Off the coast of Jinzhou, Ning Xiaochuan sat on the captain's chair of the Flying Fish, the corner of his eye swept over the hull of the herring and cod that accompanied him left and right, and his face was blue when he smoked a cigarette!

Around, whether it is the first officer, the second officer, or the gun chief, they don't even dare to come out of the atmosphere, and they all look into the distance with cold faces, uneasy.

Originally, the Exocet was responsible for monitoring the Russian fleet, but no one expected that one of the boilers failed in the morning and failed to catch up with the Russian fleet.

But at this time, the Russian fleet had been away for three hours, even if the restarted Exocet was at full power, even if the Herring and Cod joined the formation together, but everyone's brows were still difficult to expand, because everyone knew that if the Russians really had the heart to attack Arthur, three hours would be enough for them to do a lot of things!

Did Lushun start there?

Everyone has no bottom in their hearts, because everyone knows that if Beiyang is defenseless, I am afraid that it will be more than auspicious at this moment!

Just when everyone was in a hurry, suddenly several thick black smoke on the sea in the distance suddenly jumped into view, and before everyone raised their binoculars to see clearly, there was already a thunderous bombardment in the sky, and everyone rushed to the deck!

"Cannons? Where did the fight start? ”

"Whose warship is it?"

When the deck was crowded, there was chaos on the bridge.

Ning Xiaochuan's buttocks were as if someone had smeared a layer of chili oil, and when he heard the sound of the cannon, he jumped up suddenly, raised his telescope and looked at the sound of the cannon, because it was already evening, he could only see three light cruisers in the distance chasing two warships that were on fire, one of them looked quite big, and the speed of the one next to it had dropped to a very dangerous point.

Seeing these two warships, Ning Xiaochuan's heart suddenly chuckled, this place is already very close to Lushun, could it be the broken Beiyang Naval Division? But that's not right! If you want to go to Beiyang, you should go directly to Weihaiwei west, how can you come to the sea off Jinzhou? Isn't this going further and further?

The inability to confirm the target did not last long, as the telephone rang suddenly in the ship, it also brought a hasty report from the sentry on the mast: "Report, it's Zhenyuan and Jingyuan, they are being besieged by three Russian cruisers!" ”

"Your sister! The Russians really fought! ”

Hearing this news, Ning Xiaochuan's eyes suddenly turned red, like a bull with crazy hair, stamped his feet and shouted: "Full speed, pull the battle alarm, and all enter combat readiness!" ”

"Captain, the staff only let us monitor, no." The gunslinger kindly reminded him.

"Go to the staff, let me tell you, if we can't rescue these two Beiyang warships, we will all be kicked away by Boss Long when we go back!" Ning Xiaochuan pointed at the gun officer and roared: "Tell you, now Lao Tzu is in charge, the cannon didn't go off in a minute, Lao Tzu will split you first!" ”

"Yes!" The gunners swallowed their saliva and didn't care what they were saying, and personally ran to the gun emplacements in the bow to prepare.

After scolding away the gunner, Ning Xiaochuan's anger that he had been holding back for a day finally eased a little, looked at the several warships that were getting closer and closer in his sight, and after thinking about it, he lowered his anger: "Contact the General Staff immediately, the Russian fleet has attacked the Lushun station, and our ship is doing its best to rescue." ”

When the first mate heard this, he was finally relieved by the captain's impulsiveness, and sent a telegram back, at least it could explain that the situation was urgent, and he chose to open fire when he had no choice, so he immediately ran to the telegraph cabin.

"Send a signal to tell the Russians that the Zhenyuan and Jingyuan have been captured by us, and tell them to get out of here immediately!" Ning Xiaochuan continued to order, and the sinister smile on the corner of his mouth became more and more intense.

"Captive Zhen Yuan, Jingyuan?"

The two captains of the Blue Fish and the Cod, who were sweating profusely and ordered to prepare, saw the light signal on the Flying Fish at the same time, and immediately held their foreheads, full of black lines, this Flying Fish captain is really powerful!

On the Zhenyuan in the distance, Lin Taizeng and Liu Buyun were full of anxiety, originally after they broke through, they were ready to go to Weihaiwei immediately, but they didn't expect a torpedo to hit the Jingyuan servo, so that the Jingyuan could not turn the rudder, and could only sail along the coast of Jinzhou.

In order not to abandon Jingyuan, Lin Tai decided to protect Jingyuan, but if he couldn't do it, he would run aground on the beach in Qingniwa (now Da), which was better than falling into the hands of the Russians!

Ye Zuqi was also in tears, and the sailors behind him were crying even earlier, and kept signaling Zhenyuan to leave, but the faltering Zhenyuan was unwilling to turn, but instead dragged to the rear of Jingyuan to block the artillery fire for Jingyuan.

At this critical moment, a voice suddenly broke the dullness inside the ship.

"Look, sir!"

