Chapter 95: Lonely Ambition

Qin Kai's heart moved, this time he didn't know who Beiyang would send, the failed navy in history, no one has ever been like Beiyang who has affected the concern of the Chinese people for hundreds of years in the future, and the long historical name is piled up with a hundred years of humiliation, but it is flashing with the light that inspires future generations.

"Brother Yusheng, you replied that it would bring me some surprises, I don't know what it is?" Li Zhongtang said with a smile, it can be seen that he is in a good mood, although Ding Richang is not a cadre of the Huai Army, he is really a political alliance with him, and Lao Ding and Zuo Dashuai also have some unclear connections, but this does not hinder the political relationship between them.

This time he was willing to show favor to himself, he also understood what Ding Richang meant, nothing more than hoping that he would let go of his hand on the issue of his love for Qin Kai, now in this world, he saw it very clearly, and he relied on his hundreds of thousands of Huai troops to go around to fight fires and make up for leaks, and he didn't think about finding a capable heir all day long, who could take over this mess, Ding Richang didn't have this idea.

Qin Kai saw the look that Ding Richang gave him, this is the stage that Lao Ding arranged for himself, then the next thing is to perform by himself, but this old fox in the room is really a technical job...... Fortunately, what we play is technical work!

He got up and bowed his hand to Ding Richang, took out a note and sent it, "Lord Zhongtang, this is a little opinion of the lower official about the sailor, and there are some plans of the Mawei Ship Administration!" ”

Li Zhongtang took the copy of the Chen, only turned two pages, and a trace of surprise flashed on his calm face, asking people to give Qin Kai's Tiao Chen to Ding Ruchang on the side, "Ding Junmen, look at Senator Qin's Tiao Chen!" ”

Ding Ruchang looked at it, the expression on his face was far richer than Li Zhongtang's, and he was more surprised than surprised.

"Senator Qin, I don't know that the heavy artillery horsetail you said may be produced?"

Qin Kai smiled slightly, "Ding Junmen, this time I will come with 1o 7oo-pound guns, this cannon is not only powerful bombs, but also has a longer range than the British and French heavy artillery, I can hit the enemy, but the enemy is not as good as me!" If you stick to the fort, you will have no worries, and if you are equipped on a battleship, you will have a better chance of winning with the enemy! ”

Although Li Zhongtang is not proficient in this artillery, where is the 7oo-pound number, which is much larger than the 48o pound artillery when he was engaged in military exercises last year, he turned his head to look at Ding Ruchang.

Ding Ruchang Yan sù's face also showed a very surprised expression, you must know that the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division are all early steam ships, the largest is only 2,000 tons, and the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan that shocked the Japanese Kingdom in later generations are still waiting to be designed in German factories, and the navy's artillery is no more than 18o pounds of 8-inch guns. This Senator Qin was really speechless, and a 7oo-pound cannon suddenly appeared, which made him stunned.

Seeing that Li Zhongtang had the intention of asking, he hurriedly got up and saluted: "My lord, this 7oo-pound cannon is definitely a weapon of the country!" ”

Qin Kai raised his eyes to look at this Li Zhongtang, his face was still smiling, and he didn't say much about the research of this artillery, the old fox was really black-bellied, he took out such a fierce artillery, and he didn't know anything!

Ding Ruchang asked again, "Senator Qin, you said in the article that Mawei is working on ironclad battleships, and next month, I will go to the UK to take over two ironclad fast collision cruisers, can Mawei produce and maintain them?" ”

"Ding Junmen, a thousand-ton ironclad fast collision ship, within two years, it will be able to produce! It's just that the production of this ironclad ship is complex, and the demand for steel is huge, so the production is bound to be much slower, if it is large, it involves a huge cost, which is really beyond the control of our shipyard, as for the maintenance and repair of the battleship, it is completely fine! ”

Qin Kai took out his final price, this is also the Beiyang complex in his heart is making trouble, that worrying war, although he understands that the defeat of that naval battle marks the final defeat of foreign affairs to save the country, but let him be indifferent and do nothing, he has never been able to make up his mind, whether to follow the flow or lead the way, he made his own choice.

