The sudden unimaginable explosion not only caused heavy casualties to the British troops who landed, but also frightened them, no one knew what was going on, and they instinctively ran towards the coast, just wanting to escape from this place as soon as possible and return to the battleship, at least the sea was safe, and no one knew if there would be such a frightening explosion again.

Looking at the rout of the troops rushing to grab the troop carriers on the beach, Hebu's mind was blank, he never thought that the development of the situation would take such a sharp turn, and the seaside he saw was a mess, so he asked in a deep voice: "What about General Pollitt?" Why is there no one to restrain the rout? ”

The communication tube that was stunned replied in a panic: "Your Excellency, General Pollit has already landed ........ ”

He Bu was speechless and shook his head, if it weren't for the fleet to suppress the formation, I was afraid that the Qing army would have covered up a long time ago, these officers and soldiers from Australia and India were really useless, and he groaned slightly, so he ordered: "Send a ship to pick up General Pollit as soon as possible." ”

On the shore, at the temporary headquarters of the army, Lieutenant General William Pollitt stood outside the tent and watched a group of chaotic routs fleeing, everyone had a panicked look on their faces, ignoring him, a general with the rank of lieutenant general on his shoulder, and running for his life one by one.

For this group of rabble drawn from Australia and India to temporarily assemble, Pollit was very speechless, he did not stop it, and he knew that it could not be stopped at all, this group of soldiers and even some low-level officers would not listen to him at this time, fortunately, there was a fleet on the face, and there was no need to worry about the Qing army chasing and killing, he simply let it go.

He was also deeply frightened by Fang Cai's unparalleled explosion, and he guessed that it should be the Qing army that detonated a huge underground ammunition depot, but such a powerful explosion required a large ammunition depot!

"Report." A naval communications officer hurriedly greeted him and saluted, "Admiral Hebu, please come aboard." ”

Pollit nodded, returned to the command headquarters and gave an explanation, then rushed to the sea, boarded the 'Sultan', and as soon as he saw Hebu, he said bluntly: "They are already frightened, the best way is to let them return to the battleship." ”

Hebu also asked directly, "What about Maputo?" Still fighting? ”

"It can be fought, but the guns must go ashore." "We can take the port of Maputo directly and then build a position like the Qing army....... but it is better to wait until tomorrow to organize an attack," Pollit said. ”

"I think the navy can attack the port first." "We need a victory to boost morale and stabilize the morale of the army. ”

"Not a bad idea, the Qing army should have no large-caliber coastal defense artillery." Pollit was very sympathetic to this proposal, indeed, they urgently needed a victory to boost their morale, otherwise the battle would not be fought, and it was undoubtedly the wisest to use the ironclad ships to attack the port of Maputo, and the Qing army's land artillery was not enough to threaten the ironclads.

Soon, a fleet of twelve small and medium-sized ironclads broke away from the formation and sailed quickly towards the mouth of the Mabudo River in black smoke.

In the city, the headquarters, hearing the report, Tang Zaosheng smiled and said: "The British army is smart this time, let's withdraw." ”

"No more sniping?" Jiang Baxiang glanced at him with some surprise, "The 150-caliber marine cannon fires special shells, and it can also cause good damage to ironclad ships...... ”

"Less fun." Tang Zaosheng waved his hand, "Not to mention that the ironclad ship is moving in the river, we have not set up artillery observation points along the river, all kinds of shooting elements cannot be determined, the hit rate is too low, and besides, the British ironclad ship is not easy to bully, the range of the marine artillery is not as good as the naval gun, and the risk of casualties is too great, and now we can only get a dozen 150 caliber marine guns, but we dare not easily make mistakes." ”

As he spoke, he ignored the other party, stood up and commanded, "Don't forget to take the telephone and telegraph lines with you when you retreat...... ”

The British fleet sailed all the way up the river without encountering the slightest resistance, occupying the port of Maputo without firing a single shot, and the waiting marines cautiously entered the city, only to find that it was already an empty city.

After receiving the news of the occupation of Maputo, Hebu and Pollit were not at all happy, if Maputo had been captured directly from the river, there would not have been such a large number of casualties, and it was obvious that the Qing army had calculated that they would land directly from the coastal defense position, and deliberately dug a big pit to wait for them.

