Chapter 211 The Shadow of World War

Two parallel lines formed by two steel dragons approached at high speed during movement, and the unprecedented large-scale battleship naval battle was about to break out at this moment. This would be the largest naval battle in history, both in terms of total tonnage and in terms of the total ammunition weight of a volley.

Rostraff's order was not released. Just as he put his mouth to the copper tube to pass the order of combat to the entire fleet, he was suddenly surprised to find that his throat seemed to be pinched by an invisible hand.

Behind him, the sound of the door being kicked open, and a series of nervous angrily shouts rubbing against the guns came. Rostrav retracted his unbelievable eyes and turned around.

A team of Spanish infantry had already raised their guns flat and pointed them at everyone in the small command room. Several Russian sailors who were disarmed were pushed in with their hands behind their backs tied up. The Spanish behind them were almost shooting their anger with their eyes and kicked the Russian in angrily with their feet.

"Bastard! You want us to die! You want us to be buried with you!" A young Spanish officer ignored the rank of the lieutenant general in front of him, rushed over with a pistol high in his right hand, and pressed the gun on his temple with a hideous face.

Rostrav looked at the Spaniard in front of him in surprise, and turned back in disbelief to look at the deck under his feet and the Chinese fleet in the distance. The distance was getting closer and closer. Once anyone lost control due to tension, the consequences would be unimaginable. The strength of both sides was so close that whoever fired first would have a great opportunity, but he was controlled by the damn Spaniard at this critical moment!

He looked at Rozerjestervinsky in anger. This guy was responsible for the Spanish's ride. At such a critical moment, how could the Spanish be free to move on the ship? But seeing that Rozerjestervinsky was also obedient, the suspicion of the mutiny that had just emerged was also dispelled.

"Remove your San Andre flag immediately! Change it to our national flag! This is a ship rented by the Royal Spanish Army!" Spain's new Philippine Governor Boravisha stepped forward quickly. At such a critical moment, he didn't care about his demeanor at all. Seeing that the distance between the two sides was less than 6,000 meters, an unprecedented war could be launched at any time!

Of course Rostrav was not that cowardly, and snorted coldly: "Sir, you're wrong. This is the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire. This is the commander's command room! Please go out!"

"Look clearly—" Polaviv was not showing any weakness, but did not use this opportunity to show his strength. Instead, he waved his hand and signaled to withdraw his gun to the officer who held Rostrav's forehead, and took a step forward, pointed to the Spanish Army soldiers on the deck with live ammunition on the deck, and the Russian sailors who were gunned down at his waist, said to Rostrav: "Your Excellency Commander, you also know that your fleet is now fully controlled by us! Please understand that I am here to notify you, not to discuss with you." He looked at Rostrav with compassion and said: "Look at your soldiers, you have no future except to bring us to be a burial."

As he said that, Polaviv pushed Rostrav away and issued an order to the copper tube: "Remove the flag and raise the Spanish flag! Order the signal soldiers to express their inimitability to the other party!"

The flag of San Andre on a white background and blue fork was quickly removed, replaced by the flag of Spain's red and yellow embroidered with the Spanish national emblem.

Under half-coerced and semi-voluntary conditions, the fleet slowly turned under the muzzle of the Chinese Pacific Fleet six kilometers away and headed towards Manila Bay in the east.

All of this was seen by Liu Buchan, six kilometers away. The Russians looked very dissatisfied. He sneered in his heart. The Spaniards were conscious of the current affairs and treated them differently. Although the original goal of this southward operation was the Spanish. But now, the bullfighters are not evil at all now, but they are a little cute.

"Closing the team and returning to Kaohsiung!" With the arrival of the Russian fleet, the strategic situation has changed, and the tactical focus will naturally shrink slightly.

It's time to turn the focus to the Russians.

"We have no intention of your fleet." After getting out of danger, Boravisha told Rostraff, who had recovered his freedom: "Our destination is Manila, and after arrival, no matter what your fleet wants to do, it is your freedom."

