For Ruan Yuan, instead of mourning his old friends, another important thing is urgent. On this day, Ruan Yuan summoned all the important officials from Guangzhou in the Guangdong and Guangxi Ministries, including Chen Ruolin, the governor of Guangdong, Li Hongbin, the chief envoy of Guangdong, and Wei Yuanyu, the inspector-general of Guangdong.

Guangdong Customs Supervisor Albang A was all present. In front of everyone was a large sand table with the shape of the Lion Ocean at the Pearl River Estuary laid out in different colors. There were two merchant ship models on one side of the sand table, which were modeled after the carvings of Western merchant ships in Guangzhou Port.

become.

"My lords, I invite you here today because I want to discuss something with you." Ruan Yuan pointed to a small island on the sand table facing the Pearl River estuary in the Lion Ocean, and said to several Guangdong dignitaries: "

Last winter, I went to the Lion Ocean to inspect Haikou. I only felt that the coastal defense arrangement at Humen was still insufficient and the fort armament still needed to be strengthened. My opinion was that the Dahushan Island in the Lion Ocean and the turtles southwest of Huangpu

Gang, which is where the locals call Dahuangjiao, two more forts were built, and Dahushan added 30 heavy artillery pieces. Dahuangjiao also needs to prepare twenty cannons first. What do you think, my lords, do I propose?

The difficulty is, can it be implemented?"

"Ruan Butang, it seems to me... that there is no need to build more forts in Guangdong now?" Wei Yuanyu, the inspector general, like Ruan Yuan, was newly appointed to Guangdong last year, so he was quite puzzled by Ruan Yuan's words.

Asked Ruan Yuan: "Bu Tang, when the previous governors were in Guangdong, I heard that forts were indeed built, but at that time, first there were Zheng Yi, Wushi Er, and others who wreaked havoc on the ocean, and then... there were other pirates who were arrogant.

We had to build forts in Humen to deter them. But now these pirates have been pacified by the court. I heard that there are still some thieves in eastern Guangdong. They are water thieves who patrol the inland rivers, but there are not as many thieves as there were back then.

Okay. Then what are you going to do by building these forts?" Wei Yuanyu did not dare to say anything about the pirates, just because the most powerful pirate at that time, Zhang Baozai, had surrendered to the Qing court, and everyone was discussing the construction of the forts.

, Zhang Baozai was still serving as the deputy general in Fujian Green Camp, so he had to hide it slightly.

"Wei Jisi asked a good question, so I will tell you bluntly today. Now I propose to build more forts. The people to guard against are not bandits from eastern Guangdong, but... English warships alone overseas!" Ruan Yuan said this.

, everyone in the audience began to ponder. After all, no matter how powerful the pirates are, it is still a domestic security problem of the Qing Dynasty, but Ruan Yuan is directly targeting overseas countries. If Ruan Yuan is slightly careless during his trip, according to the old practices of the Qing Dynasty, it will be the so-called "

If it leads to a diplomatic conflict between China and Britain, and then leads to war and disaster, it will not be something that the people here can bear.

Therefore, Chen Ruolin also asked Ruan Yuan: "General Manager Ruan, this... I know that General Manager is a man, and he is definitely not a person seeking fame. But in this way, the biggest difficulty of General Manager lies not with us people, but with the capital."

Ah. Nowadays, the trade between England and the Qing Dynasty has always been peaceful and there has been no war. The General Controller now wants to build more forts and add more artillery. If the ministers of the DPRK and China know about these things, there is no guarantee that the General Controller will not doubt this.

...Are you going to start a provocation?"

"Chen Zhongcheng, you have been in Guangdong longer than me. Frankly speaking, if someone provokes trouble between the Qing Dynasty and England, who is provoking the Qing Dynasty or England?" Ruan Yuan clearly explained this matter.

I don’t know, but everyone here was afraid that no one would agree to build a fort, so they pointed to the Humen land on the sand table and told everyone: "I have read a lot of old files in Guangdong over the years after I received the seal.

, British merchant ships, warships, and tribute envoys have been making trouble in Guangdong for many years!" At this time, Ruan Yuan still regarded Amesh and his party as tribute envoys in accordance with the identification of the Qing government: "In the 21st year of Jiaqing, the British envoys

He came to pay tribute and went directly north to Tianjin without permission from the Guangdong and Guangdong Ministries and Guangdong Customs. During the pilgrimage, the envoy got seriously ill and returned without paying tribute. This is one of the most arrogant and rude things. In recent years, there have been many rumors about British cargo ships.

