The Ryukyus were now the territory of the Tohoku Autonomous Region, so Yan Fu's fleet was more often stationed on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyus, where there were the docks of the Great Merchants. At first, I went north to the sea off Kagoshima in Kyushu and south to the Babuyan Islands in the northern waters of Luzon. However, they did not encounter the French fleet, and the French did not know that such a fleet existed.

After Yan Fu's fleet went south, after all, many new warships were added, so it has been conducting exercises in the waters outside the Dashang Military Port, and the focus is to familiarize itself with the airship command and attack system. Although these things have been learned in the maritime academy, they are all relatively basic things. But it's one thing to learn it, it's another thing to use it. Wang Yi also didn't want the untrained fleet to come out to fight.

By the beginning of September 1884, the system was barely operational. However, at this time, the Fujian Navy Division had been completely destroyed, and the Keelung artillery battle was over. Now Yan Fu has begun to move westward, and he is hanging the flag of the Great Shang Navy. It's late, but you should be able to eat a full meal.

Before coming to Taiwan, Liu Mingchuan met with Guangxu and Cixi first, and then the head of the military aircraft, Prince Yixun, also met with him. After these things were done, Liu Mingchuan met with his old superior, Li Hongzhang, again.

"My lord, I haven't seen you for many years, I've always been fine, and I've given you a salute." Liu Ming passed on Li Hongzhang to bow down, and the two also had revolutionary feelings.

"Save three, hurry up." Li Hongzhang smiled and pulled Liu Mingchuan up.

After the two sat down, they gossiped for a while, and then put it on the topic.

"Province 3 is going to Taiwan, the road is difficult, pay attention to safety in everything."

"Don't worry, sir."

Li Hongzhang handed Liu Mingchuan a list at this time, and said: "You don't have any manpower now, and you don't have guns and ammunition, these are also a farewell gift for you to practice." ”

"Thank you, sir."

In fact, Li Hongzhang is quite interesting, from the Ming army of Zhili, Liu Mingchuan's fellow clan, Liu Shengxiu's 10th battalion selected 100 people to teach land exercises, 30 people to teach artillery teams, and 4 people to teach mines, a total of 134 people. Together with more than ten generals such as the old generals of the Ming Army and the named Admiral Wang Guiyang, they were handed over to Liu Mingchuan to take to Taiwan as the backbone of the resistance. At the same time, Lao Li also promised to raise 3,000 new Mauser rear-loading rifles, which were fully equipped with ammunition and sent to Taiwan. In addition, Zeng Guoquan, Minister of Nanyang, funded 10 front-loading cannons, 20 rear-loading small cannons, and dozens of mines for Keelung's defense. Li Hongzhang also agreed to coordinate the budget of 400,000 taels of silver proposed by Liu Jueshuai to purchase effective guns and artillery in Shanghai for the purpose of renovating Taiwan's original fort system.

After the two talked for a while, when they were about to part, Li Hongzhang finally instructed: "Province three, now that your troops are weak, you can abide by the rules in Taiwan, and you can't be reluctant to fight for this desperate bet. ”

Liu Mingchuan understood that Li Hongzhang told him not to touch the stones with eggs!

This time to go to Taiwan, the French have now blocked the Taiwan Strait, how to get there has become a problem. Nominally, Liu Mingchuan assisted Zeng Guoquan to participate in the negotiations, but when the French reacted, Liu Mingchuan, who should have been at the negotiation table, had already secretly crossed Chen Cangdi to Keelung.

Taiwan's garrison now has a total of 40 battalions, and the full number of troops should be 20,000, but the Qing court's army has not been fully established, so there are only 16,500 people at present. It is under the unified command of Liu Xuan, the military commander of Taiwan. Although Liu Xuan is also a capable minister, this is only within the scope of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. But if you put it in the world, or in front of the French, you will be completely outdated!

Liu Xuan placed 31 battalions of the 40 battalions of the garrison in Taiwan in Tainan, because this is the essence of the island of Taiwan. In the Taipei area, only three battalions of Sun Kaihua and six battalions of Cao Zhizhong were released, and Lord Liu ran Tainan all the year round and refused to invest a penny more in Taipei's defense expenses. As the most important fortification in Taipei, Keelung Fort only has five Armstrong 170mm guns, and it can only defend the front and cannot respond to the enemy's side attack.

