Alchemy Greater China

"This is... the foreign devil was killed?"

"Okay, it seems to be..."

Dabao met his father's eyes, full of horror, but after a while, his head hissed and he retracted into the quilt.

Zhang Ge and Dabao were indeed father and son, and they were not left behind at this time. He lay down, got into the quilt again, hugged his wife and children, trembling, not daring to make a sound.

That night, there were endless screams, so severe that Zhong Kui could be scared away. Apart from Zhang Ge, many people living near the Governor's Mansion heard the screams of birds and smelled the strong smell of blood.

The second half of the night on the 29th is the bloody night!

However, morning is always coming. When the first ray of sunshine fell on the city of Nanjing on the [-]th, some people who got up early and boldly saw the bloodstains on the ground at the gate of the Governor's Mansion, which had not been wiped clean. , The blood that even the rain can't wash away!

God, can anyone tell me what happened last night, was it a bloody massacre?

These questions troubled the city dwellers who woke up early. Of course, they were more concerned about what happened to the gunboats outside the city?

The Brits, did they break in?

... At this moment, in the Governor's Mansion, Liu Kunyi looked at the smiling young man in front of him with desperation, and cursed in his heart: laugh, you still laugh!God, you made this all up!I, the dignified Governor of Liangjiang, will be killed by you!

Liu Kun shook his head, glanced at the pile of dead bodies in front of the hall outside the hall, which he had seen countless times, murmured dully, "Dead, all dead! Your Majesty Hao, these are the The envoys you sent, if you kill them, you have cut off your retreat, and there is no room for maneuver! It's over. How should we end it, and how should we deal with the aftermath?"

The young man was Long Hao. He glanced at the pile of no less than [-] foreign corpses, shrugged indifferently, and said with a smile, "How about the aftermath? Tsk tsk, the governor is so naive. You think that if you don't kill them, the British fleet will let them go." Passing Nanjing City? Will you let the Nanyang Navy go? Yesterday’s sea battle is a clear proof! Last night’s bombardment exposed the British’s wolfish ambition to capture Nanjing City! Master Liu, do you still want to lie to yourself?”

Liu Kunyi was very speechless. He looked at Long Hao, lowered his head, and sighed in his heart: These must have been planned by him, yes.Starting from the British shipwreck incident ten days ago, everything was carefully planned by him!This lunatic actually wants to go to war with Britain, and also dragged my Nanyang Navy into it... Damn it, oh, I see.Since he gave money to let the navy expand, it has been counted to today!Hurrah.Wow, His Majesty Hao is so scheming, so vicious, and so spicy!

Under extreme despair, Liu Kunyi finally got enlightened and connected his two veins.After thinking about the ins and outs, he couldn't help feeling like he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his teeth began to fight uncontrollably.

The matter started when Long Hao returned to Nanjing with Emperor Guangxu's secret decree a month ago...

Long Hao carried the imperial decree, and when he arrived in Nanjing, it was naturally a green light all the way.When you act, everything goes to your advantage.

Freighters from the United States arrived at Shanghai and other ports day after day, bringing not only goods but also Long Hao’s nationals one by one.

Some of them worked locally in Shanghai, and some of them just used Shanghai as a distribution center, rested for a while, and then continued to disperse towards Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places where rich people gather and the economy is developed...

Liu Kunyi was not dissatisfied with Long Hao's blatant infiltration into the Jiangsu-Zhejiang River Basin, because he had seen Long Hao's alchemy nationals. Personnel and personnel are all with disdainful eyes, extremely arrogant, as the governor of Liangjiang, he clearly has an uncomfortable feeling of being despised.

Besides, most of Liu Kunyi's own family and the gentry and local tyrants who vassal to him are doing business in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and a huge business force suddenly poured in from outside. It is impossible for these people not to complain to Liu Kunyi.

However, Liu Kunyi insisted on suppressing this anger.

There are two reasons. First, it is naturally the imperial edict given by Guangxu to "let everything go and provide cheap".

