After Zhang Peilun met Qin Kai, presumably Ding Richang's calmness, he was a little impatient, but he had been in the court for a long time, so he naturally knew the current sensitivity of this news, although there was a voice of the main battle in the court, but the queen mother and Prince Gong Wang Yi who were in charge never made up their minds, after all, they were facing France, which was known as the second most powerful navy in the world and the most powerful army in Europe.

It is an indisputable fact that the superior only seeks peace and stability, and it is naturally the best choice not to fight, but the current situation, the French are bent on fighting, and they have telegraph exchanges with Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Hubei, Chen Baochen, Hanlin Chen, and Baoting, a friend of the DPRK and China, are all advocating that the court do their best to determine the strategy, but after these concerts go up, they are all pressed by the military aircraft!

Now this news will undoubtedly make some of the old guys in the DPRK and China, who are afraid of the enemy like tigers, let go of some of their worries, and at the same time can greatly boost the hearts of the people, and the hardline attitude toward the law advocated by the Qingliu people will also find a basis. All along, Li Zhongtang, a Western-style bigwig, has used Qingliu's ignorance of Western-style affairs and military affairs to counter Qingliu's party's attack on the Westernists.

And when he sat in the position of governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Zhang Peilun naturally understood the urgency of opening foreign affairs, but as for whether to implement "foreign for Chinese use" or "comprehensive westernization", everyone who has been clamoring over the years cares about this. Fortunately, this ponytail gave him a big platform, and the person who created this platform was indeed Ding Richang, one of the cadres of the Westernization faction, which is somewhat funny.

In his recent recitals, the topic of discontinuing foreign affairs has been rarely mentioned, and more of a proposal has been made to allow people of insight to establish the military affairs of the imperial court. A few days ago, Zhang Zhidong called him to discuss that he wanted to recommend Xu Yanxu, the prefect of Guangxi Taiping, to be the commander of the Gui Army and take charge of Vietnam's military affairs.

And the reason why Xu Yanxu is recommended is because Xu Zhifu led troops into Vietnam to pursue Huang Chongying six years ago, and was captured in a battle.

One is the Black Flag Army, a Yellow Flag Army, in the early stage for the tax to fight for the victory, this is just the internal contradiction of the people, Liu Yongfu is obviously a step ahead, and Huang Chongying was defeated, but after the French An Ye captured Hanoi, Huang Chongying lard was blinded, and he actually sold himself to the enemy and hooked up with the French!

When Liu Yongfu faced the French and the Yellow Flag Army who surrendered to the enemy, he also felt that he was alone, but this Xu Governor arrived just right, and agreed with Liu Yongfu to flank Huang Chongying together, and the result was a battle, as for how much of the Black Flag Army's merits in this battle, future generations do not know, anyway, this merit is recorded in Xu Yanxu's name.

In the past forty years of history, the battle between the Eastern army and the Western gunboats, the only victory was the victory won by Zeng Greenqin in the defensive battle of the Dagu Fort, but this victory was completely annihilated by the defeat of the Nanjing Treaty and the burning of the Old Summer Palace.

And Qin Kai in the battle of gunboats in which the French have an absolute advantage, both battles were successful, destroying 5 enemy ships, for Zhang Peilun, who is familiar with history, naturally knows the difficulties, so the little butterfly of history quietly flapped its wings, Lao Zhang discussed with the bachelor Chen Baochen, in addition to Xu Yanxu, but also pushed the Fujian political envoy Qin Kai.

And Qin Kai, because of Zhang Peilun's recommendation, also entered the field of vision of the Qingliu cadres. The victories brought by today can obviously make Zhang Peilun more influential in the Qingliu party, after all, it was his recommendation that made Qin Kai enter the field of vision of the Qinglius.

Zhang Peilun quietly drove out of the house, followed Qin Kai straight to the hidden port behind the Nanyang Navy Division, pondering along the way, he was secretly happy in his heart, he was worried about the country and the people, and finally found a suitable talent, his own military ability, after taking charge of the Fujian Navy Division, he understood a lot!

This Qing Dynasty military general is not something that he can command casually, and the diligent training of elite soldiers in his own imagination must be really implemented, relying on these generals, it is really an unreliable thing, and although this Qin Bu political envoy is not a member of the Qingliu party, he is quite on the opposite side of the road.

