Seven Seas Beacon Fire

—ID Heavy Cruiser Researcher Noshiro, from "The Blue Sea, Blue Sky, and Pacific Ocean"

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

"McGiffen ran away?!"

When Pershing learned of this news, he was almost incredulous.

How could you run away?!

On the ground, the two sides are basically locked in a stalemate where whoever can add fuel to the fire will be able to overpower the other. Under such circumstances, the main force of the Federal Navy's Pacific Fleet has left the battlefield. Isn't this equivalent to selling out the Army and Marine Corps to the enemy?

In a fit of extreme shock, anger, and fear, Pershing disregarded all decorum and grabbed the collar of the naval liaison officer who had come to report to him, pulling the officer directly in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he asked, word by word, "Why did he run away?! Is your navy colluding with the enemy?! He only lost a few ships and he's already running away? We've lost so many men on land, those young men's lives were wasted because of your cowardly commander!"

Despite being sprayed with spittle, the naval liaison officer maintained the composure typical of a naval officer. After all, most captains are required to remain calm and composed even when their warship is hit by a torpedo, the ammunition depot is on fire, or the engine room is flooded, and when everyone else is in a panic, they must say in a calm tone, "We have encountered some minor problems."

"General, I hope you understand that the navy is the only branch of the military that can lose an entire war in an afternoon. Our Pacific Fleet could also lose all its main forces in one night. If that happens, let alone supporting the army to continue fighting, you will probably only be able to pray that you can row back to the Federation in a small boat."

After saying this, the naval liaison officer pried open Pershing's hand that was grabbing his collar, straightened his collar, and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the enemy's artillery fleet will be able to reach the waters off Dongdu within 12 hours, or at most 24 hours. What you need to do now is to withdraw the troops within 20 kilometers of the coastline to places further away from the coastline, and at the same time start preparing how to withdraw the troops."

Pershing stopped hurling threats and roaring at him. At that moment, Pershing seemed to have aged several years in an instant. He was like an old lion, staring intently at the naval liaison officer in front of him. Only after the liaison officer turned and left his command post did Pershing suddenly go to the map hanging on the wall, rip it off, and tear it to shreds with his hands.

At this moment, Pershing believed that the enemy must have already received the results of the naval battle, and that the Chinese forces on the other side would definitely take this opportunity to launch a counterattack with the support of their navy.

Although they were only attempting to conquer an overseas vassal state in the East, Pershing himself was well aware that conquering it would be far more difficult than they had anticipated, and the costs the Federation would have to invest here would be enormous.

The main reason they are unwilling to give up is the huge sunk cost, and the reason why the front line cannot continue to advance south is the enemy's mobilization of divisions one after another.

When they first encountered these mobilized troops, Pershing himself mocked the enemies he faced, saying that he had only provided these troops with the most basic light weapons and then tried to attack their flanks with the support of a small number of independent artillery units. Could these troops be up to the task? The Federation Army often only needed a regiment to defeat such a mobilized division head-on. If on the defensive, sometimes even a reinforced battalion-sized battle group could not break through the defensive positions of a mobilized division.

If it were just one or two such divisions, or even just a few or a dozen such divisions, it would only cause them some trouble, but it would be impossible to turn the tide of the war. However, as the war has progressed, all the commanders of the Federal Army feel that the opposing forces are simply endless.

Once, while inspecting troops, Pershing overheard two soldiers whispering around a corner in the trenches, unaware of his arrival. One of them complained to his comrade:

"Why did Washington send us to the East to fight the Chinese? The number of Chinese in the East is simply endless. Have you read the myths of the East? They are people who were created from mud droplets thrown by their goddesses with vines. Look at how much mud is in our trenches now. That's how many Ming people are on the other side of us."

Although he had sent the two soldiers to the front-line trenches where the death rate was highest in his rage, he knew very well that the essence of their complaints would not disappear with their deaths on the battlefield.

From that time until now, it has essentially been just the long settlement phase of this war, and he simply finds it hard to accept the complete failure of the army's southward offensive operations during the war.

