Because Xi Zhengfu helped Hu Xueyan come up with a "very good" idea, and promised to help Hu Xueyan make an introduction and borrow money from HSBC, Hu Xueyan was in a good mood and was also interested in enjoying tea and snow with Xi Zhengfu. After chatting for www.biquge.info a while, Xi Zhengfu asked the servant to bring a pen and paper and wrote a letter of introduction to Hu Xueyan on the spot.

After a while, after the letter of introduction was written, Xi Zhengfu showed the letter to Hu Xueyan, Hu Xueyan was very happy after reading it, and there was no objection, Xi Zhengfu signed his name on the letter, used a private seal, and then sealed the letter and handed it to Hu Xueyan.

After sending Hu Xueyan away, Xi Zhengfu returned to the garden, at this time the snow had stopped, Xi Zhengfu walked among the snow, remembering the meeting with Hu Xueyan just now, and couldn't help laughing.

"This person can be the head of the Hui merchants, is it really extraordinary, I can't see it?" Xi Zhengfu said to himself and shook his head.

At this time, a servant hurriedly came to the garden and sent a "declaration" and a "Dianshizhai Pictorial", Xi Zhengfu opened the newspaper and found that the headlines were all reports about the Empress Dowager Tianjin's Great Water Reader.

Xi Zhengfu carefully read the report, and his eyes stayed on the portrait copper engravings on the front page of the "Declaration".

At the top are the portraits of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Tongzhi Emperor and Prince Gong, and in the lower row, there are portraits of smaller ministers, with Wen Xiang, Shen Guifen, Li Hongzhang and Lin Yizhe at the forefront.

"This Lin Yizhe is really extraordinary...... Xi Zhengfu looked at Lin Yizhe's portrait and said softly, "At a young age, his reputation is already so famous, if it is a few years later, ......"

Xi Zhengfu thought a little distracted, he pondered for a long time before he nodded.

Xi Zhengfu paced to the pavilion and sat down again.

At this time, the garden suddenly became quiet, and a thick layer of silver frost was condensed on the ground, and the cedar like a pagoda still stood in the cold wind without fear of the cold. A north wind blew, and the cedars spilled the icy white snow on the ground, still standing there. Another cold wind blew, and the trees next to it rustled, and in this winter, the most noticeable thing in the garden was the small bell-like yellow flowers. A cluster here, a cluster there, is very beautiful, and each one has several layers of petals, each layer is five, emitting bursts of fragrance.

That's a plum blossom.

"Well, it's you!" Xi Zhengfu looked at the plum blossoms that bloomed in winter, as if he had made a lot of determination, "I have always seen people well, the Queen Mother can take a fancy to you, and I can also take a fancy to you!" ”

Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kinko Bay, Coastal Range.

On the "Raiden Maru" training ship, Gonbei Yamamoto followed behind Kawahara Yoichi, climbed out of the hatch on the bow deck, and then walked back along the deck for dozens of steps, and then walked to the flybridge connecting the "Raiden Maru" -- that is, the open-air command platform and the gangway on the bow deck.

"Yamamoto-kun, I still have responsibilities, I can only send you here, Mr. Nanzhou is still waiting for you, so please go up by yourself." Kawahara raised his hand towards the gangway and said to Yamamoto Gonbei in English with a smile.

"Kawara-kun! Great work! Yamamoto Gonbei waved his hand in gratitude - for Kawahara Keichi, a naval officer who was also born in Kagoshima Prefecture, although he was not a feudal priest, Yamamoto Gonbei still liked him, and this can be seen only from the cabin and accompanying personnel that Yamamoto chose on the "Raiden Maru".

After Yamamoto Gonbei boarded the training ship as an attaché to Saigo Takamori, Captain Uemura Hikonosei arranged him in the room in the officer's living quarters that belonged to the Japanese Navy warrant officer in front of him, the first mate of the "Raiden Maru" Kawahara Yoichi, and Kawahara Yoichi was not only close to his age, but also the deputy of the new mine team that Yamamoto Gonbei would "supervise" at this time. With such a relationship, these two young people, who are no more than 2 years apart, have gotten along quite well in the past two days.

As soon as Kawahara was about to leave, Yamamoto walked down the escalator to the flying bridge.

