Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 471: Launch Plan
When the news came back, it was a few minutes before 11 o'clock the next morning.

The Chu State Task Force lowered a small boat to the fjord port to report the news, and informed the Jibuti side by telegram that during the brief conflict in the Said Strait:
One British ship was damaged, but the rest were unharmed. The fleet has sailed towards Dinghai Port.

In order to wait for this important telegram, the Chu King's royal convoy, which was originally planned to depart in the early morning, was postponed for 18 hours.

The news was confirmed, and King Zheng Guohui of Chu felt relieved again. He breathed a long sigh of relief.

It’s okay, it didn’t escalate the conflict.

If a war really breaks out, then this visit to Europe will be completely ruined.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu had to set off to return to Chu overnight, and he could not get supplies through the Port of Kachin. He had to cross the Indian Ocean and flee back day and night.

That is the worst case scenario. All decency and dignity will be lost, and hard confrontation is definitely not the best option.

If it is close to the Indian subcontinent, then it will be waiting to be delivered to the British Royal Navy's Third Battleship Fleet in India.

In the British Royal Navy
Apart from the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Battle Fleets in the mainland, the most powerful was the Third Battle Fleet of the British Royal Navy stationed at the Governor's House in British Calcutta. It had five heavy battleships of the same level as the "Manila" and a large number of armored cruisers, frigates and other auxiliary combat ships.

The Third Battle Fleet's mission area covers the entire Indian Ocean and surrounding areas, including the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Malacca region. It is the most powerful British overseas maritime military force, without a doubt.

When the Chu King's fleet's Manila and Shangri-La ironclad warships faced the British Royal Third Battleship Fleet head-on, they were like two tigers fighting a pack of wolves and had no chance of winning.

At that time

They were also unable to protect the RMS Ocean Shuttle and could only rely on the RMS Ocean Shuttle's high speed to escape, which would have been too embarrassing.

Except for the British Royal Navy's Third Battleship Fleet, others such as the British Royal Navy's Far East Fleet, Australian Fleet, Red Sea Fleet, Central American Fleet, South African Fleet, North American Fleet, etc., are all small fry and none of them are equipped with the world's top ironclad ships.

After all, top-level ironclad battleships of over 10,000 tons are extremely expensive, and even the British Royal Navy, known for its generosity, does not have many.

In Europe, the Royal Navy must maintain more than 80% of its main battleship strength to deter European powers. This is an important part of Britain's voice.

Tsarist Russia has always been ready to make moves, and Germany and France are also not easy to deal with. If Britain does not have a strong fleet to hold them down, it will really not work.

Apart from these, only the colonies on the Indian subcontinent are worthy of heavy garrisons, which is the reason for the existence of the British Royal Navy's Third Battleship Fleet.

All other British fleets stationed abroad are insignificant.

In 1884, Britain was at the peak of its Victorian era, with its colonies covering more than million square kilometers all over the world.

The red sun in the sky never sets. What a proud slogan!

It was precisely because the colonies were too extensive that even with the strong power of the British Royal Navy, it was impossible to cover everything.

Think about it quickly

King Zheng Guohui of Chu finally felt relieved, as he no longer had to flee in such a panic.

The decisive action of the Royal Navy formation safeguarded the dignity and respect of the Chu royal family and made great contributions.

However, the danger is not over yet.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not dare to rely on the kindness of the British for the safety of the entire European delegation, especially in a place far away from London, where these British were provocative and unscrupulous.

It is now past 11 o'clock in the morning, the hottest time of the day, with the temperature reaching or degrees Celsius.

The dirt road outside was exposed to the sun and it was so hot that it burned my feet to walk on. The temperature had exceeded 50 degrees and cars could not drive for a long time.

He walked back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back for a few steps, frowning and thinking for a while, then called over Lieutenant General He Rulin, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Imperial Army, and instructed him:

"Pass on this royal decree, activate backup plan number 2, and execute it immediately."

"Your humble servant shall obey the Majesty's command." Lieutenant General He Ruolin was obviously stunned, raised his hand to salute and replied.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not explain, but waved his hand and let him make the arrangements.

The so-called "Backup Plan No. 2" was to order the Chu State's domestic fleet to send a small fleet to attack and occupy the Maldives Kingdom in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldives is about 600 kilometers from southern India and about 750 kilometers from southwest Sri Lanka. It consists of 26 natural atolls and 1192 coral islands, distributed in an area of ​​9 square kilometers of sea.

