Chapter 94 is on Tianjin Wei again

Of course, he didn't bother to pay attention to the gibberish of the cowardly Gallok, but through the detailed records of the engagements, countless facts supported one thing, it was a completely invincible enemy in a head-on confrontation, and a question reported by an artillery officer on the Nielli caught his attention, and the officer recalled that when approaching the attack, the cannon was even more slender than the guns on the Far East Fleet's newest Triumph.

The most senior admiral naturally understands what the length of the barrel means, although he is a little unbelievable that the Chinese can equip more advanced artillery than the French, but the facts are clearly there! Guba couldn't help but give the middle finger to those soul egg designers in China who claimed that French artillery was absolutely ahead of the world.

"The decision made by the cabinet cannot be changed, even if the Chinese have powerful warships, they must complete the mission of the French Navy," Gu Ba stood up and stood on the huge map of South Asia, and then moved his gaze to Fuzhou, China, at the end of the map, which had been drawn in a large red circle.

Gu Ba unfolded another secret case file, which recorded all kinds of information received by the French at a treaty port in Vietnam, and a plan for Jī Jin gradually took shape in his mind, and he came to the side of the huge map, and his eyes pointed directly at the middle of the narrow terrain of this seaside Cochinchin, but the red circle in the corner of the map was eye-catching.

Outside the northern gate of Hue, is the garrison of the guards of the capital of Vietnam, that is, the army of the Marquis of Zhendong and the general of Zhendong Nguyen Pu Xing, the barracks here can be described as huge, three or four miles from north to south, are permanent fortresses built with stone walls, and several Vietnamese guards outside the camp are also presentable.

However, what annoyed Zhendonghou was that although he was equipped with Mauser rifles purchased from the Mawei Shipping Company, the combat effectiveness of his own troops had not improved at all, and the soldiers who were armed with muskets were more and more stupid, and there were often cases where they could not sound after charging, and even worse, because of the difference between charging and reloading, the casualties were lost.

However, the escort team of Mawei Haihai who was trained nearby, those young Chinese people who were originally farmers were trained one by one, Ruan Puxing also took people to ask to see the commander of the garrison here, Commander Xue, who is said to be a student of Lord Qin of Shangguo Qincha, and wanted to ask the other party to help him train the army, but people didn't buy it at all, saying that Shangguo Qincha had never explained this matter at all.

Today he finally found another reason to see Xue Chao, but fortunately, this student of Shangguo Qin seems to have a good temper, and he always sees him every time he asks to see him.

He had come to give gifts, and the news that Shangguo Qin sent Lord Qin's fleet to defeat the French fleet in the open sea of Guangyi had already reached the capital, and he immediately asked the Vietnamese king to send someone to train the Vietnamese army for the behavior of the Thien Dynasty to meet the French Yankees for the Vietnamese state.

Although the king of Vietnam has been a little picky, although he has always had some complaints about this Shangguo Qincha, this time he also sincerely cast a [Vietnam General] seal and presented it to Lord Qin. The implication is that he hopes that Qin Kai will help train the Vietnamese army, and the combat effectiveness of the army of the Vietnamese Nanjing Division is so low that even the king of Vietnam knows it!

Xue Chao couldn't refuse this, and immediately agreed to forward the information of the Golden Seal and the King of Vietnam to Fuzhou. However, as soon as this letter was sent, Xue Chao received an order to bring Qin Kai with the ship, and he could immediately start the quicksand plan.

The so-called quicksand plan is to transfer all the important personnel of Hue's Freemasons and business alliances to safety, and at the same time recruit a large number of workers around Hue City and send them to Quang Ninh Province. In Qin Kai's memory, Hue City, an almost undefended coastal city, could not withstand any form of naval attack at all, and it was from here that France finally broke through Vietnam's useless defensive line, and finally concluded the "Hue Treaty" that completely destroyed Vietnam!

With Qin Kai's current understanding, there have been too many things that have changed in this era, and he can't completely rely on historical records to act, all he can do is to be on guard early, Xue Chao has already carried out a good expansion in the Hue Chinese Mutual Masonic Association, in addition to setting up four battalions of Chinese reserves, but also set up two logistics teams of Vietnamese ethnic minorities.

