With Liu Mingchuan going to North Korea, Song Xiaofei became a military advisor, Li Hongzhang told Liu Mingchuan that Song Xiaofei knew public international law and listened to his opinions in case of trouble. In addition to Song Xiaofei, there are four famous figures in history, namely Ding Ruchang, Liu Buchan, Deng Shichang, and the Englishman Margery.

Ding Ruchang is two months younger than Liu Mingchuan, and Liu Mingchuan is a native of Anhui, both of them are children from poor families, and when they were children, they often did not have rice in the pot at home, so they were very thin. Ding Ruchang is also Liu Mingchuan's old subordinate, in 1862 by Li Hongzhang appreciated, was incorporated into the Huai Army "Ming" word battalion, after the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the "Huai Army" disarmed, he was honorably laid off, idle at home, Li Hongzhang used him again, let him be Liu Mingchuan's deputy general, in charge of the "Huwei" warship. He and Liu Mingchuan had an old feud, and the two didn't say a few words along the way, I don't know if Li Hongzhang intended to be a peacemaker and arranged them to go out together.

Liu Buyun and Deng Shichang are both young men in their twenties, and they are first-term students of the Mawei Ship Master School. The Mawei Shipbuilding Academy is equivalent to the "Whampoa Military Academy" of the late Qing Navy, and since both of them served as pipe bands on warships, Li Hongzhang arranged for them to be the captains of the "Feiting" and "Cedian" respectively.

Liu Mingchuan, Song Xiaofei, and Ma Geli stood on the warship "Long Xiang." Since helping Li Hongzhang build the Third Bomb Bureau of the Jinling Machinery Bureau, Margery has become a foreign expert introduced by the Qing Dynasty, and has been rewarded by the imperial court with a flower feather and a special allowance for political axes. This guy was happy, sang "I love you China", joined the Qing nationality, changed to a robe and horse coat, and took a Chinese wife. After he went to work in Tianjin, he listened to the lyrics of Kunqu opera every day, drank flowers and wine, ate dogs, ignored steamed buns, and lived a corrupt life, and found that the bureaucrats of the Qing Dynasty were stupid and rich and did not understand technology, so they cut corners on the shells and hid the saved silver in his own account, and as a result, in 1874, the two 68-pounder guns newly installed in the Dagu Fort exploded during the test firing, killing 5 Chinese workers and seriously injuring 13 on the spot. This once again shows that corruption [***] has nothing to do with what nationality you are from. After Li Hongzhang found out the truth, he was furious, and ordered someone to pick off the top of Margery on the spot and tell him to get out, but this guy messed around and ran to his old friend, the British minister Wei Tuma to cry, saying that I have dedicated myself to the Qing Dynasty, and they let me be an unprivileged civilian, right? Wei Toma interceded with Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang's anger at that time had subsided, and he thought that Margery still knew artillery after all, and it happened that the "mosquito boat" was in urgent need of such a technical talent, so he gave him a fictitious position as a consultant and went out with Liu Mingchuan.

The 5,000 Huai troops on the two merchant ships were also very high in order to make meritorious contributions to themselves. On the way to North Korea, under the guidance of Margery, Liu Buyun and Deng Shichang, he quickly learned how to load shells and fire artillery.

On the vast high seas, facing an ocean all day long, the white waves of the sea and sky are rolling, people are very easy to see fatigue, inexplicably irritable, Margery's temper in the country is stinky, and he can't help but have the temper of the "official master" at every turn, beating and scolding people. That day, Li Erniu, the cook on the ship, delivered food to Margery, and after he took a bite, he shouted that the food on the boat was too unpalatable, and a slap left a bright red handprint on Li Erniu's face.

"Damn, Lao Tzu's soldiers are reluctant to fight, and foreign devils dare to be rude?" When Liu Mingchuan learned about this, he was so angry that he kicked open the door of Margery's room, grabbed him by the placket of his clothes, pulled him to the deck, and wanted to behead him for public display.

When Song Xiaofei saw it, he quickly stopped Liu Mingchuan and said that this person Li Zhongtang specially instructed him to keep his surname alive no matter what. Liu Ming was so angry that he insisted on marching the law, but Song Xiaofei had no choice but to take the bag given by Li Hongzhang and open it, and show Liu Mingchuan the note written by Li Hongzhang himself, which saved Margery's life.

Liu Mingchuan kicked Margery over, "Apologize to Erniu, and punish you for giving him fifty taels of silver." The next time you dare to be rude to my subordinates, Lao Tzu will chop you up and throw you into the sea to feed the fish. ”

Song Xiaofei stepped forward to help Ma Geri, and Ma Geri found that Song Xiaofei could also speak English, and the two talked, gradually became familiar with each other, and became friends.

At the beginning of September, when six Chinese ships sailed to the Han River, Song Xiaofei felt very happy: "Everything is ready, just wait for Xiao Yueben to send it to the door!" ”

Song Xiaofei knew that the soldiers would invade Korea from Ganghwa Island, and according to his idea, each of the four batteries in the Ganghwa Sea area would send a "mosquito" ship to garrison 1,000 Huai troops, which was enough to deal with the invading navy, and they had only three small warships and 400 soldiers. The reason why he brought out the 5,000 Huai troops this time was that Song Xiaofei not only wanted to enter the DPRK to resist, but he also had a more ambitious goal, such as occupying Ryukyu.

