In just a week after the start of the war, the Transvaal won the Battle of Mount Tanara, and the British 6th Army not only left nearly 5oo corpses, but also a large number of weapons and ammunition, and what was even worse, the fortress of Leddy Smith, an important town in Western Cape Town, was completely exposed to the Boers...... Before the war, the British 6th Army, which was clamoring for a long drive and a month or two to deal with the Boer militia, directly caused a big trouble.

Nearly 6oooo British 6th Army completely lost the courage to attack in the face of the Boer coalition of more than 15ooo men, and immediately rushed into the Leddy Smith Fortress to hold on. General Jubert's Boer coalition had cleared the last obstacle to the siege of Ladysmith and cut off the Western Cape railway line, and the British plan for an offensive on the western route had been completely ruined.

When the news reached London, it immediately set off a chain reaction, and the opposition Liberals immediately found a sharp weapon to attack the current government, accusing the Salisbury cabinet of poor decision-making and poor preparations for war, and even initiating an impeachment case against the cabinet in the House of Commons...... However, on the same day, the Cabinet responded to the overwhelming public opinion attack with the South African colonial surge.

On August 9, a large-scale riot in the Cape Colony of Boer, with thousands of Boers armed with weapons attacking towns from the North Cape to Aoangie, forced the British 6th Army and the South African Company Police Force, which had planned to reinforce the north, to turn back on the spot, and the riots disrupted the transportation of the East-West Cape Railway, which directly led to a large-scale ∮ of ∮ ∮ literature and ∮, and ≧ supply difficulties for S∧t.

By the time the turmoil that had swept through the entire Cape Town colony had been restored by the British and the police, the time had already pointed to August 2o, 1899, and there had been no news of Leddy Smith Fortress for half a month after the siege of the Transvaal army. This shocked the Governor General of South Africa, Milner. To know. Once the Fortress of Leddy Smith fell, it meant that there would be no more large armies on the coastline from there to the Boers.

Of course, for the commander-in-chief of the Boer coalition, General Jupote, the difficulties he faced were also quite a headache, and an important way for the British to colonize was to establish a solid fortress base, which served as the outpost of the Northern Cape Town that penetrated most into the interior of South Africa. The Leddy Smith Fortress is described as impregnable, which is not an exaggeration, and the fort's proximity to the Vadalong River means that the Boer forces have to be careful to keep an eye out for threats from the water.

On the 22nd, when the Boer coalition forces struggled to transport four 1oomm field guns to the Leddy Smith fortress, the two sides finally began a head-to-head confrontation, and the earth-shattering cannon sound rose clouds of black smoke on the positions of both sides, and the British defenders obviously noticed the movement of the Boer coalition forces, and immediately transferred the movable large-caliber 6th Army guns in the fortress to the western fortress entrance of the Boer main attack.

After nearly 1o hours of fierce bombardment, after the evening of the same day. A high-explosive shell fired from the last remaining 1oo field gun of the Boer coalition led to a series of detonation after cutting through a projected gun emplacement on the west side of the fort. The violent explosion tore apart this huge fort with a diameter of more than 1o meters directly like opening a can, and what is even worse is that the violent explosion caused the wall of this fortress to collapse, forming a huge gap of more than 1o meters in the front.

Throughout the night, the British team and the Boer training army fought back and forth on this breakthrough of less than 1o meters, and the heavy machine guns and machine guns arranged in front of the two sides in order to contain each other, did not need money to pour ammunition into this small gap without limit, and the earth-shattering shouts and charges made the two armies leave nearly 4oo corpses in front of the fortress that night, and the number of wounded was several times this.

More than ten meters of the battle line, densely packed with the mutilated limbs of the British and Boers, and the field artillery of both sides was still desperately firing shells at the rear of the opponent's battle line, trying to prevent each other from approaching the battle line, and before dawn, both sides obviously felt unable to bear such casualties, and what made General Jupott angry was that the flesh and mud on the city wall were too dense for both sides to make an effective impact, and he had no choice but to silently suspend the daytime attack.

On the same day, the Boer Left Army, led by General Princelow, attacked from the left flank, killed the East Cape area, cutting off the Kimberley from the British colonies, while the two British 6th Corps, which were attacked by the Boers, due to the lack of support from the colonies, retreated to the Kimberley after a short exchange of fire, leaving all kinds of ordnance and materials along the way.

In this battle, the Boers captured a slender, red-headed reporter for the London Morning Post, Winston? Churchill, however, the news apparently did not attract anyone's attention.

