Seven Seas Beacon Fire

After Li Yaguang finished speaking, the officers next to him already understood their superior's plan.

That is, sending poorly trained and combat-ready mobilized troops to the front lines as cannon fodder. Such cannon fodder troops will suffer heavy casualties in a short period of time.

And that's exactly what Li Yaguang wanted.

Aren't those mobilized troops lacking experienced officers? These things can't just appear out of thin air, but they can be sifted out on the battlefield, like smelting iron from ore, to quickly unearth those capable of command.

Li Yaguang had even prepared for the day when these two mobilization units suffered too many losses and withdrew, after which their organizational structure would be directly abolished, and all the survivors of these two units would be distributed to other mobilization units. Those who were originally junior officers would be transferred to middle-level positions, and those who were originally soldiers would be transferred to other mobilization units to become non-commissioned officers and junior officers.

Although this screening method certainly has many problems, and may even be somewhat cold-blooded, it is currently the most effective method.

"Sir!" Another staff officer jogged down the stairs from the ground. Li Yaguang's command post was located in the underground vault of the Central Bank, which could be said to be the most secure place in the entire Dongdu. Even if enemy battleship shells landed here, they would hardly threaten the command post located in the vault.

This meant that many staff officers had to work hard every day, running up and down the stairs, since communication conditions underground were not good, and radios could not be installed in underground vaults.

The officer who rushed down came up to him, snapped to attention, saluted, and then said, "Reporting, General, Her Highness the Princess has arrived at the command post, and she has brought many people with her."

"Your Highness?" Li Yaguang pondered for a moment, then asked, "Is it the Fourth Princess?"

Chapter 99 The Defense of the Eastern Capital (4)

When Princess Zheng Guanyin of the Song Prince's Mansion in Yanping entered the command post, Li Yaguang noticed that the princess was wearing a military uniform.

The fourth princess is 24 years old this year. She is the youngest child of the current King Song and the only daughter among his four children. It is said that after King Song had three sons, he especially wanted a daughter. However, after the birth of his third son, the princess could not conceive for many years. Therefore, King Song went to Mount Putuo to pray to Guanyin. Soon after, the princess became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, hence the name Zheng Guanyin.

It is unknown whether this fourth princess was a gift from Guanyin, but her personality was very different from her three older brothers from a young age. People said that she should have been a good young man, but was mistakenly born into the body of a beautiful woman.

Despite such comments, the sight of a princess in military uniform walking into the command post in this era was still quite shocking.

Why did Li Che agree to let Zhu Miaoyun go to Vladivostok with him? Because as a former Ming princess, appearing in the military camp in military uniform—a sight that the officers and soldiers had never seen before—could indeed greatly boost morale. Rarity increases value. In another world, during World War II, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret boosted the morale of the Victorian army by wearing military uniforms to entertain the troops for the same reason.

However, Li Yaguang knew the Fourth Princess's personality, especially since the military uniform she was wearing was neither a fancy dress uniform nor a casual uniform without rank. The princess was wearing a plain junior officer's uniform, a proper combat uniform. She wore a Ming-style saucer-shaped cap (not a flying saucer helmet), a belt around her waist, a Y-shaped belt on her shoulder, an automatic pistol and holster on her right side, three rifle ammunition boxes on her left side, and a carbine firing 7.5mm round-nosed bullets on her back.

After entering the command post, the Fourth Princess went straight to Li Yaguang and gave him a standard military salute.

After returning the greeting, Li Yaguang looked at the Fourth Princess's attire and shook his head slightly: "Your Highness, please don't tell me that you've come to fight under my command."

“I am ready for battle, but I will not make such a request that would actually affect the operation of the troops, because even if you send me to the front line, the officers and soldiers there will certainly be greatly hampered in order to cover me. I know what is important and urgent at the moment.”

The Fourth Princess's voice sounded somewhat cold and aloof, and although her words were quite reasonable, her tone and rhetoric seemed a bit... deliberately stiff.

"Then what brings Your Highness here?"

