Xiao Mingliang did not agree with Zhao Liewen's opinion, and immediately refuted: "The number of ironclad ships of the coalition navy is twice that of our army, and it is mainly medium-sized warships, and its total tonnage is far more than twice that of our army. ”

Li Hongzhang said without backing down: "The army strength of the coalition forces in South Africa is as high as more than 300,000, while the strength of our country and the Boers is only 160,000. ”

"Mainly land warfare?" Xiao Mingliang laughed and said: "Not to mention the Battle of Pretoria eight years ago, that is, the Battle of Standton last year, more than 30,000 German troops were almost wiped out, which is enough for Europeans to clearly understand the combat strength of our army, but it is twice the strength advantage, they dare to focus on land warfare?"

Moreover, land warfare is protracted, and naval warfare can determine victory or defeat in one battle, and what the Europeans want is nothing more than the Transvaal gold mine. ”

Li Hongzhang said unhurriedly: "The five-nation alliance has different thoughts, and Britain, France and Germany and Austria are at odds, but they are entangled together for the sake of the interests of South Africa. ”

Yi Zhengxing nodded slightly, and said: "It is indeed difficult for the five nations alliance to work together, and it is necessary to guard against it, if the other side takes the initiative to attack Maputo, it can be fought for the completion of the battle, but if the opponent's navy adopts a defensive posture, it should also formulate corresponding countermeasures, and we can't afford to delay this battle." ”

"Soldiers are impermanent, water is impermanent." Xiao Mingliang said in a deep voice: "If the other party adopts a defensive posture, our army should take the initiative to attack and directly attack Popton." ”

"Cape Town is the most important supply port for the coalition forces, and once we capture Cape Town, we can force the opposing navy to fight our army in a decisive battle." Li Hongzhang said: "One attack and one defense actually means the ...... of active and passive. ”

Yi Zhengxing hesitated and said, "Sir——, do you mean to take the initiative to attack?" ”

"I'm against it!" Xiao Mingliang said in a deep voice: "The chance that the coalition forces will take the initiative to attack Maputo is at least sixty percent, and we can only finish the battle by placing the battlefield in Maputo Bay. Only if it is certain that the coalition forces will take the defense, can they take the initiative to attack Cape Town. ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The Simon military port in Cape Town is also a 'U' shaped bay, as long as the mouth of the harbor can be blocked, it can also completely annihilate the opponent's fleet. ”

"Impossible!" Xiao Mingliang denied without thinking: "We don't have the ability to block the mouth of Simon Bay without the other party noticing. ”

Yi Zhengxing asked: "In Maputo Bay, can we block the mouth of the bay without the other party noticing?" ”

Xiao Mingliang said firmly: "Yes!" ”

"Then wait for the other party to knock on the door." Yi Zhengxing made a final decision, then looked at Feng Zicai and said, "The repair of the railway must be accelerated. ”

Although Feng Zi still hasn't figured out what the navy relies on, there is no doubt that the navy must have hidden killer features, if the navy can complete its work in one battle, then in this battle, the army is afraid that there will be no chance to fight a beautiful battle, and if there is no railway to transport troops for long distances, the army is afraid that it will not even be able to fight a battle.

After hesitating, he said: "Your Highness, the damage to the railway line in the Transvaal is relatively serious, although there is no shortage of labor, but the railway technicians are indeed in short supply....... I wonder if there will be railway soldiers in the future?" ”

Li Hongzhang smiled when he heard this, "The railway soldiers are a newly established branch of the army, and the scale is not large at present, and the railway soldiers of these two regiments are still drawn from the newly built railway lines in Annam and Siam. ”

"Even if it is withdrawn from China now, it will be too late." Yi Zhengxing said slowly: "Recruit laborers to cooperate with the railway troops." ”

This is the truth, Feng Zicai nodded with some disappointment, black laborers are just better than nothing, most blacks are lazy, labor enthusiasm is not strong, often passive slacking, such as repairing the railroad This kind of hard work is not many blacks are willing to go, he secretly thinks in his heart, it seems that it can only be the idea of fighting the army.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizhi casually looked at the newspaper in his hand, the news of the large increase of troops in South Africa by the five European countries had not been reported, and the matter was still under secrecy, and the newspapers were usually some war propaganda to protect the Transvaal, and more reports of the drought in the northern provinces had been alleviated.

