On the evening of the Lantern Festival in 1883, led by the 601 light cruiser, a fleet quietly entered the special dock of the Nanyang Naval Division in Mawei Port, and Sun Fu's telegram was delivered to Qin Kai who had just disembarked as soon as possible.

Standing at the window looking at the darkening bay outside, Qin Kai quickly began to think about the movements of the Frenchman, this Miller occupies Keelung Port, which is obviously a decent move, after all, once the war starts, the supply of this battleship is the first problem to be solved, but another fact is that Keelung Port is not a fortress, just a commercial port. ⑤???? Read the latest chapters of the book

If you want to defend here, it is also not a small difficulty, Qin Kai turned around and looked at Lu Han who was consulting the charts, the current combat tasks are becoming more and more heavy, and he has been thinking about it, it is obviously not a suitable way, then let Lu Han go to Cào to do this, hehe......

"Gungtang, what is the end of the plan?"

Lu Han obviously held a thick pencil in his hand, and pointed to a standard small flag on Keelung on the map, "It's been five days, this raid in the port, Miao Feng personally went to reconnoiter the route, and yesterday brought the news, he contacted the Qing army and the local townsmen in Taiwan" Mengjia and Beiguan, they have been fighting with the French in the port for many days, but there is no heavy firepower, it is difficult to recapture the port"

Hearing this, Qin Kai was also stunned, Taiwan has a strong sense of belonging to the mainland since ancient times, even if he knew that after the First Sino-Japanese War, after the Qing court ceded Taiwan, the vigorous resistance was also spontaneously raised by the local people in Taiwan, but he didn't know much about the local Qing army.

After asking Lu Han, I learned that Taiwan has not yet set up a special governor, and in history, it was only after Taiwan received an attack from the French that it considered setting up a governor in Taiwan to organize defense, and the local Qing army was mainly those Hunan troops that were dismantled.

When Miao Feng arranged the operation in the past, he naturally took the warrant of Ding Richang, the governor of Fujian, so he quickly connected with the local army, and when the Qing army and the local townsmen who were fighting alone were originally defeated and demoralized, the arrival of the officers of the Nanyang Naval Division obviously sent out their fighting spirit again, and immediately fully cooperated with the Sailor Division to carry out the plan in the local area, and soon made the situation in Keelung Harbor clear.

Hearing Lu Han's introduction, Qin Kai nodded with satisfaction, now the Nanyang Naval Division has the strength to confront the French head-on, it is definitely not a blind attack, it is natural to use a qiē means to weaken the opponent first, at present, compared to the weak torpedoes in this era, the new class of the Nanyang Naval Division, the frogman unit, has a more stealthy offensive means and power, not to mention an open Keelung port.

"Gengtang, then instruct Miao Feng to take action, I'll go and visit Lord Xia Ding and Governor Zhang first," Qin Kai looked up at the hanging bell, "An hour later, you notify the sailor and the high-ranking officers to come to the military meeting, and the Admiral Ding of Beiyang is also invited, it's time to act."

"Okay," Lu Han nodded calmly.

Riding in a carriage into Fuzhou City, Qin Kai suffered the first Jiāo traffic jam after crossing, today is the Lantern Festival, despite the war, but the entire Fuzhou City does not have the slightest tension, all kinds of lanterns are hung everywhere on the street, and the people who come to make Lantern Festival are shoulder to shoulder. ⑤???? Read the latest chapters of the book

On the side of the city, the carriage was almost immobile, Qin Kai had no choice but to jump out of the carriage, and walked to Ding Richang's side surrounded by his own soldiers and shook around.

Lao Ding was not nervous, he was accompanied by several masters to sit in the three-story attic drinking and admiring the moon, and when he saw the proud mén sheng Qin Kai coming, he was also very happy to add a pair of chopsticks to him, and teased: "Gale Wind, this Lantern Festival, you didn't come empty-handed."

Qin Kai raised his middle finger in his heart and despised Lao Ding's happy life, why are he busy all day long, he beckoned, Lu Shu came over with a large package that had been prepared a long time ago, "My lord, look at what you said, I found a large number of ancient books for you in the bookstore over there in the capital glaze factory this time, you can take a look"

As soon as Lao Ding heard the word "ancient book", the excitement had already come up, the bookstore in Liulichang in Beijing City, in the eyes of readers, was a very famous place in the Qing Kingdom, and he smiled at the moment to give this gift, he naturally knew Qin Kai's intention, and the polite words were all waived, "Gale Wind, I don't have any requirements here, Keelung, you have to take it back for me In addition, Governor Zhang's side, you go there, I heard some news, the court wants to deal with the officials who recommended Tang Jiong and Xu Yanxu, it is estimated that there must be a lot of people!"