Who knew that when they arrived in Seoul, Liu Mingchuan and Song Xiao flew into Gyeongbokgung Palace to meet the king of Joseon, and things changed somewhat. Because in September 1875, North Korea was already in power by Concubine Min.

Concubine Min is a woman, beautiful and talented, only 24 years old in 1875, Song Xiaofei saw Concubine Min at the first sight of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and remembered the Empress Dowager Cixi. In fact, her early experience was very similar to that of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Concubine Min, formerly known as Min Ziying, was born in a dilapidated aristocrat in North Korea, has many rich relatives, and the family can barely make ends meet with the money and rice donated by relatives. Generally, women who grow up in such a middle-of-the-road environment will either become very fragile in their hearts, or they will say to themselves: If I am not strong, who will show me vulnerability? The more you suffer, the more you will look for a way out and seize every opportunity to change your fate! Concubine Min and Cixi both belonged to the latter type of woman.

Concubine Min was drafted into the palace at the age of 15, married 13-year-old Gaozong Li Xi, and then bought people's hearts with her intelligence and beauty, this kind of career-oriented strong woman is also very attractive, and gradually she became the "goddess" in the minds of the Korean ministers, and gradually conquered Gaozong Li Xi, who has a mother-love complex, and then, on the grounds that her cowardly and incompetent husband wants to be pro-government, she squeezed out the father of Li Xi's regent, Dayuanjun, and took charge of the real power of North Korea.

is beautiful and very capable, this kind of woman Liu Mingchuan also likes it very much. Liu Mingchuan was 39 years old at the time, like a wolf and a tiger, drifting across the ocean, hungry and thirsty, he saw Concubine Min, his eyes were about to fall into her peony embroidered robe, staring at her cherry red lips, Song Xiaofei saw that Li Xi's face was almost green when he was sitting on the gilded chair next to him, and he hurriedly coughed and reminded him, Liu Mingchuan realized his rudeness.

In 1875, he went to North Korea and announced to the world that he was going to conduct scientific research, and in May, the "Yunyang" went to the waters of Busan, North Korea, and fired a few shots before returning to the country. Concubine Min had just seized power from Dayuanjun and didn't want to have a war with Yue herself, so she asked Liu Mingchuan to station 5,000 Huai troops in a small town fifty miles east of Hancheng, and four "mosquito boats" were also parked by the Han River.

Song Xiaofei told Concubine Min that the last time I came to explore the way, I would take action on Jianghua Island immediately, and this time I would definitely not give up, and if I didn't do it, I would go straight to Seoul, Concubine Min didn't know that I was coming, and I didn't believe his words, so angry that Liu Mingchuan pulled Song Xiaofei back to the camp.

After returning to the camp, Liu Mingchuan asked Song Xiaofei, "I just wondered, North Korea is so big, how do you know that I will invade from Ganghwa Island?" ”

Of course, Song Xiaofei would not be stupid enough to say that he saw it in the history books, he said: "Ganghwa Island is an important gateway to Seoul, and its status is equivalent to China's Tianjin, and the French [***] ships in 1866 and the American warships in 1871 all opened the door of North Korea from here. ”

Liu Mingchuan nodded, but laughed at Song Xiaofei's suggestion to send troops: "It's better to let the Koreans suffer first, and then let Concubine Min come to the tent in person to beg me, and I will be a hero to save the United States." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Lord Liu wants to be a hero to save the United States, there will be opportunities in the future, Concubine Min's father-in-law is not a vegetarian, he will not give up power to his daughter-in-law so easily." If I let him slaughter the innocent Korean people, it will not be good for the reputation of the suzerainty of my Great Qing State. ”

Liu Mingchuan said with a smile: "This Goryeo stick is interesting, a king, all of them are in their twenties, and they are also pro-government, they have no opinions, and their daughter-in-law and father-in-law are still making trouble, if I were to slap my daughter-in-law back to the boudoir earlier." ”

"If a beautiful woman like Concubine Min becomes your daughter-in-law, are you still willing to fight? I guarantee that you will also become a strict wife. Song Xiaofei said.

"That's just as well." Liu Mingchuan is actually the master who is afraid of his wife, so he threw his braid to the back of his head, "This time I will listen to you, and let Ding Ruchang take five hundred Huai troops to the fort in Caozhi Town, Jianghua Island, to aid the Korean army. ”

Song Xiao flew into his chest and said to Liu Ming: "We can make a bet, the soldiers will definitely attack from Jianghua Island, if you lose, call me big brother!" If I lose, you will have full command of your future operations in Korea, and even if you bring the Huai army into Gyeongbokgung Palace, I will not see it. ”

Along the way, Liu Mingchuan was really a little disgusted that Song Xiaofei always used Li Hongzhang to pressure him, so he high-fived Song Xiaofei: "A word is a certainty!" ”;