Chapter 886 Revenge, Revenge Must Be Taken!

The Ming Empire was betrayed, naked, naked, naked, our kindness was not reciprocated, and our goodness was considered weak. The next day's newspapers were full of such news, Zhang Guangde's personal apology statement for his ineffective work, which led to heavy losses to overseas Chinese businessmen and their lives and could not be guaranteed, was directly drowned in a sea of anger.

Revenge, revenge must be taken, this is the only voice of the Ming Empire. Like an enraged giant, the whole Ming Empire was set on fire. Anyone who comes up with any mild plan at this time will be drowned in the saliva of the whole people. The expansion plan of the Imperial Army and Navy was successfully passed by the National Assembly the next day.

The Navy ordered twenty-four new ironclad warships in one go, and the War Department proposed a plan to attack Gibraltar from land. Speaking of this plan, it was still very fucked, it was supposed to be a good sea attack and a landing operation. When it came to the army, it took out such a thing. Attack north along the Mediterranean coastline of North Africa, all the way to Gibraltar.

If he had seen such a plan before, Chen Xie would have shot the staff officer who formulated the plan, but now Chen Xie didn't say anything, but simply signed it. In this way, the importance of Egypt has multiplied. Another question is, is there a decent road in North Africa to ensure the march and logistical supply of the troops? This is a plan that is at first glance, but the insiders of the navy and army do not say a word.

The bullshit plan, this is a plan for the expansion of the army formulated by the army under the premise of Chen Xie's acquiescence. Daming's economy has declined sharply because of the problems in the European market. Moreover, in the event of a war with Europe, the trade of porcelain, tea, and silk, which were the most profitable trade in Europe, would suffer a heavy blow. So. The war against Europe is not as easy as imagined. If the economy is weak, then use the military industry to drive economic growth and increase employment opportunities. Silk can't be sold, it doesn't matter, it can be purchased by the state. Adding a layer of silk to the inside of the military uniform can have a certain effect on the prevention of bullets, that is, the price is lower. What about tea? What about porcelain? Cold salad, who cares about this at this time, let's think about it yourself. If there is no European market, then there is also India and North America? The people there also want to drink tea and use porcelain, but the profits are not so high. Anyway, the state has a strict order, and porcelain and tea are not allowed to flow out. Those places can't produce either of these products.

Besides, when you make money, why don't you think about the country? In the face of this mainstream public opinion, the cautious eyes of businessmen are not worth mentioning at all, and no one dares to stand up against the country's policies. Another product with heavy losses is cotton cloth, but this industry has long suffered a lot of losses, and Europe has always been famous.

Ultimately. The purpose of the war against Europe was in fact a continuation of the politics of trade. I'll beat you up first. If you are honest, you will naturally sign unequal treaties obediently, and Chen Xie has seen a lot of this set. The crux now is the question of where to fight, and this is a huge military plan that must be coordinated by the navy and the army. There is no sea transportation, so it is transported by land. The army should not fight, and logistical supplies can drive the army crazy.

The first step was to form an expeditionary legion, which was to be located in Alexandria, Egypt. The second is that the navy and army should conduct a joint operation to seize control of the Strait of Gibraltar. Finally, a large number of ships were concentrated and troops were gathered. Let's start with Spain. As for those French colonies in North Africa, as long as they control the sea supremacy, it is still a matter? Teach the Gallic chicken to be a man with a cannon in minutes.

In terms of the navy, two large overseas fleets were formed, one was the Mediterranean Fleet and the other was the American Fleet. What is the purpose? If you want to teach the Europeans how to behave, you can't just be confined to the Mediterranean, but you also have to go to the east coast of the Americas, isn't it just to bypass Cape Horn? In the past, sailboats would suffer from windless bands, but today's steamships have no such worries. The American colonies, as an important supplementary part of the European economy, could not be worthy of the new warships of the Navy without washing them. On the land side, the North American colonies also need to form a legion and go on land to kill them. In fact, it is to grab the land.

When the General Staff Department was formulating the plan, Chen Xie made an important decision at the cabinet meeting: The construction of the Suez Canal must not be stopped, not only must not be stopped, but the progress must be accelerated. On the issue of funds, we can raise funds from the domestic stock market, and it is enough for the state to hold 51 percent of the shares, and all the remaining shares will be smashed into the stock market.

