New Han Dynasty 1834

Chapter 105 Blockade of the West Coast

December 5, 1837, Acapulco, a port city on the western coast of Mexico.

A total of 64 warships and transport ships of various types from the British Navy, 12 warships and transport ships from the US Navy, and 24 warships and transport ships from Mexico, totaling 100 warships and transport ships of various sizes, carrying 12,000 soldiers from the three countries, set sail north for California.

After sailing for twenty-five days, they approached the California coast in the early morning of December 30th, arriving at a point more than 12 kilometers southwest of the Great Han California Bay.

The fleet from the Three Kingdoms encountered the patrol fleet of the Beiyang Fleet of the Han Dynasty in Jiaozhou Bay.

The representatives of the three nations aboard the flagship of the three-nation fleet, after receiving a report from their lookouts, also picked up their binoculars to observe the other side.

James Buchanan looked at the Chinese character flags on the top of the patrol boats and muttered to the people around him with a heavy heart, "The Han Chinese patrol boat fleet has appeared here. They have indeed occupied San Francisco."

Santa Anna said excitedly, "Then let the fleet attack quickly and destroy these patrol boats."

"Then we immediately began the landing operation, so that we could continue to maintain the element of surprise."

Buchanan was slightly more cautious: "My advice is that we should not launch a direct attack until we have a clear idea of ​​the size of the Han Chinese army and fleet in California."

As for the British representative McLaughlin and the British fleet commanders, they were not prepared to attack at all.

The three fleets maintained their normal speed and continued to move closer to Jiaozhou Bay.

After spotting the three-nation fleet, the Jiaozhou patrol boats roughly confirmed their identities by observing the three national flags hanging on the bows of the ships.

The patrol boats maintained a certain distance from each other, staying outside the effective range of the ship's guns, and continued to monitor the other side's movements.

At the same time, arrange for a steamship to immediately return to Jiaozhou Bay to notify Li Anbang and the main fleet.

Upon receiving the report, Li Anbang immediately ordered the Imperial Guards to assemble and prepare for battle.

The fleet stationed in Jiaozhou Bay immediately set sail to patrol outside the bay, preparing for blockade and battle to prevent the enemy fleet from landing. At the same time, a steamship was dispatched north to notify the fleet in the Gulf of America to prepare.

In addition, a steamship was dispatched immediately, carrying an interpreter, to send a message to the fleets of the three kingdoms.

At 1 p.m. that day, more than 50 kilometers off the coast of Jiaozhou Bay, the steamship finally met the fleet of ships from the three countries.

The steamship, flying its flag, sailed into the fleet and docked with the flagship of the three kingdoms.

Yu Yang, an interpreter familiar with the local situation, boarded the flagship of the Three Kingdoms fleet under the escort of ten imperial guards.

After introducing himself, he met Buchanan, McLaughlin, and Anna.

McLaughlin was originally the head of Hudson Bay Company on the West Coast. He had dealt with Yu Yang during the handover process at Fort Vancouver. When he saw Yu Yang again, he took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, Mr. Yu, we meet again."

Yu Yang didn't expect there to be someone here who looked somewhat familiar, but he simply ignored the other person's attempts to get closer.

Yu Yang, with a stern face, declared the attitude of the Great Han American Military Department to them: "The coast ahead is the military development zone of the Great Han American Military Department, and no unrelated personnel are allowed to approach."

"Your fleet must get away from the coast immediately, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences if it is attacked by the garrison fleet."

Seeing that the other party was not responding at all, McLaughlin could only explain his purpose in a businesslike manner: "We made an agreement at Vancouver Fort that the personnel of Hudson Bay Company would temporarily be under the management of Big Han."

"But that does not mean that the Kingdom of Britain has given up its claims to this region."

"At the time, we stated that the Kingdom of Britain would send diplomats to the West Coast to negotiate with the Great Han regarding the ownership of the territories of Oregon and British Columbia."

"I have now been authorized by the King and Parliament of Britain to come here as a representative of the Kingdom of Britain."

"I now request to discuss these issues with Mr. Zhang Zongyu and Your Excellency."