At the same moment, the three Beiyang admirals raised their binoculars at the same time, and they all saw the three torpedo ships flying the Pacific Fleet's Blood Cloud Dragon Claw Flag that were galloping in the distance.

"Leave immediately and stop attacking our prisoners!"

"Leave? Prisoners of our army? ”

Liu Buyun's eyes were glazed, and his elbow hit Lin Taizeng, who was also stunned: "Kaishi, the prisoner they said was us?" "It's not us, it's the Russians?!" Lin Tai once turned his head to look at the three Russian cruisers and smiled bitterly.

Inside the bridge of the Reckless Man, Batlov held up the binoculars with the same straight eyes: "Who are they asking to leave?" Behind him, the adjutant staff officers all shook their heads in amazement, they were already very surprised to meet the Pacific Army, but they didn't expect that just after they met, the other party gave them an even more surprising meeting gift!

"What the hell are these damn bastards going on in their heads? Didn't they see that the great Batlov was pursuing the two remaining warships in the North Ocean? Looking at the three Pacific Army torpedo ships that kept signaling and rushed towards him, Batlov gritted his teeth, seeing that he was about to succeed, but who would have thought that the prey in his hands would actually become someone else's prisoner, and let himself leave immediately!

This is an insult to the Slavic warriors!

Batlov gritted his teeth, and just when he was about to give the order to stop the attack on Zhenyuan and transfer the muzzle, several flames had already erupted on the speeding Exocet, and at the same time, the two torpedo ships on the side launched a brazen attack!

"Send a signal, let the Herring Sturgeon cooperate with me, concentrate fire to attack, and don't disperse fire without an order!" Ning Xiaochuan jumped to his feet and ordered. He knew that it would be unwise to use the three 105mm guns mounted on the Exocet to compete with the opposing cruisers, so instead of being torn apart and fighting separately, it was better to use the advantages of speed and rudder flexibility to concentrate all the guns and attack one first.

Under his leadership, the two sister ships reacted immediately, and all the artillery fire was concentrated on the Manghan at the front, although the 105 mm guns could not be compared with the main guns of the battleships, but the rate of fire was fast, and the shells were charged with TNT, and the power was greater than that of the Russian-made 152 mm guns.

Seeing the three small torpedo ships of the Pacific Fleet passing by and daring to attack the Russian cruiser formation behind him, Lin Taizeng's body trembled slightly, and suddenly turned his head to look at Liu Buyun next to him. The latter also happened to cast their eyes, and both of them saw each other's thoughts.

"Turn the rudder, cooperate with the Pacific Army, attack!"

Batlov, who had already been beaten, wanted to prepare to fight back, but he saw that the Zhenyuan ship, which had been beaten all over the fire, suddenly turned around and killed it, especially after the hideous cannon in the bow of the opponent's ship burst out with two flames, he was even more shocked and hurriedly ordered to retreat.

But he wouldn't know that Captain Ning Da wanted to go crazy if he wanted to make meritorious contributions, and rushed up with three destroyers that were inferior to the other party in terms of tonnage and firepower!

"Dog, let you have a good time just now!"

"Fire!" ——

In the yamen of the Tianjin Navy, Li Hongzhang took the medicine handed by Lin Lianhui and ran it up, then grabbed the excerpt of the imperial historian Yang Chongyi's impeachment of the Qiang Society, and watched it while drinking tea.

Li Hongzhang of the Strong Society has heard many times during this time, it was founded by Kang Youwei, and this person has recently been praised by the emperor five times, and even the emperor summoned him! After the recent opening of this school, it was specially used to give lectures on state affairs and discuss the Restoration, saying that it was "specially established for China's self-improvement."

He also had a lot of criticism about this kind of academy that openly lectured on political affairs, criticized ministers, and vainly talked about the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and other countries, especially recently, they have repeatedly criticized the First Sino-Japanese War, attacking themselves for supervising the war and monopolizing military power, which is really a little annoyed. However, Kang Youwei has recently received the emperor's approval, and he must also be careful.

Since Yang Chongyi is willing to come forward at this moment, he doesn't mind borrowing his hand to seal up this academy. Besides, Yang Chongyi is not an ordinary person, he is a person of Lafayette, if it weren't for the fact that Lafayette was thinking about this academy that was clamoring for the emperor to learn the foreign restoration and regain the power of the country all day long, how could Yang Chongyi and others jump to the forefront?

From this, it can be known that the emperor must have mentioned the Restoration, and Lafayette knew about it, so he took the school to open the knife, which is obviously to remind the emperor to stop playing with fire!

Although he sympathized with the Restoration, and also believed that the Qing Dynasty had reached the moment when it was necessary to renovate, he was also a conservative and did not want to use radical means to implement the Restoration, but must try it slowly.

"Lianhui, what do you think of this Kang Youwei?" Li Hongzhang put down the fold, took a sip of tea, and asked Lin Lianhui with a smile.

