And Zhang Siqi was sent by Qin Kai to set up the first special telegraph line belonging to the Nanyang system, and the equipment was directly bought from Germany ready-made, because it was a wired telegraph, Qin Kai did not make too many improvements to the idea, and the wired telegraph in this era has appeared for decades, and it has long been a relatively mature technology.

Now the Nanyang system must take root in various parts of Guangdong in the future, Qin Kai, who is familiar with modern information, naturally understands the importance of this information transmission, and when wireless telegraphy is still in the stage of research and development, special cable telegraphy is put on the agenda, and more importantly, Vietnam, as an important base in the future, also needs to be included in the telegraph coverage of the Nanyang system.

Xu Guofang and Chen Bingkun are busy with the construction of Zhanjiang New Industrial Zone, and the progress is also smooth, the second machine tool factory in Mawei has been completed and put into operation, and the local technical school has also been put into operation, and more importantly, the Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Plant, which is larger than the Mawei Iron and Steel Plant, has been put into construction, and is expected to realize the steelmaking capacity of two blast furnaces within the year, and eventually build a super-large special steelmaking plant with more than 20 blast furnaces.

In addition, Xu Guofang also brought the news of Zhangkui in Fangcheng County, the two large closed docks of the Beihai Shipyard under secret construction in Fangcheng County have finally been completed after more than a year of construction, and they are 80-ton and 50-ton large docks, in addition, the steel mill and rolling mill to which the Beihai Shipyard belongs have also completed trial operation and put into production.

That is to say, at present, the steel mills that have been built in the Nanyang system, including Vietnam's Shishan coal and iron base, have been put into production, and it is estimated that the annual output of steel can reach about 6 to 70,000 tons, including about 13,000 tons of steel.

Even if he went all out, this qiē progress still made Qin Kai inexplicably helpless.

A day later, Zhou Ruidong sent an urgent telegram from Zhou Ruidong in northern Vietnam, Liu Yongfu defeated the French army preparing to cross the river in Lujiang, annihilated the enemy, captured 1037 enemies, and Liu suffered more than 4 casualties......

This Yunnan-Guizhou Governor Cen Yuying is a ruthless character, in history, the Sino-French Vietnam War, the entire Western Front is far from being comparable to the Eastern Front, only defeat, and no big defeat, but this attack on Xuanhua City, but it ended in failure, after all, with the Qing army's firearms, artillery equipment Cheng Dù, want to conquer the fortified city defended by firearms, the difficulty is not ordinarily high.

Moreover, in the end, it was only after the French reinforcements broke into Xuanhua at any cost that Cen Yuying gave up the attack, and both sides suffered heavy casualties in the fierce battle, while the main attack of the Dian army naturally suffered much greater losses.

This Cen family originated in Guangxi, the main government of Yunnan and Guizhou, in these three provinces can be said to be deep-rooted, since Cen Yuying, a door of three governors, but also to support the new and powerful faction, the Qing Dynasty is the formation of the south Cen and the north Yuan of the big pattern, this force ...... Qin Kai fell into deep thought.

Now it seems that Lao Cen's ability to ask for credit is not ambiguous at all, but this is a trivial matter, there is not much room for him to be promoted, and he has no intention of being promoted to the center of the court in Beijing City, even if he wants to go, it is estimated that it will be difficult to have no intersection with the Cen family before, but he didn't expect to be so inexplicably connected.

He immediately sent a secret telegram to Zhou Ruidong, strictly guarding the defense line of the Zhiling fortress to Qiujiang, and preparing for a battle of more than 10,000 people, ammunition, food, medicine, and even the collection of people must be implemented, as for the defense of northern Vietnam, full authority was handed over to Zhou Ruidong to plan, but this grand strategy of northern Vietnam, he was ready to personally go to northern Vietnam to discuss with Cen Yuying

Cen Yuying's army had already assembled at the east of the Lujiang ferry and 30 miles west of Yong'an City on August 8, and the large camp stretched for several miles, gathering 140 people from the main force of the Yunnan army.

