The Bund in Shanghai, the supply ground where the main force of the Republic of China Navy will go.

The current Beiyang Fleet is very embarrassing, and the Beiyang government, under the pressure of Beijing, has removed the name of the central government and become a local government, and the navy has become a very sensitive department. After all, the navy is the navy of the entire Republic of China, which belongs to the central government of the Republic of China, not the local government.

After Li Yuanhong returned to Beijing with the support of the Northeast, he called Chen Fuguang and summoned him back to Beijing to serve as Minister of the Navy, but Chen Yuanguang weighed the pros and cons and did not agree. After all, at that time, Li Yuanhong had just returned to Beijing, and it was rumored that he had become a puppet of Feng's father and son, and Chen Fuguang was not sure of his fate. Chen Shunguang himself was very supportive of the revolution, and he would not allow the last of China's naval power to become the minions of the Feng family and his son's expansion of power. Coupled with Feng Guozhang's strong control of the Beiyang government, the struggle within Beiyang became more and more intense, and the direct Anhui faction leaned towards each other. The navy, as an independent force, is the most stable. In that case, Chen Shunguang chose to wait and see.

But now the situation is different again. The Beiyang government had become the Beiyang Governor's Palace, and the Anhui forces were completely defeated, and the direct line became the biggest winner of the struggle, and began to concentrate all its forces in an attempt to confront the Beijing government. And the navy, which sits on the mountain and watches the tiger fight, has naturally become one of the focuses of its attention. After all, although the Beijing government has received the name of central orthodoxy, everyone knows that the Beijing government has an extremely weak navy, just like there is no navy. The coastal defense forces are almost zero. If the direct Beiyang can completely control the main force of the Republic of China Navy, it will have a greater advantage in the confrontation with the Beijing government in the future. The area controlled by the Beijing government, the coastal defense area is large, and the Beijing government has no defense of the sea, so it can be said that there are loopholes everywhere, and it is when the navy shows its might, Feng Guozhang naturally wants to control the navy. This is not only clear to him, but the Beijing government also sees the importance of the main force of the navy, that is, the importance of the naval commander Chen Shunguang. Under these circumstances, the Beijing government sent three envoys to secretly meet with Chen Yuanguang within half a month. Then through the encouragement of Li Yuanhong's handwritten letter, Chen Yuanguang was already very moved, and finally accepted Li Yuanhong's order and prepared to lead the main force of the navy to the north.

At the same time, the Beiyang Governor's Office telephoned Chen Fuguang and asked him to dock at the Bund Wharf in Shanghai, and Chen Fuguang himself went to Nanjing to serve as Minister of the Navy. And constantly improve Chen Shunguang's position, and also prepare a mansion for him in Nanjing, showing the importance of Chen Shunguang. Local Beiyang government officials in Shanghai even came to greet them in person, and the entire Shanghai wharf can be said to be extremely lively.

The naval fleet docked at the Shanghai dock and began to replenish fuel and supplies, but the naval commander Chen Shuguang was never seen, which made Zhang Tao, the governor of Shanghai, very anxious. But Chen Shunguang's flagship didn't dock, and he couldn't do it. What's more, now that Beiyang is being reorganized, the rights of the overseers in various places have been seriously weakened, Shanghai is a place with strong Western power, and the Shanghai Overseer's Office has just been established, and it does not have much authority in itself. In Shanghai, the governor was just a small man. Therefore, the power of the Shanghai Overseer was naturally inferior to that of the hot Admiralty. After all, the Beijing government and Chen Fuguang were in secret contact, and Beiyang did not get any news, so Zhang Tao did not dare to neglect Chen Shunguang in the slightest.

"Look, Overseer, why did the Navy turn around?" The staff of the Shanghai Overseer's Mansion looked at the flagship that was slowly turning around, and shouted with a big change in their faces.

"Go and call the flagship and ask what's going on." Zhang Tao's face changed slightly. He couldn't figure out what was going on here, according to the plan, shouldn't Chen Shunguang have gone ashore in Shanghai? Which one is this?

When Zhang Tao, the governor of Shanghai, was dazed, Chen Shunguang's flagship had already completed its U-turn and sailed towards the deep ocean. And looking at the direction, it turned out to be north. At this time, Zhang Tao, the governor of Shanghai, even if he was a pig, could see that something was wrong. He immediately ordered someone to call the Beiyang Governor's Mansion and report the Shanghai information directly to Feng Guozhang.

When Feng Guozhang received the news, his face became ugly, if he didn't know that there was a problem with the navy, he wouldn't be Feng Guozhang. During this time, his energy was mainly focused on land defense, and the navy could only be regarded as a surprise soldier all the way, if he could not win in the land Beiyang, then no matter how good the cavalry was, it would not be of the slightest use. Therefore, he just wanted to recall Chen Shunguang and then send a Beiyang officer to manage the navy. Unfortunately, he knew that these plans were destined to be stillborn. Beijing struck much earlier than he did, otherwise the Navy would not have been so cooperative. The most unbearable thing for him was that the navy went north to the northeast and replenished their docks with sufficient provisions. Even the naval ammunition in the arsenal of the dock was emptied. The entire Beiyang Governor's Mansion was in its hands, but there was only a broken Yangtze River fleet left. The thousand-ton ships were basically taken away by Chen Fuguang. It can be said that the essence of the navy in the hands of Beiyang has been lost.

