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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 454: Who else can I do?

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    No matter how unreasonable the British were, they still had basic credibility. Although the delivery of five warships to the Taiping Army was delayed until the deadline stipulated in the treaty, they still delivered five warships.  Among them, two are traditional third-class battleships of the British Navy and three are fourth-class battleships.  One of the fourth-class battleships was an old acquaintance of the Taiping Army. The fast ship (cruiser) "Hermes" had visited Tianjing before.

    The "Harmish" is a three-masted wooden-hulled ship with a steam engine and sail, dual power, and a length of 76 meters. The hull is made of double-layered oak boards, each layer is 42 centimeters thick, and the total sail area is  One thousand one hundred and twenty square meters, the steam engine power is 360 horsepower, the bow is equipped with a strong angle of attack, the displacement is 1,300 tons, the ship is equipped with thirty-four breech-loaded rifled guns and 310  Six crew.

    Among the two third-class battleships, there is also one whose name Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er have admired for a long time. She is the Gao Huali where the signing ceremony of the "Nanjing Treaty" was held today.  The Cornwallis was the first ship of the third-class battleship of the 'Cornwallis' class. It was launched at the East India Company's Port Bay Dockyard on May 12, 1813. It was originally named 'Termagant' and was renamed on May 15, 1824.  ¡®Cornwallis¡¯ is called ¡®Gao Huali¡¯ in Chinese documents.  The ship is 145 feet 11 inches long, 48 feet wide, and 21 feet 1 inch deep. It is equipped with 28 32-pound guns, 12 32-pound large-caliber short guns, 28 18-pound guns, and 6 18-pound large-caliber short guns.  6 12-pound guns, capacity 590 men.  On February 8, 1855, in order to cope with the war with Russia in the Far East, the British installed her with 787 horsepower steam power.

    There is also a third-class battleship, the "Vengeur"-class third-class battleship HMS Warrior. The Warrior was launched at Deptford Dockyard on May 31, 1813, with a hull length of 176 feet.  It is 47 feet 6 inches wide and 21 feet deep.  Equipped with 28 32-pound guns, 28 18-pound guns, 6 12-pound guns, and 12 32-pound large-caliber short guns, with a capacity of 510 men.  She was refitted with steam power in 1847 and was also a sail-steam-powered battleship.

    The other two ships are fourth-class battleships like the Hamils, but they are slightly smaller than the Hamils, and they are only sail-powered warships. However, the firepower of the two ships each has more than thirty cannons.  Not to be underestimated, they are the Rattlesnake and the Albatross respectively.

    Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er couldn't figure out why the British regarded the Gaohuali as one of the warships to be handed over. Did the British mean to threaten or show favor?  After all, as the signing ship of the "Treaty of Nanjing", the Gao Huali has a mark of humiliation on it for the Chinese people.  Did the British hand over the Gauvale to the Taiping Army to remind the Taiping Army of the defeat of the Japanese in the past?

    In fact, the two of them thought too much. Although the Gaohuali was a third-class battleship, it was modified with steam power.  But the British were not satisfied with her performance.  Historically, the Gaohuali faded out of the main fleet as a coastal defense ship after a few years, and was replaced by a new fully steam-powered warship.  In other words, the Gaohuali is a semi-replacement product of the replacement of old and new British warships, and it only meets the tonnage clauses in the treaty in terms of tonnage.

    After the handover of the five warships, the Taiping Army¡¯s naval strength suddenly reached a higher level. The Taiping Army hired a team of more than 500 foreign sailors in Shanghai.  These men were mixed with the Taiping's own sailors to jointly operate the five warships.  The East China Sea Fleet of the Taiping Rebellion was established in Shanghai. The Gao Huali served as the flagship of the fleet. The entire fleet had more than 2,500 combat personnel and more than 4,000 logistics and other personnel.  The fleet anchorage is located in Dinghai.  At the same time, Xiao Yungui changed the names of the Gao Huali, Warrior, Hamils, Rattlesnake, and Albatross to the Red Gold, Green Wood, Blue Water, Purple Fire, and Black Earth respectively. The navy admiral was Tang Zhengcai.

