enemy and began to bombard. The Aspen fleet, which thought it was resting in its home port, was caught off guard, and many of the battleships' masts and other objects above the freeboard were hit, and the columns of water that soared into the sky were also raised in the sea. Under tremendous pressure, the lazy sailors dodged one after another, and for a moment they could not return fire at all, only a few low-ranking officers with quick brains were ordering the soldiers, and hurriedly lit fires and anchored and fled to the open sea.

However, they had no chance, the battleships were one-on-three, the cruisers were one-on-two, and the destroyers were one-on-one. Caught by several warships, let alone small warships, even if it is a big guy of 8,000 tons, he can't get out of it for a while when he is caught by a small boat in the port. And the furious * onboard battle began again, and the marines rushed to the enemy ships, and the eight-star Japanese flags were raised on the battlefield.

The 1st Rapid Reaction Fleet captured the entire Aspen fleet alive in a hard-fought battle for forty minutes, but the ships on both sides suffered some damage. But Bolton and the other high-ranking people who had returned from their stay abroad did nothing, and they watched the victory of a madman solidly.