“It should have been my second brother who came here. At a time like this, my eldest brother should have been in your command post, General, to serve as a clay idol and demonstrate the determination of the Song Prince’s Mansion to fight to the end with all the officers, soldiers and civilians.” At this point, the fourth princess revealed a bit of helplessness: “My eldest brother is a little slow and may arrive later, so I came first.”

Were you a little slow? You might arrive later?

Li Yaguang was not surprised by the Fourth Princess's statement that the Crown Prince would be stationed at his command post. This was a long-standing tradition of the Song Prince's Mansion. Unlike the Jin Prince's Mansion, which consistently produced a capable military leader among its members, the Song Prince's Mansion had a different tradition since the founding of the Song Dynasty. Perhaps due to some kind of buff (or debuff) from the title, the Song Prince's Mansion had almost no one knowledgeable in military affairs in later generations.

This is not because the Song Prince's Mansion intentionally concealed its talents. It might have been possible during the reign of Emperor Jingyun, but after being enfeoffed overseas, the Song Prince's Mansion had no need to conceal its talents like this. Otherwise, it would truly be impossible to produce talents like their ancestors.

During the conquests in Southeast Asia against the then-dominant Western colonial powers, the Song royal family boldly delegated specific command authority to their generals, and the Song king himself or his heir accompanied the generals on campaigns to demonstrate their resolve. This had become a tradition.

Even during this war, the Song Prince's Mansion continued this tradition. The second young master fought alongside the army in Sandakan to resist the Colombian army and died there. The third young master was also injured in the last battle to defend Dongdu and is still in bed recovering.

According to past tradition, it should indeed be the crown prince who comes.

At this moment, an officer who had come in with the Fourth Princess approached Li Yaguang and whispered something in his ear. After listening, Li Yaguang looked at the Fourth Princess with slight surprise: "This is just an unwritten rule after all. We already understand the Crown Prince's courage. He doesn't necessarily have to come to the command post in person."

The fourth princess tilted her head slightly and said, "I thought the general would show disdain for my eldest brother."

“That’s not the case.” Li Yaguang shook his head: “Even if the prince is so scared that he can’t walk right now, it won’t affect his courage. In ancient times, there was a scholar named Chen Buzhan from the State of Qi. When he heard that the king was in trouble, he was furious. Ignoring the advice of his relatives and friends, he drew his sword and went to his rescue.”

They couldn't dissuade him, so they held a banquet to send him off. Chen Buzhan spoke with great passion, but he was timid by nature. During the meal, his wrist trembled so much that he couldn't hold the spoon, and it fell to the ground.

When I boarded the train, I was still trembling with fear. I reached out and grabbed the crossbeam in front of the carriage several times, but I couldn't reach it.

Seeing how frightened he was, the driver advised him: "With such a timid heart, what can you possibly do? Forget it."

Chen Buzhan listened and said solemnly, "Rescuing the king is a matter of public duty, while my cowardice is a private matter. I cannot let personal feelings interfere with public duty." However, when he arrived at the battlefield, he was terrified by the sounds of battle. "The Crown Prince is just like Chen Buzhan; not letting personal feelings interfere with public duty is true courage. How could I look down on Your Highness? Therefore, Your Highness is here temporarily to replace the Crown Prince."

Zheng Guanyin shook her head and said, "I had already asked someone to find a wheelchair for my brother before I set off. Once the wheelchair is found, my brother will arrive here by car. I don't need to stand in for my brother here temporarily. I'm here for other matters. Does the general have any elite troops at hand right now? It doesn't have to be a large-scale force, just enough to escort me out of Dongdu."

"Escort Her Highness out of the Eastern Capital?" Li Yaguang looked at the Fourth Princess and asked with some doubt, "Where is Her Highness going?"

"Go south, either Sibu or Kuching are fine."

"Your Highness is going by boat?" Upon hearing these two place names, Li Yaguang immediately realized that the Fourth Princess was heading to two coastal cities on the west coast of Yanping in the south. Both of these places had ports, so one could take a boat to leave Yanping.

