"Mom--"

This phrase is China's national curse, and it is common in China's vast territory, from south to north and from east to west. After ten years in China as commander of the British Far East Fleet, Philmant had long learned to curse in the Chinese style, but he couldn't help but curse on the bridge this time. It's just that this time he scolded himself, because he was fooled by anger again.

Yesterday he received a notice from the British consul in Pontianak that today the Chinese Navy would transport land forces through the Strait of Malacca to attack Bandazia. At the behest of the government, he also made arrangements for the interception of the Chinese Navy, although the main force of the British Far East Fleet was still in Hong Kong, and although the largest of the Singapore Fleet was also a cruiser, this did not matter in Philmant's view. He was convinced that the Chinese navy would not attack them, because behind them was the British Empire, the world's largest naval power. So he thought that as soon as the warships of the British Empire appeared at the mouth of the strait, the Chinese fleet would inevitably stop.

When he led a cruiser and two destroyers to the mouth of the strait, the Chinese navy ignored his flag calling for a stop and questioning, and the Chinese navy, led by the Bai Qi, continued to accelerate at high speed towards the established channel. Fermante smiled contemptuously, he had already estimated this behavior of the Chinese Navy. The last collision had already brought shame on Philmantle's face, and this time he did not intend to back down, on the one hand, to gain face for himself, and on the other hand, to overwhelm the Chinese Navy in the event of a great victory, so that they would know who was the hegemon of the sea. So Phelimant commanded his ships to cross the Chinese Navy's shipping lanes, and stopped the ships and turned off the boilers, as did the other two destroyers. Phelimante used the chimney to stop smoking to tell the Chinese Navy that this time he would not back down, never.

However, he still miscalculated, Wu Deren, who is known as the Oriental Bull, is not a second man without strategy. Because in China's political arena, those who can enter the decision-making level are all elites, and although Wu Deren is impulsive, it does not mean that he has no wisdom. The Chinese Navy's flagship, the Bai Qi, turned lightly after seeing that the chimneys of the British ships were not smoking, and made a move towards the gap between the British ships. The boiler should never have been stopped - Philmant was in a hurry and did a big mistake. In order to stop the Chinese navy from breaking through, Philmant ordered the cruiser to fire a shot at the channel of the Baiqi. Then he proudly watched the White Rise turn the rudder and sail back, but he also saw the flag raised by the White Rise: The British Navy shelled our navy. Was this Britain's intention to declare war on China? We will lodge a protest with your country on this matter.

"Mommy, mother, mother, mother, mother-" Philmante was furious, and a series of foul words erupted from his mouth. With China's overall victory in the naval war, the situation in East Asia is bound to change significantly, and the British Parliament will also reconsider East Asia policy. At this time, his cannon will inevitably be used by China to make a big fuss, and once Britain's already meager Far East interests are greatly lost, his fate will be worried.

Fermantle's eyes rolled, and a signal was immediately given: the commander of the British Far East Fleet had come to pay a visit to the commander of the Chinese Navy.

We are visitors from afar, and it is an infinite honor for your army to be able to greet us in line. There is no reason for the host to come and visit the guests. The Bai Qi responded to the signal, and Wu Deren in the bridge once again sorted out his clothes, paced down the bridge with official steps, and said to the staff officers around him with a smile: "If you want to make up for the responsibility of our artillery bombardment by boarding my Bai Qi, we won't give him this opportunity." Wu Deren guessed correctly, in fact, Philmant thought so.

Philmant watched Wu Deren in a formal suit go up the gangway with a dark face on his cruiser, and he didn't understand why Wu Deren didn't say a word after getting on the ship, but stared at him deadly. Aren't the Chinese particular about hospitality? Shouldn't he, the guest, greet the host first? Filimante didn't back down. He also stared at Wu Deren with a smile, and there was some contempt behind the smile in his eyes. He was going to tell Wu Deren. No matter how strong the Chinese navy is, what can it do? Wouldn't a huge fleet of two cutting-edge battleships and four heavy cruisers of the first rank also have to stop honestly in front of a British cruiser?

But when it comes to calming the mind, the Europeans are still far worse than the Chinese. Wu Deren just looked at Filimante with a breezy look. On the contrary, it was Filimant who couldn't help but speak. But as soon as his mouth moved, Wu Deren spoke first.

