Compared with last year, Groba Bay is more lively this year, with various ships spreading over the bay. From a distance, there are still fleets of ships coming one after another. Merchants with a little vision can notice that this situation is a bit abnormal. There are also many rumors about Groba, and it is said that the South China Navy may have major military operations recently.

The 'Mahler's foreign company is not far from the port pier. It is a three-story Western-style building. In a room on the third floor, Joshua, the manager of the 'Mahler's foreign company, held a telescope and carefully observed the large fleet mooring on the east side of the bay.

The fleet was huge, consisting of more than 200 steam and sail hybrid sea ships. Many large ships had large wooden boxes on the decks, which were obviously large-scale ships for shipment. In the past few days, he also asked people to inquire about it. It was indeed a shipment machine, which made him a little confused. Where should this extremely large batch of machines be transported to? Is it Java or Bangladesh? Or the Persian Gulf? But why do you have to dock here for so long?

Joshua was the manager of the "Mahler" foreign company on the surface, but secretly was responsible for spying and collecting military and commercial intelligence of Gropa. Since the Qing Dynasty expanded its power to the Persian Gulf, Britain attached great importance to the Qing Dynasty's naval movements. During this period, the main fleet of the Qing Dynasty's South-Sea Navy has been stranded in Gropa, which attracted their attention.

He was naturally very concerned about this fleet that suddenly arrived in large scale. He arranged people to pay close attention to the situation every day. He would come up to observe the situation with a telescope once he had time. However, he had never figured out the destination and intention of the fleet, and could not find out any of the slightest from the crew and sailors who were ashore.

"Tu tuk tuk" sounded a light knock on the door. Joshua put away his telescope vigilantly and then quickly opened the door. Owen, who was in his early thirties, flashed into the room and whispered: "I received the news that the sailor crew of the fleet must return to the ship before it was dark today."

Is this going to set off? Joshua said in a deep voice: "Do you understand the supply situation of the fleet?"

"The fleet's supply is all under the responsibility of the South China Association, and it is not clear about the situation." Owen whispered: "However, the supply lasts quite a long time, and the supply should be quite large."

Large supply means long range. It seems that the destination of this fleet cannot be Java, and it will probably be the Persian Gulf. Joshua pondered for a while before instructing: "Keep paying attention to the movements in the military port."

Owen hesitated and said, "Do you want to send two fly-scissors to follow?"

The risk of tracking such a large fleet is not small. If the Qing Navy is dispatched, the risk will be even greater. The Qing Navy's new patrol ship can reach 20 knots, and it is stronger than the fly-scissor ship even in strong winds. Once the wind is not strong, the fly-scissor ship will not even have a chance to escape.

After thinking about it, Joshua said: "Let Steven and George set out to wait outside the Sunda Strait, and send a telegram to the country."

Not long after, Joshua found himself careless. More than a dozen steam gunboats patrolling back and forth appeared on the sea outside the bay and blocked the sea surface and did not allow ships in the bay to go out. At the same time, the port terminal posted a notice that all ships in the bay were strictly prohibited from going out of the sea. Europe also quickly reported that the telegraph office suspended the telegraph business because of a line failure in the cable telegraph.

This was definitely a large-scale military operation! Joshua's face suddenly became gloomy, but now he had no choice. In this case, the information could not be sent out at all.

The next morning, after three cannons, the main fleet of the Nanyang Navy slowly sailed out of the military port. At the port dock, the gentry, merchants, students and the people who came to watch early in the morning immediately burst into cheers. For the two provinces of Nanyang, the navy is their guardian god. They send off their own ways and wish the navy a triumphant victory as soon as possible.

After joining the huge fleet that sailed out of the bay, Xiao Mingliang ordered in a deep voice, "Set, target, Maputo!"

South Africa, East Coast, Port Maputo, South China Chamber of Commerce.

The Maputo Bay at dusk was particularly charming. On the large outer balcony, Huang Dianyuan leisurely sipped tea and enjoyed the sea view. After sending Guan Changhai away, he turned back to Maputo. He thought it would be inevitable that it would take some trouble, but unexpectedly, things were much easier than he thought.

From the local leader of the South China Association, he learned that Yi Zhizu had begun to set up a merchant fleet in Mozambique to Europe more than ten years ago to provide arms to the local blacks almost every year. It can be said that the Ngonian chief Genghenhana was able to form the Gaza Federation and expel the Portuguese, and reclaim the vast land south of the Zambezi River, which had a great relationship with Yuanqi's secret support.

