The morning on the sea is very different from that on land, when the sky is just dawning, there is a gray everywhere, gradually, the gray becomes brighter, the nearby sea water is also slowly clear, and then slowly and gradually distinguishing the distant sea-sky line. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

After a while, a faint white halo appeared unconsciously in the eastern sea and sky, and the white halo was absent at the beginning, and as the surrounding color difference gradually became obvious, the white halo gradually became clearer.

After a while, as if breaking free from some restraint, a golden halo suddenly lit up from the boundary between the sea and the sky, and the white mist gradually thinned out as if it had been melted by the golden light.

As the fog gradually faded, an orange-red wheel that was still hidden by the faint sea-sky intersection gradually rose, and when the orange-red wheel was about to break away from the sea, it seemed that the force that bound the orange-red golden wheel completely gave up its efforts, and the golden wheel rushed out of the sea, and in an instant the golden light gushed out vigorously, and a huge red sun shone in the sky, reflecting the thousands of blue waves and golden waves.

As if awakened by this golden light, flocks of white seagulls rushed out of the mist in the distance, stretching their slender wings and soaring in the golden light, sometimes flapping their wings into the sky, sometimes spreading their wings and sweeping across the sparkling sea, drawing graceful arcs.

In the morning light, a flotilla of five passenger and cargo ships of various sizes was slowly moving eastward in the Yellow Sea, and the flags on the masts of these five passenger and cargo ships showed that they were two British ships, as well as one each of Germans, France, and Denmark.

A mile behind the flotilla, a yacht with a strange double hull slowly followed, with occasional ups and downs with the waves due to the shallow draft and the light hull itself.

The color of this yacht is particularly strange, it is not painted with bright colors, but painted with patches of different sizes of dark yellow and green, if you are a little farther away, or the light is darker, it is difficult to find this small yacht in the vast sea that is close to the color of the sea.

This strangely colored yacht is Qin Chuan's search catamaran.

At this moment, Qin Chuan, who was dressed in military uniform, was holding a telescope, standing in the wheelhouse, observing the fleet in the distance through the large glass window with an inclination angle of more than 60 degrees.

In addition to Qin Chuan in the cockpit, there was also a soldier of the Yan Regiment who was at the helm, Xu Tong, who was also holding a telescope and observing the fleet ahead, and a staff officer.

On the afternoon of the day of the departure of the Gaosheng, that is, on the 23rd, Qin Chuan took a platoon of Xu Tong's reconnaissance company hiding in the cabin, took the catamaran named "Surprise" by Qin Chuan, set off from the dock in the backyard of the dyeing factory, went to sea all the way along the Haihe River, and joined the six hired foreign ships off the coast of Dagu.

Because early in the morning, Li Ming had already explained their respective tasks to the captains of several foreign ships, and after Qin Chuan contacted them through the flag, five foreign ships were in front and one behind, and Qin Chuan's "Surprise" was in the center, so he chased Gao Sheng to sail eastward.

Because the speed of the Gao Sheng, which belonged to the British Jardine Matheson, was not fast, and the maximum speed was only 14 knots, and it was loaded with weapons and ammunition, 1,200 people, and hundreds of thousands of salaries, and the speed became even slower. In the evening of the same day, Qin Chuan's fleet caught up with the Gao Sheng, and after being contacted through the flag, Qin Chuan was picked up by the small boat put down on the Gao Sheng.

Gao Jishan on the boat was a little surprised to see Qin Chuan, Qin Chuan told Gao Jishan that he got the news that the news of the voyage of the Gao Sheng, a troop transport ship full of reinforcements to North Korea, was likely to have been mastered by the Japanese spy Ishikawa Wuyi who was hiding in the concession, Zhou Fu was worried about the safety of the Gao Sheng, but because there was no evidence, it was inconvenient to change the travel plan, so he was sent to chase the Gao Sheng, and asked the Qing soldiers on the ship to change the ship in case of accidents.

Qin Chuan also took out a note from Zhou Fu, which stated that Qin Chuan wanted to go to the DPRK with Gao Sheng, so as to protect the safety of Gao Sheng, and to act cheaply.

