Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town is not only the largest port for the five-nation coalition to land in South Africa, but also the most important logistics supply port for the coalition forces.

Hood led a fleet of warships and transports from Simon's military port into the harbor, and when he saw that the harbor was still peaceful, he couldn't help but sigh lightly, it was clear that his warnings had not been heeded, and the news had not spread.

This was to be expected, and no one would easily believe that the huge combined fleet would be wiped out in Maputo, and even less so that the Qing fleet was heading south and targeting Cape Town.

As soon as he landed, Hood commanded in a deep voice: "All officers and men and crew members are not allowed to go ashore, and they are ready to set sail at any time." When he had come ashore, he called a carriage and went straight to the governor's palace.

From the wharf to Cape Town, the road was crowded, all kinds of carriages and officers and soldiers in different military uniforms crowded the road that was not wide, Hood was anxious, simply abandoned the carriage and walked, along the way you can see all kinds of arms and logistical supplies piled up in the open space on both sides, the whole Cape Town seems to be a huge military camp, because the train can not transport troops in time, a large number of the four countries army stranded in Cape Town.

In the Cape Town Governor's Palace, Rhodes, the owner of the De Beers Mining Company and known as the 'richest man in South Africa', looked at the Cape Town Governor Shepstone opposite with a solemn expression, "I received news that the combined fleet was defeated in Maputo, and the Qing fleet was heading for Cape Town to ........ ”

"It's a rumor!" Shepstone said in a firm tone: "Even if the combined fleet is defeated, it is impossible for the Qing fleet to leave Maputo and go south to Cape Town." ”

"I want to get the most honest news." Rhodes said in a deep voice: "General Hood will spread rumors? ”

"The truth of the matter is that the Combined Fleet has not heard anything since it entered the Gulf of Maputo." Shepstone said truthfully: "Yesterday evening, a telegram came from Durban saying that more than thirty warships of the Combined Fleet had crossed Durban and headed south.

The defeat of the combined fleet, the Qing fleet heading south to Cape Town, is completely Hood's whimsy or speculation, with your shrewdness, will you believe this kind of nonsense? ”

Before the words fell, an attendant walked straight into the room without even knocking on the door, "Your Excellency, call from London!" ”

Seeing that he broke in directly without being informed, Shepstone frowned dissatisfiedly, took the telegram and glanced at it a few times, his face changed instantly, "How is this possible?" ”

Rhodes's heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"The combined fleet is completely annihilated......." Shepstone muttered, raising his hand and handing over the telegram.

After reading the telegram, Rhodes's face was pale as if he had been beaten with a stick, his eyes were distracted, and he was speechless, his De Beers Mining Company monopolized the Kimberley diamond mines, earning as much as three million pounds a year, and once the coalition forces were defeated, everything would be over!

At this moment, Hood strode in, and when he saw Shepstone, who was a little lost, he asked in a very unceremonious tone, "Why don't you evacuate and organize defense?" Do you have to wait until the Qing army's fleet appears in front of you......? ”

Shepstone, however, seemed to see a life-saving straw, squeezed out an ugly smile, and said, "General Hood has just arrived, and he is about to consult with you about the coastal defense of Cape Town....... ”

"When is it all going on, and are you still discussing?" Hood said angrily: "The top priority is to evacuate the transport ships in Cape Town as soon as possible, once the Qing fleet arrives, it will become the spoils of the Qing army!" ”

"How many days will it take for the Qing fleet to arrive?" Shepstone asked in a muffled voice.

"How many days?" Hood said coldly: "Early tomorrow morning, the fleet of the Qing army may appear in the sea of Cape Town!" ”

Hearing this, Rhodes hurriedly said: "I still have some urgent matters to deal with, so I will leave first." As he spoke, he slipped away as fast as a cat with its tail stepped on, and he had no time to delay here, and he had to transfer and dispose of Cape Town and Kimberley's property as soon as possible.

With the telegram feedback from various countries, the news of the total destruction of the Combined Fleet in Maputo Bay soon spread in Cape Town, and the whole Cape Town was immediately plunged into extreme panic and confusion, and all kinds of ships anchored in the harbor were busy resupplying and preparing to return to Europe.