It is precisely for this reason that Maputo, under the control of the Gaza Federation, has a very friendly attitude towards the Chinese. There are no white people here, but there are many Chinese people, there are many businesses, and they have very harmonious relationships with black people, and there are even many Chinese descendants.

On the second day after he arrived in Maputo, he visited Genghenhana, the chief of the Ngonians. Regarding his request to recruit strong labor and send people to find the road to Transva, Genghenhana agreed so much that he could do nothing all day long.

"President, a boat is coming, and we are hanging our flag."

After taking the telescope, Huang Dianyuan smiled and said, "It should be Director Guan who is here. Let's go and go and greet me."

The one who came was Guan Changhai. When the boat was on the dock, Huang Dianyuan greeted him and bowed and smiled: "It can be said that the Director of the Controller has come."

After returning a bow, Guan Changhai smiled and said, "It seems that President Huang's trip was quite smooth."

"Smooth." Huang Dianyuan smiled and said, "It's so smooth that it's beyond imagination." As he said that, he reached out and gave in and said, "We have prepared a welcome banquet, let's go back and have a drink and talk."

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Huang Dianyuan put down his chopsticks and said, "The shopkeeper has bought the territory south of the Zambezi River to Maputo from Portugal. Has the Director heard about this?"

"Has I bought it?" Guan Changhai was not surprised at all, his tone was very plain. Before leaving Shanghai, Yi Zhizu mentioned this to him.

Seeing that his reaction was dull, Huang Dianyuan said slowly: "This place is actually controlled by the Gazha Federation. If the news spreads, do you not worry about causing local black people to be dissatisfied with us?"

"What can you be dissatisfied?" Guan Changhai said dismissively: "For our country, this is just an enclave. The shopkeeper has no intention of building a province and establishing a prefecture here, nor has he intention of using it as a colony. He bought this land from Portugal in order to mine Transvaal's gold mine, to block the long mouths of Western countries, and not to interfere with the rule of the Kazha Federation, but to let them be autonomous. If I were them, I would wake up in my dreams."

After hearing this, Huang Dianyuan couldn't help but smile, "It's rare that the great shopkeeper Bodhisattva is so kind, but it is still necessary to discuss with the local blacks in advance to avoid the arrival of the army causing unnecessary misunderstandings."

Guan Changhai nodded and said, "I will visit Chief Genghana tomorrow."

The negotiations between Guan Chang Hai and Chief Genghana were very smooth. Yuanqi bought this place from the Portuguese, neither paying taxes nor ruling directly, but allowing them to be highly autonomous. This is equivalent to providing them with protection so that they do not have to worry about the Portuguese's revenge. This is simply a good thing that is difficult to find even with a lantern. How could they have any objection?

Ten days later, the huge fleet led by Xiao Mingliang arrived in Maputo. The size of the fleet caused a sensation in Maputo. Looking at the dense warships and merchant ships on the sea, Gengenhana was both happy and worried. He was happy to get such a big backer out of thin air, and he was worried that the Qing navy was so powerful that they could not compete with it.

With the arrival of the fleet, Maputo became lively and the powerful labor recruited in the early stages were instantly available. The construction of military camps, forts, docks, warehouses, roads, and docks was built. The entire Maputo became a huge construction site. On the simple dock, gantry cranes were quickly mounted, and a large number of machines were hung from merchant ships to temporary warehouses to be stored.

During the construction of Maputo, the five thousand Marines, with the cooperation of the black armed forces of the 1,000 Gaza Federation, began to march westward to attack the Kingdom of Peddy, which lies between Transvaal and Maputo, in order to open a passage to Transvaal.

Qingdao, West Fort.

With instructions, a huge 8-caliber shore defense cannon slowly turned its gun. When he was ready to aim, he heard a loud thunder sound. Although he was ready, Yi Shizuo, who was standing far away, was still buzzing with his ears. When the smoke dissipated, he looked at the cannon that had not moved in place and had its gun barrel automatically reset.

Seeing the joyful expression on his face, Tang Ruihong, an engineer standing beside him who specializes in hydraulic station-retreatment aircraft, said with a wry smile: "The big shopkeeper, the 8-caliber giant cannon has too much recoil, and the station-retreatment device is unbearable. He can only shell three rounds, and the device will be scrapped..."

