292 Duel, Second Navy!

"Canton Storm*?"

Liang Qichao listened to the news brought by Kang Guangren in a daze, and the whole person was a little stupid. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

How is this possible?

In Hong Kong before, he also came into contact with some people in the Xingzhong Society, but at that time he was deeply influenced by Kang Youwei and felt that those who engaged in the republic were unrealistic, especially when it was a fact that the people in the country were stupid, and a rash republic would only exacerbate turmoil and division, and be used by those who had good intentions.

On the one hand, the royalist constitution, on the other hand, the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the independent republic, everyone's ideas are incompatible, so Liang Qichao and those republicans went farther and farther away. But because he knew and understood for a while, he felt strange, you must know that those people in the Xingzhong Association had raised an uprising two years ago, because it ended hastily after the defeat, and many people went into exile overseas.

And according to Kang Guangren's description, it should be not small, half of Guangzhou City has been occupied, there are one or two thousand people, this is not a small number, where did they get the guns in such a short time? Where did that money come from?

Kang Youwei is anxious, because he knows better than anyone that in the eyes of the imperial court, the importance of the Liangguang region is much greater than that of Taiwan, so the imperial court will never sit idly by and watch Guangzhou**, and will definitely send a large army to strangle, which will definitely delay Taiwan's affairs, and the French will definitely take this opportunity to increase the attack on Taiwan.

Thinking of this, he couldn't sit still, and after glancing at Liang Qichao, he sighed and hurriedly walked out with his younger brother and Tan Sitong.

Kang Youwei guessed well, the unprepared Guangzhou uprising completely disrupted Emperor Guangxu's determination to resist France and protect Taiwan, and Guangyong, who was originally going to Taiwan, had to be sent to exterminate the ** party first, and the French also took this opportunity to increase their attack on Penghu when they got the news.

On August 25, after several days of shelling, the commander of the French Far East Fleet, Guiggott, announced the capture of Penghu. On the same day, the French ships Basger and Lion arrived in Changhua, and this time the French learned the lesson of the stubborn resistance encountered in Keelung during the Sino-French War, shelled Changhua, which was relatively weakly defended, and also borrowed the methods of the Pacific Fleet to deal with Japan, and adopted high-intensity and intensive artillery bombardment preparations, and after continuous shelling for a day and night, the landing force of 300 men occupied Changhua almost effortlessly

When the news reached Beijing, the entire Forbidden City seemed to explode, and Cixi was "furious" again and again, angrily accusing Emperor Guangxu of not thinking about diligent government, being bewitched by villains, and getting close to the Uyghur faction, making the people's lives miserable, so that the incident in Guangzhou would happen.

At the same time, Li Hongzhang was invited to return to the mountain, appointed him as the governor of Guangzhou, and transferred 20,000 troops from Liangguang, Fujian, Zhejiang and Huguang, and ordered him to stabilize Guangzhou and recover the ** party.

At this time, the party of the emperor and queen headed by Sun Yuwen was trumpeting the surrender policy, advocating agreeing to France's demands, leasing Taiwan and Penghu to France to avoid the flames of war, and making every effort to encircle and suppress the ** party in Guangzhou.

The two parties in dispute made Emperor Guangxu feel like he was on pins and needles, and then had to agree to send Sun Yuwen to negotiate with France.

On 28 August, Sun Yuwen and the French ambassador to China launched talks on the Taiwan issue, but there were almost no reciprocal conditions for the negotiations under the internal and external troubles of the French pressing forward step by step, the southeast coast was completely powerless, and the party was in trouble in Guangzhou.

After receiving the news that the riots in Guangzhou had begun to spread, the French ambassador to China became arrogant, saying that if it could not lease Taiwan and Pengzhou, France would reserve the right to take progressive action on the southeast coast. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

At this time, Taiwan also reached a critical moment, and the governor Tang Jingsong was in a hurry to send a telegram to Beijing, asking for a call on the heroes at home, whether it is a sea thief or a horse thief, and those who can regain the lost territory will be rewarded and the world will defend its land; Those who can donate firearms to help others and make meritorious contributions will be rewarded.

