As the sun set and the sea breeze was blowing, in the 'Crouff' officer's hall, who had been watching the battle, He Bu, who had been watching the battle, looked at the two fleets slowly withdrawing from the battlefield with a leisurely face in his mouth, and said softly: "The fight is quite tenacious, but it is a little disappointing." ”

Hood said slowly: "The torpedo boat is good, it is a good attempt to be small." ”

"In the past eight years, there seems to be no great progress in the combat power of the Qing ironclad ships." He Bu groaned, "Could the Qing Kingdom hide its strength?" ”

"Probably not." Rydel said without thinking: "If the Qing Kingdom deliberately hides, it will not expose the torpedo boats, there is no doubt that the torpedo boats are a huge threat to large warships, if the Qing army has twenty or thirty torpedo boats in this battle, there will not be only two battleships sunk." ”

Hood concentrated: "The Transvaal gold mine is extremely important to Yuanqi, it is the guarantee of the Qing country's implementation of the gold standard, in addition, in recent years, the Qing country has been in a large area of drought in the north, the Qing country has spent a huge amount of money on disaster relief, and the treasury is empty. It is impossible to tolerate the looting of the Transvaal gold mines. In this case, it is impossible for the Qing Navy to hide its strength! Rather, they desperately hoped for victory in the naval battle to stabilize the country. ”

He Bu instructed: "Immediately send a telegram and report the situation of this war to the country truthfully." ”

On the flagship of the coalition forces, the 'Sevani', although the commander of the coalition navy, Du Bailei, was still tense, but his heart was quite excited, this battle of the coalition forces was sunk two warships, five warships were heavily damaged, the loss is not small, but compared to the Mozambique naval battle of Qingying eight years ago, this loss is nothing at all, more importantly, this battle is enough to prove that even without torpedoes, they can completely suppress the Qing navy!

What does it mean to be able to completely suppress the Qing Navy? It means that they have the ability to expel the Qing State from South Africa and completely occupy the gold mines of the Transvaal! That's a super gold mine with an annual output of more than 150 tons of gold!

"Send a telegram to the country and report the situation of this war truthfully!"

Diresmith, German command.

"Call Berlin and ask for reinforcements!" Frederick. Karl put down the telegram in his hand and walked to the window to look in the direction of the port of Durban, his gloomy face showed a trace of cruelty, the battle of Sanderton, more than 30,000 German troops were almost wiped out, for him, for Germany is a great shame.

He originally thought that there was no chance for revenge, although the Transvaal gold mine was eye-catching, but the Qing army was strong, and the navy was not something that the coalition could compete, and it was impossible for Germany to continue to increase troops and fight to the death with the Qing country, and the gains would outweigh the losses!

But now that the coalition navy can compete with the Qing navy, the situation is completely different, he believes that after gaining insight into the true combat power of the Qing navy, England will definitely directly send the navy to the war, in this case, if Germany wants to continue to keep the forty percent of the shares of the Transvaal gold mine, the only way to increase the number of troops in South Africa is to substantially!

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Zhao Liewen said worriedly: "If this news leaks, I am afraid it will cause domestic financial turmoil ......." ”

"Don't worry." Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "Cable telegraph communications with Europe have been cut off, cable telegraph communications with North America have been subject to military control, and the same is true for cable telegraphs in Nanyang, so it is unlikely that the news will leak ........" After a pause, he continued: "In fact, even if the news leaks out, it doesn't matter, and financial turmoil within a controllable range is not entirely a bad thing." ”

Seeing his confident expression, Zhao Liewen turned to say: "In the first battle of Standton, almost all 40,000 German troops were annihilated, and the four European countries should be very clear about the combat strength of our army, even if the navy is weak, they may not dare to increase troops in South Africa?" ”

"The Transvaal gold mine has such large reserves and high production that it can be said to be unique, how can such a piece of fat be easily spit out if it is eaten by the top four in Europe?" Yi Zhizu laughed and said: "In the battle of Sanderton, almost 40,000 German troops were annihilated, showing the combat strength of our Qing Army to the fullest. The reason is simple, we have already sent more troops to Maputo. ”

Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "Fuel tactics? ”

"Yes!" Yi Zhishu nodded, "If it is a large-scale increase in troops, it may scare them off, and the first increase of 100,000 troops stimulates them." ”

"The key to the battle in South Africa is naval warfare." Zhao Liewen said: "The strongest European navy is still Britain and France, although Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy also have navies, but the scale is not large, if Britain does not openly participate in the war, the European coalition fleet is afraid that it will be difficult to compete, and Germany, France, Austria and Italy may not dare to increase the number .......of troops in South Africa on a large scale." ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "Huifu is worried that England will not openly participate in the war? ”

"England is hiding behind her, how can she jump into the light?" Zhao Liewen said: "Besides, England itself is also happy to see our country and the four-nation coalition forces pinch each other in South Africa........ ”

Yi Zhizhi said with the old god: "What if our country openly declares war? ”

"Declaring war on England?"