General Delarey, known as the "Lion of the West Transvaal", commanded another 15oo Boer cavalry corps that entered British Bechuanaland on 26 August, cutting off the main line of the Western Cape Railway from the flank, and completely severing the connection between the Cape and Rhodesia. Under the command of General Botha, from the east, the Boer coalition forces under Princeloe's command besieged the diamond town of Kimberley.

Bad news continued to spread from the front to the Cape Town colony, and the rumors changed almost day by day to make the entire colony chaotic, and the British 6th Army, which was not superior in numbers, could not find the key point to attack the Boers under the command of the panicked colonial governor's office, and the small Boer forces that kept appearing all over the colony completely put the British into a passive situation.

It was already the end of August when the news reached Europe, and the European countries that had unanimously supported the Transvaal earlier, without exception, were gloating about the bad start of the British Empire. The Baghdad Railway Agreement, so the hasty criticism of Britain's military blunder in South Africa was immediately met with resentment from London, but Salisbury's cabinet was now in too much trouble compared to the German sarcasm.

The French, who had been forced to go to war by the British two months earlier, were even more rejoicing, but considering that Britain and France were negotiating for the Nile Basin, and that the British were suffering in the Transvaal, it was obviously in France's favor, so the French Minister Brisson expressed his friendly concern to the mighty British Empire, and expressed his willingness to reach an agreement on the Nile Basin as much as possible.

On September 7, after receiving unfavorable news from South Africa for several days, Salisburysang finally received a little reassuring news, the first Navy from Egypt 6 Squadron 1ooo arrived in Cape Town Harbor, the British battleship Prince George, escorting the 6 Squadron, received an order on the same day to immediately go to Bloom Harbor on the west side of the Orange Autonomous Region to participate in the defense, and on the same day, a fleet of ships flying the Chinese flag sailed into the port of Cape Town escorted by a Chang'an-class battleship.

The humanitarian medical team sent by China to the South African theater of operations according to the agreement arrived at its destination after sailing for nearly a month, and the British suffered defeat on the front line one after another, and many wounded were transported down the railway line, but because of the lack of sufficient medical strength, they could not be treated at all, so the arrival of the Chinese medical team was pleasantly surprised by the Governor General of South Africa, Milner...... However, the arrival of the Chinese fleet brought an even greater shock.

When the 149oo-ton Majestic-class battleship Prince George sailed out of port, it happened to meet the oncoming battleship Chang'an, and Rear Admiral Powell, who was commanding on the bridge, almost rushed out of the command room like a rabbit to the observation deck of the mid-mast, and looked at the giant battleship flying the Chinese flag in amazement.

"8 main guns...... At least 13 inches or more, the same size as the last time they visited the Plymouth military port! Displacement unknown...... Probably a battlecruiser...... It could also be a battleship! The British rear admiral carefully scanned the Han-class battleship Chang'an, almost to himself, and immediately ordered to turn around and return to port.

A day later, Fisher, the First Admiralty of the British Admiralty, was shocked to convene a meeting of the Admiralty. Senior naval officials, including Sir White, showed a telegram from Cape Town, "Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we are in big trouble again, the Chinese have built new warships with completely more fearful combat effectiveness, and have entered the actual combat stage, if the news is true, the Chinese's new warships have a displacement of at least 20,000 tons, and the armor is more comprehensive than the class!" ”

Fisher obviously overestimated the protection capabilities of the Han-class battleships, as a senior naval expert, the British First Admiral naturally envisioned building more battleships with main guns, but because the shipyards had already filled up the order, the construction plans for the Dreadnought-class battleships at the Wick Shipyard and Devonport Naval Shipyard had already been scheduled for 19oo years.

The question before him was obviously indisputable, and he could even be sure without any doubt that China would certainly sell this new type of warship to Wilhelm II, the arms fanatic on the other side of the strait, at the first opportunity, and although it would be impossible for China to sell the whole of weapons to Europe, especially the German Empire, because of the arms trade agreement between China and Britain, this would not affect China's export of technology and parts and components in the slightest.

And once the Germans were equipped with this new type of warship, there was no doubt that it would directly threaten the interests of the British Empire in the North Sea...... However, he was still very cautious in sending a telegram to Cape Town, and then immediately assigned a commissioner to propose to the eight shipyards, including Devonport and Wickhouse, to postpone the construction of the original subsequent King-class battleships. (To be continued......)

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