Chapter 130 Sing the Imperial Anthem again

When the Russian fleet appeared at Wusongkou, the Southern Dynasty, from Ye Zhao to the military headquarters, they did not expect them to come so quickly.

The dark clouds rolled in the horizon, and on the ships, the blue Tsarist Russian naval flag flying high, full of oppression and aggression.

The eastern side hall of the Political Affairs Hall was full of naval officers, including several foreign instructors who had just arrived in Jinling from Guangzhou Naval Academy and a French dynamic expert.

In fact, just one hour ago, Ye Zhao was discussing with this power expert how to replace the seawater added to the boiler with pure water condensed by the waste steam discharged from the engine, because the seawater in the boiler produces steam and will precipitate salt. Over time, the seawater will leave a lot of salt scale in the boiler and will be cleaned every few hours, which will reduce the pressure of the boiler.

At the same time, Ye Zhao hopes that the battleship with a 6,000-ton project that is being designed completely abandons the sails and builds a fully steam-powered ocean-heavy ironclad ship.

The two-stage engines of high and low pressure cylinders that have been used on civilian ships have long been tested and introduced to warships.

Just as Ye Zhao was discussing with several naval technicians, an urgent report from Shanghai that the Russian fleet appeared in Wusongkou.

The atmosphere in the East Side Hall was extremely solemn. The naval officers looked at the telegram copied in their hands. Several of them were instructors from the Naval Academy, who led the third phase of the Naval Academy to receive three gunboats including the Beijing.

Ye Zhao was also reading the message in his hand. The information about the Russian fleet in the message was just visually measured and very general. Fifteen ships, all of which were large and large, were mostly covered with iron armor in key parts.

According to intelligence, after the failure of the Crimean War, the Russians began to abandon the once largest sailing fleet in the Baltic Sea. However, this feudal serfdom country was limited to financial and technical means, and its iron armored ships were not produced smoothly. Instead, they used methods such as transforming old ships, installing steam systems, and wearing several inches of iron armor on their key parts. Although many modifications ended in failure, this successfully modified armored ship could undoubtedly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Russian Navy as fast as possible.

In the Russian Far East Fleet, there is only one newly launched armored ship, which is its flagship St. Petersburg. Most of the other ships are modified or wooden battleships, but compared with the Dutch wooden sailing ships, their combat effectiveness is completely different from that of Yunling.

"The prince, Li Daolin and the British sailors refused to get on the boat." A naval officer hurriedly walked into the hall and knelt on one knee to report.

Although under the pressure of artillery protection against the South Korea coast, most of the Russian fleets would not enter the inland waterway of the Yangtze River, their estuary at the Huangpu River in the Yangtze River was enough to put huge pressure on the Southern Dynasty, not to mention that at critical moments, they would even intercept military supplies from the south. Because the arteries of the southern railways were not open, many times, they would rely on a more convenient method of shipping.

Exiting him from the near-shore was the only choice for the Southern Dynasties. Although the military headquarters had not made up their minds, the navy naturally had to prepare for the battle. Who knew that Li Daolin and other British sailors were unwilling to work hard for the Chinese when they heard that they were going to fight with the Russians. Li Daolin even tore up the employment contract he had just signed with him. If it was a battle with the wind, it would be fine. If it was a bloody battle with the Russians? There was a danger of losing their lives at any time, it would be impossible to work hard for the Chinese.

Ye Zhao nodded and said nothing.

There are not many ships that can be mobilized in Jinling today. The only ones that are truly combative are the four iron-clad ships, Changsha, Beijing, Chengyuan and Jingyuan. Among them, Beijing, Chengyuan and Jingyuan were ships stolen from the North. Li Daolin and other mercenary officers and sailors disembarked, and the three ships were immediately paralyzed.

Moreover, the silt silt in the Wusongkou area is serious and has gradually interfered with the passage of large ships. The Southern Dynasty is preparing to establish the Huangpu River Bureau and launch a plan to clean up the silt and dredge the Huangpu River next year.

Nowadays, several ironclad ships entered the sea from Wusongkou, and passed one by one. If the Russians intercepted them, the situation would be even more unfavorable.

"These guys who turn the rudder when they see the wind!" A young officer with thick eyebrows and big eyes brimmed with boxing. His name was Li Chengmou, a native of Zhijiang, Hunan. As early as five years ago, his regiment battalion was defeated by the Taiping Army in Jiangxi. He was immediately incorporated into the Pingyuan Army. He later entered the Shipbuilding School to study. He had excellent grades and brave combat. He was promoted repeatedly and participated in the Nanyang Naval Battle as the first mate of the Zhenhai. He is now appointed as the right wing general of the Pingyuan Naval Division and the Changsha Naval Leader.

