1890 King of Southeast Asia

In the next month, more specific news was spread by the caravans coming down from the plateau, causing a sensation.

Many newspapers even sent people to wait at the riverside just to get first-hand news.

You know, transportation was extremely inconvenient at that time, so it was extremely expensive. The telegraph line built to the riverside was only open to the public for four hours a day, and the price was touching.

But no matter how expensive it was, it couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the newspapers.

In Shanghai, the most prosperous city in the late Qing Empire, there were already two newspapers with a daily circulation of 100,000 copies, and they were the most popular at the time.

Before the news of victory came, they were still an ordinary newspaper with a daily circulation of around 10,000 copies.

"Extra! The Plateau Frontier Guards rushed thousands of miles, and the British troops in Asia and East China retreated in a panic and have withdrawn from our territory..."

"Extra, Extra, Plateau Frontier Guards..."

"Give me a copy!"

"I want one too!"

"Don't push, don't push..."

"How many British died?"

"They all deserved it!"

"We still have a British leased territory here, when can we take it back?"

"When are we waiting? Isn't it a good time now? We won, and it still dares to say no?"

"That's right, we can't beat them at sea, but can't we beat them on land?"

"Just..."

When he said this, the discussion in the crowd suddenly became much quieter.

Yes, the huge naval fleet of the British Empire is its real strength. Decades ago, the British East India Company relied on the navy to fight from Guangzhou to Nanjing.

Along the way, not to say that they were invincible, but they came and went freely.

And what about China? For thousands of years, the navy has been a supplement to the army, and there is no tradition of the navy.

Since the 1880s, the navy has been built up. By the end of the 19th century, the navy was only a little bigger, but the finances could not afford it.

The navy was corrupt, this is the consensus of all Chinese people.

It was not the sailors or ships that were corrupt, but the corrupt and inefficient system of the Qing Empire.

So, when this was mentioned, the voices of the people who were scrambling for newspapers became much quieter.

"Extra, Extra, the South China Java-class battleship was launched, continuing to maintain the record of the world's strongest battleship."

"Extra, Extra, the South China Empire Java-class battleship was launched, and the foreigners were shocked..."

"I want a copy!"

"Then kid, give me a copy!"

"Little Sichuan? I'm your uncle Song, I gave your mother ribs, leave me a copy..."

Maybe this is drama, people are boiling again.

…………

"Zhao Erfeng is quite capable. He dared to send a cavalry to attack Huanglong alone."

"Yes, I didn't expect that he was so brave at his age. If something went wrong, these thousands of cavalry would be ruined."

"On the surface, he kept calm and lowered the British's vigilance. In fact, he used mobile forces to encircle the rear at night. With the strength of a brigade, he encircled two divisions. I have to say that he was really brave."

At the staff meeting of the joint command of Nanhua, Chang'an and the Empire, a group of senior generals in Nanhua were sighing at Zhao Erfeng's bold "tactics".

Nanhua also knew the general situation of the battle on the plateau.

Just after the British army lost on the front line, Zhao Erfeng did not lead his troops to pursue and expand the results, but suddenly held on.

In fact, it was because Zhao Erfeng had a stroke, the command organization was in chaos, and he didn't have time. After sorting it out, the British had withdrawn a certain distance, and there was little point in pursuing.

Then, the British didn't know what they were thinking (they ran out of supplies), and they stopped after running dozens or hundreds of kilometers, and waited until the reinforcements came before retreating.

This back and forth delayed them for another two days.

The thousands of cavalrymen that Zhao Erfeng had sent out in advance took advantage of this time difference and ran to Yadong. Instead of attacking the city directly, they cut off the road.

Who knew that the British in Yadong fired two shots at the plateau border guards cavalry thousands of meters away, and turned around and ran away.

When the cavalry commander entered Yadong, he was still a little confused.

In fact, most of the defenders here rushed to support the front-line battle, leaving only one infantry company to maintain order.

Since this is the rear area, the infantry company defending here did not even do the most basic fortifications.

Looking at the black cavalry all over the mountains and plains "rushing" towards them aggressively, the defenders made a rational decision after a little thought - retreat.

Most of the cavalrymen rode two horses, and half of them were warriors from various tribes. They had no shortage of horses, and some even had three or four horses.

Tens of thousands of horses were a mass of black mass, and the oppression brought by them was unimaginable for those who had not experienced it.

After various factors came together, Yadong was taken back by the cavalry, and the British lost their logistics transit base, and the logistics supply line was directly cut off.

Knock, knock, knock...

Just as everyone was discussing fiercely, there was a knock on the door.

"Your Majesty is here." Wang Linhai stuck his head out, said something, and then shrank back.

Then, Liu Yiming walked in, followed by Zhao Jiaxing, Jiang Wang, and naval generals such as Gu Fan.

