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By the way, I didn't pay much attention to the fan list before (because I really can't bear to look at it directly).

The "Biao cavalry" is really good enough to take the lead!

"Book Friends 161124224911622" gave a lot of tips before, so it was still the runner-up!

"Jingge", "Galaxy New Army", and "Lonely De Love" are all rising stars, but they are rising rapidly, just like riding a rocket.

Of course, the Invisible King is still a "ghoul" classmate, which is equivalent to an uncrowned alliance leader!

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the soldiers of the 6th Brigade of the Clan Army occupied an empty city that had been bombarded with rubble.

"Humph! It's pretty neat! Duan Che stood at the head of the city and looked into the distance, and took a photo as a souvenir.

In the open space in the city, there were squatting black pressure on a large number of surrendered Qing troops, and they were all waiting for a bowl of rice to eat.

"So many captives?" His Majesty the Patriarch saw that 12,000 people had taken refuge in him, and he suddenly felt that there was not much food in his pocket.

Nina sat on the sofa dignifiedly, drank coffee and asked, "Let it go this time?" ”

"Nope! We have some unplanned territory to occupy, and the Imperial Allied Army, which has organized them into four brigades, is going to grab territory for the deity! ”

In Zhejiang alone, there are Shaoxing, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing and other places that need to be recovered, and there will be many places where dog legs are used.

However, it is much more convenient to land in a coastal city, and directly use the fleet to transport it, and you can slap a brigade of clan troops in the face of local officials!

"I don't know what the group of guys who lost Hangzhou in one day will be dealt with if they are known by the imperial court!"

The clan army conquered Shanglu on April 10 and took Hangzhou five days later.

Half a month later, Jiaxing, Ningbo, Taizhou, and Wenzhou were recovered one after another.

Liu Kunyi, the minister of Nanyang, took the initiative to abandon the northern part of Zhejiang, shrink his forces, and put the main battlefield in southern Jiangsu.

Prepare for a battle to the death with the "shorthairs" in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, especially from Jiangning to Suzhou.

However, His Majesty the Emperor had no intention of eating the Qing army's Jiangnan heavy army group for the time being, and only let the various departments hold on to their positions to prevent the enemy's counterattack.

Because the attention of the Supreme Command was now on the sea, it was learned through the American consul that Britain, France, Russia, and Japan had joined forces to crusade against the nation.

****************************************************

"Edmund, what makes you afraid of that rebel fleet?"

Richard, sixty-three years old and just promoted to marshal? Mead became the naval commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

And the commander of the Far East Fleet of the British Royal Navy, Edmund ? Knowing the general situation of the enemy and having come into contact with the rebel leaders, Philmante was able to judge the enemy situation more objectively than the newcomer Field Marshal Mead, so he participated in the operation as chief of staff.

Originally in the prime of life, Philmant was more suitable for the position of commander, but it was precisely because he had the actual combat power of the rebels that he categorically rejected London's request for war.

In the eyes of the lieutenant general, as a responsible commander, in the face of a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us, still carrying out suicidal orders from superiors is not dutiful, but incompetent.

But Marshal Mead was very curious about the nascent sea forces from Treasure Island, and he did not think that a pirate-like organization could challenge the supremacy of the Royal Navy.

"It's simple, new tactics and new weapons! Edward, the rebels already have a weapon called an airplane, and you can imagine that their fleet is a hundred or two nautical miles away from us, and it can attack. ”

If large battleships with knapsack turrets made Philmantle fearful, then the appearance of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft made him fearful.

So far, in the field of anti-ship, there has never been a weapon that can produce as much damage as an aircraft carrier.

It is believed that it will not be long before this new type of warship will set off a naval destiny of a new meaning!

“…… So what? To solve the final battle, it still depends on the duel between the fleets! The legalistic Marshal Mead did not believe the heartfelt words of his subordinates

His fleet already had six battleships, six armored cruisers, and two protective cruisers, which was equivalent to the main force of most of the Royal Navy.

As allies, the French were also unambiguous, and in order to take revenge, this time they brought eight ironclads, four armored cruisers, and ten protective cruisers.

Even Italy, which wanted to take a ride and come to take advantage of the fire, sent six battleships, one armored cruiser, and five protective cruisers, which can be described as elite.

The combined navy of the three countries had a huge lineup of 20 battleships (ironclads) and 28 cruisers, and the battle line drawn up during the sea patrol alone was enough to terrify the enemy.

"I have reported my views and opinions on the enemy to London, and I wish you and the Imperial Navy and Army victory in the first battle!" At this point, Philmante felt the need to continue explaining.

