"If you can't write Chinese, you won't have much hope in your career, and it's impossible for him not to understand this common sense! Could it be that this young man doesn't care about being an official at all? At first, I actually thought that he was just a lucky person, but he really underestimated others", which made Yan Fu admire and feel a little frustrated, he boasted of being talented, but he couldn't get Li Hongzhang's reuse if he didn't make a sycophant, and Li Hui didn't take his official position seriously, but he was unexpectedly valued by Li Hongzhang, what is the reason for this? Could it be that he has a reputation for being strict and false, and his real talent can't be compared with the young man in front of him? With Yan Fu's pride, he didn't want to admit it, but once this idea was born, it always lingered in his mind

Although this question is not easy to ask directly, the more he thinks about it, the more dissatisfied Yan Fu still can't help but say tentatively, he half-truthfully cares about Li Hui and says, "Fortunately, in Dongyang, you have the appreciation of Lord Zhongtang, even if you don't know how to write Chinese, it's still no problem to be a real official."

Li Hui may not be as smart as Yan Fu thought, but he knew that Yan Fu was not interested in Li Hongzhang, and immediately realized that there was a problem. Thinking of Yan Fu's bumpy career in history, Li Hui quickly understood Yan Fu's thoughts, and couldn't help but laugh secretly, "A character like Yan Fu would actually be jealous of me?" ”

Out of respect for Yan Fu, and for the sake of the long-term cooperation between the two sides, Li Hui did not shy away from meeting Yan Fu frankly at the moment, and analyzed and pointed out the reason why Li Hongzhang would reuse him, an unknown junior, but snub Yan Fu, who has long been famous, what is the reason, "A few gentlemen are talented, which is beyond the reach of me Li Hui, but your ability will take at least a few years to receive results, and Li Hefei may not have the patience; And although I don't have any talents, but I can help him save money and earn silver, and the effect is immediate. ”

"It turns out that he is not Li Hongzhang's cronies, Yan Fu, Yan Fu, has jealousy made you lose your most basic judgment?" , From Li Hui's disrespectful attitude towards Li Hongzhang, Yan Fu immediately realized that he had made a big mistake, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, but he didn't fully accept Li Hui's words, so Yan Fu didn't think that he was a mouthpiece, "That's Li Hongzhang has eyes and doesn't give him a chance, and I, Yan Fu, don't know how to do practical things!" ”

In between the translation work, Li Hui also took the time to visit all 10 of the Beiyang Naval Division's current main warships, which was not all for the purpose of admiring historical relics, but to take the opportunity to point out some fatal flaws that were later exposed by the Beiyang ships in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle; although most of the current domestic shipbuilding capacity cannot be fundamentally solved, it is better to make minor repairs than not to repair them at all, and some defects can be mitigated by adjusting tactics and other temporary measures

"Dongyang, what are you?" , Liu Buyun took a blank piece of paper handed to him by Li Hui with some doubts, and said disapprovingly after sweeping his eyes, "The lack of armor protection in the bow and stern of the two ships in Dingzhen is indeed a weakness, but the ironclad ships are basically like this, so it is not a serious defect." And even if the bow and stern are broken, as long as the central ironclad fort is not broken, the ship will not be able to sink, Dongyang, you don't need to worry. ”

Li Hui sneered and hit the nail on the head, "Originally, the bow and stern armorlessness is not a big defensive defect, as you said, even if it is hit, it will affect the speed at most, and there will generally be no fatal threat." But the problem is that the current layout of the cabin in Dingzhen has neglected this, so that the threat that can be generated by a bullet in the bow of the ship has been magnified countless times! You won't forget, what kind of cabin is under the foredeck, it's a military hospital! “

"Once the military hospital is hit, not only will the wounded on the ship fall into the dilemma of lack of medical treatment, but also the beds in the military hospital are all flammable, and once the bullet causes a fire, the consequences are unimaginable!" , Li Hui saw that Liu Buyun was still a little unimpressed, and immediately exclaimed in an aggravated tone, "You must not have any luck, the probability of the bow being hit is not low, at least more than one percent, even if the Japanese shelling hit rate is a little lower, only five percent, on average, it only needs a few hundred shells to hit once; With the importance of the two ships in Dingzhen, it is impossible not to be besieged by Japanese ships, that is to say, you must withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of at least 6 6-inch rapid-fire guns and 30 12-fire rapid-fire guns, the former has a maximum rate of fire of seven rounds a minute, and the latter has reached ten rounds a minute, even in actual combat, at least a few hundred shells can be fired in a minute, and this is not counting the situation that the two ships in Dingzhen were separated so that some Japanese ships could fire on both sides and the fire of those non-rapid-fire guns."

Bullying the other party has not really experienced actual combat, and does not know the current real training level of the Japanese Navy, Li Hui added fuel and vinegar to say that the problem is extremely serious, "That is to say, about every three minutes on average, the bow of the ship in Dingzhen will be hit by a large-caliber shell from the Japanese side, so this is no longer a matter of probability, and it is almost inevitable that the bow of the ship in Dingzhen will be hit by the enemy's large-caliber shells in a naval battle!" In addition, there are similar safety hazards in the stern, but there is no firewood pile like a military hospital, and the danger is not as great as that of the bow."

Liu Buyun's brows really gradually wrinkled, he opened his mouth and was about to answer, but his expression suddenly moved, and he changed his tone and asked, "This kind of thing should be reported to Ding Junmen, he is the Admiral of the Navy, why did he come to me?" ”

Before the crossing, many historical materials said that the "Min Party" headed by Liu Buyun set up Ding Ruchang, the commander of the naval division, but what Li Hui saw and heard after coming to the Weihaiwei Naval Base clearly told him that the so-called "Fujian Party" was just a concept deliberately created by Li Hongzhang who was worried that most of the generals were Beiyang Naval Divisions from Fuzhou Shipbuilding and broke away from his control.

As for the legend that Deng Shichang was squeezed out by the Fujian Party, it is even more chasing after the wind, in fact, if we insist on dividing factions, although Deng Shichang, who is a native of Guangdong, but comes from the Fuzhou Shipyard, should also be classified into the Fujian Party, in fact, he has a very good relationship with the core figures of the "Fujian Party". However, as a native of Fujian, Fang Boqian, who only cares about Li Hongzhang, the top boss, has a bad relationship with most of the Beiyang naval generals, including Deng Shichang.

Therefore, at least until the First Sino-Japanese War, it was a complete joke to divide the naval factions by geography

However, Liu Buyun does have some problems, he can still respect the orders of Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the navy, in major matters, but he is not convinced by Ding in his heart, and he wants to save face for others, so he will fight with Ding Ruchang from time to time on some details that have nothing to do with the overall situation, in order to show that he is more capable. Now that Liu Buyun suddenly asked like this, it was obvious that he had made an old mistake again