Liu Mingchuan has every reason to question Liu Xuan's ability, and Li Hongzhang's evaluation is even more unkind: "Taiwan's Liu Dao can handle bandits, military arrangements, and I have not heard of the strategy." "To put it simply, it is an expert in the civil war and an outsider in the foreign war. The French are interested in Taiwan, not because of the grain in Tainan, but because of the coal mines in Keelung. What kind of excitement did the coal mines in Keelung make the French people feel about? Aside from the abundant coal reserves, the coal seams are so close to the surface that in some places it is even possible to dig coal by simply peeling off the surface of the plant layer.

Because of Liu Xuan's survival, the thirty-one battalions in Tainan were not under Liu Mingchuan's control, and the troops in his hands were only Taipei and a few battalions that came from reinforcements, totaling about 5,000 people.

But before Liu Mingchuan could calmly arrange, on August 3, 1884, only 15 days after Liu Mingchuan arrived in Taiwan, Lisby, deputy commander of the French Far East Fleet, had already led three warships to appear murderously off the coast of Keelung. The number of troops is not much, and there is a small ironclad ship in California, which is of the same class as the Triumph, which was sunk by the Great Merchant in Nagasaki. A cruiser from the colony Vera and a gunboat from Rutin, which also took part in the Battle of Nagasaki, but escaped by Shunlì. A total of forty-seven large and small guns. Among them, there were six 240mm heavy guns, seventeen 138mm guns, eight 100mm guns, and eighteen Habekaisi machine guns, and a total of 688 sailors on the three warships.

Although the French were outnumbered, they had an absolute advantage in firepower at that time.

On August 4, 1884, the next day, Lisby sent a note to the Keelung defenders, asking them to hand over the Keelung fortifications to the French army. The defenders ignored them as they should, and the battle began on August 5, 1884.

The duration of the artillery battle was not long, it was only an hour. At this time, the Keelung Fort had become a pile of rubble, the fort was in flames, the ammunition depot was blown up, and the building collapsed, causing more than 60 casualties of the Qing army, and then it was forced to retreat. The French La California was hit by three shots, but it was not strict, and there were no casualties in France.

After the Keelung Fort was blown into ruins, Lisby began to lead the Marines to land and easily occupied the high ground in Keelung Harbor.

When the news reached the ears of the French negotiator, Baderno, he immediately raised his toes. In fact, no matter whether it is Lone Pull or Lisby, no one thought that this was just a trap laid by Liu Mingchuan, showing the enemy weakness and luring the enemy to take the bait.

"If you don't tempt them to fight on land, it's not enough to break the enemy."

Before the war, Liu Mingchuan made an analysis of the strength of both the enemy and us. The greatest advantage of the French was in the naval artillery firepower, which had an asymmetrical strike capability against the defenders. As long as the French warships remained about a thousand meters from the coast, they did not have to pay attention to the Chinese artillery shells. Therefore, Liu Mingchuan decided to abandon the beachhead, avoid the superior naval artillery fire of the French army, and saw that the French land forces were thin, so only about 300 people came to control the beachhead. If you want to go deep inland, you are looking for death.

Liu Mingchuan laid a three-way ambush in the mountains behind the Keelung beachhead, waiting for the French marines, who had no artillery support and weak troops, to drill into this pocket. Cao Zhizhong's main force of the 6th Battalion was responsible for frontal interception. Zhang Gaoyuan and Su Desheng's elite soldiers raided the left flank of the French army from the east. Deng Chang'an's pro-army squad was responsible for attacking the French right flank from the west.

Lisby, who hadn't read the Thirty-six Strategies and didn't know Sun Tzu's Art of War, of course didn't expect Liu Mingchuan to have so many fancy intestines. For the glory of France, in order to implement the fighting spirit of Prime Minister Joffrey and the commander-in-chief, it was necessary to occupy Keelung as a hostage, so that the negotiator Badno could sit on the ground and raise the price, and Lisby led his troops to begin to capture the entire Keelung area. It's okay to talk about it at the front, but as soon as you enter the mountains, you are immediately attacked by the Qing army. At this time, because of the barrier of the mountain, the French fire bubble support could not exert any power, so Lisby became a lone army. However, he still escaped, and in fact there was not much loss, but two people were killed and eleven people were wounded.

A Keelung victory that is not comparable to the death toll of car accidents in later generations! Even so, it did achieve a certain deterrent effect, and Guba did not dare to simply attack Keelung, this Liu Mingchuan calmly carried out military deployment, and won valuable time.

Taiwan has quieted down, and Fujian has begun to make new moves, which is really a wave of unsettled, wave after wave!

