Chapter 687: The Red Sea
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"Will the MIA be able to get the exact intentions of the British?" Wang Yuze asked. Britain and France began to increase their troops in the Middle East on a large scale, whether they wanted to fight with the empire with all their strength and completely divide the winner, or just to compete with the empire for the Middle East. Wang Yuze can't judge this. If Britain and France want to go all out to fight China, then China will probably have to make preparations early and mobilize more Canadian troops.
"Your Majesty, the minister is incompetent! The Imperial agents in Britain have done their best, but the British have done a good job of secrecy this time, and we have not been able to obtain accurate information. In addition, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, which were controlled by the British, were strictly checked, and all ships flying the imperial flag were strictly inspected. General Wei Zhiyong, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, replied. In the past few days, the agents of the Military Intelligence Agency in Britain have paid a heavy price, but they still have not been able to get accurate information.
"Hmmm! It seems that Britain is ready to fight us with all its might! Wang Yuze's face began to be solemn.
"Your Majesty, no matter what, we must ensure victory in the war in the Middle East, and whatever the British may have, we can only respond to all changes with the same. Since the British have increased their troops, we have only to increase them. The General Staff plans to draw five divisions from the six divisions directly under the General Staff to fight in the Kingdom. In addition, the Fifth Army in the Middle East was prepared to take it immediately and enter the Kingdom from Persia to fight in the event of a change in the Middle East. In addition, the Seventh Army will also be ready for battle, and if necessary, it can immediately go to the Middle East! Chief of the General Staff Xiong Wu said. Send five divisions to the Saudi region first, if five really can't do it. If two more army groups are dispatched, China's army in the Kingdom will reach more than 400,000 people, and as long as Britain and France do not devote all their forces to a decisive battle with China, then the Imperial army in the Kingdom will be able to deal with the problem.
"Okay, that's it. In any case, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cannot afford to lose, this is directly related to the future of the empire! Wang Yuze said solemnly.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Everyone replied.
"Your Majesty, the main force of the Indian Ocean Fleet. It will go to the Middle East to be armed. The French Navy's four 'Lone class' battleships are already operating in the eastern Mediterranean. The British Navy also sent two 'Dreadnought-class' battleships to the Mediterranean. With such strength, it can already compete with the Imperial Navy for sea supremacy in the Indian Ocean! Navy Minister Zhang Cheng said. The Indian Ocean Fleet has only two 'Qin-class' battleships and two 'Zhonghua-class' battleships, as well as one 'Baiqi-class' battlecruiser, and in terms of the number of capital ships, the Indian Ocean Fleet does not have an advantage, but only in combat power. The two sides are just equal. However, the Indian Ocean Fleet also had quite a few heavy cruisers, which could pose a certain threat to the capital ships of the British and French navies. If the British and French navies wanted to seize the supremacy of the Indian yoga, it would be almost impossible. Let's go. The British Navy sent all four of its 'Dreadnought-class' battleships to the Indian Ocean. However, this root is impossible. The German Navy had been operating in the North Sea during this time, pinning down much of the strength of the British Navy. This is also because of an agreement between China and Germany to share in the Middle East's oil revenues. They have to make their own contributions, they want to get something for nothing. China won't say yes!
"The main task of the Indian Ocean Fleet is to ensure the security of the Empire's shipping routes in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. Once the empire fought a war with Britain and France in the kingdom, almost all supplies were strictly dependent on sea transportation. If the sea transport line is cut off, the consequences are unimaginable! Wang Yuze solemnly admonished. Once China deploys hundreds of thousands of troops in the Kingdom, the daily consumption of these troops will be a daily number. If it is not possible to ensure the safety of sea transport lines, once there is a problem with logistics supply, it will be a disaster for the army on the front line. In particular, the geographical conditions in the Middle East are harsh, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cannot provide much supply for its huge army, and it has to rely on China itself. Therefore, the maritime transportation routes in the northern part of the Indian Ocean are particularly important.
"Your Majesty, in that case, is it possible to temporarily transfer some warships from the Pacific Fleet to join the operation in the Indian Ocean?" Chief of the General Staff Xiong Wuti yì said. The US Navy has only deployed a few cruisers and destroyers in the Pacific Ocean, and the four battleships and one battle cruiser of the Pacific Fleet seem to be a bit wasteful.
