Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 454

On November 1789, 11, after two days of day and night sailing, the Thunderbolt arrived outside Lushun Port.Seeing Zhao Xin appearing on the deck and waving his arms, there was bursts of cheers on the Thunder God and Beihai No. 10.

The reason why they arrived so smoothly is that the storm in the Tsushima Strait has subsided for several days, and the sailors on the Thunderbolt have been very familiar with the operation of the whole ship after several years of training.

With the start of hoisting supplies, Deng Fei, Ding Guofeng, Guo Xuexian, Jiang Fan, Hong Liangji and others also boarded the Jinglei in a speedboat. The first thing they saw was Zhao Xin standing beside A Miao.

Deng Fei asked in surprise: "Why are you here? It wasn't mentioned in the telegram before!"

Before Zhao Xin could answer, Guo Xuexian, Jiang Fan, and Hong Liangji, who were standing beside him, came up to greet him.Zhao Xin first returned a military salute, then patted Guo Xuexian on the shoulder and said, "Mother-in-law, I've heard about it, you fought well this time!"

"It's all taught by the chiefs, I just follow it."

Guo Xuexian was very excited to see Zhao Xin. He had rarely seen Zhao Xin in the past two years, but he kept in mind that if Zhao Xin and Zheng Lianchang hadn't called him by name, he wouldn't know what to do.Although he never understood how the other party would know him, but without Zhao Xin, he would not be where he is today.

Jiang Fan and Hong Liangji stepped forward to persuade them: "How can King Zhao come to a dangerous place? Although the Tartar ship has been driven away, the sea is unstable and the battle is dangerous!"

Zhao Xin chuckled and said, "You two, of course I want to be a part of such an interesting event."

After all, he casually pointed to the four D30s on the Jinglei, dozens of machine guns on the ship's side, and the soldiers of the second regiment who were busy on the deck, and continued: "With these, the Beihai Navy can even fight against the city of Beijing."

When Jiang Fan and Hong Liangji heard this, their eyes lit up, thinking that Zhao Xin was going to lead troops to attack the capital this time.

Deng Fei's face changed when he heard this, and he dragged Zhao Xin to the other side of the ship where there was no one else, and said in a low voice, "Are you planning to learn from the Second Opium War and fight Tianjin to force Manchu to sign the treaty?"

"It's not that serious." Zhao Xin shook his head and explained, "We need people, a lot of people. Didn't you say in the telegram that there was a flood in Zhili. Besides, the output of refugees from Nanba Laolin is too slow. "

Deng Fei nodded as if suddenly enlightened, looked into Zhao Xin's eyes and said, "I'm relieved."

Zhao Xin patted the other party's shoulder and sighed.He knew what Deng Fei was worried about.There is no need to repeat that humiliating history, and nothing can be solved except to satisfy some dark pleasure.

He said to Deng Fei: "This time I will hide behind, and you will come forward to negotiate."

Deng Fei teased: "Are you planning to play tricks again?"

After all, the two looked at each other and laughed.

"By the way," Deng Fei suddenly remembered something, and said to Zhao Xin: "The drone found foreigners on the sailing ship of the Qing Dynasty."

Zhao Xin asked curiously, "British or French?"

"I can't see that! They all look similar, wearing a three-cornered hat." After speaking, Deng Fei raised his finger and pointed to Lushun Port not far away: "This place is very important, should we occupy it?"

Zhao Xin said with a smile: "Do you really want to put a knife in Qianlong's chest? One thing more is worse than one thing less. If this place is occupied, I think the Qing court will have to play with us. Give them a breath first, and take it step by step. .”

He made it very clear in the phone conversation with Yu Deli and Chen Qingsong before he came that the current opponents of Beihai Town include Tsarist Russia and the Manchu Qing; but now the main conflict with Tsarist Russia, followed by the Manchu Qing.

Two days later, three ships of different sizes appeared on the sea outside Dagukou, which shocked the Qing fleet and the British who had just fled back.

From Malgany, John Jervis, Horatio Nelson to all the British sailors, they all crowded on the deck, watching with a telescope, and the shock on their faces could not be concealed.

When they saw the Jinglei, which was more than twice the size of the Thor, the admiral of the navy, Hadanga, and all the generals of the water battalion were almost terrified, trembling, and trembling all over.