The stock market of Daming has developed to this day, and there are no less than 100 listed companies, so why is the Suez Canal not favored by China? In fact, it is very simple, this is a national project, and the private boss is drooling when he looks at it, and of course he wants to make a stalk. Once this canal is dredged, the sea distance to Europe will be shortened by nearly half, and everyone is not stupid, how can they not know the importance.

Once the war machine was activated, when the war potential of the Ming Dynasty was exposed, the entire Ming Dynasty was shocked. Following the establishment of the two major armies, the army announced the increase of 50 infantry divisions in one breath, and the infantry divisions of the previous Ming Dynasty plus the North American army were only 50 infantry divisions in total. This time, the plan to increase troops directly hit 100 infantry divisions, and the total strength of the Ming Army reached 1.2 million. If it was the previous Ming Dynasty, this number would not be unusual. But after the introduction of the new army system, a hundred infantry divisions was an unimaginable number. This is not the era before, when any military household was a soldier, and all the soldiers were supporting their families and eating empty salaries. Now it is a real army of more than 1.2 million, and this is not counting those independent artillery units, cavalry units. If you count these armies, the total number of the Ming army exceeds one million.

The navy is not so exaggerated, mainly replacing the old sail warships with steam ironclad warships, and plans to complete the plan to completely eliminate the sail warships within two years. The question is, where did such a large output come from, the plan of the future Daming Navy was to have thirty main warships (more than five thousand tons), sixty cruisers, and two hundred other auxiliary ships.

Looking at it this way, it seems that the number of warships of the Ming Navy has been greatly reduced, but in fact, the combat effectiveness has increased exponentially. The new ironclad battleship is not an existence that a sail warship can threaten at all. It is enough to have so many, in fact, according to the meaning of the Congress, the main battleship that costs 800,000 yuan. It shouldn't have been built that much.

Almost overnight, Daming ushered in a new era at sea. Because of the ferocity of state orders, the Songjiang shipyard was simply too busy. At this time, the opportunity for other private shipyards came, and they have been manufacturing some small inland steamships, and the accumulation of technology has reached a certain level. The order for the construction of 200 auxiliary ships of the Navy instantly made these civilian shipyards suffer to death.

One by one, a new dock appeared. One shipyard after another has recruited workers, and the phenomenon of economic malaise will not be seen in just half a month. The young lined up in a long line, waiting for conscription. They will devote themselves to the navy and army to fight for the shame of the Ming Dynasty. Yes, snow shame, snow shame. Each recruiting point was painted with two large characters in red paint.

"The formation of the North African Corps was planned to be thirty infantry divisions, ten separate artillery regiments, two cavalry divisions. Plans for the formation of the Legion of Americas. There were six infantry divisions, six cavalry divisions, and three separate artillery regiments. Lin Ya cautiously reported to Chen Xie that Lin Ya, who was fighting for the post of chief of the General Staff, did not dare to make any mistakes at the moment.

Chen Xie didn't speak, as if he was pondering, Lin Ya hesitated for a moment and said: "The key is that the logistics supply can't keep up, if you can solve the problem of logistics supply." I think that the scale of the overseas legion can be expanded. This addendum. The original intention was to explain the expansion of the army by 50 divisions in one go. In this regard, Chen Xie nodded and said, "Don't worry, we still have time." The most important thing at the moment is to first take control of the Strait of Gibraltar, and within half a year, the navy and army must complete the preparations for joint operations, and then get the Gibraltar fortress back for me. India must be fully utilized as a springboard on this issue. The War Department deployed additional troops to ensure complete control of India and deploy resources to serve the war war on Europe. ”

As he spoke, Chen Xie glanced at the Minister of the Navy Jiang Fangcheng and said, "Why, there is no news of the European fleet yet?" ”

Where was the European fleet at this time? Is Chen Xie because he remembers Ye Hai? Definitely. In fact, he was angry about Yao Qisheng's escape, and at that time, according to Ye Hai's intentions, he had to kill in France first and pick up as many Chinese businessmen in France as possible. As a result, the goods ran away, and there was no news from them. In Chen Xie's view, this is an unforgivable mistake, the navy can't protect the people of the Ming Dynasty, what is the need for existence? Because Yao Qisheng is the supreme commander, Ye Hai, as the commander of the detachment, must obey his command.

