In general, the imperialist powers of this era were similar to gangsters, and "gunboat diplomacy" was very popular, and they liked to drive around in fleets, and from time to time they would intimidate those "uncivilized countries" and extort them from various benefits, such as valuable minerals.

The problem, however, is that "gunboat diplomacy" is one thing, and landing operations are another-- mobilizing tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of troops to land ashore on the other side of the world, fighting hard for years and months, and transporting every bullet and shell from tens of thousands of kilometers away. For European countries, which are currently in the midst of an unprecedented catastrophe of the global economic crisis and have long been beaten into phobia by the last Shijie war, it is enough for the leftist radicals at home to riot.

Not to mention that the four countries of Britain, France, the United States, and Japan that participated in the intervention war this time have always been intrigued with each other; the last time they intervened in the revolution in Soviet Russia, the intervening armies of various countries devoted too much energy to tearing each other down and fighting each other, and only spent very little thought on fighting the Bolsheviks -- for example, the intervention army of the Chinese Beiyang government used a lot of effort to dig a hole and toss the Japanese -- Zuihou made that huge intervention action a flawless and fruitless operation.

And there is naturally no reason why the same situation will not occur when they intervened in the Chinese revolution this time -- the British and French positioned themselves as overseers, and their task was to urge the Japanese army and the Kuomintang army to complete the great cause of "exterminating the Red Bandits" and restoring order in the Far East as soon as possible, instead of personally going down to work for the "long-term workers" on their behalf. Therefore, although they dispatched a huge expeditionary fleet, it should be actual combat training. But there are really not many land troops invested in it.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the British Empire's military strategy in the Far East has been deteriorating due to lack of attention and funding. Therefore. Judging by the intercepted telegrams, the British Far East Fleet carried only three battalions of infantry in total, which were drawn from Hong Kong. The French Far East Fleet had only transferred four Annam infantry battalions from Saigon, Haiphong, Hanoi, and other places in the vicinity - this was completely symbolic.

As for the US Pacific Fleet...... Belch...... Strictly speaking, the United States at this time did not have the "Pacific Fleet" as an organization, but only the Asian Fleet based in the Philippines. The U.S. fleet based in Hawaii was only part of the home fleet until 1940 – and the Americans were really ambitious in their desire to compete for leadership in this intervention. However, the embarrassing military status quo has seriously constrained the ambitions of the US military.

Although the United States was already the number one economic power in the early 20th century, it still enjoyed a superior defense environment provided by the two natural barriers of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and domestic isolationism and war weariness were rife. The entire army had only a pitiful 100,000 men, organized into 4 infantry divisions, 1 tank division and 1 reserve division, and the number of tanks was only more than 300, even behind Poland. It's barely Shijie seventh.

Of course. The U.S. Navy has a much stronger lineup than the Army, but warships can't go ashore after all. Moreover, in such a short period of time, they were also unable to mobilize the native Liliang, and only had time to mobilize the garrisons of Hawaii and the Philippines. However, in the past few years, the United States has been plotting to make the Philippines independent -- the United States has never had a tradition of running colonies, and finding a way to set up an obedient puppet state, and then exploiting it through economic means is the way of "indirect rule" that Wall Street tycoons prefer -- the withdrawal of US troops stationed in the Philippines in large numbers. The number has fallen to its lowest point, with only about 20,000 people in total. More than half of them are indigenous Filipino soldiers...... This amount of troops can't do anything big, and besides, it can't be used up yet.

Therefore, despite the withdrawal of garrisons from Guam and Wake Island, the invading US forces still only managed to muster a few thousand marines.

“…… In this intervention, the ground troops that the European and American powers were able to put into the Chinese battlefield were less than 10,000 according to the number, so they had to pull up the strong men everywhere along the way, and even the 20,000 Kuomintang Central Army in Fuzhou had to be dragged up to make up the number. ”

According to the intercepted wireless telegram, Wang Qiu calmly explained to Fang Zhimin the true colors of the imperialist powers, "...... Now that the U.S. military has been put into the eastern Zhejiang front and mixed with Yu Jishi, then they will not open up more landing grounds.

