The port of Aden in the Arabian Sea.

The once busy port town is now a bit depressed, with lazy seagulls hovering outside the harbor.

On the port wharf, Arthur, the colonel of the British garrison in the port of Aden, was preparing to see off Sir Bao Ling, an envoy of the Kingdom of Great Britain to the East.

Sir Baring was the most familiar diplomat of the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Oriental countries, and it was only fitting that he should be sent to the Chinese Empire to ask for peace talks and discuss post-war issues. Originally, he went directly to Paris, France to find Guo Songtao, the special envoy of the Chinese Empire in Europe, to discuss the armistice between the two countries, but Guo Songtao left Paris and went to Prussia. In desperation, Bao Ling went to Prussia again, but when he arrived in Prussia, he found that Guo Songtao went to Austria again, and after he chased to Vienna, Austria again, he found that Guo Songtao had returned to Paris.

Bao Ling knew that this person must be hiding from him. In desperation, Bao Ling had no choice but to send a telegram directly to London asking for instructions, and the London side directly instructed him to immediately go to Shengjing, the capital of the Chinese Empire in the east, and submit a collegial request to the Chinese Empire in person as an envoy of the Kingdom of Great Britain to discuss the peaceful settlement of the dispute between the two countries. So, he got straight from Austria and went to the port of Aden, preparing to go to the Chinese Empire by sea.

It's just that after this time, Bao Ling knew that the delay was a bit too much, and he didn't know what happened to the British soldiers who were captured in Bengal, so he was anxious and just wanted to rush there as soon as possible and deal with those fellow soldiers as soon as possible.

Colonel Arthur looked at Sir Bao Ling expectantly and said, "Sir, I hope you can succeed and persuade the Chinese Empire to cease war with our British Empire." ”

Bao Ling looked at the dock workers who were urgently loading and unloading coal, vegetables and grains, and said with a tired face: "I hope so!" But I'm a little worried that the trip might not go too well. ”

He was genuinely worried. Judging from the various signs of Guo Songtao, the special envoy of the Chinese Empire to Europe, the Chinese Empire already hated the Kingdom of Great Britain very much, otherwise, Guo Songtao would not have deliberately avoided it. This can only be two possibilities, one is that the Chinese Empire gave instructions to Guo Songtao, unwilling to contact the officials of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that is, unwilling to negotiate peace, and wanted to take advantage of the victory to continue the war and expand the results of the war. The second possibility is to make yourself anxious by taking a posture, so as to raise your bargaining chips during negotiations and force yourself to accept.

But either way, both of these possibilities put themselves at a disadvantage. But Bao Ling did not have any solution, he could only take one step at a time, and went to the east, hoping that he could settle the dispute between the two countries more satisfactorily and try to make the Kingdom of Great Britain suffer less losses.

Soon, the dockers had prepared the peace convoy prepared by Colonel Arthur for Bao Ling, consisting of a medium cruiser and a small frigate, to go to sea.

"It's time to set sail!" Colonel Arthur said: "Sir Bao Ling, I beg you once again to make peace with the Chinese Empire!" Please! ”

Bao Ling nodded and said nothing. He understood Colonel Arthur's concerns. After this battle, after the defeat of the British Empire's expeditionary force, the naval power of the Chinese Empire has been completely expanded to the Indian Ocean, and I am afraid that when will it come to the port of Aden in the Gulf of Aden. At that time, as the commander of the garrison of the British Empire's port of Aden, Colonel Arthur could only face the battle head-on, and there was no other way but to die in battle and be captured. This was certainly not the result Arthur wanted, and that's why he made such a request.

And even if the Chinese Empire does not attack the port of Aden, the British Kingdom because of the war with it, resulting in the British Kingdom's overseas trade, especially through the port of Aden and the trade with the Oriental world is basically stagnant, the once prosperous and busy port of Aden has become a dead port, except for a few small trade with several small countries in the Persian Gulf, the port of Aden has rarely had trade ships passing through, so if it continues, the port of Aden will definitely lose the meaning of existence.

For the sake of Arthur, for the port of Aden, and for the sake of the Kingdom of Great Britain, Bao Ling also had to try his best to negotiate peace with the Chinese Empire. Moreover, Bao Ling also knows that the current Kingdom of Great Britain, after experiencing a series of blows such as local civil strife, Irish rebellion and independence, Indian rebellion, and the disastrous defeat of the two expeditionary forces to China, is no longer the British Empire of the past! The sun never sets has also become history, and today's Kingdom of Great Britain, although it is still the most developed and powerful country in the world, will not have so many troops and naval fleet strength for a while, and it really can't fight with the Chinese Empire in the Indian Ocean.

Thinking that in just a few years, the British Empire has changed from an empire that never sets on the world in the past to a hairy phoenix like today, Bao Ling is uncomfortable. However, he knew better than most Englishmen that all these changes actually came from the Oriental named Feng Yunshan!

Bao Ling was thinking wildly and was about to step on board the ship, when a sergeant on the harbor lookout suddenly raised an alarm and shouted: "There are enemy ships!" ”

Arthur's face changed drastically, and he took the telescope from the soldier next to him and looked out of the port, and suddenly his face turned pale: in the telescope, dozens of black dots were slowly moving. Arthur, who was familiar with the navy, immediately understood that it was a huge fleet of long ships of all kinds, rushing towards the port of Aden.

And at this time, in this sea area, except for the fleet of the Chinese Empire and the French navy, no other country has the ability to have such a large fleet. The French navy is now in the Mediterranean Sea and South America, and it is impossible for a fleet of this size to come here, and the most likely thing left is the fleet of the Chinese Empire!

Sure enough, slowly turning from a black dot to a vaguely visible warship, Arthur could already see the faintly fluttering red flag. What he was worried about all day long, it still happened!

At this time, Great Britain and the Chinese Empire were still belligerents, and there was no reason to say how the other side wanted to attack the port of Aden, and there was no room for argument. As soon as he saw the huge fleet, Arthur knew that the entire port of Aden, as well as the two warships that Sir Bao Ling was preparing to ride, had no room for resistance at all.

He looked at Bao Ling with an ugly face, hoping that the latter would have an idea.

Bao Ling's face was even more gloomy, and he also thought about whether to escape directly by boat, but after taking a closer look at the fleet lined up in a column that surrounded the entire port of Aden, he sighed suddenly: "If the other party wants to attack, surrender directly." ”