Chapter 95 Could it be the truth

"The Qing people are a group of non-political axeists! You will be defeated in war!"

Eleven years ago, when he carefully declared war on the Qing Dynasty with no chance of winning, the vast majority of them were worried about whether the Qing army would perish because of this, and whether the Qing army would rush into Tokyo tomorrow. When it was time to escape there, a reporter who had lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years published this article in the newspaper. "The Qing Dynasty will be defeated!", and in the article, he used his conversation with a well-known person as a supplement.

"What does Japan have to do with you?"

"The country is the foundation of people. People without a foundation, what do you think of people?"

"Mr. Hayada is surprised! We just happen to be passers-by in this country. The country is nothing, just a political axe for tax collection. It's your own business to live.

"A group of nonsense..."

"Mr. Hayata! Even if the country is strong, does the country give you dividends? Do you have any benefits? Of course, if you are a senior official of the political axe, or if you have relatives of a senior official of the political axe, it's another matter.

"Li Jun, people have to have roots, right?"

"Shunxi, come and tell him what people are at all."

"My young master is basically our family, our young master is basically my master, and my master is simply our old master."

"The foundation of people is the family, and the Li family is my foundation."

When a country doesn't know the country, is it possible for them to win the war? As a result, as the reporter named Hayata expected, as soon as the army rushed up, it tore the skin of the Manqing Foreign Affairs Movement to pieces.

And the dialogue between myself and a Chinese in this story has become the best example of Chinese people having a home and no country. People's numb nerves will be awakened by guns and cannons. There was no nationalism before Jiawu, and there was no national awakening before Gengzi. It was a shame again and again that made this insensitive nation wake up from the muddle.

The country and the nation are such a heavy topic for the Chinese. After 260 years of alien slavery, the backbone of the nation was broken, and the shame awakened the national consciousness sealed in the heart. When a nation is restored, people who have been enslaved for hundreds of years can stand up and say for the first time, "I am a Han Chinese!" After a while, they said, "I'm Chinese", and the reduction and exemption of taxes and miscellaneous taxes made them realize that "country" and "slavery" are different.

Before the restoration, underground newspapers kept telling people what a nation is. At the beginning of the restoration, almost every day, every newspaper was instilling the responsibility of the nation, the country, the people and the citizens. For the first time, they knew what the country was, the first time they knew the nation's country, and the feelings towards the country. It's subtle. On the one hand, they don't know what benefits the nation's country is to them. On the other hand, they liquidate the blood debts of the family at the trial, so that they can understand that if the nation's country falls, then they are subjugated slaves. The Chinese have been subjugated slaves for 260 years!

In the past few decades, the humiliation they have suffered from foreigners is actually what the subjugated slaves have to bear. The simple and simple national consciousness has been rooted in people's hearts with the national consciousness. When the empire was founded, the Chinese were all immersed in the mood of the "Chinese imperial people", although he We don't think there is any difference between China and the Qing Dynasty, but at least the emperor is a Han man!

In this way, the Chinese people got the "nation" for the first time, and in the subsequent war... In the face of this national event, in the face of the good news from the front line, even the "small good news" of defeating a squadron of the Japanese army is enough to make the "nationals" have a rise from the bottom of their hearts. The feeling of struggle.

The country is strong!

Defeat the Easterners!

The dignity of the country! Personal glory! ! Finally, I can straighten my chest in front of foreigners! This is the simplest and most direct national consciousness!

Almost when the war rolled up and the people became more and more excited with the good news, Cao Yinsheng's whole person also became fanatical. A year ago, he was still a "young man" who shouted that "you have no king, no father, disloyalous and unrighteous thief", and even stole it when Cixi was executed. He stole the incense sacrifice on the shogunate mountain. Who let his family be favored by the court?

A month after the conflict between the Northeast and Japan began, he changed his appearance and became as fanatical as others.

"I want to go with the army!"

As an editor of the Jinling Morning Post, he asked Yan Ping, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, again and again, and Yan Ping always looked embarrassed. At the beginning, he was asked to work in the newspaper to take care of his old friend's son, but now he has to go out with the army. He once accused the newspaper that "the so-called labor is actually slavery" "The young master of the previous dynasty."

"You can't be a soldier!"

Yan Ping answered with one sentence.

"Because of your article! If you go to the army and are known by your comrades-in-arms, you will definitely be killed by them!"

However, when he became fanatical, Cao Yinsheng couldn't listen to it at all. Once the young man became fanatical, he would become uncontrollable. Since then, the style of his articles has changed greatly, full of articles praising soldiers and eulogism for war, to interviewing honorary soldiers in the "Fed Army Academy" in Zijin Mountain.

Although he still resisted the "imperial" in his heart, he was unexpectedly able to treat the Royal Army in the Battle of Restoration. He called them "anti-thieves" in his heart, and he regarded them as "national heroes" against the "Northeast Neutral Conflict".

"Maybe he can't figure out his own mentality!"

Every reporter and editor of the newspaper said so in private about his chaos. Finally, a week ago, the newspaper received a notice from the Admiralty that if possible, another military reporter could be sent to the front line.

