Wild North America 1846

Chapter 719
The night shrouded the densely populated Daming Palace, the vast Taiye Pool sparkled, and the deep palace and forbidden courtyard was quiet.

Several gigantic ligers and tigers were either lying or standing, silently waiting outside the hall. In the night, the eyes of these beasts emitted a terrifying blue light, which made people feel hairy.

Candles were brightly lit in the hall, and His Majesty the Emperor was still reviewing memorials in the imperial study.

After using some snacks to stew soup, Emperor Li Cha waved his hand to dismiss the court servants, and had no intention of visiting his concubine at night, so he went to bed in the imperial study.

sitting on the couch

Emperor Li Cha held the latest issue of "Overview of the World" edited by the Royal Secretariat, and looked through it leisurely from the perspective of an outsider...

in Europe

Just this month, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was unwilling to be lonely, made a public speech in the Reichstag, advocating the "Germany of the world, the world of Germany" to expand colonialism, and the preferred target is Africa. This ushered in members of Congress More than 10 minutes of warm applause.

The former Prime Minister Bismarck, who was kicked home by Kaiser Wilhelm II to eat old rice, angered Wilhelm II from the air and publicly expressed his opposition.

He described William II as "a child wielding a Lochaber's heavy axe", implying that he may hurt others or himself, and he may fall severely.

The conflict between the monarch and his ministers of the German Empire has become public, causing the media in Europe and the United States to follow suit, and the Tang Empire is no exception.

1891 late 2

The traditional Lunar New Year of the Tang Empire had just passed, and the Pacific War in South America was reignited. The rearmed Peruvian and Bolivian coalition forces and more than 7200 Chinese mercenary cavalry launched a massive counterattack.

The main battlefield is in two places, one is the port of Arica occupied by the Chilean army, and the other is Antofagasta, the only sea port in Bolivia.

have to say
Under the extremely difficult situation of encountering the embargo, the Chilean army showed an extremely tenacious will to fight. In the case of a serious shortage of logistical supplies and insufficient ammunition, they desperately resisted and even contained the coalition's offensive.

more than ten days in a row
The Chilean defenders in Arica and Antofagasta persisted, fighting repeatedly with coalition soldiers in the urban area, fighting extremely bloody, and regaining lost positions through hand-to-hand charges time and time again.

April 3

The Tang Imperial Army, which nominally performed the "American League" peacekeeping mission, quietly let go of the peace zone stationed when the two sides were fighting fiercely, allowing more than 4000 Chinese cavalry to rush into the city and stab the Chilean army from behind. a knife...

Fighting until late at night, Antofagasta announced that it had changed hands. Most of the 1.32 Chilean troops stationed in the area were killed or injured, and only 4700 were captured, most of whom had injuries of varying severity.

The Chilean army occupying Arica is stronger. The US and Allies have no peacekeeping troops here, and they are more able to fight with their hands and feet, and they will fight to the death without retreating.

The famous Chilean German general Otto von Sternbeid led an army of 2.5, relying on strong forts and fortifications to hold on to Arica on the Peruvian border and Tacna to the north, resisting the 11.2 coalition army.

After fighting for more than a month, the coalition forces killed and injured more than 1.62 people, and they were stunned.

Emperor Richard was also deeply speechless about the fighting power of such rookies as Peru and Bolivia. These farming Indians had degenerated to the point where they would no longer be able to fight.

Although he holds advanced infantry weapons aided by the empire and has received complete military training from retired officers of the Tang Empire, his performance is unbearable.

The officers and soldiers of the coalition forces were well fed, warmly clothed, had sufficient ammunition, and had a four and a half times superiority in strength, yet they were still ruthlessly counterattacked by the opponent time and time again.

All right, keep playing.

The current huge gap cannot be bridged by the Chilean army's tenacious fighting will.

General Otto von Sternbeid's army has no reinforcements, is seriously short of food and ammunition, and has begun to fight with spears, broadswords and bows and arrows more. How long can it last?
For the Tang Empire
I would rather have Peru, Bolivia and other rookie neighbors by my side, than have a tough and capable Chile next to me, and try to cripple it no matter what.

In the Pacific War in South America, the Tang Empire did not directly intervene, but only used money and materials to help one side.

It also acquiesced in the South American vassal states dispatching cavalry, crossing the Andes Mountains to attack the southern provinces of Chile, plundering people and property, and exacerbating the local chaos and turmoil.

The Chilean military government can't last long with this worsening situation.

