Chapter 233: The First Battle in the Taiwan Strait

Qin Kai naturally knew that Huang Zunxian had the idea of innovation in his bones, but now it was naturally not the time, and he didn't break it, after all, it was just the first acquaintance, he needed to give Huang Zunxian some time to understand his own system, and even the rhetoric of the two pro-soldiers who went to invite was also arranged by him in advance, and it was not bad to speed up the cognitive process of both sides and make some small moves

For Japan's Meiji Restoration, Huang Zunxian obviously conducted careful research and summarized a lot of gains and losses of the Restoration...... Sure enough, it's a talent

Qin Kai's mind was full of the summary of the Meiji Restoration by later generations, and when he met Huang Zunxian for the first time today, he naturally wanted to impress the other party.

A large number of pages in Huang Zunxian's "National Chronicles of Japan" record what he saw and heard in Japan, and there are not many official sources to refer to, and even if there is, it is very fragmentary information, so when Qin Kai talked about Japan's Meiji era's "colonization and industrial development", the abolition of feudal domains and counties, the return of copyrights, land reform, etc., he was immediately completely shocked......

He wanted to write down the information that Qin Kai had talked about, some of which he had understood, but it was definitely not that detailed, and there were other things that he could not have access to in Tokyo, such as the development of the mining industry in Hokkaido, and so on, and the conversation lasted from morning to evening.

Huang Zunxian thought while recording, combined with the things he observed in his book, many of the original unclear contents were confirmed one by one, and he naturally felt full admiration for the big man in front of him who supervised the party at a young age, so much information could be talked about eloquently, and the organization was very clear, and the content was even more detailed, he asked himself if it was far inferior to ......

However, for this Huang Zunxian's enthusiasm, Qin Kai was soon a little overwhelmed, this question one after another, if it weren't for his hundreds of years of accumulation and the amount of light in his mind, some questions would be really difficult to answer, but the purpose of inviting this person today has been achieved, which makes him very satisfied, look at the day It is not early, he got up to see off the guests, and naturally sent out a sincere invitation when he left.

"Brother Gongdu, I have gained a lot from reading your "Japanese National Chronicles", if the manuscript is completed, be sure to publish it for me, I will use it in the new schools in Guangzhou and Fujian, so that my Chinese students can also grab the stones of other mountains."

Huang Zunxian naturally agreed, he took a stack of transcribed manuscripts, pondered for a while and said, "Governor Qin ......"

As soon as he started speaking, he was interrupted by Qin Kai, "Brother Gongdu, we hit it off at first sight, we don't have to be commensurate with our official rank, if you don't dislike it, just call me Gale Wind."

"That's good" Huang Zunxian naturally wouldn't dislike it, and immediately changed his mind and made an appointment with Qin Kai, and if there was a problem tomorrow, he would come back to visit.

The next day, Qin Kai finally managed to sleep lazily, but before 8 o'clock, Lu Shu came in to report that Huang Zunxian came to visit again in the morning

…… This Huang Zunxian is really unusually punctual, Qin Kai looked at the short hand on the wall clock that had not yet pointed to the Roman numeral 8, and was depressed for a while, and it was rare to enjoy the fun of not knowing it, and he was also disturbed

After Huang Zunxian came in, Qin Kai saw that his eyelids were swollen and swollen, and he was also stunned, when he left yesterday, this Huang Da poet was still full of demeanor, how could he be like this in one night, "Brother Gongdu, have you had breakfast?" ”

"Not hungry" Huang Zunxian is obviously not fond of breakfast, holding a stack of manuscripts and sitting opposite Qin Kai who was eating breakfast, "Qin Xun...... Gale Wind, what you said yesterday, I went back and carefully sorted it out, and there are still some things I don't understand, for example, why do Japanese government-run factories sell cheaply to consortia? For example, why hasn't Japan's high agricultural tax been abolished......