Of course, if Britain, France, the United States, and the Netherlands do their best to empty all their garrisons in Malaya, Annam, the Philippines, Java, and Sumatra, and even pull the Indian garrison to China to fight, then even 200,000 troops can be scraped together...... But the question is, are they going to plug the coffin book like this? Don't forget, India is not stable today, and Gandhi and his comrades are drumming up the independence movement all day long! ”

“…… Not...... In total, there were less than 10,000 landing troops, and a large part of them had already been put into the eastern Zhejiang battlefield...... This is really nothing to be afraid of, but what about their big ships and cannons? Fang Zhimin continued to ask, "...... Our cannons can't reach them! ”

“…… Until the final solution is implemented, there is no suitable countermeasure for the time being. There are many ways to destroy the enemy fleet around Shanghai, but the problem is that we must not only ensure that the enemy is destroyed, but also try to keep the cost of war as low as possible, so as not to bankrupt ourselves. ”

Wang Qiu shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "...... So, let the coastal defense artillery at Wusongkou withdraw first! Anyway, the essence of Shanghai's urban areas is all along the Huangpu River, and there is basically nothing to fry in the coastal areas. It doesn't matter if the artillery doesn't have time to disassemble, we don't have a shortage of artillery, but the artillery of this era is not so easy to train. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the air defense of the urban areas - rest assured, there is not much time left for imperialism to be arrogant in the East! ”

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On 10 March, the U.S. intervention fleet ended the bombardment of Ningbo and entered Zhoushan Island for a short rest, where it was warmly welcomed by the local Kuomintang government. After replenishing some fresh water, vegetables, and fresh meat, the U.S. fleet once again pulled anchor and set sail for the city of Shanghai, which had started the war.

Meantime. In order not to fall behind in the competition with the Americans, the British and French fleets rushed to the vicinity of Shanghai and launched a fierce bombardment of Wusongkou.

-- The thunderous "punishment of imperialism." Finally it came to these Chinese revolutionaries who dared to challenge the majesty of imperialism.

On the surface of the water at dawn, two bright red signal rockets suddenly sprang up. Then, with the command of the commander of the British fleet, the huge body of the battleship "Malaya" shook a little, and in a deafening roar, it spat out a long orange-red flame, illuminating the dark sky. The heavy projectile cut a red trajectory through the air. After spanning a long distance of more than ten kilometers, it finally landed on the tidal flats of Wusongkou.

Then, several other towering ships unleashed their firepower -- in the midst of a one-sided bombardment of the opposite shore. Five British and French battleships and battle cruisers turned the ship sideways, several turrets spewed smoke and fire, and the sound of huge cannons rumbled and shook on the water at the mouth of the Yangtze River. In the hazy morning light on the occasion of the water and sky, countless brilliant light clusters suddenly lit up. It's as if dozens of suns have risen suddenly!

Followed by. In order to avoid the counterattack of the defenders and ensure the absolute safety of the fleet, these battleships fired their guns at Wusongkou across a Woody Island, giving full play to the ultra-long range of their own naval guns to bully the "short-legged" shore guns of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

Of course, let the battleships that were supposed to be galloping over the ocean. Rushing into the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is densely covered with shoals and reefs, is obviously a very dangerous thing. But sadly. As for the hydrological conditions of the Yangtze River estuary, the British in this era may be more aware than the Chinese.

After a while, the guns of the light cruisers and destroyers also opened fire, one after another joining the chorus. Countless projectiles of steel streaked across the sea and fell onto muddy reed flats and rice paddies, sending scarlet flames and smoke into the air. It didn't take long for a huge cloud of smoke to cover Wusongkou, and only occasionally the flash of the explosion of the cannonball could be seen through the gap in the smoke, and the scene was really spectacular.

