The night sky is clear, shining with stars, and the moon is in the sky, shining on the world.

The pavilions are scattered, and the lights are bright. In the spacious room, a bald middle-aged man was sitting casually, and his civilian clothes did not detract from his long-term military bearing and majesty. The one-foot-long beard was carefully trimmed into a chic middle by him, and every time he went out, he would win a 200% return rate in front of the living. In front of him, a major officer in a straight uniform was standing in a standard posture, and although he was not of high stature, he gave people the impression of being extremely shrewd and capable.

It was the port of British Hong Kong and the base of berth for the German Far East Fleet in the Far East. Twenty years ago, Wilhelm I's fleet sailed to the western Pacific for the first time, and when coal and water were scarce, the British had German warships docked in Hong Kong to replenish them. After some negotiations, Britain agreed to allow Germany to use Hong Kong as their Far East Fleet and set aside several special berths for German warships. Since Germany did not have its own port nearby, to this day, the German Far East Fleet still sends people under the fence and regards the British side houses as their home.

However, this situation can soon be changed.

On June 22, 1897, after the 60th anniversary celebration of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, the newest German battleship "Caesar Frederick III" did not return to Wilhelmshaven with the Kaiser and his family, but after completing the replenishment, pulled anchor from the Portsmouth military port and sailed directly to Hong Kong. After reaching their own spoils with the British, Kaiser Wilhelm was so eager to grab a piece of sunlit land for Germany in the Far East, so much so that he didn't even want to delay the return trip for three days. In the astonishment of everyone, the large battleship with a standing displacement of 13,200 tons left the emperor and went to sea first, while the Kaiser, together with his wife and children, boarded an ordinary cruise ship sailing from London to Wilhelmshaven.

Although the bearded man in the middle did not approve of the emperor's move, after all, the safety of civilian ships was much lower than that of regular warships; But William's desire for Philippine territory was exactly the same as that of his 15-month tenure as commander of the Far East Fleet. After a month at cruising speed, the German Navy's most advanced warship sailed across the ocean to Hong Kong. Upon arrival at her destination, under Mark's guidance, the big guy immediately entered the dry dock prepared by the British for his 14,000-ton battleship, and more than 100 British workers began to carry out a comprehensive care and overhaul of her. Replacement of parts, debugging machinery, seaweed and other debris that grew on the bottom of the ship during the ocean voyage were also removed inch by inch with shovels. If these nasty parasites are not removed from the hull and allowed to exist, they will greatly increase the underwater friction of the battleship, which in turn will affect the speed of the battleship.

In addition to this new capital ship equipped with six 283 mm L40 main guns and a speed of 17.5 knots, Tirpitz still has a number of warships under the bearded man Tirpitz whose combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. Since Germany had decided to seize a port from Mites Qing as well, the lineup of its Far East Fleet had to completely destroy Mites' Beiyang naval division; Therefore, the Germans also transferred their two battleships, the Elector and the Wissenburg, which had been completed in 1894. They are all ships of the same class as the Brandenburg class, with a standing displacement of 10,000 tons, a speed of 16.5 knots, and six 283 mm guns. According to the estimation of the German Admiralty, these three large capital ships are enough to form an overwhelming advantage for the Beiyang Naval Division of Mites; As long as they brought a few more motley cruisers for escort to the target port, the Qing people would have no power to force them to evacuate. (One might ask here that Germany's rash build-up of such a fleet in the Far East would raise suspicions, but it was not really a big deal.) Historically, all four German Brandenburg-class ships were sent to the Far East in 1897, so much so that not a single battleship could be sent to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. ）

At present, the situation in the Philippine archipelago has entered the rhythm that Germany wants. After a year of fighting, the indigenous people of the Philippines controlled most of the country, and although the Spanish colonial army regained the province of Cavite, just 30 kilometers from Manila, with the help of domestic reinforcements, it still did not change the fundamental situation in which the rebels were increasingly powerful and unable to suppress them. By this time, the northern part of Luzon had been completely controlled by the indigenous Filipinos, and the time was ripe for Germany to get involved in the Philippines. Under these circumstances, the German General Staff decided to attack the Philippines first, laying the first wedge for Germany in the Pacific; After more than a year of exploration in Tirpitz, an area has been selected for German expansion in the Philippine Islands, and that is Santa Ana in the northeast.

