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January 16th, 1858.
"Wu! The steam whistle sounded at the mouth of the Pearl River. It was a ship flying a crimson flag, with the words "Recover" written in yellow on the red flag. There were two English steam-boats near the mouth of the Pearl River. Seeing the steamer in the distance, they changed course and came alongside.
The lookout on the mast immediately sent down the news of the approach of the English ship. The tense atmosphere in the captain's room became even more solemn.
"Ignore them. The British won't dare to do anything to us. Let's keep going," the captain ordered. In the agreement signed between the Liberation Army and the British in Hong Kong, the British were not allowed to intercept warships flying the flag of the Liberation Army. Otherwise, it would be regarded as a declaration of war. Of course, before the Liberation Army declared war on the British in Hong Kong, they could not intercept the British military ships. The fact that such a blatant military threat was written into the agreement proved the importance that both sides attached to this agreement. Be it the Liberation Army or the British side, they all saw each other as enemies with weight, so they did not want any accidents to happen before the official battle.
"What are the British warships trying to do?" the political commissar couldn't help but ask.
The captain rolled his eyes at the commissar. "How would I know what the British are up to? Maybe they just want to take a look. If they want to see, then let them see. Are we afraid that they will see? "
In fact, the captain's guess was very correct. The purpose of the British steamship coming over was to take a look. This was a steamship that the British had never seen before. Unlike the British steamships, this ship did not have paddle wheels, but instead relied on steam power to move. Needless to say, it was powered by propellers. In this era, propellers were used on many ships, but they were far from being mainstream. Since this steamship was not a British ship, there was only one possibility. The Liberation Army had built a steamship that used a propeller at the rear.
The British steamship tried hard to come up and watch, but it failed. The Liberation Army steamship sailed faster than the British paddle steamship, and after the ship left the mouth of the Pearl River, it headed south. It was obvious that it was going south along the coast of Guangdong. The British side did not have a port near the southern coast of Guangdong. After chasing for a while, they could only give up.
Six hours later, Erkin, the British plenipotentiary representative in China, stared at the two captains in front of him and asked loudly, "You said a steamship of the Liberation Army sailed out of the Pearl River?"
"Yes! The ship had a draft of about two hundred tons and a speed of over nine knots. He didn't see any cannons on either side of the ship. However, there was a cannon platform at the bow of the ship. He couldn't see what kind of cannon was mounted on it. From what I can see, it doesn't exceed four inches. "In this day and age, those who could become captains were not ordinary people. Just by looking, they could tell a lot of data. No matter how great the status of the former Governor of Canada was, the British captains had their own dignity when facing the navy.
Erjin stared at the two British captains, his triangular eyes were full of anger. His original intention was to ask the two captains if they were mistaken. The fact that the Liberation Army could defeat the British lobster soldiers in the field had already shocked Erjin greatly. Now a steamship sailed out of the Pearl River, and even ran to the southern coast of Guangdong at a speed faster than the British steamship. Was this steamship made of paper? Or did the two captains get the disease that should be sent to the madhouse at the same time?
Ignoring the gaze of Erkin's plenipotentiary representative, the captains added: "This ship is made of iron and wood. From the appearance, it is not a special warship."
"Enough!" Erkin couldn't listen anymore. He waved his hand to interrupt the two captains. After the end of the Crimean War, Great Britain and France, as the victors of the war, and Russia, as the losers, temporarily accepted the status quo in Europe and began to try to reap some benefits from overseas to make up for the huge military expenditure.
When Britain decided to launch the Third Great Smoky War, in fact, Britain, France, Russia, and the United States jointly sent their navy and land forces to China. The fleets of the four countries basically arrived in Shanghai, China, and soon Britain and France were going to attack Manchu Qing.
