"Lin Wenzheng's Public Collection: Recovering Li Shaoquan's Army": "...... In the previous letter, it was learned that the main body of the two ships "Fujing" and "Jianjing" has been completed and iron armor is being laid. The original proposal www.biquge.info the two ships would be transferred to the "Weiyuan", "Henghai" and "Kangji" ships after the completion of the two ships. Now that the project is relatively fast, the 'Fujing' and 'Jianjing' will be launched in the near future, so the three ships can be transferred to the Zun Office in advance to prepare for the defense of the Beiyang. ……”

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Fuzhou, Mawei Shipyard.

Lin Yizhe, dressed in civilian clothes, hurried to a slipway area of the shipyard, which had been tightly covered by a tall wooden shed that had been erected, surrounded by many Chinese sailors with guns patrolling back and forth. The factory is filled with a rare tense atmosphere.

Lin Yizhe came to the door of the wooden shed, and although the two armed guards knew Lin Yizhe, they still asked him for the survey (certificate) in accordance with the regulations.

When he entered the wooden shed, the first thing that caught Lin Yizhe's eye was the "Fujing" light armored cruiser that was under intense construction on the slipway.

A large number of workers were busy around the hull of the ship that had been completed and was laying armor, and at a table not far away, Chief Engineer Da Shibo and his deputies An Le Tao, Si Gong Saige and other foreigners, as well as Wei Han, Chen Zhaoao and other students of the Ship Master Academy were gathered together to discuss something.

Lin Yizhe did not go over immediately, but stood there watching the construction. He saw workers using a crane to lift pieces of 75mm steel plates and transport them to the frame for construction. At this time, steel plates had been installed in many parts around the hull of the "Fujing," and the sunlight shone through the windows of the wooden shed on the parts of the hull where the steel plates had been laid, emitting a faint black light, which showed the tall and majestic warship that had not yet been launched.

Lin Yizhe looked at the follow-up second ship of the "Weiyuan" class fast gunboat, which had been turned into a "light armored cruiser" at his request, and the uneasiness and impatience in his heart gradually disappeared in the past few days.

In order to deal with the two ironclad ships of the Japanese Navy, the "Dong" and the "Longxiang," Lin Yizhe asked the chief engineer of the ship, Da Shibo, to urgently revise the design of the "Weiyuan" class, to equip the "Weiyuan" class with armor for the second subsequent ships of the "Weiyuan" class, "Fujing" and "Jianjing," and to convert them into light armored cruisers. Therefore, Dashbo revised the design, laying a layer of 75 mm thick armor steel plates around the hull, and adding two layers of steel plates to some key parts to make the armor thickness reach 150 mm, which can resist the bombardment of large-caliber guns. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project and for the sake of secrecy, Dashbo and other foreigners and Wei Han and other students of the Ship Master Academy all ate and lived in the shed. As a result of intense efforts, the armor-laying projects of "Fujing" and "Jianjing" are now nearing completion.

At this time, Dashbo, Wei Han and others were still engrossed in the project, Lin Yizhe thought about it, and did not come forward to discuss with them as usual, but turned around and came to the hull of the "Jianjing".

Because he had a fairly profound understanding of the pervasiveness of the Japanese very early on, and in order to ensure that he would be able to take the lead in the future war against Japan's aggression against Taiwan, Lin Yizhe adopted the strictest secrecy measures for the construction and installation of armor on the "Fujing" and "Jianjing." Under his order, the workers worked tirelessly to build a huge wooden shed to completely cover the two slipways, and Lin Yizhe also ordered additional manpower to be sent to verify the identity of the survey, strictly enter and exit, and no one who did not survey was not allowed to enter. For example, Shen Baozhen, who is the Minister of Shipping, was unable to enter the slipway area because he forgot to bring the survey during the inspection. It was precisely because of these strict measures that the Japanese side was ignorant and unaware of the fact that the Ship Administration had transformed the next two ships of the "Weiyuan" class of fast gunboats into new light armored cruisers.