The conflict between the two erupted a week after leaving Angra Herosíma, and Ye Hai advocated fighting while walking, first to North America, and then along the coastline. Attack the colonies of European colonists in North America and seize some necessary supplies, while also avenging the death of their naval counterparts and Ming merchants. However, Yao Qisheng's attitude was just the opposite, and in the name of the supreme commander, he made a decision to ensure that the fleet could reach the Ming colonies in North America safely as quickly as possible, and there would be no trouble along the way.

The contradictions were irreconcilable, and Ye Hai chose to obey, but his ideas were supported by the vast majority of people. When the navy became increasingly dissatisfied, Ye Hai also tried his best to appease him, until the fleet was about to arrive in Central America, a mutiny occurred. Some naval officers and soldiers were powerless to hold Yao Qisheng hostage and asked him to give up his idea of escape and avenge the navy and the Ming compatriots who died.

Ye Hai came forward to negotiate, but the officers and men of the navy refused to give up their claims, and even if Ye Hai threatened them with military law, these officers and men did not waver. After three days at sea, Yao Qisheng changed his mind and agreed to the demands of the mutinous officers and soldiers. After his release, Yao Qisheng's prestige was completely lost, and in order to save the situation, he advocated that those naval officers and men who had laid down their arms be shot. Ye Hai stopped his behavior, thinking that doing so at this time would be tantamount to adding fuel to the fire. In the end, Ye Hai stepped forward and put the officer who led the mutiny under house arrest, and the fleet stopped continuing to move south. Began to ransack all the way south along the coastline, and this time the entire Spanish colonies in North America suffered, and the Suez 150 mm caliber cannon was a disaster for the colonies along the way. No seaside fortress could resist the washing of the main ship's guns.

When Chen Xie asked about the European fleet, Ye Hai was directing the fleet to attack Veracruz, Spain's largest port in Mexico. When the fleet appeared in the bay, all the European ships saw one sunk and the other until the sea outside the harbor, where a small Spanish fleet went out to meet it. The result, of course, was the annihilation of the entire army, eight battleships were sunk, and they couldn't run away if they wanted to.

Then the fleet bombarded the port with naval artillery, and after a battalion of marines landed successfully, the battleships blocked the outside of the port, and a large number of soldiers and Ming armed civilians went ashore and tossed around in this port for a whole week. In retaliation for the actions of the Spaniards, this looting was more brutal, completely rushed to burn and kill, and after the six merchant ships anchored on the dock were captured, loaded with gold, silver and supplies looted from Veracruz, they left the port under the escort of the fleet and continued south. After the whole operation, the entire port was in ruins, and the fire burned in this port for a day and a night before it stopped.

About 6,000 Spaniards were killed or killed, more than 1,000 young women were captured, and the results of the operation amounted to more than five tons of gold, more than three hundred tons of silver, and a large number of other supplies.

It took a year for the port to resume normal operations after the operation, which shows how brutal the looting was. As for the city, when the Ming army re-arrived at the port ten years later, the ruins of the past were still everywhere. The Spaniards paid the price for their actions in the first place, and at the same time provoked a strong hatred of China throughout Europe.

In France, Louis XIV announced the confiscation of all the shares of the Ming merchants, but fortunately, this guy did not lose his mind, and after arresting the Ming merchants, he was only detained. But these Ming merchants did suffer a lot of abuse, and many people did not persevere and died in a foreign land.

After three months, the European fleet finally reached its first destination, the port of Los Angeles, the North American colony of the Ming Dynasty. There were only a dozen boats when they set out, and by the time they arrived here, they had thirty-eight boats, all the result of robbery along the way. The personnel of the disarmed foreign merchant ships obediently obeyed in the face of the bayonets of the marines. There were indeed people who tried to rebel, but they couldn't succeed and were thrown into the sea and fed to the fish. (To be continued......)