I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 191 The Dangerous Mueller

This retaking of the six southern provinces was indeed an excellent opportunity for the Nguyen Dynasty. The French could only resist stubbornly in Saigon, and the French fleet was delayed by Japan in Manila.

Now that the French fleet is back on the defensive, the previous advantage may be lost in one fell swoop. The opportunity to take back the six southern provinces is lost, and perhaps there will be no chance again.

But the Ruan Dynasty is not without smart people. Ruan Changzuo on the sickbed has long reminded Chen Jiancheng that even Japan must be careful.

For people like them, they have long disbelieved that there are still selfless people in this world. Japan must have taken a fancy to something in Vietnam by rushing to help.

The reason why Ruan Zhifang delayed was because he wanted to see the combat effectiveness of the new army, and the other was to reduce the price he had to pay.

But the fact is that without Japanese help, they were no match for the French.

The Chassebo needle-fired guns used by the French army were much stronger than the Enfield modified rifles in their hands, and they had no advantage in artillery. The victory this time mainly relied on tactics and numbers.

In the past, a French battalion could defeat tens of thousands of Vietnamese troops, but now it could deal with at most one regiment of new Vietnamese troops.

Emperor Nguyen and Chen Jiancheng read Nguyen Chien Fang's memorial and finally decided to invite the Japanese army to attack the French army in Saigon.

Sakamoto Ryoma, who was anchored at Beiqi Haiphong Port, met Chen Jiancheng, the minister of the Nguyen Dynasty, to discuss the cost of sending troops.

Sakamoto Ryoma immediately introduced the flagship Fuso and conducted a test firing of artillery fire. Chen Jiancheng saw the deafening blast of Fuso's main gun and was filled with worry.

He was even more frightened when he saw that a third of the hilltop a few miles away had been chopped off by one shot.

Chen Jiancheng said: "My lord, Commander, can lead the army to help our court drive away the French. I am deeply grateful and would like to give you three hundred thousand taels of gold as a thank you gift."

Three hundred thousand taels of gold, which is almost more than [-] million yen, is already a huge sum of money, but Sakamoto Ryoma will not agree easily, otherwise it will look very cheap.

Sakamoto Ryoma stepped on the battleship under his feet and said: "This battleship is no worse than the armored battleships of Britain and France. Our country has spent all its energy and tens of millions of yen to build such a one, three hundred thousand taels. Too little."

Chen Jiancheng wanted to be tougher, but the country's strength did not allow it. He said in a weak tone: "Three hundred thousand taels... is already... a lot."

Sakamoto Ryoma smiled and said: "In Japan, gold and silver are not valuable. Now foreign countries call Japan Treasure Island. Do you think it is more than [-]?"

Chen Jiancheng was speechless and choked for a moment, not knowing how to answer, but thinking that now was a critical moment, he could only ask patiently: "So how much does your country want?"

"Five hundred thousand taels." Sakamoto Ryoma stretched out his palm and said firmly.

"Five hundred thousand taels!"

Chen Jiancheng's eyes widened and his voice increased a lot.

After the shock, Chen Jiancheng also realized that he had lost his composure. He quickly calmed down and said, "This is too much. I can't afford it."

Sakamoto Ryoma took out a list and said: "You can use resources to repay. This is the market price. You can check it at will."

Chen Jiancheng took the list and looked at it. Japan still needs coal, iron ore, sugar and other things. Based on the current production volume and previous debts, it will take Vietnam fifteen years to repay its debts.

He said with a grimace: "This... amount is too much. I really can't afford half a million."

"Then how much did you say?"

Sakamoto Ryoma will naturally not take the initiative to lower prices.

Chen Jiancheng gritted his teeth and said, "Three hundred thousand taels is the limit, but you can put some additional conditions."

Ryoma Sakamoto pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay."

He took out a map of Vietnam and said: "Here is the Red River Delta, and here is the Mekong River Delta. We want to set up companies in these two places for economic development, and your country cannot interfere.

You can rest assured that we are only engaged in resource development and economic construction and will not interfere with your administration. "

Chen Jiancheng nodded and said: "Then we make a three-part agreement that the water in the well will not interfere with the water in the river. In this case, we can accept this additional condition."

Sakamoto Ryoma continued: "The Haiphong Port will reduce our tariffs to [-]% for twenty years."