Regarding Qin Chuan's words, Gao Jishan was very surprised at first, and then a little disapproving. Although the situation in Korea was tense, China and Japan did not go to war after all, and even if the Japanese knew that the Gaosheng was a troop carrier, they were helpless. What's more, this Gao Sheng is a British ship, and the Japanese have no way to take the Gao Sheng. Moreover, taking the Gaosheng to North Korea is a military order, and if he changes the ship without authorization, even if it is for the safety of the officers and soldiers on board, it is not a small crime.

However, Qin Chuan moved out of Zhou Fu, which made Gao Jishan a little embarrassed. Although Zhou Fu is in charge of the civil affairs of Zhili and can't manage the army, after all, he is also a second-class member of the imperial court, and he is only under Li Hongzhang in Zhili.

After thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't figure it out, and finally found Hannagan, who was sent by Li Hongzhang to Ye Zhichao as a counselor in the camp, to discuss.

Qin Chuanzhi didn't care about Hannagan's appearance on the ship, because Zhou Fu had already told him that Li Hongzhang was also very worried about Ye Zhichao's worries, so he sent Hannagan, a foreigner, to North Korea, obviously as a counselor in the camp, but in fact to warn the North Korean generals that he had eyeliner.

Since the last review of the Martial Arts Academy, although Hannagan was still a little sneering when he met Qin Chuan, he admired Qin Chuan very much, and his heart had long been gone.

After discussing with Hannagan, Gao Jishan finally decided that the officers and men on board would be transferred to the French merchant ship "Saint-Louis" that came with Qin Chuan, and the two of them would still keep the Gao Sheng, so as not to violate the military order, but also to take care of Zhou Fu's face.

Qin Chuan wanted to persuade Gao Jishan to change ships, but it can be seen that Gao Jishan had a resolute attitude, so he had no choice but to give up.

When it was dark, the officers and men of the Renzi Battalion on the Gaosheng were busy shuttling back and forth in several small boats for an hour before the exchange was completed. It was still Gao Sheng in front, the fleet led by the Saint-Louis followed at a distance of one nautical mile behind, and Qin Chuan's Surprise followed far behind the fleet. In addition, Qin Chuan asked the Nautilus, which had a faster speed, to sail behind him and keep a distance of about one nautical mile.

Early the next morning, he encountered the Caojiang of the Beiyang Naval Division, which was transporting the equipment at a slower speed.

The Caojiang is a wooden-hulled and wood-ribbed locomotive built by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, although eight guns are also installed on it, but the speed is only nine knots, and it has been engaged in transportation since it arrived at the Beiyang Naval Division. Because of the companionship with the Caojiang, the speed of the Gao Sheng had to slow down, and after another day and night, I knew that on the 25th, that is, this morning, the fleet approached North Korea, and according to Xu Tong, the fleet sailing at such a speed could not reach Asan until noon.

"Commander."

Xu Tong put down the binoculars and said with some dissatisfaction: "The speed of this Caojiang is too slow, otherwise with the speed of our surprise twenty-six knots, we would have arrived at Asan yesterday." This is coming soon, and we haven't even seen a Japanese shadow, are we too small? ”

Qin Chuan put down the binoculars, shook his head and said, "Be careful? Be careful to make a ship of ten thousand years. Okay, let's start eating at once, and let the brothers eat and drink to their heart's content. ”

Xu Tong snorted, turned around and opened a piece of wooden door on the bulkhead, and entered the cabin at the back, where there were more than forty soldiers of the Salt Regiment including Gao Ying.

The surprising ship is small, it is inconvenient to make a fire to cook, Qin Chuan They are eating canned food and cold steamed buns all the way, Qin Chuan did not enter the cabin, just in the cockpit with cold water and a box of canned beef, gnawing more than half of the steamed buns and not eating, just leaning on the bulkhead, silently thinking about his thoughts.

I remember that the sea area where the Takasheng was sunk by the Japanese Navy Naniwa was near Toshima, but he didn't know where he was now, and he saw that it was already nine o'clock, but he hadn't seen the Japanese warship yet, could it be that because of his appearance, history has changed slightly? The Japanese Navy will not appear today?

"Commander, there's a signal."

The shouts of the staff officers holding binoculars to observe the flotilla in front woke Qin Chuan from his contemplation, and he hurriedly grabbed the telescope to observe the flotilla in front. (To be continued.) )