On 2 August, the Chinese government officially announced its investigation into the French war in the south of Cochin, demanding that the warring German and French fleets immediately leave the Pacific waters, otherwise they would be regarded as targets of attack by the Chinese fleets, and at the same time, the Chinese government once again reiterated that China will ensure maritime security in the Pacific waters.

August 3, New York, U.S. Secretary of State Ferrant? Knox summoned the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Du Ping, and put forward very strongly, hoping that China would assist in investigating the attack on the American merchant ship on Great Nicobar Island, but this did not get any positive response from Du Ping, he very resolutely refused all the requests of the United States, and at the same time told the bald man who was a lawyer, "China has already made a declaration that it only ensures the security of the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean issue, please consult with the minister of the British Empire!" ”

This delicate news was immediately sent to Beijing by telegram, and the Ministry of Military Affairs immediately predicted that the US Government was already planning a big move against China, and the Beijing Ministry of Military Affairs immediately raised its level of combat readiness...... However, there was a small mistake in this prediction!

On the morning of the 4th, U.S. President William? Taft convened a special meeting and announced at noon on the same day that in view of the unjustified attack by the German Empire on American merchant ships, the US government decided to declare war on Germany and would send more escort fleets into the Pacific region to cooperate with the British Royal Navy and the Australian Navy to ensure the security of the Indian Ocean!

At the same time, the U.S. government also announced that it would freeze arms procurement trade with Germany and Austria-Hungary, and planned to increase the number of troops to Britain and France by 50,000, and increase the number of navies at Brisbane, Australia, and Tijuana Naval Base on the West Coast to ensure the interests of the Indian Ocean! Of course. The U.S. government's scathing statement made no mention of China, which now has a powerful navy in the Far East, or of U.S. interests in the Pacific.

"The hands of the Americans. It's already stretched too long! When the news reached Beijing on the morning of the 5th, Xu Shoushan stared at the telegram repeatedly for a long time, and then he lukewarmly came to a conclusion, and then gave his reaction, "Immediately suggest to the Prime Minister's Office that in response to the conflict between Germany and France in Cochinchina, we will launch a naval military exercise." Landing operations of the focus! ”

The exercise report, which had been drawn up long ago, was immediately submitted by the General Staff Headquarters and signed by Xu Shoushan, chief of the Ministry of Military Affairs. At noon on the same day, it was sent to Zhou Ruidong's desk, and at this time, the news that the Americans were going to invest more troops in the Far East had already been conveyed at the top level, and Foreign Minister Chen Jitong suggested that a note be sent to the US Consulate. The American side was asked to explain the motives of increasing the military strength in the Far East.

As for the fire of Germany and France in Cochinchina. This is completely a continuation of the European war, China has already made its first reaction, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with full consideration of overseas interests, has put forward a compromise proposal, anyway, China is too lazy to pay attention to the activities of the Spee fleet, but, in the sphere of influence of China in the Far East, it is absolutely forbidden for such a thing to happen again...... Of course. The Germans must pay for this operation!

On the 6th, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reported on its attitude towards the US declaration of war on Germany. China opposes any excesses in expanding the war and any act of spreading the war to East Asia, so in response to the fact that France was attacked by German warships in Saigon Bay and lost many small warships, the Chinese government announced that because the German side violated the agreements on the Nagasaki Lease and Subic Bay concessions, the Chinese military would take back these two important ports.

At the same time, the Chinese government announced that it would confiscate 11 German merchant ships detained in Nagasaki, South China Pontianak, and Singapore as punitive measures for Germany's attack on Saigon Bay......

Later, the French Minister to China, Raffarin, came to visit Chen Jitong in a hurry, explained to the Chinese government the French losses at sea in Cochinchina, and demanded that the seized German merchant ships be handed over to France...... For the funny idea that the French wanted to eat free meals, Chen Jitong naturally poured cold water on it, China's detention of the German fleet was completely made by the Chinese government to fulfill its peace obligations in the Far East, and this had nothing to do with the war between Germany and France, so the Chinese government would not consider Germany's losses in Saigon Bay, let alone losses in the Indian Ocean!

However, Chen Jitong finally left a small tail, and he told the French very seriously that if it could be confirmed that it was the French ship sunk by the Germans in the South China Sea, China would consider the request of the French as appropriate! The problem is that the French ships were all sunk in Saigon Bay at all...... It was a group of merchant ships captured by the Germans, these ships were not interesting to the Germans at all, they were all sunk on the spot! Admiral Spee had no intention of moving the German Army elsewhere, and French Cochinchina was definitely the best overseas battlefield!

