Wild North America 1846

Chapter 577 Arrived in Donggang City

More than ten days later, the expedition fleet successfully arrived in Panama for a short rest. After supplementing with fresh fruits and vegetables, clean water, and coal fuel, they set sail again and headed for Paradise Island along the Pacific Rim.

During this period
The latest news about the reactions of various countries from the European continent reassured the expedition fleet. Thanks to the efforts of the empire, mainly the foreign affairs department, the public opinion of European countries responded relatively peacefully, and the United Kingdom even downplayed the treatment.

The famous "Times" only released the news of the expedition to Egypt the size of a tofu block on the third page, and those who are interested will notice the unusualness, but the general public basically glances over it and cannot arouse too much interest.

The issue of the expedition to Egypt has always been a hot topic in European public opinion.

at the end of the eighteenth century
The French emperor Napoleon, who was invincible all over Europe, once led an expedition to Egypt, and fought against tens of thousands of Mamluk cavalry in Egypt in a hollow battle, creating the glory of a classic pyramid battle.

At that time, the media in France and almost all of Europe were frantically touting, and they reported on the genius military ability of Emperor Napoleon, which really put Emperor Napoleon on the altar...

Now the news of Datang's expedition to Egypt, the French "Parisian Tribune" only expressed it in a mocking tone;

"The hot and desolate Egypt has attracted Britain and the Tang Dynasty, and they have launched new adventures in this ancient country full of long yellow sand.

Immediately after the British, the greedy Tang Dynasty launched a new round of invasion of Egypt, which is bound to severely damage the peace in the Near East, causing deep concern in Paris..."

The British and French newspapers downplayed the public opinion. Unexpectedly, the most violent reaction was the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

King William III of the Netherlands fiercely accused the Tang Empire of being "the source of chaos in the Pacific Ocean", "its dangerous colonial tendency will endanger the stability and peace of the Western Pacific region for more than 300 years", "undermining the regional situation" and so on.

He stated that he would "pay close attention to the movements of this unprecedentedly powerful colonial army" and called on the framers of the international order headed by the British and French powers to "pay close attention to this invasion that disrupts the international situation" and "take responsibility for maintaining the stability of the world situation"...

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Marquis Van Diesel, also made a loud appeal; he hoped that European countries would pay attention to "the irresistible impulse of the Orientals to invade" and "unite to oppose Datang's subversion of the existing white world order and maintain the traditional pattern of the Western Pacific region" and so on. .

The reason
It turned out that when the foreign affairs department of the Tang Empire was doing their work, they ignored the inconspicuous Kingdom of the Netherlands, and instead focused their work on appeasing Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria and other major powers, and sent a heavyweight delegation Visit Istanbul.

The mission of the diplomatic delegation to visit the Ottoman Empire was to elaborate on Datang’s unintentional ambitions for Egypt, with the intention of punishing Governor Ismail’s rebellious behavior and maintaining the dignity of the empire. Qi probably meant this in a tactful way.

The purpose is not to trigger a full-scale war between the Ottoman Empire and the Tang Dynasty.

Today's Ottoman Empire is full of corruption and corruption from top to bottom, financial difficulties, and the rule of Istanbul is unprecedentedly weak. The huge empire can only maintain its superficial brilliance, and it is almost unable to take care of Egyptian affairs.

All the European powers are staring at it greedily, taking various measures to continuously infiltrate and invade, trying to carve out a large piece of fat.

The greatest pressure on the Ottoman Empire came from the fateful enemy, the Tsarist Russian Empire. Since the disastrous defeat in the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856, the Tsarist Russian Empire, which had lost both face and benefits, was holding a breath of anger in its heart, and its bloodshot eyes were always staring at Follow the Ottoman Empire to look for opportunities to start.

There is such a good neighbor who is always eyeing, even if the Ottoman Empire is decayed and then decayed, it dare not be careless in the slightest. It is the primary goal to prepare for the war against Tsarist Russia.

If there is a war with the Tang Empire here, and Tsarist Russia stabs him in the back, the fun will be great...

in panama
Thanks to the completion of the Atlantic transoceanic cable, the transoceanic cable telegraph business has been greatly developed. The cross-strait communication can reach tens of thousands every day, worth hundreds of thousands of Tang Yuan, and the development prospect is extremely bright.

Information from Europe and North America can be sent without any obstacles, and the latest news from Europe can be sent to Panama within the next day, so that the expeditionary fleet can clearly study and judge the current international situation and make appropriate responses.

The Empire's foreign service has done a pretty good job and performed well overall.

Only the Kingdom of the Netherlands jumped too hard and could only take emergency diplomatic remedial measures.It is advisable to immediately arrange for the diplomatic commissioner in Germany to go to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to appease, so as to avoid too much disturbance.

From the perspective of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, its concerns are not false.

Although there is no idiom in Europe to "destroy the country through false ways", the Kingdom of the Netherlands has every reason to worry that the Tang Empire's powerful expeditionary fleet will destroy the Governor's Palace of the Dutch East Indies by the way.

