And just when Liu Hai was preparing to go out to fight the Japanese combined fleet, another thing happened in Taiwan.
It turned out that after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the news that the Qing government ceded the island reached the island, causing great indignation among the people of the island. They expressed their determination to defend the island to the death.
On April 24, the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1895), the Qing government sent Li Jingfang to Baodao to handle the delivery matters, and ordered the officers and soldiers of Baodao to cross inland, prohibiting the mainland army and civilians from assisting Baodao in the war of resistance. The soldiers and civilians of Baodao were determined to save themselves independently.
With the mobilization and initiative of Qiu Fengjia and other treasure island gentry, the people of Taibao Island announced the establishment of the "Treasure Island Democratic Republic" on May 2nd, and elected Tang Jingsong as president, Qiu Fengjia as vice president and volunteer commander, Liu Yongfu as democratic general, and Chen Jitong as The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yu Mingzhen, was the Minister of Interior, Li Bingrui was the Minister of Military Affairs, and Lin Weiyuan was the Speaker of the House of Representatives (he left for Xiamen the next day before taking office). They also used the yellow tiger flag with blue ground as the national flag and the name of the country as "Yongqing" to show that "extraordinary changes have occurred". , changed the province into a country, the people became independent, and remained under the Qing Dynasty."
The establishment of the "Treasure Island Democratic Republic" was a patriotic action taken by the people of Treasure Island to defend the sacred territory of the motherland under special historical conditions.
However, the Qing government regarded the patriotic actions of the Baodao people as rebellion and prevented the military and civilians on the mainland from supporting them, which further reduced the Qing government's prestige.
On May 10th, Li Jingfang and his American consultant Costa arrived outside Keelung Port under the escort of a Japanese ship. On the Japanese ship, they met with the Governor of Japan's Treasure Island, Shiki Kawasaki, and issued an agreement to cede the entire island of Treasure Island and all its affiliated islands and merge it with Penghu. Islands and other "lists", and signed a replacement Taiwan document.
After receiving the news that the Qing government had officially handed over the treasure island to Japan, Liu Hai immediately sent a message to the whole country: the treasure island is the lifeblood of Nanyang, and the whole of Nanyang will never let Japan invade the treasure island. Nanyang Minister Liu Hai hereby orders that Nanyang The navy immediately went to sea to fight the Japanese navy.
After Liu Hai issued another order, he immediately took a transport ship from Nanjing to Wusongkou Wharf in Shanghai, regardless of the reaction of the Qing Dynasty.
Liu Hai had just gotten off the transport ship, and all the naval officers of the Nanyang Navy were already there to greet him.
Liu Hai squinted his eyes and looked at the dozen neatly dressed warship officers standing next to him with serious faces, and then said expressionlessly: "Gentlemen, Japan is rampant these days. I am willing to take you out to sea to fight with them. Then There is a huge difference in strength, do you dare to fight me to the death?"
Liu Yu, the temporary admiral of the Nanyang Navy, stood up at that time and said, "Insignificant rank? I am willing to fight to the death with the commander-in-chief."
The other warship commanders also listened to Liu Yu's words and shouted loudly: "Fight to the death."
During this period, the Nanyang Navy was under tremendous pressure from public opinion because it was sitting back and watching the success or failure of Beiyang. Even when these tubes were brought home, they kept their heads down. They were afraid that their wives and children would ask about them. Why didn’t the Nanyang Navy send troops to assist Beiyang?
How useless have you been during this period? Now you can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Liu Hai saw that the morale of everyone was high, so he immediately nodded and said, "That's so, then go back and get dressed today? Will you go out with me tomorrow to fight the decisive battle with the Japanese Combined Fleet?"
So the warships led him to say "yes" and then dispersed.
And after these people left, Liu Hai returned to the Nanyang Navy Yamen after being away for many days.
This time most of the officials went back, but there were still two or three of Liu Hai's cronies who followed Liu Hai to the Yamen.
Among them were Liu Yu, the commander of the ironclad Jiangsu, Liu Da, the commander of the armored cruiser Jiangxi, Xu Chuanlong, the commander of the cruiser Shanghai, Jiang Chaoying, the commander of the cruiser Nanjing, and seven or eight others.
There are no outsiders now? Jiang Chaoying immediately expressed her worries to Liu Hai.
"Admiral, I heard how many ironclad ships the Japanese Navy has added? Its strength has obviously surpassed that of our Nanyang Navy. If we go to war now, I am afraid that we will lose more than we win."
After hearing this, Liu Hai looked at the other people below and saw that they all looked worried.
So Xiang Xiang said to them: "You don't have to worry, I have already made arrangements. The four large-tonnage ironclad ships I have purchased through secret channels are off the coast of Shanghai. When we are all moved by the Nanyang world tomorrow, we can communicate with them."
When the time comes, the entire army will head south to the vicinity of Treasure Island to intercept the Japanese combined fleet and engage in a decisive battle with it."
The generals were relieved after hearing that Liu Hai had already made arrangements and had purchased 4 large-tonnage ironclad ships in advance. If there were really 4 large-tonnage ironclad ships, then the Nanyang Navy would probably have to fight against the Japanese Navy.
The certainty of victory.
Because the current Nanyang Navy has surpassed the Japanese Navy in terms of cruisers. If four new ironclads are added, the number of Nanyang Navy's ironclads has reached 5, which is enough to fight the four Japanese ironclads.
