In addition to confirming the agreement with Dong Shuheng, representatives from Nanyang also need to complete trade activities.
According to Wang Tao's suggestion, the Chinese from Nanyang shipped a large amount of rice, ore, wood, and rubber. These were materials that Dong Shuheng was in short supply. The Huaihai Company naturally ate them all. When the fleet returned, it brought back a large amount of Huaihai Company and Yangtze River Company.
Produced cotton cloth, silk, tea, ironware, machinery, various processed foods, small commodities...
They can make another fortune by taking these things back. It can be said that trading with Dong Shuheng is very beneficial to the Chinese in Nanyang.
Lan Fangguo also purchased more than 1,000 old-fashioned rifles. On the return ship, there were also 2,000 employees and their families dispatched by the Agricultural Reclamation Company. These employees all had a common identity: they were militiamen of the Huai Navy. They would fight against the Nanyang Chinese
Under cover, they purchased land in Nanyang, established farms, opened mines, and took root in the local area as invisible armed forces.
In addition, 50 officers who graduated from the second phase of the military academy will accompany them to Lanfang State to help Lanfang train the army. Of course, Dong Shuheng will not help Lanfang State in vain. In exchange, Huai Haijun will have the right to reclaim wasteland and prospect for minerals in Lanfang State.
Everyone knows that Huai Haijun's farms are semi-military units.
The Singaporean Chinese family also sent more than a hundred elites from the family this time. These people have much broader knowledge than domestic students. Dong Shuheng arranged more than 20 people into the Army Academy based on their own specialties and preferences, and
More than 30 people have entered the Administrative College for training and are preparing to enter administrative departments at all levels. Most of the remaining people have entered Huaihai Company and Yangtze River Group. Another 20 people have chosen to enter Huaihai Academy to continue their studies.
In the next few days, these guests from Nanyang will be led by dedicated personnel to visit Jiangbei's industrial zone, Huaihai Academy, Army Academy... and then they will return to Nanyang with the purchased goods.
…
Dong Shuheng stayed in Haimen for a day and inspected the port construction and defense facilities. Stationed here was the 206th Defense Regiment, headed by Du Chaoqun.
"Chaoqun, if the enemy drives a warship and attacks the port, what will you do?" Dong Shuheng asked Du Chaoqun while standing next to the fortifications of the port.
"My subordinates will lead their brothers to guard the fortifications and fight to the death with the enemy. If the enemy wants to land at the port, they will have to step on my body." Du Chaoqun said, patting his chest.
Dong Shuheng believed in Du Chaoqun's determination to die, but disagreed with his unscientific fighting style.
"Chaoqun, with your current fortifications, you cannot stop the attack of naval guns. You have never seen the British and French battleships. There are hundreds of artillery pieces on a single battleship, and the caliber of the naval guns is very large. On the ship
Under the saturation attack of artillery, our infantry fortifications were simply vulnerable."
Dong Shuheng looked at Du Chaoqun and continued: "Chaoqun, you can't be reckless in fighting. The brothers trust us and entrust us with their lives and property. We have to be responsible for them and their families. We are not afraid of sacrifice, but we must try to avoid sacrifice."
As he said that, Du Chaoqun lowered his head. Somehow, the president's words seemed to be criticizing him, but after listening to them, he felt a faint warmth in his heart.
"Yes, President, extremely ill-considered."
"I can't blame you. You don't know much about the navies of the British and French powers. To deal with the fleet, you must have a fortress and install heavy artillery."
"Did you see that high ground? I will ask the construction team to build a fortress based on that hill later and equip you with heavy artillery. If there is an attack from a foreign enemy, you can rely on the fortress to block the enemy. When you really can't resist it, use the pre-emptive
Withdraw the remaining passage out of the attack range of naval guns. Move the enemy to the shore to rely on the preset positions, resist and consume the enemy layer by layer, and wait for reinforcements to arrive before encircling and destroying them." Dong Shusheng said.
Li Cunxun next to him used a charcoal pen to write down the content of the order that Dong Shuheng just said, and then turned it into a formal order document, and asked Dong Shuheng to sign it. At this time, Dong Shuheng and him agreed on a method, and the provincial Dong Shuheng specially
Giving him orders can also effectively prevent things from being missed.
Dong Shuheng, accompanied by Du Chaoqun, inspected the construction of the garrison. According to the original plan, the garrison had a strength of 2,000 people. There were two infantry battalions, one artillery battalion with 10 75mm cannons and 8 50mm cannons.
mm howitzer. In addition, each infantry battalion also has a machine gun platoon with three 60mm mortars and two 50mm grenade launchers. There is also a cavalry company and a regimental guard company and engineer company.
