Liu Hanfang of Denglai Qingdao Road and Zhang Bishi, a wealthy man in Nanyang, stood on the top of a hill near the sea, carrying the howling cold wind, looking at the large string of black dots on the sea in the east.

In September last year, with the assistance of Sheng Huaixuan, the Yantai Changyu Brewing Company prepared by Zhang Bishi was approved by the Qing government, and received 15-year patents and 3-year tax exemption policy preferential treatment from Zhili, Fengtian and Dongdong provinces.

During this period, Zhang Bishi ordered a large number of machinery and equipment from France, as well as a large number of oak barrels made of oak from the wooded mountains.

He also summoned a large number of Zhang's children and relatives from Nanyang to come over to help.

In the Yantai Linhai area, Zhang Bishi bought two barren mountains and hired more than 2,000 local people to trim vineyards and build large wine cellars; It also purchased more than 60 acres of land in Yantai City to build a factory.

Although Zhang Bishi took the path of Li Hongzhang through Sheng Huaixuan before, for this big financier who wants to invest nearly three million taels of silver one after another, both Li Bingheng and Weng Tongyi are very welcome, and they are not difficult at all.

Especially on Lafayette's birthday in October last year, Zhang Bishi was summoned by Cixi and repaid 300,000 taels of silver at once, which caused a lot of shock in the government and the opposition.

A few years ago, Zhang Bishi went to Beijing to ask the emperor Weng Tonggong to write an inscription, and Weng Tongshi happily wrote down the five words of 'Yu Brewing Company', each word only received fifty taels, a total of two hundred and fifty taels of silver Runge.

So this time, Li Bingheng specially invited Zhang Bishi over, and this time the two sides got on the line, and in the future, it will be to see how knowledgeable and interesting Zhang Bishi is, and he will be a man.

Liu Hanfang is Li Hongzhang's hardcore confidant, although Li Bingheng's stick has not yet been beaten, the past few months have not been easy.

It is also thanks to the East Customs under his supervision, which is now directly under the jurisdiction of Wang Wenshao, the deputy minister of Beiyang, and Wang Wenshao, a political tumbler with the title of 'oil-soaked loquat nucleus', has never troubled Liu Hanfang since he took office.

Therefore, Li Bingheng has not made a move on Liu Hanfang for the time being, but anyone who is a mirror knows that it is something that cannot be escaped sooner or later.

"It's good now, with this shot of the foreign fleet, our Daqing can be stabilized!"

Zhang Bishi's face, which has been gloomy these days, finally showed a hint of joy.

His nephew Chen Shijie was still trapped in Port Arthur, and he originally expected He Changying, who had spent a lot of money, to be able to take care of the matter, but he was trapped in Shanhaiguan and his life and death were uncertain.

Moreover, he has already spent 300,000 taels of silver in Yantai, ordered more than 300,000 taels of machinery and equipment oak barrels from the West, and spent more than 400,000 taels of various rewards and heavy gifts inside and outside for the approval of the Qing Dynasty.

If you add the bastard He Changying, he has been fooled with the 17.8 million taels of silver.

So far, he Zhang Bishi has smashed nearly three million taels of silver in the Qing Dynasty, if he really called the Japanese to invade the capital and mess up the country, he Zhang Bishi can really pay for his life this time!

On top of that, he also had a dream about wine.

One summer 23 years ago, Zhang Bishi attended a reception hosted by the French consul in Jakarta, and when the French consul approached Zhang Bishi with wine, the Frenchman told his story about China.

During the Second Opium War, he came to Yantai with the British and French forces, and found that the mountains and fields were full of wild grapes. The French soldiers, who had suffered from the war, even had a dream of staying here after the war to set up a company specializing in the wine business.

This incident has since become a heart disease for Zhang Bishi, and he has been thinking about it for 21 years.

The mother country is weak, except for low-priced agricultural and sideline products and handicrafts, there is no product that can be known to the world and amazed by everyone.

