Yi Zhizu took out a cigar and lit it slowly, exhaling a long cloud of smoke, his face was rarely grim, Su Yunhai is the second leader in charge of finance in the Fujian Three-Point Society, so Su Mengdie is needless to say that he is also a member of the Three-Point Society, but it is ridiculous that he also tried his best to prevent the Heaven and Earth Society and the Qinglian Sect from infiltrating the factory under Yuan Qi's name, but people have infiltrated him silently, in addition to Su Mengdie, how many people from the Heaven and Earth Society are there around him?

The Qinglian Sect came to the light, but the Heaven and Earth Society came to the dark, which made him even more unguardable, and he was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Do you know Huang Dianyuan?" You won't be mistaken, will you? ”

Jin Ying glanced at him and said, "Second Brother Huang, how could I admit my mistake?" He is a serious talent of 800, both civil and military. ”

"And will he deny you?"

"Probably not." Jin Ying said: "I'm a little girl, who will pay attention to me, pay attention, they also pay attention to Senior Sister Bai." ”

Hearing that her tone was a little pantothenic, Yi Zhishu tapped her forehead with his finger and chuckled: "It's hard to say, your quirky elf pretty girl is more eye-catching than Bai Zhi." As he spoke, he pointed to the silver dollar and said, "Leisurely order flowers, at least two pieces should be left on your body, this is not Guangzhou." ”

Listening to Yi Zhi's contentment to praise her, Jin Ying's heart was sweet, and she hurriedly said: "I know, people are not children." ”

Humen Zhai Chinese Army General's Mansion, Council Hall, Guan Tianpei pointed to a large Humen defense map to Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen and explained: "The three defense lines of Humen, including the five new forts built last year, a total of fifteen forts, with Shajiao and Dajiao forts as the first line of defense, Weiyuan, Zhenyuan, Jingyuan, Suiyuan, Fuyuan, Zhenyuan, Consolidation, Yong'an, and Hengdug Qianshan Platform as the second line of defense.

The Dahu Fort and the Houhu Fort are the third line of defense, and it is also planned to be in Jiangxi between Hengduan Island and Wushan. Set up two rows of wooden rows. Two large iron chains. Blockade of the river.

Of the three lines of defense, the most important thing is the second line, with five new forts, four of which are arranged in the second line of defense, of which the two largest forts, Jingyuan Fort and Zhenyuan Fort, each have more than 80 large and small guns, all of which are newly purchased Western artillery. ”

Before he finished speaking, Mai Tingzhang reported at the door: "My lords, Futai is a businessman. The big shopkeeper of Yuanqi is easy to be content, and he asks to see him outside. ”

Lin Zexu glanced at Guan Tianpei and said, "Yi Zhishu is familiar with Humen defense?" ”

"Back to my lord." Guan Tianpei said: "In order to inspect the location of the new forts, Yi Zhizu and the last general traveled all over Dajiao Mountain, Wushan and Dahushan, and they are very clear about the various forts and gun positions in Humen. ”

"Then let him in." Lin Zexu commanded lightly.

Yi Zhizu walked in quickly, glanced at the hall, and saw that Deng Tingzhen and Guan Tianpei were also present, and hurriedly knelt down respectfully to salute, Lin Zexu asked directly: "Can the righteous law be issued a sweet knot?" ”

"Back to my lord." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "Yilu refuses to form a knot. ”

Deng Tingzhen said: "It has been handed over to the crows. Piece, why refuse to make a statement? ”

"As an official of the English court in Guangzhou, Yilu represents the English court. In his capacity, he has no authority to issue this knot. Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Again." In the blink of an eye, it is the peak season of maritime trade, and the English merchant ships continue to come, which can be said to be without ships without crows. piece, the righteous law did not dare to conclude. ”

After a while, Lin Zexu said: "Let's slow down this matter, and collect the crows first. Slice. After a pause, he continued: "Contentment says that England will go to war, and with Humen's current defense, is it enough to resist the British fleet?" ”

Yi Zhixiang always knelt down to reply, and when he heard the words, he glanced at Deng Tingzhen, and said silently, Lin Zexu saw his small movements in his eyes, smiled, and said: "Contentment doesn't have to be formal, sit and talk back." ”

"Master Xie." Yi Zhizu hurriedly thanked him, got up and sat down, and then he spoke: "With the current strength of Humen, if the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division are not greedy for life and afraid of death, the British army will definitely not be able to attack Humen." After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "The British army is far away, whether it can win in a battle, the key lies in the water division, if the water division is not able to be used, take advantage of the early replacement with righteousness, don't waste the artillery of Humen." ”

Listening to this, Lin Zexu and the three of them had a little ugly expressions on their faces, Yi Zhizhi said that this is the truth, but it is unrealistic, when the war broke out, the division of the imperial court system let the temporarily recruited volunteers replace the guards of the tiger gate, this matter spread, how can the court be embarrassed? Where is the face of the civil and military officials in Guangzhou?

