Chapter 59： South of the empire

86 rifled guns, second class battleships, 750 men each, 13 Dutch ships, 2,000 tons each, occupying 26,000 tons, a total of 9,750 men.

The third-tier battleships are 1,300 tons, 68 spiral rifled guns, and 500 people. We are equipped with main battleships, which are generally battleships of this level in Europe. The most is France, which is equipped with 29 ships. 26,000 tons and a crew of 10,000.

The fourth-tier battleships are used as flagships and are used less, so the Netherlands is only equipped with 3 ships, 50 spiral rifled guns, 350 people, and a displacement of 1,000 tons. There are a total of 1,050 soldiers and 3,000 tons.

The fifth-tier battleship has 44 spiral rifled guns, with a displacement of 800 tons and a crew of 250. It is mainly used for inspections and patrols on the coast. It is more practical. Therefore, the Netherlands has a lot of convenience here.

There are 10 six-tier battleships, mainly used to transport mail and emergency supplies. The battleship is 450 tons and is equipped with 180 people. In order to increase the speed, there are only 20 spiral rifled guns. A total of 4500 tons, 1800 people.

This is the size of the local navy, with a gross tonnage of 94,000 tons and a fleet of 32,800 people.

Ranked 8th in Europe and the world.

On the East India side, our naval base there has already become a large-scale presence, and now it has reached the point where it is synchronized with the mainland.

However, in East India, now they have successfully built steam ironclad ships, a total of 5 ships.”

Except for Haysbert Von and Thorbeck, the members of the Privy Council, except for the military members of the cabinet, do not know the size of the East Indian Navy in the Far East. At this time, it is directly equal to the mainland, and most importantly, It turned out that steam ironclad ships were built, and there were not only one, but five.

God, this is worth it!

You know, Europe is now only owned by Britain and France.

In 1849, France built the world's first battleship Napoleon with steam as an auxiliary device to increase power, becoming the pioneer of naval steam power.

From 1853 to 1856, the Crimean War in the Black Sea was in progress, and its appearance hit the Tsarist Empire's fleet of sailing battleships that were sailing in the direction of the wind, and suffered heavy losses. It shocked the whole of Europe in one fell swoop, and the United Kingdom was even more panicked because of it. It almost gave up its participation in the Crimean War and returned to the mainland. Fortunately, it was finally known that there was only such a ship in France.

However, because of this, steam ironclad battleships began to become the dominant status in Europe.

In 1859, France once again launched the steam-iron armored battleship Glorious with a displacement of 5,630 tons, which made the British jump up and down in a hurry.

Fortunately, in 1860, the construction of the battleship HMS Valiant, whose displacement far exceeded that of the French Glory, was accelerated. This British first steam iron armored battleship was not troublesome. It was 91,377 tons, nearly 10,000 tons.

At the same time, like the Glory of France, it is covered with iron armor on the outside of the warship, and is regarded as the earliest group of steam armored ships in the world. Napoleon is only a semi-steam armored ship.

In the past two years, the two countries have each added 2 steam armored battleships, which means that there are only 4 ships in Europe now.

Five Dutch ships popped up in the East Indies at once. Is this against the sky?

It's no wonder they didn't believe it. William IV didn't think that the Dutch shipbuilding technology did not belong to the hegemon of this era, the United Kingdom. After he crossed in 1857, he began to persuade William III to launch a secret operation, also known as the Navy b. The plan, the use of a lot of manpower and material resources, and even the Dutch royal family paid 500,000 pounds directly from their own pockets, which is also the reason why the East India is so fast and efficient.

The outcome was not confirmed until confirmation from Lyndon and East India Governor Simscock.

It made him so excited that he couldn't sleep at night.

"Your Majesty, but I would like to remind you that I have been in East India for many years, and I have found that the John Empire in the north of East India seems to be very enthusiastic about naval development in recent years."

The speaker was Jane Simscock, Governor of East India, and he said solemnly: "It seems that the new emperor of the York Empire is called Ai Yining. He has been on the throne for 11 years. He is a rich and powerful emperor. Born in 1830, succeeded to the throne in 1850, spent 10 years, learned Western technology, and now has developed his own naval fleet, the size of"

Jane Simscock said with some trembling: "Not lost to the British Empire"

what!

