Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 112

On the contrary, Ito Hirobumi, who has always been known for his steady governance, proposed a mutiny plan in North Korea, but it failed to succeed despite the rapid response of the Qing Dynasty.But in front of Britain and France, it showed its strength and determination to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

He also clearly knows that the support of Britain and France is not completely unconditional.Even now, Britain and France do not believe that they have the strength to defeat the Qing Dynasty. In their view, the awakened Qing Dynasty is the lion in Napoleon's mouth, just like the polar bear to the north.What Britain and France hoped more was to form a confrontation with Russia and the Qing Dynasty in East Asia, so that they would not have the energy to expand in Central Asia and Southeast Asia, rather than a real battle with Russia and the Qing Dynasty.

But Da must defeat the Qing Dynasty in the war to get North Korea, where there is land, grain, coal and iron ore needed by the empire, and only by defeating the Qing Dynasty can it gain the respect of Britain and France, and thus get more assistance from them.

The sea water of the Indian Ocean is blue in color, and the sky is blue, compared to the color of the sea water.Even more pure.A fleet painted black was moving on the sea, and the core of this fleet was the ironclad ship "Zhenyuan" flying the flag of the five-clawed golden dragon.The five-clawed golden dragon symbolizes the identity of the emperor.

Behind the "Zhenyuan" is his sister ship "Dingyuan" of the same type. The members of the fleet also include the two heavy armored cruisers "Chengfeng" and "Breaking the Waves". They are distributed on both sides of the "Dingyuan" ship side by side.Compared with the four major ironclad ships Ding, Zhen, Ji, and Wei, the main force of the Beiyang Navy, these two warships are faster.These four warships were drawn from the Beiyang Fleet for this trip to Europe.The other ships sailed to Burma after protecting Fanghuai through the Strait of Malacca, and then turned back to their respective military ports.After all, ocean voyages are costly, and China does not have colonial supply points along the way. The larger the fleet, the greater the burden of logistical supplies.Now the domestic financial difficulties.Use sparingly if you can.It is also a long distance to sail from the eastern coast to Myanmar, passing through the South China Sea with complicated sea conditions in the middle.Malacca, where the British are heavily guarded, and the Bay of Bengal, where hurricanes form for a long time, are enough exercise for the young navy in the North and South Oceans.

However, ocean voyages are rare after all, and it is still a chance to visit foreign countries with the emperor. This kind of high-spirited opportunity has caused the various ship management teams of the Beiyang Fleet to fight each other. As the saying goes, whoever is elected In fact, it doesn't mean that he is superior among the crowd. If he can still leave a good impression on the emperor, he will not be promoted smoothly in the future.Therefore, in order to compete for the number of visits, the Nanyang Fleet held a simulated military confrontation at sea. Although the Nanyang Fleet captured two [-]-ton ironclad ships from the United Kingdom, due to unfamiliar performance and incomprehensible cooperation, they finally entered the "Nanyang Fleet" Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves were defeated by the two fast cruisers.So the four warships that visited Germany with Guan Xuqing this time are all from the Beiyang Fleet.They are "Zhenyuan" commanded by Deng Shichang, "Zhenyuan" commanded by Lin Tai, "Chengfeng" commanded by Lin Fan, and "Break the Waves" commanded by Xu Shoushan. , everyone has nothing to say.

After leaving the capital for more than half an hour, Guan Xuqing's fleet finally bypassed the Strait of Malacca and arrived in Myanmar.At this time, the Zongli Yamen finally announced through the "Daqing Daily" that Guan Xuqing had left Beijing to take a southern tour by boat, and claimed that after Guan Xuqing toured the provinces, he would go to Germany for a state visit at the invitation of Emperor Wilhelm II of the German Empire.

His first stop will be Wilhelmshaven, Germany, where he will visit the German North Sea Fleet and the Wilhelmshaven Naval Shipyard in Germany, discuss the cooperation between the Chinese and German navies, and meet and condolence army officers studying in Germany there.On the second stop, he will come to Berlin, the capital of Germany, to meet Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prime Minister Bismarck.The meeting will discuss the issue of cooperation between the two countries in the Pacific region and the issue of handling friendly and cooperative relations among Germany, Russia, and China.They also exchanged views and reached a consensus on what attitude should be adopted to deal with the relations among the three world powers.After the state visit to Germany, the economic delegation composed of representatives from Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, Zhejiang merchants, Guangdong merchants, and Lake merchants continued the talks on Sino-German economic cooperation under the leadership of Li Zhen, Minister of the Household Department. The outside is nothing more than some matters of absorbing German capital and carrying out domestic construction.After Guan Xuqing visited the Vulcan Shipyard where "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" were built, he will set off from there and return to Beijing.

When people from all walks of life in the mainland got the news, they collectively lost their voices, as if they were stunned by the emperor's visit, which had never happened since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors.When they thought about it, the emperor should sit in the Forbidden City and correct the memorials in a peaceful and stable manner.The reception of officials, big and small, is about "planning strategies and decisively winning thousands of miles away." Such things like going to other countries to take risks in person should be done by subordinate officials.For this reason, some people think of the story that King Ping of Chu was detained as a texture.Some rotten Confucians among the people read the newspaper, and all shook their heads and sighed: "It's an insult to the state!" In their opinion, since ancient times, only the kings of small countries went to other countries to pay tribute and seek asylum. Guan Xuqing's move really disgraced the Qing Dynasty. .but.

