Fuzhou, Mawei Port. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It was already dawn, and a long whistle was heard from the harbor. Soon, in the faint mist, the figure of a warship with the dragon flag fluttering appeared.

The warship was noticeably fast and agile. After entering the port, the speed of the ship slowed down, and soon the warship was firmly on the dock. Some foreigners walking around the wharf were amazed by the skill of the sailors on the warship.

Because the appearance of the officers and men on China's new steam warships is completely different from those of the old green battalion sailors.

Most of the sailors come from groups of fishermen from China's coastal provinces, mainly Fujian and Zhejiang. These children of fishermen are struggling to survive all day long, worrying about their livelihoods, and cannot hope to devote themselves to the right path to the imperial examination. The purpose of joining the army is very simple, it is to earn a small salary to support their families.

Sailors of the Ship Master and Sailor are generally recruited in the nearest coastal area, must be at least 16 years old, must not have a criminal record, must be literate in writing, and need to be guaranteed by a guarantor, and only those who meet these conditions are eligible to be examined and selected by a review panel composed of the Ship Master Sailor School, the practice ship pipe band, the senior officers on the ship, and the military doctor. After this review, those who have undergone this review are awarded the rank of third-class training bravery, that is, the lowest military rank in the naval division, and the low-level training soldier. The third-class trainees must first serve on the training ship and study on the ship for one year. These young fishermen, once they entered the threshold of the navy, entered a new world, all the teaching instructions must be in line with the French navy and the international navy English (the ship type and drill code of the master and sailor are all under the French navy, plus the English is very wide, French and English are compulsory courses,), if you can quickly pass the language barrier, and can pass the exam, you can be promoted to the second class training, but at this time it is still not a formal sailor.

The examinations to be passed by sailors are: familiar with the names of various parts of the ship, the names and uses of various types of rigging, and master the operation techniques of knots and rigging; Familiar with the names and uses of various parts of the sail and supporting pulleys and rigging, and master various techniques of receiving, tying and sewing sails; Able to operate a sampan, master the steering, measuring water depth, using compass and other techniques; Able to operate more than 4 types of artillery, and master the use of guns and swords.

After being promoted to a second-class training officer, if they study on a training ship for another six months, and are "proficient in gunfire and sword maneuvers," or if they are "very proficient" in various skills although they have not completed six months, they can be directly promoted to third-class sailors and assigned to serve on a warship. Or those who have reached the age of 19 can take the examination for promotion to the first class of courage, and those who pass the examination will be given the opportunity to be selected as a third-class sailor without examination.

The third-class sailor is the lowest-ranking sailor on the warship of the Chinese shipmaster and sailor, and after serving on the ship, if there is a vacancy for the second-class sailor, he can take the examination. After being promoted to a second-class sailor, if there is a vacancy for a first-class sailor, and the second-class sailor is highly skilled, "knows well how to operate cannons, and can be competent no matter how many gunners are assigned", he is eligible to be promoted to first-class sailor. After being promoted to the rank of first-class sailor, after two years of service, he must undergo a re-examination of shipboard skills before he is eligible to pass the examination and then be promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer such as boatswain and gunner.

It is unimaginable in the Chinese Army that it is taught and operated in a pure foreign language, and that it is necessary to go through such a complex and rigorous examination process to become a full-fledged soldier. It is precisely because of this system, which completely imitates the Western navy (mainly the French navy), that the professional skills of the shipmaster and sailor are far higher than that of the old green battalion sailors and the army. More importantly, the warships of the Shipmaster and Sailors were put into service earlier, and the movement and renewal of the sailor group were not frequent, which also meant that many of the sailors of the Shipmaster and Sailor Division had at least 3 to 4 years of service experience on their own warships, so that the familiarity of Chinese sailors with their own posts was close to reflex.

After the warship lowered the trestle, a man who looked like a Chinese civil servant hurried down, followed by several servants, laboriously carrying a bookcase, and the official, who did not bother to wipe the sweat from his forehead, hurriedly called a carriage and went to the Harbour Master's Office.

"Lord Lin, there is something important to repay for your humble position!" Mei Hong entered the government office, saw Lin Yizhe from a distance, and walked over quickly while greeting him, carrying the hem of his clothes.

"Yuanshan, this is just off the boat again, right?" Lin Yizhe saw Mei Hong's dusty appearance, and saw that he had an anxious look on his face, so he hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed his arm and asked him to sit down.

"What's so urgent?" Lin Yizhe remembered that Mei Hong's trip was to be a messenger for him, and he couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.

