Chapter 59 The Prince's Thoughts

In a first-class carriage of the train, the decorations in the carriage have a luxurious Baroque style, a red oak floor, a wall skirt, gold-inlaid crystal lighting, and a Louis XVI sofa. Everything in the carriage seems to remind people that this is not an ordinary first-class carriage, and the ordinary first-class carriage will never be like this one. The luxury of the car is indeed not an ordinary first-class carriage, but a "royal carriage" specially prepared by the China Railway Company for His Majesty the Emperor. However, since it was put into use, most of the passengers of the royal carriage have been distinguished guests at home and abroad.

At the end of the carriage stood a Russian Rear Admiral with a straight military uniform. He was talking to a middle [***] official who was more burly. Their faces were full of happy smiles. Perhaps because the middle [***] official could not speak Russian, the two talked there in fluent German. Yes.

"Dear friends, your military operations saved Russia and saved the honor of the Russian army! I really don't know how to thank you!"

As the Rear Admiral spoke, his beard trembled.

For the major's gratitude, the colonel officer just gave a decent answer.

"Your Excellency, defending the country is what we should do. If you can fulfill the withdrawal agreement, it is the best compliance with the agreement!"

Prince Mikhail, who was sitting in the carriage, did not know that his entourage was outside and [***] people in Fengcheng. At this time, on his contemplative face, a pair of big black eyes were slightly worried.

This time, he came to China by the will of his brother, His Majesty Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire, as the Tsar's special envoy to discuss with the Chinese people about the Second Pacific Fleet entering the Sandu-Macao military port of the Chinese people to rest and maintain the warship.

The land south of the Huaihe River is illuminated by the sun as white as lime. China, fields, grasslands, cities and villages pass by quickly. There was an endless stream of cars on the road. Those cars turned lightly to the railway intersection. From the speeding train, the convoy seemed to be stationary. He had seen too many dark green canvas awning trucks on the way. Especially when turning from Siping to land, the Chinese even sent a regiment of troops to take the truck. Escort him all the way to the new people.

On the battlefield, trucks like this seem to be everywhere. Trucks are more suitable for the battlefield than carriages. When he asked the officers who received him if he could purchase a batch of trucks from China, those [***] officials complained to him that the production of trucks was insufficient. Until now, the car companies only told them. Thousands of trucks have been provided, and the number of their own trucks is insufficient.

...We believe that if there are not enough attractive conditions, it is difficult for the Chinese to agree to allow our fleet to enter Sandu Australia for maintenance. Moreover, if the Second Pacific Fleet enters Sandu Australia, it is bound to cause a fierce rebound of Japan, in order to avoid possible attacks by the Japanese navy in the south. China is likely to reject us!"

At this time, Lieutenant General Miklov beside him did not notice that Prince Mikhail had been a little distracted. At this time, the train had begun to slow down. He knew that the train was about to enter the big station. Every time he arrived at a big station, the train would stop and let the passengers get on and off. This was not his special train, even His Majesty. It's just an ordinary train with a few more carriages.

"Is it possible for me to meet her when I go to Nanjing this time?"

A shadow appeared in the mind of Prince Mikhail, which was long-lasting, but still unforgettable. It was the girl he met at the fund-raising dance after the Chinese queen's ship purchase performance in Paris. There was never a woman who could touch his heart like her. At first, he didn't know that she was the maid of the Chinese queen. In order to find her, he even published a pseudonym in Paris, but there was no news.

It was not until he accidentally saw a photo that he knew that the girl was the maid of the Queen of China. Unfortunately, when he arrived in England, she had already left England.

I hope she hasn't married yet!

Prince Mikhail prayed in his heart that time will change everything and may dilute everything, but time will also make some things more unforgettable and more... "Your Highness, Your Highness..."

At this time, Lieutenant General Miklov realized that His Royal Highness was distracted. After calling a few times, Prince Mikhail, who looked like a girl in his mind, came to his mind. Looking at Miklov, he knew that he was distracted, but he did not want to admit it. He knew what Miklov was talking about. It must be the second Pacific ship. Team's affairs.