Moreover, as an army officer, he genuinely found it hard to understand why the navy couldn't be more assertive. They only lost four capital ships—was that a lot? Didn't they also destroy three Tang dynasty capital ships? (The casualty figures for both sides include those killed by submarines.)

Moreover, the naval liaison officer just now said that the navy is a branch of the military that can lose a war in an afternoon. Pershing has also heard similar statements from the navy more than once, such as "it takes several years for the navy to build a warship." Therefore, the navy must be extremely cautious when engaging in combat.

But it takes 18 years for an army lad to grow from an infant into a man capable of serving in the military!

"General!" At that moment, another officer ran into the command post: "The enemy has launched a full-scale artillery bombardment across the entire front! They must be about to launch a large-scale offensive!"

“I can hear it.” Pershing waved his hand. Of course he could hear the distant rumble of cannons. What he could think of now was only the enemy’s ground artillery. He figured it wouldn’t be long before even more deafening cannon fire could be heard from the coast.

"Withdraw all our troops from the coastal areas." After a moment of silence, Pershing finally gave the order: "Destroy all supplies that cannot be taken away on the spot. Order all units to resist on the spot. The Chief of Staff shall lead a team to formulate our withdrawal plan starting today."

"Evacuation plan? Where to evacuate to?" the chief of staff asked.

From the Chief of Staff's perspective, General Pershing's ability to recognize the situation is a good thing for the Federation. However, the problem is that the Federation has already deployed more than 100 million troops in Borneo, including combat, engineering, logistics, and medical units. It will not be easy to withdraw these more than 100 million people.

As for the Chief of Staff, he certainly hadn't seen the Dunkirk evacuation in another world, but even in the Dunkirk of another world, the British had never faced the situation of evacuating more than a million people.

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that such a large-scale evacuation operation is far beyond the capabilities of a mere army group chief of staff; it would require the entire nation to mobilize its full resources to accomplish.

Moreover, the evacuation of more than one million people could not be completed overnight. Before the evacuation was completed, the ports and landing sites where the evacuation took place would face attacks and threats from the enemy.

Earlier this year, the Federal Army had just suffered a failed evacuation operation on the Silla Peninsula. The Navy not only lost several dreadnoughts and almost all of its shallow-draft gunboats, but also suffered heavy casualties among the officers and men of its cruisers and destroyers. More importantly, few of the army troops surrounded around Wonsan were able to return home safely. They are still in enemy prisoner-of-war camps and have become pawns in the enemy's hands.

Having lost 10 men in the north, are they going to break the record in the south this time?

Most importantly, where should the people evacuated from Borneo go? Should they first evacuate to Luzon? Or should they go directly to Taiwan?

In terms of distance, retreating to Luzon is naturally the safest option, as it is the shortest distance and the transportation efficiency is higher. Moreover, because of the shorter distance, the Federation can even mobilize many fishermen from Yingzhou to carry out the evacuation.

However, Pershing knew very well what orders he had given and what deep-seated hatred he and his troops had for the people of this land. At this moment, the balance of power had shifted, and the yellow-skinned people absolutely did not want to see him and his young men safely withdraw from the island.

They certainly wanted to inflict the same things they had done on the Union army, and Pershing had no doubt that the enemy here would likely be less willing to accept prisoners of war than the 10 captured on the Silla Peninsula to the north.

However, he never regretted the orders he issued, because his original orders were to seize the island for the Federation. As someone from the world's largest immigrant nation, Pershing knew very well that even when they underestimated the resistance forces in Yanping, they never doubted that it was nothing short of a fantasy for this modern nation-state to conquer it simply by relying on immigrants and womb weapons.

Can you have more children than them? Can you immigrate more than them? Most of them immigrated from Fujian. It is said that in the ancient country of Fujian, there is a saying that no matter where you want to go, as long as Mazu nods, you will definitely be able to go.

So, what needs to be done to completely bring such a piece of land into the territory of the Colombian Federation?

That would mean doing to the Native Americans what the white immigrants who came to America did back then.

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

At this moment, amidst the thunderous roar of artillery fire at the front, on one of the attacking positions, an officer, holding a letter, spoke to the assault troops waiting to launch their attack from a trench:

"Brothers! We fought the Ursus in the Northwest, and we taught these American devils a lesson in the Northeast. Now we've come here."

