C20 I Don't Know

The Qing Dynasty, from the beginning to the end, had been on high alert against the Han ministers.

For example, after wiping out Zeng Guofan of Taiping Country, they attacked Nanjing City according to the will of Emperor Xiafeng. Zeng Guofan should be a king. One should know how many of His Royal Highness Manmeng had, but Ci Xi never mentioned the matter of Zeng Guofan becoming a king. He even disbanded the Xiangjun Army and supported Li Hongzhang's Huai Army.

Emperor Guang wanted to use Lin Chen's ship to defeat the English and even ask him to train his navy, but when it came to shipbuilding, he was unwilling. In his opinion, training a navy was no big deal. Once Lin Chen succeeded, he would be transferred to another position.

However, shipbuilding was a technical job. Leaving Lin Chen would not do. This would easily cause the Imperial Court to be threatened by Lin Chen. Furthermore, if he was asked to build boats and train his soldiers, it would be easy for him to self-produce and sell himself. No one knew how many boats Lin Chen had built. Once he became powerful, it would be difficult to get rid of him.

The Imperial Decree was quickly sent back to Guangzhou. When Yi Shaan saw the Imperial Decree, he understood Emperor Guang Dao's plan.

As soon as he heard the Imperial Decree, he summoned Lin Chen and announced the Imperial Decree to him.

"Although Young Master Lin's group is only a rank 4 official, your chance of meritorious service is still in the future. Once you are able to flatten the British ships, the Emperor will definitely be promoted. As for the training in Hong Kong Island, although the Emperor did not specify the location, But I have decided that it will be in Hong Kong Island. " Yi Shaan was afraid that Lin Chen would not be satisfied, so he explained.

"Thank you, my lord." Lin Chen did not want to be an official of the Qing Dynasty, but it seemed that having an official was much better than having a white body.

"We will be officials of the same dynasty in the future. We should support each other." Yi Shaan looked at Lin Chen with a smile. He had to rely on Lin Chen now, so his words were very sincere.

"Master, you must be joking. In the future, you must not forget about me." Lin Chen said with a smile.

"No problem, no problem." Yi Shaan nodded and got down to business. "When do you think we can lead the fleet to the north and wipe out the other ships of the British Army?"

"It's simple. Let them go. I won't follow them. After all, the Emperor has entrusted the task of training the Guangzhou Navy to me and I have to be careful." Lin Chen said.

If you don't go, there won't be any changes in the war, right? " Yi Shaan said worriedly.

"Don't worry, my lord. I wasn't the one in charge of the last naval battle, so I could only make things worse. Rather than that, why not train the navy first? Oh right, my lord. I wonder if the Guangzhou Navy still has sailors. It will not be easy to train new sailors." Lin Chen knew that Guangzhou used to have navy, but they were defeated by the British as soon as the battle started.

"There's no need to be so anxious about this, just slowly recruit more sailors to train." Yi Shaan looked at Lin Chen and said.

There were still people in the Guangzhou Navy. However, he didn't want to give them to Lin Chen. After all, Lin Chen had captured five warships, and he only had two small warships. The ships needed someone to drive them.

"Master, you don't know. The English have roamed the sea for more than a hundred years. Now that they have suffered such a loss, they will definitely not let this matter rest. I guess that once they get the news, it will not be long before they send another warship. My warship is indeed more powerful. But if there are too many enemy warships and the troops are recorded, At that time, it is inevitable that we will lose them. " Lin Chen knew that Yi Shaan was unwilling to lend them to him, so he told him the matter more seriously.

Yi Shaan did not believe him. He said, "I heard England is just a small country in the Western Ocean. How can there be so many ships?"

"England is indeed not big, but it is equivalent to my Guangxi province. But he has many colonies overseas, about the size of two Qing dynasties." Lin Chen did not expect Yi Shaan to not know about the situation in England after fighting for so long.

"The two Qing dynasties are so big?" Yi Shaan's eyes widened when he heard this.

"Master should know about India, right?" Lin Chen knew that only a few Qing Dynasty officials were familiar with the current situation, so he asked in a different way.

"Of course, it is south of Tibet." Yi Shaan nodded.

"India is about the size of eighteen provinces in Guan Nei. Some of the countries are ruled by the British. Some of the countries are ruled by the English. Some places in Burma are also occupied by the British. " There was also a military port in Johor. "

"To tell you the truth, the British sent warships. In their country, they are not the most powerful warships. Even the largest 74 cannon battleships are only third-class warships. " There are dozens of such warships in England, and the entire British navy has hundreds of them. " Lin Chen told Lin Chen about the strength of the British.

"Hundreds!" Yi Shaan's eyes widened when he heard the number. He was supposed to have at least half of the strength of such a ship, even if it was not all of England's assets. He did not expect it to be just a side army.

"That's right. To build such a warship would cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. It would take three to five years to build. It took the British a few hundred years to build a navy." Lin Chen nodded and said.

"I see. It seems like I misunderstood you. How about this? You should go and rest first. After I notify Bao An County, I will notify you to take up the post. Right now, let the fleet go up north to flatten the surface of the sea to relieve the Emperor's worries." Yi Shaan nodded and said.

"I will take my leave!" Lin Chen said and left with the imperial edict and the box containing his official uniform and the seal.

"Grandmaster Soong, do you think Young Master Lin's words are trustworthy?" Yi Shaan sat there with a teacup in his hand, his face full of confusion. In his opinion, Lin Chen might exaggerate, his goal was to raise the bandits and raise them.

Grandmaster Soong walked out from the back of the room where he was alone.

"I don't know about this either, but we have captured so many English people. Let's find a interpreter. " Won't it be clear if we ask? " Grandmaster Soong said with a smile.

"You are right. Grandmaster Soong, please go and check on the British." Yi Shaan nodded and instructed.

Grandmaster Soong took the order and came out. He found a interpreter and walked to the place where the English were kept.

"Grandmaster Soong, these yellow ghosts are really hard to serve. They always talk about eating bread, meat, and milk. " Isn't that hard to deal with? " The head of the army who was in charge of the English started to complain when he saw Grandmaster Soong.

"Don't worry about it. Master said to take good care of it," Grandmaster Soong said. It's not like we have to feed them or not. They are hungry, "Grandmaster Soong said. Even if they feed them slops, they will still eat very well!" Grandmaster Soong said coldly.

"Yes, with your words, we have confidence in ourselves." The commander nodded and said.

When the group entered the courtyard where the English were imprisoned, they saw that the English were sitting there and basking in the sun. There were a few who were practicing boxing there. Of course, Grandmaster Soong did not know what they were doing, but he felt it was strange.

"Ask the steward to come out. Ask him something." Grandmaster Soong said to the interpreter.