Originally, these Spaniards could not move freely in the fleet, but after Singapore's supply, they saw that they were less than two thousand nautical miles away from Manila. They set off from Singapore in the morning and arrived in Manila in five or six hours. The control of the Spaniards naturally relaxed, but unexpectedly, such a huge change was caused. So what Rostrav was most upset that he should not let the Spaniards move freely too early. Thinking of this, he still looked at Rozjestervinsky in anger.

Hearing the Spanish's inconsiderate confession, Rostrav couldn't bear it and slammed the shore and said, "We are not cowards. You don't seem to know why the Chinese fleet is moving in the South Pacific. They are also your enemies!"

"Yes, you are warriors, a group of unethical warriors lying on the deck basking in the sun." Boravisha did not hide his mockery. Manila had only an hour's voyage. Now this fleet is still under their control. He has no reason to be afraid of this Russian fleet that may not have lived for a few days. However, after being out of danger, he still restored the inherent grace of the Southern Europeans. The Spanish edifice from the gentle sea breeze of the Mediterranean is naturally more gentlemanly than the Russians in the snow. He picked up a wine glass to Rostrav and signaled: "However, we still have to apologize to you, and we have no choice. As the commander of this Royal Army, I do not allow my soldiers.

We take unnecessary risks. You are right, the Chinese are not very friendly to us, and they are also here to deal with us. However, we are the army and are enemies of battleships. That is what the navy should do. We have more important things to do." He lifted the wine glass, pondered slightly, as if he was considering the words and said slowly: "But we have spent a not-so-smooth journey together. Thank you and do my best to be kind, sincerely invite you to stay in Manila for a few days. To hurry to go north, it is probably not a good thing for you. Also, we Spanish are not cowards, we have the pride of bullfighters." After saying that, he picked up the wine glass and drank it all.

This was said to be full of righteousness and decent, and Rostrav barely quelled. After drinking a glass of wine, he had a step down. Seeing the poor morale of his own fleet, even if the strength was not much different from the other party, so many loads on the deck that were not conducive to combat still needed to be cleaned. Moreover, after clearing more than 30,000 people, the fleet also needed to replenish more freshwater and coal. You must know that from now onwards north to Japan, there is no possibility of any supply, and maybe there will be several battles to fight... Thinking of this, hatred for the pigs in St. Petersburg arises naturally.

"That's all." After looking at Rozjestvinsky, Lieutenant General Rostral lowered his noble head and nodded to Bolavisha and thanked him: "Thank you for your intake, we need to replenish supplies in Manila."

"This..." Bolavisha had a headache. He knew the situation in Manila. This was also the reason why he led 35,000 people to reinforce. He frowned and said, "If you say so, your fleet needs to stay even more. It seems that we need your assistance."

Rozjestvinsky quickly thought of the bad situation in the Philippines, and soon he reminded Lieutenant General Rostraff, who was a little irritated.

In this way, the situation in the Philippines has changed again.

After Liu Buchan returned to Kaohsiung Port, the Navy's Captains' Joint Meeting was held quickly. The most urgent task was to quickly report the latest situation to Beijing. Moreover, there might be some new instructions in China and there should be a response plan in advance. There are almost a few possibilities. Let the Russian fleet continue to work hard in the Philippines, or focus on the Russians first. There are several possibilities here, such as annihilation, demonstration, or lifting up high and gently putting it down. Another possibility is to let him go and solve it together when he went to Japan. The Japanese have been very happy recently and dared to build battleships in Tokyo. Although the old design of the French is not worth worrying about, at most it is ten minutes to ship at the level of a ten-minute ship, it is unreasonable to just be bold and not to teach a lesson.

After discussing these propositions, of course there are a lot of plans, but only one to be implemented, of course, the boldest one - the entire Russian fleet. But where this location is placed has become a problem. The sea surface between the Philippines and Kaohsiung is endless, with almost no suddenness, that is, the direct confrontation between hard bridges and hard horses. In this way, killing one thousand enemies will probably cause 800 damage to yourself. But in the future, it is necessary to give Taiwan Island to the Russians as depth. If there are several guns overturned by the Russians on the shore, and the navy is embarrassed, can the domestic public opinion let it go? Such a powerful navy can bully people at the doorstep?

These are all problems. Although Liu Buchan has a slight tendency to make progress on the surface, he is definitely not a reckless person in his heart. He can also fight with a small plan, but sometimes he is unwilling to fight.