After nearly ten years of civilized education and the Qing Daily’s endless introductions to the world’s customs and customs, the domestic atmosphere has become more open, and new things have emerged around, such as trains, ships, telegraphs, electric lights, etc. have been popularized among the people. Many people know that the Qing Dynasty is facing "great changes unseen in a thousand years", and its ability to accept new affairs is much stronger.After the surprise, the country was full of excitement.From the extreme arrogance before the two Opium Wars to the extreme inferiority after the two Opium Wars.The people of the Qing Dynasty experienced a process of psychological changes with great gaps.The Sino-British and Sino-French wars made the domestic people regain their confidence a little bit.But many people are still afraid of foreign powers.Today, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty has actually been invited by the German emperor.This undoubtedly means that the emperor of Germany regards our emperor of the Qing Dynasty as equal to them, especially since Germany is still the leading power in Europe, and has defeated the invincible French successively.How can such news not cheer up the domestic people, as if invited by Germany, the Qing Dynasty is a world-class power.

As for the comments in foreign newspapers, including small countries like the Netherlands and Portugal, although they tried to use the most polite tone.But the contempt for China behind it.It is believed that this is the young emperor of the ancient empire in the Far East who wanted to participate in the international power struggle.Many newspapers in Britain and France even predicted early: "The young Chinese emperor will return empty-handed, because this is not the Far East under his rule, it has its own rules, and no European will listen to him."

But the Germans don't think so. Britain deployed the "George V" and "Hood" in the Pacific Squadron, when these new battleships appeared majestically on the Pacific Ocean.brent.Haixim found that none of his warships could overwhelm them!The Saxony-class ironclad ships that once made the Germans proud were now useless waste and cumbersome in the fleet composed of former dreadnought battleships.The first batch of dreadnoughts designed by Germany have just been pushed onto the berth, and it will take at least two years to complete them.During this time, Brent.Haysim worried that even the fleet would be capable of destroying his seemingly powerful expeditionary fleet.Once the British blocked Malacca or the coast of the Gulf of Siam, it was unlikely that the expeditionary fleet would continue to deliver supplies to the tens of thousands of German expeditionary forces in Thailand.

Fortunately, there is China as an ally in Asia. This traditional power is struggling to rise.They even beat the French and British armies!They can give strong support to the expeditionary force. Brent wrote to his "influential" friends in China: "Thank God! When the expeditionary force was in the most difficult time, the Emperor of China finally agreed to His Majesty's invitation. We We should show our utmost sincerity to welcome the visit of this Oriental. Even if we do not look down on them in our hearts, we must let them know that we value them and that the relationship between the two parties is friendly and reliable. I heard that they want to Join our alliance with Austria, Italy, I don't understand why we don't agree to them immediately, it is better to convince them to send troops to Thailand to help us. My fleet has only two Saxons, while the Chinese have four Saxons and also have Two more powerful armored cruisers.

And their army is more trustworthy than their navy. I have visited their ordinary camps stationed in Myanmar. Their combat effectiveness is not inferior to our B-type infantry division. The equipment and firepower are very complete. It is said that they are also proficient in jungle warfare. .You must know that our heroic soldiers are now stuck in the muddy pit of the tropical rainforest, fighting against mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, and the high temperature and high humidity environment every day, and they must always guard against the cold guns of the Thais coming out of nowhere. There are soldiers bleeding to death and the Thais seem to disappear in the jungle, giving us little to gain. We need help from the Chinese, not just food, medicine and coal, I believe only these Chinese with the same yellow skin and black eyes To catch the Siamese in the jungle. If not, I am pessimistic about the outcome of this war. Although the expeditionary force is a giant, it cannot withstand constant bloodshed. We must either persuade the Chinese to join this war, or give We have two Brandenburg-class ships and two full-equipped and fully-supplied A-type field divisions, or send more capable people to replace me."

On the "Saxon" sending off Guan Xuqing and the others, white smoke flashed from the muzzle of the [-]-inch secondary main gun, and a salute began to be fired rumblingly.The German sailors of several warships were already standing on the side of the ship, performing neat military salutes, and the officers were all wearing summer military uniforms with golden buckle round collars and black top and white bottom in the Kaiser era.Immediately afterwards, the signal flag was raised on the "Saxon", "Salute to His Majesty the Great Qing Emperor" and "Wish you a smooth future"

When Deng Shichang saw the banner, he could hardly bear the excitement in his heart, and explained loudly to Guan Xuqing, but the representatives of wealthy businessmen behind him and the officials who accompanied Guan Xuqing on the visit couldn't help but blushed. Since the Opium War, when did the Qing Dynasty receive foreigners like this? High standard treatment.

The warship gradually sailed away, and looking back, you can see the land and jungle of Thailand, as well as the dazzling white sandy beach!The waves beat on the beach layer by layer. The more difficulties the Germans encounter here, the stronger the Sino-German relationship will be.In the previous two wars between China, France and Britain, Germany received a large number of orders from the Qing Dynasty, and now it is time for the Qing Dynasty to pluck two hairs from Germany.Germany's tents, medicines, ammunition, dry food, etc. in Thailand were all shipped from Qing Dynasty. If they were shipped from Germany, the freight would be much more expensive than buying directly from Qing Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)