Since the beginning of spring, the northern provinces except Shanxi have continued to rain to varying degrees, so far, the northern part of the rare five-year-long large-scale drought can be said to have completely ended, the government and the opposition are jubilant and jubilant, a little bit of vision is clear, with the recovery of the north, the Qing Dynasty is expected to usher in another heyday.

Zhao Liewen walked in slowly, and when he saw Yi Zhizhi reading the newspaper, he couldn't help but smile, "The drought in the north has been alleviated, and the gunsmoke in South Africa has risen again, which can really be described as a wave of unsettled ......." ”

Yi Zhishu put down the newspaper, stretched out his hand to sit down and said, "The war in South Africa is over, and it should be a few years away." ”

"The Transvaal Boers are already small in number, and after this war, they will inevitably be even rarer." Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "The war is over, is the Transvaal maintaining the status quo?" Or do you have other plans? ”

"It depends." Yi Zhizhi said and lit a cigarette, "The blatant annexation of the Transvaal will cause a series of troubles, but if the Boers take the initiative to implore for annexation to our country, it is not impossible to consider."

It has been a few years since the Portuguese bought the territory south of the Zambezi River to Maputo, and I have pondered that it should be included in our territory as a special province or, if the Transvaal, altogether. ”

"Special provinces?" Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "A high degree of autonomy? ”

"It's just another name for a colony." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Our country promotes the equality of all ethnic groups, because of the need to develop industry, encourage the free movement of nationals, if the territory of South Africa is directly established into a province and a county, and officially incorporated into our territory, it is equivalent to the inclusion of blacks in our country, which will inevitably lead to a large number of blacks flowing into our country, and it will inevitably be a disaster for a long time." ”

Disaster? Zhao Liewen groaned a little before he was a little puzzled and said: "Isn't my country in urgent need of a large number of cheap labor now?" ”

"No!" Yi Zhixiang said without hesitation: "Negroes are not ideal cheap labor, we can't bring in a large number of blacks because of short-sightedness, that will leave endless troubles and disputes for our country, I would rather my country's development be slower, and I will not agree to the introduction of a large number of blacks." ”

Zhao Liewenqiang laughed to himself: "The big shopkeeper regards black people like beasts. ”

"I'm not a racist, and I advocate that all men are created equal." "But I don't want serious racial discrimination disputes in my country in the future. After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "Some mistakes can be made, but some mistakes must not be made, because an enclave, an enclave destined to be divided, resulting in hidden dangers in the country that are difficult to eliminate, is a mistake that must not be made!" ”

Seeing that his attitude was rarely resolute, and he was unwilling to explain, Zhao Liewen stopped asking questions with interest, and instead said: "What does the big shopkeeper think about the British colony in South Africa?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "All our country needs is the gold mines of the Transvaal. ”

"Nothing?" Zhao Liewen was stunned, "Isn't that too cheap England?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said quietly: "If there are conditions, I want to sell a big favor to various countries to help Germany, France, Austria and Italy carve up South Africa." ”

"Partition?" Zhao Liewen looked at him stunned as if he didn't know him, why do you want to do this kind of thing that offends England but does not benefit the Qing Dynasty in the slightest, a typical thankless effort.

"Can't figure it out?" Yi Zhixiang showed a meaningful smile on his face, "I have mentioned many times that with the development of the times, countries around the world will set off a wave of national liberation movements, and the partition of South Africa by many countries can prevent South Africa from forming a unified country in the future, and can extend China's control over the Transvaal gold mine to the greatest extent." ”

In the blink of an eye, March has entered South Africa, and South Africa has also entered the sunny autumn from the hot summer, but the coastal Cape Town is still hot and humid, and the rainfall has not decreased in the slightest, in fact, even in the rainy winter of South Africa, Cape Town is still abundant.

In the continuous autumn rains, a huge fleet of ships appeared on the sea of Cape Town, and the news spread, and the whole Cape Town cheered, and many people rushed to the beach with umbrellas to confirm the news.

Although Cape Town was far from the battlefield, with the Qing and the Five Kingdoms declaring war on each other, and with the arrival of the main fleet of 100,000 Qing troops and navy in Maputo, a lingering cloud has been hanging over Cape Town, and many people are worried that one day the Qing army or navy fleet will suddenly appear outside Cape Town or on the sea.