In July, Zhang Peilun came to Fujian to take charge of maritime affairs, and at this time, the main force of the defense force stationed in Mawei, Fujian was the Fujian Shipbuilding Naval Division under the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Administration, which was actually the factory escort fleet of the Shipping Bureau, and the Green Camp Naval Division stationed at the intersection of the Minjiang River, the Wulong River, and the Majiang River, and then there were the garrison troops stationed in Fuzhou City and the forts at the mouth of the Sanjiang River.

The Fujian Shipyard and Naval Division included: the second-class wood-ribbed wood-hulled unprotected cruiser Yangwu, the small wood-ribbed wood-hulled gunboats Fuxing and Yixin, two iron-ribbed and steel-hulled Randolph gunboats purchased from the British, namely Fusheng and Jiansheng, and the transport ships Chenhang and Yongbao. Ten small gunboats each equipped with seven or eight old breech guns, two large sailing boats carrying a total of 300 soldiers, seven motorized pole mineboats, a number of oar-rod mineboats, more than 20 fishing boats loaded with water warriors, and a number of fire attack boats. In addition, by the end of July, He Ruzhang had transferred back the large wood-ribbed wood-hulled gunboat Fubo, the small wood-ribbed wood-hulled gunboat Zhenwei, and eight old-style sailor ships. The Ji'an, which was transferred to Liangjiang, and the Feiyun, which was transferred to Liangguang, were also transferred back to Fujian.

Regarding the warships of the Fujian Naval Division, because of the expensive reason for raising ships. The Qing court could not afford to pay for the silver, so these warships built by Mawei were generally used for both military and commercial purposes. In war, it is a warship, and in normal times, it is responsible for running and transporting goods. The large gunboats Fubo, Ji'an, and Feiyun are armed transport ships for both military and commercial purposes, and they are equipped with large cargo holds, which virtually reduces the combat effectiveness of the warships. The displacement of the gunboats Fuxing, Yixin, and Zhenwei is less than 600 tons, 515 tons, 245 tons, and 572 tons respectively, and it is okay to deal with gunboats, but if it is used to attack cruisers and ironclads, it is dead. The Fusheng and Jiansheng are only suitable for guarding the water batteries of the estuary or Haikou with the cooperation of shore artillery, and their decisive battle ability is very poor. The only thing that can really be worthy of a war is the flagship Yangwu, with a large tonnage and many gun positions, 1 190mm main gun, 8 160mm secondary guns, and 2 100mm small guns.

In addition to the bottom of the combat power, the speed of the ships of the Fujian Navy Division was extremely slow, only the Yangwu reached 12 knots, and all the remaining ships were below 10 knots. In other words, as long as you can't beat it, it's a death, and you can't run away!

What's more, the ponytail was built under the guidance of the French, and it is completely transparent and no secret to the French.

The neighboring Nanyang naval divisions were stationed in Shanghai and Nanjing, and the reason why Yan Fu went to Mawei was because of Wang Yi's arrangement. However, although Wang Yi knows about this history, he doesn't remember the specific years and dates of the relevant events very clearly, and only knows that it was probably a few years. So he had Yan Fu take the fleet to wander around the entire southern region before. Unexpectedly, as soon as Yan Fu returned to Yingkou to meet the new ship, Mawei had an accident, and it was only a month or two.

At this time, there were many imperial court officials in Fuzhou, such as He Ruzhang, the Minister of Shipping of Fuzhou, Mu Tushan, the general of Fuzhou, He Jing, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Zhang Zhaodong, the governor of Fujian, etc., and the one who really presided over the overall situation was the former Zuo Governor Yushi who had just arrived on July 3, 1884, and was kicked by the old queen mother who was tired of listening to the chatter.

Zhang Peilun had asked He Jing about the whereabouts of the Nanyang Naval Division before, but He Jing didn't know either. Now even the Minister of Nanyang, Zeng Guoquan, does not know the whereabouts of Yan Fu's fleet. Because the fleet has never been to Shanghai and Nanjing, it has been cruising near Taiwan and the Ryukyus. Yan Fu has been to Fujian, but because the systems of the two sides are different, Yan Fu can't talk to the ministers above. They are often stationed for a few days, and after being reinforced, they leave.

After the victory at the Guanyin Bridge, the French negotiator Badeno threatened to resolve the issue by force.

Li Hongzhang was worried about this and said: "If you come from the north, Tianjin can still be supported, and if you go south, Taipei and Fuzhou are especially dangerous." Liu Xingsan left Shanghai for Taiwan yesterday afternoon, and he was even more uncertain about the enemy. So he immediately sent a war warning to the imperial court.

