India's huge and vigorous uprising is like a summer rainstorm, although the wind and rain are fierce, the momentum is amazing, but it comes and goes quickly, the British army effortlessly regained Calcutta, quickly divided into three ways to encircle and suppress the rebels, but in a few months, it conquered Delhi, and the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II was captured.

The rebel armies in Meerut, Jhansi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Alabahad also suffered heavy blows one after another, and had to withdraw from the towns, break into pieces, and move to the countryside to deal with the British army.

Fearing that the British army would settle accounts and endanger their existing interests, the half-hearted princes of various princely states in India quickly changed their attitudes one by one, either colluding with the British army, or protecting themselves, and the vigorous uprising quickly turned from bright to dark and fell into a low ebb.

The Governor General in India, Governor Les Canning, was well aware of the mentality of the princes of the princely states of all sizes, and at the same time of military strikes, he intensified his political offensive to win over the majority and strike at the minority.

Seeing that it was only a matter of time before the Indian rebellion was put down, the plenipotentiary Ergin led a fleet from Calcutta back to Colombo to gather the additional officials who had been expelled from Canton and Shanghai to learn more about the Qing situation.

Colombo is located on the southwest coast of Ceylon Island, bordering the Indian Ocean, known as the "Crossroads of the East", since the Middle Ages, it is one of the world's important commercial ports, enjoying a high reputation in the world, the British East India Fleet has been stationed in Colombo all year round, in order to maintain the safety of the Far East route.

Ceylon was originally a Dutch colony, and after the British replaced it, the Colombo Castle established by the Dutch in Colombo was also renamed Colombo Royal Palace and became the official residence of the British Governor in Ceylon.

Upon arrival in Colombo, Ergin received a telegram from Foreign Minister Claranton that the fleets of France, Spain, and the Netherlands were expected to arrive in Colombo in early or mid-October, and that they should draw up a perfect battle plan as soon as possible.

In the small conference room of the Colombo Royal Palace, Ergin glanced at everyone present and said slowly: "The fleet of the three French countries will arrive in another twenty days, and London needs a perfect battle plan." ”

"Gentlemen." Bao Ling was the first to speak: "I think it is necessary for me to remind me repeatedly, since the Qing army captured Gurkha and expelled the Taiping army into Burma, it began to carry out targeted troop deployment, after the 'Da Special Incident' and 'Shelling Humen Incident', the Qing army's response was extremely rapid, and all signs show that the Qing army has long been ready to go to war with us." ”

"As far as I know, Yuanqi is a separatist force and has a bad relationship with the Qing court." Erjin asked directly: "I want to make sure, is our opponent the Qing court?" Or Yuanqi? ”

"It's the entire Qing Kingdom." Bao Ling said without hesitation: "Yuanqi can be said to be a powerful separatist force, but Yuanqi's commander, Yi Zhicontent, is a fanatical nationalist, and almost all the foreign wars of the Qing State were launched by Yuanqi. ”

Ergin interrupted him and said, "I mean, will the Qing court intervene in this war?" ”

"Of course." Bao Ling said without thinking about it: "It was the emperor of the Qing State who issued an edict and openly declared war on my British Empire and other four countries. Speaking of this, he had already reacted, "Your Excellency is planning to avoid the important and attack the Qing court first?" Or is it to fight the capital of the Qing Kingdom first? ”

Erjin has collected a lot of information about the Qing State during this time, and he knows a lot about the situation of the Qing court about Yuan Qi, and he said with a slight chin when he heard this: "In terms of military strength, Yuan Qi's army and navy far exceed that of the Qing court, and Yi Zhizhi has an extremely strong sense of resistance, if we fight Yuan Qi first, the war is bound to be protracted." ”

"Tianjin and Beijing are in the north, and in more than a month, the sea surface of Tianjin will be frozen." Bao Ling said slowly: "Your Excellency doesn't plan to send troops again next spring, right?" ”

"In the northern waters of the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea are generally completely thawed in March." Ergin said unhurriedly: "When the French fleet arrives in Colombo, it also needs to be repaired and replenished, and it will not be able to depart until November at the earliest, and there is nothing wrong with repairing for two more months and waiting for the monsoon." ”

"I think we should first recover Hong Kong, and then attack Guangzhou or Shanghai." Bao Ling said in a deep voice: "Guangzhou and Shanghai are the two largest industrial bases and the most prosperous cities in the Qing Dynasty and Yuanqi, and the capture of these two cities will completely destroy the industrial base of the Qing Kingdom. ”

