The warnings from Beijing seemed to herald the inevitability of a storm that swept across the colony of Cochinchina in the Far East, which immediately triggered a series of political upheavals in Europe. Melina, the rightist who had squeezed Republicans out of prime office a year ago through the Canal Company bribery case, had never anticipated the sudden crisis.

On December 13, just three days after the crisis, the French cabinet still did not come up with any effective response, except for sending an unruly telegram to the Governor of Cochinchina, Lu Mei, and the Consul in Beijing, Reynal, who consulted with the Chinese military blocking Saigon Bay in an attempt to mediate the sinking of the Chinese warship.

Of course, this telegram made the angry Governor Lu Mei throw directly into the garbage can, how the battleship exploded in the harbor, the French still have no clue, he is angry, thousands of miles away, Paris, can not see the crux of the problem at all, now the key to the problem has long been not the Chinese warship, but Chinese the huge cannon barrels piled up outside Saigon Bay...... If the other party had opened fire, his own governor's palace would have been razed to the ground long ago!

However, the Chinese fleet did not take any further action for three days, except for blocking the shipping lanes and sending a few small boats to investigate around the sunken battleship, but the entire port of Saigon had been completely paralyzed, and all French merchant ships entering and leaving the port were required to return immediately, and even the French ships that were preparing to enter southern China were ordered to return to the port of Penang!

This seemingly ordinary disposal has caused the entire Cochinchina to suffer a huge crisis, and a large number of goods that could have been resold to the Nanyang Free Trade Port Zone have been forced to backlog in the port. Even stricter. A large number of merchant fleets came from Europe and Africa. It was completely in trouble, and it was completely unacceptable to return home, but the entire vast Far Eastern Trade Zone and the Free Port Zone closed the door to French merchant ships.

In desperation, Lu Mei sent Colonel Nathan, a staff officer of the Far East Fleet, as a representative, to seek consultation with the Chinese fleet outside the port on a steamer with a white flag...... As soon as the ship departed, the No. 21 naval reconnaissance airship, which was in charge of the skies over Saigon Harbor, passed the news to the flagship of the sub-fleet, the Ngoc Heng, on the periphery.

"General, the French gave a signal to the destroyer Caohu that we were patrolling. Request a visit to the Fleet Commander! Tang Liang, the staff officer of the detachment, said in a slightly mocking tone, and happily reported to Lu Zhiyuan.

The commander of the detachment is Rear Admiral Lu Zhiyuan, who has always been known for his shrewdness and courage, and this senior admiral who was born in Mawei has long understood the operational intentions of Beijing and the Admiralty, and this senior naval officer who is less than 35 years old standing in front of the nautical chart looked at the sun shining on the sea in the west, and issued an order very decisively, "Let the Chaohu give them a few warnings, and we will refuse any negotiations that are beyond our strength!" ”

A huge splash of several 120mm shells on the surface of the sea. Lu Mei's attempt to negotiate was completely shattered, and the French consul in Beijing, Renard. He was also disappointed after receiving the telegram from Paris, but the man apparently had more resources than the Governor of Lumei, and on the same day, the British Minister to China, Bauer, came forward as a mediator and accompanied the French to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zeng Jize.

Bauer is naturally well versed in the rules of dealing with the Chinese government, and the reason why he accepted the French very generously this time naturally also reflects the British government's concern for the Far East's Cochinchina, and China, which is becoming more and more powerful militarily, will obviously not be willing to maintain the status quo in today's international situation, and this French colony, in the long run, will lose almost a sure fact, however, Britain is obviously not willing to let China plunder the interests of Europe so lightly, after all, In the last Sino-British war, the French secretly supported the British government.

Zeng Jize gave the British enough face and very frankly consulted with the French consul Raynal on the Saigon Bay incident, and during the consultation, Zeng Jize soon provided an important signal to the French...... He made it very clear that according to the investigation of the explosion site by the Chinese fleet in front, it was determined that the Chinese destroyer "Liuhe" was torpedoed and capsized by an external attack, and that the Chinese survey ship also found fragments of what was said to be a French artillery shell at the scene.

While the Englishman Bauer was secretly surprised by the efficiency of the Chinese side, the Frenchman Renard was bitter...... He sent a telegram to Saigon, asking Lu Mei to investigate the explosion of the Chinese warship, but with the rapid appearance of the Chinese fleet, the entire Saigon Bay had long been shrouded in the guns of the other side, and unless he was desperate to salvage the Chinese warship, there was no way to conduct any investigation.

The Chinese investigation apparently became the only chain of evidence, and the results were ...... The French side may have to accept it, he thought about it for a while, and immediately made his own judgment, to defuse the imminent threat of war, this incident can only be identified as an accident, otherwise, the French battleships fired at the Chinese battleships, and this alone was enough for the Chinese fleet to bomb Saigon into a scorched earth!