"Uncle, you must let me go this time!"

Under Cao Yinsheng's plea, Yan Ping finally agreed to go to the navy after thinking for a long time. It's better to go to the army! The army is the restoration army, but the navy is... Uh-huh! Old wine in a new bottle.

A team of soldiers of the 102nd Division of the Army with rifles boarded the merchant ships of Huaxing and Tongshang shipping companies along the gangway. In order to make up for the lack of transportation capacity, the navy even hired every merchant ship in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Hong Kong. Thirty-one merchant ships carried the Guards Army 1 02. There were more than 30,000 officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division, while the Marine Brigade boarded the naval training ship.

"Glory! The dignity of the country will be restored!"

Standing on the side of the naval training ship and watching the army soldiers board the merchant ship, Cao Yinsheng said on his lips, but when the afterglow of his eyes saw the huge fleet of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet moored in the mooring area, his face showed a trace of grief and indignation.

"The loss of power and humiliation of the country! Unexpectedly, outsiders are allowed to be in the key port of the country!"

"Look, Cao Qianzi is muttering there again!"

"According to the important port of the country, why didn't he say that his master still rented the port to his country!"

"Oh... I remember, it seems that the master said something... Um... I'd rather be a foreign country than a domestic slave!"

"Yes! This Taiwan is given to foreign countries, but today it has been taken back by China!"

The waves of sarcasm made Cao Yinsheng, dressed in a newly customized gray "new clothes", feel a burst of hot on his face. He wanted to refute them, but he could not find a rebuttal. He knew that fortunately, these people were all literati. If it were someone else, he might have come to beat himself earlier.

"I can't wait for the benefit of a strong tongue!"

When the ship moved forward slowly, Cao Yinsheng supported his face and got out of the cabin. On the "Kangji" training ship, the cabin was divided into several layers. The upper level was the officer's cabin, the canteen and the medical office, and the lower level was the soldier's cabin. As soon as he entered the cabin, Cao Yinsheng saw a row of marines in the restaurant. Sergeant, I'm carefully polishing... shoes there!

Not only shoeshine, but also ironing military uniforms there, polishing medals, polishing the rings of cowhide armed belts, and even the copper rivets on the bullet bag are carefully wiped with white cloth. Everyone's expression is extremely serious. What are they going to do?

"Ha..."

He took a breath on the copper button of the Marine Corps uniform. The corporal carefully wiped the copper button with a white cloth. The serious look was like wiping the gold button.

"There is a stain here, keep wiping!"

The officers walking back and forth in the restaurant scolded the soldiers who did this "useless work" from time to time.

"Why don't they wipe their guns?"

The scene in front of him only made Tang Yinsheng have a little doubt. What are these people going to do?

"...When each company disembarks along the gangway, remember 32 steps, not much, not much, just like during the military parade..."

When he was about to go out, the words of several officers on the dining table next to him stunned Tang Yinsheng.

"The military parade? Is this their plan?"

When walking along the passage to his cabin, Tang Yinsheng saw that most of the soldiers in the cabin were sitting on the multi-layer cranes that could not straighten their waists doing the same work.

"This kind of army can win the battle! It's really..."

"It's incredible!"

On the Keelung Fort, Jiro Uchida looked at the sea level and couldn't help sighing.

"The Chinese can defeat us, and the main force of 300,000 troops is surrounded. It's really... incredible!"

After a long sigh, he said again.

"In the last war, we were so powerful that we almost overthrew the whole Qing Dynasty with a gentle push! And this time, I really don't know whether we have become weaker or China has become stronger!"

After hearing Jiro Uchida's words, Matsui, who was originally silent, looked at him sideways.

"Mr. Uchida, there are too many people who think like you, so I have fallen into today's predicament!"

"Mr. Matsui, why do you say that?"

Take a step forward and look at the 150mm Kryp coastal defense gun on the Keelung Fort pointing directly to the coast. This is the trophy taken from Lushun after conquering Lushun ten years ago. It was first used in Tokyo Bay, but later it was dismantled to Keelung. After today, the cannons here are returned together like this island. It's a national.

"In the last war, it was not that the imperial army was too powerful, but that the opponent was too weak!"

Yu Guang noticed that Jiro Uchida seemed to be a little puzzled, and Matsui further explained.

"The soldiers of the Qing Dynasty have abandoned themselves from the beginning. Their state power is Manchurians, and so is the emperor. The Han soldiers have no desire to sacrifice for the alien emperor and political axe at all, so we easily defeated them, but I mistakenly thought that I had defeated the Qing Dynasty!"

Matsui's words made Uchida very dissatisfied. Although he did not participate in the Sino-Qing War, his brother participated in the Sino-Japanese War. Emotionally speaking, of course, he hoped that he would clearly defeat the once strongest country in Asia and truly defeat them, not like what Matsui said.

"But...but the Qing soldiers are really weak!"

"Those Han people didn't fight seriously at all!"

Hirai Matsui still insists on his own opinion.

