Chapter 464: The Emperor's Personal Expedition (Third update, please subscribe)
While Togo Heihachiro and others were being taught on the train the arduous history of "Nanhua's pioneering work from scratch", the two ironclad ships of the Second Fleet in Linhai had already been ordered to set off - their destination was Haizhou.
“What is our goal?”
As the car drove towards the factory, Zhu Xianhai said in an extremely calm tone.
"It's to let them know that if the negotiations in Haizhou fail, they should go to Dagukou to negotiate!"
Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianhai was not angry at all. The arrest of nearly 100 Nanhua businessmen including Liu Kunpeng was not good news, as they had been responsible for recruiting immigrants.
The Qing Dynasty’s behavior was definitely not that simple.
I had always thought that Zhu Xianhai's policy towards the Qing Dynasty was to make a fortune quietly, and while doing business with them, he would also do business with the Kingdom of Heaven. However, he would try to avoid official contact in order to ensure immigration.
"Your Majesty, this will inevitably lead to a conflict between us and the Qing Dynasty. Will this affect the next round of immigration?"
Compared to other things, immigration is the most important. Even Sun Hu, the Chief of the General Staff, is well aware of the importance of immigration.
"There will be a conflict, but..."
With his brows furrowed, Zhu Xianhai sneered.
"If we don't teach them a lesson, they will lock up our people today and ban immigration to our side tomorrow. If we want to fight them, we have to beat them hard! They have been beaten a few times and know that foreigners are not easy to mess with. We have to let them know that we are not easy to mess with!"
Despite his sneer, Zhu Xianhai didn't mind what the Marines did when they landed in Dagu. He knew the temper of the Qing Dynasty very well.
The treaty is clear!
As long as they were beaten, they would sign the treaty quickly. This time they sent the warships over for the purpose of negotiation.
But Zhu Xianhai was curious about who had the guts to arrest the people of Nanhua. Even if they were once Qing people, so what? Now they were still... well, foreigners, too. Chinese people who returned from overseas.
"You will suffer the consequences if you do evil. The Kingdom of Heaven has always wanted to buy our warships. If we sell them, we can also sell them our obsolete weapons. France also wants to buy them. We can't be partial to the Kingdom of Heaven..."
Zhu Xianhai couldn't stand the feeling of being looked down upon. Now even our Great Nanhua had tried to interfere in European affairs, but the "Qing Tartars" actually dared to arrest our people. How could Zhu Xianhai not be annoyed?
On the way to the shooting range, just as Zhu Xianhai was indignantly talking about how to deal with the Qing Dynasty and make them pay for their actions, a very strange thought suddenly popped up in his mind - in future history books, would Nanhua also become a great power?
Well, in essence, South China is different from other powers. Even if South China's army arrives there, it cannot be equated with an invasion. After all, South China is also China...
Thinking of this, Zhu Xianhai felt relieved. When he arrived at the shooting range, they had already made preparations. Two mortars were placed in a row, and several soldiers stood beside them.
"They are Type 64 and Type 65 mortars."
These two mortars have always been Nanhua's trump cards. The former even changed the course of the Civil War - the famous 4-inch mortar once brought a nearly devastating blow to the Union Army during the Civil War.
It was after the Civil War that armies of various countries began to introduce them. However, they all used monkey iron - heavy wrought iron barrels, wooden tubes or fire disc time fuses, and the range was only about 1,500 meters. This is also the reason why mortars have not been fully popularized, as they have a short range. But they have largely replaced the old mortars.
"Yes, Your Majesty. This time we improved the artillery shells. After switching to smokeless propellant, the maximum range of the Type 64 and Type 65 increased by 50%, exceeding 4.5 kilometers. Smokeless propellant, even now it seems like a miracle!"
Miracle!
This miracle was created by Zhu Xianhai. Under his suggestion, Nanhua tried to use celluloid, that is, camphorated cellulose nitrate, to make smokeless propellant. The result of the experiment was very successful. After many experiments and adjustments to the formula, the arsenal began to use the new propellant, first applied it to rifle bullets, and then began to apply it to other weapons. The changes that smokeless propellant brought to weapon performance were subversive, and the performance of many weapons was greatly improved as a result.
"The Prussian Krupp cannon has a range of only 3.5 kilometers. Since the outbreak of the war, they have suppressed the French artillery. We can suppress them with our mortars."
Sun Hu said with a smile.
"Of course, the most important thing is to practice new tactics. In the past few months, we have been summarizing the battle with the Afghan army, but that battle was fought too quickly, and the tactics we trained before were not used at all. This time, we can have a good training in France."
Nodding, Zhu Xianhai said.
"In this battle, fighting is secondary, training is primary. Our goal is not to win this battle for the French, but to demonstrate our strength in Europe, to be able to jump onto the world stage and participate in the world game. If we only focus on South America..."
After thinking about it, Zhu Xianhai said.
“We won’t be able to play in the world game for at least the next 20 years.”
A typical example is the United States. In the 1890s, their economic strength surpassed that of Britain, Germany and other countries, becoming the world's number one, but what about their international influence?
Almost...no!
Even if they defeated Spain in 1898, so what? They were just a small, weak European country, not a great power at all.
"In that case, Your Majesty, there is absolutely no need to go to France in person."
Once again, Sun Hu persuaded.
"After all, now that Nanhua has just been settled, your Majesty is needed in all aspects."
In fact, from the very beginning, when Zhu Xianhai made the decision to personally lead the expeditionary force to France, he was opposed by many people. After all, in the Chinese tradition, there have never been many good results when the emperor led the army in person. Not to mention China, even if it was the French emperor who took the third place, if the airship troops had not arrived in a hurry, the emperor would probably have become a prisoner now.
As the ruler of a country, how can one easily take risks? Throughout history, those emperors who took risks with their own bodies never had good results!
As subjects, they certainly had to do their best to dissuade the emperor.
Facing the dissuasion of his ministers, Zhu Xianhai shook his head and said.
"Going to Europe... I have my own ideas. After all, there are always things that need to be done!"
(End of this chapter)
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