Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 458: Gunfire Again in Indochina
Since the Chu State declared war on Colombia on August 1883, 8, by early October, the expeditionary force had occupied the important cities of Cali and Sahagun in the north and south of Colombia, and was slowly and steadily moving towards Medellin in the inland hinterland.

The situation of the two expeditionary forces, one in the south and one in the north, joining forces was very clear. This brought pain and bloodshed to Colombia, and the whole country was immersed in the fear of war and death.

By this time

Colombian President Varez was frightened and cried out through diplomatic channels, requesting intervention and mediation from European powers, especially France.

Through diplomatic channels, Vares appealed to the French government in Paris: requesting France to quickly send a powerful army to stop the Chu State's inhumane war, maintain peace in the Central and South American region, uphold justice for South American countries and maintain the smooth progress of the Panama Canal project.

Due to the lack of information during the war, President Vares did not know that the construction of the Panama Canal had resumed. The expeditionary force sent more than 3940 escaped black slaves and South American workers to the construction site, which greatly alleviated the losses at the construction site.

This made the French Interoceanic Canal Company become indifferent. Apart from urging the workers to speed up the canal excavation project, it did not want to cause any trouble.

Thousands of fully armed Chu expeditionary forces are stationed in Panama City and Colon. If they suddenly turn against each other, wouldn’t the nearest Interoceanic Canal Company be in big trouble?

The frightening sharp blade seemed to be right next to the neck. In this case, how could the Interoceanic Canal Company dare to go against the expeditionary force? Wouldn't that be like an old man eating arsenic and seeking death?
The French Interoceanic Canal Company has the strong support of the Paris government, and there are more than 660 French troops stationed in the area. This is true and is also the confidence of the Interoceanic Canal Company.

But this is a multinational operating company after all. Without considering the complex factors of international politics, it is more concerned about its own interests and is unwilling to confront the expeditionary force.

It doesn’t matter which country Costa Rica belongs to. What matters is that it does not affect the fundamental interests of the Interoceanic Canal Company and the progress of the excavation project.

Under the interweaving of various factors
The Paris government's response was very slow, as if it were an elderly person in his seventies or eighties.

But this delay was really the end of the Colombian government. The current situation is extremely critical and there is no room for delay.

Manila

Chu Royal Court
In a side hall off the Purple Palace, King Zheng Guohui of Chu and Prime Minister Li Hezhang were playing chess, while Deputy Prime Minister Marquis Zheng Shouxin was sitting on the side drinking tea. The atmosphere seemed leisurely and relaxed.

While playing chess, they chatted casually.

"Your Majesty, the Governor-General of Central America, Viscount Wang Hai, has submitted a memorial, stating that he wishes to move the Governor's Office to Panama. Managua is far inferior to Panama City in terms of development prospects, historical heritage, and geographical location."

"Oh, so urgent?"

"This old minister also considered this. I replied to the memorial and told them to wait and see. The current situation is not conducive to taking Panama City directly. We can only use the name of military occupation to carry out immigration and take it slow."

"This is a very kind act. It's already right in front of our mouths, so why rush?"

King Zheng Guohui of Chu pointed to the next chess piece and after examining it with satisfaction, he took a sip from the tea on the table beside the chessboard.

The Chu expeditionary force won absolute victories in the Battle of Cali and the Battle of Sahagun, annihilated a large number of Colombian forces, dealt a heavy blow to the enemy, and burned, killed, and looted along the way, bringing endless fear to Colombia.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu was very satisfied. This was the punishment effect he wanted, which would surely deter the South American countries for a hundred years, not just Colombia.

The Chu State was indeed not prepared to divide Colombia's territory, but that did not mean that military occupation or large-scale immigration was not allowed. These were actions that were beyond London's expectations.

Due to the closure of news in the war zone, London still does not have accurate information from Colombia.

By the time they realize that Colombia's overall social structure has changed drastically, it will be a done deal. What can they do?
The situation of the Chu expeditionary force was very good. They had already firmly established victory, wiped out tens of thousands of Colombian soldiers who had hastily gathered, and seriously weakened the enemy's resistance.

Once they meet in Medellin and take over Colombia's largest city in one fell swoop, the war will basically be over.

Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is just a small city with a population of 7.36. Its influence is mainly in the political field. In terms of population, economy and historical heritage, it is not as good as big cities like Medellin and Cali.

Colombia also knows that it is now the final moment of national crisis, and is now doing its utmost to recruit soldiers and use all means to arm the army.

President Vares and a group of senior government officials rushed to Medellin to personally supervise the battle, striving to fight a decisive battle in Medellin and reverse the unfavorable situation.

