As a great traverser and dictator, he naturally attaches great importance to intelligence work, especially when he is drawn to Russia's hatred.

Long before Li Yongji had people declare war on Russia, he asked people from the intelligence department to look for people from among the returned overseas Chinese in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Nanyang, and then found some people whose parents or ancestors were related to the colonial authorities to secretly develop into intelligence agents.

For these overseas Chinese, brainwashing is relatively easy, because they themselves live under Western colonial rule, but they have received mainly Chinese education, and the concept of nation and state is especially easy to understand.

This is also thanks to the fact that the FM radio stations that Li Yongji got can be digital radios, and they can talk directly, just like making a phone call, and they don't need to learn any Morse code, so the learning process is quite simple, and before the other party has the ability to crack and listen to their own radio, this is unsolvable.

After they have been instilled with sufficient patriotic education, and have learned how to operate FM radio communications, as well as basic intelligence acquisition and camouflage skills, these people will be released back into their hometowns, and either continue to do business in the local area, or enter the colonial authorities to do business, in short, use various identities to sneak up and gather local intelligence.

So far, there are three main places where intelligence collection abroad is strongest, the first is naturally Hong Kong, the second is Manila, and the third is Malacca.

These three port cities are all necessary places for the Russian and even European expeditionary fleets, after all, at this time, whether it is a sail warship or a steamship, the voyage is actually not too far, and it must stop at ports along the way for replenishment, and to attack China, these three ports are even more ports that cannot be crossed.

The role of these undercover informants. It is to closely monitor the movements of the enemy's fleet, and as soon as something is discovered, it will immediately use radio transmission equipment to transmit information to the rear.

Due to the distance, most of the bands used by the lurkers in these three places are medium-wave, which is the same as the bands used by the Hawaii station and the transit station in the United States.

However, of course, the lurkers can't blatantly raise the hot air balloon relay like the Hawaiian outposts, so in order to increase the signal transmission distance, these people usually make their home on high ground close to the port, which is not only higher ground. It is convenient to observe the port and is also conducive to signal propagation.

At the same time, they would erect a large telephone pole in their house with the flag of the local colonial authorities, such as in Hong Kong and Malacca, where the local intelligence officers would fly the British flag, and in Manila, the Spanish flag, but in reality. The flagpole is the signal transmitting antenna.

In the case of medium-wave communication, in this environment that is not polluted by a large number of radios, medium-wave communication does not rely on sky waves, but only on ground waves. The communication distance is also quite long, especially in the ocean, and the three places of Malacca-Manila-Hong Kong are connected in a line, and all three can send and receive signals while acting as a relay station. They can reinforce each other's relays, so when they are finally transmitted back to the headquarters in Suzhou, the communication situation in all places is quite clear and intact. It's not so stereo at best.

However, for the sake of secrecy, and in order to make the signal transmission clearer, unless it is particularly urgent, most of the time when transmitting information by radio AC is at night, because at night, whether it is medium wave or short wave, the transmission is very clear.

It was through these intelligence agents and the digital radio stations they carried that enabled Li Yongji to grasp first-hand information and try his best to know the enemy's planes first.

What Li Yongji didn't expect was that in just two months, the vanguard of the British-French-Russian combined fleet arrived at the port of Malacca, and the speed was quite fast, almost comparable to a communications sailboat, and this means that at most, this fleet will officially come to China.

Although this army came a little earlier than Li Yongji expected, Li Yongji was not worried about this at this time, because after such a long time, Li Yongji was not idle, and his preparations were also good.

The first is the most important Wusongkou, which has long been secretly fortified with the construction of two new fully enclosed forts made of reinforced concrete, and a large number of artillery pieces have been placed on both sides.

Among them, there are 12 WA021 155-mm howitzers and 36 Type 86 152-mm cannons, all of which can easily hit targets at a distance of 30 kilometers.

Not only that, the fort is also equipped with an advanced fire control system, which not only has optical aiming, but also radar aiming, which can timely and accurately transmit back the enemy's numbers within 50 kilometers, and then use its range advantage to carry out over-the-horizon concentrated fire strikes against targets 20 kilometers away.