Buchanan immediately followed suit, stating: "We, the United States, reserve our claims to the territories of Oregon and British Columbia."

"I am now here, as a representative of the United States, together with the representative of the Kingdom of Britain, to negotiate with the Great Han."

"Last year we arranged for Colonel Lister to lead two thousand Union troops overland across the Rocky Mountains to negotiate with the Great Han garrison."

"Now I need to know if you two have already made contact, and if so, what the outcome was, and where they are currently."

"Should we go to Fort Vancouver or San Francisco now?"

Yu Yang found it absurd after hearing this: "Your verbal request for negotiation was just empty talk when you were surrendering and running away."

"Now you're asking to do so-called negotiations? Do you think your ships and the troops on board can stand up to the Han army?"

"To put it bluntly, you surrendered back then and gave up these lands. Now you've brought back some troops and want to take them back."

"You barbarians, in the end, you only rely on force to do things, and what you say is all bullshit."

"Let me make this clear to you now: the west coast of the Americas belongs to the territory of the Great Han, and the Great Han does not need to negotiate its ownership with anyone."

"If you find it unacceptable, then try to take it back."

"Also, I don't know who this Liszt you're talking about is."

"Last year, a group of wild men, whose origins are unknown, trespassed into the military restricted area of ​​the Han Dynasty without permission and were annihilated on the spot by the Han army."

"I remind you that what you need to do now is to leave here as soon as possible and stay away from the military expansion zone of the Great Han."

"Otherwise, if our fleet sees you as a threat, it may launch an attack."

"Just like those savages we encountered last year."

McLaughlin was taken aback. He hadn't expected that after two years, Yu Yang would speak even more bluntly and disregard him even more: "Me—this big man—directly refusing to negotiate, are you already prepared to bear the consequences?"

Buchanan understood Yu Yang's meaning and, both shocked and furious, shouted, "Your attack on the United States army constitutes an act of war against the United States!"

Santa Anna was a little out of sync, but finally found a chance to speak: "California is Mexican territory. I demand that you withdraw from California immediately, or we will take back our territory by force."

After listening to their words, Yu Yang cupped his hands and said, "I have said everything I need to say. This is the meaning of the Great Han American General. How you decide and respond is your own business."

"And then you should all understand what kind of consequences you will encounter."

"I won't bother you any longer. Goodbye."

After Yu Yang finished speaking, he turned and left the deck, boarded the small boat he had come from, returned to the steamship, and went directly back to Jiaozhou Bay.

McLaughlin, Buchanan, and Anna were left stunned for a moment.

Then Buchanan and Anna jumped up and started cursing.

"Madmen! These Han Chinese are all madmen! They actually dare to wipe out our army!"

"This is a provocation! We must attack immediately! Take back San Francisco, take back California!"

McLaughlin muttered with a grim face, "The big man has directly refused to negotiate, truly unwilling to pay any price for this land—"

The representatives of the three countries had different feelings at this moment, but none of them asked the fleet to stop. The fleet continued to approach Jiaozhou Bay.

Two hours later, when the three fleets were only about 20 kilometers away from Jiaozhou Bay, the lookout reported another new discovery.

Along the edge of the field of vision, there was a line of twenty warships, arranged in a column parallel to the coast, with their broadsides facing the direction in which the three nations' fleet was advancing.

The lookout specifically noted that most of the twenty warships could be considered third-class ships, with a displacement of at least 1,000 tons and at least 60 shipborne guns.

Once Anna understood what was going on, she immediately shouted excitedly, "It's time! The British fleet will destroy their fleet, and we'll land together and retake California!"

Buchanan wasn't so impulsive. Instead, he looked at McLaughlin: "What do we do now? The Han Kingdom isn't prepared to pay any price for occupying the west coast. What about Britain's attitude? Are we just going to accept it like this?"

McLaughlin looked very grim: "Britain certainly cannot accept this."

"But the Great Han really doesn't want to have any direct negotiations with us."

"The key is that they don't allow us to get close to the coast, so we can't figure out what's really going on with them."

"The safest course of action now would be to continue north to Alaska."

"Let's ask the Rakshasa people about the situation of the Han people."

