Government House, Sydney.
William Bligh had just taken over as Governor-General of Australia from the unlucky Philip Gidley King, who had been in office for less than a month.
At this moment, he faced a very difficult problem, Ming Dynasty sent troops.
The Ming Dynasty's plan called "Spring Offensive" was openly published in newspapers.
When the British businessmen in Xinxiang City took this newspaper and sent it to Sydney via the Far East Fleet, William thought that the Ming Dynasty was crazy.
According to the newspaper, the 1st Division of the Ming Dynasty left one brigade to defend Xinxiang City and sent 3 infantry brigades, 1 heavy artillery brigade and 1 samurai regiment to take the lead in attacking.
The 2nd Brigade, the 3rd Brigade and the Knights went deep into the interior and began to clear out the Aboriginal and British strongholds. The 1st Brigade will board the ship at the Xinxiang City Military Port and prepare to land in Sydney by sea.
As for the heavy artillery brigade, it was not disclosed.
"Crazy, crazy! How can there be any reason to tell the enemy a military plan?"
William thought hard, the Australian colonists had been fighting against the Ming people for so many years, and they were troubled by the endless military strategies of this ancient oriental country.
Facing this newspaper, his habit of wandering thoughts returned.
"Could it be an attack in the east?" A word popped out of William's mouth and he began to apply it to the battle situation. The more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became, and he couldn't help but pace around the room.
"Yes, yes! It is indeed an attack in the east and west, using an unfounded sea landing to trick me into focusing on the sea. In fact, it is three brigades and a warrior group attacking Sydney from the rear overland!
As for the heavy artillery brigade, it must have taken the land route, so that it would not be captured by our Far East Fleet at sea..."
Now that the Far East Fleet has blocked the entire Australia, what will the Ming Dynasty do to enter the sea?
Take the sea route to attack the east, and take the land route to attack the west.
William seemed to have grasped the key point, suddenly enlightened, and immediately concentrated 25,000 British troops in northern Sydney to organize defense.
The Far East Fleet was not idle either. Except for a few blockade fleets, a large number of warships gathered in Sydney, preparing to go to Xinxiang City to destroy the port after the Ming Dynasty took action.
Zhu Zaiming, who was far away at the Xinxiang military port, boarded the Dingyuan to conduct the expedition himself. He did not know that William was fighting wits and courage with the air.
The "Spring Offensive" was jointly formulated by Zhu Zaiming and the General's Office. It placed more emphasis on actual combat training to familiarize the soldiers with the entire combat process and see blood.
As the first step to return to the homeland, it has a very symbolic meaning. Publishing newspapers before the war was also for publicity.
In the eyes of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the advanced 1799-style rifles faced off against flintlock guns, three giant steel ships faced off against antique sailing ships, and a Ming Dynasty division of 32,000 people faced off against the 25,000 British troops in Sydney.
How to lose the game with the flying dragon riding on the face?
The advantage is mine!
Therefore, the ministers were surprisingly unanimous in their opinions on Zhu Zaiming's personal expedition, and they all had no objections. Some officials from the Ministry of Rites were also arranged to accompany the army and record the entire battle.
This is how the first battle of Australia's Ming Dynasty started.
In 1800, it was noon on May 28th, the 1st year of Takeori.
The 3rd Brigade, the 4th Brigade, the Samurai Corps and more than 3,000 civilians began to march inland in regiment units.
The mountainous and harsh environment in central Australia has made it full of uncivilized aborigines, including numerous cannibal tribes.
According to the statistics of Shen Lian, the commander of the Jinyi Guards of the Ming Dynasty, most of the more than 400,000 indigenous people in Australia still retain the custom of cannibalism.
Regarding these tribes, the Ming Dynasty's attitude was to kill and exterminate the species.
Other tribes were gathered together to mine ore.
Therefore, starting from the afternoon of the 28th, the 1799-style gunfire began to spread from the west to the east.
The samurai group at the front, Nara Ichibei, implemented Zhu Zaiming's orders very thoroughly.
Kill them all, burn them all, rob them all...
The evil "Three Lights Policy" fell on the heads of the cannibal tribe, casting a bloody shadow on the entire Australia.
When the time comes to night.
Zhu Zaiming ordered the battleship that had completed boiler warm-up to anchor and set sail.
Ming Dynasty's old-fashioned sail warships, a large number of transport ships and the French mission fleet followed behind, forming a large-scale Ming-France combined fleet.
