Compared with last year, Groba Bay is more lively this year, densely packed with all kinds of ships all over the bay, and the masts are like forests from afar, despite this, there are still fleets coming one after another, and businessmen with a little eye can sense that this situation is somewhat abnormal, and there are also many rumors in Groba, and it is rumored that the Nanyang Navy may have a big military operation in the near future.

Not far from the port wharf, Mahler is a three-storey Western-style western-style building, and in a room on the third floor, Joshua, the manager of Mahler, holds a telescope and carefully observes the large fleet moored to the east of the bay.

The fleet was huge, consisting of more than 200 steam and sail hybrid ships, many of which had large wooden boxes on the decks, which were obviously large machines for shipment. Is it Java or Bangladesh? Or maybe the Persian Gulf? But why stop here for so long?

Since the Qing expanded its influence to the Persian Gulf, Britain paid special attention to the naval movements of the Qing State, and during this time, the main fleet of the Qing Nanyang Navy has been stranded in Gropa, which has aroused their great attention.

He was naturally very attentive to the sudden arrival of this large fleet, and arranged for people to pay close attention to the situation every day, and he himself would come up and observe with a telescope whenever he had time, but he had never been able to figure out the destination and intentions of this fleet, and he could not find out the slightest tone from the mouths of the crew and sailors who came ashore.

"Tuk tuk" A soft knock sounded on the door, Joshua vigilantly put away the binoculars and then quickly opened the door, and Owen, who was in his early thirties, flashed into the room and said softly: "I received the news that the sailors and crew of that fleet must return to ship before dark today." ”

Is this about to go? Joshua said in a deep voice: "Have you figured out the supply situation of the fleet?" ”

"The supply of the fleet is in charge of the South China Association, and I don't know the situation." Owen said softly: "However, the supply lasts quite long, and the amount of supply should not be small. ”

It seems that the destination of this fleet cannot be Java, most likely it will be the Persian Gulf, Joshua pondered for a while before ordering: "Pay close attention to the movement of the military port." ”

Owen hesitated, "Do you want to send two clippers to follow?" ”

The risk of tracking such a large fleet is not small, if the Qing Navy dispatches, the risk is even greater, the Qing Navy's new type of cruiser can reach a speed of 20 knots, even in the case of strong winds, it is stronger than the clippers, once the wind is not strong, the clippers do not even have a chance to escape.

After thinking about it for a while, Joshua said, "Let Steven and George set off immediately to wait outside the Sunda Strait, and in addition, send a telegram to the country." ”

It didn't take long for Joshua to find himself careless, and more than a dozen steam gunboats patrolling back and forth appeared on the sea outside the bay, blocking the sea, not allowing ships in the bay to go out, and at the same time, a notice was posted at the port wharf that all ships in the bay were strictly forbidden to go to sea. Europe was also quick to return, as the telegraph office suspended its telegraph operations because of a line failure in the cable telegraph.

This is definitely a large-scale military operation! Joshua's face suddenly became gloomy, but now he didn't have any way, in this case, the information couldn't be sent out at all.

In the early morning of the next day, after three cannon shots, the main fleet of the Nanyang Navy slowly sailed out of the military port, and on the port wharf, the gentry, merchants, students, and people who had come to watch early in the morning broke out into wave after wave of cheers.

After converging the huge fleet of ships sailing out of the bay, Xiao Mingliang ordered in a deep voice, "Set sail, target, Maputo!" ”

South Africa, East Coast, Port of Maputo, South China Chamber of Commerce.

Maputo Bay at dusk is particularly charming, on the wide outer balcony, Huang Dianyuan leisurely sipping tea and enjoying the sea view, after sending Guan Changhai away, he turned back to Maputo, originally thought that it would be difficult to avoid a lot of effort, but unexpectedly things were far easier than he imagined.

From the mouth of the local leader of the South China Society, he learned that Yi Zhifen's merchant fleet to Europe, which had begun to deploy in Mozambique more than ten years ago, had provided arms to the local blacks almost every year, and it can be said that the Ngoni chieftain Genenhana was able to form a Gaza federation and expel the Portuguese, recovering the vast land south of the Zambezi River, which had a great deal to do with Yuanqi's covert support.

