At 9:20 a.m. on the 18th day of the first month of the first year of Xinghua, Royal 1 airship, escorted by three armed airships, slowly landed on the Hong Kong pier. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

At this time, on the dock of Hong Kong, Zhang Zhidong, commander of the South China Sea Fleet, and the captains of various ships of the South China Sea Fleet were looking up at the airship that was slowly landing.

This was the first time they had seen an airship, but every time they saw it, the shock in their hearts could not fade.

Their minds are still deeply engraved with the fierce battle scene of the last sea and air battle in Taiwan: huge airships dropped bombs on British and French warships sailing on the sea, and then one after another, British and French warships were blown to pieces by bombs or capsized and sank.

In this way, the Anglo-French combined fleet, which was more than twice the total tonnage of the original Beiyang Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet, was wiped out one by one by airships, while the Anglo-French combined fleet was unable to make any resistance.

Seeing such a tragic scene, the officers and soldiers of the South Ocean Fleet and the North Ocean Fleet were stunned, they could not imagine that the naval battle could become like this, and the powerful Anglo-French combined fleet would be easily wiped out by airships.

But something really happened, bringing unimaginable shock to the people who were "watching the battle" on the spot, which led to the Beiyang Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet, which had not been in submission for a long time, to be more obedient to the Chinese Empire, and in the subsequent naval reorganization, it was able to proceed smoothly.

Four airships landed smoothly at the pier.

"Wan Sheng!" Zhang Zhidong and the captains said in unison.

The military salute of the navy, land and air force of the Chinese Empire was inherited from the military salute of the Han Kingdom.

"Wan Sheng!" Yan Xueyi, who was dressed in a purple gold dragon robe, also returned a military salute.

Except for Zhang Zhidong, the others met the emperor Yan Xueyi himself for the first time.

"It's so young." Many captains felt this in their hearts.

Different from the feelings of the original captain of the Nanyang Fleet, there were several relatively young people present who showed a kind of fanaticism, they were several captains from the original Yangtze River Fleet, Yan Xueyi had a greater influence on them, and they were willing to swear to serve Yan Xueyi to the death.

Yan Xueyi inspected the South China Sea Fleet, and now that the main personnel of the South China Sea Fleet have gathered in front of Yan Xueyi, Yan Xueyi naturally wants to get to know them.

"Zhang Cheng, the captain of the Kaiji cruiser, swears to serve His Majesty!" Zhang Cheng, who was forty-three years old and of medium stature and had a mustache, gave a military salute to Yan Xueyi and said.

Yan Xueyi also returned a military salute, looked at Zhang Ji carefully, and seemed to keep Zhang Ji in mind before moving to the next person.

"Li Xin, the captain of the cruiser Huantai, swears to serve His Majesty!"

"Zhao Wei, the captain of the cruiser Jingqing, swears to serve His Majesty!"

"Xu Feizhang, the captain of the cruiser Nanchen, swears to serve His Majesty!"

"Wang Ying, the captain of the Yuankai cruiser, swears to serve His Majesty!"

"Lu Youwei, the captain of the gunboat Surveying the Sea, swears to serve His Majesty!"

……

Every time Yan Xueyi came to someone, they would take the initiative to salute Yan Xueyi, and Yan Xueyi carefully looked at these people.

The Intelligence Department under Yan Xueyi's personal control has penetrated the South China Sea Fleet, so the information of the officers has been recorded in detail, and then the Intelligence Department handed over such a piece of information to Yan Xueyi.

Some of them can be reused, and there are also some people who have small problems and clean up the South China Sea Fleet in a timely manner, while those who have big problems have already been cleared out of the South China Sea Fleet, after all, the navy of the Chinese Empire is inherited from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it cannot be used with a heavy knife at once, causing the entire navy to lose its heart, which is a huge blow to the already relatively weak Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, so the rectification of the navy can only be carried out step by step, until a healthy and upward navy appears.

After getting to know all the captains of the South China Sea Fleet, Yan Xueyi gave them a brief speech to the effect that:

"The future of the Chinese Imperial Navy is on you, the Chinese Empire is a country with a vast coastline, the Chinese Empire must have a strong navy, you are the foundation of this navy, and the empire must use this foundation to build a strong navy."

"Although our navy is relatively weak now, we must not have any fear, because behind you is the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire that defeated the top Western powers, Britain and France, we are not afraid of any war, we must continue to work hard to prevent the Chinese Empire from being oppressed by the Western powers again."

"In the future, the government will invest more money in the navy to build more advanced and powerful warships, and when the time comes, even without the help of the air force, our navy can defeat the British and French navies, and what you have to do now is to strengthen training, study naval tactics, and train more naval talents.

"Soldiers, for the sake of our country, let's fight together!"

"Struggle!"

"Struggle!"

"Struggle!"

At this moment, the hearts of the top brass of the South China Sea Fleet are completely tied to this country and will never be separated again.

After a short speech, Yan Xueyi had to have a close contact with the ordinary soldiers of the South China Sea Fleet!

The captains of the warships returned to their respective warships, and Yan Xueyi took the rest of the people to board the Kaiji cruiser.

Close contact is an old antique in Yan Xueyi's eyes, but to people in this era, it is the Kaiji cruiser of steel battleships, and Yan Xueyi's heart is beating violently.

The Kaiji cruiser was the No. 24 ship built by the Fujian Shipping Administration, which was tested on October 11, 1883, at a cost of 386,000 taels of silver.

The Kaiji cruiser is a double wooden hull with sail rigging, a copper ramming angle in the bow, a length of 76.2 meters, a width of 10.97 meters, a draft of 6.1 meters, a main area of 51.88 square meters, a sail area of 910.92 square meters, a displacement of 2,110 tons, a power of 8 round boilers, a Kangbang coal horizontal 2-cylinder steam engine, a power of 2,400 horsepower, a speed of 14.5 knots, and a staff of 300 people.

Main weapons: 2 8.2-inch guns, 7 4.7-inch guns.

It was such a "small ship", but now it is the main ship of the South China Sea Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the officers and soldiers on this ship are proud of the Kaiji cruiser, but they cannot get rid of the fragility of the Kaiji cruiser.

"In the future, we will definitely be able to build more advanced and powerful warships." Yan Xueyi touched the hull of the Kaiji cruiser and sighed.

After sighing, Yan Xueyi began to greet the officers and men on the Kaiji cruiser.

"How's the food for the South China Sea Fleet? Can you eat enough? ”

"Are you tired of training every day?"

"Where are you from? Do you have a wife and children? ”

Yan Xueyi's simple words moved the officers and soldiers very much.