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Plimpton. Arthur looked at the harbor from afar, and he knew that although Duke Hanny had the honorary rank of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, Duke Hanny had not attended military school for a day, and the only experience he had in driving ships was to tinker with his dhow and discuss strategy and tactics with such a fellow. Arthur must have gone mad himself. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

But the reality is always very helpless, and there are countless things for laymen to lead insiders, just like those so-called members of the French Chamber of Commons, who instigate this or that all day long, always thinking about holding power in their hands, and as a result, even His Majesty the Emperor is besieged in Sedang, even so, they still insist on sending warships and troops to participate in the so-called expedition?

Plimpton. Arthur was actually reluctant to pick up James from the bottom of his heart. William's mess, but right now James. William is dead, and there is no point in settling too much with a dead man! For Plimpton. Arthur said that Lin Haijiang was not an easy enemy to deal with, but Princeton. Arthur knew that if he could not defeat the Imperial Chinese Navy, there would only be two consequences, the first would be to flee back to Europe in disgrace, drawing a very disgraceful end to the end of his naval career, and the other would be to die without a place to be buried.

Once the Chinese Empire launches a counterattack, then the officers and soldiers of this expedition will probably be doomed, because the crime of Batavia Harbor is enough for all of them to go to hell 10,000 times, and the Chinese Empire has issued a second death order, and the original decisive battle between knights has turned into a battle to the death, killing has become the only purpose, whether it is national interests, justice and justice, all the reasons are high-sounding excuses, The only effect of the advanced weapons that mankind has created for its own desires and ambitions is to use them for slaughter, more efficiently slaughtering their own kind, Plimpton. Arthur's state of mind at the moment was a little bleak.

It is more appropriate to say that it is bleak, but it is more appropriate to say that it is extremely worried about the bleak future!

April 4, 1862, Princeton. Arthur led the last of the coalition's mobile forces at sea, and sixteen warships sailed straight from the port of Batavia to Canton. Arthur believed that if the Chinese Empire had not been ruled by a group of bloodthirsty and belligerent madmen, or if they knew the true value of these expensive warships, how many more warships would the Chinese Empire have mobilized if the wounded Chinese Imperial warships could only be repaired at the shipyards on Hainan Island and Guangzhou Port? Plimpton. Arthur believed that there were no more than seven or eight ships, so he still had a good chance of winning.

However, this time the fleet sailed very depressingly, so that Princeton. Arthur was a little angry that Duke Hanny had detained the extremely powerful Ark Royal, on the pretext that no one had the right to throw the Ark Royal into a battle that might cause him harm without the Queen's authorization. Arthur's flagship is still the HMS Queen Victoria.

Plimpton. After making an inspection, Arthur found that the morale and spirit of the officers and men on the ship were sluggish? As Plimpton. Major General Mitchell, Arthur's old team, also approached Printon for this. Arthur, Major General Mitchell to Plinton. Arthur advised, "Shall we start by choosing a relatively weak target?" The first is to attract the opponent, and the second is to win a small battle to boost morale, otherwise with the morale of the fleet at the moment, I am afraid that it will not be possible to achieve the combat mission at all. ”

For Major General Mitchell's suggestion Plimpton. Arthur thought about it seriously, this attack was already very reluctant, and the uncertainty of the surname made Plimpton. Arthur himself was very worried, and it was not Printon who sat back and waited. Arthur's style, and the fact that this expedition was likely to be the end of his forty-year naval career, he could not afford to let his military career end in a humiliating failure.

Plimpton. Arthur looked at Major General Mitchell helplessly and said: "You and I have been in the same boat through thick and thin for so many years, and you are still a major general to this day, this expedition can be said to be the last expedition in my military career, James. William's defeat may be a chance God has given me to make a big reversal in a desperate situation! When you return home, I will help you fight for the rank of lieutenant general. ”

Rear Admiral Mitchell took a deep breath and said: "Your Excellency, I have always thought that you are a person who really understands the navy, the French Navy needs people like you, but unfortunately His Majesty the Emperor and his parliament do not need us, they want to surpass Britain to become the world's number one naval power, but they don't want to spend money, the myth of the French Army in Europe has been said for too long and for too long, any lies and unrealistic words will become true if they are said a thousand times, ten thousand times!" ”

Plimpton. Arthur waved his hand and said to Major General Mitchell: "Don't say any more, we are because we have too many jails, His Majesty the Emperor doesn't like jaws, and the only thing we can do now is to defeat Lin Haijiang and win honor for France." ”

Major General Mitchell rubbed his hands and said: "Maybe we shouldn't insist on this sortie at all, we should return to France, this damn battle is not ours at all, even if we win, I dare say that the British will not give us a dime, the British will occupy the whole of Southeast Asia, stretching their hands to Indochina, and the Russians will drive straight into the land and plunder." ”

