108908 Far East Maniac Chapter 37 The situation is weird

Heavy-hearted day. The river wind was howling, although the rain had long since stopped. But I don't know when it will turn clear.

On the Yangtze River, a steamship whistled from downstream to upstream, and the machine roared, and the wooden boats on the river gave way one after another, making the steel monster look even more formidable.

In fact, this is just a warship with a very large displacement, but the rice-shaped flag flying at the stern of the ship is indeed not to be humiliated, as a naval power. The Royal Navy, which adheres to the "double power standard", is indeed qualified enough to look at the world's navies. Although the strength of the British Far East Fleet in China was insignificant compared to the strength of the entire British Royal Navy, it was enough to allow it to rampage through the country's territorial waters.

This is a small gunboat of the British Far Eastern Fleet. It is called "Ladybug", which is stationed on the line from Nanjing to Shanghai all the year round, and although its displacement is only 500 tons, because the ship is relatively new, and the machine horsepower is large, this small gunboat has a high speed. Therefore, "Ladybug" often plays the role of a fast transport boat.

Now, as an important passenger of the "Ladybug", Lu Jianzhang is standing on the foredeck of the gunboat, looking out at both sides of the Yangtze River under the gloomy sky, and his adjutant is standing beside him.

Lu Jianzhang arrived in Shanghai yesterday on a Japanese destroyer, and then boarded the British gunboat on the wharf of the Public Concession and sailed straight from Shanghai to Nanjing.

Whether it was on a Japanese warship or a British ship, Lu Jianzhang was courteous, and during the few hours of his short stay in the Shanghai Public Concession, the British Consul General in Shanghai even invited him to sit at the consulate

"Special personnel" is just a euphemism. Actually, these two catties. British Army officers are British military intelligence officers stationed in the Far East, and their main task in peacetime is to collect military intelligence about the Far East. Of course, if we look at the number of intelligence personnel, the British intelligence officers are not the largest, and the largest number of spy personnel in China is Japan, from the military attache of the embassy to the comprador of the merchant hall, they are all spies of the Japanese military department to spy on the military intelligence and social intelligence of this Asian neighbor, in order to realize Japan's strategy in the Far East. The Japanese military department can be said to have invested a lot of money.

However, even the powerful Japanese spies. At present, it is impossible to find out exactly what happened to the First Army of Beiyang's southward advance, and although diplomats from various countries in Nanjing have successively transmitted some news to China a few days ago, these brief information cannot satisfy the British government. They are desperate to find out whether the current Beiyang group is on the verge of splitting.

Therefore, the British sent these two intelligence officers to accompany Lu Jianzhang to Nanjing, what happened there, and whether there was still considerable unity within the Beiyang Group.

Nanjing, now the headquarters of the First Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance, is also the station of the "Southeast Patrol Envoy", where Wang Shizhen was assassinated. For this assassination, not only the British were very interested, but Beiyang couldn't wait to find out the truth, so Lu Jianzhang rushed to Nanjing with a handwritten letter from Xu Shichang.

Just when Lu Jianzhang was looking at the banks of the Yangtze River, a British Army lieutenant colonel officer walked up behind him and sighed in very proficient Chinese.

"What a pleasing sight, a little more primitive, but also less of the hustle and bustle of the industrial age. What a peaceful life, and if you don't play it, it's perfect for seclusion. ”

Lu Jianzhang glanced back at this British official, smiled faintly, and said: "As a Chinese, I would rather the two sides of the Yangtze River become noisy. The hustle and bustle of the industrial age, because industry can strengthen the country, without industry, we can't even build a warship like the "Ladybug". ”

The British officer's name was Francis, a military attache at the British Consulate, who was said to be half French, had been in China for more than a decade, spoke Chinese fluently, and was also proficient in Japanese, and he was one of the two "special personnel" recommended by the British consul to "protect" Lu Jianzhang.

"Actually, you can order warships from the British, and the quality of the warships you build yourself is very problematic, and the cost remains high, which is really incredible. Previously, the Manchu court was very satisfied with British-made warships.

The British shrugged.

Lu Jianzhang has no interest in continuing this topic. He turned his head and looked at the little white sails on the river, only sighing in his heart, this British official may just be pretending to be stupid, now as long as he is not a fool, he knows why the Qing court would rather buy warships from foreign countries than make them on his own, on the one hand, because the handler has kickbacks to take, and on the other hand, because it is really impossible to build warships by himself, because the price is too high, as for why it is too high, this also has to rely on "harming the public and private interests". Of course, there are technical reasons for this. However, it is far less important than human causes.

"Lieutenant Colonel, how far are we from Nanjing?" Lu Jianzhang changed the topic.

