The Arabian Peninsula is now fragmented, mostly out of control, and a tribe can suddenly rise to prominence with the support of an extraterritorial power, a bit like a weakened version of the Mongol steppe for supremacy.

The land in the region is barren, the vast Gobi desert and desert are everywhere you look, and only the large oases in the coastal area are inhabited by Arab nomadic tribes, poverty and backwardness are synonymous here, it is difficult to scrape oil and water, and the successive conquests of the Ottoman Empire have to be labeled with large financial deficits.

The largest business of Somali mercenaries in the region is human trafficking, mainly female, ranging in age from teens to twenty-six or seventeen, who harvest a wave every few years.

It was as a result of such barbarism that the population of the Arabian Peninsula was much smaller than in its original history, and the seeds of fear were planted deep in the hearts of the Arab tribesmen, who were called the "Devil of the East".

Rear Admiral Jensen-Adenauer was under the secret orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to develop his influence in the Arabian Peninsula, because during the golden age of the Empire's expansion, His Royal Highness wanted to leave a strong mark on his mark and prove that he was a capable prince and not a cyst lying on the merits of his father.

1,000 Hamlets in the eyes of 1,000 people, there are many people with similar ideas, military, civilian and some other ambitious people, some people want to be in the emperor's heart, some people want to get merit, some people want to get knighthoods, some people advocate adventure, and so on.

In the Arabian Peninsula, in South Asia, and in the Dutch East Indies, there were imperial powers of one kind or another secretly promoting Chinese immigration, which was the first step of the infiltration, and the scale of immigration was much larger and deeper than in the original history.

The main flow was to the British Straits Settlements of Malaysia, the French Indochina Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies, and a small part to Africa and West Asia, of which no more than 120,000 immigrants flowed into West Asia.

They are concentrated in the areas around Kuwait (41,700), in the Sana'a region of South Yemen (27,500), in the Abha region of North Yemen (24,000), and in Baghdad and the towns of the Two Rivers Basin.

In general, due to the harsh natural environment of the Arabian Peninsula, there is a lot of Chinese immigrants, and after enduring several years of wind and sand, many eventually move to Somalia or Mozambique.

Therefore, it is very difficult to emigrate to the Arabian Peninsula, and almost no one wants to go.

After 4 months

May 26, 1905 at 9:00 a.m

The two 6,500-ton general-purpose cruisers "Hanatsuki" and "Full Moon" of the Ocean Empire were sailing in the Yellow Sea near the Ryukyus, and not far behind were followed by a British 4,700-ton cruiser "Fearless", looking for the Russian expeditionary fleet that was said to have gone north to this area.

This huge battle fleet, a mixture of the Tsarist Second Pacific Fleet and the Third Pacific Fleet, disappeared into the vast South China Sea after sailing out of the port of the French governor of Saigon in late April.

In early May, the fishing vessels of the Ocean Empire encountered this astonishingly large fleet in the ocean west of Palawan, and then sailed into the depths of the South China Sea and disappeared.

Calculated by time

It should have almost reached the Yellow Sea, and since Port Arthur had fallen on December 15, 1904, the only destination for this expeditionary fleet was Vladivostok in the Far East.

In this way, it is much easier to judge their whereabouts.

The commander of the cruiser "Hanatsuki", the flagship of the formation, Tari, the senior officers of the Royal Navy with the star on his shoulder, and the gray-haired Admiral He Fang, the Minister of the Admiralty, were impressively listed.

In addition, there were more than 10 generals and officers, including Brigadier General Li Siyuan, Crown Prince, Admiral Zhang Daoru, commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Li Jie, Vice Admiral Wu Gang, and Vice Admiral Li Sixian, chief of staff of the fleet.

Fortunately, the Commander Tower of the Flower Moon Cruiser was spacious enough to fit a dozen leather chairs, and it did not affect the command of the captain at the front, Colonel Qian Zhuangmin.

In front of so many generals and officials, Colonel Qian Zhuangmin's pressure can be imagined, and in this cool early summer season, a layer of fine sweat has appeared on his forehead.

The high-ranking generals did not pay attention to the feelings of a little admiral, and took advantage of the fact that there was no situation at the moment, and you discussed the imminent outbreak of war with me, as if the cruiser command tower was regarded as a small conference room, and the discussion was very enthusiastic.

“…… Judging from the above point of view, the Tsarist fleet should have completed the final replenishment somewhere in the depths of the South China Sea, limited by the 14,000-ton Port Arthur dock, and the "Borodino" class battleships have a displacement of 13,500 tons and a range of 8,500 nautical miles, and must have been resupplied in Saigon Port, so the replenishment in the South China Sea should be cruisers and destroyers, and their voyages are much shorter. ”

"The cruiser should also not need supplies, it should have a voyage of at least 4,500 nautical miles, and it should be enough to fill up with coal in Saigon and take any route to the port of Vladivostok."

"In fact, there are only two routes, one along the Yellow Sea all the way north, through the Tsushima Strait to Vladivostok Port, is the most convenient way. The other bypasses the vast Pacific Ocean east of the Fuso Islands, passes from the North Sea to the North Four Islands Strait to the north, and then passes through the Soya Strait to the port of Vladivostok. ”

"If I say, it's safer to go through the Soya Strait, no matter how large the fleet is thrown into the Pacific Ocean, it can't be found, although it takes a little detour, but the concealment is better."