On the same day, Vice Admiral Pei Long, the French Naval Colony Minister, sent a telegram to the commander of the Far East Fleet: "Send all your available ships to Fuzhou and Keelung. Our intention is to hold these two ports as a hostage...... You can arrest Chinese ships who want to disrupt the Minjiang blockade to stop the shipment of wartime contraband. You can use force to stop a qiē combat readiness, especially the laying of mines, combat readiness is equal to an attack. ”

To put it simply, Pei Long's meaning is very clear, he wants to go to the mouth of the Fujian River to blockade the mouth of the Fujian River, instead of fighting.

On July 14, 1884, Gu Ba led a team from Shanghai with two ironclad ships, the Galizonian ironclad ship and the Victory ironclad ship. Four cruisers, the Woldda, the Dujuz Luin, the Ferrers, and the Destan. The gunboats included the Wildcat, the Rutin, the Baya, the Drake, and the Neve. In addition, there were two pole mineboats No. 45 and No. 46 and four small motor boats. Among them, the ironclad ship Lagalizonia, the cruiser Fellers, and the gunboat Lutin followed the deputy commander of the Far East Fleet, Lisby, to the surface of Keelung, and the rest of the large and small ships were taken to the sea off the Majiang River by Lone.

Leaving Shanghai, Guba led two gunboats that were the vanguard of ten warships, and arrived at the mouth of the Majiang River on the same day and entered the Minjiang River. By the 18th, two more gunboats had sailed into the Minjiang River, and both operations were not stopped by the Qing army. The reason is actually very simple, because Fuzhou has already become a treaty port in the "Treaty of Nanjing" signed after the First Opium War, and the merchant ships and warships of non-belligerent countries can enter and exit freely and berth.

The only people who could ignore the treaty and directly bombard French warships were bandits such as the Great Merchant Fleet under Wang's command. It's a pity that Yan Fu is not here now, so Fujian can only let it go.

From July 3, 1884 to August 23, 1884, France gave the adults in Fujian, headed by Zhang Peilun, fifty-one days. It took 40 days from the time he received the "war alert" from Li Hongzhang on 14 July to the start of the naval battle.

But they were all bound by a telegram that said, "If he does not move, I will not send it." In other words, the tone of Beijing City had been set long before Zhang Peilun arrived in Fuzhou. Even if Li Zhongtang issued a war warning that "if you go south, Taipei and Fuzhou will be particularly dangerous", in the face of the "telegraph" of the imperial court, there is absolutely no possibility of playing a role.

Of course, Zhang Peilun could not sit still, and on July 19, he put on a suspicious plan. The cruiser Yangwu was ordered to lead two old naval divisional ships to anchor with the French ships, ready for their sudden collision and crushing, and at the same time Mutushan's army began to move. For a while, he was bluffed, and immediately summoned the sailors, and did not sleep all night, beware of a sneak attack by the Qing soldiers. Later, he felt that this was really not a human life, so in the next two days, three of the five gunboats retreated to the water surface of Matsu and Min'an on the Hujiang River.

Seeing that the plan was effective, Zhang Peilun and his gang began to feel relieved, and they really thought that the French were afraid of themselves. Zhang Peilun said in a letter to his mentor Li Hongzao: "The law enters the inner harbor, but there are more ships than others, and they will leave in frustration." At the same time, the letter to the Prime Minister Yamen said: "He is deep, not in the open sea. There are many enemy ships, and the enemy wins; I have many ships, and I win. ”

When the Dashang group saw the news, they almost got their noses crooked. You Zhang Peilun is too cute, right, who has more ships and who wins? Where did the rules come from, can such a clear fall to the current field?

Sure enough, on July 20, at the same time that the two French gunboats were retreating slightly, two more French ships sailed into the Min River.

Zhang Peilun was still triumphantly sending a telegram to the Prime Minister's Yamen that the number of French ships anchored in the Minjiang River had reached eight. The situation suddenly took a turn for the worse, and not long after Zhang Peilun sent the telegram to the Prime Minister's Yamen, he had to send another telegram: Quickly ask Nanyang and Beiyang to send ships for reinforcements! He Ruzhang and He Jing also sent a telegram with similar content!