The total forces of the four countries were only more than 20,000 people, and less than 7,000 people were really ready to go to war. They dared to do so because China didn't have a navy. Just when Erkin felt that he had basically figured out the attitude of the Liberation Army, the steamships of the Liberation Army suddenly appeared. The two-hundred-ton steamships were nothing compared to the warships of Britain that could cross the ocean. But this was not a simple problem of steamships. It was like a strong man with a spear in each hand was going to kill a kid with a wooden stick, and when he arrived in front of the kid, the kid suddenly pulled out a loaded spear from his back.
The strong man's combat effectiveness and the number of weapons in his hands were still above the kid's, and the victory of the strong man could still be expected. But there was no difference in weapons between the two sides, and the kid also had the ability to fight back. The huge advantage was greatly reduced in an instant, and this strong sense of loss made Erkin feel extremely uncomfortable.
The civil and military officials in Hong Kong were also unhappy, but after all, they had fought with the Liberation Army and suffered the bullets of the Liberation Army. So they admitted one thing earlier, the Chinese they faced were no longer the backward people under the rule of Manchu Qing. Being able to produce their own steamships was just another proof that the Restored Governor Office was a government with military capabilities. No matter what the British officials chose to say to the outside world according to their own needs, in British cognitive standards, military capabilities were directly linked to the degree of civilization, and the two sides were proportional.
For the words of a "civilized government," the British side would always pay more attention.
Erkin adjusted his thinking with great difficulty, and slightly accepted the fact that the Restored Governor Office had begun to enter the ranks of "civilized government." Then the former Governor of Canada discovered a previous problem. Erkin had never paid attention to what the Regained Governor's Mansion said. In other words, the Restored Governor Office clearly stated that "if the British attack Manchu Qing, the Liberation Army is unlikely to launch a military attack on Hong Kong. But no matter what agreement the British side reached with Manchu Qing, the Restored Governor Office would not recognize it. "Erkin proposed his own strategy to London.
In Erkin's strategy, the British first defeated the Manchu Qing government, and let Manchu Qing fully accept the British side's requirements. After solving the Manchu Qing government, they would take the initiative to attack and destroy the Restored Governor Office, so as to completely control Guangdong with Hong Kong as the center. One of the prerequisites for Erkin to believe that the British could destroy the Restored Governor Office was that the Restored Governor Office did not have the ability to manufacture steamships. Now, one of the cornerstones of Erkin's strategic concept collapsed. As a qualified British governor, Erkin never had the characteristic of being stubborn, nor would he stubbornly think that everything was under control. The reality had changed, and Erkin also changed. He began to consider how to adjust his strategy.
The British civil and military officials in Hong Kong all knew that Erkin looked down on the Liberation Army, so their eyes were a little gloating at this time. The former governor, who liked to wear wigs, had more than once criticized the British civil and military officials in Hong Kong for not having the confidence to win, and for being too afraid of the Liberation Army. Now everyone wanted to see what the former governor could come up with to face this reality.
Erkin quickly gave an answer. "Send someone to see Vézé and ask them to order steamships!"
Hearing this request, the expressions on the faces of the British civil and military officials instantly turned into admiration.
Two days later, Vézé let the British envoy leave first. Then with an admiring expression on his face, he said to Hong Ren, the Minister of Foreign Affairs next to him. "As long as there is a chance, we must kill Erkin."
Hong Ren? Seeing that there was no excitement on Vézé's face, he asked, "Kill Erkin? How to kill him? "
"Of course, kill him." Vézé gave the answer in the tone of discussing arithmetic problems.
"Kill him?" Hong Ren still couldn't completely connect the bloody words with the calm tone. "Commander-in-chief, how did he offend you?"
Vézé slowly replied, "I hate smart foreigners. Erkin was very smart to send someone to buy ships from us this time. First, he told us that the British attach great importance to our shipbuilding ability. Second, it is very expensive to get steamships from England to Hong Kong. Even if they pay a high price to buy ships from us, it is a very cost-effective choice when they are preparing to attack the pass of Manchu Qing. If we sell ships to the British, the British can understand our industrial strength. "
Hong Ren? Thinking about it carefully, he could understand some of these things, but he didn't quite understand some of them. But even so, Erkin didn't have to die. But Vézé said so, Hong Ren? He didn't want to ask too much. He replied, "Commander-in-chief, why don't we not sell ships to him?"
