Part 3 Chapter 21 The First

On December 17, 1888, the sky was clear and the wind was gentle. Accompanied by the sound of the silver flute, the Green Dragon Flag slowly rose. The total tonnage was more than 50,000 yuan, the Beiyang Navy, the first in Asia and the sixth in the world, and the long journey of military formation for several years was finally completed at this moment. Ding Ruchang, Liu Buchan, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang and other representative figures of the modern Chinese navy became the backbone of the modern Chinese navy and were recorded in history.

The naval battle between China and Japan reached a new stage, which was also the peak of Li Hongzhang's personal political career. At the same time, the Beiyang Navy's argument for Li Hongzhang's private naval army became a conclusion between the government and the country. After the end of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Western newspapers said that Japan was not fighting with China, but fighting with Li Hongzhang's army alone. Although this was a bit too much, it was not far away. At that time, the chief officials of the provinces only knew to guard their own one acre and three.

The division of land completely regarded the war between China and Japan as a war between Zhili and Manchuria. No one raised funds and sent troops for this war, but only some empty talk. The most ridiculous thing is that after the Beiyang Navy surrendered, Guangdong actually asked Japan to release the Guangyi ship, saying that Guangyi belongs to Guangdong and that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 had nothing to do with Guangdong. It was just a big absurdity in the world, which also showed the current situation in China at that time. In this sense, Li Hongzhang fought against the national power of Japan with one person. Although the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was defeated, he could be proud of it.

Shen Congyun, who had been closely watching the movements of Beiyang, sent a congratulatory message to Li Hongzhang and the court on this day, which was also the only congratulatory message sent as a rank of officials at that time. Others regarded Li Hongzhang as their political enemy, but Shen Congyun did not think so. Without Li Hongzhang and his army, North Korea and Taiwan might have been occupied by the Japanese long ago. Although Shen Congyun disdained Li Hongzhang's passive idea of ​​avoiding war, in the face of national justice, Shen Congyun would never sit idly by the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War like those ridiculous mediocre ministers.

In mid-1889, when the first furnace of molten steel flowed out of the crucible, there was a lot of joy in the workshop. When he came to the scene in person to watch the process of the molten steel cooling and forming, Shen Congyun was so excited that she burst into tears. He was almost roaring in his heart, grandma, I can finally use the steel he practiced.

Amid the cheers of everyone, Shen Congyun quietly left the workshop and followed the Chief of General Staff Keze behind him.

"Governor General, first of all, I want to congratulate you. Secondly, you should explain why you invited me to Guangning? You should know that I have a lot of things to do in Hanoi." Keze is always like this, and he says whatever he wants. Shen Congyun has long been used to it and has not taken it to heart.

"I also want to congratulate you, General Keze. The appointment that the Governor of this governor applied to the court has also come down. Congratulations on becoming a Chinese general." Shen Congyun said with a smile. Keze did not seem to have much excitement, but frowned and said, "The Chinese court has no meaning to my appointment. I only know that you are my employer. In addition, I don't like the clothing of Chinese officials. It is too cumbersome to wear it on it and is not suitable for a professional soldier."

Shen Congyun laughed loudly after hearing this, and did not speak anymore, and continued to walk outside the factory. Shen Congyun and Keze walked side by side in front, and the four guards behind kept a distance of less than five meters.

"General Keze, if I hope you command the army to fight a battle now, do you feel confident of victory?" Chen Congyun suddenly stopped. Keze was stunned and replied subconsciously: "It depends on who the opponent is."

"Map!" Chen Congyun shouted without looking back, and the guards quickly followed and sent the map they carried with them.

Chen Congyun spread the map directly on the ground, which is a map of Vietnam.

"Look, this is Saigon, this is Xining, this is Paso, Cambodia occupied by the French. Currently, a rebel army with a population of 15,000 is entrenched in Xining. They rely on the Cambodian border. When our army is approaching, they retreat to the border. When our army retreats, they will make a comeback?"

Keze frowned and said, "What do the border guards do?"

Chen Congyun smiled bitterly and said, "I have only this little force in my hand, and I can't take care of Xining at all. Even if I take care of Xining, Longan, Tongta, Anjiang and other places, I will also send troops to station? So it is impossible to do it once and for all. Now I can only completely eliminate the main forces of the rebels and crack down on their arrogance. In the past two years, I have not moved the rebels in Xining, just to make them paralyzed and then find opportunities to deal with them. This time I invite you to come here, hoping that this military operation will be planned and kept absolutely confidential. The rebels' eyes and ears are omnipresent in Hanoi, and I must be cautious."

"What do you mean?" Keze smiled knowingly, and Chen Congyun nodded gently.