In addition, by economic means, most of the villages on the outskirts of Hue fell to the Mawei Shipping Company, although this reversal was a great deal of instability, but Qin Kai still affirmed the results in this regard, which could not only become a fighting force for the future, but more importantly, provide a loyal labor force for his industrial dreams. ,

Soon, only two battalions of the Chinese army were left in Hue City, and the rest of the manpower was sent to Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam by sea, where Zhou Ruidong and Wu Jingui had already set up a platform for the grass-roots mining base, and now they needed a large number of manpower, while the Chinese Freemasons began to mobilize labor with all their might, and a cargo ship was sent out on the wharf every two days to send those who were willing to work in the mining base.

The young men looked at the big cargo ship carrying them off with excited faces, and in their hands they held a leaflet printed by the Freemasonry with few words on it - "Go to Quang Ninh and make money!" ”

In Shishanao Village, Quang Ninh Province, it is now the end of October, and a fortress-type camp built of boulders here has been completed, and the prospecting team has frantically searched in the surrounding mountains, and has finally made a breakthrough in the days and nights of nearly four months, in addition to the large coal mine of Liujiazhuang that has been discovered for a long time, a huge iron-rich vein has been found in the mountainous area of Shishanao West of Shishanao, and several medium-sized copper ore veins have also been found.

Liujiazhuang coal mine has entered the mining period three months ago, because the Vietnamese coal mines are shallow coal seams, mining is very easy, so after the establishment of the Mawei mining base, the surrounding Dai family, Chinese, Khmer, Mang villagers have come to work.

It took more than two months to mobilize nearly 8,000 laborers from almost all the surrounding villages to build a 10-meter-wide gravel road for the mines, ports and mining bases, although the whole road is only 20 kilometers, but the wages of the laborers alone amounted to 40,000 taels of silver, not counting the explosives used for blasting and the food of the workers along the way.

However, after the construction of this avenue, the nearby villages have organized their own manpower to build small roads to connect the villages to the avenue. But in general, the operation of the entire mining base is still very slow, after all, they have to start from scratch, even if Zhou Ruidong and Wu Jingui go all out to gather manpower, the production efficiency is there.

On the nearby Qinghe River, the steam engines and thermal power generators transported from Mawei have already settled in the base, and the first batch of primary coal washing equipment such as pulverizers for coal processing has also been quickly transported by water, and at the beginning of November, two sets of steelmaking, quenching, and rolling equipment transported from Germany finally arrived at Dalu Port, the mouth of the Qinghe River.

The arrival of the Chinese battalion and logistics battalion from Hue heralded the beginning of earth-shaking changes in this land, and the new flat-bottomed wooden-hulled steamships suitable for inland river transportation have been assembled in the lower reaches of the Qinghe River, and the displacement of these cargo ships with Mawei shipbuilding is not large, only about 450 tons, but the mining company can go directly to Shishan Pass on the water-rich Qinghe River, and there is no need to change small sailboats to the middle, and the transportation efficiency is greatly improved.

After the trial operation at the end of October, the mining base immediately put forward a request to continue to apply for 10 inland river cargo ships, and at this time, 100 skilled workers from the Mawei steelmaking plant had already arrived at the mining base by steamship, which was led by blast furnace expert Qian Qing to carry out the debugging of steelmaking equipment, and their goal was to put the steelmaking open-hearth furnace purchased from Germany into normal operation within two months.

In half a year, the mining base has selected a large number of qualified young people from the local Chinese, Dai and Mang youths for military training, and has grown from the original 50 student soldiers to nearly 700 people, of which 150 are the shipyard security regiment and student soldiers, and all the veterans who hold the positions from squad leader to team leader are basically formed, so that the establishment of two battalions has basically been formed, plus the first battalion of the Hue battalion and two battalions of the logistics battalion that have just arrived.

The addition of a large number of backup personnel has normalized the operation of the mining company, and there is no need for Zhou Ruidong to worry about the technical aspects, he can rest assured that he will train the new army, because of the latest instructions brought by Qin Kai, and when the next batch of weapons and equipment arrives, a new task needs to be arranged by Zhou Ruidong himself.

