In the Indian Ocean between the southeastern tip of India and the western part of Ceylon, the Gulf of Mannar, which is 130 to 275 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers long, is blocked by the Adam Bridge consisting of a string of coral reefs and shoals between Dhanushkodi in India and Talemanar in Ceylon, and only a few small-tonnage wooden sailing ships have passed through it for nearly two centuries, and most of the time, in the Gulf of Mannar, there are only regular barges connecting the Indian mainland and Ceylon, as well as pearl divers' boats and fishing boats. This book is from.

Today, however, pearl divers carrying wooden boats were surprised to see that in the air of Mannar Bay, 14 warships were lined up in a row, anchored in the calm bay, and five other ships were parked according to the ships.

Although there is no wave-proof peninsula in the Gulf of Mannar, the Gulf of Mannar is calm most of the time, which is why the Naval Staff chose it as the last coal replenishment station for the Second Fleet, where five Italian coal ships had been waiting for the Second Fleet for several days.

When the 14 warships of the Second Fleet sailed into Mannar Bay in a row, the sailors could clearly see the green coastline of Ceylon.

But this was only an illusion, and along the way, apart from a refueling in Sicily, where the officers and men were given two days of rest, the land had no more contact with them, Britain refused to refuel the Second Fleet in any British and colonial ports, and even Italy, which had previously agreed to coal, refused to refuel its second ship in its colony of Italian Somalia after the fleet crossed the Suez Canal.

Refueling at sea is never easy, even in a calm bay, the coal carrier must carefully approach the warship that needs to be refueled, and both sides must carefully control the ship throughout the process, and then begin to use slings to slide about 100 kilograms of coal each in cloth bags onto the deck of the battleship, and then the sailors pour the bags of coal into the coal holds.

"*** British"

While the sailors on the five combat ships headed by Dingyuan were preparing for the sling, they cursed the British with all their words in their hearts, and it was the shadow of the British government that made the ports refuse the fleet's request to enter the port, which made the fleet become a "wandering fleet".

"Come on, now we have to rush for time"

From time to time, the boatswain shouted that everyone knew that refueling in Mannar Bay was not a proper thing, and that the British colonial fleet could appear here at any time, and then demanded that the fleet leave here under the banner.

"Sir, it will take at least 36 hours for the fleet to complete the refueling"

Nodding, Cheng Biguang didn't say anything, he just looked around the sea with a telescope, searching for any possible targets.

If he had a choice, he hoped to go slower, preferably only 100 nautical miles a day, so that the officers and men could have more time to understand and master these warships, which were still very new to them.

Warships are machines, if you want to give full play to the combat effectiveness of warships, mastering warships skillfully is one of the most basic principles, half a year ago, the sea battle in the Sea of Japan The fundamental reason for the defeat of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet was that there were too many new ships, too many novices, many new ship failures, and the sailors could not master the warships, which was an important reason for the defeat of the Second Pacific Fleet, and now its own situation is not much stronger than that of the Second Pacific Fleet.

"Jingyuan can win, at least they know more about the battleship than the sailors of the Jingyuan."

Thinking of this, Cheng Biguang couldn't help muttering in his heart.

Coal loading in the tropics was definitely a test for sailors, whether it was Britain or France or any colonized country, when they refueled in the tropics, they often chose to hand over the task of loading coal to local indigenous laborers for various reasons, and for the Second Fleet, that condition was not at all.

At nine o'clock in the morning, under the scorching tropical sun, both the cargo hold of the coal ship and the coal tank of the warship became an oven, and the temperature gauge hung on the bulkhead even exceeded 50 degrees. ,

Sweat kept pouring out of his calm body, and at this time, like every comrade-in-arms around him, he was a black man who had been completely made of soot, and only where the sweat gushed out from time to time could he show some skin color.

"Ma Fucai fainted"

After a shout, the medical soldiers standing on the coal bunker immediately lowered the sling, and several sailors covered in soot hurriedly carried the fainted Ma Fucai onto the soft net.

Those who were tired and fainted would be sent up to cool down with cool water and refresh themselves with cool oil, but as soon as they woke up, they would immediately re-enter the coal tank to work, and the sailors who were constantly suffering from heat stroke were carried to the medical cabin.

"Gritted his teeth and stood ......"

Every time I move the coal bag, the words of the squad leader during the training of recruits keep coming to my mind in my calm mind, as long as I grit my teeth, it is the duty of the boiler soldiers to transport coal, and it is my own task......

Sweat dripping onto the coals, looking at the occasional scattered high-quality Welsh anthracite, calmly felt that his vision seemed to be a little blurry, shook his head, hurriedly grabbed the kettle hanging on the string, drank a pot of cold water with salt and sugar in two or three sips, raised his head, only to see the scorching sun overhead.