The problem is that Li Hongzhang's Beiyang was only formed in 1884, and he is currently holding the key places in Tianjin and Beijing, so how can he send a fleet to help. If you really lose Jingshi, then the matter really won't end well. Zeng Guoquan of Nanyang was also weak, there were many warships in Nanyang, but all the warships in the real sense were taken to Yingkou by Yan Fu. The rest of them in Wusongkou still have to guard Shanghai and Nanjing, and the main reason is that the current place of negotiations between China and France is in Shanghai, as long as Zeng Guoquan's Nanyang naval division dares to move, as soon as the telegram news is sent, Guba can arrange it at will.

On July 26, 1884, Zhang Peilun, who was a man of swords and fish, sent a telegram to Prime Minister Yamen, saying: "After hearing the law, I also secretly discussed that the shipping bureau would be shielded, and the port would be banned according to the law, and the bombardment would be destroyed." Win or lose breathing, scramble to be the first. "Rejected for the simple reason that there is no possibility of success at all! The strength is there! It can't be said that what the Qing court said is unreasonable, but there is always a lack of blood.

On August 1, 1884, Li Hongzhang sent a telegram to Zhang Peilun and the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, saying: "If the discussion is unsuccessful, it is difficult to ensure that the troops will not be mobilized immediately, and the enemy situation will be confirmed. I am invincible in my own army, so it is better to transfer all of them and vacate an empty factory, which is temporarily occupied, and the matter must still be returned to the original, otherwise once it is destroyed, the coastal defense will be completely exhausted, and it will be difficult to recover. ”

In the current situation, Li Hongzhang's decision can be regarded as a way out, but unfortunately the French blocked the access to the sea, so it cannot be implemented at all. In fact, Lao Li's heart hoped that Dashang would help clean up the French, and he also secretly sent a message to Wang Yi and Yang Qiuxing. However, he was soon known by Qingliu and sued Cixi, and almost became a foreign country. Although Cixi doesn't say it now, she has a big opinion on Dashang! But I can't afford to mess with it, so I automatically ignore it. But you Li Hongzhang dared to contact Dashang, eyebrows, isn't this a joke.

Zhang Peilun now also proposed a method, that is, to use more than 30 flat-bottomed boats loaded with sand and gravel to directly sink the ship to block the entrance to the sea outside the Changmen Fort, so as to give the French army an urn to catch turtles. It is feasible, but if you think about it carefully, the chances are not great, so the Qing court did not approve it, and the main reason is that the American warship Enterprise with a group of American merchant ships is also in the port, and they are sitting on the mediation work between China and France. In addition, the British warships Champion, Sapphire and Alert are also anchored in the harbor. If you do what Zhang Peilun said, it will be more than just a French turtle that will be blocked. This kind of big thing of stabbing Lou Zi, the Qing court will never agree!

Of course, if this is Wang Yi, he doesn't care about that set, let me block it for you. It's a pity that Zhang Peilun is not as crazy as Wang Yi, so he didn't dare to do it without an order.

On August 17, 1884, the mediation hosted by the United States officially failed! At this time, the United States was still a little brother, and powerful countries like Britain and France looked at him in the same way that around 2000, the United States looked at our country at that time. There is a number one like you, but there is only a number one like you.

At this time, the Fujian side finally waited for a telegram from the Military Aircraft Department: "If the legal person makes any stupid move, it will be attacked!" "It's a magical message, similar to the no-first use of nuclear weapons. If someone cripples you, you can fight back, and if you don't cripple, you have to endure it. Wang Yi sometimes wonders, are these people really the descendants of Nurhachi? Although heredity and mutation are the themes of life, but in the military aircraft, heredity is completely invisible, and mutation is very real.

Of course, the French are still very gentlemanly in a sense! At least it's stronger than Little Japan, and people have to announce the war first!

It was not until August 22, 1884, that after receiving the French government's war instructions, he decided to attack at about 2 p.m. on August 23, 1884. However, in accordance with diplomatic practice, the French consul in Fuzhou, Bai Zaotai, also sent a note to the consuls of various countries in Fuzhou and all British and American warships and foreign merchant ships in Mawei Harbor at 8 a.m. on August 23.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the French government's official declaration of war note was also sent to He Jing in Fuzhou, although He Jing had already received a warning from the French teacher of the Harbour Master School on the 22nd, "Yesterday, the French minister went out of Beijing, and the matter is afraid of a break", but this goods simply forgot about this stubble! It wasn't until after half past one in the afternoon that he panicked and relayed this note to Zhang Peilun in Ponytail and Mutushan in Nagato. But the war started at two o'clock!

