After walking away from Luang Weili, Jochen walked towards a Qing officer. "Hello, General Deng (Note 1)."

The middle-aged officer in front of him was stunned, and then saluted: "Hello, Your Highness Joachim, I once heard Lord Lin Taizeng talk about you, your Chinese is indeed very good, and when I saw it today, it was worthy of your name." ”

"General Lin has won the award. I've heard about General Lin's achievements in the two naval battles of Keelung and Dachen. It's really admirable. Jochen was amazed.

"Lord Lin would be very happy to know that His Highness cares so much about her. It's a pity that I didn't catch up with the Battle of Dachen in Xia, which is really a pity in my life. ”

"General Deng was too modest, and in the Keelung naval battle, the Yangwei led by General Deng sank the Dula, and then rushed to the aid of Korea to deter the Japanese navy from daring to move. It's also a great achievement. ”

"His Royal Highness has a good reputation, and Shichang deserves it."

That's right, the person in front of him is the Zhiyuan pipe belt, and he shouted in the First Sino-Japanese War: "My generation has been in the army to defend the country, and I have long put life and death outside the degree, and today's things are just death!" "The Japanese ship is dedicated to Yoshino, and sinking this ship is enough to take away its anger and become an accident", decided to sink Yoshino, and refused to rescue after the Zhiyuan was sunk, and said, "I am determined to kill the enemy to serve the country, and now I die in the sea, righteousness, why do I want to survive!" "The national hero who sank with the ship - Deng Shichang.

Regarding Deng Shichang's refusal to rescue and sink with the ship, Joheng actually felt a little regretful. The biggest difference between the navy and other branches of the armed forces is that it is slow to become an army and it is difficult to train qualified personnel. As the Qing Navy, which was already withering in talent, excellent command personnel are the top priority. The defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War and the loss of a large number of officers and soldiers made it difficult for the Qing State to rebuild its navy after the war. Therefore, it is more appropriate to preserve useful bodies and contribute to the reconstruction of the navy in the future. However, Joheng thought about it, and it might be better to die than the cowardice of the Qing State after the First Sino-Japanese War. And unlike Lin Taizeng, who committed suicide because of a mistake, Deng Shichang is seeking death on the battlefield, which is a big festival, although he may be alive to contribute more, but this death is heavier than Mount Tai. It is also because of this death that it is more tragic and thought-provoking. Therefore, Jochen did not intend to say a few words of persuasion as he did to Lin Taizeng. Rather, it talks directly about the development of the Japanese Navy.

"I just talked to His Excellency Luang Weili about the conflict between Japan and your country, and the Japanese navy is also actively developing the scale, and your navy will be under pressure in the future. In particular, the two Naniwa-class cruisers ordered by Japan in Britain are important opponents of these ships in the future. ”

"These two ships have also heard of it in the lower parts, and the wave speed and Takachiho, with a standard displacement of 3,700 tons, a speed of 18 knots, and two 260 mm main guns and six 150 mm secondary guns, are indeed outstanding. But presumably not the opponent of Zhiyuan and Jingyuan. Deng Shichang said with a smile.

"General Deng has such a high opinion of our warships, and I am also honored. Indeed, the Zhiyuan class can be regarded as the crystallization of China's shipbuilding industry. Performance is among the best in the world. Naturally, Jochen would not say that his own warship was bad, so he also opened his eyes and said nonsense. Not to mention its own main heavy patrol Erin-class, even the Mersey-class performance seen in last year's parade is above Zhiyuan. Yoheng continued: "I heard that in the Keelung naval battle, the three cruisers Jiyuan, Chaoyong, and Yangwei were also formed together with the two ironclad ships in Dingzhen? ”

"That's true, I wonder if there is something wrong with His Highness's question?" Deng Shichang said strangely.

"Oh, General Deng may not know, but I am a graduate of the Kiel Naval Academy. And the design of 5 cruisers in your country is more or less related to me. Therefore, there is a little opinion about the way cruisers are used in your Navy. Maybe it's a bit rude, but it's still not unpleasant, please forgive General Deng. ”

"Don't dare, please speak clearly to Your Highness, and listen to me." Deng Shichang immediately saluted.

