Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 221 Warship
ps: Thanks to classmate Pangdian and book friend 20171110201052903 for their rewards and support!

"Knock him down! Knock him down!" Jiannian looked at Chen Shiding who was in an advantageous position on the stage and said excitedly while waving his fist.

"I have never seen Brother Chen fight before, I never thought that he is so skilled! Brother Chen, I will definitely win this competition!"

On the open ground, the tall foreigner attacked first, hitting Chen Shiding's face with his right hand, but the opponent dodged it flexibly by leaning sideways. After dodging the opponent's attack, Chen Shiding stretched out his hands forward, using the inertia of the opponent's punch to lock his right hand. At the same time, he stretched out his right leg, exerted force on his upper body and shoulders, grabbed the tall foreigner with both hands and dragged him forward suddenly.

"Bang", the tall foreigner's lower legs were tripped by Chen Shiding's outstretched right leg, and his upper body drifted forward rapidly under the drag of the other party, and finally fell heavily to the ground.

A true contest usually decides the winner in a very short time. Chen Shiding was taught martial arts by Wang Zhengyi himself, but he did not inherit the other's tolerant and loyal character. After the tall foreigner fell to the ground, Chen Shiding stood up and stepped forward, pressing his right leg hard on the tall foreigner's back, lifting the opponent's left hand in the opposite direction and holding it, and pressing his head to the ground with his right hand. Ignoring the other's screams, he shouted in Chinese, "Do you accept it or not? Do you accept it or not!"

Chen Shiding completed his action in just one minute. Before the foreigners who were watching could react, the tall foreigner they supported had been pinned to the ground by Chen Shiding.

The tall foreigner's two companions were standing in front of the crowd. When they saw their companion being knocked to the ground by others, they instinctively wanted to go up to help, but were stopped by Chen Shiyi, Yang Jiannian and others.

"Shi Ding. Just teach him a lesson. This is Germany. Don't make a big deal out of it."

Chen Shiding used his right hand to press the tall foreigner's head to the ground, causing it to collide violently with the ground, when Wang Zhengyi reminded him.

"Yes, master."

After following Wang Zhengyi to learn martial arts for three years, Chen Shiding was very familiar with his personality, so he recognized Wang Zhengyi's voice. Chen Shiding reluctantly let go of the tall foreigner, threw out an insulting Chinese word that the tall foreigner could not understand, and walked away towards Wang Zhengyi.

"Master, when did you come?"

"Just arrived."

Wang Zhengyi uttered two words, and when he saw the tall foreigner being helped up by his two companions, he turned his gaze to Chen Shiding and praised him with rare praise, "You did a good job today and did not bring shame to Wuyi Hall."

"It's all master who teaches me well."

Chen Shiding answered with a smile, and then introduced the people who came over to Wang Zhengyi, "Master, this is my classmate Yang Jiannian, and this is my second brother Chen Shiyi..."

Wang Zhengyi had met Chen Shituan several times, so Chen Shiding did not introduce him again, but introduced them one by one starting from Yang Jiannian.

"Master, this is Tanaka Miaotaro. He is a very good doctor and has treated my injuries before."

When Chen Shiding introduced Tanaka Miaotaro, the other party bowed solemnly to Wang Zhengyi and said respectfully, "Master Wang is a martial arts expert. The story of you defeating two foreign strongmen is widely known among the overseas students in Berlin. Tanaka is honored to have the opportunity to see Master Wang in person today."

Wang Zhengyi was most proud of defeating the two German strongmen who came to challenge him. Hearing Tanaka Miaotaro's praise, Wang Zhengyi smiled and said, "It's just a lesson for two foreigners. It's not worth mentioning."

"The foreigners have always bullied the Japanese and the Qing people. Your Excellency and Mr. Chen's public defeat of the foreigners not only boosted the morale of the East Asians, but also proved that the East Asians are not the lowly yellow monkeys that the foreigners and the evil beasts say they are. Your Excellency deserves Sato's respect."

After Tanaka Mietarou finished speaking, Sato Naoya, who looked a little embarrassed, spoke up to express his gratitude.

"Sato-kun comes from a samurai family?"

As the few people were introducing each other, Huang Yurun, who had been observing Sato Naoya and Tanaka Mietarou, suddenly spoke.

Sato Naoya looked down at the samurai crest that was exposed outside his clothes due to the conflict just now, and replied: "My father was a samurai of the Mizusawa domain, and this crest is the token of the patriarch of the Sato family. In March 1876, my father died of illness, and my mother handed the crest to Shigeya. After studying in Germany, Naoya has been carrying the crest with him." "Sato-kun was born into a samurai family. It must have been very difficult for him to get the opportunity to study in Germany, right?"

