Seeing the great power of the steamer, the Shanghai merchant also bought one the next year, named the "Tianping" ship, and made an appointment with Ningbo, one to patrol the Beiyang and the other to patrol the Zhejiang Sea, so that the traces of pirates were even rarer. Soon, the Beiyang was filled with foreign ships, and the Second Anti-Smoking War broke out. In the eighth year of Xianfeng, that is, in 9058, the British and French forces captured Dagukou and invaded Tianjin. Emperor Xianfeng sent the scholar Guiliang and the official Shangshu Hua Shana to Tianjin to negotiate peace, and signed the "Treaty of Tianjin" with Russia, the United States, Britain, and France respectively.

When the "Baoshun" ship appeared, He Guiqing, who was the governor of Zhejiang at the time, privately said: "Ships cannot win without steamers", but at that time, the government and the opposition had not yet realized the urgency of possessing Western technology, and the strong ships and sharp guns of the British and French forces made many people soberly aware of one point: Middle-earth should also have such ships. In March 9061, Zeng Bohan once again emphasized that the purchase of foreign ship guns was "the first priority to save the time today". He pointed out that "the speed of the steamship and the distance of the foreign cannon are boasted of in Britain and France, but they are rarely seen in Middle-earth", and then advocated that "we should visit and recruit people who think about it, and craftsmen who are clever and skillful, and then try to build it, but in one or two years, the steamship will be a common thing for Chinese and foreign officials and people, and it can be suppressed and revived, and it can be stored in the long term." In 9062, Zeng Bohan purchased a steamship named "Wei Linmi"; The following year, Li Shaoquan also purchased two ships, the "Tang Sheng" and the "Flying Return." In 9067, the Daqian Imperial Court finally promulgated the "Regulations for Mainland Merchants to Buy Foreign Merchants Steamship Splints and Other Ships", allowing merchants of the Qianguo Kingdom to purchase Western-style ships within the scope of the regulations, which was 13 years later than the "Baoshun" ship!

Remembering the past. Pei Jinquan was excited.

After the establishment of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau. Pei Jinquan and Zhang Sigui, the superintendent of the year, were recruited together. Because of their exploits on the wheel "Baoshun". The Minister of Shipping, Shen Youdan, beckoned them to his side. Later, because he was familiar with foreign affairs, Zhang Sigui was recommended by Shen Youdan to enter the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, and is now the deputy envoy to Japan. Pei Jinquan served as the pipe band of the steamship "Huafubao" purchased from foreign businessmen at the beginning of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau.

Now, although Pei Jinquan has become famous at home for Taiwan's extermination of the Japanese invaders, and has become the commander of the shipmaster and sailor (due to the rank of the shipmaster, there is no admiral yet), and he no longer needs to personally command the ship, but in his heart. I still deeply miss those magnificent days!

The sound of whistles on the sea made Pei Jinquan retract his thoughts, and he raised his binoculars to carefully observe the fleet's naval maneuvers.

The rules for the great sailors to go abroad for exercises were set by Lin Yizhe before his death. Before the Battle of Moswan, when foreign intelligence agencies mentioned this new-style steam fleet of the Great Qian Empire, they invariably mentioned one situation, that is, the warships of this fleet were not usually formed together, but were stationed at important ports in the southeastern coastal provinces of the Qianguo Province, patrolling back and forth, and only under special circumstances were they gathered together. This fact illustrates. The Qianguo Fleet lacked formation combat training in peacetime, but later the Japanese fleet that invaded Moss Bay was confronted with the facts. But that's not the case!

At that time, the Qianguo Fleet met the Japanese fleet in a single column, and the Qianguo Fleet was very well trained in formation combat only in terms of proficiency in changing formations. The Japanese did not know that in order to enable the shipmaster fleet to have the combat capability of formation, Lin Yizhe began to conduct exercises in accordance with the combat formations of the navies of Western countries within the framework of the shipmaster and sailors very early, because the exercises were secretly carried out in the designated high seas, and the outside world knew nothing about it!

For the sake of secrecy, every time Lin Yizhe wanted to conduct an exercise, he would send a letter in the name of Shen Youdan, Minister of Shipping, to the coastal provinces that had received the ships of the Ship Administration, summoning all the ships to assemble in the designated sea area on the high seas, and then conducting a unified combat formation exercise, and after the exercise was completed, the ships would directly return to the provinces where they were located. In this way, it can not only form the ability to fight in formation, but also temper the ability of each ship to sail in the ocean, and also play a role in maintaining secrecy.

Due to effective secrecy measures, the Japanese side has been unaware of the formation exercise on the high seas by the Harbour Master and Sailors. It was because he suffered a big loss in the Battle of Moss Bay and ended up with the annihilation of the whole army.