"They all say that the English gentleman. Knowledgeable and gentle. If General Philmante's behavior meant that it was a gentleman's behavior, then the British would have been boasting about it. General Philistine, do you know what the principle of rank treatment is? ”

Wu Deren's words made Filimante's face flush, but he couldn't find a reason to refute it. Indeed, look at the ranks. Wu Deren was a general, and he was only a lieutenant general. Judging from his official position, Wu Deren is the commander-in-chief of a country's navy, while he is only the commander of a detachment. Of course, if it is only the commander-in-chief of the navy of a small country, the commander of the British fleet, as the hegemon of the five oceans, naturally does not need to pay attention to it, but in front of him is the commander-in-chief of the Chinese navy who has just won a great victory in the naval battle between China and Russia, and China is no longer a country that Britain can bully at will.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency." Filimante quickly settled down and saluted Wu Deren. Because he cannot guarantee the political consequences of provoking the Chinese Navy.

"Knowing that mistakes can be corrected, and good is great." Wu Deren returned the salute, nodded and said, "Lead the way ahead." ”

Wu Deren's tone of above and above orders made Felimante's neck jump, and Felimant wanted to tell Wu Deren that this was a British warship, not his Chinese navy. Filimante still endured, he knew very well that as long as he could block the way of the Chinese navy, he would complete the mission. So, with a smiling face, he welcomed Wu Deren to the conference room and sat down.

Philmant originally thought that Wu Deren would be eager to ask the British Navy to open the shipping lane, but he did not expect that after Wu Deren sat down, he talked a lot about the traditional friendship between the Chinese and British navies, thanking the British Navy for its important role in the construction of the Chinese navy, and on the other hand, talking about the bits and pieces of his training in Britain in those years. The staff officers who accompanied Wu Deren to board the ship also asked on the side, and the whole meeting, in the words of Filimant, was a bittersweet meeting.

Philmante is a military man, but he also knows how to negotiate diplomatically. He is well aware that whoever is born in diplomatic negotiations is equal to being shorter, so he also thinks that Wu Deren's recounting of the past is just a negotiation technique. So he endured it all the time and didn't speak first. But he endured it for almost two hours, drank a few pots of tea, and ran to the toilet a few times, but Wu Deren hadn't finished recalling. Phelimant, who couldn't hold back any longer, opened his mouth and asked, "General Wu, your fleet is still in the open sea, aren't you in a hurry?" ”

"What's the urgency. My old Wu is also a person who has been the commander of the fleet, as long as there is no war, there can be something in the fleet. The captain will take care of it. Wu Deren was very disapproving, and then talked about the trivial matter of his training in Hawaii after receiving the battleship Longyin from the United Kingdom.

If Wu Deren's words contained information that the British Navy needed, perhaps Philmant would be interested in hearing it. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with anything useful, because Wu Deren opened and closed his mouth to talk about the fearlessness and sacrifice spirit of the navy in battle, and by the way, he once again thanked the British navy for teaching him. He brought back home the naval spirit that Britain had learned, thus building a powerful navy to guard China's seas.

Enough is fed up and can't stand it. The British naval spirit is not that you kick the ass of a sailor, nor is it that you and Cheng Cheng quarrel over how to have coffee. Is there a yarn to do with the spirit of the British Navy? Phelimant rudely interrupted Wu Deren's words: "General Wu." There is an old Chinese saying that is straight to the point. However, General Wu has been talking for three hours, and I think we should talk openly and honestly about the current issues. ”

Since they were asking questions head-on, Wu Deren had no choice but to put away his cynical face and said: "I believe that neither of our armies will attack each other, and I also believe that the governments of our two countries will not give an order to go to war." But we are all soldiers, and we cannot ignore the government's orders. I was ordered to lead the fleet to attack Bandazia, and I also brought the fleet here, and it was impossible to return without an order. The general was also ordered to intercept our army, and it was impossible for us to retreat without an order if we also blocked it. Since there will be no war, there is nothing we can do as generals. Now that the situation is out of our control, we just wait here for the government's orders. Wu Deren's words changed. Immediately ordered the accompanying staff officer to go back to the ship to fetch good tea and snacks, and then kicked the staff officer's ass angrily and scolded him to move faster, and then laughed: "The young people now speak very well and work slowly, so that the general laughs." But I'm still going to talk about your food, it's terrible. After saying that, he couldn't stop laughing.

