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Text Chapter 472: Unkind Invitation

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    "There is another way." Lin Yizhe said another plan of his. "After the two ships 'Yuan Kai' and 'Deng Yingzhou' are launched and the slipway is vacated, and the money for Kaiji has not arrived, we can first  To build inland river gunboats, these gunboats are smaller in size, simpler in craftsmanship, and faster to build. However, the imperial court issued several "Dingguo Shizhao" orders to all provinces to stop building sailboats and switch to steamships. Each province needed a lot of them, and the private sector  There are also those who want to buy more of these gunboats, and they can make a lot of money. They can use the profits to build larger ships and turn around easily. " "It turns out that Kun Yu had already planned it." Ding Richang nodded after hearing Lin Yizhe's words.  , expressed his approval. He looked at Lin Yizhe's confident look and asked with a smile, "Did Kunyu even design the style of this inland gunboat?" "Sure enough, I can't hide it from Brother Yusheng." Lin Yizhe took the paper with a smile.  With the pen, Ding Richang started drawing roughly on the table.  Just like the armored cruiser "Kaiji" was selected from the French "Dujutulouin", the two gunboats given by Lin Yizhe were also selected from models equipped by the French Navy.  The gunboats of the French Navy in the 19th century were marked by a displacement of 250 tons and were divided into upper and lower categories.  Gunboats over 250 tons are mainly positioned to perform cruise operations and are called ocean-going gunboats. They can go to distant seas alone or with other warships.  Gunboats under 250 tons are positioned for activities in inland rivers or coasts and are called inshore gunboats.  Since the combat environment of China's new gunboats is set to be inland rivers, the two types of gunboats named "Luoxing" and "Qingzhou" class gunboats are small inshore gunboats under 250 tons, and both are iron-hulled warships.  The "Luo Xing" class draws lessons from the French "Axe" class (the French Navy's practice of naming gunboats after the names of useful weapons, such as the "Carbine", "Javelin", "Turkish Scimitar" and other gunboats of the French Navy's Southern Detachment).  All belong to the "Big Ax" class), with a displacement of only 95 tons, a length of 27 meters, a width of 4.8 meters, a draft of 1.3 meters, a speed of 7-8 knots, and a 75mm Krupp gun (ordered from Lin Yizhe's visit to Germany  After one hundred 75mm guns, another 400 guns of the same type were imported), two 40mm Hotchkiss five-barreled machine guns, and two Lin machine guns.  The "Qingzhou" class is smaller than the "Luoxing" class, with a displacement of 80 tons, a length of 23 meters, a width of 4 meters, and a draft of 1.2 meters.  Equipped with three 40mm Hotchkiss five-barreled cannon and three Lin machine guns.  These two types of gunboats did not adopt the French practice of "small boats carrying big guns", and their appearance was also different from the mosquito boats.  From a practical perspective, the French inland river gunboats have a fatal flaw, that is, these ships operating in inland rivers with very little room for maneuver do not have any close-defense rapid-fire artillery. Once in the inland river, they fall into an ambush laid on the shore.  The fate is very worrying.  The armed equipment of "Luo Xing" and "Qingzhou" focus on close-combat rapid-fire weapons. They are undoubtedly more powerful than French gunboats when faced with low-armed bandits.  "Kun Yu is really smart. This is the method of 'building a ship with a ship'. Brother Yu should implement it immediately." Ding Richang couldn't help but be overjoyed after seeing the design sketch drawn by Lin Yizhe. He had been in charge of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration for many years, although he later left.  But he has always paid attention to its development and operation. When the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration was in financial difficulties, he was as worried as Li Hongzhang. Lin Yizhe gave Li Hongzhang the idea of ??building a small steamer to assist shipping, which brought the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration back to life.  Ding Richang also heard about it and wrote to Li Hongzhang specifically to ask for details.  But this time after hearing Lin Yizhe's idea, he immediately realized that it was feasible.  Ding Richang had a quick temper, so he immediately discussed the relevant details with Lin Yizhe.  Lin Yizhe didn't want to disturb the sick Ding Richang's rest, so after talking with him for a while, he planned to leave.  At this moment, Lin Fu, a trusted servant, led by the housekeeper of Ding Richang's house, quickly came to Ding Richang's bedroom.  Seeing that Lin Fu obviously came to Ding Richang's house to look for him, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but feel a little strange.  Lin Fu first saluted Ding Richang, and then came to Lin Yizhe.  A telegram was handed to him.  "My lord, there is a telegram from the imperial court, ordering you to come to Beijing immediately to deal with the aftermath of the Yunnan case." Lin Yizhe nodded calmly.  I took the telegram and read it carefully.  The content of the telegram was not long. It said that the British had replaced the minister to China and asked Lin Yizhe to come to Beijing immediately to deal with the aftermath of the Yunnan case and make another appointment.  