The nightmare of the British Empire, of course, was called by the Ming Empire!

However, the Duke of Wellington was still calm, he had never fought against the Emperor Napoleon on the battlefield, and he had won!

In addition, the British Empire has long been preparing for a war against the Ming Dynasty, and the preparations are relatively sufficient.

Now all the major shipyards in the UK are working day and night, building all kinds of ships for the Royal Navy, the Indian Navy, and the American Navy. In the land of the Indian Empire and the United States, many British-funded shipyards and arsenals with British advanced technology were also opened in the past two years, and they were also full of orders and worked overtime to produce warships and other weapons and equipment.

And the more important preparations for war are to transform India and bring back the United States. The former was the transformation of the Indian colonies under the British East India Company into an "independent" Indian empire – and of course the Crown Prince William of the United Kingdom (now Emperor Wilhelm) and his large management and security team from the British mainland helped the Indians become independent. This is by no means colonial rule, but the deepest love of the father's country for the son's country.

Great India is now the eldest son of Great Britain and the eldest brother of the United States, when will Great Britain's loving father be gone, and Great India will still have an eldest brother like a father!

So, now India's princely magnates and Chamindar landlords are now in full swing, standing up for their own Kaiser Wilhelm, and buying a lot of Indian emperor's bonds—the more bonds they buy, the more loyal they will be to the emperor, and the higher the positions and titles they can get! Over the past year or so, the "loyalty bonds" issued in India have been enthusiastically subscribed by India's elites and landowners, and have now sold for more than 1 billion rupees.

At the same time, Kaiser Wilhelm's Imperial Government of India also issued a large number of Indian bonds in the financial markets of London, Paris, and Frankfurt, raising hundreds of millions of pounds!

At least half of the ships currently under construction in the shipyards on British soil, backed by ample Indian funding, are being built for the Royal Indian Navy. And the ships that are being built on the slipways and in the dockyards of the Hindustan shipyard belong to Kaiser Wilhelm 100 percent.

It is no exaggeration to say that now Greater India has begun to rise!

And India, the "naughty younger brother" of Britain's eldest son, the United States of America, has recently begun to pour into Texas because of a large number of Japanese immigrants, and has also established an autonomous city called "Texas City", as well as the Mexican emperor and Bolívar have bought the "naval anti-American package" provided by Daming in a big way, and they are getting closer and closer to Britain's father, and with the help of Britain's father, they began to expand the strength of the U.S. Navy.

Of course, the current US government is far less generous than the Indian government, which is arbitrarily taxed, borrowed, and spends as much as it wants. And the U.S. government still has a Congress watching, and it can't mess around. But it's good to find an oil field in Pennsylvania! So the U.S. government could pursue an "oil tax" and a "oil-for-warship" program. The U.S. Naval Upgrade Program was initiated by collecting a portion of the oil produced by Pennsylvania's "oil adventurers" and exchanging it for warships with the British government.

With the support of India and the United States, the two British sons, the British government's war preparation plan went very smoothly, although the "three-year war preparation plan" was not completed in advance, but the Indian Empire still had the strength to fight!

In the conference room at 10 Downing Street, the light was dim and the atmosphere was gloomy, and the smell of cigar smoke and burnt coffee floated in the air.

"Horatio," said the Duke of Wellington, the British Prime Minister, as he breathed out a puff of secondhand smoke from a Cuban cigar, and said in a calm tone, "tell me about the situation." ”

"Your Excellency," said the First Sea Lord, Earl Nelson, in a heavy tone, "it is now certain that a huge fleet of more than 50 ships, including 10 battleships, 8 armored cruisers, 8 fast cruisers, and 8 large sail ships, has entered the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Malacca!" ”

"What? And they just passed through the Strait of Malacca? "The question was asked by Foreign Secretary Robert Murphy. Peele, the Navy layman, was very surprised by the Royal Navy's inaction, "Shouldn't the Royal Navy do something?" ”

Earl Nelson glanced at the Tory politician, shook his head, and said, "Mr. Chancellor, the Malacca Detachment of the Royal Indian Navy is only a small outpost fleet, and the blockade of the Straits is completely beyond their capabilities. After all, the opposing side has as many as 10 battleships, including 2 powerful heroes! ”

The myth of the Heroic Battleship is still alive and well! It is still the best battleship in the whole world, there is not one.

In the Aegean Sea, the Rakshasa Empire's navy firmly controls absolute sea supremacy with a heroic ship! The Turkish Navy tried several times to destroy the Catherine the Great by setting up ambushes and sneak attacks, but the result was that the stealing of chickens did not lead to the loss of rice. The Catherine the Great's armor protection was quite strong, and its 12 280 mm guns were also very powerful, accurate and ruthless.

If it weren't for the Turks' firm control of the Dardanelles, the Rakshasa fleet in the Aegean would have been able to run to bombard Constantineer!

And the Victory class, which the British Empire used to fight against the heroes, has not yet been completed and delivered. Although the British Royal Navy and the Indian Royal Navy both have an improved Indomitable class from the Sovereign class, it is still very difficult to fight against the westward expansion formation of the Ming Navy with two hero ships.

As for the Malacca detachment, there was no hope at all that it would survive under the 24 280-mm cannons of 2 heroic ships.

Now the Ming fleet is just passing through Malacca, they should be grateful!

"That's right," said Robert. Peel asked, "Did the Ming Navy attack Temasek or land somewhere in the Malay Peninsula?" ”

"Nope." Nelson shook his head.

"That" Robert. Peel turned to look at the Prime Minister, "Duke, what should we do?" Do you want to issue an ultimatum to the Ming Empire? ”、

The Duke of Wellington asked, "Did they issue an ultimatum?" ”

"Nope." Robert. Peel shook his head.

"Is there anything unusual about the Ming mission in London?" The Duke of Wellington asked, "Like burning documents and evacuating family members." ”

"Neither," said Robert. "They're all right. Maybe it was a surprise attack? Their purpose is "

"It's India!" Viscount Palmerston saw Robert. Peel swallowed, then took his words and said, "Prime Minister, if I didn't guess, the goal of the Chinese is to seize some place in the Indian Ocean, maybe Ceylon, maybe some other small island." They needed to have a foothold in the Indian Ocean and use it as a base to block the Indian shipping route to Malacca and harass the Indian coast. ”

Viscount Palmerston was not a professional soldier, but his analysis was reliable.

No one would have thought that the Ming Dynasty would send such a huge fleet just to occupy the Persian Gulf, what good is there in the Persian Gulf?

And without completely opening up the Strait of Malacca, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to attack India, because the logistics and supplies cannot keep up. Although the Ming and her vassal state of Burma bordered India on land, the border area was either high mountains or tropical rainforests, which were not suitable for large armies to pass through.

So the sea route through the Strait of Malacca was the only way for the Ming to seize India!

Thinking of this, the Duke of Wellington glanced at Earl Nelson again, "Horatio, is Kaiser William's fleet going to be dispatched?" ”

"The Duke," said Earl Nelson, "they have actually been dispatched!" As soon as Vice Admiral Codrington learned that the Ming fleet had passed through the Strait of Malacca, he led the main force of the Royal Indian Navy Grand Fleet from Mumbai to attack according to the plan drawn up earlier! ”

The Duke of Wellington nodded and said, "Okay, then let's wait and see, it's not the time to issue an ultimatum. At least for now, this war is also a war between the Ming Empire and the Indian Empire. We can also take a look at it from the side and then make a decision. ”

(End of chapter)