Chapter Fifty-Five Reality

  After chatting with Weng Tonghe for a while, Tan Yanxian took out the letter written by Tan Zhonglin from his sleeve and handed it to Weng Tonghe with both hands, saying: "Shu Shu, this is a letter entrusted by my father to me to deliver to you, please take a look..."

  Weng Tonghe took the letter, used scissors to open the envelope, pulled out the letter and unfolded it. He carefully read it while Tan Yankai sat beside him, observing Weng's facial expressions to guess his attitude towards this letter pleading for Li Hongzhang. However, as Weng's eyebrows furrowed deeper, Tan's heart sank - this old man was still harboring a grudge from decades ago against Li Hongzhang!

  Weng Tonghe put down the letter and said slowly: "The situation on the Korean side was mentioned by Zhang a few years ago, and recently the 'Strong Learning Digest' also had a very detailed introduction to Japan. Li Hongzhang has already increased troops in Korea, and the Emperor and the Premier's Office of Foreign Affairs have received Li Hongzhang's telegram, but if it is said that China and Japan will go to war because of this, it would be somewhat alarmist..."

  Tan Yanqing's heart finally sank to the bottom after hearing this, Old Man Li's resentment was truly not ordinary, he had hated Li Hongzhang to the bone. This letter was purely superfluous, but it also gave Li Hongzhang a bit of face. Tan Yanqing didn't have the mood to debate with this old man about whether there would be war between China and Japan. The world in the eyes of this old literati was just that big, he couldn't even see clearly within his own country, let alone the decisive battle involving the fate of China and Japan. Weng Tonghe was just good at writing beautiful words, and with a bit of luck, he became the teacher of Emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu, teaching the Four Books and Five Classics was barely passable, but when it came to national affairs, this kind of person would only cause trouble!

  "Recently, Yan Geng completed his marriage. Li Hongzhang sent someone to deliver a gift and express congratulations. The envoy from Anhui and my father had a conversation, considering the unstable situation in Korea, hoping that my father could mediate a peace talk. My uncle, who has been an imperial teacher for two dynasties, has piercing eyes... He can see things naturally from a long-term perspective...

  Tan Yan Geng was exchanging ambiguous glances with Weng Tonghe, and it's better to keep the grudges between Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe within their own circle. If they drag me into it, although my father is not afraid of Weng Tonghe, scholars' hearts can be ruthless... Tan Yan Geng also doesn't want Weng Tonghe to hate him and his son together, that would be really not worth it."

  Li Hongzhang is busy, and Tan Yankai has done his best. However, looking at the entire Qing court, there are only two people who can help him: Weng Tonghe and Prince Gong's son-in-law, Zaiyi. The old man Weng has already closed his window, and as for Zaiyi, it's better not to think about it - this old fellow only recognizes silver. Zhou Rongyao, the Guangdong Maritime Customs officer, is recklessly embezzling silver, buying up real estate in Guangzhou, and earning the nickname "Zhou Half-City" within less than half a year! Such people are hopeless, which was also within Tan Zhonglin's expectations. The path he pointed out for Tan Yankai was that of Prince Gong, who had long since retired from worldly affairs - only if Prince Gong stepped forward could Weng Tonghe be persuaded to act.

  After completing the task of sending a message, Tang Yanqi pondered at home whether to ask Gong Wang to deal with Weng Tonghe. After thinking about it, he still gave up - Gong Wang Yixin was someone who had to be seen. But as for speaking on behalf of Li Hongzhang, that could be spared - the feud between Weng and Li couldn't be resolved with just a few words. The impending First Sino-Japanese War would require Li Hongzhang to take responsibility himself; no one else could be relied upon.

  At this time, Deng Shichang did not know that the cannon fire of the Sino-Japanese War had already been ignited in the Korean waters, and the final result was also far beyond his expectations. The news just hadn't come over yet - the Jiyuan ship was almost beaten into a scrap, except for the boiler power which was still relatively intact, slowly leaving Korea to return home. Without convenient communication, they didn't dare to go back to Korea, the whole ship had completely lost contact with the outside world, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive, except for their opponents, the Japanese naval officers and men on the Yoshino and Biyō. Even its parent organization, the Beiyang Fleet, thought it had sunk.