The matter of bringing in opium, opium was originally strictly prohibited by the Celestial Empire, but the British had no control over it and kept banning it repeatedly. Even when exporting, they often exported it in silver! The second reason is that the British ships, whether warships or cargo ships, were in Whampoa

Those who are overseas often have disputes with other Western countries, and even interfere with the merchant ships of France and Atlantic countries, not allowing these countries to trade, and starting unprovoked provocations. This is the third case. There are many reports in Huangpu that British merchant ships carry opium. Please ask

Guangdong Customs opened a warehouse, but the British Merchant Ship has always tried to evade it, and never once allowed us to enter the cabin for inspection. It is based on China but not according to Chinese laws. This is the fourth case. The 13th Line asked the English Merchant Ship to issue a guarantee to guarantee that the cargo ship did not

The British merchant ships have never refused to sign the opium incident, which is one of the five problems. The British have these five things. I am just building forts to prepare for emergencies. If the British ships can follow the laws of the Qing Dynasty, the Guangdong Ocean will naturally be peaceful!

In this way, if there is a person who is "unreasonably provocative", is this person in the Qing Dynasty or in England? Supervisor, if nothing else, what happened last spring when the English ship refused to open a warehouse?

Remember?" At the end, Ruan Yuan also reminded Albang specifically, hoping to get support from Guangdong Customs. (According to the sentence here, many of them were newly created just because of foreign trade and customs at that time. Others are ignorant, and future generations will not know.

Among them, the eastern part of Guangdong is Guangdong. The so-called outer ocean corresponds to the inner ocean. In the Qing Dynasty, Humen was used as the dividing line between the inner and outer oceans. Inside Humen was the inner ocean, and outside Humen was the outer ocean. The so-called "sweet knot" was similar to what we call guarantee today.

,guarantee.)

"This... what Mr. Ruan said is true." Arbonga on the side also added to everyone: "Last year, our Guangdong Customs heard that a foreign ship in Huangpu had opium, and we immediately sent people there to ask for an opening.

But not only did they not open the warehouse, they also told us...that our people were there just to ask for bribes, so they didn't open the warehouse for us. This...how could this be the case?"

"Director A, have the people from Guangdong Customs really never collected bribes from foreigners without permission?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"This...I, I have never seen it. Mr. Ruan, I know there are some rumors about our Guangdong Customs, but...but after all, I have never seen it in person, right?" Albang'a's answer

Seems very stable.

"Forget it, Director A, I'm not in Guangdong, and I have no right to ask about what happened to Guangdong Customs before. But in the future, if foreigners declare customs and pay taxes again, you must strictly investigate your subordinates and never ask for bribes in addition to paying taxes!"

Of course, Ruan Yuan also knew that it was difficult for him to intervene in the Guangdong Customs matter, and it was difficult to cure it, but beating Albang A in this way could always make some improvements, and he patiently said to him: "Foreigners are always cunning, and some of them use excuses to prevaricate us. So I

In addition to strictly abiding by the law, we must also ensure that we are clean and impeccable, and the excuses of foreigners will naturally be reduced by half. When we stand upright, we will not be afraid of the excuses of foreigners!"

"General Ruan, I know what you are talking about, but..." Chief Minister Li Hongbin seemed to have doubts, and said to Ruan Yuan: "Now on the Lion Ocean, there are not many forts in the Humen area? Haikou is before Humen.

There is Shajiao Fort, there is Zhenyuan Fort before Humen, and there seems to be a horizontal fort in Humen? In this way, our fort is enough, so why bother to build more forts on Dahu Mountain? "

"Li Fantai, these few forts are not enough." Ruan Yuan pointed to several forts that have been marked on the sand table, and explained to everyone: "When we design the defense line of the fort here, we must take into account

, once we need to face the most difficult situation, how should we respond. In the past, English warships also ignored the ban on forts and went straight to the capital of Guangzhou, but there was only one ship, alone overseas. Most of the time, two English warships were anchored at the same time.

There were three ships, but this was not the most. In the thirteenth year of Jiaqing, the British warships invaded the Macao Fort. The scale now seems to be larger than usual. At that time, the British had a total of thirteen ships, including six warships capable of fighting.

There are three large and three small ships, 700 soldiers, and 300 people can land. Therefore, when we arrange the fort now, we should also consider the most difficult situation. The Shajiao fort only has ten cannons, and the water area is wide, so it can only resist for a while.

It is not easy to complete the beacon warning. Therefore, the most important thing is to build two forts in Zhenyuan. But now it seems that the firepower of these two forts alone is still insufficient. In this way, it is necessary to build another fort.