When York heard that the Ming Dynasty was going to send troops to beat up the British, he rolled his eyes and expressed his willingness to help.
First of all, it is a fine tradition of the French to beat up the British when they get the opportunity.
Secondly, the Zhiyuan-class dome-armored cruiser was a friendly gift from Zhu Zaiming. The sailors of the mission fleet did not have any driving experience, so it was an opportunity to learn in actual combat.
The third thing is to observe how the Ming Dynasty beat the British and learn from its advanced experience.
As a result, York and his party turned into an observation group and boarded the flagship Dingyuan.
The bridge command tower of the Dingyuan.
The helmsman's station, observation station, communication station, secretary's station are respectively arranged in the window string...
Bi Zhi at the helmsman station was steering the ship, and the officer at the observation station directed the external searchlight to scan the sea area. Several civilian staff summarized the information sent regularly from the lower cabin, constantly reported the status of the ship, and compiled the Dingyuan's logbook.
A small long table is fixed in the center, with a sea chart drawn by Jin Yiwei on it, and various drawing tools are stored in cabinets under the table.
There were chairs on both sides, with Zhu Zaiming, Shen Yulong and several naval officers sitting on the left, and York and others sitting on the right.
The sailors often panic, but they can still do the most basic thing of getting the battleship to move.
A century-old navy...
Zhu Zaiming rubbed his brows. He hired more than 20 people from the Ministry of Industry and worked with a large number of scholars to teach the sailors the instructions, but they could only barely get the warship to move.
Zhu Zaiming felt tired when he thought about the disastrous results of the previous shelling practice in the military port.
Zhu Zaiming thought about it, and suddenly a military situation broke the calm in the bridge command room.
"Enemy ship found ahead!"
"2 large sailing battleships and 6 small and medium-sized sailing battleships."
"It's the Royal Fleet!"
"The Zhiyuan-class dome-armored cruiser Brest sent a message. It has entered the artillery range and is speeding up to engage the enemy!"
(After the York Mission signed the arms purchase agreement, it was named after the French city of Brest.)
Two nautical miles ahead of the Dingyuan, the Zhiyuan-class dome-armored cruiser turned on its signal lights and flashed continuously, sending messages to the rear. Her two searchlights were like two lightsabers, pointing directly at the British fleet further away.
At this distance, even through a telescope, only the outline of the ship can be seen.
The Ming Navy looked through the silhouettes of large and small battleships in Southeast Asia collected by Jin Yiwei and confirmed the identities of these battleships through comparison.
Shen Yulong looked up the recently collected intelligence and said to Zhu Zaiming.
"Your Majesty, this should be the British Nanyang Guerrilla Fleet."
Two months ago, in order to implement a blockade against the Ming Dynasty, the British Far East Fleet gathered major warships from the Southeast Asia and at the same time mobilized many armed merchant ships from the East India Company to blockade the entire Australia.
In order to completely eliminate the Ming Dynasty that occupied Xinxiang City, the British mobilized an invincible fleet composed of 6 first-class sailing battleships and 12 second-class sailing battleships from the mainland, and headed for the Far East together with 50,000 British troops.
The first-class battleship is the absolute main battleship in Europa, with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons and more than 100 guns.
The second-class sailing battleship has a displacement of more than 1,500 tons and 80 guns.
It can be said that such a fleet is very rare in the world. Only the Great Britain, the Sun Never Sets, has such a family background. It can organize an expedition fleet of this size while maintaining order in Europe.
Everyone understands that the purpose of the British Empire is not just to destroy the Ming Dynasty.
In the British Empire's plan, the destruction of the Ming Dynasty was a matter of convenience. The real purpose was to establish the absolute authority of the British Empire in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, France was cut off from the route of transporting resources from the Far East back to the mainland in order to cope with the upcoming European war.
Therefore, when this information came out from Shen Yulong's mouth.
Zhu Zaiming understood that the spring offensive might not be just a war between the Ming Dynasty and the British colony in Sydney.
It also became the trigger for the future Nanyang Naval War and the first shot in the European War. The United States of America, which was seeking independence, could also take advantage of this opportunity to sweep across North America...
From Nanyang, to Europe, to the Americas... the whole world seems to have become full of gunpowder because of the Ming Dynasty's spring offensive.
"Is it me who started the First World War?"
Zhu Zaiming murmured to himself.