Ding Ruchang was also very surprised when he heard Qin Kai's affirmative answer, you must know that although the shipbuilding industry of Mawei Shipbuilding has made rapid progress in this era, it is far from enough to manufacture ironclad ships, otherwise the Beiyang Naval Division would not have gone to Britain to order these two 13oo-ton ironclad cruisers.

Li Zhongtang naturally understood the difficulty of the production of this warship, Jiangnan Shipyard completed the trial production of steam ships at the same time as Fuzhou Shipyard, but after the production of two ships, it gave up this huge investment, limited output industry, and Fuzhou Shipyard with the strong support of Zuo Dashuai, established a three-in-one industrial system of shipbuilding, school, and art garden, and slowly boiled to the current scale. ,

But before, the quality of the warships produced by the Mawei Shipyard was really average, and some ships were even sent to Beiyang for trial, but they were refused to be piloted by the foreign controller, saying that the xìng energy was too poor.

Thinking of this, Li Zhongtang finally spoke, and he smiled at Ding Richang, who was as steady as Mount Tai on the side: "Brother Yusheng, I didn't expect that the horsetail boat has only been in your hands for a few years, and it has already achieved such an achievement, congratulations!" ”

Ding Richang laughed, there is no need for Qin Kai to come forward after that, it is all the upper level of Jiao Yi, that night Ding Richang found Qin Kai alone, this time to show favor to Lord Li Zhongtang, Lord Zhongtang has made it clear that there are two points, one is to hope that the chemical plant of Mawei Shipbuilding will double the amount of dye supplied to the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, the second is to build an ironclad fast collision cruiser, giving priority to the supply of Beiyang Naval Division, and third, to build a large dock that can maintain Dingyuan and Zhenyuan for the future new warships of Beiyang. Of course, Li Zhongtang and Ding Richang would apply to the imperial court separately for these grants for the construction of warships.

For these, Ding Richang has already agreed. Qin Kai naturally understands that this is a game of officialdom interests, as long as Ding Richang, as a centrist, is still in this position, he can still rely on Lao Ding to achieve a balance between himself and Beiyang, once Lao Ding quits that day, and he does not have enough strength, then he must stand in the game between the Huai army and the Hunan army.

Three days later, as a sign of determination to defend the vassal state of Vietnam, the Beiyang Naval Division would hold a large-scale warship exercise in the port of Tianjin, at which time the two warships of the Nanyang Naval Division would also be invited, and Lord Zhongtang would introduce the victory of the Nanyang Naval Division to the foreign envoys present......

Qin Kai smiled slightly, this is the exchange of mutual interests, Ding Richang is naturally well versed in this, with those three conditions, the obstacles on Qin Kai's career path have been temporarily cleared, and Li Zhongtang will also improve his prestige with the help of the victory of the Nanyang Naval Division.

Hearing that the Great Qing Kingdom was going to show its force after the naval battle with France, Tianjin Wei suddenly became lively. This naval battle with France, publicized by Fujian Xinbao, has caused huge repercussions in the major cities of the Qing Dynasty.

On November 11, Saigon, at dawn, the flag of the flagship of the French Jiaozhichina Fleet was stationed, and the logo had been moved to the latest 6ooo ton Baya ironclad ship, standing in the command cabin, looking out the window at the thick chimneys of the battleship in the distance.

"General, the commander of the battleship has completed the preparations for raising fire and pressurization, and is ready to sail", Staff Officer Sean pushed the door in and reported.

"Sean, give the order! We will be sailing for three full days on the way, so we must make sure that the Vietnamese do not notice our movements! ”

"There is absolutely no problem, I have sent 6 fast cruisers to be responsible for the reconnaissance of the outpost, and now all the Vietnamese fishing boats have been sunk!" Colonel Sean replied calmly.

"Yes! Very good, is there movement on the Chinese's side? ”

"No, but Hue and Haiphong have reported that the number of Qing merchant ships coming to Vietnam to trade during this period has increased significantly, and the specific reason is unknown!"

"Merchant Marine...... "Don't bother with the Qing merchant ships first, unless it affects our covert march, Minister Baohai has just signed a contract with the Qing State, and we must complete this battle before the contract takes effect!" ”

The Baya ironclad spewed out the smoke and was the first to sail out of the port of Saigon, far away from the coastline, before turning around and heading north, followed by a long line of ironclad ships, ironclad cruisers, and fast cruisers.