This matter is expected by Qin Kai, the news that Lao Ding got will naturally not be empty, for the Qingliu party, Qin Kai is also quite a headache now, with his thoughts, he wants to protect Chen Baochen, who has a good relationship with him, but in fact, in the so-called Qingliu, in addition to the characters like Zhang Peilun, Zhang Zhidòng, Chen Baochen who can do things, there are indeed a group of characters who like to talk about it......

After the war, if you want to make a good business in Guangzhou and Fujian, the mouthpiece of the court must be there, and the magnates of gold and silver settlements such as Yixuan and Sun Yuwen can only be used as a means but are difficult to rely on at critical moments.

After talking for a while, Qin Kai hurriedly said goodbye and went to see Zhang Peilun again, and in the governor's yamén, he really saw a telegram, which was a message sent by Li Hongzao from the Military Aircraft Department, about the disposal of the defeat of the North Vietnam.

Xu Yanxu, the governor of Guangxi, supervised the army unfavorably and seized his post to be investigated, and Tang Jiong, the political envoy of Yunnan, advanced lightly and seized his post to be investigated, and He Bang, Huang Guilan, and Zhao Wo, the governor of Guangxi, guarded the unfavorable and degraded Xinjiang...... Dozens of officials, large and small, have been disposed of.

Zhang Peilun also has a name in it, but the handling is very light, because he has also promoted Tang Jiong, but because he is a strong promoter of Qin Kai, and he also has a vote in the military merits against France, so it is just said that he is negligent in recommending and self-reflective. Seven or eight other Qingliu officials were dismissed or demoted for failing to supervise their recommendations.

Qin Kai originally had no intention of doing these things, but Zhang Peilun still proposed to ask him to jointly protect these officials, he thought about it for a while, and immediately responded, he came here mainly to discuss the problem of the defense of the horsetail, this old Zhang is in charge of the garrison, after the two discussed, Zhang Peilun immediately ordered to increase the strength of the gold medal and other batteries, and the defense in the port was handled by the Nanyang Naval Division.

Back at the Mawei Artillery Bureau, it was already 8 o'clock at night, but the meeting hall was very popular, Qin Kai first dragged Ding Ruchang to the side and discussed in a low voice, to command the battleships of the Beiyang Naval Division, naturally he had to talk to this one clearly, what Zhang Shusheng said that day had already indicated the attitude of the Huai Army, and Ding Ruchang would inevitably be asked to restrain the Naval Division. The book is updated in real time DU(5) 8.сΟm

So he also said bluntly to Ding Ruchang, "Admiral Ding, tomorrow I will supervise the battle, to be honest, the strength of the French in this battle is much stronger than the Japanese in the Battle of the Ryukyus, once the war starts, it will inevitably be a battle loss......"

Ding Ruchang had already received Zhang Shusheng's order, and naturally understood the meaning of this order, in the Beiyang Grass Creation Stage, each of these battleships was purchased by Li Zhongtang with the silver that Li Zhongtang had worked hard to come to, he was Li Zhongtang's cronies, so he naturally understood the difficulties of this Zhongtang Lord when he was out of pocket, if the battleship was damaged, it would be difficult for him to replace him.

However, now the enemy is in front of him, let him fear the enemy and avoid the war, as a soldier who has experienced a hundred battles, he is also 100,000 points difficult to decide, not to mention the Nanyang Naval Division's great achievements, the last time the Battle of the Ryukyus, the people of the country thought that it was invincible, this Qin armor said to fight, and it was decided in a battle, and then the bombardment of Sasebo was even more powerful.

After the Beiyang generals who participated in the battle came back, they were all impressed by this Qin governor, and they dared to do what the people of the world did not dare to do......

"Lord Qin, can I think about this matter!" Ding Ruchang turned his head to look at the Beiyang Pipe Belts who were discussing with the officers of the Nanyang Naval Division, since the last cooperation, the relationship between the two sides has obviously been much more harmonious, after all, they have fought bloody battles together......