And the second is the growth rate of warships visible to the naked eye in the Nanyang Navy!

Long Hao was very kind. He not only allocated funds through the Shanghai branch of Beihai Bank, but also contacted European gunboat manufacturers for Liu Kunyi. In just one month, ten destroyers, six cruisers and two A [-]-ton ironclad battleship!

Originally, according to Long Hao's suggestion, we wanted to buy all the iron-clad battleships. Long Hao's original words were: "If you buy a dozen battleships, you will bring the base of the Nanyang Navy to the Ryukyu Islands. Then we will open up the battleship and see Who dares to mess with it? My old nest is in the Yangtze River, this attitude and vision, first of all, is narrow, and the prospects for development are not promising!"

However, Liu Kunyi still puts stability first. His first consideration is always how to stabilize the base camp in the Yangtze River. As for moving the navy to the sandwich area between Taiwan and Japan, his courage and courage are not enough.

Besides, the Ryukyu Islands are actually still occupied by the Japanese, and the issue of sovereignty has been shelved infinitely due to the weakness of the Qing court. Liu Kunyi, a seasoned official, will not touch this sensitive issue lightly.

If unfortunately a naval battle between China and Japan is provoked, Li Hongzhang in the north can not only take advantage of the situation to ask for military expenses and expand his army, but he will definitely join his own book and try to incorporate the Nanyang Navy that he has coveted for a long time.

No matter what, Liu Kunyi would never fall for this evil trick.

What's more, the core problem is... battleships are too expensive!

One battleship can be exchanged for eight destroyers, or four cruisers, and on the Yangtze River, destroyers are enough, cruisers are giants, and battleships are simply a luxury. Let’s not talk about whether we can fight or not. Enemy, if you can't go to a certain complex water area, you will run aground!

Based on this consideration, Liu Kunyi declined Long Hao's kindness and cut down the battleship budget. If Long Hao hadn't strongly demanded that he must buy a pair of battleships at the end, otherwise the deal would be cancelled, Liu Kunyi might have bought them all. Destroyer!

When he thought about it, if the Yangtze River was full of his own destroyers to overwhelm people, those British guys would sell themselves some face.Maybe... Maybe I can take back some of my taxation rights!

Half a month ago, when the two armored battleships arrived in Nanjing with ribbons on them, Liu Kunyi’s previous resentment disappeared a lot. The hull, the towering bridge...the invincible aura of the number one overlord of the ocean in this era is everywhere displayed!

These are only the two cheapest ships in the catalog introduced by His Majesty Hao.If it is more expensive, will it be comparable to Zhenyuan and Dingyuan?Liu Kunyi was in a daze during the ceremony of accepting the battleship. Suddenly, he looked forward to seeing Li Zhongtang's surprised and envious expression...

The purchased warships were in place one after another, and the expansion of the Nanyang Navy was proceeding at a rapid pace. In mid-to-early November, Liu Kunyi almost gave up the government affairs at hand, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the drill of the navy.

The original Nanyang Navy had about 40 ships.However, the number of armored ships among them is extremely limited, and now [-] advanced iron-clad ships have been added. From the pipes to the sailors, up and down, the morale is high and the training is particularly vigorous!

Who wouldn't want to be picked aboard a new ship?

And the performance of the training is the only criterion for judging!

Therefore, everyone is training themselves to death.Desperately squeeze your own potential.

Seeing the thriving scene of the sailors under his command, Liu Kunyi was very pleased.From the bottom of my heart, I feel that the Holy One chose to cooperate with Long Hao, which is really a wise choice!

Let's not talk about anything else, just say that the money given to him is more agile than anyone else, and I am somewhat willing to work under him!

Of course, the idea popped up.Our first-rank officer, Mr. Liu, kept shouting shame and guilt in his heart, and then fought with the concubine for [-] rounds. He was half dead from exhaustion, and finally forgave himself the sin of "killing the heart".