It is precisely for this reason that Maputo, under the control of the Gaza Federation, has an extremely friendly attitude towards the Chinese, there are no whites here, but there are many Chinese, there are many businesses and the relationship with blacks is very good, and there are even many Chinese descendants.

On the second day of his arrival in Maputo, he visited the chief of the Ngoni people, Gengenhana, and agreed to his request to recruit strong labourers and send men to find a way to the Transvaal, so much so that he spent the whole day doing nothing and leisurely.

"President, a ship is coming, flying our flag."

Taking a look at the binoculars, Huang Dianyuan smiled and said, "It should be that Director Guan is here, let's go, go with me to greet him." ”

It was indeed Guan Changhai who came, and when the boat docked, Huang Dianyuan stepped forward and said with a smile: "It can be regarded as the director of the customs department." ”

After returning the salute, Guan Changhai smiled and said, "It seems that President Huang's trip is also quite smooth." ”

"Smooth." Huang Dianyuan smiled: "It's beyond imagination. Saying that, he stretched out his hand and politely said, "We have prepared a reception banquet, let's go back and talk while drinking." ”

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Huang Dianyuan put down his chopsticks and said: "The big shopkeeper has bought the territory south of the Zambezi River to Maputo from Portugal, has the director ever heard of this?" ”

"Already bought?" Guan Changhai was not surprised at all, his tone was very flat, Yi Zhishu had mentioned this matter to him before he left from Shanghai.

Seeing that his reaction was flat, Huang Dianyuan said slowly: "This place is actually controlled by the Gaza Federation, and when the news spreads, don't you worry about causing local blacks to be dissatisfied with us?" ”

"What grievances can there be?" Guan Changhai said disapprerovitically: "For my country, this is just an enclave, and the big treasurer has no intention of establishing a province and setting up a county here, nor does he intend to use this place as a colony, and buy this land from Portugal, in order to mine the gold mines of the Transvaal, in order to block the mouth of Western countries, and will not interfere with the rule of the Gaza Federation, but let them govern themselves. ”

Hearing these words, Huang Dianyuan couldn't help but smile, "It's rare for the big shopkeeper to have a bodhisattva's heart, but it is still necessary to discuss with the local blacks in advance, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings when the army arrives." ”

Guan Changhai nodded and said, "I'll go to visit Chief Geyangenhana tomorrow." ”

The negotiations between Guan Changhai and the chief of Geengenhana were very smooth, and Yuan Qi bought this land from the Portuguese, neither paying taxes nor ruling directly, but allowing them a high degree of autonomy, which was tantamount to providing them with protection, so that they did not have to worry about the retaliation of the Portuguese, which was simply a good thing that was difficult to find even with a lantern, how could they have an opinion?

Ten days later, Xiao Mingming's huge fleet arrived in Maputo, the size of the fleet made the whole Maputo sensational, looking at the dense warships and merchant ships on the sea, Genenhana was both happy and worried, happy that he had obtained such a big backer out of thin air, and worried that the Qing navy was so powerful that they could not compete with it at all.

With the arrival of the fleet, Maputo immediately became lively, and the elite labor recruited in the early stage was instantly useful, building barracks, batteries, docks, warehouses, roads, docks, and the whole Maputo became a huge construction site.

While Maputo was under construction, 5,000 marines, with the cooperation of 1,000 black forces from the Gaza Federation, began to march westward to the kingdom of Pedi, which was between the Transvaal and Maputo, in order to open a passage to the Transvaal.

Qingdao, West Fort.

With one command after another, a huge 8-caliber shore defense gun slowly turned the muzzle, waiting for the aim to be ready, just listen to a loud sound like thunder, although there was a long preparation, standing far away Yi Zhicontent was still shocked by the buzzing sound in his ears, waiting for the smoke to dissipate, he looked at the gun that did not move in place, and the barrel had been automatically reset.