Lin Yizhe carefully inspected the armor that had been laid on the "Jianjing", and although he only looked at it from a distance, he could still see the skillful skills of the Chinese workers from the smooth and shiny armor plates and neat rivets.

What is particularly rare is that the Chinese workers also made a special thickening of the hull plate according to the design of Dashbo, deliberately making the hull plate and the outer edge of the armor plate flush to make the hull stronger.

Seeing all this, Lin Yizhe felt an indescribable relief in his heart, and his previous anxiety about the imminent future war has been alleviated a lot.

It was these Chinese workers in front of him who increased his determination to defeat the enemy!

Lin Yizhe walked out of the wooden shed and came to the stone dam, he looked around, looking at the shipyard area that had already formed a scale, and was full of confidence for a while.

Just when Hayashi was confidently preparing to meet the challenge from the Toei island nation, in Tokyo, the capital of the island country, another person, Secretary of Works Ito Hirobumi, who was already an important minister of the Meiji government, was almost in the same mood as Hayashi Yoshizhe.

At this time, Ito Hirobumi, who was waiting for the summons of Emperor Meiji in the side hall, looked at the cherry blossoms in the garden that were blown and fluttered by the wind, and a trace of amazement rose inexplicably in his heart.

In the eyes of the Japanese, cherry blossoms give the world a romantic atmosphere. Those scattered petals, like lover's tears, drooped drop by drop. So, the earth all over the ground turned red, and on the road sprinkled with flower petals, the men and women who were romanticized under the cherry blossom trees held hands and walked happily......

Perhaps only the beautiful scenery of this moment is what Ito Hirobumi really wants in life.

Somehow, Ito Hirobumi always had the feeling that all he wanted to have in his heart was a fantasy reality, and in reality, in fact, in their time, there were very few romantics as old as him.

He loves the colors of flowers, especially the romance of cherry blossoms. When he looked at them, he always had an inner urge to go bankrupt and be alone in that romantic cherry blossom season.

It was now March 1874, and the cherry blossom trees were full of flowers, and the pink color was like a baby's cheek, so delicate that people could reach it, but because of the beauty of the flowers, no one picked them. This string of flowers, like the headdress of a girl in ancient times, is hidden into the sideburns, hanging down one by one, looking at it from a distance, I don't think it is the face of a girl, but there are too many headdresses of this flower, it seems that which flower spirit is doing tricks, scared those white-faced scholars, hiding their faces and leaving, leaving only the loneliness of a nymphomaniac like him.

In the blooming season, the cherry blossoms are the most romantic, with the fluttering petals scattered and the breeze blowing, like a drizzle in March. The red and white flower rain fluttering in the streets and alleys, the alluring scenery, can't help but make people stop for three minutes, want to leave this wonderful moment, recall the past, the memory that was once romantic under the flower rain. Standing or sitting under the cherry blossom tree, with the snow sea and clouds overhead, the colorful falling flowers under her feet, the fragrance of the spring soil, and the petals falling silently, the short and beautiful life makes her worthy of the chic in this life.

Seeing this scene, Ito Hirobumi couldn't help but sigh.

Dust to dust, soil to earth, the coming year into spring mud, maybe next year's cherry blossoms in this festival will be even more splendid!

Ito Hirobumi suddenly remembered the poems of Chinese literati and writers praising cherry blossoms.

Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty once said in a poem: "Where to mourn the kite with the emergency tube, the cherry blossom water lane weeping poplar bank", the Yuan Dynasty poet Guo Yi said: "The willow color is green, the cherry blossom snow has not dried", to the Ming Dynasty, Yu Ruoying's poem "The sound of the rain in March is thin, and the cherry blossoms are suspicious of the apricot blossoms" The good sentence describes the beauty of the cherry blossoms more vividly. It is a pity that although the cherry blossoms are beautiful, they still have a fly in the ointment, if you seek perfectionism, and to find faults, there are three defects: one is the short age of the tree, the life span of the cherry blossom tree is only about 20 to 30 years, it is the peak of the flowering season, but the curtain is closed in advance. Isn't it jealous of God, and too beautiful things also have a red face? The truth of "good flowers don't bloom, good times don't last" may really be this, right? Second, the flowering period is shorter. The traditional cherry blossom bloom period is only a week, when the cherry blossoms bloom, the most afraid of wind and rain, not more than the indoor flowers, once this bad luck occurs, it is a tree drifting, which is regrettable. The third is that the flower is not fragrant. When the cherry blossoms bloom, the flowers resemble peaches, plums, apricots, and plums, and perhaps this is what makes her unique. Although it is only fragrant, but the form of the flower, the color of the flower, has long been ashamed of others, a person dominates, I wish that the scenery of this spring is the only one.

This cherry blossom is so splendid, throughout the ages, the beauty at this time is the most tempting, if not, Du Fu's "Xiao look at the red wet place, the flowers are heavy in the official city" in the good sentence, does it also rely on the splendid beauty of the cherry blossoms?

In this romantic season, Hirobumi Ito should appreciate the hope of spring, but at this time, his heart feels inexplicably depressed and heavy.

He had carefully read the reports of Yanagihara Maezhimitsu and Mizuno Zun, and the information collected from Fuzhou had clearly shown that the person he was most worried about was indeed already in charge of the system and was not responsible for any specific government affairs.

This should be a rare piece of good news for him.

And in addition, Yanagihara and others even obtained another extremely important information, that is, France and China may be at odds because of the murder of a French officer in Vietnam!

After receiving the information from Yanagihara and others, Ito Hirobumi specially arranged for someone to go to Vietnam to investigate, and it was confirmed that there were indeed officers on the French side who were killed by "Chinese mercenaries who obeyed Vietnam", and not one, but two! These two French officers, one is Navy Captain An Ye, and the other is Navy Lieutenant Barney!

The French side is using this as an excuse to make stern representations with the Vietnamese government, and although the Vietnamese government hates France's invasion of its territory, it has never had the courage to fight France in an all-out way. Eventually, both governments, unwilling to break out into all-out war as a result of An Die's death, signed the Franco-Vietnamese Treaty of Peace and Alliance on March 15, 1874.

The treaty's aftermath clause for the An Nye incident included the return of the Ninh Binh province in northern Vietnam to Vietnam that had been invaded by An Diap, and in return, the opening of the Red River to China's Yunnan province, as well as the opening of important cities such as Tokyo along the coast, allowing France to sail and trade there, and establishing concessions. In addition to these provisions, the French government had an extremely sinister clause in the peace treaty. In order to prevent the Vietnamese Government from opposing the Vietnamese Government in the event of seizing interests in other non-French-controlled areas in Vietnam in the future, the French Government decided to directly turn Vietnam into its protectorate. However, after the failure of An Die's murder and the time it takes for the domestic economy to recover, the French government did not want to invest too much military power to deter Vietnam. Article 2 of the Peace Treaty stipulates that "His Majesty the Emperor of the French Empire declares to all foreign countries that France recognizes the sovereignty and full independence of the King of Annam, undertakes to give him help and rescue, and agrees, if he so requests, to give him the necessary support free of charge to maintain order and stability in his country, to help him resist all attacks, and to put an end to the pirates who ravage the kingdom." The text of this treaty seems fair, but in fact, according to the standards of international law, France has been declared a protectorate of Vietnam. The pirate activities mentioned in the treaty are actually alluding to the Black Flag Army that killed An Ye.

In this way, the ignorant Vietnam became a French protectorate, but after the treaty was signed, the Vietnamese government did not regret it until the suzerain, China, inquired into the matter and asked why Vietnam signed the treaty without authorization.

Ito Hirobumi, who is familiar with the political situation in Asian countries, knows that the Vietnamese government has always severed ties with China, and that behind Vietnam's Black Flag Army must be the support of hard-line and conservative local officials in Yunnan and Guizhou, mainly Yunnan Governor Cen Yuying. The actions of the Black Flag Army will greatly irritate the French government, and in the eyes of the French, as long as the Chinese army enters Vietnam, it means that China will compete with France for the right to protect Vietnam!

