The cruiser fleet of the Chinese Navy in the Zhoushan Military Port went to sea, and as soon as the fleet left Waiganmen Island, it was discovered by the revolutionary party stationed in Zhoushan, but there was no telegraph office nearby, so these people rushed to the British Consulate in Ningbo Zhongma Road Slate Store dozens of miles away overnight under the pretext that their family members were urgently ill and needed to be treated by a foreigner. Ningbo is one of the five major treaty ports, but it began to weaken after the opening of Shanghai and along the Yangtze River, and only the British Consulate remained in the once prosperous Ningbo Bund. Pearson, the consul here, received the news, but he quickly sent it out on the museum's radio.

The Shina fleet has never been the focus of the Japanese navy, and what they are really worried about is the Shina submarines. Previously, Navy Staff Officer Mayuki Akiyama made a plan to occupy the Zhoushan Military Port and completely paralyze the submarine force in China, but this plan was rejected by the base camp after it was reported. The reason is that the Zhoushan military port has an extremely long waterway, there are many coastal fortresses, and Lin Wenqian of the 3rd Army of the China Army is located in Hangzhou, so it is completely impossible to launch a surprise attack in order to occupy the military port in a short time, and a large-scale landing not only requires the mobilization of already tense troops, but also cannot keep the sea route open under the threat of submarines.

The threat of submarines made the Japanese Navy, like the British Royal Navy in the North Sea, afraid to get too close to the enemy's coast, and now that the Shina army had actually left the port, Vice Admiral Shimamura, the head of the Naval Command Department, who had received a telegram from the British consul, immediately ordered Kato Dingyoshi, commander of the 2nd Fleet, who was already in the waters off Qingdao, to move south to intercept and destroy the cruiser fleet in China.

In the midst of the Japanese 2nd Fleet's big moves, the Navy's cruiser fleet completed a round of heated discussions.

When they left Hong Kong last night, the flagship Zhaohe was a trainee non-commissioned officer Chen Kejun, Li Jubiao, and Zeng Jitang sneaked into the command room. After deceiving the guards, Chen Kejun opened fire and shot and killed Vice Admiral Moffett, deputy commander of the navy, and Rear Admiral Cheng Biguang, commander of the cruiser fleet. With the sound of gunshots. Surrounded by sailors who heard the news, Chen Kejun and Li Jubiao committed suicide by swallowing their guns. Zeng Jitang failed to cut himself in time due to excessive fright, and was captured by sailors. Such a tragedy occurred before the Zhoushan Islands set sail, and the two commanders were killed and one seriously wounded, and the generals of the fleet were immediately at a loss.

The Chinese Navy is the Beiyang Navy itself, so the stubborn disease of the Fujian people among its officers and the northerners among the sailors has been inherited, and the political commissars sent by the army are not familiar with the navy, and there is no foundation in the army, so the influence is limited. However, after urgently reporting the information to the General Staff that night, the General Staff did not give clear instructions. Lieutenant General Moffett, who was wounded, could not be appointed acting commander. As usual, Beijing handed over the command of the fleet to Rear Admiral Liu Guanxiong, the highest-ranking sea-chip ship.

Liu Guanxiong had a meritorious role in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, but when the Qing court dismissed the navy after the First Sino-Japanese War, he was sent to Germany to pick up the Flying Eagle and return to China, and then he was appointed as the pipe band of the Flying Eagle. But even so, compared with those naval captains who are idle at home, Liu Guanxiong's technology, experience, and courage are all superior. Vice Admiral Moffett after joining the Navy. Although the employing people tried their best to promote non-Min officers at the request of the General Staff Department, after all, they were foreigners and rigid in their work. He was appointed captain of the Hai Chip.

The General Staff did not hesitate to mention it, but the appointment document was stuck on Yang Rui's side, just such a person who destroyed the sea and sky ship for the concubine's birthday. If I become the captain again, I am afraid that I will destroy the sea chip ship again. Yang Rui's concerns were known to the General Staff, after Xu Jingxi spread out each captain and compared them. The conclusion is that Liu Guanxiong is the least problematic among the admirals, and the sinking of the Haitian ship is a major event. But his style of dealing with both public and private affairs is indeed much better than those who harm the public and private interests.

