Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

Inside Voltaire Shipyard, everyone who was preparing to return had gathered, King Yi and Fang Guan continued to stay in Europe, while Xiang Ying and more than 50 other students continued to take on the task of accompanying Kevin in escorting the Zhiyuan Warship back home.

On the deck, King Yi was reading a secret message from the Ryukyu. Fifty foreign students, who had undergone military training, stood together like a squadron of tofu.

"Send the Prime Minister's order to appoint the commanders of all levels of the homecoming fleet …" Zhiyuan Warship Captain Xiang Ying! "Come out!"

With a "pa" sound, the military boot hit the deck. Xiang Ying, who had changed into a military uniform, was so excited that tears started to well up in his eyes.

A year in Europe was really three years for these students. Everyone slept for two or three hours a day, and their meals were always sandwiches with two slices of bread and sausages.

The first batch of European students were all carefully chosen by Xiao Letian to be geniuses, it would not be exaggerated to say that they had never forgotten anything.

The language and writing barriers had already been solved in the Ryukyu. Furthermore, the basic education of the universities in the Ryukyu was very well-prepared.

Even if there were some obstacles, so what? Diligence could always make up for the gap.

Countless days and nights, studying without sleep, other Prussian students experimenting while they went for walks, played football, and drank at bars.

When the others had fallen into a deep slumber, they were studying hard in the library. If the foundation hadn't provided them with sufficient living expenses to keep up with the flow of nutrition, they would have already exhausted a large group of people.

The King Yi patted on Xiang Ying's shoulder, "Remember, this is only a temporary appointment. After you finish your mission, come back and learn from me! "Don't embarrass your uncle, go …"

Pah! With a military salute, Xiang Ying returned to the group.

"Kevin... The Prime Minister recognizes you as Zhiyuan Warship's vice Captain and is in charge of all the technical work! "

"Thank you, Prime Minister. I will not fail my mission!"

"Jin Sanshun... "I'll make you the Head of Internal Affairs. When you return, you can take away 300 thousand silver coins as your expenses along the way!"

"Lin Zhen... We acknowledge you as the Zhiyuan Warship Chief Gunner, responsible for all weapon's firepower output! "

"Cai Bixia is the communication leader …"

"Yan Xing is the chief engineer …"

"Liu Anchen, Qiu Wei, Jiang Yuheng, Sun Chujian … Take orders from the supply ship Captain s and listen to the orders of the Zhiyuan Warship. Even if you have to lose your lives, you have to protect our Iron-armored Ship and come back to our country … "

One after another, students from abroad came out to accept their fate. From this moment on, the command system of the Zhiyuan Warship began to work. Following which, the military officers started to roll call the names according to the register. Prince Karl had transferred 300 veterans from the Prussian navy, which was composed of the sailors from the Zhiyuan Warship.

Karl had told these veterans that this mission would preserve their ranks and treatment in Prussia. Furthermore, the Prime Minister Xiao of the Ryukyu had promised to give everyone three times the reward for this mission.

It was not just for money, Prince Karl had clearly said that Prussia still owed Xiao Letian a favour, that the Chinese would bleed during the Poo War period, that it was not Prussian's style to repay favors, that was why the three hundred veterans were so attentive to this mission, that they would not defy it, and would not do anything against it.

The five scissor boat s were now anchored on the Baltic Sea. Not only were they filled with the best quality anthracite, they were also equipped with a complete set of precise processing equipment.

According to the agreement, Xiao Letian had to provide the research and construction funds, but in the end, not only did he have to give the Ryukyu a set of Iron-armored Ship, he also had to give it a set of production equipment.

What Xiao Letian could purchase from the Ryukyu, as well as equipment with low technical content could be bought with blueprints, but for some of the finer lathe, boring machine, planer, drilling machine and other industrial machines that were prohibited from being sold in Europe, he would have to secretly load them up and transport them.

Everything was extremely confidential. Forget about this ship, if the English and French knew that Prussia dared to sell their core precision equipment to the Chinese, they would definitely go to the ocean to block it, like a madman.

The dry dock was in full swing, the King Yi among the Prussian sailors actually saw Si Diwen, Dan Nier and Grant's figures.

"Si Diwen, Dan Nier, Grant? Why are you guys here too? " The King Yi roared.

With a "pa" sound, the three of them wanted the King Yi to salute them before smiling and saying, "We just arrived from the Ruhr and brought the best quality anthracite to this place with our soldiers … "We didn't expect to see such a familiar figure of a Chinese here, so we took the initiative to ask the prince to join us on this mission …"

"The Prince has approved our application... We can go to Asia and see the old class monitor! "

At this time, Xiang Ying, who was far away, shouted at the three of them, "Si Diwen, come and sign for it... Did you check the 600 armor piercing bullets? Dan Nier... "Come here and count the number of gunpowder packets!"

"And you, Grant... Take the list and check the number of torpedoes, right? We don't have time to waste... "

"Yes!" Captain... " The three of them smiled at King Yi before they turned around and ran back to work.

"The heavens and the earth have the same strength! To be able to cooperate with Prussia to this extent, it was impossible to do so only with money and relationships. If one wasn't familiar with Prussian national strategy, it would be impossible for them to come up with such a perfect plan … Brother Xiao, how exactly did your brain develop? "

In fact, it was not only King Yi who was sighing, even Prince Karl and Prime Minister Bismarck were shocked. In a secret branch of the Voltaire Shipyard in the south of Shiqin, the Prince and Prime Minister were currently inspecting the battleship that looked exactly like the Zhiyuan Warship.

This was specially approved by Bismark, who changed her mind after the Zhiyuan Warship had completed 60% of the task. Therefore, this 2300 model battleship was not completely completed yet, but the structure was already completed.

"There's no way to refuse! I know that Xiao Letian is desperately stealing our European technology, I know even more that he is borrowing the power of Prussia to develop himself, but I can't refuse! "

Karl, who was standing beside Bismark and thinking deeply, also let out a long sigh, "That's right! It's already hard for us to reject him for our love, and even more importantly, he actually took the initiative to attack us with every step! "

"Any decision that Xiao Letian makes seems to be on purpose to coordinate with our great strategy of Prussia's rise. We have dealt with the Austria and brought his troops to participate in the war, and now that we are provoking a conflict over the succession of the Spanish throne, rather than saying that we are escorting the Zhiyuan Warship back to Asia, we actually know very well that this was originally our strategy!"

"I can't refuse. This method of adapting to your big strategy and then being nailed down is really too brilliant!"

Prince Karl and Prime Minister Bismark's relationship had been restored pretty well in the past two years. The two of them could now discuss the big strategy in depth.

"What are you going to do about Spain?" Karl asked respectfully.

Bismark laughed, "Napoleon is an extremely irritable person and easily took an inch after. What I want to do is to enrage him, and then retreat … When that time comes, this person who doesn't know whether to advance or retreat will definitely chase relentlessly. My ambush circle will be set up for him! "