His dream of wine is to make world-class wines, and to make Chinese wines famous and famous all over the world.

And the basic premise of all this is that there must be a stable regime.

The country is in chaos, the war is continuous, at that time, the people in the troubled world are not as good as the peace dog, how can you realize any dreams?

"The Japanese army has broken through the Shanhai Pass, and the fleet is coming with the whole division at this time, and it is obviously bound to win, and I am afraid that it will not be easy to retreat;"

Liu Hanfang was obviously not optimistic about this matter, and said worriedly: "Besides, the Bohai Sea is vast, how far can the British army block it with only four warships?" This place is not passable, and the Japanese fleet can find another way. ”

"Shanhaiguan—"

Zhang Bishi can't hear this name now, and when he hears it, he can't help but curse his stupidity in his heart.

has been shrewd for most of his life, and he actually let He Changying, a short-lived ghost, fool away so much silver.

Then he couldn't help but think of Huang Bojie, the second young master of the Huang family, Li Yuanyang, the youngest son of the Li family, Ye Chuansong of the third room of the Ye family, and You Dajiang, the sister-in-law of the Vietnamese You family,——。

The sons and daughters of these Nanyang tycoons came with passion and ideals, how many of them died in Shanhaiguan this time?

He Changying's killing with a thousand knives is really evil!

"Boom-"

At this time, the Cardinal, the flagship of the British Far East Fleet, suddenly let out a bang, and the huge cannon in the bow of the ship spewed out a long tongue of fire, and most of the hull was suddenly covered by white gunsmoke.

"It's fired!"

Suddenly, everyone on the island stopped laughing, stood up one after another, and looked at the British Fleet on tiptoe.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Subsequently, the other three British ships also opened fire one by one, resounding through the sky.

"Shoot, fire!"

A group of Qing civil and military officers were all ecstatic and danced and shouted.

Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, smiled like an old tree blooming on his old face, and he couldn't wait to put on his wings and fly back to Yantai immediately, and immediately report this great news of joy to the emperor.

Ten nautical miles east of the Bohai Sea, the main channel.

The Hashidate took the lead, followed by Itsukushima, Matsushima, and then a huge mixed fleet.

Prince Akihito Komatsumiya, Lieutenant General Kuroki Weizhen, Rear Admiral Okuhoko, Commander of the Combined Fleet, Vice Admiral Ito Yuhiro, Chief of Staff Deshiro Deuba, and Captain of the Hashidate.

Several people stood on the bridge of the Hashidate, holding binoculars one after another, looking at the British fleet at the Bohai Sea in the western sea.

"These Britons are very annoying!"

Higao Zhuangzhi said with a face full of anger: "The Battle of the Yellow Sea has always been ghostly with the Imperial Fleet, and any whereabouts of the Imperial Fleet must be secretly told to the Qing Kingdom!" ”

"What needs to be determined now is, what are they stopping here and trying to do?"

Prince Akihito Komatsumiya's face was particularly heavy, this Qing-Japanese campaign was related to the rise and fall of the empire for a hundred years, and now it is about to come true, but Britain is arrogantly intervening and interfering, how not to make people's hearts tremble.

"The British are firing shells!"

Ito Youheng held up the binoculars and suddenly said in shock: "All four battleships are being launched!" ”

In the gloomy and horrified faces of the generals on board, four shells exploded three nautical miles in front of the Hashidate, sending out four huge columns of snow-white water.

With the two fleets separated by a distance of nearly eight nautical miles, Ito would not be foolish enough to think that the British were attacking the Combined Fleet.

However, in the maritime guidelines, blocking the front of the channel of the opposing ship group and shelling it is already a very serious incident, and when the war warning is finally issued.

"Boom-"

At this time, the faint sound of cannon came from afar, and the 'buzzing' resounded on the warship.

“——”

At this time, in the field of view of the generals' telescopes, the British fleet at the mouth of the Bohai Sea immediately fired a second salvo, and white smoke filled the entire battleship.