On the evening of June 17, 1902, warships entered the port of Hong Kong from time to time, and these warships were all warships that escaped from the pursuit of the Northeast Navy by the navies of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and many of the warships could still see traces of battle, but as the sky became darker and darker, there were no warships entering the port of Hong Kong anymore.

Admiral Carragher, commander of the Chinese fleet in Hong Kong, did not participate in the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait with the fleet, but led a part of the Chinese fleet to continue to stay in Hong Kong, but his face was very bad at this time, not only did he learn the unbelievable news that the joint expeditionary fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy was completely defeated in the naval battle, but also the four Sovereign-class all-steel battleships and four old-man all-steel battleships of the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy Joint Expeditionary Fleet were transferred by his own Chinese fleet. So far, none of them have returned, and the possibility of them coming back is very small, that is, the Chinese fleet of the British Navy lost 8 battleships at once, and the warships of other types of the Chinese fleet also lost a lot.

As a result, the powerful battleship formation of the Chinese fleet of the British Navy was left with only 3 old man-star all-steel battleships and 4 ironclad battleships that did not participate in the naval battle, plus the losses of other types of warships, the strength of the Chinese fleet weakened a lot at once.

Carragher let out a long sigh and glanced at Bridget, the commander of the British naval fleet in the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy who was in a trance beside him, and he knew that such a fiasco, especially the British Navy's extremely heavy losses. Bridget can't be blamed entirely, after all, no one in Europe thinks of the Northeast Navy under Lin Daxin. 13 powerful dreadnoughts can suddenly be taken out, and even these dreadnoughts are more advanced than the current British dreadnoughts. In this way, the navy of the eight-nation alliance can still win, and that is a ghost.

The British Navy did suffer quite heavy losses in this naval battle, and there were 25 British all-steel battleships in the British naval fleet that joined the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy, and now only 6 have returned to Hong Kong, including 4 Majesty-class battleships and 2 Duncan-class battleships, and 19 battleships were sunk or captured by the Northeast Navy.

That's 19 all-steel battleships, almost one-third of the British Navy's current all-steel battleships, and the British Navy has also lost 10 large fast armored cruisers, 12 new fast protection cruisers, 14 new destroyers, 16 torpedo boats and 4 submarines. Any officer and sailor of the British Navy would feel heartache.

Carragher hesitated for a moment and said: "General Bridget, don't be too sad, no one expected that the Northeast Navy would have 13 dreadnought battleships, and such a naval battle would be Horatio?" General Nelson's rebirth will not turn the tide of the war. ”

Horatio? Nelson was a famous British admiral and military strategist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and is known as the greatest naval commander of all time.

In major naval battles such as the Battle of the Nile Estuary in 1798 and the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Nelson led LinkedIn to victory for the Royal Navy, and Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It established the supremacy of the British Navy for more than 100 years, but he was shot and killed during the war, and the British Royal Navy has inherited the Nelson spirit from generation to generation.

Bridget smiled bitterly and said, "No matter what, the responsibility for the failure of this naval battle in the Taiwan Strait." I will definitely bear it, I will accept any domestic disposition of me, thinking of the loss of 19 all-steel battleships, as well as dozens of warships of other types. Tens of thousands of British naval officers and sailors were buried at sea, and my heart ached beyond words. ”

Carragher's face darkened. After all, the lives of tens of thousands of British naval officers and sailors are not a set of numbers, and many of them are Carragher's subordinates and friends. With tens of thousands of British naval officers and sailors behind them, there were also tens of thousands of British families, and this naval battle was indeed too tragic, definitely the biggest fiasco in the history of the British Royal Navy.

Carragher asked, "General Bridget, the situation is very unfavorable for us now, what do you plan to do next?" ”

Although the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait is over, the war is not over yet, and it is possible that the Northeast Navy will still fight in Hong Kong, and Carragher is really a little worried in his heart.