By this time, he understood why the Fourth Princess had to wear military uniform. It wasn't a morale-boosting gesture; the Fourth Princess was genuinely prepared to fight the enemy at any moment. Although Dongdu wasn't completely surrounded by the Colombian army, the transportation lines connecting Dongdu to other places in the south were now under serious threat. In addition to launching a large-scale offensive, the Colombian army had also dispatched many small combat teams to the south to conduct guerrilla warfare, disrupting and sabotaging the supply lines to Dongdu.

The Colombian army is an army that is very good at learning from others in battle. After suffering many losses from guerrillas in the early stages of the war, the Colombian army quickly realized that these rainforests could not only serve as a barrier for the enemy's activities, but also as a barrier for their own. As a result, the Colombian army quickly organized a group of troops to conduct relevant training. This can be regarded as the Colombian army's early exposure to tactics similar to special operations concepts from another perspective.

In other words, if they want to leave Dongdu safely, they have to face the threat of these active Colombian infiltration forces. It is clear that the Fourth Princess has specifically studied the current battlefield situation, and even the weapons she has chosen are semi-automatic weapons that are very suitable for use in the jungle.

As for leaving by boat at this time... Li Yaguang certainly did not believe that the Fourth Princess, who dared to arm herself and risk engaging in firefights with Colombian infiltration forces at any time, was preparing to abandon everything and flee for her life alone.

After all, at this time, leaving Dongdu would mean facing enemy infiltration forces, and boarding a ship to go to sea would mean facing the enemy fleet. All things considered, the risks are much greater than staying in the command post like a clay statue.

"Is Your Highness heading to the mainland?"

This time, the Fourth Princess nodded: "General, you should know our situation better than I do. The Colombian army is coming in strong this time, and they have made more preparations to take Dongdu than ever before. Under such circumstances, if we really want to defeat the Colombian army again, the only way is to get a steady stream of reinforcements."

“But the Prince of Jin’s mansion may not be able to support us right now.” Li Yaguang secretly admired the Fourth Princess. Such action and decisiveness made it a pity that she was born a girl. If the Fourth Princess were a boy, she would probably be no less intelligent than the Prince of Jin’s grandson.

"After Prince Jin took over Yingtian Prefecture, he quickly began to try to send us as many urgently needed supplies as possible. However, the situation at sea is very bad. Even though the grandson of Prince Jin organized a great victory in Yingzhou Sea last month, the overall disadvantage at sea cannot be reversed. Your Highness, Prince Jin is a hero on land. No matter how capable his soldiers are, they cannot swim across the sea to support us."

“That being said, we still need to find a way to do our part,” Zheng Guanyin said. “Moreover, there was news recently that the Crown Prince has arrived in Leizhou. He just achieved a great victory in the north and then rushed to the south. I’m sure he will have some big plans in the south soon. I’m going there for no other reason than to persuade the Crown Prince that if he really has a plan, he should implement it as soon as possible and not wait any longer.”

Li Yaguang now fully understood Zheng Guanyin's plan. Based on public reports and information she could obtain from the Song King, the Fourth Princess guessed that the Ming army was going to take action in the south, which was no longer considered a top secret.

Some people were initially speculating whether the grandson of the prince wanted to create some disturbance to prevent the Colombian army from attacking Dongdu. However, even after the Colombian army began its attack, there seemed to be no movement from Leizhou Port.

Zheng Guanyin didn't know what the grandson was plotting, but she guessed that he might not be unprepared. Given the delicate relationship between the Song Prince's Mansion and the Jin Prince's Mansion, which had almost completely controlled the country, Zheng Guanyin thought that the other party might want to take this opportunity to offer help in a time of need while also giving them a warning.

After all, if the Colombian army had already put the capital in dire straits, and the grandson of the prince were to use his trump card and actually turn the tide and relieve the capital, then even if the problems between the Song Prince's Mansion and the Jin Prince's Mansion could not be completely resolved, it would greatly improve the relationship between the two sides.

More importantly, it made the Song Prince's Mansion realize a reality: who should be in charge now? And to whom will this world belong?

Zheng Guanyin knew that her father was now resisting or avoiding these issues, but she was not going to run away from them, because in her view, running away would not solve the problem.

