In the Andaman Sea, two warships were sailing at high speed. These were the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan that had just been replenished from Yangon. However, the atmosphere on the ship was very depressed because they received news from the British in Yangon. Just five days later,
Before that, the French fleet raided Mawei Port, and the Fujian Navy was almost completely wiped out. Not only that, the Mawei Shipyard was also bombarded by the French fleet, causing heavy losses.
Of course, Carlo was also responsible for allowing the French fleet to speed up its attack on the Fujian navy in Mawei. The news that Italy had sold two Venice-class patrol ships to the Qing Dynasty was known to the French.
In addition to protesting to Italy immediately, they also sent a telegram to Guba's French Far East Fleet to immediately prepare to intercept. After some consideration, Guba decided to immediately eliminate the Fujian Navy first and let the two ships from afar
The ship patrol became a lonely person.
With the help of Fujian officials (at this time, Fujian officials blocked information from the navy officers and soldiers and were not allowed to invite war officers and soldiers to "act rashly"), the Fujian navy was completely undefended and was beaten to pieces.
With the destruction of the Fujian Navy, Zhiyuan and the commanders on board the Jingyuan had a heated discussion. First, they needed to consider where to enter the South China Sea. There are currently two options for entering the South China Sea. The most recent one is to go through the Strait of Malacca and directly
Go through. Another option is to go around the Sunda Strait and enter the South China Sea.
Both have their own advantages. Malacca can allow two warships to enter the South China Sea at the fastest speed, while going through the Sunda Strait will take more time.
Of course, if you go through the Strait of Malacca, you may be blocked in the strait. If you go through the Sunda Strait, it will take more time, and you may also be blocked.
Faced with these two choices, the three commanders had a heated discussion.
Among them, Liu Buchan, who was the nominal fleet commander, supported taking the Sunda Strait. The reason why he supported taking the Sunda Strait was simple: he wanted stability. After the Fujian Navy was annihilated, he wanted to bring the fleet back home safely.
As for the two captains, they support taking the Strait of Malacca. In the words of Captain Leifer, that is, even if the French Far East Fleet blocks them in the Strait of Malacca, with the firepower, protection and speed of the two patrol ships, they will not be able to block it.
Liveable.
The main thing that gives them confidence is the strength of the French fleet. The ships of the French Far East Fleet currently commanded by Solo are basically at a speed of 13-15 knots, and even the five armored ships in its fleet are five
Six thousand tons of cargo. With the speed of the two Venetian-class ships up to 18.6 knots, it was simply not something they could catch up with. The powerful firepower of their own ships naturally gave the two bold Italian captains the idea of trying it out.
.
So on this route issue, none of the three people can convince the other.
Just as they were in a stalemate, a visitor unexpectedly broke in and broke the deadlock.
On the watchtower, the sailor in charge of the reconnaissance shouted loudly, "Two ships were spotted ahead."
Upon hearing the discovery of the ship, the three commanders immediately stopped arguing.
At this time, as the captain of the Zhiyuan, Captain Leifer immediately issued an order. "Lay down the traffic boat and let Captain Gomes return to the Jingyuan."
Because they were approaching Southeast Asia, they had to be on alert. Captain Gomes also understood this and immediately boarded the traffic boat. The traffic boat was then lowered and rowed towards the Jingyuan under his command.
After the Jingyuan sent a signal that Captain Gomes had boarded the ship, the two warships immediately sailed towards the discovered ship.
The Baron Yoko is a new cargo ship of more than 4,000 tons. Since its launch in 1879, it has been running sea transportation from Saigon to Colombo. This ship and its crew have rich navigation experience.
This time, the Baron Yoko was ordered by the colonial government of Indochina to receive a batch of coal from Colombo and transport it to the fleet commanded by His Excellency General Gubo. Along with it was the freighter Hick, which was also a new model of more than 2,000 tons.
freighter.
When the two Venetian-class ships discovered them, the two French merchant ships also discovered them.
However, the discovery of the two warships did not attract their attention because France was not at war with other countries.
Sorry, you said that we were at war with the Qing Dynasty. Does this count? I didn’t see that these two warships were at least more than 5,000 tons. It is impossible for the Qing people to have such large warships, and those warships of the Qing Dynasty can only travel in coastal waters, and they are all
They were all destroyed by General Gubo, so the two cargo ships didn't pay much attention to the warships that appeared.
But immediately afterwards, the actions of the two warships became confusing. They saw the two warships approaching them quickly. When they got close to a certain distance, the sailor responsible for the observation showed an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
"The battleship of the Qing people."
I saw two warships quickly hoisting a yellow dragon flag. Although the sailors of the two cargo ships had never seen the Qing navy, they had seen a lot of yellow dragon flags. They were all symbols of the Qing Dynasty.
The flags raised by the two warships were definitely not for good looks.
They saw two warships approaching them at high speed, which frightened the crew on the cargo ship.
"Boom, boom."
Two cannonballs hit the front and back of the cargo ship, making them dare not move. This is not the age of navigation. Merchant ships can carry enough artillery for self-defense. The pirates that have been rampant for centuries have long disappeared. The development of modernization has long made it impossible for pirates to survive.
space. Maybe it still exists in some unknown corner, but the major traffic arteries have been cleaned up.
But now, facing the threat of large-scale patrols, the two cargo ships have no better way besides surrendering. They can't run away, and it's impossible to fight. If they don't surrender, are they waiting to feed the sharks?
After forcing the two cargo ships to stop, several traffic boats were drawn from the warships, full of sailors holding weapons.
After boarding the cargo ship and taking control of the driving and power rooms, two officers who stood out from the crowd boarded the ship.
"Who is the captain?"
The boarding officer asked the captain of the cargo ship as soon as he opened his mouth. After the identification of the captured sailors, the captains of the two cargo ships were brought out.
At the same time, the cargo on the ship made the officers who boarded the ship feel the difference in intercepting the ship this time.
"Tell me, why are you transporting white coal?"
After learning for the first time that the ship was transporting white coal, the officer leading the team became serious.
You must know that white coal cannot be used on ordinary ships. It can generally only be used on warships or fast cargo ships transporting valuables. Combined with the thousands of tons of white coal on board, the goal is very clear.
"We are civilian ships. We only know the purpose of transportation, but we don't know the use at all."
The captain who was being questioned wanted to defend himself, but the officer leading the team did not give him a chance.
"Since you don't want to say it, then throw it down and feed it to the sharks."
According to the officer's words, the sailors immediately escorted him to the side of the ship. When he saw the sea in front of him, his own life was more important.
"I said, I said."
"Tell me, who should I give it to?"
The captain was questioned again and this time he was honest.
"We transported it to Saigon. I heard it was to replenish coal for the fleet."
The captain's words shocked the officers leading the team. This news was too important to them.
Immediately, the news was passed to the warship, and such important news was obtained from the captured captain. Then their next choice would be easy. Since the fleet under the command of Gu Bo still needs to replenish coal, this means that he is either not in Malacca or not in Malacca.
Or he's still on his way here.
Then the three of them decided to leave for Malacca. Malacca should be relatively safe now.
Now that the decision has been made, the fate of these two cargo ships has been decided. After replenishing some coal, the crew members on the cargo ships are rushed into the lifeboats, and then the sea valve is opened. These two cargo ships are preparing to supply the French fleet.
, was sunk to the bottom of the sea like this.
Since this is a navigation channel, there are many passing ships, so cargo ship crews do not have to worry about their safety.
Then the two Venetian-class cruise ships immediately launched at full power and rushed directly to the Strait of Malacca. They needed to pass through before the arrival of the French fleet.
