On the twentieth day of the twentieth month of the lunar month, the day of the sealing of the government selected by the Qin Tianjian, on this day, from the Beijing division down to the local prefectures and counties, all the government officials put up lanterns and held the sealing ceremony, of course, the chief official inevitably held a banquet to celebrate the officials and scribes who had worked hard for a year, and then it was the month-long Spring Festival holiday. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Yi Zhicontent, who rarely went to the Yamen in Pingsuri, rushed to the Yamen in his robe early in the morning and led all the officials of all sizes to salute and salute, sealed three official seals, and then held a banquet to invite a group of colleagues.

Returning home from the yamen, Yi Zhixiang originally thought that he could be leisurely and clean for a while, and didn't want to wake up after a nap, so Lin Meilian came in with a few greeting posts, took a look, and saw all the officials, he couldn't help but sigh, "It's all closed, why do you still come to visit?" ”

"During the Spring Festival this year, don't think about Ansheng." With the words, Bao Shichen came in slowly, arched his hand casually, and then said with a smile: "Most of the officials from the southeastern provinces will come to visit." ”

Yi Zhishu was slightly surprised, "It has been more than half a month since officials have been impeached, and they are still not at ease?" ”

"If the lord doesn't give them a reassuring pill, how dare they put their hearts in their stomachs?" Bao Shichen said with a smile: "After this impeachment, who is not clear about the southeast officials who can decide honor and disgrace with a word, it is no exaggeration to say that the lord is already a veritable king of the southeast, and he is filial piety in the New Year, how dare they not come?" ”

"The king of the southeast is too early to speak." Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "Now the officials above the third grade in the southeastern provinces have basically not moved ...... ”

Bao Shichen said tentatively: "Is the lord planning to move after the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war?" ”

"To be exact, we have to wait until the Taiping army is encircled and suppressed before moving." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Moreover, I want to change the way and let the imperial court take the initiative to adjust the officials of the southeastern provinces." ”

Hearing this, Bao Shichen agreed: "It is indeed necessary to change the way, otherwise there will be too many enemies, which will not be conducive to Yuanqi's future development." ”

There are too many enemies or something, Yi Zhixin is not worried, the southeastern provinces must be firmly controlled, even if he is not hesitant to make enemies on all sides, but he is also lazy to explain, and ordered: "Mr. will carefully screen the three products, and the good ones still have to stay, and we are not intolerant." As he spoke, he looked at Lin Meilian again and said, "Lead them in." ”

Since the day of the sealing of the government, there have been officials from nearby prefectures and counties to visit, the closer it is to the end of the year, the more officials have arrived, the governor of Liangjiang Yiliang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Jin Jishan, the governor of Jiangsu Xu Jishe, the governor of Anhui Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Zhejiang Huang Zonghan, the governor of Jiangxi Zhang Fu, the governor of Guangdong Ye Mingchen and the governors of the provinces, the general soldiers, the political envoys, the envoys and other civil and military officials have come one after another. The civil and military officials of the southeastern provinces are all like mirrors in their hearts, and they may not be impeached if they come to Shanghai to visit Yi Zhicontent, but if they don't come, they will definitely be impeached. However, all the officials came with a tacit understanding, after all, they still had to take care of the face of the court.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yi Zhixiang also clearly put forward a series of requirements for setting up factories, opening mines, building railways, widening post roads, laying telegraphs, founding newspapers, advocating Western learning, holding new-style schools, dismantling cards, encouraging commerce and trade, developing local economy, and developing high-input and high-output agricultural models, and organized a group of officials to visit various factories in Baoshan and visit the old county seat of Shanghai.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, on this day, Yi Zhizu had just sent Jin Qishan, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, who had come to resign, to the gate of the courtyard, when he saw Yan Shikuan and an officer wearing a navy coat coming quickly.

Walking quickly to him, Yan Shikuan said softly: "War has broken out. ”

Yi Zhishu certainly knows that the war in his mouth refers to the Russian-Turkish war, that is, the Crimean War! He was not surprised by this, and the officer saluted and said, "Student, the captain of the 'Seagull Ship', Du Sheng, has seen the principal. ”

The 'Seagull Ship' is a newly added clipper ship, which means that Du Shengping is a newly promoted captain, and it is not surprising that Yi Zhisheng looked at his life, and returned the salute before he said: "Come into the house and say." ”

After entering the courtyard, Yan Shikuan said softly: "Big shopkeeper, the war has broken out a long time ago, and the previous clipper ship that came back to report the news is missing, and it should have encountered a storm at sea." ”

Shipwreck? Yi Zhi's footsteps couldn't help but slow, although there were not many people on the clipper ship used to transmit information, but there were also about twenty people, he couldn't help but feel gloomy for a while, and after entering the room and taking a seat, he said: "The aftermath of the compensatory care must be properly arranged, in addition, I ordered to go down, no matter how urgent the information is, we must try to avoid the storm period on the South Sea Sea." ”

"My subordinates understand." Yan Shikuan nodded hurriedly.

