"You say the Portuguese agreed to supply France?" Yang Feng looked at Ye Zi somewhat stunned.

"The French must have given them enough benefits, our people in Lisbon said that the French trains carried a large amount of diesel to Portimão in the south of Portugal, and there were very few diesel engine ships in that port, according to their volume, they could not be used up for ten years, and there was no other explanation except to provide supplies to the French, and the French diesel traffic was also confirmed by the Spanish, and the Spanish said that if we needed help, they would find an excuse to stop it." Ye Zi said with a smile.

Although such a third-rate small country offended his own Long Wei, this made Emperor Yang a little surprised, but if you think about it carefully, there is nothing to be surprised about, the so-called barefoot is not afraid of wearing shoes, just because they are too weak, they are already weak to the point that they are not afraid of Emperor Yang at all. At this time, Portugal was not a red-haired country in the Age of Discovery, in fact, the finances were bankrupt, both economically and politically, they basically relied on British handouts to live, if the French gave enough benefits, and the British helped to make peace, they would definitely not mind making a profit.

First of all, they didn't ask for Yang Feng's things, Emperor Yang is now choking the neck of Europe mainly is the military diesel engine and the Yang Medical Center, the former they can't afford at all, now the best battleship of the Portuguese Navy and the Zhiyuan is at the same level, and it is not the Zhiyuan before the refit, they can't afford the expensive diesel engine battleship at all, as for the latter, for such a trivial matter, in the identity of Emperor Yang, it is definitely not forbidden to treat Carlos I and his family, this point even Emperor Yang himself understands.

"Ma, that's why a dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water!" Yang Feng was directly amused.

"Or let the Spaniards stop the train for them?" Ye Zi asked.

"No, no, let them be lucky, let our people be ready to poke them out when the time comes, and make the evidence conclusive. Then let's use this as an excuse to get Macau back. Yang Feng waved his hand and said, he was thinking about recovering the concession, so he would take Portugal first, and other people's concessions could also bring practical benefits to China, such as foreign investment or something, how could these poor people have the money to invest.

Since he didn't mind, there was no need for Spain to do much, and a steady stream of oil was being shipped from France to Portimão. The Portuguese were indeed prepared to supply the French, and the English spoke, and the French government promised them 10 million francs in economic aid and 30 million low-interest loans. Compared with these, the danger of losing Macau is not worth mentioning, and it does not contribute much tax revenue to the Portuguese government every year, and as for the Portuguese immigration problem there, the Chinese must not kill them all or drive them all away!

King Carlos I of Portugal is also very clear about this, to put it bluntly, he sold Macau in another way, but he couldn't get the payment, everyone was a smart person, and everyone took what they needed.

Just when the French Navy was mobilizing on a large scale and preparing to go south to encircle and suppress Lin Yongsheng. The Chinese army on the battlefield in Vietnam has already arrived in Saigon, of course, there is nothing to be done in this city, it will be a real siege battle, but Nie Shicheng is not in a hurry to attack. Negotiations in Singapore have begun again, and the French are demanding an armistice, apparently waiting for good news in the Atlantic, and compromising if they can sink one or two Chinese warships. That's undoubtedly a bit better on the face.

In fact, the French government has understood that Vietnam will definitely not be able to hold on, and that they can only accept China's conditions in the end, but even if they do, they cannot accept it without a single or even tactical victory. That kind of France would really be disgraced.

Since they wanted another fiasco before they were willing to surrender, Emperor Yang naturally didn't mind satisfying their little wish.

In the common expectation of the two sides, the 32 destroyers of the French Navy under the leadership of the two armored cruisers Diplay and the Desai are marching south along the coast, the two of which are built at the Young's shipyard in Sweden, and the Desai is provided by the Young's shipyard with most of the accessories, only the hull is built by France itself, including the main guns are also the products of the Swedish Bofors company, and the combat effectiveness should be considered very strong, otherwise the French would not have left only these two ships in the country and sent all the other capital ships to Asia.

Portimão, the southern port of Portugal, the large French fleet was the first to receive supplies here, although it was a secret supply, but such a thing was actually impossible to keep secret, thirty-four warships refueled, in this small port is not at all possible to be completed in a short time, because the infrastructure is backward, it almost lasts for several days, those warships are waiting in the port, whether it is the local residents or the passing merchant ships are very clear, and there is no need for the People's Radio and Tomorrow's Daily to take action, as soon as the French fleet arrives, Germany, Spain, Newspapers in Italy and other countries immediately poked out.

