1890 King of Southeast Asia

"Your Excellency, the Foreign Minister, the Nanhua Chang'an battleship has entered the Red Sea. Why?" Cyril knocked on the table and looked at Lin Anmin.

On May 12, after replenishing in Arabia, the Nanhua Navy Chang'an left Arabia, entered the Red Sea, and submitted an application to pass through the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal Authority is jointly controlled by Britain and France. Seeing a "strange" warship trying to pass through the canal, it threw the pot on it without thinking and arrived all the way to London and Paris.

"There have been a large number of pirates wreaking havoc around the port of Haifa recently, and even His Majesty the Emperor of our country has heard of their rampant behavior.

In order to protect the interests of Nanhua, our duty requires us to take immediate action." When Lin Anmin said this, his face was full of sacred glory.

"Battleships should not be used to eliminate pirates, right?" Cyril didn't talk too much with Lin Anmin.

In fact, if it was just to clear out the pirates, Britain would not care so much, and would even support Nanhua's behavior. The British Empire also hated pirates-because no one knew pirates better than them.

But South China sent out battleships when it could have been solved by sending a few cruisers or even destroyers.

This is like hunting whales and dolphins and dumping nuclear waste water into the sea, but saying that these practices are completely in line with the laws of nature and completely harmless.

Not even a punctuation mark can be trusted.

South China has no other ideas, and the British don't believe it.

"This is a deterrent, a deterrent to pirates. To be honest, I am very disappointed with the situation around Haifa. The navies of neighboring countries have not fulfilled their duties well, so they can only let us go." Lin Anmin looked distressed, which made Cyril hesitate.

Of course, he was not hesitant about the relationship between battleships and pirates, but the "neighboring countries" mentioned by Lin Anmin.

"Is it the Ottomans?" Cyril imagined a big drama in his mind.

Haifa is currently an important port for oil exports in the South China Arab region. An oil pipeline directly connects the South China Arab region to the Port of Haifa, and transport tankers directly load cargo here.

The oil trade has brought a lot of opportunities, making the Port of Haifa prosperous again and becoming the most prosperous port within hundreds of kilometers.

In this situation, it is not surprising that the Ottomans, who were already unwilling to accept Nanhua's possession of Haifa and whose military strength has been unprecedentedly strengthened, are making some small moves at this time.

Lin Anmin picked up the teacup, drank a sip of tea silently, and did not speak.

I didn't say anything, you said it yourself! ——The villain in Lin Anmin's heart yelled.

"Are you going to start a war again?" Cyril's face was not very good.

Based on his view of the Ottomans, he thought that the Ottomans might really do these things-Christians look at pagans...

"No, no, no, if the Ottomans do not take the initiative to provoke, Nanhua does not intend to go to war, even against the Ottoman Empire." Lin Anmin said quickly.

This time, Nanhua's identity is-a foreign aid invited by Italy, and its main task is to play soy sauce.

The room fell into silence.

"Cyril, why hasn't the application of Chang'an to pass through the Suez Canal been approved?" Lin Anmin thought about it and broke the tranquility.

Cyril had simulated the specific plot of the South China vs. Ottoman Empire in his head, but was interrupted by Lin Anmin.

"Ahem! London has reservations about the South China battleship entering the Mediterranean, which may lead to Europe's rejection of South China.

In fact, if it is just to suppress pirates, cruisers are completely sufficient. If it doesn't work, Britain is happy to join the fight to suppress pirates."

Cyril erased the idea of ​​South China vs. Ottoman Empire in his head. Now is not the time for the two countries to go to war.

Otherwise, the Balkans will be restless again. Once they think that the Balkans have an opportunity, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire will definitely not be peaceful. Britain is not ready yet and cannot go to war for the time being.

"We just sent a battleship to simply dock for a few days, replenish supplies, and pretend to fire a few shots, and then let her withdraw." Lin Anmin still refused to give in.

"Then I can only reject your navy's application to pass through the Suez Canal." Cyril said stiffly.

Some things are like cheating, there are only zero times and countless times. This time, the South China battleship was allowed to enter the Mediterranean, what about next time? What about the next time?

If they come a few more times, will the South China battleship be stationed in Haifa? Anyway, South China has built a small naval base there, so it can be expanded.

Wouldn't the Mediterranean be even more chaotic by then?

Oh? Thinking about it this way, it's not impossible! Isn't creating chaos the British national policy?

"Then how about another way? The Chang'an battleship is just going to Europe to pay a friendly visit to friendly countries. During this period, it should be okay to stop in Haifa for supplies?" Lin Anmin's face was full of dissatisfaction.

"Visit?" Cyril narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, visiting London, the Mediterranean is the shortest way." Lin Anmin nodded.

"Okay, but Mr. Foreign Minister, next time, please contact me first, discuss the arrangements for the visit, and then send the visiting team, how about it?" Cyril tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Of course, this time it was just that the telegraph machine was broken and it was not discovered in time, so a diplomatic mistake occurred. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the ambassador, no misunderstanding occurred between Britain and South China." Lin Anmin showed a wry smile on his face.

