Liu Hai returned to the Qing Dynasty from modern times with a disappointed mood. Originally, this time he thought that relying on modern production equipment, he would be able to build a small industrial base.
Now it seems that the steps he has taken are still a bit big, and the current situation does not allow him to build an industrial production base of this scale.
By the time Liu Hai returned to the Qing Dynasty, the British company had already started construction of a shipyard on the saline-alkali land chosen by Liu Hai.
Since Liu Hai was very tight on time this time, they completed the construction of the shipyard in 1900.
Detailed reward and punishment measures are also stipulated. If the project cannot be completed on time, the British company will be subject to huge fines, but once the project is completed ahead of schedule, the British company can even receive a reward of 150,000 pounds.
This made the British company work hard. Inspired by money and capital, the whole company was like clockwork and stayed at the construction site day and night.
In the ten days since Liu Hai left, the construction site has now been completely leveled, and even the docks at the shipyard have begun construction.
After Liu Hai inspected the construction site, he was quite satisfied. After that, Liu Hai left it alone and handed over the entire matter to his staff Wang Jun.
When spring came and flowers bloomed, the Nanyang Navy, which went to Fuzhou Shipyard for maintenance and cleaning of attachments, also returned to its station at Wusongkou in Shanghai.
Liu Yu, as the temporary admiral of the fleet this time, immediately went to the admiral's house after the fleet returned and reported to Liu Hai the process of the fleet going south this time.
After listening to the other party's report, Liu Hai found that there was nothing unexpected, so he felt relieved.
However, he now thinks that Wusongkou Pier is already full. If six new cruisers return to China in the second half of the year, Wusongkou Pier may not be able to accommodate so many warships.
Moreover, in modern warfare, a fleet cannot have only one station, so Liu Hai thought of building another Nanyang Navy station in the south.
After discussing with Liu Yu and several other fleet leaders, they still believed that it was very necessary to build a separate naval station on Baodao.
Because it was a troubled time in Treasure Island, and the Japanese spied on it several times, otherwise the imperial court would have had to set up Treasure Island as a separate province and send strong men to guard it.
Another idea of Liu Hai is that if a base can be built in Taiwan, the Nanyang Navy can use this base as a basis in the future to control the waterways from Nanyang to East Asia, so as to keep the armies of the great powers out of the country.
However, he could not decide this matter alone, so Liu Hai went to Nanjing again, hoping that his father-in-law would come forward to apply to the court.
But when he arrived at the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion, he was greatly disappointed because his father-in-law fell ill and lay in bed again.
Under such circumstances, Liu Hai naturally could no longer disturb the old man, so he could only stay with the old man in the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion for a few days, fulfilling his filial piety, and then returned to Shanghai.
Liu Hai saw that Zeng Guoquan had no hope, so he had no choice but to file a memorial himself and explain to the court and Emperor Guangxu the necessity of building a naval base in Taiwan.
Liu Hai's memorial was quickly sent to Emperor Guangxu's desk.
Emperor Guangxu has just taken over the throne. Although his power is restricted, he can still see many things.
Therefore, Emperor Guangxu is now very diligent in his work. He goes to the Yangxin Hall almost at dawn to review the memorials, and only returns to the harem to sleep after dark.
On this day, he was bored and read some insignificant memorials in the Yangxin Hall. After all, Emperor Guangxu had just taken over the throne, and the military ministers did not trust him very much. All they showed him were trivial things.
When Emperor Guangxu was bored, he suddenly saw a memorial from Liu Hai, the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, at the bottom.
Originally, memorials submitted by important ministers like Liu Hai were usually sent to the Empress Dowager Cixi first, but this time, Minister of Military Aircraft Erhebu defied all opinions and sent this important memorial to Emperor Guangxu.
Just because the Minister of Military and Aircraft was somewhat loyal, he knew that Emperor Guangxu would not end well if things continued like this, so he wanted to win over some connections for Emperor Guangxu.
Now the Empress Dowager Cixi relied on Li Hongzhang, and the only person in the Qing Dynasty who could really fight against Li Hongzhang was the Hunan Army in Nanyang, and these happened to be the subordinates controlled by Liu Hai.
Therefore, during these days when the emperor is in charge of the emperor's personal rule, Shang Er and Bu should also deal with one or two important things. Otherwise, how can they grow?
Therefore, the other military ministers did not want to offend this dear man too much, so they sent Liu Hai's memorial to Emperor Guangxu.
Emperor Guangxu opened the memorial, looked at it carefully, and then fell into deep thought.
Although he said he was determined to govern, he was restrained by the Queen Mother. Isn't it because he had no one in the court and could not control the military power?
If you can control your bangs, you will be able to compete with the Empress Dowager Cixi in the future. Although you cannot fully regain your power, you can still control some real power.
