Two hours later, the coalition fleet slowly set sail, and in the city of Nanjing, there was a thunderous cheer, and many people rushed out of their homes to express the joy of victory, and Hong Xuanjiao also received the news.

On 1 October, the founding of the People's Republic of China in Nanjing was about to take place, and some important departments were moving to Nanjing, such as the Central Bank, the General Administration of Customs, the Prime Minister's Office, and so on.

Chen Alin, the commander of the First Army, frowned: "Commander Hong, the coalition army should have received the news of the defeat and retreat of the Qing army, if we order it to be intercepted downstream, maybe we can make him suffer a big loss, you see, do you want to?"

Hong Xuanjiao had a momentary heartbeat, but then shook his head: "Our fleet has not come back yet, and we can't block the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the waterway in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is wide enough, and the range cannot completely control the river surface only by launching torpedoes from the shore."

This also means that if we attack, some ships will inevitably escape, and then the existence of torpedoes will be exposed, according to the requirements of the commander-in-chief, there is no certainty of total annihilation, and the torpedoes should not be exposed as much as possible, hey~~ Forget it, let him go. ”

Chen Alin is also very helpless, the key is that there is no fleet protection, torpedo boats will be easily sunk when they enter the river, don't look at the range of seven kilometers is far enough, but a considerable part of the naval guns of the coalition forces have a range of more than seven kilometers, and the lone torpedo boats are accurate one by one.

What else could he do but sit back and watch him retreat?

The allied fleet withdrew from the Yangtze River on March 12 and headed north along the coastline, but within eight days of leaving, Ah Boss returned to Baoshan loaded with booty.

It's a pity to say that it was just a few days of work to delay the fighter plane that annihilated the coalition fleet in vain. But this can't be blamed on the top of the navy headed by Boss Chen, after all, communication was inconvenient in that era. The fleet is at sea and does not know what is happening on the mainland at all. And in the process of helping Medan build a country, it did take a lot of time.

Medan is different from Luzon, the Spaniards and Chinese in Luzon are very concentrated, as long as Manila is placed under the absolute control of the Chinese, it is not difficult to establish a state, and the subsequent battles can be completely handed over to the Chinese themselves, while the population of Medan is relatively scattered, and some sultanates exist, and the local Chinese want to establish a country in Medan. It is up to the NLD to help them destroy the Sultanate, which will inevitably delay time.

On the second day of Boss Chen's return, Wang Feng also brought people back to Baoshan, and after giving an introduction to the old generals of the Xianghuai Army and the senior level of the navy, and listening to Boss Chen's very annoyed report, Wang Feng muttered: "This is none of your business, if the coalition fleet returns to China honestly, it will be fine, if you dare to stay in Southeast Asia, one day." We'll find them and annihilate them.

On this trip to sea, you destroyed Singapore, liberated the Filipino Chinese, and helped them build their own country. It was a very successful expedition with the smallest losses and the greatest result, but there was a small problem. Did you realize it? ”

"This" Boss Chen, Zhang Tianxi, Xian Yunying and other high-ranking naval officials looked at each other, and Xian Yunying said uncertainly: "Is it inappropriate in the contact with the Chinese in Singapore?" ”

Wang Feng nodded and said, "I understand your difficulties. Banana people are indeed difficult to get along with, and it is difficult to re-naturalize as Chinese. It's just that there are possible consequences, you have to understand, who is going to talk about it now? ”

Although the top brass of the Navy knew that it was inappropriate to ignore the Chinese in Singapore, they did not think that there would be any serious consequences, and they all stared at each other with wide eyes.

In fact, Wang Feng didn't expect them to say anything, and after inspecting the circle, his eyes finally fell on Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang didn't dare to slack off, racked his brains and thought about it for a while, and then muttered: "Then Li will talk about his own views, our army has helped the local Chinese in Southeast Asia to establish three countries, and the care and love for overseas Chinese have been fully demonstrated, but they only ignore the Chinese in Singapore, will this make them have some ideas?" For example, suspicion, and even take the initiative to alienate our army and really throw themselves into the arms of the British.

In fact, these are not too serious problems, as long as they show sincerity in the future, they can always win back the hearts of the Chinese in Singapore, Li is worried that the British may see something from this, and take the first step to instigate the local Chinese to become independent!

The current situation is quite clear, our army is bound to win against Singapore, and Britain does not have the ability to garrison for a long time, even if our army fails to capture once, it can attack and weave a second time, until it is captured, but Britain is thousands of miles away after all, and it is difficult to put troops into the competition, how can he fight us."

Li Hongzhang's analysis is exactly the same as that of Gavenner, the British Channel Governor, and the top navy leaders headed by Boss Chen are in a cold sweat.

After Li Hongzhang finished speaking, Boss Chen hurriedly said: "Commander-in-chief, I didn't expect such a consequence, I am willing to accept the punishment." ”

Wang Feng waved his hand: "You can't be blamed for this, you are already very careful, but next time you must remember this lesson, diplomacy is no trivial matter, if you are not careful, you will seize the loophole for the opponent and give a sharp counterattack." ”

Chen Laolian claimed that it was, looking embarrassed, but Xian Yunying said: "Commander-in-chief, why don't we take advantage of Singapore's independence to take it back." ”

"This" Wang Feng hesitated slightly, then shook his head and said: "Don't worry, the soldiers have been outside for more than half a year, and they should go back to the base to rest for a while, besides, the main force of the coalition fleet is still there, we are fighting with them head-on, in fact, the chance of winning is not great, let's talk about it after building a country, even if Singapore becomes independent, it is not too big a matter, and this problem can be solved according to the actual situation, after all, the Chinese in Singapore are not all banana people, and some of them are cherished by the motherland." ”

"Not bad! After all, the foreigners are far away, and the initiative is still in our hands, so there is really no need to take risks. Li Hongzhang agreed, then frowned again, and said: "Commander-in-chief, Li has a sentence that is not unhappy, though."

Please forgive Li for being disrespectful, although because of your relationship, in your lifetime, these small overseas countries will never dare to do anything, but people will end up looking for the day, a few years later, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not have other ideas, so the overseas Chinese countries can not blindly show grace, the so-called promotion of rice and hatred, must use some means to firmly control, I think, the commander-in-chief's original intention of supporting the establishment of overseas Chinese will never be to set up an opponent for himself. ”

Li Hongzhang's meaning is very clear, that is, Wang Feng is alive, and the countries of Southeast Asia are honestly willing to be vassals, but once Wang Feng is handed over, it is difficult to say.

Wang Feng's eyes lit up immediately, Li Hongzhang can take this into account, which shows that he sees the problem very deeply and thinks very broadly, in fact, Li Hongzhang in history is very good at doing diplomacy, but to engage in diplomacy not only requires outstanding personal ability, but also needs to have strong national strength behind it as support, and the weakness and incompetence of the Qing Dynasty not only failed to support Li Hongzhang, but became his burden, causing him to bear a lot of infamy.

"You're right, so tell me what you think." Wang Feng asked approvingly. (To be continued......)