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[222] Last words

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! The Chinese fleet of the British Empire was ambushed by the revolutionary army on the Yangtze River, and six warships were sunk! ”

Inside and outside the Shanghai Concession, barefoot newsboys hung wooden sticks around their necks, ropes tied to both ends of the sticks, and ropes hung around their necks, running and shouting desperately around the teahouses and wine shops.

Xinmin Evening News, as a newspaper secretly and vigorously funded by Yao Fan, has now begun to take shape with the help of the Merris & Co., with 30 handmade mimeographing machines and more than 10 workers who are specially responsible for engraving wax paper, and more than 80 workers in the printing workshop.

Because Xinmin Evening News has Yao Fan's funding and has such an artifact as a handmade mimeograph machine, although the way of engraving wax paper cannot be very high in terms of printing quality, compared with the pricing of several other newspapers in Shanghai for five coppers and one eight-open paper, the "Xinmin Evening News" for one copper and one eight-open paper is sold extremely cheaply, and two single-sided printing of eight sheets only sells for two coppers.

Due to the support of Yao Fan in Xinmin Evening News, it always constantly publishes first-hand current affairs news from the north, and the German fast sailing ship from Qingdao to Shanghai travels between the two places every day, bringing news back to Shanghai in a steady stream. There are jokes, novels, and poems given by Yao Fan as a content provider in the evening newspaper, Yao Fan comes from the 21st century of information explosion, and the concept of running a newspaper is of course a big cut off from all the media in this year, after his guidance, "Xinmin Evening News" even has an entertainment version and a marriage world, of course, advertising is indispensable.

Due to the advanced concept and flexible and fast printing methods, the daily sales of "Xinmin Evening News" have exceeded 10,000 copies. The sales network covers the entire Jiangnan region, and even the clippers sent to Guangzhou every day will bring hundreds of copies of the "Xinmin Evening News" to the south for sale, and the newspaper is now able to take care of its own profits and losses. Every day, there is an endless stream of people who come to the newspaper office to advertise.

The news published in today's "Xinmin Evening News" is undoubtedly explosive, and it is simply inconceivable for the Chinese people that the gang of "revolutionary army" anti-thieves in the north were able to sink a British warship in the Yangtze River, and they also sank six of them in one go. The big guys are talking one after another, thinking that this Great Qing Kingdom is not only going to be finished, but it should be finished.

In the streets and alleys of the Shanghai Concession, people bought newspapers and then ran to tell each other, gathered in groups to read newspapers together, and discussed current affairs.

"Master Liu, have you read the newspaper? The British have all suffered defeat! This Qing Kingdom seems to be coming to an end. ”

"But isn't it, I heard that the revolutionary army has millions of people, swept through the Gyeonggi River, Henan and Hebei, and now it has entered Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and half of China's land has fallen into their hands, can the Great Qing Kingdom not be finished?"

"Cough, what I'm talking about is that the revolutionary army is very powerful, not only can it fight on land, but the sailors are also tough, you read today's newspaper, the British warships are actually all in the Yangtze River, how powerful do you say these revolutionary armies should be, the generals and admirals in it, I'm afraid they are all three-headed and six-armed!"

"If this is true, it is indeed powerful enough, then when did the British warship dare to be touched by the Qing Kingdom? One by one, the commander-in-chief of the commander-in-chief was a guerrilla, and when they saw British warships and sailors, they were like mice seeing cats, and they wanted me to say that this revolutionary army really gave the Chinese a long face. ”

"Hey, it's not, you see, there is an editorial in this issue of the evening newspaper that reprints the "People's Daily" in the north, which was written by the master in the north himself!"

"I know the editorial, that's the top article in the newspaper, right? The lord in the north wrote an article again? Bring it to me and read it. ”

"British imperialism is a paper tiger" ............"

Yao Fan's article was born out of Taizu's speech in 1956, and the original text was, of course, US imperialism, but when it came to Yao Fan, it became British imperialism.

"All oppressed nations must be independent."

"There will be changes in one qiē. The great forces of decay will give way to the small forces of the new, and the forces of British imperialism will become smaller.

Now British imperialism is strong, not really strong. It is politically weak, because it is divorced from the broad masses of the working people, it oppresses the working people, and no one likes it, and neither does the British people.

I think Britain is a paper tiger. The appearance is very strong, in fact, it is not terrible, it looks like a tiger on the outside, but it is made of paper, and it can't withstand the wind and rain. ”

"When we say that British imperialism is a paper tiger, we are strategically speaking. Take it as a whole lightly. From each part, it is important to pay attention to it. It has claws and teeth. To solve it, you have to come one by one. For example, it has ten teeth, and the first time it knocks out one, it still has nine, and if it knocks out another one, it still has eight. The teeth are knocked out, and it still has claws. Do it carefully step by step, and you will always succeed in the end. ”

"Strategically, completely disdain it. Tactically, value it. To fight against it, one by one, one by one, we must pay attention to it. Britain is now powerful, but on a broad scale, as a whole, and in the long run, it is unpopular, its policies are disliked by all countries in the world, and it oppresses and exploits the people of all countries and nationalities all over the world. Because of this, the tiger must die. Since the people want to kill the tiger, the tiger will not live long, it is not terrible, and it can be despised for it. But Britain still has the strength, producing more than 700,000 tons of steel every year, and beating people everywhere. Therefore, the people of all countries in the world still have to fight against it, and they must fight hard, one position after another. This will take time. ”

"China overthrows the imperial system and does not engage in imperialism, so what does it want imperialism to do? The Chinese people do not want imperialism, and the people of the whole world do not want imperialism. There is no need for imperialism to exist. ”

Yao Fan's article published in the Xinmin Evening News spread all over the south of the Yangtze River, and the British naturally saw it.

