Off Japan's Sasebo Naval Base, more than 40 warships of the Pacific Fleet, the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy, gathered on the sea, and a fierce battle was brewing.

The Imperial Chinese Navy had already entered a state of battle, and the officers and men of each ship were in their positions and performing their duties, preparing for a decisive battle with the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy.

The superintendent only faced the weak Japanese Navy, but the Imperial Chinese Navy did not dare to be careless, and still made full combat preparations. The deck was sprinkled with fine sand and water to prevent a bullet from starting a fire. The main gun barrels, main masts, bridges and other superstructures are all tied with sandbags to reduce shelling damage.

This kind of protective measure is effective, and it has been verified in previous naval battles, and has achieved very good protective results.

However, the fighting feelings of the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy were eventually wasted, and the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy could not come out of the Sasebo Military Port.

According to Japan's regulations on maritime defense operations, since it could not defeat the Chinese Imperial Navy, it was necessary to protect the ship. At that time, Li Hongzhang lost the right to control the sea in order to protect the ship, and finally lost the First Sino-Japanese War, and the same is true of the Japanese Navy today.

The Japanese navy did not come out for a decisive battle, which made Li Weijun very annoyed, and immediately ordered the whole fleet to prepare for a naval attack on the Sasebo naval base. If the Japanese Navy does not come out, it will fight until they come out.

Knock knock!

The main guns of the Hsiungfeng-class battleships opened fire with a bang, and the guns were performing at their best just after the barrel was replaced and overhauled.

This time, the Imperial Chinese Navy was equipped with a new type of artillery shell, which was called an armor-piercing blasting shell.

As the name suggests, it can both pierce armor and explode. In the past, armor-piercing shells could only be used to penetrate the armor of enemy ships, but they did not explode, because the warhead was just a piece of steel, and there was no medicine in it.

It's a high technology. Even the British could not successfully develop it, but in the end it was succeeded by the scientific researchers of the Chinese Empire, witnessing the scientific research strength and achievements of the Chinese Empire for more than 20 years.

On the eve of the outbreak of the Sino-British War, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau had successfully developed 305 mm armor-piercing blasting shells for naval guns. The Pacific War was over.

This time the Navy returned, and after the ships were overhauled in the dock, the Navy Logistics Department also supplemented the ships with new armor-piercing blasting shells. In this way, with the help of armor-piercing blasting shells, the lethality of naval artillery against enemy ships was greatly increased. If in the previous naval battle, twenty armor-piercing shells could only hit a lethal penetrating hit effect, now with armor-piercing blasting shells, only five shells hit the enemy ship, which is enough to cause serious damage to the enemy ship or even directly deal fatal penetrating damage. The British ship Hood in World War II was sunk by the battleship Bismarck with a single shot, using armor-piercing blasting shells. You can see its great power.

The Japanese army took great pains to build a number of permanent fortifications at the Sasebo naval base, and they were very embarrassed to hide in the thick fortifications made of cast iron and cement. Previously, they tested that this kind of permanent fortification was enough to withstand the direct fire of 12-inch armor-piercing shells at a distance of 3,000 meters, and the traditional blasting shells were even more ineffective against this kind of permanent fortifications, so the Japanese army was not afraid of naval artillery bombardment by the Imperial Chinese Navy.

However, the next second. The Japanese army was dumbfounded.

I saw a cannonball hit a permanent fortification on the coastal fortress, and the shell directly penetrated the fortification's defenses. But it exploded inside, causing hundreds of Japanese soldiers to fly flesh and blood in an instant, all of them were burned to ashes by the instant high temperature, and even the cremation money was saved.

This is a permanent fortification!

It is said to be a permanent fortification that cannot be penetrated!

Inside was 300 mm thick iron armor, covered with a thick layer of cement, which turned out to blow up the family with one shot.

What the hell is this Nima?

The Japanese believe in cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods the most. After seeing this scene, I was immediately scared.

The destruction of a permanent fortification may have been a coincidence, caused by the Japanese cutting corners.

But the next scene made the Japanese army completely believe in one thing. That is, their so-called permanent fortifications are simply a joke, and they have no resistance in the face of the naval guns of the Chinese Empire.

The Japanese commander immediately blackened his face, called the officer who was in charge of the construction of the permanent fortifications, scolded the other party, and then cut the other party with a knife.

"Shoot back!"

The Japanese coastal fortress artillery began to counterattack, preventing the Chinese Imperial Navy from bombarding indiscriminately, so the two sides immediately fought fiercely.

After a day of fierce fighting, Li Weijun thought that there was no point in continuing to fight like this, after all, there was only the Imperial Chinese Navy here, and there was no land force to cooperate with the landing operation, and even the most powerful navy could not destroy a heavily defended Japanese naval base.

That night, Li Weijun made a bold decision, he thought of the tactics of the naval battle of the Solomon Islands, which could be completely used on the Japanese.