Three days later, at night, almost everyone thought that Chen Congyun, who was in Guangning, suddenly appeared at the door of the command of the Saigon First Division. The vigilant sentry pulled the bolt and shouted loudly, "Who is it? If I don't stop, I'll shoot."

"I am Chen Congyun, and I will notify your division commander to come to see me immediately." Chen Congyun raised his hands, walked slowly to the door, and said coldly to the sentry.

The sentry thought he had heard it wrong, and with the light at the door, he finally vaguely saw Chen Congyun's appearance. Chen Congyun often came to the First Division to inspect, and most of the officers and soldiers recognized Chen Congyun's appearance and the shining bald head.

"Yes! Please wait!" The sentry was excited and turned around and asked his partner to inform Liu Yongfu quickly. He didn't want Chen Congyun to say, "Wait a moment, don't let others know that I'm here."

"Yes, salute!" The excited sentry finally remembered to salute, and then turned his head to run into the command center. The remaining sentry stood up nervously, fearing that Chen Congyun would find something wrong.

Liu Yongfu soon came out of it, wearing clothes while walking. He was working hard on his concubine just now, intending to make a man and a half woman, but unexpectedly, Chen Congyun arrived at this time.

"Mr. Shen, why have you arrived?" Liu Yongfu called Chen Congyun according to the customs in the court.

"Yuanting, don't make a name for yourself. Don't let others know that I'm here." Chen Congyun quickly reminded Liu Yongfu, and Liu Yongfu nodded in a vague way.

The group entered the backyard of Liu Yongfu's residence, and the concubine who was hurrying to serve him, had not yet dissipated. The first thing Chen Congyun told the back house that he must keep it confidential.

When Liu Yongfu saw Keze behind Chen Congyun, he guessed something was going to happen, so he hurriedly led Chen Congyun to the study. Chen Congyun asked Liu Yongfu to shut up the others and there were only three people left in the study. Chen Congyun said to Keze: "Let's start."

Kerze immediately took out the map and spread it out on the table: "According to the information provided by the Governor, there is a rebel army in Xining, with a number of about 15,000 people. The intelligence shows that the rebels have French officers responsible for training, equipped with about 5,000 French-made Shashpe-style quick robbers, and a small number of Kropachek guns. Other equipment is very complicated, including big swords, spears and bows. According to the current intelligence of the artillery, there are only three mountain cannons with a caliber of 70 mm. The purpose of this operation is to completely eliminate the rebels entrenched in Xining. Now I need more and more detailed information. At the same time, I announce that the First Division will immediately enter the first-level combat readiness."

Liu Yongfu finally understood the reason why Chen Congyun and Keze suddenly appeared, and said with excitement on his face: "That's great, these grandsons are usually as slippery as loaches. I caught them several times but failed to catch them."

Looking at Liu Yongfu's appearance, Keze couldn't help but feel dissatisfied and said, "Sir, what you need now is to calm down." Liu Yongfu's face was rosy when he was hit. Just as he was about to explain, Keze had already continued, "Now you can send someone to invite all the intelligence staff I arranged in Saigon. I think I need their help."

Liu Yongfu looked at Chen Congyun with a wry smile and said, "Mr. Shen, they are all foreigners in the middle of the night, maybe now..."

Chen Congyun smiled and said, "Do as the Chief of Staff said, now every word he said is equivalent to what I said. I am an amateur in military affairs. You are busy, I will go to bed, and I will exhaust me all the way." Chen Congyun said, slapped his butt and left, leaving Liu Yongfu facing Keze's reproachful gaze, and saluted Keze with a wry smile, "Yes, Your Excellency Chief of Staff."

Regarding the rank of the court, Liu Yongfu was at least a second-rank governor. Unfortunately, this is Vietnam. Chen Congyun had the final say. According to the organization of Chen Congyun's army, Keze was equivalent to the second-ranked figure above ten thousand people under Chen Congyun.

Chen Congyun woke up and after washing, he went straight to the command center without even having breakfast. The command center was busy and quiet. On the sand table in the middle, a sunny sand table magically appeared on the sand table. Keze and several German staff members were talking about something around the sand table, and a staff member was constantly making records on paper.

Chen Congyun came over, without saying a word, and planned to look at the sand table silently. Before he could stand firm, Keze had already discovered that Chen Congyun had arrived.

"Governor General!" Kerze saluted, and the other three German staff members also saluted one after another.

"How is it? Is the plan made?" Chen Congyun asked with a smile. Keze obviously didn't sleep all night, pointing at the sand table with red eyes and said, "The preliminary plan has been formulated, and after some details have been considered, you can officially submit the approval action."

Chen Congyun smiled and said to Keze: "His Excellency Chief of Staff, this is your first time commanding a battle. I hope you can do it beautifully."
Chapter completed!