Chapter 9

Incheon, located at the mouth of the Han River, is called Jemulpo in North Korea, but it is called Incheon in the mouth of the Chinese, which is the custom of hundreds of years, since the "Jemulpo Treaty" between Japan and North Korea, Incheon, as a treaty port, is not only a port of call for each China at the request of France, Germany, the United States and other countries, but also gathers the concessions of various countries, but such as the British and French concessions are different here, the largest and most prosperous in Incheon is the Chinese Concession and the Japanese Concession.

The Chinese influence on Incheon can be glimpsed from the laborers in the port, most of the laborers on the Jemulpo wharf are Chinese laborers from Shandong, and these laborers from Shandong carry heavy goods on and off the ship every day, and it is the survival of these Chinese laborers that prospered the Incheon concession.

On this day, the Incheon Chinese Concession was very lively, and the Jewupo Chinese businessmen Feng Zisen, Gongchengfu Xiong Tingguang, Zhaokang Zhu, as well as Yi Baojing and others from the Guangbang, were all standing on the wharf, all looking eager, and even together with the workers on the wharf, they also poked their necks to look at the sea.

The reason why everyone is like this is not because of anything else, but because this is the day when the new Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs of the DPRK, Tang Haoran, and his entourage arrived in Incheon, accompanied by four large warships of the Beiyang Naval Division!

Perhaps for overseas Chinese in Nanyang and other places, they could not appreciate the role of warships, but the Chinese businessmen who enjoyed the status of "people in the kingdom of heaven" in Korea fully appreciated the role of warships.

Recently, the two warships of the Orientals, the Naniwa and the Takachiho, were moored in the berthing area of the Japanese concession in Incheon Port, which really made those Orientals proud, but now it is the four large warships of the Beiyang that are about to arrive in Incheon, including the two ships "Dingyuan and Zhenyuan".

With the imperial court supporting their waists here, how can these Chinese businessmen be unhappy, as for those laborers, even if they don't do business or trade, but when they see the big warships of the imperial court coming, their hearts are also hot, and their eyebrows are full of eyebrows.

"It's coming, it's coming!"

Sun Yiren, who was standing on the dock pile, looked at the several smoke trails that appeared in the sky, and suddenly shouted excitedly, everyone looked in the direction of his finger, but no, several smoke trails sailed towards Incheon separately, if the merchant ship is often only one, there is naturally only one smoke trail, and now there are several smoke trails, which is naturally the warship that escorted Lord Tang to take office.

"It's good now, the imperial court attaches so much importance to Lord Tang's appointment, and has sent four large military ships to escort it, and we Chinese businessmen can go sideways in this place!"

Xiong Tingguang was talking, his face was full of joy, although he only came to Incheon once or twice a year, but Gong Chengfu's semicolon was based in Incheon, what did Gong Chengfu rely on to do business in Incheon, it was naturally the support of the minister stationed in the DPRK, this Lord Tang took office, but it was much more beautiful than Lord Yuan.

But no, since ancient times, there have been four warships to support, but he obviously forgot a little, this sent warships to Incheon, not for Tang Haoran, but to demonstrate to the Japanese, a while ago "Tanaka case", the imperial court intended to send warships to Inchon to declare suzerainty, but because of various matters, it has been delayed until now, Tang Haoran is just a coincidence.

But no one knows what price Tang Haoran paid for this "coincidence" - 50,000 taels of silver were sent to the Navy Yamen and the Navy Office.

On the bridge of the "Naniwa", the newest cruiser of the Japanese Navy, Hidematsu Tsunoda, who had a solemn expression, looked through the telescope at the fleet that was getting closer and closer, and his expression became more and more solemn, especially when he saw the figures of the two combat ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", his brows became even more sad.

As a naval officer, he was unaware of the gap between the Japanese navy and the Qing navy, and of course he was well aware of Japan's "bluff" in the Qing country's struggle for Korea......

"Your Excellency, this, how is this good!"