, increase the number of artillery by thirty, and use three forts at the front and rear of Humen to attack six foreign warships to have a chance of winning. Moreover, if the foreigners insist on invading, if there are one or two people among the foreigners who are good at calculation, the original Shajiao and Zhenyuan forts

, it is very likely that there will be nothing to show for it.”

"Sir, why can foreigners learn arithmetic so that our forts can't be used?" Chen Ruolin asked puzzledly.

"It's just because the three forts in Shajiao, Zhenyuan and Hengzhang now all have blind spots that cannot be taken care of!" Ruan Yuan pointed to several forts and explained bit by bit with a model of a foreign ship: "The place where the Shajiao fort is, the sea area

It is the widest. If someone is good at calculation, he can naturally let the ship move northward in the center, so that the artillery of Shajiao Fort will be difficult to hit. In Zhenyuan, between the two forts on the horizontal rail, the water is actually not too narrow, even if the forts on both sides are combined.

If you open fire, if it is a ship traveling in the middle of the waterway, the shells can only hit the ship at most, but it has reached the limit of the range, and the firepower is simply not enough to penetrate the incoming ship. In the land of Huangpu, currently there is only the Liede Fort in the north, and the river in the south.

Nothing! Then if the foreign ship sails north from Shajiao, rushes all the way through the middle of the water, and then turns south when it reaches Huangpu, then the ship can go all the way without taking a single shot or losing anyone.

Arrive directly at the gates of Guangzhou! By then, Guangzhou will be undefendable on the east, west, and south sides. So facing the threat of foreigners, we will have no choice but to capture it without mercy?" As he spoke, Ruan Yuan also moved the model of the foreign ship in his hand little by little, and as expected, from

Far away from the Shajiao Fort, they entered Humen, and then broke through Humen little by little, turned into the southern waters in the southeast of Guangzhou, and turned into the boundary of the Thirteenth Line. When everyone saw it, they felt cold sweat. Everyone knew that once the British

If the warship really reaches Guangzhou unimpeded, then his position will definitely not be preserved.

"In this way, Dahuang Jiao really needs to build a fort." Li Hongbin nodded while looking at Ruan Yuan's sailing method, but then asked: "But, if we follow what the general secretary said, the incoming ships can also come from

On the east side of the Dahu Mountain waterway, go along the east coast of the Lion Ocean? The width of the Dahu Mountain waterway seems to be no different from that of the Hengdang Zhenyuan Fort? In this way, even if there are foreign ships entering Humen, can we

Can we still invite them to the foot of Dahu Mountain and let them endure our shelling?"

"No, once foreigners enter Humen, they can only sail at the foot of Dahu Mountain!" Unexpectedly, Ruan Yuan had an extremely firm attitude towards this, saying: "I surveyed all the waterways near Dahu Mountain when I went there. The water here is different from the

Ordinary sea water is different. The tens of feet at the foot of Dahu Mountain is the place with the deepest water channel and the least accumulation of sand. But extending from Dahu Mountain to both sides to 100 feet, the sea water will become shallower and shallower. If it reaches 200 feet

Apart from that, any ship with a deeper draft will be completely impassable! In other words, as long as our artillery can guarantee a range of two hundred to three hundred feet, it will definitely be able to hit any ship passing under Dahu Mountain! As for the artillery,

You don’t have to worry. When I arrived in Macau, I had already pre-purchased ten foreign cannons from Atlantic merchants. We can build another twenty heavy cannons from Guangzhou and have five to sixty thousand taels of silver. This fort can be built."

"From what the commander-in-chief said, these two forts are indeed indispensable. In this case, I am willing to join hands with the commander-in-chief to ask the emperor for permission to build additional forts!" Chen Ruolin understood after listening to Ruan Yuan's explanation.

After hearing Ruan Yuan's idea of ​​coastal defense, he immediately agreed. After hearing Chen Ruolin agree to jointly submit the memorial, Wei Yuanyu and Alban A also agreed with Ruan Yuan.

"Li Fantai, do you have any other ideas about this fort? If so, please share them with us." Ruan Yuan added to Li Hongbin.

"No, no, no... no more." Li Hongbin responded repeatedly, as if in his opinion, no matter how Ruan Yuan explained, the construction of these two forts was somewhat redundant.

At least in the eyes of people in the 23rd year of Jiaqing, the only serious military invasion by British warships in the South China Sea was the Macau Fort incident ten years ago. But even so, the British were targeting the Portuguese at that time.
Chapter completed!