This drunk man was about thirty years old, with a burly build, but his clothes were tattered and his hair was disheveled. However, from this person's eyes, it seems that there is still a bit of military spirit.

Could it be that this person is really a naval admiral of the Qing Dynasty? But how can they fall into the streets?

"Brother, where do you live?" Chen Zhong asked tentatively.

"I don't have a home, I want revenge! How can my dignified and majestic Beiyang sailors be turned into ashes like this, shame! Disgrace! The drunk yelled excitedly.

"Brother, have you participated in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle?" Chen Zhong asked tentatively again.

"Yes! The First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle! Disgrace! Disgrace! Our own people have defeated our own fleet! When the drunkard finished speaking, tears welled up and he wept aloud.

Chen Zhong saw that this drunk man was not actually drunk, but was overly sad, and this person was completely immersed in the pain of the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle. This man has listened to nothing but naval battles.

So, Chen Zhong said lightly: "If I give you another chance to participate in the formation of a fleet that is stronger than the Beiyang Naval Division, and really fight with Little Japan, do you dare to do it?" ”

As soon as Chen Zhong's calm words came out, the drunk man immediately stopped his mania, his eyes widened, he looked at Chen Zhong in astonishment, and a sentence came out in the middle of the night: "You, you, what are you kidding, you, who do you think you are?" Are you better than Li Zhongtang? ”

Chen Zhong saw that this drunk man had changed his crazy state, and he smiled happily. It's really hard to find a place to step on iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it!

Because, Chen Zhong knew that in the history of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a group of children who studied in the United States known as the golden generation, which was a generation of elite figures, including mineral experts, ship manufacturing experts, communications experts, naval military industry experts, and gunboat experts......

Later, due to the Sino-French naval battle of Jiashen and the Sino-Japanese naval battle of Jiashen, a number of generals were killed, but there are some historical records, some of whom survived and hid among the people.

In addition, some were excluded by the conservatives of the imperial court, so they were disappointed with the Qing government, or quietly went abroad.

Could it be that the man in front of him is one of the children studying in the United States?

This is how this history was written.

During the Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty, on the eighth day of the eighth month of the tenth year of Tongzhi (September 9, 1871), a big news suddenly came out of the Forbidden City in Beijing that shocked the whole country:

The Qing court authorities actually broke through the ancient Chinese since the Sui and Tang dynasties, and strictly implemented the holy rules of the thousand-year-old imperial examination; The Empress Dowager Cixi, who has always stubbornly adhered to the "rules handed down by her ancestors", actually granted permission to Zeng Guofan, an important minister of the Westernization faction, and Li Hongzhang to jointly sign the "Submission to Rong Hong on Sending Young Children to the United States to Study Western Military Administration, Ship Administration, Step Calculation, and Machine Making".

This is the first time that the Qing Dynasty has taken the initiative to open the prelude to opening up to the outside world in the 227 years since it closed itself to the outside world.

On September 15, 1872, the New York Times published a message: "The 30 Chinese students who arrived in San Francisco yesterday are very young and brilliant 'little gentlemen'. The Chinese government has allocated millions of dollars to fund their study abroad. ”

Brocade robes and long braids, so that people in the New World can't distinguish their gender. And the New World also made the eyes of young children in China widen: "We have never seen so many skyscrapers!" There are also lights, telephones and elevators! ”

And the most interesting thing for young children is the train. From San Francisco, they embarked on a seven-day and night-long train journey from west to east, across the American continent. The final destination is Springfield on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Later, due to the interference of the conservatives of the Qing court, the Qing government ordered the recall of these children in the United States. Although the presidents of MIT, Harvard University, and Yale University jointly appealed to the Qing government, they did not help these talents to stay and continue their studies.

According to the statistics of the young children who were withdrawn to the United States in 1881, 17 of them died of illness in the United States; Due to various other reasons, 9 people were evacuated halfway, so the actual number of people who returned to China in August 1881 was 94, and they returned to Shanghai on September 1 in San Francisco on the ship "Peking City". First, they went home to visit their relatives, and half a month later, they gathered at the Governor's Mansion of Zhili to see Li Hongzhang.

At this time, the 58-year-old Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of the military and political, diplomatic, internal and economic powers of the Qing court, was in the heyday of his life.

