The French army marched into Mawei Port in the name of travel, but the civil and military forces of Fujian could only stare at it with big eyes, and there was nothing they could do. According to the "Treaty of Beijing" signed more than 20 years ago, British and French warships had the right to enter treaty ports, and Fuzhou happened to be one of them. Now that the war and peace are not clear, the Fujian ministers did not dare to provoke without permission, so they could only let the French army enter the Majiang River.

Fujian's civil and military forces were at a loss, so they could only ask Beijing for instructions, but Beijing's Li Hongzhang had an even more headache than them. On the day that the French Far East Fleet sailed into Majiang, the French government issued an ultimatum to the Qing court, demanding that the Qing court meet such outrageous demands as "withdrawal of troops" and "indemnity" within seven days. France threatened to occupy the port of Fuzhou as "collateral" if China did not accept its demands. Because Li Hongzhang, who had been scolded a lot before, was ready to bear it anymore, and wanted to transfer the Beiyang Navy Division and his newly formed Huaijun Six Towns to the south to teach the French a good lesson, but Yiyun and Guo Xing'a made a fuss again.

After Yi Xun came to power, there were no measures in domestic affairs, and there were many moves in diplomacy, and he was already in trouble with the French, and suddenly found trouble in Changchun. The reason why Yiyun is in trouble with Changchun is very funny, he thinks that the name of the Chinese Empire in Guoxing takes advantage of the Qing Dynasty, and he wants to get this advantage back. Li Hongzhang persuaded Yiyun several times on the grounds that Guo Xing'a considered himself a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, but the emperor's son couldn't listen to anything, and he had to ask for trouble at a critical moment.

The era name of the Chinese Empire on the Guoxing side has been used for several years, and no one has said anything, and no one has ever cared, but Yiyun has studied the trick. Changchun used to call the Qing Dynasty the Qing Empire, and the Qing Dynasty itself called itself the world, but the name of the country used by the Qing Dynasty in foreign documents was the Great Qing Kingdom of China. After Yixun's analysis, if Changchun was called the Chinese Empire, wouldn't it include the Qing Dynasty, and the imperial court was not nominally inferior to Changchun. Therefore, ignoring the fact that the imperial court was entangled with the French and urgently needed assistance from Changchun, Yi Xun resolutely called Changchun and asked Guo Xinga to change the name of the country.

Changchun was very cooperative, agreed to change the country name, and also gave Yiyun an idea, and everyone changed the country name. The Qing Dynasty was changed to the Chinese Qing Empire, and Changchun was renamed the Chinese Manchurian Empire. Yiyun was very satisfied, Cixi also felt very good, and both sides changed the country name, and the matter came to an end. However, as soon as the power of Changchun to change the country name was issued, there was a chain reaction in this matter, and countries in the Chinese cultural circle followed suit and changed the country name. The Japanese Empire of China, the Lanfang Republic of China, the East Commercial Republic of China, the Kingdom of Korea and the Kingdom of Burma all sprung up overnight. In fact, all countries are just moving closer to the boss, and Japan simply follows her husband's surname, but Li Hongzhang will inevitably make a mistake.

"This is Goxinga's treacherous scheme!"

Li Hongzhang, who is quite Zhuge Liang, is extremely vigilant about Guo Xing'a, for fear that if he is not careful, Guo Xing'a will wave his army into the customs. This time, the subject countries of the Qing Dynasty and the relatives of Guoxing'a have changed their country names, and it seems that everyone respects the Qing Dynasty together, but there is always a feeling that they are collectively moving closer to Changchun. After everyone is subsumed under the name of China, it is equivalent to leveling, and if Guoxing Aru annexes the Qing Dynasty within China, it seems to make more sense in name. In order to protect his court, Li Hongzhang had to be careful.

To beware of Changchun, Li Hongzhang had to be cautious about France. France's unreasonable demands must certainly not be agreed, but France must still be treated with peace as much as possible. The Qing Dynasty's family background is so little, but it can't be taken out and spelled out, it must be used carefully, and it has to be left a little to guard against Changchun. Therefore, after thinking about it several times, Li Hongzhang called back to Fuzhou, still focusing on peace, and never provoking himself.

Zhang Peilun, minister of the Maritime Affairs Department of Fujian, He Jing, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, He Ruzhang, minister of Fujian Shipping, Zhang Zhaodong, governor of Fujian, and Mu Tushan, general of Fuzhou, were at a loss and could only handle the matter in accordance with the supreme instructions of the central authorities. They gave the most friendly hospitality to the French troops who sailed into the Majiang River, so that the French could not find fault with it. At the same time, he also strictly ordered all ships of the Fujian Navy Division: "It is not allowed to fire the cannon first, and the violator will be killed even if he wins." Before the war began, the hands and feet of the Fujian sailors were bound by their own people.

Then the French were very happy, they ate and drank Daqing every day, and then began to explore the Majiang River. French ships are in Majiang every day, with four or five or five or six ships, coming and going freely, and entering and exiting without hindrance. The hydrological situation near the Majiang River and the deployment of the Qing army were all clearly understood. Moreover, when the French ships were stationed, they were connected with the warships of the Fujian Navy Division, and could monitor the movements of the Fujian Navy Division day and night. The Fujian Navy Division was completely besieged by French ships, and war was on the verge of breaking out.