What was even more unfortunate was that He Ruzhang, the Minister of Shipping in Fuzhou, sent Wei Han, a student of the Shipping School, to the Fujian Customs opposite Luoxing Pagoda to inquire about the movements of the French from the British in Zhuzhì, but this route had to pass through the entire queue of the French fleet, and Comrade Wei Han was on a pole mineboat.

Lone Ba looked at the pole mineboats heading straight for his fleet, and naturally thought that the Chinese side really launched a preemptive strike! At 1:45 p.m. on August 23, he ordered an early attack on the Fujian Ship Administration and Naval Division.

This battle started in such a muddle. Seven and a half minutes after the start of the Battle of Majiang, France officially declared war.

suffered one loss after another, and the loss of the wood will be realized. It's on one dang after another, and it's different!

The result handed over to Wang Yi, Wu Xiao is reading out:

"The flagship of the Fujian Shipbuilding and Naval Division sank, and Zhang Cheng was rescued from falling into the water, sacrificing one hundred and seven people, including three young children who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, Xue Youfu, Huang Jiliang, and Yang Zhaonan. Fuxing sinks, and sixty-nine people below Chen Ying are sacrificed. After being seriously wounded, the Fubo retreated to the Linpu section of the Matou River and ran aground, although it was damaged and Yan Zòng, but due to the excellent handling of the pipe belt Lu Wenjing, miraculously only one person was killed. Yixin was seriously injured and fled to Linpu where he ran aground, and the casualties are unknown. Fusheng sank, sacrificing forty-four people under Lu Han and Lin Sen. Jiansheng fought and sank, sacrificing 25 people below Ye Chen. Chenhang was sunk by bombardment, and thirty people were killed. Yongbao was shot and burned, and six people were killed. Zhenwei fought and sank, and sacrificed 55 people below Xu Shoushan. The battle of Ji'an sank, and Lin Guoxiang was seriously injured and 70 people were sacrificed. Feiyun fought and sank, and sacrificed forty-six people below Gao Tengyun. ”

Wu Xiao's voice was originally low, but suddenly he raised his voice, and said: "The total number of four hundred and fifty-three people died in the entire battle, plus the number of personnel on the division ship, the fire attack ship and the pole mineboat, as well as the number of people on the shore and the army, a total of seven hundred and ninety-six people were martyred!" Counting the coastal residents, thousands of dead and wounded! The officers and men of the Ship Master and Sailor Division were not unsuccessful in naval battles, nor were they unheroic. But compared to it! Zhang Peilun, the commander-in-chief of the Fuzhou front, escaped from the battle at the first time! . ”

In an instant, there was a lot of discussion under the podium!

On the French side, on the morning of 29 August, the Lysby's flagship, La California, which had arrived from Keelung for reinforcements, was seriously wounded in a counterfire from the Nagato battery, killing six and wounding twenty-seven. In addition to this, torpedo boats No. 45 and No. 46 were seriously wounded, the flagship of the Lone Pull, the Worda, was slightly injured, and Lone was also injured. ”

Wang Yi stood up at this time, his face was gloomy, and he immediately said: "Order Yan Fu to avenge the soldiers of the Fujian Navy!" It was September 8th.

On the second day of the Battle of Majiang, the French attacked the Mawei shipyard again. In the next few days, the French army began to attack and blow up the batteries along the Min River, and all but the Changmen battery was destroyed. After the Battle of Majiang, the French expeditionary fleet began to assemble at Matsuao.

Until August 26, three days after the start of the French war. In the Forbidden City in Beijing, Cixi was talking to Prince Yixun.

"The legal person has declared war, and the mourning family does not want to experience the Xianfeng story again, nor does it want the Qing dynasty to be lost by the mourning family, and the mourning family shows weakness."

"You know!" Yi Xun has no idea now, he will only blindly exclude foreigners, and he is not an expert in military diplomacy, so he said: "Please ask the Queen Mother to convene the ministers to discuss countermeasures, and think of a solution." ”

Cixi thought about it, nodded in agreement, and then convened the Imperial Minister, the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Prime Minister Yamen, the Six Ministries and Nine Secretaries, and Han Zhan Kedao to hold a pre-imperial meeting together, and discussed indecisively.

After the ceremony, Cixi said: "Harmony also regrets, disharmony also regrets." Harmony is to show weakness, and if there is discord, it will cede land and pay compensation and lose troops. ”

When the ministers listened, they looked at each other, and no one spoke for a long time.

