Chapter Twenty: The Declining Empire

  After a 42-day voyage, the cruise ship arrived at Ningbo Port on February 21st in the morning.

  When entering the port, Feng Chengqian came to the deck and looked at the port city built on the mountain by the sea. At this time, Ningbo was the largest port in the Qing Dynasty.

  "Earl, what are you looking at?"

  Feng Chengqian turned his head and saw that Tirpitz was already behind him.

  "Do you think this ancient country and empire are very similar."

  "Similar?" Tirpitz was taken aback and said, "I don't think so. Although the Qing dynasty is vast and rich, it has nothing in common with the Empire."

  "Fifty years ago, wasn't the empire just like this?"

  "This..."

  "Of course, it's just similar. Although the empire was divided fifty years ago, Prussia was still strong, otherwise the empire would not have been unified."

  "It seems the Earl is deeply moved."

  Feng Chengqian smiled and said, "This is called having feelings and speaking. With India, Britain can be considered a empire where the sun never sets. What the empire lacks is a colony like India."

  "The meaning of Earl is..."

  "If the Empire can establish colonies in Qing and monopolize the benefits, do you think we still need to fawn all over and flatter Britain everywhere?"

  Tirpitz's eyebrows jumped a few times, as if he had thought of something.

  "This matter is complex and difficult to accomplish, easy to talk about but hard to put into practice."

  "If we are really going to do it, first of all, we must have a foothold, best of all, a good port like Ningbo."

  "Also need to stay away from the core interests of other major powers."

  Tirpitz was taken aback and said to Feng Chengqian: "The Earl had expected this?"

  Feng Chengqian smiled and said, "Along the way, there's nothing to do, so we have to find something to pass the time. I've talked to Chen Jitong several times, and he says that Shandong Province is rich in products and temporarily has no involvement from foreign powers. If we can monopolize Shandong, it will be greatly beneficial to the empire."

  Tirpitz nodded thoughtfully, apparently he was also very concerned about the Qing Dynasty.

  "When the Imperial Navy grows stronger, I will beg Your Majesty to establish a Far Eastern Fleet and appoint you as its commander, with you in charge of the Empire's expansion affairs in Qing."

  "Earl..."

  "Our confrontation with old imperial powers like Britain, France and Russia is not only on the European continent, nor just in the North Sea, but all over the world." Feng Chengqian glanced at Tirpitz and said, "If we can stand firm in Qing, we can contain the British Royal Navy during wartime."

  "I understand what the Earl means, it's just..."

  "I know what you're thinking, but have you discovered that the Far East is no longer peaceful?"

  Tirpitz furrowed his brow, seemingly not understanding what Feng Chengqian meant.

  "The Qing dynasty is engaged in the Westernization Movement, with Grand Secretary Li Hongzhang strongly advocating for learning from the West and spending heavily to build the Beiyang Fleet. On the other side of the ocean, Japan has completed the Meiji Restoration and its national power is rising rapidly, it will soon become a strong country in the East. As the saying goes, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. Within ten years, there will definitely be a fierce battle in the Far East region. Lieutenant General, this is the first naval battle of the steam ironclad era."

  "Is the Earl so certain?"

  Feng Chengqian smiled and said, "In the Far East, the Qing is like Britain, while Japan is like us. Where there are interests, there are disputes; where there are disputes, there is war. Japan will not be content to be a second-rate power and will inevitably challenge the Qing, which will inevitably lead to conflict and ultimately evolve into war."

  "I'm saying, the naval battle between Qing and Japan will be the first naval battle of the steam age?"

  "General, do you think there's anywhere else where war is more likely to break out?"

  Tirpitz was taken aback and said, "Indeed, we cannot fight Britain for the time being, and there are no obvious conflicts of interest in other regions. If it takes ten years, the possibility of a war breaking out between China and Japan is the greatest, and the decisive battle will be at sea."

  "Do you know how to fight the next naval battle?"

  "This..."

  "The tactics of the sailing era are certainly useless now, and in the steam era, there hasn't even been a real naval battle yet."

  Tirpitz nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood Feng Chengqian's meaning.

  "Since everyone is in the dark, observing and understanding this era's naval warfare at close range will definitely be of great help."

  "The earl's painstaking efforts have truly earned my admiration."

  "It's fine as long as you understand, otherwise you'll blame me again."

  "The earl smiled."

  At this time, the cruise ship docked at the wharf.

  Those who came to welcome Feng Chengqian were the officials of the imperial court specially sent by Li Hongzhang, accompanied by local officials from Ningbo, and the sedan chairs had been prepared in advance.

  Feng Chengqian did not ride in a sedan chair but instead chose to ride horseback like a true soldier.

  In the Second German Empire, even noblewomen rode horses, let alone imperial counts.

  Before coming to this era, Feng Chengqian had never seen a real horse, let alone ride one. For this reason, he spent several days practicing horse riding before setting out on his journey.

  From Ningbo to Nanjing, it took a whole day.