The last time he allowed Qin Kai to recruit a special training battalion in the Fujian Navy Division and train 10,000 marines for the recovery of the Ryukyus, the excerpt was delivered to the military aircraft, and the 10,000 marines were shot on the spot...... This is really chilling from the original 10,000. ,

As for the matter of the Fujian Navy Master Training Camp, I don't know how Qin Kai discussed it with Peng Nanchu, the Admiral of the Water Division, but it was done, Peng Nanchu came to report to himself, and transferred 200 people to the training camp to listen to it, but Master Zeng inquired about the news, the actual establishment of the training camp was 500 people, and the other 300, and the water division ate the quota.

This incident made him angry, and he called Peng Nanchu for questioning at that time, but he was completely choked up when he replied to Admiral Peng, the salary of this sailor was still allocated according to the amount of thirty years ago, and the silver has been a lot cheaper over the years, how can anyone come to be a soldier without a salary! This Fujian Navy Division claims to have 3,700 soldiers, but the actual number of full numbers is only 1,500.

Peng Nanchu also spoke very politely, if Governor Zhang gave him a full salary, he would immediately go to recruit enough soldiers, and he would never eat empty quotas...... Zhang Peilun was so choked by these words that he had no direction, and he didn't ask in detail about this matter in the army, and now what Peng Nanchu said is also well-founded.

And Master Zeng also reminded that now even Huaijun is a common practice of eating empty salaries, and this Peng Nanchu is also the admiral of Yipin, and they all know that he is Prince Gong's person, so he can't go to him because of empty salaries! After thinking about it, he basically gave up on this Fujian sailor anyway!

Thinking of this, the carriage has arrived at the large dock behind the shipyard, the captured Atarante ironclad has been towed to the dock, the workers are diligently resting for the hull, the hull of this battleship, I want to be not much different from the imitation 501 ship next to the hull construction, all of them are about 3500 tons of ironclad ships, but slightly wider and shorter, which is also the characteristic of the side gun battleship.

Zhang Peilun was very interested, and personally climbed onto the battleship, which was the first time that the Great Qing Kingdom captured an enemy warship...... However, now that the Qing Kingdom has not officially declared war, this is a problem!! He frowned, and continued to look around at the French ironclad, the superstructure of the battleship had eaten a few heavy guns, obviously dilapidated, and at this time it had been briefly renovated, and everything that should have been dismantled had been demolished.

After getting off the ship, he saw that the bottom of the battleship was rusty, and asked with some concern: "Gale Wind, what are you going to do with this battleship?" ”

"My lord, this ironclad ship is a little outdated and too slow, but now the battleships of the Nanyang Naval Division are scarce, so they need to be refurbished and refitted, I hope it can still be used!"

Zhang Peilun laughed, praised Qin Kai for his diligence and thrift, and said again about the application to the imperial court for the establishment of the Marine Corps, I heard that the military aircraft department allowed a quota of 1,000, which was much more than Qin Kai's expectations, this place built a new army, but it was a taboo in the Manchu court, and it can be seen that the public opinion power of the Qingliu party in this court is indeed very strong!

From Qin Kai's point of view, he didn't have much disgust with these Qingliu literati, although from a historical point of view, most of these people are talking exaggeratedly, and they are rarely effective, and the content of their needles is actually all-encompassing, from greed **, to the independence of the feudal officials, as well as the disadvantages of the Westernization movement, how many of them are right, even later historians are difficult to determine, and the people involved do not have their own historical height to judge.

What these people say and think, if they are in their own time and space, is indeed a bit unrealistic, because they hope to rely on the Manchu government that is completely rotten to the roots! However, compared with those bureaucrats who are in a vegetarian position, at least they are genuinely concerned about state affairs, are devoted to government affairs, advocate integrity and morality, hate corrupt officials and corrupt officials, advocate a tough attitude towards foreign affairs, and oppose compromise.

In his opinion, these Qingliu are at least people with thoughts and ideas, some people sink after experiencing setbacks, and others devote themselves to specific practice after seeing the shortcomings of this era.