However, the Qing government, which had already decided to lease Taiwan, was indifferent and sent a telegram back to reprimand him, saying: "Although Taiwan is heavy, it is lighter than the southeast coast. If the enemy takes advantage of the victory to attack the southeast directly, half of the Qing Dynasty will not be guaranteed. In addition, Taiwan is isolated overseas and will not be able to defend its ...... for a long time, so we must not forget all kinds of calamities we have suffered in the past because of a moment of righteous indignation. ”

After receiving the reply, Tang Jingsong was completely disappointed, knowing that the imperial court was going to give up Taiwan and France, but he was still unwilling to give up, and was ready to send troops to aid Changhua, and was also ready to organize ships to recapture Penghu. But what he didn't expect was that Yao Jinfan, the alternate magistrate of the county commerce bureau that he reused, learned that the imperial court was going to lease Taiwan, and he actually used the money originally raised from all over Taiwan to raise militia groups and buy guns and silver in two rolls.

At the same time, the soldiers of the first battalion who went to support Changhua were all captured by the French without even firing a gun, and the commander of the French Far East Fleet, Gigot, was in high spirits and was ready to personally lead three cruisers to Keelung Harbor to avenge the disastrous defeat at Shiling more than ten years ago.

The current situation of no money and no soldiers made Tang Jingsong completely desperate, but he didn't know that at this critical moment, a group of local gentry suddenly came to Longshan Temple in Taipei.

The once peaceful backyard of the temple has been set up with a few tables of eight immortals, on which the Pu'er fragrant vegetables and fruits are tempting, but no one has the heart to take a second look, and they are all concentrated on the one person in the middle.

Qiu Fengjia was dressed in black, his face was serious, and he slowly swept through everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today is a critical juncture for me in Taiwan, Zhong Yan doesn't want to talk nonsense, I have a piece of news to tell you first." Qiu Fengjia slowly took out a telegram from his pocket and raised it: "Two days ago, I received a call from a friend in Beijing, and the imperial court is ready to lease Taipeng to the French."

"What"

"Why does the imperial court have to do this?"

"Yes, Taiwan has been a southeast barrier since ancient times, how could the imperial court do this"

"Damn it"

Everyone did not doubt Qiu Fengjia's words, from returning to Taiwan for the exam, to teaching and educating people, to the recent construction of the Taiwan Railway for the benefit of the township, and also repeatedly funded to help poor students, it can be said that Qiu Fengjia's reputation in Taiwan at the moment is even higher than that of Governor Tang Jingsong.

Everyone began to denounce the countermeasures of the imperial court, some people said that they should immediately organize a militia group and swear to defend Taiwan, but many people stopped their movements and looked at Qiu Fengjia standing in the center, knowing that since he gathered everyone today, he must have some plan.

"Brother Zhong Yan might as well say it directly, summoning me and others here today, is it to raise funds or to organize a militia group, as long as you say a word, everyone will follow you" In anger, someone immediately raised his hand and took the lead in asking.

Qiu Fengjia glanced at everyone and shook his head: "Don't hide it from you, I have learned from Governor Tang that Penghu has been lost, and Lord Liu Yongfu and the soldiers of the two banners have returned to the sea. ”

"In addition, the Fuzhou Navy Division was also captured by the French, and the Nanyang Navy Division also retreated to Shanghai after hearing the news and did not dare to fight again, and the ** Party uprising broke out in Guangzhou, and the imperial court had no time to take care of Taiwan anymore, and it could no longer send a single soldier."

"In the middle of the night yesterday, Yao Jinfan swept away the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver raised by you and fled to Fujian, and the French have sent three or four ironclad ships to the north along Changhua, and they will arrive in Keelung in two days, and Shiling will reappear more than ten years ago."

One by one, the news came out of Qiu Fengjia's mouth, and everyone was shocked and turned pale like dirt, especially when they heard that there was no foreign aid on their side, and the French army was making a detour to Keelung Taipei, they had no idea.

Vigilante groups can be formed, funds can be raised, but without foreign aid, where will guns and ammunition be purchased? This is not more than ten years ago, the French warship bombed Changhua for a day and a night, causing nearly 1,000 casualties, and the reinforcements sent were disarmed without firing a single shot.

"The imperial court has given up Taiwan, and the heart of concession has been decided, so it is really infuriating to disregard the millions of people in Taiwan" Qiu Fengjia's voice was slow: "Actually, I don't say it, everyone may be able to guess, at this time it is even more difficult for Taiwan to protect itself, in order to prevent those foreigners from taking away Taiwan and preventing my Taiwanese people from being enslaved for generations, I have contacted the Pacific Army stationed in the Ryukyus and asked them to intervene."

"Pacific Force"

"Is that the young master? The one who just defeated Japan? ”

"Yes, I heard that dozens of Japanese warships were sunk in one go, forcing the Japanese to surrender again."

"But the Pacific Army and the French are both foreigners, and if they come, what is the difference between them and the French?"