After the great victory in the Battle of Moss Bay, the imperial court was overjoyed, summed up the lessons and lessons of the victory, and also believed that the rule of "naval divisions will conduct drills" formulated by Lin Yizhe was one of the key factors in defeating the enemy, because after the establishment of the naval yamen, the naval yamen clearly stipulated that not only the ships with scattered shipping administrations in various provinces should conduct rendezvous drills every year, but also the naval divisions of the North and South Seas should also go to the outer ocean every year to conduct drills to enhance the combat capability of the ocean and formation.

For example, this time, the rendezvous exercise between the Beiyang Navy Division and the Harbour Master was chosen in the Ryukyu Sea. The reason why the imperial court chose the location of the exercise in the Ryukyu Sea was to monitor the situation of the Japanese civil war at any time, and second, to guard against the Russian fleet.

After the exercise, the ships of the Ship Master and the Beiyang Naval Division began to return to the port, when a burst of whistles suddenly came from the sea, Pei Jinquan held a telescope and looked in the direction where the whistle came from, and saw a group of merchant ships coming quickly.

Pei Jinquan noticed that there were several small warships flying the flag of the Satsuma clan along with the merchant ships, and he couldn't help but be stunned.

Satsuma warships were no stranger to Pei Jinquan, and the true attitude of the imperial court towards the warring sides of the Japanese Civil War, Pei Jinquan knew very well in his heart that there was no prohibition on the entry and exit of Satsuma warships or merchant ships in and out of Ryukyu ports, and in fact, during the war, the Satsuma side had been using the ports and islands of the Ryukyus to conduct trade with the outside world, and the Qianguo side was well aware of this, but it had always been resigned to it.

But today, so many Satsuma merchant ships appeared, and there were warships escorting them, but it was the first time he had seen them.

The decks of the Satsuma merchant ships were now full of people like ants.

Pei Jinquan saw the cruiser "Kaiji" commanded by Deng Zhengqing coming forward and sending a flag signal to a small Satsuma warship escorting the ship, and the Satsuma warship stopped and sent a small boat to sail toward the "Kaiji." After a short time, the boat sailed back, the "Kaiji" returned to its main position, the Satsuma warship stopped at sea, and the Satsuma merchant ships began to enter the port one after another.

"What's going on?" Pei Jinquan felt a little strange, he put down his binoculars and looked at the cannon on the fort. There was some hesitation to let the battery prepare for battle immediately.

Batteries on the north and south shores of Port Wynne. The two forts "Yaraza Mori Castle" and "Mie Castle" were built by the Ryukyuan people. Originally, the purpose of the Ryukyu people to build the fort was to defend Naha Port with natural hazards. The port was protected from Japanese invasion, but the Japanese Satsuma clan still invaded the Ryukyus in the year of Imjin, and these two forts did not play a big role, and later became a fortification for the Japanese. After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese slightly repaired the original site of the fort built by the Ryukyu people, and installed more than 20 large and small Western artillery pieces on it, all of which were old guns from the shogunate era that were shipped from Japan. After the Harbour Master recovered the Ryukyus, in order to consolidate the defense of the Ryukyus. Both batteries were re-strengthened, and the old guns were removed and replaced with new Krupp guns.

Although these two batteries have now changed their appearance, due to the lack of funds, the batteries have fewer gun emplacements, and the defense force is not sufficient, if they really want to fight, without the support of naval ships, it is easy to be captured.

Pei Jinquan raised his binoculars again, and then he saw that the "Kaiji" had sent a steam sampan towards the fort. It seems to understand something, and there is no order. Instead, they waited quietly on the turret for the arrival of the people on the steam sampan.

Just as he had guessed, a short time when the steam sampan came ashore, and an officer and two shipmasters and sailors came briskly to the fort, ran to Pei Jinquan, saluted, and handed him a letter.

Pei Jinquan opened the letter and read it for a while, and his face gradually became solemn.

This letter was written to him by Lin Yiqing.

"That's it...... it's almost over," Pei Jinquan read the letter, put the letter back into the envelope, and let out a deep sigh.

He said to the officer of the "Kaiji" ship who came to deliver the letter: "You go back and tell Deng Guandao and ask him to tell everyone, just say that I said, be careful of the Russian warships coming to make trouble these days, and let them prepare all those methods." ”

The officer took the order, and just then, one of the guards ran over and reported to Pei Jinquan: "Your Excellency, the envoy of the King of the Ryukyus has invited your lord to go to the palace and say that there is something important to discuss. ”

Pei Jinquan knew that the Ryukyu King Shotai invited him over at this time, and the matter to discuss must be related to the Satsuma merchant ships that carried many people in front of him, so he made up his mind, recalled the content of Lin Yiqing's letter, straightened his clothes, got off the fort with his entourage, got on his horse and went straight to Shouli City.

Pei Jinquan and a guard composed of a group of shipmasters and seamen rode into Shouli City, and when the residents of the city saw this group of men, they stopped their work and bowed, their faces full of reverence.

Because the appearance of these officers and men from China's new steam warships is completely different from those officers and men of the old green battalion naval division of Qianguo.

