readx;

Under the influence of powerful propaganda and public opinion, the Chinese Empire was unprecedentedly united and prepared to meet the Eight-Nation Alliance, but in the Gyeonggi area of the Qing court, there was a gloomy and bleak situation, and the pedestrians walking on the street seemed to be weak, and the overpass that used to be crowded with people became crowded. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The reason is very simple, because the tax is going to be increased again, and now even the singing allegro book has to be drawn out of ten, that is to say, the input of ten copper plates has to pay six taxes, this is only a normal amount, the tax collector's fraud and the local leader in the calculation, singing a copper a day does not earn a few have to paste a few into it, this is the ninth time this year that the Qing court has increased taxes, naval tax, warship tax, new military tax, bridgehead tax and so on are dazzling, many businessmen even abandoned the business and fled.

In the Forbidden City, a few little eunuchs are sweeping the snow weakly, it is better to say that it is to sweep the snow than to say that it should be a scene, in the warm pavilion of the apse of the Qianqing Palace, the Empress Dowager Ci'an and Cixi of the two palaces are summoning Prince Gong Yixin, and the frowning Yixin seems to have made a lot of determination and said: "Return to the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, this tax is probably unacceptable, and now nine of the ten shops in the capital are closed, and you can't see a single figure on the street with a stick of incense?" Its children don't even have a place to make tea, and they are also complaining! ”

Ci'an glanced at Cixi and said anxiously: "The Mourning family also knows, but how to raise the eight million taels of military expenses on the side of this coalition army?" Why didn't you say hello to the mourning family for such a big matter? Now, where do you want the mourning family to go and find you the eight million taels of silver? ”

Yixin heard Ci'an's complaints, and hurriedly got up and knelt down and said: "At that time, the minister just thought that Lin Yi could withdraw his troops, and first blessed the stability of the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces and Gyeonggi, and then said, within the eight-nation alliance, I cleared out seven ironclad warships, with 200,000 elite soldiers, and the Russians also sent 200,000 troops, 60 ships, 16 ironclad warships, 40,000 troops from England, 290 warships, 25 ironclad warships, and the rest of the countries sent troops are just a small number, and the largest military expenditure is Russia and England, which is only the cost of sending troops. Isn't the cost of a real fight like a gun like running water? The bereavement pension for the war dead and so on, plus the final aftermath cost, will cost at least 80 or 90 million taels! ”

"Oh my God!" Ci'an and Cixi exclaimed at the same time! Obviously, Yixin's estimate of this number scared them a lot.

They have always had a concept of silver in the palace, who has ever heard that the queen mother should carry silver with her? It's like when a certain level of leadership comes and goes, someone will pick up and drop off according to the customary system, and money loses the meaning of money itself for people who reach a certain level of status.

Yixin gritted his teeth and hesitated: "Just let Rong Chen think of a way!" The silver must be given after all, hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of warships of the coalition army, if we do not give this military expense, it is difficult to ensure that they will turn their guns on us after fighting Lin Yi, the Russians' 200,000 horses have already passed through Shengjing, and they have to send people to support them along the way, the Russians' military discipline is extremely poor, and it is good to prevent them from causing trouble. ”

Ci'an thought for a moment and said, "But it's easy to ask God to send God, but it's difficult?" We haven't signed this agreement on the Eight-Nation Alliance yet, so they dare to let the army in? And why should we give food and money? ”

Yixin glanced at Ci'an, and said in his heart: "I haven't said that I want to give it to a woman!" ”

Yixin knew that he couldn't say that, so he smiled slightly and said: "The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, our Great Qing Dynasty is now weak, and the Seven Kingdoms are now strong, their abacus is really loud, and in the end, what we lost is just money, compared to what Lin Yi wants, it is our Great Qing Kingdom!" So I thought that if we took a step back and opened the sky, we would endure it, and after the extermination of the Lin rebel bandit army, I don't believe that their army can always rely on our family? It's a big deal, and you can send it away with a little more silver. ”

