In the final analysis, however, the East was so far away that even Napoleon III, who was always in trouble, had a powerful feeling that he could not reach the dust, and it was more practical to turn around and deal with the seemingly unifying Prussia that seemed to be intent on the rise of Prussia, because the rise of Prussia would greatly shake the authority of France on the European land.

Napoleon III always boasted that the sea belonged to the old lady of Victoria, so the land was my Louis? Napoleon? Bonaparte's! Now there is a challenge to his authority, which Napoleon III could never tolerate.

On October 22, 1860, Lin Haijiang began preparations for the largest and unprecedented naval parade in Asia at the Haikou Military Port in Hainan Province, and all seven warships returned from Prussia were incorporated into the review fleet.

Lin Haijiang only invited Lord Michelle, president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou, to participate in this huge naval parade, and he was also very happy that he was invited, and gladly accepted the invitation.

Feng. The Earl of Dewis also arrived in Hainan on the 25th. The arrival of the old acquaintance of the Earl of Dewes Lin Haijiang expressed a warm welcome. At the same time, Count D'Affaires praised the Chinese Empire for entering the general mobilization of war under the order of Lin Haijiang, and conveyed the sincere greetings of Kaiser Wilhelm I, Chancellor Bismarck, and Chief of the General Staff Moltke!

Lin Haijiang always thought that Feng Haijiang had come from Europe in a hurry. The Earl of D'Avis must have brought a concrete plan of action, but von . The Earl of Dewis didn't say anything about it? Thinking that there are still ten years left before the Franco-Prussian War on top of history, even if the war between Prussia and Denmark and Austria is advanced, it does not mean that the Franco-Prussian War will also be advanced by ten years, Lin Haijiang can only smile helplessly, he is now even a little more anxious than the Prussians.

The seven warships that returned to China all used a new type of manganese alloy steel plate, and the latest cold rolling technology of the Prussians was used in the processing process, and Prussia did not have the slightest reservation about Lin Haijiang in terms of steel and communication technology, so the workshop of Haigang also began to test the cold rolling technology, Lin Haijiang knew very well that the iron ore output of Hainan was definitely not the reserves explored by the Prussians, but considering the exploration technology and mining technology of this era, Having to ensure stable production is much more reliable than taking risks to make leaps and bounds.

The average standard displacement of these seven latest protective armored cruisers exceeded 7,600 tons, and the full load displacement reached 8,300 tons, and they were equipped with Krupp's latest 260 mm and 30 times caliber twin cannons, and the secondary guns were uniformly replaced with 100 mm Krupp fast guns with a fully enclosed shield at large elevation angles.

It can be said that Lin Haijiang also made the mistake of setting up a cannon on a small boat before, and the eight main guns of 380 mm and 20 caliber were indeed too heavy for the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships, but at that time, what Lin Haijiang considered was the absolute blow and destruction power in the artillery battle of the battleships of the same tonnage, so that the Zhenyuan ship and the Dingyuan ship could not even fire a salvo of two guns without disregarding, Lin Haijiang's intention was to use the existence of the two ships as a deterrent force, and it can be said that this was an act at the expense of the tactical value of the warship.

However, what Lin Haijiang didn't expect was that Krupp's 260 mm and 30 times caliber naval guns would come out so quickly? Large caliber, high body tube, high muzzle velocity, large penetration with huge explosive energy, Krupp's latest 260 mm and 30 times caliber naval guns have completely exceeded the previous 380 mm and 20 times caliber twin cannons, so Lin Haijiang has ordered all the warships in Zhenyuan and Dingyuan to replace the latest valve pressure return water circulation wall boilers and 260 mm and 30 times caliber naval guns, and the replaced naval guns will be installed as shore defense guns on the gun emplacements of the Imperial Fortress and the Eagle's Nest.

