The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 598 Trivial matters before the war
Teng Yuzao said, "That's for sure. Both the left and right wings of Lushun could become the landing targets of the Japanese."

"Once the Japanese land near Lushun, they will surely quickly cut off the road and rail traffic between Lushun and Liaoyang and Fengtian. At that time, the Russian Pacific Fleet will be trapped, and they will not be able to repair these damaged warships."

As soon as the sky began to lighten dimly, more than forty large and small warships and torpedo boats on the sea began to make fires and prepare to set sail.

At this time, most of the ship's systems had to use steam engines, so they had to burn boilers, and the temperature of the boilers had to be gradually increased, so they had to be ignited before starting, and then wait for a long time before starting to sail.

The standard of Zeiss's high-power quasi-astronomical telescope is indeed extraordinary. Through the large-aperture observation mirror, the ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet on the sea are clearly visible. Not only can the harbingers of the warships be seen, but even the movements of the personnel on the warships can be distinguished clearly.

Although the airship that Teng Yuzhao mentioned was very large, it was thousands of meters in the air and had a blue-gray protective paint color, so it was completely invisible on the sea.

What's more, although there were planes at that time, they could only fly and would not pose any threat to people on the ground, and no one would pay attention to the scene in the air.

Even if someone discovered this airship, there would be no way to deal with it because the warships at that time did not have anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery.

Ye Zugui just hurriedly ate a few bites of bread and canned food produced by Zhendan Industrial Development Company, drank a bowl of ginseng soup, and then hurried to the observation mirror to carefully observe the situation on the warships of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.

Although he was very worried about Ye Zugui's health, Teng Yuzhao did not interfere with Ye Zugui's actions because he knew very well the inner feelings of this old Beiyang Navy general.

Ye Zugui said he was going to help several staff officers record the hull numbers of the Combined Fleet's warships, but in fact he was going to check on the Zhenyuan.

The Zhenyuan and the Zhiyuan, which Ye Zugui served as captain at the time, are sister ships of the same model, but one was built in Germany and the other in Britain. After the two warships were built, they returned to China together. Ye Zugui was the main person who received the warships and drove them back to Beiyang. He had strong feelings for the Zhenyuan.

Teng Yuzhao had just finished breakfast. Before the sun rose in the morning, the Combined Fleet had made a new move. The main force of the Combined Fleet sailed towards the Port of Lushun in a mighty manner.

Only an armored cruiser and a destroyer were separated from the fleet. These two warships did not follow the brigade to Lushun, but sailed to the southeast.

Under Teng Yuzhao's command, the airship followed the two warships at high altitude. As time went on, the two warships got closer and closer to the North Korean waters, and it had been confirmed that their target was Jemulpo Port.

Ye Zugui and Zuo Baotian could not help but admire Teng Yuzhao, but they still felt that the Japanese were a little too arrogant.

Because they only have two warships, if the Pacific Fleet has two or more warships in Jemulpo, it will be difficult for them to deal with them.

Teng Yuzao didn't think so. Although he knew very well that in history the Pacific Fleet only had one cruiser and one gunboat in Jemulpo at this time, he still had to find an excuse, so he simply didn't say much about it.

There was no wired telegraph connection between China and North Korea. Only Shanghai and Japan had submarine telegraph lines, and Japan and Seoul, North Korea had telegraph lines.

All telegrams between the Russians and the Tsarist Russian Consulate in Seoul had to be forwarded through Japan.

As far as Teng Yuzhao could remember, the Japanese no longer forwarded telegrams to the Russian Consulate in Seoul, which was still in the dark. The two Russian warships in Seoul and Jemulpo Port were still unaware that the Japanese had severed diplomatic relations with them.

After seeing the two warships merge with a fleet of six passenger ships escorted by four destroyers on the way, one of the four escorting destroyers broke away from the fleet and merged with the two warships that had just arrived, and then headed straight for Jemulpo, Ye Zugui and Zuo Baotian changed their minds.

Jemulpo Port is North Korea's main external port, with many civilian passenger and cargo ships docked there. However, the most eye-catching are the dozen or so warships docked in the port. By identifying their flags, it was discovered that there are not only warships from the great powers of Britain, the United States, Germany, France and Russia, but even a Japanese naval destroyer flying the Japanese naval flag.

Teng Yuzhao knew that this warship was sent by the Japanese Navy to monitor the two Russian Navy warships, the cruiser Varyag, also known as the Viking, and the gunboat Korean, of the Pacific Fleet that were docked in the port.

The three warships of the Combined Fleet that arrived did not enter the port, but stayed far outside the port. They only dropped a small boat and rowed into the port to board the Japanese destroyer.

