Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Rising Clouds: The Second World War Chapter 4 The Undiminished Ambitious Queen

When Chen Jitong saw him, he hurriedly smoothed things over and said, "Your Excellency, calm down. Now that the various factions in the court are chaotic and struggling, Gongdu is also afraid that Your Excellency will suffer losses. Your Excellency is the lintel of our empire. If your Excellency falls, there will be a lot of trouble." Who can really do things for the state."

Only then did Wu Tingfang regain his composure, and said to Huang Zunxian, "Gongdu, I spoke too harshly just now, so don't take it to heart."

"Zunxian dare not." Huang Zunxian bowed and saluted.

Chen Jitong said at this time: "My lord, what should we do next?"

Wu Tingfang looked at Huang Zunxian who had retreated to the side, intending to give him another chance, "Gongdu, what do you think?"

When Huang Zunxian heard this, he thought for a while before replying: "Zunxian believes that if we want the British to agree to the conditions, we need to start from within. Their system is different from that of our country. Their officials are elected by the people. If we take the British People’s remarks today are published in the media, and those British people will definitely demand that the government do its best to reach a peace agreement. If we use money to make friends with one or two British officials and speak out for this matter, I think the British government will be unable to withstand this pressure.”

Wu Tingfang nodded after hearing this, and said: "That's good, but it's not decent to make friends with money, and we need to think about it."

Chen Jitong frowned for a while before saying: "The Gongdu method is not unreasonable, but in my opinion, the use of these two tactics may not make the British subdue, and let them stand out from Hong Kong, which has been occupied for decades. Take meat out of your mouth."

Wu Tingfang pondered for a long while and said: "We can try the publicity method first, if we really can't reach an agreement, we have no choice but to report to the emperor according to the facts, whether the war is related to the national affairs, it is beyond our control. "

In the next two days, Wu Tingfang and others traveled back and forth in London, visiting some members of the British royal family and senior government officials, but on the Hong Kong issue, the British were surprisingly consistent, that is, the original agreement was written in black and white. There, no one has the right to make changes.However, after the negotiations broke down, the British Foreign Office submitted a second negotiation plan to the Chinese representatives, that is, Hong Kong can be handed over to China, but the UK must obtain a 30% share in the development of Siberia, including at least 50% [-]% of the mineral development projects and at least half of the mineral development rights.

Wu Tingfang immediately rejected the British government's proposal. He said that in order to enable all countries to enjoy the rights and interests brought about by the development of Siberia, the empire has always decided the ownership of the development project in the form of bidding, and it must not be a replacement for the Hong Kong issue. What's more, the emperor made a big concession on the Hong Kong issue three years ago, increasing the total amount of aid to Britain from the estimated 30 billion to 50 billion. This has fully demonstrated the empire's commitment to this issue. sincerity.

This made the British negotiators very dissatisfied. After all, the Chinese government can distribute the projects to other countries by doing whatever they want.Therefore, after asking Beijing for instructions, Wu Tingfang proposed to hand over 3% of the mineral development rights to the UK after mineral exploration and proven reserves in the three specified areas.As for mineral development projects, it must rely entirely on the strength of companies in various countries.After some bargaining, it was finally determined that 10 percent of the proven reserves of mineral development rights should be handed over to the UK (this actually guaranteed that at least 13 percent of the projects would be undertaken by British companies), and that other bidding processes would be absolutely guaranteed. fair.

On the issue of Hong Kong's return, although the British government has set up various obstacles, China has always exercised maximum restraint. Guan Xuqing once told Wu Tingfang and others: "One day if Hong Kong does not return, the empire's territory will be incomplete. On this issue , Even paying a price ten times higher than this is worth it, but my patience has a limit, and I hope that the British will not use their ignorance to challenge the patience of me and the people of the empire."

"Dear Your Majesty, the current differences between China and the UK on the Hong Kong issue are very serious. During this unpleasant negotiation meeting, Lord Smegley has even expressed to the Chinese that he will not hesitate to use force to defend the dignity of the empire. The diplomatic relationship between China and the UK has come to the brink, and my government and I are at a loss for what to do about it. Any next decision may have two results: one is that the British Empire defeats China on the Hong Kong issue , Since then, I have gained a chance to rise again; the second is that for more than 200 years, the empire has once again been surpassed by that ancient eastern country, and it has been suppressed forever. This is the moment to decide the fate of the empire, and I must come to you to ask for a final wise decision. In Buckingham Palace in London, British Prime Minister Balfour said in a slightly sad tone after kissing Her Majesty's hand.

