Tang Jian said goodbye to Zhang Zhidong and began to prepare to return to the south. Tang Jian stayed in the south for almost half a year. When Tang Jian returned to Weihaiwei, Shandong, it was already early winter. At this time, the south was still as warm as summer, but As soon as you enter the north, you can obviously feel the slight chill, and it is no longer suitable to wear single clothes like in the south.
This time Tang Jian did not go north by land, but took a British merchant ship to go north accompanied by Lee Gates and Tian Aden. Baft stayed in the south to help Zhang Zhidong and others co-organize the factory, and got The condition for Baf¨¦t's help is that Tang Jian owns 2% of the shares in each assisted factory. Although these are not many, the emphasis is on quantity. If you accumulate less, you will make more. With capital, Baf¨¦t will be able to invest in Tang Jian's shares. With the support of Tang Jian, he also started to set up steelmaking and shipbuilding factories in the south. In just over half a year, Tang Jian became rich.
Starting from Fuzhou, after a journey of more than ten days, Tang Jian and others finally returned to Weihaiwei Port one morning.
After the last war, Weihaiwei was quickly repaired and expanded with the strong support of Tang Jian, but it can still be seen that the war caused huge damage to the Qing naval base.
With the intervention of the Qing Dynasty and other powers, those captured Beiyang Navy soldiers began to be slowly released by Japan and returned to the Weihai Guard Port.
However, at this time, the Weihaiwei Port no longer had the majestic Beiyang Navy fleet a year ago. There was only one "Zhenyuan" with the main gun, broadside and torpedo room removed, and some hulls. The warships are riddled with bullet marks, giving people the impression of being dilapidated and depressed.
However, the Beiyang Navy, which lost half of its value in the First Sino-Japanese War, now only has nearly a thousand experienced officers and soldiers left. It was these one thousand people. Tang Jian saw hope and saw that the original Beiyang had not disappeared.
After these thousands of Beiyang officers and soldiers were released and returned to China, they used more than a dozen dilapidated warships to practice day and night at the port of Weihaiwei, hoping that one day they could avenge their humiliation.
There was heavy fog on the sea in the early morning, and the sun had not risen so early. When Tang Jian's ship sailed into Weihaiwei, he saw a thousand officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Navy driving dilapidated warships practicing on the sea. Come to connect with the sound of cannons and bugles. Seeing this scene, Tang Jian felt warm in his heart. The Beiyang Navy was not as useless as history said. They all had the patriotism of people like Deng Shichang in their bones.
Tang Jian took a barge to Liugong Island and came to the Beiyang Naval Academy, where Deng Shichang last commanded the battle.
When the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Navy heard that the new naval admiral had come to Weihaiwei, they all ended their morning training and came to Liugong Island to accept the review of the new naval admiral.
It turns out that the Beiyang Navy's commanders, apart from sinking with the ship, committed suicide and sacrificed their lives for the country. The remaining ones were the "Kangji" gunboat commander Sa Zhenbing, the "Guangbing" torpedo cruiser commander Cheng Biguang, the "Pingyuan" coastal defense cruiser Li He, "Jiyuan" dome-armored cruiser commander Fang Boqian (Tang Jian begged for mercy, Fang Boqian was not beheaded for escaping from battle like in history. There were almost ten commanders, and only about 900 officers and soldiers were left.
During the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Navy suffered heavy losses in both ships and personnel.
Tang Jian stood on the podium in front of the Naval Academy gate, looking at the dense and longing eyes of nearly a thousand people below, and said: "I know everyone is not feeling well! But I am here to lead everyone. Here¡¯s some good news, good news that can revive our Beiyang Navy and become the number one fleet in Asia!¡±
There was a throb among the thousands of people, and many people were chattering and whispering. Tang Jian was once the first mate of the "Zhiyuan", and everyone in the Beiyang Navy was familiar with him.
He sank the Japanese ship "Yoshino" with a self-made torpedo, led a dozen people to the Japanese headquarters, fought with the envoys of the great powers, took back Liaodong, negotiated with Japan, redeemed the captured navy and "Zhenyuan", and went to the southeast to start an industry. , it seems that miracles are happening to this young naval admiral every moment.
When they heard this sentence, everyone who was a member of the Beiyang Navy could not forget the humiliation suffered by the Beiyang Navy, and they all recalled the good times of the first fleet in Asia, but all this happened just half a year ago. As the flagship "Dingyuan" sank in the cold waters of Weihaiwei.
Tang Jian cleared his throat, and the thousands of people below immediately stopped talking and looked at the new naval admiral in front of them with eager eyes.
Tang Jian said generously: "The Qing Dynasty has customized more than 30 large and small warships from Germany, Britain, the United States and other countries, including more than 10 destroyers comparable to the world's advanced level, and more than 20 other ships. In addition, we At our own expense, we will send nearly a thousand students from the new school to learn experience on the warships of Britain, Germany, and France. After two years, they will return to China and we will work together to revitalize the Beiyang Navy!"
"Finally, I will recruit people on the shipThe Shang Bureau personally designed and built the Qing Dynasty's own battleships. Please believe me, in the near future, our Beiyang Navy fleet will once again become the number one in Asia. Not only will it become the number one in Asia, it will also be proud of all other countries in the world. We must sail across the oceans and revive the might of our navy! "
The nearly a thousand Beiyang Navy below were stunned for a moment, and then after hearing Tang Jian's touching words, they couldn't help but take off their hats and cheer, as if the revitalization of the Beiyang Navy was just around the corner.
Tang Jian waved his hand to silence everyone and said: "Salute to our heroic Beiyang Navy brothers who died in battle, and to Navy Admiral Deng Shichang, Commander Liu Buchan, Yang Yonglin and others who would rather die than surrender!"
At this time, Tang Jian took the lead in performing a military salute, and nearly a thousand naval officers and soldiers in the audience also performed a military salute solemnly. At this moment, a flag was raised on a flagpole on the school field in the distance.
Tang Jian pointed to the flag over there and said loudly: "This is our new flag, and from now on, we are officially called the Beiyang Navy!"
As the solemn music arranged by Tang Jian sounded, a bright red flag slowly rose from the flagpole on the school ground. The blood-red background was also a giant yellow dragon, but it held a small dragon in its mouth. A giant sword and a few langhua flowers next to the flag symbolize the sea. The giant yellow dragon holding the giant sword seems to be rising from the blood-red flag into the sky!
The Tang family continued: "This is the flag that symbolizes the blood stained red by our brothers in the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War. Our Beiyang Navy must regain its glory, turn into an ocean dragon, and use powerful artillery fire as a sword! Guard our Qing Dynasty. The vast sea territory, if Japanese ships invade our sea again, the Beiyang Navy will definitely use their swords to drive away the Japanese and strengthen our Yanhuang power!"
Thousands of people in the audience shouted: "Strengthen my power of Yanhuang! Strengthen my power of Yanhuang!"
Tang Jian nodded with satisfaction! The new Beiyang Navy will definitely grow in my hands, Tang Jian. Brother Chang, don¡¯t worry! I, Tang Jian, will definitely avenge you and the more than a thousand brothers of the Beiyang Navy who died.
PS: Today¡¯s first update! There will be three updates today!