"Not yet! With the strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet, it should be enough to deal with the Anglo-French forces! Wang Yuze said. Whether it is the British Navy's 'Dreadnought-class' battleships or the French Navy's 'Lone-class' battleships, their combat power is only comparable to the Chinese Navy's 'Zhonghua-class' battleships, and even slightly insufficient. Against the 'Qin-class' battleships, there is no advantage. The two 'Qin-class' battleships and the two 'Zhonghua-class' battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet are already completely capable of resisting two 'Dreadnought-class' battleships and four 'Guba-class' battleships.
In response to the frenzied increase of troops in the Middle East by Britain and France, China has also made a-for-tat response. The 15th, 16th, 35th, 40th, and 41st Divisions of the Army boarded ships one after another and headed for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from China. During this period, the Indian fleet of the British Navy was completely confined to the harbor, not daring to go out, for fear of being attacked by the Chinese Navy, let alone threatening China's sea lines. At the same time, because China did not declare war on Britain, the Chinese Navy did not attack the Indian fleet of the British Navy after it voluntarily backed down. Both sides still maintained a certain degree of restraint.
In the blink of an eye, the time has entered the end of October, and the expeditionary force sent by Britain and France to Egypt and the northwestern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reached 300,000 people. However, they still did not take the initiative to attack, and the battle lines of the two sides remained in the western part of the Kingdom. The Chinese army in Saudi Arabia, after receiving the support of five divisions from China, is not as strong as the British and French forces in terms of strength, but it is also relatively well-off. However, fighting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the logistical pressure is very high. Almost all of the Kingdom's 100,000 troops have become convoys, which are responsible for transporting the strategic materials needed by the squadron from Dammam in the east to the front line. To this end, the Kingdom has also mobilized more than 200,000 civilians to participate in it, which has ensured the consumption of supplies on the front line.
The entire Middle East region has entered a strange calm. It's just that this kind of calmness exudes an unbearable pressure, which makes people breathless. Even a fool can see that the clouds of war over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have accumulated more and more, and no one can be sure when it will break out. But everyone knows that once it erupts, it will be a collapse of the sky.
The Red Sea is a narrow strip of water between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, stretching south from the Suez Canal to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and is about 2,100 kilometers long. After the opening of the Suez Canal, it became a necessary route for connecting East and West. Even with the war clouds in the Middle East, the shipping routes here are still very busy, with merchant ships traveling between the East and the West at sea. Although everyone is afraid that they will be affected by the war, if they do not go here and detour to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, the whole voyage will be tens of thousands of kilometers longer, which will be a huge success for businessmen. Everyone also hoped that the war would be better controlled on land than spread to the sea. However, this is obviously impossible.
Although the Red Sea is a traditional British sphere of influence, the British Navy has a small naval base in the Aden Protectorate. It's just that after the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy moved westward, in order to avoid unnecessary losses, the main forces of the British Navy were withdrawn from here and to Alexandria, Egypt. The warships of the Chinese Navy also often enter the Red Sea for cruises. It's just that most of the battleships that entered the Red Sea were light cruisers or destroyers, these two types of warships were fast, and even if they encountered the British Navy, they could quickly escape.
On October 25, the heavy cruiser 'Nanjing' of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy, with a 'Tianshui-class' light cruiser 'Linxia' and a 'Fuqing-class' destroyer 'Changle', entered the Red Sea through the Guò Mandeb Strait and sailed all the way north. Britain and France continued to increase their troops in the Middle East, and now the total number of troops has increased to 400,000, which has put great pressure on the Chinese army in Saudi Arabia. The Chinese need to figure out what the British are trying to do. The purpose of the heavy cruiser's trip was to explore the truth and the truth. Previously, warships sent by the Chinese Navy were often intercepted by the British Navy as soon as they reached the northern part of the Red Sea. This time, the heavy cruiser 'Nanjing' was dispatched, and as long as it did not encounter the 'Dreadnought-class' battleships of the British Navy, it was able to forcibly oppress the other warships of the British Navy.
The Chinese side did not know at this time that the main force of the British Navy had secretly left British soil and entered the Middle East. The battleships that remained in British Harbor were not the 'Dreadnought-class' battleships of the British Navy, but the 'Connecticut-class' battleships of the US Navy.
The two 'dreadnought-class' battleships, which crossed the Suez Canal at night, entered the Red Sea, and sailed south under the escort of several light cruisers and destroyers. Behind this fleet, there was a dense mass of transport ships. Their destination was Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, where the Anglo-French forces planned to land and attack the squadron entrenched in the southwest of the Kingdom!