Chapter 217: Return to the port

In the second year of the Chinese Empire, that is, at three o'clock in the morning on April 5, 1895. The dark clouds in the sky www.biquge.info no one has shown any signs of clearing. Although it is no longer pouring rain, it is also drizzling.

North China at this time is already the time for everything to recover, looking at the field from afar, the eyes are the appropriate shades of green, in addition to this thick spring rain, all indicate that this year's dealer will have a good harvest.

On the wharf in Tianjin, there are a total of 13 deep-water pile platforms for ships to dock. Of course, the larger and deeper the platform, the greater the tonnage of the ship docked. However, the largest platforms are owned by the national government, but they are generally managed by bonded people.

These bonded persons are the government's tax collectors on the wharf and are the de facto wharf operators. In order to ensure the competitiveness of the market, Sheng Xuanhuai, the big man in Tianjin, managed two wharves by himself, and the other wharves were handed over to other local snakes through bidding.

In order to ensure the loading and unloading of goods at the port, there are many ships entering and leaving the port to load and unload goods even at night. At present, most of the Chinese Empire uses containers to export goods, and at that time, most of the goods imported into the Chinese Empire by other countries are still in bulk.

In particular, cotton imported from India, cane sugar imported from the Americas, grain imported from the United States, natural rubber imported from Southeast Asia, and so on. Because now the Chinese Empire exports far fewer containers to these places than the goods imported in these places.

Therefore, there are very few containers shipped back from abroad to China, and now the United States has been led by the Chinese Empire and likes to use containers very much. Because the time of loading and unloading of bulk cargo is very inconvenient compared to container loading and unloading.

Therefore, the important ports of the Chinese Empire now stipulate that containers are arranged to be loaded and unloaded during the day, and bulk cargo is arranged to be loaded and unloaded at night. This makes it possible to have more dock workers at night.

The temper of the navigator and the customs broker at the port is very big! Usually at this time, as long as they are given some benefits, their anger will subside a little. The words that come out of the scolding will not be too ugly!

Several cargo ships, which appeared to be from Champa Province by their side numbers, came to the wharf to declare and disembark. A man wearing cropped pants, a white-brimmed sunscreen hat, and speaking Cantonese came to the customs declaration window.

While trying to pronounce it in Chinese; "I'm sorry for you, old man!"

One of the tax collectors inside scolded as he scolded; "You're blind! Am I that old!

But after opening a document, there was a piece of cash that was Long Yuan inside, and his attitude immediately eased a little, and he raised his eyes to look at the person outside!

I saw this person holding his arms and trembling constantly, and then his feet seemed to be stepping on the fire, and he kept jumping and jumping somewhere.

The customs broker knew at a glance that this was another businessman from Guangxi, Guangdong, and even Champa Province who came to Tianjin Wei for the first time, and didn't know the local climate!

The customs broker asked, "What's on board?"

This man speaks; "Gums!"

The customs declarant immediately did not dare to be careless, because now Tianjin and Shanghai and Guangzhou in the south are very competitive, especially in raw materials. Rubber, especially natural rubber, is now a hot commodity in Tianjin.

Therefore, this customs broker immediately went through the formalities for customs clearance for this person, and in less than half an hour, all the formalities were completed.

After this was done, the customs broker took out a baked potato from the stove in the house and handed it to the merchant who occupied the city, and immediately the man felt very warm. As soon as the prime minister said thank you in official words, he was pushed aside by the next customs broker.

The person behind is very obviously a Chinese, he is dressed very thick, but he seems very anxious, he is already a big man, he knows the rules very well and handed over the documents. And there is a fifty dragon dollar bill in the file!

At this time, the customs officer was in trouble, it was a merchant ship from Silla Province, and the cargo on it was ginseng and Chinese medicinal herbs. It's weird!

But you can't immediately say what's strange.

But he still put away the fifty dragon yuan in cash, and then divided it into two parts and put them in different places.

After approving the customs clearance documents, the businessman immediately rushed to the navigator on the dock and let him enter the port in advance and unload the goods in advance by means of money!

At 4:35 a.m., the ships of Silla Province cut into the queue and came to the unloading dock first. Workers on the docks also take turns unloading cargo for each vessel. But when these unloading dock workers came under the ship.

Seeing a very strange scene, he slept on this ship with a lot of stevedores, a total of six boats, each with a displacement of more than a thousand tons. The ship's draft is deep, which indicates that the cargo on board is heavy.

But is the foreman's order loaded with dry goods such as ginseng medicinal herbs, how can it be so heavy?

