Second Crusade

[Today's first update]

The great powers intensified the frenzy of partitioning Africa, causing the ancient kingdoms and tribes that had existed in Africa to disappear one after another, tens of millions of indigenous Africans were reduced to slavery, and the slave trade became open.

In the past, the great powers of various countries chose to bribe local black chiefs to forcibly capture black slaves for sale, but now after tearing their faces, they no longer need to spend money to buy slaves, and everything has become a business.

In the eyes of the European powers, the only areas of abundance in Africa were the areas around the Portuguese Kingdom of Congo in North Africa and Central Africa, so the attention of the great powers was mainly focused on these places, so that the military operations of the Chinese Empire in South Africa as a whole did not disturb the other powers, so that all sides were at peace for the time being.

However, the situation in North Africa is not encouraging. The French and Dutch navies exchanged fire with the Turkish navy, resulting in the Franco-Turkish Battle of Malta and the Battle of Dutch-Iraqi Kasa in the Mediterranean. The two naval battles inflicted heavy losses on the Turkish Navy and caused the Turkish Navy to lose its naval dominance over the Mediterranean.

The loss of sea control over the Mediterranean, coupled with the blockade of the Suez Canal by the Chinese Empire, made it impossible for the Turkish Empire's navy and army to reinforce North Africa, making the North African battlefield extremely unfavorable to Turkey.

The Battle of Tunisia was eventually won with the military intervention of the Dutch, and Tunisia split from the Turkish Empire. After the French occupied Western Shu Morocco, they continued to march eastward and occupied Algeria.

As a result of these crises, the Turkish Empire was facing a serious territorial crisis, and the entire territory of North Africa was about to be divided among the European powers. Despite the infighting at the top of the Turkish Empire, the Turkish Empire was forced to unite with the outside world in the face of the division of the country's territory.

In the winter of the thirteenth year of Shenwu, the Turkish Empire decided to send troops to North Africa. But the sea was blocked by the French Navy and the Dutch Navy, and it was impossible to land in North Africa. Therefore, the Turkish army asked for reinforcements from the Suez Canal by land.

Ismailia Fortress, in the headquarters of the Egyptian Residence Army of the Chinese Empire, an official document from the Governor's Palace in Cairo, Turkey, is placed on Li Yan's bookcase.

"The commander must not let them go."

Li Zicheng, who had just returned from England, was firmly opposed to the Turkish army crossing the border through the fortress of Ismailia.

It turned out that the Turkish government had brought back 140,000 troops from Europe to reinforce the North African battlefield. However, the Suez Canal separated the entire landmass, and the Turkish army had to seek permission from the Egyptian Residence Command of the Chinese Empire to get through Guò. But the demands of the Turkish government seem to have a different taste, and they demanded that the command of the Egyptian garrison of the Chinese Empire open the passage of the Ismailian fortress and let the Turkish troops cross the canal. This is mainly due to the fact that the fortress of Ismailia had a chain bridge across the canal, which led to the Guò army.

Many officers in the command believed that Turkey's use of Ismailia Fortress was ill-intentioned, since the Turkish army had 140,000 troops in the aisle, and such a large number of troops would obviously arouse suspicion.

"The Turkish army is justified by the excuse of the Turkish army, and there is no reason for us to object"

Li Yan said: "The purpose of the Turkish army is to reinforce North Africa and recover the lost territory in North Africa, and our sovereignty here still belongs to the Turkish Empire, and we have no reason to stop them from going over."

Li Zicheng frowned and said: "It's just that there are too many Turkish troops, I heard that there are more than 100,000 troops, once you take advantage of the road, if you are uneasy and kind, how can you take the opportunity to attack the fortress?" ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "This matter is indeed very tricky, but there is no time to notify the imperial court now, and we need to come up with an idea."

Li Yan thought for a while, and then said: "The French side hopes that we will not let the Turkish army pass, if we don't let the Turkish army pass, we will inevitably have a bad relationship with Turkey, and the war is about to break out, so that the French and Dutch will be cheapened for nothing." But we let the Turkish troops cross the border, and in the first place they could make a sneak attack on the fortress of Ismailia and occupy the canal. Second, if their army marched into Egypt, even if they could not recover Algeria and Tunisia, they could hold Cairo and ensure that Cairo was not lost. Such a large army was stationed in Cairo, which added to the resistance to the occupation of Egypt by our army. It was a difficult choice."

Li Zicheng nodded, sighed and said, "Things are always like this, and people have to make difficult choices. If we are close to Beijing, we will hand over this thorny issue to the military department and give them a headache. But now we are too far away, and it will take half a year to pass the news back and forth, and if the military department drags on for a while, the cucumber vegetables will be cold. ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "The Turks won't give us so much time."

Li Zicheng stepped forward and said: "It is too risky to let them go, and it will be too much of an obstacle to our army's future military deployment." If the Suez Canal is lost because of this, then we cannot account for it. But if we don't let them go, we will become a shield for France and the Netherlands, and the empire will go to war with the Ottoman Empire, and we will still be responsible."

Li Yan smiled bitterly, encountering this kind of thing, it is not pleasing inside and out. Whatever the decision, it will be saddled with strong accountability from the Imperial Government.

"When this happens, we consider ourselves unlucky, but it's not the worst"

Li Zicheng suddenly asked, "You mean we have another choice?" ”

Li Yan smiled, nodded, and said, "To fight with Turkey, you can't just cheapen the French and Dutch. ”

"Of course we can't cheapen them," Li Zicheng said: "Now that the Dutch have occupied Tunisia, the French are attacking the Algerian region, and the entire North African Turkish forces are pinned down near the Libyan battlefield on the Western Front, Egypt's defenses are empty, we can capture Cairo and control Egypt in one fell swoop."

Li Yan nodded and said, "If we occupy Egypt, then it will be a great achievement, and if the court is held accountable on the issue of the Turkish army's excuses, we can also atone for the crime."

Li Zicheng said worriedly: "It's just that a war with the Turkish Empire will inevitably stop the Suez Canal, and this kind of loss is beyond what you and I can afford."

The choice was very difficult, Li Yan and Li Zicheng discussed for two days, and finally came up with a feasible plan.

On 7 December, the Royal Chinese Navy's Mediterranean Fleet mobilized troop carriers to secretly transport Turkish troops from Syria to Egypt, encountering a Dutch naval blockade on the way. The Dutch patrol ship requested to be boarded for inspection, but was verbally rejected by the Imperial Chinese Navy. Due to the intransigence of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the Dutch Navy had no choice but to let it go.

In this way, the Turkish imperial ** team, under the cover of the Chinese Imperial Navy, successfully landed in Libya.

It was supposed to land in Egypt, but the Imperial Chinese Navy transported the Turkish army to Syria at once. Lieutenant General Tiris, the commander of Turkey's North Africa Commander, was furious and single-handedly ran to the Ismailia fortress to question Li Yan.

This was the plan of Li Yan and Li Zicheng, who transported the Turkish army to Syria and threw them directly to the front line. At the same time, Li Yan sent people to inform the French and Dutch troops in advance so that they could be prepared. In this way, as soon as the Turkish army landed, it was immediately attacked by the French and Dutch troops, so that the Turkish army could not retreat to Egypt, but was in a difficult situation. U