After Lin Yizhe read the telegram, he did not avoid Ding Richang, but showed the telegram to Ding Richang to read.  "The imperial court has other appointments?" Ding Richang said with some worry, "Who in the capital is chewing the beans behind your back? The court changed its mind and found an excuse to remove your minister of sea management?" "Someone is chewing the beans?  It is certain, but it may not be able to move us." Lin Yizhe did not tell Ding Richang about Baoting. "It probably won't happen if he is removed from office, but he may send me out for a walk, haha." After hearing Lin Yizhe's words, Ding Richang thought of Qingliu Shen before.  Impeachment of Lin Yizhe, Li Hongzhang and other feudal officials for "forming cliques" and "fascist towns"Son, I couldn't help but feel angry again.  "Kunyu had better be careful, and don't fall for the way of starting Qingliu." Ding Richang said, "If we really send you on an envoy, I'm afraid they will deal with you the same way they dealt with Guo Yunxian. And.  When you are on a mission, it is not easy to distinguish, and you will always suffer." "It doesn't matter, now we have a telegram," Lin Yizhe smiled and said, "And it's not bad to just go for a walk. The court now needs a great water master.  "There are very few shipbuilding factories in our country. If you want to build an army quickly, there is no better way than to buy ships. If you really go out, you can visit all the Western countries and buy the best ones." "That's true," Ding Richang nodded.  Suddenly he said, "Kunyu, we hit it off right away. I have a heartfelt request, and I hope Kunyu can help me." "Brother Yusheng, it's okay to say it. As long as Brother Yu can do it, I won't refuse." Lin Yizhe immediately replied.  "That's it. Brother Yu's seventh brother Risheng's daughter, whose nickname is Luhua, was lost at the dock a few years ago. Kunyu has extensive overseas connections and has relatives and friends. Can you help inquire about her whereabouts?" Ding Richang thought of the past.  A trace of sadness flashed in his eyes.  "How could such a thing happen?" Lin Yizhe was surprised and hurriedly asked, "How did Ling's niece get lost?" "The reason is hard to explain in one sentence!" Ding Richang seemed unwilling to recall this painful past, he sighed.  He replied succinctly, "A servant once reported that he saw her on the pier. She was carried on a ship to England by a man she didn't know very well. Kunyu has relatives and friends in England, can you help me?  Let¡¯s find out what this woman looks like. I¡¯ll ask my family to send her a portrait. It turns out that she is a twin sister, and she looks exactly the same. The younger sister is still alive. It¡¯s best to have her portrait.  Lin Yizhe said, "Brother Yusheng, don't worry, this matter will be taken care of by Yudi." "Thank you very much Kunyu!" Ding Richang said with tears in his eyes.  Lin Yizhe saw Ding Richang's excited expression and understood immediately.  It turns out that Ding Richang in historical time and space became a pioneer in advocating the protection of Chinese nationals overseas.  In the general impression of later generations, Ding Richang was a reform-minded politician in modern China and a practical practitioner of the Westernization Movement.  But what is not known is that he gained a new understanding of overseas Chinese while handling foreign affairs and foreign negotiations, and earlier put forward a series of suggestions and measures to value, care for and protect overseas Chinese.  Many of them were adopted by the Qing government, and he was a pioneer who played an indispensable role in protecting overseas Chinese.  Ding Richang¡¯s idea of ??protecting overseas Chinese first stems from his understanding that the economic power of overseas Chinese has grown rapidly, which is conducive to China¡¯s ¡°self-improvement and prosperity.¡±  Since the 19th century, the development of the capitalist economy around the world has provided development conditions for the diligent, thrifty and shrewd overseas Chinese. The gap between the Western colonists and the indigenous people has given them a good opportunity for development. After several generations of efforts, by the late 19th century the overseas Chinese had  With considerable economic power.  The first to realize the strength of overseas Chinese were some coastal local officials related to "Westernization".  In July of the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866).  Jiang Yifeng, the governor of Guangdong, reported: "In mainland Fujian and Guangdong and other provinces, there are not many people who go overseas to do business. There are about 100,000 people from the mainland in Singapore, more than 200,000 people in the new and old San Francisco, and tens of thousands in Penang and Galapa.  "People." He asked the imperial court to "send envoys to various places to contact Jiwei so that the relationship between the superiors and subordinates can be communicated, and the energy inside and outside can be gathered."  Subsequently.  Ding Richang, who "was born into poverty, started in a prefecture or county, was known to the people as a hermit, and grew up in the hometown of overseas Chinese in Guangdong," pointed out that "there are people from Fujian and Guangdong. There are about 30,000 people in Siam and Luzon who go overseas to do business as servants."  There are also about 20,000 to 30,000 people. There are about 20,000 people in Galapa, hundreds of thousands of people in Singapore, and about 89,000 people in Penang. There are about 200,000 to 300,000 people in New and Old San Francisco"  It was recommended that the Qing court "select envoys cleverly and station them in various countries, or send one envoy to several countries, or send one envoy to each country."  