The lesson summed up by historical facts is that in China, if you want to be a good official, you must either be a clean stream party with clean sleeves and never participate in practice, just talk to yourself, because as a clean stream party, if you offend the powerful, then it will be difficult for you to do anything, and even it will be difficult for you to protect yourself. The second choice is to do practical things for the people, but never offend the powerful. It's impossible to have both.

However, in the end, some variables have been added to this time and space, Qin Kai understands that he can't control the mouthpiece of Qingliu, but he can guide them properly, after all, there is such a Qingliu cadre as Zhang Peilun here, and now the relationship between the two is also quite harmonious. ,

Lao Zhang has undergone a great change since the beginning of the new school, and now he has taken the initiative to run a new army, which can be seen that after he sat in the position of governor, the change in understanding, relying on the old-style Manchu army, is unable to complete the dream of a strong country that the Qingliu people expect, but naturally he appeared, so use our giant ship cannon theory to guide......

Zhang Peilun looked at the more than 400 captured French soldiers, a large number of prisoners were temporarily imprisoned in a newly built large factory, and the perimeter was tightly defended. Why not hold a ceremony to sacrifice prisoners and send these people to the capital, it will be a matter of greatly increasing the prestige of the country! ”

Qin Kai smiled, greatly increasing the national prestige, increasing the national prestige of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? ! I'm not interested! Lao Zhang still can't get out of this circle in the end, but he can't be blamed for this, how many of the 40,000 people in Greater China in this era can have the idea of rebuilding a new China? This pig tail...... What a nasty thing!

"I'm still at the mercy of adults...... However, I think these French, or first, maybe when they want to negotiate with the French, it can come in handy, as for this prisoner sacrifice conference, in fact, it is not necessary, at the right time, the adults only need to pass our "Fujian Xinbao" with a few photos, that is enough to make the French lose face! ”

Zhang Peilun saw that Qin Kai was indeed knowledgeable, so he naturally didn't refute his face, and said with a smile: "Gale Wind, just according to what you said!" There is another thing, now that the imperial court has not declared war on France, we have sunk French warships...... Will there be trouble? ”

"There is no problem," Qin Kai smiled, recruited and asked his soldiers to take out a stack of papers, which were full of pages of French, he pointed to the first one and said, "My lord, this is the confession of Dokes, the commander of the cruiser Dujuturuin, admitting that they took the lead in attacking the fleet of the Great Qing Kingdom, this is a clear declaration of war, how can we say it!" And...... I estimate that the French are about to attack Vietnam, and the battle of Vietnam is about to break out! ”

Hearing that the war in Vietnam is so urgent, Zhang Peilun is naturally interested, they Qingliu these scholars have not been handing excerpts to the palace every day recently, discussing who will go to Vietnam to fight the main battle, this matter has not been conclusive until now, and now the Qing army stationed in Vietnam is mainly led by Wu Changqing, the commander of the Qingzi Army of the Huai Army, but the Gui Army, the Guangdong Army, and the Dian Army are fighting for themselves, which is what the national war looks like!

"Gale Wind, how are you doing in recruiting guardians in Vietnam? Do you think the French can beat them? "He is most concerned about this problem, and on the issue of recommending Xu Yanxu, although he heard that this Xu Governor has quite a knowledgeable soldier, but this Xu Yanxu is an old man who is almost 60, and this knowing soldier is also an unknown, far less credible than Qin Kai's side.

"My lord, the French should not be underestimated, the fleet at sea, although our army has broken 8 ships in a row, but the main force of the French has not been damaged, and the Nanyang Naval Division is really unable to compete with it head-on, and this land war, the French are said to have increased their troops by 30,000 to South Vietnam, and the French army's combat power and equipment are far superior to the Yunnan army, the Guangdong army, and the Gui army, even the Huai army is far behind......" Qin Kai is not stupid enough to pack a ticket, the strength at hand is the foundation of his own survival in this troubled world, how can he take it out and take risks at will!

When Zhang Peilun heard this, he also felt that there was a problem in it, and hurriedly asked: "Gale wind, can't this Vietnam be defeated?" ”

"My lord, it may not be necessary, the French came from afar, this Vietnam is a jungle area, the climate is humid and sultry, there are many plagues and malaria, and our army is a righteous army, this day and time are favorable, people are all in me, although the armament is not as good as the enemy, but there is still a lot to do...... I'm afraid that if this court is indecisive in this matter, it will be a mistake for the country......"

