The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 447: Commissioner Asben, your fleet has escaped! (Please subscribe, please vote)

In a newly built English-style mansion in Xujiahui, Shanghai, Colonel Asben, the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, yawned lazily, squinted one eye to see the sunlight shining through the gap in the curtains, and then a wave of sleepiness came over him. He glanced at the Japanese girl next to him, who was about 16 or 17 years old, wrapped in a quilt, curled up on one side with messy hair, and a few tears on her face. I wonder if she misses the cherry blossoms in her hometown?

This girl was sent to him by his good friend Wu Chaoyue. She said she just came from Osaka and it was her first time selling. She was fresh and delicious. The most important thing was that she looked very small. She was a loli from the island! She was the most suitable for Asben's taste!

Asben had lived a life like a god over the past year, and everything went smoothly! As the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, he was an "outsourced commander". The personnel, training, fuel, food, ammunition, etc. of the Nanyang Fleet were all contracted to him for 120,000 silver dollars a month. As long as he did enough training and mission work according to regulations, he could put the extra money into his own pocket.

Twelve thousand silver dollars a month sounds like a lot, but if Lord Asben honestly hired foreigners, it would barely be enough. Because the Nanyang Fleet now has a gunboat "Dingyuan" with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, and nine small boats of several hundred tons. Hundreds of sailors have been hired. If all foreigners are hired, the head fee alone will cost tens of thousands a month. How much money will be left after paying for other miscellaneous expenses? If you can make a net profit of several thousand silver dollars a month, then you will be happy!
However, after he arrived in Shanghai, his good friend Mr. Wu Chaoyue gave him a great idea - use Chinese naval interns to replace Western sailors! These interns are not only cheap, but they don't cost him money at all! The interns of the Shanghai Naval Academy are all supported by the Shanghai Military Governor's Office. Before Asben, they had learned how to work on the ship from Western instructors. The Nanyang Navy had previously bought several armed merchant ships of several hundred tons, so the students of the Shanghai Naval Academy had a place to intern. Moreover, these young naval interns from Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei are more diligent than each other, and they work very quickly, much better than the British sailors brought by Asben!
So Asben quickly laid off most of the British sailors, leaving only some technical backbones to lead these naval interns. This way, he could save at least 30,000 yuan in headcount every month, which was all pure profit!

Of course, the foreign sailors who followed Asben to China did not have to pay much severance pay, because Wu Chaoyue's two friends, Ma Hui, the boss of Shanghai Ma Hui Foreign Trade Company, and "Sister Yuegui", the female boss of Shanghai Sanxin Company, offered high salaries and poached most of them...

After tasting the sweetness of cooperation with Wu Chaoyue, Asben continued to work hard and outsourced the logistics, repairs, and maintenance of the fleet to Wu Chaoyue. Originally, it would cost more than 30,000 yuan a month, but Wu Chaoyue only paid 25,000 yuan. By the way, he also poached Asben's most skilled and highest-paid chief engineer to work as an engineer at the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard.

However, Ma Hui of Ma Hui & Co. later introduced an American who believed in the "True Contract" to Asben. His name was Thomas Henry, who was in his thirties and a typical "redneck" to be the chief engineer of Dingyuan. Although this guy's skills were not good enough, he could at least make do. Moreover, he married a Chinese wife who could speak fluent Chinese. When communicating with the Chinese sailors below, it was so smooth without any obstacles. Asben sometimes used him as the acting captain!
In short, in the past few months, Colonel Asben's life has been so comfortable, everything has gone smoothly, money has flowed into his pocket like water, and he even got a fresh "love" last night. He is so happy that he doesn't even think about England...

"Sir! Mr. Li Taiguo is looking for you. It's urgent!"

Asben was just feeling extremely happy when he suddenly heard a voice in English with a hint of curry outside his bedroom. He knew it was the voice of his Indian servant, Sinak.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Asben wanted to stay in bed a little longer, so he asked.

"Something happened to the fleet!" Sinak answered in curry English. "All the ships of the Nanyang Fleet are starting fires and boiling water. They seem to be leaving Yangshupu Naval Port! Mr. Li Taiguo wants to know if you have received an emergency mission to go to sea?"

