After the test of this great war, the Vietnamese servant army has indeed formed a certain combat effectiveness. The only thing these soldiers lack is an inner spirit, but strict training and military discipline have allowed them to burst out with good combat power, plus the guards treat these servant troops equally, and the meals and salaries are the same, and the servant army has a sense of belonging.

The bigger reason for the banquet is that the salary of the guard ** is actually not high, and the only thing that makes them satisfied is the word fairness, you know, even in the Vietnamese army, they were only the lowest level of soldiers, and they had no equal power at all.

Of course, Qin Kai has been unremittingly supporting this servant army, so naturally there are other considerations, and this anti-bone race in later generations has a record that makes Qin Kai very unhappy, however, based on Vietnam in this era, Qin Kai thinks that there is still a foundation for transformation, walking in Vietnam in this era, completely free from a mixture of Ming and Qing Dynasty and China, and it is very large, this is also a real yàn of Qin Kai, after all, his vision is not limited to the small North of Vietnam!

Ma Long and some light and heavy battalions Fang Jin are the two most vocal in the training of servant troops, the number of servant troops under the two of them is more than 20,000, just when the two of them are talking hotly, they suddenly find that Zhang Kui is smiling evilly, dare to love This drudgery naturally falls on them!

Considering the urgency of time, Qin Kai's strategic task for Ha Jing was naturally ready to fly, and the Ha Jing Raider Command was temporarily established, with Zhang Kui as the commander-in-chief, mobilizing 2,000 people from 2 battalions of the First Association, 4,500 people from the three battalions of the Second Association, 2,500 people from 5 battalions of the Third Association, and 2,000 people from 4 battalions of the Fourth Association.

Of course, all the troops threw off their uniforms, changed into ugly Vietnamese uniforms, raised the ugly yellow flag of the third line of Vietnam, and even the gunboats hung the three-line flag to escort this large number of requisitioned ships, dragged down the Red River by steamboats.

A letter signed by the king of small Vietnam to abolish the unequal treaty was sent to Saigon in advance, and when the messenger sent a telegram from Saigon to confirm it, the secret battle order was issued to Zhang Kui, who had been stationed in the outpost of Shanxi City for several days, and with an order, with the move of steam gunboats as the forerunner, more than 30 troop transports followed by the forward troops immediately pounced on the fortress built by the French at Ha Tinh Pass!

Qin Kai waved his pen, and after issuing the order, there was immediately a matter of burning his eyebrows" What made him even more headache was that Zhao Liewen muttered a few sentences when he was fine" "Gale Wind, have you thought about it!" ”

"Mr. Zhao, this matter slowly............ Say it slowly," the Governor of Qin only had a cold sweat, and handed Zhao Liewen a telegram, "Hurry up and change the topic", "I have a big thing burning my eyebrows here, hurry back to Guangzhou!" ”

Zhao Liewen picked up the telegram, the number of words is not much, but this matter is maddening enough, Lord Li Zhongtang began to use his brains against the Nanyang Naval Division, as the "General" Naval Affairs Yamen, Li Zhongtang has already done it boldly, and after discussing with the Minister of the "General" Navy Yamen, Prince Alcohol Yiwei, the Minister of "General" agreed that Lord Li Zhongtang would discuss with the foreigners in advance about the purchase of new warships.

The other two middle-aged women in the palace will be hand-picked, Qin Kai is far away at the ends of the world, and the prince of Qingjun is cool in Beijing, he is not too interested in dealing with foreigners, unless foreigners come to give gifts, it can make this prince of the county happy.

And Li Zhongtang naturally will not let go of this golden opportunity" immediately drafted several official documents of the Navy Yamen, and set the tone of the Navy Yamen, first of all, to unify the command of the Navy, and the Navy Yamen is in charge of naval and coastal defense affairs, which is naturally headed by Prince Alcohol However, Li Zhongtang played a trick in this, mentioning yì, considering that it is inconvenient for Beijing City to control the sea and military affairs, he will go to Tianjin Wei to prepare for this matter, and it is also convenient to manage the fleet, and contact the prince and the prince of the county by telegram in case of trouble, The two idiot princes obviously understood that this was Li Zhongtang's trick, but they didn't have any other thoughts at all, thinking that this preparation was so complicated, this Lord Li was also brave enough to shoulder the heavy burden, and immediately nodded and agreed.

