Chapter 15 of Part 3: Riot

Chen Congyun waited patiently for three days. That afternoon, Zi Yu sent someone a post with the word "Come" on it. Chen Congyun smiled slightly and threw the post gently out of the window.

What happened this afternoon? Only Chen Congyun and Zi Yu knew. Because each person could approach the door within ten meters, even the people around Zi Yu were invited out politely.

Chen Congyun left with a satisfied smile. When he left, it was dusk, and large areas of burning clouds hung in the west, like bloody colors.

Three days later, Zi Yu, who had been lying on the bed for three days, left. All she got was Chen Congyun's verbal promise that as long as Sanjing Company raised the money, Chen Congyun would sell as much as the iron ore was required. Zi Yu once proposed to sign an agreement. Chen Congyun made the excuse that the iron ore had not been officially mined, and when it was officially put into production, it would be too late to sign the contract.

Chen Congyun's rogue face was undoubtedly exposed, and he was a little suspicious that the client would not give money after finishing his work.

While sending Zi Yu away, Chen Congyun couldn't help but sigh for the Japanese's preparations. In 1857, after Japan became the "father of modern steel" Oshima Takaren built Japan's first modern blast furnace at the Kawashi Ironmaking Institute, Japan was far ahead of China in the modern steel industry. Although the Hanyang Iron Factory was put into operation in 1894, although it was full of stature, it invested nearly 6 million in Zhang Zhidong's hands, which was the most failed and largest loss in modern history. Six million can buy four Zhenyuan. Chen Congyun once again felt deeply saddened by China's internal friction.

A week later, Stephen and Zheng Guanying, who had completed the inspection in Guangning, returned to Hanoi and brought back another good news. A copper mine was found in the mountainous area at the junction of Guangning and Liangshan. Chen Congyun was overjoyed when he heard the news. Contemporary technology was not enough to support the use of other things to replace copper-made bullets. With copper Chen Congyun, even if a stone fell into the ground in his heart, he would not have to make the idea of ​​Yunnan.

Zheng Guanying and Stephen hurriedly set off the road, their destination was Shanghai, and then took a boat from Shanghai to Europe. Chen Congyun personally sent him ten miles outside the city and sent a scepter to escort the two.

Chen Congyun, who returned to Hanoi, soon became busy again. After Chen Congyun's personal inspection, more than 100 mercenaries were still somewhat authentic. A military training class officially started before the Spring Festival in 1886. An engineer company also set off, and the fourteen gunboats anchored at Saigon Wharf were all smoke again. More than 100 Nanyang youths also became popular. Wu Yangzeng and Kuang Rongguang, who were far away in Guangning, returned to Hanoi to grab people after hearing the news. Unfortunately, Zhan Tianyou took the lead and took half of them away. Some were arranged by Chen Congyun to study in the military training class, and acted as translators for the mercenaries. Wu Yangzeng and Kuang Rongguang were heartbroken and took away the remaining dozens and all.

Speaking of which, Chen Congyun was also very scratching his head. There were too few talents who had received Western education. He originally planned to leave Tang Shaoyi to help him, but he was taken away by Zheng Guanying, saying that everyone could not take care of the matter in Shanghai.

Chen Congyun had no choice but to throw the matter to Ouyang Quan and his men and women, and gave them a name, General Staff! All the men were generals.

After dealing with the internal affairs, Chen Congyun turned his attention to the Vietnamese royal family. His mother-in-law really took out 100,000 taels of silver to buy a gun. Fortunately, it was not a big deal, otherwise Chen Congyun would really plan to send troops to the palace again. The three thousand-person Vietnamese security brigade was also set up. Li Yaozu, a villain, followed the mastermind behind Chen Congyun, selected dozens of people from the gangsters who followed him wholeheartedly and inserted them into the First Security brigade to serve as some middle and lower-level officers.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, exciting news came from Guangning. The coal mine was finally officially put into production. The first day it produced 1,000 tons of coal, which was the result of 3,000 Vietnamese miners. Chen Congyun was a little confused. Why were these Vietnamese miners so motivated? Later, Chen Congyun realized that this was Wu Yangzeng copied Tang Tingshu's creativity and started working according to the output. It seems that the concept of more work and more income has existed since ancient times. Big pot rice has moved against the trend of history.