Vézé didn't want to explain too much, he only replied, "Tell them, we don't have enough ships."
Hong Ren? To deal with the British envoy. Vézé summoned the General Staff Headquarters, "We have to be ready to fight the British again."
The officers of the General Staff Headquarters immediately became excited. Although Lei Hu and the other officers were nervous, they had been preparing for the battle against the British for a long time. They had been preparing for war for the past few days. Knowing that war might break out, Lei Hu's eyes lit up, "Commander-in-chief, when will the war start?"
Ke Gongyu, who had just returned from the UK, was filled with a different kind of excitement. After witnessing the might of the UK, Ke Gongyu no longer thought highly of Hong Kong's strength. However, he did not underestimate the capabilities of the British's ports, which spanned tens of thousands of miles. So Ke Gongyu asked, "Why does the British want to fight with us?"
"If you know that there are enemies, will you fight with us to the death. Will you do it when the enemies are still weak, or wait for them to grow stronger?" Vézé asked.
This question had made the generals understand the reason for the British to fight, but this explanation was obviously not enough. Lei Hu asked doubtfully, "Commander-in-chief, did the British know something about us?"
"Haha!" Vézé sneered, "I'll say it again, the British don't want to make life difficult for our Liberation Army. The British want to invade China and continue to gain benefits from China. In order to achieve this goal, they chose to use their military power. I've told you many times that you have to do things logically. You have to talk about cause and effect. The emergence of our Liberation Army is not the reason for the war. The reason for the war is that the British want to plunder China. Whoever stands in their way to plunder China, they will fight! "
After Vézé finished speaking, the generals fell silent. Vézé had talked about the problem of "logic" many times and even specially taught them about it. However, it was difficult for the generals to integrate this knowledge with reality. For example, everyone still subconsciously believed that the war was between two parties with personal hatred. It was indeed not completely acceptable for the generals to completely get rid of personal hatred and consider the problem with logical inevitability.
After a while, Lei Hu suddenly shouted, "None of the foreign devils are good people!"
This judgment sounded childish and ridiculous to Vézé. It was too childish to use "good people" and "bad people" to evaluate international politics. There had never been a completely unified standard for evaluating good and bad. From the British point of view, the China who resisted the British invasion were the real bad people. When the China people who resisted had the ability to defeat the British, the China people were even more evil to the British.
With Lei Hu taking the lead, the officers of the General Staff Headquarters quickly reached a consensus.
Wei Changrong said fiercely, "Kill all these bastards! Leave none alive! "
"That's right, kill all the British!" Hu Chenghe said in a cold voice.
"Kill them!" "Kill all the British!" The officers of the General Staff Headquarters shouted one after another.
Vézé frowned slightly. He actually did not like this "Chinese tradition". In Chinese tradition, people liked to use good people and bad people to define the character of each other, and then they believed that good people naturally had the power to kill bad people. Vézé actually did not agree with this view of a small peasant economy.
Society in the industrial era did not advocate this kind of attitude. As the political tradition of the British said, "There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests"! Although this kind of attitude that only focused on interests was not the best, it was still much more scientific than viewing the world from a completely subjective perspective of good people and bad people.
Vézé raised his hand and gestured for everyone to stop. Very quickly, the conference room became quiet. All the officers stared at Vézé, waiting for him to make a judgment. "Comrades, fighting against the British is not about good people fighting bad people, or bad people fighting good people. We must first confirm one thing, and that is that our Liberation Army is fighting for China! Fighting for China is the mission of our Liberation Army! Fighting for China, this is the glory of our Liberation Army! "R1058
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