It turned out that at the moment when Wang Chenhao squatted, Kikov shot at Wang Chenhao. But because of Wang Chenhao's sudden squatting, and several fountains also hit Kikov, he subconsciously closed his eyes, and failed to see Wang Chenhao squatting down and fired, and as a result, he accidentally hit Sa Daoyi.

Wang Chenhao was taken aback, keenly aware that the gunshots were around him. After eight months of military training, Wang Chenhao's reaction consciousness was not bad, so in the next moment, he immediately took out his matching gun.

Guns were not allowed in the summer palace, and Russian guards strictly searched all those who entered the palace. However, for the ministers and consuls of various countries, the search is relatively loose, and out of international etiquette and courtesy to high-ranking officials, they only ask the ministers and envoys of various countries to take the initiative to hand over their guns and personal weapons, and will not really go to the body search.

However, at this moment, Wang Chenhao and the blonde beauty saw Sa Daoyi, who was shot and fell to the ground. Sa Daoyi was shot in the abdomen, and blood stained his white shirt red. The blonde beauty screamed and threw herself into Wang Chenhao's arms, nervously she hugged Wang Chenhao's arms and body tightly with both hands, making Wang Chenhao unable to hold a gun.

Bang bang!

Two more gunshots, and there was a commotion and screams outside. The blonde beauty was so frightened that she hugged Wang Chenhao to death, but Wang Chenhao comforted her and tried to push her away, but it had the opposite effect, she hugged her tighter instead.

At this moment, Wang Chenhao was extremely sad. He was about to go crazy, and even the beauty didn't even have the heart to enjoy the ** feeling of nephrite in her arms.

There was still a lot of noise outside, but the gunshots disappeared, which made Wang Chenhao breathe a sigh of relief. But what followed was a constant stream of chaotic people crashing into them, tripping and stumbling nearby. So Wang Chenhao protected the blonde beauty, hugged her and knelt on the ground together, and a small shelter became under the umbrella.

The chaos caused by the simultaneous sound of fountains and gunshots in the upper garden lasted for five or six minutes before it was stabilized by the Russian security guards, who soon lifted their umbrellas and found an Oriental man and a Western beauty hugging each other. ”

This blonde and blue-eyed beauty named Rothier was still holding Wang Chenhao tightly, and Wang Chenhao could feel her trembling violently, obviously still in shock.

Wang Chenhao raised his eyes and looked around, there were five or six people on the left surrounding Sa Daoyi to administer first aid, on the right was the body of a waiter, and several security guards and policemen were interfacing Minister Dairo Motono.

The police set up a security line, and everyone retreated to the perimeter, where they formed a huge circle, and their eyes were watching the situation in amazement from all sides.

Wang Chenhao helped Luo Hill to comfort her and said, "Miss Luo Hill, we are safe!" ”

Luo Xier was a little frightened and stood up with Wang Chenhao, but he still hugged him and didn't let go.

Xu Jingcheng also found Wang Chenhao at this time, and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: "Are you okay, my lord?" ”

Wang Chenhao said: "It's okay! What the hell is going on? ”

Xu Jingcheng replied: "Just now a Russian waiter fired a shot at the British Minister Sadaoyi, and then the Minister Benno Dairo came out to help, and killed the assassin with two shots. At present, the Russian [***] police have intervened, the news has been blocked, and I don't know the rest. ”

Wang Chenhao swept the direction where Sa Daoyi fell to the ground, and when he looked at the assassin's death location, his eyes suddenly turned cold, and said, "This killer is here to kill me!" ”

"Your Excellency?" Xu Jingcheng was a little dazed.

Wang Chenhao pointed to the woman named Rothier in his arms and said, "If she hadn't saved me, I would have been the one who was shot now." ”

Xu Jingcheng was puzzled, but Wang Chenhao no longer explained to him.

It took a long time for Rothier to regain consciousness from his panic. Rothier felt embarrassed when he found that he was holding Wang Chenhao desperately, so he let go and said, "I was so scared just now, so I'm sorry." ”

Wang Chenhao smiled: "Actually, I should thank you, if it wasn't for Miss Rothchild telling me to squat down and avoid the bullet, I should be the one who is injured now." Of course, I have to thank you for your umbrella, thank you for blocking the fountain water for me and preventing it from becoming a soup chicken. ”

Wang Chenhao pointed to the umbrella that had been scratched.