  The Guangyuan and Weiyuan vessels, after receiving the retreat order from Ding Ruchang on the Jingyuan vessel, set off at full speed to the west. They knew that facing the Japanese fleet would only be a hindrance, and it was likely that all three ships would sink together. Under the command of Lin Guanghai, the Guangyuan did not meet up with the second batch of reinforcement escort vessels - the Jingyuan and Pingyuan vessels - until the next morning. At that time, Lin Guanghai knelt on the deck, crying bitterly. The three vessels were no match for the Japanese warships, even if they were tied together; the number of guns on a single Japanese warship was more than the total number of guns on all three Chinese vessels combined.

  "Why did you come so late?!" Lin Guoxiang yelled uncontrollably, grabbing the collar of Town Mayor Lin Taizeng.

  Lin Tai immediately led the Second Escort Fleet to return after learning that the First Escort Fleet and the Japanese main warship had engaged in a sea battle in the Korean waters. Lin Guoxiang's ships were relatively slow, and when the Izumo's 300mm main gun fired, they hadn't even sailed out of the combat zone. The earth-shaking sound of the cannon was absolutely not something that the Jiyuan ship's 210mm main gun could produce - Japan had declared war on the Beiyang Fleet!

  In this era when wireless telegraphy was not yet in use, the only way for a ship at sea to get news back home quickly was to turn around and hurry back with it. Since both the Guangyi and Weiyuan were proceeding at such slow speeds

  In the end, there was only one outcome - Jiyuan managed to gain enough distance, and in terms of speed, it was unreasonable for the two Japanese main warships, Shikishima and Yashima, which were nearly eight miles ahead of Jiyuan, to let Jiyuan return. The only outcome would be that Jiyuan would either be sunk or captured by the Japanese ships after being surrounded!

  Lin Guoxiang was also from Fujian Ma Wei, in terms of origin, he and Lin Taizeng, Liu Buzhen and others who were already the main force of the Beiyang Fleet were still classmates, even Deng Shichang, who was a pipe band on the Zhiyuan ship, was once his deputy. In those days, Lin Guoxiang used to take his sister's money to attend the Shanghai Military Academy, but compared with his former schoolmates, the gap was so big that it had a direct relationship with Li Hongzhang's personnel policy. Although Guangyi was just a "guest" in Beiyang, Zhiyuan still allowed Guangyi and Weiyuan to go first when facing a powerful enemy, this friendship had become particularly heavy in Lin Guoxiang's heart, which made him unbearable, after seeing Li Hongzhang, Lin Guoxiang directly questioned Li Hongzhang why the second batch of fleet reinforcements was so late. According to plan, they could have merged with Zhiyuan as soon as they left Yashan Bay. Otherwise, it would not be the current situation!

  The Battle of the Yalu River has been over for almost a day and a half, when Li Hongzhang realized that Japan had unexpectedly drawn its sword against China, he immediately sent a telegram to the Emperor in Beijing and the Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs. He explained that war had broken out between China and Japan, the Japanese fleet had launched a surprise attack on the Beiyang Fleet, and the fate of the Jiyuan ship was unknown, whether it had been sunk or captured!

  —

  The entire Qing government was caught off guard by Japan's sudden declaration of war, and for a time they were in a state of confusion. At this moment, Tang Shaoyi went to visit Prince Gong but found him absent - the prince had already gone into the palace. At that time, only a small number of people knew about the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, not even those within the Prince Gong's mansion were aware of it. Tang Shaoyi waited at the mansion for half a day and when he saw that the prince was still not back, he stood up to take his leave.

  By nightfall, a dramatic scene unfolded as the British freighter "Rising Sun" towed a battered warship into Bohai Bay. The Zhili Governor's Office was immediately shaken by the news that the Jiyuan ship had been seriously damaged and could no longer sail normally. Towed back to Tianjin Port by the British freighter, it encountered Japanese warships, sinking the Japanese warship Seito and damaging Yoshino!

