Unlike the poor performance of the French Army, the French Navy was undoubtedly the star of the Franco-Prussian War. The surprise attack on the port of Kiel by the French Navy's rapid detachment led by www.biquge.info Pen & Fun & Pavilion has become one of the most famous classic battles in the history of world naval warfare. This battle can be called one of the turning points of the Franco-Prussian War, and it was the efforts of the French Navy that saved the Second French Empire from extinction. In a series of naval battles, including the Battle of Kiel Harbor, ironclads with their huge guns undoubtedly played the leading role, and the great power displayed by ironclads in naval battles attracted the attention of various countries. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, all naval powers without exception set off an upsurge in the construction of ironclad ships, and the world's navies entered the era of ironclad ships.

In the 70s of the 19th century, China, which began to learn from the West in building modern coastal defense after the Taiping War, was also closely following the world trend and striving not to lag behind the world. Shortly after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, a number of steam warships were launched in the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau of China.

As early as June 12, 1870, Shen Baozhen, the Minister of Shipping, reported that the third steamer "Fuxing" had been successfully launched, and at the same time mentioned that another 150-horsepower steamer of the Shipmaster after the "Wannian Qing" had started construction, and had been named "Fubo" in advance.

After the completion of the renovation project of the "Wannian Qing", when Lin Yizhe reported to the imperial court, he once again elaborated on the shortcomings of the "dual-use" ship type, and the imperial court officially ordered the shipmaster not to build a dual-use ship. This means that the Harbour Master has truly escaped the shackles of the erroneous guidelines left by Zuo Zongtang. Since the warship built by the Harbour Master was already quite large, Shen Baozhen decided to use the rebuilt 150-horsepower steamer as a special transport ship.

According to Shen Baozhen's request, the chief engineer of the shipyard, Da Shibo, and Chinese technicians redesigned the first steamship "Wan Nian Qing" on the basis of the new 150-horsepower transport ship. On the basis of the "10,000-year-clear" policy, the length of the transport ship was reduced and the width of the ship was appropriately increased. It seems that the "Fubo" ship, which has been designed in this way, can be regarded as an improved version of the "Wannianqing". However, in fact, the new 150-horsepower steamship "Fubo" has not only been adjusted in scale, but also has been fundamentally different from the "Wannian Qing" in many other aspects of its design, and belongs to the new type of ship created by the shipmaster's foreigners and Chinese technicians on the basis of existing experience.

After completion, the "Fubo" class is still an all-wooden gunboat type, with a displacement of 1,258 tons, and the hull part below the main deck is very similar to the "Wannian Qing" in appearance, but the cargo capacity has been greatly increased, reaching 720 tons, and it is a transport ship specially used for transporting cargo.

When the keel of the "Fubo" was laid on the slipway, the nascent shipmaster already had experience in building large warships, and the shipmaster's technicians and craftsmen were familiar with how to build this transport ship with a style similar to that of the "Wannian Qing." In addition, a large number of workshops and workshops have been completed one after another, and the equipment conditions have been much improved compared with those in the beginning, so the construction speed of the "Fubo" ship is quite fast, and it took only six months to basically complete the construction under the auspices of the chief engineer of the shipyard, Da Shibo. Compared with the original "Wannianqing", the construction efficiency has been rapidly improved.

On December 22, 1870, the Harbour Master held a grand launching ceremony for the "Fubo" ship as usual, but the Minister of Shipping Shen Baozhen did not appear, and shortly after the construction of the "Fubo" ship, Shen Baozhen applied for the system again because of the death of his father, and the time of the defense was shortened to 100 days by the imperial court's "seizure of affection", during which the affairs of the shipmaster were all represented by Xia Xianlun. When Shen Baozhen was in charge this time, among the three promotions who played an important role in the initial period of the shipmaster, Zhou Kaixi had passed away, Wu Dating was transferred to Liangjiang, and only Xia Xianlun was still in the shipmaster's office, so Shen Baozhen chose Xia Xianlun to shoulder the heavy responsibility of acting the shipping minister. Unexpectedly, after serving the 100-day mourning period, Shen Baozhen was seriously ill due to years of hard work and the pain of losing his father, and was unable to return to the Harbour Master for a long time, so that Xia Xianlun, who was originally going to Taiwan to serve as the Daotai, could only stay in the Harbour Master and continue to act as the Minister of Harbour. Most of the "Fubo"-class transport ships came from Xia Xianlun's tenure.

After several months of outfitting and sea trials, the "Fubo" ship, which was "very handy to sail at sea", was completed on April 1, 1871, and after three years from the first steamer, the Chinese and foreign technicians of the shipmaster improved the design on the original French drawings and created a ship with their own style.

Fuzhou, Mawei Port, Shipyard Wharf.

Although there are still a few days before the beginning of autumn, but the recent weather in Fuzhou City has a bit of the taste of autumn tigers, since the day before yesterday after the rain, until yesterday, although it rained several times one after another, but it was cloudy and sunny, and those little rain were afraid that even the ground was not wet and dispersed, and this day was more and more damp and stuffy to make people breathless. It rained a lot of rain on the night, and the west wind blew for a while, and when I got up in the morning, the weather was clear, and it was cool.

