Chapter 149: Fools, Heroes, and Bones
Chapter 149: Fools, Heroes, and Bones
Shao Quanzhong looked at the young officer with interest. "Not bad, not bad. I heard that you always rank second in every exam in school?"
"Yes, Your Excellency."
Ma Han was full of questions. How did he know that?
"Smart man, you are not suitable for America, a country where everyone is straightforward. When you come to the Chinese officialdom, you will meet a lot of people like you. I guarantee that you will have a successful career in the Qing Dynasty."
Ma Han's career was soon on the rise. Shao Quanzhong immediately promoted him to lieutenant colonel and appointed him as the acting captain of the Haichang and the principal of the Zhenjiang Naval Academy, with two salaries and a monthly salary of 600 taels.
After three consecutive promotions, his income increased fifteen times.
This income is not high for a captain, and the captain of a large warship in the United States can also achieve it. However, a lieutenant who has just graduated wants to be the captain of a large warship, and he needs to work for many years in the United States.
Practice has shown that for unfamiliar foreigners, if one wants to quickly gain a moderate degree of loyalty, granting them official positions and spending money is always the most effective means.
Mahan responded with neither humility nor arrogance, but his actions showed that he was very satisfied with the treatment.
The newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Mahan acted quickly and immediately went to Zhenjiang on the USS Mississippi of the U.S. Navy's Far East Squadron.
The Mississippi was a steam-powered frigate with great speed. The next day, when the Haichang was brought back from Zhenjiang, the three-masted sailing ship Chitose Maru, which the Japanese delegation had purchased from the British for 30,000 taels of Japanese silver, was still sailing on the Yangtze River.
The Chitose stayed in Shanghai for another two days, intending to establish a Japanese embassy in Shanghai, but was rejected by Li Hongzhang, the governor of Jiangsu Province, on the grounds that Japan was "not a diplomatic country."
The original plan was to continue the inspection for two more months, but after seeing the prosperity of Taizhou, the delegation members were eager to return home.
They were eager to rise up in arms immediately, return power to the shogunate, start the Meiji Reform under the leadership of Tiannaoheika, learn from the "Taizhou experience", raise funds, introduce advanced technology, carry out industrialization, and "learn from the foreigners in order to defeat them."
Chitose Maru set sail for the east and sailed into the vast ocean.
In the cabin, Japanese reformists began to organize the results of this visit.
Fifty-one Japanese elites who have opened their eyes to the world, have great dreams in their hearts, are full of ambition and excitement for the rise of Japan.
After we return from this inspection, Fuso will step out of the darkness and embrace a bright future.
"Boom! Boom!"
Four warships of unknown nationality with their names concealed surrounded the Chitose Maru.
In this joint Qing-US operation, except for the Haichang, all the warships dispatched by the US Far East Navy Squadron were steam warships.
Including the flagship steam cruiser USS Powhatan and the steam-powered frigates USS Saskatchewan and USS Mississippi.
Under the joint bombardment of four warships, Chitose Maru sank sadly.
Takasugi Shinsaku knelt facing east on the slowly sinking deck and wrote his suicide poem.
"The ancestors created the world two thousand years ago, and billions of souls have become scattered smoke. Fools and heroes share the same bones. The world is really worth three cents."
After writing, he threw the pen and laughed wildly towards the sky, "Even if the devils use their devilish tricks to harm us, they can't stop the rise of Fuso. We still have comrades in the country, led by Kyusaka and Ito-kun, who will inherit our will." After laughing, he looked towards the east and committed seppuku.
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In the sealed box where the logbook was kept, in addition to the logbook, the captain also found the posthumous works of the ship's crew and the final records that were kept before the Chitose Maru sank.
The posthumous works include Takasugi Shinsaku's "Five Records of Travels in Qing", Feng Jie's "Ship Diary" and "Records of Shanghai in Qing Dynasty", Hibino Terukan's "Records of the Deaf" and "Records of Sayings of the Nose", Nafusuke Jiro's "Miscellaneous Notes on Shanghai", Nakura Yohoto's "Records of China" and "Records of Overseas", Matsudaya Banji's "Diary of Crossing the Sea to Tang Dynasty"...
In all his posthumous works, Shao Quanzhong was highly praised for his selfless help to the mission.
The captain's final note was, "Through telescope observation, although all the attacking ships concealed their names, it can be determined that most of the ships were American black ships that had visited Fuso, and American naval officers were seen on the decks of all the warships."
The emergence of the navigation records immediately provided sufficient basis for the "pro-Shao faction". "All the decks of the warships are filled with American military officers." See? "All of them." What else can the Americans say?
The US insists that its records are correct, but no other country believes it. They all think that the materials are too obviously Hollywood-processed and the stories are too bizarre.
Ma Han, who is still alive, is an admiral of the Chinese Federation Navy, president of the Naval Academy, recipient of the first-class Grand Cordon of the Order of the Tiger of Wen, and chairman of the Ma Group controlled by the Wen family. He remained silent on this. Yu Shuai, who is still alive, was disdainful of commenting on this.
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When Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing, he brought back a large number of middle school teachers from the United States, as well as percussion cap manufacturing technicians hired from Joshua Arms Company at high salaries.
They arrived with Yung Wing on the first steam passenger ship from San Francisco to Shanghai, and the Shanghai-San Francisco steam passenger ship route was officially opened.
The Hailing Arsenal immediately began the long-stalled work of replicating artillery shells and bullets. China gained "primer freedom" and a bottleneck in military production was broken.
The curriculum of Hailing Bilingual Middle School has become fuller and more formal, and the teaching level is already directly in line with that of American universities.
As soon as Shao Quanzhong got home... "Report, a call from New York!"
"where?"
The trans-Pacific telegraph cable was officially connected, and Zhang Siwen's telegram was sent directly to Shao's house.
"Brother, after I arrived in the United States, I took a ship to Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and then took another ship to New York. Soon I joined Yang Changjiu's troops. At that time, the Northern Army was besieging Richmond and lost the Battle of Seven Trees. In the battle, the Southern Army used a cannon that could fire 20 rounds per minute, called the Williams Rapid-Fire Cannon, which played a key role.
Yang Changjiu's troops were ordered to guard the rear, and at the cost of more than 200 casualties and more than 400 injuries, they launched an ambush and successfully stopped the pursuit of the Southern Army, and were commended by the command. In this battle, Yang's troops seized a Southern Army rapid-fire cannon, and I have entrusted a freight company to transport it back to China. "
Shao Quanzhong touched the back of his head. What is this? Why haven't I heard of it? Are there rapid-fire cannons now?
After thinking for a while, he said to himself, "I don't know if this thing is useful or not. I'll know after I bring it back and try it out. The other thing should have come out by now."
He turned around and ordered, "Sixth Lady, tell Zhang Siwen to go to Dr. Gatling's arms company and buy fifty Gatling manual machine guns and ship them back. Ask Wen's Bank to transfer the money from Citibank."
"Report! The latest order from the court is to transfer the Huai Army to Shaanxi, under the command of Duolong'a, to pursue Chen Decai's troops, and at the same time wipe out the eighteen camps of 300,000 rebels and bandits."
Sorry this chapter was not posted at 9 o'clock due to blocking
(End of this chapter)