Lin Zexu glanced at him, did not say a word, the Guangdong Navy Division is now under his control, although he has not been in Guangzhou for a long time, but the old subordinate of Tianpei fully cooperates, he is extremely clear about the situation of the Navy Division, and knows that the accumulation of bribes and indulgence in personal interests of the officers and men of the Navy Division cannot be eliminated in a day, and he also knows that the officers and men of the Navy Division have no intention of fighting against foreign businessmen at all, the reason is very simple, the vast majority of the income of the officers and soldiers of the Guangdong Navy Division comes from the inspection crows. Without opium smuggling, they would have to live on soldiers' salaries.

It's not that he doesn't want to strictly rectify the water division, the problem is that he must now rely on the water division to patrol the opium smuggling, for this situation, he is also painstaking, distressed, not rectified, the water division is useless, rectification, too many implications, the water division can be said to be in danger of everyone, and it is possible to mutiny, which is like tofu falling into the ash heap, which cannot be blown or beaten.

Of course, no matter how difficult it is, the sailor still has to be rectified, but it has to be gradual and gradual, not light or heavy, lenient and strict, first seek stability, and then talk about rectification, after all, in the past two months, the sailor has been working hard and dutifully in the cigarette and patrol defense, not as ******** as before, he still has hope for the sailor.

Seeing that Lin Zexu was silent with a silent face, Deng Tingzhen said: "Contentment must not be speechless, the situation of the sailor is complicated, even if it is to be rectified, it is not a day's work, and the artillery is stationed in the fort with righteousness and bravery, there is no precedent for this in the Qing Dynasty, and the generals of the green battalion cannot afford to lose this face." ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "You can't be stationed, can you pick some smart and clever people from the volunteers and go to the fort to learn shelling?" ”

"It works." Guan Tianpei said: "Now that the inspection task is heavy, and the manpower has been assigned to participate in the smoking ban, a few new forts and an additional 300 artillery positions, the imperial court has not yet set a quota to replenish the troops, and a part of the volunteers will go to the fort to assist, which will not cause criticism." As he spoke, he looked at Yi Zhicontent. He said with a smile: "But." Volunteers bravely went to the gun position to practice. The consumption of ammunition is not small. ”

Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "Guan Junmen, rest assured, Yuan Qi is responsible for the ammunition required for live-fire training of all the forts in Humen." ”

"That being the case—." Guan Tianpei said with a smile: "This governor ordered them to go down, and they can train hard." ”

Deng Tingzhen also took advantage of the fire to rob and said: "In order to deal with the war provoked by England, Lord Lin has ordered to recruit another 10,000 volunteers, plus the original 5,000. The scale of the volunteers has reached 15,000, and if you are content, you can consider the weapons of the volunteers? ”

Last time, he ordered 3,000 muskets from Qichangxing and Weitemo Xing, and Yi Zhizhi only used 600 Hall-style M1819s, and the others were sealed. ”

Deng Tingzhen stroked his beard and smiled: "The gentry and businessmen in Guangzhou are all content. Don't be afraid of the English Lane. ”

Lin Zexu was secretly funny, this kid would make money. Spending money is really unambiguous, and after a slight groan, he said: "Citigroup should also have warships, how about compared to English warships?" ”

Yi Zhi's heart jumped, don't let him donate the battleship, he can't afford to donate, and immediately said cautiously: "Citi has not been in the country for a long time, and the navy can't compete with England at all, as far as the battleship is concerned, whether it is the size of the navy or the combat power of a single ship, it is far inferior to the English, the British Navy is a first-class battleship, with three decks, equipped with more than 100 large and small guns, and a capacity of eight or nine hundred people,

A second-class battleship, with three decks, is armed with 90 to 100 large and small guns, and has a capacity of seven or eight hundred people.

A third-class battleship, with two or three decks, armed with 60 to 80 large and small guns, and a capacity of 500 to 700 people. This is the main battleship of the English Navy, at least about one hundred and fifty ships, and the first class battleships are conservatively estimated to be more than twelve. ”

Guan Tianpei lost his voice and said: "So, the English warships that came to Guangzhou before are not even third-class ships?" ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "It should be a fourth-level battleship, and it is also the smallest battleship." ”

Lin Zexu looked at him for a moment before he said, "Citigroup doesn't even have a third-class battleship?" ”

"Yes." Yi Zhizu nodded and said: "The third-class battleship is the main battleship in Europe, and the navies of all countries should have it, but it is generally not sold to the outside world, and the cost of the battleship is very high, the cost of the European battleship is calculated in terms of displacement, generally one hundred and eighty silver dollars a ton, and the displacement of the third-class battleship is about two thousand tons, which means that the cost of a third-class battleship is about three hundred and sixty thousand silver dollars, which is not counting the artillery." ”

Counting the artillery, does it have to cost more than 400,000 silver dollars? Lin Zexu and the three of them all gasped, the three of them now have the most intuitive impression of the British Navy, not to mention anything else, just calculate the value of the British Navy warships, you can know how strong the English are, just one hundred and fifty third-class battleships, it costs 60 million silver dollars, and the size of the navy is at least more than 100,000 people.