"Sit down." Yi Zhishu lit a cigarette as he spoke, Du Pingsheng sat down a little stiffly, his waist was straight, and he groaned before he spoke: "Principal, after the Russian-Turkish negotiations broke down, the Russian army was crossing the Prut River, but Turkey did not officially declare war on Russia until mid-August. After that, there was no major fighting between the two armies, and in late October, a large-scale naval battle broke out between the two sides at the port of Sinop at the southern end of the Black Sea. ”

After a pause, he continued: "The naval battle lasted four hours, and as a result of the naval battle, the Turkish fleet lost fifteen of its sixteen warships, and only one steamboat cruiser escaped, with more than three thousand casualties and more than two hundred captured, including Marshal Osman? Pasha and three captains, only one battleship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was damaged, thirty-seven killed and two hundred and thirty-five wounded. ”

The disparity is so great! Yi Zhixin couldn't help but secretly speak, and couldn't help asking: "How many main warships does the Russian Black Sea Fleet have, and how many warships have been dispatched in this battle?" ”

"According to the information obtained so far, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has four 120-gun battleships, twelve 84-gun battleships and four 60-gun cruisers, in addition to a large number of auxiliary ships." Du Shengping said without thinking: "In the Battle of Sinop, the Russian Black Sea Fleet only dispatched eight warships, two cruisers, and six battleships, with a total of 720 artillery pieces, of which 76 were bombardments that fired explosive bombs, which were extremely powerful.

Although the Turkish fleet is sixteen warships, it is mainly cruisers and light cruisers, with a total of 510 guns, and it is also small-caliber artillery, and the firepower of the two sides is huge, but the Turkish fleet is anchored in the port, and there are 38 coastal guns on the shore. ”

Yan Shikuan's heart shook when he heard this, and he said in astonishment: "A Black Sea Fleet has such a strong strength, how many fleets does Russia have?" ”

Indeed, the Nanyang Navy has a lot of warships, but it is basically no different from the Turkish warships, except for five third-class battleships with 74 guns, the others are light cruisers, and the guns are also small-caliber guns, which cannot be compared with the Black Sea Fleet at all.

"According to the intelligence gathered so far, ......" Du Shengping said slowly: "Russia has three major fleets, the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Far East Okhotsk District Fleet, the Baltic Fleet is the main force of the Russian Navy, but there is no detailed information at present. ”

Yan Shikuan glanced at Yi Zhizhi and didn't say anything, but the meaning in his eyes was very clear, the Nanyang Navy fleet could not be compared with the Russian Navy fleet at all!

"What is there to envy." Yi Zhizhi said disapprerovingly: "The sail warships are all obsolete goods, and no matter how much they are, they are all decorations." As he spoke, he then asked: "The Battle of Sinop, did you occupy any area for reporters to interview and photograph?" ”

"Nope." Du Shengping said: "The war broke out too suddenly, and it didn't last long..... but some people still conducted interviews in time after the war. As he spoke, he took out a stack of interview scripts and information from the file bag he was carrying and sent them over.

The interviews were written in English and French, and some were written in Chinese, because the war correspondents sent were mainly reporters from the British-run "North China Jiebao", and of course, Yuanqi's newspaper also sent some reporters to accompany them, and naturally, the expenses of war correspondents were funded by Yuanqi.

After a little flipping through it, Yi Zhishu put down the interview draft and said: "Don't change all the interview scripts, select the original text and publish it, let them record everything they see as much as possible, the Qing Dynasty needs to understand this war too much, in addition, let them understand the basic situation and glorious history of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in detail, let the officials and gentlemen of the Qing Dynasty take a look at it, and see what the fate of backwardness in science and technology is!" ”

"Yes!" Du Shengping hurriedly got up and said loudly.