"Gonbei? Why did you come at this time? Kirino Toshiaki, who had already arrived on the flybridge in advance, saw Yamamoto Gonbei and immediately greeted him with a smile.

"I just delayed for a while in the cabin below, and you see, General, I haven't wiped the soot off my hands." He smiled and raised his hand at the Kirino Toshiaki, and sure enough, there was still some coal ash on his hand that had not yet been wiped off - he had just gone to the engine room to see the coal burning situation of this warship, and fortunately, now the Japanese Navy still had the opportunity to obtain high-quality lumpy high-quality coal at a relatively low price.

Taking the opportunity to greet Kirino Toshiaki, Yamamoto Gonbei quickly took a look at the people and scenery on the flybridge - this is a square platform on the deck of the "Raiden Maru", a mixed structure of iron and wood, and there are two ladders leading to the head and tail decks of the "Raiden Maru" in the front and back of the flybridge, and on it are installed compasses and car clocks arranged in the open air, and there are some signal markers, and there is a small wooden house at the back of the flybridge, and Yamamoto Gonbei knows that this small house should be stored in the "Raiden Maru" A signal flag box used on the ship for command.

Gonbei Yamamoto looked so carefully that he didn't even want to let go of the shape of the rivets on the deck of the flybridge that connected the teak floor to the iron frame—until Toshiaki Kirino, who couldn't look at it anymore, touched his arm.

"Quan Bingwei!" Kirino Toshiaki couldn't hold back a smile, "Why do you just care about watching the boat, do you know that there are other people here." ”

"Huh?" Gonbei Yamamoto looked up as if he had just woken up from a dream—at the other end of the flybridge. Dressed in a sky-blue standard, the French Navy uniform, Shinohara Kunikan and several other Japanese officials were all dissatisfied. And Saigo Takamori, who was standing between the two, was also full of displeasure.

"Warrant Officer, have you never seen a ship?" Saigo Takamori shouted in a deep voice, "Let everyone stand here and wait for you, your shelf is really not small!" ”

Shinohara Kunikan and Murata Shinhachi, who was standing on the other side of Saigo Takamori, immediately glanced at each other when they heard this. It was not surprising that they read the deep meaning in each other's eyes - they were both old subordinates who had followed Saigo Takamori for many years. The temper of Saigo Takashichi has long been commonplace. Everybody knows that. Mr. Nanzhou's temper has never been disorderly. More often than not, it's even an affectionate representation.

"Mr. Nanzhou! I'm here for purpose. In the past few days, after I got on the ship, I locked myself in the cabin every day, thinking about how to deal with the Qing Navy. It's hard to come out of it. Let me take a closer look at what's wrong? Yamamoto Gonbei said a few words in his heart, but on the surface he was still very respectful.

As a samurai who participated in the Satsuma Domain's "Battle of Saoi" (i.e., the Sa-Ying War) and the Battle of Fushimi-Toba, and as the first graduate of the Satsuma Naval Academy, it was not the first time he had seen a steam warship, but he had an instinct to familiarize himself with the situation of the warship as soon as he came to an unfamiliar warship.

He walked up to Saigo Takamori and the other three and saluted respectfully.

Saigo Takamori waved his hand to signal him to get up, then turned around and picked up a monocular to continue to observe the sea in the distance, and the embarrassed Yamamoto Gonbei had to stand aside in an orderly manner, and his heart was sad and bitter for a while, and now he completely knew what it meant to be "under the low eaves, and had to bow his head"!

"This is Second Lieutenant Oyama Yan." Seeing Yamamoto Gonbei's embarrassed look, Kirino Toshiaki took the initiative to step forward, pointing to the army officer who had been smiling all the time and introduced to Yamamoto Gonbei, which can be regarded as relieving Yamamoto Gonbei.

Big Mountain Rock?! Yamamoto Gonbei's eyes lit up, and a sentence was already blurted out: "Could it be that we are going to practice the formation of mine boats to sneak attack enemy ships now?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Oyama Iwa's eyes immediately widened, and Shinohara Kunikan, who was explaining something beside Saigo Takamori, also turned his head in surprise and looked straight at Yamamoto Gonbei, but Saigo Takamori and Kirino Toshiaki, who had already been surprised by Yamamoto Gonbei's shocking actions, looked as usual.