The 81-year-old Queen Victoria, although her body has already shown her old age, her eyes are still sharp.According to current calculations, she is already the longest-reigning monarch in British history, with a reign of 64 years. She is the first British monarch to be called "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of India" , These 64 years were the most powerful period of the so-called "Empire on which the sun never sets" in Britain.Her series of wise decisions made the name Victoria a symbol of an era in British history.The more than 60 years of her reign coincided with the transition period of British free capitalism from the ascendant to its heyday, and then to monopoly capitalism. The economy and culture were unprecedentedly prosperous, and the constitutional monarchy was fully developed, making Queen Victoria a symbol of peace and prosperity in the UK. .More than half a century of extraordinary years has made her the most powerful woman in the world today.However, after a lifetime of glory and brilliance, she fell into deep helplessness and sorrow for the first time in the face of China, a newly rising powerful opponent.But age has not diminished the queen's original blood and arrogance. After hearing Belfort's words, her originally blurred eyes suddenly brightened, like a cheetah that smells blood, no matter how old it is, it will suddenly change. Get fit.

"China? For the British Empire 30 years ago, that country was the paradise of our adventurers, and it was also synonymous with the most ignorant and backward in the world. Even if it is now strong and full-fledged, I never think China is a close rival of the British Empire. Prime Minister Balfour, I can tell you clearly that Hong Kong was, is and will be the territory of the British Empire. No one can take Hong Kong away from us, not even China. In that case, I understand Lord Smeagle's declaration, and this is what I want to say to the arrogant Chinese, it's time to take our stand. For the dignity of the empire, China's financial assistance We can give up, we can even use force to defend every piece of sacred territory of the British Empire, we want to declare to the world again, who is the real master of this world, and the empire on which the sun never sets is still as strong as ever.”

After several unsuccessful efforts, Wu Tingfang immediately telegraphed the whole process of the failed negotiations to Beijing.After getting the news, Guan Xuqing was a little surprised. He had guessed the outcome of this negotiation, but he did not expect that the British would dare to openly state their position on the use of force to intervene in the Hong Kong issue. Said to Feng Xianghua: "We have given the British enough face. The whole world has seen China's sincerity on the Hong Kong issue. Facing the arrogance of the British, what do you think we should do?"

Feng Xianghua immediately saw the fierce and murderous look in the eyes of the emperor, "Your Majesty, do you mean that you want to take back Hong Kong by force?"

Guan Xuqing did not answer directly, but said: "If I remember correctly, Hong Kong should be an important material supply transfer station for Japan and an important hub for Japan's sea routes, right?"

Feng Xianghua didn't know why the emperor suddenly mentioned Japan, so he nodded and said: "After the joint research of the General Staff and the Navy, Japan doesn't have much sea shipping in Southeast Asia, except for some ores, mainly rubber, grain, etc. Materials. Moreover, the strength of China’s South China Sea Fleet is enough to block the entire South China Sea route, forcing the Japanese transport fleet to bypass Kalimantan and the Philippine Islands. Japan’s most important import resource is crude oil, and the current crude oil mainly relies on The UK provides it. Therefore, we believe that the concentrated use of the two fleets to attack Japanese oil tankers, so that the navy will not get enough fuel, will greatly reduce the carrying capacity of its navy.”

Guan Xuqing sneered: "The Japanese regard this route as their lifeline. For many years, the empire has not been too strict with Japan's development, and its eyes are still on Europe most of the time. But after the Bird Harbor incident, we want to Have a new understanding of this despicable country. Don’t forget that this western route of Japan is within the range of our country’s territorial waters. The Japanese have raised the issue of the conditions and costs of passing through the territorial waters, but the Japanese have always turned a deaf ear. Now we have to Take back this route and forcibly drive Japanese warships out of imperial territorial waters."

"The emperor means..."

Guan Xuqing frowned, called Feng Xianghua to his side, and whispered, Feng Xianghua's expression immediately changed from calm to astonishment!

The raid was code-named "The Perfect Storm."

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the sky was already bright, but the governor of Hong Kong, Sir Blake, was suddenly awakened from his sleep by an urgent news. According to the report of the British garrison ahead, a Chinese fleet was discovered about 20 nautical miles away from Victoria Harbour. It seems that a shot of cardiotonic suddenly made Bu Li sleepless. Chinese warships appeared in Victoria Harbour?Bu Li knew that this was extremely bad news for British Hong Kong. "These garrisons are a bunch of trash, what's the use of reporting to me, hurry up and send warships to intercept and track them!"