And the Lujiang wharf is undoubtedly the key point of this decisive battle, Cen Yuying sent another 1,000-strong Yunnan army to defend at the ferry, and after the interrogation of the captives, the latest military intelligence was obtained, and at the same time, after the news from the scouts who crossed the river with the Dian army to spy was confirmed, he got a shocking news.

The French ** army now stationed north of the Red River and west of the Lujiang River is far from such a strong brigade of the French Army, and the captured French ** officer confessed that this is an attack on northern Vietnam, and the army commander is none other than the French Expeditionary Force, which fought against the Nanyang Naval Division last time. ,

In addition to Major General Pergen's 7th Brigade, the 3rd Brigade of the French Expeditionary Force led by Lieutenant General Guba, the 4th Brigade led by Major General Slipper, and the Yellow Banner Army, which defected to the French, were also known to have nearly 20,000 troops invested in this small land.

After Liu Yongfu got the exact news, he immediately realized that the current strength in the hands of the Cen family army and his own army was not enough to complete the battle against the French army, and the combat strength of this Yunnan army, which he had seen in private, was very good compared to other Qing armies, and it should be said that it was far stronger than the Gui army and the Guangdong army he saw in Hanoi and Shanxi, and the combat power of the Huai army should be about the same.

However, he also saw an obvious weakness, which is also the basic status quo of the Qing army stationed in Vietnam, including primitive firearms such as birds, the firearms equipment rate of the Dian army is less than 6 percent, and the army equipped with new rear-loading rifles is only more than 20 people, and the main force is front-loading Mauser guns.

Cen Yuying was also shocked after receiving the news sent by the escort, he was a person who knew the soldiers, and naturally understood that gathering superior forces was the focus of tactics, after his younger brother Cen Yubao arrived with 70 foot soldiers, he originally planned to besiege the French army on the other side, and now it seems that this plan lacks enforceability, if the French army has nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, he has no possibility of besieging the other party at all......

On the battlefield of the Eastern Front, the commander of the Eastern Front, Wu Changqing's department of the Huai Army, was also in trouble, although the French did not send steam ships to directly attack the forts in Shanxi this time, but landed on the opposite side of Shanxi, on the north bank of the Red River, but Wu Changqing really had little confidence in the combat strength of the Gui Army and the Yue Army stationed in Shanxi.

What's even worse is that Zhang Shusheng has already sent a secret telegram and sent people to Beining day and night, with only one intention to go over and over again, to ensure that the main force of the Huai Army advances and retreats in a certain way, and there must be no mistakes...... In this regard, Wu Changqing was also helpless, and urgently ordered Yuan Shikai, who was stationed near Shanxi to support the Guangdong army, led three battalions to retreat to Hanoi City.

The 10,000 Gui troops led by Xu Yanxu, the new governor of Guangxi, were stationed in Hanoi and Shanxi City respectively, but Wu Changqing knew that the commander of the Gui army, Governor Xu, went to Langshan to urge grain.

However, what he can do now is to keep the military strength shrinking, and the current strength of the eastern front of North Vietnam includes the Huai army, the Yue army, the Gui army and the Vietnamese indigenous soldiers and horses, which has exceeded 50,000 people.

Yuan Shikai stood at the head of Hanoi City, but his mood was very complicated, he naturally understood Wu Changqing's intentions, but for such an important stronghold as Shanxi, it would take at least two days to arrive from Hanoi, and the defense was Huang Guilan, the commander of the Gui army, in his eyes, he was definitely a military idiot, and the Shanxi Fort, which was crucial for defense, was only stationed with 5 people...... And how can he have a say in a small operation?

At this time, some black smoke suddenly rose from the distance of the Red River, which immediately aroused his vigilance, and he still remembered the great loss he suffered at the hands of the French steam gunboats last time, and he really felt difficult to deal with in the face of these gunboats that came and went freely on the inland river......

He immediately sent out a warning signal, the city wall of Hanoi was busy, seven or eight field guns brought from the inside began to be loaded nervously, these are after the last big loss, the Thanh Thi battalion urgently transferred from the country, this place in the north of Vietnam, there are many rivers, there are not enough artillery to confront the French who can come and go freely on the river.

