In desperation, Dalhousie and Rosseff had no choice but to use all the funds they could to redeem some of the more important figures to them, such as Princeton. Admiral Arthur and Major General Mitchell, and the rest of the captives temporarily went to the labor camp for labor reform according to Lin Haijiang's arrangement, waiting to be ransomed.

Looking at the angry and helpless Dalhousie and Rosseff leaving, the smile on Lin Haijiang's face gradually disappeared, and now he is equivalent to existing in a difficult strategic gap, on the one hand, he must be ready to be ready to fight against the Qing court at any time, and on the other hand, he must try his best to maintain the basic interests of the national and national interests under the threat of the European powers at any time.

At this stage, Lin Haijiang needs time for strategic buffer, instead of choosing to have bad relations with Britain and France and other European powers, he needs time to solve the Qing court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, when the domestic situation is stable, he is adjusting his foreign policy and attitude, otherwise the result of blindly exposing the edge can only be the sharper the blade, the more dangerous it is to break.

Moreover, the strength he has accumulated at the present stage and the national strength possessed by a unified China in the future will not allow him to fall into an international war for a long time, especially under the prerequisite that his opponent still has the right to control the sea, it is necessary to give Britain and France the necessary paralysis, paralyze their enemies, and then wait for the opportunity or the time to create it, and choose a correct historical key point to cut into, so that they can strike a blow and decide the outcome of the war.

In the middle of the night, Lin Haijiang suddenly paid a secret visit to Count Dalhousie, and Count Dalhousie was very surprised by the sudden visit of the admiral of the Qing Kingdom, and he really couldn't figure out the purpose of the late night visit of the Admiral of the Qing Dynasty, who was powerful in Guangzhou.

After Lin Haijiang sat down, he directly cut to the topic and said: "Dear Mr. Earl, out of the interests of defending Guangzhou and my family, the act of fighting in your country is completely the political axe behavior of the Qing State, and has nothing to do with me, you also know that I am a student in your country, and I am a civilized gentleman. ”

Count Dalhousie felt that the world was too crazy, and Lin Haijiang could brazenly talk about the word gentleman? What was even more surprising to him was that Lin Haijiang was able to speak fluent English? So why did he use a translator before?

Lin Haijiang saw Count Dalhousie's puzzled expression, so he continued to explain: "To put it simply, Liangguang and Fujian are my territory, and the old port is my overseas base, and now the Qing Dynasty is facing fragmentation, if your country wants to ensure your interests in China, I suggest you find a better partner, mining, railways, shipping, basic industries, manufacturing, etc., my principle is to open ports and equal opportunities, if your country is interested, we can also talk about the terms of most-favored-nation treatment." ”

"Oh my God!" Earl Dalhousie was stunned for more than a minute, and the last thing he wanted for China to have a unified regime was undoubtedly the colonial powers of Britain and France, but for a large eastern country like China, their colonial model had to be adjusted. ”

Far more benefits can be gained from a divided China than from a united China, but the so-called Heavenly Kingdom of the Balance has been marked by heresy in Europe, and there are even people who are instigating a new crusade.

Lin Haijiang's words and ideology undoubtedly reveal his ambitions, and it is the army and fleet of the scholar who have defeated the pride of the British Empire on land and sea.

Dalhousie was only a little shocked by Lin Haijiang's transformation, and he was familiar with the skillful manners of a politician, a patriot by day, and a peacemaker by night for the sake of inflated selfish desires, and such an ally was far better than that of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a heretical cult with a very high self-esteem and arrogant attitude.

The unhappiness brought to Dalhousie by the previous auction disappeared in an instant, and the mean, filthy, and shameless Lin Haijiang seemed to have become pleasing to the eye.

Lin Haijiang left the Earl of Dalhousie and visited Dumont. Rasseff, the typical Gallic rooster, compared to the reserved Count of Dalhousie, Dumont. Rousseff is simply the most naked greed and restlessness, because what Lin Haijiang said provided was exactly what he dreamed of, for this reason, the French political axe was even ready to provide arms and even directly send troops to help the Qing State quell the chaos, in order to win the favor of the Qing State, France's long-term interests in Indochina, in the Far East can get as much as possible, no one will dislike their own gains.

