Chapter 106: Unexpected Navy Man

November 8th

With Feng Huafu dividing his troops into two fronts, the battle situation in Xiaogan finally underwent major changes, and the tense atmosphere quickly fermented ().

On the river outside Huanggang in the lower reaches of Yangluo, more than 60 sailboats slowly raised their white sails, and hundreds of young people began to board the boats, each holding a slogan and feeling hot all over.

Bingwen stood at the front, and from the moment he got in touch with Tang Qianming, he was secretly sent here to organize ships and recruit young people just in case.

Yang Qiu wanted the sailor, but it was not easy to get, in history, Tang Qianming only brought back three ships to participate in the Yangxia War, and the Fujian people within the sailor were grouped, and there was little hope of breaking through from the inside, and the parallel world Risa Zhenbing immediately split after the sailor left, and it was all because of internal factional discord, he was just a rookie now, and it was too difficult and difficult to convince the sailor, so he had to rely on some external forces, so he sent Bingwen to bring more than a hundred soldiers to Huanggang quietly, and then collect fishing boats, Recruit hot-blooded young people and be ready for an alternative encirclement and suppression war.

Of course, there is no difference between the sailing ship and the naval guns of the sailing division and looking for death, he originally thought about dropping mines to force Sa Zhenbing to surrender, but in the end he gave up, a lot of involvement in the Yangtze River, at this time rashly put mines I am afraid that it will anger Britain, France and other countries, and now there are more than a dozen warships of great powers on the river outside Wuchang, and I am afraid that the three towns will be turned into ashes if they really fight.

At the same time, on Chen Jiaji's Hairong ship, Sa Zhenbing didn't know that a fleet of more than 60 fishing boats and sailing boats downstream was heading up the river, looking up at the sky, and exhaled for the better. ”

Yang Jingxiu beside him nodded, he was the Haichen ship pipe band, and his level was not as good as Cheng Biguang, Liu Guanxiong and others, but he respected Sa Zhenbing very much. If it weren't for the old man and Ye Zugui, the old Beiyang, who had worked hard to support them over the years, how could there be a navy that began to recover slowly today, so he understood what the old man meant, and said, "It's sunny, and I'm going to fight again." ”

"Yes," Sa Zhenbing sighed, "Nanjun Jisan, where do you think we should go?" ”

Yang Jingxiu smiled bitterly and said, "The rulers don't know, how can Ji San predict the future ()." ”

Sa Zhenbing continued to ask, "How is Nanjing?" ”

Yang Jingxiu understood what he meant, and the southern provinces rebelled like cháo to become independent, the Jiujiang Jinji Fort threatened the Yangtze River waterway, and Shanghai had already set up a governor. The Beiyang heavy army was dragged here again, if Nanjing was lost again, the sailor would not even have a way home, and immediately said, "The ninth town defeated Zhenjiang, and Nanjing is still in the hands of Zhang Xun, but look at this posture I'm afraid." ”

Sa Zhenbing has a headache, the independence of the south has become a prairie fire, Jing Rui Beiyang was blocked by the Hubei army and Yang Qiu, who suddenly appeared, and he couldn't go south, and only he knew what the idea of the comeback Yuan Gongbao was, seeing that Qing Zhengfu was shaking, the outcome of this war was no longer predictable, where would this country go, and even he, an old man who had experienced the fierce battle of the First Sino-Japanese War, was full of confusion.

The old man's eyes fell on the approaching Jiāo boat, Tang Qianming and Huang Zhongying stood in front of Jiāo talking about something, in fact, he didn't need to ask him to know what the two of them had recently made, in fact, he also considered giving the future of the sailor to these two people, but Tang Qianming's power was too heavy, Huang Zhongying's ability was limited, but unfortunately the most optimistic Cheng Biguang was going to the UK at the moment, if he was there, maybe he could rest assured. ~~

When Zhen Bing looked at the two of them meaningfully, a hurried shout suddenly came from the bow of the ship, "The Luàn party is coming, and the cannons and machine guns are ready to be controlled, controlled." ”

In Ji Chang's shouting, he saw dozens of sails in the upper reaches of Wuchang speeding south towards the sailors, Sa Zhenbing hurriedly took the binoculars, and saw dozens of approaching sailboats without exception with slogans, either "Save Hubei" or "The Navy Army is one" and "the Chinese people do not fight the Chinese people", and at this time, a large number of sailboats also appeared downstream, trying to attack the sailors from both sides.