Everyone can't believe that a big country comparable to the British navy has appeared in the Far East, so the Netherlands' Far East development plan, isn't it?

Everyone looked at William IV and waited for his statement.

William IV was also shocked.

John Empire!

William IV frowned, the John Empire, this is the most powerful country in the Far East, this world has lost the country of his previous life, the John Empire is also located in the Far East, where it has been the overlord for hundreds of centuries. , no one dares to shake it.

The surrounding countries respect it. In European history, there have also been alliances of Mediterranean hegemonic countries such as the Roman Empire and the Holy Empire, but the history of status is long, but no country can compare to this John Empire. According to historical records, Europeans have basically been exiled from the John Empire for nearly 10,000 years.

These people were basically fugitives from the John Empire back then, or after committing a crime, they were exiled to the western part of the John Empire to open up wasteland, and gradually formed groups and countries.

Especially during the many regime changes in the history of the John Empire, these exiled people were left unattended and formed a country that occupied all parts of the country as kings, and slowly moved to the west, and finally this pattern came into being.

But always, the John Empire is the oldest country in the European continent. No one dares to deny, and no one will deny the fact that European countries were once the exiles of the John Empire.

However, after more than a few centuries, the John Empire was actually dominated by the minority groups in the empire and won the dominant position. The empire began to slowly go downhill, but the east descended and the west rose, and Europe rose. It is the world that has undergone earth-shaking changes.

Not long ago, in 1857, the combined fleet formed by France, the British Empire and Spain cooperated in the Far East and launched a naval battle with the fleet of the John Empire in Nanyue Hanhai. In the end, the British, French, and Spanish three countries were defeated at the disadvantage of the road and dispatched 4. A total of 40 battleships, including 1 first-class battleships (2 British, 1 French, and 1 Western), and 10 second-class battleships, were eventually sunk by the John Empire in the Hanhai of South Vietnam, and only 12 remained.

The British Empire lost more than 10 ships, including 2 first class sailing battleships.

After this war, the British Empire slowed down the pace of war in the Indian subcontinent.

France and Spain also suffered a lot.

The John Empire also suffered heavy losses. It is said that half of the country's naval ships were lost, and the entire South Vietnamese Hanhai Army was almost half damaged. The naval base in Ho Chi Minh City could only be retracted to Da Nang, the largest naval base in the central region, for refurbishment.

In the end, the four countries had to suspend the war and negotiate.

Ultimately, the four countries agreed to draw the line.

South Vietnam and the vast sea belonged to the John Empire's territory and waters, and the country was not allowed to occupy any small island during the period. North Vietnam and Siam belonged to the John Empire's vassal states, and other countries were not allowed to occupy them. With this as a boundary, the John Empire cannot participate in the territorial disputes in other places, and the three countries cannot allow the US John Empire to cross the sea beyond the north of Da Nang without authorization.

France, on the other hand, was officially recognized by the Empire of John, and Cambodia in the east of the Kingdom of Siam has officially become a French colony in the Far East, and it is also provocative. Seeing that the Empire of John has retreated, the contract has also been bounded by Da Nang, so as to speculate. In 1860, it finally occupied Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in the south, and completely connected the east and west parts of the Mekong River.

The Spanish colonies in the Philippines were also recognized by the John Empire, including the British in Malaya.

With such an anticlimactic agreement, the four countries finally ended this long-standing confrontation with the hope of prying open this Far Eastern power, which ended in failure again.

And from the beginning to the end, the question of the status of the Netherlands in the East Indies has never been recognized by the John Empire outside of the Western countries.

Now that more than 5 years have passed since the war, the Far East is basically calm, and everyone has even forgotten that there is such a big country in this world.

Now I hear Simscock mention it and talk about the scale of the naval development of the John Empire. It has reached the scale of the British Empire without making a sound, which makes the joy of hearing that the Dutch navy in the East India turned out to be the north of the local navy suddenly disappeared.

The military chief of staff, Mark Rudd, asked urgently, "What does the Governor mean, is there something going on in the John Empire recently?"

"It's not me," Simscock sighed, "it's Major General Lyndon's guess, because just before I came back, the Johns of the John Empire actually waited for a lot of people in the colonies of various countries over there. With a face on the side of John's Empire, Lyndon guessed that conclusion."