When he hung his head again and was about to pick up another bag of coal, he only felt that his eyes were dark, and his whole body was unconscious.

"Calm down, hurry up, carry him up quickly......"

Listening to the shouts coming from the coal tank, the gunners who were training at the gunboard looked gloomy, for any warship, replenishing coal is the task of all sailors, usually capsizing the ship, and now? In order to save their physical strength, several hundred boiler soldiers took on everything.

In the gunhouse of the gunwald, how much does the temperature express and how much does it reach in the boiler room? It was an oven at all, but even after working in the oven for more than ten days, they now had to take on all the tasks of moving coal.

In tropical sailing, the stoker is always the hardest, on the battleship the sailors can clearly distinguish the identity of the stoker, their face without exception, yellow, emaciated, people do not know how they persevered, but even so, after the order to replenish fuel, those stokers took the initiative to undertake all the tasks of transporting coal.

"Our task is to burn the boiler, and if we really fight, we still have to rely on you, you can always hit the ...... accurately if you train for an extra hour."

No one complained, some just ......

"A cruiser was spotted on the port side"

Suddenly the silence in the bay was broken, and the gunners, who were originally training, immediately got busy, this is the enemy ship or ......

More than half an hour later, a dilapidated cruiser of about 2,000 tons, which could not even see the color of the original paint, or even had only a chimney, appeared in the sight of the officers and men.

"Sir, it's a British ** ship"

Looking at the Mizi flag from the telescope, Cheng Biguang's brows furrowed, the one who should have come is still here.

"How long will it take?"

"As fast as 30 hours"

This is the last time the fleet will be refueled, and the next time, the location of the refueling will be the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong, of course, if they can reach the Pearl River Estuary safely.

Although it was only an old cruiser of about 2,000 tons, anyone could understand what the rice flag flying on that warship meant, and such a small ship, which could only reach a speed of 14 knots at the fastest, could not help but say that "this place is the territorial waters of British India, and ships of the belligerent countries are forbidden to enter", and then this cruiser spitting soot appeared in the fleet's line of sight in a big way.

"Sir?"

"Tell them that this is on the high seas and that our fleet has the right of innocent passage under public international law"

A sentence came out of Cheng Biguang's mouth, and then he turned his head and ordered the captain.

"Immediately contact the Admiralty and ask the Foreign Office to coordinate with the British side to secure at least ...... for us"

After a moment of silence, a time spit out from Cheng Biguang's mouth.

"36 hours"

More time has to be gained.

"The British ships again signaled the immediate withdrawal of our fleet from Mannar Bay"

"Tell them it's the high seas"

"The British ship repeats its demands again"

At this time, looking at the British cruiser that was getting closer and closer, whether it was the Second Fleet or the British naval officers and sailors on the cruiser "Field", they all understood one thing, that is, the dilapidated cruiser "Field" represented the entire British Royal Navy.

"All the main guns of the fleet are turned to aim at the Philippine ship"

An order spit out from Cheng Biguang's mouth, and the next moment in the command tower of the Dingyuan, there was a completely deathly silence. ,

"Sir, please repeat the order"

"All main guns turned to aim at the Philippine ship"

Facing the doubts of his subordinates, Cheng Biguang resolutely opened his mouth and repeated, when he gave this order, his heart tightened, he understood that he would take the risk of doing so, but at this time he could only gamble, if he listened to the threat of the British, the fuel of the fleet would not be enough to sail to the mouth of the Pearl River, let alone the need for fuel in a possible naval battle.

"All the main guns of the fleet are turned to aim at the Philippine ship"

As the order was given, the bow and stern main guns of the five combat ships, two armored cruisers, and six British-made protective cruisers of the Second Fleet turned around and aimed at the cruiser "Fielders," which was only three or four kilometers away.

"The Chinese are targeting us"

Suddenly, almost at the moment when they saw the black holes of the 13 warships aiming at them, all the British Royal Navy officers and men on the cruiser Fields were boiling, and they felt more fear in addition to anger, and the 24 10-inch naval guns alone could tear them apart in one photo.

"Sue, tell them, let them withdraw from the ......"

"Captain, let's retreat"

"Yes, it's the ...... of the high seas."

"Our telegraph is only 100 miles away, and if we don't receive the telegram, if we provoke them, we might become missing."

"Yes, withdraw for the time being, and then send a telegram and let London go to the Chinese to settle accounts"

Successive persuasions continued to echo on the cruiser Fielders, and at this time, no one was willing to gamble with their lives that the Chinese would not dare to fire.

"Cheng Hengqi"

Almost gritted his teeth and hummed, and then Liang Dunyan said a rare foul word, of course, in his heart, now the British ambassador to China, Zhu Erdian, is sitting in front of him, and he really scolds, wouldn't it damage the national dignity.