Xu Jingxi's comparison made Yang Rui speechless, and he felt that he couldn't find a reason not to sign. As far as matters are concerned, no matter how much Liu Guanxiong is a bastard, it is also a matter of the Manchu Navy, and he has no reason to affect the present dynasty because of the events of the previous dynasty; At the same time, the general staff of the General Staff held an examination of the generals and Vice Admiral Moffett, deputy commander of the navy, unanimously agreed that Liu Guanxiong was the best among the captains of the navy, and did not approve Liu Guanxiong as the captain of the sea chip, which completely violated the tradition of the Fuxing Army in appointing people on the basis of merit......

In this way, although Liu Guanxiong, who was a cold bencher, did not become the chief of the navy as in history, he was still an old tree and a new development, and became one of the five major captains of the navy. When Vice Admiral Moffitt had just issued this appointment, Liu Guanxiong could not believe that although he had been saved under the protection of Yuan Shikai after the Haitian ship accident, his future in the army was completely buried. After the revolution, he also thought about how to drill into the camp, but he couldn't do anything, and he didn't want to really recover by relying on his own ability.

In the naval battle between China and Japan in the East China Sea, seeing that Lin Baoyi could be promoted and awarded medals, Liu Guanxiong, who was born in a cooper's family, found out all the details of the naval battle, and was extremely disdainful of Lin Baoyi. Liu Guanxiong wanted to make meritorious service to the new dynasty, but after the naval battle in the East China Sea, he suffered from no chance, and finally waited for the departure of the port today, but who expected that the two commanders would hang up just after leaving the port, but the opportunity that he did not expect came - although the new dynasty reduced the salary of the admiral, but the military rank was not reduced, according to the usual practice, he became the acting commander of the cruiser fleet with a deep rear admiral.

"It's too unlucky to play this time." In the war room, in the meeting to discuss the next move, Lin Baoyi, the captain of the Haichen, said unexpectedly. He thought that the General Assembly would appoint him as the acting commander of the fleet, but he didn't want to give it to Liu Guanxiong as usual. "Besides, this time it is mainly an attack and harassment, and the destroyer's range is also short, if the Japanese navy is in the sea of Qingdao, it is best for us to stay in Shanghai and Haizhou for a while."

"The order of the General Staff is for us to go to the coast of Korea and attack the Japanese transport ships, but not for us to go around in circles in the East China Sea." Liu Guanxiong, who got the command, was not polite at all, he and Sa Zhenbing and Lin Baoyi have never been all the way. "Now that the fierce war between China and Japan is imminent, don't attack and harass at sea, do you want to have another First Sino-Japanese War?"

Liu Guanxiong's accusation made Lin Baoyi blush, and Lan Jianshu, the captain of the prostitution king Yingrui, was busy playing a round, "Ziying, the Fuxing Army is not the Huai Army." Being able to hold off the Japanese for more than half a year does not mean that the navy cannot win without attacking and harassing the army. This time I went overseas. It's really unlucky. He said and looked at Yang Jingxiu, the captain of the Zhaohe ship, "Ji San." Why don't you know that these revolutionary parties are hiding in you? ”

There was a revolutionary party on his ship, and he also did a big thing of assassination, Yang Jingxiu, who had never asked about politics and just wanted to drive the ship with peace of mind, was shocked all night, fortunately it was not Moffitt who died, otherwise it would be troublesome if the foreigners were involved. When everyone was discussing the strategy, he didn't have the intention to listen at all, and now that Lan Jianshu asked about the revolutionary party, he had to say with a sad face and a very wronged face: "Woman! How do I know that these trainees are all revolutionaries!! This is not my person, it was obviously arranged by Cheng Hengqi. ”

After he finished speaking, he remembered another thing. Touching a handful of sweat, he said again: "By the way, a few months ago, these trainee Guang guys also went to the ammunition depot, but they were seen by the people below and were driven away. You are inside! If they really do something there, it won't be Cheng Hengqi who is dead, everyone has to explain here. ”

Yang Jingxiu's last speculation shocked everyone, and Liu Guanxiong, who couldn't sit still, immediately ran out to send a telegram, he was worried that the hidden revolutionary party in the navy would really do something to detonate the ammunition depot by jumping under the wall. Liu's concerns are not unfounded. Historically, the explosion of the ammunition depot of the Tongji training ship is suspected to be related to this, and Chen Kejun, who launched the seizure of the ship on the Zhaohe the following year, is the survivor of the explosion of the ammunition depot on the Tongji before.

