"Boom! Boom! ”

One shell after another landed on the river around the Russian ship, exploding violently, stirring up huge columns of water in an instant, boiling waves, and splashing smoke and rain.

The sudden and heavy shelling caught the Russian Amur River Fleet somewhat off guard, and many Russian ships were hit by shells, causing a certain degree of damage and casualties. Their gunboats could temporarily withstand this level of shelling from the north, but the river routes upstream and downstream of the Sanjiang Estuary were blocked, causing the Amur Inland River Fleet to suddenly fall into a passive situation of being beaten by a turtle in an urn, which was what they were really worried about.

"Shoot back!"

"Shoot back!"

The ships of the Amur fleet suddenly fell into a panicked mood, and the officers and men of the ships were well aware of the current situation, the channel was blocked, and the Qing artillery group attacked again, the battleships were sunk, and the fleet was wiped out.

Faced with this situation, the commander of the Amur fleet, Rear Admiral Horopa, was not intimidated, and he immediately ordered two gunboats to open heavy fire on the sunken ship, and dropped explosives with the intention of blowing up the sunken ship blocking the channel and clearing the channel. At the same time, the flagship Novgrad, with its heavy armor, took the lead in adjusting the muzzle of the gun and counterattacking the artillery positions in the crop field. Then the other Russian ships adjusted the position of their main guns one after another, and followed the movements of the flagship to return fire.

Suddenly, the artillery of both sides opened fierce fire on each other, trying to destroy each other at any cost, and the artillery battle instantly entered a white-hot state.

On the Qing side, the two artillery regiments of the Beiyang Army plus the three artillery teams of General Jilin had 36 150-mm heavy howitzers, 18 105-mm mountain guns, 72 80-mm infantry guns, 27 75-mm infantry guns, and 30 47-mm anti-aircraft guns. In addition, the Sanjiang Port Defense Fortress can also provide part of the fire support.

The Russian Amur River Flotilla has 17 warships, with 8 152-mm naval guns, 16 102-mm naval guns, 54 47-mm rapid-fire guns, and 54 machine guns below 37 mm.

The Russian fleet was slightly less than the Qing army in terms of the total number of artillery, but the rate of fire of the Russian ship-based rapid-fire guns was stronger than that of the Qing army's land-based artillery. In the same time, the rapid-fire firepower of the Russian army made up for the lack of its artillery number, so that the artillery battle between the two sides was basically evenly matched.

Fifteen minutes after fierce fighting, four armed steamers of the Amur flotilla were the first to be sunk, and the 400 marines on board drowned, suffering heavy casualties. The Qing army also suffered a lot of losses, under the fierce blows of the rapid-fire guns of the Russian ships, nearly 100 artillery casualties on the artillery group positions, and the loss of 5 light guns.

Duan Qirui, as the commander-in-chief of the artillery group, constantly adjusted the direction of the artillery group's attack. Seeing that an all-out attack on the Russian fleet was not effective, he adopted the tactic of focusing on targets. He aimed all 36 150-mm heavy artillery groups at the two shallow-water heavy gunboats of the Amur fleet, the Novgrad and the Vice Admiral, and only one was enough to make up for the cost of the total annihilation of the Songhua River Naval Division. Of course, for Duan Qirui, sinking one is not capable, and the most important thing is to completely annihilate the Amur River fleet, which has bullied China for more than half a century.

At 7:25, the sixth salvo of the Beiyang Army's heavy artillery group, 36 shells weighing 50 kilograms made a whistling sound and fired at the Novgrad. Six of the shells hit and exploded violently, killing and wounding more than a dozen Russian soldiers. The Novgrad's armor struggled to block the shells' penetrating explosion, but one of them landed near the aft waterline of the Novgrad, causing the Novgrad's rudder to fail, and the Novgrad lost its ability to maneuver.

The biggest advantage of a battleship is the firepower of mobile batteries, and once it loses the ability to move, it loses its advantage.

Duan Qirui immediately seized the opportunity and ordered the heavy artillery group to continue to bombard the Novgrad, and be sure to sink the flagship of the enemy fleet first, so as to damage the overall morale of the Russian fleet.

