After the peace in the villa, Liu Hai was finally able to leave modern times and return to the Qing Dynasty.
Liu Hai has been the counselor of the Nanyang Navy for some time, but he has been staying at Zeng Guoquan's residence these days.
Because of this matter, Zeng Guoquan sent people to inquire several times. Zeng Guoquan was also afraid that his uncle would continue to eat, drink and have fun instead of doing his job as his old friend Liu Kun said in his letter.
After Liu Hai finished the current affairs, he was finally free to deal with matters in the Qing Dynasty plane.
After he came back, he first went to the Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang and met his cheap father-in-law Zeng Guoquan again.
Zeng Guoquan has completely lost the good impression he had on Liu Hai at the beginning. Now he feels that he is very unreliable. He gave him an official position and he did not take up the post for such a long time. What kind of trouble is this?
So Zeng Guoquan gave Liu Hai a lot of advice. Zeng Guoquan is now over 70 years old. He only had two sons and one daughter in his life. Both sons did not live long and passed away before him. Only this old woman can still die at his knees.
Xiao Zeng Guoquan didn't want his son-in-law to be someone who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun.
Liu Hai had no choice but to stand there, listening to Zeng Guoquan's lectures. After more than an hour, Zeng Guoquan let him go.
Liu Hai came out of the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion and returned to his residence. This time he did not dare to delay any longer. He ordered his men to prepare things that day and set out for the Nanyang Navy's station at Wusongkou, Shanghai the next day.
That night, just in case, Liu Hai ordered his connections to bring in some big fat pigs, saying they wanted to sacrifice them to heaven and earth.
In fact, Liu Hai secretly ordered Zhinao Xiaobai to use these big fat pigs as raw materials and put them away.
If you need someone to take care of something when you arrive in Shanghai, you no longer need to look for materials to make a bionic.
During the day the next day, Liu Hai had ten more guards. As for the origin of these people, it is easy to explain. It was said that his hometown was worried and sent someone here.
Liu Hai then sent someone to the Governor's Mansion of Liangjiang to report a message to his father-in-law Zeng Guoquan. Then he took a dozen servants and the servants Zeng Guoquan had photographed for him, and drove out with several large cars.
After leaving Nanjing, we headed straight to Shanghai.
Along the way, their posture was naturally open-minded and did not dare to find trouble.
After two days of trekking, they arrived in Shanghai smoothly. Liu Hai did not visit the ten-mile foreign market in Shanghai, but took the people directly to the Wusongkou Nanyang Navy Station.
Liu Hai stood on the bank of the Huangpu River, looking from a distance at the warships of the Nanyang Navy parked on the dock. The more he looked at him, the more he frowned.
The Nanyang Navy was also the second largest navy in the Qing Dynasty, but I didn't expect it to be so dilapidated.
Before the war with France last year, the Nanyang Navy had 17 large and small warships with a tonnage of more than 20,000 tons.
However, during the Sino-French War, the Nanyang Navy lost three battleships. Now, only one or two of the remaining ships are newly built. The other ships are old ships and can no longer withstand the war.
Now Liu Hai finally understands why the Nanyang Navy didn't go north for reinforcements during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894.
Just relying on these old ships to go north to fight the Japanese combined fleet would simply be a victory for the Japanese.
However, Liu Hai thought for a moment that this was not because the Nanyang Navy was unwilling to make progress. At that time, the imperial court allocated 2 million taels of silver to the Beiyang Navy each year. However, the former governor of Liangjiang, Shen Baozhen, gave all of it to the Beiyang Navy.
Moreover, most of the captains of the Nanyang Navy are officers left over from Beiyang, or they are unruly people who have never attended a professional naval school. In addition, the appointment of private individuals in the fleet is very common. For a large number of important shipboard positions, the number of people actually serving them is
They are all officials and friends with various backgrounds. As for the training, it is even more lax. It is even difficult to complete a basic ship formation.
As a result, the Nanyang Navy has no money, no personnel, and loose discipline. How can such a fleet still fight?
Liu Hai thought about these situations and sighed. It seemed that he had been having a hard time in the Nanyang Navy for a while.
After Liu Hai circled around Wusongkou, he turned the car around and arrived at the Nanyang Navy's station.
As soon as we got close to the horse's head, we were stopped by a sailor.
"What do you do? This is the headquarters of the Nanyang Navy. No one can approach it."
Although the sailor said so, looking at his nonchalant look, he didn't seem to be serious.
Liu Hai shook his head and waved to Liu Da next to him.
Liu Da immediately stepped forward and said to the soldier: "What are you bluffing about? Do you know who is in the car? The woman here is the wife of Mr. Zeng, the governor of Liangjiang, and the newly appointed counselor of the Nanyang Navy."
As soon as the sailor heard this, his face immediately changed. He wanted to know that the Governor of Nanyang, but their immediate superior of the Nanyang Navy, had a final say in their personnel matters.
Since he is the son-in-law of this big boss, I don't dare to neglect him.
So this man quickly came over to accuse Liu Hai, and then turned around and went in to report to Nanyang Navy Admiral Li Chengmou.
