1890 King of Southeast Asia

In the eyes of the French, South China is a country that focuses on domestic development and does not have a very urgent need for external expansion.

That is why it has more advanced technology but has to fall into a war of attrition with the Japanese.

It is strange that the Germans also think so.

However, in the eyes of the British, Japanese, Ottomans and other countries, South China is a country full of expansion and aggression.

The British think so because South China took the lead in developing new battleships with all heavy artillery and large high-speed ocean-going warships.

The former put aside the British advantage in old battleships, and the latter forced Britain to develop more powerful ocean-going speed warships to maintain the route.

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What is a maritime hegemon? In addition to absolute force, there is also absolute control over trade routes, and South China picked them all at once.

As for the Ottomans and Japanese, the reasons are similar. The former lost Arabia and Mesopotamia in the hands of South China, and the latter lost Ryukyu.

However, the Young Turks in power in the Ottoman Empire had a certain good impression of Nanhua, because Nanhua generously donated money to support the Ottomans in the Balkan War.

If it were not for Nanhua's materials and loans, the Ottoman Empire would have likely lost a large area of ​​important territory - not the barren land of Arabia and the disobedient and backward places of Mesopotamia, but Europe.

Japan had only pure malice towards Nanhua, not just the Ryukyu issue.

After all, Ryukyu was forcibly occupied by Japan decades ago. Only the Satsuma Domain took it very seriously, and the attitude of others towards Ryukyu was discriminatory.

In addition, Nanhua beat Japan and took away Ryukyu. Even if Japan was dissatisfied, it felt that this was justice.

The most unsatisfactory thing about Nanhua was the issue of development.

Nanhua had strict management of incoming Japanese, whether it was trade or work, and had very strict requirements.

Illegal immigrants, crimes, etc., Nanhua usually threw them directly into the bitter coal mines and worked them to death.

However, Southeast Asia has always been an important source of gold rush and foreign exchange for Japan. The flesh trade that is popular in Japan is mainly done in Southeast Asia.

After all, there are many ships coming and going here, trade is prosperous, and there are many crew members.

The crew members are relatively wealthy, willing to consume, and have very strong demand.

Once, Japanese prostitutes were all over Singapore, Malaya, Manila, Batavia and other places, earning a lot of money to return to Japan every year.

But now everything has changed. Manila, Batavia and other territories that originally belonged to the Dutch and Spanish have been successively seized by Nanhua, and the Japanese have lost the Nanhua market.

On the other hand, Japan's raw silk, inferior cotton cloth, and grain, which are its flagship products, have also been impacted by Nanhua's dominance, resulting in sluggish exports and economic slump.

With the help of Nanhua, China began to industrialize. What Japan can produce, China can produce by itself, and what it cannot produce will be imported from Nanhua or Europe.

It can be said that because of Nanhua's disruption, Japan's current economy is completely supported by the United States' purchase of raw silk at a low price.

But hatred is hatred, and the record of being beaten 2-0 by Nanhua is there. No matter how hard the Japanese are, they don't think they can win now.

At the beginning of the war, Japan was very panicked, especially when a battleship was sunk and two battleships were seriously damaged at the beginning.

There was even a discussion within Japan on how to surrender to satisfy Nanhua.

But...

...

In the first half of January, when fierce fighting broke out between Germany and France in Europe, the East was unusually calm.

Since Ijuin Goro failed to lead his army to the expedition, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet has been shrinking in Sasebo, and only some fast cruisers or destroyers were sent out to wander around.

Adhering to the principle of retreating when encountering the enemy, Japanese warships almost turned and retreated when they saw Nanhua warships.

Nanhua usually appeared in fleets, and the fleet speed was definitely lower than the destroyer speed, so the two sides never broke out in war again.

It was obviously a war, but it looked like the years were peaceful... That's strange.

Over the past ten days, the newly-emerged Java high-speed battleship of the South China Empire has frequently appeared in the eastern waters of Japan, and the Arabia has also appeared in the northeastern waters of Japan many times.

They have only one goal, to intercept the Japanese merchant fleet.

In half a month, the South China Fleet sank and captured more than 60 merchant ships, which was a huge loss for Japan.

However, this did not make the Japanese Combined Fleet move. There were only a few dozen ships, which must be a strategy of South China to lure the snake out of the hole. Don't move! Determined not to move!

However, on January 9, the Combined Fleet had to dispatch the only two remaining battlecruisers to escort the merchant fleet.

They finally squeezed out a little from the gap between their teeth and imported a batch of strategic materials from the United States at a high price. They will go south from the Pacific Ocean on January 10.

These include explosive raw materials, special materials, machine tools, and some parts that Japan cannot produce, etc., which are important reliance for Japan's homeland defense.

We must set up defenses before Nanhua attacks, and after Nanhua attacks, we can use the familiar terrain to fight against Nanhua's landing troops.