Marshal Mead came to Singapore and read the assessment report written by his predecessor, but he thought that Philmant had exaggerated the fighting power and equipment superiority of the rebels.

"More than 30 years ago, we fought against the Taipings. They may be brave and fearless on the battlefield, but they are rarely cowardly. However, they do not attach importance to the application of modern tactics and thermal weapons, and still less do they know how to judge the hour and size up the situation and make judgments and deployments that are most beneficial to their own side. To this day, the Qing State is still the most populous and backward country in the world, and there is no essential difference from that year, or even the period of the Tooth War. Even if that rebel army really has a high level of tactical literacy and sophisticated weapons, it will be wiped out by us! Because this time we are a five-nation alliance, they are fighting against the world's most powerful alliance of nations! ”

If it was just the British army attacking alone, Marshal Mead might be very cautious, after all, no matter how strong the strength of the family is, it is limited.

However, now that there are Japanese-Russian forces in the north and Britain, France, and Italy in the south, as long as the tactics of separate attacks are adopted, the rebels will not be able to take care of the end of the army.

"Your Excellency Marshal is right!"

Army General Frederick? Sir Roberts, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force and commander-in-chief of the army, basically affirmed Marshal Mead's views.

London originally wanted to mobilize only 30,000 troops for an expedition to East Asia, but under Sir Roberts's arguments, the expeditionary force gained another 20,000 living forces.

Because the army general pointed out that if only the rebels were to be defeated, there would be no need to send 30,000 officers and soldiers at all.

But if you want to win a large area of territory for the British Empire in East Asia, this amount of troops may not be enough.

Everyone knows that Russia and Japan have more land than they can imagine, and France and Italy will not cross half the world to help in vain.

Now that the friends have tacitly agreed to it, there is no need for Britain to continue to disguise.

Taking the opportunity of this conquest, the five kingdoms had to cut a piece of fat from the Qing to fill their stomachs.

London's goal is Guanggu or Treasure Island, and if you can swallow either of them, it will be better.

"I see!" Seeing that Sir Roberts was also optimistic, Phimante could only reserve his opinion.

On 25 May, the combined fleet of the three countries sailed north from Singapore to resupply at the port of Haiphong in French Indochina.

The reason for not choosing the port was that there might be the eyes and ears of the rebels there, and secondly, it was necessary to guard against the rebels' active attack.

Two days later, the fleet sailed through the Qiongzhou Strait and arrived at the port of Nan, and did not find any enemy reconnaissance ships and aircraft along the way.

This East Asian bridgehead of the empire on which the sun never sets, after stationing 50,000 British troops, 30,000 French troops, and 10,000 pasta, has become a large barracks.

Li Hanzhang, the governor of Liangguang who had passed the qi in advance, gave the coalition forces the help they could, especially in terms of local products.

The ground forces of the coalition forces will be temporarily stationed here, and when the navy has defeated the rebel fleet, they can land directly on the island.

Field Marshal Mead was communicating with the commander of the Russo-Japanese fleet to the north, and the two sides were trying to flank the rebels on the same day.

"Is this a surprise?" His Majesty the Emperor intends to give a big "hug" to the guests who came from afar on June 1st, that is, today!

Nina looked at the islands that appeared on the border between sea and air, and said softly: "Maybe considering the difference in strength, they don't think that we will take the initiative to attack Nagako!" ”

The young man of the second cargo had already appeared fifty nautical miles east of Nakuba Port Island with Fleet B and Fleet D, and there were only a few fishing boats nearby.

It doesn't matter if they are disguised sentinels and send out an early warning signal, here they wish the coalition forces were pouring out!

The fleet consisted of two aircraft carriers "Count Zeppelin", two battleships "Tirbitz", two battleship cruisers "Scharnhorst", eight armored ships "Admiral Spee", four heavy cruisers "Prince Eugen", and sixteen destroyers of the 1944 class.

"Zeppelin" was used to protect the formation, and the main force of the fire output was the capital ships of the three classes.

The battleship "Tirbitz" was equipped with an SK-C/34 47-caliber 381-mm main gun, which could fire armor-piercing shells at a range of up to 36 kilometers, and with high-explosive shells it could reach nearly 55 kilometers away.

The SK C/34 54.5 caliber 280 mm guns on the battleship cruiser "Scharnhorst" had a range of 40 kilometers with armor-piercing shells.

The SK C/28 52-caliber 280-mm guns of the armored ship "Admiral Spee" are inferior to the former, but they also have a range of 36 km.

