Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 231 The Lifeline of Asia (1)
Ministers Zhang Yu, Liu Yongfu, and Liu Buchan have won the victory to my emperor. In today's battle at the mouth of Sihanoukville, our army annihilated 9 main cruisers, 11 gunboats, 6 torpedo ships, and 3 transport ships of the British Far East Fleet. number, annihilated about 27 British officers above the rank of lieutenant and about 5500 British soldiers.

Long live my emperor, long live the Chinese Empire!
"Okay!" Guan Xuqing jumped up, his spirits lifted.

"The ministers congratulate the emperor!" Li Hongzhang, Feng Xianghua and other civil and military officials knelt down and shouted long live.

"Haha, immediately draw up a decree to commend those who have made meritorious service. All officers who participated in the war will be promoted to a higher level, and each soldier who participated in the war will be rewarded for half a year. This Liu Buchan, I really did not misunderstand him."

"The emperor is holy. Zhang Yu also asked for instructions in the telegram to the Ministry of War. At present, the Far East Fleet has been defeated. Whether the troops and ships deployed in Vietnam and other places can be withdrawn, please decide." Feng Xianghua respectfully said.

"The main force of the Far East Fleet has been wiped out by our army, and the remaining troops are gathered in the port of Singapore. The Strait of Malacca is still in the hands of the British. That is the lifeline of Asia." Guan Xuqing thought for a moment with his eyes flickering, and said firmly: "The so-called soldier Be quick, pass on my orders, give Zhang Yu two days to adjust the team, and after two days, lead all the troops to march towards Singapore, which will definitely drive the British out of the Strait of Malacca!"

"twitter!"

The destruction of the main force of the powerful Far East Fleet meant that the dream of the British in the Far East almost came to naught.The hawks represented Prime Minister Salisbury without the approval of the parliament and almost ordered to declare war on China. At this time, the parliament was noisy and they had to re-evaluate the military strength of the Chinese.The British people were also stunned by the "bad news", and the British wondered blankly: When will those inferior and inferior "yellow monkeys" in the Far East dare to wage war against the British and defeat the mighty Royal Navy in one fell swoop?What is going on with the British Empire now?Is the former empire on which the sun never sets really heading for decline?

The destruction of the Far East Fleet made China rejoice, and the Chinese navy was finally able to annihilate the world's most powerful naval force in a formal naval battle.This greatly satisfied the Chinese people who had suffered from the invasion from the sea.Guan Xuqing's status in the hearts of Chinese people is close to god level.The Chinese navy has also become the most sacred concept in the minds of the Chinese people.

This fiasco caused great trouble to the British reinforcement fleet that was planning to go to support.Originally, if the main force of the Far East Fleet remained, the addition of five Imperial Power-class battleships and five armored cruisers with a displacement of more than 5 tons would be enough to fight against the Chinese fleet. The Chinese fleet is exhausted.However, the disastrous defeat of the Far East Fleet completely overturned this idea of ​​the Royal Navy. If the reinforcement fleet continues to advance, it is very likely to throw itself on the steel plate.The legendary combat effectiveness of the mysterious Zhonghua-class battleship really made the Navy Department unable to muster up the courage to face it. No one can figure out how many super battleships like this are still in China's harbor.But if no reinforcements are sent, once China decides to continue to advance, the nearly 5000 British soldiers stationed in the Singapore fortress may become cannon fodder and prisoners of the Chinese, which is even more unacceptable.

Unable to come up with a better solution, the Admiralty reported the matter to the United Kingdom, who was also arguing with the Parliament for declaring war on a country without the approval of the Parliament.After receiving the report, in order to shift the target, the matter was immediately handed over to the parliament for handling.The parliament is not a fool, let the UK propose a corresponding solution, and then the parliament will discuss it.No one dares to pick up this hot potato easily. Once the war fails, this term of Britain will be drowned in the saliva of the Chinese people.

The United Kingdom weighed again and again and proposed two motions.One is to abandon Singapore, and all British soldiers in the fortress will cross the Strait of Johor and enter Malaya for defense.In this way, the fleet size of the British Royal Navy, which is already greatly damaged, can be preserved.Second, the reinforcement fleet advanced at full speed and fought resolutely against the Chinese fleet with the help of fortress fortresses, but the outcome of the battle was unpredictable.The result calculated by the British think tank was more ominous than good, which made Parliament very dissatisfied.After several hours of fierce quarrels, the British House of Lords reluctantly passed the second British bill under Salisbury's impassioned speech.But at this time, nearly ten hours have passed, and when the reinforcement fleet received the order to advance at full speed, another 2 hours passed.

At 14:36 ​​in the afternoon of the same day, the Chinese North-South Combined Fleet, which was in full swing, had arrived in the waters west of Singapore and began to divide into several strategic columns to carry out a devastating blow to the Changi Coastal Battery Group.The competition for Asia's first lifeline began from this moment.

For a time, shells of various calibers such as 295mm, 280mm, 274mm, and 235mm rained on the fort.The violent shelling caused a huge hurricane in Tekong Island, allowing the British stationed in the fort to see the most violent artillery fire outside their own country for the first time.

The British hadn't fully woken up yet. The artillery shells from the main battleships Dingyuan, Hurricane, Rage, and Haitian almost simultaneously penetrated the armor of two 240mm fortress guns from the front. The strong explosion not only blasted the top armor of the fort, Even the barrel of the company was thrown out of the firing hole by the shock wave.

"Is that a German warship?" Coastal Defense Commander Joseph clearly saw through the binoculars that two super-large ships were moored behind the Chinese fleet, like elephants floating on the sea, staring at them intently. The coastline of Changi, especially the dozens of airships parked on the wide deck, made Joseph firmly believe that it was a German warship.

"Your Excellency, Commander, that is indeed a Chinese warship named Zhonghua No. 1. He is the one who brought the mighty Intrepid back to the UK." An adjutant said sadly.

In the Changi Fortress Group, there was no anti-aircraft firepower preparation at all, and the guards were completely frightened by the Chinese airships rushing to the sky.The Feitian and Shenwu airships first launched an attack on the guns of the No. 3 Fortress. Although the two high-explosive bombs only hit one, the huge power caused by the nearly 5-kilogram bomb still blasted the concrete poured fort armor. It was broken into pieces, and the collapsed concrete crushed the entire gun barrel and gunner under the rubble. The side armor of the No. 2 fortress gun was also destroyed by the Kaiji main gun. The explosion sent out a huge shock wave that killed most of the gunners in the fort and destroyed the firing device of the gun.The 6 bombs dropped by the Falcon hit the top of the No. [-] Fortress gun one after another, and one of them exploded inside, detonating the ammunition inside the turret. Numerous fragments and fireballs flew around, and the light gray can be clearly seen by the naked eye. The shock wave scraped the nearby vegetation, sand and stones into flat ground.

(End of this chapter)