At 7:27, the Beiyang Army heavy artillery group launched a seventh fire salvo on the Novgrad. This time, because the Novgrad lost the ability to maneuver and floated on the river, it was hit by 13 shells one after another.

"Boom!"

In a series of violent explosions, the entire superstructure of the Novgrad was completely destroyed, and in an instant it was engulfed in smoke from a sea of fire. Since the commander of the Amur flotilla, Rear Admiral Horopo, and all 97 Russian officers and men were killed, the Novgrad slowly sank in a series of afterexplosions, and the Russian fleet suddenly lost its flagship command.

The morale of the Qing army was high, and the more they fought, the more courageous they became. On the other hand, because the Russian fleet lost the unified command and dispatch of its flagship, the ships that were already floating in military spirit suddenly fell into chaos and fought their own battles.

With the destruction of the Novgrad, the Amur fleet, which had lost its flagship command, was confused in the dispatch and distribution of firepower, and the balance of the artillery battle turned in favor of the Qing army.

At 7:43, under the key care of the Beiyang Army's heavy artillery group, the starboard side of Vice Admiral **fu, the second shallow water heavy gunboat of the Amur fleet, was torn open more than one meter wide, and the sea water poured into it violently, and the battleship slowly sank. Seeing that there was no hope of rescue, the Russian sailors on the ship abandoned the ship and jumped into the river.

At the same time, two more Peryn-class gunboats and three gunboats were sunk, and the fire of the Amur fleet quickly lost fire, hastening its demise.

At 8:05, the commanders of the two Russian gunboats were frightened and tried to escape by bypassing the main channel and seizing their way through the shallow waters on both sides. As a result, one Russian ship hit a reef and sank, and another Russian ship ran aground in the mud. The immobile Russian ship was suddenly hit by the Qing army's artillery fire, and in less than two minutes it burst into flames. The Russian troops on the ship tried their best to save the ship, but after the rescue failed, they chose to abandon the ship, and the ship was burned in the flames.

At 8:25, the Amur fleet was completely lost, and only 6 of the 17 warships remained. Originally, the shipwreck of the channel had been almost blown up, but the two gunboats responsible for clearing the channel were sunk, blocking the channel again, making it hopeless for the six Russian ships to escape.

The remaining six Russian ships did not choose to surrender or give in, they all sailed to the north bank, ran aground on the north bank, and then continued to fire at the south bank. However, the Russian gunboats that have been stranded are no longer much of a threat, but Duan Qirui still ordered the destruction of these six Russian ships, and his purpose is to completely annihilate the Amur fleet, which is definitely supported by the commander-in-chief Wang Shizhen.

After half an hour of shelling, with the last Russian ship destroyed in the artillery fire, the Russian army's vain attempt to launch the Battle of Sanjiangkou to force the Qing Empire to make concessions in negotiations finally failed with the total annihilation of the Amur fleet at Sanjiangkou.

The entire battle of Sanjiangkou lasted less than three hours, and the Qing Empire was able to completely annihilate the Russian Amur Inland River Fleet at the cost of sacrificing the Songhua River Naval Division, inflicting heavy losses on the Russian Far East army. With the demise of the Amur River Fleet, Russia's arrogance on the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers for nearly half a century was extinguished, and Russia lost the advantage of military invasion of China from the north.

What is even more serious is that Russia has always relied on the Amur River fleet and has never worried about the issue of controlling inland river rights. With the Amur fleet present, the Russian army does not need to build strong fortifications in Jiangbei, but takes an active attitude to attack and defend.

Now that the Amur River Fleet has been completely destroyed, Russia has lost the right to control inland rivers and can no longer launch an offensive against the Qing army in Jiangnan, but has to strictly prevent the Qing army in Jiangnan from crossing the river to attack the Russian army in Jiangbei, because the Russian army in Jiangbei does not have a solid river defense offensive.

