Chapter 1137: Attack on the Canal

  Chapter 1116: Attack on the Canal
At the end of the Continental War, the British government took advantage of the Holy Roman Empire’s lack of time to look east to seize the French Central and Southern Peninsula.

Jinlan Bay, this French Far East Fleet’s base camp, also followed the change of master, became the British Royal Navy’s base camp.

With this Asia’s first military port, as for another military town of Singapore, the Royal Navy naturally do not see.

Of course, this is just talk. The real reason is that the British government reacted slowly, Sumatra was occupied by the Netherlands, and the Malay Peninsula fell into the hands of the German Confederation controlled by Hanover.

At that time, Britain was in trouble with France and Austria, and both Hanover and Holland were their hardcore minions, so the British government acquiesced to this fact.

No one expected the international situation to change so quickly. With a continental war, France fell to the ground, and the Holy Roman Empire was reborn in fire to complete unification once again.

Undoubtedly, the Malay Peninsula, as a colony of the German Confederation, naturally joined the family of the Holy Roman Empire.

With the birth of a continental hegemon, the Dutch government, influenced by geopolitics, also turned to the Holy Roman Empire.

In an instant, Singapore, which was an important military port of Britain in the Far East, became unscented.

Although the Strait of Malacca, still in the hands of the Royal Navy, but both sides of the Strait have become the enemy’s sphere of influence.

There is no little brother can honor, just a corner of Singapore, obviously can not support the hegemony of Britain in the South Seas region, the rule of the Strait of Malacca at once became precarious.

By this time, it was too late for the British to regret. Fell into the Holy Roman Empire’s stomach meat, naturally impossible to spit out again.

It was equally undesirable to seek Sumatra, which was ruled by the Dutch. With the Holy Roma on their side, it was simply impossible for them to let go of their hands.

“Woe is me”, although Britain’s rule over the Straits of Malacca was challenged, they also took the French Central and Southern Peninsula.

Not only did they remove the threat to the southeast of India, but they also expanded their colonial empire and increased their voice in the South Seas region.

Whether it was a loss or a gain is a question that is hard to say in a nutshell. But it was certainly a gain for the colonial government.

The rule over Malacca was challenged, but after all, it was still in their hands, and with the additional rich south-central peninsula to exploit, everyone’s little life must have been a little more comfortable.

The colonial bureaucrats were able to rake in the money as they saw it, and naturally the Far East Fleet had a share in it.

As the commander of the fleet, Admiral Michel, the small life is a nourishing. More than once, he lamented that choosing to come to the Far East was the most correct choice in his life.

Unfortunately, the good days were always short-lived. Along with the tension of the situation in Europe, the situation in the Southern Ocean area also followed the turbulence.

Originally, this is nothing, the strength of the Far East fleet is above the South Pacific fleet. If a war breaks out, Michel has enough confidence to win.

Just along with the situation in Europe, Spain, Portugal, Holland three countries have fallen to the Holy Roman Empire, the situation has changed.

The advantage originally occupied by the Far East Fleet was now instantly reversed. One against four, even if the Royal Navy again able to fight, that is also a single fist is difficult to beat four hands.

The only thing that comforted Michel was that Britain still had allies, and if he added the power of the Japanese navy, he still had the certainty of victory.

Only a telegram accompanying London shattered Admiral Mitchell’s illusions. The government of London asked him to wait for an opportunity to sneak attack on the Nanyang Fleet and annihilate the main force of its department.

In the grand scheme of things, there was nothing wrong with this order. Although it was against the spirit of chivalry to go to war undeclared, but Michel was not a knight in the first place and had no moral cleanliness.

Now that the situation is so tense, it is impossible for the Nanyang fleet to be completely defenseless, it is very difficult to just sneak attack, let alone annihilate it.

Deep inside Admiral Michel more than once spat, to sneak attack on the early said, have to wait until the situation is out of control before ordering, when people are fools ah!

Fortunately, Michel did not know that the London government’s initial plan was: the Far East Fleet and the Pacific Fleet together, at the same time, to destroy Shen Luo’s South Pacific Fleet and Central American fleet.

Otherwise, it would not be a complaint, but simply could not be implemented. Sneak attack also needs to consider the timing and location, not any period of time, any place can act.

In case of bad luck, when the agreed time of action came, the weather was not favorable to a fog, or the wind and waves, or the enemy was not in the pre-determined battlefield, all could lead to the failure of the mission.

Fortunately, the Navy Department is not all civilian officials, there are also professionals, in time to stop this farce.

In the end, the orders received by the Far East Fleet and the Pacific Fleet became to wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack and destroy the enemy’s main force.

The difficulty was still great, but after all, there was a possibility of accomplishing it. As long as one side got it, or missed it, all-out war broke out, and the other side would have to fight hard.

