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At the beginning of 1898, Liu Buyun, chief of the navy, Ma Jifen, deputy commander of the Beiyang Fleet, and Li Yuanhong, chief soldier of the left wing, received a secret order from President Song Xiaofei to lead 15 cruiser ironclads, including the "Suzhou" and "Dongting", to fly straight to the island of Cuba at an average speed of 22 knots to protect the 40,000 coolies in Cuba, completing a voyage of 15,000 nautical miles in 30 days. These warships, which have been modified by the Ministry of Defense Industry, have not only increased their speed a lot, but also doubled their artillery. Accompanying the navy was the 15,000 New Black Flag Army led by Tiger General Liu Yongfu.

Liu Yongfu was born in 1837 in a peasant family in Xiaofeng Township, Gusenyuan, Qinzhou County, Guangdong, and when his father ran a small business when he was 8 years old, his father went bankrupt and his family moved to Bajia Village, Pingfu Xinwei, Shangsi Prefecture, Guangxi, to help his cousins plant a few acres of thin land to survive. Family poverty, so that Liu Yongfu did not have the opportunity to read and write, but this did not wipe out the young Liu Chuanfu's dream of getting ahead, he went out at the age of thirteen to do a beach boat helper, because he was familiar with the river conditions, was elected as a beach boat master with water, at the age of sixteen, his parents and uncle died in poverty and illness, Liu Yongfu relied on his father to teach a body of martial arts, in the rivers and lakes. In 1857, Liu Yongfu, who had worked hard all day long without food and clothing, decided to rebel and defected to Zheng San, the banner leader of the Tiandihui in the Shangsi Longan area, and began his tortuous and legendary military career.

After the Sino-French War, Liu Yongfu led 3,000 soldiers of the Black Flag Army back to China. However, because he was a bandit of the Heaven and Earth Society, the Qing court at that time was very distrustful of him, and he was discriminated against and difficult in all aspects, so he ordered a reduction, and the Black Flag Army was reduced to 1,200 people, and the following year it was gradually reduced to 300 people. Song Xiaofei recommended to Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang also thought that Liu Yongfu "is really superior, and the commanders are beyond his reach!" His Black Flag Corps was able to recover to eight battalions. 3,200 people, transferred to Vietnam to station.

Zhang Zhidong also admired Liu Yongfu very much, and thought that Liu Yongfu was a "brave man" who "breathed out Chinese breath for thousands of years". After the establishment of the Second Republic, it was strongly recommended by Vice President Jang Zhidong. President Song Xiaofei appointed Liu Vinh Phuc as the Governor of Vietnam. As early as the Sino-French War, he realized that the equipment of the Black Flag Army was backward, so he trained 20,000 new Black Flag troops in Vietnam, all of which were replaced with foreign guns and artillery.

Liu Yongfu led the troops very well, and shared weal and woe with the Black Flag Army, plus his main generals Huang Shouzhong, Wu Fengdian and other more than 20 generals and generals are all Zhuang people in the Shangsi and Ningming areas of Guangxi, this 20,000 Black Flag New Army has been brave and good at fighting after three years of training. Because the Black Flag Army is adept at fighting in the dense forests of Vietnam, although Vietnam is not very typical of the rainforest, it is located in the monsoon zone. The natural geographical conditions are very similar to the tropical rainforests of Cuba, and Liu Chuanfu is also familiar with the water conditions of the rivers, so Song Xiaofei decided to send Liu Yongfu's Black Flag New Army to Cuba.

Liu Yongfu's lieutenant Wu Fengdian did not want to go on an expedition, and said to him worriedly: "As soon as our Black Flag New Army has been trained, the president can't wait to send us thousands of miles to conquer Cuba." This is a clear attempt to weaken us. I have heard that there are many poisonous snakes and beasts in the jungles of Cuba, and we will inevitably suffer heavy casualties if we go. The president, like the Qing court, still distrusts our Black Flag New Army. ”

Liu Yongfu listened to Wu Fengdian's words, his face suddenly became gloomy as if it was going to rain, he was angry not because he was suspicious of Song Xiaofei, but because Wu Fengdian was vainly speculating about the president's intention to use troops. slapped him hard. Although Liu Yongfu is 61 years old, because of his long-term martial arts practice, his body is still very strong and his strength is also very strong.

Liu Yongfu angrily reprimanded Wu Fengdian: "Be careful." In the end, we will not be proud of our officials, but only know that it is our responsibility to defend the society and not let foreign countries deceive our Chinese. Today, the life and death of 40,000 compatriots in Cuba are uncertain, and the commander-in-chief of the navy, Liu Buyun, has personally led a fleet on an expedition. This body is old. Blood-blooded. If it is for the sake of the country, it is advisable to do its best to gallop and do not hesitate to cast mountains and rivers with iron and blood, and strengthen the race, in order to become the most beautiful country on the five continents! How dare you speculate on your intentions and disturb the hearts of our army? ”

Liu Yongfu resolutely led 15,000 Black Flag troops to Cuba with the Chinese fleet, leaving only 5,000 Black Flag troops stationed in Vietnam. When Song Xiaofei heard about it, he ordered a commendation. He said to Wu Tingfang, the foreign minister who had come to listen to the instructions: "We have the 'three Lius' in China, Liu Mingchuan, Liu Yongfu, and Liu Buchan, all of whom are fierce generals, and there will be no problem in fighting the declining empire of Spain, and the waist of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be stiffened." ”

After Liu Buyun led the warships to Cuba, he was divided into two detachments, one fleet was led by Ma Jifen, deputy commander of the Beiyang Fleet, and Li Yuanhong, the chief soldier of the left wing, and eight warships arrived at the port of Santiago, and seven warships were led by him to blockade the coast of Cuba.