Whether the rightful ruler of the land belonged to the Ming Dynasty or to some future regime, Zheng Guanyin didn't care. All she cared about was that Yanping must not fall during her generation.

“There are still troops to escort Your Highness out of the city, but Your Highness, the seas are full of Colombian warships. Even if you reach those two ports and board a torpedo boat, you will still face the threat of various enemy patrol vessels after you set sail. Have you considered what your chances of successfully reaching the mainland are?”

“That’s great. As long as I can get out of the city and reach the port, I will naturally find a way to reach Leizhou Port safely.” Zheng Guanyin said, “Although our navy is now only one-tenth of what it used to be, most of the submarines have been preserved. I will leave Yanping Island by submarine.”

After Zheng Guanyin said that, Li Yaguang had even less reason to stop her, and he also understood even more why such a special mission was entrusted to the Fourth Princess.

Even a fool could figure it out: if this mission were entrusted to the Crown Prince, then after the Crown Prince left Dongdu, all sorts of rumors would immediately spread, and most of these rumors would be based on a mixture of truth and falsehood.

If the soldiers on the front lines and the citizens of Dongdu who were assisting the army in the war of resistance were to learn that the heir of the Song Prince's Mansion had left Dongdu and Borneo and headed straight for the mainland under such circumstances, the morale of the army would suffer a devastating blow. Therefore, it could only be the Fourth Princess.

Regarding the upcoming plot

I'm working too late tonight, and I'm getting a bit stuck while writing. I'll stop here for today.

I won't go into detail about the ground battles during the defense of Dongdu, since the focus of this book is the navy, and I'm not very good at writing about the army (orz). What follows is the strategic deception that the navy will carry out.

Compared to the previous works on sea power and the torpedo night at the beginning of this book, this time the aim is to depict the confrontation between the two fleets without direct combat, which can be considered a new attempt.

Of course, in the final stage, we still need to find a way to have a showdown between the two big ships. I spent real money to have Minna draw up the plans for the Dingyuan-class battleship, so we should definitely add more story to it.

Also, I'll share a picture of the Zhiyuan-class battlecruiser; now the Jingyuan is the only one left. (Refresh if you can't see the picture.)

It was essentially a ship of similar toty size to the British Tiger-class battlecruisers, with a normal displacement of 3 tons and a full load displacement of 35,000 tons.

It was equipped with three triple-mounted 330mm 50-caliber main guns, the same type as the main guns of the Dingyuan-class battleships, and the turret structure was also the same, except that the armor was weakened to a certain extent.

With 254mm of side armor sloped at 12°, the protection is acceptable. (It can't compare to the monsters in the world of naval supremacy, though.)

In addition, the Longyuan, which features a 420mm gun, will also be "under construction" in the future. The only thing that can be revealed at present is that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will adopt a layout with four twin-mounted turrets.

Don't keep thinking about Longyuan from the previous book.

Chapter 100 The Wind Rises (1)

Zheng Guanyin had anticipated that the journey would not be easy, but she never imagined it would be this difficult.

From Dongdu to Kuching, they had a close call with Colombian infiltration forces twice – witnessing a convoy of transport vehicles about to reach a town being attacked by Colombian infiltration forces, only to have them withdraw by the time reinforcements arrived.

The Colombian infiltration forces did not choose to attack or assault them. Although these Colombian infiltration forces were well-equipped and had strong individual firepower, each infiltration force was relatively small. They were like raiding ships used for commerce raiding at sea. Even if their firepower was enough to deal a heavy blow to some escorting cruisers, in reality they would generally adhere to the principle of avoiding confrontation if possible.

For raiding/infiltration forces, engaging in combat with the enemy's regular forces is essentially a defeat.

This certainly limits the upper limit of the sabotage operations of these Colombian military infiltration units, but it also gives these infiltration units an extremely flexible nature, allowing them to move freely even without the support of the local population.

Of course, one important reason why these Colombian military infiltration units are always able to remain covert is their ruthlessness. These infiltration units are veterans handpicked by the Colombian military, the most typical white federal men, the most staunch racists, and the most extreme right-wing elements.