Now, the large-scale reinforcements have finally arrived, although the sky is raining lightly, but everyone has a feeling of sudden enlightenment, in the port dock, in a beautiful four-wheeled carriage, the commander of the coalition navy, Vice Admiral Marie Jules du Bethle of France, looking at the sea is getting closer and clearer and clearer, the smile on his face blooms little by little.

After learning that he was still the commander of the Allied Navy, he hurried from Durban to Cape Town to wait, and the thought of being about to command such a large ironclad fleet made him unable to suppress his excitement, which he believed was definitely the most glorious culmination of his military career.

Although he had learned that another Qing fleet had arrived in Maputo, he was still absolutely confident that he would be able to crush the Qing navy with absolute strength, after all, the total tonnage of the ironclad ships on both sides was too far apart, and it had more than doubled.

When the British Vice Admiral Hubb boarded the dock, Du Bailei quickly greeted him, the two had dealt with each other in Cape Town a few months ago, and after saluting each other, He Bu asked with concern: "What is the movement of the Qing Kingdom?" ”

"An additional fleet was sent to Maputo five days ago." Du Bailei said in a relaxed tone: "At present, the Qing fleet in Maputo has more than sixty ironclad ships, and more than thirty ....... ships of more than 2,000 tons. ”

Hebu was taken aback, "Thirty torpedo boats?" ”

"There are only eighteen torpedo boats, and the other dozen are auxiliary ships under a thousand tons." Du Bailei said: "However, it cannot be ruled out that the Qing Dynasty will continue to send additional torpedo boats in the future. ”

"If the opposing side has enough torpedo boats, it will be enough to reverse the disadvantage in tonnage." He Bu said with some concern, he was very impressed by the torpedo boats of the Qing Kingdom, the torpedo boats have high speed, small size, high speed and flexibility, and the power of the torpedoes is great, once the number of torpedo boats is large, it will definitely cause serious losses!

In addition, torpedo boats are typical of small and large, even if two or three torpedo boats sink a large frigate or the main battleship, it is very cost-effective, after all, the cost of torpedo boats of hundreds or hundreds of tons is too cheap, and it cannot be compared with large warships that cost two or three hundred thousand pounds at every turn.

"After these years of development, the shipbuilding industry of the Qing State has been relatively developed, and it has enough capacity to build a large number of torpedo boats in a short time, so we must capture Maputo as soon as possible." Du Bailei said and asked rhetorically, "The journey went smoothly, right?" When will the fleets of several other countries arrive? ”

He said: "It's going well, and you should be able to get there in two days." ”

It was two days late, and Yi Zhicontent, who was far away in Shanghai, received a telegram that the sea and land reinforcements of the European coalition had arrived in Cape Town one after another. ”

Yi Zhicontent said slowly: "The Second Fleet is mixed with eighteen torpedo boats, and they are in a different position, how will you decide?" ”

"Fight quickly and capture Maputo as soon as possible." Yan Yangtian said: "China has a military port in Maputo in South Africa, and once Maputo is captured, even if China sends more torpedo boats in the future, it will not pose any threat." ”

Yi Zhicontent nodded, "Although the torpedo boats are small, they are enough to pose a serious threat to large ironclad ships, once there are a large number of torpedo boats, it is a mortal threat, with China's industrial strength, it is capable of building a large number of torpedo boats in a short time, so the European coalition forces will definitely not dare to delay the fighters." ”

Yan Yangtian said: "What the students are worried about is that England already suspects that our country deliberately hid the combat power of the navy in the first battle of Durban, and it is very likely to hinder the attack on Maputo. ”

"You're wrong." A sneer appeared at the corner of Yi Zhi's mouth, "On the contrary, England will instigate an attack on Maputo." ”

"Why?"

"The reason is simple, attacking Maputo, whether you win or lose, is good for England." Yi Zhizhi said: "If you win, you can seriously weaken our country's strength and expel our country from South Africa, and if you lose, the navies of Germany, France, Austria and Italy will suffer serious losses and will be weakened, and you will no longer have the strength to compete with the English navy in Europe." ”

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