The speed of the Qing fleet exceeded Cape Town's expectations, and at one o'clock in the afternoon, a fleet of more than thirty warships appeared at the Cape of Good Hope, and the news spread, and the sailboats and steam sail hybrid ships in the harbor of Cape Town set sail one after another, even if they did not carry out supplies, they set sail in a panic.

The most helpless thing is that a large number of pure steam-powered ships, without timely replenishment of coal, do not dare to set sail and leave, rather than drifting in the vast sea to try their luck, it is better to stay in Cape Town to try their luck.

As soon as the Qing fleet bypassed the Cape of Good Hope, it found a large number of ships in a hurry to go to sea, Xiao Mingliang raised his binoculars and observed for a while, before he ordered in a deep voice, "The torpedo boats block the Cape Town Harbor, and the rest, come forward to intercept them, order them to destroy the sails and return home, and if they don't listen to the order, they will sink them directly." Tomorrow evening, return to Cape Town to meet. ”

The first group rushed to Cape Town were all fast torpedo boats and fast cruisers, after the order was given, all the fast cruisers immediately pursued north at full speed, and a dozen torpedo boats quickly blocked the harbor of Cape Town, but anyone who dared to go to sea was greeted by torpedoes, and after sinking a few transport ships that were not afraid of death, the other ships obediently stayed in the harbor.

On the sea, a scene of pursuit drama was staged one after another, whether it was a sailboat or a steam sail hybrid ship, the speed was far from being as fast as the fast cruiser, once it was overtaken, there were only two results, or obediently lowered the sail to slow down and destroy the mast, or was sunk, the battleship hit the transport ship, it was too easy.

A large number of transport ships that had escaped from Cape Town began to obediently return to Cape Town, anchored in the nearby designated sea area, lost their sails, and the supplies on board were not sufficient, and if they did not return, they could only float at sea and wait for death.

Cape Town Harbour, Marina.

Hood held a telescope with a gloomy face and looked at the more than a dozen torpedo boats quietly moored on the sea, he had seen the power of the Qing torpedo boats, although there were still seven warships moored in the harbor, two of which were still the main warships, but he still did not dare to act rashly, nor did he dare to break through.

In the current situation, it is no problem for him to lead a few warships to break through, but after the battleships have broken through, what should Cape Town do, let the Qing warships shell? With Simon on the side of the port, Cape Town's coastal defense can be said to be almost non-existent.

All he can do now is to delay and delay time, Cape Town still has more than 100,000 army troops, and it is impossible for the Qing army to attack it in a short period of time, and he believes that London will not watch Cape Town fall, and maybe, at this time, negotiations with the Qing State have already begun.

Of course, he was not completely passively waiting, and after the initial panic and confusion, the whole of Cape Town was mobilized to prepare for the Qing attack.

He faintly regretted it in his heart, he shouldn't have been soft-eared, and promised to stay and help defend Cape Town, now South Africa is a complete mess, once the negotiations fail, the Qing army will definitely not let Cape Town go.

For the next two days, the Qing fleet only blocked the sea near Cape Town, and did not attack, and every day fast cruisers chased and intercepted the transport ships that escaped from East London and Elizabeth, and as for the port of Durban, almost no ships could escape.

Two days later, another Qing fleet arrived in Cape Town, and the atmosphere in Cape Town became more and more tense as they looked at the warships flying the Qing Golden Dragon Flag densely on the sea.

Strangely, the Qing army still showed no sign of attacking, and after dark the next day, several flares pierced the night sky and illuminated the harbor as if it were day, and before the defenders of Cape Town could react, several huge explosions sounded in the harbor one after another, and in the rising column of water, two warships and three transports broke into two and sank into the sea.

Then, no, the whole harbor returned to calm.

Nothing happened all night, and when the tide rose the next day, more than 20 mines floated on the sea, which were mines floating on the water, and the harbor suddenly jumped with chickens and dogs, all kinds of shelling and all kinds of machine gun fire, and finally only three unlucky transport ships were blown up, and just when everyone was secretly relieved, there were several huge explosions, needless to say, this is the merit of the anchor mines.

Subsequently, the Qing army directly sent a captured transport ship into the port to negotiate, which could not be said to be a negotiation, but should be an ultimatum, ordering the ships in the harbor to leave the port and surrender, otherwise, all of them would be sunk.

