In the 21st century, there was an incident where Israel bombarded a besieged Palestinian city. The people of Israel sat under the stars at night, sipping wine and admiring the flames from the cannonballs and bombs. When the photos were published, the public thought that Israel had lost its humanity and was unmoved by the suffering of war. It was a big problem of lacking humanity.
In fact, watching a war was exactly human nature. There were spectators of street fights, and there were spectators of street fights. Not only did people watch dog fights, but they also placed bets. There were even more spectators. There were countless cases of spectators in history. On July 21, 1861, Lincoln decided to fight the main force of the southern army at Manassas, the transportation hub between Washington and Richmond, in order to clear the way to Richmond. The northern army was led by Owen McDowell. There were 35,000 soldiers under General Pierre McDowell. The southern army was led by the famous generals Pierre McDowell. Beauregard and Joseph McDowell. There were 22,000 soldiers under Johnston.
Because the northern army had advertised beforehand that it would be an easy victory, many Washington citizens, senators, and reporters came to watch the battle in their best clothes and brought picnic lunches. At first, the northern army attacked the southern position across the Boer River with their superior numbers. The southern general Thomas McDowell. Jackson withstood five attacks from the northern army, earning him the name "Stonewall". When the southern reinforcements arrived, they counterattacked and defeated the northern army. As a result, the northern army lost nearly 3,000 men and a large amount of ammunition, while the southern army lost nearly 2,000 men. The rest of the northern army fled back to Washington in a panic.
The group of senators, reporters, and citizens who watched the battle from a safe place were shocked by the cruelty of the war and the northern army's defeat. After the northern army retreated, they became prisoners of the southern army.
In the Battle of Tsugaru Strait in 1874, apart from England and China, Japan, America, France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Austria-Hungary, Norway, and Sweden all sent observers. Even the snot-nosed country, Belgium, sent observers. The spectators sat on boats and watched the battle from afar.
It was an open secret that England wanted to beat China. China was also a country with ironclads. Thirty ironclads were not something any country could build in this era. Moreover, China's ironclads were taking an unprecedented and radical path, and China was not afraid of Britain at all. All the countries that had been painfully groping on the road to the Ironclad Warship Exhibition thought that this was the best opportunity to spectate.
Countries with more financial resources would send one ship per country. Japan had the geographical advantage and sent four warships. After Germany was unified, they were very eager to build a strong navy, so they simply sent two ships. The people on the ship were all naval personnel of the country. Countries with limited financial resources hitched a ride on other countries' ships.
China's radical fleet bravely engaged the British Royal Navy's fleet in battle. Although people from various countries admired the Chinese Navy's courage, they all believed that the destruction of China's fleet was inevitable. Sketching and drawing were compulsory courses for German naval officers, and all the decent naval academies in the world had these basic skills. A middle-aged man, a young man, and a teenager in a German navy uniform were holding a drawing board and drawing on a piece of white paper with a pencil. From time to time, they would hold up their pencils and make simple measurements based on basic ranging techniques. Then, they would record all sorts of data in the blank space next to the drawing. Photography was also one of the training courses for the German navy. The photographers tried their best to capture the distant scenes of the naval battle.
The organized German navy had a clear division of labor, and there were also officers supervising them. Even so, more than half of the soldiers' attention was attracted by the fierce naval battle. Only the commander's personal guidance could keep the Germans from completely abandoning their work.
The spectators from other countries were all immersed in this dazzling naval battle that they couldn't see anything special about. Cannonballs flew everywhere, and flames rose. At the end of the naval battle, smoke shrouded the vast sea. Watching the Chinese Navy calmly leave the battlefield after injuring 12 British warships, the spectators from various countries, including Germany, were dumbfounded.
The naval battle between China and Britain represented the top naval battle in the world today. Other than China, no other country dared to send their navy to challenge the British Fleet. The young China not only dared to fight the British Grand Fleet, but also gained an overall advantage.
Even though the British Navy suffered a loss, no one from the spectating countries dared to underestimate the British Navy. Based on the combat ability that the British Fleet displayed in the naval battle just now, the navies of other countries would definitely end up badly if they went up against it. The spectators from various countries were extremely glad that they were able to witness such a naval battle with their own eyes. A lot of questions were solved through this naval battle. After watching the naval battle, the spectators from various countries were even more confused.
Germany and China had a good relationship, and Germany's Bismarck had more confidence in China. The leader of the spectating fleet was a rear admiral, and on the ships were active members of the navy, naval cadets, and junior military academy cadets. Two warships came all the way from Germany to China, and the most important purpose was to train the navy. The cost of traveling from Europe to China was not small, but the Germans gritted their teeth and accepted it. After watching the naval battle, the German navy felt that it was worth the ticket price. The commander of the fleet only regretted not doubling the number of ships and personnel.