"What?" Asben jumped up from the bed as if his butt was on fire, scaring the little Japanese girl next to him and making her scream. But he didn't care about being gentle with her at this moment, so he grabbed a piece of clothes and put them on, opened the door and rushed out.

His fleet was on vacation at this time. Dingyuan, the main ship of the fleet, would enter the No. 1 dock of Jiangnan Shipyard in two days to remove barnacles and do maintenance... In addition, a week ago, he had just received the latest instructions from Mr. Bowring, the new British Minister to China and Governor of Hong Kong, asking him not to take the Nanyang Fleet to join the Taiping Army's military operations against the Qing Dynasty. Because Dingyuan, the main ship of the Nanyang Fleet, was leased to the Qing Dynasty by the British Royal Navy, not belonging to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Bowring's instructions were also the reason why Asben ordered the fleet to rest in advance and let Dingyuan enter the dock.

But now, all the ships of the Nanyang Fleet have started their main engines without permission... What do they want to do? Are they trying to run away?

Asben quickly grabbed his military uniform and pants, put them on hastily, and rushed to the living room. Li Taiguo, the secretary of the British Consulate, was already waiting there. When he saw Asben rushing down, he knew something was wrong. Asben had obviously just climbed out of some woman's bed!

"Colonel, your fleet?" Li Taiguo asked quickly.

"It wasn't my order!" Asben stamped his feet in anger, "They're trying to run!" Li Taiguo's face turned pale, "We must stop them, Colonel. Mr. Bao Ling strictly forbids the Nanyang Fleet from participating in the war against the Qing Dynasty! At least the Dingyuan cannot participate in the war!"

"I know! I know. Shinak, quickly prepare the carriage and go to Yangshupu Wharf!"

Yangshupu Military Port was heavily guarded like an iron barrel, with Taiping Army officers and soldiers armed with live ammunition everywhere, and the flag of "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" flying high there. Teams of soldiers wearing red robes, round hoods, and carrying flintlock rifles were boarding the ship in an orderly manner under the command of the officers.

At the dock, twelve steamships of different sizes were rumbling with gray smoke rising into the sky. The leading one was the steam paddle wheel cruiser Dingyuan. If this warship was placed in the British Royal Navy, it would indeed be inconspicuous, but in East Asia, it is definitely a first-class large ship. It has a displacement of more than 9 tons and is equipped with two -pound rifled guns, twelve -inch smoothbore guns and a twelve-pound gun! This firepower is so fierce that it is enough to blow those outdated artillery forts along the coast of the Qing Dynasty into slag.

Therefore, the new Governor of Hong Kong and British Minister to China, Sir John Bowring, was very worried that the warship would be pulled to attack the northern ports of the Qing Dynasty! It was in the best interests of Britain to let the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom maintain a situation of confrontation between the north and the south!

But now, this "giant ship" leased by the British Royal Navy to the Qing Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet is preparing to go out to sea to fight the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which is strictly prohibited by Minister Bowring.

"What's going on? Who gave the order to start the main engine?"

Colonel Asben was so angry that he didn't have time to think so much. He got off the carriage and ran up the gangway of Dingyuan like a monkey. He rushed to the bridge and started yelling at several white and Chinese officers.

Li Taiguo also hurried over and shouted in Chinese to a young Chinese officer on the bridge who had a mole under each eye: "Admiral Asben orders you to turn off the main engine immediately. This is an order!"

"I'm sorry, Colonel, you have been temporarily relieved of command of the fleet!"

A red-necked foreigner in a blue tweed navy uniform said to the furious Asben with a smile in his native English with an American accent: "Now, I will be the acting commander of this fleet!"

Asben turned his head and was immediately furious. He shouted, "Thomas Henry! Who gave you this power? You are rebelling!"

Li Taiguo already knew that something was wrong. No, something was very wrong. He turned around and wanted to leave, but someone grabbed him.

"It's the Prime Minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" Thomas Henry said to the Chinese officer with a mole under his eye, "Marshal Chen, please escort Mr. Asben and Mr. Li Taiguo to the Geely to meet the Prime Minister!"

"Yes, Admiral!" Chen Picheng waved to the two Chinese officers on the bridge, and then two pistols were pressed against the waists of Asben and Li Taiguo.
(End of this chapter)