After the news of the Battle of Sanjiangkou reached Vladivostok, General Kurbertkin heard the bad news of the Amur River flotilla and immediately ordered the Cossack cavalry regiment and the Afghan corps to build riverbank fortifications to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river to the north. At this point, the Beiyang Army achieved a complete strategic and tactical victory, forcing the Russian Far Eastern Military District to stop its offensive in the north and switch from offensive to defensive.

After the news of the Battle of Sanjiangkou reached Yanjing, the Qing Empire was full of joy, and Guangxu sent a telegram to commend the Beiyang Army and reward Wang Shizhen and other officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army. And the Jilin general Changshun was also rewarded for his participation in the Battle of Sanjiangkou.

When Premier Yamen learned of the victory at Sanjiangkou, he also took a much tougher line in his negotiations with Russia. On the Russian side, because of the defeat at the mouth of the three rivers and the total annihilation of the Amur River Flotilla, not only could they no longer blackmail the Qing Empire in negotiations, but they themselves lost a lot of bargaining chips.

In this regard, the Russian side had no choice but to make concessions, and the original conditions of 100 million taels of silver and the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula were changed to 50 million taels of compensation and the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula. And the Liaodong Peninsula also allowed the Qing Empire to spend 40 million taels to redeem it.

Russia's conditions are constantly being depressed, but the war reparations of 90 million taels are still unacceptable to Prime Minister Yamen. At present, the Qing Emperor [***] has gained an advantage in the matter, and the Prime Minister Yamen, according to Cixi's instructions, will compensate up to 10 million taels as the cost of allowing the Russian army to evacuate Liaoyang. The bottom line gap between the two sides is very large, and it fell into a stalemate for a while.

However, the attitude from the great powers began to favor the Qing Empire. The British political axe believed that the Qing Empire was fully capable of defeating the Russian Far Eastern Military Region in a land war, so the British side opposed reparations to Russia, and continued to encourage Prime Minister Yamen not to pay a penny, but instead demanded that Russia compensate for the losses caused by the invasion of Northeast China.

The British were uneasy, and they hoped for a full-scale war between Qing and Russia, which would strike at Russia and weaken the Qing Empire, which would be in the Far Eastern interests of the British political axe.

What the British like, the Germans don't. The German political axe did not want Russia to suffer damage in the Far East, did not want Russia to adjust its focus to Europe, Germany hoped that Russia would continue to expand into the Far East, ease the contradictions between Germany and Russia in Europe, and at the same time attack Britain. The German political axe began to tilt diplomatically towards the Russian side, and at the same time extended a helping hand to Russia economically, willing to buy Russian war debt and support Russia's expansion into the Far East.

Germany's actions were uncomfortable for the French, who thought the opposite of the Germans, hoping that Russia's expansion in the East would be hindered and that it would be in France's interest to expand the German-Russian contradictions.

However, France, as an ally of Russia, could not express the idea of hoping that Russia would lose the war in the Far East, and when Germany was willing to lend money to Russia, France did not want Russia to borrow money from Germany, nor did it want Russia to have the money to continue to fight with the Qing Empire, so France took the opportunity of Russia's impact on the international banking crisis to express its willingness to support Russia in implementing the gold standard reform. If Russia wants to get rid of the huge inflation caused by the silver deficit, it must adopt the gold standard, and the adoption of the gold standard requires a huge amount of money, and once it is activated, there will be no money for a foreign war for several years.

France's intentions were supported by the Russian vassal Werther, who persuaded Nicholas II to temporarily abandon the war against China, and the immediate priority was to stabilize the domestic economy. However, Nicholas II still insisted on an honorable end to the war, so the French government turned to Russia and demanded concessions from the Qing Empire.