"Victory!" Gu Ba muttered softly, and the pencil in his hand drew a large circle in the middle of Vietnam.

On the same day, 3oo French soldiers stationed at Ha Jing Pass, led by French Major Willy, quickly left the camp at Ha Jing Pass on two 3oo-ton troop carriers, followed by two Xiao gunboats escorting them.

Major Weili stood on the bridge and observed the terrain around the Red River, and there were various suitable places for the establishment of Xiao-type fortresses or batteries around the river nearly a hundred miles up from the Hejing Pass, but the situation here was exactly the same as the reconnaissance beforehand, and the Vietnamese had no defense at all.

Now the only thing that can stop the attack of the French 6th Army is the original wall of the opponent!

Xue has been like a fish in water these days, and the instructor asked him to wait and see the changes in Hue City, with Song Yunze on the side, it has not been in vain for most of the year. The two Chinese soldier battalions trained in Hue have 6oo soldiers who have been trained for seven months, which has basically met the standard of recruits of the security regiment, and for safety reasons, the barracks are arranged next to the hillside west of Hue City. ,

The port set up a 24-hour secret outpost, and the members of the Freemasons all over the city sorted out and collected all kinds of information collected in front of him, and he was very arrogant and claimed that everything that happened in Hue City now could be heard from him.

Early this morning, just after pulling the team to go out for training, Xue was awakened by the rumbling cannon outside the east gate of Hue City, as soon as he heard this posture, he knew that it was bad, and he was determined that something big had happened, so he immediately ordered all the staff to assemble, complete the wartime preparations within 1o minutes, and bring the maximum bullet Yao base.

2o minutes later, when Xue and the two battalions of soldiers felt the west city gate, they saw that countless people had escaped from the city, and the east city gate in the distance had already fallen into a sea of fire at this time.

The French must have come! Xue saw that it was impossible to enter the city now, so he immediately asked Song Yunze to command a battalion to erect a horsetail banner at the gate of the city, gather the Mutual Masonic personnel and the personnel of the Business Alliance, and seeing the red flag outside the West City Gate, those fleeing people finally found their way, and gathered many members of the Business Alliance and the Mutual Masonic Association for a while.

Song Yunze immediately ordered the leaders of the Mutual Freemasonry to be responsible for leading the assembled members to retreat to Guangzhi in the northwest, leaving a team of people every 5 miles to be responsible for leading the next group of retreating members. Someone commanded, and immediately the situation was much better outside the west gate 1uan coaxing.

At this time, the people sent by Song Xing, the Duke of Lu Guo, who was blocked in the city, finally found Song Yunze, the port has been completely occupied by the French, there are at least 2o warships, and the city gate is being bombarded at this time, and the guards of Hue City are rushing to defend, but it is estimated that they can't hold it!

At this time, Xue who was walking around the city had already rushed to a mountain on the right side of the port, looking at the past from this position, the situation in the port could also be seen clearly, along the Xiangjiang River around the city, a large number of French warships stopped on the river, and were shelling the city gate of Hue City, at this time the west city gate had completely collapsed, no wonder, didn't Qin Kai collapse once before, and he didn't have time to repair it.

At this time, the camp of the Hue sailors on the dock had already turned into a raging sea of fire, and Xue had always laughed at these tattered and poorly trained Vietnamese sailors in the past, but today he suddenly saw them being destroyed, and he actually had a trace of sadness.

The geographical location of Hue City was so bad that the Vietnamese did not have any effective protective measures, not even the kind of forts in the broad sense, so that the French warships came directly to bombard them. At this time, Xue remembered that Qin Kai took special care of him.

"Go into town!" With a move, he rushed straight to the south gate with his soldiers and horses, and at this time there was already the sound of rifle fire from the west gate, and now only the guards army of Hue who were equipped with rifles were formed, although the combat effectiveness was not good, but in this case, it could be somewhat useful, and the general Nguyen Pu Xing, the general of Zhendong, obviously still had to defend his honor.

Here at the south gate, even the city guards were missing at this time, leaving only the city gate that was opened, Xue had to stick out his tongue in frustration, this Frenchman was really stupid, he had to come in from which collapsed city gate, and he didn't know how to reconnoiter the situation at the south gate.