In east asia

At the beginning of 1891, the Crown Prince of Tsarist Russia, Nicholas, went to Vladivostok and presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the Siberian Railway, which sent a strong signal to the United Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty;

The national policy of the Tsarist Russian Empire's eastward advance has been steadily advancing, and it is almost irreversible. Soon there will be black masses of Tsarist Russian livestock in East Asia, spreading like a flood over a dam...

Although it will be more than ten years before the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed and opened to traffic, Britain has already expressed concern about this, and the pressure of geopolitical competition has increased exponentially.

at this point
You have to admire the strategic sensitivity of the veteran imperialists. The concerns of the British stem from a clear understanding of the aggressiveness of Tsarist Russia.

in this regard
The Tang Empire government seemed much duller, still indulging in the fantasy of invincibility around the Pacific Rim, full of self-confidence, insufficient awareness of the huge dangers that East Asia was about to face, and weak measures.

The Tsarist Russian Empire devoted all its efforts to the construction of the Siberian Railway, and the direction was very clear. It was impossible for the Tang Empire government to not notice it.

But the selective neglect stems from strategic short-sightedness and the eagerness for quick success brought about by the government's term of office. It lacks long-term strategic planning, let alone planning for the situation in East Asia more than ten years later.

Emperor Li Cha was keenly aware of this, but he didn't directly tell the government what to do, which obviously didn't help.

Instead, using the influence of the royal family, in nine famous universities including the University of California, Chang'an Institute of Technology, Los Angeles University, and Taoyuan Administrative University, research institutes composed of senior experts and professors on international issues have been established successively.

Although they have different names, most of them are engaged in international cutting-edge strategic research, and they are called "the think tank of the royal family".

thankfully
Although Fusang Country’s innovation road of comprehensively learning from European and American countries has gone through ups and downs, under the unanimous recognition of the government and the public, Fusang Country has eliminated the old practices and comprehensively reformed the old system, which has brought about a brand-new change in the society and opened the road to industrialization.

History corrected its direction with a strong inertia, and the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Cha, was also relieved. After all, there is still a scapegoat in front, and it is better than letting the weak Qing Dynasty face the bloody mouth of Tsarist Russia...

According to the itinerary plan
After inspecting Vladivostok, Crown Prince Nicholas will stop by Beihai Province and Fusang Kingdom. If there are no accidents, unexpected things will happen...

After more than 20 years of being included in the empire's territory, Beihai Province has achieved considerable development and has become one of the official overseas provinces of the Tang Empire, and it is the imperial territory closest to the East Asian continent.

Beihai Province had a population of 1890 at the end of 72.29, and a relatively mature and wealthy society has been built. It has formed an urban agglomeration dominated by Penglai (Otaru), Sapporo, Hakodate, Linshui, and Wakkanai. The population of Penglai (Otaru) is the largest. It reached 13.12 people, and Sapporo, which ranked second, also had 8.76 people.

Beihai Province has overcome many difficulties and built a "cross-shaped" trunk line railway and multiple railway branch lines throughout the island, with a total mileage of more than 5200 kilometers of roads, and built ports mainly in Penglai (Otaru), Linshui, and Wakkanai. A relatively complete infrastructure has been formed.

The island's "cross-shaped" main line railway network consists of the "rooted railway" in the east-west direction and the "hanzhi railway" in the north-south direction. It can be easily extended to every town through the railway branch line.

The "rooted railway" extends from Sapporo and Horai (Otaru) in the west of the island to Nemuro in the east of the island. It traverses the whole island and is the main railway artery in Beihai Province.

Another north-south main line railway, starting from Hakodate at the southern end, going north along the coastline all the way, continuing north after crossing the "rooted railway" in Sapporo, and ending at Wakkanai, the northernmost tip of the island, so it is called "Hanzhi Railway" railway."

Beihai Province's well-connected railway and highway construction and clean urban management have attracted a large number of Fusang government officials to visit and study. Wave after wave, it has become a frontier base for promoting European and American modern civilization.

After the visit, the Fuso government and the representatives of the counties, feudal clans, and daimyo were all shocked. They could deeply feel the power of modern industrialization from it, and were greatly inspired.

Due to the natural geographical advantages

Beihai Province has developed into an economic structure dominated by the financial industry, shipbuilding industry, offshore fishing industry and agriculture. The society as a whole is relatively wealthy and ranks among the top in Asia.