Uprising: The Perfect Storm: World War II Chapter 4

The British army in Victoria Harbor immediately released a water reconnaissance boat, and at the same time, the British destroyer stationed in Hong Kong has also been dispatched, searching blindly to the northeast on the dark sea.But soon the reconnaissance boats of the two sides almost collided.

At 4:20, the opponent's reconnaissance boat was discovered almost at the same time, and the situation was immediately reported to the own fleet.Although China's water reconnaissance boats are equipped with two 12.7mm machine guns and a howitzer, and their performance exceeds that of the British reconnaissance boats, in the following intensive confrontation, the Chinese reconnaissance boats have no effect on the enemy's attack.After all, the huge sea turbulence severely limits its combat performance.The not-so-experienced Chinese boat crew saw that they could not sink the opponent's scout boat, so they drove it away for a certain distance, then turned around and ran straight to their own fleet.

The British reconnaissance boat fell far behind the Chinese reconnaissance boat. After confirming its specific direction, it reported to the 2nd Fleet.After calculating the voyage of the Chinese reconnaissance boats on the water, the 2nd Fleet obtained the approximate location of the Chinese fleet and recalled its own reconnaissance boats.After learning of the news of the British water reconnaissance plane, the Chinese fleet immediately determined that there was a relatively large British fleet nearby, and its main battleship was at least above the level of a cruiser.And sent 3 water reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance in three different directions.

Governor Bu Li sat anxiously in his office, thinking about one question all the time, that is, what are the Chinese going to do!

But until we figure out the true purpose of this fleet, it is better to wait and see how it changes. After all, relying on the Second Fleet stationed in Hong Kong to compete with the powerful Chinese fleet is simply shooting yourself in the foot.At the same time, the news was telegraphed to London immediately.

At the same time, a Japanese fleet was escorting three oil tankers sailing from east to west. The reason why they chose to sail at night was because the Japanese borrowed China's southern waters without notice. For them, This is not the first time.The oil resources they escorted are worth up to 130 million yen, and they are specially provided to the Japanese fleet stationed in Nagasaki and Hokkaido military ports.Originally they thought that this operation would still be as foolproof as before, but when it was close to 5 o'clock in the morning, the fleet commander suddenly received an urgent report that a Chinese warship flying a dragon flag was found in the open waters!

"Immediately list the battle formation, and at the same time, each ship enters a state of combat readiness, and the rangers estimate the distance of the Chinese fleet."

What are the Chinese going to do?Are they going to plunder these oil resources?They must not be allowed to succeed.

"Don't let Chinese warships get close to the tankers, intercept them immediately."

Time is not long. After the Japanese fleet calculated the position of the Chinese fleet, in order to intercept the Chinese fleet, it was decided that the faster battleship "Mutsu" and the battlecruiser "Kirishima" would carry all the cruisers and increase the speed to 20 knots. , turned sharply eastward, heading towards the Chinese fleet.At the same time, it also ordered the two destroyers that missed the Chinese fleet to go south immediately.The battleship "Akitsu", accompanied by a destroyer, followed slowly at a speed of 15 knots.

As the Chinese fleet increased its speed and went to meet the supply ship at a speed of 22 knots, the distance between the Chinese and Japanese fleets began to gradually increase.An hour later, the lookout of the Chinese fleet had already seen the mast of the supply ship. At this time, the reconnaissance plane flying to the west also sent back a report of the Japanese fleet.The report claimed that two Japanese battleships and four cruisers were spotted, and at the same time, 4 nautical miles behind, there was another battleship and a destroyer with a speed of more than 20 knots.At this time, the distance between the two fleets was about 20 nautical miles.Huang Jianxun frowned. This was completely different from the news he had received before. He did not expect Japan to send such a powerful escort formation.

This mysterious Chinese fleet is commanded by Vice Admiral Huang Jianxun of the Imperial Navy. At this time, he is feeling annoyed. Because the fleet he leads is an emergency mission received temporarily, in order to reach the designated Hong Kong waters within the specified time, he has to temporarily abandon it. However, when Mawei just came to the waters of Hong Kong and had no time to replenish the ammunition, the Japanese discovered the trace.In this case, the entire plan is likely to be completely overturned.The most needed time is now!