Li Hongzhang in Beijing looked ahead and backward, and the ruling princes in Fuzhou were ignorant, but the generals of the Fujian Navy Division were not fools, and they could see every move of the French ship! The enemy has already entered the courtyard of his own house, and he is in a posture of arming and fighting, and if he doesn't do it, he won't wait for death! The tonnage and weapon configuration of the Fujian Navy Division were far inferior to those of the French ships, and they tied their hands and feet again, and they lost before the battle began. In order to reverse the situation, the "Feiyun" superintendent led the rank of commander to supplement the general of the Guangdong Pinghai battalion, Gao Tengyun, the "Fusheng" and "Jiansheng" superintendent led Lan Ling to supplement the rank of general of the guerrilla capital, Lu Han, the commander of the "Fuxing" management and driving capital, Chen Ying, the commander of the capital of the five grades, the commander of the "Zhenwei" of the capital of the capital to stay in Fujian to guard Xu Shoushan, the title of "Fusheng" to stay in Fujian to supplement the garrison of the first thousand general Ye Chen, and the "Jiansheng" to manage the commander of the capital of the five-grade military merit Lin Lin and others, together found Zhang Peilun and other powerful figures, asking for the first strike to preempt the enemy. It's a pity that they waited for a very cruel ending. Zhang Peilun and others, who resolutely carried out Li Hongzhang's orders, not only vetoed their proposals, but also scolded them, showing the contempt of the literati and doctors for Qiu Ba to the fullest.

The Fujian gang of masters didn't make sense, and the officers didn't want to sit at home and wait for death, so they opened up a second front. The officers begged their grandfather to tell their grandmother, and a group of scholars and doctors came, and they directly wrote to Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. They didn't dare to mention the matter of starting a war first, but they could ask the Beiyang Fleet to go south to save the situation. All the ships of the Beiyang Fleet were provided by Manchuria, and the officers also graduated from the Manchurian Imperial Naval University, and their strength was very strong. The two main ironclad ships of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, both with a tonnage of more than 7,000 tons, can crush the French army at any time, and can definitely suppress the arrogance of the French army, so that the French do not dare to act rashly. However, Li Hongzhang insisted on suing for peace, tried his best to avoid war, and refused reinforcements, for fear that the southward movement of the Beiyang Fleet would provoke the French.

He Jing, Zhang Peilun, He Ruzhang, Zhang Zhaodong and others were also bent on seeking peace, and made every effort to retreat to the French army, for fear that the war would start in Fujian. Fuzhou General Mu Tushan has some different opinions, but he, the Fuzhou general who can be bullish in the early Qing Dynasty, is no longer valuable at this time, and he is completely a leftover role, and everyone doesn't care much about the opinions of this waste flag man. Zhang Cheng, the commander in chief of the fleet of the "Yangwu," the flagship of the Fujian Navy Division, carried out the orders of the literati and masters to the end, ordering all ships not to issue bullets, not to lift anchor on their own without an order, and to disarm themselves.

The French fleet was not a guest, and after some reconnaissance, the whole fleet entered the port of Majiang. The French ships anchored on the Majiang River in front of Luoxing Tower, occupied a favorable position, reconnoitred the terrain, and anchored next to the warships of the Fujian Shipyard Fleet, posing a great threat to the Chinese warships and the Fujian Shipyard. Zhang Peilun couldn't sit still at this time, he felt a great threat, so he sent messages again and again, asking other Sanyo fleets to send ships to support. But in the end, only the Guangdong naval division of the old brother Zhang Zhidong sent two warships over, and the others ignored him at all.

When the war clouds were gathering in Fujian, France once again presented an ultimatum to the Qing Dynasty to extort a huge amount of money, but the Qing court categorically rejected it. Then the French government ordered the acting minister in Beijing to withdraw his flag and return to China, and at the same time ordered Guba to prepare for war. After receiving the order, Guba convened a combat meeting of the captains of all ships that night, and decided to launch a full-scale attack at two o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, and take advantage of the low tide when the hull shifted direction to fight against the Fujian Naval Division. Because the ships of the Fujian Navy Division are moored with the bow, the hull changes direction with the rise and fall of the tide. At high tide, the bow points downstream, and at low tide, the bow points upstream. The low tide could have left most of the Fujian sailors in front of the French ships, unable to make a strong counterattack. The French fleet took advantage of the favorable opportunity of the low tide to launch an attack, and took advantage of the opportunity of the low tide to transfer the hull of the ship to launch an attack on the Fujian naval division, and the French warships could use the bow to attack the stern of the Qing warship. The stern is the weakest point of the warship, which is very vulnerable to damage, and even if the Fujian naval division at anchor is ordered to respond, it must have to make a semi-circular turn before it can turn the bow of the ship to fight, so that the French fleet has a "decisive strategic advantage".

In order to avoid misunderstanding between the warships in the harbor, the French fleet sent the notice of the start of war to the consulates of various countries six hours before the start of the war, and informed the four British warships "Champion", "Sapphire", "Vigilance", and the American "Enterprise" anchored in Majiang. However, the Qing army in Fujian did not receive any news at all, and the war began at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and the French minister did not deliver the all-French proclamation to the Qing side until 10:20 p.m., and it was handed over to Li Hongzhang in Beijing. By the time Li Hongzhang had translated the notice and sent a telegram to Fujian to prepare for the war, it was already past 12 o'clock.

He Jing, Zhang Peilun, He Ruzhang, Zhang Zhaodong and others were shocked after hearing the report, and they didn't know how to deal with it at all. After some deliberation, they came up with an idea that had a brainstorm. Neither urgently ordered the Fujian naval division to prepare for war, nor did it send reinforcements to hold the fort, but on the grounds that China had no time to prepare for battle, he ordered Wei Han, a famous engineer of the Fujian Shipping Administration who was proficient in French, to go to the French side by ship, and asked to postpone the war until the next day.

On board the "Volda," the flagship of the French fleet, he saw a small boat coming from the Chinese side, and Gu Ba directly judged that it was an attack by a Qing warship, and gave the order to start the attack at 1:45 a.m.