Rothel smiled and asked, "How do you know my name?" ”

Wang Chenhao pointed to the security guard not far away and said, "That's what he called you!" ”

Rothschild nodded, and was about to say something when she heard a man dressed as an old gentleman calling out to her in the crowd. So he said: "My father called me, I lost my company first, I am very happy to meet you, I have the opportunity to see you again." ”

"Goodbye!" Wang Chenhao nodded and watched her leave.

Xu Jingcheng asked, "My lord, who is she?" ”

Wang Chenhao asked rhetorically: "Don't you know?" ”

Xu Jingcheng shook his head.

Wang Chenhao was thoughtful, this Rothier's sudden appearance was a bit unreasonable, but Wang Chenhao was sure that she was not an assassin accomplice. Whether it was a coincidence or not, Wang Chenhao thanked her for saving his life.

"It's a long story, it's not easy."

"What do you mean?"

Wang Chenhao thought about it for a while, and glanced at the person who was said to be the master of the matter, Ben Ye Dalang, and he felt that this matter had something to do with him, because it was too much of a coincidence.

Although the shooting in the Upper Garden stabilized, ordinary civilians in the Lower Garden also had a ruffle after hearing the gunshots, but it was crowded because of the ongoing distribution of Tsar's gifts there. After the disturbance occurred, the crowd suddenly coaxed, those inside wanted to rush out, and those outside wanted to go inside, rushing and trampling, and soon there were people killed and injured screaming, which aggravated the confusion, and soon stretched to the square outside.

The square was uneven, with many potholes and ditches, and the Tsarist government did not take any safety measures. As a result, because of the stampede and crowding, more than 3,000 people were killed and tens of thousands were injured. The famous "Hodenka Disaster" in history was exacerbated by the shooting.

After the catastrophe, Nicholas II and the Empress continued to feast on ministers and consuls that night, and attend balls as if nothing had happened.

However, this was only a face-saving gesture for Tsar Nicholas II, and in fact the Russian political axe was already nervous and anxious about the shooting of Sadaoyi.

Sa Daoyi did not die, but was seriously injured. However, because the British minister to Russia was assassinated in the summer palace of the Russian emperor, politically, the Russian side suddenly fell into an extremely unfavorable political situation, and what awaits them will be the powerful accountability of the British political axe, as well as the immeasurable criticism of international public opinion.

The British side was also the first to learn of the news, and for a long time, the British political axe has been looking for an opportunity to put pressure on Russia to force Russia to compromise and back down where its interests conflicted with Britain. Now that the assassination of Sadaoyi was undoubtedly an excellent pretext, the British political axe immediately lodged the strongest protest with the Russian Foreign Ministry, and the attitude was more tough than ever.

Minister Dairo Motono originally intended to intensify the contradictions between Qing and Russia and force the Qing and Russian sides to formally declare war, and the more fierce the fighting in the Far East, the more in line with the interests of the Qing Dynasty. But in the end, because of Kikov's accidental injury, it caused tensions between Britain and Russia. Britain and Russia are already the biggest hostile countries, and both sides are looking for excuses to attack each other. This time just gave the British an excuse to attack Russia, and if it was not handled well, the relations between the two countries might further deteriorate, and even Britain would take retaliatory actions, or take a tough side of the Qing Empire on the issue of Qing Russia.

Dairo Honno was very annoyed and hurriedly reported the situation to the base camp. When Prince Miyachihito, chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of the Army, and the cabinet of Kiyotaka Kuroda learned about it, they also shook their heads and sighed, secretly discussing that it was a good thing to turn into a bad thing.

At an extraordinary meeting of Kuroda's cabinet, Kuroda pointed out that the assassination of Sadaoyi would affect Britain's position in the Far East and further support the Qing Empire against Russia, which was an undesirable outcome. At the same time, Wang Chenhao hired a powerful private fleet in Europe, and once a joint fleet was formed with the Beiyang Naval Division, the Russian Far East Fleet would no longer have an advantage. And once the Qing and Russia reach a stalemate at sea, judging from the fact that the Russian [***] team is currently limited by the difficulty of long-term combat in the Far East, this military conflict between Qing and Russia will end soon.

