In the following time, although Craddock insisted on visiting the entire battleship with Sa Zhenbing, most of the time he seemed to be deep in thought and obviously inattentive.

Most of his spirit was occupied by the terrible message conveyed in the words just now!

"If the Chinese really export revolution to the colonies of the British Empire, or sell weapons and equipment, help the natives of the colonies train soldiers, or even simply send troops to accept the 'invitation' of the other side and participate in the battle against the colonial army in an open and honest manner, what terrible consequences will happen?!"

Major General Craddock thought to himself, and the answer immediately popped into his mind: "It must be very bad!" Just look at what happened to the Spaniards in Luzon. ”

Yes, there is nothing more representative than the change of ownership in the Luzon Islands.

The Spaniards have ruled there for more than 300 years, and they have already operated a solid foundation, completely enslaving the entire inferior race of uncivilized black-skinned monkeys. Even in recent decades, the Spanish Empire had lagged behind in terms of overall power and was barely ranked among the great powers, and when steam-powered battleships were popularized in various countries, they had to rely on a few battered wooden sail hybrid warships to maintain their rule.

The Luzons, however, did not dare to resist. Even the so-called "struggle" that started at the end was nothing more than a group of slaves trying to fight for a little bit of the right to the poor baba, trying to get the slave owner to loosen the rope around his neck a little. True national independence, real freedom? They don't even dare to imagine it!

Originally, it would have been a farce. With the arrival of thousands of infantry sent by the Spaniards, pacification was only a matter of a short time.

However, the Chinese intervened.

In the early days, they secretly sent spies to infiltrate and develop local overseas Chinese to become downline. The smuggling of weapons and equipment to strengthen the resistance army was a headache for the Spaniards for a while.

However, this was still under control, and they quickly withstood the resistance with centuries of colonial experience. At this moment, the Chinese openly dispatched the navy in the name of protecting overseas Chinese, and bombarded the colonial troops that had opened up the formation with naval guns!

Subsequently. The Chinese ransacked Manila, and in the end, simply drove out the Spaniards completely, and completed the substantial occupation of the vast archipelago rich in resources as a protectorate!

Those Luzon black-skinned monkeys who were sold and helped count the money were all regarded by the Chinese as the saviors who liberated them! In addition to being grateful, he willingly helped China to mine minerals, build polluting raw material processing plants, and sell his non-renewable resources in full swing. The eyes are only focused on the small profits in front of them, regardless of what future generations will rely on to feed them in a hundred years.

After this whole set of actions, when all the powers and countries have figured it out, even the British, who are old and spicy, have to say "admiration"!

It is simply miraculous to be able to use and rule over neighboring countries and nations so much! In comparison, the colonial expansion, brutal invasion, and killing and devastation of the great powers over the past hundreds of years are simply weak!

But this set of means. The great powers simply could not learn. The reasons are manifold, but the fundamental one is to treat the indigenous people of the colony as equals. They just can't do it. White supremacy is now prevalent in the minds of the great powers, and even the now powerful China can only gain their reluctant and helpless recognition.

In their bones, white Westerners remain steadfast in their belief that they, as God's favorites, are superior to all other people of color.

It's worrying. What the Western powers could not do, China could do with ease. In front of us, those countries in Indochina have either been the territory of the Chinese Empire or vassal states since ancient times. And all of them are extremely influenced by their culture. As long as China becomes stronger, it is almost inevitable that they will regenerate their centripetal force. Once China adopts the same policy as it did with Luzon, it will be easy to bring all these countries together and become a peripheral barrier!

Indochina is an important colony of Britain and France!

Once China unifies Southeast Asia, it will become the existence of the other pole of the world with a small half of the world's population, a land area of tens of millions of square kilometers, a rich and comprehensive range of resources, a strong industrial strength, and a strong civilization of thousands of years!

It could even replace the British Empire as the new world leader!

Another important point is that China and India are neighbors! Even if the current passage is on the impassable Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and needs to cross the Himalayas, as long as the Chinese Navy makes every effort to open up the sea and land passage from the south to India, and vigorously export revolutionary and support resources, India, as the most brilliant pearl in the crown of the empire, is very likely to get out of the control of the empire!

To what extent the British Empire, which lost its Indian colonies, would decline, Craddock shuddered when he thought about it!