Tang Qianming and Huang Zhongying had already gone on deck, and when they saw these sailboats, their eyes immediately burst into flames, knowing that Yang Qiu had finally made a move, and hurriedly said, "Commander, these people are really hateful, do you want to order the cannon?" ”

"Open the cannon" Sa Zhenbing didn't expect Hubei to come to this one, and snorted coldly, "Okay, you will fight the new first"

Tang Qianming said that if there was really a big bloodshed, the navy would not be scolded to death by the whole country, and when he heard Sa Zhenbing's unkind tone, he immediately took a step back (). Although he was not ready to open fire, Sa Zhenbing still issued a vigilant order, he didn't care about **, and he didn't care about Tang Qianming's thoughts, in his eyes, if someone wanted to forcibly seize the ship, then he would definitely order to fire, because this is a matter of the honor of the navy, and there has never been a navy that has been taken away from a warship

The ships that received the order tore off their gun jackets one after another, and the sailors on the deck ran back and forth, and many people thought to each other while working, is it really going to fight? Fortunately, all of these sailboats stopped shortly after approaching the sailor, and one of the sailboats led by them lowered their boats and approached the Hairong ship with a white flag.

"Let them come up"

In Sa Zhen's cold words, Bingwen took the two soldiers to board the Hairong ship, and when he came to the bridge, he immediately saluted and said, "The General Staff of the National Defense Force, the warrant officer of the Navy Battalion has seen the commander. ”

"Warrant Officer of the Navy Battalion?" Sa Zhenbing looked at Bingwen, saw his baby-faced and straight waist standing, as if he saw the shadow of his youth, and asked, "You were sent by Yang Qiu to Wang Guangxiong?" ”

"Yes, my lord"

"What's the matter with the old man? Do you want to forcibly seize the ship?"

Bingwen looked at Sa Zhenbing and shook his head, "Lord Commander is wrong, except for the lowly pistol, there is no pistol on these ships, and none of them are active soldiers."

"Oh?" Sa Zhenbing raised his eyebrows, turned his head and looked at the sailboats that were not approaching around, "To blackmail public opinion?" Want me to do it anyway? Hehe, it's Yang Qiu's idea, right? Go back, tell him that the navy is not the army, take his soldiers well, he is not qualified to talk to the old man before he stops Feng Huafu"

The words were low but irresistible with majesty, so Bingwen secretly praised these old Beiyang people, but he had to solve the problem of the sailor division no matter what, because the front line could no longer afford it, and he said stubbornly, "Lord Commander, the commander asked me not to say that I want to persuade you anyway." The commander knows that the navy cannot be bound by a Yangtze River, and the future of the navy lies in the deep blue and not the muddy yellow river, and he asked me to tell you that what he wants is not the navy brothers anyway, he only hopes that you can save millions of soldiers and civilians in Hubei for the sake of everyone being siblings. ”

Without waiting for everyone to speak, Bingwen continued, "The commander said that the state affairs are difficult, and the navy will definitely face a cold winter, if the two ships Zhaohe and Yingrui ordered from the United Kingdom before, and the Feihong ships bought by the United States can no longer receive state funding, he is willing to contribute as the final payment to bring back the three ships Jiāo to you and the navy for use." ”

"You said that Yang Qiu was willing to pay the final payment to buy back the three training ships?" Yang Jingxiu didn't hold his breath and asked.

In fact, this proposal made Sa Zhenbing couldn't help but be moved, during this time he also thought about the matter of these three training cruisers, and also knew that once the Qing family abdicated, the country would inevitably fall into a period of several years, whether it was Yuan Shikai or Nan Mian, I am afraid that they would not have the strength to buy back these three training cruisers, don't look at the three ships, although they are not big, but they are all training ships, they are used to train naval personnel, and they are the future of the navy, so this matter has always been a pimple in his heart.

The pain of the First Sino-Japanese War has caused Beiyang to lose countless pounds, and the quality of the navy has declined a lot over the years, so Yang Qiu's proposal hit his weakness at once, and no one wants to rebuild the navy more than him, but the navy is too expensive, and the state taxes paid by the Qing family over the years have been used to repay debts, and the four seas were almost sold before. Don't look at the three training cruisers, the largest displacement is only 2,600 tons, but all the naval weapons and equipment on it are very complete, and the Zhaohe and Yingrui ships are also equipped with steam turbine engines, which are very advanced. Even in terms of combat effectiveness, it is not weak. But even if Jiāo paid most of the money before, the remaining amount was about 500,000 pounds, which was equivalent to about five million in the ocean, so he didn't believe that Yang Qiu would give such a large amount of money, not to mention that even if he was willing to pay, he would not be able to take it or not.

