In the past few years, the Nanyang Navy has continued to expand, and in less than five years, the number of troops, including the Marine Corps, has exceeded 50,000, but the children of the Eight Banners account for more than 30 percent, and a large number of noble sons of the Eight Banners of the clan Jueluo serve as officers at all levels. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Hearing Yi Zhi's contentment, he seemed to have no bottom in his heart, Bao Shichen pondered for a while before he spoke: "The navy is a new soldier, different from the Eight Banners Green Battalion, there is no use of literature to control the military, mutual decentralization, mutual containment, generals do not know soldiers, soldiers do not know generals, orders are multiple, orders are different...... and many other drawbacks.

However, many officers in the navy are also the sons of the Eight Banners of the Clan, and they actually play the role of decentralization, containment, and supervision.

The imperial court has always been the most taboo for local generals to support their own troops, and at this delicate and critical time, it is even more sensitive, if the Hou Ye is like a mountain in the navy, it will not be ......good. ”

"Sir reminds me." Yi Zhizu nodded slightly, then struck a match and lit a cigarette, but Bao Shichen said with concern: "Hou Ye said that Spain is an old maritime hegemon, with vast overseas colonies, and was also known as the 'empire on which the sun never sets', as the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and now although it is declining, it should not be underestimated, if the navy can only contribute half of the troops, Hou Ye can be sure?" ”

"Sir, don't worry." Yi Zhi's content said in a relaxed tone: "The Spanish Empire is already yesterday's yellow flower, we are now just beating the water dogs, although the Spanish Navy still has a certain scale, and its strength is still better than ours, but its fleet does not dare to come to the Far East to fight us to the death, its fleet must protect the safety of the mainland and the American colonies." ”

Bao Shichen then asked, "What about the Netherlands?" ”

"I'm afraid the Netherlands is a bit of a problem." Yi Zhixin said truthfully: "The British may not intervene in the fight against Spain in Luzon, but it is difficult to say in the fight against the Netherlands, I plan to fight Luzon first to see what attitude and reaction the British have." ”

After taking a sip of tea, Bao Shichen said: "If Britain interferes, how does the Hou Ye plan to deal with it?" ”

"The British intervened because they feared that their interests in the South Seas would be threatened." Yi Zhishu groaned: "Negotiate with them and guarantee their interests in Nanyang for the time being." ”

"Temporary guarantee?" Bao Shichen's heart jumped, could it be that he still planned to expel the British from the South Seas?

"The British occupied Malacca." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "That is the throat of Nanyang, if we can manage it together, we can also be safe, otherwise, we must strive for, we can't be locked up in Nanyang." ”

Can't be locked up in the South Seas? Is this going to continue to expand outward? That's a lot of ambition! Bao Shichen brushed open the folding fan and fanned the smoke, and then said in a mocking tone: "Swallow the South Seas, the Hou Ye is still not satisfied?" ”

"The world is so big, how can we be in a corner of peace and rest on our laurels?" Yi Zhizu flicked the cigarette ash and said, "What's more, we are still short of a resource ..... now." ”

"Gold?" Bao Shichen said tentatively.

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "Whether it's gold or black gold, we all have to get through Malacca." As he spoke, he changed his words, "This unauthorized dispatch of troops, the imperial court must be extremely dissatisfied, sending troops and money to support the consolidation of the northwest, we must draw up a specific and detailed plan as soon as possible, even if we can't offset the merits, we can calm the anger of the imperial court a little." ”

Hearing this, Bao Shichen hurriedly said: "This specific plan is still up to the Hou Ye to decide......" ”

"I don't really know much about the Northwest." Yi Zhizhi said: "Mr. roughly draft a plan, don't be too outrageous, how to implement, when to implement, in the end we have the final say, don't worry, the real plan, we have to send someone over and then adapt measures to local conditions." ”

After a pause, he continued: "In addition, I will lead the fleet to go on an expedition for this two or two or three years, and I am afraid that I will not have time to stay in Shanghai to take care of the prime minister's yamen. ”

Bao Shichen nodded in a complicated mood, he knew very well in his heart that Yi Zhizhi led the troops to conquer the South Seas without authorization, and the encroachment of the Nanyang Islands was only one purpose, and the other purpose was to avoid disaster.