He secretly calculated that it would take about 5 hours to replenish all the ammunition of the two main battleships. At this time, the distance between the two sides was only about 10 nautical miles, completely within the range of the Japanese ship's naval guns.Then the 6 extremely slow supply ships will be caught in the flames of war and are very likely to be sunk. At the same time, the enemy scout boat battle group will rush over at the fastest speed, causing more trouble for this ammunition supply.A few hours later, the sky will be completely dark again, and another battleship that has been replenished can completely win the naval battle by attacking the Japanese tanker.Moreover, even if the Japanese fleet knows that China has two battleships, one of the warships is needed to contain the Japanese fleet so that the other destroyer can complete the supply operation.So he made a decision: the "Chongqing" ship will conduct replenishment operations first, and immediately turn around to intercept the enemy fleet after replenishment.

During the high-speed march, several small boats kept going back and forth between the battleship and the supply ship, and sent the tow cables on the supply ship to the battleship. Pulled from ship to ship.After opening the wooden box, the sailors laid the shells horizontally and rolled them towards each turret.Then, the shells are hoisted into the ammunition compartment one by one through the manual hoist (that is, the pulley block).After more than 5 hours of intensive work, the ammunition for the main and auxiliary guns on the "Chongqing" ship was fully replenished.Then, immediately turned around and killed the Japanese fleet.

The sky had already darkened, and the Japanese fleet, which had always thought that the Chinese fleet was running wildly, never thought that the Chinese warship would take the initiative to launch an attack, and because of the heavy responsibility of defending the oil tanker, it did not dare to take the initiative to pursue it.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the cruiser "Chongqing", which occupies the prefix "T" on the side of the ship, under the illumination of several flares fired by the destroyer "Guilin" in the front, fired at the "Mutsu" in the enemy fleet. The battleship HMS fired its first salvo. Nine 9mm artillery shells stirred up high water columns around the "Mutsu".The Japanese fleet has not yet had time to launch flares, and can only roughly aim through the fire from the main guns on the "Chongqing" ship.After the "Chongqing" ship fired three salvos, the "Mutsu" and "Kirishima" turned the hull sideways and fired the first salvo.

Five minutes later, the fourth salvo of the "Chongqing" ship finally hit the battleship "Mutsu". A 5mm armor-piercing bomb blew up the 4-meter shooting director on the tall bridge of the "Mutsu". All of a sudden, the shooting accuracy of the main gun on the "Mutsu" dropped to an extremely low level.Of course, the "Chongqing" ship was also hit by several 295mm and 3mm shells, but fortunately, the "Chongqing" ship had "rough skin and thick flesh" and did not cause substantial damage.However, the eight 140mm main guns on the "Kirishima" posed a great threat to the "Chongqing" ship.A shell even collapsed two armor plates at the rear of the hull.

Huang Jianxun realized that the "Kirishima" that had not been hit by the shooting director was the biggest threat at present, and immediately ordered all the main guns to be aimed at the "Kirishima" to attack.At this time, the flares of both sides hit the sky over the opposing fleet, and both sides could see each other's various maneuvers at a glance.

At 8:30 p.m., the ninth salvo of the "Chongqing" ship seemed to be very accurate. Two shells hit the "Kirishima", and one penetrated the armor of the ammunition compartment of the 9mm hull gun on the port side. And caused the remaining dozens of 152mm artillery shells to die.Another shell pierced the rear nacelle armor, instantly cutting its power in half and bursting into flames.

However, the "Kirishima", which has not lost its combat effectiveness, still fought back fiercely. In its seventh salvo, a 7mm shell hit a 1mm secondary gun turret on the "Chongqing" ship, and lifted the entire turret. up the sky.

At 8:40, the 12th salvo from the "Chongqing" ship hit the "Kirishima" again, and three 3mm shells hit the front chimney and rear bridge of the "Kirishima" respectively.The front chimney was destroyed, which made the "Kirishima", which had lost half of its power, even weaker, and could only maintain a speed of 295 knots.The rear bridge was blown up, which reduced the shooting accuracy of its two rear main guns a lot, so it could only rely on the shooting director on the front bridge to shoot.

After the "Kirishima" was hit by this attack, its situation became even more dangerous. However, at this time, it switched to using the shooting director on the bridge, and gradually adjusted the shooting accuracy of the "Mutsu" to improve. A shell hit the horizontal armor of the "Chongqing" ship.Because the quality and thickness of the armor on the "Chongqing" ship were very good, a ricochet occurred, but the bounced shell destroyed the barrel of a main gun on the rear turret of the ship. Although the "Mutsu" was injured, it was far from losing combat effectiveness.At this time, another Japanese battleship "Akitsu" also rushed to the battlefield.

Huang Jianxun deeply felt the attack of the three ships, and it was really difficult for him to support himself. He began to send a report to the "Wuhan" ship, asking it to end the supply as soon as possible and come to support.

