Chen Hao has a habit of doing things, that is, he must spend the small money that should be spent, and he will gain something if he gives up. After attacking the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, he promised in the memorial to donate five warships to protect the Empress Dowager Cixi, which not only showed his loyalty, but also
It can explain why he led the fleet to Shanghai. Of course, what he most hoped for was that the Empress Dowager Cixi would be merciful and grant him the position of admiral of the Nanyang Navy.
Chen Hao despises the broken ships of the Nanyang Navy, but if the name is not correct, the words will not go smoothly. After serving as the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, many NPC navies will be under his jurisdiction. There will never be too few of these experienced naval officers and soldiers in Cam Ranh Bay, and the annexation
After joining the Nanyang Navy, the Cam Ranh Bay naval officers' problem of being too young and inexperienced can be corrected.
Chen Hao actually wanted to get the position of Admiral of the Guangdong Navy. After all, Guangdong was closer to Cam Ranh Bay, and the Navy still had some warships left and more talents. But starting from 1905, Sa Zhenbing, the outstanding Prime Minister
It is not realistic for the Nanyang Navy and the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy to annex the Guangdong Navy. Even if the Empress Dowager Cixi is willing to share the official position of the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy in Sazhenbing, Chen Hao will only get the title of Nanyang Navy for the time being.
There are no warships at all.
For the sake of five ships, Sa Zhenbing probably would not have any grudges against Chen Hao as the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, but the same cannot be said for the Guangdong Navy. It is not bad to have the title of admiral of the Nanyang Navy. After all, it is the official name of the imperial court.
Being a high-ranking official makes it much easier to recruit talents and so on.
Although Chen Hao was prepared to give warships as gifts in exchange for benefits, he was reluctant to give away main warships. He planned to give the cruiser "Qi Jiguang" purchased from Russia as a gift to Cixi. The other four destroyers were all old-fashioned destroyers captured in the Tsushima naval battle.
Ships, ships like this were no longer attractive to him, so it would be appropriate to give them to Cixi.
The value of four destroyers is far less than that of a first-class defense cruiser, but the Empress Dowager Cixi is a layman in the navy, so it is necessary to use destroyers to make up the number. It is much better to send five warships in the memorial than to send two. In order to purchase Dingyuan, Beiyang ordered
Zhenyuan spent a lot of money. Chen Hao sent five warships to defend Lafayette. Is there any need to say that he is loyal?
Chen Hao's reluctance was also shown in spending money to bribe NPCs. Although he was wanted by the court, he never cut off Li Lianying's money every year. Moreover, he spent money and did not ask Li Lianying to do anything.
Li Lianying felt a little ashamed. Seeing that the Empress Dowager Cixi first questioned Chen Baxian after reading Ma Sanbao's report, Li Lianying quickly helped: "Lafayette! Although Chen Baxian didn't know why he appeared in Shanghai, he fought bravely to wipe out the Revolutionary Party bandits.
Loyalty is commendable. Lafayette, you have always been worried that Chen Baxian is involved with the Revolutionary Party. Isn't this the best proof?"
Empress Dowager Cixi snorted coldly: "It has been proven that he has not colluded with the revolutionary party, but he led the fleet back to the country without notifying the Ministry of War first. Maybe he wants to rebel and become emperor."
Li Lianying was somewhat relieved. The Empress Dowager Cixi was angry on the surface, but saying that Chen Baxian rebelled proved that she had given up her grudge. If Chen Baxian did not collude with the revolutionary party, it would be impossible for him to rebel. The Empress Dowager was just dissatisfied with Chen Hao for not paying attention to the court.
That's all. After having the score in mind, Li Lianying smiled and said: "Old Buddha, Chen Baxian always does things in a measured way. I think he will definitely explain it clearly."
Empress Dowager Cixi sneered: "Ma Sanbao, a fifth-rank official, knows how to hurry up and get discounts at eight hundred miles. Chen Baxian, a third-rank official in the court, is not as good as a fifth-rank official who knows the rules!"
Li Lianying apologized and said with a smile: "Chen Baxian has been wanted by the court before. The Queen Mother rewarded him with the title of Minister of Commerce of Vietnam, but she did not make it public. It will definitely be more complicated for him to get the discount..."
The Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to think this explanation was reasonable. She said calmly: "Then the Ai family will just wait! Let's see if Chen Baxian really doesn't take the imperial court seriously."
As soon as the Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, a young eunuch came to report. He said it was Yuan Zhongtang who asked to see him. The Empress Dowager Cixi was stunned for a moment and said coldly: "Yuan Shikai has not been in the palace for a long time. Xiao Li, you are really right.
He is probably here to help Chen Baxian deliver the coupons. Yuan Shikai is a man the Ai family cannot understand. One day the Ai family will no longer exist, and the court still doesn’t know what will happen. Even Chen Baxian has defected to Yuan Shikai in advance."
Li Lianying whispered: "Your Majesty, Chen Baxian has no contact with Master Yuan. This servant knows this. Master Yuan has always wanted to win over Chen Baxian. Last time he asked the Queen Mother to appoint Chen Baxian as the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, but the Queen Mother did not agree. It is probably because of this.
This Chen Baxian is getting closer to Mr. Yuan."
The Empress Dowager Cixi sighed and said: "The Ai family was afraid that Chen Baxian would be involved with the Revolutionary Party, so they did not give him the title of Admiral of the Nanyang Navy. Now there is definitely nothing between him and the Revolutionary Party, so giving him this title is nothing."
.”
In the eyes of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Chen Hao was more important than Sa Zhenbing, so she never thought about the fact that Sa Zhenbing was also the admiral of the Nanyang Navy. Li Lianying thought about it, but he would not do this if he eats people with soft lips and short hands.