Chen Jiancheng hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, then let's sign a covenant."

Sakamoto Ryoma immediately wrote a covenant with Chen Jiancheng, and then the covenant was sent to the Vietnamese capital and Nagasaki respectively, and was sealed by Nguyen Phuc Si and Yagyu.

However, time is running out now. After receiving the first batch of gold, coal and iron, Sakamoto Ryoma immediately led the fleet southward and at the same time contacted the secret police in the south to obtain intelligence.

In the past few days, the French fleet returned to Da Nang and launched an attack on Da Nang. The New Vietnamese Army had no artillery support and quickly lost Da Nang.

After learning the news, Nguyen Chi Fang gave up the siege of Saigon and could only retreat, and the troops from Da Nang also came to join him.

After Sakamoto Ryoma learned the news, he did not go directly to Da Nang because the intelligence mentioned that the French fleet was missing a battleship, two cruisers, and several small boats.

He concluded that the French fleet's attack on Manila was not going well, as some warships were damaged, and the governor of Nanqi called for urgent help, so the fleet had no choice but to divide its forces.

"Hahaha, what a great opportunity to take advantage of his illness and kill him!"

Sakamoto Ryoma immediately ordered: "We will follow the route from Vietnam to Manila, search for the lagging warships of the French fleet nearby, and capture this part first!"

The Japanese fleet spread its wings like an eagle overlooking the scenery, looking for traces of the French squadron on the waterway.

The squadron led by Muller did not yet know that the danger was coming. He was still on his battleship, listening to reports from his men.

The power room was damaged, and a steam engine was affected by the explosion and malfunctioned, and had to be replaced before it could be used again.

Engineers had previously been looking for broken parts of the steam engine, and now they were removing damaged parts of the steam engine.

"It will take at most one day for our battleship to regain speed."

Mueller's mood did not improve after hearing the news. He was already depressed, and he was still worried about the battleship being damaged.

The officer saw what was on Mueller's mind and only reported what happened in the power room. He did not say anything else.

Mueller looked dull and asked in a deep voice: "Where are the others?"

The officer only felt a pressure coming on him. He stopped breathing and said: "The penetrating damage to the deck cannot be repaired for the time being. In addition, the flooded cabin has been rescued and is being drained. The damaged cannon has been discarded, and the damaged main gun cannot be used. It can only be repaired by returning to port.”

"A great shame!"

Mueller stood up angrily and shouted.

"This is my shame, damn Japanese monkeys, I will tear them apart!"

The officer immediately lowered his head and said: "General, the Japanese only have one battleship. Their strength is not as good as our Far East Fleet. This time they shamelessly attacked Spain. When we solve the problem in Vietnam, we will give Japan another one." lesson."

Muller sat back in his seat, nodded and said: "France can lose many times, but Japan can only lose once. I will definitely take revenge for this."

Just as the officer was about to retreat, the first mate hurried over and pushed open the hatch.

"General, the Japanese fleet has been discovered!"

"What?" After hearing this, Mueller stood up in surprise and looked at the first mate.

The first mate said hurriedly: "We are at most five nautical miles away from our army and will meet us soon!"

Muller hurriedly led a few people to the deck. The sentry immediately pointed to the northeast and said: "General, look at the black smoke!"

Muller picked up his telescope and looked over. On the horizon, plumes of smoke seemed to rush out from the ground, breaking through the horizon. The black Y smoke obscured his sight.

He stared into the distance until the Japanese Fuso appeared in his sight. His heart skipped a few beats and seemed to have stopped.

At this moment, he felt like falling into an ice cave, feeling that failure was right in front of him.

The first mate on the side asked: "General, what should I do?"

Mueller is a little bitter. What else can he do now? The battleship was still under repair, and its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, making it impossible to escape.

But as the captain, Muller did not give up directly. He said in a solemn tone: "Everyone, it will take some time for our battleship to return to its previous speed. There is no chance to retreat. We can only fight to the death with the enemy.

Remember, we are the glorious French Navy. These Japanese monkeys can only sneak attacks. Let us face the enemy head-on and let them know what a real navy is! "

On the deck, the panicked soldiers seemed to have found the backbone. They immediately started moving, carrying ammunition, organizing cannons, and preparing to fight the enemy.

The remaining battleships were also prepared to meet the enemy together with Muller's ironclad battleships.