The disastrous defeat of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy on the Yangtze River was the greatest loss suffered by the British Royal Navy in 300 years since the Battle of Britain and the Netherlands. Whether it was the War of the Spanish Succession, or the War of the Austrian Succession, or the American War of Independence, there was no such unexplained record of losing six ships! This almost buried half of the Chinese fleet! Although it was not destroyed by an enemy ship in a naval battle, this nest loss is unprecedented.

Baron Griging, commander of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy and captain of the light battleship USS Ellecourt, met the sailors and officers of the Yangtze River blockade detachment of the Chinese fleet at the headquarters of Jardine Matheson on the Bund in Shanghai, and asked three times in a row before he believed that he had really lost six warships overnight.

Griging scolded in frustration, anger, and anxiety: "You scum are a disgrace to Great Britain! I swear in the name of Her Majesty the Queen that I will send you to the gallows! ”

A sailor who jumped into the river to escape had a bitter face, and hurriedly took out a warhead with an exposed steel core from his trouser pocket in a panic, and presented it: "Your Majesty Baron, this is a Chinese bullet, it is this bullet that pierces the shell of the battleship, we have no safety in the ship, and the Chinese can beat our warship like a sieve from three hundred yards away." ”

Colonel Cox, who also escaped by jumping into the river, was lying on a stretcher, and spoke for the first time after being pulled by a carriage into the Shanghai headquarters of Jardine Matheson on the Bund: "General Gregin, these Beiyan are not ordinary Qing people, they are very powerful, their rifles do not even smoke when they fire, and all of them use a unified system of continuous firing rifles, I counted them, and it is obvious that each gun can hold at least ten rounds. ”

Griging looked indifferently and disgusted at Cox, who was lying on a stretcher in front of him, and had no mercy for his disgraced subordinate. But seeing that Cox was only half breathing, he could no longer express his displeasure in words.

Cox was covered with a gray and white homespun cloth that exposed only his eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and the homespun cloth was already yellow, even a little black, and the tissue fluid and blood oozing from the severe burns had soaked the homespun cloth. Such a burn process, with the medical ability of 1876, was already powerless.

"The Chinese artillery also has a very long range, even if they use an extremely burning shell, they can still fire at us at a long distance, and still can't see the smoke of the cannon, until all the ships are hit by the shells, and we don't find out where the Chinese artillery positions are."

They are a bunch of devils, their cannonballs come from hell, as long as they are hit, the flames will not stop, the fire will burn desperately, even if it falls on the river, it will still burn! General Griggin, I bet you've never seen a burning river, but I've seen it, after the Chinese shells explode on the water, they will still burn violently in the water for a long time, and where the shells fall, the water surface seems to be stirred by countless soup spoons, scorning white dazzling fire and steam.

When the shells landed on the Carmarthen, the whole ship was on fire, and the shells could have lit up a radius of about twenty yards, and I swear, even the chains on the ship were burning. No matter how much the sailors tried to put out the fire, there was no way to extinguish that! No one can extinguish it! Under the attachment of that infernal flame, the wood burned as fast as paper, and in the blink of an eye, it became a shattered black coal......"

Cox spoke slowly, hysterically muttering, but clearly described the terrible situation on the battleship, and the British sailors around him listened quietly, occasionally stretching out their index and middle fingers to swear at the ceiling:

"Swear to God, it's like this!"

"Swear to God, Colonel Cox is telling the truth!"

"Swear to God, it's hell."

……………………

Griging was also full of fear when he heard this, and asked with a grin: "Could it be that the Yankees have blocked the Yangtze River with artillery?" ”

Colonel Cox held back the pain all over his body and said weakly: "We must not send warships into the Yangtze River again, it will become a live target for Chinese artillery, and we must not let Her Majesty's warriors die in vain." ”

Griggin's voice became smaller: "The army has arrived in Shanghai, and the armies of all countries have arrived one after another, get ready to teach those bandits a lesson, Colonel Cox, you can't use your incompetence to drag down the glory of Great Britain, those yellow pigs are cowards, even if they have mysterious new weapons, they will run away in front of the brave and loyal soldiers of Her Majesty." ”

Cox had been talking for a long time, he was already dying, he tried his best to roll his eyes, it looked like a resurrected mummy, and he used his last strength to squeeze out the words before he died: "May God bless the Queen......"

With that, Cox closed his eyes, and saw that it was not going to work. He persevered all the way, with the assistance of the escaped sailors and the Qing Green Battalion, to make it to Shanghai, just to inform Griging of the first-hand combat information he had obtained.