February 12, 1875 A.D., in the waters north of the Hawaiian Islands. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe blue Pacific Ocean is dotted with seagulls, and the sky and water are all blue, and it is a quiet and peaceful scenery. There are several Chinese-style sailing boats with horn sails and a draft of about 3,000 materials at most, which are trawling nets on the sea. The boats were owned by Chinese immigrants who settled in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Although this small archipelago country has always been run by officials sent by the British Colonial Office, it is a ** country in legal terms. Immigrants from China are the main inhabitants of the island nation, accounting for about 8o% of the total population. And there is a powerful empire behind them...... So much so that the British, who rule here, have been trembling for twenty years, fearing and wary of the people they rule, but not daring to suppress them openly. It's really aggrieved to the extreme.

Therefore, the British who were sent to serve in the Hawaiian kingdom basically did not work long and would find a way to transfer out. Lieutenant Commander Luang Weili, commander of the fleet of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was one such British naval officer who was trying to find a way to transfer.

Although his small fleet bears the name of the Hawaiian Navy, and the military expenses are drawn from the taxes of the Hawaiian Kingdom, from the ordinary soldiers to his commander, all are white British, and their allegiance is also to the Queen Victoria of the British Empire. This fleet is, in fact, a detachment of the British Pacific Fleet. However, there were no big ships, just some wooden-hulled paddle gunboats of more than 1,000 tons that had been eliminated by the British Navy. The largest flagship, the Queen Helena, has a displacement of less than 15oo tons. Equipped with four 68-pounder guns and four 18-pounder guns, it can sail up to 9 knots when propelled by a steam engine, and is an old ship launched in 1863. It is necessary to rely on it to deal with the 11ooo tons of the Chinese Emperor-class ironclad ships. Defending Hawaii is, of course, impossible. This is not the mission of the Hawaiian Navy, their mission is to patrol the sea, anti-smuggling and pirates, and do the work of the coast guard.

As for the defense of Hawaii, that is the mission of the Pacific Fleet of the British Empire! The Pearl Harbor-based fleet now has more than 20 combat ships, including four Aliski-class (an improved version of the Warrior-class) ironclads, making it the fifth largest fleet of the Royal Navy after the Home Fleet, the American Fleet, the Indian Fleet, and the Australian Fleet – and the British Navy's center of gravity is different from what it was in history. Because Napoleon III's empire was so glorious, it had developed into a world empire with both a large 6th army and a large navy. Britain no longer dared to compete with France in the Mediterranean. So the British Mediterranean Fleet was very small, and they turned to restraining France's energy by propping up Russian force in the Mediterranean. And the British sea power in the Hawaiian Islands. It is also used for the purpose of leading.

After all, the hard power of the British Empire was insufficient, and it could not be comprehensively suppressed. The only way to maintain the situation is to contain and balance the situation. Their priority is obviously not Hawaii, which has become a "nail household", but the defense of North America, India and Australia. So when Zhu Jishi, the lion of the East, took advantage of the death of Napoleon III and the Spanish Revolution to extend his claws to the Philippines. The British Admiralty, which was good at tearing down the east wall and repairing the west wall, immediately transferred the Pacific Fleet to Port Moresby, a large British stronghold on the island of New Guinea. Prepare to echo the Eastern Fleet rushing to Singapore, and maneuver around the Nanyang Islands with the powerful Ming Navy.

As for the possibility of a sneak attack on Hawaii, the British Admiralty, of course, was also prepared. Pearl Harbor on Oahu has been in operation for 20 years, and it has long been impregnable! And there are a full 5ooo British army and 3ooo Hawaiian 6 army responsible for guarding. Even if all the Chinese Navy comes, the Pearl Harbor fortress will hold out for at least 6 months!

So Lieutenant Commander Luang Weili, who was strolling on the "Queen Helena", didn't think at this time that the British army in Hawaii would soon face an unprecedented test, he was just thinking about when he could be transferred out of this Hawaiian navy, which seemed to be a nursing home, he was only in his thirties now, and he should have a good future, how could he retire here?

At this time, suddenly a gunboat not far away suddenly frantically signaled here with a flag. An officer said in a loud voice: "Lieutenant colonel." North! North! Luang Weili immediately ran onto the bridge and raised his binoculars to look north. A little search revealed several pale black plumes rising from the surface of the sea, followed by more columns of smoke appearing in the telescope. A little more later. What appeared in the telescope eyepiece was a towering triangular mast, which looked very similar to the mast on a British battleship, but what was faintly fluttering on it was the blue background gold sun and moon flag of the Ming Navy! From the shape and size of the mast, this capable British naval officer had already estimated in his heart that these were the three Emperor-class ironclad ships of the Ming Navy. There are at least five more, no. It is seven Emperor-class ironclad ships. All ten ironclad ships of the Ming Navy have all come to Hawaii! Their target is not the Philippines, but Hawaii!

Probably because the birth was too shocking, Lang Weili's mind suddenly went blank, and it took about a minute to react, and he ordered loudly: "Hurry, report to Pearl Harbor!" 1o ironclad ships of the Chinese Navy appeared in the waters north of the Hawaiian Islands. Azimuth: west longitude xxx, north latitude xxx. Whether there is still a transport ship group to follow needs to be further observed, and the information will be sent after further observation! His forehead was full of beads of sweat, and he didn't know whether he was afraid or nervous, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Damn Chinese, really hit over!" The world war really began! ”

The telegram was quickly delivered to the base command at Pearl Harbor, where there was a more powerful radio station and was in constant contact with the British Admiralty in London. ，。 Two hours later,.

At this time, London was still shrouded in night, and the Empress and Prince Albert on the throne were wearing light blue grass mud horsehair dressing gowns, their faces were ugly, and they had obviously just been disturbed from their dreams.

"What's going on! Is the world war about to explode? The Empress roared. The news of the Ming Empire's march to Hawaii greatly surprised her, and she just thought that Zhu Jishi would take the opportunity to seek the Philippines.

"Lord of the Admirals, can Hawaii hold on? How many troops do we have there? Prince Albert frowned, but in his heart he was thinking about whether to declare war, and for what reason...... Defending the Kingdom of Hawaii? This is obviously not possible, the king of Hawaii is Zhu Guojie, although the regime has been controlled by Xiang Hude, but the right to declare war belongs to the king and queen according to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Zhu Guojie and Helena cannot declare war on their father and father-in-law in any case, and these two are not in Hawaii, but live in Hong Kong.

"You can hold on for a few months...... We have 8ooo troops there, of which 5ooo are British. Fatty Qiu's face was covered with sweat, "But what can be defended is only the fortress area, Honolulu can't be defended, there are 150,000 Chinese there!" ”

"Then order our troops in Hawaii to hold the fortified area to the death!" Prince Albert commanded loudly. "Organize all the forces that can be organized, and withdraw the diaspora into the fortress." After a pause, he added, "But don't destroy the city and leave Honolulu to the council and the church for maintenance." ”

"Dear Albert, by this time, you have not yet made up your mind to go to war with the Chinese?" As soon as Victoria heard this, she understood what her husband meant, and she frowned and asked, "Shouldn't we send the entire fleet to the Far East to teach the Chinese a hard lesson?" (To be continued)