On the Fuso, Ryoma Sakamoto was very excited. After searching for a long time, they finally found this squadron. The strength of the French Far East Fleet was far superior to theirs. If they could eliminate this squadron this time, their chances of winning would be much greater. A few percent.

The officer on the side reported: "Sir Sakamoto, according to the sentry's inspection, the French armored battleship is very slow, only about eight or nine knots."

"Okay, I guessed correctly."

Ryoma Sakamoto shouted excitedly.

"The French army's attack on Manila was frustrated. Anzhai and the others did a good job. According to the Prime Minister's plan, as long as this round of counterattack is blocked, the Philippine Islands will be ours!"

When the other officers heard this, their faces turned red with excitement and they couldn't help shouting.

In their hearts, the status of Yagyu Nobita has been elevated to that of the emperor, and the prime minister who has no plans left behind is their god.

Even though Ryoma Sakamoto was a pacifist at home, he also supported Hiyan Yagyu in terms of overseas expansion.

He looked around at the crowd excitedly and said: "Everyone, we must devote all our energy to fight this battle successfully, and we must not let the Prime Minister's plan go wrong!
  Although the number of enemy battleships is small and the armored battleships cannot exert their full combat effectiveness, we cannot underestimate it. We must go all out to win decisively! "

"Fuso, step away!"

"Ouch!"

"Come on!"

The officers on deck roared.

Then the soldiers responded, excitedly carrying ammunition and adjusting the artillery, as if they were on fire.

"Whoa!"

The accelerating Fuso broke through the waves, white waves slapped on the hull, making a sound, and then retreated into the sea, and then new waves appeared, making a faint rumbling sound.

On the sea, not only the Fuso was riding the wind and waves, but the two cruisers Shikamaru and Carolini were slightly behind by one hull, escorting several hundred meters on both sides of the Fuso.

In addition, two destroyers, the Keio and the Koshi, followed, and other steam warships of about a thousand tons followed the charge.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer, and the Japanese fleet tried to seize the T, but the French fleet commander General Muller was a veteran with rich combat experience, and he saw the Japanese intention immediately.

He immediately commanded: "The Japanese army wants to seize the attack position. These monkeys have just evolved and their experience is too immature. Boys, show us our technology and let them know that civilization is in the hands of France!"

As the distance between the two sides gradually approached, the French fleet began to turn. Once the turn was completed, the two sides became a parallel line.

After Sakamoto Ryoma saw it, he couldn't help but admired: "As expected of France, they have too much combat experience and control the timing very well. Unfortunately, times have changed!"

"Aim at the enemy's armored battleship and fire!"

Muller did not expect that the Japanese battleship had entered the era of big gun ships. The Fuso's cannon was longer and larger in caliber than the French battleship's cannon. It used maroon gunpowder, which was twelve times more powerful than black gunpowder.

This means that the attack range of the Fuso is far beyond that of the French battleships!

The gunner had already sighted the sailing French battleship and shouted: "Ready!"

The gunner roared: "Fire!"

"boom!"

The forward main gun roared and opened fire.

In just a few seconds, a water column of more than [-] meters high arose from the sea near the French battleship two nautical miles away.

The first mate turned around and cursed: "You idiot, aim harder!"

"Yes, sir!"

The gunner directly pushed the gunner away and shouted: "Hurry up and load!"

The shells of the main gun are very heavy and cannot be loaded manually, so a loading machine was installed. Even so, it takes more than a minute to load a shell.

"The loading is complete!"

The gunner immediately aimed at the turning French ironclad.

On the French battleship, Muller saw the scene just now. He was surprised by the range and accuracy of the Japanese artillery. He found that he had thought wrong, but at this moment he could no longer retreat!
  "Quick, speed up!"

Muller hurriedly gave the order, he was going to rush forward and fight with the bayonet!

"boom!"

Muller heard the sound of the cannon and looked back to the north. A shell flew in and directly hit the hull of the battleship.

"boom!"

Dazzling fire burst out directly, and a strong wind swept across the deck, and Muller was also blown to the ground.

"Weng buzzing..."

Muller lay on the deck, looking ahead with some confusion. There was already a mess in the middle, open flames and black smoke occupied his sight, and the screams of soldiers gradually came to his ears.

Several officers stepped forward to help Mueller and said, "General, go quickly!"

(End of this chapter)