After scolding, Lee Chengmou knew that it was wrong. The Regent was here, and how could he be so yelling? He looked sideways and saw that the Regent looked as usual, so he felt relieved.

"Prince, do you want to send electricity to the Russian consul in Shanghai to inquire about the situation?" The speaker was a veteran officer, Zheng Youxian, who was in his thirties and an instructor at the Naval Academy.

Before Ye Zhao could speak, an officer rushed in, his face was anxious, and he knelt down and said loudly: "Report! The Russians opened fire on our merchant ships and sunk a Taihe trade steamship." He sent a telegram with both hands.

In the hall, the air suddenly condensed.

Almost for the first time, the Russian Consul in Shanghai sent a telegram, saying that Vladimir, the commander of the Russian Far East Fleet, was invited by the Emperor of Great China, and led the fleet to volunteer to serve the Emperor of Great China, which had nothing to do with the position of the Russian government. Although His Majesty the Czar believed that the Beijing regime was the only legal regime in China, the Russian government would not intervene in the Chinese emperor's counter-insurgency operation.

In Shanghai, one by one, the Russian fleet sailed away from the Bund of Shanghai and began to look for the southern ships on the sea. Anyone who refused to stop the ship when they saw their flag words would be bombarded with artillery fire.

The Nanyang fleet is afraid that it will take ten days to reach the Huangpu River Estuary. In ten days, how many southern merchant ships will the Russians sink? Even if the merchant ships from Lingjiu, who come from the south, are suspended from leaving the port, this loss is probably astronomical. The merchants in the southern country have suffered this severe damage, but I don’t know what will happen. The Russians and the Six Kings obviously see this very clearly.

The Russians were even more cruel and beyond imagination. Nowadays, when they were at war, robbing and sinking the other merchant ships were conventional means, but they suddenly intervened and opened fire on the merchant ships of the Southern Dynasties, completely without taking the order gradually formed in the Far East.

When China and the Netherlands were fighting in the South Ocean, Chinese ships did not rashly open fire on Dutch merchant ships, but only sank several of their coal ships. A limited war that maintained restraint also won respect from the Chinese navy. A Far Eastern order led by the South gradually took shape. The Russians obviously completely despised this order. As a nominal volunteer army, they attacked the other party's merchant ship without restrictions.

"Bai Yi asked for a fight!" Li Chengmou knelt down on one knee and shouted: "Changsha's chief manager Li Chengmou asked for a fight! Bei Yi and his officers and soldiers would rather die than skin the Rakshasa people!"

Ye Zhao frowned slightly. In fact, the four ironclad ships including Changsha and Beijing were almost equivalent to the combat power of the Southern Dynasty navy. With the advent of the era of Ironclad ships, the real main ships of the Southern Dynasty were nothing more than ten ironclad ships including Jinling, Dinghai, Jinghai, Zhenhai, Guangzhou, Lingbo, and Changsha, Beijing, Chenghai, and Jinghai. In Ye Zhao's view, the three ships of Dinghai, Jinghai and Zhenhai, as armored ships modified from wooden sailboats, can be gradually retired and train sailors and officers as training ships.

However, the technical value of this fleet is enough to be comparable to that of other countries in Europe except Britain, France and Russia. However, because most of them are light armored ships, only the Jinling ship with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons. In addition, the quality of officers and sailors, whether the actual combat capability can be confronted with the European Second-rate Navy Division is still to be tested.

But in the Far East, except for the European hegemony of Britain, whom no country dared to easily provoke, the only opponent of the Southern Dynasties was this Russian Far East fleet. Without the cooperation of the other countries, it would be difficult for them to maintain the existence of the fleet in East Asia.

In fact, the British are so powerful today that they are beyond words. In the second half of the 19th century, the British never fought any naval battles seriously, because any country knows that challenging the British at sea has no chance of winning. This overlord who can maintain global order by relying solely on deterrence can be said to be unprecedented and unparalleled.

As for France, it is obvious that its primary goal is gradually turning to the inland European countries, curbing the rise of the Prussians and preventing the unification of the German region.

However, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Ye Zhao was most worried that the French would take the opportunity to get into trouble. His ambition to get involved in Vietnam has never stopped, and it began to influence Vietnam decades ago. Missionaries were active in the Vietnamese countryside. Among the Vietnamese nobles, there were many pro-French people.

The Southern Kingdom started a war with the Northern Dynasty. Taking advantage of the power of the Southern Kingdom to look south, the French were likely to actively intervene in Vietnam and even directly sent troops to land in Vietnam, creating a certain fact that Vietnam was classified as its protector. When the Chinese civil war ended, no matter which side wins, they could only accept the situation that was already a foregone conclusion.