At this time, the three ships of the Northern Navy were about five nautical miles away from the anchorage of the Qing fleet. However, when there was a sudden roar on the Jinglei, a shell passed over the Qing fleet and hit the cannonball on the side of the Paotai at Dagukou, [-] miles away. On the tidal flat, after a column of smoke several meters high exploded, everyone's expressions became extremely ugly.

Hadang'a immediately urinated, knelt down on the deck with a thud, kowtowed in the direction of the capital, and cried, "Your Majesty, this slave is indebted to the Holy Grace! The slave is a death penalty! The slave is a death penalty!"

On the Dagukou fort, the Qing army saw two large ships like mountains in the distance. First, they immediately raised smoke, and then ordered people to fly horses to report to the imperial envoy who was sitting in Haiguang Temple.

After hearing the news, Fu Chang'an was numb. He sat on the chair with staring eyes and remained silent for a long time.He had secretly laughed at Fu Kang'an before, but today it was finally his turn.

This is really not enough to beat a tiger, but to be injured by a tiger, and to steal a chicken is not enough to lose a lot of rice!Your Majesty, we have just stabbed a hornet's nest!

At this moment, an official beside him said, "Commander? Commander?"

"Ah~~~!!" Fu Chang'an couldn't help but let out a desperate wail, which immediately startled everyone in the imperial envoy's camp.

"Marshal, for the current plan, we must send an urgent report to the capital as soon as possible. The emperor's safety is the most important thing!"

Hearing the official's words, Fu Chang'an was shocked all over, and hurriedly said: "Quick! Serve me with pen and ink!"

"Wait a minute, Commander," a fat-faced sixth-rank official in his 40s walked up to the Commander's case in the imperial envoy's office, cupped his hands and said, "I'm a little shallow."

Fu Chang'an was anxious and angry: "When is this! Don't hesitate!"

The official's surname was Cai, and he had been working as the head of the sixth rank in the Fangqing Officials Department of the Ministry of War, responsible for maritime bans.Because of his diligence, he was transferred to Fu Chang'an's side this time to do business.

Chief Cai said in a deep voice: "Commander, I have accompanied him to inspect the coastal defenses around Dagukou a few days ago. Although the mouth of the sea is 150 feet wide and the water is five feet deep, the waterway is narrow and has many twists and turns. Even the huge ships newly bought by the imperial court are difficult to get in, let alone Zhao Ni's big iron ships."

"Huh?" After the initial panic, Fu Chang'an also calmed down a little, and said after hearing this: "What can you teach me, brother? If I can resist the enemy in the open sea, I will definitely ask the emperor to ask for credit."

Chief Cai said: "Marshal, for the current plan, the most important thing is to prevent Zhao Ni's boats from entering Haikou and forcing Tianjin. The lower officials thought that they should first strictly investigate the fishing boats near Dagukou and number them one by one so that they can be corrected. .Secondly, the two big mouths of Dagu and Beitang, as well as other small mouths in the surrounding areas, should be blocked with wooden piles, leaving only a sandboat to pass through."

After hearing this, Fu Chang'an nodded again and again, so he took out a command arrow from the lottery tube, and said to Master Cai: "I will leave this matter to you. Anyone who obstructs and procrastinates will be regarded as a crime of collusion and treason, and can be killed immediately." !"

"Follow the commander's orders!"

At this time, other people in the commander-in-chief also reacted one after another. Some said that Tiaozhengding, Hejian and Zhili governors and horses were stationed in various river mouths, some said that Tianjin City was put under martial law, and some people said that the coastal people in Dagukou evacuated.

Fu Chang'an accepted this together, and after the arrangement was over, he picked up his pen, thought about his words, and began to write an urgent report to Qianlong.

Compared with the panic of the Qing Dynasty, the British officers on the six sailing ships wanted to contact the Beihai Navy, but this move was opposed by Macartney.

"Gentlemen! Please don't forget that you are currently trainers of the Qing Empire's navy, and those people on the opposite side are a group of rebels! Although I am also very interested in them, at the risk of breaking with the Qing Empire, Private contact will cause serious damage to the interests of the British Empire and the East India Company in China!"

Macartney did not want the Manchu Qing to close the door just opened to him. Compared with the distant and unfamiliar Beihai Town, expanding trade exports to China was obviously more important.

From the results of this naval battle, it can be clearly seen that five second-class sailing battleships are just a drop in the bucket for the Qing Empire.Macartney hopes that through this incident, the Qing Dynasty will be able to purchase more sailing ships from the United Kingdom. This will be an extremely considerable arms trade!