Seeing the look of joy on his face, Tang Ruihong, an engineer who specializes in the study of hydraulic refueling machines standing beside him, said with a smile: "Big shopkeeper, the recoil of the 8-caliber cannon is too great, and the recoiling device is unbearable, and it can barely shell three shells, and the device will be scrapped ......." ”

"Being able to withstand three shells is also a huge improvement." Yi Zhishu encouraged: "This is enough to show that there is no problem with the direction of the research of the stationing and retreating device, improve it as soon as possible, the era of giant ship cannons has begun, and the artillery will be bigger and bigger in the future, nine is not the end, it can only be barely regarded as a cannon, and twelve, fifteen, and sixteen can barely be called giant cannons......." ”

Fifteen, sixteen? Tang Ruihong was shocked for a long time, the recoil of the eight-caliber cannon is so large, how big will the recoil of the sixteenth be? After hesitating, he said: "The stationing and retreating devices of the seven-caliber artillery are all ...... with compression springs and tension springs. ”

He only knows this thing, and can put forward this idea, and at the same time knows that it is a hydraulic type, which is already the limit of his knowledge, so he naturally does not dare to speak at will, and he groaned slightly, before he spoke: "Continue to explore, the importance of the stationing and retreating device for artillery does not need me to say, no matter how much it costs, it is worth it......" ”

Speaking of this, a thought suddenly popped into him, "Could it have something to do with hydraulic fluid?" ”

Hydraulic fluid? Tang Ruihong couldn't help but be stunned, this hydraulic retreat machine is water, he didn't expect to replace it with oil, the history of the hydraulic press is not long, in 1861, in the Vienna Railway Workshop for metal processing of 7000KN hydraulic press can be said to be the beginning of the application of hydraulic press, the introduction of domestic only seven or eight years, but did not think about improvement.

Seeing Tang Ruihong's expression, Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "Explore more, try more, don't be afraid of waste, Yuanqi has never been stingy with investment in scientific research, although he has let go of his hands and feet to try boldly, the application of this hydraulic press will be very extensive in the future, you may wish to allocate more manpower to carry out research to bring forth the new, manpower and funding are not a problem." ”

"The big shopkeeper can rest assured." Tang Ruihong said calmly: "The subordinates will not live up to the high expectations of the big shopkeeper." ”

After coming down from the fort and going around the steel mill, Yi Zhizhi returned to Canghai Park, and as soon as he entered the door, Zhao Liewen greeted him and said, "The British Minister Wei Tuma has called, hoping to meet with the big shopkeeper as soon as possible." ”

Calculating the time, it should be a matter of South Africa, Yi Zhizhi groaned for a while before saying: "Arrange it and return to Shanghai as soon as possible." ”

Shanghai, British Consulate in Shanghai.

In the office, Wittoma slowly put down the telegram in his hand and sighed softly, the telegram was sent from London, the discovery of diamond ore in an old crater near Kimberley, South Africa, crude steps estimated that the reserves are huge, very likely to exceed Brazil's diamond reserves.

For him, this is really not good news, just when Yuan Qi entered the port of Maputo in East Africa, the news came out, but I am afraid that it will set off an even more crazy diamond frenzy, as far as he knows, there are quite a few Chinese in the gold mining frenzy in California.

He lit a cigar with some annoyance, this time Yuan Qi sent more than 30,000 people to Maputo, including the navy as high as 20,000 troops, and it is said that a large number of machines were brought with the ship, this thing is really too strange, this is obviously not for the Kimberley diamond mine, after all, the Kimberley has not yet discovered the diamond mine at that time.

So what is Yuanqi's intentions? Expanding in South Africa? What made him even more disturbing was that Yuan Qi was stationed in Maputo, and the Portuguese did not say a word, even if the Portuguese had lost control of Maputo, but after all, it was still nominally an overseas territory belonging to Portugal.

What he was most worried about was that Portugal and the Qing State reached an agreement to cede Maputo, once the Qing State gained a foothold in South Africa, it would inevitably expand aggressively, and the direction of expansion would definitely be to the west and south, and Great Britain was actively expanding north in South Africa at this time, so that the two countries would inevitably clash in South Africa!

A soft knock on the door sounded, and he said casually, "Please come in." ”

"Your Excellency." A counselor pushed the door in and reported: "King Zhennan has returned to Shanghai. ”

"Prepare the car." Wittoma commanded, and then extinguished the cigar in the ashtray.

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