Arnold was stunned, he couldn't understand how the respected Consul Ferdinand could commit such a low-level wwΔ w.kgege.la that is a diplomat who controls the entire Middle East by himself, without him there would be no canal. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

During the Crimean War, Viscount Ferdinand, under the instructions of the French Emperor, began a difficult mediation with the Ottoman Empire, and it took all his might to persuade the Egyptian governor to agree to delegate the canal to France.

What a difficult negotiation, and how the contemporaneous British could not defeat Ferdinand, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the father of this canal.

Originally, Viscount Ferdinand had reached retirement age, but because France was facing an extremely serious international threat, Prussia reorganized its arms and war, and even a Chinese family in the East began to challenge the dignity of the French emperor.

And at home, the rebels who believed in the republic had been trying to restore the French Republic, and Napoleon III was overwhelmed by conspiracy and secret wars.

The situation in Egypt is also very bad, since Ferdinand returned home, the French emperor began to draw elite troops from the various colonies, although on the surface the total number of soldiers in each colony remains unchanged, but insiders have long seen through it, the elite of the colonies has been exhausted, and the rest are all new soldiers and old and weak.

In this situation, France's control over the colonies was declining, which led to the intent of various forces, and British spies were secretly establishing some kind of delicate relationship with the Bedouin tribes.

Prussian spies were preparing for a war on the economic lifeblood of France, and this year there was a major diplomatic incident in which the emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the head of the Chinese family visited Europe.

Everything needs a strong man to sit in Egypt, so who else but Ferdinand? Who in the entire Egyptian garrison is not convinced by the old man?

"But why didn't the consul stop the Chinese? This is impossible! With the ability of the consul, it should be no problem to drag the Chinese for twelve hours, right? How can it not be delayed for a minute?"

Jean-Arnold roared angrily, he looked at the hands on the pocket watch, and knew very well in his heart that this time was the timetable for the Chinese to break through the canal normally as previously inferred.

If the combined fleet entered the sea outside Port Said at about half past seven, this proves that the consul did not stop even a minute!

"My sir, now is not the time to entangle the consul's responsibilities, now we must step up, we want to make a decision immediately!"

"Right...... Yeah...... Make a decision immediately!" made Arnold hurriedly put on his military uniform, and even tied the buttons crookedly in his excitement.

"Pass the order down and get ready for battle...... The artillery commander was in position, distributed live ammunition, and entered the first level of combat readiness ......"

The adjutant who stayed up late stamped his feet angrily, and actually directly blocked the commander's mouth on the next offense: "Sir, are you crazy! How can the truth of the war fall on us?"

"We don't know exactly what's going on in the Suez Canal, and I'm afraid even the garrison in Port Said can't figure it out...... They asked us to enter the canal, and they said they wanted us to fight?"

"What are you doing here? Are you declaring war on Chinese? You will bring trouble on us and France ......"

"Even if you are determined to open fire, can you beat the British? To the south is the combined fleet in the canal, and the British warships in the Indian Ocean are coming with Xiao Letian!"

"We will be ......joined by the British Atlantic Mediterranean Fleet in the north, and if we really go to war, won't it become a north-south attack?

Let Arnold come to his senses at this moment, "Oh God, I'm so confused! You did the right thing, did you have any proposals, and I really should have listened to your ...... last night."

The adjutant sighed, "Now is not the time to talk about this, I have already made a plan, in fact, the requirements of Port Said are similar to my plan......"

"I ask the captain to give an order immediately, and the battleship must speed up and get into the river before the Zhiyuan rushes out...... Then immediately hang the fault flag and block the river with our ships, this is the only way to stop the Chinese without going to war!"

"Okay, well, I'll listen to you...... I'll give the order!"

At 7:20 a.m., the French Mediterranean Fleet appeared off the coast of Port Said, and after a brief panic, the flagship Maranta suddenly began to accelerate and swooped down towards the mouth of the canal.

The Maranta, the newest French battleship, was powered by steam sails with a displacement of 6,800 tons, and a thick chimney emitting black smoke in the middle of the three-masted sail.

Inside, a single boiler drives a single-drive propeller that can provide up to 1,500 horsepower, and when combined with the kinetic energy provided by the huge sails, the ship can travel at a speed of 18 knots on the sea.

The battleship has a double-layer shooting deck on both sides, and the gun doors are densely arranged in two sections, and the shining steel armor protects the battleship. The entire Maranta glittered with silver like a silver-armored knight in the Middle World, galloping through the sea.

How powerful is the sail and the steam power, but it is impossible to calculate, because the power provided by the sail is entirely dependent on the weather, and God gives him as much as he wants.

However, some engineers have calculated that if the wind and water are smooth, under the impetus of six or seven winds, the Maranta can reach a maximum of 3,000-4,000 horsepower, which is already a very powerful power system at the end of the nineteenth century.

Under the strict orders of Captain Jean Arnold, the heat in the boiler compartment of the battleship suddenly rolled, the pitch-black coal was thrown into the hearth, the blower was blowing, and the red flames shone on the people's eyes.

Billowing black smoke suddenly burst out of the chimney, and the white sails suddenly smoked black, and the Maranta shook the sea as if it had been suddenly injected with morphine, and then rushed forward rapidly.

The other French battleships did not have the same excellent power system as him, and they could not catch up with the speed of the Maranta at all, and as a result, the originally neat formation immediately appeared in neutral.

The movement of the French alerted the parallel British fleet, and the quality of the elite commander of the Royal Navy was indeed much higher than that of Jean-Arnold, and it didn't take even half a minute for the British fleet to make a decision.

"Accelerate...... Immediately intersperse with the formation of the French army, cut their formation, whatever the conspiracy of these people, we will disrupt their rhythm first......"

The sea off Port Said was in chaos, both armies began to change formations, and the whole sea was filled with the shouts of sailors.

In the midst of this chaos, no one noticed that on the southern horizon, a dark smoke ribbon was quietly approaching rapidly.

Note: It's a new month, and it's a new beginning! First of all, let's report last month's results! I looked at the ranking last night, and our hidden dragon was 36th on the monthly sales list, from more than 50 to 36 at once, which is really a great improvement.

Thanks to all the book friends who support the genuine version, and more grateful to the local tyrant book friends who gave the hidden dragon full order at the end of the month, we rushed from fifty to thirty-six, thanks to the book friends at the end of the month to give seven all subscriptions, that is, all subscriptions!

As soon as the seven local tyrants made a move, their results suddenly soared, very good, very good!

The heart is pure and not greedy, if ten local tyrants make a move in March, each of them will order a full order, and our results are estimated to be a big cut!

In silent prayer......