With repeated calls from the court, Chen Congyun reluctantly released all the remaining prisoners of war. At this time, the French fleet had been leaving Penghu for half a month.

This year, Taiwan was established as a province and Liu Mingchuan became the first governor of Taiwan.

After the Spring Festival in 1886, due to many problems exposed in the Sino-French War, such as the slow army mobilization, the Qing government reconsidered whether to build a railway. As the Prime Minister of the Navy, Yi Li supported Li Hongzhang in this matter. The Qing government finally agreed to transfer the railway matter to the Navy Office handled by Premier Yi Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang and others, and the Navy Office built the railway. This is quite "Chinese characteristics".

When Chen Congyun received this news, he couldn't help but burst out with a slight laugh, because at this time, the railway survey in Guangning had come to an end, and Chen Congyun was ready to order the land acquisition and lay the roadbed first.

Compared with the country, Vietnam does not have the problem of building railways to "disturb the people and seize the people's livelihood". On the contrary, Vietnam also submitted a statement to the Qing court, praising Chen Congyun for how good it was after he went to Vietnam. All the suggestions that the Vietnamese people were happy after learning about it. Judging from the meaning, the Vietnamese people were not far away because of the arrival of Chen Congyun. After praising Chen Congyun, the Vietnamese king got to the point and asked the Qing court to officially recognize the new king. The Qing government was very satisfied with the Vietnamese king's low attitude. While replying to agree, he praised Chen Congyun for his loyalty to the country and acted with his life. The court was deeply pleased.

Liu Yongfu, who had never appeared, finally appeared a month after the Spring Festival. When Chen Congyun saw Liu Yongfu, he felt that the boy had gained weight and his belly was a little aroused. When he saw Liu Yongfu's concubine, Chen Congyun finally found a reason why Liu Yongfu had not appeared. While finding the reason, Chen Congyun couldn't help but envy Liu Yongfu, a guy who was beastly. This girl seemed to be around fourteen years old at most, and this kid could also do it. It seems that Lolik control has always been a hobby of uncle-level people.

Chen Congyun's judgment was correct at all. Liu Yongfu said in person that his newly acquired concubine was only fifteen years old after the New Year. This year, people were considered to be a void year old, which shows that they were only fourteen years old.

Chen Congyun didn't want to explore Liu Yongfu's private life. What Chen Congyun was worried about was the current situation in Saigon. Saigon did not need Hanoi. It was a territory that the French had run for many years, and the situation was much more complicated than Hanoi.

After inviting Liu Yongfu to his residence, Chen Congyun immediately asked about the situation in Saigon and the French news.

"Nothing big! I did everything you taught me when you were there. Everything was peaceful, otherwise how could I have the time to take a concubine?" Liu Yongfu answered happily. Chen Congyun finally breathed a sigh of relief. This kid was not doing anything randomly.

When Chen Congyun was working on the purge in Saigon, it was mainly aimed at the Vietnamese, and it was just expropriated to the French. The confiscated "Yuezhi" property was called "Shen Congyun and Liu Yongfu's private division. Chen Congyun asked Liu Yongfu to share the confiscated land to those people who had no land to farm. For the French, the land and property should not be moved easily. Liu Yongfu seemed to do the same. No wonder Du Bailei did not make any noise except sending people to ask for prisoners of war every now and then.

For Chen Congyun, stability is overwhelming. However, Chen Congyun was still worried and repeatedly told Liu Yongfu to be careful of the French making small moves. Liu Yongfu agreed.

Seeing that Liu Yongfu was shakingly supported by his concubine to go out, Chen Congyun was a little worried about whether the thin concubine could withstand Liu Yongfu's heavy pressure. Fortunately, Liu Yongfu was thinner, which made Chen Congyun's worry less.