The change in attitudes in Germany and France has made Prime Minister Yamen a little nervous. Premier Yamen asked Guangxu and Cixi to strictly prevent Germany, France and Russia from uniting again, and they should make some concessions. Guangxu was very filial at this time, indicating that everything was decided by Cixi. As a result, Cixi thought that there had been a lesson from the intervention of Germany, France and Russia, so she was afraid that Germany, France and Russia would join forces again, so she agreed that Prime Minister Yamen would add 20 million to the original 10 million indemnity, a total of 30 million indemnity as a condition for the withdrawal of Tsarist Russia. The Tsarist political axe is ready to end this failed war, and the benefits of being able to get 30 million taels of compensation can make up for more than half of the losses. The Russians knew very well that the Qing Empire had actually gained the upper hand at the moment, and it would be disadvantageous for Russia to continue fighting, so the Russian side agreed to the conditions of the Prime Minister's Yamen.

However, before the two sides could sign the contract, the news spread.

Qing Zhengaxe planned to pay 30 million taels in compensation to end the war, and this absurd thing suddenly aroused strong dissatisfaction and protest from people of insight in the country. Guangxu did not mean to oppose Cixi because of political needs, but secretly instructed Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others to unite more than 20,000 people of insight from all walks of life in China to set off a huge eighth bus to write a letter, pointing the finger at Cixi for overriding the emperor's subordinates in politics, not understanding that state affairs are for disorderly government, and also pointing out the groveling of the prime minister's yamen.

This large-scale bus book made Cixi very angry, and Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others suddenly became a thorn in Cixi's side, and they have held a grudge since then. However, in the face of strong domestic public opinion and strong opposition from Britain to the pressure of reparations to Russia, Qing Zhengaxe had to order Prime Minister Yamen to "reconsider".

At the same time, after Wang Chenhao finished handling the affairs of the United States, he also set off for China.

Originally, Wang Chenhao planned to be able to go home to accompany his wife when she gave birth, but the counterattack of the Morgan consortium forced Wang Chenhao to spend some time trying to deal with Morgan with the Rockefeller consortium. Although the old Rockefeller has retired, the ambition of the younger Rockefeller is more in line with Wang Chenhao's requirements. The two hit it off, and the Bank of America consortium and the Rockefeller consortium joined forces to confront Morgan both economically and politically.

Because of the cooperation between the Bank of America consortium and the Rockefeller consortium, the Citigroup consortium, the Zeringen consortium and the Cleveland consortium also showed favor to the Rockefeller consortium, they learned from the Rockefeller consortium's trust business philosophy, and extended the oil trust operation to the steel, finance, arms, railroad and coal fields, which led to the rapid expansion of the trust economy in the United States and accelerated its impact on the US economy and politics to a certain extent. The Rockefeller consortium also established business ties with the other three major consortiums through its alliance with the Bank of America consortium. Among them, Rockefeller Jr. bought some shares of the Citibank consortium, and since then began to meddle in the business operations of Citibank, which eventually led to the fact that Citibank will be subject to the control of the Rockefeller consortium for a long time in the future, and it was not until later that Wang Chenhao was able to get rid of the control, of course, this is a later story. At this time, the combination of the five major consortia was far more powerful than the Morgan consortium, forcing the Morgan consortium to temporarily abandon a series of actions against the Bank of America consortium and choose to stay in obscurity.

Before leaving New York, Wang Chenhao visited McKinley, who was about to become president of the United States, and Roosevelt, the undersecretary of the Navy, under the recommendation of Rockefeller Jr., and Mark Hannah, a veteran of the Republican Party in the United States, who was known as the maker of the president in 1896 and the political boss, and some important Republican figures in Congress.

Wang Chenhao himself was a member of the Qing Empire, and his influence in the Qing Empire was already very great at this time, and he became a powerful figure second only to Li Hongzhang in the eyes of foreigners. Wang Chenhao also has huge financial resources comparable to those of the Rockefeller consortium in terms of economy, and the combination of the two has immediately attracted great attention from the Republican right class.

Wang Chenhao's meeting with McKinley, Hannah, and Roosevelt was the first to open a dialogue mechanism between the two parties, and the United States is naturally a Republican party, and the Chinese side is now only Wang Chenhao's small Beiyang clique, which is also counted as a partisan. Wang Chenhao knew very well that the first thing the US Republican Party did after coming to power was to launch the Spanish-American War and start the road of US foreign expansion, followed by a series of American aggression activities of "gold yuan in the left hand and a big stick in the right hand", and then the aggression against Asia was the "open door" policy.