"The Qing army is cunning and ruthless." He Bu said in a deep voice: "After entering Maputo, to build a defensive position as soon as possible, I think it is necessary to solemnly remind that the Qing army is good at night fighting, and they are good at lighting with fireworks at night. ”

Also good at night fighting? Pollit's face was a little ugly, "It's a headache and a very difficult opponent, and it was a very bad decision to capture Maputo. ”

He Buxin glanced at him and said: "The Qing State has risen very fast in recent years, and the hand is getting longer and longer, we will have a big war with the Qing State sooner or later, it is better to fight early than late, to capture Maputo is to force the Qing Navy to come to South Africa for a decisive battle with us, as long as we win the naval battle, these armies have nothing to worry about, and they can only surrender if they are cut off from ammunition supplies." ”

Speaking of this, he asked with concern: "Have the casualties been counted?" ”

Hearing him ask about the casualties, Pollit's expression darkened, "According to rough statistics, the casualties are more than 6,000........" ”

More than six thousand casualties? Hebu was silent for a moment, although he had expected that the casualties would be not small, but as high as six thousand, it was still greatly beyond his expectations, and his mood was a little heavy for a while, he didn't know what kind of reaction this result would cause when it reached the country, the only consolation was that it was better than the casualties in Pretoria.

Tang Zaosheng naturally did not know about the casualties of the British army, and he did not dare to overestimate them, for fear of falling into the charge of falsely reporting his war exploits, so in the telegram to Yi Zhixiang, the casualties of the British army were very conservative, only 4,000 were reported, and as for the explosives used, he did not dare to conceal it, after all, it was used for gold mining, and it must be replenished in time.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Zhang Le Book House.

Yi Zhishu read the telegram, put it on the coffee table casually, and said with a smile: "This soup stove is really bold, a cannon battle wasted more than 80 tons of explosives, without these more than 4,000 casualties, I don't know how to excuse him." ”

Zhao Liewen said: "Why does Maputo have so many explosives? For gold mining? ”

"Yes." Yi Zhizhi said: "The Transvaal gold mine has set a task of mining 100 tons of gold this year, and they require sufficient explosives to mine ore, so all the explosives in Guangzhou's inventory have been transported over at one time. ”

Speaking of this, he chuckled and said: "In exchange for the more than 4,000 casualties of the British army, this artillery battle is worth it, thinking about it, even if the British army occupies Maputo, it is still worried all day long." ”

Zhao Liewen smiled when he heard this, "If it were me, I would also be worried about whether a large amount of explosives were also planted under Maputo City." ”

"Not really." Yi Zhixiang said with a smile, paused, and then said slowly: "Telegraph the order to commend the reward, inform the whole army, report the merits together after the war, call Tang Zaosheng back, adopt flexible and mobile harassment tactics, and do not have to defend the defense line." ”

In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival was in the blink of an eye, and there was no news of England declaring war on the Qing Dynasty for nearly half a month, and there was no news of South Africa's war, and there was no sign of the depreciation of the banknotes that were worried.

The only thing that can feel the tension is Qingdao, almost all factories have not stopped working and resting, and military-related factories are working overtime day and night, and even schools are not on winter vacation as usual, because there are no adults at home, and almost all the adults in every household are busy working overtime, and they don't have the heart to celebrate the New Year at all.

Although they have been busy for many years, all the workers not only did not have the slightest complaint, but were full of energy, and there was already news that after this battle, Qingdao would no longer be closed to the outside world, except for some special technical personnel in military factories, free movement was allowed, and outsiders were not allowed to flow in.

Qingdao's wages and benefits are slightly higher than those in Guangzhou, Shanghai and other places, and Qingdao's degree of urbanization is also very high, although it is not as good as Shanghai, but there are few places in the Qing Dynasty that can compare with Qingdao, not a special situation, no one wants to leave, the most happy thing for them is that outsiders are not allowed to flow into this article, which means that relatives can be brought to Qingdao.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Yuanqi Bank opened its doors in the provinces of large and small branches, as the saying goes, after the Lantern Festival is the end of the New Year, many shops are open after the Lantern Festival, however, Yuanqi Bank is scheduled to open on the ninth day of the first month, this rule is naturally set by the big shopkeeper Yi Zhizhi, because many factories in Guangzhou and Shanghai are also starting near this day, and the bank naturally has no reason to be later than the factory.