More than 10 years ago, he met the first batch of young children in Shanghai, and now they have grown up to be talented. Lao Zhongtang stroked his white beard and was very happy.

After Li Hongzhang greeted them, he announced the selection of 70 people to the North and South Ocean Naval Division; Zhan Tianyou and several others were specially transferred to the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Academy for temporary use to train naval personnel.

In the Sino-French Naval Battle of the Majiang River in August 1884 and the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle in 1894, seven "young children studying in the United States" died heroically.

Chen Zhong had a feeling that the man in front of him must have something to do with these children studying in the United States.

So, he asked the drunk, "Dare to ask what the old brother is called?" You keep saying that you participated in the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese Naval War, do you know the group of left-behind children in the Westernization Movement? ”

The drunkard's dim eyes suddenly brightened, as if he was recalling a happy and beautiful experience.

He said that his name was Xu Chunsheng, a native of Fujian, and that he was the third batch of "young children studying in the United States" who was only 12 years old when he arrived in the United States in 1874.

When he arrived in the United States, he first lived and studied in Hollyoke, Massachusetts, and later entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study shipbuilding and mechanical engineering. After returning to China, he was transferred to the Beiyang Naval Division, where he trained the navy and trained naval talents.

In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Naval Division was defeated, and Xu Chunsheng was also on the list of casualties in this battle.

In that naval battle, when our "Zhiyuan" ship exchanged fire with the Japanese ship "Yoshino," it was hit by a bullet on the deck and caught fire, which was difficult to extinguish for a while.

Captain Deng Shichang said to the first mate Chen Jinhua: "The Japanese fleet Yoshino is the most powerful, if we sink it, we will win!" Chen Jinhua understood the captain's intentions and approved of his order to rush forward at high speed and sink the "Yoshino" with the bow of the ship.

The cunning "Yoshino" quickly avoided it and immediately fired a torpedo, hitting the boiler room of the "Zhiyuan", the hull of the ship exploded violently, and all the officers and men of the "Zhiyuan" ship died heroically. At that time, Xu Chunsheng was on the Zhiyuan ship.

Fortunately, Xu Chunsheng passed out after falling into the sea, and when he woke up, he found himself lying in a fisherman's home. Later, I learned that in the First Sino-Japanese War, the entire Beiyang Naval Division was defeated!

Chen Zhong confirmed that Xu Chunsheng was the group of children who returned to the United States, and he was really glad that such a rare talent actually met in such a way.

"General Xu," Chen Zhong suddenly changed his words to call Xu Chunsheng a general, which made Xu Chunsheng stunned and seemed a little surprised.

"General Xu, we have a naval fleet in Hainan that is not subject to the control of the imperial court, and it is currently expanding, would you like to come over?"

Xu Chunsheng was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "Hainan? Have a fleet? Do you know how much money and how many talents are needed for a huge naval fleet? ”

"I know you think so, do you think that a task that the Qing government can't accomplish yet, how can we do it with the strength of Hainan, right?"

"Does that need to be said?" Xu Chunsheng shook his head and wiped the bronze model of the ship with his sleeve.

"But he does exist!"

Xu Chunsheng's originally dull eyes gradually lit up. He stretched his body, listening to Chen Zhong's vision for this naval fleet, becoming more and more excited.

"General Xu, I know that you have always been unwilling to fight the First Sino-Japanese War! All the Chinese were very indignant about that war! There is a good saying, it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years. As long as you still have this idea, then we will have a revenge plan, do you want to? ”

"Of course I want to, I've always dreamed of having a face-to-face fight with the Japanese fleet! However, I am afraid that I will not have this opportunity. ”

"General Xu, there will be a war between China and Japan, and the Qing Dynasty will face more than just a battle of a Japanese fleet at that time, and the great powers such as Britain, France, the United States, Russia, and France will participate. Will you join me in bringing our own naval fleet to fight these arrogant powers? ”

"Of course! However, with Hainan alone, it is possible to form a naval fleet to confront the great powers? ”

"Anything is possible! Brother, as long as you still want to go to the fleet, I will arrange for someone to send you to General Chen Fangzheng, the commander-in-chief of the Hainan fleet, to report to him. ”