I know some of you may feel that we have traveled quite far, especially this time. You all risked your lives to come here on destroyers and cruisers. Some of our comrades survived the previous fierce battles but were left forever at sea.

We've fought battle after battle, and this time, what is the purpose of our journey across the ocean to fight here?! I know many of you must have this question too!

This officer held a rather unique position within the garrison army compared to other Ming troops at the time—the Righteousness Instructor.

This is a position that many other old troops do not understand. At this moment, there are also some Song army soldiers and officers in the trenches. From today onwards, they will understand the role of this position in the army.

Because at that moment, the officer raised the piece of paper in his hand high.

"This is a letter that was handed to us yesterday by the few surviving villagers in a village we passed through on our way here! They pleaded with us to thoroughly settle scores with our enemies! And now I will read this letter to you!"

Chapter 163 A Letter to the Officials and Soldiers of the Celestial Empire

"Please convey this message to General Wu and all the Heavenly Dynasty soldiers who have come to assist in the battle:"

Dear soldiers, seeing you fills us with both joy and sorrow: joy because after more than a year, we have finally seen reinforcements from the Celestial Empire. The Celestial Empire has not abandoned us overseas scoundrels, but has sent troops to fight the American bandits and rescue us from our dire straits; sorrow because in the past few months we have suffered unprecedented disasters, and the blood and tears we have endured are truly beyond words.

Since the Federal Army occupied Tanzhuang, they have become increasingly distressed due to the attacks on their sea supplies by the Celestial Navy. Therefore, they requisitioned grain from our place. More than 2,000 head of livestock were taken from Tanzhuang, and all the grain was looted. The few able-bodied men, the elderly, and the young children left on the stilts were also abducted to serve as logistical laborers for the army. The number of laborers who died in the process is incalculable.

During the enemy's struggle for food and looting, they would kill indiscriminately if there was any resistance. They used the pretext that we were harboring guerrillas to cleanse the towns and villages around us, and set up strongholds along the roads. They would often approach us at will and open fire without warning.

Even today, the bodies of our compatriots who died on the ferry crossing east of our village are still exposed in the wilderness, unattended. And in the last two months, because the fighting on this battlefield has been going poorly, the enemy has resorted to even more horrific methods of killing in order to intimidate us.

Locking people in wooden cages and burning them alive with gasoline had become common practices among the American bandits. Anyone found to have a family member involved in guerrilla warfare was publicly executed without question.

They even used extreme punishments from two hundred years ago during the Ming Dynasty to deal with us. Some of the so-called China experts in the American army treated the captured soldiers according to the method of slow slicing recorded in the books. Sometimes they would simply pour boiling oil all over a person's body and then bury them alive with only their head exposed, causing them to die in excruciating pain in the ground.

In the year since the arrival of the Colombian militia, their economy has deteriorated further over time. To date, in every village and town in the occupied territories, there is no place where women have not been insulted, and no place where they have not been killed and plundered.

In Xujiaji, after the wife and child of a local militia leader were denounced, his wife was hanged on the village archway, and his six-year-old child did not escape their cruelty. To lure out nearby guerrillas, they tied the child's feet with ropes and dragged him along the road on horseback, leaving him a bloody mess. We heard the child's cries grow fainter and fainter. In their grief and rage, the guerrillas launched an attack to try and rescue the child, but ultimately, they all, including the child, fell under the enemy's blade…

None of us who are still alive today are without a blood feud with the bandits. However, those of us who are still alive today are either elderly people who can no longer lift a finger or cripples with missing limbs. Although we have the heart to kill the enemy and serve our country, and we have an irreconcilable blood feud with the enemy, we are powerless to avenge our relatives, our friends, our lovers, and our compatriots.

Since you led our militia to recapture Tanzhuang a month ago, the enemy has been forced to retreat to the north of Qingxi. Only then were we, who had left our homes, able to return and collect the bodies of our fallen compatriots, but they were broken and rotten, unrecognizable.