When Xue Chao brought the gold seal and the letter of the king of Vietnam back to Mawei Shipyard, Qin Kai had already accompanied Ding Richang to Tianjin Wei. The matter was soon telegraphed to Tianjin.

When Qin Kai got the news, he was also inexplicable, this thing is quite in line with the consistent style of the Vietnamese, the last battle of Vietnam, a small detachment of the French broke into the Hanoi Plain from the Ha Tinh Pass, and it was very easy to defeat the defending Vietnamese army and occupy Hanoi, as a result, the king of Vietnam had to ask for help from the Tiandihui Black Flag Army near Lao Cai, which was stationed nearby. After the Black Flag Army defeated the French army of more than 100 people, the King of Vietnam also sent a large seal of "Deputy Admiral of Sanxuan" to Liu Yongfu, the leader of the Black Flag Army. ,

He sent the telegram to Ding Richang, and Lao Ding also laughed, the golden seal sent by the vassal state was a greater honor and did not have much practical effect, but the request of the king of Vietnam to help train the soldiers, he asked Qin Kai not to agree for the time being, after all, this matter should be the matter of the Minister of Nanyang or the Military Aircraft Department, and he proposed this matter to Liu Kunyi, the minister of Nanyang.

Ding Richang is naturally the most suitable for this matter, Qin Kai is also idle, they have been in Tianjin Wei for two days, Li Zhongtang's first staff, Tianjin Bingbei Dao Zhou Fu has already come to visit, saying that Lord Zhongtang went to Beijing to negotiate a contract between the two countries with the French Minister Baohai, and it is estimated that it will take a few days.

In this regard, Ding Richang didn't care at all, after introducing Qin Kai to Zhou Fu, let them go to deliver the artillery brought this time, Zhou Fu greeted Qin Kai with great interest, "Lord Qin is really a young hero, Lord Zhongtang has mentioned this contract with the French many times, fortunately there is a victory in this battle in the South China Sea!" ”

What kind of person is Zhou Fu this time, Qin Kai naturally knows, from the time Li Hongzhang raised the army, he has fully assisted him as the core figure of the Hunan army, what he said, in some ways, he can completely represent the meaning of Lord Li Zhongtang, he bowed slightly, "Lord Zhou has won the award, it is all Lord Ding's leadership, and I have also done my duty!" If the Beiyang Sailor is out of the horse, it will definitely be a success! ”

Old man Zhou Fu smiled cunningly, "Lord Qin is too modest, after this battle, the envoys of the Taixi countries did not come to our Beiyang to inquire about the news, as far as I know, the French have made big concessions this time......"

Qin Kai sneered for a while, this Lord Li Zhongtang is too confident and charismatic, and at the negotiation table is also like dealing with Chinese affairs, the Sino-French treaty signed this time is completely in line with the will of the French, except for taking into account the face of the Qing Dynasty, there is no concept of national interests at all, and all that is considered is how to complete the negotiations safely without losing face.

The French did make concessions, promising not to pay reparations in the Qing Dynasty, promising not to belittle the Qing Dynasty, and asking for real benefits, and the result was that the Qing Dynasty gained face, and the French gained benefits! What a sad result......

"Lord Zhou, in the next is to be obsessed with Western learning, hoping to find a way to rejuvenate the country, in order to serve the country, this battle of the South China Sea is also the result of the soldiers' lives, if Lord Zhongtang wants to establish a water division to defend the country, the lower officials are willing to do their best!"

"Lord Qin has this heart, Lord Zhongtang must be very pleased," Zhou Fu looked at Qin Kai with a thoughtful look.

This time the ship brought 10 heavy guns with a diameter of 28,030 times, which also represents the highest industrial achievement of the Mawei Artillery Bureau.

Two days later, Zhou Fu came to invite Ding Richang, and Li Zhongtang finally returned. After getting into the carriage, Qin Kai also had a feeling of jī movement, after all, he wanted to see this big man who established the Beiyang power that influenced China for more than half a century, and whoever won the Beiyang won the world! This is the final evaluation of the Beiyang forces by later generations......

