The Secretary of State was apparently aware of his status as a broom star, so he sent in the Guards the tragic news that he had just received, and the Secretary of the Admiralty, Churchill, sat at the right hand of the Prime Minister, and the telegram that had been thrown out by the Prime Minister was falling in front of him.

"The British flotilla departing from Sydney was attacked by German warships near Cox Island in the Indian Ocean, the frigate Mount was damaged, 4 merchant ships sank, and 156 casualties ......"

This news immediately made Churchill unable to sit still, but he did not expect that the first round of blows to the British Imperial Navy was not from the German High Seas Fleet, which had always been an imaginary enemy, but from the German Far East Fleet, "Your Excellency Asquith, we must immediately protest to the Chinese, Germany's two bases in the Far East are in their sphere of influence, and they have promised to maintain ......"

Halfway through Churchill's words, he suddenly stopped the topic, China in the Far East did sign a memorandum of maritime security with the United Kingdom, promising to provide security for British ships, but the Chinese side said very clearly that China will ensure the security of the Pacific Ocean, as for the Indian Ocean, although after the occupation of Sumatra, it is also considered China's sphere of influence, but it has always been the traditional shipping route of the Royal Navy, and China has not set foot too much.

"Chinese must have known the ...... of the actions of the Germans"

"A fleet must be sent to intercept the Germans at once, otherwise, the Reich's shipping lanes from the East will suffer huge losses!"

"It must be secretly supported by Chinese, and we must get them to explain it immediately, otherwise...... Sooner or later, they will ride on the head of the British Empire! ”

“……”

A group of cabinet officials immediately launched a full-scale denunciation of China, and it seems that they have long had the definitive evidence that Far Eastern China was an enemy of the British Empire, but. Prime Minister Asquith clearly has far more scruples than these ministers. He glanced at Churchill, the admiralty-prefectural minister, who was now grim-faced. This troublesome matter should obviously be left to the Admiralty to be solved.

And Churchill apparently had a plan for a long time, "In this matter, even if the Chinese are making trouble, it is difficult for us to come up with evidence, and Beijing has only promised to ensure the security of trade in the Far East, and has not promised military neutrality at all, although this ensures our interests and those of France in the Far East." But it also gave the Germans a chance...... But ......"

"But what? A necessary means must be taken! "As long as we can annihilate the German fleet, our rights and interests in the Pacific and Indian Oceans will be secured, and the interests of the Empire's trade abroad will be the most important factor in our support and victory in Europe!" ”

"The Germans have limited strength in the Far East, and as far as I know, they only have 2 Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers, 5 light cruisers, and 4 destroyers, so sending the Vulcan-class battlecruisers of the Mediterranean Fleet will be the best tactic, and I will build the Australian Navy to cooperate with the Indian detachment to launch the search for the German fleet...... But. We must enlist the support of the Chinese, otherwise. The German fleet fled into their fortifications in the Philippines and Nagasaki, and it was simply impossible for us to pursue them! Churchill immediately threw out his plans and difficulties.

Prime Minister Asquith frowned and thought for a moment, "In the afternoon, I happened to make an appointment to meet with the Chinese ambassador, His Excellency Chen Bo, and the Admiralty immediately drafted a proposal for me, and I will make the imperial request to the Chinese side...... The northern side could not shelter a group of damned German pirates in any way! ”――

On the night of June 10th, the waves in the Sunda Strait were slapping against the faintly visible continental shelf on both sides, and suddenly, several flashes of light appeared on the dark sea, and after flickering for more than a dozen times, the lights disappeared for several minutes, and then turned on again, and after waiting for more than ten minutes, Sanchi Island, located in the middle of the strait, also appeared red lights.

Half an hour later, a small patrol boat flying the red Exocet flag of the South China Navy approached the north side of the Dark Strait, and the searchlight on the ship finally locked on a dark battleship, and when it saw the Iron Cross flag on the side of the battleship, it immediately leaned in.

On the bow deck of a huge battleship, Maximilian? Graff? Feng? Vice Admiral Spee was neatly dressed and awaited the arrival of his distinguished guests, as the commander of the German Far East Fleet, what he hoped most now was to return to his homeland to sweep away an enemy that threatened the German Empire, but for a steady admiral, the feasibility of this task made him decide to abandon it from the beginning.