    This time, Admiral Luo Gang ordered the river navy to march westward. Xiao Yungui deployed two battleships, Blue Water (Hammers) and Purple Fire (Rattlesnake), to accompany him in order to show off the powerful force of the West Palace and at the same time confront the Hunan Army.  For those inland watermen, Xiao Yungui believed that the two warships would be unmatched.

    Just like Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er were shocked when they saw the Hamils ??for the first time, when Shi Dakai, Zhang Suimou, Han Baoying and other members of the Wing Palace saw the Hamils, which had been renamed Blue Water, in Caishiji  , all looked shocked.

    "Is this, is this really the warship of our Kingdom of Heaven?" After a brief shock, Han Baoying's little face began to flush with excitement. Her delighted tone did not conceal the emotions in her heart. At this moment, she was really for the Kingdom of Heaven.  Feeling proud, they subconsciously forgot about the West Palace flag carried by these two ships.

    Xiao Yungui laughed, and Luo Gangyou, who was in charge of the reception, also smiled and said: "This ship is a British fourth-class battleship. We have two larger warships in Shanghai, which are third-class battleships.  This captain" Luo Gang quickly reported some data about the Blue Water, but changed the units into the feet and kilograms that the Chinese are accustomed to.

    Shi Dakai's expression became very exciting. After listening to Luo Dingyin's introduction, he frowned and said, "This giant ship is only a fourth-class battleship on the Yingyi side?"

    Luo Dagui didn¡¯t understand the meaning of Shi Dakai¡¯s words.??, just nodded and said: "Yes, this ship is a fourth-class battleship."

    Xiao Yungui understood what Shi Dakai meant and sighed softly: "Yes, this ship that looks like a giant ship to us is only a fourth-class battleship on the British side, and there are third-class battleships on it,  Second-class battleships and first-class battleships. Their first-class battleships are equipped with more than a hundred artillery pieces and a crew of more than 800 people. The firepower of one ship is more than the number of artillery pieces of our ten thousand soldiers."

    Shi Dakai looked up blankly at the Blue Water and said nothing for a long time. After a while, he said: "If we go to war with the British, what are the chances of winning?"

    Xiao Yungui made no secret of it: "Based on the current strength of our troops in the West Palace, we will be completely defeated at sea and only 50 to 50 on land."

    Shi Dakai was silent again. His face became livid and silent, standing there like a sculpture. Xiao Yungui stood beside him and said in a deep voice: "Compatriot Da, we are already too far behind other countries. We must catch up."  Taking over the Manchus is only the first step towards reviving the Han family. If the Manchus are driven away and the British barbarians come again, what will we do? Will we become the slaves of others again? "

    Shi Dakai gritted his teeth and said: "At worst, I will spill all my blood on this thick soil!"

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Refuse with death. It is true that we only have human lives left to exchange, but I think if we haven't united yet and continue to fight among ourselves, maybe we won't even have the chance to exchange human lives."  there is none left."

    Shi Dakai lowered his head slightly. He did not dare to look at Xiao Yungui, but he could see that his mood seemed to have knocked over the five-flavor bottle.

    Xiao Yungui continued: "Perhaps in a few decades, we will all be buried in the loess, but future generations are still suffering. Later they will ask why our ancestors had a chance to win. Why did they give up? Things  It shouldn¡¯t be like this! Then insiders will say that at that time they were busy fighting for power, busy killing each other, and busy satisfying their selfish desires.¡±

    The words were hard to hear, but they hit Shi Dakai's heart like a heavy hammer.  Xiao Yungui pointed to the Blue Water and said: "A few years ago, the British drove her to Tianjing. At that time, the King of Heaven was still in Wuchang. I met the British on behalf of the Kingdom of Heaven. I also saw this ship. At that time, I was thinking  , one day I also want to have a boat like this. Now a few years have passed, not only do I have this boat, I even have a boat bigger than this boat. Do you know why I can do it?"