"Have you considered how much we will have to pay for attacking these two cities?" Ergin unceremoniously interrupted him, "These two cities are so important, how can Yuan Qi not be heavily guarded?" Humen Fort and Wusong Fort, how many warships and human lives do you need to fill? ”

The two people who saw each other insisted on their own words, and neither of them had any intention of giving in, and the handsome Rear Admiral Hebu, who was in his forties, said at the right time: "I think the first thing we need is a supply port. ”

Hearing this, Erjin and Bao Ling both looked at it, and He Bu continued: "Since the Qing State expelled the diplomatic officials of various countries, we have also cut off the intelligence sources of the Qing State, and so far, it has been a whole year. ”

After a pause, he raised his voice and said: "Gentlemen, one year is enough to change a lot of things, the Qing State is enough to transfer troops from the northwest to the southeast coast, and it can also build twenty or thirty new warships and train more than 100,000 recruits, whether it is to fight Guangzhou, Shanghai or Tianjin, we must first figure out the situation, we can't always stay in Colombo, what we urgently need is a port close to the Qing coast, which can gather troops and provide supplies." ”

Grant, a major general who participated in the First Opium War and had a deep understanding of the combat power of Yuanqi's regimental training, also nodded and agreed: "I agree, as far as we know, Yuanqi has more than 100,000 elite troops, and if we confront it head-on, we will suffer huge casualties, I don't think this will be the result you want to see." ”

Bao Ling frowned, it wasn't He Bu who reminded him, he had almost forgotten that they had indeed not had any information about the Qing Kingdom for nearly a year, and a year was indeed enough time to change a lot of things, so that their first task now was to find out the situation of the Qing Kingdom, after all, the current Qing Kingdom was not something they could ravage at will, and after a slight groan, he said: "Which place does General He Bu like?" Manila? Xiamen? Or Dinghai? ”

"Manila is a little farther away, and Dinghai is undoubtedly the most suitable." He Bu said slowly: "Dinghai is suitable for giving full play to the advantages of our fleet, it is close to Ningbo and Shanghai, and it is easy to obtain intelligence. ”

"Even if the fleet is stationed in Dinghai, what useful information can be obtained?" Erjin glanced at everyone and said: "I still insist on fighting Tianjin, compared to Guangzhou and Shanghai, Tianjin's troops are undoubtedly the weakest!" ”

Everyone who heard this was stunned, and Grant was stunned: "Why? Tianjin is the gateway to the capital of the Qing Dynasty, how can the army be the weakest? ”

Erjin said in a deep voice: "Because the emperor of the Qing State, it is impossible to allow Yuan Qi to garrison troops on a large scale in Tianjin or Beijing, Tianjin only has the army of the Qing court!" ”

This said, everyone reacted, indeed, Yuan Qi belongs to the local separatist forces, and the army is stronger than the Qing court, how could the Qing emperor allow Yuan Qi's army to enter the Tianjin and Beijing areas?

Coming back to his senses, Bao Ling hurriedly said: "Your Excellency will not forget, the train from Shanghai to Beijing has been opened, I am sure that Shanghai must be stationed with heavy troops, once I hear that our fleet is going north, Shanghai will inevitably increase troops to Tianjin." ”

He Bu said: "If we put on a posture to attack Guangzhou, can we attract Yuan Qi to increase troops to Guangzhou?" ”

"There is no railway from Guangzhou to Shanghai, and it is more than a thousand kilometers apart, so it is impossible to support." Pa Xia Li said: "If the guess is correct, Yuan Qi's troops should be focused on Guangzhou, after all, Shanghai and Beijing have railways, which can support each other." ”

Erjin nodded slightly, and said: "The analysis is good, this may be very large, the troops deployed in Guangzhou should be comparable to the total strength of Shanghai and Tianjin, you might as well analyze it carefully, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin, which place do we fight, and the resistance may be the least?" ”

Grant said, "Why do you have to fight these three heavily defended places? ”

Bao Ling said slowly: "Because only by fighting these three places can we force the Qing Kingdom to fight a decisive battle with us, and fighting other places is a waste of time, and the Qing Kingdom will not pay attention to it at all." ”

Grant said: "What about Dinghai, and then capture Ningbo and Hangzhou?" ”

This is the old routine of the First Opium War, and without waiting for Bao Ling to speak, Pashali shook his head and said: "Railways have been opened from Hangzhou to Shanghai and Tianjin. ”

"What about the capture of Java and Luzon?"

