"Whew-"

Since the second half of last night, the easterly wind that has been trickling on the sea for the past few days has begun to turn into a slightly cold northwest wind, and it has a tendency to become more and more intense.

Until now, the wind is rushing, stirring up the ink clouds in the northwest sky.

Vice Admiral Filimant, commander of the British Far East Fleet, Admiral Victor, chief of staff, and Colonel Miller Lagreth, captain of the Navy Cardinal, stood on the bridge of the flagship Cardinal, looking out due east.

On the sea nearly fifteen nautical miles there, a huge group of ships was approaching at a rapid pace.

As soon as the golden sun emerged from the sea in the east, the black boundless clouds spread over the Bohai Sea and swept southeast.

"It's going to snow."

Looking at the heavy clouds overhead, Victor felt that the sudden weather made him shiver from the cold.

Of these four warships, except for the flagship Cardinal, which is slightly more like, the other three are ten-year-old and wrecked ships.

It's the Cardinal, with its 14 old-fashioned rack guns, against fierce ships like Yoshino, Matsushima, Itsukushima, and Hashidate, it is basically completely easy to crush, without any ability to turn the tables.

"Order the four ships to raise their full power, and all the sergeants to enter the state of imminent battle; When the Japanese warship group was close to 10 nautical miles, the ship's first artillery bombarded the sea area of the main channel, blocked the Haikou channel, and smashed the Japanese warship group's attempt to enter the Bohai Sea westward. ”

Lieutenant General Philmante had a faint proud smile on his face: "If these ignorant clowns dare to ignore the warnings of the Empire as they did with the Qing State, then ——, means that they have provoked war against the Empire; Sink them mercilessly! ”

"General, we only have four warships, and they are all old ships that have been eliminated from the Atlantic Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet, the North American Fleet, and even the Indian Fleet, the African Fleet, and the Pacific Fleet; It is not at all the opponent of these new Japanese warships, and the new rapid-fire guns equipped on the ships! ”

Victor felt that as a chief of staff, he should have the obligation and the need to remind Philimante that he could clearly understand this difference in absolute strength.

"As a naval officer of the British Empire, the world's largest power, and the British Navy as the world's four oceans and maritime hegemons, the British Navy of the empire on which the sun never sets—"

Phelimante said loudly and proudly: "Not to mention that there are four warships, even if it is just a wooden plank ship blocking here, these East Asian barbarians will come here with all their strength, and they will definitely stop at Haikou honestly, and then get out of the way!" ”

"Report, the Japanese ship group has sailed to the predetermined sea area."

Captain Caygudon, the gunnery chief of the Cardinal, strode over to report.

"Immediate live-fire warning!"

In Philistine's view, it would be inconceivable for the British Empire to dispatch four warships if even this group of East Asian barbarian armies could be expelled.

"Boom!"

The 260mm gun in the bow of the Cardinal exploded, and the muzzle of the gun erupted into a long tongue of fire, firing a huge projectile into the sea about six nautical miles in front of the Japanese ship group.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Immediately, the marksmanship, the adventure ship, and the Ghisreal ship all fired their guns one after another, shooting at the forward channel of the Japanese ship group.

"Whoa—"

The scorching projectile slashed through the air in a long arc and smashed heavily into the turquoise water, splashing four huge columns of snow-white water.

After 34 years after the end of the Second Opium War in 1860, this was the first time that the British Imperial Navy had issued a serious war warning to another country in the seas of East Asia.

Tonji Island, Lushankou Village.

British Consul in Yantai Allinger.

Acting Consul of Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway in Yantai.

Acting Vice Consul of the United States in Yantai Dana.

The French consulate in Yantai led the cause of Guolin.

Russia, Danish Consul in Tobacco Ao Kangfu.

German Consul in Yantai Lian Zi.

These Western merchants and consuls were all sitting in a leeward sea-facing mountain col in Lushankou Village at this time.