The idea is good, but the reality is very harsh.

If we don't train the army carefully in peacetime, and then cram for preparation in wartime, we are all hoping for a miracle to turn the crisis around, but the possibility of this happening is infinitely close to zero.

The highest-ranking officials of the Chu State were sitting on the Diaoyutai, which greatly intimidated the South American countries thousands of miles away. How could they not be in a good mood at this moment?
The three of them chatted and laughed about the situation in Central America, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.

"Uncle Wang, I will definitely take over Costa Rica and deeply penetrate the Chinese influence into Colombia. Colombia will be considered a Chinese-speaking country in the future. Colombia dances to the Kingdom's baton in South America and always rushes to the front. It is better than the Kingdom having to take the lead in everything."

"Your Majesty, this is indeed a good plan. If it is inconvenient to use the name of Chu, then you can instruct Columbia to rush to the front. It is really a brilliant plan."

"There are many disputes among South American countries, and they often turn against each other for trivial interests. Since we have intervened, we must leave some traces."

"With such an international layout, South America will have no worries in the future." Prime Minister Li Hezhang also said with a smile.

There are so many benefits to developing Colombia into a Chinese-speaking country. Li Hezhang can now come up with 100 ways to dominate the situation in South America.

To know

Colombia borders important South American countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, etc. What does this mean?
This means that, as needed, Colombia may have border conflicts with the above-mentioned South American countries, create friction, and thus obtain a direct excuse to send troops to teach the other side a lesson.

Under the guise of Colombia, no South American country dared to challenge the State of Chu. They imagined the serious consequences of doing so and wondered if they could afford it.
If we include the borders between the Viceroyalty of Patagonia and Chile and Argentina, the State of Chu borders almost all important countries in South America, with only a few that are not connected to each other.

For example, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, but these are all weak countries with no voice at all on the international stage and very little presence.

By controlling Colombia, the State of Chu could influence important neighboring South American countries and make them take seriously Chu's proposals on international issues, which greatly enhanced its international influence and voice in South America.

Anyone who disobeys has to think about whether he can afford to offend this doubles team. This is the underlying implication of international relations.

If any South American country is willing to take the huge risk of domestic casualties and destruction to uphold international justice and condemn the tyrannical behavior of the Chu State, there is nothing we can do.

They are just such a bastard who wants to be beaten, just like Colombia. Even if God comes down to earth, he can't save this South American country.

Why were the countries in the 19th century generally referred to as great powers?

It is because these world powers have an extremely low threshold for launching wars, vigorously expand colonization, oppress and rule weak nations and countries, and their behavior is completely a set of banditry, rather than a responsible world power.

Britain did this, France did this, Germany and Italy did this, Tsarist Russia did this, and the Chu State was no exception, all using military might to expand abroad. "In the early days of capital accumulation, every pore flowed with blood and tears, built on the oppression and harm of the vast majority of the weak..."

This highly influential assertion is also suitable for the Chu State, which rose in the mid-19th century. Along the way, it rose in Southeast Asia by stepping on the corpses of thousands of weak ethnic groups, and it has a lot of dark history.

However, the Chu State paid great attention to methods and did not carry out organized massacres of conquered ethnic groups like the Americans, which was still widely criticized more than a hundred years later.

Instead, they used various methods such as forced labor camps and human trafficking to deplete the main male population of the conquered race.

The means are much more covert and gentle, but the effect is extremely outstanding.

After talking about the situation in Central America for a while, King Zheng Guohui of Chu changed the subject and asked about the current evolution of the situation in Indochina.

Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin immediately responded:

"Your Majesty, please allow me to report:

I have been following up on this matter and have a relatively clear understanding of the latest situation. Please report to Your Majesty.

Realizing that they could not defeat the Black Flag Army at the moment, the French turned their attention to the northern court, attempting to use blackmail to force the court to dismantle the Black Flag Army, which was a roadblock.

France has repeatedly considered invading the north, and it is entirely conceivable that it has the intention of unifying the Indochina Peninsula.

Such an attempt not only endangers the situation on the Zhennanguan border of the northern court, but is also a situation that both we and the British do not want to see.

The British side has clearly informed France that it does not want to see French forces invade Taiwan, nor does it want to see French warships appear in the waters north of the Yangtze River. This is just a euphemism.

If these bottom lines are touched, the UK will not rule out the use of military pressure.

Even so
The voice from the French Parliament still did not give up, supporting Vice Admiral Courbet to organize a powerful Far East fleet to invade the southern coastal ports of China, including Guangzhou Prefecture and Chaoshan area, Fuzhou and Mawei, and no further north than Hangzhou.