Early the next morning, the Earl of Dalhousie, who was in a good mood, and Dumont. Rousseff had a pleasant breakfast together, without the pressure of huge debts, the other party suddenly became cute in the eyes of both parties, and they were supposed to leave Guangzhou to go to Yanjing to negotiate against Lin Haijiang's evil deeds, and they actually found an excuse at the same time, and the trip to Yanjing was postponed indefinitely.

Lin Haijiang believes that tonight will be a sleepless night for himself or for Dalhousie and Roseff, perhaps for these two invaders, the joys and sorrows of life seem too sudden, just like two robbers who went to rob were violently beaten by their masters, and the masters told them that what you want is in the stable, take whatever you want!

Policy openness is far more practical and long-term for industrialized countries like Britain and France than tens of millions of reparations, and it is not a matter of profit, but a long-term way of doing business, occupying a colony or opening a colony is only the first step, and the rest is how to run the colony, if it is not properly managed, even a gold mine will also fail.

After waiting for Dalhousie and Rosseff to get in touch with their country and the relevant negotiation authorization, Lin Haijiang held secret meetings and negotiations with Britain and France, but he did not prepare all the itinerary documents, after all, he did not want to be the first actual traitor, and he could not agree with such a shameless statement as saving the country.

Lin Haijiang sorted out his thoughts, at present, his control over Guangdong is far higher than Guangxi, and his control over Fujian is less than half of Guangxi, and in terms of administration, Ye Mingchen is the governor of Liangguang, and he has no chance to interfere in government affairs before this.

Militarily, he was the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, with the general jurisdiction of the Fujian Naval Division and the Guangdong Naval Division, but the imperial court did not remove the position of the general of Guangzhou, and the Guangdong Naval Division was subject to the jurisdiction of the Guangzhou General, and similarly, the Fujian Naval Division was also subject to the jurisdiction of the Fujian General Army.

Lin Haijiang also thanked the British and French forces for this invasion, this invasion made it natural for him to only control the power of the troops, wantonly to eliminate dissidents, purge and reorganize the troops, the ten battalions of mountain infantry established in the name of the Fujian Navy Division is an example, these mountain infantry battalions that have been brainwashed by six months of political training are also gradually incorporated into the sequence of the Lin family's army.

Due to the complex terrain and long coastline along the coast of China, Lin Haijiang can be relied on as the main force of the Marine Corps is really insignificant compared to the vast land area, so Lin Haijiang can only change his tactics and encircle the mainland with chain islands.

Standing on the bridge of the Zhiyuan ship, Lin Haijiang took a deep breath, he saw a lot of fresh faces on the ship, especially those young and energetic young people looking at him with adoring eyes, no matter where he was, there were cadets of the Imperial Old Port Naval Academy wearing white military uniforms with red edges saluting him.

Even in the bathroom, there were trainees who saluted Lin Haijiang, which made Lin Haijiang scramble, and afterwards stipulated that when it was convenient in the toilet, he could not salute.

In the last war, the Zhiyuan ship as the flagship of the assault fleet can be said to be a great contribution, the ship's casualties are more than one-third, but after this period of renovation, the whole ship has a new look, in order to emphasize the effective output of firepower unit time, after the Zhiyuan ship-based battle, it was installed with six fully enclosed gun positions of 100 mm Krupp rapid-fire secondary guns, the original plan to replace the new steam engine was interrupted by Lin Haijiang's patrol, so Fuyuan, Pingyuan were replaced in advance, and listed in the twin 260 mm Krupp naval guns.

In his memory, Hainan Island is located at the southernmost tip of China, bounded by the Qiongzhou Strait in the north, bordered by the Beibu Gulf and Annam, the South China Sea and Taiwan Island in the east, and the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia in the southeast and south of the South China Sea.

The so-called Hainan Island actually includes the islands and reefs of Hainan Island, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, and Nansha Islands and their sea areas, and it will be the largest island province in China in later generations, but because of its unexpected arrival in this era, the honor of Hainan Island, the first island in China in later generations, may still have to be handed over.

In the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), Li Dingguo led an army of 80,000 east out of Guangxi, went down to Guilin, and invaded Hunan and Guangdong. In August, the Qing soldiers crossed Qiong, and its establishment followed the Ming system, and the deputy envoy of the Judge Department was set up outside the government to promote learning, so that Hainan was included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty.