McLaughlin went to see the fleet commander, mainly to explain the attitude of the Han envoy.

Without McLaughlin's specific advice, the commander directed the fleet north to Alaska according to the pre-arranged plan.

The order was given, and the British fleet adjusted its course, gradually moving away from the coastline.

Currently, the three-nation fleet is under the command of Britain, and the ships from the United States and Mexico have also turned around.

After Anna understood what was going on, she stared at McLaughlin with wide eyes, instinctively wanting to call him a coward.

McLaughlin seemed to anticipate Anna's reaction, and warned with a grim face: "Although the Great Han only has twenty ships here, most of them are level three or above warships, with a few level four warships."

"Although we have a total of one hundred ships, only ten of them are third-class and fourth-class warships."

"This is still their home port, and we are at a complete disadvantage in fighting the Han fleet here."

"If you want to attack, you can break away from the fleet now and launch your own attack."

"If you're going to go mad, don't drag Britain down with you."

Anna instinctively wanted to get angry, but she managed to hold back in the end.

Without the support of the British fleet, Mexico's small and medium-sized transport ships simply could not dock.

Britain was still a first-rate Western power, and its navy was the most powerful among European nations.

Anna's current arrogance in calling for an attack largely stems from the British Navy, his counterpart.

Now that Britain has made it clear that it does not approve of a direct attack, Anna has gradually quieted down.

The fleets of the three kingdoms sailed north from the shore together. After the fleet of the Han Dynasty outside Jiaozhou Bay discovered them, it also set sail and left Jiaozhou Bay.

The Han fleet monitored and accompanied the fleets of the three countries on the side closest to the coast.

The lookouts on the three kingdoms' fleets were both vigilant and furious as they observed the movements of the Han fleet.

"It now seems that the Han fleet will absolutely not allow us to land, not even in some desolate area."

"They're blocking off the coastline—"

The three fleets had no choice but to continue north, and after sailing for six days, they arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River.

At this time, another Han fleet appeared in the north. After joining forces with the fleet from Jiaozhou Bay, its size doubled, becoming a total of forty large and medium-sized warships.

They continued to watch the three fleets sail north.

When the fleets of the Three Kingdoms faced twenty capital ships of the Han Dynasty, they realized that they were not at a military advantage.

Faced with forty warships, they had even less intention to fight.

The three fleets continued north, entering the Russian-controlled Alaskan region, and sailed towards Novorakhangelsk, the capital of the Russian American Company, a region later known in the United States as Sitka.

Novorakhangelsk is located at the southern tip of Alaska, in a coastal region bordering British Columbia, Canada.

The three-nation fleet's plan was to go to Novorakhangelsk to exchange intelligence with the Rakshasa people. The representatives of the three nations instinctively felt that the Han fleet would not follow them into the Rakshasa territory.

However, the Han fleet did not stop in the border area at all, but continued to follow them northward.

They followed together to the waters off Novorakhangelsk, remaining on the side closest to the coastline, preventing the three fleets from approaching Novorakhangelsk.

The representatives of the three nations aboard the fleet were astonished and furious. McLaughlin was equally incredulous: "This is Rakshasa land! What are these Han Chinese fleets trying to do?!"

"They're blocking our way here, are we just going to stand by and watch? Are we just going to avoid making contact with the Rakshasa?"

"The Han fleet controls the North American coastline. Are the Rakshasa people just going to accept this?"

But the Rakshasa people here really have no choice but to endure it.

Although Novorakhangelsk is considered the capital of the Rakshasa American Company, there are fewer than one hundred Rakshasa people living there. Even if you include the natives who live nearby and trade with the Rakshasa, the total population is only about three hundred.

Whether it's the combined fleet of Britain, the United States, and Mexico, with a total of one hundred ships, or the Han fleet with forty large and medium-sized warships, the Rakshasa of Novorakhangelsk are completely untouchable.

Although the Russians also wanted to make contact with the British, Americans, and Mexicans to exchange intelligence about the Han Dynasty, they had no choice but to endure it since the Han fleet had already blockaded the coastline.

The Rakshasa would not directly clash with the Han fleet just to exchange information.