"I asked the captain about it, and he said there was still half an hour to go." Francis also looked upstream, and then he saw a steamship coming downstream, also emitting black smoke, and it seemed to be a large army

More than ten minutes later, the two warships finally rendezvous on the main channel of the Yangtze River, and Francis found out that the other party was actually a cruiser, and the nameplate on the hull said "Haichou" with a five-color flag fluttering on the stern, and it was a cruiser of the Chinese cruiser fleet, which was the same type of sister ship as the "Sea Depth" of the Republican Army, and was built by the German Volkeng shipyard, with a standard displacement of 2,600 tons, and could sail in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Two warships of very different sizes, passed by. This made Lieutenant Colonel Francis somewhat unhappy. Compared with the "Sea Chip", the British gunboat "Ladybug" was a small one, especially when he saw the sailors standing on the side of the ship smirking at the "Ladybug", the British lieutenant commander was even more annoyed.

"Stupid German design! In order to emphasize the firepower, it was hard to install a bladed millimeter cannon on a light cruiser, which directly affected the speed! How can you catch up with an enemy ship without enough speed? This is a complete deviation from the combat purpose of the cruiser! As far as I know, the light cruisers used by Germany themselves were equipped with millimeter caliber cannons. ”

The British lieutenant colonel was angry over there, but Lu Jianzhang here was thinking about another issue.

The cruiser fleet is now under the command of Liu Guanxiong, a close confidant of Yuan Shikai, and the "Haichou" is Liu Guanxiong's flagship, and now, this Liu Guanxiong's flagship is sailing down from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the commander's flag is also hung on that ship, which shows that Liu Guanxiong is on that warship.

But the question is, why did Liu Guanxiong rush from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the lower reaches? Before Lu Jianzhang left Beijing a few days ago, Xu Shichang had told him that Liu Guanxiong was leading the main force of the cruiser fleet to anchor on the Huangpu River, but now, the "Haichou" that floated by had obviously reduced the accuracy of the information Xu Shichang had obtained.

Although China's naval strength is insignificant now, in connection with the defection of the Tangxiang Mingjiang Defense Fleet some time ago and the current strange situation in the southeast, Lu Jianzhang almost immediately became vigilant.

"Lieutenant Colonel, can you go down with the captain. Turn the warship around and catch up with the "sea chip." Number. I'm going to meet someone. Lu Jianzhang said to Francis.

"Is this necessary? You know, our main task is to get to Nanjing as soon as possible. "There's something strange about Francis.

"It's necessary, because," sea chips. The man on the ship knew far more about the situation in Ran Jing than we did. Lu Jianzhang had to exaggerate.

Francis was surprised, but he gave the order to the captain of the "Ladybug" in his capacity as the consulate commissioner, and the British gunboat made a beautiful 180-degree turn on the river, turned around and sailed downstream again, and picked up speed to catch up with the "Sea Chip".

If this is changed to another warship, it will be a troublesome thing to turn around in the Yangtze River, and it will never be as sharp as the "Ladybug", and this is an important reason why it was selected as a special traffic boat.

Fortunately, the "Hai Chip" did not go at full speed, after all, this is the Yangtze River, not the sea, and it ran aground by accident, so it took only ten minutes for the British gunboat to catch up with the "Sea Chip" and make direct contact with the other side by means of whistle blowing and flag language. Lu Jianzhang took the adjutant and the British lieutenant colonel officer to board the dinghy, and then boarded the "Hai Chip".

When Lu Jianzhang ascended the boarding ladder to the foredeck of the "Hai Chip," Liu Guanxiong, commander of the cruiser's fleet, was already waiting on the deck. Liu Guanxiong specially asked about Yuan Shikai's condition. Lu Jianzhang also told the truth, and then quickly got to the point.

"Commander Liu, you didn't send a telegram to the center. Say you're in Shanghai? When did you go to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River? ”

"Lang Zhai, you are not an outsider, I will tell you the truth. The day before yesterday I led the "Sea Chip." And, Flying Eagle. I went to Nanjing, not for anything else, but to receive some military salaries. Since the cruiser fleet went south, the center has not been paid. Although he remitted the money that was originally intended to be handed over to Tang Xiangming, the silver was just a drop in the bucket, which Tang Xiangming used to buy vegetables and fruits, and used this money to fool the cruisers, isn't it a joke? A few days ago, I sent several telegrams to the central government urging me to pay for my salary. However, the central committee always pushed the committee and asked me to raise my own military salary and solve it on the spot. ”

After listening to Bei Guanxiong's explanation, Lu Jianzhang was even more strange.

"How did you come up with the idea of going to Nanjing to receive a salary?"

"It's not that I thought of going to Nanzhuo to receive a salary, it's the one who "sent me a telegram to the southeast and asked me to receive a salary." ”

"Didn't Wang Shizhen be seriously injured by the explosion a few days ago? Isn't he in the French Concession in Shanghai now? ”

"It's not Wang Shizhen. It's your son and daughter, Meng Enyuan! They have now proclaimed themselves "Southeast Patrol Envoys." Finish. ”

Liu Guanxiong's words made Lu Jianzhang even more afraid. Now the situation is weird, and it is difficult to be suspicious.

Lu Jianzhang grabbed the other party's arm and asked eagerly, "What benefits did Meng Shucun promise you?" You can't forget Yuan Xiangcheng, now, Yuan Xiangcheng hasn't breathed yet.

But as soon as these words came out, Lu Jianzhang immediately regretted it, and when he looked at Liu Guanxiong again, sure enough, the other party had pulled his face down.