Of course, the clan army will not fire at the limit of their own capital ship, and even if they advance to a position of twenty-five kilometers away from the target, it is a relatively safe distance.

"Woo~~~"

Upon discovering that the enemy fleet was approaching the anchorage, the coalition warships anchored in Victoria Bay immediately sounded a piercing siren.

The Clan Army agents lurking in the port had already reported what they had observed to Utaka, thus establishing an intelligence advantage for the Clan Army.

Even if the coalition fleet is ready to attack, it is impossible to move immediately, it must be lit first!

It was thought that it would be an hour before the battleship burned the ground with coal, not oil, and let the boiler run at full capacity.

The lookout post released by Lieutenant General Marshal Mead was far away, a hundred nautical miles from the anchorage, but before he could run back, he was sunk.

By the time the enemy fleet was discovered, the enemy had advanced to a position thirty nautical miles from Victoria Bay.

"That's ......" Army General Frederick? Sir Roberts, along with tens of thousands of officers and men ashore, were looking up at the sky

Five thousand meters above the clouds, a flock of "big birds" painted in black and green paint appeared, which was a group of Heinkel He-111 medium bombers.

Despite the fact that the German bombers were all short-legged, the He-111 had a range of only 2,300 kilometers.

However, the distance from Kaohsiung to the port is only 630 kilometers, and a group of "Heinkel" carrying two tons of bombs can easily complete the task.

"Whoosh............ Rumble~! ”

A large group of ninety-two (and four more malfunctioned) He-111s rained one hundred and eighty-four tons of bombs over their heads under the watchful eyes of the Allied livestock.

Although the bombsights were rubbish as always, and nearly half of the bombs were thrown into the mountains or the sea, the lethal effect was not obvious, but the psychological pressure on the enemy was enormous.

The area where the bomb hit was instantly blown into a sea of flames, and the flames engulfed countless soldiers, and the side effects of the blast wave were like earthquakes.

Sir Roberts' men were at a loss for what to do with the carpet bombing of the late nineteenth century.

More guys ran around in a panic, some went to the house, some squatted in the corner, some dug temporary bomb shelters, and some simply lay on the ground and pretended to be dead.

The He-111 fleet was subjected to minimal counterattacks, and at an altitude of five thousand meters, it was difficult to pose a substantial threat to them unless there were specialized anti-aircraft guns.

"It's disgusting!"

Looking at the "big bird" in the distance, Sir Roberts had to re-evaluate the strength of the rebels.

The losses on Marshal Mead's side were quite large, two battleships, an armored cruiser, and four protective cruisers were hit by aerial bombs, but they were only seriously injured and did not sink.

Philmantle's prophecy came true, but in Marshal Mead's view, the lethality of the planes was just that.

It may be possible to hit a fixed target, but it will not be of much use against a warship speeding at sea.

The coalition forces saw the enemy, but they also paid the corresponding price.

If this is a meeting between the two sides, then the result speaks for itself.

"What's going on?"

William? Sir Robinson heard the screeching sirens and ran out of the Governor's House, only to see a flock of "big birds" flying over Hong Kong Island like a shield from the sky.

Immediately afterward, countless black dots fell from the sky and fell on the sea and land, and military targets, including temporary camps and coalition warships anchored in Victoria Bay, were mercilessly baptized by fierce exposure.

Although it was a stone's throw away from the bombing site, the Hong Kong Metropolitan Government, located on Albert Road in the middle of Central Wan on Hong Kong Island, was not the target of the airstrike, and fortunately it was not affected.

"Report to the Governor, we are under attack by the rebels, please follow me to safety immediately!"

After the adjutant finished speaking, he waved his hand and asked the soldier to carry away the adult who was already a little sluggish.

The Governor was the Crown's plenipotentiary in charge of the port and the commander of the local armed forces, and Sir Robinson knew some of the military operations, but he never expected the other side to strike first.

The "Heinkel"-111 bombers are loaded with 20 kg bombs, each of which can carry 100 bombs.

Ninety-two bombs were dropped at the same time, covering an area from Hong Kong Island across Victoria Bay to the Kowloon Peninsula.

This spectacular scene of carpet bombing is not something that can be seen at any time.

Those who witnessed it were lucky if they hadn't been killed or injured......

"Let's evacuate immediately!"

Army General Frederick? Before Sir Roberts' order could reach the company-level units, the Clan Air Raid was over.

Seeing the smoke rising everywhere, the flames rising, the devastation and countless casualties, the coalition generals were all worried, and swept away their previous optimism.