Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 292 This Beautiful Port

Eight days after the fall of Singapore

Kolkata
Inside the Governor-General's Palace in British India
The Governor-General of British India, who had just received the news, was in an uproar. This bad news, like a bolt from the blue, shocked all the proud white British colonists, who mistakenly thought it was an April Fool's joke.

After repeated confirmation, expressions of shock, astonishment, and disbelief appeared on the faces of every white person, followed by anger like a volcanic eruption, and shouts of fighting and killing resounded throughout the house and outside.

"How dare they... This is an unacceptable humiliation. The British Empire has suffered its greatest setback in recent years. I will capture that arrogant King Chu and hang him at the gate of the Governor's Mansion. He deserves to die!"

The usually reserved Governor General, Earl George Broadhead, was so angry that he couldn't help but swear.

Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips, Commander-in-Chief of the British Royal Navy's Third Battleship Fleet, looked stern, with a chilling look in his eyes, and said in a cold tone;

"Your Excellency, this is a ruthless trampling on the dignity of the Empire. I will urge the British and French forces to swiftly complete their combat readiness and depart today to tear this provocative clown to pieces and make him pay an unbearable price."

Hearing the commander's assurance, Governor George Broadhead's expression eased a lot. He nodded and said, "Very good, General. At this time, we really need the Royal Navy to stand up and give the enemy a severe counterattack."

Seeing that the two adults were furious, Secretary of State Sir Ray Davis couldn't help but interrupt and reminded them;

"My Lords, please allow me to remind you how these Chu people managed to breach the heavily defended Singapore Fortress. You must know that Major General Ceylan Slicker is a highly experienced general, and the Singapore Fortress is not a pushover that can be easily manipulated."

"what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that having lost the crucial Strait of Malacca, the Anglo-French forces can only use Kuala Lumpur as a logistics base to advance south towards Singapore. Our understanding of this dangerous enemy is superficial, and we need more information to corroborate it."

"I agree. The Singapore Fortress, which the Empire invested tens of millions of pounds to carefully build, is one of the top coastal defense fortresses in the world. During the Crimean War, I had the honor of working with Major General Ciarán Slicker, an old-fashioned soldier as strong as steel who would not surrender easily." Lieutenant General Connor, Commander of the Indian Army, also spoke solemnly, his tone quite cautious.

"General, look..."

Governor George Broadhead turned and looked at Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips, commander of the coalition forces, and asked.

Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips's anger subsided a little at this moment. He looked at the big men in the Governor's Mansion with a gloomy look, and said with a long sigh;
"The military will activate emergency channels to further investigate the true strength of the Chu army that invaded Singapore. Please ask the Governor-General's Office to immediately negotiate with the Chu State through diplomatic channels.

We need to know everything and will send an urgent telegram to the Admiralty requesting authorization for emergency military expansion.

If they wanted to take over the Singapore fortress by force, it would probably be a bit difficult given the size of the British and French allied forces of more than 2 people.

There is no problem with the fleet blockade. I will order a battleship fleet to attack first, blockade the Strait of Malacca and the surrounding sea areas, and wait for the arrival of the coalition forces.

As for a land attack, that will depend on Lieutenant General Connor's soldiers."

Lieutenant General Connor, the Army Commander, didn't shy away. After a moment's consideration, he said, "Singapore is a fortress city with a strong coastal defense fortress, as formidable as the Sevastopol fortress during the Crimean War. Given this, we still need more information to make a judgment, but military expansion is imperative."

"Yes, there are 4.2 sets of individual equipment in the Governor's warehouse. We can send an urgent diplomatic email to London today, requesting more infantry weapons and artillery reinforcements from the mainland. I think this will not be a problem." Governor George Earl Broadhead agreed immediately.

The British Empire was rich, so how could it lack this little bit of army equipment?

The population of the Indian colony was overflowing, and military personnel were not a problem. If 1 were not enough, then 2 would be enough, and if 2 were not enough, then 4 would be enough.

Lieutenant General Connor nodded decisively and agreed, "As long as we have enough personnel and equipment, we will have no problem taking Singapore."

After hearing his promise, the other bigwigs finally showed satisfaction in their eyes.