"With the recommendation of Lord Takahashi, Naoya was selected from the Kyoto Military Academy last year to study abroad at the Berlin Military Academy to study engineering subjects."

Huang Yurun asked Sato Naoya several questions in succession and only ended the conversation with Sato Naoya when the local police arrived and dispersed the onlookers.

"Brother Huang, why do you keep asking questions to that Japanese guy named Sato Naoya?"

After separating from the three Chen brothers and others and returning to Wuyi Hall, Wang Zhengyi asked.

"I asked Sato Naoya not because I value him as a person, but because I want to understand the Japanese through him."

"Haha, when did Mr. Huang become interested in the Japanese?"

Wang Zhengyi laughed and felt that Huang Yurun's answer was ridiculous.

China has always looked down on the Japanese since ancient times. In 1878, although Japan had carried out the Meiji Restoration for ten years, because the national strength was still developing, in the eyes of traditional Chinese such as Wang Zhengyi, Japan was still the backward and ignorant small country it used to be.

"Brother Wang, although the country of Japan is small, its population is nearly ten times that of the Han country. Before I went to Germany, the masters of the Military Intelligence Department assigned me a task, and one of the tasks was to observe the activities of the Japanese in Germany, the British Empire and other Western countries."

Concerned about the possible harm that might result from concentrating intelligence agencies in one department, Li Mingyuan split the intelligence agencies into two departments: the Military Intelligence Department and the Royal Security Department.

The Military Intelligence Department was responsible for collecting military intelligence from overseas countries and was affiliated with the General Staff of the Han Kingdom. The Royal Security Department was responsible for local defense and counterintelligence and was directly under the leadership of Li Mingyuan. The Taiping Society was affiliated with the General Staff and was responsible for developing influence among overseas Chinese as the Han Kingdom's peripheral intelligence agency.

"Brother Huang, did you find anything from the Japanese?"

As soon as Wang Zhengyi finished speaking, he thought of Huang Yurun's identity and apologized, "Brother Huang is in charge of confidential information. I just made a slip of the tongue and shouldn't have asked for information at random. Brother Huang, please bear with me."

"I dare not disclose any of the important intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department, but I can discuss with Brother Wang some public information about Japan."

Wang Zhengyi is the owner of Wuyi Hall, and Huang Yurun needs his cover and assistance in gathering intelligence. Therefore, Huang Yurun does not want to create a rift between the two because of some trivial matters.

"In 1873, Japan incorporated Ryukyu into its internal affairs. In 1875, Japan stationed troops in Ryukyu and ordered it to follow the Japanese Meiji era and stop paying tribute to the Qing government. In 1876, Japan established police and judicial institutions in Ryukyu and directly ruled the area.

Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. The fact that Ryukyu fell into the hands of the Japanese was, on the one hand, because the Qing Dynasty was incompetent and did not send troops to stop the Japanese actions. On the other hand, it also showed that the Japanese had accumulated a certain amount of strength after the Meiji Restoration and were no longer afraid of the threats of the Qing Dynasty.

Huang Yurun introduced Japan's expansion in the Far East in recent years, and then said, "At the beginning of this year, the three ironclad ships ordered by the Japanese from Britain were all completed and will soon be driven back to the Far East by the Japanese Navy. By then, Japan's maritime power in the Far East will be greatly strengthened, and the maritime situation in the Far East will also change in favor of Japan.

Brother Wang, the Far East is the main region for obtaining immigrants in China. In your opinion, if the Japanese have a maritime advantage in the Far East, what impact will it have on the immigration activities of the Han Dynasty? "

"A few years ago, Li Zhongtang established the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai and built several gunboats. In addition, at the beginning of this year, Li Zhongtang sent a group of officials to negotiate with foreigners about the purchase of ironclad ships. When Li Zhongtang and foreigners reach an agreement to purchase warships and drive the warships back to the coastal areas of Jiangnan, the Japanese navy warships should be no match for Li Zhongtang's navy."

Starting from 1876, at the suggestion of Li Hongzhang, the Qing government began to consider purchasing Western warships. A group of Manchu officials arrived in Europe with the first group of diplomatic officials and conducted a warship inspection with great fanfare, making preliminary preparations for the large-scale purchase of ironclad ships. It was during the Qing government's trend of purchasing warships that Wang Zhengyi heard the news after seeing more than a dozen Manchu officials who went to Germany for inspection.

(End of this chapter)