In view of the run at the end of last year, as soon as the New Year opened, many shopkeepers were worried, not that there was no silver, but that there was a run at the beginning of the year, which was too bad, and who did business did not want to have a good omen.

From the end of the year to the eighth day of the first month, almost a month, South Africa has been blocking the news, this matter can not stand up to pondering and scrutiny, after all, the British are not like the Qing Dynasty New Year, businessmen who deal with foreign businessmen, students, and some officials who have returned from abroad are aware of this, Pretoria War, the Qing and Britain have already started a war, it makes no sense that the British will wait for the Qing Dynasty to finish the New Year before starting a war.

Fortunately, on the ninth day of the first month, there was no run on Guangzhou and Shanghai, and on the morning of the eleventh day of the first month, Hu Guangyong rushed to the Zhennan Wangfu, and entered the study, he first greeted the New Year according to the number of courtesies, and then changed his head, "Yesterday, other provinces were relatively calm, but in Guangzhou and Shanghai, there were large withdrawals........" After hesitating, he tentatively said, "When will Qingdao's ironclad fleet depart?" ”

"Lantern Festival arrives in Shanghai." Yi Zhizhi said: "It doesn't matter, most of the things to be cashed out have been exchanged before the year, and even if there is a run after the year, the scale will not be large." ”

Hu Guangyong said with a wry smile: "The problem is that there is not much silver deposited, and after the run at the end of the year, the silver deposits in all provinces are already in a dangerous ......." ”

After lighting a cigarette, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "The arrival of the ironclad fleet in Shanghai may not be able to eliminate the run, and it may have the opposite effect, which is a matter of opinion." ”

Hu Guangyong was stunned when he heard this, and pondered carefully, it is indeed the case, once the ironclad fleet is unveiled in Shanghai, a little eyesight can see that the Qing Dynasty is determined to start a war with Britain in South Africa, and the government and the opposition have different views on the war between the Qing and the British, and the appearance of the ironclad fleet may cause new panic.

After a slight hesitation, he said tentatively: "The big treasurer shouldn't be planning to implement the gold standard in advance, right?" ”

"Can't you just watch Yuan Qi being squeezed down?" Yi Zhizhi said quietly: "The gold reserves and pounds on hand are enough to cope with the paper money in circulation, so the gold content of the paper money will be verified according to the current gold-silver exchange ratio, and once a large-scale run occurs, it will be announced that the gold exchange will be used, and it is clearly stipulated that the gold and silver exchange ratio in the market will be adjusted according to the actual situation." ”

Hu Guangyong hesitated and said: "If this is the case, I am afraid that it will set off a bigger run on the tide." ”

Yi Zhizhi nodded, there is indeed this problem, once Yuan Qi exchanged gold for paper money, the government and the opposition would inevitably think that Yuan Qi was out of helplessness, so he used gold to exchange, one out of fear that the paper money would collapse and become waste paper, and one for the Qing Dynasty gold demand was greater than supply, and it was difficult to see gold in the market, panic plus demand, there would be a larger-scale run.

After pondering for a while, he said: "This is also something that can't be helped, what can be done, we have already done it." After a pause, he continued: "Let the provinces calculate and see how much gold is needed, and allocate it as soon as possible." ”

Hu Guangyong to retire, Yi Zhizhi got up and slowly paced to the window, pushed open the window, at this time to implement the gold standard, Yuan Qi actually did not have any loss, the loss is the people, the Qing Dynasty as the world's largest silver circulation market, once the implementation of the gold standard, will inevitably lead to a sharp and rapid depreciation of silver in the international market, when the time comes, the real depreciation is not paper money, but silver!

Yuanqi was not short of money, and there was no need to take such means to plunder the wealth of the people, and if there was no such run that threatened Yuanqi's reputation, he planned to delay it for another two years or a year, wait for the volume of the Transvaal gold mine to come up, and then implement the gold standard step by step.

Zhao Liewen walked in slowly, glanced at his back, and said softly, "Big shopkeeper." ”

"Huifu is here." Yi Zhizu turned around and took out an article from the drawer and said, "Polish, polish this article, hand it over to the newspaper, and the publication time is to be determined." ”

Zhao Liewen took a look and saw that the title was "On the Gold Standard", and he couldn't help but be surprised, Yi Zhizhi has always acted with public opinion first, this is to prepare for the implementation of the gold standard in advance? Is there another run at the beginning of the year?