Chapter 251: Secret Crossing

On March 1, in Seoul, North Korea, since the army that supported the Daeyuan monarch Li Yuying raised troops against the bureaucrats of Concubine Min's family last month, the political situation has long since stabilized, and the emperor is still the same emperor, and only a few high-ranking officials have died, so what does this have to do with the people? As for who is in power and who has stepped down, it is more just an after-dinner conversation.

Therefore, when Ding Ruchang entered Ganghwa Island on the new-style ironclad cruiser "Yong", he had already received news from the Taoist Ma Jianzhong, and Dayuanjun heard that Shangguo Qin was coming, and he was already waiting in Seoul to discuss state affairs.

In the evening, Ma Jianzhong had already accompanied the envoy of Dayuanjun to visit Ding Ruchang on the warship at the dock, and the person who came presented Dayuanjun's letter of state.

On the second day, Ma Jianzhong brought a messenger to see Ding Ruchang, and asked where he came, but it was a messenger sent by Concubine Min who had avoided trouble in Zhongzhou, which made Lao Ding very puzzled, and after reading the letter, his face was even more uncertain.

Ding Ruchang pondered, so he asked Ma Jianzhong, "Uncle Mei (Ma Jianzhong's cousin), this is an internal affair, now come to us to adjudicate, if there is bias, you have to take responsibility, you have been here for a long time, hurry up and help me come up with an idea!" ”

Ma Jianzhong is not well-known, but he is a rare talent among Li Zhongtang's staff, before the age of 3o he was an active advocate of Westernization, Western studies in the use of jī elements, at the age of 3o to France to study international law, jīng study of various languages, at the age of 36 obtained a doctorate degree from the Paris School of Political Science, which was absolutely amazing in the era.

After returning to China, he was good at many Chinese languages and international standards, and he was naturally sent by Li Zhongtang to deal with the affairs of the surrounding foreign countries, and he was the first to arrive in this Korean matter, responsible for discussing with the ministers of various countries. On the issue of North Korea, Li Zhongtang felt powerless to control the DPRK, so he asked the DPRK to open its ports a few years ago, trying to bring in more foreign powers to achieve the goal of "destroying the country with razing."

And he Ma Jianzhong, can be said to be an active practitioner of Lord Zhongtang's "razing and razing", but the helplessness in this is probably what he understands best, he does not treat the vassal country as his own territory, and leads a group of robbers who claim to be gentlemen in, and then expects the robbers to contain each other to maintain their own territory, which cannot be said to be helpless or ignorant.

Hearing Ding Ruchang's question, he smiled bitterly, "Admiral Ding, this time the Korean royal court is anti-luàn, on one side is the father of the Korean king, and on the other side is his concubine Min in the middle hall...... (It has always been the king, not the emperor, the king's main room is called the middle hall, and later TV dramas are called Empress Mingcheng, which is also consistent arrogance)"

Ding Ruchang sighed, he was born in the army, but he is definitely not a martial artist with a bad brain, and the relationship between the powerful ones is naturally very clear, one of the things that Lord Zhongtang advocates is the method of opening the Korean mén household to all countries, and implementing the balanced policy of 'ruling the country with raze', in this matter, he can only follow the pace of Lord Zhongtang.

In that case, even if this Dayuan Jun has always been orthodox to the Qing Dynasty, he has taken a tough attitude towards the Western countries and the Japanese country, implemented the so-called national policy of locking the country and suppressing the country, and even put forward the slogan of reprimanding the foreign and the Japanese, but at this point, he has gone far away from Lord Zhongtang, thinking of this, how to deal with the next thing, he also has some ways in his heart.