Filimante didn't laugh, but waved all the attachés out of the room. The unusually calm Filimante made Wu Deren unable to laugh out loud. Then he waved everyone back. Until the door of the conference room closed, there were only two people in the entire conference room, Philmant and Wu Deren.

Philmante still didn't speak, and Wu Deren moved his chair and sat upright and said, "First, our army wants to build a naval observatory on Bintan Island. 2. After Bandazia was taken over by our army, our navy will garrison it. 3. The right to cruise in the Strait of Malacca. ”

"Does the general think it's possible?"

"What is this impossible? This is an international waterway. ”

What is an international watercourse? It means that all countries in the world can pass through the waterway, and it is feasible without any hindrance. Because it's international, it's for all.

Facing the protest letter handed to the table by Tang Shaoyi. Dou Na's happiness was extremely corrupt. You celebrated the victory of the naval battle for three days in a row, and when you finally met the officer in charge, without waiting for him to speak, you handed him a letter of protest and mentioned some international waterways. Dou Nale really wanted to smash the protest letter from the British Empire in his hand on the face of Tang Shaoyi opposite, and then roared and told him that it was not an international waterway, it was a waterway under British control!

"Mr. Minister, this is still an era of rampant piracy, and for the sake of peace and tranquility in the region, we have no objection to the garrison of major maritime powers in various straits. But the ocean must be the world's ocean, and every person and every nation has the right to use these straits peacefully. After all, our navy is only attacking the enemy through the Strait of Malacca, and has no intention of clashing with your country. My Government regrets and expresses its outrage at the shelling of our navy by your navy in the Strait of Malacca. ”

"Lord Tang, it seems that your navy provoked our navy first." Dou Nale was not good.

"Mr. Minister, we can understand the idea that your country, which has invested heavily in the construction of the Suez Canal, will inevitably have to charge a certain fee for the passage of ships in order to recover the investment. But Malacca is a naturally formed waterway and is an international waterway. Oh, by the way, do you think that France, Germany, Italy, Austria and the United States agree with our country's claim that the international watercourses should pass through without harm? ”

Under the current international situation, the United Kingdom occupies almost all the important waterways in the world, and I believe that most countries will agree with China's proposal to make international waterways harmless. On the one hand, he was annoyed by China's protests, and on the other hand, he was angry with Philmante's slander, and on the other hand, he should have proposed this so-called international waterway, which annoyed Dou Nale. In the end, he could only leave on the grounds that he did not have the right to make a decision and needed to report to the government.

However, diplomatic affairs had nothing to do with the navy, and the next day, the Chinese navy withdrew from the waters of Malacca and headed east. It was only after the Chinese navy disappeared from sea level that Phelimant gave the order to return home. However, he had barely gotten off the ship when he received shocking news. Another detachment of the Chinese Navy, led by six light cruisers, shelled Bandazia in the early hours of this morning, and by the time the report was issued, the Chinese Army had already begun its landing operation.

It's none of my business anymore. Philmant quietly put down the telegram, it was not his responsibility for the Chinese Navy to go through the Sunda Strait, at least he did not let the Chinese Navy pass through the Strait of Malacca.

The Chinese and British governments engaged in intense negotiations over the Malacca incident, but this had nothing to do with ordinary people, who were now most concerned about the Chinese naval formation that was about to arrive in Guangzhou. The Russian fleet, which had caused panic among the people along the coast, was completely annihilated in World War I, and all 22 main warships of the Chinese Navy were sunk in a single battle. But no matter how much it is advertised in the newspapers, it is not true to see it with your own eyes.

All 22 main warships of the Chinese Navy will escort as many as 36 Russian ships of various types on their way to Guangzhou. The navy will arrive at the port of Guangzhou early tomorrow morning, when the emperor will once again visit Guangzhou, and at the same time the Chinese navy will open its warships for the people to visit. But can so many warships be parked in the small Guangzhou Bay? In order to get on the ship as soon as possible, the people who were worried about this had already waited on the pier a day in advance.

As the sun rose over sea level in the east the next day, thick black smoke appeared over the sea level in the south. A loud whistle sounded, and there was the victorious return of the fleet. Everyone stood up and looked into the distance.

"It's back, the Navy is back—" cheered from the docks.

It's back! Our own fleet of the Chinese is back! They returned with a proud record of defeating the huge Russian expeditionary fleet, covered in gunpowder smoke and a fierce fleet! (To be continued.) )