Can it be said that the Kingdom of the Netherlands is unfounded?
these years
The Great Tang Empire, which annexed territories everywhere and wantonly expanded its colonies, has a bad reputation. It has always been known for being domineering and bullying the weak.

What I like to do most is to intervene in regional wars, and then cut off large tracts of land from participating countries.

The North American War and the South American War are typical cases. Almost all countries in the world have experienced the style of the Tang Dynasty. It is definitely the same as the old British and French colonists, and they are not good birds.

The former president of the United States of America, Andrew Johnson, once lamented feebly; "The greatest sorrow is that America has lost the favor of God. It is too far away from God and too close to Datang."

With such an extremely aggressive empire, how can people not worry about setting up a fleet to expedition to Egypt with great fanfare?

The Royal Fleet of the Dutch East Indies accounted for almost half of the sea power of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with more than [-] sailing warships, large and small.

It is no problem to be called the tyrant in the East Indies, but he was dumbfounded when he encountered the powerful armored fleet of the Tang Empire, and he had no need to fight at all.

Nov. 1871, 11

The mighty expedition fleet arrived in Donggang City, Paradise Island, which means that the long voyage has completed more than half, and has written a rich and colorful stroke in the history of the empire's colonization.

it's here

Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Fleet His Royal Highness Tang Lixin met the Governor of the Dutch East Indies, Lord Spitz, who had been waiting here for a long time, as well as the Commander of the Royal Dutch East India Fleet, Vice-Admiral Kahn-Joe-Wood and key members of the Governor's Office them.The two sides talked happily.

The governor of the Netherlands, Lord Spitz, brought over 60 tons of various spices, 120 tons of tin ingots, 100 tons of aluminum ingots, 200 tons of natural rubber and ten beautiful white Dutch girls. A crown that has been passed down by the Dutch court for more than 200 years.

Accompanied by the Governor of the Netherlands, the four main two-masted sail cruisers of the Royal East Indies Fleet, with a displacement between 4 tons and 1760 tons, are almost exhausted.

To put it mildly, it is to demonstrate the strength and brave spirit of the Royal Netherlands Navy, and to seek closer exchanges with the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire. The two sides plan to conduct joint maritime military training.

To put it bluntly, it's like taking out all the knives, guns and sticks in the house, and putting them in the open to show that I'm not easy to bully.

If you go on an expedition, go on an expedition, but don't turn a corner and kill me...

His Royal Highness Tang-Li Xin was well aware of the soft and hard tricks of the Dutch, so he unceremoniously accepted the heavy gift, and warmly comforted the Governor of the Netherlands, Lord Spitz, and readily agreed to the joint naval exercise between the two armies. ask.

two days later

On the sea off the coast of Donggang City, a single-masted wooden sail cargo ship that was arrested was used as a target. After the crew manipulating the sail cargo ship raised the sails, they evacuated in a small wooden boat.

Then the Royal Navies of Tang and Netherlands attacked separately. The Royal Dutch East Indies Fleet took the lead in attacking. The sailing cruiser "Princess Margaret" and the sailing cruiser "Princess Anne" took turns to attack for more than two hours. It was very lively, but the sail of the target was torn apart, and the wooden hull was pitted.

The solid iron balls fired by the old-fashioned naval guns have limited power, and most of the shells are missed, making it difficult to cause substantial damage to the target ship.

The mainsail of the unmanned sailing target ship was opened, and the sail was full of sea wind and was traveling at a high speed of 13.5 knots. The "Princess Margaret" and "Princess Anne" had to do their best to catch up. When fired in a violently pitched state, the hit rate is very impressive even if it is close to within 300 yards.

When it was the turn of the armored ship of the Tang Empire to enter the stage, thick smoke billowed from the chimney of the iron-clad ship "Shanfeng", galloping at high speed all the way through the waves. smashed to pieces.

When the two ships approached within 500 yards, the five 5-inch secondary guns (7mm) on the port side of the iron-clad ship "Shanfeng" fired violently at the same time. After only three salvos, several shells that hit the target ship exploded violently. After that, the sloop with a displacement of only 178 tons has been torn into pieces, and the power is really amazing.

In just a few minutes, the target ship had disappeared on the sea.

The four 4-inch main naval guns (8 mm) equipped on the ship did not fire from the beginning to the end, and the battle was over. It really confirmed that sentence... How can you kill a chicken with a sledgehammer?

After the joint military exercise between the two sides, the Dutch collectively fell silent.

Facing the formidable power of the world's first-class ironclad ships, these main sail cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy are undoubtedly old and faltering, and the gap is so large that it is already desperate.

Originally wanted to show off his strength, but now he was hit and left an indelible psychological shadow.

a few days later
The expedition fleet, which has completed the fleet supply and rest, unanimously set sail again, with the goal of the third stop of the trip, Xin'an, the westernmost city of Paradise Island.

there

The 4rd Marine Division of the Royal Navy has been trained for more than 3 months, and the 4th Marine Division is fully staffed, waiting for orders to embark on a journey of thousands of miles to conquer the exotic Egypt...

(End of this chapter)