After a slight hesitation, he asked, "Who does the emperor think the emperor will like?" As he spoke, he made a gesture of four and six, and now only the fourth prince Yixu and the sixth prince Yixu are qualified to compete for the crown prince, and the new emperor must be one of the two.

Yi Zhishu shook his head slightly and said, "The two elder brothers have their own merits, it's really hard to say. "Indeed, he is not sure who Daoguang will choose, the two elder brothers, the fourth elder brother Yixu has a bad relationship with him, and the sixth elder brother Yixu is closer to him, Daoguang should be clear about this, it stands to reason that the sixth elder brother Yixuan may have a greater chance of winning.

Sending Bao Shichen away and turning back to the signing room, Yi Zhizhi looked at his watch, and then called Lin Meilian in and asked, "Is there anyone who learns Spanish better?" ”

Lin Meilian shook her head slightly, and said: "The foreign languages offered by the Shanghai Girls' School are only English, French, Russian, and Japanese, not Spanish, and the Naval Academy does not offer Spanish, and there are almost no Spaniards in Shanghai, so Hou Ye is afraid to find it from Guangzhou." ”

"Then let the shopkeeper Yan send a letter to Guangzhou and find them who can speak Spanish and Dutch." Yi Zhishu said and ordered: "I'm going to Baoshan, change my civilian clothes for me, and then notify the guards,"

Lin Meilian hurriedly said: "What about the subordinates? ”

"You go to the shopkeeper Yan." Yi Zhizhi said: "I'll go home later,"

When the microservice arrived in Baoshan, Yi Zhishu immediately hired a rubber-tired carriage and went straight to the ammunition factory, the location of the new ammunition factory was very remote, which was naturally considered from the perspective of safety, but although the location was remote, the road was very well repaired - a rough asphalt road, and the carriage ran on it without feeling bumpy.

Entering the factory, Yi Zhicontent, accompanied by several deputy directors, inspected a little and then turned to the experimental research and development area, which covers a wide area, green trees, strict guards, surrounded by walls more than one person high, and even several deputy directors have consciously stopped at the door.

Yi Zhizu ordered a few guards to wait outside, and then walked in accompanied by the chief manager Liu Shouyi, so heavily guarded, because picric acid explosives were being developed here, which was highly secret, and even Liu Shouyi only knew that improved gunpowder and artillery shells were being developed here.

What is picric acid? It's dye! It was invented by British chemists as early as the seventies of the last century, and has been very popular as a dye for seventy or eighty years, and no one knows that this thing is an extremely powerful explosive, and Yi Zhicontent can be said to be the first person in the world to truly understand the great value of picric acid.

In high explosives, the power of picric acid is second only to nitroglycerin, good stability, simple preparation method, it is the earliest military use of a fierce explosive, its explosive power is 100 times that of ordinary black powder, if it can be filled with picric acid explosives in the shell, it is an ironclad ship, there is nothing to fear.

In order to introduce and manufacture picric acid in large quantities, and in order to cover up, Yuan Qi also opened a large dyeing workshop in Shanghai, and then hired four Citigroup chemists who came to Shanghai and Guangzhou to pan for gold with high salaries, and directly asked them to develop picric acid explosives, however, these four chemists are obviously not in the stream, and they have not been tinkered with for two years, and one of them has an accident and was blown off a left hand.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, he came to the small courtyard where the laboratory was located, and Yi Zhizhi did not go in, but sent someone to invite Sean and other four chemists out, to be honest, he was also a little worried in his heart, picric acid explosives were too unstable and easy to explode.

As soon as they met, the four of them complained, they were locked up in a ghost place where they couldn't see a few people on this day, and they were engaged in extremely dangerous experiments, and the four of them were complaining, and they listened quietly, and only after they were all vented, he spoke: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have received news that nitrocellulose and a high explosive called nitroglycerin have been invented in Europe, and now that the situation has changed somewhat, the Qing Dynasty is about to declare war on Spain and the Netherlands, and I have no more time left for you." ”

As he spoke, he raised a finger and said, "One year, one year, smokeless gunpowder and picric acid explosives, if you still can't satisfy me, I'll replace you." ”

