"Strategically despise the enemy, but tactically value the enemy!" Feng Yunshan did not hesitate to paraphrase the famous words of the great men of later generations and turned them into his own golden rule: "The strategy and tactics are correct, plus the soldiers use their lives, let the enemy blow the waves again, I will walk in my own leisure." Luo Aiqing and Zuo Aiqing, you two are the Navy and the Army, let's talk about it. I am determined to declare war on Britain and use troops to beat them up and make them suffer a lot, but for the time being, I don't want the soldiers of the Empire to directly engage their main army head-on, which will cost too many soldiers, how to arrange it? ”

Luo Xuan was anxious: "Your Majesty, how can this be done?" It is difficult for a strong man to beat the opponent hard, but also to avoid a head-on battle with the opponent's army and not want the soldiers to sacrifice. ”

Zuo Zongtang on the side said: "Your Majesty doesn't want to destroy all the British overseas colonies?" Just like a towering tree, it will take a lot of effort to uproot it directly, and even if it is not easy to cut it down, the tree will fall down, and it will crush you to death and smash yourself. And if you cut off the other party's branches and leaves step by step, you can not only make it painful, but also easily achieve it without hurting yourself. ”

"Not bad! Or Zuo Aiqing understands my thoughts! This metaphor of cutting down a big tree is also very apt! Feng Yunshan was no longer angry, and said calmly: "I also understand the heart of King Xinzhong, but after all, Britain is the number one power in the world, even if my Chinese Empire has become stronger, the overall strength is still quite different. Maybe the army is not afraid of the other side, but in the navy, I still don't have the confidence, not to mention anything else, just the speed of warship manufacturing, the output of steel, and the training level of naval soldiers, there is no way to compare with it.

What's more, if there is really a large-scale decisive battle, it will have to run the ocean, not a few months to end, and after a long time, it will become a war of attrition. In the war of attrition, the final fight is the comprehensive strength of the country, and the decisive factor is still the economic and industrial base, but whether it is the economy, trade or industrial base, the Chinese empire is still lagging behind.

Therefore, until our navy is completely strong, we must avoid a head-on confrontation with the British navy. What's more, the Hexi plan for the western region of the United States has also begun to be launched, and the imperial forces are not too abundant, so there must be a coordinated arrangement. ”

Luo Xuan: "Your Majesty, you and Lord Zuo don't fight." Weichen is a rough man, just listen to your command, and you will fight wherever you point. ”

Feng Yunshan praised: "I still don't understand the loyalty of the loyal king." Rest assured, there are wars for you to command. Zuo Aiqing, tell me and King Xinzhong how to cut down the big tree. ”

Zuo Zongtang responded: "Your Majesty, at the suggestion of Your Majesty, Wei Chen is thinking that my Chinese Empire may be able to cut off the two important overseas colonies of the British Empire first. No matter where it is, it is enough to make him hurt to the bone marrow!

The first and most important place is India!

Now the situation in India has stabilized, or rather, the strength of several parties has stalemate. In the whole of India, the largest power became the Sikh Kingdom, which occupied the western and northwestern regions of India; The second largest force is Bangladesh, which, although not yet established, has a large population and has occupied large swathes of the eastern and northern parts of India's former Bengal region. The rest are all princes of the princely states, except for the princely states of Vadodara who conquered Mumbai and consolidated the surrounding princely states, and their power became quite powerful, the rest of the princely states are scattered and not enough to consider.

Although the Sikh kingdom was still frantically attacking central and southwestern India, the British simply gave up their resistance and retreated around Calcutta, and the forces in other places also shrank to the south and southeast of India, which caused contradictions within these rebels. The contradictions between the Sikh army and the local princes of the princely states increased, and the two sides continued to fight large and small, and even some princes began to secretly defect to the British, united to resist the Sikh army, and asked for help from the British army. The Sikh kingdom was entangled with the princely states, and the place occupied by the Sikh kingdom was not small, and their Sikh population was not too large, and the number of troops was limited, so Weichen thought that it had almost reached the limit of their ability.

Bangladesh had a large population, but after occupying the eastern and northern parts of the original Bengal region, they were reluctant to attack other places. Moreover, the British soldiers in the city of Kolkata, the heart of Bengal, were numerous, and the British troops in central and northern India all retreated to the area around Calcutta, reaching an astonishing 80,000 men. If it weren't for His Majesty's order for the Burmese army to go to Kolkata to help the Bengalis in the war, I am afraid that the Bengalis would have to withdraw. Now it is only trapped in Calcutta, but Calcutta has British troops to supply from the sea, even if it is trapped for a long time, nothing will be gained.