Qin Kai looked at the night owl eyes of this guy, it seems that his on-the-spot performance yesterday seems to be too jīng, this guy has been stabbed a lot, and he dares to go back and probably haven't slept all night...... Well, this cramming is really useless

"Brother Gongdu, in fact, there is one thing I still have to declare first, all kinds of new policies in the Meiji Restoration, in fact, may not all be right, there are a lot of mistakes and completely unreliable, what I said, you have to carefully examine the current situation in Japan as you see it, so that you can know whether this new policy is feasible and practical is the only criterion for testing the truth" Qin Kai once again appropriated the great man's assertion, whoever let the great man speak is reasonable

Huang Zunxian pondered Qin Kai's rhetoric, and was once again scorched by his assertion that Lei was scorched on the outside and tender on the inside, pondered carefully for a while, and then easily wiped out the plate of buns that Qin Kai put in front of him, and then came back to his senses, "Gale Wind, what you said is really very reasonable, we should learn, summarize, and formulate a new policy in line with China from the new policy of the Japanese Restoration, I think, this is the ultimate goal of my "National Chronicles of Japan",

Seeing that Lao Huang's ideological collision has achieved good results, Qin Kai no longer instilled new theories in him, and asked about his transfer, now there is no director of the Military Aircraft Department, and it is estimated that the exact news can only be obtained after the Lantern Festival, but now Huang Zunxian's interest in the Mawei industry has increased greatly, and he took the initiative to go to Mawei and Guangzhou to see the new learning and new industry there.

Qin Kai did not allow this, he did almost everything in Beijing, thinking that Huang Zunxian also lived in a hotel anyway, and his house had many empty rooms, so he asked him to move over.

When Huang Zunxian heard this, he immediately told him to go back and get the baggage as soon as he came out, and Sun Fu came in and handed over a telegram, "Gale wind, news from the north of Vietnam"

When Qin Kai heard this, he hurriedly took it, now this Yuebei is a fire bucket, although he is also full of confidence, but this does not mean that he can win all battles, this army that has been trained for more than three years, cross-era weapons, training and military discipline is his biggest reliance.

On December 29, the French 3rd Brigade stationed in Hanoi launched the fortification of the Qingzi Army at the Sanyuan Bridge, because the French did not have an advantage in numbers, the two sides suffered casualties on both sides, and the morale of the Qingzi Army and the remnants of the Cantonese Army was greatly boosted after receiving assistance, and the Sanyuan Bridge line was temporarily unhindered.

In the early morning of the same day, the plan of the French Fourth Brigade to cross the Songdong River was discovered by the reconnaissance company of the guard, and Zhou Ruidong sent Zhang Kui to command more than 3,600 people from the three battalions of the Second Association, 2,700 people from the Liu Yongfu Department of the Fifth Association, and 7,000 people from the Vietnamese indigenous battalion of the Ma Long Department of the Fourth Association as the reserve, and launched a planned ambush at the point where the French crossed the river at Baishuitan.

Although the French built a position on the south bank of the Songdong River immediately after constructing the pontoon bridge, they were completely unable to resist the frontal attack of the Second and Fifth Associations responsible for the assault mission, and it took only 15 minutes for the French positions on the south bank to collapse, and a large number of French troops who crossed the river jumped into the river to escape under the double blow of heavy fire and mortars, killing more than 332 French soldiers, capturing 573 people, and an unknown number of French troops drowned.

Good news, good news, Qin Kai was sure in his heart, this ambush was completely an unplanned operation, Zhou Ruidong's side planned very well, and the execution was also very thorough, and the most important thing that the team was trained was that this ambush must have hurt the French, with such an army eyeing the side, the French army would never dare to attack in the direction of Guangxi.

In the afternoon, another telegram came from Mawei Port, it was a message sent by Lu Han, according to the agreement, the Beiyang side was personally led by Admiral Ding Ruchang this time, dispatched the latest Chaowu, Yangwei, Zhenzi-class four mosquito ships, has arrived at Mawei Military Port, this is already the full strength of Beiyang, it seems that Zhang Shusheng is seeing the opportunity, to give Beiyang Nòng battle merits from this naval battle.

Qin Kai didn't care about Zhang Shusheng's military merits, although the French were now centipedes but not stiff, but with the combat power of the South Sea and the North Ocean, they could have a final decisive battle with the French, and the secret agents sent to Saigon sent a lot of news, but there was no accurate assessment of the strength of the French Far East Fleet, which was somewhat uncertain.

However, Lu Han also mentioned another contradiction that may exist, that is, the problem of naval battle command, which made Qin Kai immediately realize the problem, Ding Ruchang is the commander of the first grade, and Lu Han is a third-rank general, and there are a lot of commanders in the Beiyang system, it seems that he still needs to board the ship himself

He immediately found Zhou Fu and Sun Fu and asked them to continue to operate the rest of the affairs in Beijing City, and the next day, he asked Prince Gong for dozens of blank official documents, which could be regarded as a part of the arrears owed to the Nanyang Navy Master and the Protector.