The navy's judgment was correct. The next day, diplomatic war began. Diplomacy and war were just a pair of sons of politics, which were inseparable. After receiving the telegram from the Baltic Fleet, St. Petersburg fell into panic, and the news spread quickly. Almost the entire St. Petersburg was immersed in this panic this afternoon, and the activities of praying for the soldiers of the Baltic Fleet thousands of miles away were soon launched on the streets of the city.

At this time, there was a very wonderful and interesting episode. A holy fool named Rasputin announced his latest speculation everywhere. He asserted that the Baltic fleet would be safe and sound. Since his past predictions were amazingly accurate, this time he played a role in calming the people's hearts. By the time the Ministry of the Interior announced that the fleet arrived in Manila safely, the citizens were already unexpectedly quiet. The monk was of course noticed by the official, and the Tsar, who had some pleasure in his life after the disaster, even expressed his desire to meet the magical monk at the right time.

Of course, this is all a story. What made the whole world most excited at this time was the world war in the diplomatic world. In addition to the two countries involved, the three countries, Britain, Germany, and France, were not surprising at all.

The British were the first to predict that the incident would definitely happen. After agreeing to the Russians' request to cross the Suez Canal, the Admiralty Department foreseen this day after a brief inference. Due to the rapid development of telecommunications in recent years, the British had several contacts with Zai Ying before. What made Zai Ying complacent was that the British's attitude was very ambiguous.

As my foreign minister, his international views are the best in China. When the British envoy Martin contacted him, he informed him that the Russian Navy was about to pass through the Chinese ocean, and his destination was two Japanese military ports. Zaiying asked almost a reflexive question about what the position of the British Empire would be like if there was a conflict.

Martin's answer was almost like a riddle. The British, who had come to China since the German Schlieffen returned to China and stayed there, was nominally the senior representative of the British Empire's interest representative office in China, but I always suspected that he seemed to be the role of another minister. Logically speaking, his role was already within the mission list of the minister, and there was no need to set up a separate interest. Schlieffen's visit must have stimulated the British, and perhaps they felt that more personnel should be sent in China to supervise the increasingly restless Germans.

In response to Zai Ying's question, the smile on Martin's face was impeccable in terms of etiquette. He said in a very proficient Chinese language: "Is it a pleasure to have friends from afar? This is the words of your country's most sage, Master Confucius, the most sage. For the British Empire, your country is our friend. The Russian Empire is currently... it seems to be the same. So what about Russia for your country?" He shrugged and laughed: "I don't know or have no interest in knowing, but you should know that the interests of Asia are decided by your two countries, which is clearly stated by your emperor's public speech in our country. In addition, the friendship between the British Empire and the Russian Empire has to a large extent nothing to do with the sea. Lord Beller, I heard that your father, Prince Gong, is a little uneasy. Please allow me to express my most sincere greetings."

Zaiying was a smart man. When he ordered people to record, he had already figured it out. The British were in a dark heart. They told themselves clearly that Britain did not want a fleet of third countries to threaten their interests in Asia. The so-called cooperation between Britain and Russia was only limited to the land level. Britain just needed the Russians to help deal with the Germans.

Of course, it is natural for Britain to have British considerations. For Britain, since China has allowed China to attack the Philippines, it naturally agrees with China's statement that Britain is acting as the interests of Asia. Under this relationship, the Russians sent navies to the Far East, so don't blame the British for being ruthless.

But I think the British must be so angry that they hate them. From the British perspective, the strength of the Russian Baltic fleet must not be underestimated. This fleet should have returned to the Baltic Sea obediently to maintain pressure on the Germans. I don’t know if the two countries have any communication in private, but I can be sure that after the British made all the efforts, the Russians insisted on going to the Far East. It is estimated that the British had already sentenced the fleet to death by then.

Afterwards, information from the European Department of the Military Intelligence Agency showed that the Russians were greedy for the large amount of rental fees from the Spanish, and at the same time they wanted to actually receive two Japanese blank check ports, so they refused the British's advice to return to the Baltic Sea and embark on the eastbound route.