At this time, Zuo Zongtang, who had already become the Minister of Military Aircraft, finally stood up slowly and said: "Queen Mother, in the opinion of the ministers, the Qing Dynasty cannot submit to the foreigners forever, and it is better to take the indemnity for the war expenses than to pay compensation." ”

Cixi, who had lost her face, finally nodded with tears, and then declared war on France.

After the declaration of war, the imperial court began to mobilize troops and grain and grass from all over the country, and at the same time consulted the feudal officials in the southwest for strategy. In the end, the one who came up with a solution was the governor of Liangguang - Zhang Zhidong. But is this strategy...... Adopt a defensive position on the southeast coast and an offensive on the North Vietnam battlefield to consume the elite of the French army to the greatest extent, so as to reduce the pressure on the southeast coastal battlefield and the Taiwan battlefield, and finally achieve the goal of dragging down the French army.

The specific situation of this strategy finally implemented in the North Vietnamese battlefield was that the Dian Army and the Black Flag Army on the Western Front and the Gui Army and the Cantonese Army on the Eastern Front attacked on all fronts, with the main attack on the Eastern Front and the assist on the Western Front, to crush the resistance of the French army in Beiqi with a pincer offensive, to recover Beiqi in one fell swoop, and to strive to advance the battle line south to the famous bee waist on the map of Vietnam, and then consider whether to occupy a favorable position to negotiate peace with the French or drive the French to the sea in one go.

Yan Fu, who had just received the order to exterminate the French fleet, saw this strategy, and simply thought that the North Vietnamese border was fought by several master regiments of his insurance team. This is no longer a strategic contempt for the enemy, it is completely a mistreatment of the French! Among other things, there was a Tuyen Kwang between the east and west lines of North Vietnam, which was under French occupation. Now that there is a lack of heavy firepower on both the eastern and western fronts, it is necessary to snatch this place with a high wall of fortifications from the French. Not to mention that Yan Fu has no confidence, even Pan Dingxin and Cen Yuying themselves are not confident.

However, what Yan Fu didn't expect was that he got this strategy quite quickly. After the Qing court came up with this strategy, it even put the telegram and still used the legendary 600 li to expedite the transmission of news. By the time Phan Dinh Tan and Cen Ngoc Anh of North Vietnam got the news, it was already a month later.

By the way, Zhang Peilun, who escaped from the Battle of Majiang, can be regarded as following in the footsteps of Xu Yanxu, and was dismissed and investigated together with He Ruzhang, but fortunately he did not lose his life. Later, after he was released from prison in 1888, he didn't know why Li Hongzhang liked him so much, so he recruited him into his staff. Later, in the end, with his outstanding literary talent, he borrowed the identity of "teacher" to win the heart of Li Hongzhang's eldest daughter Li Jingshou, nicknamed chrysanthemum, and achieved a famous teacher-student relationship, so it was logical to become Li Hongzhang's son-in-law, and finally became the grandfather of a generation of talented women Zhang Ailing. It was only later that because of the disagreement with Lao Li on the issue of Russia, he rewrote the book in a fit of anger.

On the Tianshu, the communications officer reported at this time: "Commander, there is a call from Taiwan. ”

Yan Fu was looking at the charts, looking for the possible location of the French fleet, when he heard this: "Read! ”

"Taiwan called, the French army has gathered more than 4,000 people and more than 10 warships, and it is in the sea off Taiwan, and it is currently in a critical situation!"

"Can you send someone to contact Liu Mingchuan?" Yan Fu asked at this time.

After the communications officer sent the message to headquarters, after a while, he said, "Report to the commander, yes." ”

"Pass this battle plan to the past, and then let the liaison stay with Liu Mingchuan to keep in touch with us."

It was getting late, and Liu Mingchuan was reporting the military situation in various places.

Now that Keelung's coal mines have been destroyed, there is no way out, otherwise it will only cheapen the French. Because Liu Mingchuan knew that with the strength of the French fleet, they could attack and retreat, and they were completely invincible. And he can only choose passive defense, and the troops in his hands are not sufficient, coupled with the geographical location of Keelung, there is no possibility of holding it at all.

Liu Mingchuan frowned at this time, secretly anxious, and said: "It seems that the French are completely imminent to launch another attack on Taiwan, and now they can only ask for help from the North and South Oceans." ”

Just when he was worried, his subordinates suddenly reported that someone outside the mansion said that there was a heavy military situation asking to see him!

Liu Mingchuan was a little puzzled, so he called someone in, and saw that it was a young man in his thirties, with a very ordinary appearance, and he looked a little familiar.

"You are?"

"Grass people Yan Feng meet your lord!"