What they felt now was like being bitten by a small green snake. The damage was not great, but it was extremely insulting.

Considering the fall of the Straits Settlements Governor's Mansion, Secretary of State Sir Ray Davis volunteered, "I can arrange for contact with our French allies through emergency channels in Phnom Penh. We should hear back in three to four days at most."

"Then notify the French allies directly and have the French Far East Fleet send troops to Singapore to join the British advance fleet to form a joint strike formation to blockade the Malacca Strait." Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips seemed much more decisive at this time.

Secretary of State Sir Ray Davis nodded and replied, "No problem, I believe they are ready."

The matter was happily decided. The news of the fall of Singapore reached Kolkata on September 9. On September 18, the mighty British Royal Navy advance fleet sailed out of the port and headed towards Singapore with great momentum.

According to the scheduled plan
The British Royal Advance Fleet arrived in the waters near Singapore as scheduled on September 9, hoping to rendezvous with the French Far East Fleet there.

The British didn't know it at first, just yesterday.

At noon on September 9, the heavy armored ship strike formation led by the ironclad ship "Taishan" successfully returned to the port of Singapore and is now docked at the dock to unload cargo.

Outside Singapore Harbour
The British fleet of sailing battleships roamed the surrounding waters, occasionally sailing up to the fort's artillery and firing a few rounds of artillery. The fort's artillery immediately retaliated, and the rumbling sound of artillery was quite lively.

This was the experienced and cunning British Royal Fleet, testing the strength of the Singapore fortress's defenses.

After a brief contact, they quickly distanced themselves and cruised far away on the sea.

Only one day later

Rear Admiral Todd, commander of the British Royal Navy's advance fleet, received two pieces of news that he could not believe;

The first news came from a speedboat sent by British Malaya.

This heavily armored formation headed northward 12 days ago ahead of dozens of Chu State fleets. Its target was suspected to be the French Saigon Governor's Office. The information is still unclear at the moment.

The heavily armored formation returned alone two days ago. From a distance, it looked like they were returning fully loaded, but it is not clear what they were carrying.

The second piece of news was even more explosive. It was a clipper sent by the French to report the news.

The main army of Chu State and the main fleet of the navy marched into the hinterland along the Saigon River, annihilating the French Far East Fleet in the Saigon River branches, and all ships were killed.

Saigon fell, caught in the midst of a frenzied massacre by the enemy. We eagerly awaited the dispatch of British troops for urgent relief.

After receiving these two urgent reports, Rear Admiral Todd did not dare to delay and immediately dispatched a speedboat to Malaya, intending to send a telegram back to Calcutta from Kuala Lumpur to report to the Governor-General's Office of British India and the Anglo-French Allied Forces Headquarters.

He has no say in such a big matter.

After doing all this, Rear Admiral Todd couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart;
Seeing the French guy in trouble, he felt as refreshed as if he had eaten a popsicle in the dog days of summer.

"Hey, dear Colonel Johnson, if I want to have a drink at this time, wouldn't that be a bit disrespectful to my French allies?" "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, I personally think it is very reasonable. Apart from blockading the surrounding waters, the scheduled French Far East Fleet cannot arrive on schedule, so we actually have nothing to do."

"Okay, one drink then."

"As you wish."

Colonel Janssen-Cajuste snapped his fingers happily, and soon a guard opened a bottle of French champagne, poured a glass for each of the two officers, and brought it up on a tray.

"Cheers! To poor Saigon."

"Cheers, sir, to the French Far East Fleet that will never reunite. Woe to them."

"Hahaha... I like your choice of words, Colonel Johnson. For those unfortunate guys in the French Far East Fleet."

Major General Todd couldn't help laughing, raised his glass of champagne and took a sip, feeling very comfortable.

It's strange to say

The frustration I had felt after Singapore was captured actually felt much better now. Perhaps it was because my old enemy France was even more unlucky.

The advance fleet cruised on the sea, feeling as comfortable as if it were in its own cradle.

The French Far East Fleet had three main sailing battleships, while the British Royal Navy's Third Sail Battle Squadron had 17 sailing battleships. The two were not on the same level at all.

The advance fleet led by Major General Todd has 6 sailing battleships and 18 sailing cruisers and frigates, which is definitely a giant on the sea.