"Isn't this a joke of Lianhui, I don't know anyone about this Kang Youwei, but I've heard him preach the Restoration, what do I say." Lin Lianhui stretched out his hand, smiling bitterly and helplessly.

Li Hongzhang smiled, not angry, he knew better than anyone that Lin Lianhui had no interest in his career, and it was precisely because of this that he would always be conscientious and by his side, so Li Hongzhang didn't hide anything from him, and the two could be regarded as having formed a friendship that had forgotten their years.

"Lianhui, the old man has never asked you, what is your wish?" Li Hongzhang put down the paperwork and suddenly asked.

Lin Lianhui said with a smile while packing up the medicine box: "Don't you know, Lianhui's biggest hope is to open a hospital to treat diseases and save people." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, Lin Lianhui is indeed not the material for being an official, otherwise he would not have rejected his recommendation again and again, although at this moment he also has a false title from the same knowledge of the five grades, but if he is really released as an official, I am afraid that he will be impeached and removed from office in a few years.

It's a pity that he has been busy all these years, and he really doesn't have much time to think about it, and now he is a lot older, and he is not far from resting, and he doesn't know if there is a chance to realize his wish, it seems that it is time to arrange a way back for the people around him, so as to save himself in case something happens, these talents are all in a foreign land, and they are covered in dust!

"Lianhui, did the Liang Dunyan you recommended last time go to Ryukyu?"

Lin Lianhui's movements paused slightly, he had just learned about Liang Dunyan's trip to Honolulu, and he heard that Tang Shaoyi was also invited by the new Hawaiian Minister Feng Qi to go together, if this matter was put in normal times, it would be fine, but Liang Dunyan was the person he recommended to start negotiations with Hawaii to establish diplomatic relations, and now just a few days after the negotiations, the person was abducted, if this is investigated, I am afraid that he will inevitably be involved.

In fact, it's not just the two of them, as far as he knows, the students who are still in the Qing Dynasty who studied in the United States and Europe have all received invitations from Honolulu, and even he himself received an invitation a few days ago, and the other party also made a condition to invite him to serve as Honolulu's Minister of Health.

"I heard that the Hawaiian young master is now building a lot of construction in the Ryukyus, and he has recruited tens of thousands of laborers from the coast alone! I heard people from where they go, there are more than a dozen big ships carrying all kinds of materials and machines every day, Lianhui, what do you think he wants to do? Li Hongzhang didn't see Lin Lianhui's movements, remembered the Ryukyu affairs reported by his subordinates not long ago, and asked.

"Nakado-sama." Lin Lianhui covered the medicine box and replied with a smile: "My lord, if you ask Lianhui, forgive me for not listening, I'm afraid that the young master of Hawaii is not here to play." ”

"As far as I know, they took out 15 million US dollars in the first batch, according to my calculations in the Qing Dynasty, that is 20 million taels of silver, such a large amount of money invested in the small Ryukyu is amazing, but I heard that they also have a second and third batch of investment plans, the total amount may reach 70 million taels of silver!"

"Seventy million taels?" Li Hongzhang also gasped, his eyes were cold: "If Lianhui's words are true, that Young Master Li is really not simple!" ”

"The Grand Duke of Hawaii, the Prince of the Ryukyu Protectorate, these are all his means of stationing in the two places, in the final analysis, he is constantly expanding his territory, this person's ambition is really worrying the old man."

"Since your lord knows, why don't you write to the imperial court and refuse to establish diplomatic relations?" Lin Lianhui asked.

Li Hongzhang shook his head, why didn't he fight for it! It's just that he didn't expect that the emperor would suddenly change his mind at the last moment, and when he entered the palace to ask, the holy oracle was prepared.

The wood is already in the boat, and it is futile to argue!

Now we can only hope for a solution to the DPRK as soon as possible, unite with the Russians, and prepare for the future! Li Hongzhang sighed in his heart and looked out the window in a restless state. "I don't know how long the Russian naval division will be stationed in Lushun this time, and when it will be able to send troops to Incheon."

As soon as Li Hongzhang thought of the Russians, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and before he could ask, the door of the study was knocked open!

"My lord, Lord Zhongtang, something is wrong!" Lu Weitang pinched a telegram and shouted: "At the end of the day, the Russians bombarded the mouth of Arthur. ”

"Nonsense!" Li Hongzhang suddenly got up, and even Lin Lianhui, who was sitting next to him, changed his face and stood up: "What about the water master!" Ding Ruchang, Liu Buchan, what about them? ”

Lu Weitang quickly handed over the telegram and said, "My lord, except for Zhenyuan and Jingyuan, all the other ships!" ”

"Poof!" Li Hongzhang opened the telegram, and when he saw it, he blurted out a mouthful of hot blood, soaking the back of the paper.

"My lord! My lord! ”……

(To be continued)