Of course, with the emergence of Wang Chenhao, the United States' open-door policy seems to have come to naught. However, it is certain that the Spanish-American War will definitely break out, and aggression against the Americas will also occur, Wang Chenhao can be sure of this. But what he was not sure about was how the United States would launch an aggressive offensive against Asia, so he needed to talk to McKinley and Roosevelt to find out.

Especially this Roosevelt, because the US Secretary of the Navy John Long (John Long) long-term illness and ignorance of political affairs, McKinley was not interested in the navy, so that Roosevelt monopolized the power, which promoted the rapid growth of the US Navy. He single-handedly planned and promoted the United States war against Spain, and Roosevelt, as the president of the United States who was re-elected for two consecutive terms after McKinley, had a decisive influence on the United States during his eight years in office, so Wang Chenhao had to deal with Roosevelt now.

Wang Chenhao privately gave Roosevelt a luxury car and bought him a beautiful villa in New York. For Wang Chenhao's generosity, Roosevelt expressed his great gratitude. Of course, McKinley and Hannah also had a share, and Wang Chenhao gave them a car each.

During the talks, Wang Chenhao repeatedly pointed out that China and the United States are separated by a huge Pacific Ocean, and they will not become enemies if they are far away. Wang Chenhao supported the US annexation of Hawaii and said that Ben had been planning against Hawaii for a long time and was the number one enemy of the United States in the eastern Pacific. Wang Chenhao's constant smearing of the book caused McKinley, Roosevelt, Hannah and other Republicans to have an extreme disgust with the book. At the same time, Wang Chenhao said that the company is a country that is prone to aggression, and that the US Ming Cook Party supports the post-war reconstruction of the country, which may threaten US security in the future. McKinley immediately said that he would cut or cancel economic aid to Ben after taking office.

Wang Chenhao successfully touched his eye drops in front of the Republican Party of the United States, and then he took the opportunity to talk about Cuba, and then complained that Spain was already a second-rate country, but it still occupied a large number of colonies. Sure enough, several Republican figures immediately expressed displeasure, some of whom complained that the Spaniards had set extremely high export tariffs in Cuba, and others who complained that the Spaniards should be taught a lesson. Wang Chenhao then took the opportunity to say that if a conflict broke out between the United States and Spain, Wang Chenhao would stand firmly on the side of the United States and provide any help if necessary.

McKinley, Roosevelt, Hannah and others were very surprised by Wang Chenhao's words, although they were thinking about how to force Spain to reduce export tariffs on sugar and other agricultural products in Cuba, but they also thought of the outbreak of conflict, but Wang Chenhao's words made them very comfortable, and they were very grateful.

Wang Chenhao's relationship with the Republican Party is to give him eye drops, and second, to find a backing for the Bank of America, and he will be relieved after these two things are completed.

On October 25, Wang Chenhao left for China after dealing with matters in the United States.

Before leaving, Wang Chenhao specially instructed Tang Shaoyi that the Bank of America is the foundation of Wang Chenhao, and there is no room for failure. He asked Tang Shaoyi to protect the Bank of America, and if necessary, at any cost. At the same time, Wang Chenhao exhorted Tang Shaoyi to pay close attention to a series of policies after the US New Deal came to power. If given the opportunity, try to prevent the United States from providing economic aid to Spain as much as possible, and instigate the United States to go to war against Spain.

Regarding what Wang Chenhao said, Tang Shaoyi no longer had any hesitation or doubt at this time, and his subconscious told him that what Wang Chenhao said must be correct. Therefore, Tang Shaoyi assured Wang Chenhao that he would definitely take care of the Bank of America, and that organizing the United States to aid and instigate the United States to start a war against Spain was the skill of the consuls stationed abroad, so that Wang Chenhao could rest assured.

With Tang Shaoyi's assurance, Wang Chenhao was a lot relieved.

Due to the delay of more than a month in dealing with the Rockefeller matter, Wang Chenhao did not plan to circumnavigate South America by boat, but hired a special train from New York to directly cross the American continent to San Francisco.