It can be said that with these artillery, coupled with an advanced fire control system, Wusongkou is already impregnable, although it is not possible to deal with a modern fleet, but it is still a small matter to deal with sailing ships in the mid-nineteenth century.

Of course, it's naturally not interesting to just be passive defense, in fact, these cannons are installed at Wusongkou, just in case, after all, Jiangnan is the essence of the Chinese Empire, and there is no room for failure.

Li Yongji's real weapon is the navy, yes, it is the navy that has been established for less than a year!

Although the Imperial Army's navy was established less than a year ago, it was basically unknown to outsiders, and it didn't seem to have any achievements to boast about, but in fact the merits of this force were not small.

Not to mention the exploits of the frogman troops in blowing up the combined British and French fleet, it is said that in the battle of attacking Nanjing, this fleet played a significant role, at least it effectively cooperated with the attack of the siege troops and strengthened the covering firepower of the attacking troops.

At present, the only military port and naval base of the Imperial Navy is Jiaxing Port, and on the surface, it seems that the only ones that can really fight head-on with the foreign powers are three cruisers converted from flying clippers bought from the Americans.

As for the two civilian submarines and the frogman troops, they were not known to outsiders because they could not see the light, so this unit could only carry out sneak attacks, and could not fight head-on, and it was of little use in improving the morale of the people.

Now, the Weiyuan and the Dingyuan have gone to the United States with the righteous king Li Yongchang, and it seems that the only ship left in China is the Zhenyuan, which is said to have a caliber of only 76 mm and not many guns, which seems to be quite thin. Not at all an opponent of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

As for the British and French fleets, I'm sorry, they are all troop carriers, helping to transport troops and playing soy sauce, and they are not responsible for fighting against China.

On the surface, there is a huge gap between China and Russia in terms of navy, so the original intention of the Russian expeditionary force is to use its naval superiority to occupy Zhoushan Island as an advance base, and then the troops will rest for a while, and then under the cover of the fleet. Break through Wusongkou and land directly in Shanghai.

After landing in Shanghai, the 30,000-strong army first took Shanghai, and then directly attacked Suzhou, and finally defeated Suzhou, the capital of the Chinese Empire, and forced the Chinese Empire to submit.

In their opinion, no matter how large the number of troops of the Chinese Empire was, it was vulnerable to the bombardment of naval artillery, and it was not difficult to take Shanghai. As long as the army lands, with the strength of 30,000 Russian troops, it is very easy to capture Suzhou.

The plan is simple and the feasibility is high. Only the real strength of the Imperial Army was not calculated.

In fact, not to mention that the combat effectiveness of the Russian units in the army is far behind that of the Chinese Imperial Army, even in the navy, they do not have an advantage.

The protection and attack power of the Wusongkou Fort are not mentioned. In fact, the Imperial Navy is now much stronger than the half-crippled Baltic Fleet of Russia.

Indeed, in terms of the current number of warships, the Chinese Imperial Army does not have an advantage. The only warship that really weighed 2,000 tons was the Zhenyuan, a sail warship converted from an American merchant ship.

But in fact, not to mention that the Zhenyuan itself is already a modernized and modified ironclad ship, not to mention the submarine force and frogman special team that are not known to outsiders, and other ships alone are not something that the Russian army can bear.

This is not talking about the five green-eyebrow sailboats that have been refitted in their early 300 tons, but a modern frigate that Li Yongji has just installed!

This frigate is mostly a retired Type 037 frigate purchased by Zhang Xinda from China, also called a Hainan-class frigate!

At Zhang Xinda's request, the retired Hainan-class frigate removed complex weapon systems such as depth charges and sonar, and retained a domestically produced digital integrated fire control system with optical fire control and radar fire control.

The actual combat armament has two Type 66 twin 57-mm main ship guns with a maximum firing range of 12 km; two Type 69 twin 30-mm auxiliary naval guns with an effective firing range of 3334 meters; Two triple 533-mm torpedo launchers, armed with 6 acoustic self-guided Russian-made 53-65KE anti-ship torpedoes, have an effective launch range of 18 km.