Located in the northeastern part of the Philippines, Santa Ana is one of the few natural deep-water ports in Luzon, and Tirpitz carefully explored it and found that it was large enough to accommodate large battleship-class ships to navigate freely on the shore without manual excavation. This meant that the German fleet could penetrate deep into the land to suppress shore fire in order to support the army's combat operations on the shore. What's more, right behind Santa Ana is a small island with an area of about 10 square kilometers; If the Germans were to hoard supplies on this small island, this method of supplying supplies would undoubtedly provide enough convenience for the Germans to capture Santa Anna compared to the supply of supplies from Hong Kong. At this time, Santa Ana had been completely occupied by the local indigenous people of the Philippines, and if Germany used this as a target, it would also greatly reduce the pressure of public opinion in the international community.

"Diem, are all your men here?" In the dim light, Tirpitz looked at the officer in front of him and spoke. The officer who was called Dim shook his head when he heard this, and said, "Back to Your Excellency, many of them are still on the way, and according to my estimate, it will take at least 12 days before they can all arrive." Hearing the time estimate given by the major officer, Tirpitz frowned, and said with some displeasure: "Diem, I remember that your men only have less than 500 people, even if those ocean cruise ships are slow, they won't have to wait for another half a month, right?" ”

"Your Excellency, you also know that in order to conceal the true intentions of the Empire, the officers and men of my army under my command have all arrived in the Far East sporadically in their own names. They either came to Hong Kong as tourists or as capitalists to invest in Qingguo; Since our Germany had already very little contact with the Far East, it was impossible for them to act simultaneously in large quantities. By this time, the last group of officers and men to set out in the name of gold diggers had sailed out of the Red Sea and sailed in the Indian Ocean; In half a month, they will be able to arrive in Hong Kong. Diem explained.

Tirpitz snorted lightly, and said with a hint of vent: "The people in the Imperial Army Staff are trouble. Just bringing in an army of 500 people would require so many incidents. If you want to put your men in the compartment of the battleship directly according to my idea at the time, will anyone else inspect our warship? He paused, and then said, "What about the other things, they should have been prepared a long time ago, right?" ”

Hearing this, Dim complained to himself that the accommodation conditions of the officers and men of the navy themselves on the battleships had always been known for being harsh and cramped; In order to reduce weight, the average sailor slept in all hammocks, and the average living space per person was only a measly 2 square meters. If a large number of army officers and soldiers go in, won't all his men have to sleep on the deck? And a month of sleep? You must know that people are not dead things like goods, and people also have human rights!

In addition to this, seasickness is also an important factor. The officers and men of the army have long been accustomed to the feeling of stability under their feet, and they are extremely unaccustomed to this kind of water barbarian who not only has to shake from side to side, but also from side to side, but also to back and forth. In the design of the ship, because the civilian ship already has a fixed channel with calm waves, it does not need to pay too much attention to the ability to resist wind and waves; In order to meet the comfort of the occupants, the GM value was made very small during the design, so that the ship swayed relatively slowly. However, the navigation of warships is not limited to the shipping lanes, and they often have to fight storms, and their stability is higher than that of civilian ships, which causes the speed of ship shaking to increase. According to the habits of the officers and men of the army, they will be seasick enough to choke on a cruise ship that rolls very slowly, let alone a warship that has a relatively violent roll!

Although Dim was very upset with Tirpitz's thoughts, there was no expression on his face; Upon hearing Tirpitz's inquiry, he replied: "All kinds of firearms, artillery, ammunition and baggage have been put in place with the arrival of the transport ship, and only a batch of anti-dysentery medicine is still on the way, which is expected to arrive in 10 days." According to Your Excellency's investigation of the Philippines, there are a large number of bacteria that can kill people living in this wild land, and if the corresponding cleaning is not done, these diseases alone are enough to put my German officers and soldiers in a desperate situation. The arrival of this batch of medicines will protect at least half of our German fighters. ”

Tirpitz nodded and said, "You go back and tell those guys who have already arrived that due to secrecy, we can't organize them to conduct pre-battle drills, but they must exercise at the corresponding intensity every day to ensure that they can be in the best combat condition after landing." As one of the most elite units in the Imperial Army, I don't need to teach them what to do, right? When the last group of officers and soldiers arrived, and after resting in Hong Kong for a few days, they immediately set off by boat to capture Santa Ana in the Philippines! ”