The most noteworthy thing is that the Military Ammunition Department of the General Administration of Scientific Research of the Chinese Empire has actually developed a white phosphorus mixed coagulation bomb, which is equipped with a trinitrotoluene explosive, so that once the bomb hits the ship, after the warhead mixed with white phosphorus coagulant explodes, the white phosphorus will fuse under high pressure and attach to the main structure of the ship for combustion, thereby quickly destroying the structure of the entire ship.

This bomb was included in the confidential archives of the Imperial Navy, and Lin Haijiang only said that he knew about the new explosive jointly developed by Prussia and the General Administration of Scientific Research to replace picric acid as a more stable filler, and the Prussian side named it R Rip Explosive after the head of the leading research group, while the Chinese Imperial side was named Heavy Punch!

The innovation of the recharge has increased the explosive energy of the ammunition, which undoubtedly has a new improvement in the surname of the naval gun, Lin Haijiang ordered the seven newly returned warships to be blitzkrieg 010, 011, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, and the number of ships can be said to be the international practice of later generations, and now the number of ships in the Chinese Empire is increasing, so Lin Haijiang began to consider appearing in the form of a digital port, which can effectively demonstrate its strength.

These seven armored protection cruisers equipped with the latest power boilers have completely abandoned the mast and sails, and the ship's maximum combat speed of 15.5 knots has met Lin Haijiang's tactical needs, so the mast has become a redundant accessory.

Before waiting for the arrival of Lord Michelle, Lin Haijiang inspected the artillery branch of the empire's Hainan Province, which is assembling and reverse disassembling the assembly of precision machine tools with the help of Prussian technical engineers, precision machining is a prerequisite for manufacturing artillery production plants, which Lin Haijiang knows very well that without advanced mechanical precision processing industry, it is impossible to have a production line of guns and ammunition, let alone mass production of independent research and development of guns and weapons.

As the president of the British Chamber of Commerce, a traditional organization in the Far East, Lord Michelle has always paid off high returns with no input, and the British Chamber of Commerce's general headquarters is located on London's Brown Street, which can be traced back to the alliance of vendors who provided logistical supplies for the First Crusade.

The British Chamber of Commerce still controlled 80% of the British shipping routes and ships, and there were royal princes behind them, so Lord Michelle lived at ease, and he used the warships of the British Empire to import British industrial products into the large cities of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou along the coast of China.

But since Lin Haijiang, the guy who jumped out of the crack in the stone, ruined his good deeds, Lord Michel's words began to be sad, but the branches of the British Chamber of Commerce around the world have also had a permanent office and another function, that is, the tentacles at the forefront of the intelligence network of the British political axe, Lord Michelle has always thought that Lin Haijiang's arrogant little guy who has never seen anything in the world is a joke, and a pitiful joke!

Lord Michelle knew that the other party must know his own details, and even the French were not invited, only the Prussians and himself? Lord Michiel felt a little funny, is an oriental named Hanako going to be open in front of an English gentleman? But he had to make this trip, both public and private, and then portray what he saw and heard as a thrilling spy in exchange for his own achievements to make up for the shortfall in business.

Before leaving, Lord Michelle also received a small amount of money from the Russian Duke Gomochlov, 50,000 Chinese Imperial silver dollars, in exchange for Duraviev, who disguised himself as a secretary, was brought from his entourage.

On October 28, 1860, Lin Haijiang stood on the deck of the Zhiyuan ship for sea division, reviewing the total tonnage of 135,000 tons of combat ships he had built, temporarily the world's largest tonnage of the ironclad fleet, Lin Haijiang was extremely proud, wearing a white standing military uniform, and a golden dragon totem on his shoulder was shining golden in the sun.

All the ships participating in the sea parade were full of flags, the officers and men standing on the side were all dressed in white sailors' uniforms, and the officers were dressed in ceremonial uniforms with swords and tassels; Lin Haijiang waved his hands frequently in the sound of the salute, and the officers and men on the battleships shouted long live the Chinese Empire at a parade distance of 100 meters between the two ships! Long live the Führer's slogan.