Because of Yang Jingxiu's reminder, a good combat meeting began to turn into an anti-rape meeting. Liu Guanxiong, who had been gone for a few hours, no longer guarded against rape after he returned. Instead, he pulled up a couple of people who were asleep and continued to discuss fleet operations.

"The General Staff came with an order, and considering that the destroyer's range was too short, the order could allow us not to go to North Korea." Looking at the generals who looked too relieved because they did not go to North Korea, Liu Guanxiong's face was solemn. He continued: "But if you don't go to North Korea, you have to go to Japan." ”

As soon as he said this, he said. Several others immediately shouted. "What! Going to Japan is even more death! Lin Baoyi shouted, he thought that he would just go around Shanghai, but he didn't want to go to Japan, which was a hundred times more dangerous than North Korea.

"Then the destroyer will definitely not go." Zheng Zuyi, the chief of staff who has been staying up late, said. "If you go to North Korea, you can add coal along the way, and if you go to Japan, you can ......"

"The destroyer fleet will go to Shanghai to join the Feihong, and they will go north to Korea to harass the Japanese transports, while the four of us will go straight to Japan, harass the coast and avoid the Japanese search." Liu Guanxiong is very sure. "Who would have thought that we cowards would go to Japan? I'm afraid that the Japanese will never dream of it! I won't be a lie here, life and death are fate, wealth is in the sky, if you really meet the Japanese, you can't escape, but you are just a person hanging to the sky, and you will be a good man after 18 years; But what if you don't meet the Japanese? If nothing else, maybe Nagasaki will be bombarded for a while. ”

Liu Guanxiong's words were so vulgar that only a few people present were not used to it, but Lan Jianshu said: "! If you can have Japanese women, it's best to get a few of them up and them! ”

Colonel Lan Jianshu seemed to be hardening again in a certain part, if he was so in normal times, the others would laugh, but at this time it was the time to decide the fate, Yang Jingxiu, the captain of the Zhaohe ship, said: "Don't we thoroughly and strictly investigate the revolutionary party on the ship, in case these people make something bad on the way, we won't be able to come back." ”

"The people at the political office have already checked again." Liu Guanxiong said: "If the ship is full of revolutionary parties, then these people will not be assassinated, wouldn't it be better to seize the ship?" ”

"Then I might as well go to North Korea!" Lin Baoyi said. Seeing that Liu Guanxiong suddenly changed his target to Japan, he would rather turn back to Korea, after all, he could still hide in Haizhou or Qingdao Port, maybe stay for a few months, and the war in the north would stop.

"The fleet must move as a whole." Liu Guanxiong emphasized. "Only the whole activity can have a better chance of survival. Besides, going to Japan is an order and must not be disobeyed. ”

When the sky was bright, Liu Guanxiong changed the tone of the previous discussion in the dissatisfaction of Lin Baoyi and Yang Jingxiu's cowardice, and made the attack on Japan an order. As he said this, the two men were at a loss for what to do, and soon, as the flagship was raised, three destroyers continued to sail to Shanghai, while four cruisers turned their bows and headed for Japan.

When the cruiser fleet was heading east to Japan, Yang Rui of the Yin'an Palace in Beijing had just gotten up, and he knew about the navy last night, and although the assassination was shocking, he calmed down after a while. Sun Wen is a native of Guangdong, and the roots of the revolutionary party are in Guangdong, so it is not surprising that the navy cannot strictly control a few revolutionary parties. As soon as this incident came out, the bad thing was that Cheng Biguang died. The good thing is that the Americans are not dead, and these people are exposed sooner rather than later. If you really become a captain or something in a few years, then the problem will be strict.