In this situation, what our Chinese Empire has to do is to block the sea supply lines of Calcutta. The British navy in the Indian Ocean has been greatly reduced in strength after the last crushing defeat at the mouth of the Pearl River, and although it has been rebuilt, it has not completely replenished the warships and soldiers, and it should not be difficult for the newly formed Indian Ocean Fleet and the South Ocean Fleet to combine to defeat the Indian Ocean navy.

As soon as the supply line to Calcutta is cut off, and we don't need to send troops to attack, the British will panic on their own, and those Bengali troops should be able to occupy Calcutta.

In addition, our fleet could transport a group of infantry to land on the island of Ceylon, which was garrisoned by thousands of British soldiers, and it should not be a problem to occupy this important stronghold. The Madras region in southern India has not received much threat, but only a rebellion in some princely states, and the British army is not stationed much, so we can directly send troops to quell it.

However, Your Majesty, Wechen proposes that the Governorate of Ceylon and Madras should be treated differently. ”

Zuo Zongtang has also begun to open his eyes and expand his vision to the whole world after Feng Yunshan proposed the Hexi Plan and Liang Peiyou, the vice minister of the Admiralty, who suggested that the Chinese Empire send troops to occupy the territories of Russian and American companies in Australia and North America. He also began to ponder India and Ceylon, and even West Asia and the African continent, so he was very familiar with the British military deployment and situation in India. Unexpectedly, I use it now.

"Oh, Zuo Aiqing, let's listen to it, how to treat it differently?" Feng Yunshan asked with interest.

"Returning to Your Majesty, Weichen believes that Ceylon Island is geographically important and can be used as a transit and supply base for ocean-going trade, which is consistent with the Honolulu Islands and includes the Bengal Sea in the Indian Ocean. And it is isolated overseas, with an area slightly larger than Qiongzhou Island and Taiwan Island, and can be occupied as the frontier territory of our Chinese Empire. As long as more than 100,000 Chinese compatriots are immigrated, they can be permanently occupied.

But the Madras Governorate is different, inhabited by Hindu natives, full of princely princes of all kinds, and if we want to occupy it directly, we will be like the British at present, completely opposed to it, and fall into the quagmire of constant occupation and rebellion, and constant fighting. But if we just use the most superficial colonial method, do not occupy it directly, and use it as a raw material base, let the indigenous people of India serve the economy of our Chinese Empire, grow cotton and grain for us, and we will process it into cloth on the island of Ceylon and sell it back to earn wealth, so that we can cycle it and make a profit at both ends. Then the indigenous princes of India will also support us, and will even be grateful to us for giving them a share of the sweet benefits, and completely turning it into the sphere of influence of our Chinese Empire. Zuo Zongtang said.

"Huh! What Zuo Aiqing said is very reasonable! Feng Yunshan stroked his hands and praised. But I thought to myself, isn't this exactly what Britain did to the colonies at the beginning? However, in my own opinion, the simple truth, in an environment like Zuo Zongtang, it is a great thing to be able to realize it.

"Your Majesty, and the second place is Australia. Some time ago, Liang Peiyou Liang mentioned that he suggested sending troops to occupy the huge island called Australia, which is the same as Ceylon, or even more advantageous than Ceylon. Wechen thinks that this is the best time! It was only the empire that sent a large army to North America to carry out His Majesty's plan to the west of the river, and now it has to send troops to India and Australia at the same time, which may be insufficient in terms of troops. Zuo Zongtang continued.

Feng Yunshan nodded. In fact, Australia has been planned by him for a long time, and he just sent troops directly, after all, he tore his face with the British to start a war again. Therefore, he kept procrastinating, and the purpose was naturally to gain the maximum time for the development of the Chinese Empire, especially the growth and development of the navy. Otherwise, without the support of a strong navy, even if Australia is occupied, it will be recaptured by the British.

Originally, at Liang Peiyou's suggestion, Feng Yunshan was ready to tear his face with Britain and forcibly send troops to occupy Australia in the name of pirates, but because the Indian Ocean Fleet had not yet been formed, and the Hexi plan to send troops to the Americas was also being implemented, he suppressed the matter and continued to delay. Now, it happens that such an incident happened in the UK, which just gave me ample excuse!

In fact, there is no need for excuses, just by virtue of what Britain has done, expelling and arresting its own personnel stationed abroad, forcibly imposing targeted tariffs, and shelling the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire, he should not swallow this bad breath!

"Not bad! Troops to Australia now! Even if the three-way attack is carried out at the same time, troops must be dispatched immediately! Zuo Aiqing, you will be dispatched, and the major fleets of the Admiralty will be responsible for cooperating. I want the world to see the true strength of the Chinese Empire, and from then on, no country will dare to underestimate the Chinese Empire, and no one will dare to bully my people. Feng Yunshan shouted loudly, the resentment in his heart stretched out, and he let out a long breath.