Although considering that China and Germany have always been in a period of good cooperation, he did not think that China would take action against the German fleet, but he never imagined that China would show a confident attitude that shocked the world in the face of a major war that would affect the whole of Europe, and very simply and directly classified the Pacific Ocean as a non-war zone.

Now in the Far East, although the strength of the German fleet under the jurisdiction of Pace is not bad, but the real opponents are actually quite many, the French Far East Fleet is stationed in Saigon Bay opposite the coast of Subic Bay, although most of the French warships are old goods more than ten years ago, only relying on a former dreadnought battleship Martel to support the scene, but this 15,000-ton French dreadnought is obviously not something that the Scharnhorst-class armored cruiser can deal with.

In addition, according to the US-British Pacific Agreement, the Royal Navy agreed to share the right to use Australia's ports with the US Navy, so the US Far East Fleet has been stationed in Brisbane for a long time, while the Australian Fleet is stationed in Sydney.

Although the Scharnhorst-class armored cruiser is the latest German cruiser that was launched just two years ago, this armored cruiser with a displacement of 12,000 tons has too many features in its design, such as a speed of up to 23 knots and 8 main guns, which are all examples of Germany to maintain overseas interests, but the 8 main guns are all German-made 210mm rapid-fire guns, not large-caliber heavy guns, which is the most critical problem restricting the Far East Fleet.

Although the Australian fleet stationed in Sydney did not have cruisers comparable to the armored cruiser Scharnhorst, it had a pre-dreadnought battleship Rapid and a King-class quasi-dreadnought battleship New Zealand, both of which were equipped with 12-inch main guns and 9-inch secondary guns, and were comprehensively crushed in firepower and armor.

The U.S.-Australian detachment, which has basically worn a pair of pants with the United Kingdom, fully reveals the luxury of the U.S. Navy today, including 2 Virginia-class dreadnought battleships, a USS Mississippi dreadnought, and the North Dakota dreadnought battleship that was launched a year ago.

However, now the situation finally took a turn for the better, and after cruising in the Indian Ocean for more than half a month, sinking and damaging several British warships and merchant ships, he sent a confidential telegram from the German consulate in Beijing, so he hurriedly brought the fleet back to the Sunda Strait, and successfully received a liaison officer sent by Beijing here...... Now, he is looking forward to the big moment.

A moment later, what appeared in front of Vice Admiral Pace was a Chinese soldier in his 40s with a dark complexion, as a senior naval officer, Pace could naturally see at a glance that this tall Chinese officer was 100% a senior naval officer, otherwise, there would never be such a complexion and a relaxed face, and the other party reported that his home was Wu Yiming, Colonel of the South China Naval Intelligence Department.

The other party's next expression also surprised him very much, Wu Yiming suddenly took out a bottle of red wine from the backpack behind him, and then said with a smile: "General Pace, before we talk, I brought important information from Europe...... I'm afraid you didn't know that just a day ago, the Imperial German Army had crossed the line of Paris and was marching in the direction of Le Mans! ”

Yes...... This happy news came a little suddenly, and Pace, as a steady soldier, had the most optimistic estimate earlier, and he also believed that in order to defeat the French and achieve another victory in the Franco-Prussian War, I am afraid that Germany would have to pay a huge price, and it would take at least a few months, but he did not expect that he had gone to sea and destroyed a few British ships, and the Gallic chicken was already about to be destroyed.

At this moment, Pace could no longer hide his excitement, he immediately turned to muttered a few words to the guard officer behind him, and a moment later, more than thirty officers had already poured onto the bow deck, and Pace very concisely and sensationally announced the great victory of Germany in Europe, which immediately triggered an undisguised frenzy among a group of German officers!

Wu Yiming quietly waited for the Germans to celebrate the victory of the Battle of Paris, and he deeply respected these lone travelers on the sea, because they had the same patriotic enthusiasm as himself, and more importantly, what they did would provide a better opportunity for China's grand strategy.

This unplanned action extended the time for Wu Yiming to perform the task for a full 20 minutes, and when the officers were driven back to their posts, Wu Yiming took out an official document from behind him and handed it over, "General Pace, Beijing has asked me to bring you the greatest respect for your bravery, and we hope that this kind of help can fully reflect our respect!" ”

In the next minute, when Pace saw the content of the telegram, he directly assumed the petrification and stayed for more than a minute, and then asked in surprise: "Colonel Wu, this news is so shocking that I can't even judge...... But I would like to know what we need in return for your country's support! Otherwise, I'm afraid I can't accept it! (To be continued......)