No one in the Central Committee misunderstood the phrase "if the Spanish could not give China a satisfactory answer, they would immediately declare war on Spain." From the General Staff Headquarters to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Propaganda Department immediately began to build momentum.
Vézé personally assigned the task of propaganda. "The first step of the three-step propaganda is history. We must emphasize China's right to live in the South China Sea since ancient times and its legitimacy. The second step is the historical response of China to foreign invasions of Southeast Asia. The third step is the attitude and position of the new government. "
Even with Vézé's personal instructions, the Propaganda Department still did not understand what was going on. They took out a document and even had to use the translation department of the Library of Literature and History set up to appease the people.
After reading the report, Vézé was furious. He called the guy from the Propaganda Department to his office and criticized him. Vézé glared and said angrily, "Who are you writing this for?"
"For foreigners, of course." The guy from the Propaganda Department didn't know why Vézé was angry. They were a little confused.
Vézé was amused by these words. He said resentfully, "If you rely on cannons and warships to negotiate with foreigners, then what's the point of the propaganda! I asked you to do the propaganda for the Chinese. "
Without hesitation, Vézé recommended Zuo Zongtang to the Propaganda Department. It was the right thing for a literate soldier to be in charge of this kind of propaganda. Vézé forgot that the guy from the Propaganda Department was too far away from the war.
After Zuo Zongtang took over the work, he did not hesitate to start. First, he began to do propaganda in the liberated areas, especially in Guangdong and other provinces with a large population in the South China Sea. Secondly, Zuo Zongtang completely understood Vézé's thoughts. This kind of propaganda contained the attitude of the Wanli period, as well as the attitude of Qianlong when the Dutch slaughtered Chinese people in their controlled territory.
Similarly, they used the translation department of the Library of Literature and History to appease the people, but a literate person like Zuo Zongtang was different. Even if the Ming Dynasty was unable to conquer Luzon due to lack of power, and the Manchu Qing Emperor Qianlong, who regarded the overseas Chinese as traitors, the contrast immediately showed the sense of legitimacy of Chinese.
Especially in Guangdong, Fujian, and other places, most of the Chinese people killed by the Spaniards were people from these two provinces. With a country coming out to support the Nanyang and China people, this stance indeed greatly increased the trust of the people of the two provinces in the new government. With regards to Manchu Qing's attitude of ignoring the common people, the people of the two provinces naturally did not have a good opinion of him.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs used another method. They wrote a very bureaucratic letter. Demand an explanation from the Spanish authorities in Luzon. This bureaucratic gesture made the Spanish Viceroyalty feel that it was just a gesture from the China side. They also wrote a bureaucratic palindrome that simply stated, "There is absolutely no such thing."
China was waiting for such a letter. If the Spaniards said "we'll check it out" in a very evasive manner, it would make things more difficult for China. Since the Spaniards said so, the China side sent a new document to the Spanish Viceroyalty without saying anything. On September 1, 1866, "In order to protect the safety of the expatriates, China officially declared war on Spain in the face of the atrocities of the Spanish Viceroyalty." The declaration of war document was sent to the Spanish Viceroyalty in Luzon.
The Spanish Viceroyalty was completely dumbfounded. The understated letter of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the Spaniards think that it was a matter that could be typed with just a reply. They didn't expect that a letter in exchange for a full-scale war. In addition to immediately starting to recruit troops to prepare for war, the Spanish Viceroyalty ordered to send personnel to discuss with China on the same day. They had to stabilize the situation in any case and delay the China people first.
On September 2, when the ship of the Spanish Viceroyalty's emissary sailed out of Manila for less than half a day, a huge fleet came toward them on the waterway. The emissary looked at the approaching fleet at the bow of the ship, and the whole person was dumbfounded. Even after receiving the declaration of war from China, a group of people in the Spanish Viceroyalty did not forget to ridicule the Chinese. Perhaps it was to embolden themselves or they really didn't take China seriously. In short, the Spanish Viceroyalty thought, "The Chinese are learning from Europe to declare war. Do they really know what will happen after the war? Other countries will either participate in the war or be neutral and cut off China's trade. Can these Chinese people stand this? "
It turned out that not only could the Chinese people stand it, but China was simply eager for this war.
"Sir, what should we do?" The captain ran to the side of the dumbfounded emissary and asked.
"Run! Hurry back and report! "The emissary gave the order in shock.
The Ryukyu, which was the vanguard of the mid-sized warships, saw the ship flying the Spanish flag trying to escape, and the captain gave the order, "Chase after it and sink it!"
"Is that a merchant ship?" a staff officer asked.
"Let the merchant ship run back and report? What did we teach before the war? Did you listen to the lesson? "the captain asked.
Before the war, there were all kinds of explanations, but the fleet was busy preparing for the war, so how could they remember so much? When the staff officer heard the captain's criticism, he was not convinced, but he also felt a little relieved. No wonder the captain could be the captain. He also paid attention to such details.