What does it mean for them to be replaced for development and testing? Sean and the other four were quite clear, hearing this, the faces of the four of them were a little ugly, and they groaned slightly, and Sean said: "The development is successful, can you guarantee to let us leave alive?" ”

"It is naturally impossible to let you go back to China." Yi Zhishu said in a sincere tone: "Smokeless gunpowder and picric acid explosives are highly military secrets, if I say that I will let you go back to China, I will completely deceive you, but if the development is successful, I will give you an extremely generous reward, and give you a change to an inland city, where you can live freely, once Europe develops similar explosives and gunpowder, you will be completely free." ”

Another eagerly asked, "You're not lying to us?" ”

"I don't think I have to lie to you." Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "Our Daqing is almost blank in chemistry, I also hope that you can cultivate some chemical talents for our Daqing, and besides, in inland cities, no one can speak foreign languages, you can't leak the news at all, besides, Yuanqi is not short of silver, I don't have the need to be treacherous." ”

Sean and the four of them glanced at each other, and after exchanging opinions, Sean said: "We also hope to be able to leave this prison-like place as soon as possible, but a year is too short, we can't guarantee that we can develop it, you know, picric acid explosives are very dangerous, but we can guarantee that we will do our best." In addition, we need to have timely access to relevant European inventions. ”

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi nodded and said, "Yes, I will cancel the one-year period, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, I will find a way to provide it for you." After a pause, he continued, "What else do you need in terms of life?" ”

"We want to be able to send our pay back to .....," Sean said. ”

"That's no problem, Yuanqi has a branch in New York." Yi Zhizhi said: "Give me your detailed address and letter, and if there is a reply, I will also pass it on to you." ”

Sean was very satisfied with Yi Zhi's attitude towards contentment, nodded and said, "Sir, there is one thing I think I should remind you that picric acid explosives are easy to react with metals, and even if they are successfully developed, I am afraid that it will be difficult to have practical value." ”

"You don't have to worry about that." Yi Zhizhi said confidently: "There are ways to solve it." ”

The sky is dark, easy to be content before returning to Zhenhai Hou Mansion, although the Hou Mansion is big, there are not many people, slightly a little deserted, as a model of the marriage of the flag people, he is marrying the wife Zaitong because he gave birth to a son, was taken back to Beijing by his mother's Rong Baylor Mansion and never returned to Shanghai, Yan Kexin gave birth to a daughter, but it was a blessing in disguise and stayed by his side.

Bai Zhi, who gave birth to a son for him, was in Shanghai, but he took his son and Jin Ying to live in the old county town, not in the Hou Mansion, Bai Xue and Chunmei were busy in Guangzhou, Su Mengdie of the Heaven and Earth Society said that she came to Shanghai a few times, but she never made the trip, but she sent her personal maid Daiqing to Shanghai, but Yi Zhifen didn't dare to touch it, and now there is no shortage of women around him, but he doesn't want to provoke a woman who obviously has a background in Heaven and Earth.

When they entered the mansion gate, the chief steward Luo Yousheng and Lin Meilian greeted them with lanterns, and after a few questions, he sent Mr. Luo away, and then glanced at Lin Meilian before saying: "Baba rushed to the gate of the mansion to greet him, what do you have to say?" ”

Lin Meilian carried the lantern and was half a step behind to light the way for him, and when she heard this, she hesitated a little before she said, "Can Master Hou bring his subordinates?" There's always a woman waiting around, isn't there? ”

Yi Zhi's footsteps slowed, "You guessed everything?" ”

"It's not hard to guess." Lin Meilian said softly: "If you can't guess this, your subordinates are not worthy of waiting in front of the Hou Ye." ”

With a slight groan, Yi Zhizhi said, "They won't all know, right?" ”

"The subordinates don't dare to talk much." Lin Meilian hurriedly said.

This expedition is not simply to fight Luzon, the time spent in Nanyang may be as long as a year or two, there is no woman around, it is really inconvenient, and for Lin Meilian, he is not without feelings, he groaned slightly, he smiled and said: "You must look good in a military uniform, and I have time to design a women's military uniform for you." ”

Is this agreed? Lin Meilian couldn't help but feel overjoyed, and said softly: "The female military uniform designed by Master Hou must be good-looking." ”