Ci'an glanced at Cixi, the two exchanged glances, and Cixi said to Yixin: "Then it's annoying Prince Gong!" ”

At the same time, Lin Haijiang, who inspected the Imperial Fortress, stood at the highest point of the main fortress of the Imperial Fortress Group "Imperial Firmament" and looked down on the entire Imperial Fortress, it can be said that the earliest old port, which is now the Imperial Fortress, has been built for many years, especially in recent months, and has completely become a fortress city in the true sense. The flowers and trees in the original wide area have all been cleared, and the frog-type bunker group, the plum blossom bunker group, the inverted firing point, the excavation mortar firing position, and the underground passage system extending in all directions can allow the troops in the main fort to appear on any defense line of the imperial fortress at any time, and with the terrain rising in a ladder shape, the defenders always maintain a condescending offensive and defensive mode if they engage in street battles.

The Imperial Sky has 226 Krupp shore defense guns under 10 inches, and 10 heavy guns of 13 inches and 40 times the caliber of the barrel, these batteries are all located on the cliffs, it can be said that they are above the maximum elevation angle of the battleship, if the battleship on the sea wants to shell the fortress battery, it will inevitably retreat to the high throwing angle to carry out, under the same caliber of cannon fire, the charge and the kilogram weight of the warhead of the naval gun are naturally far less than the fortress shore defense gun, and it is still a condescending fortress shore defense gun.

Lin Haijiang equipped the Imperial Fortress with three special garrison brigades to attack more than 17,000 troops, and built six secret special forces camps in the dense forests of Sumatra, and five 20-member raid teams of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Force Reconnaissance Team lurked on the island, ready to respond to the defense of the fortress at any time.

It can be said that during the period when the main force of the Imperial Navy is looking for fighters in the early stage of the engagement, the Imperial Fortress will undertake almost all the attacks of the Coalition Forces, and the Imperial Fortress will be stuck in the throat of the Coalition like a fishbone, making the Coalition forces want to pull out quickly!

When returning to the base of the Guangzhou General Administration of Scientific Research, Lin Haijiang was a little ecstatic about the successful development of fish, although the speed of the torpedo boat was not ideal, and the range of the torpedo was only a short 1,000 yards, which meant that the torpedo boat had to reach a distance that was almost equal to suicide to attack the enemy ship, Lin Haijiang knew very well that this would definitely not work during the day, and this kind of attack could only be launched at night or at dusk.

However, the boat had been waiting for the torpedo for almost eight months, and finally succeeded before the big war, which can be said to have added some certainty to Lin Haijiang's decisive battle at sea, and the six torpedo boat squadrons were organized into the Shi Kefa Brigade and the Wen Tianxiang Brigade, and the two squadrons had a total of 38 boats, each with four launch tubes in the bow and two spare torpedoes.

Because the torpedo boat finally had a torpedo, although the surname was not good, Lin Haijiang believed that if it was within a preset battlefield, the torpedo boat would still be able to play a greater role, and as for this preset battlefield, Lin Haijiang chose the sea area near Dahuangcoaker Island, where there were many islands and the sea water was shallow, which was not suitable for the formation of the Grand Fleet.

On March 2, 1862, a huge Allied expeditionary fleet appeared on the sea fifty nautical miles northeast of the Imperial Fortress. William now no longer had the ambition and pride he had when he led the fleet to the East for the first time, and the Battle of Dagukou haunted him like a lingering nightmare, and the name Lin Haijiang was the last thing he wanted to hear.

But today he led the world's unprecedented scale of new era weapons, loaded with the will and desire of almost the whole of Europe to come to the East again, a shame before the snow is better for himself to be able to sleep more soundly in the future, the last naval battle James. William never thought he had lost, he had lost to his pig-like allies and shameless politicians at home who were eager to pass the buck.