Bridget said with a bitter face: "The Japanese who escaped said that the remnants of the fleet of the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy had surrendered to the Northeast Navy, and the remaining warships of the Russian Navy did not come to Hong Kong at all, and the commander of the Russian Navy fleet, Makarov, asked 1 French fast protection cruiser to piggyback and say that they had lost too much and were no longer able to continue the war, so they went back to Europe directly, and even the remaining warships of the Japanese have bypassed the island of Taiwan and returned to the Japanese mainland, As a result, only our British, French and German warships escaped to Hong Kong, and the battleship Karl the Great, the flagship of the German naval fleet commander Tessim, was also sunk, and its fate is uncertain, and now the remaining German warships are led by a German vice admiral named Hummels, and I listen to Hummels's tone, and he is also preparing to lead the German fleet out of Hong Kong and return to Europe. Alas, I don't have any plans now, I can only take one step at a time, and besides, I have already reported the situation of the naval battle to the country, and see what opinions the country has! ”

Carragher frowned and said, "General Bridget, do you think the Northeast Navy will attack our Hong Kong?" In that case, we should at least be prepared in advance. ”

Carragher said what he was most worried about, the Northeast Navy had 13 dreadnought battleships, and the fleets of Britain, France and Germany in Hong Kong Harbor, plus the coastal defense guns in the port, may not be able to hold the port of Hong Kong.

Bridget frowned, thought for a moment and then nodded and said: "The Northeast Navy is very likely to continue to attack Hong Kong, we do have to make some precautions, I don't think there are any warships that can come back, let's bring the French and Germans to discuss together!" Oh. By the way, it's better to bring in the generals of the army to discuss it as well. ”

Commander of the French naval fleet, François, and Hummels, the temporary commander elected by Germany. and the British Dirofo, commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance Army, and the Frenchman Pratte, deputy commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance Army, who are currently in Hong Kong. Soon he got together with Bridget and Carragher at the Governor's House in Hong Kong to discuss the present predicament, and the British Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Brie, also took part in the discussion.

But these people who gather together have different thoughts,

In a living room in the Governor's Palace in Hong Kong, Bridget coughed and said, "We lost this naval battle, and now the question is what should we do next?" Moreover, the Northeast Navy is likely to continue to attack our Hong Kong, and we must take preventive measures, what do you think? ”

The commander of the French naval fleet, François, wept with a sad face. As if someone else owed him a lot of money, he really couldn't keep a calm face, the French Navy lost too much in this naval battle in the Taiwan Strait, a total of 16 all-steel battleships participated in the naval battle, and now only 1 Freedom-class battleship and 1 Cecilia-class battleship can escape back to Hong Kong, although other types of warships are not so miserable, but they have also lost more than half of them with a turn.

After listening to Bridget's words, François immediately said: "I think that the navy and army of our eight-nation alliance should leave Hong Kong as much as possible. Otherwise, if the Northeast Navy does not attack Hong Kong and releases those dreadnought battleships out of the port, we will be trapped in Hong Kong, and the commander of the Russian Navy, Makarov, may be worried about this aspect. So directly led the fleet back to Europe. ”

Thinking of the strength of those dreadnought battleships of the Northeast Navy, Francois unconsciously shuddered, and he was already terrified of the dreadnought battleships. I really don't want to face it anymore.

Carragher, commander of the British Chinese fleet in Hong Kong, frowned and said: "The Russians can run, that's because they don't have colonies in Asia." Could it be that we, England and you, France, also withdrew directly to Europe? So what about the colonies of our 2 countries in Asia? ”

The Governor of Hong Kong, the British Governor of Hong Kong, Sir British, nodded again and again at this time and said, "Yes! Oh, yes! If you all leave, what will happen to Hong Kong? Doesn't that have to be handed over to the Qing Dynasty? ”

François shook his head in frustration. Yes, he could have fled back to Europe with the remaining French naval fleet, but what about France's colonies in Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos? The reason why the Russians ran away simply is because they don't have territory here!