The British would take the opportunity to strengthen their infiltration into South Asia and Southeast Asia, annex small countries with force and pressure, form a large Indian colony, and may even get involved in the ***, because this is different from history. When the British were most active in South Asia and the *** borders in history, China also had a strong central government, which also made him get involved in the *** concerns.

Now that wars are going on in the north and south, there is no time to take care of the border, it would be strange if the British local colonial officials do not take the opportunity to make trouble.

Think about it, the situation facing the South is extremely steep.

This is also one of the reasons why Ye Zhao decided to start war early. The later the battle, the more severe the erosion of the surrounding countries, Britain, France and other countries will be. Because if they are a few years later, half of the Southern Dynasties will have no substantial support for the small countries on the southwest border, and they can only watch them slowly being eroded by the British.

At that time, I was afraid that the British would be the target of the civil war, and at least now, there are many buffer zones in the southwest border.

Putting aside Britain and France, the Russian Far East Fleet has an unprecedented threat to the southern country because of the Zhigu supply and maintenance base.

It can be said that the strategic environment of the South is extremely dangerous today, and this has avoided the risk of direct interference from some countries after years of operation.

These thoughts flashed through Ye Zhao’s mind. What should I do in front of me?

In addition to the four ships including the Guangzhou and Beijing, the Jinghai and Lingbo ships anchored in the Dinghai Marine Port, these ironclad ships can be said to be most of the current Southern Navy.

But the problem is that the three ships of Beijing, Chengyuan and Jingyuan have just obtained the hand and are not warm enough, and all the British mercenaries have refused to participate in the war. This battle is really a must-have situation.

Li Chengmou asked for a fight, and his loyalty and courage were commendable, but hundreds of officers and soldiers from Changsha were just sacrificed in vain.

Seeing Ye Zhao pondering silently, Zheng Youxian knelt down and said loudly: "Your Highness, Beijing, Chengyuan and Jingyuan, the three ships can be trained as generals! I am willing to lead a ship and hold a spear for Your Highness!"

As an instructor of the Naval Academy, Zheng Youxian has always been a mature and steadfast and asked for battle. Obviously, he also knew the harsh situation he was facing now.

"Intern General?" Ye Zhao frowned slightly. Zheng Youxian led dozens of intern officers from the Shipbuilding School to receive the three ships including Beijing. He was originally planning to operate the three ships independently as soon as possible with the help of Li Daolin and others. In fact, it doesn't matter. The three sailors transferred from the Guangzhou Naval Base have already arrived, including gunners, boilers, rifles, fire hikes, medical officers, etc., but technical officers and technical non-commissioned officers, such as captains, ship assistants, pilots, pipes and helmsmen, etc., need time to adapt and cannot be achieved simply in one go. Although these intern officers have interned on the Southern Dynasties ships, more than half of them participated in the Nanyang battle against the Netherlands as interns, the three ships of the Beijing were different from the Southern Dynasties. It is difficult for them to operate and participate in the naval battle directly.

Zheng Youxian rested, "Your Highness, I am not just begging for death! I have been on board for a few days to practice, and the water crews have already had a lot of experience. Today's situation is critical, and I am so confused to share your worries!"

Ye Zhao looked at him quietly and said, "Do you know that those who came out of the Naval Academy are all the backbone of my future and my love tools?"

Zheng Youxian shouted loudly, "I know! Your Highness, can you ask them if they are willing to hide in Nanjing City so cowardly, or they are willing to fight to the death! Today, Your Highness's love weapon should be used to death! Dance your spear for the highness, shooting tigers and driving away wolves!"

When outside the pass, Zheng Youxian was following Ye Zhao's personal guards. He once followed the prince, Brother Suna, and madman to fight bayonets with Rakshasa people. He even watched Li Sanshui and Brother Li die tragically in the prince's arms.

He was a scholar and was interested in shipbuilding and naval warfare in his early years. Shortly after the Guangzhou Treaty was signed, he entered the Naval Academy. He was a first-class naval officer cadet in the South. He graduated with the first place and was attracted by foreign instructors. He stayed at the school to teach. In a few years, he was already a deputy general of the Pingyuan Naval Division and a first-class instructor in the Naval Academy. He became more and more steady, but when he thought about it outside the pass, he often felt difficult for him to sigh to the moon.

Today, the Rakshasa people came to the door again, and Zheng Youxian felt his blood boiling, and he wished he could fight the Rakshasa people to the death with the bayonet.

Ye Zhao looked at him quietly and finally nodded slightly: "Okay! I'll see you off!"

...

Lu Dahua is the second deputy intern in the artillery affairs department. He is 25 years old this year. He is tall and strong, dark and extremely strong. As an intern officer who participated in the Nanyang Naval Battle, he has always performed well.

But no one knows that he is actually more willing to be a gunner than the second deputy of the artillery service, because he feels that he sends the shells out with his own hands and sinks enemy ships hard, which is the most fulfilling feeling.