"Well, we're almost in Nanjing, aren't we? I think that after Nanjing, we can send a telegram to Roger Strinsky and tell him that we are negotiating with the Chinese, and I believe there will be good news soon!"

As the first Russian royal family to visit China, Prince Mikhail came to China this time for the Second Pacific Fleet and to give some help to Rozhestwinski.

Russia's Second Pacific Fleet has been attracting the attention of the world since it left the port, and it is also worried about Russia. Everyone knows that this fleet will determine the fate of the Russian Empire. In order to give this fleet some help, Russia is a great diplomatic war, although along the way, The fleet was constantly accompanied by bad luck, but now, he has finally reached the last stop before going to his destination.

A month ago, on March 16, Roedstwinsky's Pacific Second Fleet finally rose from Nosibe, Costa Rica, and went north. Before departure, the French Admiralty specially provided the Russian fleet with three routes to choose from, one is to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Siles through the Lombum Strait, the other is to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Solomon Islands through the Strait of Torres from the Timor Sea, and the other is to bypass Australia from the Coral Sea.

The reason why the French in the Pacific Ocean provided these three routes was to avoid the possible surveillance of the British, but Roger Strünsky, the "court general", did not use any of the roads, but took the shortest road across the Indian Ocean, went straight to the Nicobar Islands, and then crossed. The long Strait of Malacca bypassed Singapore and went north along the Malay Peninsula to show everything publicly in front of the British. Through the British, it showed the world that the Russian Pacific Fleet, with 40 ships of all kinds, split the waves and the thick smoke dyed half of the sky black.

As Roger Strinsky expected, the march of the Russian fleet is indeed spectacular and special. No one has seen it before, and it will never happen again. Without a fuel base, all the ships of the Second Pacific Fleet after the German coal ship left had to carry their own fuel.

Like the Duke of Suvorov, which is designed with a full displacement of 14,000 tons, the displacement of each departure exceeds 17,000 tons. The big ship can be loaded with coal like this, but the small ship can't be loaded. The small ships of destroyers and torpedo boats are opened for two days, and the fuel will be gone. In order to save fuel for the small ship, the large battleship, the cruiser pulled the destroyer torpedo boat with a cable and moved forward like an old horse-drawn car.

But the cable is often broken, and you have to stop and re-tether it. Anyway, it is not pompous to call the voyage of the Second Pacific Fleet commanded by Roger Strinsky the eighth wonder of the world. Only energetic and tireless Russians can do all this.

On April 13, the Second Pacific Fleet, which had gone through all kinds of hardships, finally arrived at the Golden Orchid Bay in French Indochina. Just about to enter the port to break down and load coal for water, the soldiers had time to cheer and rest for a while. However, in the evening of the third day, when the whole blue wave of Jinlan Bay was completely dyed gold by the sunset, the commander of the French Far East Fleet personally went to Jinlan Bay on a cruiser. As usual, he first went to Roger. Lieutenant General Stewinsky asked Han Wen Nuan, what condolences, what welcome, in short, he said the French politeness, and said that Roger Stewinsky thought that these "flexible Frenchmen" would finally come to their senses.

France is only a "friendly country" of Russia, not an ally with obligations. France's kindness to Russia is only out of disgust with Britain and a lack of understanding of the small countries in the Far East. Of course, the French capital industry holds a large number of Russian bonds. However, the claim that the supply of coal by Britain, the overlord of the sea, is a violation of neutrality, has to be considered. The failure of the Russian army from last year to now has made the French doubt the possible name of the Russian victory.

The French are diplomatic geniuses. They instinctively know when and who to be friendly. They will not continue to be friendly with an empire that has little hope of victory. In fact, for the interests of France, and also to prevent Russia from losing the last bit of possessions, France has long begun to explore secretly. The mediation of peace between Japan and Russia is the "difficult" of "not allowed to add coal" along the way.

