Chapter 171

The British Empire is now a phoenix in the grass, once the first in the world, and now it is not ordinary sadness. Every day, Churchill looked forward to China and the United States, the world's largest economic power, and China was a little worse than the United States, ranking third before the outbreak of the war, after the United States and the Soviet Union. China's steel output is the second largest in the world, with an annual output of 28 million tons of crude steel. With these two countries dragged into the water and on the same side as Britain, Churchill would not have worried about not winning the war. What I hate is that now China is at war with the Soviet Union, and Germany has no worries about the future, and is bent on destroying the British Empire.

Modern warfare is a very complex and huge system, and the higher the scientific and technological content, the more factors there are in various aspects. From this point of view, in the war in Korea, the rabbit was able to make a draw, which is really a great thing.

"The British affairs will be put aside for now, and when I am fighting in Nanyang, the British will beg us to go to Burma. There is one thing to prepare for in advance, and that is the issue of the resettlement of expatriates in Nanyang. The navy must warn the Chinese nationals not to harm our nationals as soon as the war breaks out. As for the specific issue of resettlement of expatriates, I think the islands around Natuna are very good, and when the time comes, don't be polite, and then talk about occupying them first. By the way, let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inform Britain that Ben will launch an attack on Nanyang. ”

Fang Jianxiong did not look at the face of Sino-British friendship to find out in his conscience, he really hoped that Britain could resist for a few more days. The most hateful thing is the cripple, because of the rise of China, he actually gave up the Philippines and wanted to provoke a maritime battle between China and China. As the fourth largest naval power in the world, China, and the third naval power, once they start working in the South China Sea, won't the US Pacific Fleet just sit on the fisherman's advantage?

Hell Sino-American friendship!

The British Empire panicked upon receiving news from the Chinese side, and Churchill repeatedly called Johnson to confirm the real surname of this information. Just as the information was confirmed, under the cover of the Combined Fleet, on October 15, the Chinese army landed in the Philippines. The Philippine native army, supported by the United States, is simply vulnerable in the face of the Chinese army.

The 14th Army, commanded by Masaharu Honma, landed easily at Apari, Vigan, and Legazpi under the cover of naval guns, and the British woke up from a dream at this time. Without Taiwan's capital, the primary target of going south is, of course, the Philippines, otherwise the sea route will have to go around in a big circle, and since the United States has withdrawn from the Philippines, of course you are not welcome.

At the same time as the landing of the Philippines, the Tenth Army landed in Songkhla, the southernmost tip of Thailand. Britain at this time was almost in a hurry. The British Empire's most threatening power in the South Seas is the Far East Fleet, and the Prince of Wales and the Invincible are the two giant ships that the Chinese army most wants to sink on the sea.

Vice Admiral Phillips, commander of the British Far East Fleet, immediately called an operational meeting and decided to personally lead the fleet to counterattack the Japanese army. Only two battleships did not rush to India, but went to challenge the combined fleet with six aircraft carriers as the main force.

On 17 October, the main force of the British Far East Fleet, consisting of two battleships and four destroyers, was discovered by a reconnaissance plane. The two aircraft carriers of the Navy, which had been waiting at sea for a long time, released 40 planes and headed for the British fleet on the sea about 40 nautical miles east of Kuantan.

A tragic scene appeared in the waters of the South Pacific, when the Prince of Wales, armed with 175 anti-aircraft guns, fired a barrage of 60,000 shells in one minute, but it could not stop the dive bombing of the torpedo planes. At 12:23, an astonishing historical coincidence appeared, the battleship Counterattack was sunk by a torpedo, and the huge body of 26,500 tons slowly sank. At 13:20, the Prince of Wales, known as the "unsinkable ship of the Royal Navy", was hit by six torpedoes and sank. It is worth mentioning that the Prince of Wales in this time and space did not catch up with the good work of encircling and suppressing Bismarck, and was sent to the Far East as soon as it entered service to try to deter the Prince.

When Churchill heard the news, he lamented: "Never before has he suffered such a blow."

All in all, Ben once again staged an undeclared sneak attack, and the British Empire issued a statement saying that it had been subjected to the most shameless sneak attack in human history. In parallel history, it seems that it was Roosevelt who said this. However, Roosevelt in this time and space shot himself in the foot, it was easy for the US military to withdraw from the Philippines, but it was difficult to come back, and there was really no excuse.

At the same time that the British Far East Fleet was being encircled and suppressed, a fleet left Keelung Harbor, and the Chinese Navy's Third Fleet, consisting of a 22,000-ton battle cruiser, four light cruisers, and six destroyers, headed in the direction of Surabaya Port.