After entering the sea from the westernmost point of Alaska, the submarine long-distance telegraph cable across the Pacific Ocean landed in Beihai Province along the East Asian continental shelf, where it was divided into two parts.

The first line was laid westward to Weihaiwei, a land leased by the British. From here, it extended north-south to form the East Asian mainland telegraph network. The northernmost end entered the territory of Tsarist Russia, and the southernmost end reached the French Saigon Governor's Palace.

The second line goes south across the Tsugaru Strait into the Fuso Islands, and then continues south to the Amami Kingdom, ending at Naha City, the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom at its southernmost point.

Because of the convenient modern telecommunications industry and its geographical location close to East Asia, Penglai, Beihai Province became the East Asian headquarters of many multinational banks in the Tang Empire, and also the Asian headquarters of the four world-class telegraph giants.

Several major oil companies that monopolize the world's oil industry also collect huge sums of money in Asia, forming a relatively developed financial industry.

According to the statistics

One-tenth of the population in the province is engaged in modern finance and telecommunications, and the education industry is well developed. There are many well-known universities such as Northern Institute of Technology, Beihai Engineering School, Beihai Normal School, etc. More than half of the students are from Fusang Island, Amami Kingdom and Sulphur Ball There are also many kingdoms from the Qing Dynasty on the other side of the strait.

In terms of agriculture, Chinese immigrants have cultivated 127 million mu of fertile land on the island, more than 11.5 cattle and a large number of chickens, ducks and poultry, and the food self-sufficiency rate has reached 6%.

Relying on the famous Hokkaido fishing grounds, almost one-fifth of the province's population is engaged in jobs related to offshore fishing, providing nearly 1 jobs (note, minus women, children and the elderly who have lost their ability to work).

Linshui in Beihai Province, Wakkanai is a famous fishing port. The surrounding area is densely populated with fishing villages and thousands of fishing boats, large and small. It has developed a complete set of industries.

Shipyards, repair shops, fishing nets, hooks, iron chains, canvas, frozen storage, fish processing, pickling factories, etc., form a complete industrial chain from upstream to downstream.

Beihai Province is also an important military base. The Royal Navy and the Royal Army Overseas Military Region have troops stationed in the province, but the scale is not large.

The port of the East Asia Squadron under the Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy is in Penglai City (Otaru). The fleet has five old iron-clad destroyers named "Chan" and the flagship is the first batch of iron-clad cruisers "Evil Wind" in service.

The ship was one of the capital ships of the expedition to Egypt more than 20 years ago. During its service, it experienced a fire, which caused a major accident involving the death and injury of 17 crew members, including 6 deaths.

After being repaired in Port Said, the ironclad cruiser "Evil Wind" was in poor condition and was considered unsuitable for long-term deployment abroad, so it returned to the mainland of the empire after a long journey.

The ship suffered another major power failure in the East China Sea, and was towed to Beihai Province after being rescued, where it finally settled down and spent the last days of its service.

Therefore, the East Asia Squadron also has the nickname of "Nursing Home".

Even so
Before the two giant ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" of the Qing Dynasty entered the Beiyang Fleet, the flagship of the East Asian Squadron, "Evil Wind", with a displacement of 4850 tons, ranked first in the fleets of East and Southeast Asian countries all the year round. An irresistible powerful presence.

The annual routine task of the armored cruiser "Evil Wind" is to take a few younger brothers to Fusang for a goodwill visit. From Tokyo, Kobe to Nagasaki, its huge hull like a hill attracts Fusang every time. The country is envious and admiring.

As for the further Amami Kingdom and the Ryukyu Kingdom, the armored cruiser "Evil Wind" has not been there for several years.

My family knows my own affairs, and the East Asia Squadron knows it clearly;

The iron-clad cruiser "Evil Wind" is purely for show. The condition of this old ship is really bad. The annual goodwill visits around the island have drained all his energy.

If it takes a longer voyage, it may sink in the rough wind and waves of the Western Pacific Ocean.

An ironclad ship that may lose its power at any time must not take a risky voyage, it would be tantamount to suicide!

It is no problem to conduct a goodwill visit around Fuso Island. After all, the Tsugaru Strait is only 39 kilometers away, and Fuso Island is full of ports along the coast, which is very convenient for emergency stops.

Every time the ironclad cruiser "Evil Wind" set off with a lot of younger brothers, it looked really majestic and well-respected.

Actually

The ironclad cruiser "Evil Wind" did not dare to leave the port without bringing along many ironclad destroyers and military auxiliary ships.

(End of this chapter)