In addition to Rothier, Qiao Yuying, the maid and the secretary, and the guards, there were Tesla and his assistants, Ford and his automotive technical team, Ma Daofu and Carnegie Steel Company's technical team, Holland and his submarine scientific research team, Lake and his submarine scientific research team, etc., as well as some scientific researchers and technicians with patent contributions, a total of nearly 800 people, the team can be described as huge.

Among them, the two submarine experts of Holland and Lake, as well as the submarine technical team of the two of them, were dug up by Wang Chenhao with some effort. However, this time he didn't do too much, unlike Tesla, Holland and Lake were not recognized by the U.S. Navy in submarine research, which gave Wang Chenhao the opportunity to dig into the wall.

In 1895, Holland received a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Navy to build a decent submarine. After several design modifications, Holland finalized a submarine about 26 meters long with a new twin-propulsion unit, the Diver. The boat's twin propulsion units refer to the steam engine power unit used for surface navigation and the electric motor power propulsion unit used for underwater diving. This is the "originator" of the submarine dual propulsion system. However, the US Navy asked Holland to enable the "Diver" to be used for surface warfare, but Holland believed that according to such requirements, it would not be possible to build a satisfactory submarine, so he gave up the construction of the "Diver" submarine, returned the funds of the US Navy, and began to use his own money to build a new submarine. But Huo Lan had no money, so Wang Chenhao took the opportunity to ask him and his deputies to work at Beiyang Science and Technology and provide sufficient funds.

Wang Chenhao's name has already spread all over the world, Huo Lan knows that Wang Chenhao is rich, and he also respects Huo Lan, who attaches importance to submarines, especially Wang Chenhao's own mysterious submarine, which prompts Huo Lan to naively think that Beiyang Technology must have a more advanced submarine laboratory, so he did not hesitate to agree to Wang Chenhao's request.

As for Lake, Wang Chenhao also didn't spend much effort to pull him into Beiyang Technology. The reason is that in order to raise funds, Lake's submarine company issued shares to raise funds, so Wang Chenhao bought all his company's shares at a high price, and Wang Chenhao became the largest shareholder. Subsequently, Wang Chenhao sent someone to discuss with Lake, asked Lake to work in Beiyang Science and Technology, and promised to give him the best scientific research working environment and equipment. Lake is not good at business, and under the guarantee of Wang Chenhao's generous treatment, he decided to join Beiyang Technology. He designed submarines not originally for military purposes, but was entirely attracted by fascinating undersea creatures. From the very beginning of the construction of "Little Yagur Papa", he thought that he would be able to get out of the submarine so that he could collect sea creatures. So he installed air compression equipment in the submarine and set up an air lock compartment. Lake made the air pressure generated by the compressed air equipment equal to the pressure of the sea water outside the boat, so that by opening the door of the air lock, people could walk out of the boat in a diving suit without the sea water rushing into the lock. The valve or water gate that prevents seawater from rushing into the boat and allows people to enter and exit freely through the hatch of the boat is called a valve or water gate. With the help of the valve, Lake and his partners had a great time collecting a large number of marine creatures at the bottom of the fascinating New York Bay.

Wang Chenhao knew that Lake's submarine thinking was very important, and in the future, he would use submarines to transport special operations soldiers with his current research and design concepts. Therefore, the fusion of the ideas of Holland and Lake is a collection of modern submarine special operations.

On November 3, Wang Chenhao's special train arrived in San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Wang Chenhao directly bought two 3,000-ton large cruise ships, one for Li Youyi, and the other for Rothschild, in fact, these two cruise ships were only used to entertain those scientists and technical workers, Wang Chenhao wanted to make them feel superior treatment, so that they could work hard for themselves.

At the same time, the two cruise ships also carried 20 cars, which Wang Chenhao was preparing to return to China to give gifts, including a double-decker passenger specially designed for Cixi.

After staying in San Francisco for three days and getting everything ready, Wang Chenhao and his entourage set off from San Francisco on November 6 to return to China.

(To be continued)