At the west street entrance in the city, Song Yunze, who came in from the west gate, also arrived with the second battalion, and after the two armies met, Song Yunze accepted Xue's order and led 1oo soldiers to meet his father Lu Guogong Song Xing, and went directly to the palace to try to get the Vietnamese king Nguyen Phuc Dinh out.

Xue Zecheng and outside the range of the opponent's maritime artillery began to build infantry fortifications on the street, preparing to block the French 6th Army on the ground, and the fortifications and the like were all G-board tables pulled out of the room on the side, but they also quickly formed a non-Xiao blocking position, and Xue took the two battalions as a reserve, and at the same time sent people to the city wall to observe the French march route to prevent the French from copying the back road.

As soon as the blocking position was arranged, thousands of men and horses retreated in front of them, but fortunately, many of Xue's soldiers were locals, and they were all shouting in Vietnamese, so they didn't wrap all these guys with dumplings.

Put people in and ask, it was indeed the Vietnamese who rushed to defend the East City Gate that was bombarded, and the place was within the firing range of the French artillery, these pro-soldiers Hu 1uan put a gun, obviously this sound attracted the attention of a large number of warships on the river, and was immediately crippled by the roaring artillery, and the officers and soldiers were completely scattered.

Hearing this, Xue was furious, it turned out that he didn't encounter the French 6th Army at all, and the whole army collapsed all of a sudden, and let people take these guys to the West City Gate to guard the city gate, which can be somewhat useful. After a while, a sturdy man from the deserter crowd stumbled in front of Xue. ,

Why is this person so familiar, Xue ran up and realized that it was the big pig's head of Zhendong Hou, and he didn't see any enemies in his nearly 10,000 relatives, so he collapsed on the spot, which really made Xue cry and laugh.

"Commander Xue, help, hurry up and ask Lord Qin for help, beat these Frenchmen, it's really a hún egg, and there is a surprise attack!" Ruan Puxing looked depressed, this will be a matter of losing his official position, and if he loses his life, it will be bad.

"General, hurry up and gather your soldiers and horses, don't stand in front of our army's position, get in the way!" Xue expressed great indignation at the fact that this guy came to add 1uan temporarily.

Ruan Puxing hurriedly ran to the west gate to collect the remnants of the army, but unfortunately only four or five hundred people were gathered, and less than one percent had weapons, which made the general of Zhendong half angry.

The shelling of the French lasted a quarter of an hour and finally stopped. The reconnaissance post in front had already sent back the news that a large number of French soldiers were boarding from the port6, and at this time, Zhendong Hou Nguyen Pu Xing came to muttered to Xue again, saying that he wanted to invite the soldiers and horses of the Celestial Dynasty to go to the palace to protect the king of Vietnam, and Xue glared back.

Lying behind two thick wooden tables, Pan Xin, the captain of the first battalion, was introducing his experience to the recruits around him, Pan Xin was an ordinary member of the security regiment, and he had been training in the security regiment for more than a year, but on the battlefield, he was actually similar to the recruits, but he was much better in terms of overall prima.

"Lie behind the table, aim and hit, don't take your head out too much!" Pan Xin's heart also jumped violently at this time, but now he is the captain of 1o soldiers, how can he say that he is also the first time to fight, "Don't be afraid, the French don't look at people who are tall and big, they are easy to aim at when they fight!" ”

His not-so-funny joke caused a burst of laughter from his team of soldiers, "Captain Pan, are you nervous?" Why can't I hold the gun when I'm nervous? A soldier asked suddenly.

"Nervous! What are you nervous about, these French guys are beating our supervisor at sea, and today we are letting them taste the strength of our battalion! Remember, the Freemasons are organizing a retreat to Guangzhi, and we must beat the French devils away! ”

The soldiers cheered each other on, and the silence before this imminent battle made people feel a little crazy. Xue looked at the palace in the east, and Song Yunze hadn't appeared until now, which couldn't help but make people a little worried.

At this time, the French captain Gakara had just come down from the cruiser Duville, and from the beginning of the war to the present, he had not encountered a counterattack from the Vietnamese, which made all the soldiers who participated in the battle almost think that this was an exercise, but the roaring city gate in the distance obviously told him that this would not be an exercise, and he entered through the east gate with 5o men of his team, and several other Xiao teams followed closely behind them, and the commander's order was to bring the Vietnamese king in the city to the flagship of the Baya.