With the enthusiasm of the naval drills, it is getting better and better every day.Liu Kunyi also had the idea of ​​pulling the Nanyang navy to Bohai Bay to show off his power before the port was frozen a year ago.

Bohai is close to the capital, if I can defeat Li Hongzhang in the exercise that the imperial court sent people to watch, then the Holy Majesty's right to speak will be greatly enhanced!

In addition, Liu Kunyi also wanted to humiliate Li Hongzhang, so he ran to show off, thinking that the Beiyang Navy hadn't changed ships for several years, if he drove over with advanced gunboats, under the strong contrast, it must be that Master Zhongtang will be so angry that he vomits blood for three liters!

Regrettably, Master Liu's yy dream didn't last long. When he learned that a British ship was bombed and sunk by his own navy, the sky collapsed, and he couldn't believe his ears.

Although he immediately sent someone to find out that all of this was the fault of the British, if the other party hadn't fired first, the navy officers and soldiers would not have fired back.

Liu Kunyi sighed at the time: It seems that they practiced so masculinely!Brit, don't come sooner or later, do you have to pick this time to hit the muzzle?

The domineering of British ships in the Yangtze River Basin has been going on for decades. Usually, this small matter would be calmed down by the Nanyang Navy, but because of the expansion of the Navy, the self-confidence of the soldiers has swelled, and it has become out of control. catastrophe!

After this disaster happened, the British authorities and some representatives of other powers who smelled the fishy smell swarmed towards Nanjing City with grinning grinning.

I heard that Mr. Hurd, the Chief Revenue Officer of the United Kingdom, was also on his way from Beijing. As soon as the British envoy, who was used to domineering and domineering, arrived in Nanjing, he pointed at Liu Kunyi's nose and cursed, and then issued a bill for Liu Kunyi. Unacceptable terms of the peace talks.

First, hand over the murderer to be tried by an English court;

Second, the Nanyang Navy must reduce its size from the current number of more than [-] ships to less than ten;

Third, the scope of activities of the Nanyang Navy will be limited to the surrounding areas of Nanjing. The original naval station in Shanghai will be revoked, and ships will not be allowed to enter the East China Sea without the permission of the United Kingdom;

Fourth, Liu Kunyi had to go to the capital to plead guilty to Guangxu and take off the crown of flowers on his head;

Fifth, the Qing court must compensate the British for all losses. According to preliminary estimates, the value is around 1000 million taels of silver

……

Of course, Liu Kunyi would not agree to such harsh conditions, but in line with the diplomatic purpose of the Qing court, which was always friendly to the outside world, he held back his anger, smiled, and first settled down the foreigners who came to take advantage of it. .

In the next few days, with the help of Long Hao and the hard work of his confidantes, Liu Kunyi finally figured out that the sinking British ship was an old ship that was about to be scrapped, and the cause of the incident was also the British's fault. Duty', an ordinary ship.He actually asked to enter the Nanyang Navy camp to investigate. After being intercepted, the artillery fire on the British ship started first.

The ins and outs of the matter were clarified, and Liu Kunyi's staff also analyzed for him. It must be that the recent expansion of the Nanyang Navy was too big, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the British, the overlord of the Yangtze River.The arrival of this scrapped ship was a conspiracy from beginning to end.

If the Nanyang Navy swallows their anger, the British can just check the Nanyang Navy inside and out.

And if the Nanyang Navy fights back, the British ship will be even happier, because it has the handle to exchange fire with China. After returning to Shanghai, the British will have enough reasons to force the Nanyang Navy to control the scale. Stop building!

However, what both Liu Kunyi and the British side miscalculated was.The ship that was going to withdraw as soon as it caught the handle was actually sunk!

None of the hundreds of crew members above was spared!

You know, this old ship that is about to be scrapped is only worn out on the outside, but it is equipped with a relatively advanced power system inside, so it is not a problem to escape for your life.

How could it be sunk?

Was the captain of that ship careless?

Or is the new warship purchased by the Nanyang Navy more powerful than expected?