Hummels, the provisional commander elected by Germany, said suddenly: "I also think that we must leave Hong Kong immediately, there are only the fleets of our three countries, Britain, France and Germany, and they are all newly defeated, and they are no longer able to continue to compete with the Northeast Navy." No matter what your British Navy and French Navy plan, early tomorrow morning, our German Navy and 8,000 German Army troops will be evacuated from Hong Kong and returned directly to Germany. ”

The German Navy suffered heavy losses in naval battles, and now there are only 3 Frederick III-class all-steel battleships, 2 Wichelsbach all-steel battleships, 3 large fast armored cruisers, 5 fast protection cruisers, 4 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats, which are simply different in size compared to the scale before the naval battle, and Hummers is the captain of one of the Wichelsbach battleships.

After Hummels finished speaking, everyone in the living room suddenly became silent, not only the Russians have no colonies here, but the Germans also have no colonies here, and the nearest German New Guinea is far away from Lin Daxin's forces! The Germans, naturally, could have walked away, like the Russians.

The commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance Army, Di Luofo, and the deputy commander of the Army, Platt, glanced at each other and smiled bitterly at each other, the defeat of the Navy has made the Army unstable, not only the 8,000 Army of the Germans are leaving, but the 8,000 Army of Russia, the 5,000 Army of Italy, and the 3,000 Army of Austria-Hungary are clamoring to evacuate Hong Kong and return to Europe.

Bridget sighed and said: "General Hummels, I still hope that the German fleet and the German Army will stay, after all, this war is not only the war between our Britain, France and the Qing Dynasty and Lin Daxin, but also the war of the eight countries of our eight-nation alliance, now is our difficult time, I think we should unite more and tide over the current difficulties, the Russian Navy commander Makarov's approach is not worth advocating." The European side knows what we are doing here, and I believe they will send us reinforcements. ”

Hummels smiled wryly and said, "Reinforcements? The warships of our Germany joining the joint expeditionary fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy are already more than half of the strength of our German Navy, and we sent 20 of the 38 all-steel battleships of our German Navy to fight an unexpected naval battle, and now only 5 of the 20 battleships remain, that is, our countries have once again formed a joint expeditionary fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy that is not weaker than ours this time, but we still will not have any good results in the face of the Northeast Navy with 13 dreadnought battleships. After all, now the navies of various countries have one dreadnought battleship except for you British, and we can't come up with another dreadnought battleship. Having lost the right to control the sea, our Eight-Nation Alliance has completely lost its advantage in the southern provinces of the Qing Dynasty, and our German fleet and army will have no effect on staying in Hong Kong. ”

Bridget shook his head helplessly, Hummels is telling the truth, the Northeast Navy has 13 dreadnought battleships, and it has become the most powerful navy in the world, the navy of the Eight-Nation Alliance is concentrated no matter how many all-steel battleships are concentrated, there will not be much hope of victory, and the Northeast Navy itself has a lot of all-steel battleships, and there are a large number of battleships of the Eight-Nation Alliance surrendered in this naval battle, so that the strength of the Northeast Navy will be further enhanced, and the navies of various countries will really have nothing to do with the Northeast Navy in a short period of time, Unless the navies of various countries can build a group of dreadnought battleships as much as possible.

Di Luofu, commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance Army, said to Hummels: "Although the navy has been defeated, and our eight-nation alliance army units in Hong Kong cannot merge with the British, French, and Japanese armies in Fuzhou City, our eight-nation alliance army has reached 90,000 troops in Hong Kong, and our army can directly attack Guangdong Province from Hong Kong to open up another southern front battlefield, and in the northern front battlefield, our eight-nation alliance army is fighting against the Dingbei Army, and this war will definitely not end lightly." (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward from Wangyun Mountain, 丨 Cool Master, ㄚ-Chen Stay, and Brother Feilong, I'm hot today, I seem to be a little bit of heat stroke, a little uncomfortable, I don't know if I can write another chapter today, woo~