Chapter 373: A Show of Power to the French (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
The Navy was able to afford the tuition not because it was rich, but because of... well, friendly sponsorship from Argentina.
The donation was not much, just over 20 million silver pesos, but it was also real money contributed sincerely by the Argentines.
When the two of them met for the first time that day, the reason why Li Xuelin was so happy was because of this huge sum of money.
Although the huge sum of money is still at the bottom of the river, the navy divers have already started the salvage work. In just two days, they have salvaged several million silver pesos.
Those silver pesos in the boxes are all pure silver! Besides, there are also a lot of gold coins! Soon, the money will be deposited in the South China Bank, and 40% of it will go into the special account for naval construction.
This money was used to build the navy and expand its maritime armaments. The wealthy navy not only had money to build warships, but also had money to pay tuition.
Thank you Argentina!
Without Argentina, there would be no future for the South China Navy.
However, the South China Navy had no chance to say thank you. After all, Argentina no longer existed as a country.
Argentina may have perished, but its aftermath has not disappeared. As South China's most important ally in this war, the French Empire performed extremely well. They not only invented a statement at the first time, saying, "South China's attack on Argentina was not an invasion, but a civilized people's inability to sit idly by in the face of barbaric behavior. What did the Argentines do? They massacred surrendered soldiers, raped women, and killed children. Anyone with a conscience would not tolerate these atrocities... South China's expedition was in the name of justice and in the name of God!"
It doesn’t matter whether the people of Nanhua believe in God or not. What matters is that a big country like France stands on Nanhua’s side so directly, which is of great benefit to Nanhua with no harm at all.
Especially after the fall of the Argentine capital, France was the first to express its support for any adjustment plan made by South China on the territory of Buenos Aires Province. In other words, France supported South China's occupation of Argentina. In the official context of France, Argentina has disappeared, leaving only provinces, waiting for South China to occupy and annex, nothing more.
For all this, the UK unexpectedly remained semi-silent. They just routinely answered the reporter's questions - we call for peace! We call on all parties to exercise restraint. Argentina's existence as a country has its historical reasons... In the end, it can be summed up in one sentence - Argentina has been abandoned by the UK.
Why do the imperialist powers unexpectedly maintain such unity? To put it bluntly, they each have their own intentions.
"The French Army and Navy delegation arrived in Nanhua!"
At the end of 1869, the French Navy's ironclad ship "Joan of Arc" sailed into South China Harbor. Although her arrival was not to support South China, South China's press still publicized the news of their arrival as soon as possible.
The reason why they made such a big fuss and wanted to tell the whole world was, on the one hand, to tell other countries that France stood on the side of South China, and on the other hand, to tell the relevant countries that the French were coming.
Why did the French come here?
Those who understand will understand!
They came here to ask for compensation! France had been supporting Nanhua during the war and came here to ask for compensation.
On that day, as the military band played, the visiting group consisting of more than a dozen army and navy officers felt an unprecedented shock the moment they set foot on Nanhua.
In front of a long carriage without horses, Major Wang Yunxin, a naval officer who just graduated from the French Naval Academy last year, made an inviting gesture towards the open door.
"Commanders, please get in the car!"
"What is this...car?"
Major Courbet of the Navy looked at the green car in surprise.
"Major Courbet, mind your manners!"
The visiting group leader, General Michel, who was a cavalryman, scolded from the sidelines,
"Yes, sir, I was just curious."
Major Courbet's answer made Michel nod slightly. This time the army and navy delegation came to South China under the leadership of the army. As for the navy, in his opinion, it was just an accompanying group.
Faced with the strength of the army, Major Courbet had no choice but to compromise. He was just a small major, but even so, he was already the highest-ranking naval officer in the visiting group.
But he will definitely become a general one day. In another world, his other name is familiar to the Chinese people - Courbet. Well, he is the commander of the French Far East Navy who annihilated the Nanyang Navy in the Battle of Mawei and later died in Taiwan.
Courbet was now just a major, and he and a few of his colleagues stood out among a group of army officers wearing red trousers.
General Michel said curiously, stroking his mustache and looking at this strange-looking horseless carriage.