Time soon entered the late spring of 1886. Before the rainy season came, the three thousand new recruits recruited by Chen Congyun were finally barely considered an army. At least when the soldiers lined up to shoot, the momentum was quite amazing. In order to show the results of the training, aftershocks conducted a live-fire act for the entire army. Please go and see it in person. When the bullets were flying around in the sky, Chen Congyun really felt distressed for a long time, and there was not much inventory in the warehouse.

When the acting was over, Chen Congyun left, he repeatedly told the soldiers that the shells must be recycled and handed over, and that all this was money. Chen Congyun, who returned home, immediately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, asking Li Hongzhang to "support" some bullets, not much, only one million rounds. It was indeed not much, it was just three months of production by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

Li Hongzhang agreed generously and immediately sent someone to the luck. Chen Congyun was very surprised that Li Hongzhang was so generous and did not pay any discount. Soon Tang Shaoyi called and said that with the repeated efforts of Zhang Zhidong and Zuo Zongtang, the reconstruction of the Fuzhou Shipyard began. It was only because of the funds that the construction plan of the Fuzhou Navy was temporarily stranded. Chen Congyun could fully imagine that Li Hongzhang was in a happy mood when he received this news. In history, Fuzhou Navy and Nanyang Navy were both just famous. The real ones were considered as the Navy, and only Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Navy.

The rainy season came soon. In May, news came from Guangning that the construction of the wharf had already begun, and the rainy season obviously made it difficult to improve the progress of the project. In mid-May, the Bank of China, which Chen Congyun worked hard, was listed for business. Zhan Tianyou, the president, complained all day long, why didn't Chen Congyun let him go to build the railway? Chen Congyun was unmoved and replied, "Turn the silver into silver dollars, I will let you go."

The first batch of 3 million silver dollars was put on the market, and it was forced by the Vietnamese government with an administrative order. In the future, silver dollars can only be traded within the jurisdiction of Hanoi. This order can be said to have caused a lot of trouble. Although the silver dollars are beautiful and look very useful, the people are still a little resistant. Many merchants, because they refused to use silver dollars, were invited by Li Yaozu to the police station for tea. There were also many resistance behaviors in various places, and Li Yaozu led the puppet troops of the First Brigade of the Security Bureau to suppress them.

This reaction is naturally normal. Chen Congyun was not too worried. Chen Congyun's attention was completely focused on Europe. In mid-May, Zheng Guanying called from Germany, "Everything goes well, you can return soon." At the end of May, the bullets supported by Li Hongzhang were sent. Li Hongzhang was very helpful, with 150 bullets and 1,000 quick guns attached. Chen Congyun breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately followed Li Hongzhang's instructions and submitted a memorial to the court, talking about the benefits of building railways and the importance of the Beiyang Navy's investment. Chen Congyun also privately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, implicitly saying that if necessary, Chen Congyun could make some contributions to the Beiyang Navy. If there were no more, 500,000 taels of silver could still be taken out.

Of course, Chen Congyun hopes that the Beiyang Navy can increase its investment and buy two more Dingyuan ships and come back to Zhenyuan. In this way, when he fights with the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War, he can consume more Japanese power.

Unfortunately, Chen Congyun's wish is beautiful. The Beiyang Navy seems to be moving slowly along the footsteps of history. The new Dingyuan and Zhenyuan did not appear. Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Jingyuan, and Laiyuan placed orders one after another, but they did not see the intention of buying new iron-clad ships. In fact, Chen Congyun knew better than anyone else that it was not a long-term plan after all. In the next ten years, it will be an era of rapid development of naval warship technology. Warships like Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were already outdated by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, let alone warships like Zhiyuan.

It should be said that Li Hongzhang did not support Zuo Zongtang's idea of ​​trying to produce by himself was putting the cart before the horse, but at this stage, if you want to quickly form combat power, purchasing is undoubtedly the most convenient way. Unfortunately, Li Hongzhang did not intend to buy or seek to produce by himself. Chen Congyun did not dare to suggest that Li Hongzhang respond to Zuo Zongtang's approach, so as not to be suspicious of Li Hongzhang.