It can't be that big brother Lin Xunshu who made his reply to death angry, right?

"Your Excellency, please take a look." Mei Hong waved his hand, the two servants lifted the bookcase up, opened the lid of the box, Mei Hong took out the scrolls of drawing paper inside, and unfolded them one by one in front of Lin Yizhe.

Lin Yizhe saw the fort drawn in line drawing on the first picture, and he understood what these pictures were.

This should be Mei Hong's inspection of the coastal defense situation between Jiangning and Fujian.

"It's really as the adults said, the truth of this thousand-mile coastal defense is really unbearable." Mei Hong pointed to these sketches that he had worked so hard to draw, and paused again and again.

Lin Yizhe picked up the sketches and looked at them one by one, in which Mei Hong depicted the details of the forts and coastal defense fortifications in China's coastal areas with extremely concise brushwork, although not as good as Western photographs and copper engravings, but also very realistic. After reading these words, there is no need for Mei Hong to say any more, his heart is also heavy.

As a "prophetic" traveler, although he knew something about the emptiness of China's coastal defense, he was still shocked by the paintings in front of him.

Wherever there is a danger in China's coastal areas, there are many forts, which seem to have a numerical advantage, but most of these forts are useless. The styles of each fort are not only chaotic, but also most of them are old, and the earliest ones even have old antiques built by the Qi family army in the Ming Dynasty, and such fortifications and buildings are impossible to resist the fierce artillery fire of modern wars. In addition to the batteries themselves, the artillery equipment on the batteries also has the same problem, except for a very small number of batteries equipped with new guns purchased from France and Prussia, most of the batteries on the batteries can be used to carry out an exhibition of the history of artillery development, among them are both the old breech general guns cast by China, as well as the breech guns of different origins and different ages in European countries. In addition, the arrangement of the batteries was also problematic, because of the old form, the gun emplacements were single, and almost all of them had dead angles in the firing circle, which were easy to be used by the enemy. In the extremely important estuary area, there were only batteries facing the waterway, and there were no batteries facing the open sea at all!

"This is only the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is said that all provinces are like this, blindly follow it, there is no arrangement for coastal defense, if there is really a person who goes to the sea, I am afraid there is no one to defend!" Mei Hong looked at the drawings he had worked so hard to draw, and said bitterly, "The person in charge is so absurd, it's really a shame!" ”

Lin Yizhe knew that what he saw on this trip was very stimulating to Mei Hong, and the glorious image of the **** "Millions of Soldiers" in his mind had collapsed, and he was both happy and worried.

He is glad that after this "field trip", Mei Hong, who originally had the indignant spirit of a traditional Chinese scholar, has already woken up and will devote himself to foreign affairs from now on.

The thought that it was likely that many people would die in this war made Lin Yizhe's heart tighten.

It's been six years since he crossed over here!

And in the past six years, he has done all his best, and he has only made the master of the ship more powerful than in history!

The reason why he concentrated all his efforts on building the shipmaster and sailor division is because he knows that the only one who can fight with Japan in China now is the shipmaster and sailor division (the main force of the Chinese navy in the original historical time and space has no shadow now), if China and Japan go to war, as long as the shipmaster sailor is at sea, then thousands of miles of coastal defense from Korea, Liaodong, Shandong to Fujian, Zhejiang and Taiwan will be opened in an instant! As long as the boots of the Japanese army set foot on Chinese soil, with its absolute superiority over the Qing Dynasty army in terms of combat power, it could crisscross the Chinese land at will, and even approach Gyeonggi to force the Qing government to sign an alliance under the city!

This is a tactic that has long been proven by history in Lin Yizhe's original time and space, and if this scene does not really happen, the only response Lin Yizhe can think of is to win the naval battle!

For Japan, once its navy controls the sea lanes, it will be almost invincible in the war against China! As far as China is concerned, only by gaining sea supremacy and containing the landing attempt of the Japanese Army can it be possible not to fall into defeat!

And 6 years is too short for Lin Yizhe, a traverser who has just become an acting governor, and it is not enough to build a large-scale modern army!

"Also, the things entrusted by the adults have also been done." Mei Hong's voice pulled Lin Yizhe's thoughts back, "It's just ......"

Lin Yizhe noticed a trace of anger and helplessness flashing in Mei Hong's eyes, and knew that his eldest brother Lin Shushu was likely to show him face, so he said: "Yuanshan but it doesn't matter, what kind of situation he has after reading the letter, I have already thought about it." ”