As a vassal state of the northern imperial court, Vietnam had the right to station troops there and the obligation to maintain the territorial security of the vassal state, which became a major obstacle to France's colonial expansion to the north.

France used this as an excuse to expand the war and sent a note to the northern court demanding that the troops stationed in Vietnam withdraw quickly and pay a compensation of 250 million francs (about 38 million silver dollars) in military expenses.

And threatened
France will occupy one or two ports of the northern court as collateral for the reparations.

Although the northern court generally believed that this was unreasonable extortion, it still sent the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Zeng Guoquan, to Shanghai in early October to negotiate with the French representative, Badnot, in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

The negotiations failed, and France attempted to resort to force again.

France intended to expand the war to the southeast coast of Shenzhou, open up a second battlefield, and solve the problem by bypassing the Black Flag Army, which was a tough nut to crack.

While France sent Badno to negotiate with Zeng Guoquan, it continued to create trouble in the north, trying to provoke war again.

Recent stage
Vice Admiral Courbet is integrating the Southeast Asian fleet into the Far East Fleet, ready to launch a naval attack at any time to occupy the ports of Fujian and Guangdong in the Northern Court, thereby forcing the Northern Court to yield.

After hearing this explanation of the latest situation in Indochina, King Zheng Guohui of Chu's expression grew graver. After a moment's thought, he asked, "How is the Black Flag Army recovering?"

"Your Majesty, we have secretly provided a batch of old weapons from our inventory. The Black Flag Army's combat effectiveness has been almost fully restored. They are fully equipped and have high morale."

"Then let the Black Flag Army move. Take the initiative to attack Ho Tinh Province and Quang Binh Province to the south, and push the front line of the southern front from Vinh City to the vicinity of Hue Royal City, bringing strong pressure to the French army."

"Your Majesty, the Black Flag Army will have to bear the full military pressure from the French. If you want to convince the Black Flag Army's commander, Liu Yongfu, you'll probably have to pay some price."

"Give it to them. After all, it is the homeland of China. There is not much we can do. Let them suffer less harm from the French. It can be considered as a wish." King Chu Zheng Guohui sighed and said.

Prime Minister Li Hezhang nodded in agreement and replied, "We understand. We will immediately arrange for the Ministry of the Interior to secretly notify the Black Flag Army and encourage them to take the initiative to march south to put an end to the French's delusion."

"That's what I mean. Please arrange it as soon as possible."

"Your humble servant will obey the Majesty's command." Prime Minister Li Hezhang and Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin both saluted and answered in a solemn voice.

As a large Chinese ethnic group originating from the Chinese mainland, they all have a heavy sense of family and country, and can deeply feel the wishes of His Majesty the King of Chu at this moment, so they will contribute a little bit of their strength.

The French are now like mad dogs, biting people everywhere.

Even the British are fed up with this. The London government bluntly commented on the current Paris situation: "It is like a robber brandishing knives and guns and breaking into homes, completely disregarding the astonishment of the international community. It is simply unbelievable."

Paris was enraged by repeated failures and was ready to severely crack down on the weak regime of the Northern Court.

He asked for 2.5 million francs at the outset, and it was obvious that he was extremely hungry.

The State of Chu secretly raised the Black Flag Army as a running dog, and when necessary, it would drive it to bite people. This is the awareness of a chess piece.

It is impossible that Liu Yongfu, commander of the Black Flag Army, was unaware of this. After enjoying the benefits of secret support from a powerful force, it was time for him to stretch his legs and do some work.

During the tense months in Indochina, the coal export business under the Black Flag Army was completely interrupted, and the largest source of income was gone.

The French were not stupid. When they invaded the north, they blocked the sea area and banned the Black Flag Army's coal export business, intending to cut off their blood vessels.

With just the Black Flag Army's limited resources, they would never have survived until today.

If it weren't for the financial support through secret channels, the Black Flag Army would never have become more prosperous. This is the difference between having someone behind the scenes and having no one.

Anyway, the Northern Shenzhou is so big, it is understandable that one or two mysterious rich people would come out to support the Black Flag Army, which left the French confused.

Even if they had supernatural powers, the French would not be able to figure out how many hidden tycoons, landlords or mysterious families there were in Northern China, which gave the Chu State an opportunity to manipulate secretly.

Isn't it just silver?

The Chu State has no shortage of these. Just plucking a hair can keep the war in Indochina going. This is how powerful industrial powers are.

(End of this chapter)