"That is to say, one of the reasons for Japan's victory was caused by Han soldiers?"

"Hmm!"

Uchida, who was quite dissatisfied, snorted. In his opinion, he should be exhausted in front of the powerful enemy and more powerful soldiers. In the end, he had to surrender, rather than the reason for the victory was the civil strife of the other party.

"In the last war, the navy was brave and good at fighting, as the newspaper said, but their technology was too bad!"

"Is it technically bad?"

"It may cause misunderstandings just to say bad words. We performed very well in the cooperation of the warship and the fleet. I think only Britain could compare with the Japanese navy at that time, but the most important thing is that the gunnery is very poor!"

As a naval officer, Matsui naturally has the root of saying this.

"Is it sex?"

"Yes, it is the technology of firing shells to hit the enemy ship. This is the ultimate purpose of the fleet's attack. If this aspect doesn't work, no matter how strong the fleet is, it will be defeated! And at that time, we were almost hopeless!"

"Is it so bad?"

Jiro Uchida, who felt a little incredible, looked at Matsui in surprise. He was a naval officer, and he was an army officer. How could he raise the spirit of others and destroy his prestige?

It is also because he is an army that he is dissatisfied with Matsui's words just now. After all, in his opinion, he won the war of the Qing Dynasty openly. As Matsui said, it was never the internal problems of the Qing Dynasty that made the war win the war.

"Worth worse than you think!"

"If our artillery skills are very poor, what about the proportion of the other party?"

Uchida, who likes to compare numbers, asked.

"Ten years ago, this was confidential. At that time, the European and American army and navy would simply release such figures after the battle, but at that time, the army announced the bomb consumption figures, but the navy took a secret. Do you know why?"

Matsui turned his head and looked at the civil war.

"I'm afraid of shame! I'm worried that I will be seen by Europe and the United States, and I will know how lucky our victory is!"

Thinking of the inferior gunnery, Matsui Hirai felt a blush.

"Three years ago, when I was still on Jiangtian Island, Colonel Ma Han of the United States was Ma Han, who wrote the theory of sea power! He once discussed the difference in naval gunnery throughout the war. Colonel Mahan was the world authority in naval tactics. Do you know what he said?

Matsui's rhetorical question was exchanged for Uchida's shaking head and full of interest.

"First of all, the navy is better than the Qing Dynasty on warships, the quality of weapons and ammunition is also much better, and it is fully guaranteed. It is also much better than the enemy in terms of the ability of officers and soldiers. However, the level of gunnery of both sides of the Qing Dynasty is so low. What should I say? According to the data released by the Japanese navy, the Qing Dynasty is slightly better than them in this regard. Except for light cannons under six pounds, the hit rate of the Japanese navy is 12%, while the Qing Dynasty reaches 20%!"

"Is there such a big gap?"

Matsui nodded, looked at the army troops in the port that were withdrawing from the ship, and said.

"Ten years ago, after the end of the Qing War, the navy has been practicing artillery. Do you know what level to reach? It is to reach the artillery level of the Qing navy! The winner has to reach the level of the loser. I'm afraid there is only one time in the world!"

In addition to sighing, Matsui continued to say.

"Eleven years ago, we hit 12% with the most advanced scope and rangefinder of artillery technology in the 19th century, and Qing [***] used the ruler and six-point meter in the era of the Trafalgar naval battle, but the hit rate was twice that of our country. If they had rapid-fire guns and new shells, they would use those old ones. Warships can also win naval battles!"

Matsui's words reveal a little secret that is not a secret. For the naval circles of various countries, this is not a secret, but for China and Japanese citizens, this is a secret that only a few people know. Both sides hide the truth from the people with common political purposes.

"Humph!"

With a cold hum, Uchida looked at Matsui seriously.

"In the end, didn't we still win? If, as you said, we can easily defeat them because the Han people have no desire to sacrifice for foreign emperors and political axes at all, then why did their navy play such excellent artillery skills!"

When saying this, Jiro Uchida seemed to find the mistakes in Matsui's words, and his face couldn't help showing a trace of pride. In his opinion, Matsui was simply looking for an excuse for "the navy can't help" in this war. What is a more appropriate excuse than exaggerating the enemy?

If the navy could help the army, it might not have suffered the great humiliation of the current "ceding" of Taiwan. Now Matsui is good, not only exaggerating the current enemy, but even distorting history here.

"That's at sea! Mr. Uchida!"

Matsui Hei threw an idiotic look at Uchida, and then replied in a low voice.

"If they were on the sea, if they didn't work hard, they would be in danger of being buried in the sea. If they were on land, they would have fled long ago. If the Westerners ruled Japan now, would you serve in this Japanese army and work for them?"

When Uchida was about to refute, he added.

"Uchida, it is because there are too many people like you who cover one eye, so we can't see the true nature of the truth. We defeated the Qing Dynasty, so we naturally think that China will be as incompetent as the Qing Dynasty, but what about the truth? That's the truth!"

Matsui's hand pointed, and a trace of ship smoke appeared on the sea outside. It was the receiving army sent by China!

(to be continued)