"Okay, I will report to London. I believe Chang'an will be able to enter the Mediterranean soon. By the way, when will Chang'an visit the UK?" Cyril asked as if he didn't care.

This was Cyril testing and forcing, requiring Chang'an not to stay in the Mediterranean for too long.

"In mid-July, Chang'an will stay in Haifa for a month to carry out necessary maintenance and paint, and enter the UK in a clean and tidy appearance." Lin Anmin said.

In total, Chang'an will stay in the Mediterranean for more than a month, not short, nor long.

"Speaking of which, British warships have never visited the port of Haifa. Let's take this opportunity to go together, and then we can take Chang'an back to London." Cyril nodded.

"That would be best..." Lin Anmin hesitated and agreed.

...

"In this way, the British will think we are here to deter the Ottomans." Liu Yiming nodded after listening to Lin Anmin's retelling of the incident.

"The British will put most of their energy in the Mediterranean on us, which is really a bargain for the Italians." Lin Anmin's tone was a little unhappy.

It was the kind of unhappiness that people took advantage of.

"Send a telegram to the Italians so that they can start to act." Liu Yiming said nonchalantly.

Italy is a poor guy, at least South China can't squeeze much money from it, it can't just ask for money, right? Then how should others see South China?

Although diplomacy is a naked distribution of interests, it is not naked to this extent.

...

On May 16, the Chang'an battleship formation of the South China Empire Navy passed through the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean.

As soon as it entered the Mediterranean, the South China Navy received "courtesy" that other countries could not imagine.

Three old battleships of the British Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet, two old battleships of the French Navy, an armored cruiser, and a large number of small ships from the two countries welcomed the South China Navy at the mouth of the canal.

After a complicated naval ceremony, at the "invitation" of the South China Navy, a total of hundreds of warships from Britain, France and South Africa sailed towards the port of Haifa.

Regardless of whether the port of Haifa could accommodate them, Britain and France announced that they would visit the port of Haifa for half a month.

In the following half a month, these ships were anchored outside the port, and several small warships entered the port every day to replace them. The sailors on other ships could only stare at the land not far away.

…

May 20, the Italian Royal Palace.

"South China has fulfilled their promise. The attention of Britain and France has been attracted to part of it. Now they can't take care of us." Emanuele III looked at the telegram happily.

"The British Mediterranean Fleet has allocated half of its warships, and France has also sent a large fleet. They will not withdraw easily. The time is ripe, Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Luigi also said happily.

This is really good news, isn't it? His predecessor hesitated on this matter, which made him disgusted by Emanuele III and stepped down in March.

"Order the army to start the attack! Let the navy and artillery not be stingy. We must rush ashore as soon as possible. Once we take a port, we will immediately organize civilian ships to quickly transfer supplies." Emanuele felt proud.

Italy is a second-rate power, but it does not have the land to match it. Even Belgium has a large colony.

"Italy will obey your will, Your Majesty." Luigi stroked his chest with one hand and bowed slightly.

...

At 9 o'clock in the morning on May 21, led by six old battleships, the Italian naval fleet of more than 40 warships arrived near the coast of Libya.

Within a day, the Italians launched artillery attacks on four Libyan cities on the northwest coast of Tripoli, Zuwara, Homs, and Misrata.

The navy did not skimp on shells, and the ammunition supply ships that followed the fleet were emptied, but the effect was worth the cost.

Take Tripoli as an example.

Tripoli had a division of more than 7,000 defenders, but this division belonged to the local army reorganized from the old army, just like the patrol camp of the Qing Empire, mainly composed of local people.

Because the defenders were not prepared, many defenders were resting in the barracks when the bombardment came. The bombardment lasted for two hours, and 1,500 defenders died and almost twice as many were injured.

The first landing force sent by the Italians only paid the price of 700 casualties and captured the dock, and the follow-up troops followed up quickly.

(The first batch was 1,500 people.)

The battle lasted until four o'clock in the afternoon. A total of 20,000 Italians landed, completely controlled the important buildings and traffic arteries in the city, and "declared victory".

The next day, when Britain and France had not yet reacted, the Italian Navy bombarded Benghazi again, sending 30,000 troops ashore within a day.

That is, this place is no more than 600 kilometers away from Sicily. If a zero is added after this number, the supply of only 20,000 people can make Italy anxious.

On the afternoon of May 22, the British and French ambassadors questioned the Italian Foreign Minister and demanded that Italy immediately stop the war and withdraw its troops.

At this time, the role of the supporters was reflected. Ambassador Nanhua slowly stood up and coughed twice.

"I think we should first figure out what the situation is. Don't be so angry. We are all civilized people. Let's sit down and talk..."

Of course, the original words are not like this. It is more obscure and difficult to understand. This is the translation.

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