The conflict between China and Britain had always existed, and as time passed, there was no sign of it being resolved. Instead, it became more serious. In the era of the raven, the British navy could attack Chinese ships at will in China's seas. Now, the British navy could no longer do this, and China's actual control of the sea area was much larger than it was in that era.
"The country is not in favor of increasing the size of the fleet in the Far East. That will change the attitude of the French." The British envoy said.
"The French must really want us to go to war with China!" The commander of the British Far East Fleet sneered with complete understanding.
The conflict between China and Britain belonged to the conflict between the rising local power and the global hegemon, the British. Although it was a challenge to the British, it was not to the point where the British would do their best to destroy the new China government. If they had the ability to travel thousands of miles to conquer China, Britain would simply cross the more navigable Atlantic Ocean, reach Canada, and then send troops south to destroy the United States.
In this colonial era, all the problems of foreign colonies would basically come back to Europe. For example, the Spanish in Europe risked their lives to create China to attack China thousands of miles away. It had to be said that the European countries still fully supported Spain between Spain and China, but the support was divided into spiritual support and practical support. There were only a few European countries that could cross thousands of miles to attack China, which were Britain and France.
So far, the new China regime did not look like a regime that would yield. Based on this stance, any action to make Britain and China fight to the death was completely in the interest of European countries other than Britain. The British, who had been stirring shit for a few years, knew this very well.
For this conflict, Britain's attitude was very consistent. They must make China recognize Britain's dominant position in the Far East. The British had no interest in making China spit out Luzon, but China's expansion must stop there. From the information obtained by the British intelligence network, it was very clear that China was trying to take over the Dutch East Indies. In this colonial era, China's choice was perfectly in line with the universal values. The British didn't think there was any theoretical error in China's attempt, it was just that China's attempt moved the meat in the British's mouth. This was a matter of pure interest.
Since it was meaningless to go to war with China directly, the British resorted to underhand tactics. They reached an agreement with the Spanish. The British Fleet was willing to attack China under the Spanish flag, but the Spanish had to bear all the consequences.
The Spaniards, of course, immediately thought of the consequences, including compensation for the English ships that had been sunk, and immediately demanded an explanation from the English. The English, of course, knew that the Spaniards would at most claim the fleet as Spanish, and would not pay a penny. But at this time, what the British needed was a fig leaf that did not completely fall out with China, so money was not a problem. So they promised not to ask for a penny from the Spaniards. In any case, it was not a problem to take the blame. China did not have the ability to travel thousands of miles to Spain.
However, there was a problem with naval warfare. If a naval battle was lost, many ships would definitely be sunk. After the sailors fell into the water, if there were no nearby ships to rescue them, they would definitely die in the sea. Even if the British Navy had a glorious tradition, this glorious tradition only existed when fighting for the United Kingdom. After being defeated and captured, they insisted that they were Spanish, and then they were tortured by the angry Chinese and killed to vent their anger. Even the most loyal and brave British Navy could not do this.
So the British had to ensure that they won every battle. There was no room for failure. In the previous battles, China's South China Sea Navy thought that they had suffered a great loss, and the British were also in a cold sweat. China's ironclads were not weak in terms of defense and attack. If they wanted to carry out a destructive attack on the China Fleet, they had to gather a large British Fleet. Strategically speaking, this was a stupid gamble.
The British received information from China's intelligence network. China's response was to investigate internal spies, and the Navy stepped up the construction of ships, training the Navy, and strengthening the system. It was clear that they were going to fight to the end and not change the current policy. From the fact that China fired the British employees in the customs, it could be seen that China knew the true face of the "Spanish Fleet". After knowing the true face of the "Spanish Fleet", they still chose to strengthen the Navy, which was very interesting. It seemed that China really wanted to fight the British to the end.
It was hard to be a boss, and it was even harder to be a colonial boss. A colonial boss was no different from a mafia boss. When he could attack wherever he wanted and destroy whoever he wanted, everyone would be submissive and temporarily swallow their anger. But once the boss was stubbornly resisted and finally lost, the suppressed countries would jump up and fight back. After a few years of being a shit stirrer, the British knew this very well.
"Can we make them surrender?" The commander of the Far East Fleet asked a very practical question.
The British envoy asked, "Are you talking about attacking China?"
"No, I'm talking about attacking Lanfang and Luzon." The commander of the Far East Fleet clarified the question.
"The parliament might not support it. We'll need about fifty thousand troops," the envoy replied.
"Is fifty thousand Indian troops enough?" The commander of the Far East Fleet continued to ask.
"Indian troops? Haha! "The envoy mocked. The Indian army was indeed Britain's largest servant. Although the Queen of England had a Indian crown on her head, the British had never treated the Indians as British. After mocking the Indian army, the envoy thought for a moment. "No matter what, we need at least a hundred thousand Indian troops."
The commander of the Far East Fleet nodded. "I think we should let China know how powerful we are. If we can take Borneo, China will understand that they can't fight us. From the intelligence, there are newly developed coal and iron mines in Borneo. China is building steel factories and plantations in Borneo. What does everyone think? "
This intelligence was not something that China had to guard against, so the British easily found out about China's development of Borneo. Building such infrastructure in the tropics required a lot of manpower and a lot of deaths. When the British learned that China had built a considerable amount of construction in Borneo, they were indeed surprised.
Of course, the British knew about the scale of construction in China. Guangzhou and the new Shanghai were examples. Those beautiful cities made London look pale in comparison, but the British knew very well that it was unrealistic to want to seize those cities. Even if they did, it would not be worth it. But Borneo was different. Without a navy, China would not be able to take back these lands. Even if the China wanted revenge, they could only shed tears across the sea. Because the Chinese Navy could not compete with the British Navy.
"Are the Dutch willing to fully support us?" The British envoy's eyes flashed brightly. It was the light of greed when he saw merit. Seizing rich colonies was the highest justice of this era. In the eyes of the British, the Lanfang Republic was a colonial power of China. Since China was trying to seize the Dutch East Indies, the British had every reason to seize the Lanfang province. On this point, there was only strength between the two sides. There was no moral superiority.
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