The navy has been on guard against the movements of the Chinese navy, and shortly after leaving Keelung, this fleet was "accidentally" discovered by a destroyer of the navy. Then the entire Yuben Navy panicked, what is this to do, don't kill the Chinese at this time, that is really to kill yourself. Yamamoto 56 immediately ordered two aircraft carriers and the battleship Mutsu to form a formation and approach this Chinese naval detachment.

Soon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came with the news that the Chinese were going to protect overseas Chinese, and the Chinese side proposed to use several islands around Natuna as temporary shelters for the Chinese side to settle the overseas Chinese.

When Yamamoto Fifty-six heard the news, he was relieved and at the same time, a wave of resentment rose, this is a naked robbery. However, at this time, we can only endure it, and the strength of the Chinese Navy's Third Fleet in Taiwan is not very strong, with only one old 20,000-ton aircraft carrier and two combat cruisers that have served for five years. Even if the Third Fleet can be destroyed, it may not be able to deal too much damage to the Chinese Navy, but the three large aircraft carriers launched in the middle of the year pose a huge threat, as well as the two fighter wings, two bomber wings, and two torpedo aircraft wings deployed by the Chinese Navy in Taiwan. As for the submarine, it has never been taken seriously and can be ignored.

After the landing in Nanyang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that in order to fulfill the agreement signed with Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would automatically enter a state of war against Britain and would not need to declare war separately. Anyway, it's shameless, what can you do?

The Philippine indigenous army, known as the 300,000-strong army, under the leadership of retired US Marshal MacArthur, almost passed by with a burst of naval artillery, and the Philippine Turkish army was scattered, and it was useless to let the advisers of the US military scold them.

More than 50 planes sent to the Philippines by the United States were captured by the Chinese army before they even took off. The angry MacArthur, as the Philippine Field Marshal, was about to gather the remnants to continue the battle when he received a notice from the American political axe to lead the American expatriates in the Philippines to evacuate.

With the airfield built by the United States in the Philippines, the plane has a place to live.

Wu Wei led his troops to land in Pattani, and almost did not encounter any resistance, and the landing of the Fifth Division in Songkhla was equally easy. The hapless 18th Division, which landed at Kota Bharu, was met with stubborn resistance from the British and fell into a bitter battle. However, the resistance of the British army was soon crushed under the blow of the superiority of the sea and air of the Yue army, and after the army easily went ashore, an airstrip was built on the Malay Peninsula, and a large number of army and air fighters arrived.

The army soon seized air supremacy, and then quickly moved south along the Malay Peninsula, and Yamashita Fengwen, who was abundant in this time and space, concentrated the forces of three divisions and regiments, and adopted the so-called "electric drill warfare" he created himself, as in parallel history.

When the Chinese Third Fleet arrived at Surabaya Port while the army was sweeping across the South Seas, the local overseas Chinese boarded passenger ships from Taiwan one after another to escape the war. In Natuna, construction began on a temporary settlement and airport, and large quantities of machinery and materials were unloaded onto the wharf and transported along improvised roads to the construction site.

He didn't want to make trouble, so he could only postpone the landing in Java. Watching the Chinese ants move, moving back and forth one by one. At the same time as the army's large-scale military operations in Nanyang, British Minister Johnson came to the presidential palace again and urgently met with President Fang Jianxiong.

"Your Excellency, the military operations in Nanyang have fundamentally threatened China's interests in Nanyang. Australia's iron ore, Nanyang's natural rubber, and the transportation of various non-ferrous metals will all be subject to the constraints of this policy. Don't you want to do something necessary about it? Johnson said it very tactfully, but the meaning was very clear, China can no longer stand by.

After hearing this, Fang Jianxiong replied with a sneer: "When the Soviet Union attacked China, Prime Minister Churchill expressed regret and hoped that a ceasefire agreement would be reached between China and the Soviet Union. Now, I would like to reply to Mr. Minister that the Chinese government deeply regrets the military action of the army in the south, and we say that we are powerless to do anything about it. The main forces of the Central [***] team were concentrated in the Siberian and Central Asian battlefields, and they were unable to look south. However, we will abide by the secret agreement reached between China and the UK. China's political axe has already sent a note saying that no military action should threaten China's interests, otherwise China will have to declare war on China. ”

Johnson could only go disappointed, China's political axe is the one who counts, and he said that there is no room for harmony without mixing. Unless the army enters the water and takes the initiative to attack China, then it is a different matter. When the news came back to London, Churchill was silent for a long time, staring at the United States across the Atlantic on the map, muttering to himself vaguely, no one knew what he was talking about, and heard words like Farker appear several times.

Just when Churchill was in trouble, good news came from across the Atlantic. Soon Churchill and his entourage of the First Sea Lord, Chief of the General Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and relevant personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense boarded the ship, escorted by the Hood, and quietly traveled to the other side of the Atlantic.