Like General Sherman in the Colombian Civil War, they would kill any civilians who saw them during their operations. Sometimes, in order to conceal their movements, they would even carry out planned massacres of villages that might affect their operations.

Although Zheng Guanyin and his group were not attacked by these Colombian infiltrators along the way, they witnessed far too much horrific tragedy caused by these executioners.

The bodies of children stuffed into the well, women raped and murdered, villagers killed by machine gun fire while trying to resist, even the remains of the village that were driven into the granary and then burned...

These horrific scenes filled the officers and soldiers who were with Zheng Guanyin with righteous indignation. Many of them volunteered to stay and assist the local forces in clearing out the Colombian troops.

Such a request was of course not approved. In such situations, Zheng Guanyin always solemnly told these officers and soldiers that even if they personally killed a few Colombian infiltrators with bullets and bayonets, they could not really save many more people. For the continuation of the country and the survival of the people, what they needed to do now was to go to the southern port as soon as possible, and then try to go to the mainland to persuade the Prince of Jin's mansion to give Yanping the most urgent support as soon as possible.

However, after arriving in Kuching more smoothly than expected, Zheng Guanyin encountered an unexpected situation—just one day before their arrival, a federal naval fleet had arrived off the coast of Kuching and engaged in combat with the port's coastal defense artillery.

The Colombian military has demonstrated a completely new tactic this time: a group of warships, consisting of battleships with better armor protection, engage in a firefight with the coastal artillery. The other group consists of cruisers. This latter group uses its speed to quickly cut in and then indiscriminately bombards the entire port area and city without regard to the specific firing direction.

This tactic doesn't aim to eliminate any specific targets within the port area; it simply relies on its superior ships and cannons to kill as many civilians as possible in the city and workers in the port area.

The enemy's goal is to kill.

Unfortunately, the four submarines that were docked at the same pier were hit by enemy fire. Although none of the submarines sank, the pressure hulls of three of them were damaged to varying degrees. The enemy's large and medium caliber naval guns did not need to hit them directly; the shrapnel generated after the explosion was enough to cause serious damage to the hulls of these submarines.

The only remaining submarine with an undamaged pressure hull had a malfunctioning propeller. Although Zheng Guanyin once considered abandoning the submarine trip and instead opting for a long-range torpedo boat, this was met with strong opposition from the navy. In the navy's words, there were more United States of Colombian warships outside the port than chickens in the port's mess hall, and the enemy's destroyers were faster and had stronger firepower than their long-range torpedo boats. Even traveling under the cover of night was too risky.

Why not wait a few days to repair the submarine? Sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood, will it?

Zheng Guanyin agreed, but what the Fourth Princess did not expect was that the submarine would take more than a week to repair.

For more than a week, Zheng Guanyin was extremely anxious, reading the newspaper reports about the battle situation in the north every day in Kuching. The Colombian army, with strong artillery support, had entered the city in less than a week after launching its offensive, and the two sides were now engaged in a fierce battle for control of the city.

Moreover, this time the enemy also found the weakness of Dongdu City – although as the largest industrial city in Southeast Asia, Dongdu City has a large number of reinforced concrete or brick and stone buildings, it is undeniable that in the East and in Southeast Asia, where there are many primeval rainforests, it is almost impossible to clear wooden buildings from a city in this era.

Especially in the old city districts of Dongdu, there are rows and rows of wooden civilian buildings. In these places, only schools, banks, post offices and similar places are made of reinforced concrete.

So the Colombian army set fire to the Eastern Capital, using fire as a weapon, which was truly a literal and aggressive move.

In the massive fire launched by the Colombian military, 70% of the old city in the northern part of the city was destroyed. Although many people had been evacuated before the attack began, many elderly people were unwilling to leave their homes. Some people even stayed behind to support the troops and provide logistical assistance. These people who remained in the old city for various reasons suffered heavy casualties in the disaster.

Even by the most conservative estimates, the fire caused tens of thousands of casualties.