He even suspected that this time the Chinese Navy's unusually high-profile foreign visit, stopping along the way to show its strength, might have similar sinister intentions!

"Nope! They must not be allowed to succeed! ”

Major General Craddock is a loyal Imperial nobleman, and he has the responsibility and obligation to bravely take on the responsibility of safeguarding the security and interests of the Empire, detect the crisis at the first time, and issue a warning in time!

Constantly turning these things in his mind, where can Your Excellency Sir take care of personally spying on the mystery of the "Tianjin" heavy cruiser, his absent-minded expression is overflowing, and the old fritter Sa Zhenbing can see it clearly at a glance.

"Those scholars in the General Staff are amazing! This little trick alone came up with it, and it shocked the dignified British Empire Major General, and the interests and interests were at stake! ”

Sa Zhenbing secretly admired and quietly accompanied the visit to the end.

Rear Admiral Craddock left the "Tianjin" in a hurry with all the personnel a full half of the time ahead of schedule. When he got ashore, he got into his car and went on a rampage to the headquarters of the Bombay garrison as fast as he could, and personally watched the telegraph operator send out the 100,000 telegrams drawn up on the road. Not only to the Admiralty, but also to all the nobles and upper echelons, ministers, parliamentarians, and other dignitaries with whom he has a relationship.

The bigwigs in London have been closely monitoring the movements of the Chinese navy, and the telegram was delivered to everyone's desks as soon as possible.

As soon as he saw the words of Sa Zhenbing, who was recognized as the deputy commander-in-chief who was going to take over the powerful Chinese Navy, the entire British upper echelons suddenly exploded!

Conservative leader Arthur. Balfour sarcastically mocked the Liberals: "Look! What am I talking about? The Chinese simply have bad intentions! They have never intended to live in peace with the civilized world, and they have come up with such despicable means to cut off our dominance from the very roots! For such an enemy. What else is there to say? The entire civilized world must be called upon to launch the most decisive and thorough punishment against China! It is better to wipe out the evil Grand Leader and his young party members, and never suffer from future troubles! ”

Admiral Winston Churchill arrogantly shouted: "Send out all our fleet!" I believe, with almost thirty powerful battleships. Enough to sweep away the entire Chinese maritime power! The Royal Navy of the British Empire will definitely use giant ships and cannons at one time to teach the Chinese what it means to respect! ”

The sound of war was so loud that it almost toppled the roof of the House of Lords.

The current Prime Minister Asquith was full of sorrow, and in the face of overwhelming spit, he tried his best to ease: "You must take this matter calmly, and do not make a decision that is very likely to be regrettable in the moment of anger." Now the Chinese are only saying it through the mouth of a general, but they do not necessarily necessarily put it into action. ”

Churchill stiffened his neck and pushed it over: "Why won't you put it into action?" Does Your Excellency the Prime Minister think that the Chinese are just playing lip service? Look at Luzon, look at Japan, look at North Korea. How did they do it?! We all know that the Chinese secretly supported the resistance of the Boers, which cost the empire a huge amount in the war against them annihilated! It is obvious that they have long begun to export striking power against the civilized world! With the facts in front of you, do you still have to pretend that you don't see anything? ”

Former Balfour Prime Minister grimly weighted the weight: "We all know that a guy named Gandhi is operating in South Africa, and he is nominally providing legal aid to Indians who are in conflict with the law. According to the reports we have received, he is really conspiring to convene a strategy against the Empire's domination of India! Hell knows if he's already connected with the Chinese spies there. And even participated in the rebellion of the Boers, and even gained experience and cultivated combat knowledge ?! ”

The aggressive rhetoric was like a sword stabbing the prime minister and the liberals in the chest.

Asquith stubbornly explained, "As far as we know, that Gandhi was a devout Hindu, who preached it in South Africa with his compatriots and others. The rejection of violence and the treatment of force with calm and tolerance do not seem to be sufficient to shake the rule of the empire. In addition, we must clearly see that the greatest threat to the Reich was always the Germans, who were close at hand. Therefore, the warships of the Imperial Navy cannot be easily mobilized. ”

"Is it just a matter of letting the Chinese go?!"