There was nothing to say that night. On the second day, Liu Hai straightened his clothes, rode a tall horse, and took a guard with him. He left the admiral's residence of the Nanyang Navy and walked all the way to Wusongkou Pier.
When Liu Hai arrived at Wusongkou Pier, he saw that the place was already crowded with people. Countless people stood there, watching Liu Hai's arrival in silence.
As soon as Liu Hai approached, the common people immediately parted to the left and right to make way for Liu Hai.
Seeing this scene, Liu Hai hurriedly got off his horse, bowed his hands to the people around him, thanked him, and then walked through the passage step by step.
When Liu Hai was about to pass through the crowd and arrive at the pier, suddenly an old man walked out, came to Liu Hai and knelt on the ground.
"My Lord Governor, the younger one was elected by the people in the city and sent off by the general."
After the old man finished speaking, he kowtowed to Liu Hai several times. When Liu Hai saw that the old man was already quite old, he hurriedly stepped forward to help him.
But the old man was also very stubborn. He knelt down on the ground and gently pushed his bangs aside, waving to the person next to him.
Two young men came out immediately. One of them took a wine bowl, and the other took a wine bowl and brought it to the old man.
The old man held a wine bowl in his hand and asked the young man next to him to give her a full glass of water and wine.
Then he kowtowed to Liu Hai again and said, "Master Liu, please drink this glass of water and wine. I wish you success this time and success immediately. The people of the Qing Dynasty can count on Master Liu."
After Liu Hai heard this, he took the bowl of wine seriously, drank it all in one gulp, and then threw the bowl to the ground.
Then Liu Hai said categorically: "If this expedition is not successful, we will be successful and we will never let down the hopes of the people of the Qing Dynasty."
After Liu Hai finished speaking, he turned around and boarded the ironclad Jiangxi.
After Liu Hai boarded the ironclad Jiangxi, he immediately ordered the ironclad to weigh anchor immediately, and then the ironclad Jiangxi raised the commander's flag.
As the Jiangxi slowly left Ma Tou, the armored cruiser Jiangsu followed closely behind him.
Behind them are two heavy cruisers of more than 4,000 tons, Shanghai and Suzhou. Behind them are 7 light cruisers of 2,000 tons, and behind them are 5 old cruisers.
These are the main forces of this Nanyang Navy expedition.
As these dozen warships left Wusongkou Pier in a mighty manner, news of the Nanyang Navy's expedition to Japan soon spread throughout the Qing Dynasty.
The news was delivered to Emperor Guangxu via telegraph in just a few hours.
After receiving the telegram, Emperor Guangxu felt worried. To be honest, Emperor Guangxu no longer regards Liu Hai as one of his own, but Liu Hai is still an official of the Qing Dynasty after all. This time he is going to war with Japan again. Emperor Guangxu is still a little worried.
Worried about bangs.
At this time, Weng Tongshu, who was sitting next to Emperor Guangxu, suddenly laughed when he saw Emperor Guangxu holding a telegram and worried, "Hahaha, this is a great thing, why should the emperor be worried?"
Emperor Guangxu saw that even at this time, Weng Tonghe could still laugh, and immediately became angry, regardless of whether he was his teacher or not.
"What does Master Weng mean by this? Liu Hai has ulterior motives, but now he is also fighting for the Qing Dynasty. How can we gloat about it?"
Weng Tonghe hurriedly stepped forward to accompany you, and then said: "Your Majesty, I am not gloating about this misfortune, but Liu Hai's war, whether it is victory or defeat, is good for our Qing Dynasty."
Emperor Guangxu was very interested when he heard this, "Teacher, how do you say this?"
"Your Majesty, if Liu Hai wins, then the treaty signed with the Japanese will be invalidated, and we, the Qing Dynasty, will not have to pay so much money, and the Qing Dynasty's prestige among the countries will be rebuilt."
Emperor Guangxu nodded after hearing this. This is indeed the truth. Now he only hopes to defeat the Japanese and remove the noose from the neck of the Qing Dynasty.
"If Liu Hai fails in this expedition, and if he sat aside and ignored Beiyang some time ago, then he will be the biggest sinner of the Qing Dynasty. By then, the people of the world will no longer be able to tolerate him. Then he will be in Liangjiang
The power in the region will collapse, and then the emperor will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to control the military power of the two generals."
Emperor Guangxu's eyes lit up like light bulbs when he heard this. He thought about it now. If this was true, it would be better for Liu Hai to be defeated this time. It would be better to die outside, so that he could rely on his previous relationship with Liu Hai.
Guan Guan holds the real power in the Liangjiang area and can compete with the Empress Dowager Cixi.
But he thought about it again and felt a little hesitant about the current situation in the country.
When Weng Tonghe saw that Emperor Guangxu was beginning to hesitate, he knew that he was working harder, so he struck while the iron was hot and said: "Your Majesty, don't you know how to choose? Let Liu Hai return with a great victory, or let Liu Hai suffer a disastrous defeat?"
Emperor Guangxu was now a little undecided. Both aspects were good for him, but after thinking about it for a long time, he still felt that it would be better to let Liu Hai fail.
Once Liu Hai is in charge, he will have the opportunity to use his relationship with Liu Hai to control the two generals and gain power. As for the compensation to the Japanese, there is nothing that can be done, but after he has gone through Tu Zhi and allowed the Qing Dynasty to rise again, he will
It's not even possible to settle accounts with the Japanese.