But this time, he miscalculated, 20 minutes later, the steamship in the distance gradually approached, the sheer size of this river fleet made Yuan Shikai completely envious and jealous, the yellow dragon flag fluttering high on the mast of the first ship had already shown that this was a fleet of the Great Qing Kingdom, and the ships that continued to appear after that made the soldiers on the wall of Hanoi let out a burst of exclamation.

There is a huge fleet of 16 steam ships, this is definitely a force that can be proud of the north of Yue, Yuan Shikai really can't think that the army can come up with such a big deal, and when the fleet got closer, he saw that there were about six or seven gunboats in these steam ships, and the others were steam clippers that transported goods, but even the ships that transported goods were equipped with small cannons...... I want to use it as a gunboat if necessary. ,

At this time, the few Vietnamese boats in charge of patrolling the river had the courage to go up and ask about the fleet of the Celestial Empire, but a small boat from the opposite fleet took the initiative to separate and leaned over and said something to the patrol boat, and the Vietnamese leaned over and watched the fleet go away with a look of awe on their faces.

After a while, the officer who was sent out to inquire hurriedly rushed up and reported excitedly: "Lord Yuan, the lower official went to ask the native soldiers who were patrolling the river, and said that it was my fleet of Lord Qin Kai, the minister of Nanyang and the minister of the Qincha...... If this fleet is stationed in Hanoi, it will not be afraid of the French gunboats."

Yuan Shikai is indeed envious, this Nanyang minister Qin Kai is only two years older than himself, but he is already a feudal official, but he is still a small battalion official, he has also heard of the history of this Nanyang minister, it is in this land of Vietnam, several consecutive victories, only to have the current status, and the Huai military department is also quite related, Yuan Shikai looked thoughtful, thinking about whether to find an opportunity to get acquainted with this new member of the Qing Dynasty officialdom.

On the small steam gunboat, Qin Kai sat under the pergola, blowing this cool breeze, enjoying the tropical scenery of northern Vietnam, and was in a good mood, we are worthy of the name of free travel, he hurried all the way here, Zhou Ruidong saw that the instructor came in person, but he was very nervous, although the northern part of Vietnam has not yet been fought, but who knows when the French will start from the Red River, so all the gunboats on hand are organized to escort, plus armed cargo ships, this is such a huge fleet.

Passing by Hanoi, Qin Kai still looked at this famous city from a distance, he didn't know that at this time, there was a manager surnamed Yuan on the city wall of Hanoi who was thinking about getting to know himself, otherwise he would mostly have to go to see what this big man in later generations looked like now......

Zhou Ruidong sat on the side of Qin Kai, the situation in northern Vietnam had already been introduced, and now he was asking Qin Kai for money, food and ordnance, "Teacher, I have trained 90 Vietnamese indigenous troops here, you have to help me solve this salary and ordnance, this Shishan Steelmaking Mill here is the main one who does not pay the money, and the iron and steel plates are shipped out at intervals, and I don't see the silver coming in, and I am almost too poor to open the pot."

Qin Kai looked at his capable student, who could make Zhou Ruidong, who usually did things with a straight face and bowing his head, be in a hurry like this, he also knew that the situation here was really embarrassing, and the current Mawei industrial system had already exceeded 20,000 taels in addition to product sales at the end of each month, deducting salaries and miscellaneous expenses.

However, with the completion of the construction of a series of heavy industries such as the Second Iron and Steel Plant, the Beiyang Shipyard, the Coal Mine, the Copper Mine, and the Second Machine Tool Factory, the only thing that can make money in these industrial systems is the machine tool factory and the copper mine, as for the coal, steelmaking, shipbuilding and other industries are completely money-burning things, fortunately, Qin Kai's careful layout, and now the internal digestion of products has been realized in the system.