Chen Congyun was grateful to the prodigal son of the imperial court from the bottom of his heart. This guy was very good at training 600,000 yuan a year. After putting it in his pocket, he almost ignored Chen Congyun. The news from Chen Congyun to the Ministry of Revenue was that the money had been in place, and the Admiral Gangyi was as famous as his name.

With the bullets and guns supported by Li Hongzhang, and a small arsenal built by Zhan Tianyou using the recycled shells, more than a thousand captured guns were manually repaired and repaired. Chen Congyun started a new round of military expansion operations. The recruitment operation of the new First Army, First Town, and the Second Association began.

In mid-June, when the training in the recruit camp was in full swing, Zheng Guanying's telegram came again, and the content was still very simple, "The equipment has been loaded." It seems that Zheng Guanying is a very saving person. The long-distance telegrams of this year are very expensive, and Zheng Guanying really has no word of nonsense.

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Hamburg, Germany.

The ship full of various equipment set sail, and Zheng Guanying watched the giant ship go out to sea. These equipment included all the equipment needed to build a steel mill, and some equipment was used to build a small arsenal. These equipment also cost Zheng Guanying almost all the 10 million taels of silver he brought.

"Zheng, go back. We will negotiate with the family tonight." Stephen responded softly to Zhenguan.

"Stephen, can these equipment be brought back and after completion and production, can they really produce 300,000 tons of steel annually?" Zheng Guanying looked back at the disappeared cargo ship in the distance.

"Don't worry, this is absolutely fine. Think about how to induce family investment in Vietnam. Zheng, tell me the truth, can China really build railways on a large scale? Is the railway produced really sold?" Stephen asked a little worriedly, and Zheng Guanying answered without blinking: "As long as you can induce family investment, you will be the foreigner with the most railways in China and Vietnam."

"Damn Zheng, the prospect you portray is so tempting. You must know that we Jews cannot withstand the temptation of profit at all."

Zheng Guanying looked at Dongfang and silently said in his heart: "Brother Zigui, I have done everything I can, and I am trying to do what I can't do. Now it depends on you."

"Stephen, all the technicians have gotten on the boat, right? Don't pull one or two."

"Oh! Zheng! You have hurt my self-esteem. We Jews are reliable and absolutely trustworthy. Hi, don't go so fast, wait for me!"

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In the summer of 1886, under the discussion of Yi Li and Li Hongzhang, a plan to expand the railway steadily was released, and the construction of the Tanglu Railway, which was expanded from ten kilometers long to forty kilometers long, started. Fortunately, in 1876, the Qing government spent 2.85 million taels to buy back the narrow-gauge railway from Wusong to Shanghai, which was built by the British, would not happen again. Liu Mingchuan, who wrote "Preparation for Self-improvement" in 1880, once again made a call for the construction of a railway in Taiwan.

Perhaps because of Shen Congyun's appearance, Liu Mingchuan's request to build a railway in Taiwan was one year earlier than history. What surprised Shen Congyun even more was that although Liu Mingchuan's request also encountered overwhelming opposition this time, the court actually agreed, on the premise that Liu Mingchuan's self-raised funds to build the railway.

After learning the news, Shen Congyun thought he had read it wrong, but the telegram that Tang Shaoyi took clearly and clearly wrote it. Shen Congyun felt excited at that time, and very excited. If Taiwan can build a railway, then other places can build it. Shen Congyun immediately called Tang Shaoyi and went to Taiwan immediately. As Shen Congyun's plenipotent representative, he must take over the work of the Taiwan railway tracks. The Taiwan Railway is just a plan now, and it is really necessary to get the money to start construction. It is estimated that Shen Congyun's steel plant will be officially put into production by then.

Shen Congyun also had a fantasy, would such a situation happen? Because he was the first to run a steel factory, Zhang Zhidong would not build the Hanyang Iron Factory, but instead set up the railway first? Shen Congyun thought about it. Zhang Zhidong proposed to build the Luhan Railway, which was based on the serious losses of the Hanyang Iron Factory. Without the losses of the Hanyang Iron Factory, Zhang Zhidong would not have proposed a plan to build the Luhan Railway. In history, Zhang Zhidong was transferred to the governor of Huguang in 1889. Because of the emergence of Shen Congyun, history was distorted. Zhang Zhidong went to Huguang to be the governor of Huguang in advance. What changes would happen in history?