Before leaving Beijing City, a figure flashed in Qin Kai's mind, the thirty-year-old eunuch he saw in the Palace of Nourishing Heart that day, he suddenly remembered that it was the character he had appeared in later generations when he looked at Qing Dynasty photos on the Internet, Li Lianying, an old celebrity and great eunuch in front of Cixi, pondered for a while, and asked Sun Fu to also send a tribute.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Qin Kaile boarded the carriage out of the city, snickering all the way, this time Beijing City is not in vain, we have corrupted a group of corrupt officials as soon as we made a move, and then we have excavated a group of jīng Ying, Huang Zunxian, who is sitting opposite and is thinking concentratingly, is obviously one of them, this big change that changes the world, undoubtedly requires too much of this kind of jīng Ying's participation

And Qin Kai had just left Beijing, and two unexpected news detonated the situation in the capital.

A piece of news came from the front line in northern Vietnam, the French expeditionary force in Bac Ninh quickly advanced northward, along the way to take Viet An, Tan An, An Shi, Lang River, less than 100 kilometers away from Lang Son on the Sino-Vietnamese border, the Qing army stationed in the local area was defeated again and again, and fled back to Lang Son, and the defenders of Lang Son were already frightened birds, and Xu Yanxu, the governor of Guangxi who had just arrived in Lang Mountain, urgently asked to retreat to the border pass. ,

And the second news came from Taiwan, the French naval fleet suddenly appeared off the coast of Taiwan, attacked and occupied the port of Keelung, and obtained a supply base to attack the coastal ports of the Daqing Dynasty

The court immediately became a big luàn, Cixi ordered the military aircraft department to immediately resume normal operation, Prince Gong Yixun was also a big headache, originally in the north of Vietnam The two sides competed with each other, but I didn't expect the French to suddenly fight from the sea, and also robbed Keelung, Taiwan, which is rich in coal mines, this time it can break the sky, starting from Keelung, all ports are within the attack range of the French warships-

Keelung Port in Taiwan, as a sea route from Fujian to the Philippines, there are many fleets coming and going from the south to the north, but since two days ago, the merchant ships here have obviously become scarce, because ...... The port of Keelung was no longer under the control of the Qing Dynasty, but was occupied by the French Far East Fleet, and the three sè French flags had been raised over the port

Major General Miller sent a telegram from Keelung to Saigon in high spirits, announcing the beginning of his month-long attack on the Qing sea, which had been planned for a month, and that the resistance to Keelung's attack was almost negligible, and the Qing soldiers stationed at the port fled behind the city defenses dozens of kilometers away.

However, Miller obviously couldn't make up his mind to spend his troops to attack this well-defended city, after all, his fleet could send less than a thousand marines, and the opponent's resistance in the port showed that the garrison army had a good fighting spirit and was equipped with a large number of firearms, and finally he decided to temporarily control the county town and coal mines in Keelung, not to continue the in-depth attack, and to ensure that the fleet supply was the first goal.

After all, this island of Taiwan was not the target of his trip, the real enemy was on the other side of the strait, 200 kilometers away from the port of Mawei in the mouth of the Minjiang River, 200 kilometers away, and the exact news he got was that there were four batteries at the mouth of the river to control the sea, and the caliber of the artillery was unknown, but according to the weapon level of the Nanyang Naval Division, the caliber of the artillery would not be small.

And the four forts are not far away, distributed on both sides of the estuary, to enter the mouth of the Min River must destroy the frontal forts, but it seems that it is not easy, but Miller, who suffered a big loss in Saigon, is now completely adventurous, and this sortie, for him, has the heavy meaning of turning over the salted fish.

Therefore, after capturing Keelung, he did not immediately attack the Minjiangkou Fort, he first sent people disguised as ordinary merchants, and took a passing British merchant ship to Mawei to spy on intelligence, while he continued to plan an attack on Mawei, and now the French Navy has reached 7 warships in Keelung, but two of them are gunboats with smaller tonnage, so he insisted on waiting for the arrival of the second squadron before launching a full-scale attack.

