1890 King of Southeast Asia

Cyril left with a face full of collapse. What made him collapse was not that the Huaxia Empire might have a conservative foreign minister, nor that Lin Anmin might have to step down.

These are all Huaxia's affairs, which may cause a lot of trouble to his work, but this is exactly his job as a diplomat.

He collapsed because he suddenly found that every time he said "this is a misunderstanding", he would pay more or less. Since he came to Huaxia, he has never escaped this law.

"In fact, sometimes I admire Cyril. He is serious and responsible enough to do things. Starting from the essence of things, he can maintain his position and be smooth enough." Lin Anmin is now by the window, watching Cyril leave.

"He is a qualified diplomat. We should be thankful that he is not the British foreign minister, otherwise this war might not have broken out." Liu Yiming said jokingly, holding a cigarette in his hand, standing by the small door of the conference room.

"The conflict between Germany and Britain is a conflict of fundamental interests. A foreign minister alone cannot prevent the outbreak of war unless Asquith and George V listen to him, which is impossible." Lin Anmin answered seriously.

"Who knows? Forget it, let's not talk about this."

"The railway from Baghdad to the Caspian Sea through northern Persia is about to start construction. This requires someone to communicate with the British. Do you have anyone to recommend?"

Liu Yiming shook his head and took out his teacup from under the table.

Finding a suitable candidate to preside over the railway construction is the reason why Liu Yiming came to Lin Anmin today.

However, as soon as he arrived, Cyril arrived, and then he went to the conference room first and heard the whole negotiation in the small room.

"A person who can communicate with the British, coordinate the locals and the Ottoman prisoners, and understand engineering, your majesty, you have given me a difficult problem!" Lin Anmin turned his head suddenly.

He has such a person in his hands, and he is one of the people he focuses on training.

"No way, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to send a few people for this matter. You can't expect those engineers to use their brains to play tricks with the British and the local people every day." Liu Yiming shrugged and tactically drank a sip of tea, ready to persuade Lin Anmin.

"Let Lin Juemin from the Embassy in Thailand go. He can speak English and German, and has also dabbled in Arabic. Although the language in that area is very confusing, there will always be translators who know Arabic, and English is also OK."

"He has a good talent for languages. He will adapt quickly after arriving at the place. He may not speak it, but he can understand a little and will not be deceived."

"In addition, when he was taking classes at the University of South China, he also studied engineering well and had a certain understanding of railways."

"As for loyalty, in terms of beliefs, he is a more traditional Chinese scholar and will not betray."

Lin Anmin looked at Liu Yiming's appearance and knew that Liu Yiming was serious.

"I know him. He is not bad in terms of character. He is a studious person and his thoughts are also ahead of the times. Let's go with him." Liu Yiming nodded.

Scholars have become a mixed word nowadays, because the new culture of industrialization is replacing the old ideas of the feudal agricultural era.

The conservatives are mainly composed of landlords and dignitaries. Their common feature is that they are well-read and have at least a scholar title.

These traditional scholars have become the main force of the conservatives, and they also criticize various policies of the Huaxia Empire, such as parliament, prime minister, or monogamy, and women have the same rights as men.

Because these people have committed crimes, after the war began to enter the state of martial law, many stubborn people's homes were raided - these people are, or there are scholars in their families.

But on the other hand, for thousands of years, the fixed thinking that everything is inferior except reading has affected people's choices. In addition, with the opening of industrialization, people with certain cultural knowledge are required to be higher and higher, and the upper ** has begun to appear.

Moreover, the most orthodox scholars are literati, who have the character of literati, not those cynics.

The biggest feature of these people is that they have hard knees. You can kill him, but you can't make him kneel down.

"I'll let him go after handing over the work. Your Majesty, I just thought you wanted the Sinai Peninsula, but you only asked for some technology." Lin Anmin changed the subject. He was afraid that Liu Ming would occasionally take a few people away.

This time, Lin Juemin was out, and Liu Ming was used to it. He might be transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is not the first time this has happened.

Knock, knock.

"Your Majesty, Minister. Your Majesty's Secretary Wang is waiting for you in the Minister's office." Lin Anmin's secretary pushed open the door.

"Did he say anything?" The relaxed and happy look on Liu Ming's face disappeared, and turned into a little solemn.

"No."

…………

"Your Majesty, two bad news." Wang Linhai saw Liu Ming coming in and jumped up from the sofa.

"The 16th Division fought a street battle with the Ottomans in Irbid. The Ottomans set fire to the city before they lost control. The 16th Division lost more than 2,000 people."