Now it's almost here, James. William looked slightly high-spirited, and Princeton. Admiral Arthur of France as James. William's second commander has always maintained a low profile, which can be understood as the French Emperor His Majesty Napoleon III is still trapped in Sedan to fight to the death with the Prussian army, rescue and blockade, the French army in the face of the Prussian army's endless new weapons almost shed blood, this dispatch is only a symbolic exclusion of six armored protection cruisers has a thousand army soldiers, everyone can see that the French are here to mix and wait for the final fruit.

However, for whether the French can pick the fruit, the rest of the countries are skeptical, if the French army is defeated in the Great War of Sedan, then the French may not even be able to catch a fart in the East, if the French can get out of the predicament, naturally it is another matter, barbed wire and trenches, machine guns, artillery turned the original rout into a stubborn and passive defense, the attacking side is bound to pay more price, before both sides lack the advantage of sufficient numbers to overwhelm the surname, the only thing that can be carried out is the flesh and blood grinding plate of you back and forth.

James. William stood in front of the map a little hesitantly, because he didn't have any information about the specific defense of the Imperial Fortress, but since it had been operated by Lin Haijiang for several years, it was also known as the Imperial Fortress, of course, it was a militarized city, and such a city was 100% easy to defend and difficult to attack, so James. William wanted to find the nearest place to stay, as a starting point and base camp for his assault on the Imperial Fortress.

James. William knew that Lin Haijiang was a very professional and cunning guy, and this guy would never fight a decisive battle with the main force of the coalition navy under the condition of being at an absolute disadvantage, in this case, why didn't he know his strongholds in Southeast Asia one by one, first, he could relieve his worries, and secondly, he could force Lin Haijiang's main force of the Chinese Imperial Navy fleet to show up, and conduct a decisive battle between sea knights on his preset battlefield, and win honor with artillery and blood.

James. William's gaze finally rested on the location of the port of Batavia, which was the best starting point for attacking the Imperial fortress, and the sea area between the two was also extremely suitable for the decisive battle of the Grand Fleet. Although William was an excellent admiral, his naval strategic and tactical commander James Murphy was also a good admiral. William's concept is still stuck in the era of sail battleships, and the battle line is an effective tactic he is accustomed to using to divide the artillery bombardment, although European countries have begun to build armored protection cruisers, but their command concept is still stuck in the primitive starting point.

On March 6, 1862, the dock of Batavia Harbor was still in a sea of fire, the Dutch Army and the Anglo-Indian 10th Infantry Division landed in small boats were attacked by each other on the beachhead, the panicked Dutch paddled in a panic and overturned a boat of Indian soldiers, two white officers and fifty Indian soldiers fell into the water, Indian soldiers with rifles and backpacks sank to the bottom of the sea without a few struggles, only two white officers were rescued, perhaps the follow-up ship only saved the white officers considering the problem of its own carrying, For some of their comrades who tried to seize the boat gang, when their own lives were seriously threatened, the Indian soldiers of the Anglo-Indian 10th Division quickly brandished the butts of their rifles, smashing their compatriots with flesh and blood.

As soon as they landed on the beachhead, under the fire of several machine guns from the defenders of the Chinese Empire, the Dutch and Indian soldiers were thrown to the ground as if they were harvesting wheat.

James. William reluctantly put down his binoculars and said to Davis, the commander of the 10th Anglo-Indian Infantry Division: "Major General Davis, if your soldiers can be as brave as their compatriots, I believe they will have occupied the port of Batavia, maybe I don't have to waste another round of this precious cannonball, you must know that the meaning of the navy's existence is to fight a decisive battle with the navy of the Chinese Empire at sea, not to cover the incompetent army!" ”

Major General Davis, whose face was flushed, naturally didn't dare to speak up, and turned around and slapped one of his Indian adjutant fiercely: "Order Colonel Magnan, if his troops can't attack after the next round of shelling, then ask him to attack with a bayonet without artillery preparation!" ”

Major General Davis calmed down for a moment, and then said coldly to James. William said: "Earl, you are an admiral, and I am an army general, I hope you give the army enough respect, no matter where a rebellious guy goes, the final destination is only the countryside in the countryside, old cows and dogs!" ”

Maj. Gen. Davis's attitude made the attitude of Major General Davis include James. Everyone including William was taken aback. Only then did William suddenly remember that Major General Davis was only twenty-eight years old this year and had been transferred from the Dragoon Regiment.