He also stated that the role of envoys could be to "connect China's sentiments", so Chinese people who went abroad must be in love with their hometown, so that "China would get more help."  Although a few local governors expressed their opposition to sending envoys, due to the strong approval of the Westernization leaders Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and others, as well as the pressure and inducement of Western powers, the Prime Minister's Yamen finally decided to send envoys overseas, but there were no candidates.  It took a lot of trouble to solve the problem.  At that time, traditional concepts still deeply influenced most Qing officials.  Many of them disdain diplomacy and even view missions to foreign countries as a daunting prospect.  In 1875, Guo Songtao was appointed as China's minister to Britain. His friends Li Henian and Feng Yuji strongly advised him not to go to the "barbarian country".  Westernization officials worried that China lacked talents to serve as envoys.  Regarding the issue of candidates, Ding Richang had unique insights. He said in the "Coastal Defense Regulations" that foreign-related talents "as long as they can handle the difficulties of the current situation, there is no need to review the qualifications."  In the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868), Ding Richang had a unique insight and recommended Li Fengbao, who was a scholar, to Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, and suggested that Li Fengbao be sent to accompany Rong Hong on foreign inspections.  In the first year of Guangxu, Ding Richang recommended Li Fengbao to serve as an envoy to foreign countries.  Li Fengbao arrived one after anotherHe served in the United States and the United Kingdom, and later served as acting minister to Germany and minister to Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands, becoming a leader in the diplomatic community at that time.  In addition, Ding Richang also set his sights on overseas Chinese in selecting talents. "The current Russian consul in Singapore is Hu Xuanze, a native of Panyu, China. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Singapore are under the orders of Hu." He suggested that the Qing government contact the overseas Chinese consul in Singapore.  Hu Xuanze served as the consul and specifically proposed the plan of using local overseas Chinese consuls as consuls abroad to solve the problem of lack of people "worthy of this choice".  Later, Chen Shanqian (the first acting consul of Little Luzon), Zhang Zhenxun (deputy consul of Penang and consul general of Singapore), Zhang Yunan (deputy consul of Penang) and other overseas Chinese consuls from the local overseas Chinese community became consuls.  Ding Richang was very concerned about the fate of overseas Chinese abroad.  During the late Qing Dynasty, there were millions of overseas Chinese, ranging from Southeast Asia to North and South America, Africa, Australia, and all over the world.  At that time, China's "Chinese people living abroad were often discouraged by their power and were despised by people from other countries." They eagerly hoped that the Qing Dynasty could send personnel to protect them.  The Qing government not only did not care about the overseas Chinese, but also took precautions against them.  Ding Richang broke away from stereotypes and directly expressed his thoughts on protecting overseas Chinese.  In 1867, when he responded to the Prime Minister's Yamen's question about dispatching envoys, he suggested that the Qing government "set up a municipal shipping department to go to various places with Chinese residents to manage Chinese people" to protect and contact overseas Chinese.  For the first time, it was clearly proposed to establish institutions similar to Western consulates overseas to manage Chinese people.  Ding Richang's suggestion of setting up a consulate introduced by an envoy was not immediately adopted by the court.  It was not until 1877 that Ding Richang, echoing Guo Songtao who was serving as minister in London, finally urged the Qing government to establish China's first overseas consulate in Singapore, allowing the Chinese government to act in accordance with international practices in the nineteenth century and to establish offices in places with a large number of overseas Chinese.  Establish consulates to protect the interests of expatriates.  By the time of the Qing's fall, the Qing government had established 45 consulates in more than 20 countries.  In the first year of Guangxu (1875), Ding Richang was appointed Minister of Shipping in Fuzhou.  It is proposed to send armored ships to patrol overseas to comfort and protect overseas Chinese. "China's ocean is the widest. At present, armored ships of all sizes rarely need number 10. In the future, it will be possible to create few that need number 30, which can be used to defend seaports and travel around the world."  The continent protects the Chinese.¡± The first Chinese naval warship to patrol the Southeast Asia was the ¡°Yangwei¡± warship of the Fujian Shipyard.  Arriving in Singapore at the end of 1876, he aroused an enthusiastic response from the Chinese community.  Since 1876, the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing Dynasty has visited Nanyang Chinatown five times. Wherever the warships of the motherland visited, it caused a sensation in the overseas Chinese community. "Everyone in the sea corner was delighted to see the flag of the motherland. They cheered on their foreheads and thundered with joy."  