"A fleet transporting military supplies to Arabia was attacked by a submarine in southeastern India. Four large cargo ships loaded with military supplies sank, with a loss of 60,000 tons of merchant ships and more than 40,000 tons of various military supplies."

Wang Linhai handed the telegram to Liu Ming and said briefly.

Liu Ming's face turned black on the spot and he read the telegram carefully.

"Do the Prime Minister and ministers know about this?" Liu Ming raised his head and had a slight headache.

"The Prime Minister has known about it, and the ministers should have known about it too. I have had the news blocked and will not be spread out for the time being." Wang Linhai said this and glanced at Lin Anmin's secretary.

"Lin Juemin's matter should be arranged as soon as possible. In addition, tell Cyril about the German submarine attacking our merchant ships and ask the Royal Navy to cooperate in searching for German submarines."

"Notify them and have a meeting in the afternoon." Liu Ming looked at Lin Anmin.

"Yes!" Lin Anmin took the telegram from the merchant ship and nodded.

"Notify Gu Fan and ask him to send a message to the Suirenshi aircraft carrier fleet to stop returning and perform escort missions instead."

"As for the 6th Army..."

Liu Ming had no better way to deal with street fighting. He had already maxed out street fighting, but it didn't work.

…………

Four merchant ships full of military supplies sank. This loss was painful enough, but in a war of such a large scale, it was not enough to make Liu Ming worried.

The difficulty lies in the trend shown by this incident-German submarines began to attack the shipping routes, and the shipping routes were no longer safe.

Then, in order to ensure safety, transportation needs warships to escort, which not only increases transportation costs, but also reduces transportation efficiency - warships cannot escort only one ship.

At the same time, where are the Germans hiding? This is a question. How did they cross tens of thousands of nautical miles to get here?

First of all, the Suez Canal is not accessible, so they can only pass through the Cape of Good Hope. This road is not 10,000 nautical miles or 8,000 nautical miles. The submarines at this time do not have such a high endurance.

Not to mention, the submarines will run for a month on their own for this distance, and the food and fresh water on the submarines are definitely not enough.

Where did they get supplies? German Africa? The distance is still too far.

What is more worrying is that the Ottomans showed a very tenacious resistance spirit. When the situation was unfavorable, they set fire to the entire Irbid.

The 16th Division that attacked Irbid had more than 1,100 deaths, more than 300 missing, more than 600 moderate burns, and nearly 2,000 minor injuries.

The total casualties exceeded 4,000, with 1/4 of the casualties in the 11th division alone, most of whom were combatants. The 16th Division needed to rest.

Among the more than 1,100 casualties, more than 500 were burned or suffocated in the end, and the more than 300 missing were mainly concentrated in the fire stage. Burns are also difficult to heal and are very dangerous injuries.

Some of the minor injuries were burns and scalds, and most were caused by guns or artillery in street fighting. These people only need simple treatment and recuperation to return to the battlefield.

The Ottoman Empire lost 4,500 soldiers in Irbid and more than 1,000 were captured. In the fire, more than 10,000 civilians were killed or injured, including more than 5,000 deaths.

These are all civilians of the Ottoman Empire, their own people. The Ottomans can be so cruel, which shows that the Ottomans have been forced into a corner.

In Damascus next, Liu 1ming suddenly became a little worried.

War will kill people. Liu 1ming does not think that only others can die but not himself, but this way of dying, Liu 1ming cannot accept.

This is the kind of bad fighting style that Britain and France used, and it is the style that Liu Ming tried his best to avoid. These sacrifices can be avoided.

Every Chinese soldier is precious, and Liu Ming does not want to waste them in vain.

"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is here." Secretary Wang gently pushed open the door and saw Liu Ming who was in deep thought.

"Your Majesty, we must ensure the safety of the route and control the losses, otherwise we will not be able to fight for a long time." Xu Hui walked in anxiously.

"I know, I have ordered the navy to escort merchant ships and let the navy conduct anti-submarine operations on the route, which can alleviate the situation a little."

"Now the important thing is to find the German Indian Ocean submarine supply base and destroy it, otherwise the submarine will always threaten the route."

"I have already started to do this. I hope to establish multiple bases in the Indian Ocean. If the Germans want to come to the Indian Ocean, they must have passed the Cape of Good Hope. I will negotiate with the British about this matter. After all, this batch of supplies is shipped to them."

Liu Ming nodded. Xu Hui's worry is normal.

Xu Hui was stunned. Aren't these supplies for the Arab war zone? The military supplies sent to Britain are still being loaded at various docks... loaded?

Xu Hui understood immediately and nodded calmly.

"Do you understand the situation in Irbid? The Ottomans have fallen into some extremes. We need to change our thinking..."

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