Chapter Ninety-Seven: The British Plot

  Just as Yang Feng was in the Japanese Imperial Palace, full of expectation, waiting for the Japanese to come and humiliate them with a conqueror's expression, bullying and oppressing them, thoroughly satisfying his dark psychology's bad taste, Ding Ruchang's Beiyang Fleet encountered trouble.

  This trouble did not come from the Japanese, although the combined fleet's remaining four main battleships had been harassing them incessantly since leaving Weihaiwei, but this was only a small problem. Ito Sukeyuki would never dare to engage in a decisive battle with the Beiyang Fleet, and their real threat came from the British Far East Squadron, which, like a dam, stood proudly across Ding Ruchang's navigation route with more than 20 warships.

  "How is it with the British?" he asked Hannaigan, who had just gone forward to reconnoitre.

  "They say the British Far Eastern Fleet is holding military exercises in the Korea Strait and, for safety reasons, prohibits other countries' navies from entering the strait." Hannegan said angrily, the British intention was clear, that is to let the Japanese First and Fifth Divisions withdraw back to their homeland, and then join in the fight against the Germans, so they can watch the excitement from behind. As a retired German soldier, he naturally couldn't help but be furious.

  Ding Ruchang was also furious, this Korean Strait is not yours, British people, you say prohibit entry then prohibit entry? However, the words are said again, they really have this qualification, it's not that the Far East Fleet is so powerful, but the huge Royal Navy behind them is strong enough, hundreds of ironclad ships, enough to dominate the entire world, this is the only maritime overlord, the true ruler of the ocean.

  "What's going on?" Liu Buxian asked as he walked over.

  "What else can we do? Negotiate, protest, and so on. Send a telegram to Yang Feng, tell him the British have intercepted us, and warn them to be careful, the Japanese reinforcements have already boarded the ship." Ding Ruchang said with a gloomy face, in fact, the Beiyang Fleet had already done its utmost, he certainly would not risk conflict with the British for the sake of helping Yang Feng.

  When Yang Feng received this telegram, he was not surprised at all. Since the British army landed in Nagasaki, he had already guessed such a result. However, it is obviously a good opportunity to insert wedges into the cracks between Britain and Germany.

  "It's too much, I really don't understand what the British want to do. Do they really want to see us die in Tokyo?" He slammed the telegram down in front of Waldersee with righteous indignation.

  Waldze watched coldly and snorted.

  "Yang, it's not you, but us, the German Expeditionary Force. It seems I need to report to His Imperial Majesty." He said with a gloomy face.

  Yang Feng naturally welcomed this, and it can be imagined how William, who had always been sensitive, would react when he learned of the news. As for the Japanese aid troops, he really didn't care much about them. Even if three divisions arrived, they would only have 50,000 people, and trying to break through the trench machine gun line was a bit laughable. However, since they had reinforcements, so could he.

  "Earl, we need reinforcements." He said with a serious face.

  "Yang, even if reinforcements are sent domestically, it's hard to arrive in a short period of time, and the British will definitely obstruct. I think at least half a year is needed, which would lose its significance." Waldersee shook his head and said.

  No, no, not reinforcements from Germany, but from China. First, our common friend Li Hongzhang has already recruited 20,000 new soldiers, including the New Army equipped with weapons I provided, led by Yuan Shikai. We can ask Li to dispatch this army. Additionally, there are the garrison troops at Yashan. After the withdrawal of the 1st and 5th divisions, maintaining a force of nearly 20,000 is no longer meaningful. At least we can mobilize another 5,000 soldiers, who have abundant experience in defensive battles. In this way, we can assemble an elite force of almost 40,000 soldiers. Logistics supply will be easier to manage, with the Hanyang Arsenal providing some supplies, and the Taiwan Arsenal starting production. With Yang's shipping company transporting goods from Europe at high speed, we can fully support the combat operations of these 40,000 soldiers.

  The Japanese army's total strength is just over 500,000, and even if they recruit more new soldiers, it won't exceed one million people. This country has only so many people, and even in the era of cold weapons, it would be difficult for them to gather such a large army. Moreover, they lack weapons. First, their main armories in Osaka and Tokyo have been destroyed by us. Other places may have some production capacity, but without steel, everything is useless. I also have two high-speed destroyers coming from Sweden, plus the two returned from the Beiyang Fleet, eight destroyers are enough to blockade the sea lanes and cut off Japan's material imports. Of course, this requires that the British will not provide military supplies to Japan, which needs the Emperor's attention." Yang Feng said, he now actually hopes to fight in Japan for a year or two, after all, it's not someone else's place that will be ruined.