Looking up, Ma Jianzhong seemed to have something to say, so he asked, "Uncle Mei, don't you have anything else?" You might as well say it explicitly! ”

Ma Jianzhong naturally knew what he had just said, and he had already explained the disposal strategy clearly enough, but there were other drawbacks, he still hoped that after this Admiral Ding was disposed of, he would make it clear to Lord Zhongtang, "Admiral Ding, although the ministers of various countries want Concubine Min to govern more, the reason for this is self-evident, several of the senior Korean officials of Concubine Min's department are very involved in the Japanese State, and even have the suspicion of being a thief, this point, it is necessary to let Lord Zhongtang understand!" ”

"That'...... Concubine Min, how do you think about the affairs of the Japanese Kingdom? Ding Ruchang pondered for a moment, this is a big deal, if he supports a pro-Japanese force, it will be very inappropriate to deal with it himself. ~~~~

"That's too much, Concubine Min's handling of North Korea is also a belief in Lord Zhongtang's strategy of 'using razing to defeat raze', but I think that with the weak country of North Korea, this is tantamount to taking chestnuts from the fire!" Ma Jianzhong has long understood the affairs of North Korea, and his words have also lifted Ding Ruchang's vigilance. ,

After hearing this, Ding Ruchang nodded, "Thank you Uncle Mei for pointing out the tricks, tomorrow I will lead the troops into Seoul to meet the courtyard king!" Concubine Min's side, I'll have 5oo soldiers and horses with you, and you go to guard! ”

On the second day, Ding Ruchang led the army straight into Seoul, and made an appointment to meet with the courtyard Jun and the military camp, he started very quickly, and directly detained the courtyard Jun in the camp, and in the afternoon, the Qin sent Pan Dingxin to Seoul, and told the courtyard Jun in person, and the Beiyang Minister Li Zhongtang asked him to go to Tianjin to listen to the will of the imperial court, and at the same time sent two battalions of Qing troops to Zhongzhou to escort Concubine Min back to Seoul to take over the power, which naturally had to be moved, but the situation was firmly in the hands of Pan Dingxin.

The next day, Dayuanjun followed Ding Ruchang on the "Yong" battleship, and immediately sent him to Tianjin Wei, when Li Zhongtang met with him, he naturally reproached him for not giving priority to state affairs, and put him under house arrest in Baoding Mansion, and the Korean dispute seemed to have subsided overnight.

Qin Kai didn't care about this Korean matter at this time, he had long expected this result, after all, the current North Korea was still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, although Lord Li Zhongtang didn't want to exert his strength in the vassal state, but used his foreign strategy of "using razing to defeat raze" that was not very effective.

The formal foreign strategy of inaction pushed North Korea out of China's sphere of influence step by step, allowing the small and foreign powers to enter Korea lightly, and finally became the fuse that detonated the decline of the Qing Dynasty.

In the whole incident, the only thing that made him interested was two people, one of them was naturally Ma Jianzhong, a doctor from the French political school in the late Qing Dynasty, which made him very interested, and this person was also a doer, alone in the outer Jiāo position in East Asia, and this person was also a legend in the late Qing business world, this person ...... He was very interested.

The other person has a lot to do with Ma Jianzhong, but it is Ma Jianzhong's eldest brother Ma Xiangbo, these are the legendary two brothers in modern history, he immediately recruited Ouyang Qing and asked him to pay close attention to the movements of the two brothers and look for opportunities to contact one or two.

Waiting for Ouyang Qing to go out, Huang Zunxian, who had been eating and drinking for almost a month in Mawei Shipbuilding, appeared, this month's time, for this foreign official who was full of innovation and disadvantages, enriching the country and strengthening the army, it was definitely a month of ideological shock, Qin Kai was open and honest to him, and sent Luo Yan to guide him, and carefully visited the factories of Mawei Shipbuilding, Fuzhou's new learning, and the emerging industries of the people.

On the first day he walked into the Mawei Shipyard, Huang Zunxian was taken aback by the enthusiasm of the workers in the shipyard, and he had also been to the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau and other places.

And here, there is no bureaucracy at all, which makes him very strange, and he is busy pulling Luo Yan to lead the way, "Brother Luo, isn't there an official in charge of affairs in Mawei Shipyard?" ”

Luo Yan laughed, "Lord Huang, if this factory is to operate, it is natural that someone must be in charge, but in our factory, the person in charge is also a person who does things!" He pointed to the high dock in the distance, "Lord Huang, where to look, the glory of our Mawei Shipyard is over there!" ”

Anyone will be amazed by the steel behemoth of the dock, which is the sister ship of the 7O1 ship, and the steel plates are slowly becoming part of the hull under the concerted efforts of the workers.

