On September 10, 1854, the East China Sea was sunny, and a ship "Far East France" with the French flag was sailing past Mopanyang, preparing to pass through Zhoushan Islands and enter the Gray Turtle Ocean, and then arrive at its last destination, Shanghai.

Zhoushan, also known as Dinghai, is located on the east ocean surface of the southeastern coast of my country, on the south side of the Yangtze River Estuary, and on the outer edge of Hangzhou Bay. It is backed by prosperous areas such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo and vast hinterlands such as the Yangtze River Delta. The north-south coastal routes meet the Yangtze River waterways, and is the maritime gateway and channel between the Yangtze River Basin and the Yangtze River Delta.

The name of "Zhoushan" is the name of a small hill before the capital of Benshi County. The Yuan Dade's "Changguozhou Tuzhi" records it in this way; "Zhoushan is located south of the state, and there are mountain wings like a nesting sea. It is named Zhoushan because it gathers from the boats."

In the 26th year, Kangxi took the meaning of "Shan (referring to the present Zhoushan Island) as Zhou, and then it was moved but not quiet." He took the meaning of "Zhoushan" and changed "Dinghaishan" to "Dinghaishan" and enumerated the title of "Dinghaishan". The following year, Dinghai County was established and the original Dinghai County was changed to Zhenhai County. From then on, the name of the archipelago began to separate from the name of the political district.

But just as the "Far East France" passed through the Zhoushan Islands, seven Manqing naval warships with the Yellow Dragon Banner leaned towards the fleet and shouted loudly to stop the ship for inspection.

The big ship stopped obediently and let these Qing warriors with braids board the ship in a row.

"Brothers, buy wine." The Chinese cargo owner gave red envelopes to the Qing soldiers who boarded the ship with a smile on his face, and said in a flattering manner: "You are the ones who are in charge of Liu Haoyong and I are old buddies. Is he here?"

"It turned out to be Lao Wang's goods. Now the navy's steward is our Chen Aiqing." A Qing soldier weighed the silver and pointed back.

"Mr. Chen, Lord Chen, are all from the villagers. If you have any questions, can we tell us in the cabin?" The cargo owner bowed and wanted to pull the high-ranking official behind him.

"Don't do this!" The tapeman suddenly waved his hand and yelled: "I'm going to be rampant recently, search for me!"

"Fuck, I just fucked the person who was fucked? I didn't play like this!" The cargo owner looked at the Qing soldiers who were like wolves and tigers and complained, and had to shout, "Old men, this is a French ship, not a Chinese ship, can I let it go?"

"What's wrong with the French ship? This is the water surface of our Qing Dynasty! I hate you traitors the most! I don't hang the yellow dragon flag, but don't hang the fucking foreign flag? What's wrong with the foreign ship? I'll check it!" Chen Aiqing jumped his feet and cursed.

The goods owner said to himself: "Damn, do we dare to hang the Yellow Dragon Flag? If you hang it, will you eat it even with the bones of the belt?"

"Sir, speak in the cabin, speak in the cabin." The cargo owner kept trying to pull the new face into the cabin and apply sugar-coated shells.

"Go away!" Chen Aiqing pushed the owner of the goods, Lao Wang, staggered.

"Brother Qin, what's going on? My French ship shouldn't be checked." The cargo owner Lao Wang, who looked like a mortal face, grabbed a Qing soldier he knew and asked in a low voice.

"Old Wang, you are about to get bleeding. The old tiger has been full and left. Now I will replace it with a batch of hungry tigers." The Qing soldier murmured in a low voice.

It turned out that the officialdom in Ningbo in the Qing Dynasty changed, and Ningbo Daotai was replaced. Xinfeique changed one after another with the arrival of Xinfeitai. The Manqing Water Division, who was mainly responsible for anti-smuggling, was naturally a big fat. Chen Aiqing said that he spent 100,000 taels to make up for this Daotai.

How to earn back the official fee, you will naturally have to drink blood from the cargo ship passing through Zhoushan.

Because Guangdong bandit Zhao Ziwei was released from Guangdong, his famous traitor and foreign devils were not fat when wearing a pair of pants. Because the Manqing Shui Master was entrusted with unrestrained fish and meat at sea, all cargo ships from the south went to Guangdong to change their nationality and hang foreign flags, which naturally affected the income of the Manqing Shui Master's brothers.

The old manager said that he had been working for more than ten years and had already eaten his fill. Now Liu Aiqing is naturally hungry and cannot grab a small sampan every day. He was envious of these large merchant ships with foreign flags. Finally, he had a plan with the Dinghai officialdom. He was given the large number of traitors who now possessed bandits, including opium, tea, grain, and raw silk, and other smuggling trade behaviors, and no matter what kind of ship they had to check.

Lao Wang was in trouble and was hit by the first wave of Liu Aiqing's wealth-making.

"Head, I found 100 boxes of opium! They are all top-quality Indian goods!" A Qing soldier came up panting and reported.

"Head, the captain found a long-haired futures contract in the captain's room." Another Qing soldier ran to the deck and knelt in front of Liu Aiqing.

Liu Aiqing smiled and looked at the cargo owner Lao Wang with the look of the cat looking at the mouse.

When Lao Wang saw the smuggling goods in the box, he was not panicked. He looked at Liu Aiqing walking over without fear and whispered: "Don't say secret words in front of the real person. The old price code is, I will give you 30,000 taels a month. Don't check my fleet in the future, how about it?"

"The opium smuggling is also a gangster, and I want to bribe loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty! Fuck you!" Liu Aiqing laughed, changed his face suddenly, and punched Lao Wang in the face with a hard punch, smashed him on the deck, and then kicked him down on the face with a fierce kick.