"It is estimated that in three or five years, the Qing Kingdom will not pay attention to us."

He Bu said: "Then it is better to find an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Qing Navy and annihilate their main naval fleet." ”

"This one could be smaller." Bao Ling said: "Almost all the coastal islands of the Qing Kingdom have laid cable telegraphs, as soon as our fleet enters the Strait of Malacca, it will be under the surveillance of the other party at any time, it is impossible to have this opportunity, unless the other party takes the initiative to find us for a decisive battle, otherwise we should not even see the shadow of their fleet." ”

Seeing that the topic was far away, Erjin hurriedly pulled it back, "I think the resistance to attack Tianjin is the least, only about half of the Eight Banners New Army of the Qing Imperial Court is equipped with Mini guns, and besides, the Qing Emperor may not be relieved to let the Yuanqi army reinforce Tianjin on a large scale." ”

There was silence in the conference room, the Qing State was not India, even the Eight Banners New Army and the Beiyang Naval Division in Tianjin were equipped with tens of thousands of mini guns, if they really wanted to fight Tianjin, this war might even be more brutal than the Crimean War, with greater casualties.

Shanghai, Zhenhai Mansion, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizu stood motionless in front of the large map with a cigarette holder in his mouth, and he was also wondering where the Four-Nation Alliance would attack first. Although it is not yet possible to estimate the strength and fleet size of the coalition forces, he knows in his heart that it may be unprecedented, and even surpass the Crimean War, after all, Yuan Qi has offended Britain to death this time, which can be seen from the size of the British fleet in Colombo.

Zhao Wenlie didn't know what he was pondering, and after reading the two newspapers, he saw that he was still standing there, and couldn't help but say: "Big shopkeeper, what we need to defend is nothing more than Guangzhou and Shanghai, and other places don't need to pay attention to it, because of the economic crisis, it is impossible for them to fight a protracted war."

The Beijing-Shanghai Railway is convenient to transfer troops, and if the coalition forces attack Shanghai, Tianjin can also vigorously reinforce them, so it is enough to focus on Guangzhou, so why bother so much? ”

"It's a decent way to play." Yi Zhizhi said in a sullen voice: "Such a deployment of troops may be a rare vicious battle for both of us!" After this battle, Yuan Qi should also be greatly injured. ”

Is this ready for an adventure? Zhao Wenlie was excited, hurriedly got up and paced, and said, "The big shopkeeper shouldn't want to take Guangzhou to risk, this can't afford to lose." ”

"It's not about whether there's a way to get the best of both worlds." Yi Zhizhi said and turned around, "Britain and France have only experienced the Crimean War, and the combat quality of officers and soldiers, battlefield command, logistics and supply, battlefield medical aid and other aspects have made great progress, but we have always lacked experience in large-scale operations, and now the gap between the weapons and equipment of the two sides is not large. ”

Zhao Wenlie hesitated and said, "The big shopkeeper judges that the strength of the Four-Nation Alliance will exceed 100,000?" ”

"Definitely more than 100,000." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "The British fleet in Colombo has 40,000 troops, and this is only the navy. ”

"The big shopkeeper." Cao Gensheng walked in after a slight pause at the door, and reported: "There is a call from Penang, and the cable telegram has been cut off. ”

"The war is about to begin." Yi Zhizu said softly, groaning slightly, before he ordered: "Telegraph, all telegraph observation points in Nanyang have entered a state of concealment. After saying that, he asked again: "Where has the cable telegraph laid along the Bering Strait been laid?" ”

"Go back to the treasurer." Cao Gensheng hurriedly said: "It has been laid to the Kamchatka Peninsula, and it is expected that it will be laid to the west coast of the United States in another year." ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, this matter is not in a hurry, the area from Kamchatka to Alaska should be frozen at this time, and it will be good to be able to open next year, "Send someone to inform Uncle Jia of this." ”

After Cao Gensheng left, Zhao Wenlie asked, "Does the big shopkeeper have come up with a way to get the best of both worlds?" ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "Go figure it out yourself and see if there's a way to get the best of both worlds?" ”

"Really?" Zhao Wenlie was overjoyed, and hurriedly got up to look at the map.

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