With the introduction of a large number of new warships and artillery, corresponding supporting shipyards, port construction, steel factories, and artillery factories are bound to spring up on the coast of the Qing Empire.This will undoubtedly reveal a larger trade prospect, and reverse the long-term trade deficit of the East India Company with China in one fell swoop.

Now the only European countries that can compete with Britain in their relations with China are France.Before Macartney came to China, he knew that there were several French missionaries in the court of the great emperor.

At present, the political situation in France is unstable, the finances are tight, and there is no time to look around. The East India Company must take advantage of this opportunity to expand its trade share with China.

However, these British people in the East did not know that the "French Revolution" had broken out in July.Even if the French wanted to have military cooperation with Dai Qing, they were unable to do so at the moment.

After a farce-like "capture of the Bastille", the Constituent Assembly, which received a large number of weapons and ammunition, was strong and powerful.Louis XVI moved his family into the Tuileries Palace, which was like house arrest.At this time, there are still two years and three months before they go to the guillotine.

However, just as the British looked around curiously and the Qing army was busy evacuating the people near Dagukou and stepping up their combat preparations, the drone that confused everyone in this time and space appeared again.

At this time, the sky outside Dagukou was clear. Although the howling north wind made the sea unsettled, several monsters that were obviously bigger than seabirds suddenly appeared in the sky, which quickly attracted the attention of the Qing fleet.

Horatio Nelson raised his binoculars to look into the sky, and after a while he said in amazement: "This, this is not a hot air balloon!"

While everyone on the deck was stunned, a drone hovered in the air more than 20 meters away from the "Zhenbei". Those who held up their binoculars saw a black mirror-like There seems to be a red dot twinkling inside.

A British officer estimated the distance, picked up the musket silently, and just about to aim, his shoulders sank slightly. When he turned his head to look, the sharp blade was already resting on his neck.

The man holding the knife was a leader of the Qing army, who was glaring at him, and scolded him: "What are you going to do? What's the purpose of shooting provocatively and starting a war?!"

Everyone on the gunboat just now saw that the big Beihai ship could reach the shore from such a distance.Now it seems that this "strange bird" was obviously released from the big ship.If you really want to hit him down, you will make the opponent anxious, and no one will be able to run away.

Horatio Nelson saw it, and hurried over to apologize to the leader.On the "Dinghai", Hardang ordered the messengers to send a signal to the ships not to fire on the "strange birds" in the air, so as not to anger the North Navy.

So one drone circled back and forth over the fleet, while the other went straight to the Taku Fort.When Zhao Xin and others on the Jinglei saw the huge artillery on the North and South Forts on the screen, they were all amazed.

"Good guy! This must be [-] catties?"

"It seems more than that."

"How far do you think this cannon can hit? Two kilometers? Three kilometers?"

Zhao Xin shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, I have no idea about this thing."

Deng Fei sighed: "Qianlong really paid for it."

"At the door of the house."

Deng Fei asked curiously: "Hey, do you think Qianlong will go to the Summer Resort this time?"

Zhao Xin shook his head and said: "That's what his great-grandson would do. Daoguang didn't run away, and Qianlong wouldn't run away."

In the middle of the night, a fast horse from Tianjin galloped at a gallop. When the rider arrived outside the gate of the Grand Palace of the Old Summer Palace, he was already out of breath, and even the fast horse was foaming at the mouth.

The firearm battalion soldier in charge of duty will see the memorial box wrapped in yellow satin on the opponent, and rush over to help him.The rider panted, "Military newspaper! It's urgent!"

Not long after, the messenger was sent to the Military Aircraft Zhangjing's Outer Duty House in Jiajiatun, in the garden. Zhang Jing, who was in charge of the night duty at the Military Aircraft Office, heard the rider's report and was frightened out of his wits. He hurriedly sent someone to invite He Shenhe Liu Yong et al.

During the Qianlong period, the Military Aircraft Department had two offices in the Old Summer Palace, one is Gujiatun, and the other is the ice cellar uphill. There are more than 100 houses in total, and the Manchu and Han Zhangjing lived separately.After Qianlong moved to the Old Summer Palace these days, He Shen, Wang Jie, Liu Yong and others all lived here so that they could be called at any time.

Liu Yong was a light sleeper, and Zhang Jing, who was on duty at night, just woke up when he knocked on the door.Then the lantern light outside looked at the clock on the table, and it was only after three o'clock in the morning.

He put on the python robe, walked to the door and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Lord Liu, it's bad! Zhao Ni's big ship has arrived in Tianjin!"