By the time Qin Kai's meeting office was told the news, the matter had already been agreed by the three bigwigs, and it was impossible for him to put forward any opinions, in the eyes of Prince Yihuan, this was just a trivial matter, and with Li Zhongtang paving the way in front, wouldn't it be very good! ,

In this matter, Qin Kai was closed to the news, and several eyeliners stationed in the Intelligence Department were not able to get the news at the first time...... Moreover, after receiving the news, his intuition told him that this Zhongtang Lord now has a direct conflict of interest with him, and while he is preparing for the Navy Yamen, there seems to be no reason to give himself a chance to take advantage!

Sure enough, when the second piece of news arrived, Li Zhongtang mentioned that in the development of the navy, there should be some focus, and with the delivery of the two ironclad warships customized in Germany, the combat power of the Beiyang Naval Division will be significantly improved, and the Beiyang Gongwei is the key point of the Beijing Division, if a large military port is established in Weihaiwei and Lushun Port, then, "As far as the Bohai Sea gate is concerned, there is already a deep-rooted and unshakable trend!" ”

Obviously, this boast made the middle-aged fù women in the palace listen to it very comfortably, and Prince Yihuan of alcohol was also very appreciative of this Zhongtang lord for coming up with such a splendid naval idea in a short period of time, and after some deliberation by the three-person group, they basically agreed with this proposal, but. This time, I didn't forget the Governor of Qin who was still in northern Vietnam under the Prophet Jì, after all, this had a lot to do with Qin Kai's Nanyang Naval Division.

Qin Kai is naturally not a fool, this Li Zhongtang's so-called priority development strategy is naturally to take silver from the imperial court in the future, and the share that the Nanyang Sailor can get will definitely be eaten a large piece, this is a large amount of tens of millions, there is no reason for you Li Zhongtang to eat alone.

He immediately called, proposed to discuss with Li Zhongtang personally about the construction of the Nanyang and Beiyang naval divisions, on May 3, Qin Kai had already set foot on Tianjin Wei, *** Li Zhongtang did not eat like this, such a large amount of money for the purchase of ships, if you want to take it, it is necessary to leave enough benefits for yourself to pay for the rain in the dripping rain, Qin Kai rushed to Tianjin Port by 701 ship, here there are already Mawei shipping personnel and Tianjin Health Intelligence Department officers to arrange a residence, Then Zhao Liewen went to the governor's yamen and handed over the sticker, although the governor of Zhili was the most important governor of the Qing Dynasty, but in terms of official rank, Qin Kai was not inferior to him at all.

In the afternoon, Zhou Fu had already hurried over, he was also an old acquaintance with Qin Kai, and after the meeting, it was a polite meeting, Qin Kai did not forget to ask about the recent situation of the Zhou family's son, this 17-year-old son, one of Qin Kai's future target coolies, is still studying hard, preparing to take the provincial exam, seeing that the governor of Qin, who is in the limelight, has a high evaluation of his own kid, and Lao Zhou is naturally happy.

However, when it came to meeting Lord Zhongtang, Zhou Fu was stunned and said that Lord Zhongtang was not in Tianjin, and went to Langfang to watch the Huai Army training...

Qin Kai has a black hair, this bull blows, it is too unreliable Although this Zhongtang Lord likes to hold the power of the army, but at this time, it has been raining heavily for three days, and he has run to Langfang...... Turn over the map and take a look, it is almost 200 miles away, you should be the future generations, the era of the prism machine, it will take a while, this Tianjin Wei to Beijing's official road, Qin Kai has not seen a dirt road.

However, this can't just be exposed, officialdom is like this, Qin Kai has to pretend to be surprised, and it's not good to ask too much, this is a lot of words, in case Zhou Fu leaks his mouth if he asks too much, it's a matter of cutting people's face, there's no need for that, this Lord Li Zhongtang just wants to delay the time, then he will go, but he doesn't know what the hell the idea is......

