The first major event in the spring of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty was not the official start of the construction of the Old Summer Palace on the 19th day of the first month, but on the second day of the 15th month, at the 16th day of the first month, the imperial court officially promulgated the edict of 'organizing and training a new army'.

The Qing Dynasty first had to train a new army of eight banners in Beijing, with a number of about 10,000 people. All provinces and localities are required to train at least one new army, or four to eight battalions, to train the army, so as to strengthen their martial arts. The salary is one level higher than that of the green battalion, and it can be roughly equivalent to the Xianghuai military bravery.

This incident swept across the land of China like a frenzy, and spread all over the country in just half a month. In one fell swoop, it covered the rebuilding of the Old Summer Palace in terms of momentum and discussion.

Guangxi did not organize and train the new army, and Li Futai seemed to want to buy Beijing well, so he resolutely ordered the formation and training of eight battalions to train the army, and the names of six of the battalions were all given to his Fu ← Wan, ← Shu, ← Ba, a♀nsh¢uba, and only the names of the two battalions of Liu Xian were given.

Liu Xian didn't care about this kind of thing at all, even now that the Manchus had brought out the Beiyang New Army, he didn't care. Although the edict on the formation and training of the new army clearly stated that the army should be trained in 'Western-style foot drills', it is simply impossible for the current Manchu local officials and officers to urinate. In the end, this so-called new army is at most a group of training troops equipped with new weapons!

Liu Xian has the spare time to care about this, so it is better to deal with the hearts of his own recruits and Cheng Dù for the training of four ironclad gunboats. It is already 1874 in the Western calendar, and soon the little devil is about to attack Wanwan, and then Liu Xian, the governor of Nanyang, has the right to send troops to Taiwan. Of course, before sending troops, he still had to contact Zuo Zongtang Zuo Jinliang. Now that there is no merit in pacifying Ganshan, and without the prestige of carrying the coffin to the expedition, Zuo Zongtang's momentum has obviously been suppressed by Li Hongzhang. But for 12 years, he has been the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. Fujian and Zhejiang have been built into the Chu army's own land. What's more, in recent years, Zuo Zongtang has been bent on making up his own shipyard fleet in Fujian. At present, the strength of the shipyard fleet is very good, with Yangwu, Wannianqing, Meiyun, Fuxing, Fubo, Anlan, Zhenhai, Feiyun, Chaowu, Jingyuan (ironwaki, wooden-hulled ships. The gunboats, different from the Beiyang Navy's Zhiyuan-class Jingyuan ships), Zhenwei, Ji'an, Yongbao, Chenhang, Daya and other 15 warships, and purchased 3 Haidongyun, Changsheng, and Jianwei warships from abroad, with a total of 18 warships. Although they are all unprotected wooden-hulled warships, they are still powerless compared to the three thousand-ton ironclad ships and five gunboat cruisers of more than 1,000 tons of the little devils. But not to be underestimated!

In the original time and space, when the little devil attacked Wanwan, although the shipmaster and sailor were in the hands of Shen Baozhen. But from the governor of Fujian to the governor of Fujian, they were all from the Huai army. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty was still mired in the war in the northwest at that time, and it was naturally reluctant to fight with the Japanese. But now, Zuo Zongtang is the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the little devil wants to jump, Liu Xian is sure that Zuo Zongtang will only say one word about this - fight!

The Nanyang Admiral is only a well-known name, and the Taiwan Government is under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. Zuo Manzi is a landlord, and if he doesn't say hello, he will get up, and Zhuge Liang will be angry in this world. At present, the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau under the rule of Chu Jun is a major customer of the Qinnan Iron and Steel Plant, and the demand is even greater than that of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau of the Huai system. Liu Xian didn't want to offend Zuo Zongtang because of this. Anyway, after saying hello, Zuo Zongtang would inevitably happily accept the participation of the Qin army, who had four ironclad gunboats.

In February, Liu Xian received a message from Maisheng Foreign Company. Very surprising discovery. It turned out that the Japanese attack on Taiwan happened so early, not long after the end of the New Year. Saigo began to raise troops from the province. And the United States even has a foot in the middle!

At the moment, Japan's economic and military strength is not strong, and the navy is not strong. There are about 17 warships with a displacement of 13,400 tons; On the army side, the wartime state can reach more than 50,000 people, but the military power is different, such as the Shizu alliance led by Saigo Takamori, the elder brother of Saigo Congmichi, that is, the army of the Satsuma domain, which is obviously less than the same pot as the 'great, Japanese emperor, and army' led by Yama Prefecture Aritomo. The Japanese army divisions that were well known to later generations are still completely gone, and there are only Tokyo, Osaka, Zhenxi (Kyushu), and Tohoku (Honshu), four towns that are very traditional in the East. The reason why it dared to openly become an enemy of China was largely due to the fact that in order to alleviate the dissatisfaction of Satsuma and other scholars, the scholars wanted to restore their former status, so they would expand the territory for Japan, so you could naturally live the life you wanted. On the other hand, it was unexpected by the encouragement and support from the United States.

"I can't think of it, I can't fucking think of it!" Liu Xian did not know that in 1852, two years before the attack of the American black ships and the opening of the Japanese portal, Pei Li, the special envoy of the United States to Japan, came to Taiwan to conduct reconnaissance under the pretext that a navy was missing, and carried out a wide range of activities, such as collecting intelligence, investigating minerals, forests, cultivated land, surveying ports, and drawing maps. After returning to China, he proposed to the US government and advocated the invasion and occupation of Taiwan. So much so that in June 1867, 200 U.S. Marines invaded Langqiao, but were ambushed and defeated by the turtle bean tribe in Taiwan.

The strength of the United States in the East is really limited, and after its own attempt to invade Taiwan on its own failed, it began to adopt the policy of supporting Japan's invasion of Taiwan two years ago in an attempt to use Japan's bayonet to open the way for US forces to invade Taiwan.

Last year, as soon as Japan was planning to send troops to Taiwan, US Minister to Japan DeLong immediately introduced the former US consul in Xiamen, Cindy Lee, to the Japanese Government to help Japan make the plans. Li Xiande not only served as a Japanese military officer, provided advice to Japan, and planned for its invasion of Taiwan, but also provided Japan with many important materials such as charts, maps, and photographs of Taiwan. In addition, many others, including U.S. Navy Major Kessel and Army Captain Watson, also came to the Japanese army.

"Dear Marquis, do not doubt our position. Maisheng is your loyal friend, and the U.S. government has never given us a penny. ”

It wasn't for the ventilation report of Maisheng Foreign Bank, and Liu Xian couldn't get a trace of this news at all. At present, the military intelligence department is developing silently at home, and it cannot reach out abroad at all.

Bel. Fox was so candid about Liu Xian's 'suspicion'. For Western capitalists who believe in 'profit first', such an approach is simply normal. Just like an arms dealer who does not sell arms to fight his own motherland, he cannot be regarded as a real international arms dealer!

Liu Xian repaid Maisheng with a commercial agreement of nearly 300,000 taels of silver on the same day. There are locomotives and station facilities needed for the Qinnan Railway, a production line for a cement factory, and some lathes and grinders! (To be continued......)