The Datang Expeditionary Fleet consists of 23 ships of various types, of which only 4 real warships are "Tornado" class ironclad cruisers, with a full load displacement of about 5,000 tons, equipped with 4 8-inch main ship guns (203 mm) and 10 7-inch secondary guns (178 mm), and an economic speed of 10.5 knots.

In addition, there are 12 converted coal carriers, equipped with 4~5 seven-inch guns, with a displacement of more than 5500~7600 tons, which can be used as armed civilian ships.

The remaining 7 are oil and water supply ships and cargo ships, carrying a large number of machinery and equipment, including tractors, sawmills, oil mills, rice mills, flour mills, feed processing plants, woolen mills, weaving mills, building materials and other materials and equipment required for the construction of brick kilns and coal kilns, thousands of tons of cement and steel bars, a large number of tents, pots and pans and other daily utensils, and all kinds of preparations are very complete.

Looking at this appearance, it is a plan to take root for a long time.

The long fleet formed two long snake formations that marched in unison, stretching for more than ten kilometers, riding the wind and waves in the vast Pacific Ocean, and the scene was magnificent.

The first stop of the expeditionary fleet was the port of Panama in Central America.

Then, from Panama, follow the Pacific Rim Current all the way west to the paradise island of East Port, the second stop of the expeditionary fleet.

The flagship "Vicious Wind" on the ironclad cruiser

Inside the tall and spacious command tower

His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin, who led the army on the expedition, had not yet receded from excitement, and was talking quietly with his staff, with irrepressible excitement in his tone, which high-spirited young man did not have the dream of adventure?

"Brother Daqing, Egypt is one of the four ancient civilizations, the pyramids and sphinxes in the long yellow sand are full of mysteries in different cities, and there are many famous historical sites, this time I finally have the opportunity to appreciate it."

"But Your Highness...... I'm afraid that our forces are not enough to capture the city of Cairo, and if we come to the city of Cairo, I am afraid that it will cause an uproar. ”

"Hmph, then it depends on whether the old thief Ismail knows the current affairs? Otherwise, as soon as my army arrives, the jade will be burned, no wonder it is unpredictable! ”

Hear that

Liu Daqing looked at Colonel Pan Shouguo who was standing on the side speechlessly, and saw that he looked into the distance with a calm expression, as if he could find something very interesting on the blue sea under the blue sky and white clouds, and he didn't seem to be involved in the slightest.

Liu Daqing could only persuade him; "Your Highness, this journey is a long journey, and my expeditionary fleet is alone in depth, and the word "stability" should be the mainstay, and it is not appropriate to go deep into the danger, and then we will occupy Suez City as planned in the early stage. This is a plan that was agreed upon before the expedition, and it must not be changed! ”

"Daqing just rest assured, I have my own way to deal with it." His Highness Don Lee Sin replied with confidence.

Before the expedition

He did a lot of homework on Egypt, collected information on Egypt's military, political and economic aspects through various channels, and basically knew it by heart, so that he could respond with confidence.

Egypt is now a province of the Ottoman Empire, but it is very independent.

Ismail Pasha was almost the uncrowned king of Egypt. Relying on his close relations with European powers such as Britain and France, he ignored the fate of the empire.

In the 40s of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire also sent troops to crusade against this detached governor of the border Fortress, but the two defeats by the Egyptian army made the European powers see the corrupt and degenerate nature of the Ottoman Empire, and intervened in the affairs of the Near East more unscrupulously.

When Sayyid Pasha died in 1863, he was succeeded by Ismail, the eldest grandson of Muhammad Ali, who served as governor of Egypt for more than 60 years.

Egypt was still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, and with the intervention of the Ottoman Empire, the descendants of Muhammad Ali could inherit the position of governor of Egypt, but the governor must be the eldest of Ali's living sons and daughters, rather than the death of the father.

Egypt's Ismail Pasha was a relatively enlightened ruler, obsessed with the flourishing culture, art and science of Europe, and opened the door to investment from Britain and France, which also led to the collapse of traditional industries in Egypt and the blow to the national industry.