"I can say that I participated in the whole process of Jiyuan's design, and I have also put forward opinions on the design of Zhiyuan's prototype of the Chinese Navy Erin-class. They were all about increasing the speed of the British Navy as much as possible according to the standards of the British Navy at that time to reach the advanced level of the time. Therefore, the Jiyuan is 17 knots, and the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan are both 17.5 knots, which is definitely the top speed among the current cruisers. Trapping them around a slower capital ship is a bit of a waste of their speed advantage, and the speed advantage can bring a location advantage, and with the speed advantage, they have more initiative in choosing the time to engage or withdraw. Unlike your Dingzhen 2, your cruisers are capable of exerting their maximum firepower when facing the enemy on the side, so staying by the side of the capital ship will also not be able to exert all their firepower. Moreover, warships are expensive and long-term technical equipment, so it is better to sink than to be damaged, and the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, if you can make the high-speed ships form a team, and then besiege the number of low-speed ships with fewer numbers, it is better to cut off one of its fingers than to hurt its ten fingers, so as to better play the advantages of the cruiser. This is a little superficial, and General Deng smiled. ”

In fact, what Yoheng said earlier is nonsense, by the first Sino-Japanese period, the speed advantage was not on the side of the Beiyang Naval Division at all, the second half is the focus, if the cruiser can break away from the main formation, and then fight to the death with the first guerrilla force of Tsuboi Hangsan, and concentrate firepower to kill one or two ships, then even if the battle is defeated, the situation is much better, and because after the flagship of the Beiyang Naval Division was damaged, the command fell into confusion, and each ship fought separately, in the face of the Beiyang Naval Division fleet that was difficult to form a joint force, the Japanese ships were often injured but not sunk, and finally won the victory in the overall record. And the reason why I talked to Deng Shichang was because he said to Lang Weili that the British would never bird himself, and Deng Shichang, as the oldest commander of the cruiser of the Beiyang Naval Division in the future, even if he could not influence the decision-making of the Beiyang Naval Division because of his insufficient rank, then the possibility of calling other cruisers to fight together after the flagship lost its command ability in wartime is still quite high.

"What His Royal Highness said is very true, he was taught in the lower position, but he was in a humble position, and I am afraid that such a major military aircraft would ......" Deng Shichang was puzzled.

"It's okay, I'm just talking casually, General Deng doesn't have to be embarrassed." Yoheng snorted, and then said, "After General Deng returns to China, I will greet General Lin for me, and thank you here." ”

"Your Highness is very polite, I will definitely bring the words here, and Lord Lin will be very happy."

After another polite referral, the two said goodbye.

At 1 p.m., the fleet lifted anchor, and at 2 p.m., the German fleet in the harbor fired a gun salute, and four cruisers and three torpedo boats sailed out of Stettin in a column and set sail home.

Under the arrangement of Li Hongzhang and Hong Jun, the fourth minister to Germany at that time, Yu Siyi (Note 2), an official of the Chinese Embassy, returned to China with the fleet and was responsible for taking care of the voyage as a sign of prudence. This official, who was a native of Wujin, Jiangsu, recorded a valuable diary during this long journey of 50,000 miles, and kept a live record of the life of the fleet at that time.

According to the book, throughout the voyage, Luang Weili never forgot the training of the fleet. "The formation must be changed several times a day, or at a distance of tens of hundreds of yards in a straight direction, or at a distance of tens of hundreds of yards horizontally, or at an oblique distance of tens of hundreds of yards, sometimes with fire hazards, sometimes with water hazards, sometimes with preparations for attack, or as plans to attack the enemy. All hoisting flags and giving orders, all of them are enthusiastic and energetic, without any mistakes and miscellaneous Zhang Huangjing, not only the soldiers of each ship are like arms and fingers, but also the ships in the same battle are also like arms and arms." Taking February 13 as an example, in the morning, the ships began their routine drills, practiced standing in gun positions at noon, and in the afternoon, Luang Weili issued a flag from Jingyuan to order the fleet to change to a single goose formation, and then ordered the ships to slow down the voyage, and immediately ordered to drive fast, and then ordered the fleet to change to a corrugated formation, and at the same time used the flag language to ask each ship to report the hourly consumption of coal, and then kept asking the engine how much steam was stored, and before the dinner time was almost 5 p.m., Luang Weili ordered the ships to conduct combat readiness exercises and improve the handling of shells. During the training process, if any of the fleets were uneven or slightly slow to react, Luang Weili would have severely criticized them with the flag language.

