Koh Mahasek is a very, very close island to the Malay Peninsula, separated from it by a narrow and slender Straits of Johor...... The name is the strait, but the main part of it is only about a kilometer wide, and it is quite long, more than 50 kilometers. Moreover, the strait is not deep, and even the two sides can be connected by a causeway. If it weren't for the fact that both ends of the Straits of Johor are flowing into the ocean, this would be a small river.

However, such a small river-like strait is the last hope of Viscount Bellsford, and it is also related to the national fortunes of the British Empire, the Indian Empire and the three kingdoms of the Great Tomorrow Dynasty.

In order to maintain his position, in order to buy time for the British Empire and the Indian Empire to reorganize their navies and cobble together the anti-Ming alliance, Viscount Bellsford had to devote all his energy to the defense of the Strait of Johor after gathering the remnants of the defeated army on the island of Shanmarek.

The island is a long and narrow island, a bit like a leaf, and it is narrow at the east and west ends, almost on the south side. The southern side of the island has always been very fortified, facing the exit of the Strait of Malacca to the south...... That's the choke point of East-West shipping! Can the British Empire be well guarded?

Since the British Empire began to operate the island, the construction of military ports, forts, and fortresses on the southern side of the island has never stopped...... Even in the years when Napoleon swept across the continent, the British built two coastal defense fortifications on the beachhead south of the island under the pretext of preventing the French expeditionary force from seizing the island.

Therefore, Viscount Bellsford did not have to worry about the Ming landing on the island from the south. What he needs to worry about now is the forty or fifty kilometres north of the island of Johor...... This is also a breakthrough, and the 100,000 troops on the island of Maxi must be taken prisoner!

Of course, this one-kilometer-wide waterway, with barbed wire, trenches, machine-gun pillboxes, and hundreds of light and heavy artillery pieces and mortars, the 100,000 brave Anglo-Indian army should theoretically be able to hold it.

But Viscount Bellsford has been feeling terrified lately...... So as soon as he has the effort, he will go to the Johor Strait Defense Line to inspect.

"Viscount, please rest assured that all the soldiers of the 11th Rifle Regiment of the Indian Imperial Army are determined to hold their ground to the death! If the enemy dares to force his way across the Straits of Johor, we will fight to the last man! ”

"Viscount, all the soldiers of our 1st Gurkha Rifle Battalion are ready to die for the British Empire, this time...... We will not give up! ”

"Viscount, we Sikhs are the bravest warriors, even if there are ten times as many samurai as the Japanese, we can fight to the last man!"

"Viscount, we can swear to Allah and fight to the death......"

Lining up to reassure Viscount Bellsford were four Master Chiefs from the elite Indian Army's 11th Rifle Regiment and the 1st Gurkha Infantry Battalion, including Hindus, Gurkha (who were also Hindus), Sikhs, and Celestials.

All of them ...... Death is like home!

But their assurances always felt a little unreliable to Viscount Bellsford...... They didn't dare to say that they could definitely hold on, they only dared to say anything about "the last man", what "fight to the death", and what "swear not to retreat".

When that time comes, won't the Straits of Johor be breached?

Thinking of this, Viscount Bellsford nodded to the four non-talkative master chiefs, and strode over to the four phalanxes of Anglo-Indian infantry neatly arranged in an open field in front of him—a Hindu phalanx, a celestial phalanx, a Sikh phalanx, and a Gurkha mercenary phalanx. The soldiers who make up these four phalanxes are theoretically soldiers of the Indian Empire. However, their uniforms and equipment were not very different, and it was impossible to transfer any soldier in any one phalanx to another.

In addition, if curry-flavored English is not uniformly used, the soldiers of these four phalanxes have at least fourteen languages that are often spoken, and communication with each other will be a great problem. And the curry-flavored English of these soldiers is also poor, and they are almost all illiterate and cannot read any written orders.

These people ...... Probably won't understand what the point of defending the Indian Empire is?

So, Viscount Bellsford decided to say something plain.

"You've all listened to me!" Viscount Bellsford said word by word with a rather dignified face, "I have given an order to select 2,000 white officers and men from the Malayan Regiment and form 20 squadrons of overseers, to be placed in the rear of the Johor defensive line. If any of you dare to step back from the Johor Defence Line, the Overseers will machine gun you all to death...... There will be no exceptions! Although I am not absolutely sure of holding the island of Sommasek, I have the determination to make each and every one of you die for His Majesty the Emperor and the Indian Empire! ”

Yes? To dedicate yourself?

To be martyred?

Just for those few rupees?

The soldiers of the 11th Rifle Regiment and the 1st Gurkha Rifle Battalion of the Imperial Indian Army were dumbfounded...... They are soldiers just to earn food, and they don't earn much, so why do they want to let the white man use a machine gun to supervise the war? Isn't this forcing people to die? You white lords are too much of a bully!

Thinking of this, the Indian soldiers in the four phalanxes all raised their arms and shouted.

"Long live the Indian Empire!"

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Swear allegiance to ......"

Hearing the cheers of these Indians, Viscount Bellsford breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that these Indian untouchables are quite loyal to His Majesty the Emperor...... This battle, there are still fights!

......

A telegram from Viscount Bellsford urging the Indian soldiers on the island of Palmese to serve the Empire was soon delivered to the Royal Palace in Bombay, where he was working with the Marquess of Nelson, George W. Baron Yilu was with Kaiser Wilhelm, who studied the drawings and technical specifications of the new battleship.

However, Kaiser Wilhelm did not immediately remove the name from Charles. Yilu took the telegram there, and continued to talk to Nelson and George. Yoshiro researches new battleships.

At present, there are two plans for the new battleship, one is the "slow battleship" plan with a standard row of 25,000 tons taken out by Barrow Shipyard, the idea of the plan is that no matter how hard Britain tries, it is impossible to surpass the Ming in the power system, so simply don't toss, just make a 30,000-horsepower three-expansion steam engine and install it, and then make the battleship's armor and firepower stronger, and this ship can also fight a dozen.

The other option is the 18,000-ton fast battleship at the Armstrong shipyard...... That is, to benchmark the new warships of the Ming Dynasty. The plan advocated a 45,000-horsepower steam turbine scheme. With such a powerful power to push a ship with a standard displacement of 18,000 tons, this speed is at least 26 knots and 27 knots, so that the British Royal Navy and the Royal Indian Navy can adopt diplomatic breakthrough tactics to defend India and Australia in the face of unfavorable situations.

"Your Majesty," said the Marquis of Nelson, "if we take the Barrow plan, the keel of the first 25,000-ton battleship will begin to be laid this month, and the first new battleship will be delivered within 16 months at the earliest."

If we take Armstrong's scenario, if the 45,000-horsepower steam turbine is delayed, then our situation will be very critical. ”

George. Yilu also agreed with the Marquis Nelson's suggestion, "Your Majesty the Emperor, the new warship plan must be forward-looking. If we are doomed not to outperform the enemy in terms of power, then it makes little sense to have a couple of fast battleships after 24 months, because by that time the enemy already has 60 thousand horsepower or even 80 thousand horsepower steam turbines...... At that time, they can make a 25,000-ton or even 30,000-ton ship run at a high speed of 28 knots, and our 18,000-ton fast battleship will still be a dead end when it encounters them!

So I propose to adopt Barrow's proposal, but at the same time speed up the development of a 45,000 hp steam turbine and start designing a slow battleship with a 45,000 hp steam turbine! Perhaps this should be a super battleship with a maximum speed of only 21 knots, a standard displacement of more than 30,000 tons, and 8 16-inch guns! ”