"I heard that Yamamoto-kun is very insightful about military affairs, and when I saw it today, I knew that it was really famous!" Oyama Iwa looked at Yamamoto Gonbei carefully with surprise before he spoke.

"Dashan-kun has a reputation!" Yamamoto Gonbei's face turned a rare red -- in fact, it was not difficult to guess from the arrival of Oyama Iwa that the subjects of the exercise were present -- this tactic was originally made by himself after many days of meditation, and Oyama Iwa had previously gone to various European countries to inspect military affairs and wrote back a number of reports, one of which was a very famous one on the French Navy's mine school, and as soon as these two points were combined, the conclusion would naturally come out.

"I don't know ......" Oyama Iwa was about to ask, but was interrupted by the loud shouts of Kirino Toshiaki on the side.

"It's coming! Here it comes! ”

Toshiaki Kirino pointed to the sea in the distance, and his voice revealed a strange emotion that seemed to be excited and depressed, and at the junction of the distant sea and sky, a few faint columns of smoke suddenly appeared-several pole mineboats converted from steam sampans!

This is the newly formed "Sea Surprise Team" of the Satsuma Domain!

Signal flags were constantly raised and lowered at the trusses of the foremast of the "Raiden Maru," and the simulated warship formation, which had been moving forward in a crack formation, also began to slowly adjust its course in accordance with the tactical requirements of a group of two ships, so as to orient the bow of the ship in the direction of the attack of the pole mineboats, so that the bomb area of each ship facing the pole minecraft could be reduced to a minimum, and it was also convenient for the ships to exert their forward firepower to intercept and shoot -- Shinohara Kunikan was now accompanying Saigo Takamori to watch the battle on the flybridge, and at this time he was commanding the "fleet" in the command tower under the flybridge to meet the battle. It's the captain of the ship, Hikono Uemura.

"Yamamoto-kun, give." Kirino Toshiaki quietly pulled Yamamoto to the wooden signal flag room at the back of the flybridge, and immediately handed him a beautifully shaped monocular.

"Thank you, General!" Gonbei Yamamoto took the binoculars and began to look in the direction of the attack of the pole mineboats—it was already night, and the field of vision was so dark that I could barely make out a few faint shadows under the rapidly moving pillars of smoke.

"The timing of the attack was quite good!" Yamamoto Gonbei praised loudly -- there is a waning moon in the sky tonight, but these pole mineboats happened to choose the direction of attacking with their backs to the moonlight, and from the "Raiden Maru" ship, at most, they could barely see a few small black shadows like Yamamoto Gonbei, but on those pole mineboats, they could see the "enemy ships" under the moonlight clearly.

"Oh, Yamamoto-kun thinks these mine boats can fight the Qing fleet?" Kirino Toshiaki suddenly lowered his voice and asked.

"I'm afraid not necessarily!" Yamamoto Gonbei watched the exercise on the sea with all his attention, and the first pole mineboat had already reached a distance of only a few hundred meters from the "Raiden Maru" at high speed, so that Yamamoto Gonbei could finally vaguely recognize its outline - the slightly pointed bow and the long mine strut sticking out in front of the bow......

Yamamoto Gonbei looked hard at the large pole mineboat that had completed the simulated attack on the "Raiden Maru" and was detaching to the right at high speed, but he could only vaguely see the white spray plowing from the stern. And after it broke away with one blow, several pole mineboats followed one by one and launched a continuous thunderbolt attack on the "Thunderbolt Maru".

"Fast as thunder, fast as a galloping horse, there is really a momentum of lightning and thunder!" Kirino Toshiaki looked at the pole mineboats that had been rushing towards the "Thunderbolt Pill" one by one, and couldn't help but exclaim, "It's really a wonderful tactic!" ”

"yes, it does look beautiful!" Yamamoto looked at the formation of pole mineboats that were withdrawing from the battlefield one after another, and a sarcastic smile rose on the corner of his mouth - this is just a drill! And Toshiaki Kirino, who doesn't know much about the navy, hasn't been able to find out the problem!

The speed of these pole mineboats is not fast, and the target of the attack is also the slow-moving old warship "Raiden Maru"!