After the Chinese Navy fled, the ships from various countries immediately turned around and headed for Japan. After landing in Tokyo, they did three things at the same time. The first was to immediately begin to summarize the experience gained from watching the battle. The second was to immediately send people to inquire about the results of the British Navy's pursuit. The third was to immediately send people to China for military exchange.
The Germans acted the fastest. The naval personnel held a meeting while taking a ship to China. Three days later, they arrived in Shanghai. Through the German Consulate in Shanghai, they reported to the German Embassy in Nanjing and requested the embassy to contact China, hoping that the German Navy could visit the Chinese Navy Military Academy, attend classes, and exchange.
As soon as the German Navy arrived, the US Navy followed. In addition to doing the same thing as the German Navy, the US Navy also made a request to purchase two mid-sized warships of the same model as the ones used in the naval battle.
It had been almost 20 years since the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it had never been so lively in the past 20 years. As a relatively cold government office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs now had a shortage of staff.
Foreign Minister Li Xin was handling official affairs when the Director of the Security Bureau, Yuan Bingren, came to the door. "We caught a large number of foreign devils near our shipyard who wanted to peep. Can the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tell the foreign devils not to cause us trouble?"
"It would be great if the foreign devils would listen to whatever I say." Li Xin sighed.
"Even if they don't listen, you have to say it. Many of the foreigners we caught are foreigners from various countries. After they were caught, they still shouted that they have diplomatic immunity. I just want to slap them, "Yuan Bingren said angrily.
"Well, I will inform the diplomats of various countries again. Diplomatic immunity does not apply to military restricted areas." Li Xin replied to Yuan Bingren. After Yuan Bingren left, Li Xin sighed again. This time, it was completely beyond Li Xin's imagination. Originally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thought that after the British officially declared war on China, the countries would uphold the neutrality treaty and cut off trade with China. After all, the British were the world's hegemon, and they still had some influence. In fact, China also wanted to use this incident to block foreign trade and develop some new technology at home.
The reality proved that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was wrong. After the Chinese Navy demonstrated its strength to the world, other countries saw the opportunity to challenge the British's maritime hegemony. They were all industrial countries, and no one was willing to give up such an opportunity. If this situation continued, or even continued to heat up, China's foreign policy would have to be adjusted.
Vézé had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that when China gradually proved its naval superiority, it was necessary to immediately negotiate with the British. The goal was to reach an agreement with the British. China was willing to accept the British's hegemony in Europe. Similarly, the British had to recognize China's hegemony in the Western Pacific.
Li Xin once thought that the Military Governor Vaize was in a hurry. How could the British give in so quickly? He didn't expect the diplomatic situation to turn around so quickly. Even without Vézé's reminder, Li Xin could already think of China's means. To provide Europe and the United States with China's naval technology, helping countries quickly improve their naval strength. When the European navies were developing, how could the British spare troops to go to Asia? It was not impossible for the European Allied Forces to appear. What was certain was that the appearance of the European Allied Forces was almost impossible for Germany and France to work closely together.
The sentence "If only the foreigners would listen to whatever I say, that would be great." was Li Xin's feeling when faced with sending messengers to negotiate with the British. It would be great if the British knew what was good for them.
At this time, Vézé was reading the information about the Meiji government and the Republic of Prawn submitted by the intelligence department. The Meiji government was issuing land grant certificates to the country's aristocrats. To be more precise, the Meiji government was issuing land grant certificates for seizing the Republic of Prawn and dividing up the local land.
After reading the report, Wei Ze thought to himself, "A country that uses the landlord as its power base is really f * cking inherited from the same origin!" After the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in France, the nobles began to recapture the land. Before the counterattack on Da6, the bald man had done something like land grant certificates, but it ended in failure. He didn't know how far the Meiji government could go.
Now the fate of the Meiji government and the Republic of Prawn was not decided by the two countries that were about to go to war, but by the two powers behind the two countries, China and the United Kingdom. There was no doubt that the British Navy had the advantage. Twelve cruisers were not enough to destroy the British Grand Fleet. In fact, six cruisers had already sailed to the dock in Shanghai. The warships needed to be refurbished, especially to replace the armor. The British's artillery level was still above China's. Within a month, the navy could only rely on the other six cruisers. No matter how good the Chinese Navy was at fighting, the number determined the war ability. The Republic of Prawn could only rely on itself to resist the attack of the Meiji government.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