Militia organizations at all levels in Haimen and Tongzhou areas defended by the 206th Regiment have also been established. Militia commanders are dispatched from the garrison to ensure that all armed forces are under the control of the Huaihai Navy. Normally, each town is staffed by militiamen.
Guarding takes turns. The garrison mainly controls key parts and strategic locations.
"President, the gunboat sent by the Navy to pick you up has arrived. Let's get ready to go there!" Li Cunxun came over and reported.
Just before Dong Shuheng was about to set off, two visitors suddenly came. One of them was an imposing middle-aged man, and the other was a spirited old man. Dong Shuheng was very familiar with this old man, and he was Wei Yuan's long-term follower.
Wei Yuzhen always calls him Uncle Tian.
"Huh? Uncle Tian, why are you here?" Dong Shuheng stepped forward and saluted and asked.
"This is Mr. Peng. We adults know that you are busy and can't make it back for a while, so let me accompany Mr. Peng to find you." Uncle Tian said, looking at the middle-aged man beside him, and at the same time handed over a letter from Wei Yuan.
past.
The middle-aged man was looking at Dong Shuheng curiously at this time. Dong Shuheng glanced at the letter written by Wei Yuan, looked up, and met his eyes, and there was a sudden embarrassment on the court.
"I'm Dong Shuheng, I wonder why Mr. Peng came to see me?" It was Dong Shuheng who was thick-skinned and took the lead to break the embarrassment.
"Oh, Sir Dong, please forgive me. I just didn't expect you to be so young. I, Peng Yulin, also known as Xueqin, my ancestral home is Hengzhou, Hunan. I am half a fellow villager with Master Wei, and I quite agree with Master Wei's cultural philosophy.
This time I heard that Master Wei had a great victory over Changmao, so I came here to join him. But Master Wei told me that if I want to do something in the army, I have to go to Master Dong. So I asked this old man to bring me down to harass Master Dong."
Peng Yulin is polite and polite, and looks more like a scholar.
"Peng Yulin? Xueshuai? The three heroes of the late Qing Dynasty? The founder of China's modern navy? The perfect man of the late Qing Dynasty?" Peng Yulin didn't know that Dong Shuheng's heart was already exploding.
"Master Dong?" Peng Yulin shouted again.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Dong Shuheng finally put his thoughts back.
"Mr. Peng, Mr. Wei asked Uncle Tian to send you here in person. It is obvious that he is very interested in your talent. Dong was just rude." Dong Shuheng felt that there must be a golden halo flashing around him now.
Peng Yulin originally served as secretary of the Hengzhou Association of Peasants. In the 30th year of Daoguang's reign, Li Yuan launched an uprising, and Peng Yulin followed from the Hengzhou Association of Peasants to suppress it. Peng Yulin rose to prominence in this battle and was awarded the blue feather crown. But he also
Seeing the corruption, incompetence, cruelty and immorality of the Qing army, which had no regard for the common people, he resigned and went to work as an accountant in a pawn shop in Leiyang.
Since today, a lot of books spreading Western learning have suddenly appeared on the market, and Wei Yuan's books are the most popular among them. After reading them, he was convinced.
Peng Yulin is an independent scholar who believes that reading should be put to practical use. He was born in Anqing and returned to his ancestral home with his father when he was young. However, the land at home was occupied by others and his father died soon after. He worked hard while studying hard.
In addition, he also has to support his grandmother and aunt. Therefore, he is well aware of the suffering of the people at the bottom.
Originally he was still hesitating whether to defect to Zeng Guofan of the Hunan Army, but he heard that Zeng Guofan was not easy to get along with. Recently, he heard that Wei Yuan had defeated Changmao in Jiangsu and was promoted to governor of Jiangsu, so he finally decided to defect to Wei Yuan, who was also a fellow from Hunan. Moreover
It is said that Wei Yuan is the successor of Mr. Lin Zexu’s philosophy, and Mr. Lin is the person he admires the most.
However, when he arrived in Yangzhou and met Wei Yuan, he realized that Wei Yuan was really a humble gentleman, but Wei Yuan was more like a scholar than a capable minister.
After a long conversation, Wei Yuan was sure that Peng Yulin was a great talent, so he brought him into the circle of friends of the Renaissance Association, so that Peng Yulin became one of his own. In fact, Peng Yulin is still somewhat famous in the circle of Hunan fellows.
Otherwise, Wei Yuan wouldn't dare to draw him into the circle with just one conversation.
Now that he has entered the circle, he can say a lot to him. Wei Yuan could tell that Peng Yulin was better at military strategy than learning. It happened that his apprentice was short of people, so he was asked to work for Dong Shuheng.