Walking into the imposing Beiyang minister, the governor of Zhili Yamen, Qin Kai followed behind Ding Richang, after all, Lao Ding was the old man who followed Zeng Guofan to raise troops, greeting people from time to time all the way, and when he entered the door, Qin Kai had already seen a tall thin old man wearing a top, calm and calm Standing in the door surrounded by everyone, looking at the momentum of all beings, he had already guessed that this must be the Lord Li Zhongtang of the four ministers of the late Qing Dynasty who was repeatedly evaluated by later generations and finally inconclusive.

Stepping into the door, Li Zhongtang had already greeted him surrounded by everyone, and saw Ding Richang bowing down and giving a salute, and Qin Kai also saluted together, but he heard a cool voice: "Brother Yusheng, you and I don't need such a false courtesy, please hurry, please hurry!" ”

"It's been more than half a year, and Lord Zhongtang is still the same!" Ding Richang and Li Hongzhang have been working together for many years under the throne of Zeng Guo, but they are also very casual in conversation.

Everyone went to the living room and sat down, Qin Kai raised his eyes and glanced at the big man above, who happened to meet Li Zhongtang's eyes, he smiled slightly, and bowed his head slightly.

Li Zhongtang laughed and pointed at Qin Kai, "Yu Sheng, presumably this is your favorite general, the Qin Senator who shocked the South China Sea!" ”

"Lord Zhongtang, Gale is loyal, and the old man has entrusted him with many things to do with the ship, and the past two years can be described as remarkable achievements!" Speaking of which, look at Qin Kai, it's time for you to appear......

Qin Kai smiled slightly, got up and gave a deep salute, although this Lao Li has a mixed reputation, but he deserves this great gift, "Xiaguan Qin Kai, meet Lord Zhongtang, when I was young, I often listened to Lord Zhongtang's great deeds, and it is a blessing for my generation to see it today!" ”,

This sycophant is a loud shot, Ding Richang nodded secretly when he heard it, this officialdom is not to understand the world, and the children can be taught!

Li Zhongtang laughed, turned his head to Ding Richang and said, "Brother Yusheng, your love will be very articulate!" ”

Ding Richang also laughed.

"Brother Yu Sheng, I invite you to come today for the sake of the French, yesterday I signed the "Sino-French Vietnam Peace Treaty" with the French Minister Baohai, but I am afraid that the French will repeat it! I want to send the Beiyang Fleet to patrol the coasts of Fujian and Guangzhou together with your Nanyang naval division in the near future, so as to prevent the French from becoming more complicated. ”

Ding Richang had discussed this matter with Qin Kai as early as the way here, the Great Qingshui Division was mainly based on Beiyang, supplemented by Nanyang, and now there is something in the South China Sea, Beiyang naturally has the duty to assist Nanyang, and according to Qin Kai's estimate, the precursor of the military conflict between China and France should be a frontal attack by France against Vietnam, and now this situation has not happened, coupled with the deterrent effect of the South China Sea on the French Navy, the French will definitely not be able to figure out the situation in the near future, so he estimates that the recent inspection is not too dangerous.

"Lord Zhongtang's instructions are that the Nanyang sailors should try their best to cooperate! It's just a battle in the South China Sea, one of the ships of the Nanyang Naval Division was sunk and three were seriously damaged, and the number of warships that can be put into it is relatively limited! "Lao Ding is also telling the truth.

Li Zhongtang pointed to a burly and stern middle-aged man sitting opposite Qin Kai, "Brother Yusheng, Ding Junmen will arrange this inspection!" ”

Qin Kai glanced at the middle-aged man opposite, and suddenly remembered that this must be Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, and he also looked at it twice, and the man on the opposite side obviously also noticed Qin Kai, looked up at him, and bowed his head slightly.

When Ding Ruchang heard Li Zhongtang talking about him, he also got up and said: "My lord, the Beiyang Navy Division will dispatch the two ships "Weiyuan" and "Haijing" to inspect the waters of Guangzhou and Fujian this time, and Lord Ding will need to take care of it at that time!" ”

"Lord Ding is brave and good at fighting, and he is really a hero!" Lao Ding played haha, this Ding Ruchang was a general of the Taiping Army, not only known for his martial arts, but also an eight-sided exquisite character, and he was even more loyal to Li Zhongtang, and won the trust of Lord Zhongtang.