Chapter 282 Begins to advocate threat theory again
Eating is a way for humans to obtain energy for survival.
The strange thing is that people can only feel the pleasure of eating when food is in their mouths.
Only then can you experience the various taste sensations of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty.
But food spends more time in the stomach and intestines.
This process is long. We call it digestion and absorption.
During this process, people feel no pleasure, and some people may even feel pain (stomach disease patients).
So the question is, why don’t the human stomach and intestines have the function of sensing taste? In that case, we can slowly appreciate the taste of food.
Some trolls will definitely say, why don’t you also have a taste organ in your large intestine?
Okay, let’s stop this question and won’t continue.
I just want to explain that this military operation of the Huaihai Navy is like eating. The preliminary military operations only took more than half a month.
But the later work may take several months.
Some of them need to be handled by Dong Shuheng, while some local officials can decide by themselves.
Dong Shuheng has now learned how to shirk work from his subordinates.
Just like in Fujian, you can finish your own affairs in a few days, set goals, and then tell the people below, and the rest is up to you.
Then he decisively got on the boat and left.
When arriving in Ningbo, the Nanyang Navy even encountered the American fleet.
Yes, it was the fleet that was crippled in Japan.
Now their injured ship has been repaired in Hong Kong.
There is a shipyard built by the British in Hong Kong. It is one of the best shipyards in East Asia.
Western ships in the East are generally maintained there.
I have to say that when the British occupied Hong Kong, they chose the place very well.
The Pearl River Estuary has always been an important node for East-West trade, and it is also a starting point.
The Americans have now shifted their focus to Ningbo Port, because they cannot compete with Britain and France in Shanghai, and even Prussia, which came from behind, has surpassed the United States.
Huai Haijun now basically only trades with the Methodist forces, that is, the Southerners in the United States. Huai Haijun imports a large amount of sugar, cotton, and even grain from planters in the southern United States every year.
These things were filled with all the strategic warehouses of the Huai Navy.
Many people don't understand why Dong Shuheng has such a strong sense of worry.
Nowadays, the number of mechanical guns imported by Huaihai Navy has been greatly reduced. However, the money spent on imports is not less every year.
Dong Shuheng insisted on spending the money he earned. Only gold was prohibited from flowing out, and he kept it in the Yangtze River Bank.
No one knows the specific reason, only Hu Guangyong has a vague guess. He has been studying the knowledge of currency reserves seriously recently.
Those traders from the northern United States can only import goods from China back to the United States, but they cannot get any orders from China.
Mai Lian knew very well that Huai Haijun was retaliating against him. American traders also knew this, and some congressmen were already working to impeach Mai Lian.
Maybe it won't be long before he goes back to the United States in despair.
But as a Westerner, his dignity did not allow him to bow to Huai Haijun.
American warships have often docked at Ningbo Port in the past, and their marines have often gone ashore.
But after the Huai Navy took over Ningbo, they refused to land.
In Ningbo, various countries do not have concessions. Huaihai Navy is completely managed according to its own port. It is just an open port.
When Huaihaiju occupied Ningbo, the first thing it took over was the port area. There were many shops and warehouses there, which needed special protection.
There, the Huai Navy even had a brief confrontation with the Americans. Logically speaking, the Americans could not land in Ningbo, but the imperial court did not care about these things when managing the place.
Over time, these foreigners became unscrupulous.
In the end, the Americans boarded the ship obediently and left.
They have already suffered losses at the hands of Huai Haijun, and they will not let Huai Haijun take advantage of them so easily again.
But Mai Lian still took advantage of this incident.
He quickly went to Shanghai to see Bao Ling and Bulbulon, and informed them of the news that the Huai Navy had sent troops to take over Zhejiang and Fujian.
The two ministers did have some ideas about Huai Haijun taking over Zhejiang and Fujian without informing them.
They have already figured out by now that Dong Shuheng is just a local force under the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
I also know that Dong Shuheng's power seems to have an unharmonious relationship with their court.
However, there was no smooth communication channel with the Qing court, and they attached great importance to Dong Shuheng's line.
And Dong Shuheng has indeed brought them a lot of benefits.
Especially on the issue with Russia, the Huai Navy has contributed a lot.
"Two special envoys, have you noticed that all our treaty ports will soon be under the control of the Huaihai Navy?"
"And you two, I would like to remind you that the Huaihai Navy is very powerful. This can be seen in the battle against Russia."
After hearing what Mai Lian said, the two ministers couldn't help but frown.
They were blinded by their immediate interests. They have always ignored that the strength of the Huaihai Navy has developed too fast.
"Your Majesty the two ministers, I think this Huai Haijun wants to replace their court."
"I think maybe there will be a Huaihai Navy garrison on the opposite side of Hong Kong Island soon."
Malian's words made Bao Ling fall into deep thought. He was not only the minister to China, but also the British governor in Hong Kong.
