Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 94 Restoration of Mandalay City
Mandalay was finally recovered, and Wallace lowered his proud head.A British Royal Army field division with a complete establishment wiped out 5000 people and captured more than 16000 people.

This is the rare defeat of the British army in the past 100 years, and it was lost to the Chinese army they despise, an army composed of people smoking opium in their view, giving their greatest British Royal Army to the Chinese army. defeated.And the defeat was so thorough, so straightforward!Didn't even last a day.

The news of the defeat immediately spread like a plague to the British soldiers on the battlefield in Burma.The most elite Royal Army in the UK was defeated, and those colonial armies had no fighting spirit.The frantic attacks in recent days stopped, and the war in Myanmar suddenly seemed to have stopped for a while.

In the United Kingdom, fierce conflicts arose because of this failure.

"My God, these yellow monkeys actually defeated our great British Army. This is impossible!" David slapped his desk and shouted at the telegram in front of him.

Holden was holding a cup of coffee at this time, and said leisurely: "Don't worry, respected Mr. David. In fact, from the very beginning of the war, I did not agree to entangle with the Chinese in Burma, but should directly attack the mainland of China. Actually, it's not too late now."

"No, no, no, we have lost our best fighter. Now Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey are being attacked by others. The empire has no more troops to deal with China." David shook his head Said.

"A cabinet meeting should be held immediately to discuss the current situation. Discuss the most reasonable plan."

The war between China, Britain and Burma, a local war in South Asia, has affected the hearts of most powerful countries in the world.The peace treaty between France and China has just been signed for a year, but he doesn't mind turning it into a piece of waste paper at any time. The key is how much he has to pay. After all, he doesn't have much bargaining chips now. Almost all the navy in the Far East has been wiped out by China. Once empty, the army was immobilized by the millions of German troops. What the people wanted was to get back what was lost in the Franco-Prussian War. As for the Far East, many people did not have a clear concept.Of course, if it is easy to get cheap, just like 20 years ago, the French will not miss such an opportunity, so the Paris authorities have been paying close attention to this war, but now it seems that there is little hope. The threat made it impossible for them to send a large army to the Far East.

The Russians, on the other hand, rejoiced that China held back Britain's footsteps, and they finally had a chance to break the blockade that stretched from the Near East to the Far East.After the signing of the Sino-Russian Military Alliance Treaty and the realization of the demilitarization of the border between the two sides, Alexander III has ordered the deployment of troops from the Far East and Siberia to reinforce their battle in Afghanistan, and strive to win this base leading to India as soon as possible. In the Balkans, the Russian army has crossed the Prest River, and in the event of a war, they will approach Istanbul like the tenth Russo-Turkish war. Alexander III has no doubt that without the British blocking, he will finally win The mouth of the Black Sea.

As for the emerging countries such as Germany, the United States, and Italy, they also have their own ideas.Germany's position is actually the most ambiguous, regardless of who wins or loses.It is of great benefit to him.Originally, he should have hoped that Britain would win, so there is no doubt that they will be able to get the colonies and various rights and interests they want from the weak China, but now if the British are allowed to get Burma, according to the comparison of German and British naval power, this It is obviously impossible for a piece of fertile land to fall into German hands again.This makes German policy vacillating, but at least one thing they are very happy with now is to sell arms.The massive orders from China have greatly stimulated the German economy.

Compared with Germany, the ideas of the United States and Italy are somewhat simpler.Under the banner of the Monroe Doctrine.The United States is trying to expand their influence in the Americas, and the Americas have become the back garden of British colonial trade after the decline of Spain, which naturally produces fierce conflicts; Italy wholeheartedly hopes that Britain will air its fleet in the Mediterranean Sea to facilitate their expansion to Africa.

All these changes come from China.

The situation in Myanmar has reached a deadlock.This is something that the London authorities could never have imagined. How could a country that was beaten by its own small army of several thousand people helpless to fight back 20 years ago suddenly become a strong enemy on the other side of the earth.You know, 300 years.Even in the Seven Years' War to suppress American independence and France, the British Empire did not dispatch as many troops as it does now.