The British newspaper reported the next day on the previous day on a large-scale maritime fleet confrontation. The tone of the British leader could see the wishes of the British - "Missed it? The largest battleship confrontation in history!" This is the Times report, and the source of the news is very interesting. It was Mr. Lang Willy, the chief of staff of the Royal Navy of China. The news was very detailed. The whole incident and the strength of the main fleets of both sides, from the confrontation to the ship-catching storm of the Russian fleet, were all told as if they were personally seen, allowing the citizens of the British Empire to clearly see that their allies in the East were going to fight a naval battle. What impact did the entire incident have on the British Empire, how the Russians would deal with it, and so on.

This is of course the masterpiece of Mi Ji, the chief reporter of Times in China. Now it is hard to figure out whether he is Chinese or British. With double salary, he naturally has fully cooperated with the Ministry of Education and Chemical Engineering of China. Since the confrontation at noon, the whole series of publicity offensive has been in full swing. After an afternoon of hard work, a manuscript of tens of thousands of words has been reviewed by Kang Youwei and was immediately sent back to China. Due to the time difference, it was still in the afternoon when the British received this manuscript.

The purpose of the entire news offensive was to serve diplomacy, and to make the British acknowledge that the naval war between China and Russia was almost inevitable, which is already a fait accompli.

For the British, the fall of the Baltic Fleet is no longer so important to our own side. The Russians are seeking death by themselves, no wonder others have to blame.

And I also have my own considerations. If the Russian fleet suffers serious losses in China, then no matter what, it will be an unacceptable insult to the Russians. Revenge on land will definitely follow. Although the Russians have not been completely pulled out from Turkey and the Western Front is increasingly oppressed by the Germans, with Nicholas II's character, he may have to take advantage of the fate of the entire Russia. In this way, the defense lines in both directions of Ili and Kulun must be strengthened as soon as possible.

However, considering the model of the Russo-Japanese War that once occurred, the Russians had no choice but to accept the failure after losing two fleets and large tracts of land in the Far East, and their estimates of Russia need to be slightly lowered.

Of course, there is another variable in the Germans. The news was reported to the Germans through official channels, and the Germans were naturally happy to see such an ending. First, on the navy, Germany almost no longer needs to consider the Russian fleet in the Baltic. In addition, if Russia launches a ground war against China, then Germany will almost never give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. His army will immediately seize the opportunity without pressure on the Eastern Front and extinguish France with all its might. In this way, the whole world has no choice and a world war will happen immediately.

In 1895, Bulgaria triggered the first European crisis. In 1896, Turkey triggered the second European crisis. In 1897, whether the Eurasian crisis would truly become a reality, the decision-making power is now in my hands.

The Russians' reaction was expected. The strong statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was just a warning to the Turks some time ago that they had almost changed to a target country. At the same time, in recent days, Russia is also conducting a third round of armistice negotiations with Turkey. The Turks seized the opportunity of the Russians' eagerness to withdraw troops. The lion spoke loudly and demanded that the Russians withdraw from Armenia. The Russians almost agreed with the mentality of a hero cutting off their arm. Their top priority was to increase the pressure on the Chinese on land. The small Armenia was naturally not within Nicholas II's overall consideration plan. The Russians have been busy for nearly half a year. The war against Turkey has not achieved any results except for harvesting thousands of corpses. They have forgotten that their original goal was to liberate the Armenians and obtain the Mediterranean estuary... These seem to be too far away.

In the next week, the Baltic Fleet seems to have really accepted the enthusiasm of the Spaniards and stopped in the Port of Manila to help the Spaniards deal with the rebellious Filipinos. My fleet naturally has to leave some time for the court. Diplomatic and political considerations are determining the operation of the military machine.

This incident requires another consideration. No matter what the process is, if the Baltic Fleet really arrives in Japan safely or semi-safely and becomes a Pacific Fleet, then the situation in Japan will add new variables, and Yuan Shikai's 150,000 Zhian Army is a little less. And there is also an important point, even if his fleet passes safely, the land will be calm? Don't the Russians want to open up the communication channels between the East and the West?

These are all variables. Thinking of the two battleships that the Japanese will complete at the beginning of next year, I know how symbolic it will be for that perverted nation.

How to do it and to what extent it takes wisdom and courage.
Chapter completed!