Its total land area is about 300 square kilometers, with a local population of more than 7130 people. It is a British protectorate.

Taking this place in one fell swoop was just to provide some insurance for the returning fleet from visiting Europe.

If the conflict really breaks out due to British provocation, as an alternative, the returning European fleet can resupply in the Maldives without having to stop at the Port of Cochin.

Stopping at the port for supplies does not simply require clean drinking water, vegetables and food, as well as coal and other supplies delivered by the port.

The visiting European fleet itself has a strong carrying capacity. The two coal-carrying cargo ships are both 10,000-ton class and can carry a large amount of grain at the same time without the need to transport it from the port.

The reason for docking at the port is to ensure a stable and convenient supply of coal to warships and transport ships, and to fill the nearly dry coal storage bunkers. This is very important.

On an ocean voyage
In this era when most of the supplies are done by manpower, it is almost impossible to supply ships with supplies, and the risks are very high. So far, there is no mature and reliable way to solve this problem.

It would be much more convenient to enter the port for docking and resupply.

The ship with the longest range in the visiting European fleet is the Royal Cruise Ship Ocean Shuttler, with a range of more than 1000 kilometers. Under extreme conditions, the range can be increased by more than kilometers.

That is to pile up coal in the crew's warehouse and all places where coal can be piled up, using this stupid method to extend the voyage.

Even though the Ocean Crosser has an amazing range of 7,000 kilometers, it cannot cross the Indian Ocean without any supplies along the way. That would be too risky.

It is impossible for a fleet to sail in a straight line. Sometimes, in order to make full use of the power of the sails, they will constantly change their course and increase the windward angle.

It is common to have an additional range of several hundred kilometers or even one or two thousand kilometers.

There is no spare range at all. If the coal is exhausted, the ship can only sail at a maximum speed of five or six knots with only the sails. It is easy to be carried away by the rough waves of the ocean, which is too dangerous.

That's why
It is very important to have a supply port in the Indian Ocean. If the incident in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait had not given a serious stimulus to King Zheng Guohui of Chu, he would not have rashly launched Plan No. 2 for various considerations.

I can’t care about it now, just love whoever you want.

Djibouti lies on the edge of the East African desert. The scorching heat from the desert, combined with the intense sun, makes it incredibly hot, yet sweating is rare. Because of the arid environment, the air is very humid, so any sweat that does come out evaporates quickly.

That is, within a radius of three to four hundred kilometers around Jibuti, the climate is tropical desert, with high temperatures all year round and a relatively harsh environment.

So the Chinese immigrants here wear hoods and robes like Arabs to prevent their skin from being burned by high temperatures due to being exposed for a long time.

You won't sweat when wearing these burqas, but it will be a little stuffy.

After driving more than 300 kilometers northwest, the terrain gradually rises. Near the Fjord City, it enters the edge of the Ethiopian Plateau, which belongs to the Red Sea coastal plateau.

The average altitude is between 800 and 1300 meters, and the average temperature drops to more than 24 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature is between 26 and 15 degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature at night is around degrees Celsius above zero. There is sufficient sunshine and frequent rain, and it belongs to the marine plateau climate.

at dusk
The town of Djibouti was once again enveloped by the cool breeze blowing in from the Gulf. The temperature dropped sharply, removing the day's heat and ushering in a bustling evening.

At this time, people stopped and looked in the direction where the sound of horse hooves came from.

Hundreds of cavalrymen rode on tall war horses and marched along both sides of the street. Their speed was faster than that of people walking. The people along the street dodged and talked about it.

"My God... With such a scene, if he's not going out to fight, then His Majesty must be traveling."

"Needless to say? It must be His Majesty's trip."

"Look... isn't that a sedan?"

Sure enough, under the protection of the cavalry column, a long column of black BMW sedans came towards them. On the flagpoles in front of the sedans, the Tai Chi Bagua flag and the royal emblem flag fluttered in the wind.

Seeing this, the local Chinese people knelt down along the street, shouting, "We, the common people, kneel to welcome Your Majesty!" "We, the common people, wish Your Majesty good health!" "Long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty!" "We, the common people, wish Your Majesty good health and blessings to the world"...

There were all kinds of welcoming words in a mess, and on the faces of these overseas Chinese immigrants, there was a fanatical admiration for the Chu royal family, which started from emotion but ended with courtesy.

There were 32 cars in the long convoy, and behind them were a large number of trucks carrying Royal Guards soldiers. These trucks had no roofs and the soldiers driving them all wore goggles.