As a result, Li Weijun ordered the whole fleet to leave the Sasebo sea area and march eastward along the Japanese archipelago, attacking Japanese coastal cities along the way, causing huge economic losses and casualties to the Japanese, forcing the Japanese navy to come out of the turtle shell and fight a decisive battle with the Chinese Imperial Navy.

Over the next month, dozens of important cities along the coast of Japan were heavily shelled by the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the cities were burning, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of people and leaving millions homeless. Nagasaki, Osaka, Nagoya, and other cities that are extremely important to Japan suffered the most damage.

The Japanese were almost mad, and for the first time they encountered this tactic, it was a complete hooliganism.

However, no one will speak for Japan, not even the British, and now the British are kneeling and begging the Chinese Empire to be gracious and end this damned war as soon as possible.

Japan's important industrial base and economic base are all located in the coastal cities, and if the Chinese Imperial Navy is allowed to bombard, the losses will be immeasurable, and Japan's economic and industrial base will be completely shaken, triggering all kinds of uncontrollable situations.

The Meiji government convened a meeting, and the army asked the navy to fight, but the navy refused. The reason is very simple, even the main fleet of the British Navy has been defeated, and with the strength of the Japanese Navy, if it goes out now, it will be sent to death, and if the warships purchased from Britain at a huge amount of money are sunk by the Imperial Chinese Navy, then the losses will be even heavier.

Meiji also understood that the navy was bought by the money saved by the Alliance's tightening of their belts. Any one of them will be distressed to death. However, if there was no war, all the major cities along the coast of Japan would be shelled by the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the losses would be even heavier. On top of that, the problem was exacerbated by the fact that the Imperial Chinese Navy was about to arrive in Edo, and if the Japanese capital was shelled.

At that time, a few American warships were able to subdue Japan. Now in the face of the giant ships and cannons of the Imperial Chinese Navy, will Japan still resist?

When Li Weijun arrived at Edo Bay with the Pacific Fleet and prepared to launch an artillery bombardment on Edo, the Meiji government gave in and agreed to the peace treaty proposed by the Chinese Empire, asking Li Weijun not to open fire.

However, Li Weijun ignored it and replied to the Japanese envoy: "I have not received a notice from our government, so it is difficult to agree." ”

Then. Li Weijun ordered the fleet to bombard Edo, and in less than a day, more than a dozen large and small towns around Edo Bay quickly turned into a sea of fire.

Meiji wanted to cry without tears, and hurriedly telegraphed the Japanese envoy waiting in the French embassy to immediately submit his credentials to the Chinese Imperial Government, unconditionally agreeing to all the previous demands of the Chinese Empire.

Weng Tongyong, the acting minister of the Imperial Court, quickly entered the palace to meet Li Weiguo and ask for advice.

Li Weiguo is also deeply thinking about the issue of policy toward Japan.

According to Li Weiguo's original idea, this time Japan will be completely crippled. The war of aggression that Japan committed against China in the history of later generations was returned to the Japanese tenfold and hundredfold.

But soon Li Weiguo studied it more deeply, what if Japan was treated as leeks and sheep? Leeks grow one stubble and one stubble is cut. Wool grows stubble and stubble, this is the classic means of slavery in later generations, this is how foreigners in the 21st century deal with the Chinese, on the surface the Chinese are very rich, in fact, they are trapped in the stock market, let foreigners cut stubble after stubble like leeks.

Times are different. The way in which other nations were enslaved was also different.

If Japan is blindly fought, it may backfire and eventually drag the Chinese Empire into the abyss of war, just as Vietnam dragged down the United States. Afghanistan dragged down the USSR the same. But Japan could not be allowed to pose a threat to the Chinese Empire, so the means of cutting leeks could come in handy.

Every time you beat Japan half to death, and then leave the Japanese in a breath and let them lose money. When the Japanese gradually get rich, beat them again and make them lose money again. It was only necessary to ensure that Japan could not rise and pose no threat to the Chinese Empire.

"Agree to Japan's request for peace, let them first make up the indemnity of 200 million taels of silver, and allow them to redeem it on Hokkaido Island for 30 million taels of silver."

Weng Tongyi heard the word silver again, and immediately smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, why do you have to ask Japan to compensate for the silver?" ”

Li Weiguo was suddenly unhappy and said: "I'm willing!" ”

This answer also made Weng Tong drunk, but he didn't dare to talk back, since Li Weiguo wanted silver, then let the Japanese compensate for the silver, as for how to exchange the silver for gold and RMB, it is not simple, there are many countries in this world that use silver, and then it will be exchanged for gold and RMB.

Weng Tongyi didn't ask much about this issue, and Li Weiguo naturally wouldn't tell others about the vindictive evil taste in his heart.

In short, the people of the Chinese Empire knew that their Emperor Majesty had made a joke with the Japanese, not wanting the renminbi, and forcing the Japanese to compensate for the silver.