"Nonsense, when did the Pacific Army go from a general to a soldier in a foreign family, they were all my Chinese brothers, the father of that young master, or the former chief soldier of the Golden State Green Battalion?"

"Yes, I just came back from Ryukyu a few days ago, and it's called the day, in my opinion, it's better for us to jointly write a letter and invite the young master to come and settle in Taiwan."

"It's easy to come to Taiwan, but they are really willing to help us deal with the French warships, so they are not afraid of French retaliation?"

The sound of discussion, the sound of surprise filled the ear cavity with the wind, hearing these words, the corners of Qiu Fengjia's mouth hooked slightly, although there were still a few words that were opposed, but most people didn't seem to have much resistance, so they immediately raised their hands and said: "Until now, I can also tell you that the Taiwan Railway is actually built by the young master Li in order to improve my difficult predicament of traveling in Taiwan, and privately funded me to build it." ”

"It's ...... Really"

In the face of doubts, Qiu Fengjia nodded, and with his movements, the seat seemed to explode suddenly, and everyone opened their mouths wide to believe that this railway, which was related to millions of Taiwanese, was actually funded and built

"Now," Qiu Fengjia raised his voice: "Several warships of the Pacific Fleet have arrived outside Keelung Harbor, and they will help us hold off the French, but ......." ”

"In order to prevent the French from finding an excuse to continue to coerce the coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty and kill our Chinese brothers, Young Master Li said that his army will not enter Taiwan for the time being, and he hopes that we can manage Taiwan ourselves."

"Manage Taiwan yourself?"

A sound of surprise once again filled the sky over the entire temple.

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Off the coast of Keelung, when Gigot arrived with three armored cruisers and a troop carrier, the whole person jumped up, because he found that four battleships of the Pacific Fleet had appeared on the opposite side

"Damn, what are they doing here?"

As Ji Weishan stepped onto the deck of the Baya with a smile on his snow-white gloves, the frightened Jigot got the answer.

On the deck, dozens of legal officers stood solemnly, the white naval uniforms looked neat and neat in the sun, Ji Weishan's heart was a little bit, worthy of being the second largest naval power in the world, at least this strict military appearance was much better than that of Russia and Japan in the later period.

"Giggott." Ji Weishan walked up to Ji Got with a smile, shook hands and saluted, "I'm very sorry, my lord doesn't want the balance of the Far East to be broken, so he sent me here to wait for you, I hope you can leave immediately." ”

"Leave" Gigot glanced at the four battleships on this side in the distance, and sneered: "Hmph, do you want to challenge my fleet?" ”

"I'm sorry, I'm a soldier and can't answer your kind of question, I was given the order to ensure Taiwan's balance at any cost"

"At any cost" the corner of Gigot's eyes twitched: "You want to declare war?" ”

"I don't want to." The smile on the corner of Ji Weishan's mouth was full: "But I will seriously carry out the order"

The Gigots are going to explode, what's the matter? I got Penghu with all my hard work, and I was about to take Taiwan and become a hero of the whole country, why did I suddenly encounter the Pacific Fleet at this time

And are these yellow-skinned monkeys all crazy? Don't they know whose path is in their way? He is not a Russian idiot, nor an inexperienced Japanese, this is a French warship, a detachment sent from the second most powerful fleet in the world

"General Ji, I think you made a wrong choice, you are not facing the ridiculous Russians, nor the dwarf Japan, you are a challenge to the world's second navy, an insult to France I want to protest, and I will not retreat No one can resist my fleet, I want to tell you, Caesar's grandson, is not going to lose to you yellow-skinned infidels"

"Yellow-skinned heretic" Ji Weishan sniffed, muttered softly, a fierce color flashed in his eyes, and suddenly slowly took off his white gloves in front of everyone, and smiled slightly: "Your Excellency Jigot, please pay attention to your words." ”

"Since you are unwilling to withdraw your troops, and you have insulted me and my comrades, we might as well ...... in our own private names and in accordance with European tradition." Ji Weishan lightly threw his gloves on the chart table in front of him.

"Let's Duel"

"Duel"

"In a private name"

Not to mention Gigot, the entire Baya was silent, looking at the white gloves, everyone stomped their feet and scolded in their hearts, with four battleships to duel three cruisers, this is the duel etiquette of the barbarians in the Far East?

No declaration of war, play private dueling? When did they worship European traditions so much?

Just as the French officers were about to scold, the four battleships in the distance suddenly and slowly raised their guns, and the reflected light in the sunlight instantly pierced the eyes of all French sailors.

A drop of sweat finally seeped from Gigot's forehead, dripping onto the deck, crumbling in pieces.