"What!" Liu Yong's eyes stared straight, he lost all sleepiness, and hurriedly opened the door to ask the servants to help him wash and dress himself.Taking advantage of the time when the servants at home helped him to dress, Liu Yong thought not to mention it, the five gunboats must have lost, but he didn't know the loss.

The biggest crisis now is that there are not many soldiers in Tianjin City, only more than 400 in total.If Zhao Ni broke through Dagukou and invaded Tianjin, the city would not be able to defend at all, and he didn't know how Fu Chang'an would respond.

Half an hour later, Prince Jia Yongyan, He Shen, Wang Jie and Liu Yong all rushed to the duty room of the Military Aircraft Department to meet up.Everyone's faces were gloomy, Yong Yan was silent, his right hand was fisted, and the knuckles he pinched were creaking; He Shen frowned, and tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers; Wang Jie and Liu Yong looked at each other, bowed their heads in silence, and thought Thinking about the wording when meeting Sheng.

About a quarter of an hour later, the eunuch came, and Qianlong called everyone to the Qingyan Palace in Jiuzhou to meet him.

"Jiuzhou Qingyan" is located in the north of the Zhengda Guangming Hall, in the middle of the northern shore of Qianhu Lake.There are nine courtyards on the island from west to east, and five palaces from south to north, implying "Ninth Five-Year Supreme"; and Qianlong's bedroom is in the innermost Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace.

The crowd followed the eunuch through various corridors and stone bridges, and arrived at the gate of Yuanmingyuan, where the lights were already brightly lit.When he walked to the gate of the Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace at the back, the 78-year-old Qianlong was already sitting on the Sumeru Seat in the palace.

Headed by Yong Yan, all the ministers bowed their heads and entered the hall, flicking the horseshoe sleeves on the boa robes, knelt down and kowtowed: "Slaves (ministers) pay respects to the emperor!"

The old Qianlong didn't speak for a long time. After a while, everyone heard him say in a hoarse voice: "Get up."

At this time, everyone raised their eyes slightly and saw that Qianlong was holding Fu Changan's emergency memorial in his hand, his face was haggard.At this moment, everyone knelt down again, kowtowed and said: "Please take care of the dragon's body! There are thousands of mistakes, and they are all slaves (ministers) who are not doing their job effectively."

"Let's have a look, how to deal with the current situation." After Qianlong finished speaking, he handed Fu Chang'an's booklet to the eunuch for the ministers to circulate.After everyone finished reading one by one, only then did they know the details outside Dagukou and Fu Changan's countermeasures, and they were all worried.

Yong Yan knelt on the ground and replied: "I thought that the troops from Hejian, Zhengding, and Daming should be dispatched to Tianjin to prepare for the war, and the troops from Xuanda, Huailai, and Zhangjiakou should be dispatched to Jingqin King."

Qianlong nodded and said, "Is there any more?"

He Shen said: "The servant thinks that we should send someone to meet with Zhao Ni's troops first to find out what their purpose is. If they plan to plot Tianjin and threaten the capital, they will fight to the death and resist the enemy at sea. If it is because of other reasons."

Wang Jie said: "He Zhongtang, Zhao Ni's big ship has already reached Tianjin, what other reason can there be?"

He Shen said: "Did Master Wang forget? The urgent report from Xiongyue Town said that Zhao Ni's big ship was buying soybeans in Fuzhou."

When everyone in the hall heard this, they all showed indignation.This is too bastard, if you want to buy soybeans, don't you want to talk about it, why bother to use guns!Is it because the emperor sent a ship to attack, which disrupted Zhao Ni's purchase of soybeans and annoyed the other side before sending troops to Tianjin?

The problem is that no one dares to say this, because the order to send the fleet to attack was given by Qianlong himself.

Wang Jie said again: "He Zhongtang, Zhao Ni is a traitor to the court, and my Qing Dynasty is not at odds with him, so how can we meet them at all points?"

He Shen ignored Wang Jie, but kowtowed to Qianlong and said, "Your Majesty, there are English people on the gunboat right now. Why don't you let them help to test it out? We can send people to accompany you in disguise to check out the movements of the thieves. It's easy to do." to deal with it."

Qianlong's eyes lit up slightly when he heard this. He Shen's suggestion was still feasible. After thinking about it, he nodded and said, "So, tell Fu Chang'an to let Tianjin Dao and Yingjili go to negotiate together."

　The Bastille is not only a prison, but also an armory.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)