"Being able to withstand three shellings is also a huge progress." Yi Zhizu encouraged: "This is enough to show that there is no problem in the research direction of the stationary, retreat, and re-advance device. Improve it as soon as possible. The era of giant ships and cannons has begun. In the future, the artillery will become larger and larger. Nine is not the end, and can only be considered as cannons. Twelve, fifteen, and sixteen cannons cannons be called giant cannons..."

Fifteen, Sixteen? Tang Ruihong was so shocked that he couldn't stop talking. The eight-caliber cannon was so recoiled. How much would the sixteen-caliber cannon be? After hesitating, he said: "The recoil of the seven-caliber cannon has added compression springs and tension springs..."

Yi Zhizu didn't understand the stationary, retreat and return device. He only knew that this thing was able to come up with this idea, and at the same time he knew that it was a hydraulic type. This was the limit he knew. Naturally, he didn't dare to speak casually. After pondering for a moment, he said: "Continue to explore, the importance of the stationary, retreat and return device to artillery does not need to be mentioned. No matter how much the price it costs, it is worth it..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly had an idea, "Is it related to hydraulic oil?"

Hydraulic oil? Tang Ruihong couldn't help but be stunned. This hydraulic retreat machine used water, but he didn't expect to use oil instead. The history of hydraulic presses is not long. In 1861, the 7,000kn hydraulic press used for metal processing in the Vienna Railway Factory can be said to be the beginning of the application of hydraulic presses. It has only been seven or eight years since its introduction in China, but I have never thought about improvement.

Seeing Tang Ruihong's expression, Yi Zhizu smiled and said, "Go more and try more, don't be afraid of waste. Yuan Qi has never stinged with investment in scientific research. Although he has boldly tried, the application of this hydraulic machine will inevitably be very wide in the future. You might as well draw more people to conduct research to innovate. Manpower and funding are not a problem."

"Don't worry, the boss." Tang Ruihong said calmly: "Subordinates will not let down the boss' high expectations."

After getting off the fort, he went around the steel factory. Yi Zhizu returned to Canghai Garden. As soon as he entered the door, Zhao Liewen came up and said, "The British Minister Weituma called, hoping to have a meeting with the shopkeeper as soon as possible."

Calculating the time, it should be South Africa's affairs. Yi Zhizu pondered for a while before saying, "Arranging it and returning to Shanghai as soon as possible."

Shanghai, British Consulate in Shanghai.

In the office, Wittoma slowly lowered the telegram in his hand and sighed. The telegram was sent from London. Diamond mines were found in an old crater near Kimberley, South Africa. The reserves were estimated to be huge, which was very likely to exceed Brazil's diamond reserves.

For him, this is really not good news. Just when Yuanqi entered the port of Maputo, East Africa, this news was heard, but it was afraid that it would set off a more crazy diamond frenzy. As far as he knew, there were a large number of Chinese people in the California gold mining frenzy.

He ordered a cigar in a bit bored. This time Yuanqi sent more than 30,000 people to Maputo, of which the navy had a maximum of 20,000 troops. It is said that he brought a large number of machines with the ship. This matter is really strange. It is obviously not for the Kimberley Diamond Mine, after all, Kimberley had not discovered the diamond mine at that time.

So what was Yuanqi's intention? Expanding in South Africa? What made him even more uneasy was that Yuanqi entered Maputo, and the Portuguese did not say a word. Even though the Portuguese had lost control of Maputo, the overseas territory of Portugal nominally belonged to Portugal after all. Portugal did not react at all in such a thing. Isn't this a strange thing?

What he was most worried about was that Portugal reached an agreement with the Qing Dynasty to ced Maputo. Once the Qing Dynasty gained a foothold in South Africa, it would inevitably expand greatly in the future, and the direction of expansion would definitely be westward and southward. Britain was actively expanding northward in South Africa at this time. In this way, the two countries would inevitably have conflicts in South Africa!

"Tu tuk tuk" sounded a light knock on the door, and he casually said, "Please come in."

"Your Excellency." A counselor pushed the door and reported: "The King of Zhennan has returned to Shanghai."

"Prepare the car." Witoma ordered, and then knocked out the cigar in the ashtray.

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