As a result, the "Chongqing" ship began to cast a smoke screen and conduct high-speed maneuvers.The two Chinese destroyers who always wanted to break through the defenses of the Japanese cruisers and destroyers were also battered at this time, so they had to follow the "Chongqing" ship. Now they can only consider escorting the Chongqing ship and driving away the Japanese destroyers who are about to approach and launch torpedoes. Another attempt was made to launch torpedoes at Japanese battleships.At this time, they can only maneuver around the severely damaged "Kirishima" at high speed, and look for an opportunity to destroy the "Kirishima".Therefore, the "Chongqing" ship always circled the Japanese fleet and fired salvos from time to time.The slower "Mutsu" and "Akitsu" could only follow the "Chongqing" ship with difficulty, and continuously fired flares so that the "Chongqing" ship could not escape their sight.

ps: It has been several days, and the flowers have hardly grown. I don’t know if my friends have no flowers on hand or are not satisfied with the content of the book.During this period of time, I had to work overtime every day in the unit, but I still insisted on it.It has been more than three months since the reunification, and there has not been a single day of interruption. For this sake, everyone, let's cast your flowers.

Resurgence: Chapter 4 of World War II shocked Hong Kong

The mutual shooting of both sides has a certain effect.By 9 o'clock, the "Chongqing" ship had been hit by 15 shells, but its armor was thicker, so it was not penetrated.The "Kirishima" was hit by 21 shells, of which 4 220mm shells penetrated the armor, and the explosion inside the hull also destroyed the ship's power system.Seeing the "Chongqing" ship continuously circling, the "Akitsu" stopped following in vain, and began to turn, maneuvering to the other side, preparing to form a pincer attack with the "Mutsu".However, when the "Chongqing" ship learned that the "Wuhan" ship had arrived, it immediately stopped circling and turned to maneuver northward, leading the "Mutsu" and "Akitsu" away from the "Kirishima" so that "Wuhan "The ship made the final blow to the "Kirishima".

At this time, the "Wuhan" ship that rushed to the battlefield did not agree with the "Kirishima" that had lost all power and was paralyzed on the sea like a dead fish. Instead, it was out of the range of the flare, bypassing "Kirishima" and heading to the battlefield. Go north.The captain's idea is very simple. The completely immobile "Kirishima" can be dealt with by destroyers, and he wants to complete a beautiful sneak attack.For this reason, the "Chongqing" continued to fire flares at the Japanese fleet, completely exposing the Japanese fleet in the dark under the eyes of the "Wuhan" ship.

The "Wuhan" ship catching up with the Japanese fleet approached the lagging "Akitsu" at high speed and paralleled it.At the edge of the flare range, that is, less than 3 kilometers away from the "Akitsu", the nine main guns of the "Wuhan" ship fired a salvo, and all of them were aimed at the place near the waterline of the "Akitsu" battleship. . All 9 shells hit and penetrated the "Akitsu". The 9 shells that exploded in the hull not only opened 9 holes in the hull, introduced sea water into the hull, but also detonated two former main ships. The ammunition compartment of the gun.The huge explosion even cut off the hull along the No. 6 front main gun turret, and the entire giant ship sank to the bottom of the sea with more than 1 Japanese sailors in less than a minute.

This was a perfect sneak attack, and the Japanese fleet, which had no idea that there was another broken delivery ship, was stunned by this blow.After a while, the "Mutsu" who reacted no longer had the heart to fight and revenge, and immediately turned to the west and fled at full speed.

Since Huang Jianxun didn't know how many Japanese fleets were still coming, and the "Chongqing" ship was seriously injured, he accepted it as soon as it was better and did not pursue it.The escaped Japanese fleet did not forget to order the sailors on the "Kirishima" to abandon the ship. After receiving some of the crew of the "Kirishima", the destroyer that had been staying next to the "Kirishima" saw the Chinese fleet destroying the ship. After getting back, he ignored the remaining sailors on the "Kirishima" who kept calling for help, and immediately turned and fled.

The Chinese fleet surrounding "Kirishima" ordered "Kirishima" to surrender with a light signal, but waited for the firing of its main guns.So the "Chongqing" ship and the "Wuhan" ship, one on the left and one on the right, fired at the "Kirishima" with a total of 17 main guns.The shooting lasted for 4 minutes. The battlecruiser "Kirishima" was pierced by three 3mm artillery shells. The armor of the ammunition compartment was pierced. Amidst several earth-shattering explosions, the hull broke and sank into the sea.

The remaining oil tankers stopped obediently and raised the white flag to the Chinese fleet.