Yama Hondachi, the consul stationed in Incheon, who was also standing on the bridge, looked at the two battleships that were getting closer and closer, his expression was full of nervousness, and he even sweated in his palms.

But now, the Qing sent four huge ships to swear suzerainty, but it was completely beyond his expectations, and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was silent, compared to Japan, the Qing State is like a giant, maybe Japan can despise the Qing State, but no one dares to underestimate the power of the Qing State, the Qing State may not be able to defeat the Western powers, but if it is against Japan, Japan has almost no hope of winning.

"What to do, naturally it is to raise the flag to welcome them!"

But it was only a moment before Hidematsu Tsunoda made a rational choice - to raise the national flag and pay tribute to the Beiyang Navy.

"My lord, the Japanese ship has raised the national flag and saluted us!"

On the bridge of the "Gao Sheng", Su Yueyang's words made Tang Haoran look towards the Naniwa, four years later in history, it was the Naniwa and other Japanese ships that started the Battle of Toshima with a sneak attack, but history is such a coincidence, today the strength of the Beiyang Naval Division sent four ships to Korea to declare suzerainty, "by the way" to escort himself to the post, but he took the "Gao Sheng".

"Raise the flag and salute Lord Liu and the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division!"

On the "Dingyuan" hanging the flag of the general army, Liu Buyun only smiled slightly when he saw the flag from the "Gaosheng", the fleet escorted Tang Haoran to take office, but it was just by the way, then Tang Haoran walked a lot for this by the way, from the Navy Yamen to the Navy Office, all the roads were exhausted, and in the end he even asked for Lord Zhongtang, Zhongtang nodded, how could the big guy not cooperate.

"Anyway, isn't this navy just to cheer for officials stationed abroad!"

In his heart, Liu Buyun commanded the fleet to sail to the berth, different from the "Gaosheng" docking, because of the depth of the wharf, the fleet will make the berth, in the "Dingyuan", Zhenyuan, and when sailing to the berth, Tsunoda Hidematsu on the Naniwa looked at the thick soot spewed out from the chimneys of the four ships, but his face raised a little contempt.

"The Qing State does things, come quickly, only know how to buy ships, but do not know how to raise ships, warships are not merchant ships, even if they do not use Welsh anthracite, how can they be used for bituminous coal, bituminous coal sulfur ash damage machine qì, Qing government, ah......"

In addition to that sigh, when he looked at the four warships, his face was full of pity, and he regretted that the Qing government did its best to reduce the military expenditure of the Beiyang Navy, so that the impoverished Beiyang Navy could only use Kaiping coal as fuel, while Kaiping coal was bituminous coal, although bituminous coal could be used as fuel for warships, but because of the low calorific value of bituminous coal, high sulfur content, and large ash content, the navies of various countries did not necessarily use bituminous coal, but used anthracite coal, and in wartime they used briquettes for naval ships (1).

For example, the Naniwa uses anthracite lump coal from the country's Takashima coal mine, not inferior bituminous coal. In order to protect the boiler machine. Although there was some contempt on his face, he still trembled slightly in his heart when he looked at the steel armor cannons of the two ships in Nadingzhen, for no other reason, in the naval battle, the role of coal was nothing more than sufficient power and inconspicuous smoke, and the real decisive role was the thickness of the armor and the size of the naval guns, which was precisely what the Japanese Navy lacked.

When Hidematsu Tsunoda was observing the Beiyang Navy here, Tang Haoran was observing the two Japanese warships in the harbor with great interest on the "Gao Sheng".

"Yo drink, this Japanese is also drying clothes on the ship!"

Looking at the clothes on both sides of the Japanese warship and on the mast rope, Tang Haoran's whole person suddenly became excited, in later generations, didn't the Chinese people pass on some main guns to dry clothes, keep pets, and even take it as evidence that the military discipline of the Beiyang Navy Division is not strict, now it's good, the Japanese Navy is not like this.

Just as he was about to ask someone to take a photo with his camera as a souvenir, Su Yueyang on the side hurriedly whispered.