Looking at the owner of the ship with blood on his face, Liu Aiqing laughed proudly and shouted to his subordinates: "Get my guns and I will interrogate the rebel on the spot."

It’s not that Liu Aiqing didn’t accept bribes. He originally wanted to accept bribes, but compared to his goal, Lao Wang was just a chicken. It was slaughtered and the monkey group was important.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey!

It is necessary to be famous. Because Lao Wang is the first wave of inspecting foreign ships, he must capture real evidence and then expand the influence so that he can inspect any ship.

So Lao Wang was in trouble. Not only was the goods confiscated and the ship seized in Dinghai, but he and 17 Chinese people in the fleet were all convicted of committing bandits and smuggling, and they were also executed by Lingchi.

At the same time, the Dinghai navy began to frantically inspect any cargo ship passing through the waters, whether it was a Chinese ship or not.

Because Dinghai County was stuck at the checkpoint of north-south water transportation, one month later, Liu Aiqing's threshold was broken by the merchants who ran to the sea transportation. The silver was collected and a whole warehouse was filled. Of course, other colleagues were indispensable. The newcomers in the Dinghai officialdom burst into laughter and felt that they could immediately obtain fame and fortune. Not only did they catch evidence of collusion between foreigners and Guangdong bandits, Emperor Xianfeng ordered the commendation of all the meritorious ministers.

But Liu Aiqing and his county magistrate Chen Jiashang, the upstart of the officialdom who combines civil and military affairs, did not know that they had already made a big fuss.

Although there is no foreigner at all, the forces affected by this "Far East France" are all over the world!

Because although there were no foreigners on the ship, the ship was registered by France (Haijing), which infringed on the Treaty of Nanjing (regardless of whether there is or not, the great powers said that there is one). The French minister protested against the Qing government in Shanghai, and of course no one paid attention to him.

The 100 boxes of opium and 50,000 taels of silver in the ship were the payment for the ordering of tea from the British Baoshun Foreign Company in Shanghai.

The interests of merchants were violated, and the British consul and the American consul were also hoarse at Wu Jianchang, the Shanghai Daotai. However, although the latter knew that foreigners were powerful, he could not control Ningbo and could only convey the foreigners' anger. Of course, he was just a delay. He would not say a word to the emperor at all. After seeing the edict from Xianfeng to commend the two ministers of civil and military in Dinghai County, he was not a fool. If he poured cold water on Xianfeng, wouldn't he be unhappy for himself?

He Bo from Haijing was also furious. The ship appeared to be a French ship, but it was affiliated with the Haisong Royal Transportation Company.

He personally owns 10% of the shares of this company, the Haisong court owns 70% of the shares, and businessmen from other countries own the remaining 20% ​​of the shares. The general manager is He Bo, a navy army of the Tiandihui who made military achievements in the Tiandihui welcoming the King's Uprising. Because he has been smoking opium and does not want to be an official, after conquering Guangzhou, he took the viscount reward and continued to do his own business of smuggling at sea.

The Qing Dynasty may recognize the great powers, but even if it is killed, it will not recognize that Haisong is a country. Any trade between Haisong and the Qing Dynasty is smuggled. Therefore, all the large merchant ships of "Haisong Royal Transportation" are foreign ships, and "Far East France" is one of them. The cargo owner Lao Wang and the 17 sailors above were actually all rebels from the previous Tiandihui.

After hearing He Bo's description and the information from the Mission Department, Zhao Kuo gritted his teeth and slapped his head: "This wind cannot last!"

He clearly understood that it was clear that the Qing Dynasty wanted to make money through this waterway trade. This idea seemed to have nothing to do with him, but if he let them be arrogant, any nationality ship could be checked randomly, but in the end he pinched his neck, he could only bribe the Manqing navy, which meant that he had to pay a "corruption tax" to the Qing Dynasty!

"I'm some of them, I'm going to pay protection fees for your mother's Qing Dynasty?" Zhao Kuo roared in the "Palace": "Let's call me to chop a car and see who's hard knife!"

The next day, the Emperor of the Sea immediately met with consulates from various countries, expressed his common hatred for the sovereign France, expressed sympathy for British and American businessmen, scolded the Qing Dynasty for its shameless behavior of trampling on international law, angrily denounced the Qing Dynasty's corruption, and reiterated his determination to protect China's maritime and ocean trade.

Almost at the same time, various newspapers in Haijing and Hong Kong broke out with harsh declarations of war.

Two months later, on November 7, 1854, an expeditionary fleet set sail from Haijing Port with the goal of Dinghai County, Ningbo.

The flagship is the 50-gun warship "Da Songhai". This was originally a sailing warship "Avenger" retired by the British Navy. It was bought and donated to Haisong by the British Opium Merchants Guild. As soon as he arrived in Haijing from India, it was immediately renamed "Da Songhai" and became the new flagship.

It turned out that the second-hand goods bought by Zhao Kuo were renamed the "China Dragon" flagship, and the original "China Dragon" (formerly Spike, original Dasonghai) was renamed the "God Knight".

The fleet includes 7 sailing warships, a total of 100 guns, 4 steamships (unarmed consignment ships, all employed ships), and 22 transport ships.

This was almost the entire Haisong Navy warships dispatched, and transported about 2,000 Haisong Army troops, including 1,000 Little Knife Legion and 1,000 newly formed Crusaders Fogang Flying Tiger Camp.

Commanders of each department:

Commander-in-Chief of the Navy: William Davidson;

Vice-General of the Navy: Luo Qianjie;

Commander of the Little Knife Legion: Ding Yuzhan;

Fogang Flying Tiger Camp: Chief Instructor - Friedrich, Intern Battalion Commander - Chen Baoqiang

The fleet left Haijing Port and headed north, and rushed toward the Zhoushan Dinghai, guarded by 6,000 Qing guards.
Chapter completed!