readx;?“ Even if all the capital ships are transferred to the Far East, they may not be able to teach China a lesson. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info" Prince Albert shook his head slightly, "Moreover, we must also pay attention to little Napoleon and Mathilde on the other side of the English Channel!" ”

"Mathilde ......," Queen Victoria repeated bitterly, the name, "will she wage war against the British Empire for love?" ”

"Victoria, don't forget Juan, that's Mathilde's favorite in the world." Albert reminded his wife in a low voice. The Mexican empress's affection and expectation of Jujuan was no secret among European royalty.

"For Juan? Dear Albert, do you mean that Mathilde is going to make Juan the master of all of America? ”

"I'm afraid this is not just Mathilde's idea," Albert pointed out in a deep voice, "otherwise, why would Zhu Jishi leave the Philippines and attack Hawaii?" ”

"Hawaii has something to do with Juan's domination of America?" The Empress looked at the fat man, who was almost sixty years old, had worked comfortably in India for fifteen years, and had accumulated tens of millions of pounds of private property, and after returning to England, he became a big man in the Conservative Party, and became the Lord of the Navy after the Conservative Party won a majority in Parliament. And it's quite possible that in Benjamin. Disraeli later became Prime Minister.

Secretary of the Navy Robert Brown. Churchill said to the Empress in a deep tone: "The Hawaiian Islands are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of the continental routes of East Asia and North America, and are the only archipelago in the entire central Pacific Ocean where a large naval base can be established. And. The British Navy had been operating at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands for 20 years, building massive forts, bases, and stockpiling large quantities of ammunition, coal, and supplies. It can be possible for the Pacific Fleet in the event of a complete disruption of logistical supplies. Carried out more than 3 years of combat missions in the Pacific to break diplomatic relations. ”

Britain's Pacific Fleet was not a formidable force, and most of the ships it was equipped with were outdated sail and steam hybrid warships, and their combat power was simply not comparable to the latest steam ironclads. But the endurance of these sailed ships far exceeds that of the newer, purely steam-powered ironclads, and their speed is no less than that of a steam battleship when the wind is downwind. It's also faster than the most advanced sail-steam hybrid carriers of the era - after all, carriers don't need to be too fast, and no one would install expensive high-powered steam engines on them.

Therefore, the British Pacific Fleet was not a main fleet used for a decisive battle of fleets, but a broken fleet used to disrupt maritime communications in the Pacific. This fleet exists for no other purpose. It is to disrupt or put wartime Pacific communications under serious threat. This would force the main force of the Chinese navy to be used for Pacific escorts to reduce pressure on Australia and India. At the same time, it also prevented North America from falling into the hands of the two Chinese kingdoms of Donghua and Beihua.

"The Admiralty and the War Department have always believed that there are three main battlefields that will determine the victory or defeat of the world, the European theater, the Indian Ocean theater, and the North American theater." The fat man continued to analyze, "And for the Chinese. The European battlefield is beyond their reach. And to win in Europe, the Chinese will have to fight with the Russians. Given Russia's population and mobilization capabilities, Chinese would have to maintain more than 3 million troops west of the Ural Mountains and continue to fight for more than three years to achieve victory...... This is also on the basis of the inability of the Holy Roman Empire and the British Empire to send troops to support Russia. ”

"The Chinese can't afford to throw so many troops west of the Urals." The chubby admiral told the empress that "their Central Asian railroad supports a maximum of 700,000 men fighting in the Kazakh steppe, while the industry and agriculture of the kingdom of Xihua itself can support an army of 800,000." Moreover, these 1.5 million troops can only fight east of the Ural Mountains, and if they want to penetrate deep into Europe, they will drag thousands of miles or even longer of logistics lines, which is enough to drag down the Chinese army. Thus in Europe. The real ones to worry about are the French. ”

"Fortunately for us, Napoleon III is dead, and France has lost a great commander-in-chief! Also lost the ability to drive the German Empire. "Prince Albert is sure of it." The situation in Europe should be maintainable. ”

"So the winner can only be decided in North America or India?" The Empress eagerly asked, "Are you sure you can win?" ”