Two people sat in the front, and 12 fully armed soldiers sat face to face in the back carriage. A total of 14 officers and soldiers were carried in each car.

32 trucks carried 448 fully armed Royal Guards soldiers to serve as escort along the way.

Add to that several hundred cavalrymen and personal guards sitting in sedans, and this is already a powerful military force that can dominate East Africa.

With the farewell of the local Chinese people, the convoy quickly drove out of Djibouti and headed towards the Fjord City in the northwest, maintaining a constant speed of sixteen or seventeen kilometers.

This is more to take care of the cavalry. If the convoy runs at full speed, it can reach a speed of 38 to 40 kilometers per hour and travel continuously for more than ten hours.

After leaving the town of Djibouti, the suburbs suddenly became desolate.

As night fell, this mixed convoy of Rangers, cars and trucks sped along the avenue towards the northwest.

Every one or two kilometers along the way, there were 10 to 8 cavalrymen on guard, holding lanterns to illuminate the direction of travel.

This was the previous cavalry sent by Djibouti in advance, all the way to the border line more than 170 kilometers away.

On the border line more than 170 kilometers away, armed militia sent by Fjord City were waiting to greet the emperor and escort him directly to the city, and this process was repeated.

The East African Company did not maintain a large military force. Its regular army had only more than 800 people, and the rest were all armed militias.

The armed militia is responsible for daily patrols of villages, towns and suburbs, cracking down on criminals, clearing out surrounding nomadic tribes and sporadic invading Arabs, maintaining public order, and protecting farms, pastures and local peace.

When such temporary emergency tasks are passed down, they are taken over by local armed militia.

The mixed combination of cavalry and sedan teams stopped twice at the small river along the way to replenish water for the horses and urgently feed them some concentrated feed to replenish their physical strength, and then continued on their way.

The war horses of these cavalrymen are all privately owned by Chinese militiamen. Of course, they are very well taken care of. Each horse is more valuable than a white woman, but they dare not use them to death.

After 170 hours of walking over 13 kilometers, when they arrived at the border between the two places, only less than half of the original cavalry team of more than 600 people were left, and the rest fell behind.

Maybe, it is impossible to run the whole course in one breath.

The Arabian horses that can run the entire distance in one breath are all top-quality horses, and they are the best in terms of endurance and physical strength.

Even so, these horses were sweating all over and foaming with exhaustion from running, which made the cavalrymen feel very distressed. They got off and led the horses to the river.

These war horses need to be given water, concentrated feed and fodder, and they will need one or two days to recover before returning.

The Royal Guard officers exchanged a few brief greetings with the cavalrymen who had completed their escort mission, gave them high praise, and then went to contact the cavalrymen waiting on the other side of the border.

The cavalry sent by Fjord City numbered over a thousand, no less numerous than the others. Their scale was even greater, and although their uniforms varied, their intangible, fierce aura could not be concealed.

The Royal Guards officers quickly reached an agreement with the leader of the Fjord City militia, with 300 cavalrymen leading the way, more than 700 cavalrymen behind, and a convoy in the middle.

It is now past 9 o'clock in the morning and the sun has risen, illuminating the surrounding scenery.

The border between the two prefectures is a flat hilly area. From afar, you can see the mountains ahead, large areas of bare soil in the wilderness, clumps of messy weeds, and some sparse woods occasionally.

Compared to the vast expanses of yellow-brown arid land in Djibouti, there is more green here, and the temperature seems less hot and has become much cooler.

It is 93 kilometers away from Fjord City. Surrounding Fjord City are large Chinese ranches and farms, with a population of 1 to 3, of which the urban population accounts for one-third.

Compared with Djibouti, it is much stronger.

The further northwest you go, the larger the towns along the Red Sea become, the more Chinese people are settled there, and the more suitable the geography and climate become.

From Mingyue City to Dinghai Port and then to Asmara, there is a clear "L" shape. A large number of Chinese immigrants have been settled along the way. Most of the industrial enterprises of the East African Company are also located here. It is a densely populated area.

Its total population accounts for more than 80% of the entire East African company, and its resettlement capacity is the strongest.

The King of Chu's imperial carriage traveled northwestward, passing through the hilly areas and entering the plateau and mountainous regions. The climate also became noticeably cooler, from the desert Gobi to the hilly meadows, and then to the lush mountains and forests.

In just four or five days, I experienced three different geographical climates and was deeply impressed.

(End of this chapter)