Yamamoto didn't notice the approving gaze cast by Oyama Yan, although his eyes were still looking at the sea in the distance, his thoughts had already flown thousands of miles away - this kind of tactics of ramming enemy ships with pole mineboats was far from being a successful tactic! Not to mention anything else, the fierce artillery fire fired by the enemy ship before it hit the enemy ship was enough to turn the officers and men on the pole minecraft into out-and-out death squads during actual combat!

What's more, he also heard that the warships of the Qing fleet, without exception, ran very fast! There is also a kind of reconnaissance ship called "Sea Scud"!

Use these modified pole mineboats to sneak attack the Qing warships with high speed and powerful firepower, even if you can achieve one or two successes, what awaits these pole mineboats next is only the fate of destruction!

How can you increase your chances of success and the possibility of getting out of the way?

"The tactics are good, but even if you train with all your strength now, once the war breaks out, it may not be too late." Saigo Takamori, who had not spoken, put down the binoculars, sighed, and said.

Although he was watching the drill at night, Saigo Takamori was still wearing his favorite French sky blue military uniform, and after watching this fairly successful night raid drill, his face did not show the slightest joy.

"Mr. Nanzhou......" Oyama Yan looked at Saigo Takamori and asked hesitantly, "What do you think...... Such...... Isn't it possible? ”

"Even if you can sink one or two enemy ships, what good is it?" Saigo Takamori said in a deep voice, "Fighting against the Qing in this way is like being brutal back then, and there will be nothing else except for causing greater disasters." ”

Hearing Saigo Takamori talk about the Sa-British War that year, the faces of Yamamoto Gonbei and Oyama Iwa and others all became gloomy.

In August 1862, in the village of Ikumai in Kanagawa, four Englishmen rode through the ranks of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the father of the Satsuma feudal lord and a strong opponent, and were killed by one of the feudal lords and stabbed two others, causing a serious diplomatic incident. So the British side went to the shogunate at that time to reason, asking the shogunate to pay 100,000 pounds. However, the shogunate asked me a question and replied that since it was the incident caused by the Satsuma Domain, I had to go to them. So the British sent 10 warships to Kagoshima to ask for an explanation.

When the British arrived in Kagoshima, they saw such a barbaric and backward place, and they thought that the Satsuma clan would not be able to come up with 100,000 pounds, so they reduced the price to 25,000 pounds, but they had to punish the perpetrators. Yukichi Fukuzawa, who was acting as the translator, made a mistake in a hurry, and translated the word "perpetrator" into the ambiguous Japanese word "responsible". As a result, the feudal lord Shimazu Hisamitsu was furious, thinking that the British were going to punish him, so he ordered a war. This battle was fought, and after this battle, the little gains made by the Satsuma Domain, which was the first in Japan to implement reform and opening up, were all destroyed by British artillery fire, and six people died. The menacing British Navy suffered 63 casualties, including Captain Joselin and Vice-Captain Welmer of the flagship HMS Euryalus.

If we look at the casualties, the Japanese took advantage, and of course there was no lack of protection from Amaterasu: first of all, at the beginning of the artillery battle, the sea was stormy, and the British warships were so turbulent that they could not be aimed, and they could not effectively damage the coastal batteries of the Satsuma Domain. And the place where the British fleet was anchored happened to be the target ship that the Satsuma Fort usually used for training, so that the gunners on the Satsuma Fort could practice aiming and save it, and they directly hit the British flagship as soon as the shot was fired.

But as the weather improved, the power of the latest Armstrong guns on British warships was revealed. The coastal forts of the Satsuma Domain were knocked to the ground, and the newly built shipyards and other modern industries were all destroyed, so they sat down and negotiated with the British.

After negotiations, the Satsuma clan was forced to pay 25,000 pounds, but instead of the Satsuma clan's own money, he borrowed 63,000 taels of silver from the shogunate and paid it to the British.

Both Oyama Iwa and Yamamoto fought in that war, when Oyama Iwa disguised himself as a watermelon merchant and boarded a British warship, while Yamamoto, who was only 12 years old at the time, was carrying ammunition in Bentenhado Odaiba.

After this painful lesson, the Satsuma clan realized that it was impossible to "conquer the country" and turned to advocate "opening the country", which later became a powerful promoter of the Meiji Restoration. The British also re-evaluated the strength of the Satsuma Domain's tough counterattack, and this incident developed into a cooperation between the Satsuma Domain and the British, which later became the "Satsuma Alliance".