Of course, the Japanese did not have so much money to compensate, so they could only make IOUs with the Chinese Empire. However, the Chinese Empire required Japan to lend to the Chinese Empire, and did not allow short-term loans from Japan, only long-term loans, to be repaid in installments of 39 years, and the total interest added up to 450 million taels of silver, allowing Japan to pay off at one time, but the interest and handling fees for 39 years were not canceled, that is, no matter whether the Japanese repaid the loan at one time or in 39 years, they had to take out 450 million taels of silver to the Chinese Empire.

This is Chiguoguo's money grab!

I want to squeeze the last bit of hard-earned money of the Japanese!

Meiji was so angry that he vomited three liters of blood, but finally agreed.

Next, Meiji issued a letter to the people, saying that they would tighten their belts and repay the money, calling on the Japanese people to work hard and save money. At the same time, Japanese women are encouraged to go abroad to work and earn foreign exchange, intending to sacrifice three generations of Japanese women to save Japan from fire and water.

With the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin between China and Japan, the East Asian War ended, and the whole world was left with four countries fighting, the Fifth Yapian War between the Chinese Empire and the British Empire, and the Ninth Russo-Turkish War between the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

The British knew that Singapore had been lost, and it was only a matter of time before Australia completely fell, and the Canadian troops who invaded Alaska took the initiative to withdraw, fearing that the Chinese Imperial Army would attack Canada, but fortunately, the Chinese Imperial Front was too long and had no interest in attacking Canada in a short time.

However, with the defeat of Japan and the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin with the Chinese Empire, the British could not sit still, because they knew that this meant that the more than 200,000 Chinese Imperial troops who had been dragged by the Japanese army had withdrawn and could join any other battlefield, and if the Chinese Empire wanted to launch an attack on Canada, the more than 200,000 Chinese Imperial troops could definitely defeat the Canadian army.

As a result, the British were in a hurry, and the Saul government hastened the pace of negotiations with the Chinese Empire.

In the end, Britain agreed to cede Singapore, Bangladesh and Australia to the Chinese Empire, but refused to make the Dogs Island area of London a concession of the Chinese Empire, and the amount of reparations had to be lowered, 980 million pounds, and you would just rob the banks.

What kind of joke is it that allowing the warships and troops of the Chinese Empire to freely enter the city of London is tantamount to allowing the Chinese Empire to launch an attack on London at any time, which is absolutely impossible.

Li Hongzao and Zhang Peilun also deliberately asked for a sky-high price, waiting for the British to repay the money, seeing that the British agreed to most of the demands, and were even willing to compensate 200 million pounds for military spending, and were willing to negotiate on the issue of tariffs, which has exceeded the bottom line set by Li Weiguo for them a lot, so Li Hongzao and Zhang Peilun suddenly smiled, the treacherous plan succeeded, and the task was overcompleted, so they happily signed the peace treaty, and waited for the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo and the British Empire Queen Victoria to sign and seal, and the two sides could take effect after exchanging credentials.

On September 11, the Fifth Sino-British Yapian War, which lasted for nearly a year, ended, and ended with the glorious victory of the Chinese Empire and the abused expulsion of the British.

Over the next few months, the British and the Chinese Empire went through various handover formalities, and tens of thousands of British troops in Australia surrendered, and then arranged for the ships to return to Britain. Bangladesh, the Malayan Peninsula and Australia have since been included in the overseas territory of the Chinese Empire, which has increased the land area of the Chinese Empire by more than 8 million square kilometers, and the total land area of the previous land has reached 23.5 million square kilometers, leaving the second Tsarist Russian Empire a few streets away, ranking first in the world.

As for why Britain was not required to cede even the New Zealand Islands and the Solomon Islands to the Chinese Empire, the reason is very simple, the British cannot be completely driven to a dead end, and it is not beneficial to the Chinese Empire to drive the British crazy and fight the Chinese Empire to the end. Just as the Qin State slowly encroached on the Chu State, the Chinese Empire was also encroaching on the British overseas colonies step by step.

This time, the Chinese Empire seized 8 million square kilometers of land, which was a bit overwhelmed, and it would take at least ten years to completely digest these places and transform them into the power of the Chinese Empire. At the same time, the size of the Imperial Chinese Navy was too small, and the Pacific Fleet was overstretched to patrol the entire Pacific Ocean, and if it wanted to cruise the world's seas, it had to prepare at least four or five hundred warships like the British.

In this Sino-British naval battle, the Chinese Empire learned a lesson, and it must not blindly pursue quality, but also improve the corresponding quantity, so in the next period of time, the Chinese Imperial Navy will set off a large-scale shipbuilding frenzy.

However, Li Weiguo will not easily build so many warships of the previous dreadnought period, which is a waste of resources and a waste of taxpayers' money.

If you want to build a ship on a large scale, it must at least be a product of the dreadnought era.

So, while the British and Japanese were still licking their wounds, the Chinese Empire had already begun to prepare in advance for the next war.

The era of dreadnoughts is about to begin! (To be continued.) )