Thousands of shells of various calibers and types roared on the outskirts of one of China's largest cities at dawn in early spring, playing an uncoordinated, but murderous symphony of war.

Suddenly, a strong flash of a large explosion lit up on the shore, presumably hitting the ammunition depot of the Wusongkou Battery, causing the British and French sailors to cheer.

However, in contrast to the bustle on the water and the earth-shattering sound of artillery, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army on land maintained an eerie silence. From beginning to end, until the explosion of the cannon at the ammunition depot, the shore artillery at Wusongkou did not fire a single shell, which makes people wonder whether the Red Army had already fled without a fight.

Therefore, after indiscriminately pouring firepower for more than an hour, the bored British and French intervention fleet gradually stopped bombardment, lowered a number of small transport boats from the battleships, organized dozens of marines to land on the beach, and set foot on the mudflats of Wusongkou without incident.

This small force, which was thrown out as a pathfinder, took advantage of the cover of the embankment and the crater, and walked and stopped along the shore, occasionally firing a few random shots to embolden itself, but no enemy fired at them...... Eventually, they managed to cut through the smoke and break into the ruins of the Wusong Fort, seeing only a pile of twisted barrels and tattered parts, but not a single intact or mutilated corpse, let alone a living person.

It is clear that the Bolsheviks in China were not as brave as they boasted in their propaganda, but had long since fled.

This discovery relieved the British and French military leaders, who were originally a little apprehensive, and felt that these legends were very ferocious, and even the Chinese Bolsheviks full of science fiction seemed to be nothing more than that-before, after being stunned to learn the bad news of the fall of Shanghai and getting a bunch of appalling propaganda materials of the Red Elements, European and American countries tried to find out the details of this mysterious Comintern column in the Far East from Moscow through their own channels, but they were even more surprised to find that the Kremlin seemed to be confused about it... … Others, who came late to find out, found that the Kremlin seemed to know something, but they were secretive about it, even very entangled - what the hell was going on?

(After a whole half-month of adventure, the genuine Comintern commissioners, who had returned to their homeland from Shanghai in a pitiful fifteen-ton sailing ship, finally crossed the Tsushima Strait and the Sea of Japan with great difficulty.) Half-dead and managed to reach Vladivostok...... And sent the letterheads and gifts of the comrades of the traverser to the Kremlin, on the desk of the "steel" uncle...... ）

So, in the midst of this intervention operation. The actions of the coalition forces are like that of a schizophrenic - most people naturally scoff at the inferior "yellow-skinned monkeys" and regard the propaganda as nothing more than a scare fake. But there are also a small number of people who are worried about this, and even make all kinds of pessimistic statements that are out of place...... Fortunately, judging from the current situation, the performance of the Chinese is still as hopeless as before.

In the next step, in accordance with the habit of Britain and France to fight colonial wars for so many years, the joint intervention fleet began to take the French Annam infantry battalion. The British Indian musketeers, as well as the Kuomintang troops who had been forcibly brought in from Jiangbei, Nantong, and other places, were thrown one after another in a haphazard manner to a small dilapidated wharf on the shore -- this was naturally not enough to fight all the way to the center of Shanghai. But at least the ruins of the enemy's batteries can be planted with the banner of the victors, proclaiming the victory of the "civilized shijie", and maybe even building a bridgehead here to threaten the enemy's hinterland at any time.

Another hour passed. A colonel of the French colonial army of Annam also left the ship and disembarked. Climbed to the ruins of the Wusong Fort, which was full of craters. He first planted the French tricolor flag next to the already fluttering rice flag, and then took out his binoculars and looked ahead. I saw an open space between the vast heaven and earth, with vegetables and crops growing in the flat fields, mixed with a few clusters of sparse groves and some ponds, and faintly saw many villages and houses, showing a quiet pastoral scene...... But there was no enemy to be seen. Similarly, there was no flying red flag, only two silver-white airships floating in the distance. The striking sickle hammer badge on the airbag shines in the sun.