The two bragged and farted as if they were reunited, for Zhao Liewen on the side, Zhou Fu naturally knew each other, but he was a staff member under Zeng Hou's tent back then, so he was naturally embarrassed, and the two halves of the old man chatted very happily, but put the main owner aside.

Before leaving, Qin Kai took out a letter and handed it to Zhou Fu, saying that he might have to go fishing in the next few days, and in case he was not there, remember to leave a message, and he would definitely come to meet Lord Zhongtang when he received it1

Zhou Fu smiled and listened to Qin Kai's nonsense, you took that big warship, and went out to sea to fish, it seems more realistic to blow up the fish, and the two of them parted tacitly.

Zhou Fu returned to the governor's yamen, for this governor of Qin, he has never underestimated this, this can rise in the Qing Dynasty in just four years of officialdom, and he has not won prestige, so Lord Zhongtang also took care of it, and before this came, he put all the officials in the navy yamen as his own people, and when the time comes, let this governor of Qin, who can handle naval affairs, have no place to install him.

For this good thing of preparing for the yamen, Li Zhongtang is an old man, this yamen can be big or small, and he is on the mention of the navy yamen this time, so naturally the bigger the better, which can be a large number of their own people, as for the princes and county kings in Beijing, they have no knowledge of this matter at all, and treat this matter as hard work. ,

In the Yamen of the Governor of Zhili, Zhou Fu hurried back in the heavy rain, and when he arrived at the door, he didn't care about the size of the rain, jumped out of the carriage and hurried in.

Seeing Zhou Fu come in, Li Zhongtang asked with a smile, "Wushan, what do you have to inquire about?" This Qin Liefeng is also stingy, and he didn't leave you for dinner! ”

"Lord Zhongtang, don't make fun of me, I can get familiar with Qin Kai, it's not an errand you sent to you" Zhou Fu smiled at Sheng Xuanhuai and Pan Dingxin, and took out the letter from his arms" "My lord, I didn't ask anything, this Qin Kai is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he scared me two sentences before leaving, saying that he was going to go fishing!" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai on the side also smiled slightly when he heard it, "The ability of this Governor of Qin, I have seen it, it has been more than two years, I only know some things, two years ago, the fierce posture of the price drop of foreign cloth, all of them are behind the scenes, but he launched a "China Textile Association, at the front desk, make a mysterious and secret!" I look at the silver used by the Nanyang Navy to build warships, and I estimate that it was all obtained by foreign cloth merchants! ”

Li Zhongtang naturally also knew some of the details of Qin Kai, but most of Qin Kai's industries were hidden in Haiphong and Hejuni, and as for the public things in Mawei, it seemed that there were more money-burning ingredients, so he had always wondered why this Qin Governor was able to leave and turn the source and make a generous move, which obviously explained part of the content.

, "Xingsun, this Qin Gale is not small, I heard that he also runs a shipping company, but he doesn't know how to make a profit?" The steamship China Merchants Bureau you are in charge of is the business and business of Caoyun, is this Qin Kai really a capable person who makes money in this life? Li Zhongtang asked suspiciously.

Sheng Xuanhuai heard Zhongtang talk about this, and arched his hand and said: ...... I also know about this, but this set of armor is still a duty, their business is only in Shanghai, but not in the north, so I didn't bother with him, but this steamer China Merchants Bureau, my lord, I have some ideas in the afternoon, I want you to refer to it! ”

Li Zhongtang held the letter sent by Qin Kaituo Zhou Fu in his hand, and was originally about to open the letter to see what this Qin Liefeng wanted to say......

He turned his head, nodded and said, "Xingsun, what do you think, but it doesn't hurt to say 1"

Sheng Xuanhuai took out an account book, but it was some things that he recorded by hand" "My lord, China Merchants Shipping Bureau can make a profit of 60-700,000 taels per year in the past two years" But the original prospectus was only 700,000 taels, and Tang Tingshu and Xu Run did not put the silver into re-operation, but used it to distribute red chips, I thought it was very inappropriate to dispose of it like this! ”

Li Zhongtang didn't understand this business very well, but he understood the basic meaning, and asked about the detailed process, Sheng Xuanhuai was naturally fanning the flames on the side, and the tone set by the China Merchants Shipping Bureau at the place of establishment was that "the official business is" presided over by the official family, but it is run by Tang Tingshu and Xu Run, who were businessmen.

