As the capital of the British Straits Settlements, Singapore is the most prosperous port in Southeast Asia, with economic, financial, trade and shipping contributing to its prosperity. www.biquge.info For the First Fleet of the Northeast Navy, Singapore is the first destination of the fleet's southern voyage, and the reason why the fleet chose Singapore is not only because it has the most well-equipped port in the South Seas, nor because of the need for replenishment of supplies, or even because the Beiyang Shipping has a port line in Singapore for the fleet to berth for free.

Compared with the normal "ocean-going training", the fleet has a more important duty of traveling to comfort the overseas Chinese in the South Seas. There is no better place in the South Seas than Singapore.

In the second half of the 18th century, in order to expand their sphere of influence in India and expand their trade with China, the British were in dire need of a strategic "staging point" to repair, replenish, and protect the increasingly powerful imperial fleet and merchant ships. At the same time, the expansion of the Dutch in the region was curbed.

In late 1818, Lord Hasting, the Viceroy of India, decided to authorize the Governor of Bencoolen, Stamford? Sir Raffles established a new trading port at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It was in this political context that Singapore, which had been transformed into a trading post on a desert island. In 1832, Singapore became the administrative centre of Penang, Malacca and the Singapore Straits Plantations. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advent of telegraph and steamships strengthened Singapore's position as a centre of trade between East and West. Now, with the development of rubber plantation in Southeast Asia, it has begun to become the world's main rubber distribution center.

After decades of development, Singapore has achieved unprecedented prosperity and its economic development has attracted immigrants from the region, especially Chinese. In fact, from the very beginning, when Raffles formulated Singapore's development plan, it focused on absorbing Chinese immigrants, and more than 85% of Singapore's population at this time were Chinese. Even with this port city, in addition to some Western-style buildings, there are more Chinese-style buildings, and in many streets in this British city, even its street signs are mainly in Chinese, and English has become a "foil".

Fort Canning Hill is commonly known as "Royal Hill" or "Penang Hill". This 19-hectare hill is about 50 meters high. It was once the residence of Sir Raffles. When Sir Raffles landed at the mouth of the Singapore River, he took a look at the hill overlooking the estuary and built the Governor's House on the top of the hill.

Sitting in the white stone Victorian style of the Governor's House, you can feel the classicism and style of the era and British luxury from the chairs in any corner or cloister, and this Governor's House on the top of Mount Royal represents the authority of the British Empire in the South Seas, and is also a symbol of the British Emperor's presence in the South Seas.

Watching the golden-red sunlight shine through the snow-white linen curtains on the woollen carpet of the same colour, Sir Mitchell, dressed in a gown, picked up a gold-rimmed porcelain cup and took a sip of the rich aroma of black tea, a delicate drink with an orange-yellow soup from the Darjeeling Highlands in northern India, since tea was introduced to India decades ago. This Indian black tea became a favorite of the British upper class.

Sir Kirima has fallen in love with this grape-scented drink since he was appointed by the Emperor a year ago as the new Governor of the Straits Settlements, and every afternoon he sits on a wicker chair under a palm tree and feels the cool breeze blowing from Malacca, eats some Nyonya pastries made of coconut sauce, sweet sweet potatoes, pandan leaves and sticky rice, and drinks a cup of fragrant black tea, which can make him forget about his busy business for a while.

But Sir Mitchell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, did not have the usual smug and unhurried manner, and there was a slight unhappiness on his brow - the Chinese fleet, which had visited the port of Singapore in the next few hours, gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.

"Your Excellency the Governor, more than 100,000 overseas Chinese from Singapore and Malaya have gathered outside the port to prepare for the visit of the Chinese fleet, and we have been informed that we must do our best to accommodate their visit and provide them with corresponding services, and there should be no discrimination against them."

As the commander of the Chinese fleet, Philistine's face looked rather ugly. In order to show his welcome to the Chinese, he had to lead the fleet to leave Shanghai ahead of schedule. Coming to tropical Singapore, the tropical weather is not a good thing for the fleet, and both officers and sailors prefer Shanghai or Naha for the winter there rather than the sultry heat of Singapore. After several hours of exposure to the sun, the warship was like a "steamer".

What made him feel even more uncomfortable was that compared with the Northeast Naval Fleet, which was composed entirely of cutting-edge warships, the "Chinese Fleet," which represents the strength of the British Royal Navy in Asia, was composed of an old fleet -- its capital ship, the "Collingwood," was dispatched from mainland China four years ago to deal with the crisis in East Asia, and this capital ship of nearly 10,000 tons. It has always been the main force of the "Chinese fleet", but this warship, which was commissioned eight years ago, has long been wrecked.

Of course, as the commander of the Chinese fleet, how could Admiral Phimante not know that the "Chinese fleet" does not rely on the fleet to maintain order in East Asia, but on the power of the British Empire, even if the Russians have a strong navy, have three battleships, and are full of ambitions for the whole of Asia, they must show enough respect when facing the weak "Chinese fleet", let alone the Chinese.

However, this is obviously not a question for the local politicians, who believe that the visit to the Northeast Navy will allow Britain to deal directly with the northernmost and most independent local powerful faction in China, and they hope to show Britain's goodwill towards them - and it would be great if they could be pulled into the British chariot.

The Russians are expanding!

This is a problem that Britain has to consider and face, and for British politicians, this is undoubtedly the most important thing, so they will value this "visit".

"Your Excellency, their fleet is only at anchor here, and as is customary, we need to welcome them with a banquet at the Governor's Palace! Really, when, the British Empire fell to the point where it needed to buy these damn Qing people. ”

"General, I think since 10 years ago, our East Asia policy has required us to adjust everything here."