Zhang Zhidong is undoubtedly a representative task who is passionate about the Westernization. He just arrived in Huguang and the first thing he did was to submit a report to the court, proposing to suspend the construction of railways in Taiwan and delay the construction of the railway from Tangshan to Tianjin by Li Hongzhang. This is in line with Zhang Zhidong's usual style of opposing Li Hongzhang. Next, Zhang Zhidong began to build schools and textile factories, but did not set up a Hubei gun factory. It seems that history has not changed too much, and this is also very likely to have a lot to do with Zhang Zhidong and Zuo Zongtang joining together to rebuild the Fuzhou Shipyard.

Chen Congyun has always been worried about Zuo Zongtang, a respectable old man. In history, he died in 1885. Now it seems that there is no contract between China and France that is losing power and humiliating the country. Zuo Zongtang does not need to be angry and vomits blood. Chen Congyun still hopes that this old man will live a hundred years old, so there will always be a person who can challenge Li Hongzhang.

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In August 1886, Saigon Wharf welcomed a freighter from Germany that Chen Congyun had been looking forward to. Unfortunately, the wharf built by Shen Congyun in Guangning had not yet been able to dock the giant freighter, and the equipment had to be transported from Saigon to Guangning.

With the arrival of the equipment, the construction of the steel plant and the arsenal officially kicked off, and Chen Congyun saw progress reports on his desk almost every day.

As the project progresses and the expenses are increasing, Chen Congyun is also starting to be in a tight position. He has to consider the policy of forcibly issuing silver dollars throughout Vietnam. He used to implement a small-scale implementation of silver dollars in Hanoi, but now he will be plundering on a large scale, otherwise he will really have no money to use it.

In October, the King of Vietnam issued a new decree. In view of the various benefits of silver dollars, it decided to ban transactions of other currencies nationwide and adopt a single silver dollar issued by the Bank of China. This incident undoubtedly set a precedent for colonial rule in modern Chinese history. In order to cope with the possible resistance situation, Chen Congyun sent consecutive calls to Liu Yongfu of Saigon, making Liu Yongfu more vigilant and guard against civil changes. Almost at the same time as the King of Vietnam issued the decree, Chen Congyun ordered Li Yaozu's police station to see clearly any movement in Hanoi city. At the same time, Chen Congyun ordered thousands of trees to live, and the entire army was on a high alert state.

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Cambodia, in the Governor's Office.

Du Bailei excitedly shouted: "Chen Congyun's rule in Vietnam is not popular with the people. Everyone must rise up to resist him. Only under the light of French freedom can the Vietnamese people gain true freedom."

More than a dozen Vietnamese who were pro-French sitting opposite Du Bailei, their excited faces shone with oil. You should know that since Chen Congyun came to Vietnam, they have spared no effort to attack the forces that pro-French forces.

"Please rest assured that we have mobilized more than 100,000 Vietnamese people. As long as there are guns and cannons, we will go back and raise our arms and shout, and the whole country will respond to our righteous acts."

At the end of October, an armed force of more than 3,000 people named the "Vietnam Free Army" quietly sneaked into Vietnam from Cambodia with the cover of the dense forests of the border.

After receiving several telegrams from Chen Congyun, Liu Yongfu's nerves became nervous and the troops entered a state of emergency. Despite this, in the huge Saigon area, Liu Yongfu's Three Thousand Black Flag Army was like a handful of sand thrown into the sea, which could not be prevented in advance.

With the nationwide promotion of silver dollars, resistance incidents in Saigon area occurred one after another. Liu Yongfu cooperated with local officials appointed by the King of Vietnam to arrest more than a thousand people who were causing trouble. The black flag army in some areas also shot and killed dozens of people. Du Bailei called Shen Congyun, expressing concerns about the turmoil in the Saigon area and concerns about the safety of French expatriates.

