"There are still tens of thousands of defenders in Singapore, and even if the fortress is destroyed, it will not be so easy for the Chinese army to occupy the whole city!" , The Marquis of Salisbury is still a dead duck with a hard mouth, but from the tone of his voice, he can hear that his confidence is seriously insufficient.

Fisher sneered after hearing this, and unceremoniously shattered the Prime Minister's last bit of illusion, "Singapore is an isolated island that cannot even provide fresh water, and this war came very suddenly, there were not enough supplies prepared in advance, and the Chinese could force the defenders to surrender just by besieging it." Moreover, these troops were all improvised and not well organized, and most of them were natives of the colonies, so I did not have much confidence in them. It's fine when they have a strong fortress to rely on, but once the fortress is captured, it's hard to believe that they can hold on to the fight. ”

The Marquis of Salisbury was more and more cold when he heard this, and he suddenly thought of something, and his face turned pale, "Not good! In order to reinforce Singapore, India's garrison has almost been depleted, and although some has been transferred from Africa, it is not enough to fully fill the gap. Moreover, these troops are new to India and have the same problems as the Singapore garrison. If the Chinese attack India immediately after taking Singapore, I am afraid that Mumbai will not be able to keep it."

"I can only hope that the Chinese will not grasp the key point and will just attack westward steadily." , Fisher didn't have any good way to do this, and couldn't help but complain about the wrong decision of the previous Minister of Navy, "Those warships that withdrew to Japan after the Battle of the Yangtze River Estuary should not be recalled back to China, if they are still in Japan, we can contain the Chinese Navy through the operation of breaking diplomatic relations, and it is likely that they will not dare to go south at all!" ”

The Marquis of Salisbury couldn't help but blush after hearing this, because the order was actually issued by the Minister of the Navy that he forced the Minister of the Navy, at that time the Marquis of Salisbury thought that the Chinese Navy would attack Japan next, and was worried that those warships would be buried with him, so he was impatient to let the Admiralty recall him.

"Now that they have all left Japan, they will have to contact them again, at least until they reach the west coast of the Americas, by which time it will be too late," Fisher thought more and more angrily, if it weren't for the Marquis of Salisbury being Prime Minister, his spittle would have flown in his face.

When the Marquis of Salisbury heard this, he said whimsically, "Well, we can give them another order and let them return to Japan to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations!" By the way, we can also surprise the expeditionary force to go to Japan in the Pacific, and then directly attack the Chinese mainland to force the Chinese government to surrender! ”

Hearing this, Fisher's poisonous tongue could no longer be controlled, and he said something that made the Marquis of Salisbury furious, "Such a stupid idea can be thought of, no wonder it can be the prime minister three times!" ”

As a result, Fisher was rightfully blasted out by his master, and William White followed him after confessing his guilt, admonishing his friend, "Why can't you keep your mouth shut? You are capable, but if no one uses you, where will you have the opportunity to display your skills? ”

"But he can even think of such a stupid idea, I really can't bear it." , Fisher also regretted it a little in his heart, but he refused to admit his mistake, "Go to Japan in the Pacific Ocean?" Does he know how much time that will take? Worst of all, there is not even a large deep-water port to dock at, which means that the fleet must arrive in Japan before it has a chance to be maintained, but in case the Chinese navy does not move westward, but returns to the north to attack Japan."

"Japan's navy has been completely wiped out, and it is an island country with few resources, and the Chinese navy does not need to attack, as long as the sea transportation lines are blocked, the Japanese government will have to give in." William White easily thought of the result, "And once the Japanese government submits to China, our expeditionary force will be tantamount to throwing itself into a net, and when the condition of the ships is extremely bad, it will engage the Chinese navy that is waiting for work, and I am afraid that there will be no chance of escaping one or two ships to avoid total annihilation."

However, even William White, who knew something about the Japanese because of the order for warships, did not expect that before the Chinese navy came to the door, the call for peace with China in Japan had already risen

As early as after the Battle of Ganghwa Bay, Ito Hirobumi and other people of insight realized that Japan had lost the opportunity to defeat China, but at that time he himself was seriously ill and bedridden, and Saionji Gongwang could not fight Yamaguchi Youtomo, so he could only watch as the sworn enemy insisted on pushing his military adventure route of desperately expanding the war.

However, neither of them expected that the Qing army would be so vulnerable, and a division that basically had no logistical support would fight all the way to the territory of Mukden. The frequent good news on the front line made the prestige of Yamaguchi Youpeng soar, and Meiji trusted him even more, and even said, "Ito is mistaken, and he should have been a letter a long time ago." In this way, Ito Hirobumi vomited blood on the spot after learning about it, and his condition worsened again, if it weren't for the best efforts of Saionji Gongwang to enlighten him, he would have burped in advance

What made Ito and the others even more worried was that the Yama Shan faction had completely controlled the base camp, and if Katsura Taro could really fight to Beijing City to force the Manchus to sign the alliance under the city, then their political life would be completely over.

However, as time passed, the negative impact of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ganghwa Bay finally became apparent, due to the destruction of the Japanese shipping by the Beiyang Naval Division, although the Korean and Manchurian fronts had frequent successes, the rich booty obtained was difficult to transport back to China, and the domestic people did not see the benefits of the war for a long time; For the same reason, Japan's foreign trade has also been hit hard, and the blockage of grain imports is even more severe than the impact of raw silk exports, which will not be immediately apparent.

Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan's population has grown rapidly from less than 35 million to more than 40 million, but it has been able to maintain a supply of food while growing a large number of cash crops at home to earn foreign exchange, and the large amount of imported grain has played a crucial role. But now this important source of food has been cut off, even if only partially, which is enough to cause extremely serious consequences, and many profiteers have taken the opportunity to raise prices, causing the situation to deteriorate further.

As food prices continue to soar in Japan, the "rice riots" in Japan are becoming more and more frequent, and although the Meiji government has shown a repressive ability that is rare in the world, and there has been no major chaos, if the blockade is not lifted, a greater crisis will break out in Japan sooner or later. (To be continued.) )