As a politician. Sir Mitchell was naturally aware of the events that changed the course of Asian history ten years ago, and the British, who had withdrawn from Korea in disgrace, saw that the focus of the Russians' strategic reaffirmation had shifted to Northeast Asia, and the British also realized Russia's ambitions for Northeast Asia. and to make Vladivostok and Pochette Bay, the important ports of the Russian navy, vulnerable to attack at any time, and as soon as Russia marches into the Indian Ocean and thus triggers a war between Britain and Russia in Central Asia, British ships can immediately contain Russia in the Far East.

"General, we must see that although after the Russians occupied Japan, we acquired the Ryukyu Islands and built a military port in Naha, but the Russians gained all of Japan. The entire Pacific Ocean is completely open to Russia, and the Russians have expanded several naval bases in Japan, and the shadow of this polar bear hangs over almost the entire Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australia, ,......"

While in London, Sir Mitchell attended a salon where people talked about Russia, a Russia after the control of Japan. How to pose a threat to the Pacific, to the world. And as the formulator of the "world order". Britain was powerless to even stop Russia's expansion -- Germany and Russia, which had begun to expand their maritime power, were attracting their attention in Europe, well, and, of course, the French, but Britain was trying to improve relations with the French against Germany -- that Wilhelm II had changed his diplomatic strategy with Britain after ordering Bismarck to resign five years earlier. Began to strengthen the navy, in an attempt to catch up with the British naval power.

As for the Russians, this is the old adversary of tradition, and immediately after the conquest of Japan, a huge plan for the expansion of the army at sea was developed. in response to its sudden expansion of the "territorial waters".

Britain is naturally extremely vigilant against this, and when old and new rivals in Europe are expanding their maritime power and trying to challenge Britain, Britain's strength seems to be thin, especially in Asia.

"After the incident on Juwen Island, we began to look for allies in East Asia, and we chose Japan at that time, because Japan is also at odds with Russia, but who would have thought that after we changed our containment policy towards Japan, those damn yellow monkeys would cause so much trouble, and the blood of the Russian crown prince and prince paved the way for Russian expansion in Northeast Asia, even if it was British...... Under the anger of the whole of Europe, we have to accept the fact of Russian expansion, but everything that follows, Your Excellency, you have seen, now, under the ambitious expansion of Russian power, we are at a disadvantage in the whole of Northeast Asia......"

As Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Mitchell was a white supremacist at heart, but on the other hand, as a defender of the interests of the British Empire, he had to face the reality that Britain was weak in Northeast Asia.

As the commander of the "Chinese fleet", he knew better than anyone the pressure brought by Russia's maritime expansion to the British, and he had repeatedly asked London to strengthen his power, but the answer he received was "no", and it was because of this that he had to rely on strengthening the ties with the Beiyang Fleet in order to increase his own strength, at least let the Russians see his power, so as to maintain the balance of Northeast Asia.

But is that really the case?

"Your Excellency the Governor, you must understand one thing, the Qing people cannot be relied on!"

As the commander of the Chinese fleet, Philmant, who had dealt too much with the Chinese, knew very well the character of those Qing people.

"For the Qing people, whether it is the Russians or the British, it is not something they are willing to provoke, perhaps, they have a large fleet, but Your Excellency, do not forget that the Qing people are weak and even incompetent in dealing with international disputes, and they do not dare to offend any ......side at all."

What Philmante said was the truth, diplomatically, the Qing government was so weak that even Britain, as its supporter, could not stand it, but it could only helplessly maintain the situation in front of it.

"There are even many of them who want to use the Russians to contain the power of the Northeast, in other words, they may even sacrifice the interests of the country for their own interests, so what will be the result of dealing with them?"

"So, London wants to be a friend of the authorities in the Northeast!"

Sir Mitchell said in a rather calm tone in the face of Philmante's exclamation.

"Compared to Tianjin, Dalian is undoubtedly more modern, they know the rules of European diplomacy, they also know their bottom line, of course, more importantly, they are very aware of the threat of the Russians to the Northeast and North Korea, of course, more importantly, compared to Tianjin, Dalian is more proactive in international affairs, do not forget that their adventures stopped the Americans in Hawaii......"

Sir Mitchell's lips lifted slightly at the mention of the incident that had disgraced the Americans, and then he glanced in the direction of the estuary of the Singapore.

"Therefore, in London's view, Dalian is undoubtedly more suitable as a British ally against Russia in the future than Tianjin, perhaps, their strength is still very weak, but London believes that in the whole of Northeast Asia, only the Northeast authorities have the same interests as us on the Russian issue, and what they need is our connivance and support!"

In fact, in the past few years, the British have been "releasing this signal", they have taken the initiative to invite the Northeast authorities to send naval students to Britain, instructed Hurd to agree to the customs supervision of the Northeast and North Korea by the Northeast authorities, and at the same time the customs of the two places are deposited in the Northeast Bank and the North Korean Bank, and even approved the "customs system" implemented by them, and a series of "goodwill" has finally been exchanged for a progress -- the Northeast authorities will bypass Tianjin and directly discuss some issues with the British, and the location is Singapore, While the world's attention was drawn to the fleet in the Northeast, secret negotiations would take place in the Governor's Palace, and the envoy from London would hold direct talks with the Foreign Minister of the Northeast.

Perhaps he could not like the visit of his fleet, but Sir Mitchell knew very well that the Northeast had now become an important part of the chain of his world interests for London.

"Well, my friend, don't forget that the threat from the Russians is extremely real, and in order to stop them, the British Empire can even go and kiss the ass of those filthy yellow monkeys!"

(1) Among the descendants of Malays and Chinese, women are called nonya, transliterated as nyonya. (To be continued.) )