  At this time, Li Hongzhang was meeting with the dignitaries of various countries in Tianjin at the Governor's Mansion. He explained to them that Japan had fired the first shot in the Battle of Asan and hoped that the countries would uphold justice. Just as Li Hongzhang's spittle was about to spray onto the face of British Minister Plenipotentiary O'Conor, his subordinate suddenly informed him that the Jiyuan ship had returned to Tianjin Port, but with extremely severe damage. Moreover, it had sunk Japan's main battleship, Matsushima. He was stunned.

  The original power system of the Jiyuan ship performed well in the sea battle, but the long-term full-load operation caused problems with the boiler. Although the large-caliber shells of the Japanese warship did not penetrate the armor of the Jiyuan ship during the sea battle, the explosion of the shells caused the hull to produce violent vibrations, and some aging parts of the power system finally failed, fortunately, at that time, the Jiyuan ship had already escaped from the range of the main gun of the Yoshino. The boiler was operating intermittently until it completely broke down when entering Bohai Bay. At this time, because they had entered the bay, many merchant ships passed by, and after waiting for a while, they finally waited for the British cargo ship "Sunrise" to arrive, which was able to tow the Jiyuan back to Tianjin Port.

  The safe return of Ji Yuan also made the personnel of Guang Yi and Wei Yuan breathe a sigh of relief. On the one hand, Ji Yuan had saved their lives, and on the other hand, when they returned, they were criticized by some people. The return of Ji Yuan was also a kind of relief for them. Fortunately, the speed of Guang Yi and Wei Yuan was slow enough, and since there were no shell holes on the ships, they managed to avoid being accused of fleeing without fighting and leaving Ji Yuan to take the blame. Otherwise, even if they had a hundred mouths, they would not have been able to explain themselves clearly.

  Jiyuan has returned, and Fang Boqian has also come to. Upon opening the navigation log for comparison, it was found that Jiyuan had indeed allowed Guangyi and Weiyuan to retreat first, clearing up all the doubts. However, there is still one major doubt that cannot be cleared - how did Jiyuan, a 2,000-ton warship with only three large-caliber main guns, manage to sink Yan Island, which was twice its size? And how did it manage to survive the pursuit of Yoshino, which was at least eight knots faster than it?!

  At this time, the Japanese were also very depressed. The Yoshino was so excited to chase after the Ji Yuan that it forgot it was still in shallow water and accidentally ran aground. Fortunately, the Biwei was nearby and pulled the Yoshino out. If the Ji Yuan hadn't been damaged, it might have turned around and used its two 210mm twin-mounted main guns to take care of itself once and for all. From another angle, it was also very lucky that the Yoshino was able to escape this time.

  However, the sinking of the Seiyo Maru and the damage to the Yoshino caused a great stir among Japan's leaders. The cries for war with Korea that had been rising in recent days suddenly died down. Vice Admiral Hikohachi Yamamoto, Chief of the Navy General Staff, and Admiral Ito Sukeyuki, Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, both resigned to take responsibility. Captain Kawai Tsunenori, commander of the Yoshino, committed seppuku on his way back to Japan.

  Yoshino's grounding was beyond doubt, relying on its own speed to pursue Jiyuan, and with the sinking of Kishima thinking that it could capture a Beiyang Fleet ship and return to Japan to mitigate its own crimes.

  The remaining 2,000 tons of Ji Yuan was no match for the heavily armed Iwate, and Kawahara Kiyoshi and Tachibana Hikojirō were too careless. As a result, they ran aground in an unexpected blunder.

  As for how the Ji yuan was able to sink the Yan Island, it wasn't until many years later, after various documents were declassified, that it became known - the Japanese had asked a Frenchman, White Easley, to design the three scenic ships, all of which had a fatal flaw - an extremely unstable boiler power system! It's also quite ironic that White Easley was most famous for his achievements in boilers, and before this, he had published numerous books on boilers. They were even translated into English and German versions as soon as they were published, showing that his achievements in this area were already recognized by the major powers of various countries.