"Mt. Gen. Roger Strinsky, I didn't expect that I just came from Surabas... Oh, you should know that in Surabas, the Chinese fleet is still demonstrating with the Dutch. They even asked the Dutch for Borneo. It's really a bunch of oriental madmen, aren't they? Well, I stayed there for too long, so I came to the Jinlan Bay base to give the soldiers a rest. I didn't think you would come too. This is really a coincidence. This is a brandy just brought in from Paris on my ship. I think we should have a toast to your great voyage, right?

Major Merisi's face was smiling, like a natural diplomat. After the initial politeness, he, holding two glasses, filled a glass of wine for Lieutenant General Rost Winsky and handed it to him, he skillfully put forward the fact that Jinlan Bay was a French [***] port, and handed it over according to the rules of war. It is against the principle of neutrality for the warring party to provide a military port.

Originally, he thought that the French had changed his surname. Lieutenant General Roger Strinsky, who took the glass with a smile froze on his face. Looking at Major General Merisi with a smile on his face, Roger Strinsky's heart was sad and indignant.

"My God, God, what have the Russians done? It's worth bullying the whole world!"

With this glass, Roedstwinsky couldn't wait to pour the wine on the smiling Major General Merisi's face.

Jinlan Bay is a bullshit military port. Although he is only a management bureaucrat, he is also a military illiterate, and even a court general who can only flatter for a while, but even he is a military illiterate, even the most basic military common sense knows that the home port of the French Far East Fleet is in Saigon, which It is a well-known thing, otherwise he would not have chosen here.

And when he entered Jinlan Bay, he had ordered the soldiers to go ashore and check it. In addition to two Frenchmen running a telegraph office, there were only a few shabby huts in Jinlan Bay, and even a place where there was no bullshit pier was not allowed for the Russians to stay?

"That..."

Although he was sad and angry and greeted Major General Merisi's mother in his heart, he could only have a smile on his face.

"Major Merisi, you know, I need to wait for the Third Pacific Fleet here. As soon as I meet them, I will leave here!"

With a smile on his face, Roger Strinsky mentioned the Third Pacific Fleet that His Majesty asked him to wait for. Although he repeatedly telegraphed that he did not need the "broken fleet" composed of the old ship, the Tsar still intended to let him wait, waiting for the Third Pacific Fleet, which would only drag his legs.

"I'm very sorry, Lieutenant General Rostewinsky, if I provide you with any military port on the list of the French Far East Fleet, it is against the principle of neutrality!"

Major General Merisi shook his head and said, but when he spoke, he aggravated the tone of "any military port on the list of the French Far East Fleet".

Unlike real professional officers, Rostwinsky spends most of his time in the court, can speak perfect French, and naturally knows the French way of thinking. From Merisi's words, he has heard that the French fleet commander in front of him stressed that Jinlan Bay is a military port, so The meaning of not being able to provide the use of the Russian fleet is that it can be used as long as the French Far East Fleet does not have a listed port.

"Then General Merisi, I don't know if you can allow me a few days. It only takes a few days. I hope you can understand that if the sailors enter the port and fail to rest well after a long voyage, it is likely to cause the sailors to rebound. You see..."

Rostewinsky knew that he could only drift on the sea in Jinlan Bay. It's really drifting. He can't leave. The reason is strange and helpless, because the Third Fleet sent by His Majesty Nicholas II to cheer him doesn't know where it is.

But in the same way, he still needs to buy a few more days for himself, that is, a few days. With these days, he may be able to find a port that has not been used by the French Far East Fleet. In that case, he can wait for the Third Pacific Fleet there.

"Three days at most! Three days later, I hope your Excellency will leave immediately. Of course, I will be here with you in these three days!"

Major Merisi replied politely, refusing to refuse, but always considering the "friendship between France and Russia".

"I hope Prince Mikhail can convince the Chinese!"

In the face of the ultimatum of the French, Rostwinsky prayed in his heart that perhaps only the Chinese can help Russia now.

(to be continued)