Most of the sailors came from the coastal provinces of China and Turkey, 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 the second class of training, if you study on the training ship for another 6 months. "Proficient in guns and swords" or although not more than 6 months. But the various technologies are "very sophisticated". After passing the assessment, he can be directly promoted to a third-class sailor 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.

A third-class sailor is the lowest-ranking sailor on a ship's warship, and if there is a second-class sailor vacancy after serving on the ship, he can take the examination. After being promoted to a sailor of the second class. If there is a vacancy for a first-class sailor, and the second-class sailor is highly skilled, "knows well how to operate the cannon, and can be competent no matter how many gunners are assigned", he is eligible to be promoted to a 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 taught and operated in a pure foreign language, and it is necessary to go through such a complex and rigorous examination process to become a full-fledged soldier. This is unimaginable in the Qianguo Army. 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 fact that all the warships of the Shipmaster and Sailors entered 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 Sailors had at least 3 to 4 years of service experience on their own warships, so that the familiarity of these sailors with their own work was close to reflex.

After being ordered to be stationed in the Ryukyus, the naval officers of the Ryukyu Dynasty were always strict in military discipline, not only did not commit any offense against the local residents, but also provided relief to the local poor people from time to time, and were warmly supported and loved by the Ryukyuan people. The Ryukyuan people were very kind to the shipmasters and sailors stationed here, and the Ryukyu nobles often sent wine, food, food and grass, and the common people lived in poverty and could not be entertained, so the men came to help the Chinese army build barracks and work, and the women helped the shipmasters and sailors to sew and mend their clothes, and came to change and wash regularly. Those who failed to start a family in the army deliberately tore their clothes and gave them to Ryukyu women to sew, and by the way, they helped repair houses, collected firewood, and gave beef and bread and other foods to show their friendship, so many shipmasters and sailors settled down in Ryukyu.

After learning of Pei Jinquan's arrival, King Shotai of the Ryukyus personally welcomed Pei Jinquan into the palace.

Although the palace of the Ryukyu Imperial Palace is not large, it is full of the style of a Middle-earth palace.

In Shouli City, you can see the images of various dragons flying and entwined everywhere. The dragon pillars that stand on the left and right in front of the main hall of Xiangshouli Castle have coiled dragons on them, but all the dragons of the Ryukyus only have four claws, because Ryukyu is a subject country of Daqian, and only the "co-lord of the world" Emperor Daqian can use the five-clawed dragon, which is also the performance of the Ryukyu Kingdom as a courtier. The main hall of Miyagi uses vermilion lacquer red tiles, carved beams and painted buildings, and the dragon decorated is the same as the dragon in the inner temple of Daqian. The main hall of Shourei Castle does not sit in the north and faces south, but sits in the east and faces west, so that it is facing the direction of Middle-earth, which is to show that the Ryukyus return to the great Qian. The north hall in front of the main hall was the place where the envoys of the Middle-earth Dynasty were received, and the courtyard in front of the main hall was the place where the envoys of the Middle-earth Dynasty held the ceremony of canonizing the king of the Ryukyus.

Entering the inner room of the main hall of the palace, Pei Jinquan saw that there were several plaques hanging there, all of which were given to the Ryukyu King by Emperor Daqian, including Emperor Ningxu's "Zhongshan Shitu", Emperor Rongfang's "Jirui Qiuyang" and Emperor Jeronlong's "Yongzuo Yingyao", as well as Empress Dowager Rentai's imperial pen "Shouli Tianmen", Empress Dowager Renxi's imperial pen "Huai'en Yonggu", Pei Jinquan and all the officers and soldiers under his command stepped forward to bow down to show respect.

After the ceremony, King Shangtai invited Pei Jinquan into an elegant room, and after a few words of greeting through tea, King Shangtai gradually introduced the topic of conversation.

"The ministers and others climbed the tower to watch the sea view, and suddenly saw a large group of Satsuma ships full of people entering the port, for some reason." King Shangtai observed Pei Jinquan's face and asked cautiously, "The minister sent someone to investigate, I heard that it is the people of Satsuma, because of the defeat of Saigo Takamori's army, I am afraid that the Japanese officials and soldiers will be slaughtered, and they came to avoid trouble, I don't know if Lord Pei knows about this?" ”

"I have ascertained that all the people on board the ship are civilians, not soldiers," Pei Jinquan smiled and replied, "In the civil strife in Japan, Satsuma was full of war, and there were many refugees, so it is reasonable for him to cross the sea to take refuge in your country in order to save his life, and the king does not need to worry." ”

When General Pei said this, the minister was relieved. According to the public law of all nations, if the people of a country are in trouble and seek refuge in the territory of their neighbors, the neighbors should accept and protect them, and there is no reason to refuse. King Shang Tai immediately guessed the subtext from Pei Jinquan's answer, and immediately said.

"What the king said is very true." Pei Jinquan said, "In the past, the Mongolian tribe of Turhut was oppressed by Russia, cornered, and avoided the territory of our great cadres, rescued by our great cadres, and survived their clans. (To be continued......)

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