The Chinese Legation in Portugal immediately lodged a protest with the Portuguese Government against their violation of the Neutrality Act, but the Portuguese Government prevaricated on the grounds that the French Navy was visiting Wèn, and then the Chinese Minister requested that the French warships be forbidden to leave Portimão, but the Portuguese Government still refused. In this case, there was nothing to say, and when the French fleet had finished replenishing and leaving Hong Kong, the Chinese Government officially announced that it would terminate the lease of Macao granted to the Portuguese in the 1887 Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Lisbon and the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Friendship and Commerce on the grounds that the Portuguese Government had violated the Neutrality Act, and formally reclaim the right to rule Macao. Immediately after that, a regiment of troops entered Macao, and expelled the local Portuguese officials and garrisons on a merchant ship, and as for the Portuguese expatriates, they were left to stay, but even if they remained, they no longer enjoyed any political rights.

This did not cause any waves, and even the Portuguese only made some innocuous protests, and since they dared to supply the French, they were naturally prepared in this regard, and no one paid attention to other countries at all, but set off a wave of reclaiming the concessions in China. The Chinese people, who have learned to make their voices heard by the government, have once again made their own demands on the government. Because of the declaration of war on France, the French concession had been officially recovered before this, and the American concession in Tianjin was given up by itself, but at first the Qing Dynasty government did not dare to accept it, and Emperor Yang naturally would not be polite after taking power, in fact, at this time, only Britain was left with the concession in China.

Far away in the Atlantic, the mighty French fleet soon encountered their enemy, Lin Yongsheng had already received the news, and quickly recalled the six cruisers that were carrying out interception missions outside, and at the same time let the two supply ships sail to the Spanish territories, and then led ten warships to meet the French.

In fact, he was not prepared to attack destroyers with those four capital ships, battleships and large armored cruisers, he only did it after his brain let the donkey kick! It was enough to dispatch those six Canglong-class cruisers.

This improved version of domestic construction is not only faster, but also more ferocious, the firing range of the 55 times diameter 152 main gun is even more than 20 kilometers, the rate of fire is even more terrifying 10 rounds per minute, the salvo of eight main guns is a raging storm, plus the four 105 single-loading guns with a faster rate of fire, the firepower projection per minute exceeds 100 rounds, what destroyers have become scum in front of them, although there is no fire control system, but with more advanced rangefinders, the combat distance can also be extended to more than 10 kilometers.

After the seaplanes discovered the French fleet more than 400 kilometers away, the six cruisers broke away from the capital ships and went directly to meet them, and after the two sides discovered each other, they immediately formed a column and cut to the periphery of the French fleet, and the two French Joan of Arc class immediately followed suit, and 32 destroyers followed behind like wolves, ready to rush up and fire torpedoes under the cover of the fire of these two cruisers.

Unfortunately, the six cruisers were not prepared to engage them at all, and fired almost simultaneously with the Joan of Arc class ten kilometers away, except that they did not attack the two Joan of Arc at all, but aimed at one destroyer each, and the horrific salvo fire destroyed one destroyer in the first round of shelling. The 500-ton boat, which had no armor protection, was slag in front of the 152-mm piercing shells, and two shells simultaneously drilled into the waterline of the hapless destroyer, and as the flames of the explosion rose, the destroyer immediately slowed down.

On the cruiser at high speed, 48 main guns frantically sprayed shells at the opposite side at a speed of more than 300 rounds per minute for a minute, and none of the three destroyers escaped in the end, and all of them lost their combat capability, but these six cruisers did not hesitate to draw an elegant arc on the sea before the French fleet completed the encirclement, leaving the difficult choice of chasing or not chasing to the French.

Chasing, those destroyers will definitely not be able to catch up with them, although the speed is the same, and the destroyers may even be slightly faster, but the meaning of the fastest speed on both sides is not the same at all. These cruisers could maintain a speed of more than thirty knots for two days, and the French destroyers were good for two hours, and the propeller shafts were easy to break after a long time. Moreover, the combat radius of the two sides is also not comparable, the combat radius of the French destroyers has been almost halfway here, even if they are refueling in Portugal, their original plan is not ready to drive back, but continue to the Portuguese territory of Funchal Islands. If you follow these cruisers out in circles, I am afraid that in the end you will not be able to reach your destination.

In the end, the French chose to go back to their normal course and move on. (To be continued......)