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Feng Xianghua received an edict from the emperor late at night, and hurried to the Heart Cultivation Hall before he even put on his court clothes. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info He knew that it was so late, the emperor must have something big to find him.

Guan Xuqing sat on the soft collapse of the Dongnuan Pavilion, the two palace maids carefully rubbed his temples for him, and when he saw Feng Xianghua coming, he waved his hand to both sides, and the eunuchs and palace maids all retreated.

"Xianghua, the British Far East Fleet is massing in Singapore Harbor, do you know about this?" Guan Xuqing's tone was extremely serious, although Feng Xianghua had been by the emperor's side for many years, he couldn't help but be a little apprehensive at this time.

"The minister received a telegram from Zhang Yu before dinner, but he was afraid of disturbing the emperor's sleep, so he didn't report it in time. Please forgive the emperor. ”

"You are the secretary of the military department, I want to know what your plans are for this war with the British?" Guan Xuqing didn't have a trace of expression on his face, and it seemed that he had attached much more importance to this war than Feng Xianghua had imagined.

"Most of the Malay Peninsula is under the control of the British, and this time they have sent a powerful Far East Fleet to assemble at the Singapore Military Port, and their purpose is to advance north to reoccupy Southeast Asia and completely block the southern part of the country. The minister thought that it was necessary to make preparations in two aspects: first, to mobilize warships from the Beiyang Naval Division, the Fujian Naval Division, and the Nanyang Naval Division, and set up several naval blockade lines along the coastline of Siam Province and Vietnam Province; Second, once the British warships broke through the naval blockade line, they should first land in these two provinces and establish land supply bases, so they quickly mobilized men and horses from the Southeast Army Group to Siam Province and Vietnam Province to wipe out their marines near the coastline. I don't know what the emperor's holy will is? Feng Xianghua had already made a more in-depth and detailed analysis of the war situation in advance, and thought that this answer would be approved by the emperor.

Guan Xuqing didn't say anything right away, stared at the military map and thought for a while, and suddenly said: "When will the Zhonghua series of ships being built by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau be launched?" ”

"It will be the end of this month at the earliest."

"There are still ten days and so long, and the British will not give us time." Guan Xuqing sighed slightly, and said with a straight face: "Immediately telegraph to Shen Baozhen and Yan Fu, I will give them five days, and they must build these two warships no matter what, otherwise, we don't have to see each other again." ”

"Wow." Feng Xianghua felt a pang in his heart, since the emperor had issued a strict order, these two warships would definitely be of great use.

"Telegraphed to Lu Yiwei and asked him to draw three divisions from his subordinates to Siam Province and station, and asked Liu Mingchuan to send two divisions to Vietnam Province."

"Wow."

"We have ordered the guns and artillery bureaus and ordnance institutes of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Taiwan provinces to step up their efforts to produce ammunition and weapons, and it is impossible to win this tough battle without 100,000 shells."

100,000 shells? Does the emperor want to fill in the seas of Southeast Asia? Feng Xianghua only now really felt the weight of this big war in the emperor's heart.

Viet Nam Province, Sihanoukville Bay.

In the middle of the night, the bay is lit up, and there are Chinese warships docked at the mouth of the inner bay, like an army waiting to be reviewed, standing proudly in the dark.

Sihanoukville is like a bite to be bitten off the flat coastline, and it is a strategic point from Singapore to the northern land, and its geographical location is very important. The water area of the whole bay is larger than that of Dongting Lake, and its shape is like a mango, which shrinks tightly at the mouth of the sea, almost the same as the situation in Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong, except that Sihanoukville Bay is much larger than Jiaozhou Bay.

At its mouth to the sea, a chain of islands, such as Long Island and Long Songlun Island, formed a natural barrier at the entrance to the entire bay, and each small island was equipped with at least two batteries and several watchtowers, and any ship wishing to enter the bay had to obtain the consent of the island's garrison.

When Guan Xuqing built a military port here, it was because he considered that this place could be used as an advance base for the North and South Ocean Naval Divisions. Dozens of warships painted in the Empire's characteristic gray-black livery are docked here, and the best of the entire South China Coast is concentrated here.

A unique whistle sounded in the harbor, and eight cruisers, Kaiji, Huantai, Jingqing, Baomin, Jiang Yuan, Jiang Heng, Jiang Li, and Jiang Zhen, pulled up their anchor heads in the shallow sea of more than ten meters, and the anchor heads weighing several hundred pounds with clear splashes of water shimmered in the moonlight.

Standing on the pier trestle, looking at the deep black sea, Zhang Yu, the minister of the Imperial Mission, said to the Vietnamese governor Liu Yongfu behind him: "How is the performance and combat effectiveness of our warships compared with the Far East Fleet? ”

"The foreign press says that the Far Eastern Fleet is the most powerful fleet in the world today, but I don't think it will be as foreigners boast. Take the battleships in front of you as an example, Kaiji, Huantai, and Jingqing belong to the same class of ships, which can be called a generation of masterpieces of the German Hamburg shipyard, although they belong to unprotected cruisers, but they are equipped with 2 main guns, 6 secondary guns, and the speed also reaches 16 knots, which should not be inferior to the British and French cruisers. As early as when Li Zhongtang ordered the "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" ships from the Armstrong Works, this novel ramming cruiser attracted the attention of all countries in the world, and the Baomin surpassed the Armstrong ramming cruiser in many aspects, and was the most powerful ramming ship in this tonnage class. Jiang Yuan, Jiang Heng, Jiang Li, and Jiang Zhen were all four cruisers that were taken from the French in the Sino-French War: Desdam, Ferres, La Perutz, and Champaland. In addition, we also have four warships in Dingyuan, Jiyuan, Zhenyuan and Weiyuan, with a standard displacement of 7,335 tons, because the tonnage is too large to moor in offshore ports, they almost integrate all the advantages of the two famous British and German ships "Saxony" and "Inflecze" class, and have the strength to compete with the 10,000-ton Imperial Power class warships. Liu Yongfu held a war knife in his hand, and when he said these words, his voice was sonorous and powerful.

Zhang Yu nodded, and said meaningfully: "The emperor still has foresight, the emperor took advantage of the opportunity of the Sino-German alliance to buy these four warships at a low price, and it is said that at that time, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan together were only equivalent to the price of buying one warship of the same kind in the United Kingdom." ”

"My lord is wise, and with the emperor's blessing, we will definitely be able to defeat the British." Liu Yongfu said with emotion.

At the other end of the horizon, a fleet of yellow-and-black livery flown with rice flags is slowly sailing into the port of Singapore. Seeing that incomparable giant ship in the fleet, waiting all day for the Royal Navy Ville? Vice Admiral Hamilton breathed a heavy sigh of relief, this is the epoch-making masterpiece of the Royal Navy, the Dreadnought-class battleship, which now carries the ambitions and dreams of the British across the English Channel and docks for the first time in the waters of the East.

The first to step down from the Dreadnought-class battleship was Lord Fisher, Lord of the Royal Navy, who set foot on Eastern soil for the first time with Her Majesty's determination to conquer the Far East. He looked back at the ship's 305-millimeter gun and said to Hamilton: "I have entrusted you with the hope of the Royal Navy, and may you bring victory back to England." ”