The old and young men who died all longed to avenge them and kill all the Anssa bandits. We found a child in the village who had carved words on a motherboard. He hoped that our troops could one day plant the dragon flag on the Commonwealth's Capitol.

Dear soldiers of the Celestial Empire, we have heard of your past achievements. During the time you have been on this land and living with us day and night, you have also proven with your actions and your military discipline, which is so different from those beasts, that you are, as you have proclaimed, the sons and daughters of our vast Chinese people. You have won many battles. With you, we have hope and reliance. You are our saviors.

We hope you can display the same bravery you showed on the Northwest battlefield and the Silla Peninsula battlefield. We earnestly request that you avenge us, that you annihilate the enemy as you did on the shores of Lake Baikal and at Wonsan, leaving behind a heroic victory on this land, using the enemy's blood to commemorate the fallen heroes, and using the enemy's flesh and blood to forge your medals.

When Instructor Da Yi finished reading the letter, even though he had read it several times beforehand, his voice still choked with emotion. The letter contained the most sincere and simple feelings. It was because he could empathize with these people that when he finished reading the letter, he was already clutching the edge of the paper with tears in his eyes.

"Soldiers! Comrades of the Great Harmony Faction!" Instructor Dayi raised the letter in his hand high and waved it vigorously in the air. He looked at the soldiers, some with red eyes and others with tears streaming down their faces: "I think you should now understand why we crossed oceans to fight here!"

"This time, the order to fight was not given to us by the Ministry of War, not by His Highness the Prince of Jin, not by your superiors, not by your officers! The order you received this time came from the most honest people on this land. Since we came to this land, sea and land transportation has been hampered by the battles between the enemy and ourselves at sea. Apart from weapons and ammunition, many of our supplies have not been delivered in full."

Over the past period of time, we have all eaten the rice given to us by the local people. I have visited some of their homes, and because of the war, they were even eating bitter herbs and banana leaves! But they gave us their last rice and flour!

Last week, the anesthetic used by one of our seriously wounded soldiers during surgery at the hospital was originally intended for a pregnant woman giving birth on the next operating table in case she couldn't deliver naturally and was having a C-section. However, the pregnant woman gave her anesthetic to our wounded soldier! As a result, the pregnant woman's twins took 12 hours to deliver, and the girl almost didn't make it off the operating table!

What a kind and lovely people they are!

Once upon a time, on the land of China, people described soldiers as "guba" (a derogatory term for soldiers), "stinky soldiers," and "gray animals." Even among the common people, there were sayings like "good men don't become soldiers" and "good iron isn't used to make nails." Even before this great war, in many areas within the Great Wall, people viewed the army of the Ming Dynasty in this way.

Soldiers, brothers! Why are we so proud of our identity as soldiers? Because we are different from them! We are not here to carry guns and eat rations! In the beginning, the old Prince of Jin led us simply to resist foreign aggression. At that time, our thoughts as soldiers were very pure. Later, we hoped to build our homeland beyond the Great Wall into a better place. And now, as Mr. Ma said back then, we should shoulder the responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation!

We speak a different dialect than the people here, but we share the same blood, write the same language, and have common ancestors. They have treated us as their children and supported us. Today, here, we are here to die for them!

Just now! Our fleet has driven out the main force of the Federation navy at sea! Our naval brothers have completely emerged from the shadow of defeat, and they have achieved another glorious victory, laying the foundation for our counterattack!

Can we let our naval brothers have all the credit?

"Can't! Can't! Can't!"

The soldiers' roars echoed through the sky, momentarily even more deafening than the artillery fire from the rear artillery positions.

"Our enemy is right in front of our lines! Do you know what you're supposed to do this time?!"

"Kill the thief! Kill the thief!"

"Revenge! Revenge!"

..........

Some soldiers were shouting so loudly that their cheeks were red, while some veterans were silently starting to attach bayonets to their rifles.

Amid the soldiers' shouts, Instructor Da Yi clenched his fist and raised his hand again, instantly silencing the soldiers. He then raised his voice again and said, "This time, our enemy is the 16th Infantry Division of the Federal Army, and their commander is Virant Smith Jr."

