Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 250 Prepare for the Battle
The morning court had just ended, and Liu Buchan was about to go back to become a director of the Admiralty when he was surrounded by several court officials. "Your Excellency, I heard that the Australian and New Zealand fleet mysteriously disappeared in the Philippine waters last night. Do you know about this?"

Liu Buchan pretended to be surprised: "Really? But then again, they always harass our country's territorial waters for no reason. It's their own fault for what happened."

"I heard that it was wiped out by a mysterious submarine formation. The whole battle did not exceed an hour. None of the more than 4000 naval officers and soldiers of the Australian team were spared. They all died in the bottom of the sea. It is terrible!"

"You guys are very well-informed. Why haven't I heard of it?" Liu Buchan smiled, and continued to move forward without everyone else.

These people chattered endlessly and kept pestering Liu Buchan: "Master Liu, your Admiralty did this, right?"

"It's a joke. The British didn't even build a submarine. How could we have one? My lords, don't ask so many questions. Let's do business for the emperor honestly. This place is not far from the Golden Palace. If the emperor Knowing that we are guessing wildly here, once Long Yan gets angry, it is no joke."

Liu Buchan's words had an effect, and all the ministers dispersed obediently.

At about 10 o'clock last night, the Australian and New Zealand fleet was attacked by an unknown submarine formation in the Philippine waters. All seven cruisers in the fleet were sunk, and more than 4700 officers and soldiers including Colonel Commander Simon were all killed.This is not only a disgrace to Australia and New Zealand, but also a great irony to the Royal Navy.The furious top of the Admiralty is facing extremely heavy pressure. If the truth cannot be found out before the meeting of the House of Commons five days later, the Admiralty will find it difficult to face the questions of the members.Under the tight conditions, the Indian Ocean Fleet sent five main cruisers to cooperate with the Australian and New Zealand Navy to conduct an intensive search in the sea area, but in the sea area where the incident occurred, except for some warship wrecks and soldiers' corpses, there was no one to be found. Little clues.The British and even several military ports in the Philippines and Indonesia issued an investigation report to report to the Ministry of the Navy once they found a submarine.

This incident quickly caused a shock in the world. Emperor Franz of the Austro-Hungarian Empire immediately sent a telegram to Kaiser Wilhelm II, congratulating Germany on successfully developing a new submarine and giving the British a head-on blow.However, in the telegram that the Kaiser replied later, he said: "I am afraid that God is looking forward to the truth of the facts."

Three days later, in a statement issued by the British Admiralty, the Germans were vaguely accused of being the culprit of the sneak attack. If the parties concerned cannot immediately take responsibility, it means unilaterally provoking the scourge of war.

The tough Germans immediately responded, accusing Britain of being behind the scenes and deliberately stirring up troubles to undermine the peace of Europe. If the relevant parties do not take back their irresponsible speeches, the German Empire will take actions including military actions. retaliation by any means.

The war of words between Britain and Germany plunged the entire European war into the shadow of war.

"The British have swaggered at sea for four centuries, and they have all the Germans, so we still have to swallow it!" In a square in Berlin, a fanatical host dressed in a mutant naval officer with a golden ribbon Clothes, roaring and asking questions to the fanatical crowd in the square.

"No! We want war!" Almost everyone shouted, driven by spontaneous or guided voices.

In Paris, France, the frenzied atmosphere has also begun to drive the citizens into madness. "Alsace! Lorraine!" The two place names were repeatedly shouted by the crowd. This is their shame. The Franco-Prussian War allowed an empire to rise, and another great country lost what once belonged to it. Two pieces of land.

Berlin, Bremen, the whole of Germany, Vienna, Munich and even half of Europe are shrouded in this atmosphere.Stimulated by this fanatical atmosphere, an Austrian with a mustache looked excitedly at everything around him. He couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, and began to write a letter to King Ludwig III of Bavaria with a pen in his hand. His father's history of serving the country has been written down line by line with his loyalty and fanaticism to the country and the nation.

In Vienna, the convoy of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Dinan is about to leave. His destination is Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, a land recently occupied by the empire.There, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will inspect the cavalry division stationed there, accompanied by his wife, Her Royal Highness Princess Sofia.There, Her Royal Highness Sophia can get honors that cannot be obtained in Vienna.

In Beijing, Guan Xuqing had already smelled the strong smell of gunpowder from Europe in the early morning. This morning, he inspected the state of the empire before the war. Zaifeng had already returned from further studies in Germany. He was arranged to go to the four major military regions to do inspections, in order to maintain a long-term motivational state of preparation.

After listening to Li Zhen and others’ report on people’s livelihood and finance, Guan Xuqing said: “The common people have enjoyed more than 20 years of peace and prosperity, and now they need to make some contributions to the country. From now on, the Imperial Savings Bank will start Issuing war bonds, the Far East Joint Stock Company began to raise war funds and materials from the private sector in the name of half official and half business."

"twitter."

"The Ministry of War needs to increase the amount of conscription, add another 50 troops on the existing basis, and be ready to go to war at any time. In North Korea, Annan, Siam and other regions, 10 to [-] people should be recruited, organized into seven A full-stacked or strengthened division will be used." Guan Xuqing said to Feng Xianghua.

"twitter."

Guan Xuqing looked at Gu Hongming, the newly promoted alternate minister of military aircraft, and said, "Tang Sheng, I heard that you have worked very hard since you took up your new post, especially in the past ten days or so. You have hardly slept for more than three hours a day. It's too hospital. People said you coughed up blood from exhaustion twice."

"The country is in a state of preparation for war. In order to repay the emperor's favor, Tang Sheng should do the work of a dog and a horse." Gu Hongming blushed and said with cupped hands.

"National affairs are of course important, but if you are exhausted, who will share my worries. I order you to take care of your body from now on, and sleep at least four hours a day. Later, let Wang Shang take you to the imperial hospital to collect two catties Liaodong old mountain ginseng. When I am employing people, you are a minister, so take care of yourself."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

After the court was over, Guan Xuqing left Feng Xianghua behind: "Let's go, let's go to the telegraph room with me, I always have a premonition that something big will happen in the next two days."

The two monarchs and ministers rushed to the telegraph room on the west side of the military aircraft office one after the other.

The regulations here have expanded quite a bit. In a total of four rooms, young elites dressed as civil servants at all levels are busy wearing their clothes, sending daily telegrams from various provinces, military newspapers at all levels, and overseas embassies and intelligence organizations. Translated, extracted and compiled a daily booklet in duplicate for archiving and reading purposes. Recently, due to the increasingly tense situation in Europe and key areas in Asia, the number of telegrams is particularly large, and the people here are becoming more and more busy. .It wasn't until the guards at the door shouted salute that the people inside realized that the emperor was coming.

"Your Majesty! Something serious has happened!" Dai Hongci, the steward of the telegraph room, knelt down and reported.

Guan Xuqing was startled by the sound of his voice, his face darkened and he said: "I don't have the dignity of an imperial court official at all, what a chicken feather shouting."

"Crown Prince Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was shot dead in Sarajevo! The Austro-Hungarian Empire has declared war on Serbia!"

(End of this chapter)