Then someone got on the small boat again and rowed to the Varyag cruiser of the Pacific Fleet and climbed up the gangway.

Soon after, the Korean gunboat sailed out of the port and was immediately warned by three Japanese warships. The Korean gunboat had to flee back to the port in panic.

Afterwards, small boats kept shuttling back and forth between the warships of several powerful countries.

An hour later, the Varyag led the Korean out of the port, and the Japanese Navy destroyer in the port also started.

After the Varyag and the Korean left the port, they began to fire at the three Japanese ships that were blocking outside the port. The artillery fire from the three Japanese ships was so fierce that the Varyag and the Korean were soon set on fire, forcing them to flee back into the port.

Although the three Japanese ships were also hit, they did not catch fire. This was due to the Japanese Shimase gunpowder, while the Russians used ordinary explosives to fill their shells, so they naturally suffered a great disadvantage.

The Japanese Navy destroyer that followed out of the port did not participate in the battle, but just watched from the sidelines. When the Varyag and the Korean fled back to the port, it also followed back to the port.

However, this time the three warships did not dock at the pier, but patrolled the harbor continuously.

"it is good!"

Soon, Ye Zugui, who was occupying the observation mirror, cheered loudly.

Ye Zugui stood up and said in admiration, "Marshal, the Russians still have some courageous people! These two warships knew they couldn't escape, so they should have sunk themselves in the harbor by means of internal explosions."

Although Teng Yuzhao already knew the result, he still moved to the observation mirror on the side and leaned over the lens to watch.

Sure enough, thick smoke was coming out of the cabins of the two Pacific Fleet warships, and the hulls had begun to tilt, obviously indicating that an explosion had been carried out in the bottom warehouse.

Not far from the two warships, a dozen small boats filled with people were rowing desperately towards the dock.

Teng Yuzao stood up and called to Zuo Baotian, "Deren, come and take a look, and then we'll wait and see the Japanese landing." When Zuo Baotian rushed over to see the situation in Jemulpo Port, Teng Yuzao nodded to Ye Zugui.

"The Russians are similar to the Japanese. Many of them have a brutal and ruthless nature. Once they are forced into a desperate situation, they will take extraordinary actions and fight to the death."

"Now they still have a way to retreat, otherwise they will definitely fight to the death to rush out of the port."

"Marshal, do you mean they will return to Lushun on a merchant ship?" Ye Zugui asked.

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "Tong Hou, don't forget that although the Japanese are fighting without declaration, they are already in a state of war. How can the Japanese allow them to leave so easily? I estimate that they will take the land route, escape to the Yalu River, and enter Manchuria via Andong."

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "I just don't know whether the people in their consulate will run away with them."

It was very clear from the airship that after the two Pacific Fleet warships sank, a Japanese destroyer outside the port rushed back to the fleet, and then the entire Japanese fleet entered Jemulpo, and then nearly 6,000 Japanese ground troops came down from above. It was obvious that these were four battalions of the Japanese army, equivalent to a reinforced regiment.

After these Japanese troops quickly took control of the dock, only one thousand people were left at the dock and port area, and the rest of the troops quickly headed towards Seoul.

It was already the next morning when Teng Yuzhao's airship flew over Lushun. Ye Zugui, anxious to see a fierce and unusual naval battle, was impatient all the way. However, he was greatly disappointed when he saw that the Port of Lushun was full of ships of the Pacific Fleet and only a small number of warships were sailing at the port exit.

Teng Yuzao, who knew this well, smiled and said, "Tong Hou, it seems that the Russians are not ready to go out to sea to fight against the Japanese combined fleet. They just want to protect their port route."

Looking at the several Russian warships standing ready for battle near the port channel, Ku smiled and nodded.

"The Russians' goal is very simple. They probably just want to protect Zhu and his men's passage out of the port, and then preserve their strength in the port. Their idea is exactly the same as Li Zhongtang's back then!"

Teng Yuzao also smiled bitterly and said, "They are somewhat different from Li Zhongtang. Li Zhongtang was scared after being beaten, and he still fantasized that he could keep the remaining Beiyang Fleet in the port."

"Alekseyev should be waiting for their reinforcements to arrive, but he will be disappointed. Their reinforcements will definitely not arrive this year."

After returning to Tianjin, Teng Yuzao immediately plunged into intensive preparations for war. Every day he either inspected the troops of Liu Shijiu and Cao Futian who had advanced to Jinzhou, or checked the training situation of Li Xianze's troops in Shanhaiguan. Naturally, Teng Yuzao would not fall behind Liu Bingyi's Ninth Town, which had already taken charge of the coastal defense from Shanhaiguan to Cangzhou.