Today, Egypt has the Red Sea Fleet, consisting of 120,000 army soldiers trained by Western instructors and 18 obsolete sail warships, and is the most powerful in the Middle East that can punch Sudan and kick Syria, Jordan and Najd.

But compared with the world powers, it is much more crotch-pulling.

In order to support the expedition led by His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin, the eleventh son of the emperor, the Tang Empire not only sent four powerful armored cruisers, but also equipped two fully manned Royal Marine Divisions, with a total strength of more than 32,000 troops.

Now the two Royal Marine Divisions are training on the outskirts of New Xi'an, Paradise Island, and have been on the outskirts of New Xi'an for more than two months now, ready to go out at any time.

According to the expedition plan;

It would take about a month and a half to about 50 days for the expeditionary fleet to reach the third station, New Xi'an, where it would join the already prepared 3rd and 4th Royal Marine Divisions in mid-to-late November.

After a short rest of more than 10 years, the size of the expeditionary fleet will more than double the size of the expeditionary fleet, accompanied by not only 32,000 expeditionary soldiers, but also more than 10,000 immigrants who participated in the early development of Eritrea.

Shortly thereafter

Subsequent convoys of immigrants will also arrive at the new colonies on the Red Sea, transporting a total of no more than 20,000 Chinese immigrants to the East African continent one after another, where they will establish towns, factories and plantations, and start all preparations for early colonization.

When the situation is stable, the empire will introduce preferential policies to mobilize Chinese immigrants from the Straits Settlements and Indochina to Eritrea.

Nowadays, there are an astonishing number of Chinese workers and businessmen in Malaysia, Singapore, Penang, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand, and there are more than 100,000 Chinese in Saigon, Vietnam alone, accounting for more than 1/3 of Saigon's population, almost monopolizing the local commerce and port transportation industry.

In Chennai, India, there is also a Chinatown with a scale of nearly 10,000 people, which is more active and has a stronger sense of presence than in the original history.

In the Tang Empire

There are not many shipping companies operating the Eurasian route, which cannot be compared with the busy Atlantic route and the Rim of America route, and the total volume of traffic is only a small fraction.

Every month, there are several cargo ship liners, mainly to transport the mainland's rich tea, porcelain, silk, pig bristles, tung oil and other products to Europe, and on the return journey, transport British-made machine-made cloth, German-made machinery and equipment, French guns and artillery, and some European industrial products, as well as Southeast Asian spices, aluminum ingots, tin, rubber, flour and canned fruits from Paradise Island These specialties are transported to the mainland.

The news of the swearing-in departure of the expeditionary fleet quickly spread around the world through newspaper media propaganda and attracted the attention of the British.

London, Downing Street Prime Minister's Residence.

Early in the morning

The Prime Minister, Lord William Jurte Gladstone, came to the office with brisk steps, and after nodding and greeting the staff, he pushed open the office door.

In the office, William Cecil, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord George Stephen, Secretary of the Admiralty, and Robert Jr., Secretary of the Cabinet, were already waiting here, and when they saw the Prime Minister pushing the door in, they all stood up and greeted him very gentlemanly.

"Let's take it easy, gentlemen, and sit down and talk about a topic of interest, and ask Miss Mary to make us a big pot of coffee, she is the best staff member in all of Downing Street, and she makes delicious coffee." Prime Minister William said happily.

For most of the year

Seeing that the French people were beaten by the Germans without dignity and were deflated in front of the Tang Dynasty, Britain took the opportunity to extort a lot of good things, and the Prime Minister, Lord William Yurte Gladstone, was always in a good mood.

Robert Jr., the cabinet secretary, was the first to speak;

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister;

According to the latest news from France, the Thiers government issued a total of 2 billion francs of government bonds with an interest rate of 5%, and the private subscription is very enthusiastic, and it is expected that the entire issuance of public bonds will be completed sometime in November.

Let's be honest

We were also taken aback by this, and Bismarck, the iron-blooded chancellor of the German Empire, also said in public that he had miscalculated.