Churchill also knew this, and no one could guarantee that the Germans would not take the risk. In particular, the two countries are in full swing competing for the fastest winner in the construction of the most advanced battleships, and any negligence will lead to the failure of the shipbuilding competition, and the consequences will be extremely serious!

No matter how powerful the Conservatives are, I'm afraid they can't afford it!

Asquith was still able to top it at the critical moment, and he gritted his teeth and did not relax: "We cannot be sure of the Chinese's actions, at least for the time being, the meaning they actively conveyed seems to be threatening, but in fact, it may not be a bargaining chip released in advance to seek negotiations." The Empire should immediately engage in frank dialogue, and perhaps a welcome outcome could be achieved. Ladies and gentlemen, please face up to the rise of the Chinese, this is an unchangeable fact. ”

Speaking of which, Balfour and Churchill had nothing to say.

The Chinese navy actually defeated the navies of the great powers, but still sank their most advanced battleships. Ten years from now, who can guarantee that a new warship will be able to turn defeat into victory? You must know that the latest battleships of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and other countries are all aiming at the "Hebei class". It is still unknown how amazing the more advanced and powerful "Guangxi class" will be!

Quantity does not necessarily equal advantage. If you lost ten years ago, you may not be able to win now. In this regard, although Churchill shouted fiercely on his lips, he was not so confident on the inside.

At present, China not only has a strong navy, but its army has just won more victories against Russia. Although Tsar Nicholas II was angry and moved more troops up, vowing to teach the Chinese a hard lesson, all countries could see their weakness and were very unoptimistic about the outcome of the war.

Quarrels between the House of Lords and the upper echelons are the norm, but now a quick decision must be made. Even if it is temporary, you must first have an attitude to come out, at the very least, you can't directly provoke the Chinese, that will not benefit Britain at all.

In the end, it was Prime Minister Asquith's side who temporarily gained the upper hand, and while Major General Craddock waited for his lips to bubble, he finally sent a telegram authorizing him: "Try to stabilize the Chinese and try to find out their true intentions." ”

Major Admiral Craddock was much luckier than His Excellency the Colonial Governor of the Straits Channel, at least he didn't have to make decisions on his own to blame for it.

In the evening, His Excellency Rear Admiral personally invited and attended a reception banquet for the Chinese naval delegation, and held a banquet in the naval club in Mumbai to celebrate the ice-breaking diplomatic actions of the two countries.

After three rounds of drinking, he consciously or unintentionally raised the conversation and asked about the purpose of the Chinese Navy's trip around the world.

Sa Zhenbing said seemingly unconcerned: "The Chinese navy is too young and seriously inexperienced. After more than 20 years of hard work, I finally have a little look, I don't know what the level is, so I pulled it out to help my predecessors and peers around the world to review the quality. It would be great if we could do a few live-fire exercises together and learn more from other countries. ”

That attitude, that is called a sincerity, and that posture is called a low!

The more this happened, the more Admiral Craddock dared not take it lightly. He admits that the young and strong second stunned man of the Chinese Navy beat the old master to death with random punches, but it often happens! If the Chinese are taught, God knows if they will counterattack the teacher and step on the corpse of their predecessors to take the throne!

Dealing with it with a reserved mouth, he found someone behind his back to quickly send a telegram to London to inform him of the situation.

London quickly issued an order: "Agree to conduct exercises with the Chinese fleet, try to find out their details, slow down their movements, and hold them back." ”

In this way, under the harmony of hello, hello, everyone, the matter of the two fleets carrying out an exercise was decided so rashly.

As if the Chinese navy was not in a hurry, it sent a staff team to work out a plan of exercise with the British, and determined that the Chinese apprentice would play the role of the enemy (the German navy) and form a guerrilla fleet with a battleship, a cruiser and a supply ship to launch an attack on the British West Indies Navy.

This was a plan that was settled after the two sides had taken a step back from each other, and both sides agreed on the judgment of the Germans. The difference is that Sa Zhenbing has examples from the history of the world that the Great Führer has to bear, while the British rely on centuries of knowledge of their old neighbors.

The exercise took place a week later in the ocean west of India.

When the Chinese battleship entered the starting position, a grim smile appeared on Rear Admiral Craddock's face: "Next, let's teach the lovely apprentices a good lesson!" Let them deeply understand that just having advanced warships does not mean that they can achieve victory! (To be continued.) )