Feng. The Earl of D'Avis stood behind Lin Haijiang with high interest, looking at these steel behemoths made mostly by Prussia and his homeland. The Earl of Dewes's patriotic feelings were really irrepressible, and Lin Haijiang was very interested in Feng Haijiang. The Earl of Dewys only frowned at the expression of his true feelings, and no one hoped more than he would one day see the warships of the Chinese Empire itself being inspected in a separate parade at sea.

As a soldier, Lin Haijiang knows very well the truth that backwardness will be beaten, and China in later generations is in the blockade circle of absolutely hostile forces, and the navy's blue water dream has become far away, and the blockade of the first and second chain islands that the Chinese Navy has dreamed of breaking in later generations has now been included in Lin Haijiang's pocket, it can be said that Lin Haijiang still seized the commanding heights, but how to keep the hard-won achievements? Lin Haijiang is a little worried, it is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a business, the only thing he can do is to lay a more solid foundation and drag those opponents in the future into endless disputes.

Some people are excited, some people are excited, some people are creepy, some people shudder, and some people have trouble sleeping! Lord Michelle's previous arrogance had been put away early, because in his eyes, the huge capital ships of the Indian fleet of the British Empire were just armed transport ships here in the Chinese Empire, and this difference alone made Lord Michelle honestly shut his mouth.

The layman can only count the number of battleships, or the number of cannons on them, but Duravyev, who spent a lot of money, is terrified, because he finds that the 380 mm and 20 times caliber cannons on the Zhenyuan ship are missing? Instead of a cannon of 260 mm and 30 times the caliber, ten times the caliber of a naval gun means an absolute advantage in muzzle velocity and firing range.

In a naval battle, if the opponent carries out three to five rounds of artillery bombardment before our side, even if all the bullets are missed, then the opponent is equivalent to calculating the most accurate shooting elements, and our side must at least withstand the opponent's accurate artillery fire above the wheel before it is possible to return fire, which is a fatal impact on morale, you must know that in a naval battle, it is not only the battleship and naval guns that are tested, but also the commanders and crews of the warring sides.

Duraveyev's only feeling at the moment is that the 50,000 Chinese Imperial silver dollars are too well spent, on the contrary, Duraviev for the first time for the first time for the empire to help the Qing State establish the Beiyang Navy has a certain degree of doubt, the opponent is too strong, so strong that even the empire has to accumulate a few years before it can compete with it, and it is still a strategic concept that dare not think about it now when it is placed in defeating or even annihilating the Chinese Imperial Navy.

After the end of the military parade, a special dinner was held on the foredeck of the Zhiyuan ship, and Lin Haijiang, who had just prepared to give a speech, got the first telegram after the opening of the submarine telegraph cable from Guangzhou to Hainan, and Lin Haijiang was still very grateful to the Prussian side for its full assistance in the construction of this telegraph line, and he was ready to cover the imperial fortress, the southeast province, the Liangguang province, the Hainan province, and the Ryukyu province into the cable telegraph network before 1863.

However, this first telegram made Lin Haijiang's excited hands tremble, because this telegram was simply giving him eye medicine, in order to stabilize Britain and France, Lin Haijiang retained the concession between the two countries in Liangguang Province, considering that the two countries only privately agreed to cooperate, but did not officially recognize the Chinese Empire to send consular diplomatic personnel to each other, so Lin Haijiang restricted some of the original privileges of the concession, but it did not have much impact on the entire concession.

What Lin Haijiang never expected was that it was a French person who took eye medicine this time? On the afternoon of October 20, more than a dozen French officers and soldiers who had come to Guangzhou from Annam for a holiday sold some ivory products of unknown origin that they had brought with them, and then came to Wanxin's Qinghualou.

Qinghualou has never received foreign devils, so a conflict broke out between the two sides, Wanxin rushed to learn about it, and before she had a hot temper, the Frenchman who was blinded by the color actually pulled out a gun directly, intending to kidnap and kidnap Wanxin, and after Wanxin seriously injured a person, the French shot!