The 20 army still seems to be at a disadvantage.The Chinese army that has grown up in recent years has surprised Britain from top to bottom.And their important officials are more worried about the shake of British hegemony.For hundreds of years, Britain has mastered world hegemony by virtue of its strong industrial strength and naval strength, such as the Anglo-Spanish War, the Trafalgar Naval Battle, and the Crimean War.One by one the opponents fell.Made for almost 30 years.No country dares to challenge his hegemony, but now China has opened the door.The Battle of Burma made all of Britain's opponents more alert.All countries eligible to challenge Britain will be watching the performance of the British military. If China is not defeated quickly, British dominance around the world will be in flames.

A cabinet meeting was soon convened under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury.The first one to speak was the Secretary of the Army, Admiral Dennett. Although he was old and silver-haired, he was still full of spirit and his voice was loud.He participated in the Crimean War and personally commanded a brigade at the Ineda Fortress to defeat the two divisions of the Russian army: "We should send troops to China as soon as possible to completely defeat them as we did 20 years ago. This is not only It is related to Myanmar, and it is also related to the life of the British Empire. Now our opponents are helping the Chinese overtly and secretly. Defeating the Chinese will deter our opponents, and it can also boost the morale of the people in the country and solve many current troubles. Staff The Ministry's proposition is to increase the number of troops as soon as possible, and the strength of the troops should be as strong as possible to deal with all possible situations."

Listening to his words, the thin Marquis of Salisbury groaned and said softly: "According to the general, how much more troops do we need to deal with all possible situations we may face."

Admiral Dannet hesitated, and pondered: "The plan of the staff department requires the cooperation of five to seven infantry divisions and the navy." Hearing Dannet's vague and hesitant words, the Marquess of Salisbury frowned. stand up.

"This is the opinion of the staff department? Five to seven divisions. The staff department knows how much materials such a scale will consume every day, and it is still in the far east, and how many ships will be needed for transshipment. Now that the domestic economy continues to slump, our export volume It has shrunk by one-third compared with ten years ago, but our import of wheat and meat has increased greatly due to environmental pollution. There have been major financial problems. This year’s fiscal deficit is already certain. If the scale of the war is expanded, the deficit will It will be too serious." The Minister of Finance said unceremoniously.

Admiral Dennett was so angry that his beard trembled: "If you don't send troops to China, will you surrender to the Chinese? Or continue to fight in Burma?"

Holden watched these politicians who controlled the direction of the British Empire with cold eyes. He told them that the Chinese were different, but they still used the old way of thinking, and now they were finally hurt by the Chinese.Fortunately, there is still time. The strength accumulated by the British Empire for 300 years cannot be shaken by the Chinese. As long as the vital points of the Chinese are controlled, the Chinese can be forced to submit to the British Empire again.

The Marquis of Salisbury glanced at Holden who was sitting not far from him: "Our advisor, what do you think?"

Horton raised his head, cleared his throat, and said, "China is a country with a vast territory and a large population. Their people are hard-working and accustomed to obeying the voices from above. Therefore, any country that wages a long-term war with China will have a negative outcome. It is disastrous. But they also have disadvantages, that is, they like to fight with themselves, and once they lose their ruling order, they can easily fall into division and chaos. Also, their rich places are all in the east, especially along the coast. A strong navy can easily control these places of theirs."

Holden paused, looked at the politicians around, and continued: "To deal with the alliance between the Chinese and the Russians, we can definitely use other forces. The French and the French are the best allies. France has a team that only Second to our navy, now they are worried about the threat of the Triple Alliance, as long as we provide them with guarantees, France will definitely not refuse to send a fleet to form a joint fleet with us. It is a good force to check and balance China and Russia, in East Asia The location can block most of the ports of Russia and China. Although they have great ambitions, they are easier to tame than the Chinese. As for the Russians, we don’t have to worry too much. They have never lacked ambitions for China. As long as the war goes smoothly , they will be eager to tear up the treaty of alliance with the Chinese and join us."

The Marquess of Salisbury listened to Horton's words, pondered for a while, and finally said in a deep voice: "The majesty of the British Empire cannot be challenged! The Chinese must pay for their recklessness! But the threat of the Russians must also be taken into consideration. Restricting the expansion of the Russians is our established policy and cannot be changed. We are now working hard to stabilize the world order, and we cannot rely on ourselves alone. We should unite some allies.” He said, looking at Foreign Minister Ge Lanville: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send someone to contact France as soon as possible. I hope to have a meeting with His Excellency Hubner. In addition, you can summon the minister again and make our request."

(End of this chapter)