After a while, Lin Zexu said suspiciously: "Why is Contentment so clear about the situation in England?" ”

"Back to my lord." Yi Zhizhi said: "Since it is predicted that England will go to war, it is natural to inquire about the situation of the British navy in many ways, Citigroup and England had a war 20 years ago, and Citi merchants have a good understanding of the naval situation of England. ”

Hearing this, Lin Zexu bowed slightly, Yi Zhi's relationship with Citi Merchants He naturally knew that he did have the intention to purchase a Western warship for the Guangdong Navy, but he was really embarrassed to open his mouth to Yi Zhi, Daoguang told him not to fight Yuan Qi's idea, and he groaned slightly, and then he said: "If England goes to war, it is estimated with contentment, how large will the fleet of England come to attack?" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Yi Zhizhi said: "England is unwilling to cut off trade with the Qing Dynasty, and then there is a sense of temptation, and another is too far after all, and logistics supply is difficult, all things considered, the size of the fleet sent by England will not be too large, and it is expected that the fleet size will be about twenty warships, of course, it will not be all third-class battleships, it is estimated that there will be four or five third-class battleships, with other cruisers and light cruisers, and the number of people is between one or two thousand." ”

This is the first time that Yi Zhizu has analyzed in such detail, and Deng Tingzhen said with concern: "With such a scale, Humen can resist the enemy outside the estuary?" ”

Yi Zhifen smiled and said: "Shore defense artillery and naval artillery bombardment, shore artillery has a sufficient advantage, under normal circumstances, the ratio of shore artillery to naval artillery is one to six, it is evenly matched, and the size of the Humen Fort is now as high as six hundred, which is completely dependent on the strong and bullying, enough to crush a fleet of this size." ”

Hearing this, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief, and Deng Tingzhen said with a smile: "Contentment seems to have studied Western warfare quite a bit?" ”

"Don't dare." Yi Zhifu hurriedly said humbly: "Many sailors and crews on the Citi merchant ship have participated in naval battles with the United States and Britain, so I just humbly ask them for advice, and then relay it to your lordships." ”

Lin Zexu nodded and said, "Contentment is proficient in Yilingu, and ask Citi merchants more to understand the situation in England, and we will strive to know each other and ourselves." ”

"Don't worry, sir." Yi Zhizu bowed slightly and said, "I must do my best in the future." ”

Withdrawing from the General's Mansion of the Chinese Army, Yi Zhifen was about to walk away quickly, Guan Tianpei had already chased him out quickly, and said with a smile: "Contentment is a rare time to come to Humen, the old man has to do his best to be a landlord, go, go to the old man's Admiral's Mansion." ”

Yi Zhi's content was afraid of drinking with a group of generals, and immediately smiled: "Lord Qincha and Lord Butang both live in Humen Village, so let's do it another day." ”

"If you change someone else, the old man really doesn't have time to accompany him." Guan Tianpei smiled: "However, contentment is another matter. As he spoke, he instructed his soldiers, "What are you still doing?" Hurry up, prepare the banquet, prepare the wine. ”

Seeing this posture, Yi Zhizhi knew that he couldn't slip away, and honestly followed into the Admiral's Mansion, and the two went directly into the study, and after taking their seats, Guan Tianpei said: "Lord Lin intends to purchase a Western warship for offensive and defensive exercises, considering that the purchase price is too high, he intends to donate it together with merchants, salt merchants, and thirteen lines." ”

"I know that the wine in the military gate is not good." Yi Zhizu quipped, and said cheerfully: "Yuanqi is no problem." Of course he has no problem, he falsely quoted more than 100,000 yuan in the previous offer, but in fact, he and Wu Bingjian purchased only 250,000 light cruisers from the United States, and the three companies shared it only 80,000.

Seeing the cheerfulness of his promise, Guan Tianpei praised lightly: "Although contentment is young, in terms of open-mindedness, there is no one in the world who can match. ”

Yi Zhixiang knew his temperament, and immediately smiled: "Guan Junmen's praise, it must be no good thing." ”

"Actually, it's nothing." Guan Tianpei said with a smile: "The old man's standard five battalion muskets are also old, and he is satisfied that he promised to give a batch of muskets to the sailor last time, this time it is to buy muskets for Yiyong, can you add a little more, and give the two battalions in the center and left of Humen complete, how about it?" ”

Groaning slightly, Yi Zhizhi said: "It's not that the juniors are stingy, the juniors just don't want to throw the silver into the water, with all due respect, this gun is better for the righteous and brave than for the sailor." (To be continued.) )