Bingwen knew that he wouldn't believe it, and after taking out a letter from his pocket, he suddenly glanced around, this action made Sa Zhenbing a little surprised, guessing that he might not want others to see it, and waved his hand to make Tang Qianming and the others step back and said, "What do you want to show me?" ”

"After reading it, the adults will understand everything," Bingwen handed him the letter, and before he could open it, he said again, "This letter is not trivial, but adults." ”

"The old man is not a person who likes to talk a lot." Sa Zhenbing opened the letter and glanced at it twice, and was stunned for a moment, it turned out that this was a letter from the German Consul General in Shanghai to Yang Qiu, which did not contain much but mentioned that 2.5 million pounds and equipment would arrive in Shanghai at the beginning of next month, and the news that could be paid at any time (). Although the letter did not say why Germany would pay so much money and equipment, he was very familiar with the ministers of various countries because of his naval identity, so the abbreviated names of the ministers in the letter did not look like a fraud at all. But how can you explain so much money and equipment? Could it be that Sa Zhenbing's face suddenly darkened, and he thought of a possibility.

Bingwen, who had been repeatedly cared for by Yang Qiu before he came, immediately said: "Lord Commander, the National Defense Force will never do anything to sell the interests of the country, let alone do things that are sorry for the ancestors, the country and conscience, as for the above, you will slowly become clear in the future." ”

"Okay, very good" Sa Zhenbing said a few words, and returned the letter to Bingwen, "Reply to Yang Qiu, the old man hasn't read this letter, but I will watch him go." ”

Walk? This time it's Bingwen's turn to be stupid, is this scene sung in vain? But now he couldn't offend Sa Zhenbing, so he had to salute and walk back, when he just walked to the entrance of the cabin, Sa Zhenbing's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Boy, the old man has some old friends at the Greenwich Naval School in the United Kingdom, do you want to go there to study?" ”

Bingwen was stunned for a while, after following Wang Guangxiong's naval camp during this time, he was completely taken by the navy, and he wanted to simply apply for transfer to the navy when the war was over, but he didn't expect that now the old man Sa actually directly recommended himself to study at the famous naval school in the United Kingdom and changed to an ordinary person, but he resisted his impulse, and finally saluted "Thank you for the love of the commander, Bingwen has always dreamed of becoming a navyman, but first of all, I am still a soldier of the National Defense Force"

Sa Zhenbing didn't say anything about his statement, turned around and gently stroked the slipway and steering wheel in the cruiser, and then walked to the porthole and stared at the ship's guns for a long time, with infinite reluctance in his eyes. He has been in the navy for 40 years, and his biggest dream is to see a strong navy on the motherland's maritime borders, defend sea power, and expel Hu Lu. However, today he suddenly found that he was a little old, and his youth, enthusiasm, and loyalty were consumed little by little with age, and at this last moment, what else could he leave for the navy?

No, we must not abandon sea power, we must keep the last breath of vitality of the navy, and the three training cruisers must be obtained anyway, what is the infamy of the naval district? Thinking of these, Sa Zhenbing seemed to feel that the blood that had disappeared for a long time had returned, as if he had seen Deng Shichang, Lin Taizeng, Liu Buchan, these old guys (). Suddenly raised his hand, "Order, Jichang, Xisheng and other Manchu officers immediately get off the ship and return to Shanghai with me, and the rest of the ships." This half of the words made Ji Chang and the other Manchu navy pipes change, but they didn't dare to disobey the order, and they knew that now the general trend was gone, so they had to watch him look at Tang Qianming, Huang Zhongying and Yang Jingxiu's faces a few times, before he continued, "Jiāo is under the control of Yang Jingxiu"

"Control"

"No Adult"

"Heaven is dead, I am clear"

This order made Ji Chang and other Manchu officers shout one after another, they didn't dare to scold Sa Zhenbing, and they all pointed the finger at the Han officers around them, and Tang Qianming and Huang Zhongying also had a slush face, how could they not expect that after Sa Zhenbing read the letter, he would give the command to Yang Jingxiu

Bingwen was also dumbfounded, Yang Qiu said that Sa Zhenbing would never leave with the troops in person, so he asked him to focus on wooing Tang Qianming and Huang Zhongying to envelop the two, but he didn't expect that in the end, Daquan actually gave Yang Jingxiu unplanned, what should I do?

"Why do you want the old man to do it himself?" Sa Zhenbing ignored the people in a daze, swept his eyes, and the guards immediately took Ji Chang and other Manchu officers down, and then he continued: "Sa doesn't want to say anything more, the navy is a weapon of the country, there is no sea, there is no border, after the first afternoon, we have worked hard to save up these family foundations, these are not only the hope of the navy but also the hope of the country, so you must take everyone with you, don't become someone else's pawn before everything is decided, and when Cheng Biguang comes back, I will ask him to come to see you, remember my words, the navy is not a tool of a family"

Bingwen wanted to cry very much, none of these old men simply left a word before leaving, how could the commander's naval dream be realized? The only consolation is that at least the naval troubles are solved, and the commander can finally fight this battle without distractions

His eyes turned to the north, where were Xiaogan and Jingshan