Many people had a misconception that small ships could run faster than big ships. In fact, big ships would always run faster than small ships at sea. If the ship was not big enough, it would not be able to carry more power systems. Even in the era of sails, too many sails would only cause the ship to sway for a long time, and eventually capsize.
The Spanish ship's tonnage was only about 2,000 tons, while the Ryukyu's tonnage was 51,000 tons. Both sides added enough power, and the Ryukyu gradually closed the distance between it and the Spanish ship.
"Sir, what should we do?" the captain of the Spanish ship asked anxiously.
"How much can this distance be shortened before we reach the port?" As a member of the Spanish Viceroyalty, he had some knowledge of the sea. The warships of this era were equipped with cannons on both sides, so if the mid-sized warships wanted to fire at the Spanish ship, they had to at least catch up to it. The emissary was prepared to trade space for time.
The captain looked at the distance between the two ships and reported with a trembling voice, "We can probably get close to the port."
"When we get close to the port, our fleet will come to help. What is there to be afraid of? Hurry up and run. "The emissary ordered.
After hearing this, the captain gritted his teeth. He turned back and shouted, "Throw some goods into the sea!"
The observer of the mid-sized warship quickly noticed the Spanish ship's movements. They were throwing some things into the sea. After listening to the report, the captain spat. "Tsk! Learning from a lizard to cut its tail to survive? They have a good idea. Prepare the cannons on the front deck to fire. "
After chasing for nearly two hours, the distance between the two sides was about a kilometer. The cannons on the front deck of the Ryukyu took off their jackets, and the observer began to calculate the distance and relative course. After the intense calculation, the firing data of the cannons was set, and the wheel compartment received the news and lowered its course a little. With a loud bang, the Chinese Navy finally fired the first shot of a real naval battle.
The whole ship could feel a tremor. The damage controller and technicians were in the cabin to observe the movement of the hull. Because of the huge reaction force, the wooden base creaked. The hull of the Ryukyu was mainly divided into five layers. The two giant cannons on the bow could not be considered the main combat force. The real combat part was the bombardment layer. On the gun rails in the compartment, all the fixed latches of the cannons were tightly locked. The staff had checked before, and now they ran over to check again.
Naval battles did require extraordinary courage, but it was only a matter of overcoming fear and using normal combat skills. A real battle still relied on skilled control and careful preparation. The Liberation Army lacked experience in naval battles. Before the war tested the courage of the navy soldiers, it was even more necessary to make material preparations as perfect as possible.
Some were checking, some were sorting, some were observing, and those who were bombarding were also bombarding. Although the landing points of the cannonballs were getting closer and closer to the Spanish ship, the Spanish ship seemed to be protected by something. The cannonballs around it created huge water columns, and the ship rocked on the sea. But it was not hit. Moreover, the Spanish ship did not care whether the coast could see it or not. They desperately shot fireworks into the sky, trying to use the rising smoke in the sky to alert the Spanish fleet to come to the rescue.
"Damn it! When I catch you, I'll cut you into pieces and cut you into pieces! "The cannonball officer cursed angrily when he saw that he could not hit the enemy's ship. If they could easily sink this warship, the surprise attack on City M would be better. Even if the troops did not think that they could really complete the surprise attack, the accumulation of a little advantage would eventually become a terrible advantage at the decisive point.
A hand pressed on the shoulder of the cannonball officer. The cannonball officer turned his head and saw that it was Liu Sha, the commander of the B Squadron. "I really think it's very good to hit this far at a distance of one kilometer. In the past, we only hit the kind of ship that sailed in a straight line. It's normal not to hit this kind of ship for the first time. "
"Commander Liu …" The cannonball officer's throat was dry. "I really want to hit it."
"Then relax and take a deep breath. Then concentrate on your work. You can only hit it if you do your job well. "Liu Sha calmly comforted his subordinate's mood.
The cannonball officer took a deep breath. The smoke in the air stimulated his lungs. He slowly exhaled and felt a lot more relaxed. Even his mouth, which was dry from anxiety, was now salivating.
Just as he was about to take another deep breath, there was suddenly an earth-shattering cheer on the deck. The cannonball officer opened his eyes in surprise and saw that on the deck of the Spanish ship in the distance, a mast was slowly tilting, then broke in two, and the upper half fell into the sea with a large number of sails.
The most direct effect of having a mast broken was the loss of a part of the power. The Ryukyu was faster than the Spanish ship, so it was easier to catch up now. When the distance was shortened to 500 meters, the cannonball officer was confident that he could sink the ship in one fell swoop.
Things changed far better than he imagined. Just as the Ryukyu accelerated to catch up, the Spanish ship suddenly lowered its sails and raised a white flag high on the main mast. Everyone knew what this meant. The Spanish ship surrendered.
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