Of course, it was precisely because of this fire that the mobilized forces, which were already struggling to withstand the Colombian army's strong offensive, were completely turned into a desperate army. Most of these mobilized forces were organized by mobilizing local people, and many of the officers and soldiers in these mobilized forces lost their parents, wives, and children in the fire, or even if they were lucky enough to survive, they were displaced because of the fire.

In particular, the fighting spirit displayed by some of the mobilized troops who were urgently organized to participate in the fire rescue was no less than that of some elite front-line regular troops. After all, for any man who still has a man in his lap, when you personally dig out one charred body after another from the ruins, which were all your familiar relatives, friends, and neighbors, or even when you find yourself all alone in this world, what choice would you make?

While such courage is commendable, a war ultimately comes down to material resources, and without reinforcements, such psychological warfare cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Finally, at the end of the month, the submarine completed its repairs. On the dark and windy night of the same day, the large submarine, weighing over 2000 tons, carrying the fourth princess and its entourage, departed Kuching at high speed on the surface.

-------------------------------------

"That's the situation." After marking the map with a red line, Xu Yueming said with a hint of regret, "The first hurricane in the Bharat Ocean didn't even reach Java Island. It only slightly affected Sumatra in the peripheral areas. Now, the second hurricane in the Bharat Ocean is forming. At present, we can only hope that this hurricane will make landfall on time."

"So that means we have to wait another week?" Li Che's eyebrows furrowed, and he turned to a staff member beside him, asking, "How's the fighting in Yanping and Luoyang? How long can they hold out?"

The staff officer quickly opened a notebook and reported based on the latest intelligence he had copied from headquarters: "As of 9:00 p.m. last night, the Colombian army has cut off the connection between the unnamed hill in the northeast corner of the city and the city. There is still about a regiment of troops resisting on the unnamed hill. It seems that they will have a hard time holding out until today."

"The Nameless Hill is the most important high ground in the northeast of the entire Eastern Capital. If the Colombian army controls this Nameless Hill, they can bring up their large-caliber heavy artillery, and the shells could even hit the royal city directly." Clearly, an advisor was very concerned about the situation in this area. After the staff member finished reporting, he immediately said, "As long as the Colombian army takes the Nameless Hill, draw a circle with a radius of 20 kilometers around it, and the urban areas within that circle will probably be unable to be defended."

"And the Colombian military has brought in even bigger stuff." Chen Ce took a coded telegram from the Naval Intelligence Department: "Our intelligence personnel discovered that Colombian transport ships are unloading railway guns at the Sandakan docks."

"A railway gun?" Li Che raised an eyebrow slightly. "What model? What caliber?"

"It's unclear. It's a model we've never seen before, and it's also a model that neither the United States of Colombia's army nor navy has ever equipped. But the only thing we can be sure of is that the caliber is very large. However, the railway gun is painted with the camouflage of the Gallic army, so it is very likely that it is a heavy artillery that the United States of Colombia obtained from Gaul. We are currently investigating the specific model."

"The camouflage of the Gallic army?" Li Che stared at Chen Ce: "Is the Gallic army's camouflage something you can confirm?"

“The camouflage of the Gallic army’s artillery and their armored cavalry is quite distinctive, with very rich patterns and exceptionally bright colors. It should be virtually impossible to mistake them,” Xu Yueming added from the side.

After thinking about Xu Yueming's statement, Li Che agreed that it was indeed true. Several model enthusiasts he had met in another world had a deep impression of the various camouflage patterns used by the Gallic Army during World War I. These patterns were an indispensable part of World War I-themed models, and they were indeed very distinctive.

It's quite reasonable that the United States of Colombia might have specifically imported railway guns from the Gauls. The Gauls' artillery manufacturing level was undoubtedly the strongest in the world at that time, especially in heavy artillery, even surpassing the Letanians. In another world, Li Che, who had long since become a hardcore military enthusiast, certainly hadn't fallen behind in theoretical military discussions. Given the condition of the Gallic guns, he quickly guessed which "very large caliber" railway gun the United States of Colombia had acquired.

That was the famous French M915 400mm railway gun.