The appearance of the navy surprised the army slightly, not because the navy came, but because they were coming, and they followed Liu Yiming and Jiang Wang.

This signal was a little interesting. Wang Yang glanced at Xie Hui, and Xie Hui shook his head slightly.

These things happened in a flash.

"Stand up!" Xie Hui shouted.

Swish!

Everyone stood up and faced Liu Yiming.

"Salute!"

Swish!

They waved their arms in unison and made a sound.

"Everyone, take a seat!" Liu Yiming walked to the main seat expressionlessly and sat down.

Seeing Liu Yiming's performance, Wang Yang was even more confused and looked at Zhao Jiaxing for help.

Zhao Jiaxing had a bitter face, forced a smile, and shook his head slightly.

Seeing his expression, Wang Yang felt more at ease. Today should not be the day to deal with the army.

"Recently, something...sensational happened." Liu Yiming pulled out the file and handed it to Xie Hui.

Xie Hui took the file and habitually walked to the map before opening the file.

"Huh?"

Xie Hui made a strange cry and looked at Zhao Jiaxing with pity.

"Ahem! Seven days ago, there was a leak of confidential documents in the Navy Design Bureau. The design sketches and some parameters of the Java-class battleships were leaked."

"The leaker is Liang Zhichao, who graduated from the Naval University with a major in ship design and entered the Navy Design Bureau."

"After the leak, after a surprise interrogation, it was determined that the leaker was... a spy buried by Japan in Nanhua. Fifteen years ago, ten-year-old Liang Zhichao entered Nanhua with immigrants and survived."

"Okay, that's enough." Liu Yiming waved his hand and interrupted Xie Hui's hesitant speech.

"The leaked sketch has an armor distribution map, which should be a military secret, but it was easily obtained by a newcomer."

"Not only that, this person also passed the examination for entering the university and entered the Navy Design Bureau, a department with high confidentiality requirements."

"What about other departments? Can the reliability of personnel be guaranteed?"

"Armored combat methods, tactics, various confidential plans, air force confidentiality work, and even intelligence departments." Liu Yiming said while looking at everyone.

"I'm not here to hold anyone responsible today, but I hope this is the last time."

"All departments, conduct self-examination and cross-examination immediately after returning to eliminate all uncertainties."

Liu Yiming did not let them speak, but spoke on his own.

"Your Majesty, rest assured that the army will immediately conduct a strict review to ensure that no spy will be released." Yang Tao saw that the atmosphere was becoming more and more depressing, and hurriedly said.

"Hurry up, all work must be done before the Java-class battleship is officially put into service."

"Also, the regular self-examination within the army should be put on the agenda, and the daily cross-examination will be supervised by the intelligence department."

Liu Yiming nodded, without looking at them, but took out another document on his own.

"All the data we can collect, including the fortifications in some areas of Japan, the distribution of troops, the coastal defense firepower in the port area, and various data on warships, are here."

"Take them all and study them. I'll take care of today's lunch and dinner. There are camp beds in the back for you to sleep on. Give me a preliminary plan tomorrow."

Liu Yiming handed the document to Xie Hui, who then passed the document down separately.

This is the result of the intelligence department's summary and screening of the military intelligence collected from Japan. Each unit has more than 100 pages of paper.

The army, navy and coastal defense forces have a total of about 500 pages of paper in one document. Of course, most of them are drawings, otherwise you can't finish reading them in a day and a night, let alone make a plan.

For coastal defense artillery, not only the location must be marked, but also the caliber and length of the artillery. Some of them in concrete fortifications must be specially marked.

The army is even more complicated. Where are the barracks, how many people are there, how many weapons and equipment are there, where are the arsenals, and basic topographic maps, etc.

Just this information cost no less than 50 million yuan.

The amount was huge, but it allowed Nanhua to basically understand Japan's strength.

"When is your majesty going to go to war with Japan?" Wang Yang couldn't help but smack his lips when he took the information.

"The government is already stockpiling supplies. When the Japanese navy shows a flaw, we can go to war at any time." Liu Yiming stepped forward and patted Wang Yang on the shoulder.

"We don't know when the Japanese will show a flaw, so you must come up with a plan as soon as possible. Don't miss the opportunity."

"Of course, I promise that tonight, we will come up with an offensive plan!" Wang Yang said happily.

Liu Yiming said this to him, which means that Liu Yiming is going to fight a landing operation this time, and the army has a lot of room to play.

"I believe in you, let Yang Tao take over first, I hope to send you to Arabia." Liu Yiming said.

"Arabia? Your majesty is worried that the British will intervene? Yes, we just tricked it, such a good opportunity, it will definitely not give up revenge." Wang Yang nodded in agreement.

"No, it will soon have no energy to care about us. I want you to take charge and organize defense. No one except Britain and France."

"As for Britain and France, they are our dear allies..."