This time the speed of the navy was very fast, and after setting off from Shanghai, it entered the Bohai Sea on the same day. When the sun rose the next day, the largest and largest naval fleet of the Republic of China appeared at the Tianjin Wharf. To the excitement of the locals, the original Beiyang flag on it is gone. On the banner appeared the newly promulgated flag of the National Defense Forces Navy by the Beijing government. This is undoubtedly a telling that the Navy has joined the government. This discovery plunged the entire Tianjin wharf into jubilation.

On the same day, the Beijing government issued a nationwide telegram to reorganize all the 26 search ships of the former Republic of China Navy into the First Fleet of the Chinese Navy. The largest ironclad ship in the Navy was renamed the USS Rise. Became the flagship of the First Fleet of the Chinese Navy.

The change of banner of the Chinese navy shook the whole world, among which Beiyang was the most tense, and Beiyang did not occupy an advantage in the confrontation with the Beijing government, but now it has suddenly lost the main force of the navy, and Beiyang does not have the slightest threat to the northeast at sea, but has to always guard against the attack of the Beijing National Defense Forces through the sea, in this case, the atmosphere of war in Beiyang is becoming more and more intense, and the cloud of war is also enveloping the whole of China.

The most angry of the Beiyang Navy, except for the Beiyang government, which suffered great losses, was the Japanese. To be honest, just more than two dozen ironclad ships that are not very advanced are not much of a threat to the Japanese Combined Fleet. After all, the entire Republic of China Navy is barely comparable to a detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet in terms of strength. Moreover, in terms of ship type and performance, the combat effectiveness of the Republic of China Navy is even inferior to that of a detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet. The reason why Japan is excited is that the Beijing government has such a naval fleet, and it is no longer defenseless at sea. Even if this naval fleet is weak, it is second only to the Japanese Combined Fleet and the Tsarist Pacific Fleet in the whole of Asia. In this case, this navy would greatly strengthen China's influence in the Asian region and provoke Japan's hegemony, which is difficult for Japan to accept.

The most important thing is that with the consistent strength of the Beijing government, when it has some hole cards in its hand, it will definitely take action at sea, and this cannot but be said to be a pressure on Japan. As an adversary, Japan has studied the Beijing government in depth. Among them, the character of Feng's father and son was also analyzed, and it was concluded that Northeast Feng Shaomarshal was an out-and-out military madman, or a war maniac, and he was extremely crazy. A person who has a fanatical interest in the land, and when provoked, will take the strongest revenge. Therefore, after receiving that the Chinese Government had a naval force similar to that of a combined fleet detachment, Japan immediately convened a meeting to discuss the changes that the change of Chinese naval banner would bring about to the stability of the Far East. The final result is the change of flag of the Chinese Navy, the living space of the Combined Fleet will be compressed, and a navy will appear in the coastal waters of Chinese mainland, which were originally like Japan's back garden, and dare to resist the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Soon after Japan came to its conclusion, the Japanese Combined Fleet appeared in Chinese waters, and very arrogantly crossed the Shandong Peninsula, entered the Bohai Bay, and approached the port of Tianjin, an important city in China's northern seas. The goal is to target the Chinese government's newly rewhelmed naval forces.

After receiving the news, the whole port of Tianjin was under martial law. The more than 20 main warships of the First Fleet of the Chinese Navy, which were resting and repairing, all left the dock and formed a battle formation outside the port of Tianjin. The Chinese navy's posture of fighting to the end made the Japanese Combined Fleet deeply jealous. The Combined Fleet's current operation was instructed by the military department in order to test the Chinese Government's attitude toward coastal defense, and now the Chinese Government has pulled the navy, which is still in its rectification, out of the harbor and put on a posture of fighting to the death, and this has made the Japanese fleet see the attitude of the Chinese Government.

Although the Japanese military department has a lot of power in Japan, Yamashita Aritomo is still strong and domineering. However, the last defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army in Northeast China had already reduced the prestige of the military department, and the authority of the military department was once again weakened by the emperor's seizure of power. After all, Japan is the Emperor's Japan, not the Japan of other prefectures.

Therefore, the Japanese navy stopped advancing when it forced the Chinese naval fleet to less than 100 miles, and then the two engines confronted each other for half an hour, and the Japanese navy finally did not advance again, but only fired a few shots at the empty sea, and then turned around and left. Although there was no major friction in this confrontation, the impact on the entire Far East is increasing. From this moment on, the Chinese Navy, which had completely lost confidence in the First Sino-Japanese War, began to regain its fighting spirit and began to shoulder the responsibility of defending China's coastal waters. And step by step to expand the scope of defense. And the retreat of the Japanese Navy also allowed the Chinese Navy to see the essence of the paper tiger of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

(To be continued)