"Minister Mailian, the Huai Navy's army is indeed the strongest among the Asian armies I have ever seen, but they are not as powerful as you said. Even if their army is very powerful, it is meaningless in front of the powerful navy of the British Empire, isn't it?
?"
Bulbulon knew that Mailian was trying to sow discord between them and Huai Haijun again. Although his words made some sense, they shouldn't be brought up at this time.
Among the three, he has the best personal relationship with Dong Shuheng.
Bulbulon did not want to offend the Huai Navy at this critical moment. He also wanted to persuade the Huai Navy to continue sending additional troops to Crimea.
The Russians have gathered more than 500,000 troops in the west, and the Russians have fortresses to defend them, giving them a geographical advantage.
The most important thing is that it is already November and winter is coming.
That was the season God gave to the Russians.
It can be said that the Crimean War has reached its most critical moment.
"Yes, Minister Mailian, please don't show off your Huaihai Navy threat theory in front of Minister Bao Ling. As a diplomat, you should not keep targeting anyone because of your own face." Bulbulon said unceremoniously.
said.
"Two ministers, I am not being alarmist. The Huaihai Navy suddenly occupied Zhejiang and Fujian. This is an indisputable fact. One day they will completely replace their imperial court."
"At that time we will face a powerful China, even a China that excludes white people." In order to persuade Bao Ling, Mai Lian even moved out all races.
He knows that white people have color discrimination in their hearts.
"Oh, Minister Mailian, don't talk about race, solve your own slave problem first," Bulbulon said.
Mai Lian did not expect that Bulbulon would continue to target her today.
Originally, the Huai Navy's capture of Zhejiang and Fujian was a good opportunity to persuade Bao Ling to be wary of the Huai Navy.
"Minister Mai Lian, I understand what you mean. I will ask Dong about this matter. I believe he will not refuse to explain to us." Bao Ling said with the final word.
This is the best way to solve the problem. What else could happen?
Should the Huai Navy use force to maintain the status quo?
Although the Huaihai Navy has great potential, it may make China a powerful country in the future.
But the cooperation with Huai Haijun has made their trade volume higher and higher.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing to make money by doing business?
Besides, there is a powerful force to the east of Russia that can contain the Russians and eliminate Tsarist Russia’s ambition to dominate the European continent. Isn’t it in line with British interests?
If it had been after the Second Opium War, Bao Ling would definitely not have made such a choice, because by that time the Qing court had completely exposed its useless side.
And then they will know that the Qing government is not only useless, but also generous, not only giving away money but also land. It is simply an Eastern version of the Ottoman Empire.
Mai Lian left disappointed, but this incident kept Bao Ling in mind.
After returning to the legation, Bao Ling found his attendant, Military Attaché Bojia.
"Bojia, do you know how many troops the Huai Navy has now and what their weapons and equipment are like?"
Bo Jia didn't expect that Bao Ling would suddenly ask him this question. He couldn't answer it all of a sudden.
"Your Excellency, Minister, we have not done any specific investigation in this area. But I know that their army is at least equipped with front-loading rifled rifles, the same kind of rifles used by the army they sent to Crimea last time."
"Also, I heard that they were equipped with a certain number of breech-loading rifled guns because they had imported Dreisers from the Prussians."
"I know that kind of gun. It seems that the Prussians themselves don't use it very much. It is easy to malfunction." Bao Ling interjected.
"Yes, Your Excellency Minister, our British Empire is also developing such a rifle, but any breech-loaded rifle is prone to malfunction."
"What about their military strength?" Bao Ling asked.
"Judging from the intelligence we have obtained, their total strength should be more than 50,000. They fought a war with the Russians in the Far East before, and they had to invest at least 20,000 troops. They said they annihilated 50,000 Russians, but I think
Among them, there are at most 10,000 regular Russian soldiers."
…
The information Bo Jia gave to Bao Ling contained a lot of his own judgment.
This made Bao Ling very dissatisfied. Since he wanted to evaluate the Huai Navy, he should have an accurate number.
"Bo Jia, I give you a task, which is to find ways to find out the total strength of the Huai Navy and their equipment. I always feel that the Huai Navy has been deliberately hiding it from us." Bao Ling said to Bo Jia very seriously.
Explained.
It is not inconsistent to investigate Huai Haijun and cooperate with Huai Haijun.
As a senior diplomat, Bao Ling knows very well that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies between countries.
Dong Shuheng, who was staying in Zhejiang, didn't know that Mai Lian, an old yinbi, was causing trouble for him behind his back again.
He is following a group of officials who are doing post-war planning for Zhejiang.
ps: Today’s four updates, 13,000 words, are all current and fresh. I never have enough manuscripts in my hand. This makes me feel very confident today. I need to hand over my monthly tickets and recommended tickets quickly, otherwise I won’t be able to finish.