Liu Mingchuan looked at him with no expression on his face, and said, "Have we ever met?" ”

"I've seen it, here is the shopkeeper of Futong Bank, who once helped adults raise military expenses."

"It's you!" Liu Mingchuan suddenly realized and said, "Please take a seat!" "This is the God of Wealth! Lao Liu is naturally polite. "I don't know what happened to the shopkeeper Yan's visit, I heard someone say, you have a serious military situation to report to me."

Yan Feng nodded and said, "Exactly!" But before I talk about the military situation, I still have something to say below! With that, he looked left and right.

Liu Mingchuan understood, so he waved his hand and sent all the people around him out of the door, but there were still two guards who did not leave an inch.

"They, you can rest assured, they are all my sons and nephews!"

Yan Feng nodded, lowered his voice, and said, "Lord Liu, I can't hide it, Futong Money Village is one of the subsidiaries of Dashang Bank, and I am also a person from the Northeast Autonomous Region, Dashang!" ”

Liu Mingchuan was stunned, he knew that there had been not much movement in the past two years, but two years ago it shocked the entire Qing officialdom. Although he had only been reactivated for a short time, he was also very concerned about the Westernization Movement when he was at home. There are also some nimble nephews in the family, and now they have also gone to the Northeast to find a living, and they are all doing well. When I came back to visit relatives, I also talked to Liu Mingchuan about life over there, as if I was not in the same world as the Qing Dynasty.

Although Liu Mingchuan was surprised, he didn't speak. As the saying goes, if you don't go to the Three Treasures Hall if you have nothing to do, there will always be something when people from big businessmen come to the door.

"Let the adults retreat left and right, and it is a last resort. Nowadays, the capital does not like the important ministers of the court, especially the Hanchen who is too close to us, in order to prevent unnecessary trouble for you. took the liberty of acting, Yan confessed to the adult. ”

"Say what you want!" Liu Mingchuan has been an official for many years, and he doesn't understand anything.

"Here's the thing, we have a special kind of wireless telegraphy in Dashang, which is still being developed by various countries, but only we have developed it."

"You mean, you can keep in touch with the outside world?" Liu Mingchuan reacted quickly.

Yan Feng nodded and said, "Now that Taiwan is in danger, it is only a matter of time before the French army comes again." And although our Northeast is autonomous, it is still the people of the Qing Dynasty, so naturally we can't stand idly by. Now the chairman, the prime minister, has led the expeditionary fleet from the Ryukyus island of Okinawa to the south, and is now heading straight for Taiwan. An opportunity is being sought to completely wipe out all the forces of France at sea! ”

As soon as he heard this, Liu Mingchuan immediately got up and said, "Is this true?" ”

Yan Feng nodded in the middle and said, "If there is half a word, it will be hit by five thunders." After speaking, he took out a letter from his bosom, which was the battle plan sent by Yan Futong Guò radio, and it was very detailed one by one.

After Liu Mingchuan finished reading, he walked up in the room with his back hand, and after turning around five or six times, he seemed to have made up his mind before he said: "Can you take me to see it, the radio you are talking about?" ”

Yan Feng also knew that he was talking in the vernacular, and Liu Mingchuan would not believe it lightly, so he agreed to his request.

Coming to the outside of Taipei, turning east and west, under the leadership of Yan Feng, Liu Mingchuan took his own soldiers to a hidden mountainous area. Because it was dark, the surroundings were quiet. At this time, a large manor suddenly appeared in front of Liu Mingchuan's eyes, which really startled him.

"This is our Xiyue Villa, the property of our big business. If you have an adult guard, please go to the tea room next to you to rest, and you can bring four guards into it. ”

Liu Mingchuan nodded, gave an order, and then everyone dismounted. At this time, the gate of the manor was wide open, and with the light flashing inside, Liu Mingchuan found that there was a bunker at this gate, and the shooting port of the black hole inside looked very hideous. This is only on the surface, as for how many guns are aimed at him in the dark, Liu Mingchuan is also secretly shocked in his heart.

"Your Excellency, please!"

Yan Feng took Liu Ming into a black carriage, while his guards sat in another one.

After running in the villa for almost 20 minutes, a three-story Western-style building suddenly appeared in front of me, and the lights inside were as bright as day. From time to time, a group of soldiers with loaded guns passed by the carriage, although Liu Mingchuan had never seen the standard firearms of the Dashang Insurance Team, but he had heard of it, and he couldn't help but secretly say in his heart: "How much strength does the Dashang hide in Taiwan?" ”