"Prime Minister. Liu Guanxiong mentioned in the middle of the night last night that the fleet would not go to Korea but to Japan......" Li Zilong reported the news to Yang Rui.

"To Japan?" Yang Rui was also surprised, "How many ships did they go to Japan?" ”

"Haichou, Haichen, Zhaohe, and Ying Rui, and the other destroyers went to Shanghai and the Feihong round, and the General Staff thought that this would greatly attract the attention of the Japanese Navy, so they approved his plan." Li Zilong said according to the briefing sent by the General Staff in the middle of the night last night, but he didn't speak after he finished speaking, but was waiting for his next words, and sure enough, what he said next was the same as Yang Rui expected. "Zhoushan Island is four hundred nautical miles from Japan, and in order to effectively cover other directions, the Intelligence Bureau will pass a fixed channel through Guò to transmit the news that the foreign fleet has sailed to Japan, which will make the focus of the entire Japanese Navy to the east; And the cruiser will turn with Deng Zilong halfway, so that after a circle on the ocean, they can save and come back safely. ”

The plan of the General Staff was not what Yang Rui expected, but he asked with a smile: "Why can the General Staff be sure that the attention of the entire Japanese Navy will be attracted by these four cruisers?" Aren't they big ships? ”

"Researchers from the Japanese Department of the Intelligence Agency believe that it is precisely because they are not large ships and that the Japanese Navy has a decisive advantage. Therefore, the Japanese will do everything they can to prevent them from approaching the Japanese coast, and they will not be able to bear their bombardment of Japanese ports, because if this happens, the Minister of the Navy will be forced to resign. The entire Navy will feel insulted. The reason for the researchers' conclusion is that the Japanese people's self-esteem is extremely fragile, and that there is no room for the slightest taintment or blow to the laggards in the areas in which they have advantages. Otherwise...... Otherwise, they will kill themselves. Li Zilong read the original words copied from the briefing and felt that it made sense.

"Hmmm! It seems to make a lot of sense. Yang Rui was not thinking about the navy in his mind at this time. He was not thinking about the Tieling Annihilation Battle, which was about to end, and he was thinking about what the weather in the Taiwan Strait would be tonight. Will it be smooth to land on the island tomorrow?

Li Zilong listened to Yang Rui's answer and thought he agreed, and then read the next text message, not wanting Yang Rui to interrupt: "Has the American minister made an appointment?" What time is it? ”

"According to your instructions, it will be about five o'clock in the afternoon." Li Zilong said. Everything related to the United States is a big event, and he knows the time very well.

"Five o'clock..."Yang Rui thought about this time, five o'clock, and counting the twelve hours of time difference, plus the time of the meeting, the time of encoding and decoding of ocean telegrams, it was exactly seven or eight o'clock in the morning when he arrived in Washington. What would Wilson think when he heard that he was going to land in Taiwan?

In Yang Rui's view, the war will soon end, and after the end of the war, in addition to making a lot of money, there is also a key consideration to consider the Sino-US relationship after World War I. Although the seizure of the Outer Northeast and Central Asia will offend Britain and France, relations with the United States cannot be easily stalemate, especially before the money of World War I is made, and the Yankees are still uncles. The recovery of Taiwan is such a big thing, and Taiwan is adjacent to the Philippines, no matter what, I will say hello to them.

Although it was a greeting, he didn't want the Americans to get involved, let alone lease a place in Kaohsiung, Keelung, or somewhere else to get a military port or something after the war. In the planning of the General Staff Headquarters, Taiwan will be the station of the East China Sea Fleet, and this place will control the shipping routes of the mainland and even Japan and Vladivostok. It's easy for Americans to settle in Taiwan, but it's not so easy to get them to leave. Yes, between saying and not talking, Yang Rui's choice is uncertain.

