Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 71: All Talents
"I am Chen Zhijian, your humble servant, and I am honored to meet you, Your Excellency." A slightly fat young man bowed to Sun Gang and said.
"Mr. Chen, please take a seat." Sun Gang asked him to sit down. Ma Yue said to him, "Mr. Chen was originally a student studying in the United States. Later, the court withdrew the students. Mr. Chen first worked in the Customs and Taxation Department, and later transferred to the Telegraph Bureau. The last time Japan asked Ecuador to purchase cruisers and the Russian fleet came to the East, it was Mr. Chen who found out through various sources."
After listening to his beloved wife's introduction, Sun Gang couldn't help but stand in awe. If he hadn't received the news early last time, Port Arthur might have become Russia's.
The original Study in America|Young Children Program was originally a means for China to cultivate talents overseas, but it was aborted due to the attacks and obstruction of those Qingliu diehards! Many young people with a passion for serving the country were forced to interrupt their studies and withdraw to China. Most of these young people who did not have any imperial examinations were familiar with modern scientific knowledge, but they were not tolerated by the traditional society at that time! Many of them were absorbed into the navy by Li Hongzhang and served the motherland in another way (like Shen Shouchang, the first mate of the "Jiyuan" ship who died in the Battle of Fengdao.), but there are still many people who can only make a living on their own. Sun Gang looked at the honest and steady young man in front of him, and in his heart he greeted Master Weng and the immediate relatives of those Qingliu diehards.
"Mr. Chen has made such great contributions to the country, but it's a pity that we can't ask the court to commend him." Sun Gang said regretfully.
"I don't seek merit, I just want to do something practical for the country." Chen Zhijian smiled and said, "The Japanese pirates invaded our territory and killed our people. I wish I could eat their flesh alive. You and Deng Zhuangjie fought a bloody battle in the Yellow Sea and wiped out the Japanese pirates. I admire you very much. I don't have any other strengths, but I can decipher ciphertext. I heard from my wife that you want to set up a military intelligence department, so I'm presumptuous to ask you to keep me."
After hearing his words, Sun Gang was secretly shocked. It seemed that this guy in front of him, who looked ordinary at all, was actually a cryptography expert!
"I have something else to report to you, sir." Chen Zhijian added, "Before the war, the Japanese sent a large number of spies into our country to spy on various military information. Many of the codes used by our telegraph offices and government offices have been deciphered by the Japanese. The Japanese also bought spies in our Qing Dynasty, which can be said to be omnipresent. Although the Japanese were defeated this time, there are still a large number of spies lurking in our country to collect intelligence. Seeing that the court is indifferent to this, I am deeply worried."
Sun Gang nodded. What he said was true. Even Li Hongzhang's nephew Liu Fen was bribed. As a result, the Qing army's aid to Korea was "secretly leaked", and the Japanese fleet intercepted the Qing army's transport fleet in the sea of Fengdao. Although Liu Fen was later arrested and beheaded, and the Japanese spy Ishikawa Goichi was shot, the damage caused ("Guangyi" and "Caojiang" were destroyed) was irreparable.
"I deciphered the secret code of a Japanese trading company the other day and learned that the Japanese warships were going to Tianjin to intercept our naval ships. Because the secret code contained the word 'silver and goods', I thought they might want to rob and kill our senior officials at sea, so I hurried to Weihai to report the news. When I arrived, I was told that you had already set off on the 'Pingyuan' ship. I was so frightened and upset that I wanted to ask the navy to send troops to support you, but there was no ship available in the port, so I had to return disappointed." Chen Zhijian said excitedly, "Fortunately, our naval officers and soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and you are blessed. I and two or three good friends were overjoyed to learn that you are safe and that the 'Pingyuan' destroyed the 'Takasago'. This is all because the Japanese broke our code. If you can alert the court, it will be a blessing for the people of the Qing Dynasty."
"If Mr. Chen does not give up, how about joining my Beiyang and lending me a helping hand?" Only then did Sun Gang understand why "Gaosago" came so coincidentally last time. The man in front of him was actually a rare talent, and it would be strange if he didn't want him.
"Thank you, sir!" Chen Zhijian was almost in tears. He couldn't give much money, so there was no need to be so excited, right?
With Ma Yue's introduction, the "Beiyang Military Intelligence Office" was soon established. In the past few days, the main people who collected intelligence for her were Chen Zhijian and several of his friends (all of whom were studying in the United States). Sun Gang retained all of them, except Chen Zhijian. His friend Zhao Chunze was a tall and thin man with glasses, who worked in the Tianjin Machinery Bureau. This man's specialty was mechanical disassembly and assembly. No matter how complicated the things were, he could disassemble them and reassemble them. This guy's weakness was lust (a common weakness of many men), and his hobby was to turn some elegant things into cheap toys. Ma Yue had a broken music box, and he took it to him and repaired it in less than a day and sent it back. Sun Gang opened the lid and put it away, and it really worked, but the music changed from "High Mountains and Flowing Water" to "Eighteen Touches", which made him really laugh and cry, and he gave up the idea of letting this guy repair things again.
According to Chen Zhijian, this guy and his friends had almost perfected the hot air balloon, which was very useful. The last time they found the Russian fleet coming east, they took a hot air balloon to the sea for a "tour", but the wind blew it to North Korea, and they almost couldn't come back. After they found the Russian fleet at sea, they immediately sent a telegram back to China through North Korea. Chen Zhijian informed Ma Yue in time, so that the Beiyang Fleet could react in the first time and stop the Russian fleet's actions.