“…… Probably the Bolshevik air observation post......" the colonel muttered in a low voice, "...... They seem to have some good equipment. ”

At this moment, around the Wusong Fort, there were still scattered crisp gunshots from time to time, and occasionally a few grenade explosions, but they were all indiscriminate by the landing force, and the result was only a waste of ammunition. At this moment, a signal came from the rear fleet, asking if fire support was to be provided, and the colonel waved his hand impatiently: "...... There is no target on the shore at all, and as soon as the cannon is fired, you will hurt your own people! ”

Of course, although not a single enemy infantry could be seen in sight, the two Bolshevik airships in the sky were more or less a threat, but unfortunately they were all far beyond the maximum range of the ship's anti-aircraft guns...... Therefore, the colonel could only order the soldiers to set up anti-aircraft machine guns and prepare for anti-aircraft operations, and at the same time contact the flagship in the rear and ask if they could send the ship's seaplanes to expel or destroy these two annoying big toys.

At the same time, it seems to have been inspired by the easy capture of the Wusong Fort. An assault fleet of fast motorboats and small gunboats also rushed into the Huangpu River from Wusongkou - in front of which were minesweepers to clear the mines that the Bolsheviks might have placed in the river; Behind them were gunboats and troop carriers, which provided cover for fire and beach-rushing attacks, which lined up in a neat formation and traced up the quietly winding river in an attempt to follow the route of the Opium Wars of the past and reach the heart of Shanghai, thus regaining the jewel of the Far East......

However, the era of this war is different, and the resistance of the Chinese is unlikely to be as weak as it was a hundred years ago.

In fact, the counterattack of the Chinese Bolsheviks against the British and French forces was absolutely sudden and violent, so that the coalition forces had no time to guard against it.

-- The assault fleet had only traced less than two kilometers from the mouth of the Huangpu River, and a blinding red light lit up on the distant horizon!

Immediately afterwards, with the screaming sound of tearing through the air, a dense rocket like a flock of migratory birds fell like a meteor rain, covering the old site of the original Wusong Fort, and many new craters were blown out on the ruins of the fort with holes. The landing force that was caught off guard was immediately killed and wounded, because on such a bare piece of rubble and scorched earth, they had nowhere to hide!

-- The orange-red flames that rose into the sky, the sharp whistling sound that tore through the air, and the violent shaking of the earth...... The overwhelming array of rockets turned this square inch of land into a raging sea of fire in an instant, and thousands of landing troops were crucified on the tidal flats, killing and wounding every minute and every second. The screams of the dying even overpowered the roar of the rockets, and their arms, thighs, and stomachs were blown to pieces, almost everywhere, and the scene was terrifying! The blazing fire burned brightly, roasting the limbs of the deceased with an unpleasant smell of human oil.

The assault fleet, which was tracing up the Huangpu River, was also subjected to a sudden and fierce bombardment, and the terrible artillery fire cut into the perfect formation of the fleet, causing them to fall into confusion. The soldiers on each ship were terrified to see countless rockets coming like hailstones, hitting the surface of the water as if it were boiling a pot. Columns of water rose from the front and back of each dinghy. Some of the rockets exploded in the air, and shrapnel flew and hit the steel plates, making a piercing noise. Some of the rockets hit the deck of the ship, instantly blasting through the smoking holes.

In the blink of an eye, three transport boats, a minesweeper and a shallow river gunboat were destroyed and overturned. The remnants of the dinghy had to quickly turn around and retreat, but the house leaked and it rained overnight, and in the chaos there were several collisions and abrasions...... Fortunately, this small fleet was not a key target of the Red Army, which allowed most of the remaining boats to escape.

Next, another round of bright and dazzling orange-red fire meteors roared down on the capital ships of the British and French combined fleets in the distance...... (To be continued......)