Thanks to the rain last night, Sheng Xuanhuai and Zheng Guanying, who had been tired all the way, felt a little refreshed after arriving in Fuzhou.

The two of them, on the orders of Li Hongzhang, came to the Harbour Administration to negotiate the purchase of a newly-built "Fubo" class transport ship for the China Merchants Steamship Company.

"I heard that the shipyard has today's weather, and that Lin Kunyu has made a lot of efforts." As the ship slowly approached the shore, the scenery on the shore was in full view, and Zheng Guanying couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the factories and smoking huge chimneys in the distance.

"Yes, Zeng Gong recommended this person to Li Shuai, it seems to make sense." Sheng Xuanhuai nodded, "The fact that he can take such a large business to the shipmaster shows his ability to do things." ”

The boat docked, Zheng Guanying and Sheng Xuanhuai got off the boat, and as far as the eye could see, a young man was walking towards them with steady steps.

"Good talent!" After seeing the faces of the people who came, Zheng Guan couldn't help but immediately applaud in his heart! The young man in front of him stood tall and tall. There are two black pupils on the delicate ground face, the eyes are clear and sharp, although there is a taste of a beautiful son in the turbid world, but it is quite friendly and humble, not as flamboyant as the ordinary literati.

"Two adults have worked hard!" The young man walked quickly to the front of the two, bowed as he greeted, and then said calmly, "But Mr. Xingsun and Mr. Zhengxiang? ”

"Below is Sheng Xuanhuai, this is Mr. Zheng Guanying Zheng." Sheng Xuanhuai slightly tidied up the long shirt on his body, then took a step forward, walked in front of the visitor, and asked calmly, "I don't know who Your Excellency is?" ”

"In Shimobayashi Yoshizhe, I have come to greet the two gentlemen." Lin Yizhe said with a smile.

I don't know why, as soon as Sheng Xuanhuai and Zheng Guanying saw the handsome young man in front of them, they immediately felt an inexplicable sense of closeness in their hearts.

"There is Lao Kunyu to greet him personally, and I don't want to go." Sheng Xuanhuai said with a smile, "I heard that Kunyu is a talent, but I can see it today, it's not a lie, hehe." ”

"I've heard of Kunyu's name for a long time, and I've been looking forward to seeing it for a long time," Zheng Guanying didn't speak as politely as Sheng Xuanhuai, "I have benefited a lot from reading Kunyu's "Records of the Franco-Prussian War" and "The Chart of the French Division's Ship", this time there are still many questions, I want to ask Kunyu for advice in person, and I hope to give advice." ”

"How dare you, Mr. Zhengxiang has an overreputation." Lin Yizhe showed a humble smile on his face and said with his hands.

After Lin Yizhe and Sheng Xuanhuai Zheng Guan greeted him, they invited the two to get into the carriage and go to the Harbour Administration. The three of them chatted in the car, so that Lin Yizhe had a more intuitive understanding of these two famous historical figures in modern Chinese history.

As an important leader of China's modern reformist ideology, Zheng Guanying has more of the breath of a scholar, while Sheng Xuanhuai, as a famous official and business entrepreneur in modern China, speaks and behaves kindly, in many places, giving Lin Yizhe a feeling of Hu Xueyan, but the two are different, in Sheng Xuanhuai, there is a trace of literati elegance, and Hu Xueyan's exaggerated philistine is not seen.

"Two gentlemen, please see, that is the two ships of 'Fubo' and 'Yongbao' for China Merchants." Lin Yizhe pointed to the "Fubo" and "Yongbao" anchored in the distance, and said with a smile, "How do the two gentlemen compare to second-hand foreign ships?" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai and Zheng Guanying looked in the direction of Lin Yizhe's finger, and the figures of the two brigs came into view. Like the foreign merchant ships that the two often saw in Tianjin, the two shipyards in front of them also had beautiful flying scissors heads, the hull was light blue, and the outer wall of the bulwark near the top of the ship circled around the whole ship, which was a dark blue decorative line, and the flybridge cabins on the main deck were all sky blue, and the masts and chimneys were also blue, which was a typical French livery , and the ship's mast also fluttered with a square red background gold dragon flag. What particularly surprised Sheng Xuanhuai and Zheng Guanying was that the bow of the two ships was also decorated with the same bow portrait as the Western ships, but unlike the mythical characters and monsters of the West, the bow portrait of the Chinese transport ship represented two beautiful Chinese flying dragons (the traditional "two dragons playing with pearls" pattern).

Compared with the foreign merchant ships at the cargo terminal in the distance, these two transports are tall and beautiful, and they stand out from the crowd.

"Good! Good! Many times better than foreign ships! Sheng Xuanhuai and Zheng Guanying high-fived in unison.

On January 14, 1871, Li Hongzhang single-handedly proposed, promoted, and aimed at developing China's shipping industry, "sharing the benefits of foreigners", and "opening up the way for China's thousands of years of national system, business conditions, financial resources, and military strength" Steamship China Merchants Bureau was established in Shanghai. At the beginning of the establishment of China Merchants, the biggest difficulty it faced was the steamship.

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