And these people carried their own goods, and at first, the porters thought that they were carrying valuable goods by themselves, and they were carrying smuggled goods. This is a long-term relationship and a rule, as long as the shipowner and the merchant have their own relationship, none of this is a problem.

But the more I looked back, the more I felt that something was wrong.

How did so many people come down! There were hundreds of people in total. If it's a woman, forget it, it's all a man!

I don't know if it was the workers on the docks who fired the guns first or the men who came ashore fired the guns first, but the gunshot woke up the night watchmen!

The first to feel the scene was the people from the public security bureau at the dock, but there were not many people at all, and they were quickly released. These people are constantly rushing towards the West! Along the way, all the soldiers, police, militia, and civilians who intercepted them were brutally murdered.

After receiving a call for help from the Public Security Bureau, a company of soldiers was immediately dispatched to intercept it, but I didn't expect that there were more than 300 people on the other side, and a whole battalion was stationed there, which was equivalent to the establishment of a Japanese squadron!

The soldiers of this company intercepted them at the Marina Front Street Temple, but the opposing side outnumbered the Marines, and their equipment was no worse than that of the Marines. The Marines, who underestimated the enemy, paid a heavy price.

The sound of gunfire caused the people, officials, soldiers, businessmen, women, and students of Tianjin Wei to wake up early. Where did the gunshots come from, the zealous inhabitants of the Chinese Empire, all with their own guns, especially the militia. Start meeting at the designated location, carrying your favorite submachine gun or lion rifle on your back!

Headed for the place where the gunfire was most intense. At this time, the sky slowly began to light up, and all the Tianjin Wei residents were disturbed.

The same happened on Liugong Island in Weihaiwei, where six merchant ships flying the flag of the Chinese Empire docked. Originally, there was a strict commercial inspection, but now the port has very few staff. On the other hand, the Chinese Empire has very strict control over exports, and we have accepted as many imported things as they come, anyway, we just pay a little more.

As a result, when these merchant ships docked, they were not unloaded with goods, but more than 300 Japanese soldiers. As soon as these men came ashore, they began to attack. What these Japanese didn't expect was how many citizens in China now could have so many weapons!

If you drive to the wrong place, you will immediately start shooting, so that the naval base on Liugong Island and the marines of the Navy are prepared in advance. It was only when the Navy and Marines began a full-scale search that the Japanese hubris was discovered!

Less than 12 nautical miles off Liugong Island, there are dozens, even hundreds, of ships of all kinds, all of which are constantly taking advantage of the night to approach Liugong Island. The shore defense artillery fire on Liugong Island was fired in a state of emergency, and ships were constantly sunk, many of which were wooden.

The sound of the shells was much louder than the shouts of the wounded or the overboard. But because there were so many ships on the sea, when these people landed on the shore, they rushed like rabbits to the brightest light.

Coastal defense forces and navy, and the main forces of operations. The marines of the navy were concentrated mainly in the batteries and pillboxes, and the fire points that had been temporarily set up to stop the charge of the Japanese death squad.

These have white cloths tied around their heads and wear white shirts. Japanese soldiers with bayonets or swords ignored bullets, death, and pain. Rushing towards the firing point.

Many innocent workers on the wharf of Liugong Island died under the butcher's knife of the Japanese before they could even figure out what was going on. The entire Liugong Island was bloodbathed in the blood of the sudden disaster!

The gunboats and torpedo boats on Liugong Island immediately went into battle. But these are small arms. They are all used to match the capital battleship. Fortunately, Japan also did not have the participation of the main battleship. By that time there were too many Japanese ships, torpedoes and gunboats on Liugong Island. There's no way to completely get rid of things like psoriasis.

And because of the existence of shore defense batteries, these gunboats did not dare to come into close contact with the Japanese dress. The Japanese Army, which had no scruples, used the method of rat transportation to Weihaiwei Liugong Island. 30,000 army units were deployed, although the combat effectiveness of these armies is debatable, but Japan sent a team of more than 30,000 people to attack Weihaiwei!

Li Hongzhang's heart is on the top of his throat, this is exactly taking advantage of your illness to kill you!

The impeachment and protest against him at home are not over, and now the Japanese have reached the door of their homes, which is a great shame! How to explain to the emperor, how to explain to the senior administrator!?

Li Hongzhang ordered the navy and marines guarding the Weihai defense line to not let these people land, and at the same time immediately sent a telegram to the three main fleets, asking them to start reinforcing immediately!