When the fleet reached the port of Gibraltar, the choke point of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, a group of Chinese laborers in ragged clothes and penniless stranded here spent their days watching from the harbor, hoping that they would meet their own country's ships and take them back to their hometowns thousands of miles away. Every day, they looked at it and no longer had much hope for the future, but they saw a group of warships flying dragon flags slowly entering the harbor, and faced the officers of the motherland's navy embroidered with dragon patterns on their cuffs "crying and begging for help." According to the naval system, warships are not allowed to carry civilians without permission, not to mention that Luang Wei Li governs the army strictly and has strict management. Just when the ship's management and bands saw that this group of compatriots in a miserable situation was at a loss, Deng Shichang stepped forward, risked military discipline, accepted these Chinese workers on the ship, and "allowed to take eight people back to China, and ordered them to come to the ship in the afternoon to help them work."

Of course, it was many years before Jochen saw the contents of this diary.

On May 10, 1888, 7 ships sailed into the Taiwan Strait with a long whistle, and arrived near Kinmen Island at 5:30 p.m., the island batteries fired a salute, at this time the officers and men on each ship were already vaguely able to see the spectacular scene on the shore of Xiamen, the main ships of the Beiyang Naval Division headed by 2 Dingyuan-class ironclad ships, and the Chenhang gunboat of the Nanyang Naval Division, were all dressed in full armor waiting to welcome the returning fleet, and 7 warships formed with the Beiyang Naval Division Fleet here, officially joining the Beiyang Naval Division.

So far, the Beiyang Naval Division has a total of 2 Dingyuan-class ironclad ships, 2 Zhiyuan-class cruisers, 2 Jingyuan-class cruisers, 1 Jiyuan-class cruiser, 2 Chaoyong-class cruisers, 2 Weiyuan-class gunboats, 1 Dengyingzhou-class gunboat, 1 Haijing-class gunboat, a total of 13 warships of more than 1,000 tons, with a total tonnage of more than 37,000 tons. This huge fleet is the first in Asia (Note 1). And this glory will only accompany her in just 6 years before she will give it up.

Note 1: In 1887, Deng Shichang was the rank of deputy general of the camp office, although it was more difficult to link the official position of the military attache of the Qing army at that time with the current military rank, but it could also be regarded as a major general, although as a pipe belt of a warship, it was also a colonel in the European naval system at that time. And according to the custom of the Chinese, even low-level military attachés can call generals, so it is okay to call Deng Shichang a general here.

Note 2: Actually, this person was originally a member of the British Embassy, and here he is arranged to be a member of the German Embassy.

Note 3: The world ranking is deliberately not mentioned here, because there are many rumors about the world ranking of the Beiyang Naval Division, but in fact they are all problematic, because the ranking of the Navy is measured by the country, and it is obviously impossible to rank a certain fleet. In 1884, the Qing Navy ranked 10th in the world with a total tonnage of 45,120 tons of 1,000-ton warships. At that time, Japan ranked 13th with 19,936 tons. The so-called statement that the Beiyang Navy Division ranked 6th in the world in 1890 is not correct, and the statement that the Qing Navy ranked 6th in the world is to calculate the total number of ships, when the total number of Qing naval ships was 97, which was the 6th in the world, but if the total tonnage is calculated, the Qing State was 97 ships at that time, with a total tonnage of 78,190 tons, the 10th in the world. Japan ranked 11th with 30 ships with a total tonnage of 44,635 tons.