readx;

86_86661Sir Nathan and Philmantel were at a loss in front of the tough General Zhang Tong. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The two sides could not reach a consensus on the issue of reparations, and the negotiations reached an impasse for a while.

Sir Nathan said: "General Zhang, as for the issue of our compensation, we can no longer discuss it, but the compensation of 3 million taels of silver proposed by you is too much, and our Hong Kong negotiating team does not have the authority to decide, so we must ask for a reply from China before we can decide." ”

"Yes, Sir Nathan, the end of our negotiations cannot be changed, please contact your Prime Minister immediately and reply immediately! Otherwise, our fleet will strictly carry out the prince's order to attack Hong Kong! Zhang Tong did not leave any chance for the other party to delay time, because he knew that the negotiations in this link could not be delayed for too long.

The entire operational plan in the South China Sea drawn up by Chen Zhong was mainly aimed at attacking Japan's West Sea Fleet. For the fleets of Britain and France, the main strategy was to deter and force them into submission.

Therefore, the time for negotiations with Britain must not be postponed indefinitely by the British.

"Okay, I'll ask the country to answer this question as quickly as possible. I really hope that there will be a pleasant outcome to this negotiation. Governor Nathan immediately gave a detailed report to Britain on the state of the negotiations in Hong Kong.

British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour immediately put the issue into a quick discussion in Parliament. In the end, they reluctantly made a decision that even they did not believe in -- they agreed to compensate Hainan for the loss of 3 million taels of silver, which would be spent by Hong Kong in the annual budget and repaid in five years, with an initial payment of 1 million taels of silver.

When Governor Nathan received the news, both he and General Philmantle were taken aback. They don't know what really happened to their British Empire!

For, Governor Nathan and Philimantle knew that there had never been such unequal negotiations in the history of their British Empire.

So, Sir Nathan said very helplessly: "Our British Empire has become so tolerant now, and God will surely be moved." ”

However, Hainan refused to agree to the British side's proposal for a five-year instalment of compensation. Instead, it was required to be paid off in two years, and at the same time, the immediate cashing part must be paid 60 percent in advance, that is, 1.8 million taels of silver, and only after the first batch of indemnities was paid could Hainan release the captured personnel of the "Silang".

After several rounds of back and forth, the British Governor Nathan and Philmantle finally signed the South China Sea Peace Treaty in accordance with all the conditions put forward by Hainan.

Philimantle shook his head painfully and said, "General Zhang, your Hainan King is an out-and-out mountain king, and you don't talk about it at all!" However, I have great respect for such a hero, although we lose face in front of him. I believe that sooner or later, the world of the Great Qing Kingdom will belong to your king of Hainan. ”

Zhang Tong smiled and said: "General Philmantle, I also admire your personality, but in the face of national interests, we have to abandon our personal feelings. Our Hainan King is a very kind person, if you are his friend, he will treat you very kindly. General, if you have the opportunity to visit us in Hainan, I will definitely introduce you to meet my great king of Hainan, and you will definitely become good friends. ”

"Okay, I will definitely go to visit this hero of the world, when the time comes, I must ask him to invite me to drink, he took so much compensation from us, I feel distressed when I see it! I'm going to have to break the bank! Hahaha! The general of the British Empire laughed, because the style of the king of Hainan had actually won the respect of the general.

At this moment, Japan has already received the news that Britain has signed the "South China Sea Peace Treaty" with Hainan.

Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito was furious and said: "The British are a complete liar, a complete egoist!" Our collaboration with them started out as a scam! Profit is always their first pursuit, and one day, our fleet will have to compete with them at sea, so that this treacherous rogue country understands that if you only care about interests, you will never get benefits in the end!

Immediately telegraphed to the Navy Headquarters, asking Admiral Ito to order the West Sea Fleet to wage war against this rampant Hainan Fleet, completely destroy them, and let the British see that if our Great Japanese Empire does not cooperate with them, we will definitely be able to gain control of the South China Sea! ”

When the Japanese Admiralty received the order for the West Sea Fleet to go to war with the Hainan Fleet, Admiral Ito Yuhiro sighed and said: "These opportunistic politicians only know how to protect themselves, and they never know frank cooperation!" We, the West Sea Fleet, missed the best opportunity to annihilate the Hainan Fleet!

Well, it's already like this, immediately telegraph the West Sea Fleet to start a war against the Hainan Fleet! ”

On the Japanese "sun ship" in the South China Sea, Rear Admiral Ito Xiangzen held Hainan's declaration of war against Japan and General Chen Fangzheng's handwritten letter, looking at the blue sea from afar, and his heart was full of helplessness.

"Report! General Ito, the base camp has called, ordering us to immediately start war against the Hainan fleet! ”

Ito Kozen slowly turned his head, paused for a moment, straightened out his naval uniform, and ordered: "Adjust the fleet formation, the second battle group "Mt. Fuji" cruiser, "Asayama" cruiser, and "Akita" ship are on the right flank of my first battle group.

The "Sun", "Yokohama", and "Osaka" ships of the 1st battle group were in the middle.

The cruisers "Kobe", the gunboats "Kaneshiro" were immediately to the left of our 1st battle group.

The four cruisers of the mobile attack battle group, "Nakano", "Flying Eagle", "Ancient Ingot Knife", and "Ancient Castle", kept a distance from our left front and sought an opportunity to insert themselves into the tail of the Hainan Fleet to attack!

Now I order the West Sea Fleet to advance at full speed to the sea area of 114 degrees east longitude and 18.8 degrees north latitude to fight a decisive battle with the main fleet of the Hainan Fleet! ”

After the Hainan Fleet had dealt with the problem of the British fleet, they made accurate calculations and analyses in light of the attack formation of the West Sea Fleet and the tonnage combination of the fleet, combined with the arrangement of the three battle groups.

Because the overall tonnage of the Hainan Fleet is obviously superior to that of the West Sea Fleet, there are four ironclad ships with a tonnage of more than 7,800 tons, and the other 11 warships have a tonnage of more than 3,000 tons.

However, the Hainan Fleet's mobility is not as flexible as Japan's West Sea Fleet, and in terms of the configuration of ship artillery, rapid-fire guns are not as advanced as those of the Japanese fleet, so General Chen Fangzheng demanded that the advantages of the Hainan Fleet be brought into full play and that the Japanese fleet in the West Sea be completely wiped out in the South China Sea.

...