Chen Congyun immediately realized sensitively that this might be a signal, a signal that something was about to happen. On the day he received the telegram, Chen Congyun immediately ordered an aftershock and personally led the 3,000 soldiers from the newly-edition First Association to quietly sail south to Saigon overnight. At the same time, the fourteen gunboats of the Jiangfang Fleet left by the French also set off south overnight.

Although Liu Yongfu was careful and careful, he still made a serious mistake. The troops of three thousand people were scattered in three barracks around Saigon.

November 1st night.

A group of black shadows quietly approached the "A"-shaped barracks set up by Liu Yongfu in the southern part of Saigon. The night was really dark and the wind was high that night, and he could not see his five fingers. The sentry in front of the barracks, staring at the surroundings with wide eyes and hard, staring at them with wide eyes.

A black shadow quietly approached the door, and a cold light flashed in the darkness. The black shadow suddenly rushed up. The sentry did not pull and react at all, and his throat was cut off.

Under the banner of the Vietnam Free Army in the dark, countless black shadows rushed into the military camp like tides.

Liu Shiba was a sentry officer in the Black Flag Army. He had a stomachache in the afternoon and his stomach hurt in the middle of the night. He found a corner of grass in the dark and squatted down. In the dark, Liu Shiba accidentally saw countless black shadows pounced on the military camp, and his hair stood up all over his body.

Liu Shiba habitually touched his waist, and was lucky. He brought the revolver with him with six consecutive shots. In the crisis, Liu Shiba didn't care about anything else. He lifted his pants randomly, picked up his gun and shot him at a black shadow.

"Bang bang bang!" Liu Shiba finished firing six bullets in one breath, and the crisp gunshots pierced the dead silence of the night. Almost as Liu Shiba finished firing, a dense shooting was covering Liu Shiba's hiding place. Liu Shiba hummed a few times, was shot several times, and fell to the ground.

Fortunately in the misfortune, Liu Yongfu ordered the entire army to be on guard. The Black Flag soldiers were all waiting for the battle, and the gunshots woke everyone up. The soldiers of the Black Flag soldiers grabbed the guns beside their pillows and quickly launched their resistance. The dense gunshots sounded like fried beans in the night sky in Saigon.

Liu Yongfu was also awakened by the gunshots, and quickly took out the revolver under the pillow. Without having time to comfort the panicked concubine beside him, Liu Yongfu rushed to the yard with a gun.

There was more than 500 battalions stationed in Liu Yongfu's headquarters. When the gunshots sounded, the sentry at the door raised their spirits. When they saw it, they immediately took a breath of cold air. The dense black shadows were surrounding the headquarters.

"TuTuTuTuTuTu", the Hazikas machine gun at the commander's office first sounded, and immediately attracted a intensive counterattack.

Liu Yongfu in the yard heard the gunshots at the door. He knew that something was wrong, so he immediately called six close guards and said, "You can find a way to take it out for me, go to the three military camps A, B and C respectively, and let them come quickly after contacting me."

Six guards left, and Liu Yongfu immediately summoned a battalion of officers and soldiers in the yard to command them to guard the headquarters. When Liu Yongfu personally came to the door with his gun, he found that the two Hachikas machine guns had made great contributions. The dense shooting swept the black shadows that rushed up fell to the ground. Liu Yongfu hurriedly ordered the officers and soldiers to quickly seize the commanding heights and suppress the black shadows that rushed up.

Liu Yongfu's good luck soon ended. The damn Hazi's machine gun was so consuming too much ammunition. In less than half an hour, all the bullets that were not in stock were exhausted.

Without the vitality of the machine guns, the besieged rebels immediately became energetic, and the dense shooting hit the walls of the yard with fire, and the rebels rushed up one by one.

The soldiers around Liu Yongfu were all soldiers who had experienced many battles. Under Liu Yongfu's command, they shot calmly and fired back. Their accurate heads were obviously much better than those from the rebels outside. After the rebels were repelled more than a dozen times, they finally stopped the attack for a while.
Chapter completed!