On the other hand, Ito has also received the news that the opening of the Red River waterway promised by the Vietnamese government in the treaty has also proved to be a dead letter. Since the fight with An Ye, the Black Flag Army has been full of hatred for the French, believing that the French are arbitrarily navigating and trading on the Red River, which affects the interests of the Black Flag Army in setting up cards and collecting taxes, and also poses a threat to the security of the Black Flag Army's garrison. Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Black Flag Army, had announced that according to the treaty signed between the King of Vietnam and France, the Red River would be open to French trade, but the Black Flag Army would only accept the French entrusting Chinese ships to sail through the Black Flag Army's garrison.

In order to change this frustrating situation, France has repeatedly protested and declared to Vietnam and China, emphasizing that it is Vietnam's protectorate. However, China and Vietnam have never recognized it, leaving the French helpless. The French pressured the Vietnamese government to expel the Black Flag Army, but to no avail, instead came news that the French had been attacked by the Black Flag Army on the Red River.

These messages confirm the accuracy of Yanagihara's intelligence, and also clearly show that China and France are on the verge of war step by step because of Vietnam's protection and the Black Flag Army!

And the sudden emergence of this situation has undoubtedly given Japan the best opportunity to take action against Taiwan!

The opportunity was so beautiful and enticing that he couldn't believe it!

At the last meeting, after Ito Hirobumi told him the news of Hayashi Yoshizhe's defense in Saigo Congmichi, he asked Yanagihara Maemitsu to go and inspect it, and the purpose was not all to support Saigo and the others' military operations in order to obtain the real situation!

If he could find the slightest reason to oppose it, Ito Hirobumi would resolutely oppose this risky military action!

In fact, he had secretly decided in his heart that even if Lin Yizhe really kept the rules, he would oppose the adventures of Xixiang and the others. The reason for his opposition has even been thought of, that is, although Lin Yizhe is conservative, he has not left Fujian, and he will still exert influence on Fujian's affairs! As long as this person stays in Fujian, Japan should not attack Taiwan, which is under the jurisdiction of Fujian!

But now, this new situation that Yanagihara Maemitsu got has put him in a dilemma!

After learning of this new news, Saigo was overjoyed by Shikinori Michikamichi, and the news quickly reached the ears of Okubo Ritsu and Okuma Shigenobu, causing the high-ranking officials of the Japanese Government to change their misgivings about the "conquest of Taiwan" to their support.

In his heart, Okubo has always supported Saigo's conquest of Taiwan, and he has always held a positive attitude toward the "theory that Taiwan has no owner" put forward by the American Li Xiande, while Okuma Shigenobu originally clearly expressed his opposition to the conquest of Taiwan, but after learning that China and France were at odds over the Vietnam issue, his attitude also changed significantly. Their attitude, naturally, had a great influence on the young Meiji Emperor.

And today, the Emperor's purpose in summoning himself should be to seek his own opinion on this matter!

Ito Hirobumi knew that with Emperor Meiji's absolute trust in him, whether to conquer Taiwan or not, he decided to do it in his own thoughts!

"Your Excellency Ito, please come with me to His Majesty the Emperor." The voice of the Imperial Attendant (palace guard) woke up Hirobumi Ito, who was deep in thought.

Ito Hirobumi followed the military attache to the main hall, where Emperor Meiji was sitting in the middle of the hall, his face hidden in the darkness, completely unrecognizable.

Seeing Ito Hirobumi coming, Emperor Meiji nodded at the military attaché, who bowed and bowed and withdrew, leaving only the emperor and Ito Hirobumi in the main hall.

Emperor Meiji got up from his throne, walked out of the tent, and came to Hirobumi Ito, who looked at Hirobumi Ito, who was standing with his head bowed in a Western-style tuxedo, and his eyes showed eagerness, as if a son had seen his father.