He had expected;

It will take 20 years or more for France to pay off this huge war reparations, while the German Empire will be able to occupy the northern provinces of France reasonably and legally for 20 years.

All the expenses of the German occupation forces in France were borne by the French, which invisibly saved a large amount of military expenditure.

I never thought that the French people would be so rich?

Judging from the momentum of the subscription of war bonds, the remaining 3 billion francs of war reparations do not seem to be a big problem? ”

"If the United States of America had thought of this solution, it would not have been occupied militarily for more than a decade. Those American idiots with black fingernails don't seem to have a bright head all along. Lord George Stephen, Secretary of the Admiralty, pouted.

William Cecil, the Minister of State for the Colonies, who had not spoken, took the hot coffee from Madame Mary and said "thank you" very gentlemanly. He took a sip and placed the coffee cup on the table before saying;

"Dear Lord George, I cannot agree with you.

The situation in the United States of America is different from that of France, where the dollar has depreciated 10,000 times after five years of war in North America, and the country's financial credibility has been completely ruined.

From the capitalists to the workers, they were reduced to abject poverty, and at their worst they even had to pay more than $100,000 to buy a loaf of bread. Tang Yuan became the most valuable hard currency, and Tang soldiers could buy a 4-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, New York, with a month's salary.

After the defeat of the war, all the debts and huge war reparations of the United States of America were denominated in Tang Yuan, even if the government bonds were issued, where could the common people get such a huge amount of Tang Yuan?

Unlike France, the Franco-Prussian War was fought for a short time, the franc's credit system did not collapse, and the franc remained the world's trusted hard currency.

The Prussians always wanted to replicate the success of the Tang Dynasty, apparently they miscalculated.

But this may be a good thing for London, for we do not want an excessively weak France to exist on the basis of the "continental balance policy", which would not serve the purpose of restraining the growing German nation-state.

Only when France and Germany are evenly matched will they need British allies more, and this is where our value lies. ”

"That's a great point, I admire your vision." Prime Minister William Jurte Gladstone was the first to applaud, followed by the others.

Lord William-Cecil politely stood up, stroked his chest with gentlemanly courtesy, and responded; "It is a great honour for me, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

At this time

The secretary Robert said solemnly; "Your Excellency, Chancellor, my Excellency, according to reliable sources from the upper echelons of the German Empire; Prime Minister Bismarck intended to launch the Second Franco-Prussian War in an attempt to maintain a long-term military presence in the northwestern provinces of France and to completely crush the traditional enemy of France. At present, it is still in the consultation stage. ”

As soon as this remark came out

Everyone's eyes were all focused on Prime Minister William, and I saw that Prime Minister William's expression quickly calmed down, thought carefully for a while, and asked; "Is the message accurate?"

"There can be no mistake that the news came from His Royal Highness Karl, the Prince of Blood, whose opinion was privately consulted by Prime Minister Bismarck, and the possible political implications of military action."

"They must be stopped, the ambitions of the Germans must be stopped." Prime Minister William slapped the table so hard that the coffee cups on the table clanged and almost toppled.

But Prime Minister William did not notice these details in the slightest, and continued categorically; "I will immediately warn Kaiser Wilhelm I through diplomatic channels to make the position of the British Empire unambiguous; London would never allow the German Empire to take military risks, and if it did, there could be no doubt that the British Empire would intervene resolutely, including by military means. ”

Robert Jr., the cabinet secretary, quickly recorded the instructions of the Prime Minister, only to see Prime Minister William raise another finger and continue to speak sternly; "Well, give me another one...... warned Prime Minister Bismarck in a blunt tone; The British Empire could either lift the Germans up or make them fall hard, and at no time should they challenge the majesty of the British Empire, a price they could not afford. ”

"Yes, Prime Minister." Robert Jr. quickly recorded the order.

The Prime Minister's resolute and tough orders have made the British pride in the office even stronger, and it is a strong self-confidence that dominates the world.

After Robert Jr., the secretary of the cabinet, finished recording the order, put down the pen in his hand, flipped through the documents and continued; "Another thing, according to news reports from the other side of the Atlantic, the expeditionary fleet of the Tang Dynasty to conquer Egypt has already set off and is expected to arrive in the Red Sea region at some point early next year.