  When Feng Chengqian got off the horseback, he felt a lot of emotion. Firstly, the Qing Dynasty was indeed backward, and there was no railway in such an important place. In the empire, taking the train would only take half a day to arrive. Secondly, after coming to this era, it had been a long time since he had exercised, and his physical fitness was much worse than before. Otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up with a sore waist and back, and even walking was a bit shaky after getting off the horse.

  Feng Chengqian stayed overnight in Nanjing and declined the banquet invitation, sleeping soundly.

  The next day, the team continued northward and arrived in Beijing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, on the afternoon of the 24th.

  All the way, the team walked and stopped, what they saw and heard left a deep impression on Feng Chengqian. The Qing Dynasty was an extremely closed country. Compared with European powers, the backwardness of the Qing Dynasty was not only in industrial hard power, but also in the values and ideological consciousness of the people.

  What impressed Feng Chengqian the most was still the relationship between people in the Qing Dynasty.

  For example, when referring to themselves, attendants used the term "nucai" (slave). Although in the German Second Empire, the emperor was also a high-ranking monarch, there was no obvious gap between him and his ministers, generals, attendants, and even ordinary citizens. Not only did he not refer to himself as "I", but he also would not let others call themselves "nucai". In a sense, the emperor of the German Second Empire was just the emperor of the empire, with a relationship of leadership and being led with his subjects, rather than being a slave owner who enslaved his subjects. The imperial subjects also had a similar understanding, that they were free people living within the empire's territory, loyal to the emperor but not enslaved by him, and not inferior in status.

  If servility penetrates into the marrow of every national citizen, this country will lose its vitality and there is no cure.

  With this understanding, Feng Chengqian had to admit that without a major transformation, this ancient oriental country would never be able to develop and grow.

  Furthermore, Feng Chengjian also had an understanding that when things reach their extreme, they must reverse.

  When disaster and suffering reach a certain level, the seeds of change will emerge, and a single spark can start a prairie fire, which will eventually evolve into a great revolution.

  The key is who will dominate and lead this revolution?

  Feng Chengqian did not want to be someone else, because he did not want this ancient Eastern empire to take a detour again.

  Compared to the withered inland, Beijing is still prosperous, especially the magnificent Forbidden City, which is exactly the same as Feng Chengqian's memory. However, at this time, the Forbidden City was the palace of the Qing Dynasty, and ordinary people couldn't even get close to it, let alone spend tens of yuan to buy a ticket to visit.

  Feng Chengqian just took a glance from afar, and the place he was assigned to stay was very far away from the Forbidden City.

  That night, Li Hongzhang did not entertain Feng Chengqian. Upon hearing that a major event had occurred in the south, the chief assistant spent the whole night discussing countermeasures with other ministers.

  What happened?

  Feng Chengqian thought back and forth, but couldn't understand what big event happened in the early 1889. The Sino-French War over Annam had ended four years ago, and the First Sino-Japanese War would not break out until five years later. This year should have been relatively calm, and nothing that would have a significant impact on history should have occurred.

  Was Li Hongzhang deliberately putting on airs?

  It's highly likely.

  Feng Chengqian didn't think much of it and after rushing around for a few days, he also wanted to take a good rest.

  Tonight, Feng Chengqian slept very comfortably.

  The next day, early in the morning, when the sky was just brightening up, Feng Chengqian got out of bed. Feeling the hard work of the past few days, Feng Chengqian thought he should strengthen his exercise.

  After an hour of exercise, Feng Chengqian was already drenched in sweat.

  He waited until he had finished his bath, and then Li Hongzhang's men arrived.

  "Let him wait a bit, I haven't had breakfast yet." Feng Chengqian also put on an air, saying to Schmidt, "Tell the kitchen to prepare more, my appetite is very good today."

  This breakfast took Feng Chengqian a full hour, normally he would finish in ten minutes.

  By the time he slowly arrived at the Prime Minister's residence, it was already near dusk.

  As a result, Feng Chengqian's stomach was still full and he had to prepare for lunch again.

  Looking at the table full of delicacies, Feng Chengqian didn't have any appetite. The first meeting with Li Hongzhang made Feng Chengqian very unhappy. It was obvious that Li Hongzhang hadn't stayed up all night and was in high spirits. He deliberately dragged out a whole evening before inviting Feng Chengqian over.

  Li Hongzhang put on airs and looked down on Feng Chengqian.

  If it were someone else, such as a certain British official, would Li Hongzhang still dare to be so arrogant?

  But on second thought, Feng Chengqian also felt that the problem did not lie with Li Hongzhang.

  Although the German Empire was already the number one power on the European continent, its influence on the Qing Dynasty was not even comparable to that of a small country like Portugal. The relationship between the empire and the Qing Dynasty was largely cooperative rather than that of an aggressor and the invaded. At least so far, the empire had not participated in any military action to invade the Qing Dynasty, nor had it established commercial ports in the Qing Dynasty, let alone concessions with colonial nature.

  Moreover, this foreign affairs activity mainly focused on the empire selling arms to the Qing dynasty.

  Li Hongzhang's lukewarm treatment of Feng Chengqian was nothing out of the ordinary.

  Adjusting his mindset, Feng Chengqian began to take the old man in front of him seriously and tried to get as much white silver from his pouch as possible.

  ;