The first time the Qing Dynasty seriously engaged in diplomatic protection of overseas Chinese began with its negotiations on the incidents of Chinese workers in Cuba and Peru.  Overseas Chinese in Cuba and Peru continued to report to the Qing Dynasty, describing the horrific conditions of abuse.  In 1874, the Qing Dynasty Prime Minister's Office for International Affairs sent Chen Lanbin, Rong Hong and others to Cuba and Peru to investigate the abuse of Chinese workers, collect various testimonies and complaints, and then negotiate with the Peruvian and Spanish governments.  On the issue of selecting representatives for negotiation, Li Hongzhang reported that "Ding Richang is familiar with foreign affairs and can operate everything according to the situation" and "has always been respected by foreigners."  I highly recommend Ding Richang as the contract exchange representative.  Ding Richang negotiated with Ellemore, the Peruvian representative, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the first year of Guangxu (August 7, 1875). Ding Richang informed the Peruvian government that "the abuses of harsh treatment of Chinese workers in the past should be eliminated and handled in accordance with special treaties and peace treaties."  "The Chinese workers' property and assets must be strictly protected to show their loyalty." Peru replied: "The Chinese people are our own servants. Our country is determined to protect them and will not tolerate any injustice in order to eliminate all disadvantages for the Chinese workers."  , so that everyone can live in peace." Later, the Qing government signed the "Chinese Workers in Cuba Clause" with Cuba.  The "China-Peru Conference Treaty" and the "China-Peru Commerce Treaty" were signed with the Peruvian government. In these treaties, there are clauses specifically protecting Chinese workers. Since then, the situation of overseas Chinese in Cuba and Peru has been greatly improved.  In the process of handling the Cuban incident, Ding Richang gained a deeper understanding of the difficult situation of overseas Chinese. When he was the governor of Fujian, he reported that "Fujian and Guangdong provinces have more people and less land, and all the unemployed and poor people come to Peru, Cuba, and Xiaolu  In the Song Dynasty and other places, tens of thousands of people were sold abroad as domestic workers every year. However, foreigners regarded overseas Chinese as dogs and horses, and once they were imprisoned, they would be trapped in a sea of ??misery. About a hundred people went abroad, and about two-tenths of them died of hunger and cold on the way.  About five-tenths of the victims were tortured and tortured, and some were so tortured that they led a group of people into the sea, and some were crushed to death by fire wheels while sleeping on their own chariots. Even those who were still alive had returned to their homes tens of thousands of miles away, without a trace of their parents.  My wife can only see it in her dreams. The speaker is sad, and the listener is in tears!" His concern for overseas Chinese workers and businessmen is vividly reflected on the page. In line with this, he actively adopts countermeasures and is strict on the one hand.  To combat abduction activities, the Qing government recommended that the Qing government prohibit outsiders from setting up labor recruitment bureaus (commonly known as "pig bureaus") in coastal areas, require local governors and officials and gentry to draft regulations to eliminate abuses in accordance with treaties, and strictly prohibit the temptation of Chinese laborers to go abroad.  On the other hand, he also recognized that the contradiction between land and population was becoming increasingly acute, and that Chinese immigrants overseas had become an irresistible historical trend, and that measures could only be taken to protect the Chinese people who had gone abroad.  In view of the fact that overseas Chinese were oppressed but had no way to complain, Ding Richang proposed the establishment of a treaty port.The "Newsprint Library" was established, "businessmen from abroad came forward, and secret agents were assigned to take charge of their affairs Chinese people who were bullied by foreigners could write on the newsprint and announce it to all countries, so that envoys would know about it and return home"  Qu Yubi." Mobilize public opinion and expose the suffering of overseas Chinese.  Ding Richang's idea of ??protecting overseas Chinese can be said to be an objective reflection of the formation and development of overseas Chinese society in the second half of the 19th century. The growth of the overseas Chinese society's own economic strength and the call for protection from the motherland gradually aroused the attention of the Qing government both inside and outside the court.  Pay attention to.  They began to appeal to the imperial court to contact and protect overseas Chinese and use overseas Chinese funds to revitalize the country. Ding Richang was an outstanding representative among them.  The Qing government's policy towards overseas Chinese began to change from laissez-faire to protection and management.  In this process of change, Ding Richang, as the pioneer in setting up consulates and protecting overseas Chinese in China, can be said to have played a crucial role in promoting it.
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