"Mr. Peng, why don't you follow me on board the ship? Our Huai Navy Navy just has a new ship commissioned. There is a ceremony in Jingjiang. Let's go and see it together."
"That's what I wish for!" Peng Yulin said with cupped hands.
"Uncle Tian, I'll send someone to take you back to Yangzhou!" He said to Uncle Tian next to him.
The gunboat sent by the navy to pick him up this time was the Yangzhou gunboat. This boat was originally renovated as a flagship. It had a dedicated command room and a commander's lounge, and the conditions were relatively better.
This was the first time that Peng Yulin saw this kind of steam-powered gunboat. There were no sails on the boat, and there was a large chimney erected in the middle of the boat. When he got on the boat, a "chuck, bang..." sound came from the bottom of the cabin.
Noise. After a while, water splashed at the stern of the ship, and the gunboat began to move, and its speed gradually became faster. Peng Yulin also read many books on Western learning and knew the principles of ships.
He was just surprised that Dong Shuheng could own such a gunboat. You must know that the Qing government did not have such a gunboat even with its financial resources.
"Master Dong has such a sharp weapon, no wonder he can win great victories in a short period of time." Peng Yulin touched the cannon on the bow and said. As long as there are a few such gunboats, they can go sideways in the Yangtze River. Those Taiping Army sampans
There is simply nothing that can be done against these gunboats, which are superior in speed, protection and firepower.
"Mr. Peng, what we are about to attend is the commissioning ceremony of eight new gunboats. These eight gunboats are specially built for combat and are much more advanced than this gunboat converted from a ship."
"Hiss... Sir, I have a question. With such strength, Sir, you can completely surround Jiangning? Why did you stop moving forward after conquering Yangzhou?"
Dong Shuheng read the letter in his hand and said: "Mr. Peng, you have joined the Renaissance Society. You should know that the purpose of the Renaissance Society is to "revitalize China." So how do you think China should be revived? Is it to help the Qing government eliminate all internal troubles?"
"Sir, you can actually tell me directly that Xueqin is not a foolish and loyal corrupt scholar. In the past few years in Hunan, I have been among the Qing army and have witnessed the brutality of the Qing army. As Mr. Wei said, the Manchus
There is no interest in the interests of our Han family in our eyes, so I still have to protect this country by myself."
"Well, Mr. Xueqin is a cheerful person. Let's talk about it. Let's just say that the Qing army can buy a lot of gunboats, but they would rather use the money to pay for the Eight Banners, rather than build palaces and mausoleums.
They were unwilling to use it to buy ships to defend the sea. Back then, when the British came to fight, how many people were there in total? They would rather lose money than continue the fight. People like Mr. Lin who served the country and the people ended up in exile."
"The Qing government still had millions of troops in the country at that time. Why was it afraid of thousands of British troops? Because they had a guilty conscience and had been wary of the Han people. They were afraid that their successive defeats in front of the British troops would expose their weakness. They were afraid
Everyone saw their weakness and united to overthrow them."
"Your Excellency, are you preparing to fight against the Qing Dynasty?" Peng Yulin said in shock.
"I just want to revive China, and the Qing court is just a small stumbling block on the road. Mr. Peng, I am telling you this here today because I am not worried about the Qing court's retaliation now. In Jiangbei, I have more than a dozen
There are 10,000 militiamen equipped with muskets and 20,000 elite soldiers. As long as I give the order, only 10,000 elite soldiers will be able to take the city of Beijing by sailing all the way north."
"Then why are you holding back, sir?" Peng Yulin simply let go and said.
"Because I don't have the strength to resist foreign interference. Our goal is to revive China, not to fight with foreigners and destroy China."
"My lord, are you not 20 years old this year? You are so thoughtful. Xueqin has always felt that she is out of tune with the world. I didn't expect that my lord is so shocking. If my lord can believe me, China will be revitalized next!"
"Lao Peng, you can call me president from now on. Our current shortcoming is that we do not have a navy that is strong enough to protect our maritime borders. I am talking about the navy, not the inland water division we are currently riding."
"I can tell you the bottom line. We have a naval shipyard in Gaoyou, and eight warships are being built, but it takes time and the number is not enough. So I plan to buy a batch of second-hand warships first to build the foundation of the fleet.
Can you bear this burden?"
"Xueqin, I'll fight to the death! But I'm not familiar with naval warfare, and I've never even been to the sea. I'm worried that I might miss the president's important event."
"We don't understand, and I can't find anyone who does, but we can learn. After some time, you go to Shanghai with me and we buy warships. Of course, when you buy a warship, you also need to buy after-sales service. Although foreigners
It’s damning, but it doesn’t affect us from humbly learning from others.”
"What the president means is 'learn from the foreigners and develop skills to control the foreigners'"