The frigate's powertrain has been optimized, with four diesel engines still running at 13,000 horsepower, with a maximum speed of 32 knots and a speed of 2,000 nautical miles at 14 knots. At the same time, it is also equipped with an electric remote control device, which can realize remote control control, which effectively reduces the intensity of the on-duty work of the engineer soldiers.

In addition, the ship was also equipped with night vision equipment and computer equipment to enhance its night combat capabilities, and after a series of modifications, the frigate had a displacement of 420 tons and a crew of 72 people.

This ship was secretly returned to Jiaxing Port a month ago and released in Jiaxing Port, that is to say, it has been secretly launched for a month, and the relevant seaworthiness training has also been carried out for a month.

Although the tonnage of this ship is far inferior to that of the Zhenyuan, it is a proper steel battleship, and it has excellent night combat ability, coupled with modern naval guns and torpedoes, facing a mid-nineteenth-century battleship, it is like bullying a child.

Because the surface of this ship is all warship gray, these two ships were used and named Gray Arrow No. 1, which is defined as a frigate, which is specifically responsible for cooperating with the Zhenyuan, and once the naval battle begins, these two ships are the main force of frontal combat.

Li Yongji believed that the Zhenyuan could reach a speed of 20 knots without sails, coupled with the fierce fire of the 76mm Otto guns and the accurate fire with a maximum range of 20 kilometers and an effective range of 9,000 meters, it would be no problem to defeat the backward wooden sail warships of the Baltic Fleet.

Li Yongji had already inquired about it, and the combat distance of naval artillery warfare during this period was actually very short, and it was basically impossible to speak of it if it exceeded 3,000 meters, so the combat distance of the capital ships of various navies was actually between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, and it was rare for them to open fire from 3,000 meters away.

For example, in the First Opium War, the 24-pounder naval guns of the British capital battleships generally reached a caliber of more than 148 mm, but the effective firing distance was only 1,200 meters, and the maximum firing range was no more than 1,800 meters.

As for those 32-pounder guns and even 42-pounder guns, the firing range does not exceed 1600 meters, and the maximum firing range does not exceed 2000 meters, and they are all front-loading guns.

The latest Armstrong naval guns produced by Britain are stronger, and the effective range can reach more than 2,000 meters, but the number is small, and the range is more than 2,000 and basically has no accuracy, so before the emergence of new ranging methods and salvo tactics, the main emphasis is on power.

That is, the Armstrong cannon became famous because it was made of pure steel, not pig iron or bronze, and it was a rear-loading gun, so it was lighter, faster and more powerful, but in terms of firing range, it was not too noticeably improved.

If you want to fundamentally change the power and firing distance of artillery, you must first make a breakthrough in steel, and although Britain is now strong in industry, it is mainly because of the high output of pig iron, for steelmaking, it is still a relatively primitive crucible steelmaking method, and the low output is pitiful, which is completely different from the nature of Li Yongji's steelmaking plant.

The real development of the steelmaking industry, if according to the normal history, but also after 1864, the Frenchman Martin invented the real regenerative open-hearth steelmaking method, then the real steel will develop greatly, it is because of this milestone method, so for a long time, the open-hearth steelmaking furnace is called Martin furnace.

In short, after the breakthrough of open-hearth steelmaking technology, the quality of steel will get better and better, the output will be more and more, and the power of artillery will also make great strides.

Of course, the number of Armstrong guns is very small, and only Britain has a small amount of equipment, and the Russian fleet, the guns of the capital ships are mainly 24-pounder naval guns with a caliber of about 148 mm, and they are all front-loading guns, and there is no ironclad, no matter how many such ships are, if you encounter a modified ironclad ship like Zhenyuan and a modern warship like Gray Arrow No. 1, unless luck goes against the sky, otherwise the Chinese Empire has no reason to lose!

In short, in order to meet the Russian Expeditionary Force, or the British-French-Russian Joint Intervention Army, Li Yongji has made complete preparations in intelligence, land warfare, naval warfare, etc., if they don't come, once they come, don't think about leaving, and through this war, Li Yongji can make the newborn Chinese Empire tempered in the war and rise in victory!

In order to make a nation rise, it is not only the way to awaken after being beaten, there is another way, that is, to awaken in victory and fanaticism after beating others! (To be continued......)