Lin Haijiang spread out the "Flood Land Distribution Map of Hainan Fort in the Great Qing Dynasty" and "Map of Qiongshan", and began to count the surrounding areas of Hainan Island, especially the dense forts along the bays at the north and south ends, these forts were built after 1840, and the builders still lacked the knowledge and concept of firearms warfare, so the threat to ships on the sea was not great at all, and the guns equipped with the forts were all old breech guns.

Lin Haijiang knew that most of the ancient Chinese cities were towering city walls, and the city walls became the main reliance against foreign invasions.

The only thing that relieved Lin Haijiang was that the famous Xiuying Fort was still being built at the moment, and in history, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangguang, patrolled the sea to Qiong, and ordered Lei Qiong to prepare the water and land commander Zhu Cai and Haikou General Chen Liangjie to build a deterrent Xiuying Fort in the sea fortress of Xiuying Village, Haikou.

The fort lasted four years and cost more than 200,000 taels of silver. The fort is built according to the mountain, covers an area of nearly 60 acres, has three forts of Gongbei, Zhendong and Dingxi, and two small forts of Zhenwu and Zhenwei, a total of five. Each fort has two types of buildings: light and dark. The material is made of volcanic stone, as well as red mud (i.e. foreign cement). The cannon was placed on the base of the semi-crypt gun emplacement, and the cannon was imported from the most famous Krupp arsenal in Germany, with a firing range of about ten kilometers. The gun was an impact ignition, which was much more advanced than the tail ignition commonly used at the time.

The Xiuying Fort facing Haikou Bay in the Qiongzhou Strait is the largest in the southeast and is known as the "first fort in Hainan". It is known as the "sea defense fort" together with Tianjin Dagukou Fort, Shanghai Wusong Fort and Guangdong Humen Fort.

The first thing Lin Haijiang did after deciding to occupy the South China Sea was to build a fort fortress in Xiuying Village to defend Hainan, but the most headache for Lin Haijiang was not the fort, but the Li chaos in Hainan.

Because there is no root cause of the Li Rebellion for a long time, Hainan made an exception to garrison a part of the Eight Banners, but these Eight Banners are divided into the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of the Han Army, which are directly controlled by the Yamen of the Eight Banners, and the local governors have no right to transfer, and the Eight Banners of Hainan during the Daoguang period were abolished, so the Qing court stationed a large number of green battalions in the Hainan Sea, which belonged to the local Yong Battalion, named after the green flags, and was composed of recruited Han people.

The highest level is called the "town standard", and the commander is the commander or general soldier. Under the label is called "Xie", and the commander is the deputy general. The association has a "battalion", and the commanders are generals, guerrillas, capital divisions, and garrisons. There is a "flood" under the battalion, and the commander is the general manager and the general general.

Stationed on Hainan Island is the Green Battalion, the highest level of which is also called the town standard, located in the west gate of Qiongzhou Prefecture, the commander is the general soldier, under the jurisdiction of the governor of Liangguang. The battalions were directly set up under the standard, and the commanders were guerrillas, capital divisions, and garrisons, and the battalions were responsible for guarding the flood areas, and the commanders and generals were in charge.

All the officers and soldiers of the Qing court stationed in Hainan were under the jurisdiction of the Qiongzhou General Army, and the garrisons of each battalion were divided into two types, namely the garrison in the city and the garrison in the city. These two include archers, sword-pickers, artillerymen, carbinescent soldiers, rattan soldiers, etc. The troops stationed in each flood area were dispatched by each battalion and were under the command of the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief. At this time, the Qing court set up about eight battalions, 39 flood land and 16 forts in Hainan, and there were more than 3,000 soldiers stationed in the flood land alone.

With such a large scale of the Eight Banners garrison and the green battalion of the Han Army, and in Hainan, which is known for its barrenness, it would be a hell of a sight if Li Zheng could be cured.

Lin Haijiang knew very well that in his cooperation with Britain and France, Hainan Island had become an indispensable focus of experimentation, and the conditions he promised Britain and France to build railways and so on were actually on Hainan Island, and he wanted to build Hainan Island into a fortress island like an old port.

And using Hainan Island's rich iron, copper, manganese, coal, etc. to establish a complete industrial system, and using the shipbuilding experience gained in the old port and Mawei, to build Asia's largest shipyard in Hainan, within five years, Lin Haijiang's goal is to be able to start manufacturing the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan that belong to the Chinese.

(To be continued)