"Rear Admiral Jensen Adenauer has a very low opinion of the Tsarist fleet! It is said that they are a group of army soldiers who boarded a warship, and during the two-and-a-half-month voyage from South Africa to Somalia (during which they entered the port for replenishment), they only conducted four live-fire military exercises, and they felt a little reluctant to use artillery shells. ”

"This is much worse than that of the Fuso, and according to the reports of merchant ships near the Tsushima Strait, these days, the Japanese combined fleet has been rumbling all day long, and it has practiced artillery techniques at the expense of ammunition."

"The contrast is too obvious, and I am not optimistic that the Russian fleet will escape this catastrophe."

"The latest intelligence shows that the Fuso Combined Fleet has left Port Arthur 11 days ago, and it is hovering near the Tsushima Strait to wait, which should be judged that the Tsarist fleet will take the road of the Tsushima Strait, so it is ready to intercept here."

"It's hard to say which path the commanders of the Tsarist fleet chose to take, but judging from the low quality they showed, maybe the Fuso people guessed right, these old Tsarist Russian hairmen have always had a hard bar problem."

"Seconded, the hairy bear is indeed iron-headed."

"Seconded plus two."

"Seconded and added three, I judged them to break in regardless of it."

"Seconding the proposal plus four, 28 probability, 8 percent probability will go through the Tsushima Strait."

"Seconded plus five."

"Seconded plus six, fully agreed."

"Seconded ......"

Seeing that all the generals agreed with this judgment, only Brigadier General Li Siyuan did not squeak, Admiral He Fang, Minister of the Admiralty, couldn't help laughing, Lao Maozi left too deep an impression on everyone, his navy has not performed much, and the army units that have fought in the Russo-Japanese War for more than a year have distinctive characteristics, and they will be done directly!

If you can't fight, you will surrender, and if you can fight, you will drown the other party, concise, clear and violent.

This can work in army tactics, after all, Tsarist Russia can consume countless gray cattle, and it can easily arm millions of troops, but it is a fart in naval tactics!

"Siyuan, what do you think?"

"Huh...... The commanders unanimously agreed that the Russian fleet would force its way through the Tsushima Strait, and if I agreed, then there would be no point in discussing it, so I chose the Soya Strait. ”

"Why?"

"It is an indisputable fact that everything we can see from the surface shows that the command level of the generals of the Tsarist fleet is inferior, the quality of the officers and men is poor, the overall inability to give full play to the performance of the warships, and the superb command ability to twist the entire fleet into a single rope. Judging by their usual poor performance, it seems that the only option is to force their way into the Tsushima Strait. Li Siyuan spread his hands helplessly and told the truth.

Thanks to the long-term companionship of the African fleet for two and a half months and the meticulous observation of the Tsarist Russian fleet, the navy of the Great Ocean Empire has carried out hundreds of seminars from the top to the middle level, and has a very deep understanding of this fleet that has a fierce expedition across most of the world.

The reason why so many generals and officials gathered together is nothing more than a confirmation that "seeing is believing".

Such a large-scale naval battle is unique in the history of naval warfare in the modern world, the last time was the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese Battle of the Yellow Sea.

This gave the navies of all countries in the world an objective basis for evaluating the combat effectiveness of the Fuso Combined Navy, and it was generally believed that the combat effectiveness was slightly higher than that of the French Navy and close to the level of the Ocean Empire and the German Navy.

"But ......"

Brigadier General Li Siyuan stretched out a finger and said; "There are exceptions to everything, if Vice Admiral Rodestvensky of the Tsarist Navy has definite information, and the combined fleet of Fuso is gathering in the Tsushima Strait to wait for the king to enter the urn, and taking this road is the way to death, then will he have another choice?"

This......

None of the generals present hurriedly refuted, but looked at Brigadier General Li Siyuan in deep thought; Undoubtedly, this possibility exists.

After the combined fleet blockaded Port Arthur, the original Tsarist Pacific Fleet once tried to break through the blockade, and the two sides broke out in the Sino-Japanese naval battle in the Yellow Sea, and the Tsarist Pacific Fleet shrank back with little losses, until the end of the whole army was destroyed.

The existing Tsarist fleet looks powerful, but in fact it has long been a frightened bird.

After departing from the Baltic Sea, rumors circulated within the fleet that the Japanese fleet would attack along the way, and the Russian officers and men were convinced. When passing through the British Channel, there was a scandal of shelling a fishing boat because of the bad weather at night.

The reason for the Russian side is simple;

The capital ships of Fuso are all built by the British, and if a small fleet of Fuso has just been built and left the port, there is indeed a chance to sneak attack the large fleet of Tsarist Russia.

But the real problem is;

The gap between an offshore fishing vessel of two or three hundred tons and a warship that can easily reach tens of thousands of tons is too great. How blind does this have to be to think of a fishing boat as a warship?

This incident made the British Royal Navy very angry, and once wanted to send out the home fleet to completely annihilate this bastard fleet, but under the mediation of Germany and France and other countries, it pinched its nose and collected a huge amount of compensation from Tsarist Russia.

Therefore, this ostensibly powerful Tsarist fleet is actually a straw chicken.

If there is clear information that the Tsushima Strait is a death trap, it is very likely that another route will be chosen to go north.

The problem is; Did the Tsarist fleet have such accurate intelligence?

The Imperial Royal Navy was originally a place where talents gathered, and those who could be generals were all high-level intellectuals, and the human spirits among the elites of the people saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stretching out a finger and saying that the gods were there, and his mind immediately changed.

If nothing else, this one person in front of him has the power to change all this.