Wanxin, who was not prepared at all, was shot, six men and two singers were killed on the spot, three maids were taken captive, and the gendarmerie patrol who rushed to stop came to stop it, and the frenzied French shot directly, resulting in the death of all five members of the gendarmerie patrol.

Lin Haijiang took the telegram and looked at the subordinates behind him who were speechless, and said in a deep voice: "Shame! Who gave them so much courage? Kill my brothers and sisters in broad daylight? Who is it? ”

Wang Dongxu, who was standing closest behind Lin Haijiang, saw that Lin Haijiang was a little out of control, so he reminded: "Führer! There are also Prussian friends here, should a meeting be held immediately? ”

Lin Haijiang took a deep breath and waved his hand: "No need, it's useless to be slapped in the face and hide!" ”

Then Lin Haijiang solemnly walked to the front of the stage and said: "Distinguished gentlemen and ladies, originally I stood here with a kind and loving heart, I know that I know what I hate the most, I don't like the kind of cold things that can easily take away people's lives, the reason why I have it is to defend the hard-won peace we have with force deterrence, but today our dignity has been trampled on by the Second French Empire, France[***] What kind of behavior is it to shoot and kill my brothers and sisters on the street in our two provinces in broad daylight, kill my military police, kidnap three young girls and throw their bodies after being tortured and killed? It's a beast! It is a great regression of human civilization, relying on himself as a soldier to wantonly slaughter defenseless and good people! ”

Lin Haijiang's words caused an uproar, and Lord Michelle looked at Lin Haijiang with a shocked face, is this kind of thing still a thing in Liangguang when the Qing Kingdom was in the Qing Kingdom? Unless it is used as an excuse for declaring war, the killing party is nothing more than a foreigner who is killed by the Qing State and pays more silver, and if the Qing people are killed, they will consider themselves unlucky, or the person with the surname will give the superior two silver to the matter.

Lord Michiel was a little puzzled, what was the purpose of Lin Haijiang's remarks as the head of the Chinese Empire? Could it be that the Chinese Empire was going to declare war on the European powers? Lord Michiel soon dispelled this crazy thought, even if the Chinese Empire was strong, it was only a newly formed country with a precarious foundation and lack of allies and recognition on some large islands, and if the Chinese Empire really declared war on the Second French Empire, it would probably be seen as a colonial challenge to the whole of Europe, and this kind of behavior would be absolutely completely stifled.

But Lord Michiel knew that the British Empire, which was in the midst of the devastation in the aftermath of the great Indian uprising, had no energy to accompany Napoleon III, a madman, to stir up war.

Suddenly, Feng. The Earl of Dewes's attendant asked Lin Haijiang's lieutenant general to convey a message, that is, to invite Lin Haijiang's head to come to the bridge command room.

In the command room of the Zhiyuan ship, Feng. Earl D'Affaires said apologetically: "Originally, it would have been handed over to your Excellency the Führer on November 10, but I think the time is fully ripe for us to stand on the side of justice and justice. ”

Lin Haijiang glanced at Feng. Earl Dewys, while opening the secret document, said: "The justice I believe in is only within the range of my cannon, and the axiom I adhere to is my warship!" ”

Feng. Count Dewis smiled and nodded, "Your Excellency, your answers are always so unexpected! ”

Lin Haijiang read this similar instruction with reference to the codebook, almost a short secret letter of the order, before December 20, Susanga's apple was ripe!

Lin Haijiang knew that the Prussians wanted to launch an attack on the French forces in Indochina no later than December 20, 1860.

After Lin Haijiang hesitated for a moment, he still returned to the front deck and said to everyone sonorously: "I, the first head of the Chinese Empire, Lin Haijiang!" On behalf of the Chinese Empire, the Second French Empire officially declared war! ”

(To be continued)