Qin Kai naturally understands Ding Ruchang's difficulties, he is an army general, and it is not easy to be placed in the position of the commander of the naval fleet, and later generations have many reproaches for this admiral, but the history books still show that this admiral is by no means incompetent, during the period of running Beiyang, he is also learning the practice of naval warfare every day, far more diligent than the defeated army of the Huai Army.

Moreover, in the years before the First Sino-Japanese War, he reported almost every year, asking for the improvement of the battleship's artillery and the maintenance of the battleship, but it was expensive to buy a battleship, and it burned money to maintain a fleet, and the cost of maintaining the largest fleet in the Far East had already made the Lord Li Zhongtang feel extremely difficult, so that in the entire eight years, the entire Beiyang Naval Division did not add a single ship or artillery, which was undoubtedly a great sorrow for the commander. ,

Qin Kai nodded and patted Ding Ruchang's shoulder, "Lord Ding, let's discuss it first, you think about it carefully."

In the past few days, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen have all been attacked and harassed by French warships, but he also pointed out that in Mawei, which is close at hand, only in the early hours of yesterday morning, the cruising 501 ships observed two French warships from a distance, and the other side immediately retreated when they saw that there were warships patrolling.

The following officers all came up with a word, covering their ears and stealing the bell...... The French move was so ostentatious that the purpose of it was obvious

However, Lu Han did not think so, the French obviously had a clear purpose for Mawei Port, but there must be a reason for the delay in launching an attack, and his judgment was that the French were not absolutely sure of the initiative to attack, so they hoped to divide the forces of the Navy Division through the Guò attack, and then concentrate their forces to attack the weakness of the Water Division, which may be to attack reinforcements or attack Mawei Port

This judgment was obviously unanimously approved by the officers, but Liu Buyun also raised a possibility, could it be that the French wanted to occupy the island of Taiwan?

This is indeed based on the fact that after the Japanese occupied the Ryukyus seven years ago, they tried to attack Taiwan and open up a shipping route to the South Seas, and if the French had this idea, it would be normal, if they occupied Taiwan, then France would undoubtedly have obtained a base that threatened the entire coastline of the Qing Dynasty.

However, Lu Han immediately showed an intelligence, which was observed from Keelung, Taiwan, that the French had built very strong fortifications in Keelung Port to deal with the Qing troops and Xiangyong stationed there, which obviously showed a problem, the French fleet was relatively weak in land warfare, and it was still so good to defend a port, so it could be judged that the French army had no plan to fully occupy Taiwan.

Lu Han then briefly summarized the information collected from Keelung and the information obtained from the interrogation of the French prisoners, the strength of the other party was so strong that the officers of the naval division present put away their contempt thoughts, 1 ironclad ship, 8 armored ships, 1 iron-hulled gunboat, 1 iron-hulled wood-hulled cruiser, this is definitely a huge military force that can be placed anywhere to deter one side.

With the return of the Guangzhou fleet, the combat power of the Nanyang Naval Division and the Beiyang Naval Division was combined, and there were three ironclad ships (501 ships, Huashan, Hengshan), four armored cruisers (601, 701, Chaoyong, Yangwei), three iron-jacketed cruisers (Chaowu, Dengyingzhou, Chengqing), and four mosquito ships of the Zhenzi class.

Judging by the quantity and quality, the two sides are really between them, and the officers below have carefully considered the battle situation, and Ding Ruchang has also come to inquire about the situation in the past few days, but the news is naturally not as thorough as what was said today, and now it seems that this battle is by no means easy to win......

He peeked at the pipe belts of the Nanyang Naval Division, and Lu Han, who was explaining the battle situation of the two armies, was a calm soldier, which was quite close to himself, and the two had a lot of contact these days, and they were by no means reckless and greedy for merit. The other officers were all young, but they could be seen to be young people who had been tempered in the army, fanatical but full of confidence.

I don't know how these young people have been trained, you must know that the outstanding students of the previous phases of the Mawei Ship Administration have been all recruited by the Beiyang Net, and the Beiyang Pipe Belt here is from the Mawei Ship Master School except for Ding Ruchang himself, and the others are all from the Mawei Ship Master School, like Liu Buchan, these pipe bands have all studied in the UK and interned on British warships, but in the face of such a strong enemy, it can be seen that they are very worried.

