The Ming Dynasty's declaration of war was announced to the whole world on the third day after the Indian Empire's ultimatum was submitted to the great leader of the Indian Empire in Beijing.
Emperor William, who was far away in Bombay, of course also learned about it immediately.
"What? The Ming Empire wants to liberate all the countries in India?" The Indian Emperor William, who had finished his vacation and returned to the armored ship Warrior to continue his personal expedition, heard the report from Foreign Secretary Staunton and just smiled contemptuously, "They probably thought they had declared If we fight, we will definitely win, right? It’s so ridiculous!”
"My Majesty, they have always felt very good about themselves," said Staunton. "This country has been the leader of the East Asian continent for most of the past 2000 years. It is inevitable that there will be Some hubris.”
When Emperor William was listening to Staunton's report, he was still in the combat command center on the Warrior, looking at the chart with his head lowered. When he heard Staunton mentioning the arrogance of the Ming Dynasty, he looked up at himself. The Foreign Secretary asked, "Baron, has the arrogant Ming Empire declared war on the United Kingdom?"
"No." Baron Staunton shook his head, "Your Majesty, our enemies are arrogant and arrogant, and they are also afraid of coercion. They are still afraid of the truly strong."
Emperor William frowned, "Those people in the House of Commons seem to be so arrogant, but they are also afraid of power!"
In fact, Emperor William wanted the Ming Dynasty to declare war on the United Kingdom. Because only in this way can Britain enter a wartime state in a logical manner. Once Britain enters wartime, its budget limit will be greatly increased, and its industrial strength will be fully utilized.
However, although the Ming Dynasty pointed the finger directly at the British colonists in the declaration of war, it did not take the most critical step. That is to declare war on the British Empire!
And if the Ming Dynasty did not declare war, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom would not dare to take the step of declaring war easily.
"Your Majesty the Emperor," said the Foreign Secretary of the Indian Empire, Staunton, "all the members of the British House of Commons need is a victory. As long as we can win in the Strait of Malacca, declaring war is not a problem."
"That's right," the Indian Emperor nodded, "As long as we win in Malacca, all problems will be solved!"
As he said that, he immediately turned to Marquis Nelson, who was staring at the chart intently, "Marquis, do you think we can win?"
"Your Majesty, we should be able to win," Earl Nelson replied while staring at the chart.
On the chart, a small ship model symbolizing the main force of the Ming Navy's Nanyang Fleet has arrived at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca.
The Ming Dynasty naval fleet that has arrived at the east entrance of the Strait of Malacca is currently seizing the islands belonging to the Dutch in that area, and does not pay attention to the Dutch at all.
"Should?" Emperor William asked, "Is there any problem?"
"No, no" Marquis Nelson shook his head, "Everything is going smoothly now. The main force of the Ming Empire's Nanyang Fleet seems to be entering the Strait of Malacca soon, and the size of this fleet is far less than that of General Hood's Second Fleet. Indian fleet.
They only have 12 battleships and 12 armored cruisers, not a single airship carrier. Their airships don't have anyone manning glide bombs."
"This is normal," Emperor William said with a smile, "How do they know anything about naval warfare? They must believe that our main force is in the Gulf of Oman, so they recklessly use this small force to break through the Strait of Malacca.
In the final analysis, the Ming Empire was a land power. They only relied on their strong industrial strength to become a naval power, but when it comes to the command and use of the navy, it is far behind us. "
Marquis Nelson nodded, but he was still a little uneasy.
The Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Empire should have more than this, right? The Nanyang Fleet has always been the main force of the Ming Dynasty Navy! How could it be possible with just this few ships?
At this moment, Charlie Yilu limped in.
"Your Majesty the Emperor," Charles Elliot held up a telegram, "This is a telegram from the Governor's Palace in Batavia."
Emperor William was stunned, "Batavia Governor's Mansion, the Dutch? What happened to them? Is it because the Ming Navy is robbing their worthless islands?"
Marquis Nelson also frowned and asked: "Is there a Ming Dynasty naval fleet passing through the Makassar Strait?"
Charles Elliot immediately cast an admiring look at the elderly British naval god, "Marquis, the Dutch reported that a large fleet may have passed through the Makassar Strait last night. It has now entered The Java Sea is heading towards the Lombok Strait."
It turned out that it was a Dutch reconnaissance ship that discovered Zhuge Weidao's "First Navigation Battle" which was heading south.
"What? Lombok Strait?" Emperor William immediately set his sights on the Lombok Strait on the chart. "What do they want to do? To seize Australia?"
The Ming Dynasty's seizure of Australia is now also a nightmare in Emperor William's heart!
"How many ships do they have?" asked the Marquis of Nelson.
"A huge number!" Charlie Elliot replied, "The Dutch reconnaissance ships did not dare to approach, so they could only count the smoke plumes from a distance... there were at least dozens of them, it should be a large fleet!"
"Marquis, look..."
Emperor William suddenly became nervous.
There has always been a large fleet composed of dozens of warships that would break through the Lombok Strait and enter the waters near Australia. Then they must...
Marquis Nelson just shook his head there and murmured: "I don't understand, I really don't understand... Why do they do this? Their military strength is not too big to begin with, why do they have to divide their forces into two groups?"
"Marquis," Emperor William said a little anxiously, "If they approach Australia, can we defeat them with the strength of the Australian fleet?"
Upon hearing this question, Marquis Nelson laughed: "My Majesty, whether this fleet can pose a threat to Australia depends on the outcome of the decisive battle in Malacca.
If we lose in Malacca... of course, that's impossible. Victory must be ours, there is no doubt about it.
If we achieve a great victory in the Battle of Malacca, the entire Ming Dynasty will be shaken. How can this fleet have the energy to land in Australia? "
"That's right!" Emperor William looked at the chart and said after careful consideration, "It seems that the advantage is really on our side... Guan Tianpei of the Ming Dynasty Nanyang Fleet is really confused. With such a small force, he is divided into two parts. Use it. It seems that his level is no more than this. Marquis, what should we do now?"
"Of course it's to lure the enemy deeper!" Marquis Nelson had already made a plan.
"Luring the enemy deep? How deep? Who will lure the enemy?"
"You can use the 15 shallow-water heavy gunboats in the Malaysian West Naval Port to lure the enemy... Maybe you don't need to lure them far. As long as they enter the middle part of the Strait of Malacca, the fleet led by General Hood will defeat them all. .”
"This is great, let's do it!" Emperor William clapped his hands, "Go and send electricity to General Rodney...ask him to leave the harbor to lure the enemy, and must try his best to lure the enemy's battleship fleet to the Strait of Malacca Near the western exit..."
"According to the order."
(End of chapter)
