Tianjin Beiyang Yamen.

After a day's work, Li Hongzhang was already very tired, but the Beiyang Sailor had already reached a critical juncture, and Li Hongzhang had to cheer up and look at the thick stack of materials on the desk no matter how tired he was. Because of the great difference in the current situation, although the Beiyang Naval Division is still named 'Beiyang', it is impossible for the real power to be completely attributed to Li Hongzhang alone. To run a navy, the imperial court has made a lot of money!

Li Hongzhang only felt a burst of flowers in front of him. Several layers of leather cushions are under my body, and I still feel a pain in my lower back. It's hard to help when you're old!

But three thousand miles away to find a marquis. The ambition of his youth, Li Hongzhang is still strong!

Just as he was looking at the eyes of the old flower, he heard a rush of footsteps outside the signing room. Before Li Hongzhang could ask who it was, he saw the personal soldiers at the door lift the curtain, and Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai stepped in. walked eagerly, especially Zhou Fu, who almost tripped over the threshold at the door.

"Zhongtang, Zhongtang, look at the new special issue of Ta Kung Pao!"

Zhou Fu held a piece of tissue paper in his hand. The three words of the Ta Kung Pao on the front, the face is strong and dignified.

"Another special issue?" Listening to Zhou Fu's voice, Li Hongzhang raised his eyebrows and laughed: "Quickly bring it to me!" Isn't it Yinyang's business? Other than that, nothing major has happened these days! ”

Sheng Xuanhuai's face was a little sneering, since the name of Ta Kung Pao spread to China, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and other people of insight immediately realized the importance of this thing. This fixed course dù can simply sway speech, and it is a clear stream celebrity in the opposition.

Zuo Zongtang has already set up the "New Daily" in Fuzhou, and is also preparing to set up the "Wenbao" in Hangzhou. The names of both newspapers are very new. Li Hongzhang was not left behind, and set up the "Universal Gazette" in Tianjin. The person who handled it was Sheng Xuanhuai. Looking directly overseas, it is learning from the practice of "Ta Kung Pao" when it was founded. Publication of foreign anecdotes without enough eye-catching news, and then opening a section to introduce the national history and geography of the European and American powers, these are more attractive to the public's attention than the articles and poems of the Qingliu celebrities.

Zhou Fu also sighed, handed over the newspaper in his hand and said, "Liu Yuandu's subordinates went directly to Nanyang and the territory of the Dutch. A small staff officer directly pulled out a gun, killed people in the street, and led a team to slaughter one or two hundred local natives. It caused an uproar in the foreigner circle! ”

Li Hongzhang watched his eyebrows fly and danced, and after reading it once, he turned his head and watched it again with relish. smiled and said to Zhou Fu: "Can we still manage Liu Yuandu?" His title of Admiral of the South Seas has not been erased. Dispatch warships to patrol the South China Sea. What's wrong with preaching the power of heaven? The warship attaché shot the natives, and there was an uproar in the foreigner circle? Did the Dutchman's protest hit the Prime Minister's Yamen? ”

Listen to Li Hongzhang's words. Whether it's Zhou Fu or Sheng Xuanhuai, it's all a smile of wisdom: the Dutch don't dare to talk about this. This shows that the Qing Dynasty is growing in power! The name has weight.

"Zhongtang, the Dutch are really dumb in this matter! But this Ta Kung Pao took advantage of this, but it became popular again. Look at the back of this, the things listed here are ......" Zhou Fu pointed out a small article to Li Hongzhang, which was the main reason why he saw Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang finished it with two eyes. His face immediately became gloomy. "My lord, Spain and the Netherlands have slaughtered Chinese many times, and there are countless conflicts between the natives and the Chinese in Nanyang. In the past, there was no justice in these things, and it was completely the power of the two countries. Recklessly. Now, with the special issue of Ta Kung Pao, it is expected that they will soon be popular all over the country. And then contact the majesty of our Qing fleet in Surabaya City, slaughtering more than 100 people. The Netherlands dared not silence it, isn't it the power of our Qing fleet? Is this the help of the Beiyang Naval Division? ”

Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and smiled appreciatively. What Zhou Fu said is extremely true, which is deeply in line with his wishes. "That's a great statement!" Then asked Sheng Xuanhuai: "Xingsun." What do you think? ”

Sheng Xuanhuai certainly had no objection. He also came to see Li Hongzhang at this time, and the question he said was completely inconsistent with what Zhou Fu said. Sheng Xuanhuai is now just a very ordinary member of Li Hongzhang's staff, at most he can be regarded as a rising star. In the process of preparing for the establishment of the China Merchants Administration of Steamships, although Sheng Xuanhuai made a lot of contributions, he was not qualified to directly participate in such a major event as the Beiyang Naval Division.

"Nakado is clear. I have come to see Lord Zhongtang not for the sake of the special issue of Ta Kung Pao, but for the sake of the Ta Kung Pao itself. Sheng Xuanhuai flipped through it in his hand and also took out a special issue of Ta Kung Pao.

"Nave. You may not know that Jiao Wenbin's shooting and murder in Surabaya was not even reported in foreign newspapers in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In this special issue, Ta Kung Pao grabbed the headlines, and there were photos taken at the scene on it. What does this mean? This shows that Ta Kung Pao is in Nanyang, or Ta Kung Pao is in Surabaya, and there must be reporters stationed on site. ”

Sheng Xuanhuai's expression was a little excited, the "Wanguo Gazette" did not even have a reporter sent at home and abroad, except for reporting some foreign history, geography, and anecdotes, it was more just a regional newspaper, and the news coverage was in the area of Tianjin and Beijing, while the biggest opponent in his mind, "Ta Kung Pao", had already sent all the reporters to Nanyang. The gap was so big that he couldn't see any hope of catching up.