"We have a great advantage in India, and our navy is stronger than China after all, and we can firmly control the sea in the Indian Ocean." Churchill said with some pride, "And the road to attack India from land has been stuck." In the mountains of Assam in the eastern part of the Indian Empire. We built the fortified fortress of Imphal and stationed 50,000 troops there all year round. Other than that. Burma's civil war has been going on for a decade, and although the Chinese-supported northern Burma princes have always had the upper hand, the Gongbang dynasty is still resisting with our support. As a result, the Chinese could not build railways in the mountains and jungles of Myanmar. In this way, they will not be able to commit heavy forces to the Assam region to capture the fortress of Imphal. ”

In fact, even if the Ming army captured the Great Fortress of Imphal, it did not mean that India could be defeated. Because over the years, the British only focused on looting in India, and did not spend much energy on building railways to improve traffic. Thousands of kilometres of dirt roads stretch west from Imphal to Kolkata, and there are several wide rivers in the way. This is an absolute logistical nightmare for an army that relies on artillery and machine guns to fight. Unless the Indian princely states defected en masse or the Anglo-Indian army collapsed at the touch of a button, it would be impossible for the Chinese to conquer India by land from the east.

"And what about entering India from the west?" "India has been occupied many times in history by conquerors from the northwest. ”

"The Chinese's Central Asian railway network has only been built as far as Samarkand." Although Qiu Fatzi was the Minister of the Navy, he knew the land of Central Asia and India well. "There are thousands of miles of rugged mountain roads from Samarkand to the Indus Valley, and there are Afghans with strong people."

"Damn the Afghans!" The Empress cursed in a low voice. More than 30 years ago, Britain launched an invasion of Afghanistan, which lasted three and a half years, cost 150 million pounds, lost more than 30,000 people, and was defeated and lost. "These barbarians must support the Chinese!"

"I don't think they will be on the side of China, Your Majesty," replied Qiu Fat. "For the past 20 years, the Chinese have been trying to eliminate the influence of True God in Central Asia. Under the instigation of the Ming Dynasty, the Western Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Kingdom carried out no less than ten purges of the True God Cult. In Xihua, the power of the True God Cult is completely extinct. Afghanistan, which borders the Western Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Kingdom, became a gathering place for exiles from the True God Religion in Central Asia. So Afghanistan is neither a friend of Britain nor a friend of China. Moreover, we have also deployed heavy troops in the Indus Valley, and we are fully sure that we will defeat the Chinese on the labor expedition. ”

"While fighting with the leader of the True God Cult, he is ruthless to the True God Cult on his own territory. Zhu Jishi is such a contradictory guy! The empress snorted, "But that's fine, without firm control of Afghanistan, the Chinese will not dare to throw a large army into India." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, so the advantage of the Indian Ocean is on our side." Prime Minister Benjamin. Disraeli took over the topic, "Now it seems that the Chinese are not counting on defeating us in India either, their target is obviously North America!" ”

"North America?" The empress said, "The purpose of Zhu Jishi's occupation of Hawaii is to facilitate the sending of troops to North America?" ”

The Admiralty Chancellor said, "Definitely." Once Hawaii is under Chinese control, it will be difficult for us to carry out a war break in the North Pacific. Moreover, the power of the Chinese in North America is not weak, there are already nearly 20 million Chinese there (including in the Confederate countries), the infrastructure of the Donghua Kingdom is very good, and the railway network is connected to the railway network of the Confederate countries. Agriculture is very developed, which can support the needs of millions of troops, and there is also a certain industrial strength, especially the arms industry, which is extremely developed. Moreover, a well-developed reserve mobilization system has been established, which can mobilize at least 1.5 million troops in a short period of time. If shipping in the North Pacific remains smooth, the Chinese can invest more than 3 million troops in North America! ”

"But 3 million troops are not enough to defeat the American Empire!" Victoria is sure it's authentic.

Albert shook his head, "What if you add France?" ”

"Mathilde!" Victoria gritted her teeth, "Damn! She's Juan's mother! ”

Prince Albert took a deep breath: "We can't break with China until we find out Mathilde's attitude!" So, let's retreat our troops in Hawaii to the fortress of Pearl Harbor. (To be continued)

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