"Chief Zeng Jize, I have obtained the authorization of Paris, and the Far East Fleet stationed in Saigon has been confirmed, this incident is definitely not a deliberate military operation of the French Navy, although there is no final investigation result yet, we believe that this is only an accident, the French government will never violate the provisions of the Sino-French Far East Memorandum, we hope that the Chinese government can give us the incident to investigate the whole incident, and we are willing to compensate the Chinese government within a reasonable range for this......"

The Frenchman's statement suddenly made Zeng Jize smile secretly, although the operation of the whole thing has nothing to do with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, the Intelligence Department and the Admiralty have invested a lot of money this time, a Shanghai-class destroyer, which is also a cost of nearly 300,000 yuan, so, no matter what, the French must shed some blood, and today's talks have obviously reached the first goal!

However, now that he is more familiar with the true meaning of great power diplomacy, seeing the French who are a little cowering, Zeng Jize opened his mouth without hesitation and interrupted the other party's suggestion, "Consul Raynal, the truth of the facts does not lie in your judgment, whether your country intends to provoke a war. This needs to be carefully investigated by us. And a warship of the Chinese Navy, as well as dozens of officers and men, were killed. This is definitely not something you can explain in a few words...... If your country is willing to show sufficient sincerity, we can be sure of your country's position! ”

Although Zeng Jize interrupted his topic very sharply, Raynal was still very excited to feel the opportunity to solve the crisis, however, Bauer's expression on the side was a little strange, as a diplomat of the undisputed empire where the sun never sets in this era, he naturally heard Zeng Jize's very harsh tone, but. Thinking of China's status as a maritime power in the Far East Pacific that is almost unshakable, he can only lament the end of the French...... He even subconsciously believed that the colony of Cochinchina was completely the leftovers deliberately left by the Chinese to the French, and from time to time he brought this to beat the French!

Renard is naturally not stupid, but now he has no way out at all, and can only follow Zeng Jize's words and ask mechanically: "Chief Zeng, the French side is willing to assist in the investigation of this emergency, but we hope that before the conclusion is reached." Your military will be able to remain calm and avoid an escalation of the dispute between the two countries! ”

"Good!" Zeng Jize did not hesitate to immediately push the French to a dead end. "At the request of the special investigation team of our naval military court, we ask your cruiser "Dang Trecasto", the commander of the torpedo boat that day, Colonel Barr, as well as the officers and crew of your country, to be investigated by us! ”

Renard's face was dead gray, this condition is absolutely unbearable for the French Republic, if the Chinese military is allowed to interrogate the officers of the French Far East Fleet, the glory of France will be completely lost, even Prime Minister Merina will not agree to such a request...... However, the looming war and the huge ships and cannons at the gate of Saigon made him even more confused.

In the Sino-French war 13 years ago, even in the battle against the militarily backward former Qing government, France was still completely defeated, especially at sea to the Nanyang Fleet, which was still very young at that time, and after China's military rise in the Far East, even Reynal, who had no military experience, understood that the only result of a war with China in the Far East was the collapse of the Merina cabinet, and by the way, the colony of Cochinchina might be lost!

This is definitely an unacceptable ending...... After he discussed it with Bauer, the British diplomat, who was far more experienced than him, reluctantly said that France was in big trouble this time!

At noon on December 15th, just as Qin Kai was eating Chinese food with Xu Guofang, the chief minister of the Ministry of Industry, and discussing the direction of industrial investment in the coming year, Lu Han suddenly came out with a strange expression...... By the way, I wonder if we should let the detachment retreat a little, I am worried that the French will surrender without a fight! ”

The telegram he brought, Qin Kai couldn't help but laugh after reading it...... After blockading Saigon Bay for four full days, the complete retreat of the French was naturally within the expectations of the front-line commander Lu Zhiyuan, but early this morning, the destroyer Yancheng, who was in charge of patrolling in the inner circle, actually chased the French torpedo boat at full speed after seeing the provocative actions of several torpedo boats in the other side's bay.

The Yuncheng destroyer is a second-generation destroyer of the Navy, with a displacement of 1,200 tons, while the French torpedo boats are all little guys of less than 200 tons, and the Kunlun-class destroyers equipped with steam turbines can easily surpass the French torpedo boats...... Of course, the commander of the destroyer Yuncheng obviously did not mean to sink the French torpedo boat in someone's house, but only chased the French torpedo boat behind the bow and almost touched the stern of the ship to drive the other side.

These 1,200 tons against 200 tons are clearly bullying...... What is even more outrageous is that this chase battle was pursued directly from the sea off Sai Kung Bay to the port area in the bay, and the four French batteries along the coast and as many as 10 or more French warships were obviously stunned by the farce that had been tossed out early in the morning, and they did not make any reaction at all for more than half an hour, and sat back and watched the destroyer Yun Cheng gallop back and forth in Saigon Bay, and finally ran out again! (To be continued......)