  "That's not a problem, if the British dare to openly help Japan like this, it means provoking the German Empire." Waldsee said with confidence on this point. The European powers have their own set of rules, and the British are already pushing the limits. If they go too far, that would be breaking the rules.

  Yang Feng had nothing to say, immediately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, requesting the transfer of Yuan Shikai's 5,000 new troops, and another 5,000 from Yashan to go to Japan to participate in the war, on the condition that he would be given two percent of the spoils.

  In order to make him understand the meaning of these two components more clearly, he deliberately let Song Qing lead the fleet back, believing that with his example, even if Li Ergou didn't move, the people under his command would. It's worth noting that this guy came to Japan and his family property increased several times.

  As for the next step, the main goal should be placed on Yokosuka Fortress. The attack of Tirpitz on Kannonzaki Battery was not smooth, and even a Russian cruiser was heavily damaged, but fortunately it did not sink, so as long as it returned to Datong Harbor, the dock there would soon repair it.

  The reason for this situation is mainly because when the fleet bombarded the three groups of artillery at the entrance of Tokyo Bay, no matter what position they were in, they had to withstand crossfire from both sides, which was an insoluble deadlock.

  "Unless our army strengthens its offensive and first takes care of the batteries at Otowayama and Chiyoda from land, it will take at least another week, with even greater losses, for the fleet to open the gates of Tokyo Bay," Tirpitz said. Today was a celebration banquet held within the Japanese Imperial Palace, so he and several other naval leaders also attended.

  A group of invaders have ravaged this beautiful garden-like building, with many coarse soldiers relieving themselves wherever they please. Some, in an attempt to leave a pleasant memory, use knives to carve obscene words and images everywhere, fully displaying their ignorance and lack of respect for the beautifully crafted buildings designed by famous architects.

  Even some of the more beautiful sculptures and murals were gouged out by those barbaric invaders, including some precious wood that was dismantled and packed onto ships. And to make matters worse, many people got drunk tonight, with vomit visible everywhere, and ear-piercing screams echoed through the air. What's even more outrageous is that some of them brought Japanese women they had dragged from who-knows-where to vent their frustrations on, turning the entire Imperial Palace into a noblewoman stripped naked and thrown into a dung heap, enduring flogging.

  In this sinful atmosphere, a group of bandit leaders, under the service of dozens of Japanese girls who were brought by their subordinates, ate the looted delicacies while studying how to continue harming the country. As for the looted fine wine, it was not necessary to drink it, but Waldesse's war horse liked to drink it.

  "If that's the case, casualties will increase dramatically." Little Mao Qi said, he had not made much progress in the past two days. The Japanese relied on pre-set fortifications to stubbornly block him in the Yeshan area. Of course, this was not the most important thing, the most important thing was that after rushing out of the mountainous area, there were vast coastal plains, and at least eight kilometers to the Guanyin Jiao artillery emplacement. On this empty and open terrain, those large-caliber fortress guns defending the rear would easily slaughter all infantry.

  "Seize their families, force them to surrender. If they don't surrender, collectively execute them in front of each other." Yang Feng said viciously. The special conscription method used by Japan made the majority of the defenders at Yokosuka Fortress Tokyo residents, which gave Yang Feng an opportunity to exploit.

  "Yang, isn't this going too far?" Waldze was startled by him, this guy is really ruthless.

  "It depends on who you are being cruel to. If you're being cruel to your own soldiers, then go ahead and let them charge into the Japanese artillery fire. You should be well aware of the power of those large-caliber fortress guns. Go ahead and do it if you want. If the Japanese defenders are truly loyal and willing to die rather than surrender, even if it means watching their loved ones die, then I'm out of options." Yang Feng said with a shrug.

  Waldze savored the memory of those two 280mm mortars' power, and gritted his teeth saying: "Let's do it."

  In fact, the Allied forces were quite civilized. After all, the command headquarters issued an order to clean up the city, not to massacre it. So, apart from those brave Japanese who resisted, there weren't many civilian casualties in this city. At most, they would kill some experts and professors as required by Yang Feng, burn people's houses, loot their belongings, and play with young girls - these things were unavoidable. However, the Japanese residents of the city were still relatively intact.

  But it's just that finding people is a bit of a hassle, fortunately, like the Han traitors who have never been in short supply, the Japanese traitors will not be in short supply either. Under the temptation of bayonets, banknotes, or women, all sorts of things, a large number of Japanese friends were quickly organized and began to search for the families of the defenders of the Hikoshima fortress in the city. By the afternoon, several hundred people had been rounded up and were being escorted to the front lines.