"Major, what kind of car is this?"
"General, this is a car! Please get in!"
Major Wang Yunxin's tone sounded a little proud. This bus was converted from a Jiefang truck. There were only two in the whole of Nanhua. In fact, there were only eleven of them in the world, all manufactured by Nanyuan Locomotive Company.
This bus, which was modified from the chassis of a Jiefang A-type truck, has five rows of seats and can accommodate 15 passengers. The tour group has a total of 14 members, plus he, the accompanying translator and guide, a total of 15 people.
In fact, this bus was designed and modified under the instruction of Zhu Xianhai, mainly to increase the diversity of car types.
There is nothing new about converting trucks into cars. In another world, for decades, all cars and buses in China were of only one model - the old Jiefang truck.
The reason why we are using this unique bus in the world to welcome this group of French people.
Zhu Xianhai had his own considerations. To put it bluntly, he just wanted to leave a very deep impression on the French. In fact, to put it bluntly, the so-called impression was just a show of power.
A warning to make the French realize how backward they are!
These French people came to South China. Although they wanted to buy airships from South China, they were just like all Europeans, with the arrogance and pride that were unique to Europeans of that era.
Why are they so proud? It is simply because they think they are a civilized country. They have just completed the industrial revolution and rely on their strong national strength to always look down on other countries.
Now, what Nanhua needs is to eradicate this mentality from the root.
What kind of car is it?
In their curiosity, everyone forgot how narrow the carriage was. After they entered the carriage one by one, the French people sitting in the seats all looked at the carriage curiously. The carriage was very simple, and even the seats were simply made of leather pressed on an iron pipe seat frame.
The seats were hard and not comfortable to sit in. There was even an unexplainable odor in the car, and the machine-like roar in the car was even louder.
In terms of riding environment, it is certainly not as good as a horse-drawn carriage, let alone a high-end carriage.
"What's that smell? It's worse than horse stink..."
General Michel couldn't help but grumble in his heart. He even felt that he was being neglected by Nanhua.
Just when he was feeling unhappy, the driver asked.
"Sir, are we ready to go?"
"Let's go!"
As soon as Wang Yunxin finished speaking, the driver stepped on the clutch, shifted into first gear, and the car drove away!
"Where's the horse? There's no horse!"
General Michel immediately opened his eyes wide, stood up abruptly and looked towards the front of the car. Through the window, he could clearly see that there was indeed no horse in front of the car.
"Yes, is it a steam engine?"
Major Kubel stood up, as did the others.
"Of course not, I didn't see any chimney!"
There is no chimney, no boiler, no scorching heat waves. Without these, there is no steam engine. But if there is no steam engine, how does this car move?
How does it move?
From generals to majors, the elites of the French Empire were stunned. They looked at the moving scene outside the car windows in confusion.
Their expressions were full of doubts, and they all looked around to try to find the steam engine because they heard the roar of the machine.
This must be some kind of robot car!
Both the army officers and the naval officers were French elites who had received higher education. They naturally knew very well that this car must be driven by some kind of machine, but what kind of machine would it be?
As the driver shifted into second gear and started accelerating, the French guys who were originally looking for the machine curiously turned their eyes to the outside of the car.
After leaving the port, the car sped away in the midday sun, passing through the shadows of trees and fields, and the still sky quickly retreated.
How does this car move?
They didn't know the answer, but they were surprised that the car was going so fast.
"It doesn't look any slower than a train!"
"It seems to be faster than the train. We just got on the train not long ago. In such a short time, the train can't reach the current speed!"
Looking at the astonished expressions of those French people, Wang Yunxin felt extremely proud. When he was in France, he had witnessed the arrogance of the French more than once, but what about now?
There was no trace of arrogance on their faces. All they had left was a look of astonishment and doubt. Now they were all stunned by this car that they had never seen or heard of before.
"Major, Major, what drives this car?"
Faced with these French questions, Wang Yunxin did not give an answer immediately. Out of curiosity, he decided to let them remain curious first.
Otherwise, how can it be considered a show of force?
(End of this chapter)
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