"My lord, this ship is not more than land, and the internal space of the warship is narrow, and the steaming ship is also equipped with a large number of equipment, in order to prevent the water vapor from dissipating in the cabin and affecting people's health, but also out of fear of water vapor emission, it will lead the machine to rust for the sake of corrosion, drying clothes are carried out in the open air on the deck of the ship, the usual practice is to dry on the ship's railing, canopy posts, and there are also a lot of clothes directly connected to the flag rope and raised to the height of the mast, which is a common ,......practice in the navies of all countries."

Su Yueyang's explanation made Tang Haoran just smile casually,

"I know that the captain will also order the clothes to be dried in a centralized manner, but I don't know that, but it's just a joke!"

After making amends, the ship had already docked in the harbor, and looking at the crowded crowd of welcome people on the dock, Tang Haoran commanded towards Su Yueyang.

"You also put on a new military uniform, let's let the Koreans and the Japanese see our new army today!"

As he spoke, Tang Haoran's eyes fell on the cruiser "Naniwa" and said with a solemn expression.

"If we want to gain a foothold in North Korea, we can't rely on the Beiyang Navy alone, in the final analysis, we still have to rely on ourselves!"

After this whisper, Tang Haoran walked out of the bridge, and when he entered the cabin again, he looked at Shang Dequan, who had changed into a new military uniform, and his expression was also extremely excited, and the moment he saw Lord Tang, Shang Dequan hurriedly performed a military salute, this military salute is different from the German style, nor the British style, but the military salute taught by Lord Tang when he was in Dagu.

"My lord, we are ready, and we can disembark at any time!"

(1) In the mid-to-late 19th century, the steam engines of the navies of various countries did not use traditional lump coal, but the mechanism "briquette", which was developed as a high-efficiency coal for ship fuel. At that time, things that were mixed and pressed with coal powder were collectively called "briquettes". The Kaiping coal used by the Beiyang Navy Division was bituminous coal, and billowing black smoke came out when it was burned (later Ding Ruchang and Zhang Yixin, the general office of the Kaiping Mine, mentioned that "the coal dust is scattered, the smoke is heavy and the ash is heavy, and it is difficult to show strength", in fact, Kaiping sold good coal, on the other hand, because its coal is bituminous coal and has not been made briquette).

In 1894 (Meiji 27), Takeda of the Ministry of the Navy began to study countermeasures against black smoke emitted from warships, and found that the anthracite dust produced in Yamaguchi Prefecture's "Omine Tanzan" (Ube Tantan) could be used to make charcoal for warships. This is known as the "Navy's Horned Charcoal". Because lump coal was not convenient for warships to use as fuel, during the Russo-Japanese War, in addition to importing high-calorific value Welsh anthracite, Admiral Gonbei Yamamoto opened the Tokuyama Tantan Factory, which produces high-quality angle charcoal, in Japan.

(I haven't responded to everyone's questions in the discussion forum for several days, there are too many things for a while, and I have worked overtime until now, and there is an explanation in the novel about the stabbing - it is to train the courage of the soldiers, the courage to dare to see the red with the bayonet, the bayonet cannot defeat the tank, but the troops who dare to see the red with the bayonet, at least in courage and will, are tenacious, which is exactly what the Qing army does not have.)

And then there are the braids, the time when the protagonist is in 1890, not 1900, not 1910, Zhang Zhidong makes the protagonist grow his hair and keep braids, does the protagonist have to say "no" in order to show his courage? And then you can't go to officialdom, change your career to make a revolution? Even if you incite revolution, you have to make people think that you are yourself! A fake foreign devil leads everyone to make a revolution? Can the people accept it? Don't forget, the underground party needs more disguise.

Besides, Concubine Min, born in 1859, is 31 years old, and the North Korea of that meeting is not the current South Korea, that age...... The protagonist is only in his twenties, a proper little fresh meat! PS: Thank you all for your continued support, please recommend! ）