Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 224 Preparations before the war
Feng Xianghua received a summons from the emperor in the middle of the night, and hurried to the Hall of Mental Cultivation without even putting on his court clothes.He knew that it must be something important for the emperor to find him so late.

Guan Xuqing sat on the soft bed of the East Nuan Pavilion, and the two maids carefully rubbed his temples. Seeing Feng Xianghua coming, he waved his hands to both sides, and all the eunuchs and maids withdrew.

"Xianghua, do you know that a large number of the British Far East Fleet is gathering at the port of Singapore?" Guan Xuqing's tone was extremely serious. Even though Feng Xianghua had been by the emperor's side for many years, he couldn't help feeling a little nervous at this moment.

"I received Zhang Yu's telegram before dinner, but I didn't report it in time because I was afraid of disturbing the emperor's sleep. Please forgive me."

"You are the Secretary of the Ministry of War. I want to know what your plan is for this war with the British?" Guan Xuqing didn't show any expression on his face. It seemed that he attached more importance to this war than Feng Xianghua had imagined.

"Most of the Malay Peninsula is under the control of the British. This time they sent a powerful Far East Fleet to gather at the Singapore Naval Port. Their purpose is to move northward to reoccupy Southeast Asia and completely block the southern outlet of our country. Minister They thought they had to make two preparations. One was to mobilize warships from the Beiyang Navy, Fujian Navy, and Nanyang Navy to set up several sea blockades along the coastlines of Siam Province and Vietnam Province; second, once the British warships broke through the sea blockade , should land in these two provinces first, and establish a land supply base, so troops from the Southeast Army were quickly mobilized to Siam and Vietnam, and their marines were wiped out near the coastline. I don’t know what the emperor wants?" Feng Xianghua had made a more in-depth and detailed analysis of the war situation in advance, and thought that his answer would be approved by the emperor.

Guan Xuqing didn't express his opinion right away. He stared at the military map and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "When will the Zhonghua series of ships being built by the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau be launched?"

"It will be the end of this month at the earliest."

"There are still more than ten days, and the British will not give us time." Guan Xuqing sighed slightly, and said seriously: "I will call Shen Baozhen and Yan Fu immediately, and I will give them five days. The two warships are built, otherwise, we don’t need to see each other again.”

"Cha." Feng Xianghua's heart trembled, since the emperor issued a strict order, these two warships must be of great use.

"Telegram Lu Yiwei and ask him to draw three divisions from his troops to station in Siam Province, and ask Liu Mingchuan to send two divisions to Vietnam Province."

"twitter."

"Order Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and four provincial gun bureaus and ordnance institutes to speed up the production of ammunition and weapons. It is impossible to win this tough battle without [-] shells."

One hundred thousand shells?Does the emperor want to fill up the waters of Southeast Asia?Only now did Feng Xianghua truly feel the weight of this war in the emperor's heart.

Vietnam Province, Sihanoukville.

In the middle of the night, the bay was dimly lit, and Chinese warships were docked at the mouth of the inner bay, like troops waiting for inspection, standing proudly in the dark.

Sihanoukville is like a bite out of the flat coastline. It is a strategic point from Singapore to the northern land, and its geographical location is very important.The water area of ​​the entire bay is larger than that of Dongting Lake, and its shape is like a mango, which shrinks tightly at the mouth of the sea, almost the same as that of Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong Province, except that Sihanoukville Bay is much larger than Jiaozhou Bay. many.

At its estuary, a series of island chains such as Long Island and Long Songlun Island form a natural barrier at the entrance of the entire bay. Each small island is equipped with at least two forts and several watchtowers. Anyone who wants to enter the bay has to get the consent of the island garrison.

When Guan Xuqing built a military port here at the beginning, he considered that it could be used as a forward base for the Beiyang Navy.Dozens of warships painted in the empire's unique gray and black painting are docking here, and the essence of the entire South China coastal navy is concentrated here.

The unique siren sound of setting sail sounded in the harbor, and eight cruisers, Kaiji, Huantai, Jingqing, Baomin, Jiangyuan, Jiangheng, Jiangli, and Jiangzhen pulled up their anchors in a shallow sea of ​​more than ten meters, weighing hundreds of catties. The heavy anchor head sparkled in the moonlight with clear water splashes.

The Imperial Envoy Zhang Yu stood on the pier bridge, looking at the deep black sea, and said to Liu Yongfu, the Governor of Vietnam behind him: "How is the performance and combat effectiveness of our warship compared with the Far East Fleet?"

"Foreign media say that the Far East Fleet is the most powerful fleet in the world today, but I don't think it will be as boasted by foreigners. Take the warships in front of me as examples, Kaiji, Mantech, Jingqing Belonging to ships of the same class, it can be called a masterpiece of the German Hamburg Shipyard. Although it is an unprotected cruiser, it is equipped with two 2mm main guns and six 220mm secondary guns. Baomin is the pinnacle work of Wusong Shipyard. As early as when Li Zhongtang ordered the two ships "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" from Armstrong, this novel impact cruiser has attracted people from all over the world. Note that the performance of the Baomin surpassed the Armstrong ramming cruiser in many aspects, and is the most powerful ramming ship of this tonnage class. Jiang Yuan, Jiang Heng, Jiang Li, and Jiang Zhen were all captured from the French during the Sino-French War The four cruisers Desdan, Ferrers, La Perouse, and Champalin have been improved and processed by Wusong Shipyard for several years, and their combat effectiveness has been unprecedentedly improved. In addition, we also have Dingyuan, Jiyuan, Zhenyuan, and Weiyuan. There are four warships with a standard displacement of 6 tons. Due to their large tonnage, they are not suitable for berthing in offshore ports. They almost combine all the advantages of the two famous British and German ships "Saxon" and "Inflesh White". Ton-class warships of imperial power to compete." Liu Yongfu held a sword in his hand, and when he said these words, his voice was sonorous and powerful.

Zhang Yu nodded, and said meaningfully: "The emperor still has the foresight. At the beginning, the emperor took advantage of the opportunity of the Sino-German alliance to buy these four warships at a low price. The price for the UK to buy a similar warship."

"My lord is wise, with the blessing of the emperor, we will definitely defeat the British." Liu Yongfu said with emotion.

On the other side of the sea level, there is a fleet flying the Union Jack flag, all painted in yellow and black, is slowly sailing into the port of Singapore.Seeing the incomparable giant ship in the fleet, the British Royal Navy Vale who has been waiting all day?Vice Admiral Hamilton let out a heavy breath. This is the epoch-making masterpiece of the Royal Navy, the Dreadnought-class battleship. Now it is carrying the ambitions and dreams of the British across the English Channel, docking in eastern waters for the first time.

Lord Fisher, Lord of the Royal Navy, was the first to step down from the Dreadnought-class battleship. This time, with Her Majesty's determination to conquer the Far East, he set foot on the land of the East for the first time.He looked back at the 305mm gun muzzle of the battleship, and said to Hamilton: "I entrust the hope of the Royal Navy to you, and may you bring victory back to Britain."

(End of this chapter)