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When the news of the establishment of the anti-China alliance reached Japan, despair immediately turned into ecstasy, and everyone believed that China would be defeated under the siege of the anti-China alliance, and Japan was about to usher in a great victory! It was like a rollercoaster ride from the bottom to the clouds, leaving the Japanese groggy and confused, but the demand for an anti-China alliance was very positive.

From the emperor to ordinary Japanese civilians, they all kept the greatest expectations for this, and there was no idea that they would fail. Only Gentaro Kodama kept a little sober, and he wanted to express his doubts to Aritomo Yamaguchi and Emperor Meiji, but when he saw the fanaticism, he finally flinched.

Now facing his deputy, a respectable and excellent Imperial soldier, Kodama Gentaro finally couldn't help but express his opinion: "I'm a little worried, the empire's actions this time are a bit hasty, and the strength shown by Huaguo is shocking, whether it is the navy or the army, including the air force that rules the sky." Once the anti-China alliance fails, Britain, France, and other powers that support us will lose all their ability to intervene.

"This is not alarmist, General Erlang, from the land, Huaguo has 500,000 troops, all of which are elite, and they have an absolute advantage in equipment. Although the Allied forces have assembled 600,000 troops near Beijing, 200,000 of them are new recruits from Yuan Shikai, and about two-thirds of the Russian army are newly recruited recruits from the Far East. ”

"In addition, Britain united ten countries and allocated massive resources to support this battle, but I saw it from intelligence. Most of the weapons that equipped the Allies came from the munitions factories of the San Francisco consortium in the United States. The Americans' munitions factories were built for the Russo-Japanese War, and with limited production scale and long-distance transportation across the ocean, even if the Allies already had weapons in their hands, even if they were armed in two months, how much would they have the capacity to cope with the huge attrition caused by large-scale battles? War is not child's play. A war of this magnitude requires too many resources, and we have experienced it in the Russo-Japanese War, don't you think that the alliance can't support the logistics needed for this war? ”

Genjiro Akashi also became serious, he was the head of the Japanese intelligence department, of course he knew a lot of secret information, but he didn't think as deeply as Kodama Gentaro before.

"Marshal, it is true that the Allied forces have a gap in combat effectiveness and weapons and equipment compared with the Chinese army, the logistics and transportation lines are too long, and the production capacity of US military factories is insufficient. will have an unpredictable impact on the battle, which is the biggest weakness of the allies! However, as long as the expeditionary fleet defeats the Chinese navy and controls the waters of the Far East, the logistics materials from the United States will continue to be transported to the Allies, and the transport ships from Europe will also make up for some of the shortages, which should ensure that the battle will continue normally! ”

Gentaro Kodama shook his head: "The naval battle is the part that worries me the most, the Chinese army has two super warships. Coupled with the detachment of cruisers and destroyers with super-fast maneuverability and speed, the expeditionary fleet had no advantage in terms of quality. Although I am not an expert in naval warfare, I know that in naval battles the number is not the most important factor in determining victory or defeat. ”

The two super warships of China are a problem that the anti-China allies have to face squarely, and if they do not solve these two warships, they will not be able to defeat the Chinese navy, and if they do not solve the problems of the Chinese navy, they will not be able to guarantee the safety of the Allied transportation routes. There is no talk of defeating China. Therefore, the winner of this anti-China alliance battle was placed on the expeditionary fleet.

Gentaro Kodama also seemed to know that it was useless to worry about it, so he waved his hand at Akashi Genjiro who was thinking, and said softly: "The defeat of the war makes the people of the country low, if there is no stimulation. I am afraid that it will be difficult for Japan to re-emerge under the weight of China, and perhaps it is a good choice to take a gamble with this opportunity. Japan has a small territory and poor resources, and every battle in the process of rising is a battle of national fortunes, and there can be no defeat at all. So, this time, let us continue to believe in our national fortunes and in our Imperial Majesty. ”

"Hey!" Akashi Genjiro also became firm, and since it was useless to think wildly, then strengthen his faith. With Japan's strong national fortunes, it will definitely win this war!

"From the news from Beijing, the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai seems to have done a lot of tricks in the distribution of materials, the Japanese and Russian armies that went to Jinan and Handan did not even get enough food, and the weapons they received were less than Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army in terms of the number of artillery and ammunition, did you send a telegram to negotiate with Yuan Shikai?"