The gadgets produced by these industries are all supplied to the internal needs of the horsetail industry, and they do not generate actual profits at all, so it is clear that Qin Kai needs to subsidize the salaries of these factories from the profits every month, and the monthly expenses of paying the wages and freight of the workers alone will reach hundreds of thousands of taels, which is also a headache for Qin Kai.

In fact, the reason is, in the final analysis, that the scale of these heavy industries laid out by Qin Kai is too small, and it is just enough to meet the needs of the Nanyang Naval Division and the Protector, the output of this steelmaking plant is really a little difficult to keep up with the ironclad ships of thousands of tons at every turn, if there is a larger production capacity, these heavy industries can still create amazing benefits.

And the military of the north of Vietnam, Qin Kai can be entrusted to Zhou Ruidong, for his own student, at least in leading troops to fight, compared to himself is much more talented, this situation in the north of the country is a little bit of a little bit of allocation, now under Zhou Ruidong's tutelage, almost all of them are under the overall control of the protector, a large number of local officials are from the Chinese, or pro-Chinese officials, which makes Hue's prime minister Song Xing control the government of Vietnam is even more handy.

This prince and general Xiangning has a kind of thousands of years of history to illustrate this point, think that there are a large number of generals from the same small county in the invincible iron army in later generations, and there are 72 generals in a small Hong'an County in Hubei, which all shows that modern training and actual combat learning is the only way for soldiers to grow, of course, strategic genius...... That's hard to come by

Thinking of this, he looked at Zhou Ruidong who was holding a big book and flipping through it, and immediately approved Zhou Ruidong with a stroke of the pen and proposed a monthly budget of 200,000 taels of silver, the Sino-French war was the only opportunity for him to accumulate army strength, and if it succeeded, it would be enough to form the strength that the Manchu court did not dare to underestimate, if not, it would be necessary to continue to clamp the tail and develop slowly in the future. ,

He pointed to the Hanoi sign on the map, "Rui Dong, this battle of Vietnam is crucial, we must win, remember, it is our victory...... I asked Zhang Kui to train in Fangcheng, and soon he will come to support you, the Chinese in Vietnam, we must do our best to organize, and let the Vietnamese understand that one day, follow our Nanyang system, they will have a bright day, if our Nanyang Naval Division does not have a strong army, it will still not be able to occupy a place in the court in the future"

Zhou Ruidong nodded thoughtfully

In the western line of Yong'an City, the Qing army Dazhai, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Cen Yuying, was discussing the matter of entering the army with his younger brother Cen Yubao and Tang Jiong, the political envoy, and the scout Fei reported that there was a large number of steam fleets going upstream, but the Yellow Dragon Flag of the Qing Dynasty was hoisted, which made the steady Qing army marshal quite suspicious, could it be the French disguise?

Later, there was an urgent report, only to know that it was Qin Kai, the minister of Nanyang and the governor of Guangdong, who came, which made him very surprised, and after thinking about it, he didn't understand the intention of this new Qing officialdom...... Hurriedly opened the camp door to greet him, although the rank of governor was half a step lower than him, but the power and responsibility were not related, they were all feudal officials.

Qin Kai took Zhou Ruidong into the Yunnan army camp, and there was already a middle-aged man with a medium stature and a steady face waiting at the gate with many officials, seeing that his official robe was a lion, which was a second-grade martial arts, don't look at this official rank and Qin Kai, but this status is much lower than Qin Kai's second-grade governor, the so-called noble and lowly, the prosperous era is like this.

After the people saw Qin Kai, they were also very surprised by this young man who was fresh and sharp, but the brocade robe on Qin Kai's body was a clear second-grade official, and he was busy greeting him, "Cen Yubao, the deputy general of the Yunnan Army, greeted Lord Qin on behalf of his brother"

Qin Kai originally didn't have much interest in this general, and there were very few generals in the Qing Dynasty who could conquer and fight, but when he heard that someone had signed up, he was also stunned, and he hurriedly arched his hand and looked up and down, it turned out that this middle-aged man who looked ordinary but was very stable was Cen Yuying's half-brother and Cen Yubao, the tragic hero of the Cen family.