The British were caught off guard by the result.However, their response is fast enough, which cannot be obtained on the battlefield.Just get it through the Second War and the negotiating table.

In the past, this method was tried and tested by the Qing court!

The British side is divided into two groups, one is the envoys, and the other is 30% of the naval power deployed by the British Empire in China: more than 20 warships!Although more than [-] of them are wooden boats, fishing boats, and scrapped ships, there are also five or six battleships in service.

Britain believes.With such naval strength, it is already able to crush the Nanyang navy like an egg!

Will not leave any luck for the other party.

In the city of Nanjing, Liu Kunyi temporarily put aside his doubts about why he was able to sink the British ships, and began to concentrate on dealing with the aggressive British envoys.

Dragging it on for two or three days is already the ultimate!

Negotiate again.The British envoys still refused to give in, and broke up unhappy. Liu Kunyi, who was frustrated, also followed Long Hao's suggestion and ordered the Nanyang Navy to fight to the death, preparing to fight to the death with the British fleet that rushed over.

The original words of Long Hao's persuasion at the time were: "If you don't fight, your crime will not be lessened. If you don't think about anything and fight desperately, if you win, your guilt will be lessened! Don't forget , your emperor is on your side, if you make some achievements, he will have something to say for you!"

Of course, what really made Liu Kun make up his mind was another sentence from Long Hao: "The strength of the warships deployed by the British in China is actually exaggerated, and as long as you make good use of the latest gunboats I bought for you from Europe, you will be able to take advantage of them." There may be a [-]% chance of securing it, and a [-]% chance of defeating the enemy! This battle, if I am you, I will definitely fight it!"

As a result, everyone now knows that the Battle of Hundred Ships on the 29th ended with the result of "the British side's tragic victory and the Nanyang Navy's defeat", which can be called a loss for both sides.

When the remaining two warships of the British army bombarded the gate of Nanjing, Liu Kun lost all momentum, knowing that he was still defeated after all: the British wanted to attack Nanjing while the iron was hot!

If Nanjing City is lost again, I will not only take off my official uniform and be sent to the execution platform... but will be imprisoned and beheaded by the whole family! !

That night, as soon as Liu Kun had no time to blame Long Hao, he sent people to invite those foreign envoys to discuss the matter of peace, but he was shocked to find that his governor's mansion had been taken over by Long Hao's people after he sent out his order!

What followed was the sound of pouring rain outside the Governor's Mansion and the screams of envoys arriving one after another...

After reminiscing, Liu Kun shook his body, returned to reality, and looked at the shocking corpses of more than 30 foreigners. He shivered, pointed to Long Hao and said, "You, you planned these, right?"

Long Hao shrugged and smiled: "Why do you need to be too clear, Mr. Liu? Sometimes being confused is a kind of happiness. I think the most sensible choice for you now is to cooperate with me. Let's win this battle with the British together." war!"

"war……"

Liu Kunyi's legs and feet finally softened, and he sat down on the ground, where he still had the airs of a first-rank official.

"Yes, it's war! Does Master Liu still have hope that the outcome of that naval battle can be suppressed? Also, the bodies of 38 envoys from Britain and other countries are here. Could it be possible that you can be brought back to life? Get up quickly, Calculating the time, the gunboats of the Nanyang Navy should have escaped from Shanghai and entered the East China Sea soon, we will clean up the mess here, and then go to help them!"

"Help them?"

Liu Kunyi suddenly realized, and yelled: "You, you planted someone in my navy! You admit it, you provoked it!"

"No, no, people are still your people, but they use my money!"

Long Hao shook his finger and laughed out loud.

At this point, Liu Kunyi had no choice but to cooperate with Long Hao in order to save his life.

……

On the afternoon of the [-]th, after a day of heavy rain, the city gates of Nanjing were finally opened. The terrified citizens followed the governor's team out of the city. As a result, they found two stranded gunboats in the harbor outside the city, with the British flag flying on them. And what's crumbling inside is the corpse of a British sailor! (To be continued..)