This time, more than 50 trainees from Guangzhou came to Jinling, almost all the students of the third phase of Guangzhou Naval Academy.

After arriving in Jinling, they were arranged to live in the military barracks of military docks, covering a courtyard with an area of ​​dozens of acres, and the supply was the same as when they were in Guangzhou, and even the conditions were better.

In the evening, street lights lit up in the yard. I heard that it was powered by Beiguan Power Plant. I don’t know what this electricity is. Some people say that the electricity emitted by Beiguan Power Plant can light up thousands or tens of thousands of light bulbs at the same time. This is even more magical than magic tricks?

Next to the blue brick wall and on the stone table, two young men were wrestling their wrists, both of whom were using their strength to eat, their faces turned red, and they were getting close to each other, and they could hear the creaking of their joints. They surrounded them and shouted loudly.

"It's not good, it's not good!" The duck screamed strangely. A young man ran in from the gate of the courtyard with a small nose and eyes. His surname was Bao, and he was a second-teacher internship driving. Because the most gossip, the watermen simply asked him to ask for help. Immediately, a few people laughed and laughed around to tease him. In this world of iron-blooded men, the mother-in-law's mother's asking for help never received respect.

"The Russians fired their guns at our merchant ships!"

Just as someone took off his hat and threw it at each other and made fun of him, Baochai shouted as if he was strangled, which immediately made all the playfulness stagnate and the whole yard quieted down.

"We are dead! All the people in the boat are dead! I heard that there are still children on the boat!" Bao Chatiao said while still breathing.

"***Fuck the Rakshasa devil!" The young man who was wrestling his arm and threw his hat on the stone table with a bang.

"Is there any share for us when I go out to fight the Rakshasa devils this time?!" Someone grabbed Baotiao's neck collar, as if he was a Rakshasa devil.

"I, I don't know... cough..." Bao Tak's face turned red and he coughed repeatedly.

"Let's go fight!" A voice of *** suggested.

The powder barrel was immediately ignited, "Yes, please go to fight!" The courtyard was almost full of young people with strong spirits, all of whom were full of righteous indignation and excitement.

The Naval Academy lets them know what the honor of the navy is. The destruction of civilian merchant ships by enemy countries is an extraordinary shame for a country's navy, because the sea border is their world, and the inviolable scales that they must protect with their youth and passion.

"Master Zheng of the Naval School is here!" The well-dressed messenger hurried in and shouted in a long voice, and the students were stunned.

"Line! Everyone is there! Standing at attention-!" The young man who was fighting with arms hurriedly put on his hat and ran to the front of the team and shouted loudly. His name was Zhang Yunzong, who was the intern captain and the first-class leader of the Pingyuan Naval Division. He was the highest rank among the students and was also the first class leader of the first class of the third phase of the Naval Academy.

In a few seconds, the young men had already lined up in neat rows, blue and white plaid water uniforms, black leather boots, and straight lines.

Zheng Youxian hurried in.

"Salute-!" Zhang Yunzong's loud voice was loud and penetrating.

"Bang!" The entire square formation was like a person, raising his leather boots high and raising his hands to salute, so neatly that it was beyond words.

Zheng Youxian suddenly felt a little uncomfortable when he looked at these proud and vibrant young men. Yes, the prince was right. They are all the future of the empire. Today, I don’t know how many people will survive after the war.

Looking at the green faces, Zheng Youxian suppressed the excitement in his heart, said slowly, and said word by word: "Dear colleagues, outside the Huangpu River, the Russians once again provoked war. Because of insufficient military strength, you will be assigned to Beijing, Chengyuan and Jingyuan ships, are you afraid?!"

"Don't be afraid!" The neat and loud voice shocked countless birds. The young officers all had excitement on their faces. If it weren't for Shangguan's, they would have been talking excitedly.

Zheng Youxian looked around them from left to right and said word by word: "What you have to do is to accurately send shells into the heart of the Russian robber ship like daily training, so that the Russians can taste the taste of failure again! Let the Russians know that the empire's seashore is inviolable! Otherwise, there will be their bloody Shura field!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" An excited and loud response resounded throughout the sky.

Zheng Youxian shook a roll of yellow silk and read loudly: "Register's edict! The third-year student in Guangzhou Shipbuilding Administration has excellent grades, and I am very relieved. Now the country is in danger, and foreign barbarians are threatening. You should perform your duties and fight bravely to fight the enemy! I gave it to him with a small poem. Who said that a young man does not know his sorrow? Thousands of miles away, the snow in the Tianshan Mountains, and once he draws his sword, one hundred thousand Western barbarians dare to be the mighty?!"

"The glory of the empire, the glory of the lone, are with you!"
To be continued...