Yi Zhizu said slowly: "First declare war on Germany, France, Austria and Italy, my country has signed the "Security Treaty" with the Transvaal, and the four countries brazenly send troops to invade, and my country can justifiably declare war on the four countries. A day later, war was declared on England, citing England's support for the invasion of the Transvaal. ”

"A blatant declaration of war?" Zhao Liewen was shocked, "If you openly declare war, the loss will be great." ”

"In this era of power, if you want to gain decades of peace, how can you not pay the price?" Yi Zhi's contented tone was a little helpless, lit a cigarette, and took a few puffs slowly before he said: "Call Bengal, once war is declared on England, Shi Dakai will immediately send troops." ”

Zhao Liewen nodded, once Shi Da sent troops to India, England couldn't go to war if he wanted to! After a slight groan, he said: "Even if it is an open declaration of war, the news of the fall of Johannesburg is still public....... ”

Since it is a public declaration of war, it is natural that public opinion must be guided and propagated, even if it will have some impact on the financial market, it is not taken care of, "Well." Yi Zhi nodded and said: "The fall of Johannesburg and the victory of Standton can be publicized, but the news of the Battle of Durban is better concealed first." ”

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! Germany, France, Austria and Italy openly joined forces to invade the Transvaal! ”

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! German, French, Austrian and Italian forces capture Johannesburg! ”

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! Standton Victory! ”

News of the war in the Transvaal had been blocked, but once the ban was lifted, all newspapers rushed to report on it, and a large number of war reports, newsletters, and war diaries sent back by war correspondents were quickly published by newspapers large and small.

For a while, the government and the opposition were shocked! Shock is followed by anger! And then the denunciation!

What does the gold mine in Johannesburg mean to Yuanqi and the Qing Dynasty, not to mention the officials, gentlemen and businessmen, even many ordinary people are also clear, after all, the newspapers of the Qing Dynasty have carried out strong propaganda and continuous reports on the Transvaal gold mine, Johannesburg has fallen, tens of thousands of compatriots are in prison, and the gold mine with an annual output of hundreds of tons of gold has been robbed, which is tantamount to piercing the sky!

Since the strong rise of Yuanqi, the newspapers of the north and south of the Qing Dynasty have been unremittingly and sparing no effort to carry out constitutional ideological propaganda for a long time, carry out ideological propaganda of the modern state and nation, and carry out patriotic education and propaganda.

Now the four European countries actually jointly sent troops to rob the richest gold mines overseas of the Qing Dynasty, which is tantamount to stabbing the hornet's nest, and only two days of public opinion guidance and propaganda were carried out, and the government and the opposition were already a call for a declaration of war, and there were large-scale tours in various treaty ports and provincial capitals, demanding that troops be sent to South Africa and recover Fort John.

The stock market saw a sharp decline, with all the stocks related to Yuanqi falling sharply, but the expected continued plunge did not materialize, and the next day, the stock market stabilized and rebounded, and it was a strong rally.

After receiving a call from Huo Zhengqi, Yi Zhixiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Today's shareholders have more and more confidence in Yuanqi, and they are more and more courageous to speculate." ”

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "Yuan Qi has long been preparing for this foreign war, although Fort John fell, but there was a great victory in Sanderton, most shareholders still have full confidence in Yuan Qi, after all, the foreign war launched by Yuan Qi has never been defeated in these years." ”

"It's not a good thing." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The people are too keen on financial speculation, which will seriously affect and restrict the development of industry, and after the war, we must control and correctly guide it, otherwise, it is easy for people to take advantage of it." ”

"It's still the big shopkeeper's far-reaching thoughts." Zhao Liewen couldn't help but secretly admire, no matter what the situation, he can be prepared for danger in times of peace, this point, he sighed to himself.

Three days later, Emperor Guangxu issued a clear message to the world, accusing Germany, France, Austria and Italy of unprovoked invasion of the Transvaal, which had signed the "Security Treaty" with the Qing Dynasty, and if he openly provoked the Qing Dynasty, he clearly declared war on the four countries, and ordered the dispatch of 100,000 troops by sea and land to the Transvaal to annihilate the invading enemy.

The next day, Guangxu then issued an edict, accusing England of disregarding morality and openly supporting Germany, France, Austria and Italy to invade the Transvaal and declare war on England!

The open declaration of war on Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and other five major European military powers in one fell swoop suddenly boiled over the government and the opposition, and a number of commentators in the newspapers expressed different opinions and debated endlessly.

Zhao Liewen put down the newspaper in his hand, "Now that China's external cable and telegraph communications are either interrupted, or under military control, declaring war on the five countries, will it be released through the United States?" ”

"Of course." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "We can't declare war behind closed doors, besides, declaring war openly is to force them to increase their troops." ”

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