Drinking hot tea, eating dried fruit pastries, smoking cigarettes, and chatting, we looked at the British warships waiting in the sea to the north, and the Oriental ships that were hurrying from the east.

These consuls from the 'civilized country' are watching a good show with interest.

Look at how the four warships of the British Far East Fleet will humiliate the Oriental Navy that has rushed 4,000 miles from Tokyo to transport troops to the Bohai Rim Coast.

At this time, the northwest wind, which had begun to show coldness, drove away the blue sky above everyone's heads, and the clouds in the sky rushed towards the southwest.

And the Japanese fleet finally arrived.

Li Bingheng, governor of Ludong, Liu Hanfang, Denglai Qingdao, Xia Xinyou, chief soldier of Dengzhou Town, and Sun Jinbiao, chief soldier of Hanzhong Town, Yantai guard,——

A group of Ludong's civil and military generals, under the leadership of Li Bingheng, were all waiting for this foreign uncle with happy faces.

On the afternoon of the 4th, the cruiser Ghisrael, which was stationed in Yantai Port, received a telegram from Admiral Victor, chief of staff of the Far East Fleet from Jinmen, requesting that the Ghisreal immediately go to the main channel of the Bohai Sea to stand by.

The sailors of the Ghisrael quickly spread the news, and everyone in Yantai knew about it.

The people and officials of the Qing Dynasty were all overjoyed to talk about it, and the British Empire wanted to uphold justice for the Qing Dynasty and teach these little widows who did not know the height of the sky and the height of the earth a lesson.

When Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, heard the news, he also played a happy telegram to Emperor Guangxu, and sure enough, Guangxu was a dragon-faced Dayue, and immediately called back to commend Li Bingheng for his alertness and keenness, and told him to have a good relationship with foreigners and respond to requests.

The consuls and businessmen of various countries in Yantai are all going crazy on this festival in the Qing Dynasty.

So on the 6th, the British consul in Yantai, Alinger, came forward to organize, Li Bingheng provided all conveniences, and the consuls of various countries took a boat to Dangji Island, drank wine, and gambled money.

By the way, I am waiting to see a good show of the navy that never sets and retreats without a fight.

"Consuls, you have worked hard today, and when you return to Yantai tonight, please go to the Lion Tower to drink flower wine."

The big stone that has been pressing on Li Bingheng's heart these days suddenly lightened by more than half.

Since he got Weng Tonggong's telecommunications a few days ago, and learned that Lafayette restarted Li Hongzhang's old murder before he went to negotiate peace with foreigners, Li Bingheng felt that there were dozens more gray hairs on his head.

He didn't care about the war situation in Liaodong, and he didn't care about the life or death of Lushun and Weihaiwei's Beiyang naval forces.

He only cares about his grievances with Li Hongzhang!

Li Bingheng was originally the governor of Anhui, and he was the rival of Li Hongzhang, who was specially picked out by Emperor Guangxu in order to deal with the Huai system.

Since he and the former Li Hongzhang's hardcore Furun, in September in Anhui and Ludong governors, they have been sparing no effort to sweep away the forces in Ludong.

Li Zhengrong, the alternate Daoist of Dengzhou, was removed from the commander and ordered to return to the province to provide for the post-effect.

Feng Yide, deputy general of the Jiaozhou Association, was dismissed first, and if there was erosion and fraud, he should be punished according to the law, and he should be punished for corruption.

Alternate Dao Huang Ji, taking power and accepting bribes;

The alternate prefect Yan Fubao acted recklessly;

Zhili Prefecture Zhizhou Fan Yishuang, taking advantage of the situation to bribe;

Liu Pingyuan, the magistrate of Zichuan County, accused him of being a thief;

Chen Xun, the magistrate of Qixia County, was strict with group fees; ——

Those who are dismissed from their posts are dismissed, and those who are investigated and handled are investigated.

Now that it is finally about to be completely swept away, Lu Dong will not let Li Hongzhang make a comeback except for Weihaiwei's Huai forces, won't everything fall short!

How can you not worry?