  White was an excellent designer, but he wasn't omnipotent. The Japanese hired White at a high salary to design the Sankeikan to counter the Beiyang Fleet's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but the budget given to White was extremely limited. Apart from the boiler power system that White was good at, the 300mm main gun on the Sankeikan could hardly be rotated. From a practical point of view, this main gun was purely useless, just a psychological comfort for the Japanese who thought that since the Beiyang Fleet's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan had huge guns, Japan also needed to equip huge guns if they wanted to sink these two giant ships.

  The stubborn thinking of the Japanese made the Sankei ship a four-not-like, with ineffective main guns, boilers becoming a hidden danger, and armor weakened due to budget issues. However, what's frightening is that each of the Sankei ships had 120mm twelve secondary guns in addition to one 320mm main gun, which was enough to intimidate all opponents. In the naval battle, the severely damaged Matsushima only relied on several salvoes from its secondary guns to destroy most of the upper structures of the Chinese ship Jingyuan, and it's hard not to say that Matsushima's firepower was incredibly strong.

  The survival of the Jingyuan was due to its armor. The thickness of its deck armor exceeded 100 mm, and even the weakest waterline armor had 80 mm, which was not inferior to the two ships, Seiyo and Yoshino. The turret armor reached an astonishing 350 mm, far surpassing that of Japanese warships. If it weren't for the fact that Yoshino's main gun repeatedly hit the front main turret, it could be said that Yoshino would have followed in the footsteps of Seiyo and become a target for Jingyuan. However, even after being hit by several heavy shells, the front main turret of Jingyuan only had its rivets shaken off, without destroying the main gun.

  If not for the armor plating, Chiyoda and Itsukushima would have been able to blast Jiyuan out of the water. As for the unlucky Itsukushima, it was destroyed by a shell that hit its left side, where the armor was only 50mm thick. The 210mm twin guns on Jiyuan were more than enough to penetrate this, and one shot would have been enough to cause significant damage. However, the shells used by Jiyuan had quality control issues, with insufficient propellant inside - a major problem with the new shells produced by the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, although it was an improvement over previous models, at least these shells could explode. A similar shell hit the main gun of Chiyoda, but its 120mm armor plating was enough to withstand the damage, and it continued to fire without issue.

  Anyway, the Jiyuan ship managed to return alive to Tianjin Port, although it was almost scrapped and had not sunk. However, the Japanese fleet, with its absolute advantage, made such a big blunder that not only did they fail to sink the Jiyuan, but were instead sunk by the Jiyuan's counterattack on Seikan (Japanese cruiser). The contrast between these two outcomes led China and Japan to reassess the situation in Korea. After being informed by Li Hongzhang, Western powers also understood the outbreak of war between the two countries in Korean waters. They too weighed the pros and cons of this outcome in their minds.

  The air in Beijing made Tan Yankai feel a little suffocated, and the streets here were in stark contrast to his memories of the Qing Dynasty capital a hundred years ago. The streets were dirty and chaotic, with swarms of beggars and vagrants, some of whom wore silk clothes and had clean faces, but sat in groups of seven or eight at the doors of tea houses and wine shops, chatting idly. If it weren't for the patches on their clothes and the ceramic bowls in front of them, Tan Yankai would have thought they were just idle young masters from good families!

  Gong Wang Yixin hadn't seen him, nor did he know what this famous "Gui Zi Liu" in modern Chinese history had been busy with recently. He had been walking around the Gong Wang Mansion for several days and hadn't run into him even once. Logically speaking, Gong Wang should have long since stopped asking about things and been put on the shelf by Cixi, so why was he still going to the imperial palace?

  Tan Yanqian, having nothing better to do, also went to Liulichang. Although it can't be said that the place was crowded with people, there were still quite a few passersby coming and going. In Tan Yanqian's memories of his past life, Liulichang was also a famous center for antique trading, but in later generations this place was filled with counterfeit goods, making it a place that severely tested one's eyesight.

  I'm really sorry, I posted late today. There's less than a month left now, and Jian Nian is going to be a father soon. Things are pretty busy, and Jian Nian already feels the pressure of being a qualified husband... of course, I'm still far from it... Jian Nian will try his best to keep updating, but my trials are far from over. Apparently, when the wife is on her postpartum confinement, that's when things get really busy... Haha, comrades, wish me well, and at the same time, I also wish you all happiness and joy!