Chapter 75: Song Island Launches Two Merchants' Rise Tianxia Bookstore

  Yang Feng was in Taipei to receive the reward from Empress Dowager Cixi when he learned that Li Er Guizi had requested his top general, and the Ryukyu prince came to Beijing to pay tribute. It seemed to have put this old lady in a good mood, after all, it's not an era where many countries come to pay tribute anymore. The last vassal state, Korea, still hasn't yielded results until now, but suddenly, Ryukyu has resumed its tributes. Many people must be praising her achievements.

  And this little black prince is also very good at being a person, just look at the gifts he sent over, not to mention that one giant silver phoenix that weighs 1,000 catties, it's so beautiful that you can't help but love it. Although this thing called "light silver" from Western countries is almost as expensive as real silver, considering their small country doesn't have much money, being able to offer such a gift is already quite rare. Especially since the surface is covered with colorful gemstones that light up at night, it's really pleasing to the eye. She has no idea what uranium ore looks like.

  Under the joyful mood, Cixi not only conferred Shang Yin as the King of Ryukyu, but also awarded Yang Feng, the Taiwan Zhen General who recovered Ryukyu, a yellow jacket with Batu Lu title. At the same time, she promoted him to an official and separated Taiwan Zhen from the jurisdiction of Fujian Land Road Tidu, establishing Taiwan Land Road Tidu, with Yang Feng as Tidu and General concurrently. As for his fleet, it was said that they were foreign soldiers privately hired by him, so Cixi pretended not to see them. If she had seen them, she would have had to pay for their maintenance, but since she didn't see them, she naturally didn't need to spend money on them either.

  The eunuch who came to bestow the reward was previously warned by Li Xiangwang, the object of Yang Feng's investment, that this Commander Yang was not a Qing person, but an Ottoman Empire nobleman, and it is said that he also had a fiefdom there. He only brought troops to help because his ancestors were from the Heavenly Dynasty and he was indignant. When he arrived, he was somewhat considerate of etiquette, and the Bogus洋行 also sent him 2,000 taels of silver separately. Therefore, when he read out the imperial edict, even though Yang Da was standing there wearing a pirate costume, he simply ignored him.

  Having received the imperial edict, he threw aside the yellow robe and handed over the public official to Zhang Quan to attend to, while Yang Feng and Xue Fu discussed Liu Ming's case.

  "Liu Shengsan probably can't go, he has been ill for many years," said Xue Fucheng.

  "Is he really sick or just faking it?" Yang Feng asked curiously.

  "Illness is real, after a hundred battles who doesn't have some illness on their body, but it's not to the point where they can't take care of things. To say the bottom line is that he's disheartened and cold-hearted. The Huai Army is powerful, and there are naturally people in the imperial court who are jealous, so attacking Li Zhongtang would be too difficult. So as the person next to Zhongtang, he naturally became the target of everyone's criticism. Moreover, this person indeed has a bit of an arrogant attitude, relying on his talent. In the past, there was still Prince Gong in the imperial court to support him, but after Prince Gong died, he lost his backing. If he continues to hold this position, it will be difficult to have a good outcome, so it's better to use illness as an excuse to retire early." Xue Fucheng said.

  "I heard that he had a falling out with Master Weng because of the horse trough, and that's why Master Weng took revenge on him. Is it true?" Yang Feng asked curiously.

  "It's just a joke, but Uncle Ping is also a great scholar, how could he be so petty? Moreover, the two have always been on good terms, and that white porcelain dish was a gift from the Empress Dowager. Even if Uncle Ping liked it, he wouldn't dare to do such a thing." Xue Fu Cheng said, looking at his expression, probably just leaving some face for the scholars, after all, as the emperor's teacher, this Uncle Master is also a banner, and Old Xue naturally couldn't say anything else.

  Looks like this old master hasn't done anything good, has he? This guy is now deeply resentful of Weng Tonghe who ruined his own business.

  "Aren't you a divine doctor? Why don't you go and take a look at Liu Shengsan?" Xue Fucheng suddenly said.

  Yang Feng suddenly remembered that he was still a divine doctor, but he was actually a fake divine doctor.

  "What's wrong with him?" he asked immediately.

  "It's not very clear, but when he resigned in Taiwan, the reason was dizziness and nausea, vomiting, and one eye had already gone blind. It's estimated that he couldn't stand the humid heat here." Xue Fu Cheng said, the climate in Taiwan is indeed not great, otherwise Yang Da Boss wouldn't prefer to stay in Ryukyu, even Xue Fu Cheng relied on the electric fans installed by him to get through the summer.

  Dizzy and nauseous, vomiting, and even blinded in one eye. If he had glaucoma, then Dr. Yang would have been really stumped. But judging from the fact that he vomited blood and died later, it was mainly due to heart and lung disease. Whatever, just give him a bunch of ceftriaxone and sulfonamides, anyway this stuff won't kill him.

  Those so-called special medicines from China, in fact, no one buys them in China. This is the main reason why some European newspapers with ulterior motives slander him. However, in the face of real efficacy, these slanders are basically pale and powerless.