"Oh, what's the situation?"

"The expeditionary fleet of the Tang Empire on this expedition was led by His Royal Highness Don Li Xin, Duke of Colorado, as the commander-in-chief, and the navy included 4 4,980-ton ironclad cruisers, 12 armed coal carriers and some other ships, a total of 23 ships." Robert Jr. looked at the document in his hand, turned the next page and continued;

"The expeditionary fleet will join the infantry here on Paradise Island, including the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the Royal Marines and more than 10,000 Chinese immigrants to join the expeditionary fleet, and march mightily towards the Middle East.

Relevant information shows that the Tang Dynasty is very well prepared this time, and it is possible to plan to open up new colonies.

The two divisions have a total of about 32,000 troops, each with a cavalry regiment and an artillery regiment, all of which were adapted from the original army field divisions, and their combat effectiveness is estimated to be about the second-rate level in Europe.

Such an expeditionary army would deal a fatal blow to the current Egypt. ”

After the introduction

Walking into the office, there was silence, and everyone present felt that the situation was tricky, and if it was not handled well, it would lead to big trouble.

Lord George Stephen, Secretary of the Admiralty, took a sip of his coffee cup and hesitated before speaking;

"I would like to remind the Prime Minister that it is very important to maintain a close and friendly relationship with Datang and to maintain the existing port mutual assistance treaty, which will facilitate the global trade between the Royal Navy and the British commercial freighters.

Datang has in fact occupied a dominant position in the whole of the Americas, and its influence has expanded from North America and Central America to South America. On the other side of the Atlantic, without the assistance of Datang, it would have been almost impossible for us to get supplies in any port, except for Canada.

Whether it is the north and south of the United States, or Brazil, Argentina or Venezuela in South America, no one wants to offend Datang, this is a ruthless character who will be revenged, and almost beat up his neighbors.

The Egyptian issue should be handled cautiously, in fact, this kind of obstacle to the Tang Dynasty is completely unnecessary, but gives them an excuse to go to war.

The Royal Navy, for its part, does not want to see a deterioration in bilateral relations out of its own interests......"

Speaking of which

Lord George Stephen, Secretary of the Admiralty, seemed to want to explain the Admiralty's position in detail, and after a moment's consideration, he kept his mouth shut again.

Prudence in words and deeds is also effective in London political circles, he does not want to be seen as a military figure who speaks for the Tang Dynasty, nor does he want to interfere with the judgment and decision-making of the Prime Minister.

William Cecil, Minister of the Colonies, frowned tightly, sighed softly, and said; This was originally the idea of the French, but when Mr. Campbell, chairman of the British board of directors of the Suez Canal Company, learned about it, he pushed it again. The purpose is to obtain the shares of the canal in the hands of Datang and create some obstacles. I didn't expect the Oriental to flip the table directly. ”

His soft sigh contained a lot of helplessness.

Datang learned the tricks and domineering that were originally used by Britain, France and Western powers, which made these old powers feel helpless.

Especially the British and Datang are allies, and the secretly rubbing with the French behind their backs will definitely not be able to say on the surface, it is difficult to put the shameful knife into the sheath!

"How many troops do we maintain in Egypt?" Prime Minister William asked.

Robert Jr., the cabinet secretary, hurriedly flipped through the information in his hand before replying; "We had an under-formed division in Alexandria, consisting of the Scottish Highland Grenadier, the Chelsea Musketeers, and a cavalry division in the Canal Zone, plus other scattered garrisons, totalling about 28,200 men.

The French garrisoned 13,500 men in Egypt, mostly in Port Said in the Canal Zone, with about two regiments of cavalry. ”

The Prime Minister, Lord William Jurte Gladstone, had a headache after listening to the report, and now the relations between Britain and France are extremely bad, and if you want to form an Anglo-French alliance, you will definitely be spitted back by the French.

The army has never been what the British are good at, and its deterrent power against the Tang Dynasty is almost none.

That's why it's okay to make a commotion, so why bother?

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