In the outer processing plant, a piece of steel plate is being processed as a whole, a huge machine qì, up to 1o meters, powered by a steam engine, lifting the huge conical steel hammer, under the worker's cào, very jīng fine beating on the edge of the steel plate, every time the air hammer falls, there is an earth-shattering sound, which is shocking.

The thickness of these steel plates has reached an astonishing 15omm, and Luo Yan is also a half-ass, so he will not show off, and call a senior technician who is handling the steel plates and ask him to explain.

This senior technician obviously had some scruples about the face of the student who came with him and was wearing an official uniform, and looked at Luo Yan inquiringly, and Luo Yan then remembered that a qiē in the Mawei Ship Administration involved a technical problem, and the instructor could clearly list it as a secret.

"Lao Liu, you can introduce me, this is Lord Huang, and the instructor has permission to visit the factory!"

As soon as Lao Liu heard that it was specially allowed by Governor Qin, he no longer hesitated, and immediately proudly introduced, "Lord Huang, this big guy is the 4oo ton steam gas hammer that our Mawei Machine Qì Factory has just built itself this year, and according to the design requirements, it can complete the curvature processing of steel plates below 2oomm, that is to say, our shipmaster will be able to manufacture ironclad ships with armor thickness of 2oomm in the future!" ”,

It was also the first time Huang Zunxian had heard of the air hammer, but when he saw that the huge iron hammer could be easily controlled by a worker to perform various processes on heavy steel plates, the scene made him feel completely shocked. And the ironclad ship, in this era, is undoubtedly the embodiment of the highest industrial technology, although the scene is noisy, but this scene makes him linger, from time to time to ask some questions, ask this technology Lao Liu.

After the huge steel plate was processed, Huang Zunxian walked out of the processing plant with great satisfaction, and then visited the steel mill, facing the torrent of rolling steel, although he was sweating hot, he was a little fascinated.

After the shock is still shocked, after the surprise there are more surprises, a month he lingered in the factory, and visited the new school in Fuzhou, he was pleasantly surprised, the whole Fuzhou new school has entered the scale, formalization of the fast development channel, coupled with the governor, the governor's full support, here, as long as the children who want to study, can enter the primary school, secondary school.

Similarly, in the Mawei Higher School and the magical Mawei Shiyàn room, Huang Zunxian saw a world that was completely beyond his imagination, the students here worked tirelessly, the teachers here were not only teaching and educating people, but also immersed themselves in learning and technology, and what surprised him even more was that there were a large number of foreign experts here, which made him completely puzzled why these Westerners were here.

In the past month, there have been too many doubts and too many emotions in his mind, so when he heard that Inspector Qin Kai was back, he couldn't wait to come to the meeting, and when they met, Huang Zunxian gave Qin Kai a complete and sincere salute, "Gale Wind, I don't want to admire your achievements, but to admire your vision!" ”

Qin Kai haha, calmly accept it, there is no need to be modest in this case, our foresight, it is definitely not an ordinary distance, to be able to know things five hundred years later, speaking of which is the ability of gods and Buddhas, "Brother Gongdu, I think you must have a lot of doubts, I should explain them for you one by one!" ”

"Those who know me, it's like a gale, I have too many problems, I'm afraid you'll think I'll be verbose later!" Huang Zunxian was naturally in a good mood when he saw Qin Kai so happy.

Qin Kai smiled slightly, and called Luo Yan in, "Luo Yan, you go and watch the big mén outside for me, no one will be seen today, I will talk to Brother Gongdu for a day...... By the way, let Chef Wang prepare some side dishes and send them! ”

While Qin Kai was tasting side dishes and pulling Huang Zunxian to talk about the industrial revolution and steel culture, Zhou Ruidong in the north of Vietnam was doing things like stealing jīmo dogs in the hills.