But I couldn’t make this matter too obvious, so I wrote a few lines on the fold: Treasure Island is a key location along the Qing Dynasty’s coast. The Japanese invaded Taiwan many times before. Although Liu Mingchuan guarded it, it was not enough.
To ensure the safety of Taiwan, the Nanyang Navy set up a sub-base in Taiwan to protect Taiwan's wings and keep a close eye on it.
After Emperor Guangxu finished writing these few sentences, he took a long breath, and then folded it and put it aside. What he was thinking now was that after this memorial was sent out, Admiral Liu Hai of the Nanyang Navy would definitely know about it.
My own good intentions.
Besides, after Emperor Guangxu approved this memorial, it was sent to the Military Aircraft Department again. Others looked at the memorial in silence and looked at Prince Li Shiduo, the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department.
Prince Li Shiduo was the confidant of the Empress Dowager Cixi, so he had to go to the Empress Dowager Cixi to get help if he had nothing to do, not to mention such a big thing happened.
Therefore, Prince Li did not express his position at that time, but said to the people below: "Although the emperor has approved this matter, building a naval base is not a simple matter. It is just a waste of money. I think
Let’s discuss it with the Queen Mother and then make a decision.”
It can be said that the several military and aircraft ministers below are all the people of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Otherwise, they would not be able to become ministers of the military and aircraft department when the Empress Dowager Cixi was in power.
Although Erhebu said some good words to Emperor Guangxu, he did not think that the current Emperor Guangxu could support the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Now he was just giving Emperor Guangxu a trial, and he still thought that the real decision-maker was
Empress Dowager Cixi is more reliable.
So Prince Li Shiduo left the Military Aircraft Office with this memorial and went to Cining Palace to report it.
At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi was bored alone in the Cining Palace. Since Emperor Guangxu became upright, she had a lot less things to do. On the surface, she could enjoy her old age in peace, but a person who had held the power for so many years suddenly handed over the power.
Yes, it will make you feel better.
In addition, it was easy to get through a busy day, but now I feel relaxed every day. I sit there not knowing what to eat or drink.
Li Lianying, who was next to the Empress Dowager Cixi, looked at the Empress Dowager Cixi's moodiness and frowned a little. If the Empress Dowager was not taken care of well, if something went wrong, they and the people around the Empress Dowager would still have good harvests in the future.
So Li Lianying went up and said flatteringly: "The Queen Mother, Lafayette, I heard that there are several new plays coming out in Beijing these days. Why don't we invite a few theater troupes to come in and sing some plays to relieve our boredom."
"Isn't this all about loyal, dutiful, talented and beautiful ladies? I'm tired of hearing about it."
Li Lianying's mind turned away again. What ideas should he come up with to make Lafayette happy? Not to mention, Li Lianying had served Cixi for so many years, and she still had some suspicions about Cixi.
"Why don't you, Lafayette, bring the "Black Jade" to you for a look?"
"Black Baoyu" is a dog raised by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The Empress Dowager Cixi loves it very much. Whenever she has time, she will hold it close and want to fight.
Now after listening to Li Lianying's words, the Empress Dowager Cixi felt that there was nothing wrong with her and that playing with her would relieve their boredom, so she nodded.
As soon as Li Lianying heard Cixi's words, he hurriedly ordered the young eunuch beside him to go to the royal dog stable and bring Black Baoyu over.
Without even half a stick of incense, several more eunuchs carefully carried a small black dog into Cixi's room.
This little black dog is really cute. When he sees Ci Xi, he barks and his tail wags like a rattle.
Cixi's eyes narrowed in laughter as she looked at it. As soon as she raised her hand, the eunuch immediately picked up the little black dog and put it into Cixi's arms.
Cixi held the black jade in her arms, touching and kissing it. If it were any other dog, it would have been a little impatient now, but instead of being impatient, the black jade kept rubbing its head against the Empress Dowager Cixi.
This made the Empress Dowager Cixi even more happy. Holding the dog was like holding her son.
Just when the Empress Dowager Cixi was smiling a little, someone came from outside to report to Prince Shiduo and ask for an audience.
When the Empress Dowager Cixi heard that it was him who came to see her, the smile on her face became even brighter. As the head minister of the Military Aircraft Department, Shi Duo could have nothing to do when he came to her. It was just a matter in the court. It can be seen that the ministers in the court were still
I feel that I cannot live without myself as the Queen Mother.
But the Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't show it yet. She hugged the black jade and said a few words unhappily.
"What's going on? The Ai family has just had a few days of leisure, and now they come to visit again. Is there no one else in the Qing Dynasty who can take charge?"
Li Lianying next to her knew Cixi's mentality very well. Now that she heard the Empress Dowager Cixi pretending to complain, she quickly said: "There are so many things going on in the court, including foreigners and rebels. If they leave Lafayette, there will really be trouble.
Look, slave, they should invite Lafayette back again."