This beast's father was Jacob H. Smith, who carried out massacres in Cuba during the Colombian-Iberian War at the end of the last century. He issued the same orders as his father on this land: 'I don't need prisoners of war; I want you to set fires and kill people; the more you burn and kill, the more you please me!'

Under his orders, anyone over ten years old or capable of carrying a gun was to be killed. Major General Smith was one of the culprits behind the massacre around Tanzhuang. His 16th Infantry Division had been carrying out massacres and looting for the past few months. Therefore, Yingtianfu had ordered that all combat units not accept the surrender of any officers and soldiers of the Federal Army's 16th Infantry Division.

This 16th Infantry Division was among the first to land on Yingzhou and the first to storm Huaiqing Prefecture. It was one of the elite units in the Federal Army, and our 38th Division was fighting against those elites!

As the officer finished speaking, the artillery fire that had been raging for 30 minutes ceased temporarily. At this moment, whether they were soldiers from the 38th Division of the Tang Army or soldiers from other local mobilization units who were cooperating with them, they all knew that the artillery preparation was over and it was time for them, the infantry, to take the stage after fighting on this battlefield for so long.

Unlike the European artillery bombardment, which often lasts for several hours, after such a long stalemate between the two sides, whether it was the Song army before or the Tang army now, whether it was for logistical reasons or practical experience, the preparation time for firepower usually did not exceed half an hour, because in fact the most effective time for firepower preparation is the first few minutes.

If they can't be killed in the first few minutes, they'll probably be hard-pressed to be killed in the next few hours of shelling, especially on Borneo. Most of the cannons that the Tang and Song armies could muster were 75mm in caliber. Unless they were extremely lucky and got hit head-on, it would be difficult for 75mm cannons to destroy most of the enemy's fortifications. Prolonged shelling would just be a waste of ammunition.

Therefore, the purpose of this half-hour of fire preparation is not to crush the fighting will of the opposing Federation 16th Division with artillery shells. Although this group of Federation soldiers is very beastly, these redneck troops from the southern Federation are indeed very brave in battle.

The 75mm barrage was mainly intended to suppress the enemy in the second-line trenches, forcing them into bunkers to avoid artillery fire. This would buy time for our troops to launch an attack after the shelling ended, and also hopefully, these shells would knock out some enemy strongpoints, reducing the density of defensive fire on the enemy's positions.

After all, whether it's the enemy's light infantry guns or heavy machine guns deployed on the position, these things cannot be removed in time when suddenly bombarded.

When the officers and soldiers of the 38th Division charged out of the trenches with burning anger, led by their righteous instructor, the local militia who were fighting alongside them were dumbfounded. They had been told beforehand that these were elite troops from the Celestial Empire, so they had long heard about some of the specialties of such elite troops, such as their assault tactics and their superb infantry-artillery coordination.

It is said that these elite garrison troops from the Celestial Empire are not like those mainland troops with rigid and dogmatic combat styles. Their tactics are flexible and varied, and their technical and tactical skills are extremely high. The distance between the advancing barrage of infantry and artillery and the skirmish line of infantry attack can even be reduced to 50 meters!

However, they did not see the legendary creeping barrage within 50 meters today. It was as if these troops had forgotten about the creeping barrage tactic. Instead, they rushed out of the trenches at top speed and started running like a human wave.

This speed is definitely not enough; the opposing defenders rushed into the enemy trenches before they could even get out of their bunkers and into their positions.

Sure enough, they had only rushed out about a hundred meters when gunfire erupted from the other side. And what followed was the moment that shocked the local militia forces.

The first thing they saw was the 38th Division soldiers who had been running wildly suddenly collapsing to the ground almost instantly after the gunfire. The speed of their charge, combined with their inertia, caused them to slide a considerable distance forward after they lay prone on the ground, giving the impression that they were flying forward while skimming the ground.

What was even more shocking was that the previously silent artillery fire suddenly erupted again from behind. Accompanied by the whistling sound of shells whizzing through the air, a burst of fire that lasted only two minutes landed precisely on the enemy's first trench. The Federal soldiers, who thought they had dodged the barrage of artillery fire, never expected that after leaving their cover and entering their positions, they would be hit head-on by a burst of precise fire.