Of course, Sheng Xuanhuai is still more of a politician now, and he thinks about things not only from the economic side, but more from the political side. In Sheng Xuanhuai's eyes, what runs a newspaper is influence, and this influence can help Li Hongzhang when necessary. Otherwise, the Huai Department wouldn't need to run a newspaper at all, would it?

At the same time, such an idea naturally urged Sheng Xuanhuai to a concept. If you want to be influential, you have to catch the big news; If you want to catch the big news, you have to increase investment.

Sheng Xuanhuai didn't find an opportunity to ask for money before, but now this special issue of Ta Kung Pao allows him to see the opportunity. So there was this meeting with Zhou Fu in the governor's yamen, and this time the two came to see Li Hongzhang together.

Sheng Xuanhuai's words made Li Hongzhang and Zhou Fu fall into deep thought. It should be said that these two people have the same thoughts, even Zuo Zongtang in Fuzhou, they all have the same thoughts. Li Hongzhang finally opened his mouth and admitted Sheng Xuanhuai's truth, "Xingsun is reasonable. ”

"Yushan, you go and bring 100,000 taels of silver to Xingsun. Do what you want, do it freely! ”

Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai got what they wanted and left happily. Only Li Hongzhang was left in the signing room, holding a newspaper and watching carefully under the kerosene lamp. Liang Jiu sighed, "If this big kung fu doesn't also satirize Qin Jun. The old man thought it was a secret child planted by Liu Yuandu. As soon as this article came out, the morale of the Qin army was greatly improved. ”

It depends on the object of the sprinkling. If the target is a Chinese person, it will definitely be scolded by thousands of people. But now it is the foreigners who are suffering, and that is the praise of all mouths. The high-level of the imperial court may give Liu Xian a comment of 'recklessness', who cares about this among the people. Whoever can 'spoil' foreigners is the hero of the Qing Dynasty.

And Jiao Wenbin slaughtered the natives of Surabaya, and the Ta Kung Pao directly pointed out that 'he must be ordered', and Liu Xian's reputation among the people is going to be strengthened again. And this kind of wanton behavior, this kind of 'barbaric' behavior, Li Hongzhang is also really envious.

He can't do this kind of 'bastard' thing.

No matter how strong the strength in his hands is, Li Hongzhang can't be unscrupulous against foreigners. He didn't dare, he didn't have this string in his head.

……

At the same time, Prince Gong's mansion. Abundant? Looking at the same Ta Kung Pao special issue, he smiled slightly and laughed happily. In the dark, he felt that his 'abacus' was smoother.

In Beijing, there are also the Empress Dowager Xi in the palace, the palace of Prince Alcohol, the mansion of Wenxiang, and the mansion of Baojun...... and so on the residence of the princes and ministers.

Among them, on Zhang Shoudai's house, a string of 10,000 firecrackers was hung at the door......

No one would take the lives of one or two hundred natives to heart, even the Eight Banners Palace, in his heart, did not regard the Nanyang Chinese as his own people at all, and he did not have the slightest good impression of the natives who were lackeys for the foreigners.

Li Hongzao was happy after reading the newspaper.

……

In the Governor's Mansion of East Java Province in Surabaya.

Governor Fundman leaned back in his chaise longue and looked at the telegram in his hand with a heavy face.

After receiving the telegram from Fudman, the highest Dutch and Indian colonial authorities in Batavia reacted and made a decision as quickly as possible.

The Dutch fleet roaming the Sunda Strait will rush to Surabaya as fast as possible, and the distance is very close, and it may not arrive tomorrow, but it will definitely arrive the morning after tomorrow.

However, with regard to the shooting of 1,200 indigenous people in the street by Chinese soldiers, the resolution of the highest authorities was resolutely pressed down, and there was no mention of retaliation. At the same time, it is also necessary for Fudeman to control the disturbances of the local aborigines, and resolutely suppress them if there is anything wrong.

It can be said that for this 'major event' that happened in Surabaya that made the entire Nanyang Chinese rejoice, the Dutch colonial government retreated and forbears in all aspects. This hurt Fuldeman's pride. He had already seen the future, and after the Russians and the French, the Dutch became the third European country to fall at the guns of Marquis Liu. And the specific party is himself. He may be in a relationship with Major General Golpakovsky, Major General Chernyaev, Major General Velevkin, General Du Bailei, Francis. Garnier, like the two major generals of the Army, Frost, is permanently inscribed on the pillar of shame in the history of their country.

For the now heyday of Europe, for the heyday of whites, such a humiliation and defeat tramples on self-esteem.

And what is the reason for the Dutch colonial authorities, regardless of the slightest face, to swallow their anger so much. In addition to the six Chinese warships that stayed in the port of Surabaya, what is more important is the military information that has just arrived in Borneo - the town of Labu, the front-line base of more than 10,000 Dutch and Indian troops attacking Bengajang, was attacked by the rebels (Chinese army) the night before. More than 10,000 troops led by Lieutenant General Kuyt have fallen into a situation where there is a copper wall in front and an iron wall in the back, and the supply line is cut off! (To be continued......) R1292