During the day, after handling official duties, he awarded the medal to Lieutenant Lin Fuyuan, an overseas Chinese who bravely collided with three Japanese planes yesterday, and then Yang Rui felt bored. Although he is now the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces of the Baxing Army, the operational command of the army and other matters have been completely entrusted to the General Staff Officer, and he usually does nothing more than review plans and pay attention to the results of the battle. In the annoying boredom, Yang Rui stayed up until five o'clock in the afternoon, and the Americans finally came.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, congratulations to the Chinese armed forces on another remarkable achievement. I believe that by this time the feat of the Chinese pilots had spread all over the world! "U.S. Minister to China Ryan Sch is a mild-mannered American, who was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and a well-known expert on the Far East before coming to China.

Unlike previous ministers, who only guaranteed U.S. business interests in the cracks, Reinsch was the first to bring the entire U.S. presence in China together to develop bilateral relations with China, and to use it to try to influence China's foreign policy and long-term national policy at a deeper level. Among the forces it has integrated include the YMCA, the Gengzi Student Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in China, the Mobil Oil Company, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, the American Red Cross, and so on. From the long-term perspective of scholars, the best way for the two Pacific powers to be truly friendly and for the United States to steadily expand its business interests in China is for China to learn from American democracies, while the idolatry of the Chinese people is completely abandoned and eventually accepted as Christians.

However, China's current administrative system is not an American-style separation of powers, but a parliamentary system similar to that of the United Kingdom, and although the Revival Society has actually monopolized power in Congress in the name of democracy, the U.S. State Department, his colleague Professor Goodnow, his former Minister Jia Leheng, and many Americans who have been in China for a long time all believe that the current political structure and structure are the most suitable for the current China. In particular, Professor Goodnow, one of the founders of the American Political Science Society, praised China's current system: the emperor is spiritual, and the power is the people.

There is no way to improve politically, and there is no progress in spirit, and we can't even use the word progress, but the word decline.

The current situation is that for the learned, the influence of the national school is getting stronger and stronger, and Western civilization is being abandoned by the best group of intellectuals, which may have a political factor, but more because the rulers are constantly digging into the Chinese pre-Confucian civilization, and they are recovering it from the cover-up and distortion of Confucian scholars, so that the Chinese have a broader vision and choice outside of Confucian civilization and Western civilization.

The abandonment of intellectuals may have eased the large number of influential students studying in the United States, but the appeal of Christianity to middle- and lower-class Chinese has plummeted. No one can dissolve why those two Chinese can accurately predict earthquakes, and no priest or missionary can do this, so the faith of middle and low-class Chinese in Christianity has completely collapsed, and the number of people who have dropped from religion is increasing day by day, even if they force Christians to ban apostatism as foreigners, these already Christian parishioners will still participate in the primitive idolatry inherent in China.

From the first year of Shenwu to Huadu, Rui Enshi lamented the rapid rise of China while stepping up time to infiltrate this emerging country. But whenever he saw Yang Rui, he felt a burst of powerlessness. Standing in front of him was a philosopher, a founder of management science, a politician, an excellent military commander, and a great revolutionary leader. It is such a person, ideologically, organizationally, militarily, and economically, who completely controls the country, and wants to sow American civilization and Christian culture in this wild land, and he feels more and more that this is an impossible thing.

When Yang Rui saluted Ruien, the Americans were thinking about these things. However, Yang Rui didn't know that he had an important matter to discuss with him when he made an appointment with the Americans.

"Thank you, Mr. Minister, for your congratulations. Lin Fuyuan grew up as a pilot in the United States, and he often flew in the sky when he was in San Francisco. The United States is such a great country that anyone can show their talents there. Yang Rui looked at the Americans and smiled, and began to routinely compliment.

"Yes. The United States is a land of freedom, where talented people can find their own opportunities. Hearing this, Reinsch immediately laughed, and seemed to be about to start his American sermon again.

"I completely agree with you." Yang Rui hurriedly said, although the American in front of him is a high intellectual, he is a bit pedantic, especially when it comes to what he is interested in, it is endless. "Mr. Minister, I have two things to inform you today, one is good news and the other is good news. Which one should I say first? ”

Yang Rui's American statement made Rui Enshi laugh a little, and he smiled: "Since it's all good news, then you can say whatever you want,"

"Okay!" Yang Rui also smiled: "I am honored to inform you that the Russian troops in the northeast have been surrounded and annihilated by us!" (To be continued......)