Compared to directly fighting the enemy hard, Admiral Michel was still more willing to try. In case the sneak attack succeeded, he would be Britain’s greatest credit.

There was no way, without solving Shen Luo’s two major overseas fleets, the Royal Navy would have no way to concentrate its forces into a war to encircle Shen Luo’s main naval force.

The Mediterranean Sea that big bathtub has two exits, want to encircle to force the Shen Luo navy to come out for a duel, we have to carry out both ways at the same time.

The Royal Navy is indeed bullish, but after the troops are divided into two ways, want to suppress the Shen Luo Navy is not so much simple, or perhaps will also put themselves into.

The only way is to cut out the wings of the Shinra Navy, take out their overseas fleet, and then focus on suppressing their local fleet.

Of course, this was Admiral Michel’s own judgment. In fact, there are more ways, such as blocking the Suez Canal to stop the Shinra Navy from moving eastward into the Indian Ocean.

Looking at the map on the wall, Michel fell into a deep thought, and from time to time also pointed with his hand, as if looking for the “ground” to break the situation.

……

The Suez Canal, since its opening, has carried the economic destiny of Asia and Europe and Africa.

Every year in and out of the ship up to tens of thousands of ships, light toll revenue are tens of millions of huge, deservedly golden waterway.

Regardless of how tense the situation in Europe, every day in and out of the Suez Canal ships are still not reduced, quite a few points beyond the world feeling.

Unfortunately, this kind of “transcendence” is only an illusion. If you look closely, you will find that both the merchants along the coast and the businessmen coming and going are all looking very serious.

Everyone knows that war is coming. Once the war broke out, the lively Suez Canal would immediately fall silent.

The security checkpoints of the canal, at this moment, have already formed long lines. Along with the tense situation, the security check of the Suez Canal has been taken to the next level.

As a merchant, Owen naturally abhorred the cumbersome checks. However, the arm could not be bent by the leg, and if you wanted to pass through the Suez Canal, you had to be inspected.

Seeing the staff constantly rummage through the boxes, almost unloading the goods and reloading the ship, Owen could no longer watch: “These are ballast, there is no need to move out one by one to check it, right?”

This time the transportation is from the east porcelain, silk, are more lightweight products, to ensure the stability of the ship, ballast is naturally indispensable.

Now even the stones have to be inspected, this prudence is really jaw-dropping.

The staff turned back and replied very seriously, “Sorry, Mr. Owen. This is a special time, please cooperate with us.

Not only for the safety of the canal, but also for your personal life and property safety. You have to know that spies are pervasive, so there’s no chance that there’s a loophole somewhere and they’ll take advantage of it.”

Hearing the word “spies”, Owen decisively chose to keep his mouth shut and quietly waited for the outcome.

As a businessman, Owen’s greatest fear was getting involved with spies. Once he was involved, even if he had a thousand mouths, he wouldn’t be able to say anything.

How to get the spies to help prove that he was innocent, right?
Even if the spies were willing to help testify, it would be useless, no one would believe it at all.

Even if there is not enough evidence to convict him, the connections that he has accumulated for most of his life will fall apart in an instant.

After another two hours or so, the ship’s suspicious places were finally finished checking. Not waiting for Owen to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard someone shouting, “Catch the spies, don’t let them escape!”

The originally well-organized scene was instantly chaotic. Just as the canal police moved in, the two tankers suddenly started up and rushed towards the river entrance at full speed.

It happened so suddenly that even though the canal guards reacted quickly and immediately activated their shore guns to intercept them, they still only stopped one, while the other crashed directly into the locks.

After a loud bang, the warship began to slowly sink. At this moment, the surface of the river was already covered by leaking crude oil, and the pungent odor came out.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Owen’s mouth opened wide, just not knowing what to say. In his mind involuntarily surfaced: “trapped”, “dead soldiers”, “to lose a lot of money” ……

Irving is not the only one who is stimulated, whether it is the crew, or the captain, now one by one are as if they are dead.

Although it was seen with their own eyes, but the specific degree of damage to the canal, everyone is still ignorant.

Even if it is only a little skin, it will take time to dredge the river, at least to salvage the wreckage of the two tankers, before it is possible to resume navigation.

If you don’t want to wait, then take a detour to the Cape of Good Hope. These days, all boat operators are smart people and naturally know what to choose.

Seeing that the war of hegemony was on the verge of breaking out, and the South African region had even fought, there would definitely not be any good results from getting together at this time.

The merchants are worried, the staff of the canal management office, the expression is even more exaggerated, one by one are like ashes.

In the case of such tight security, or let the enemy stole the chicken, definitely need to be responsible for ……

(End of chapter)