Song Xiaofei did not want China to provoke a war first, so he asked Foreign Minister Wu Tingfang to make tough representations to the Spanish government and put forward the Chinese government's conditions: First, it was necessary to compensate the Chinese laborers who were abused to death on plantations and mines in Cuba from 1847 to 1898, and according to international standards, each person should be compensated 1,000 taels of silver, and the Chinese coolie laborers who died in China, a total of about 100,000 people, must be compensated 100 million taels of silver; For the Chinese who were tortured to death in the concentration camps, each person was to pay 5,000 taels of silver, a total of 20,000 people, and 100 million taels of silver, a total of 200 million taels of silver; Second, it is necessary to provide boat fares for those Chinese workers whose contracts have expired and wish to return to China, and those who are willing to stay must be recontracted, provided with housing, and allowed to move freely; Third, employers are prohibited from imposing prison sentences and harsh penalties on Chinese workers; allow the establishment of Chinese trade unions and allow workers to join freely; Fourth, all cases of violations are handled by the Chinese consular authorities. Fifth, an immediate truce with the Cuban "rebels" and an end to the evil concentration camp system.

At that time, Spain was under the Bourbon period, and King Alfonso XIII of Spain was only twelve years old. Regent Christina, who was extremely conceited, like the Empress Dowager Cixi of China, was extremely fond of power, but had no ability to control the ministers, and the Spanish government was extremely chaotic.

After receiving Wu Tingfang's "ultimatum", especially the 200 million taels of silver indemnity in Article 1, he was extremely angry and tore up China's diplomatic documents on the spot. At the time, Spain was still a European power, with an army of 400,000 and 200,000 troops stationed in Cuba. In the eyes of Europeans at that time, the world was divided into three worlds, the first world was the European powers such as Britain, France, and Germany, which were civilized and developed countries, the United States, China, Japan and other semi-civilized countries, and Cuba, India and other colonies were barbaric countries. China dared to issue an ultimatum to Spain, which was simply an insult to the "civilized power of Europe", so it asked the Cuban governor Weller to actively prepare for war, and sent Vice Admiral Helveira as the commander of the fleet to lead seven Spanish ironclad warships to Cuba to support Weller.

Song Xiaofei deeply knows that public opinion in the war means that the people's hearts are turned back, and it means the morale of the army, etc., which will make the rapidly changing battlefield dynamics more confusing, so as to profoundly affect the trend of a war. He elevated public opinion propaganda to a national strategy, and asked Nguyen Trung Shu to buy British and American newspapers with large sums of money, exposing that hundreds of thousands of Cubans had been driven out of their homes, and that they had been imprisoned in designated camps by Weller, and then isolated and interrogated. The poor food and lodging in the concentration camps, the lack of medical care, the spread of infectious diseases, and the tragic death of thousands of people made the British Central News Agency publish a paid news report, and the Chinese side paid 2,000 silver dollars; After the paid news was published through Reuters, 606 pounds were paid each time, and after the British and American newspapers added fuel to the report, Weller was soon denounced as the "butcher of Cuba" by the world, and Spain's barbaric reputation suddenly "stinked for a long time", "Spain's defeat will mean the liberation of millions of people from ignorance, dictatorship, and death." "China has the advantage on the battlefield where there is no smoke of gunpowder, so it is only natural to send troops to Cuba.

Song Xiaofei's trick was learned from the Japanese in history. During the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan waged a public opinion war with China, secretly hired House, a reporter from the New York Tribune, as the chief commander of the country's public opinion propaganda, bribed mainstream news agencies and newspapers in Britain and the United States, "packaged" China and Japan as representatives of barbarism and civilization, and systematically guided the Western media to form a consensus. As planned, the New York News once commented: "China's defeat will mean the liberation of millions of people from ignorance, ** and dictatorship." ”

Through the news media, the Japanese government and the opposition have systematically and systematically instilled among their own people the "theory of Korean independence," the "theory of the righteous war," the "theory of the battle of Bunno," and the theory of "contempt" for China, so as to create an atmosphere of public opinion at home that supports the war. For example, in an editorial on June 6, 1894, Japan's "Post Newspaper Chi Shimbun" exclaimed: "Our empire must come to Korea's aid and have the determination to resolutely defend its national system" and "this is indeed the duty of our empire and the responsibility of Shuntian." Immediately afterwards, newspapers and periodicals such as the "Northern Country Shimbun," "Asano Shimbun," "Tokyo Akebono Shimbun," and "Tokyo Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun" also echoed the voice, "justifying the name" of military aggression. On the other hand, during the war, the Qing government turned a blind eye to domestic public opinion and allowed it to be "free," resulting in a chaotic level of public opinion. Before the war, many newspapers in the country advocated the desire to send special envoys to try to find peace; There were also articles that repeated the conceited rhetoric of the past and declared that Japan would soon be completely eliminated, and there were also articles about pessimistic predictions about the war situation, in short, in the eyes of foreigners, the domestic public opinion at that time was "ignorant, conceited, and ridiculous."

Of course, Song Xiaofei knows the importance of "freedom of the press," but he has learned from the experience and lessons of history and attaches great importance to public opinion. During the political training stage, he grasped the barrel of a gun with one hand and a pen with the other in China. During the war against Spain, while buying foreign newspapers, he sent all the ignorant, conceited and ridiculous journalists at home to the rural cowshed to experience life, controlling public opinion at home and abroad!

Everything is ready, Song Xiaofei only looks forward to Liu Yongfu and Liu Buyun bringing the final victory to China on the battlefield!