One Libertywind-class frigate was badly damaged, and Duan Qing ordered it to be towed to the port of Le Havre for temporary anchorage, while another frigate escorted it, while the four cruisers with modest losses continued eastward to the open sea of the Dutch city of The Hague. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In order to defend The Hague and Rotterdam, the Dutch Navy's main force totaled twelve steam ironclad warships, as well as five warships of the Royal Navy, which came to support urgently, forming a huge fleet of 17 warships.

Even if Duan Qing was full of courage, he would not use four warships to deal with the Anglo-Dutch fleet. On the one hand, he escorted the ground forces of the Tang Army temporarily stationed in the area of Calais, France, and on the other hand, he asked for domestic support.

After receiving Duan Qing's request for help, the naval command made a decision to immediately increase its strength in the direction of the North Sea Fleet. In the conference room of the Navy Headquarters, several staff officers were pointing by the huge sand table, explaining the progress of the war to President Paiknan.

Deng Xiyi said: "Although we don't want to fight, our enemies don't want to be easily captured. In the First Battle of the English Channel, we sank six of the seven British warships, and one was captured by us, killing and missing more than 1,200 people, and we also captured more than 600 people. Although the Royal Navy has suffered heavy losses, it is still relatively resolute in defending its maritime frontiers, and this time they entangled the Dutch and stuck to the waters of the East Strait to prevent us from realizing our strategic intentions and preventing us from landing in the Netherlands. ”

In judging the strategic purpose, the British still did a good job. As soon as the Tang people made a move, the British side guessed that the target of the Tang Dynasty should be the Netherlands. The Netherlands was one of Britain's most important strategic fulcrums on the European continent, and it was also the bridgehead for Britain to contain France in the south. After the Dutch Revolution was suppressed in 1787, Britain and Prussia decided the general political direction of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands became a puppet of the British and Prussians.

Prussia had already broken the capital Berlin by the Germans, and it was impossible to defend itself and could not support the Netherlands, so Britain defended the Netherlands alone to prevent this last stronghold from being occupied by the Tang and France.

Of course, the situation in the Netherlands remains dire. The German Western Front had 22,000 troops, the French Army of the North had as many as 70,000 troops (mostly rookie volunteers), and the scattered Belgian army of 4,000 men. Nearly 100,000 enemy troops formed a great sense of oppression against the Dutch. And if the Don Army abandoned the plan of landing operations and landed from Dunkirk, then the total number of troops attacking the Netherlands would grow to 110,000 people.

The frightened Netherlands had already begun a national mobilization at this time, but a large number of Dutch exiles and opponents of the current federal government also hoped to take this opportunity to overthrow the ruling Wilhelm V.

Deng Xiyi continued to speak to Bai Nan: "The core of the battle at sea is to fight for the favorable situation of ground fighting, and if our troops can launch a landing in the Netherlands, then with the French and German troops from Belgium, the Netherlands will have no room for struggle. Our North Sea Fleet is relatively small, and the main forces of the French Navy are fighting against the Royal Navy and the Spanish Navy in the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Biscay, so there are only a few ships deployed in the English Channel, and they are mainly small-tonnage warships. So, after all, we still have to rely on ourselves. ”

Bai Nan crossed his hands, sat there, and said with a little wry smile: "Is it still going to be a decisive battle at sea in the end?" The Navy has been planning for a long time. ”

Deng Xiyi was still consistently cold, he said: "This is actually a situation that was expected before the war, since we have entered the war, it is impossible to just hold such a naïve idea as teaching the British a lesson, as long as the enemy appears in front of us, we will defeat him." ”

Although Bai Nan complained slightly, he thought that even if a decisive battle at sea was launched, the military expenditure of 100 million Tang Yuan preset before should be enough. Originally, the Datang government also considered making a hard money from the French, but they didn't expect that the French couldn't get any money, their own army was not paid, and even the French even hit Datang with the idea and applied for a loan from Datang.

Thinking of this, Bai Nan also had a little pain, this move was in response to the British to win over the Qing State and stumble on the Tang Dynasty, and it was also to balance the current situation in Europe and reduce the pressure on Germany and France. But it jumped out a little quickly, and it was too sudden, and the French side felt that they had eaten the Tang Dynasty, so they couldn't get any benefits. To make amends, the Tang government decided that it could provide France with a war loan, but on the condition that the main interests of the invasion of the Netherlands would be obtained by the Tang Dynasty.

This was actually a spoils split between the Tang and France to the Dutch colonies, and the Tang Dynasty demanded Ceylon and the Cape colonies, that is, Sri Lanka and South Africa; France retreated and demanded Dutch Guiana and merge with its own French Guiana. Through such a share of spoils, Datang can completely consolidate its absolute control in the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to Ceylon, to Chittagong, to Burma, Datang guards the important points of the shipping route, enough to exclude any controlling power.

Deng Xiyi continued to deploy forces to fight against the Anglo-Dutch fleet, "The deployment of the North Sea Fleet needs to be in place in advance, and considering the strength of Britain, it is necessary for us to temporarily strengthen the main forces of the Home Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet into the North Sea Fleet." This will include 1 Hawaiian-class battleship, 2 Dingyuan-class cruisers, 6 Pinghai-class cruisers, 2 Vancouver-class cruisers, and 6 Liberty Wind, 4 Rainstorm-class, and 2 Thunderbolt-class frigates. ”

Bai Nan pursed his lips and said, "This is already the size of a large fleet. ”

Deng Xiyi said: "For the time being, the redundant ships will be transferred back to the original fleet after the war."

In this way, the main forces of the Home Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet were basically emptied. The main ships of the home fleet are the battleship Australia which is being tested at sea and two San Francisco-class heavy cruisers that have just been commissioned, plus two Dingyuan-class. The Atlantic Fleet was directly transferred to the point where only light cruisers and frigates remained.

"We are prepared to ask France to provide a fleet to accompany our light cruisers and frigates to carry out activities in Irish waters, to carry out feints, and to disperse the forces of the British Royal Navy," Deng said. ”

Bai Nan thought about it, but was not particularly optimistic, and said: "Ireland is also the core interest of the United Kingdom, if we put on the appearance of attacking the island of Ireland, the British are afraid that they will jump over the wall in a hurry, and draw troops from the Indian Grand Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet to defend Ireland, and maintain the current scale of their home fleet." (To be continued.) )