Is this the infantry-artillery coordination of the elite troops of the Northwest Old Garrison?

While the enemy's front-line firepower was being suppressed, these troops, which originally seemed to be launching attacks by overwhelming numbers, began to form five-person combat teams. The assault team tactics, which were unheard of for these mobilized troops, also began to show their prowess almost simultaneously.

Chapter 164 The Formation of a Treaty

British Whitehall

In the heart of what is currently the world's most powerful navy, a group of high-ranking officers of the Royal Victorian Navy are gathered together, discussing with complex expressions the implications of the latest major naval battle in the East for the future of the world and for the Royal Navy.

The Prime Minister did not attend today's meeting, but the First Sea Lord and the Commander of the Grand Fleet were present. The First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy of Victoria was Admiral Jellicoe, the former Commander of the Grand Fleet of Britain during the Battle of Jutland, while the current Commander of the Grand Fleet of Britain is David Beatty.

On November 28, 1916, Jellicoe replaced Henry Jackson as First Lord of the Admiralty. Facing the threat of Leitanian submarines in another world, he opposed heavy escorting of merchant ships at the expense of the main fleet, instead advocating for alternative anti-submarine measures. Therefore, on Christmas Eve 1917, Jellicoe was abruptly dismissed by Prime Minister Lloyd George. This was because Jellicoe opposed the escort system favored by the Prime Minister in the Battle of the Atlantic, and Jellicoe was subsequently discharged from active duty.

However, this did not happen in this world.

After all, whether facing the more powerful Leitanian High Seas Fleet in this world, or the threat from the dragon in the East in the Barat Sea, any plan to weaken the main fleet of the Royal Victoria Navy would not be approved. Therefore, Jellicoe has been serving as the First Lord of the Navy of the Royal Victoria Navy since the end of 16.

Despite having just been commissioned as a Fleet Admiral this year and also being granted the title of First Earl of the North Sea and Brooksby, the proud Betty was quite docile in front of Jericho, despite his own distinguished military achievements.

After all, Jericho possessed both seniority and military achievements.

"The situation is all in the documents in front of you. On the other side of the world, the Federal Navy and the Ming... oh, I mean the Tang Royal Navy have just finished a new round of clashes in the Bashi Channel, and both sides claim victory in this naval battle."

Jericho looked at the information he had gathered from MI6. Although MI6's performance in the World Wars was not particularly outstanding at this time, the intelligence obtained through semi-open-source information could still be organized well.

"The Tang army claimed that they had sunk four capital ships of the Federation army and also severely damaged several other capital ships of the Federation navy, especially several high-speed ships that the Federation had leased from the Syracuse. Now, apart from the Caracciolo-class battleship named Marco Polo, the remaining two ships have basically lost their combat capability."

The Federation declared victory based on two main reasons: firstly, they claimed to have destroyed three Tang Dynasty capital ships, and secondly, they claimed to have killed Liu Duncheng, the commander of the Tang Dynasty's ocean fleet. According to our information, General Liu Duncheng did indeed die in this naval battle, and the Tang Dynasty exchanged flagships during the engagement.

After saying this, Jericho looked up at everyone and said, "Our greatest enemy now and our greatest enemy in the future have fought another great naval battle. In terms of scale and intensity, this battle is much larger than the Battle of Jutland. I would like to hear everyone's views on the situation in the East."

"The true victor is undoubtedly the Tang army. Whether from the perspective of achieving the campaign objectives or from the perspective of the exchange ratio, the Tang army is the victor in this Battle of the Bashi Channel. The main force of the Federal Navy has now been driven out of the Southwest Pacific and has temporarily retreated to the Kingdom of Japan. The Federal forces still fighting in Borneo can only receive supply convoys escorted by light ships at night. Control of the Southwest Pacific has changed hands. We can't say that the Federals have won just because they killed the Tang army's commander. If that's the case, does losing General Nelson mean that we lost the Battle of Trafalgar?"

The first to speak was Admiral Thomas, whose words were immediately endorsed by almost all the Royal Navy admirals present.