    Shi Dakai didn't know how to answer, so he could only say: "Brother, Heaven is a genius. And with Brother Heaven's blessing, he is the number one person in the Kingdom of Heaven."

    Xiao Yungui shook his head and said with a smile: "I am not a genius. Back then I was just cutting firewood and selling charcoal in Zijing Mountain." Then Xiao Yungui raised his big hand and said: "If you don't tell secret words in front of people, it doesn't matter what I can do.  Brother God bless me. I am not a genius, but because I have power in my hands. I use the power in my hands to integrate Su Fu¡¯s human and material resources and make Su Fu strong, so I can do this." At this point, Xiao said  Yungui looked at Shi Dakai and asked, "But what about the King of Heaven? How far has he fulfilled the promise he made back then?"

    Shi Dakai was speechless. Back then, Hong Xiuquan promised to build a small paradise, with fields to farm together, people to eat together, and people with money to work together. At first, this was implemented when the holy treasury was plump, but then the big pot rice greatly reduced productivity. In the end, under the rule of the Kingdom of Heaven, except for Tianjing City  , all other places began to pay grain according to the old Qing customs.  Even Tianjing is not a small paradise. The lavish Jinling City has eroded the princes and generals of the Taiping Army. They all became greedy, selfish, and jealous. The Tianjing Incident was just a means of fighting for power, for the power of a few people.  Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Tianjing lost their lives due to selfish desires. Is this the little paradise that the King of Heaven and King Dong said?

    Xiao Yungui patted Shi Dakai on the shoulder and said: "Since you have power in your hands, you need to make good use of it. It can bring you benefits, but it also has responsibilities. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility. I, Xiao Chaogui, from  Since the day I became the Western King of the Kingdom of Heaven, I have used the power in my hands well, which has brought me great benefits. I have also fulfilled my responsibilities. This responsibility is to make the soldiers and civilians live and work in peace and contentment, and then make the country rich and strong.  Soldiers!"

    Finally, Xiao Yungui stared at Shi Dakai and said: "Where is the King of Heaven? Has he fulfilled his responsibility? What has he brought to the Kingdom of Heaven? Does the Heavenly Father really need such a person to command the military and civilians of the Kingdom of Heaven?" He then made no secret of himself.  With his ambition and desire, he said calmly: "In order that our descendants will not be bullied by Western powers in the future, I need greater power so that I can fulfill greater responsibilities. Who else in the world would give me this heavy burden?!  "

    When Xiao Yungui spoke, he did not avoid Zhang Suimou and Han Baoying behind Shi Dakai. Zhang Suimou slowly changed from shock to contemplation after listening to Xi Wang's words, and Han Baoying slowly changed from anger to dullness, but both of them understood Xiao  In Yungui's words, they used to think that only King Yi could lead the Kingdom of Heaven to drive away the demons and prosper, but today they discovered that Xi?? was already far ahead, and the clear monsters within his sight were no longer a concern, but a more terrifying enemy was already placed in front of them.  As the King of the West said, if the Kingdom of Heaven continues to be internally consumed, it will lose the opportunity to win. King Xi has the ability to lead the Kingdom of Heaven to a farther place, but he needs power, and needs greater power.  Although Xiao Yungui never said a word to persuade King Yi to surrender to him, every word King Xi said expressed this meaning!

    Hong Yun'er had been silent, but now she spoke softly: "This Blue Water has brought a new way to the Kingdom of Heaven Navy, and we are now standing at the crossroads of the times. What is waiting for us is just a choice. Cooperation will benefit both sides.  If we divide, we will both lose. But our couple will not change our original intention because of Yidian's choice. We will definitely go on this road. Even if we die on the road, someone will take over the flag and continue on. We don't want future generations to comment.  Shi said, now we have the opportunity to choose victory, but we choose to do nothing. King Yi, what is greater than loyalty in the world is the well-being of thousands of people and the vitality of future generations. For these we can  No loyalty, what do you think?!" (To be continued)
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