"The people of China just don't talk about credibility, and they can't be called civilized countries at all! Didn't Yuan Shikai know that we were helping him in this war? Without our allies, he would have been annexed by China long ago! It will be several days before we arrive in Tianjin, and discussion will be of no use to such shameless people, and it will be too late to settle it after we arrive, so that we cannot starve the soldiers of the Japanese Empire. Directly send electricity to General Okuhoko and General Hasegawa Yoshimichi, who led the troops, and the soldiers collected grain and grass on the spot. ”

Gentaro Kodama had an obvious meaning, let the Japanese army loot civilians on the spot and loot food to feed the army. The current Japanese army has finally put aside the fig leaf of maintaining the face of the Great Japanese Empire, and has given an open order to plunder.

On the other side of the globe, in the southern waters of the Mediterranean, in the Egyptian port of Arizandria, the expeditionary fleet of the anti-Chinese alliance has been assembled. The main force of the fleet consisted of the warships of the British, who in this era had the most naval force in the world, with a total tonnage of more than 1.05 million tons, and naval bases and merchant fleets in all corners of the globe. To form the expeditionary fleet, Admiral Fisher drew thirty capital ships from the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet, including fifteen battleships and fifteen armored cruisers, and even the battleship Dreadnought, launched in April 1906, became part of the expeditionary fleet. (The Intrepid was launched in December 1906, and this book sets it for April, so don't spray if the plot requires it.) ）

British Admiral Natal Natal of the British Navy, commander of the expeditionary fleet, defined the sortie as a purge to maintain British world hegemony, and the presence of the Chinese navy is a scar in Britain's global strategy. In suppressing the Germans, Britain did not allow the East to challenge the British ruling order.

The fleet consisted not only of the British, but also of 15 capital ships from France, Italy, and Spain, including seven battleships, eight cruisers, and small ships such as destroyers and torpedo boats. Of course, this is a drunken rhetoric, which cannot be true, but it truly expresses the arrogant atmosphere of the expeditionary fleet.

"Capturing the Chinese super battleship" was a popular topic among the officers and men of the expeditionary fleet, and the officers and men of various countries even began to debate which country owned the super battleship after the war. In fact, this fleet is indeed very powerful, except for the British, no other power can come up with such a big deal. The Europeans' great voyages over the past several hundred years have enabled the officers and men of the navy to possess extraordinary qualities, which is reflected in the quality of individual soldiers, combat ability, combat will, experience, and other aspects; that is, the gap in quality between the officers and men of the expeditionary fleet and the Chinese navy can be seen in the training and voyages in peacetime, and this is a gap accumulated over several hundred years, which cannot be made up in a short period of time.

After the launch of the Huaguo Wuyue class, countries around the world set off a frenzy to build Wuyue ships, and the British began the construction of second-class dreadnoughts immediately after the launch of the dreadnoughts (other countries called this kind of warship the Wuyue ship, and the British called it the dreadnought). The wealthy British increased the financial expenditure of the navy in 1906 and placed an order for five dreadnoughts in one go, but they waited until they were launched to participate in the war at least until the end of 1907, and they would definitely not wait for this anti-Chinese war.

However, one dreadnought, together with twenty-one former dreadnought-class battleships and twenty-three cruisers, was enough to submerge the Chinese navy. Natal decided to teach the Chinese what the real navy looks like, it was not the kind of battle between China and Japan, without any technical content!

On May 29, 1906, the expeditionary fleet passed through the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea, with numerous British colonial ports along the way to supply them, which was not comparable to the original Russian Pacific Fleet. Natal's mood reached its peak as British warships passed through the Suez Canal, and the invincible British Navy finally showed its fangs in the era of ironclads.

As the captain of the newest armored cruiser Warrior, Colonel John Jericho was also in high spirits, the first cruiser detachment of the Warrior was the first to pass through the Suez Canal, and Colonel Jericho could see Admiral Natal standing on the shore to review, hundreds of warships, His Excellency Admiral was going to be standing there for a long time!

The 1st Cruiser Detachment, which included the cruisers Warrior, Cochrane, Devonshire, and Monmoss, passed through the canal, followed by the 2nd Cruiser Detachment, followed by the Antrimshire, Argyllshire, Duke of Edinburgh, Black Prince, and Donegal, both of which had battleships built after 1901 and were among the most advanced cruisers in the fleet. Two detachments formed the 1st Cruiser Brigade.

The 2nd Cruiser Group consisted of three cruiser detachments, all of which were old-fashioned battleships built in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century, including the Emerald, Ruby, Orlando, Dawn, Australia, Fearless, Immortal, Crécy, Aboogier, Hogg and other battleships.

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