After all, the core of Nanhua is in Southeast Asia, far away from Japan, and it takes a lot of effort to maintain the landing troops. We have to drag Nanhua to give up on the mainland - this is the way to win that Japan has thought of for a long time.

The Japanese also named this tactic "Homeland Decisive Battle Plan". According to this plan, Japan will expand its army to 2 million and distribute weapons to civilians.

This requires a large amount of materials. Japan can squeeze out a lot of materials, but the processing capacity is not enough.

Therefore, a batch of machinery and parts were purchased from the United States to expand and maintain production.

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On January 9, the Combined Fleet, including the Hiei, which was moderately damaged and only underwent simple repairs, a total of six battleships, together with more than 40 destroyers and cruisers, left Sasebo with great momentum.

After the South China Navy learned the news, it sent two battleships, Xuchang and Nanyang, carrying 31 destroyers and cruisers, to leave the Ryukyu military port.

One hour after going to sea, two battleships and more than a dozen destroyers of the Chinese Navy also rushed over.

At about 2 pm on January 9, a total of hundreds of warships of the three armies met 200 kilometers northwest of Ryukyu.

In terms of total tonnage and the number of large-caliber artillery, the Japanese had an absolute advantage, so the South China Navy and the Huaxia Navy formed a formation and turned south.

The two sides began to bombard each other at a distance of twelve kilometers. At this distance, even the South China equipped with the most advanced rangefinder could hardly hit, let alone the Japanese.

"Commander, do you want to get closer? Let's review the last battle. The Japanese's hit rate at about 10,000 meters is not as high as ours." After half an hour of fighting, Zeng Yang, the captain of the Xuchang, couldn't help but suggest.

Half an hour later, although it was a bit of a hit, each of your guns fired more than ten shells.

These are all 356mm shells. One shell fired, more than two thousand yuan is gone, and this is still the internal purchase price.

Zeng Yang didn't feel bad at all for the direct bombardment. The weapon should play its role, but this is not normal!

"No, we are not here to fight with them, keep this distance." Xu Sunming put down the telescope and looked at Zeng Yang.

"Commander, I don't understand. We have already received the news that the Japanese fleet has been dispatched. Why don't we concentrate our forces to encircle and suppress it?"

"Concentrate all the main forces and set an ambush. The Japanese fleet will not even have a chance to escape, and the war will end directly."

Zeng Yang looked at the direction of the Japanese fleet. Even though he had good eyesight, he could only vaguely see the smoke.

The smoke was visible to the naked eye, and it was so far away, which could only prove that there was a problem with the Japanese coal supply.

"What we want is not to defeat a fleet, but to eliminate the threat of Japan." Xu Sunming explained when he saw that he was indeed confused.

"Eliminate the threat?" Zeng Yang repeated it and chewed it carefully.

"It is not realistic to decide Japan in one battle. Japan is actively preparing for the so-called decisive battle on its homeland." Xu Sunming said with sarcasm.

"It's just a blockaded island country. Victory will eventually belong to us." Zeng Yang's thoughts were interrupted, and he said subconsciously.

"Yes, I also believe that we can win, but how long will it take? How many people will die, and how much supplies will be consumed?"

"Gun is something that causes the same harm to children and adults. Similarly, guns are equally deadly whether they are in the hands of a child or an adult."

"That group of Japanese lunatics will definitely do such a thing." Xu Sunming just smiled easily.

"Then attack indiscriminately, enter Tokyo Bay, and bombard Tokyo. I don't believe that the emperor is really so stubborn." Zeng Yang's eyes were sharp and cold.

He had participated in the bombardment of Medan and was experienced.

"Cannonballs cost money, so it's better to keep the money and let them mess around." Xu Sunming looked at him with a very appreciative look.

In fact, this was also Xu Sunming's idea. After dealing with the Japanese fleet, he would enter Tokyo with absolute force and defeat him.

Just like taking over the Dutch East Indies and the Spanish Philippines before.

However, Liu Yiming rejected this tactic, and the government did not want to land in Japan.

"You also said that Japan is a closed island country. Many of its materials depend on the outside world, and its development also depends on trade."

"If we close it off for a year, what will be left of its industry except for the part that serves the war?"

"If we close it off for two years, it is a question whether it can maintain its civilian life. If it is three years, no matter how tolerant the Japanese are, they will definitely rebel."

"But we don't have so much time. We must speed up this process, consume their resources, lead them around in circles, and send warships to play with them even though we know what they are transporting."

"Commander, Pinghai telegram, a destroyer hit a reef and the speed decreased." Xu Sunming was talking, Zeng Yang also had an expression of learning something, but the staff brought bad news.

"Order them to abandon the destroyer, and the nearby warships will immediately pick up the people, and then sink it. They have half an hour."

"Order the fleet to turn left 15 degrees, close the distance to 11,000 meters, and disengage after half an hour of fighting..." Xu Sunming ordered decisively.