Plimpton. Arthur looked at Rear Admiral Mitchell dumbfounded, as if he had never known this person, and Rear Admiral Mitchell also knew that he was out of shape, so he said frankly: "When you were in the port of Batavia, I went to the Imperial Fortress with the supply fleet, and the battle there can only be described as extremely tragic, the port and several landing beaches are full of wreckage, corpses or floating debris of broken warships, a large number of wounded cannot be transported, and our battleships entering and leaving the port will be attacked by the enemy's artillery fire, It's like bleeding with a blunt knife, sooner or later we will lose too much blood, the imperial fortress built by the Chinese Empire on the island of Sumatra is simply a so-called trap, we should have avoided that damn fortress a long time ago, I still don't understand why the British are so persistent? ”

Plimpton. When Arthur heard Major General Mitchell mention the Imperial Fortress, he said disdainfully: "The British have been planning to build a fortress military port in Singapore to control the Strait of Malacca, but they have not been able to put it into action for various reasons, and now he has taken a fancy to the Imperial Fortress of the Chinese Empire, this fortress city controls the whole island of Sumatra, built on the Hengduan Mountains, due to the influence of the Indian Ocean Crashing Waves, this location is the only artificial harbor in the entire Sumatra Island, northeast across the Strait of Malacca and the Malay Peninsula, It is bordered by the Indian Ocean in the west, the South China Sea and Java Island in the east, and Java Island in the southeast! Its strategic strategically to hold the southward sea route is almost equivalent to Singapore's view of the Strait of Malacca. ”

Major General Mitchell came to the chart, drew a small circle on the chart with his hand, and said: "But even if we annihilate the sea power of the Chinese Empire, our army may not be able to capture this fortress city, the British wishful thinking is doomed to fail, I think our delay is how to boost morale!" ”

Major General Mitchell's finger slammed heavily on the position of the Fujian horsetail. Arthur hesitated for a moment and said, "There should be a shipyard of the Chinese Empire there, but the scale should not be very large, if we attack there, will it be effective?" ”

Major General Mitchell shrugged his shoulders and said, "Not necessarily, but with our current situation, it is obviously very unwise to go directly to find an opponent for a decisive battle or attack Guangzhou!" ”

Plimpton. Arthur looked at the blackened blood stains on the armrest beside him and said: "I know very well what you said, but we really don't have time to spend it with them, if it continues to be consumed, it will definitely be us who fail, the supply of coal, fresh water, supplies, ammunition, etc. will crush us, you don't really think that the whole of Europe will go crazy and follow the British to fight in the Far East, right?" ”

Major General Mitchell looked at Plimpton in amazement. Arthur said: "It's not just the British who have suffered heavy losses! Dutch? Spaniard? Italian? Portuguese? Will they give up? ”

Plimpton. Arthur put down the telescope in his hand and hesitated for a moment: "If the coalition forces can completely eradicate the power of the Chinese Empire entrenched in Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula in stages, and then take action against its power on the mainland, we will have a great chance of winning!" James. William did not lose on tactics, but lost on strategy, the coalition army is far away, military supplies are not enough to support long-term operations, the purpose of attacking the imperial fortress before is to attract the main force of the opponent's navy, as a result, the offensive and defensive battle of the imperial fortress not only did not attract the main force of the opponent's navy, but instead trapped all the land forces on his side, and now it is difficult to withdraw! Eventually James. William was forced to use the tactics of quick victory to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese Empire at sea, and it was this point that was introduced into the preset battlefield by the other party. It's like a student knocking over the teacher. ”

Major General Mitchell was extremely surprised: "Then is it too risky for us to take the initiative this time?" ”

Plimpton. Arthur took a deep breath and looked around motioning for Rear Admiral Mitchell to follow him. Arthur closed the hatch and said calmly, "None of the battleships are ours French, James. William has already fought a big defeat, where else can he be defeated in defeat? If we succeed, we can naturally obtain corresponding benefits for France in Indochina, even if we fail, it will only weaken the influence of Britain in the Far East and Southeast Asia, this time the fleet of the north and south through the Pacific and the Indian Ocean and finally converge in Southeast Asia, the British have been stockpiling in India for many years The supplies have been exhausted, and the armored protection cruisers sent by the participating countries are all newly built, even if the European countries want to crusade against the Chinese Empire again, I am afraid it will be a few years later. Now our country and Prussia have entered a dead circle mode, stop and stop, we urgently need an intermediary, the British are most willing to see that we and Prussia will shed blood, they are certainly not willing to act as this mediator, this intermediary no country is more suitable than the Chinese Empire! ”

Major General Mitchell hesitated for a moment and said, "I feel very strange that as Prussia's only ally in the East, the Chinese Empire declared war on the seven European countries, why didn't it pull in their ally Prussia?" If Prussia had put a little pressure on the Empire, we would have withdrawn from the Eight Alliance. ”