In the governor's palace, Hood said with a heavy heart: "Surrender, let them all leave the port and surrender!" ”

"Why?" Shepstone said with a puzzled face: "Even if it is completely blown up and sunk by the Qing army, it is better than leaving the port and surrendering, this is the enemy!" ”

"Rivals?" Hood raised his eyelids, "So many ships were bombed and sunk in the harbor, and many of them were large ironclad freighters, have you ever thought about what the consequences will be?" Salvaging a wreck alone can cost a lot of money. In addition, there should be a truce negotiation with the Qing at the moment, what good is it for us to provoke the Qing people? ”

After pondering for a moment, Sheps said: "It's okay to let them go out of the port and surrender, but you have to let the Qing people retreat." ”

Hood smiled when he heard this, "If you don't mention this, the Qing people will also retreat, and the Qing people are coming for these transport ships." ”

Xiao Mingliang led the fleet south this time really just for this batch of transport ships, at this time to attack Cape Town, it was completely unnecessary, there was no need to increase casualties, after receiving all the transport ships in Cape Town, the fleet quickly withdrew to Maputo.

However, on the return journey, he divided his fleet into two routes, and sacked the two ports of Elizabeth and East London at the same time, for the simple reason that there were almost no coastal defenses in these two ports and there were few troops stationed, although these two ports were not prosperous, but no matter how small the mosquito was, it was meat.

Yi Zhixiang stayed in Hangzhou until he received a telegram from Yi Zhengxing from Maputo, and then Shi Shiran returned to Shanghai with his wives and concubines.

In the car, Yan Shikuan said tentatively: "The British colony in South Africa can now be said to be at your fingertips, and you don't eat the fat to your mouth, which doesn't seem to be the style of the third brother." ”

Yi Zhicontent glanced at him, "Fat to the mouth?" ”

"The diamond mine in Kimberley, the third brother won't know it, the world's largest diamond mine, produces diamonds worth tens of millions of yuan a year."

"When did you become interested in diamonds?" Yi Zhi said angrily: "A Transvaal gold mine has already made our country the target of public criticism, if the whole of South Africa is annexed, then it must not become a public enemy of the world?" ”

"As long as the fist is big enough, what about the public enemy of the world? Anyway, we dominate the Transvaal gold mines, and we are no different from the public enemies of the world. ”

Yi Zhishu shook his head, "Although this piece of fat is in your mouth, if you want to eat it, you will definitely be choked." ”

"Choking?" Yan Shikuan blinked his eyes, "Aren't the five European countries in a hurry to seek peace now?" ”

"The peace is to maintain the status quo, and if they really want to annex South Africa, they will definitely continue the war." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Our fists are not big enough now, or rather, they are a little fat. ”

Regarding the war in South Africa, he thought very clearly, in the case of losing the right to control the sea, although the five European countries were unwilling to fight, he was not willing to continue to fight, because it was meaningless, he never thought about annexing the territory of England in South Africa, not that he could not swallow it, but that it was not worth it!

Shanghai, Zhennan Palace.

Just after seven o'clock, the carriage of the ministers of the five countries coincidentally appeared outside the gate of the palace, easy to be content with the habit of meeting guests at eight o'clock, many officials, gentry and businessmen who want to see will rush to deliver the post at about seven o'clock, although it is easy to know that people have priorities, distant relatives are sparse, but there are also rules of first come, first come.

The envoys of England, Germany, and France arrived early, all with the same thoughts, while Austria-Hungary and Italy did not care about foresight, but they were afraid of falling into the impression of being sluggish.

Yi Zhizhi went to Hangzhou to participate in the opening ceremony for a few days, but the Qing army in South Africa showed no sign of stopping, and the ministers of the five countries were all worried, and one by one they were looking forward to Yi Zhicontent's return to Shanghai as soon as possible, among which the British and German ministers were the most anxious.

At eight o'clock, Yi Zhishu slowly paced into the Changle Book House, and Zhao Liewen greeted him and said with a smile: "The ministers of the five countries have already arrived, will the big shopkeeper meet separately or together?" ”

"In Huifu's opinion?"

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "Naturally, we will see you separately." ”

"Which country did you see?" Yi Zhishu then asked.

"Germany?"

Yi Zhizhi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll see Minister Mumo and Consul Knappe of Germany first." ”