Two days later, Counselor Wu Tingfang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied to the French minister that China would strictly fulfill its previously stated obligations, but for the war on the land of Cochinchina, it was entirely a matter for the Germans and the French, and China had no obligation to intervene and would not intervene.

2 broken merchant ships...... The final result of this negotiation made the French minister Raffarin angry for two days without eating, but, considering the current situation that France has lost even Paris, after the landing of the Far Eastern Cochinese by the German army, France has almost completely lost control of this colony, and can recover 2 ships from the Chinese, that is already a good result, and now France does not have the capital to negotiate with China at all!

Britain, France, and the United States all demanded that China seize the German fleet, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly responded that Beijing did not know about the situation of the Spee, only that the German fleet had been driven out of the South China Sea after August 3...... However, the Chinese side has made it clear that even under the international neutrality law, China's overseas ports will not refuse to allow German ships to enter the port to supply necessities such as coal and food.

As soon as the news of the German fleet came out, the British, Australian, American, and French warships assembled outside the Sunda Strait and the Strait of Malacca immediately moved around, trying to find the traces of the Germans, but there was no news, on August 8, Sir Paterson, commander of the Indian detachment of the Royal Navy, sent most of the warships, including the flagship Reckless, to search the Indian Ocean, but in the following days, the German fleet completely disappeared from the sea as if stealth.

Of course, Britain, France, and the United States also suspected that China was biased in favor of the German fleet, and also suspected that the German fleet might be hiding in the western Pacific or the South China Sea, so they successively sent small frigates to these areas to search in the name of escorts, but still found nothing...... However, on August 19 and 20, news came unexpectedly one after another, and several British and American merchant ships were attacked by German warships in Fiji and Vanuatu.

This immediately aroused the attention of Britain, the United States, and Australia, where a large number of fleets were searching, but the Germans had already sailed their warships to the east of Australia, and these two attack points were almost the gateways to Brisbane and Sydney, which immediately caused tension on the east coast of Australia, and rumors began to spread everywhere that the German fleet was coming to shell the port...... The flames of war seemed to be burning to Australia in an instant!

On August 27, in the Beijing Military and Political Department, Cai Yi, who had just returned to China, was very stunned and received the letter of appointment from Xu Shoushan -- he was proudly promoted to major general and received a new appointment -- the staff officer of the South China Theater concurrently served as the commander of the 20 th Army of the Second Army Corps, and he had three army divisions under his jurisdiction under the South China Theater!

Cai Ye had previously served in the 17th Division of the Tangnu Ulianghai Corps in Northern Xinjiang, and he had always regarded this northern country as the first goal of his strategic vision, and his experience in the German General Staff made him realize that the Russian Empire was under great pressure on the situation in Europe as a whole, and that the Slavic race had formed a huge force throughout Europe that worried Germany.

However, at the first moment of receiving the appointment, he immediately vaguely sensed the intention of the Ministry of Military Affairs, "Commander-in-chief, are we going to join the European war?" The opponent is the Americans! ”

Xu Shoushan glanced at this thin subordinate meaningfully, Qin Kai's additional training of this group of officers earlier, he could naturally see it at the top level, and the fact is that Cai Yi, Duan Qirui, and Xu Shuzheng, these young officers, did quickly become the new ones in the army, even after a large number of experienced naval officers joined the Ministry of Military Affairs, this group of young people still showed good ability.

"Commander Cai, the world is very big, but we are all in the game, this is last week I went to visit Chairman Qin, when talking about the European war, he summed up the two sentences, our biggest opponent, not from the Russian Empire, although the backward system of the empire has a strong military mobilization force and vast territory, the chairman believes that the institutional turmoil will be the fatal point to defeat Russia, but the United States, with a good system, industry and vast land, if we do not control the Panama Canal, I am afraid the conflict will occur earlier!"

When Cai Ye heard this, he immediately understood the intention of the Ministry of Military Affairs to appoint him, and the American army ...... This military force, which had never been considered by him before, seemed to have to be reconsidered, and he entered the South China Theater as an army officer, and there was no doubt that the front of the army would be referring to the vast Pacific Ocean and the battlefield on the other side.

When the Ministry of Military Affairs continued to dispatch outstanding officers to various key military regions to take up important posts, Qin Kaizheng boarded the aircraft carrier Jiangsu to participate in the actual sea trials of the latest Tianyi I torpedo attack aircraft provided by the United Northern Airlines for the Navy. (To be continued......)