Soon, the third attack failed again, only a few casualties, the collapsed Indian soldiers swept away hundreds of Dutch soldiers, the incompetence of the Indian soldiers has become a joke of the coalition forces, only two regiments of the British army this time are white troops, the rest are Indian troops commanded by British officers, good equipment and neat queues do not represent combat effectiveness, after fierce artillery preparation again, it is already in the afternoon, and five hundred French troops have also joined in the fourth attack, but the enemy seems to have taken the initiative to retreat?

After landing in the port of Batavia, the new city of the Southeast Asian provinces of the Chinese Empire, the French captain Michel found that the defenders who had resisted fiercely had retreated? But the Dutch and Indians, who had suffered heavy casualties, seemed to be out of control, and he found that a Dutch soldier was dragging a beautiful Chinese girl in the street, and he was tearing the girl's clothes in the street? The Indian soldiers of the Anglo-Indian 10th Division, who were watching from the sidelines, were either better onlookers or also participated in the robbery and forcible annihilation? The girl's hysterical screams are creepy?

Their officers turned a blind eye to their loot, and Captain Michelle even saw a British captain casually wipe one of the blood-covered bracelets on his red uniform and put it in his pocket.

If Michelle thought that he was engaged in an incomparably just war, then at this moment he already understood that they were creating hell with their own hands, and there were more and more soldiers out of control, and the broken troops of the Chinese Empire who were originally retreating outside the city began to launch a counterattack into the city, which brought great trouble to the teams that were robbing and annihilating the chaotic teams, if they could put in a brigade, Michiel believed that the coalition forces were likely to be driven into the sea, but the Chinese Empire invested too few troops, only three, Four officers and a mere 100 men, although they were well-armed and well-trained, they were too alone.

The gunfire of the last defenders of the port of Batavia ended in the church, and the Indian soldiers brutally cut off the tongues, noses and ears of the captured Chinese soldiers, stripped naked and dragged them through the streets on horses, and then inserted the captured Chinese girls into sharp wooden sticks buried in the ground, and watched the girls cry and die.

Michelle, who has witnessed all this, has collapsed, is this punishing evil? Everything in front of the church is simply showing God the extreme beast surname of man!

French Admiral Plimpton. Arthur looked at James. William, the British admiral, was silent, it can be said that this result was really unexpected to them, the tragedy of Batavia Port must not be hidden, but they all know very well that the tragedy of Batavia Port is enough to appear once, and now they are no longer commanding an army, but a combination of devils and beasts, and next Monday, the main force of the coalition will attack the Imperial Fortress, the strongest stronghold of the Chinese Empire in Southeast Asia, such an action can only provoke more resolute resistance.

The fire may have been able to conceal some of the facts, the soldiers who participated in the robbery and the annihilation were chatting excitedly, perhaps they had never plundered such a rich city in a foreign land, and they were so excited by the abundance of their profits that almost everyone was glad that they were able to make an expedition to the rich port of Batavia in the East, and the harsh life at sea in the previous three months was nothing compared to it! Plimpton. Admiral Arthur with James. Admiral William is a person who has seen Lin Haijiang's declaration of war of all nations, and the reason why he did not disclose the translation of the declaration of war of all nations is that he is afraid that the troops will cause panic, but now it seems that there is no need for this, and the army that has tasted the taste of blood is facing a complete loss of control, and they no longer know what to be afraid of!

(To be continued)