Chen Zhijian's other friend Ma Yuchen was a playboy in Sun Gang's eyes, which could be seen from the look in his eyes when he first saw Jin Shunji. This man was tall, handsome, fluent in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean), well-informed, and eloquent, just like the Shandong idiot Captain Wang Dejun. However, this was also one of his strengths. He had the ability to get to know a stranger like a family in a very short time, and even a shy person like Zhan Shuxiao became a chatterbox when he was with him. However, in Sun Gang's opinion, his purpose of approaching Zhan Shuxiao was probably for the loli version of Liu Yifei, so he reminded his future "Navy SEAL" captain more than once to pay attention to his "backyard", and he didn't know whether he took it to heart.
They are all talented!
In order to strengthen the Beiyang Military Intelligence Department, he asked Zhan Shuxiao to go to the Beiyang Guard to get some people with "special skills" and let them study the methods of completing special operations tasks and practice diligently so that they can come in handy in the future.
Maybe Zhan Shuxiao didn't understand what he meant by "special skills", so he picked a large group of people from the Beiyang Guards, including tall, short, fat, thin, black, white, yellow, and brown, but they didn't look like agents.
Moreover, it took me a long time to figure out what "special skills" they all had.
He always felt a little funny when he saw all these different people he had brought together.
Is this the Beiyang Military Intelligence Department?
Yes, for a former bank clerk who served as the Minister of the Beiyang Shipbuilding Bureau and the Chief of the Military Intelligence Department, this was considered pretty good.
Since Chen Zhijian had a talent for intelligence work, Sun Gang gave him the task of collecting intelligence and gave him a lot of autonomy and funds for activities. He could also recruit people on his own (but with Sun Gang's approval). Zhao Chunze and Ma Yuchen were also under his command. Sun Gang planned to make good use of the hot air balloon when he had time. In an era without airplanes and reconnaissance satellites, this thing had enormous military value.
Because the joke he told his wife about the "National Security Bureau" made such a deep impression on her, she specially designed a logo for the "Beiyang Military Intelligence Department" (women are interested in different things than men). It is a copper round hole coin with the words "四海宁清" on the front and a dragon pattern on the back. There is an anchor-shaped logo on the dragon claws. The size of the coin distinguishes the position. Everyone in the Military Intelligence Department has one as a certificate of identity.
Of course, the biggest one is undoubtedly him as the general manager.
It was not until later that Sun Gang accidentally realized how great a role his beloved wife's creative design had played invisibly.
After a short time, the power of the "Beiyang Military Intelligence Office" gradually became apparent.
According to the news from Korea, after the restoration of Korea, due to the lackluster performance of the Qing Army and the cowardly and incompetent King Yi Hee of Korea, Myeongseong, who is actually in power, now has a strong pro-Russian tendency. This is also confirmed by the telegram forwarded by Yuan Shikai, "... Koreans were trapped by Japan and despaired of us. The King of Korea was sheltered by the Russians and his pro-Russian intentions were very obvious. The Russian ships forced to occupy Lushun, and the King of Korea was very uneasy. There were words like "If the Qing Dynasty goes to war with Russia, how can Korea cope with it..." It seems that there are undercurrents in Korea as well.
Then there is the matter of Japan. When the war broke out, Japan also seized a battleship, the "Tatsuta", which has now been driven back to the country. The "May 25th" cruiser bought from Argentina by the Japanese and sunk in the harbor was salvaged by the Japanese and is undergoing major repairs. It is estimated that it will join the Japanese naval battleship soon. This news immediately made Sun Gang a little uneasy. In his impression, the firepower of this cruiser should be similar to that of the "Haining" ship from Chile. Judging from the fact that it was able to be repaired after being hit by two black-headed torpedoes, its protection performance is also very good. This also shows that the power of torpedoes in this era is still limited. It is okay to deal with smaller ships, but it is still not enough to deal with bigger ones with a slightly stronger "physique".
Most of the torpedoes equipped by the Beiyang Fleet were German black-head torpedoes, because they could not be mass-produced in China at present. The torpedoes of the Beiyang Fleet were all imported from abroad when the ships were purchased. After years of repeated training and use, they had become seriously outdated (because the torpedoes at that time were too expensive, and the navies of various countries could not afford to practice with real torpedoes. They could only use practice torpedoes when shooting and real torpedoes when fighting). In addition, there were no replenishments for several years due to the suspension of purchase of ship guns. The effectiveness of these torpedoes can be imagined. Most of the torpedoes fired by the Beiyang Fleet warships in the Battle of the Yellow Sea did not hit the target (the Japanese fleet simply fired all the torpedoes into the sea before engaging in the battle to prevent themselves from getting hurt.), and the hit rate of torpedo boats was also very low. This was not necessarily due to the lack of skills of the naval officers and soldiers. At that time, the torpedoes themselves had many problems (it should be said that the torpedoes fired by the "Changjing" submarine were able to hit and explode.).
After the naval battle, local fishermen fished up all kinds of torpedoes (both Chinese and Japanese) from the sea and enthusiastically sent them to the Beiyang Fleet, which made Sun Gang feel both funny and sad.
The issue of domesticating torpedoes also needs to be carefully considered.
There are so many things to sort out, just take your time to sort them out.