"You're fucking crazy"

Holding the protest letter in his hand, if Cheng Biguang was in front of him, Liang Dunyan believed that he would definitely kill him with one shot, and he worked hard to negotiate with other countries, first from the Suez Canal, then through the Strait of Malacca, and then, for the sake of the Second Fleet, he had to ask his father to sue his grandmother.

But now when he Cheng Hengqi was replenishing coal, he almost sank a British cruiser, to be precise, "threatening to sink a British ** ship"

"Minister Leung, the UK lodges its strongest protest against this matter and the UK Government reserves the right to take further action"

"This ......"

Although he was annoyed in his heart, Liang Dunyan knew that he had to support Cheng Biguang at this time, but he had to exonerate him first.

"Well, Your Excellency, first of all, according to the information I have so far, the Second Fleet of our Zhenyang Fleet was replenishing fuel on the high seas, and your cruiser suddenly appeared in that sea area, please understand that for the navy of a country that is in a state of war, it is a reasonable choice to turn the guns around."

Immediately afterwards, Liang Dunyan changed the conversation again and said in an unusually stern tone.

"In the face of any provocation, I believe that the Chinese Royal Guards Navy will respond with the most resolute action, I need to remind His Excellency the Minister that for the Chinese Royal Guards Navy, there is no possibility of lowering the flag or compromise, when the Zhenhai ship returned to China, the queen lived in the ship with a daughter, and still had the heart to coexist with the ship, Jingyuan was alone in the face of a strong enemy, and still fought until the enemy retreated, I believe that although the Second Fleet passed through the ocean, its loyalty to the king and the heart of serving the country, the ocean can be learned"

Liang Dunyan's words only made Zhu Erdian's expression change slightly, as a China expert, he had to admit that since the Chinese Empire, he no longer knew about this country, if it was in the past, the British minister made such a protest, I am afraid that the other party would have ......

But at this time, Liang Dunyan did not leave Zhu Erdian with any opportunity to think, but continued to speak.

"We firmly believe that there is a friendship and a future between China and Great Britain, and although your country has repeatedly hurt China's interests, His Majesty the Emperor still believes that in the end China and Britain can move towards cooperation, just as the cooperation between your country and Japan can even be more extensive, but how does Britain repay our country? You forbid our fleet to refuel in your ports, of course, it is your power, we can be angry, but we can do nothing, but if you try to prevent our fleet from refueling on the high seas, is it still your right? ”,

"Both India and Ceylon are British territories, and the Gulf of Mannar is also ......,"

"Three nautical miles of territorial waters, this is the principle of territorial waters proposed by your country, please forgive me for being ignorant, I don't know since when the territorial waters of the United Kingdom were expanded to 3.5 nautical miles"

"In any case, your actions are contrary to the most basic international principles, and we must maintain the security of our territorial waters"

"You have the right to oversee, but not to expel our fleet on the high seas, so far"

As soon as the words sank, Liang Dunyan followed with an emphasis.

"We will lodge a protest in this regard with your country"

"You ......"

Moaning, Zhu Erdian looked at Liang Dunyan, but he couldn't speak for a while, he understood that his protest was more based on the strong country of Britain, and what about the other party's protest?

It's a scoundrel.

"...... in International Interactions"

"In international exchanges, China has already paid too much tuition, Your Excellency."

Silence, both of them fell silent, the two looked at each other, and finally, Zhu Erdian took a while before he spit out a word.

"If I say that the Royal Navy may stop your Second Fleet in Malacca......"

"In that case, the Second Fleet will have to fight on its own"

"If this happens, you'll need to face the Royal Navy's main fleet."

Not without pride words spit out from the mouth of Jurdian, the Royal Navy, since the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy is where the power of Britain lies, where the Royal Navy goes, that is, where the interests of Britain lie, the powerful Royal Navy has established the position of Britain today, and similarly, the invincible Royal Navy is also the pride of Britain.

"At that time, we had to fight with all our might, Your Excellency, please remember one sentence, we want peace, but it does not mean that we will give up war, we will fight with all our might, instead of actively seeking the option of war, in other countries and not in China."

After a moment of silence, Liang Dunyan deliberately emphasized again.

"At that time, we will have to choose allies who can help China achieve victory, and at the same time, we will do everything possible to mobilize the maximum possible army and open a suitable front in the land theater that is most advantageous to China, and I think that no country will doubt the combat effectiveness of the Royal Guards Army now, as much as it will not doubt our will."

The threat is a very clear threat, from Liang Dunyan's words, Zhu Erdian understands what he means, the so-called ally is probably Germany, and in the war they may lose the sea, but they are very likely to open up battlefields in India and Burma, the Royal Navy is the pride of Britain, but the army, the scars of the Boer War have not yet been cleared, and those farmers have almost let Britain bleed, if it is......

"Britain needs an apology"

"China needs a guarantee".

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