"And" Simscock said: "Recently, the French have been making a lot of trouble there. It is said that they even sent a small fleet tentatively to harass Da Nang, where the important naval base of the John Empire is located several times. The gun went off. In short, Your Majesty, the current situation in the Far East is not optimistic, and we need to take countermeasures as soon as possible, just in case.”

"Tell me about the current population of East India," William IV replied.

"Yes, now the population of East India, the population of Sumatra is 1 million, the Dutch are 50,000, the army is 3,000, the naval base is in Palembang, and there are warships 1 second-class sail battleship and 4 fifth-class sail battleships.

The Dutch Kalimantan has a population of 3 million, 150,000 Dutch, and 5,000 troops in the army. The naval bases are located in Machen Port, South Kalimantan Province, and Balikpapan Port. They are mainly small fleets. One Tier IV battleship brings 4 Tier V battleships and 4 Tier VI battleships. size of the navy.

Java Island has a population of 5 million, the Dutch are 250,000, the harbor has Jakarta port, there are warships 1 first-class sail battleship, and 4 third-class battleships, and 10 fifth-class battleships and 15 sixth-class battleships, which is the largest naval port in the Netherlands. , Jakarta Army stationed 10,000 people

Not far away, Surabaya Port, the eastern port of Java Island, is also stationed with a fleet of the same size, echoing east and west, and the Surabaya Port Army has deployed 5,000 people.

There are 1 million people in Sulawesi, and 1.5 million people in the Moluccas. On Sulawesi, the military ports are in Makassar in the south and Manado in the north, but the scale is the same as that of Kalimantan. about the same size. The Army was mainly stationed with 3,000 men from the Second Obligation Corps.

On the Moluccas we deployed 3 first-class battleships and more than 20 numerous fifth- and sixth-class battleships, on Unwin Island and Missour Island, in order to guard the entrance of Shrike Bay in the Paradise Bird Peninsula. Second only to the island of Java, and the island of Java to form the two largest naval strongholds of the Netherlands from east to west.

This fleet not only guarded here, but also participated in the recent dispatch to occupy the islands in the South Pacific, and participated in the whole process.

It even divided one-third of the composition into the temporary fleet and took Hawaii. According to His Majesty's instructions, this only consists of 1 first-class sail battleship, 2 second-class battleships, 1 third-class battleship, and 4 fifth-class battleships. A fleet of ships has begun to prepare for a permanent home in Hawaii.

The original territory of the Dutch East Indies totaled about 10.55 million people, and the Dutch did not count the army of 550,000 people. Your Majesty, I"

"Bang bang bang..."

Simscock stopped for a moment looked at the door curiously, not only him, but everyone was stunned, since their faces changed slightly.

This is the highest power meeting in the Netherlands. This meeting room is also the Privy Council meeting room exclusively chaired by the king inside the Royal Palace of the Netherlands.

No one would think that people out there don't know this.

That being the case, how can things be simple if you dare to knock on the door loudly.

"What's the matter?" William IV was also shocked, and then became nervous, something big happened?

Immediately, a military communications officer walked in quickly, with a look of panic covering his face.

The military's upper limb chief of staff, Mark Rudd, had a bad premonition when he went to the Minister of the Navy and the Minister of War.

I saw his communications officer, after not forgetting the etiquette of the fast nobles, said: "Your Majesty and the ministers, the Far East Telegraph urgently reported that just yesterday, on the morning of February 19, 1862, the Far East John Empire dispatched 30 warships, with the French Da Nang and Ho Chi Min City and Cambodia launched three major naval battles. In one day, all 15 French warships stationed there, except 3 escaped, were all sunk in the vast sea of ​​South Vietnam. At the same time, only 5 battleships were lost. Taking advantage of the victory, the Empire's Southern Ocean Fleet pursued the Spanish fleet directly on the Philippine Islands. As long as 10 warships of Spain went up to meet, but because the opposing fleet was too large, and the firepower was also under the spiral, Spain could only be able to Retreating from Manila, they eventually joined the remnants of the British and French fleet that had headed north from Brunei, on the Malay island, and refitted in the south at Cebu and Mindanao on the island of Cebu.

There was a confrontation between the two sides, and Major General Linden launched a comprehensive preventive program and asked for directions from Amsterdam. "

Chapter 1, please vote if you like it.