However, the unexpected happened, and at ten o'clock in the evening, the cruiser Kaisheng and the gunboat Wildcat, which were cruising outside the port of Keelung, encountered a fleet of ships flying the red flag, and the commander of the Kaisheng, Lieutenant Colonel Lei Ruoke, who had participated in the battle of Haiphong a year earlier, after observing the flag of the other side, he confirmed that it was a merchant ship of a shipping company in the Qing Kingdom.

Although the number of merchant ships on the opposite side reached as many as 12, but it was only a merchant ship carrying goods, so Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds immediately issued a flag and ordered the Night Cat to cooperate in pursuit and interception, and Rear Admiral Miller had ordered that no Qing ships were allowed to pass by before tomorrow, and all merchant ships were detained, and all merchant ships that tried to escape were sunk!

This fleet is the Mawei shipping fleet carrying locally procured goods from Olonga Bō in the Philippines, and this route has been in operation for more than a year, and it is already in a state of stable operation, plus the pirates in the Sulu Sea have been recruited and exterminated, so there are no naval warships to escort it.

Responsible for the safety of the fleet are the four training merchant ships of the Nanyang Naval Division, and the commander of the fleet is Qian Xi, a veteran of the Nanyang Naval Division, who was injured and discharged from the army, he is a veteran who participated in the Battle of Saigon and the Battle of Ryukyu Island, but he was unlucky in the Battle of the Ryukyus, his No. 3 battleship was hit by Japanese artillery, the turret was nothing, he was shocked and flew out, and his left and right arms were broken and injured.

Although the military doctor with the ship carried out emergency treatment, and immediately after returning to China, the recovery of the right hand was very good, but left and right left some sequelae, and it was no longer able to cào cannon, when the pipe took Xu Shoushan to inform him of his discharge, this black-faced and sturdy southern Fujian man was really dull for half a month, and the man had tears and did not flick, but it was not time to be sad

According to the military regulations of the Nanyang Naval Division, soldiers who are discharged from the army due to injuries in the battle will be arranged by the Mawei Ship Administration, and those who are unwilling to work in the factory will be considered if they have personal expertise and requirements, so at the request of Qian Xi, he found his favorite pilot job in Mawei Shipping, and for most of the year, veterans like him who have expertise and are highly qualified are the shortage of talents in shipping, and soon became the commander of this fleet. ,

After another night of sailing, we will be able to enter Mawei Harbor in the early hours of tomorrow morning, Qian Xi drank tea in the cockpit, and talked to the captains and sailors about his great achievements in the past, "...... Our Nanyang Naval Division, I heard what General Xu said, that is the first-class power of the entire Qing Dynasty, and the Japanese Naval Division, how many British ironclad ships to buy, that is also for our Naval Division to be the captain of the transportation brigade......"

"Boss Qian, why are foreign warships still parked in our Mawei Harbor now?" a sailor teased.

"You know a ball, then you have to agree with our Nanyang Naval Division, have you seen the gun barrels on the 701 ship where I stayed No, just your small body, the whole thing can be loaded into it......" Qian Xi laughed and said, he was very interested in his subordinates challenging his authority, so that he could show off his experience as a sailor.

At this time, the cabin was pushed open with a bang, and a sailor ran in with a roar, "Boss Qian, two French warships are coming towards me, and the lookout post said to hang this flag and ask us to stop the ship."

"French ships?" Qian Xi stood up with a swish, grabbed the sailor who spoke, and slammed his head hard, "Li Gouzi, you are blind, there can be a French battleship in front of our Fuzhou mén."

"Boss Qian, it's definitely right, I have let the lookout Hu Dayan carefully identify, it must be a French ship"

"Damn, the French are looking for trouble, it seems that our Nanyang sailors have work to do again" Qian Xi slapped the table and shouted loudly, "Send flags to the group of boys who carry training bombs all day long and have nothing to do, this is the time for them to work."

"Got it, Boss Money"

"Also, immediately let the two clippers leave the fleet at full speed, and be sure to rush to Mawei to deliver the message These French rabbit cubs must have just arrived, otherwise General Lu and General Xu Shen would have come to destroy them a long time ago" Qian Xi gave an order with an excited face, he didn't expect that he would leave the sailor division and still be able to work as a scout, and when the time comes, he will go back to string mén, then it will also be beautiful