Plimpton. Arthur smiled and said: "This is Lin Haijiang's cleverness, all our energy and financial resources have been transferred to the war against Prussia, and the French Third Reich is just a name for the entire coalition army!" And Prussia is not yet fully unified at the moment, will they declare war on the seven European countries for the sake of their distant allies in the East, triggering a joint intervention of the European countries? If that were the case, now we should have breakfast on the banks of the Rhine, and not let the Prussians come to Paris to negotiate! ”

Plimpton. Arthur paused and said: "When the fleet arrives off the coast of Guangzhou, I will send a small boat to escort you to Guangzhou for secret negotiations, no matter whether this naval battle is won or lost, it can be said that it has nothing to do with us!" As a soldier, we must always keep in mind the interests of the country, and when necessary, we can completely ignore personal honor and disgrace! ”

Plimpton. The fleet composed of the remnants of the coalition warships commanded by Arthur came straight to Guangzhou, and it can be said that the seven countries within the coalition have their own reasons and plans, although they have not yet reached the point of intrigue, but working together is an excessive luxury.

Lin Haijiang was also leading eleven warships, including two battleships from Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, to Batavia Harbor. Arthur's tactical intent was the same, to find fighters to take advantage of the victory and pursue and completely annihilate the remnants of the enemy's forces.

However, Lin Haijiang in the Zhenyuan war room was very calm and relaxed, and the morale of the officers and men of the fleet was high and inspired, since 1840, after the European powers' strong ships bombarded the Qing court, the land of China was tragically poisoned by the British and foreign invaders, and a large amount of indemnity made the people miserable to pay taxes and make their lives miserable.

Once upon a time, the Chinese Empire rose from the cracks and unexpectedly defeated the Eight-Nation Coalition of the Seven European Countries plus the Qing Dynasty? Although the current victory is only the navy of the coalition forces, but the Chinese Empire is founded on the navy, and this war with the coalition forces is also to take the initiative of the navy to lure the enemy to find fighters, and the army adopts a defensive position, which can be called the world's most advanced weapons and equipment, the Chinese Imperial Army has played a huge power in the defensive war only the Taiping Army in the past has tried!

In terms of overall strategic deployment, the Qing court can be regarded as making the best use of the coalition army, and the Russians, as the main force of the coalition army, are naturally happy to attack the city and seize the land, otherwise their 200,000 troops will count on the Qing State to provide such a dry and fixed salary? There is no need to fight, and the troops will mutiny!

The elite army of the Russians has long been lost in the Crimean War, and now the main force of the Russian army of 200,000 is actually pieced together, most of which came to the East to make a fortune, the Cossacks are not a good people, for this group of nomadic communities living in the steppes of Eastern Europe, the Cossacks are known in history for their courage and skill, and have been the main military force that has supported the expansion of the Russian Empire.

The Russian tsar bribed the Cossack upper class and provided corresponding conditions for the Cossack upper class to live an aristocratic life, so as to achieve the goal of mastering the Cossacks, but it is a pity that the upper class of the Cossacks and the Russians have always been close to each other, this distance makes the Tsar unable to use the Cossacks completely and safely, but in foreign wars, this point will obviously not become a concern for the Russians.

In the bridge of the Zhenyuan ship, Lin Haijiang smiled and handed a cigar to the depressed Duraveyev, after the fourth formation of the coalition army commanded by Duravyev was defeated, Duraveyev's ship Hope, which had tried to escape, was hit on the chimney and caused a fire in the boiler room, and the Hope lost power and was captured by the Imperial Chinese Navy, and all the Russian naval officers and sailors except Duravyev were executed on the spot.

Duraviev still shuddered when he remembered that terrible scene, and when the Spaniards and Dutch were shooting at the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy who had fallen into the water in a desperate battle, Duraviev did not feel any guilt, as if that was what the victor should do?

But now it was their turn, and Duraviev realized that the original wanton massacre was so evil and inhumane! The Dutch and Spaniards who had been captured before were all executed, and the retaliation of the Chinese Empire made Duravyev shudder, compared to the happy Russian officers and soldiers who were captured, they were only shot in rows on the side of the ship, while the Dutch and Spaniards were fed sharks.

Duraviev had dealt with Lin Haijiang several times before, and he knew very well that Lin Haijiang was an extremely utilitarian guy who would never do anything useless, and even spare his own life.

Lin Haijiang looked at the nervous Duraviev and smiled slightly: "As a soldier, do you know what is the most terrifying? ”

Duraviev looked at Lin Haijiang in confusion, Lin Haijiang played with a Mauser pistol and said: "You invaders who never know how to be satisfied, it is actually easy to kill all of you, but the fear and shock generated by killing you are far worse than letting some of you live, living to spread the fear hidden in your bones!" The most terrifying thing for a soldier is to kill all his subordinates and companions, and let him live alone until he collapses! Dear Duraviev, do you understand? ”

"You're a demon!" After Duraviev said this, he regretted it, he was joking with his life!

(To be continued)