  Now that it's settled, Yang Feng simply sent a military doctor from the fleet over, and because he was afraid Liu Ming would not cooperate, he specially had Zhang Quan take his father's signboard, holding Xue Fu Cheng's handwritten letter, personally taking this military doctor, and a box of penicillin, sulfonamides, cefotaxime and other antibiotics on a destroyer to treat Liu Ma Zi's illness. At the same time, he also went back home to see his old man, exchanging recent study experiences father-son style.

  "Has the Musashi been launched?" This guy had just sent off Zhang Quan when he received some unexpected news. These Japanese people are working pretty hard, after all. The Musashi, which was originally expected to take two months to repair, was actually fixed in a little over a month.

  "Yes, this is a telegram sent back by an electric light salesman in Nagasaki." Ye Zi said, this cunning and ruthless little girl is now Yang Feng's number one assistant.

  The Japanese army's defeat at Yashan has shocked the world, and with the combined fleet also suffering consecutive blows, even Hiejirō ōyama was seriously injured. As a result, voices calling for Japan's decline are growing louder in Europe. Moreover, after learning of Yang Feng's attitude, Britain is re-examining its diplomatic policy. Consequently, Japan's national debt in Europe has become virtually unsellable, and even the originally ordered Fuzi and Yakushima have no funds to start construction. For the future of the Great Japanese Empire, Itō Hirobumi went all out, and for the sake of repairing Matsushima as soon as possible, dozens of workers labored day and night until they died from exhaustion, finally achieving this result. Additionally, it is said that there was also some assistance provided by the British.

  It seems that Britain has made its final test now. If this joint fleet fails again, it is estimated that they will completely abandon their illusions about Japan.

  Upon receiving the news, Yang Feng immediately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang and recalled all warships abroad. The five warships, including the Raijō, Fei Yuan and Fei Ying, which had just arrived, were all relocated to Okinawa.

  After receiving Yang Feng's telegram, the Beiyang Navy immediately became tense. All warships underwent final checks, and all bitter acid shells in stock were loaded onto ships. Even old-fashioned cannonballs were inspected one by one. In the last big battle, domestically produced old-fashioned cannonballs had few qualified ones, with some having insufficient gunpowder or even containing coal ash inside. Such things must be eliminated, and shells that could be replaced with nitrocellulose were all replaced with nitrocellulose. Additionally, fuel was also replaced with the highest-quality white coal. At this time, it's impossible to have any problems; after all, this is a decisive victory or defeat.

  Two days later, Yang Feng received intelligence again. The main force of the combined fleet had all left the port. Matsushima, Chiyoda, Hashidate, Yoshino, Naniwa, Takachiho, Chiyodagata, Kongō, Fusō, Akagi, and Sei-kyō-maru were all out in a makeshift manner. In addition, after Tsuboi Kōzō was scrapped, Tōgō Heihachirō succeeded as the commander of the First Torpedo Flotilla. As soon as Yang Feng thought of the military god, he couldn't help but feel a little eager to try.

  At this time, inside the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Hanyang, Queen Min was leaning weakly on her bed, saying to a young woman in front of her, "Is Yang Feng really that capable?"

  "Your Majesty, this person is not just someone with a simple talent. Although he is Chinese, in Europe, he can be said to be extremely popular. The eldest son of the British Crown Prince, Victor, Duke of Hesse's Princess Alexandra, even German Emperor Wilhelm are his good friends. He has even stayed as a guest at the German Imperial Palace for over two months. And Victor will definitely become the King of England, while Princess Alexandra is about to marry the Russian Tsarevich. According to some European rumors, she seems to have a special relationship with this Yang Feng." The foreign woman gave a knowing glance.

  The woman's gossip psychology was immediately mobilized, and Queen Min sat up curiously and said, "Does the Russian prince not know? Can he agree to marry a princess with a tarnished reputation?"

  "Your Majesty, you wouldn't know this, but Russians don't care about such things at all. This is now, in the past in Europe, if a woman didn't have a ***, that would be laughable. Even if she brought *** home, her husband would be considered impolite if he drove them away. Those were truly enviable times." Sun Ze said with a look of nostalgia.

  But they really wronged Yang Feng, he and Alice were good together but not to the point of making Nicholas wear a green hat, Alice was a very rational woman, and Yang Feng was full of conspiracy theories, so although the dry firewood and hot fire sparks flew everywhere, it didn't ignite.

  "But if I ask him for help, will he really assist me? After all, he is now an official of the Qing government." Empress Min said with doubt.

  "Your Majesty, this man has multiple identities. He is not only the General of Qing country but also the Governor-General of the Ottoman Empire! This person is a pure businessman, as long as you agree to give him some benefits, for example, granting him a small island, yes, he likes to buy land, it is said that his lordship in the Ottoman was bought by him, he bought a place similar to the size of Zhijiang Island there, and also bought large tracts of land in Western Australia and the United States." Sun Ze said.

  At this time, Princess Min's mind had already understood that her best friend had been bought off, and Yang Feng's opening offer was Jeju Island, but this actually made her feel at ease, as Yang Feng was truly willing to help her.