He also calculated that if the combat power of the Nanyang Naval Division is concerned, 3 ironclad ships, 2 armored cruisers, and 3 ironwaki cruisers against the French 1 ironclad ship, 8 armored cruisers, 1 ironwaki cruiser, and 1 gunboat, the number is slightly less, but the quality is not bad at all, but considering the previous victory rate of the Nanyang Naval Division against the French fleet, the victory of this scale is undoubtedly more inclined to the Nanyang Naval Division

The officers were all discussing one after another, obviously excited about this big battle related to the fortunes of the country, at this time, Ding Ruchang's brain was also spinning, and Lu Han had already leaned over and asked in a low voice: "Lord Ding, Governor Qin asked me to ask you, do you have a decision?"

Ding Ruchang looked up at the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, who was much smaller than himself, and suddenly asked: "Gengtang, you also know my difficulties, I don't know how sure you can be in this battle?" ”

Lu Han naturally understood what Ding Ruchang meant, smiled slightly, and said in a low voice: "This fighter plane is fleeting, how dare you say that even if the enemy is strong and I am weak, I should do the great righteousness and forget to die."

This attitude expressed by Lu Han made Ding Ruchang embarrassed for a while, it is obvious that even if Beiyang does not participate in the war, the Nanyang Naval Division will take the initiative to attack, and it is estimated that the Beiyang warship will be the duty of guarding the home and protecting the courtyard, which is definitely an unacceptable arrangement for a soldier, thinking of his previous judgment, he also made up his mind, "Tell Lord Qin, this enemy is outside the country, I will not let it go"

Lu Han arched his hand, turned around and came to Qin Kai's side to discuss in a low voice, and then immediately issued a battle plan, the whole army will be launched at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, the armies will complete the preparations for war overnight, and the fleet will be reorganized, the flagship of the fleet is naturally 501 ships, and the first fleet is composed of 601 light cruisers, 701 heavy cruisers, and Hengshan ships, with Xu Shoushan as the commander.

The second fleet is mainly composed of two ironclad ships, the 501 ship and the Huashan ship, supplemented by three iron-hulled warships of Chaowu, Chengqing, and Dengyingzhou, and four Zhenzi-class mosquito ships are also included. The Third Fleet was a fast formation of Beiyang Chaoyong, Yangwei and ships, both of which had speeds of more than 16 knots.

After receiving the order, the officers hurriedly set off, urging the battleship to complete the supply overnight, and Qin Kai's next gathering and arrangement was indeed another larger-scale battle, but this battle was not to go to the front line desperately, but to fight for supplies.

He is now the commander of the imperial court in the military of northern Vietnam, so if he loses the battle again, this will be his culpability, but until now, his understanding of the intelligence of northern Vietnam is limited to the protection of the ** troops led by Zhou Ruidong and the Qingzi army stationed at Sanyuan Bridge.

As for the other Qing armies that were defeated and retreated, based on his judgment of historical information, Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, didn't need to worry too much, that old fox advanced and retreated freely, and what he brought with him was almost the Sī army of his Cen family, and the equipment was originally good, plus after he sent a batch of arms last time, the equipment can be described as jīng good, and the eastern front is basically worry-free.

Originally, the Dingzi Army, which had been practicing all the way in history, calculated for himself and returned to his hometown and replaced it with the Qingzi Army, so now the road runner has become Xu Yanxu, who has just been seized of his post and is waiting for investigation...... It's just that this is what the commander did, but this one has been taken from his post, and now he doesn't even have a food delivery officer......

He now summoned He Xing, Wu Jingui, Tang Shaoyi and others, the core of the commercial system of the Nanyang system, and issued only one order, which was to immediately transport guns and artillery to Guangxi Taiping, and the main guns were the surplus materials of the civil war purchased from the Americans at ultra-low prices by Mawei Shipping.

Mawei's artillery bureau and arsenal do not produce old-fashioned front-loading rifles, but since the parts industry has been subcontracted, Wu Yun's arsenal has a new industry, that is, the production of imitation of the German Committee 1888 rifle, and Mawei's name for this rifle is AK02 rifle, which is the famous Hanyang made in later generations, which is the main thing for arms exports, and he also took out a part of it, and Song Yunze led an officer corps to assist in the reorganization of the rout.

The entire Mawei industrial system and the Nanyang Naval Division are running rapidly, and Qin Kai, who has been slowly accumulating strength, finally wants to show some of his strength that he has not shown in the past