Li Chengmou was recommended by Zeng Guoquan to serve as the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, and he can be said to be Zeng Guoquan's confidant.
He had received a letter from Zeng Guoquan a few days ago and knew that Liu Hai would come to Nanyang Navy to serve as counselor.
However, after waiting for more than ten days, Liu Hai did not come to report, which left him speechless. This dandy came to the Nanyang Navy probably just to make a name for himself and to be plated with gold, so that he could be promoted faster in the future.
So Li Chengmou forgot about Liu Hai. Unexpectedly, he suddenly received a report from his subordinates today. Nanyang Navy Counselor Liu Hai was already waiting outside Ma Tou.
Although Li Chengmou was a second-rank admiral of the Nanyang Navy and was far superior to Liu Hai in official position, he did not dare to neglect this junior.
Li Chengmou tidied up his clothes and came to the dock in person with his entourage. He saw several carriages parked in front of him. In front of the taxi, stood a young man wearing a genuine fourth-grade hat. Behind the young man were dozens of young men.
Shape of a big man.
Li Chengmou walked a few steps and came to Liu Hai, cupped his hands and said, "Is this the new counselor, Brother Liu?"
When Liu Hai saw this man walking out of the military camp, even though he was wearing casual clothes, all the soldiers he passed by saluted him. He knew that this man's identity was not simple, so he did not dare to neglect him, so he hurried up and returned.
Yili said: "I am Liu Hai. I wonder who you are?"
Li Chengmou came to Liu Hai, grabbed his hand, and laughed loudly: "It's like we don't know each other anymore. I'm admiral Li Chengmou of the Nanyang Navy."
When Liu Hai heard that the person in front of him was the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy, he hurriedly greeted him again: "My lord, how can I be greeted by an adult? I'm really ashamed of myself."
"What did you say, brother? To be honest, brother, I will need Brother Liu to take care of me more in the future."
After Li Chengmou said this, he quickly walked into the military camp with his bangs and sat down in a lobby.
Next, the soldiers below naturally brought him fragrant tea.
Li Chengmou picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and then said: "Brother, this is not the right time to come back to Nanyang. If it were before, brother, I would never have set up a boat for you, but look at it now, one carrot and one pit.
There’s no room left.”
Li Chengmou was testing Liu Hai to see if he had a peep into the management of the warships of the Nanyang Fleet.
Liu Hai now showed a little bit of intention to become the captain, and Li Chengmou thought that he must satisfy him no matter what, otherwise he would not be able to explain to Zeng Guoquan.
Unexpectedly, Liu Hai quickly handed over his hands after hearing what he said, "Sir, I don't know much about naval battles yet. I still have to learn from my brothers. Don't mention the matter of getting on the ship anymore."
After hearing Liu Hai's confession, Li Chengmou breathed a sigh of relief. If Liu Hai didn't peep at the positions of the captains, he could do everything else for Liu Hai.
Although Li Chengmou is the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, he is well aware of how muddy the waters of the Nanyang Navy are. Almost all important positions on warships are held by close associates of each captain. Others will be isolated if they want to get involved.
In the end, they had no choice but to leave the ship and go ashore.
"That's fine. Brother, you should learn more. When the Nanyang Navy adds new ships, I will guarantee you a supervisory position."
After Li Chengmou said this, he thought for a moment and then continued: "My dear brother has just come to the Nanyang Navy. Why don't you stay in the Admiral's Mansion temporarily and manage the intelligence of various countries? What do you think, brother?"
Li Chengmou first discussed with Liu Hai the scope of his future jurisdiction, so as to avoid him gesticulating everywhere and making others unhappy.
Liu Hai thought for a while, what could he do to manage the naval intelligence of various countries? Besides, the Qing Dynasty did not have an intelligence system. Let him take care of this matter, just let him sit and eat and drink, without any real power.
Liu Hai had time now. How could he sit here and wait to die? So Liu Hai suddenly came up with an idea.
"Sir, the senior official is not good at intelligence matters, so I won't get involved. I heard that there are marines in the navies of various countries. Why don't you just entrust me with this job and let me organize the marines of the Nanyang Navy?"
Team, I wonder what your Majesty thinks?"
After hearing Liu Hai's words, Li Chengmou's face was full of embarrassment, "Brother, I won't agree to it. It's really not easy to add a new establishment. The first question is, where does this military salary come from?"
"To tell you the truth, our Nanyang Navy is not as good as Beiyang. Now almost all the funds are spent on Beiyang. We don't even have enough funds to barely maintain it here. We all rely on this to do business privately. Only in this way can we
To maintain the Nanyang Navy, we really cannot afford to raise the Marine Corps."
Liu Hai laughed when he heard this. As long as it can be solved with money, it is not a big deal. "Sir, don't worry about the funds. I will write a letter to my old father-in-law after I go back. By then, the establishment and funds will be available."
"
Li Chengmou's eyes lit up after hearing this. Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, managed the richest place in the Qing Dynasty. He could find out the funds just by picking at the place. As for the establishment, it was really a trivial matter. It was just a word from Zeng Guoquan.