He raised different opinions. After a while, Yuan Shikai walked into the Cining Palace, his face glowing and said: "Good luck to the old Buddha, I have received a report from Chen Baxian, who wiped out the bandits in Shanghai..."
Empress Dowager Cixi lazily interrupted Yuan Shikai's words and said: "The Aijia know about Shanghai, please bring the memorial to the Aijia for a look!"
The Empress Dowager Cixi was already old, and she had not read the memorial for a long time. However, this time she did not let Li Lianying read it, but read it word for word. Chen Hao's memorial perfectly explained why it appeared in Shanghai, and also stated that it was to be suppressed by the Qing Dynasty.
After killing the remnants of the Shanghai bandits, he would personally send five warships to Beiyang, which moved the Empress Dowager Cixi for a while.
"Okay! The Ai family once issued a wanted order for Chen Baxian. He was living freely in Nanyang. The Ai family had nothing to do with him. But this little brat still has some conscience. After he robbed a Japanese warship, he still remembered me.
This old bone has no one to protect it, and a warship was sent all the way here. The Ai family doesn’t even know what to say.”
The Empress Dowager Cixi did not suspect that Chen Hao had another purpose, because the NPCs had their own judgments. In their eyes, Chen Hao was equivalent to being a local emperor at sea, and there was no need to rush around to give out benefits. Now he generously gave away five armored ships.
, there really is no other reason other than being loyal to Lafayette.
Li Lianying accepted Chen Hao's benefits, and Yuan Shikai had always wanted to win over Chen Hao. Neither of them would undermine Chen Hao. As soon as Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, Li Lianying said immediately: "Old Buddha, among the ministers in the imperial court, I have always felt that Mr. Chen is right."
Lafayette, you are the most filial."
Empress Dowager Cixi smiled twice and said: "You are indeed discerning. Chen Baxian is indeed good."
Yuan Shikai held up his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Chen Baxian wiped out 30,000 Revolutionary Party bandits in Shanghai, and donated five armored ships to the imperial court. Such a great contribution deserves a heavy reward."
The smile on the Empress Dowager Cixi's face disappeared, and she said calmly: "I know how to reward my family. Let's go to Yuan Qing's house!"
Yuan Shikai was stunned for a moment, but he still saluted respectfully: "Wei Chen, please retire."
"Little Lizi, you go to Shanghai in person to convey the decree to the Ai family, appoint Chen Baxian as the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, and the Guangdong Navy will be transferred to Nanyang Control. You go to Sa Zhenbing, and you go and ask him to send an armored ship to Shanghai to reward you.
He wears a yellow mantle and has a brave uncle!"
"The slave obeys the order."
Li Lianying is not opposed to this trip. There is no danger in going to Shanghai, and he will probably get a lot of benefits. Chen Ba made a generous move first. This time he won the title of admiral of the Nanyang Navy, and also got the Guangdong Navy. He should definitely
Repay your kindness!
When Li Lianying was drafting the edict, Empress Dowager Cixi added: "You remember to pass down the Ai family's oral instructions. As long as he is loyal to the court, the Ai family will not treat him badly. The Ai family rewarded him with an official position because of his filial piety and has nothing to do with those high officials of the court.
"
Li Lianying understood in his heart that Lafayette was trying to knock Chen Baxian away from getting too close to Yuan Shikai. After drafting the imperial seal, Li Lianying left the capital and found Sa Zhenbing, the admiral of the Beiyang Navy at Tianjin Wei, and read out the imperial edict from Empress Dowager Cixi.
A look of displeasure appeared on Sa Zhenbing's face. Although Cixi wore the yellow mantle and conferred the title of Bo Yong to make up for it, she deprived him of half of his power. From 1905 onwards, Sa Zhenbing's duty was to control the Northern and Southern Oceans and hold concurrent responsibilities.
The Admiral of the Guangdong Navy was equivalent to the naval commander of the Qing Dynasty. Now that the Southern Navy does not have much power without him, no one would be happy if he replaced him.
Li Lianying saw Sa Zhenbing's displeasure, and he smiled slightly and said: "Admiral, why bother? A few days ago, I heard that the imperial court was planning to establish a naval office to uniformly manage the navy in various places. It is impossible for Chen Baxian to hold the post of Navy Minister because he
Those ships in Cam Ranh Bay belong to him, not the imperial court..."
Sa Zhenbing suddenly understood. He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, father-in-law, for the tip."
After Li Lianying reminded him, Sa Zhenbing quickly turned around. It didn't make much sense for him to control Nanyang and serve as the admiral of the Guangdong Navy. After all, the navy had no combat effectiveness at all after the Sino-Japanese War. If the imperial court established the Navy Yamen, he served as the premier of the Navy Yamen, nominally.
Doesn’t China still control Nanyang and Guangdong?
Chen Baxian served as the admiral of the Guangdong Navy. If the Guangdong Navy went to war, could his Cam Ranh Bay fleet be a bystander? After Sa Zhenbing became the Minister of the Navy, he could at least nominally command him? Besides, Sa Zhenbing did not lose anything in actual interests.
, the Guangdong Navy’s ships are gone, but there is an additional first-class protected cruiser and four Japanese destroyers, which also gives Beiyang a bit of a look.
Sa Zhenbing quickly arranged for a warship to send Li Lianying to Shanghai. Chen Hao, who had received the telegram in advance, went to the dock to greet him in person. After welcoming Li Lianying back to Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Li Lianying smiled and said: "Master Chen, I came here on the order of Lafayette.
Please prepare to receive the order!" (To be continued...)