Even the Chu State's armored fleet could not shake it.

Don't forget that the Chu State's ironclad heavy warship "Taishan", which was urgently modified, had a fatal flaw;

Those are the four 4-inch main gun batteries, each of which is only a semi-circular gun room for defense in front, with no cover behind the battery.

This fatal flaw was exposed by the experienced British Navy.

It is only necessary to send two sailing battleships of the same level to attack from both sides. After one or two rounds of concentrated shotgun fire, the ironclad ship "Taishan" will be littered with corpses and will completely lose its power to dominate the sea.

As for the remaining four slow-moving ironclad warships, the experienced British sailing battleships could play with them, destroy the sails and cables on the ironclad ships with artillery fire from a distance, and focus on attacking the more fragile fore and aft masts.

Once the sail masts of the Chu ironclad warship were destroyed, most of its mobility would be lost, and it would become an iron coffin floating on the sea.

The Royal Navy has a vast array of means at its disposal to slowly torture them.

The Atlantic Ocean is the bathtub of the British Royal Navy, and the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, although much larger, are just larger bathtubs.

As long as they refrain from attacking the Singapore fortress batteries and use their own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths, this Royal Navy advance fleet will be invincible in the Strait of Malacca.

Once the main force of the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet arrives, it will be an overwhelming advantage.

One's own family knows one's own affairs.

During his nine years in the Third Fleet, Rear Admiral Todd visited Singapore dozens of times and knew the coastal defense fortresses here like the back of his hand.

This fortress is the accumulation of hundreds of years of experience of the British Royal Navy. It has a three-layered fire defense system designed with no blind spots. It cost tens of millions of pounds to build. How could it be so easy to conquer?

When Major General Todd first heard about it, he couldn't believe it.

The news was spread by several British soldiers in the fort's artillery. They secretly drove a small boat and slid to the other side of the Strait of Malacca after many hardships. With the help of the Dutch, they brought the news back.

Now it is certain
The cunning Chu people landed in the Johor Strait area covered with dense tropical jungles. After opening up a passage in the jungle, they stabbed the British Strait Governor's Office in the rear.

This was almost the only weakness, but it was keenly discovered by the Chu people.

From this
Singapore was infiltrated like a sieve, which also attracted the attention of senior British officials, who began to be wary of Chinese expatriates.

After a pleasant drink, Rear Admiral Todd and Captain Johnson-Cajuste came to the stern of the ship, where there was an open bridge, a feature of British sailing warships.

The officers liked to enjoy the scenery along the seaside here, sit here to drink a cup of afternoon tea, and look down at the conquered colonies with a condescending and arrogant look. Over time, this became a tradition of the Royal Navy.

The stern bridge is not wide, only about 12 feet.

Rear Admiral Todd and Captain Johnson-Cajuste stood here, gazing at the rolling hills in the direction of Singapore, their voices filled with infinite nostalgia.

"What a beautiful port! It controls the key point of the Strait of Malacca and is of great strategic significance. No matter what the cost, it must belong to the British Empire."

"General, I completely agree with you. Considering the firepower configuration of this fortress, it will undoubtedly be a difficult battle to capture it."

"Don't worry, dear Colonel Johnson. As far as I know, Lieutenant General Connor has been recruiting Indians on a large scale to expand the size of the British Indian Division."

"This is the best news I have heard today, Your Excellency the General."

"Don't worry, when the British Empire gets angry, the whole world will tremble. These Orientals will be crushed like little bugs, including the young and ambitious King of Chu, who will be hanged in the square outside the Governor's Gate in Calcutta."

"Oh... what a shame, this is an Oriental with ideas. I like what he did to the French."

"Hmm, from this point of view, it is indeed a pity."

Two senior Royal Navy officers were chatting casually. On the nearby sea, the densely packed British Royal Navy ships with sails were like a forest, invisibly conveying the terrifying pressure of war.

No one could remain indifferent, including the expeditionary generals on the battery of the Singapore Fort. They looked around the British fleet on the sea with telescopes and remained silent for a long time.

It's nothing else, the suffocating feeling of pressure is too strong.

(End of this chapter)