The two who were waiting for them to retire, and Yi Zhishu immediately instructed Lin Meilian, "Go and ask Mr. Bao and Prince Hui to come over." ”

Bao Shichen came quickly, and after reading the interview script and intelligence, he said with emotion: "The lord is really like a god, and he could have predicted this war a few years ago. ”

"The Russian-Turkish war is not once or twice." Yi Zhizhi smiled contentmently: "After the Russian Tsar Nicholas succeeded to the throne, he made no secret of his ambitions for the Ottomans. He has said on many occasions, 'Osman deserves to die, and he will.' The main thing is that Russia's war of expansion against the Ottoman Empire is low-cost and hugely profitable, and with Russia's greed and ambition, it is absolutely a taste of the marrow and will not stop. ”

Having said that, there are only people who can accurately judge the time of the outbreak of war like Yi Zhicontent, you must know that not many people in the Qing Dynasty have heard of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and no one pays attention to the empire that seems to have nothing to do with the Qing Dynasty thousands of miles away, and no one will realize what the war that broke out in that empire has anything to do with the Qing Dynasty.

Bao Shichen was sincerely impressed, and after a slight sigh, he said: "Britain and France have not yet entered the war?" ”

"It should be soon." Yi Zhishu groaned, "It won't be later than this year." ”

"When will the Northwest move?" Bao Shichen said slowly: "After Britain and France enter the war? ”

"Yes, that's the safest." Yi Zhi nodded and said: "For the current Qing Dynasty, Russia is a behemoth, and we can't take risks." Lin Meilian, who looked up, came in to serve tea, and he ordered: "Telegram to inform Yulin Port, send a clipper to Manila, and inform the governor of Luzon that in the first half of today, the telegram between Groba and Manila must be opened!" The cable laying from Yulin to Manila is also urged, and it is better to complete it together! ”

"Subordinates, let them send the report." Lin Meilian hurriedly responded.

Bao Shichen was very curious about laying cables on the bottom of the sea, and couldn't help but say: "How many days does it take to sail from Qiongzhou to Manila, can you really lay submarine cables?" ”

"Absolutely." "Four or five years ago, the Anglo-French telegraph company laid the world's first submarine cable between Britain and France, and the year before last, London and Paris opened a telegraph through submarine cables, and Citigroup has also opened frequent submarine cables in recent years.

In fact, submarine cables are more convenient than terrestrial cables, because submarine cables do not need to dig tunnels or support with brackets, not only less investment, but also fast construction speed, and the cables are at a certain depth of the seabed, not affected by wind and waves, and the safety, stability and confidentiality are better than land. ”

"The telegraph is a clever device, and it can be sent and received thousands of miles away." Bao Shichen sighed: "With telegraphs and railways, no matter how vast the territory is, there is no need to worry about the whip being difficult to govern. ”

"That's what the gentleman said." With the words, Prince Hui walked in with a smile, "A few years ago, this king never dreamed that it would be as convenient as it is now. ”

"The prince is here." Yi Zhishu and Bao Shichen hurriedly got up to salute, and after greeting and taking a seat, Yi Zhizu handed over the information and interview transcript sent, "The Russian-Turkish War broke out in August last year, and a flying clipper ship transmitting information had an accident at sea, causing the news to come late. ”

The Russian-Turkish war broke out! Mianyu was overjoyed, and hurriedly looked down, and after reading it, he groaned for a while before he tentatively said, "What are the plans of the national city?" ”

Slowly lit a cigarette and shook off the firestick, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "According to intelligence, the total number of registered officers and soldiers of the Russian Army is 1.4 million, and Britain and France have not yet participated in the war.

However, the northwest road is far away, before the northwest freezes this winter, the troops in Henan and Shanxi must arrive at the front line of Yili and Tacheng, and the conquest of the Twist Army and the Taiping Army is also about to start. ”

Hearing this, Mianyu was full of excitement, and hurriedly said: "Guocheng just say it!" ”

took a puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, Yi Zhizhi said softly: "Delegate power, give power to the local governor." ”

Delegating power to local governors? Mianyu didn't react for a while, what does this mean? Bao Shichen was also very surprised, he really didn't expect Yi Zhizu to make such a request, and he was a little inexplicable for a while, and he groaned slightly, before he said: "Give power to the local governor, but out of the need to encircle and suppress the Taiping Army and the Twist Army?" ”

Hearing this, Mianyu hurriedly said: "Guocheng might as well talk about it in detail." ”