According to the battle plan, the troops of the Northern Vietnamese Protector began to assemble in the direction of Chi Linh in the upper reaches of the Songdong River on 1 March, and the French had already crossed the Songdong River on 1 March on the pontoon bridge of Guò Long Beach, and the reconnaissance troops sent by them were attacked by the French counter-reconnaissance forces on the west bank of the Songdong River, and the intelligence reconnaissance almost stalled for a while.

Wang Hai, the chief officer of the Intelligence Protection Department, was also anxious, and for two days he could not get the specific location and layout of the main French force, the French obviously made a big move, and the suspicious places on the accompanying map were marked one by one, he asked Zhou Ruidong for a gunboat, and went all the way down the riverbank, and even used the indigenous intelligence officers, and sprinkled heavy rewards.

On the 3rd, someone from the 7th reconnaissance team rushed back, and finally brought back important clues, and there were traces of the French in the Ou Song Ridge area, 5o miles west of Long Beach, but because of the frontal arrangement of some French positions, it was impossible to go deep, and the rest of the reconnaissance team was making a roundabout way to spy and wait for an opportunity to capture the live mouth.

The news was immediately sent to Zhou Ruidong, at this time, a large number of guards were stationed at Baishuitan in the upper reaches of the Songdong River, and the soldiers under the leadership of the officers cut down a large number of trees, laid pontoon bridges, and issued an order that the pontoon bridges must be erected before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, so the beachhead was busy.

As the main force of the guard, Liang Gang, the advance force of the first association and the third battalion of the gunboat transport, this time Liang Gang finally won the task of this forward, which was full of energy and ready to swing, and the task he received was to fully control the defense points on the opposite bank and block the infiltration of the nearby Jiāo Tong and the French scouts.

Liang Gang naturally knew the importance of this battle, the key to which was to complete the layout before the French realized their intentions, and chose Baishuitan as the location for crossing the river.

After crossing the river, Liang Gang immediately set up a beachhead position in the nearby mound, sent 3 brigades and 3oo men to defend this point, and at the same time arranged two mortar companies 8mén mortars behind the position, leading to a wasteland behind the Guò hills, and in front of it is the road connecting Bac Ninh to Hanoi Pier. ,

He also sent 3 brigades of 3oo people to cast a large net of more than ten kilometers throughout the hills and wastelands, any wind and grass must be the first time to let him know, and this strategy proved to be very important, in most of the day, the front sentry force has ambushed two French reconnaissance teams.

And he personally led 5 brigades to defend the entire Baishuitan ferry, and after the arrangements were made, he issued a permit to cross the river.

Zhou Ruidong looked at the army of nearly 30,000 gathered behind Baishuitan, and his mind was a little trance, three years ago, he was still a child of a big clan who worked hard to learn Western studies and was determined to use foreign science as a Chinese student, but suddenly embarked on a completely different path, but now that he thinks about it, this road is indeed the road he wants to take the most.

I remember the n questions asked by the instructor in the first class, those theories that he could never have access to in his life, led him to get closer to the instructor and brought him a whole new world.

In the past three years, after continuous efforts and so many challenges and crises, the current Nanyang Naval Division has a glory like the sky, and the honor of protection is now about to be cast in his own hands with these comrades-in-arms who are like brothers and sisters.

As the two pontoon bridges built by wooden platoons were built smoothly under the traction of gunboats, Zhou Ruidong took a telescope and looked at the position just built by the beams on the other side of the river, waved his hand, and gave an order, "According to the predetermined sequence, cross the river!" ”

In an instant, in the woods on the side of the White Water Beach, the three battalions mentioned by Zhang Kui, who were the first of the second association, had already been dispatched at one time, with the infantry in front and the heavy weapons behind, while the 4th mortar company belonging to the second association had already been waiting for the gunboats to pick up and drop off separately on the shore, and the rumbling footsteps made the soldiers of the other associations look excitedly at the army on the pontoon bridge. Roa。