What he was worried about was that after the end of the military conflict between Qing and Russia, Wang Chenhao's private fleet would become a great threat to him, because the ships of the Beiyang Naval Division were not suitable for deep-sea operations in the open ocean and were not very safe for the mainland. However, Wang Chenhao's fleet has the capability of ocean-going warfare, and the current strength of the navy is not enough to compete with him, and the coastal defense of this navy will be seriously threatened.

The new Minister of the Navy was Gonbei Yamamoto, who laid the foundation for the establishment of the modern navy in history, so he was known as the "father of the navy". In 1892, at the Fourth Diet, he cut the budget and began administrative reforms. At that time, Gonbei Yamamoto was the chief of the Chief Cabinet of the Ministry of the Navy, and under his leadership, he established the Navy Command Department (staff organization), which was relatively close to the Ministry of the Navy (headquarters), so that the navy, which was lagging behind the army, had an equal status with the army. In the process of personnel transfers at the same time, he also listed fellow villagers, seniors, and people who had contributed to the Meiji Restoration, and hired useful personnel without prejudice. Figures such as Minoru Saito, Keisuke Okada, and Gentaro Yamashita who later became important roles were all promoted by Gonbei Yamamoto at that time. His political methods were appreciated by Aritomo Yama and Shin Inoue. When Yamamoto was returned to the governor, the people around him called him "Minister of Gonbei".

Yamamoto Gonbei was more than 10 years younger than Kuroda Kiyotaka and Saigo Nomichi, who were also from the Satsuma clan, and belonged to the second generation of leaders. Because of his powerful background known as "Minister of Gonbei", he became the Minister of the Navy in the Cabinet from May 1896 onwards, and became a central figure in the Navy.

At this time, the Navy was left with only some coastal defense warships of the West Sea Fleet, and its naval strength was active and weak. Limited by funds, Gonbei Yamamoto tried to persuade Kiyotaka Kuroda to save the two Fuji-class battleships built in Britain from being aborted. At the same time, Yamamoto Gonbei spent 120,000 yuan to hire a Danish salvage team to salvage the Naniwa, which had sunk in the Yellow Sea, and after a year and a half of processing, it was put back into service and became the flagship of the Yamamoto Navy. In addition, he spent a huge amount of money to salvage the ships of the Combined Fleet that sank in the port of Incheon. Due to the severe damage of these warships, only some valuable artillery and steam engines and other equipment were dismantled after they were finally salvaged from the water, and all the rest were sold at the price of scrap iron.

In order to rebuild the Yamamoto Navy, Yamamoto Gonbei actively lobbied for loans from various powers. Because Germany, France, and Russia were unhappy with the people and the people, they could not borrow money from them. And the British side owes a lot of debts that can't be repaid, and the other party doesn't dare to lend money to Yueben anymore. Eventually, Yamamoto got in touch with the Americans and promised to make concessions on the issue of immigration and Hawaii in order to seek financial assistance from the American government.

On the one hand, Gonbei Yamamoto vigorously advocated the threat of the Qing Imperial Navy, and on the other hand, he brought the Americans' intentions to the meeting for discussion, so as to obtain the cabinet's appropriation for the navy and restore the vitality of the navy as soon as possible.

Yamamoto's proposal put Kuroda Kiyotaka's cabinet in a difficult situation, and now Kuroda Kiyotaka knows the importance of rebuilding the navy, and he also knows that the Americans have money, and if he is willing to help, it will greatly reduce the pressure on the political axe. However, for a long time, the people in China have not subsided their anger at the fact that the Americans were the first to pry open the door of their country and force them to sign the first unequal treaty. If one is not handled well, it will face the danger of collapse.

However, Yamamoto soon persuaded the rest of the cabinet to agree to his proposal.

June 3, 1896 and April 23, Meiji 29 were the days of rebirth for the Navy, which had been ushered in since the First World War of Incheon. He signed the "Immigration to the United States" treaty with the United States, stipulating that the United States would recognize the bill enacted by the United States to limit the number of immigrants to the United States, that the United States would stop immigrating to Hawaii, and that the United States would recognize the U.S. mandate rule over the Kingdom of Hawaii. In return, the U.S. government provided $500,000 in free aid and $20 million in low-interest loans, allowing him to find national debt in the United States and helping him rebuild the economy.

After receiving help and loans from the United States, the navy also received corresponding military spending, and Yamamoto began the naval plan that he had been planning in his heart for a long time.