There are two places that Teng Yuzao visited most often. One is the shipyard owned by the Ordnance Department located on the seashore. Teng Yuzao would come here every ten days to half a month because new submarines developed in cooperation with the Germans were being produced here.

The other place is the airship manufacturing company in Yutian County.

Similarly, Teng Yuzao came here not only to inspect the production and improvement of the airship, because within this vast airship manufacturing company, there is also an aircraft research institute that has only recently appeared in the world.

Just as Teng Yuzhao was busy preparing for the war, a series of events happened in the country, which forced Teng Yuzhao to distract himself a little.

On January 21st, the court officially approved and promulgated the first law directly related to the establishment of a company, the "Company Law".

Two days after Japan officially declared war on Russia on February 10, the newly established Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the imperial court immediately announced that if the Russo-Japanese War broke out, the imperial court would strictly maintain neutrality.

This news immediately caused an uproar in the country. Not only the newspapers in Tianjin, but also newspapers in Shanghai, Hankou, Guangzhou and other places published a large number of fierce comments. Many comments pointed out that in the face of a war on its own territory, the court actually declared to remain neutral, which was unprecedented and a great shame for the court!
There were even many articles calling for Teng Yuzhao of Zhili to take the lead in leading his troops out of the country to join the war and drive the Russians out of the three northeastern provinces in order to eliminate the Japanese excuse to enter the Northeast.

Later, Morrison, a reporter for The Times in Tianjin, revealed that the so-called neutrality was suggested by Yuan Shikai to the imperial court.

As soon as this news was disclosed, public opinion was immediately directed towards Yuan Shikai, and he was immediately cursed at in the country, causing Yuan Shikai to lose face and unable to leave his governor's office in Kaifeng for several days.

However, neither the imperial court, Yuan Shikai, nor Teng Yuzao commented on all the comments.

Just when the domestic debate on the Russo-Japanese War was in full swing, several pieces of news reported by Li Yaoting aroused Teng Yuzhao's ideas.

First, on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the Huaxing Society was established in Changsha, and the "Eastern Magazine" of the Commercial Press in Shanghai was launched. Secondly, British, German, French, and American officials and businessmen in Shanghai, as well as Jiangsu Chang, Zhentonghaidao Governor Lu Haihuan, and Prince's Guardian Sheng Xuanhuai jointly established the Shanghai International Red Cross to rescue Chinese gentry and businessmen on the battlefield.

There is no need to say much about the Huaxing Society. Teng Yuzhao was very clear that although it would be disbanded soon, the impact it brought was definitely something the Qing court could not bear.

Teng Yuzao even asked Li Yaoting to send someone to keep an eye on the Huaxing Society. He wanted to use this organization to fuel the flames and realize his dream.

The Oriental Magazine published by Shanghai Commercial Press, although initially an abstract publication, collected current news and various messages from newspapers and periodicals, and had 15 columns including editorials, imperial edicts, internal affairs, military affairs, diplomacy, education, industry, and novels.

However, he strives to comprehensively, objectively and accurately reflect the latest information on domestic and international politics, economy, culture, education, military and other aspects. Soon after its publication, it attracted widespread attention and popularity.

Since it is the longest-running large-scale periodical in modern China and contains a wealth of records, Teng Yuzhao even believes that this magazine has played a very important role in enlightening the Chinese people's thinking.

As for the Red Cross Society, it was the predecessor of the Chinese Red Cross Society.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce sent Pang Yuanji to run the Shanghai Machine Papermaking Co., Ltd., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested permission to open three commercial ports outside the city of Jinan, Weixian and Zhoucun, and the opening of the Jiaoji Railway. The people of Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong demanded the abolition of the "Guangdong-Hankou Railway Loan Contract" signed between the court and the American China Combination Company, and the Qing court signed a one-year contract with British merchants to exploit the Tongguanshan Mine in Anhui, etc.

In the end, it was the things Li Yaoting and Xi Ligong reported to him about the Tianjin Stock Exchange that forced Teng Yuzao to temporarily terminate his schedule to focus on matters related to preparations for war.

Li Yaoting reported that Yikuang had been frequently in and out of the British and Japanese consulates recently, and it was reported that this was most likely related to Tianjin.

The stock exchange situation reported by Xi Ligong made Teng Yuzao suddenly alert.

The stock market would not only affect the financing of merchants, but if there was any chaos, it would also seriously disrupt the finance of Zhili. On the eve of a huge war, anything that might affect his purse was absolutely not allowed to happen.
(End of this chapter)