When he talked about this righteous teacher, it was very much in line with Lao Zhang's appetite, and this truth was also to the point, Zhang Peilun naturally knew what it meant, the French had already informed the Prime Minister Yamen about the abolition of the contract, but the Prime Minister Yamen was still discussing with Beiyang Li Zhongtang to let him hold new negotiations with the new French Minister Delisu, but the French did not come out for an interview at all.

Clear-eyed people have already seen that the French are going to fight, how could the smart Lord Li Zhongtang not know?! But...... According to the news from the well-informed Qingliu officials of the imperial court, the Qingzi Army received an order that it should be stationed in Bac Ninh and never start a war lightly. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but worry about Qin Kai, this usually very smart person, why did he go to ask for such an errand to be cannon fodder and cause trouble? ,

"Gale Wind, what can you do to make the imperial court make up its mind to fight the French to the end?"

Qin Kai smiled slightly, pointed at these French soldiers in the prisoner of war camp, and then made a click to kill the head, "My lord, since you can't make the imperial court make up your mind to fight, you might as well let the French make up your mind!" My lord, do you think it works? ”

Zhang Peilun was taken aback by Qin Kai's bold and reckless idea, but this method is a self-defeating thing, once the war happens, if it is won, it will be completely fine, at most to win the reputation of a butcher, if it is defeated, then it will have to resist all the blame! He looked at Qin Kai with some blankness......

Qin Kai also understood his concerns, grinned, and said: "My lord, you don't need to come forward in this matter, I will design a qiē, and I will bear the responsibility for each qiē, if this court punishes, at most, it will be offset by this merit and demerit, that is, I am not strict in governing the army, and I can still be held accountable for the punishment of the officers and men in this army?"

"This matter is a little too much, you have to think about it carefully, but this is also a small section for the fortune of the country, gale...... What a warrior! Zhang Peilun walked back and forth a few times, and said worriedly: "In this way, tomorrow I will send a telegram and ask Master Chen to make a big deal about this in the court, you can act again, it will be better!" ”

The two discussed the details for a while, Zhang Peilun went back to arrange it after repeated instructions, and Qin Kai immediately ordered to raise the vigilance of the Mawei Shipmaster, and once Zhang Peilun sent news, he would implement the plan. In fact, this plan, judging from the historical background that Qin Kai is familiar with, does not necessarily have to be implemented.

Because the French attack on coastal defense was imminent, and soon a full-scale war would break out, the reason why he acted like this was completely to express his attitude to Zhang Peilun, and this kind of unyielding and tough attitude towards the outside world was also in line with Qingliu's style.

On the dock inside the shipyard, the 501 ship is supplying all kinds of supplies, this time the escort materials are not handled by the previous workers, but by the Mawei Security Corps, Tang Qingshan, the shooting officer standing by the railing, looked at the busy soldiers on the trestle, and asked the gunner on the side, his fellow countryman Zeng Hu a little strangely, "Huzi, it seems that there are a lot of supplies transported this time, have you found it!" ”

"Yes?! Could it be that the food on our ship has improved again! Zeng Hu laughed happily, but his words were immediately interrupted by Tang Qingshan's brain.

"You know how to eat...... Eat...... Eat, I feel that the instructor must have made a big move! Tang Qingshan stared at the factories in the distance and thought.

"Big moves? Qingshan, there are still a lot of French ships, I don't know when I can defeat the French Luo, Lord Qin said, defeat the French, everyone will give vacation and take out rewards! An artilleryman next to him muttered.

"That's right, but the salary on our ship is indeed high, and Lord Qin really treats us as his own family! In the army of the Qing Dynasty, we are the only one in the Nanyang Naval Division! Another artillery interface said.

"Hou Er, Lord Qin pays your salary, you are all stuffed into the bras of the ladies in Caiyun Pavilion...... Immediately, a soldier sneered loudly, so the soldiers who were resting found the topic they were interested in, took out their cigarettes one after another, swallowed the clouds and mist, and began to talk about women......

And Qin Kai, who had just returned to the Artillery Bureau, had already been put on by Wang Ruijie, and he was here to report on the progress of copying the 501 ship.