Originally, under the disposal of Zhu Qiang, an official in charge of Cao Yung, China Merchants Steamship Bureau was completely immortal, and it had raised more than 100,000 taels of share capital for more than a year, and it had not been put into the purchase of ships for operation, and the entire China Merchants Steamship Bureau was almost in a dormant state.

Li Zhongtang was naturally dissatisfied with the style of this official master, and asked Sheng Xuanhuai to preside over this industry, Sheng Xuanhuai is a person who understands, and this industry is closely related to foreigners" He quickly found Tang Tingshu and Xu Run, and within a few months, China Merchants Steamship Bureau raised nearly 600,000 taels of share capital, and in the first year, it has expanded the fleet from the original 2 to more than 20.

Now, China Merchants Shipping Bureau already has more than 90 large and small ships, obviously, Sheng Xuanhuai believes that now is the time to pick peaches, and Tang Tingshu and Xu Run, who advocate the interests of shareholders, are naturally demoted from the original helpers to stumbling blocks, and he took the initiative to propose to Li Zhongtang, obviously, to take back the China Merchants Shipping Bureau and change it to the government, this Zhongtang must be very happy......

When Li Zhongtang heard this, he naturally understood what Sheng Xuanhuai meant, but he didn't understand the benefits yet, Sheng Xuanhuai stepped forward and whispered a number in his ear, and he immediately nodded, "Xingsun, this is very good, have you done this thing properly?" ”,

With the permission of Lord Zhongtang, Sheng Xuanhuai nodded in response, this big comprador from the Huai Army, in order to take charge of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, he kicked Tang Tingshu and Xu Run out of the game very lightly, after Sheng Xuanhuai took charge of the China Merchants Bureau, I have to say that this grand shopkeeper is still quite business-minded, but this has undoubtedly formed a trend of obvious regression.

In the same year, on the other side of the sea, Ito Hirobumi led a completely opposite big movement, disposing of the large factories that the government could not do well at a price of one yen to Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo and other large conglomerates, and those factories that invested hundreds of thousands or millions of yen, because of the poor management of the government, lost money year after year, but after being bought by the consortium, it soon broke out with a very astonishing development speed.

These two completely different attitudes towards the government-run industry soon led the two countries to embark on two completely different paths, which is undoubtedly worth pondering.

But at this moment, Sheng Xuanhuai, Li Zhongtang and his staff did not have any inappropriate thoughts, in their opinion, a dying shipping company, after their skillful hands, has now become a golden egg for the Beiyang system to obtain a large amount of profits, this is a very good date!

These bigwigs in the Beiyang system laughed and talked to each other in a low voice, but suddenly heard Li Zhongtang from the top hum softly, but he was reading the letter of Qin Kai, the governor of Liangguang, Zhou Fu was a little suspicious and asked first: "My lord, does this Governor of Qin have a plan?" ”

Li Zhongtang didn't answer Zhou Fu's question immediately, just looked at him, nodded, continued to read the letter carefully, and then pondered for a moment, pointed at Zhou Fu, and said, "Wushan, you also look at this Qin Liefeng's letter, he actually chose to take the initiative to get out!" Why is that? ”

Zhou Fu was also stunned, but when he came to the letter, he read it again and handed it to Sheng Xuanhuai, pondered for a moment before saying, "My lord, there must be something else!" This Qin Liefeng actually said in the letter that he had no intention of intervening too much in this naval yamen, which was far from what he had done in the past, a few years ago, he was busy buying ships and making guns, and the most active was this Qin Liefeng! ”

Pan Dingxin on the side also found a topic now" "My lord, but that's the case, he was originally just a small supervisor, just because he built a few warships, he made such a feat, and now it is rumored that the future of this governor of Liangguang is limitless......"

Hearing Pan Dingxin's words, Li Zhongtang smiled slightly, "Dingxin, you also overestimate this Governor of Lu, his fame in this technique is extraordinary, but I look at him, this Qin Liefeng is actually poor in terms of his ability to be an official!" ”。 @。