Arnold was stunned. He couldn't understand how the respected Consul Ferdinand could make such a stupid mistake. That was the diplomat who controlled the entire Middle East by one person. Without him, there would be no current canal.
During the Crimean War, Viscount Ferdinand, under the instructions of the French Emperor, began to engage in difficult mediation with the Ottoman Empire. After exhausting his efforts, he persuaded the Egyptian Governor to agree to authorize the right to dig the canal. To France.
What a difficult negotiation this was. Britain, which was competing at the same time, could not defeat Ferdinand. Now it is no exaggeration to say that he is the father of this canal.
Originally, Viscount Ferdinand had reached the age of retirement, but because France was facing extremely serious international threats, Prussia was preparing for war, and even a Chinese ethnic group in the East began to challenge the dignity of the French Emperor.
There are also domestic rebels who believe in republicanism. They have been trying to restore the French Republic. Napoleon III was troubled by conspiracy and secret wars one after another.
The situation in Egypt is also very bad. Since Ferdinand returned to the country, the French Emperor has begun to mobilize elite soldiers from various colonies. Although on the surface, the total number of soldiers in each colony has remained unchanged, insiders have long seen through it. The elites have been exhausted, and all that are left are the new recruits and the old and weak.
Under this situation, France's control over the colonies is constantly declining, which has caused all parties to be ready to take action. British spies are secretly establishing some subtle relationship with the Bedouin tribe.
Prussian spies were preparing for how to attack France's economic lifeline during the war. This year, another major diplomatic incident occurred when the Qing emperor and Chinese leaders visited Europe.
Everything requires a strong person to be in charge of Egypt, so who else can it be besides Ferdinand? Who in the entire Egyptian garrison was not convinced by the old man?
"But why didn't the consul stop the Chinese? This is impossible! With the consul's ability, it should be no problem to delay the Chinese for twelve hours, right? How come he didn't delay for a minute?"
Jean-Arnault roared angrily. He looked at the pointer on his pocket watch and knew very well that this time was the timetable for the Chinese to normally break through the canal as previously deduced.
If the combined fleet entered the sea outside Port Said around 7:30, this proves that the consul did not stop it for even a minute!
"My sir! Now is not the time to argue with the consul about his responsibilities. We must step up to the plate now. What we want is to make a prompt decision!"
"Yes...yes, yes...make a decision immediately!" Arnold put on his military uniform in a hurry, even tying the buttons crookedly in his excitement.
"Give the order, get ready for battle...the artillery commander is in position, distribute live ammunition, and enter the first level of combat readiness..."
The adjutant who stayed up all night stamped his feet angrily, and actually blocked the officer's mouth directly. "Sir! Are you crazy! How can the excuse for starting a war fall on us?"
"We don't know exactly what happened in the Suez Canal. I'm afraid even the garrison in Port Said doesn't know... They asked us to enter the canal, but did they say they wanted us to fight?"
"What are you trying to do? Declaring war on the Chinese? This will bring disaster to us, and France will also be implicated..."
"Even if you are determined to open fire, can you beat the British? To the south is the United Fleet in the canal, and the British Indian Ocean warships came with Xiao Letian!"
"Coming with us from the north is the British Atlantic-Mediterranean Fleet. If a war really starts, wouldn't it be a north-south attack? We will be surrounded..."
Jean Arnold finally came to his senses at this moment. "Oh God, I'm so confused! You did the right thing. Do you have any proposals? I should have listened to you last night..."
The adjutant sighed, "Now is not the time to talk about this. I have already made a plan. In fact, the requirements of Port Said are similar to my plan..."
"I request the captain to give an immediate order. The battleship must get into the river before the Zhiyuan rushes out...and then immediately hoist the malfunction flag and block the river with our ships. This is the only way to stop the Chinese without starting a war. !”
"Okay, okay, I listen to you... I will give the order right now!"
At 7:20 in the morning, the French Mediterranean Fleet appeared off the coast of Port Said. After a brief panic, the flagship Maranta suddenly began to increase speed and rushed towards the mouth of the canal.
The Maranta is France's latest battleship. It uses dual sail and steam power, with a displacement of 6800 tons. There is a thick chimney in the middle of the three-masted sail that emits black smoke.
Inside the battleship, a single boiler drives a single-drive propeller, which can provide a maximum of 1500 horsepower. If coupled with the kinetic energy provided by the huge sail, this battleship can sail at 18 knots on the sea.
There were double shooting decks on both sides of the battleship, with gunports densely arranged in two sections. Shining steel armor protected the battleship. The entire Maranta was shining with silver light, galloping in the sea like a knight in shining armor from the middle world.
With sails and steam power, how powerful is the Maranta? This is really impossible to calculate, because the power provided by the sail depends entirely on the weather, and it is whatever God gives you.
However, some engineers have calculated that if the wind is smooth and driven by winds of level 6 or 7, the Maranta can reach a maximum of 3000-4000 horsepower. This was already a very powerful power system at the end of the 19th century.
Under Captain Jean-Arnault's strict order, a heat wave suddenly started rolling in the battleship's boiler room. Dark coal was thrown into the furnace, the blower whirred, and the red flames made people's eyes hurt.
Billowing black smoke suddenly rushed out of the chimney, and the white sails were suddenly filled with darkness. As if a shot of morphine had been suddenly injected, the Maranta trembled on the sea and then rushed forward.
Other French warships did not have as good a power system as his, and they were unable to catch up with the Maranta's speed if they were caught off guard. As a result, gaps immediately appeared in the originally neat formation.
The French's unusual movements alerted the parallel British fleet. As expected, the quality of the Royal Navy's elite commanders was much higher than that of Jean-Arnault. It didn't even take half a minute for the British fleet to make a decision.
"Add...insert into the French army immediately and cut their formation. No matter what conspiracy these people have, let's disrupt their rhythm first..."
The sea outside Port Said was in chaos. Both armies began to change their formations. The entire sea was filled with the sounds of sailors shouting.
In this chaos, no one appeared on the southern horizon, and a dark smoke belt was approaching quietly.
Note: It’s a new month, and a new beginning! Let me first report on last month’s results! I took a look at the rankings last night. Our Hidden Dragon ranked 36th on the monthly sales list. It suddenly jumped from over 50 to 36th. It is really a big improvement.
We are grateful to all the book friends who support the genuine version, and even more grateful to the wealthy book friends who subscribed to Yinlong at the end of the month. We rushed from fifty to thirty-six. Thanks to some book friends who subscribed to all seven at the end of the month, that is, all the books. Ordered!
As soon as the seven wealthy people took action, their results immediately soared a lot, very good, very good!
If we are pure and not greedy, if ten rich people take action in March and each of them orders a full subscription, our results will probably increase a lot!
Praying silently...
